Podcasts about onward nation

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you doing great work but still feel like your agency's stuck in neutral? The truth is, talent alone doesn't scale a business. In this episode our guest, Stephen Woessner—author, agency growth strategist, and founder of Predictive ROI—reveals why most agencies hit a ceiling... and how to break through with a smarter, more strategic approach. From developing a true methodology to showing up with content that teaches, we dive into what's working now (and what's not) when it comes to agency growth, client expectations, and scaling with intention. If you've ever relied a little too heavily on referrals, be unsure of your niche, or found yourself winging it without a real system—this one's for you. Tune in to learn how to enhance your agency's approach to attracting clients and scaling your business! Stephen Woessner is the founder of Predictive ROI, an agency that helps clients build predictable and repeatable ROI so they can focus on doing the work they love alongside clients they choose. With over 30 years of experience, including a six-year stint in academia, Stephen discusses what's working right now to get more leads, why getting specific is vital for agencies, and why the journey to scaling your journey requires patience, as well as methodology. Stephen also hosts the "Onward Nation" and "Sell with Authority" podcasts and is the bestselling author of five books, including his latest, “Sell With Authority". In this episode, we'll discuss: Why you should be ridiculously specific. Developing a true methodology to showcase your process. How a softer approach can lead to bigger wins. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. The Power of Specificity (and Content That Teaches) Stephen has had a long career in the agency world, starting thirty years ago, before ROI was a thing, and working alongside agencies and consultants — teaching them how to build their authority within the markets they serve. He worked six-years in academia while also sharing his knowledge in his first books on Viral Social Networking and SEO. The expertise shared in these books got him requests to work as a consultant for different businesses, which led to him starting his own agency in 2009. At his agency, Stephen commonly works with agencies and consultants that are going about sales and new business development in the least effective, most painful way possible. In fifteen years, he's seen a lot in the business and now brings his own perspective on what's currently working in the agency space. According to him, success comes from being ridiculously specific—about who you serve, what you offer, and how you market it. It's not about flashy gimmicks or one-size-fits-all strategies. Agencies that clearly communicate their expertise and share their knowledge generously (even for free!) are the ones building long-term trust. With the many AI tools available for marketers nowadays, there just isn't a valid excuse for not putting your own content out there to attract clients with valuable tips that show your expertise. These should be small, actionable pieces that solve real problems. That kind of generosity leads to high-quality leads who already trust you by the time they reach out. While the tools might not be polished yet, they show just how easy it is now to create content and show up consistently. The key is that agencies need to be intentional, have a point of view, know their clients' real pain points and speak to them clearly. Raise the Bar or Get Left Behind Today's clients are smart. They're looking for specialized, strategic partners—not generalists who throw spaghetti at the wall. Agencies that develop a true methodology, a real system for delivering results, stand out. It's not just about the work—it's about the process behind it. Simply put, a solid methodology builds trust. It shows prospects that you know what you're doing and that you've done it before. And yes, it's a big part of what makes an agency sellable down the road. If you're familiar with games like “Age of Empires,” the process of building your methodology will be a lot like starting scrappy in the stone age—just you, maybe a freelancer or two. But as you gather resources (aka leads, a team, and tools) and build systems (onboarding, sales, and delivery processes), you level up. The methodology evolves as you grow—and mastering each stage is what gets you to the next one. The path to growth requires structure, clarity, and an intentional approach. If you're still winging it with no repeatable system in place it might be time to rethink the game plan. How a Softer Approach Can Lead to Bigger Wins Other than a methodology, the journey to the top will also require patience. Scaling an agency is rarely instantaneous and each stage of development comes with its own challenges and learning experiences. Agencies at various levels of growth face unique challenges, and the aspiration to leap from a level two to level thirty-seven—is just unrealistic. You need to experience the wins and losses that truly gives you the expertise to sustain growth and learn to appreciate that they've prepared you for the next challenges and goals. Jason was actually confronted with this lesson while preparing for his latest event, which although did eventually sell out, but did so much more slowly than he would've liked. In the end, the team made the decision to stop being pushy about promoting the event and instead try to be more inviting. A pushy attitude will likely be met with resistance. Instead, a gentle nudge or an invitation to explore creates a sense of curiosity and openness. By reframing the conversation from one of pressure to one of invitation, he was able to build trust and rapport. People are more likely to engage when they feel they have the autonomy to make choices without feeling coerced. This is the same principle that drives successful business generation. Instead of being pushy, make sure you're sharing case studies, insights, or even hosting webinars that allow prospects to learn and engage with the agency's expertise. Trust that you're offering great value that resonates with the target audience, encouraging your audience to lean in and explore further, rather than overwhelming them with hard sells. Creating Content That Draws the Right Clients In So what is the type of content agencies should be creating to get prospects to lean in? The first thing that may make you feel like you're screaming into the void is trying to attract just any client who can sign a check. Successful companies have shown that focusing on a select group of high-performing clients can lead to tremendous success. This does not mean that if you start to work with plumbers you'll have to work with that niche in perpetuity. A niche can also be a specific problem you solve or an area you serve, not just an industry. When you focus on "right fit" clients, you'll attract people you genuinely enjoy working with who choose to stay with your business long-term. When agency owners narrow their focus, they can tailor their offerings to meet the unique needs of their chosen niche. This not only enhances the quality of service but also simplifies the content creation process. Once the target audience is identified, agencies can generate relevant and engaging content that addresses the specific problems and pain points of their clients. At this point, you can focus on sharing content that makes a lasting impression. By providing valuable information upfront, you'll no doubt capture the attention of potential clients and build credibility. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

For over 30 years, I've worked in the trenches of agency new business strategy, working alongside and consulting with hundreds of agencies, business coaches, and consultants — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. I founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remain its CEO and co-owner, working alongside my business partner, Erik Jensen. I host the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. My agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and I'm the bestselling author of five books, including my latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” Here's my hope for this solocast – to share an overall framework and principles for how you can architect your conversations with prospective clients so the discussions are super helpful to your prospects — and so the sessions feel like teaching. But — what you're actually doing is demonstrating your methodology in action. And when you do that with excellence — there will be a moment in your discussion where your prospect says something like, “Wait a minute…I see what you're doing here…and it's awesome!” It is absolutely possible to teach and sell simultaneously — and I'll show you how in this episode. A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30 days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here. During this Episode — you will learn how to: How the “10 Truths of what makes someone an authority” play a vital role in this process Why beginning with the end in mind is a must if you're going to architect the right conversation with a prospect Why teaching and selling simultaneously must begin with you “Eating your own dog food” How to demonstrate your methodology in action during the sales process How to “break the 4th wall” with your prospect in order to bring it all together Free Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

Stephen Woessner Shares How to Sell More, Charge Higher Fees, and Fill Your Pipeline with Right-Fit ClientsIn this episode, Chris Gunkle talks with Stephen Woessner, the CEO and co-owner of Predictive ROI. Stephen has been in the marketing and agency trenches for over 30 years, and he's now on a mission to help agency owners and their teams sell more of what they do for higher fees by building a position of authority.Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009, and he's helped agencies across the globe fill their sales pipelines with a steady stream of right-fit clients. He's also the host of two popular podcasts - "Onward Nation" and "Sell with Authority" - with over 1,100 episodes downloaded in 140+ countries. Stephen is the bestselling author of five books, including his latest, "Sell with Authority," which provides a proven framework for becoming an authority in your industry.During the conversation, Stephen breaks down the three essential elements of building an authority position: niche, cornerstone content, and point of view. He explains how these three ingredients can help you shorten the path to monetization and attract a steady stream of right-fit clients. Stephen also shares insights on pricing strategy, the benefits of authority positioning, and how to avoid the "generalist" trap that so many small business owners and consultants fall into.If you're an agency owner, consultant, or small business professional who's looking to sell more, charge higher fees, and work with your ideal clients, this episode is a must-listen. Stephen provides a clear, actionable roadmap for establishing your authority, differentiating yourself from the competition, and creating a sales process that practically eliminates objections.Connect with Stephen:Website:  PredictiveROI.comResources: PredictiveROI.com/resources"WHO" Framework: PredictiveROI.com/who

I'm thrilled to welcome Jay Owen to this episode of Sell With Authority. Jay is the Founder and CEO of Business Builders, and this is a bit of an encore because Jay and I connected a few years ago for episode 777 of Onward Nation. Today's conversation is packed with insights you can apply to your own agency — to help you sell more effectively by focusing on how we help our clients grow as the catalyst for our own success. By leaning in to assist our audience, right-fit prospects, and clients, we can guide them through their most pressing business issues, challenges, and roadblocks. When we help them achieve their most vital priorities, remarkable things happen for them — and for us. Jay's mission, shared by his team, is to help others grow their businesses because when we do that, good things happen. Jay has a vision for assisting other agency owners in overcoming the persistent challenges we all face. Or — more candidly — those issues we repeatedly bang our heads against the wall over. If you take and apply the insights and wisdom Jay shares during this episode — you and your team can find new ways to lean into the recurring issues and challenges your clients face — and then — find new, helpful solutions your clients will value — and value you more in the process. A big dose of gratitude to our presenting sponsor for the podcast, Conduit Digital. By using their expertise in streamlining, upgrading & scaling your clients…they promise to reduce your risk so you can become the best digital agency in your market in 30-days. You can find Conduit and all their helpful insights and smarts here. What you will learn in this episode: How Jay scaled Business Builders from a small agency to a thriving enterprise Internal leadership and management in navigating technological changes Why outsourcing and a contract model can be the key to agility The importance of maintaining core values during tough times Why community and human connection are crucial in today's business world Resources: Website: https://businessbldrs.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayowen/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayowen/ Book: https://getjaysbook.com/ How to Build a Business that Lasts, with Jay Owen Additional Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside agencies and consultants — teaching them how to build their authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, along with his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” In this episode of the Progressive Agency Podcast, I interview Stephen about the importance of proactive tax planning for agency owners to maximize deductions and savings. Stephen emphasizes how proper tax planning and financial literacy force agency owners to think differently about money and the business. We discuss some confusing aspects of running an agency, especially around financial operations like cash flow, overhead costs, AP, and AR. Stephen shares how it took his agency years to implement an effective system for managing invoices and finances. Now they utilize solutions like Bill.com and consistently check in with their systems and processes. Stephen later shares his "Big 3" framework for saving time — identifying the 3 priority activities that drive both personal joy and business growth. Everything else gets deprioritized or delegated elsewhere.    What you will learn in this episode:  Reframing thinking around money and taxes Assumptions about tax deductions that cost agency owners tens of thousands of dollars Growing operations is a huge part of growing a business Financial education is critical for agency owners Time-saving tactics for agency owners Finding experts who care about the work they do for the benefit of others   Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority  

If you want to see what relationship-first marketing looks like, spend a few weeks inside Stephen Woessner's How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline facebook group. It's free, and he legitimately gives away every ounce of what he's got. He never holds back, and he never stops giving more. It's humbling, really, to watch from the outside. He's the embodiment of generosity and the living example of what happens when you lead with your values. For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy, consulting with hundreds of agencies, business coaches, and consultants — and teaching them how to plant their flag of authority, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipelines with a steady stream of right-fit clients. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, working alongside his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the "Onward Nation" and "Sell with Authority" podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His marketing insights have been featured in major media and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority." Links + Resources from this episodeReach Stephen at stephen@predictiveroi.comFind Stephen at predictiveroi.comConnect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

For over 30 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside and consulting with hundreds of agencies, business coaches, and consultants — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, working alongside his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” In this solocast episode of the podcast, Stephen shares his insights and strategies around how to architect your next sales call so you help your prospect move closer to becoming your next new client — without feeling like you are trying to “close” the sale. This solocast also serves as a preview of Day 2 of our upcoming 2-day Intensive on November 15th & 16th, 2023. More details below. During this Episode — you will learn how to: Create your own version of our “Help Me Understand…” worksheet Link the “Vital Priorities” and “Issues” from the worksheet into the proposals you write Structure your proposals using five ingredients that will make it easy for a prospective client to say “YES!” Apply our “seeding and opening loops” sales closing technique Share your value ladder / service levels / offers with your prospective clients in full transparency you are selling without selling November Intensive We're getting our Predictive ROI clients together for our next 2-day Intensive on Wednesday & Thursday, November 15th & 16th, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon Central on Zoom. It's a private client-only event designed to help everyone in the room move their businesses further faster. We have 30 guest seats available. Would you like to join us? Just email Stephen (Stephen@predictiveroi.com) with the word “ONWARD,” and we'll be in touch with the full details, calendar invites, and Zoom links. Free Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

Angela Ficken, LICSW is a full-time psychotherapist in private practice. She specializes in OCD, eating disorders, and anxiety-related concerns. She started her career at McLean Hospital, which is one of the top-ranking psychiatric hospitals in the country and is affiliated with Harvard University. She was the head social worker on an inpatient unit that focuses on anxiety and depression. During her time at McLean, she trained in exposure therapy and became certified in CBT and DBT. Shortly thereafter, she worked at Harvard University as a primary therapist for undergraduate and graduate students. During her time there, she taught students CBT and DBT skills to help them manage a range of challenging emotions that young adults face daily. Along with her work at McLean and Harvard, Angela had a small private practice for years before she decided to move full-time in 2013. From there, she focused her attention on working with young adults and entrepreneurs primarily after noticing that both groups struggled with anxiety disorders and stress-related issues due to life transitions and the uncertainty of what was coming next in their lives. The struggle, as they say, is "real". She spent years fine-tuning her practice and building her business into something more than a standard full-time private practice. She began writing for Huffington Post as an expert, which then catapulted her into writing for other major online sources, which include Marriage.com where she is a verified expert, YourTango.com, ThriveGlobal.com, and has been quoted in Oprah Magazine, and Fastcompany.com, Inc.com, Forbes.com, MSN.com, Bustle.com, Popsugar.com, Buzzfeed.com, Nylon magazine, Getstigma.com, and Justluxe.com. She has also been a guest on Onward Nation with Stephen Woessner where she talked about OCD and intrusive thoughts, as well as on the radio in Chicago and Reno speaking about stress and anxiety. Through her writing and hearing from her clients how difficult it was to find an understanding therapist—one who could teach coping strategies to manage difficult emotions—she decided to create the Breaking Every Day into Slivers Not Chunks: Practical Skills to Deal With Everyday Stressors: Worried to Well-balanced course to reach more people other than those she could meet within her office. The course is designed to help those with significant stress in their lives and struggle to cope with stress and anxiety. Progresswellness.com Worriedtowellbalanced.com

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside agencies and consultants — teaching them how to build their authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, along with his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” Free Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Join our next QA Session: https://predictiveroi.com/qa/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority Share this episode on:

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside agencies and consultants — teaching them how to build their authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, along with his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” Free Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside agencies and consultants — teaching them how to build their authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business.   Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, along with his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” At Predictive ROI — we believe most agencies and consultants go about sales and new business development in the least effective, most painful way possible — and that there's a better way. We call it the Sell with Authority Methodology. Here's the reality — we're entering the era of the authority. And while you may already be sick of the phrase “thought leader,” — the truth is — there aren't that many of them in our industry. Thought leaders don't write content anyone could claim. Thought leaders don't write about anything and everything. And thought leaders never compete on price. Thought leaders are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust because they have a depth of knowledge and a point of view that can't be denied or easily replicated. Thoughts leaders are also very clear on how and where they can help their clients. And their time is now. Building your authority position will help you grow a thriving, profitable business that can weather the constant change that seems to be our world's reality. How do you future-proof your shop? How do you attract your right-fit clients so they're proactively asking you how you can help them? How do you step away from the sea of other agencies and stand out? Building a defensible authority position is the solution for all that. And having a razor-sharp understanding of who you help (niche) and the business issues and challenges you help them solve (how you help) gets you down the path further faster. Today's episode is another installment in our desire to help you and your team help you accomplish the goal of further faster. Free Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI (PROI), a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.”In today's episode of Smashing the Plateau, you will learn you can increase revenues online consistently and repeatedly.Stephen and I discuss:Why you need to have a purpose for your podcast [00:38]The concept of a platform to grow your business revenue [00:57]The link between content creation and business development [03:34]How he uses a podcast to help other businesses [05:34]Relating dry sales to 8 kinds of mistakes [10:02]How to identify your target audience when you're a corporate refugee [12:43]Stephen's experience in communities [18:10]Learn more about Stephen atwww.predictiveroi.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/Thank you to Our Sponsor:The Smashing the Plateau Community

For over 30 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside and consulting with hundreds of agencies, business coaches, and consultants — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, working alongside his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” In this solocast episode of Sell With Authority, Stephen shares his insights and strategies for finding and attracting ideal clients for your business. Drawing from his own experiences as a lifelong baseball fan, Stephen explores the parallels between the game and the world of business, highlighting key strategies and insights that will help you and your team be more successful. While exploring the parallels, Stephen uses baseball analogies to illustrate the concept of getting “at bats” with potential clients and how to scout out and attract clients who are right-fit for your business. He also discusses the importance of having a well-defined customer avatar and using data to track and optimize your marketing efforts. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this episode offers valuable tips and strategies for finding and attracting your ideal clients and taking your business to the next level. What You Will Learn: The concept of getting “at bats” with potential clients and how to scout out and attract clients who are right-fit for your business The importance of understanding your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to attracting right-fit clients The power of building relationships and delivering value to win over clients The role of communication and feedback in maintaining successful client relationships How to continuously evaluate and adjust your approach to attract and retain the right-fit clients Strategies for crafting a compelling message that resonates with your audience The power of social media and networking in attracting clients and building relationships Resources: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Visit our newly expanded Resource Library Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group Stephen's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority

How to Protect Intellectual Property If you're meeting Sharon Toerek for the first time — she's the founder of Legal and Creative and the host of the rock solid awesome podcast, The Innovative Agency, and an expert in how to protect intellectual property. And in full transparency — she is Predictive's wicked smart intellectual property attorney, and she has brilliantly helped us navigate how to protect our intellectual property and turn that IP into income.  For example — back in May 2015 — my team and I had the idea to launch a daily podcast called Onward Nation. We hoped hosting a daily podcast with amazing and super-smart guests could be a good business development strategy.  But — our first step wasn't to begin recording episodes or building out PredictiveROI.com with helpful content. Nope. Our first step — or, more accurately — my first call — was to Sharon. Why? Because if Onward Nation as a podcast went on to be successful — we knew that having Sharon's expertise involved at the onset would help us maximize any revenue opportunities that spun out of the show and ensure that any IP created — intentionally or accidentally along the way — was protected. The result? Onward Nation attracted listeners in 141 countries and quickly became a top-rated show on Apple Podcasts. I was also approached and offered a contract to write a book about everything we knew about podcasting, which became the bestseller “Profitable Podcasting” and sold more than 10,000 copies worldwide. Okay — full transparency moment here — from a revenue perspective — Onward Nation also drove over $4 million in new revenue into Predictive because it opened the door to new clients as a result of the Trojan Horse of Sales Strategy you may have seen or heard my team and I teach.  But here's the reality — none of these result outcomes would have been possible without Sharon's smarts around protecting intellectual property — and then leveraging it into new revenue streams. Okay — I hope what I just shared gives you 4 million reasons why this episode might provide you with the insights, tips, and recommendations you need to build brand-new revenue streams while learning how to protect intellectual property in the process. Sharon has had a front-row seat to the creativity of many agencies and will share her insights on how the right systems and strategies built around the knowledge and assets you already have can create new revenue streams to help you scale.  I promise you — applying what Sharon maps out during this episode will help you protect your intellectual property — and then — give you some ideas on how to monetize your IP so it turns into a profitable revenue stream.   Okay — here's what you'll learn from this episode about how to protect intellectual property: How to protect intellectual property begins with understanding the IP Triangle Framework of: 1) brand, 2) content, and 3) transactions How you're likely already sitting on intellectual property inside your agency and uncovering it can act as a driver of demand for your main service lines How conducting some old-fashioned market research can help uncover options for generating license fees, productizing some assets into an offering, or other revenue opportunities Why protecting your revenue streams through copyright, trademarks, trade secrets, licensing agreements, or other forms is critically important Why thinking strategically about how to protect intellectual property and how it fits into the overall business strategy is essential for your business's short- and long-term success and potentially opens up options for your personal wealth Resources: Website: legalandcreative.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharontoerek/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SharonToerek The Innovative Agency Podcast Additional Free Resources: Subscribe to our new “Sell with Authority” podcast. Learn how to attract a steady stream of well-prepared prospects into your sales pipeline and convert them into right-fit clients. Everything you need to move further faster is shared in full transparency. Go here for all the episodes. Order your free copy of “Sell with Authority” in paperback or Kindle. Honest — no hoops to jump through. All you need to do is go here and enter your mailing address. No credit card for shipping. Nothing. Join our free “How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline” Facebook Group. Over 1,000 agency owners and strategic consultants just like you are looking to move further faster by sharing best practices and what's working for them. But — as Susan Baier recently said, “It's not about the numbers, it's about the SMARTS contributed to this wonderful, generous community!” Go here for details.

For over 30 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy working alongside and consulting with hundreds of agencies, business coaches, and consultants — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipeline with a steady stream of right-fit clients so they can win new business. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, working alongside his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the “Onward Nation” and “Sell with Authority” podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His agency new business and marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority.” Here at Predictive ROI — we believe that most agencies, coaches, and consultants go about sales and new business development in the least effective, most painful way possible — and that there's a better way. We call it the Sell with Authority Methodology. We also believe that we're entering the era of the AUTHORITY. And if you occupy the coveted “expert” status — you'll be afforded the highest level of confidence and trust from your clients, prospects, and other stakeholders during the new business process because you have a depth of knowledge and point-of-view that can't be denied or easily replicated. Everything we teach and share in our practical and tactical agency new business strategy sessions are designed to help agencies, coaches, and consultants capitalize on the huge shift taking place in business development today. In our hyper-competitive market for awareness and attention — you should look to plant your flag of authority and then leverage this position to fill your sales pipeline with right-fit prospects while developing deeper relationships with existing customers. And we hope today's episode that breaks down our fastest agency new business strategy will help you move closer to the goal of building and scaling your business. Agency new business strategies that we break down in this episode: What is our fastest agency new business strategy How we refined the Trojan Horse of Sales Strategy and linked it with building our “Dream 25” list of prospects How to decide which prospects make the list and which don't (You can download the WHO Framework here) What's the ideal cadence for staying in touch with each prospect, and will you just send gifts? How much budget should you invest in building a relationship with each Dream 25 prospect? Will your Dream 25 list — and the criteria you used to build the list — ever need to shift? Other helpful business development resources: Increasing sales through the Trojan Horse of Sales Strategy (podcast episode) Why you need the Trojan Horse of Sales Strategy (podcast episode) How to build your Dream 25 strategy (podcast episode) Go long with your Dream 25 strategy (podcast episode) Why your Dream 25 matters (podcast episode) Download the WHO Framework here to “find & identify,” “emotionally and logically connect,” and “niche deep dive.” Our fastest agency new business strategies are detailed in our Sell with Authority book. Order your free paperback or Kindle copy here. Why pivoting your agency niche will help you sell better (Interview with Drew McLellan for the Build a Better Agency Podcast)

Riches in Niches and How to Attract High-Paying Clients I'm excited for you to meet our special encore guest expert today — Henry DeVries. If you're meeting Henry for the first time — he's the CEO of Indie Books International. He's the former president of an award-winning “Ad Age 500” marketing agency — and — Henry is also a weekly columnist for Forbes.com. Henry was my guest for Episode 15 of the podcast, where he shared his expertise around strategies and tactics for writing a book — and then — how to use the book as your primary marketing strategy — or, as Henry likes to say — “Marketing with a Book.” We'll be sure to add a link to Episode 15 to today's show notes.  Okay — I invited Henry to join me for this encore interview so we could focus our time and attention on Chapter 5 of Henry's latest book entitled, “Marketing with a Book for Agency Owners.” He titled Chapter 5 — “Riches in Niches.” If you've been listening to this podcast for a while now — or if you've read our books — or attended any of our open-mic Q&As or live workshops — you know that here at Predictive ROI…we're big fans of building a riches in niches strategy. I'm going to quickly quote Henry from Chapter 5… Henry writes, “To attract high-paying clients, agency owners must be clear on their ideal prospects. But a target market with a problem is not enough. Agency owners also must find target clients that can afford to pay what you want to charge.”  Okay — it's here at the intersection of these two points that Henry and I focused our riches in niches discussion. How to find right-fit prospects who are willing to pay what you want to charge — and I would argue that when you do this work correctly and your content strategy is on point and generous — your right-fit prospects will be EAGER to pay your premium price. To help us get there — I asked Henry to walk us through what he calls the “10 filter questions” that you and your team can use as you work through the process of niching down.  In my opinion — Henry's 10 filter questions are critically important to the process of seeking riches in niches because if we don't get it right at the beginning — HOLY BANANAS — it's most likely not going to feel right 2-3 years into your “niche” strategy.  I promise you — if you take and apply Henry's advice and build a strategy around riches in niches — and then — have the courage to build an authority position deep in the niche (instead of being sort of committed), you consistently create helpful cornerstone and cobblestone content that shares your smarts with your audience. If you do this work — you'll not only be seen as the AUTHORITY in the niche, but your sales pipeline will go from being dry to being filled with a steady stream of right-fit clients from within the niche who are eager to work with you — AND — willing to pay your premium price to do it.  That's the recipe for riches in niches.   What you'll learn from this episode about riches in niches: Why your riches in niches strategy needs to include stories that matter and where you ought to share them Why it's so important to share the right social proof with your prospective clients How to find prospects in niches who are willing to pay what you want to charge How to identify and then properly step into the right pond within the right niche How to work through the 10 filtering questions to do the right work up front to help ensure you tap into the riches in niches     Speaker 1: (00:03) Welcome to the Sell With Authority podcast. I'm Stephen Woessner, c e o of predictive roi. And my team and I, we created this podcast specifically for you. So, if you're an agency, agency owner, a business coach, or a strategic consultant, and you're looking to grow a thriving, profitable business that can weather the constant change that seems to be our world's reality, then you're in the right place. You want proven strategies for attracting a steady stream of well-prepared right fit prospects into your sales pipeline. Yep. We're gonna cover that. You wanna learn how to step away from the sea of competitors, so you actually stand out and own the ground you're standing on. Yep. We're gonna cover that too. You wanna futureproof your business so you can navigate the next challenges that come your way. Well, absolutely. We'll help you there as well. I promise you. Speaker 1: (01:02) Each episode of this podcast will contain valuable insights and tangible examples of best practices, never theory from thought leaders, experts, owners who have done exactly what you're working hard to do. So I want you to think practical and tactical. Never any fluff. Each of our guests have built a position of authority and then monetized that position by claiming their ground, by growing their audience, by nurturing leads, and yes, by converting sales. But all the while they did it by being helpful. So every time someone from their audience turned around there, they were with a helpful answer to an important question, so their prospects never felt like they were a prospect. I also promise you every strategy we discuss, every tool we recommend will be shared in full transparency in each episode. So you can plant your flag of authority, claim your ground, and fill your sales pipeline with a steady stream of right fit clients. Speaker 1: (02:09) So I am super excited for you to meet our very special encore guest expert today, Henry DeVries. If you're meeting Henry for the first time, he's the c e o of Indie Books International. He's the former president of an award-winning ad age 500 marketing agency, and Henry is a weekly columnist for forbes.com. Henry was also my guest for episode 15 of the podcast where Henry shared his expertise around strategies and tactics for writing a book, and then how to use the book as your primary marketing strategy, or as Henry likes to say, marketing with a book. So, we'll be sure to add a link to episode 15 to today's show notes to make it super easy to find. It's a great episode. Okay, so I invited Henry to join me for this encore so we could focus our time and attention on chapter five of Henry's latest book, which is entitled Marketing with a Book for Agency Owners. Speaker 1: (03:09) He titled Chapter Five, riches in the Niches. And if you've been listening to this podcast for a while now, or if you've read our books or attended any of our open mic q and as or live workshops, you know that here at Predictive roi, we are big fans of itching. So I'm gonna quickly quote Henry here, uh, from chapter five of the book, Henry writes, to attract high paying clients, agency owners must be clear on their ideal prospects, and then he goes on to write, but a target market where the problem is not enough agency owners also must find target clients that can afford to pay what you wanna charge. Okay? So it's at the intersection of these two points that Henry and I will focus our discussion today, how to find right fit prospects who are willing to pay what you want to charge. Speaker 1: (04:05) And I would argue that when you do this work correctly and your content strategy is on point and generous, your right fit prospects will be eager to pay your premium price. To help us get there, I'm going to ask Henry to walk us through what he calls the 10 filter questions that you and your team can use as you work through the process of nicheing down. Because in my opinion, Henry's 10 filter questions are critically important to the process of seeking riches in the niches. Because if we don't get it right at the beginning, well, holy bananas is most likely not gonna feel right two to three years down the road. I promise you, if you take an apply Henry's advice and seek the riches in the niches, and then have the courage to actually build an authority position deep in the niche and not be kind of committed to the niche, so you're consistently creating helpful cornerstone and cobblestone content that shares your smarts with your prospective clients, clients in the niche, you'll not only be seen as the authority in the niche, but you will fill your sales pipeline with a steady stream of right fit clients who are eager to work with you and who are willing to pay your premium price to do it. Speaker 1: (05:29) So without further ado, my friend, welcome back to the Sell With Authority Podcast. Henry, Speaker 2: (05:36) Thank you for inviting me to talk about riches niches. You're very welcome. April, 2022, the place, Oceanside, California. I'm celebrating the eighth anniversary of Indie books. Okay? We've published over 150 authors. Life is great. I'm not happy. Okay? I'm at a crossroads. Sounds like there's a story there. You're gonna start a hospital. There's a story there. I'm at Crossroads and I go, I teach this riches and niches and I've helped so many people, and I don't feel that we've really found ours, huh? Because I had focused on consultants and coaches, okay? And there was just something missing. And the, the ponds and the groups that I, the watering holes and Pamela Slim of the Whitest Nets language, you know, the, they just weren't feeling totally right for me. Okay? So I did a, I did an exercise. I, I went on a retreat, just me in a car to a motel to think of this through, okay? Speaker 2: (06:45) Made a list of all our authors and divided them into groups, okay? And there was this one group that I liked to work with the most agency owners, because I was an agency owner. And matter of fact, indie Books International is an agency. It's a marketing agency in disguise, as a publishing company, okay? And we, we help people get speaking, but part of it was this training aspect where we train you to give speeches, get on podcasts, do these things to amplify your work. That's my word for the years, Steven. Amplify. We need to amplify our work. That's a good word. Talk about that. So I went and, and the agency owners were, and I said, well, where could I go meet agency owners? So I researched, and there were 10 places where they gather that I found, and one was called the Baba, b a b summit, build a Better Agency Summit. Speaker 2: (07:44) Uhhuh. . And it was over $2,000 to attend a little problem. I didn't have an extra $2,000, but I do cover marketing for forbes.com. I've been a paid columnist for five years. So I contacted the Baba Summit people into my surprise, they said, yes, you can have a media credential come cover us, um, at the Western in Chicago. Mm-hmm. . So meanwhile, I start to call some of these agency owners that I'd helped do their books. And I said, you know, whatever happened as a result of the book. And Tom Young, uh, one of my authors said, oh, you helped us get to the million dollar level. And then we, we leveraged that book, and now we're at 2 million a year. Um, I talked to another person and she said, oh, I didn't have any Fortune 500 companies when we started. I've tripled my revenues, and now I'm working for the one of the top five banks in America, one of the top five financial houses in America, a a billion dollar Japanese technology company. Speaker 2: (08:51) As a result of this, I'm going like, well, those are some, I said, would you, would you put that in writing? Could I put that in writing? Well, of course. Would you tell other people? You know, could I put you on video? Oh, yeah. Send anybody my way. I'm going like, okay, check. We, we've got something going here. Right? Also, they were the, um, most willing to pay. Some of them told me, uh, you know, you, you're not charging enough. This is what the agents, this is what the agency owners were sharing. They were telling me that I wasn't charging them enough, right. Uh, for what they were getting from me. Okay? So I go to the, the Baba Summit. I did not know you were involved, Steven, I knew you from being in a, a couple of appearances on Onward Nation. Um, I, I think I had written about a couple of your clients and Forbes, so that was our relationship. Speaker 2: (09:39) But I see you were one of the sponsors there and involved, and that was great. Within an hour of being there. Everything I've been teaching for the last 15 years in writing about, but unwilling to do as a service, you were preaching at, at Baba, the p baba speakers were preaching, and they had people there to do it. You know, if you wanted podcasts, you could go to predictive roi. If you wanted a, um, a proprietary research study, you could go to audience audit. So it was like, these are my people. Mm-hmm. , uh, this is so great. And I had decided then, okay, I'm going all in. Now. Let me tell you, fear never sleeps. To go all in on a target niche is a scary proposition. Um, you're worried that by declaring I work for these people, your referral sources are gonna dry up Uhhuh, . Speaker 2: (10:35) I can assure you, they do not. Right? The the other thing that happens is you're, you're afraid that somebody will read your website and go, oh, well, that's not for me. I can assure you it's not. I have people call me up and say, look, I, I know I'm not an agency owner, but, uh, I run this consulting company and could I please convince you to work with me? Right. You know, go on . I'll say, you know, and, and, uh, some have and have done wonderful projects. Meanwhile, , so I, I commit to this. This is May and I, I think I've gotta write a book. I've gotta write a book about this, but I am very busy. When am I gonna have time to write another book? So, um, and we all have different faiths, and I respect that. And, um, in, in California, I have to say the universe or the universe will manifest when I'm, when I'm out in, uh, the Midwest with you, I can say God helps those who help themselves. Speaker 2: (11:35) So, but I, I prayed on it and I prayed for time to get this book done. Be careful what you pray for . I was give, in August, I was giving five workshops for CEOs on how to persuade with a story. Mm-hmm. , uh, that's what I'm paid to speak on. I've written books on that. And on, uh, day five, I contract covid. So I'm in Memphis, Tennessee, um, thousands of miles from home. Nobody there. I have to check into this, uh, cheap motel to quarantine for a week. Yep. And, uh, my healthcare got right on it got me into a doctor who prescribed the drug, PAX Lobin for me. Mm-hmm. . So I'm on a, a five day protocol of Pax Lobin. Well, it knocked it down right away. And I thought, well, I don't wanna watch TV and I'll just start writing the book. Five days later, the book was written, you know, thank you. Speaker 2: (12:38) I'm grateful for that time, . I wish it could have been like a little more enjoyable, but I got the book done and started rolling. I know I needed refinements. So, uh, signed up with predictive roi. We did the, the 90 day program, really refined it. Um, Eric, on your team, uh, I, I love Eric dearly because he challenged me on everything. Um, he gave me pushback on everything. It wasn't like, oh, great, this, like, no, this and that. What happens if this happens? And like, oh man, that would've been a huge mistake if I'd gone that way. So, very grateful to predictive roi. And then I saw, um, workshops by you and Drew McClellan of AMI in, in Florida. Um, didn't have the money for that. Went to the board and said, we need to personally borrow money, uh, so I can go to Disney World for a conference in December and January. Speaker 2: (13:34) Um, and then when I explained it, all my wife said, a hunch. Henry had a hunch. And we bet on the hunch. And the hunch worked. So, um, I've been picking up agency clients. You told me I needed to double my prices and hire better people. I went out and did that. Yep. Um, and then when people would call me, I would give that higher price, and they didn't blink. So it all came back to what we're gonna talk about today, these filter questions. Yep. Um, agency owners pass the filter questions test for me, and I hope the filter questions help the listeners today. Speaker 1: (14:15) Awesome. Well, so let's, I, I want to tease out just one piece outta outta what you just said about the, the workshop and not, and not, and not like promoting the workshop or advertising the workshop, but your recognition about how the Baba Summit and how the workshop and how you participate in our community, how you participate in the Agency Management Institute community and, and so forth. And how you've been very strategic in, uh, aligning partnerships and friendships and all of that, because those are efforts to get deeper into the niche. And, and I'm not saying that those are not great relationships and personal relationships and turning into friendships and that kind of stuff. I, I'm, I'm not saying that those are like surfacey, they're, and they're not genuine because I know that they absolutely are. What I am saying is that they are, excuse me, that they're also indicative of when you go deep into the niche, it's about really understanding the people in the niche, really understanding the pond, really understand who is in the pond, swimming around and all of that, and developing those relationships. That's part of getting deep into the niche. Would, would you agree? Speaker 2: (15:26) Oh, absolutely. And I have to do a shout out to Susan Byer, a member of the Community of Audience Audit. And I heard you and Susan speak at the Baba Summit, and I shook her hand and, uh, gave her my card and said, I'd like to interview her for forbes.com. And, uh, she's the world's busiest woman who's going at mock five with her hair on fire. So that wasn't happening, but I, I was on, uh, a call with you and there were other people, you, you had me, I think, on a q and a talk about the book mm-hmm. , and Yep. Susan was there, and she calls me up afterwards and said, we have to talk, says this. I was where you were at a few years ago. I know who you are. Uh, and I know where you're at, and I just get deep into this. Speaker 2: (16:13) Do this, this is what you need to do. Yep. And I said, thank you. I appreciate that. Uh, what is the best piece of advice you have for me right now? Okay. She said, go to the workshops in December and January, you know, beg, borrow Steele, do whatever you have to. She says, I went from having eight clients to 40 when I went into this niche, uh, really strong. And so go there. And she says, you're gonna learn things. Mm-hmm. from the content that Drew and Steven teach, you're gonna learn more about your target audience, because you're gonna listen to them. You're gonna hear them. You're gonna have a drink with them, uh, you know, breakfast with them, and you're gonna be this listening machine at one of the agencies where I cut my teeth. Um, I was the head of research too. I was the head of creative services and research. That's a, that's a schizophrenic kind of person. Speaker 1: (17:09) I'm like, that's a bit of a juxtaposition, but o okay. Speaker 2: (17:11) Yeah. Right. Sounds and research. So I, I know about depth interviews and research and, and, uh, you know, listening. And that was so true, because you're amongst them and you can relate to them, of course. And when they tell a story, you can go, oh, I understand that. Yeah. You know, um, I've been there, done that. Um, so that's important to, you've gotta go where your target rich audience is. Um, not so much that, oh, I'm gonna find clients. I did, I will, but I wanna understand their worries, frustrations, doubts. Mm-hmm. . Um, I need, you know, the fear, uncertainty and doubt, the FUD factor. You need to know their FUD factor. And that's the number one thing they want to know. Do you understand my pain? Speaker 1: (18:07) Yeah. The, not only do you speak my language, do you speak my dialect? And when, when, when we talk through the niche deep dive, you know, like in our q and a's and in the, the WHO framework and so forth, that, that part of that starts with the first two ingredients in that are what are the problems, hence the FUD factor that you just mentioned. Then what are the stories? How can you speak to those problems within a story? Because we're just d n a wired to receive stories, right? How can we talk about the FUD factor in the form of a story? And then to your earlier point, how can we step into the right ponds to tell the stories, right? Because then they feel appropriate and, and, and, and they land correctly. It feels weird to step into a non-agency owner pond, if you will, and start talking about agency owner stories. Speaker 1: (19:01) It, there, there's incongruency when that happens, right? So like, all of this is part of the, the great recipe. You've done a great job of stepping into the pond and finding the rich in the niche or the riches in the niches. And I know that they're, you're, you're actively mining that. Let's start going through the 10 filter questions, because I think they're, not only do I think that they're smart, um, but I, but I also think that they're smartness, if you will, , uh, in the layers, right? So some of the questions are multi-layered. Some of the questions are deeper than maybe what somebody might think as they're quickly going through them, and that, oh, I don't have to answer that one. I could just bypass that one. Or I'll just, I'll focus on, you know, question two, six and 10. And that should be good. Speaker 1: (19:46) And it's not good. The 10 filtering questions are 10 filtering questions on purpose. So, so let's, let's go through them first. I'm, I'm just gonna go through them, uh, quickly and then, and then we'll go back and slice 'em apart. So, question one, are you interested in solving the problems this group has? Question two, have you worked with any already? Three, can they afford to pay you four? Are they willing to pay more for better service? Five, do they already know they need an agency like you? Six? Are they numerous? Seven, do you, uh, do you have only a few real competitors? Eight. Can you find them easily enough through listen associations? Uh, nine, can you find a target rich environment where they gather? Uh, and then 10, will you or will some make marquee clients advocates and references? Okay. So let's slice all of these apart and go through them in depth. So walk us through, number one, are you interested in solving the problems this group has and why you put that first? Speaker 2: (20:53) Okay. So first let me grab my book, my 17th book. Amazing. And Stephen, my books are my children. Hmm. And like my children, I expect them to take care of me in my old age. Okay. So let's go to chapter five and that first one. Um, are you interested in solving the problems if solving their problems doesn't energize you? It's a non-starter. Um, when I was looking at the different groups, I've done a lot with technology services companies, okay. Speaker 2: (21:24) And I thought, huh, do I wanna spend all my time with technology services companies? Um, I had a chance once to buy the agency I'd started at and worked my way up to president. And, um, I didn't know this strategy, it was just instinctive and I followed it. And we were the leader in real estate, community marketing, you know, new home communities, master plan communities throughout Southern California. Okay. Um, we had all the top people, and and you eat on that whale for years, you catch a whale, like a master plan community that's a eight, seven, you know, seven, eight year project. You bet. Um, but I didn't buy, and one of the reasons was I didn't wanna spend the rest of my life talking about cathedral ceilings and low flow toilets. You know, it was just like, uh, it didn't excite me. Yeah. So, uh, I went out on my own and formed my own lemonade stand and went looking for the, for the right niche. So agency owners, I love the problems they have. Oh, by the way, research. Yep. Number one problem for two outta three agency owners is, and you know it, Steven, the dry sales pipeline, not enough qualified prospects in that pipeline. Yep. And business development is their heartburn, it's their pain. Second problem for, uh, 50% of agency owners, not enough time to do business development. Um, should we move to two? Have you worked with them already? Speaker 1: (23:03) 1, 1, 1 more piece to to number one. Speaker 2: (23:05) Okay. Speaker 1: (23:07) Because if we don't get right what you just said, you know, that, that we're interested in solving the problems that's gonna come through also in the content. When, when, when you know that Drew and I, uh, teach the point of view piece, right? So, predictive roi, we believe, like in our core, we believe, uh, that most agencies, business coaches and strategic consultants go about business development in the least effective, most painful way possible. There's a better way we call it. So with authority methodology, yeah. That is our belief system. It is our truth. So if you're just kind of like, eh, on point number one here, which is why it's an important filter that's gonna show through in your content, that's gonna show through how you show up in the pond, right? Speaker 2: (23:51) Right. We have an energy meter. Yeah. Everybody has it. And they can tell if you have energy around this topic or not. Are you just there? Oh. Because you're trying to serve that, you know, it's like if you're not genuinely energetic about it mm-hmm. , um, nor, uh, was famous author about, uh, you know, the power of enthusiasm. You know, so if you don't have enthusiasm, right? Um, it comes across and you can't fake it. Speaker 1: (24:26) No, Speaker 2: (24:26) You can't fake sincerity. Speaker 1: (24:28) No. Cuz cuz then you look like you're trying to get rich in the niche and Right. And then that, and that feels a whole lot of yucky to everyone in the pond. So, um, okay. So let's, and Speaker 2: (24:37) By the way you just said that Yeah. The riches are not just money. Yeah. Um, there are 12 different riches, uh, that you get from a, a money finishes 12th on the list. Um, when you're, one of the riches is you love to work. You love to work because you love solving their problems. Uh, you love these people. So that comes through Speaker 1: (25:03) 100%. Yeah. When, when, when somebody goes to the Baba Summit, the builder Better Agency Summit, this May, um, as the previous two summits, when, when Drew McClellan gets on stage to do his keynote, like he has the previous two, there will be there, there will be tears, there will be shouts of joy, there will be, it's an emotional delivery of a keynote. Why? Because everyone, all 300 and plus whatever number of people who are going to be there this year will know that he is there for them. And that he not only speaks their language, his stories align with that. His passions all about helping them. It, it is clear through his words and actions that he is their guy. And, and, and that rings through. If he was there to just be playing niches in the, or riches in the niches, it, it, it, it, I mean, it would fall flat, right? It would be easy to suss out and see the difference. Speaker 2: (26:03) They were yelling, we love you, drew. It was like a rock concert. I was thinking like, what's going on Speaker 1: (26:10) Here? Right? And that does not happen by accident, right? Speaker 2: (26:12) No. And it comes across and Drew is an agency owner. Yep. And Ami is this other thing he's doing to help other agency owners. Eric, from predictive ROI stepped on my toes and said, you don't talk in any of your materials, that you're actually an agency owner right now. And, and that you know this and you know, when you get up in the morning, you have to worry about your pipeline and, and you have to worry about the clients and the billing. And I says, you don't tell 'em that you're walking the same journey. So that's important. Speaker 1: (26:48) It is important. Okay. So now, now let's move to number two. Speaker 2: (26:52) Well, have you worked with them already? And, and I've coached a thousand people on this, and we'll come up to this and they say, well, I'd like to work with, you know, maybe hospitals, healthcare. I heard there's a lot of money there. Um, or I could work with financial advisors. I said, well, you know, how many hospitals have you worked with? None. How many financial advisors have you worked with? Dozens and dozens. I said, okay, here's our answer. . You know, it's like, uh, uh, yes, you could pick a niche you've never been in and worked to get in there, but you're swimming upstream. Uh, there's a German proverb I like to quote, and it i'll, it translates like this. It doesn't matter how fast you're going if you're on the wrong road. Speaker 1: (27:40) Amen. Speaker 2: (27:42) And in fact, it's actually worse because you're getting farther away from where you need to be. Um, so you need to get the right road. And the right road is people who you've already helped you have some credibility with. There needs to be a story there that you, as you said, the stories you tell. Yeah. They need to be your stories. Your stories matter. Human brains are hardwired for stories. So you need to be telling stories for that target group. Speaker 1: (28:10) Amazing. Okay. Perfect. Uh, how about three, can they afford you? Speaker 2: (28:15) Can you, they afford you? Um, I always say money isn't everything. The author Zig Ziegler said, money is not the most important thing, you know, oxygen, but it's next to oxygen. So we need money to keep going. It's the fuel that keeps the, the rocket ship going here. And, um, some people just don't have the money, right. For you to have abundance, the abundance you need for your team members, uh, for causes you wanna support. Mm-hmm. , um, all the things you need to do requires filthy luer. No. It requires money. Yeah. Speaker 1: (28:53) Well, and that ties into number four. Are they willing to pay more for better service, uh, so that you're not having a race to the bottom right. That you can actually afford to invest in delighting your clients? Am I on the same page with you? Speaker 2: (29:05) You, you're absolutely right. So they have to see the value in the investment. Okay. So when we were in the real estate niche, um, they saw the value and they'll pay more. There was a quick story. This, um, one, one client wanted to talk to us. And I have to say he was a little shady. You know, they were, they were big, burly people, uh, outside his office and, uh, you know, so let's just say shady. And so I made the mistake as, as agency president, I said, just double the amount that we normally charge, and that way he'll kick us out is too expensive, you know? And he said, but what happened was he said, okay, you charge twice as much as anybody else. Must Speaker 1: (29:53) Be good. Speaker 2: (29:53) Well, obviously you're good . So okay, you're hired . And then, then he gave us some secret information and said, if it ever gets out, you're gonna have to look over your shoulder all the time. Do you understand what I'm saying? And I said, I understand. I walked out and my, uh, my, my account executive young sweet woman said that threat, do you really think he could cause us to lose other clients? I said, Linda, he was threatening to kill us. He would've us murdered if this got out. She was like, . Like, thankfully the campaign went well, and, and, uh, we moved on. Yeah. Okay. Speaker 1: (30:38) . Well, so I, I, here, here's, here's one of the reasons why, uh, I feel like number five is multi-layered. Um, so do they already know they need an agency like you? When, when I read it now, it could be just my lens and my bias, um, that when I read it, I think, oh, okay. It's because, you know, we've planted a flag of authority. We've, you know, become the authority in this space, in the niche and, and all of that. And you say you must educate the prospects that need an agency like yours. Um, so, so tell us all about five, because when I read five, I'm like, that's pretty meaty. Number five, Speaker 2: (31:12) Five is meaty. So you're looking for clients who hire agencies. They've worked with an agency before. They know the value proposition of the agency. They're not that people go like, eh, I could hire somebody in-house, or I could hire an agency. Yeah. You don't want those people. Hmm. Um, because they're asking the wrong questions. You know, an agency buys time by the year, sells it back by the hour, and gives you top talent. Yep. You're competing for the bottom talent who's willing to work for you. It's like the old joke about you're an astronaut. Are you comforted by the fact that your rocket was built by the lowest bidder ? You know? And, and, uh, so so you don't want that. So you want something they, they hire agencies. Yeah. And, uh, I, I landed a million dollar account when I was president of someone else's agency. Speaker 2: (32:15) Okay. And I got it from teaching. And, and somebody took the course and brought me in and, and they talked about their business for 45 minutes. I understood nothing about their business or what they did. Hmm. And then they said, our current agency is Manning, salvage and Lee, but, um, we've had a little falling out, so we need a new agency. Well, that was the first thing I understood, because I knew that agency wouldn't touch an account for under a million dollars . I thought, oh, um, I said, give me a week and I'll come back with a proposal. So I educated myself on this, uh, industry. Nobody was a specialist in it, and, um, won the account. Mm-hmm. . Um, another time I was brought in by a, um, fortune 500 company, and they had this project, and it, it, you'd say, this wasn't in my niche, it was about energy and gas and electric and new things like this. Speaker 2: (33:16) And I talked to 'em and I said, you know, I really don't think we're the agency for you, uh, because I have no background in this area. And they called me a week later and said, you had the account. And I, I went in and I said, and it was a, it was a great account. I said, um, why, why did you hire me? But I don't know this area. He said, actually, nobody knows this area. We were looking for something else. We were looking for somebody who could come in and completely dissect a problem and then explain it to our people how to implement it. Hmm. And we talked around and people said, oh, these are the four magic words in English language, by the way. They said, I know a guy, Henry DRIs mm-hmm. . And that's how he got it. So sometimes you'll be brought in for a certain skill you have that people recognize for, and, and that can work for you too. I give you permission to work for anybody. I want to stress you should market to one target niche, niche in Canada, niche in America, as in, you know, there's riches and niches, witches. Uh, so, uh, we don't even know how to pronounce the word, but we know that it works Speaker 1: (34:38) Well, it is, it is kind of funny. Uh, you've mentioned Eric a couple of times and he, he too says, uh, pronounces it as niche. But when, when you said, I know a guy that, that, uh, reminded me of something that I thought about mentioning, but then just forgot in the fact of how that that is actually an ingredient of how Drew and I define niche. And so if, if anyone listening, um, has heard, uh, Eric and I teach niche before, um, you know, yes, it could certainly be industry that's one of the ingredients in the recipe. Two, it could be your superpower as you just described, skill, right? It could absolutely be a superpower. Uh, three, maybe it's a business issue or challenge, uh, that, that you solve better than anybody else. And you're, your certain skill example was kind of teetering into that. So you're putting a couple ingredients together, which is awesome in, in the fourth. It, it could be an audience, maybe, you know, an audience better, maybe you know, an audience better than the client or your perspective client. So like when we, we knit all of those ingredients together, it becomes a pretty, a pretty strong recipe. So let's move into number six, which is, are they numerous? Speaker 2: (35:47) Ah, and, um, I'm a big fan of David C. Baker. I've written about 'em for years. Mm-hmm. , uh, wrote the, uh, the business, let's see, the business of expertise. Mm-hmm. . And in the business of expertise, he says, you need to have 2000 to 10,000 prospects in the area to really consider it. Less than that, it's, uh, too small of a fishing pond. Too much you're trying to drain the ocean. Um, so you, you find that for me, there are 7,800 small to medium sized agencies in America. That's a pond I can fish in for the rest of my life. Yep. And, uh, still have prospects I couldn't get to. Um, so that's what you're, you're looking for. Okay. Some other people along the way, they, uh, one chose pest control companies. Hmm. Um, and they became the pest control agency for America. And when people say, oh, I need an expert in pest control and, and marketing and all this is, I know a guy this works for our female listeners, I asked some of them and they said, yeah, we, we get called guys too. So it's okay. So I know a guy, you know, if you need an, an, uh, a research study for a agency, I know a guy Susan Byer out of Arizona audience audit. So it works that same way. Speaker 1: (37:12) Okay. So, so let's, let's go to, uh, seven. Um, do you have only a few real competitors? Speaker 2: (37:21) Yeah. So it's, um, if somebody says, I have no competition, I'm really worried. Yeah. Now, now as far as I've researched and, and we keep mentioning Eric Jensen, you know, helped me with this. There are no agency book guys other than me. The per is like, they're like, their whole thing is doing agency books. Yeah. Now, there are other ghost writers, there are other publishers. Sure. Those are still viable choices. Somebody will look at them as they look at me. I might have an edge that I specialize in the niche, um, but that doesn't mean I don't have competition. Um, so, but I don't have tons of people who can do the soup to nuts for planning a book, preparing, you know, I'm a ghost writer. Uh, I'm an developmental editor publishing the book mm-hmm. . And then what happens, our motto at indie books is publishing the book is not the finish line. Speaker 2: (38:24) It's the starting line. Right. It's about the journey that happens after that. And it's a marathon. Uh, because no author gets discovered. I, that's a myth out there. I'm gonna write this book and people discover me. You don't get discovered. I, I love the actress Margot Robbie, if you, if you know her, um, I do. And, and she was being interviewed and somebody said, what would've happened if you moved from Australia to America and you weren't discovered? And she said, I'm sorry. Well, what's the question says, well, what would you have done if they didn't, if you weren't discovered? She says, you thought I was discovered. I knocked on every door in Hollywood, every agent, every producer. And I kept knocking until somebody let me in and finally give an addition. I was not discovered. So as an author, you're not gonna be discovered either. You need to slice and dice that content. You need to go on podcasts. You, I have a magnificent seven things you have to do. There's a great book, 1,001 Ways to Market your book. That's the problem. There's 1,001 Way Ways to Market your book. Uh, I'll give you the seven most pragmatic things to do that are gonna get results. Speaker 1: (39:37) So is, is that something that we can, uh, either link in the show notes or share with our audience, or maybe point them to a blog post? I, I know you teach on the seven, but is there, Speaker 2: (39:47) I didn't teach on the seven and I've had articles on it, uh, in Forbes. Uh, okay, great. And, and we could link to it. Okay. Speaker 1: (39:54) Perfect. Um, so I will link to one of your forbes.com articles on that for some additional insight. Thank you for that. Um, the, the discovery thing is, is is really great. Like people think that, um, who don't know the backstory of Sylvester Stallone, he did the same thing in New York and went to every agent, uh, and, you know, did it multiple times, uh, until finally he wrote the script. And it's a really interesting story, but it's all about perseverance. So eight, Speaker 2: (40:21) The Rocky story is interesting because he also didn't know what he was worth. And one of his first meetings when they asked him how much for the screenplay, and he gave a number, the meeting was over because they thought he was an amateur. Yeah. I'm sorry, we're going to eight. Right? Speaker 1: (40:36) . All right. Can, uh, and this really speaks to your, uh, builder, a better agency example that you mentioned from, from last year. Can you find them easily enough through lists and associations? Speaker 2: (40:46) Right? You're looking for places where they go to get smarter. So the Baba Summit, they go to get smarter. The David C. Baker has a mind your own business conference where they go to get smarter. Um, there's, uh, you know, the, what is it, tan, t a a and, uh, agencies get together and they go there to get smarter. So where are these places? Pamela Slim and the whitest that calls 'em the watering holes or the ponds? Yes. So can you find them? Sometimes people come to me, there's this group they want, they're describing this psychographic, and there's, I go like, yeah, we can't buy a list of those people. They don't have any meetings where this psychographic all gathers. Hmm. Uh, so, uh, this is, this is a dry hole, uh, as they say in, in the, all this down in Texas. You got a dry hole here. Um, and no amount of fracking is gonna help you get anything out of that hole. So, uh, gee, that was probably politically incorrect. . Um, so, uh, what we need to do is find where they gather, and there's this amazing tool I have, if I could share, can I share it, Steven? Of Speaker 1: (41:56) Course you can. Speaker 2: (41:57) It's called Google . You Google, where does, you know, agency owners gather? Where do agency owners meet? Where do agency owners, uh, you know, what do agency owners read? Yeah. And, and the Google machine as one old timer called it to me. So yeah, the Google machine will, will spit out your answers there. Speaker 1: (42:20) Yeah. Well, here, here's, here's what I love about eight and nine. Um, so, so nine is, can you find target rich environments where they gathered? And you mentioned Baba, you mentioned some of the other agency centric associations when, when I think of eight and nine, I see some real cool interdependency between eight and nine. Eight. Can we buy a list of the 7,800 that you mentioned before? Yes. Uh, can then we use that list to maybe do some strategic prospecting, if you will. I wonder if this person's gonna be at the Baba Summit this year. I wonder if that person's gonna be a sponsor to the Baba Summit. And then you can start sort of pre-planning so that you can take your list and then head to nine the pond, and then make sure you're meeting the right people while in the pond. Right. Speaker 2: (43:07) Right. And there are all kinds of strategies, and you've used them, um, that there might be some pre-event, you know, a cocktail party or, uh, I know we're kicking around some kind of donut party morning donut excursion, Speaker 1: (43:21) But no running If Car Cunningham, Carly Cunningham, if you're listening to this right now, donuts Yes. Long distance running through the streets of Chicago. No, no, Speaker 2: (43:30) No. Have you seen Henry and Stephen? Do we look like marathon runners, or do we look like donut eat? Speaker 1: (43:37) I have two tight hips for peace sake. I, I'm not running. Come on. Speaker 2: (43:42) . My doctor did say that I've already eaten my lifetime supply of donuts, and I should let other people have the donuts now. But, uh, for Carly, I might, I might consent to have one in Chicago. No, the point of that is you can get together, uh, I do Q and as, uh, modeled after your campfire q and as for authors and agency owners, and I encourage people to be part of the community, come there, ask questions, to get to know other members. I, I call the 150 authors, uh, the family. Yep. And my word is I want the family amplifying each other's work. It's, it's not a quit pro quo or anything like that, but it is the law of reciprocation that the more people you help, the more you will get helped to amplify your work and share it with others. And as we said, where these gatherings are, you can do extra things. David Maister, Dr. David Maister, I recommend him. Former professor at the Harvard Business School. Mm-hmm. . Uh, he let me take one page from one of his books 20 years ago and make a career out of it. A and he always said, this is what you need to do and you need to gather, and you just don't come in and out. Um, you need to be part of the community and contributing to that community anyway. You can. Speaker 1: (45:06) Right. 100%. I I know that we're, uh, quickly running out of time. So, so bring us home with number 10. Uh, will some make marquee clients advocates and references? Speaker 2: (45:17) Well, right. If, if you have some group where they say, what would be your client, but here's the condition, you can never mention that you worked with us. Uh, this is not a good place because prospects want social proof. They want several things. They want, they wanna know that you have a proprietary problem solving process, that you're not winging it. Uh, they want to know that you have experience. Uh, they wanna know some marquee clients. They wanna be able to talk to some people that you've worked with. Um, they need all these social proofs because they can't really judge how good of a service our agency provides. Um, and everybody says the same thing. Oh, I've done focus groups with people who hire agencies. Don't say these things. Don't say how long you've been in business. Uh, they laugh at you for that. I've been golfing longer than Tiger Woods. Speaker 2: (46:09) It doesn't make me a better golfer. Okay. The other thing is, don't say we're just the right size, big enough to get the job done small enough for personal attention. They, they laugh at us for that. They say firms with five people say that firms with 500 people say that. What they wanna hear is research about their peers. Not you naming peers. But, you know, we've worked with, you know, this many people or we've done a study and, uh, our research shows, like I shared that two outta three agency owners. And the number one pain is a dry sales pipeline. Not enough qualified prospects. Yep. I surveyed over a thousand people to learn that. So they wanna learn about themselves. They wanna know that you know about them. They want to be able to tell somebody, oh, well, we hired the agency that worked for A, B, and C, and they go, oh, they're good. Um, so that's why this is important. Speaker 1: (47:07) A hundred percent love that and great way to, to, to bring us home and, and emphasizes, uh, when, when we kicked off going through that list, or actually in the introduction, um, I, I've mentioned the, the, the, the piece that you use as your bottom line to close out this chapter. You, you, you say, so I'm gonna quote Henry again here, um, what he wrote, bottom line, the more quality thinking you do upfront meaning through these 10 questions, the easier business development will be 100%. Well, well said, Henry. So I, before we go, uh, before we close out and say goodbye, um, any final advice, anything you think we might have missed? And then please do tell, uh, our audience, uh, the best way to connect with you. Speaker 2: (47:52) Thank you for asking. Sure. If anybody ask you a good question like that, you're to pause three seconds for dignity and say, thank you for asking . The, the main message is stay on the journey. And then when you do a book, is the number one marketing tool. Talking about the book is the number one fill your pipeline strategy. Yeah. So you get on podcasts, you, you give speeches, you talk about the book, the book opens the doors to do that. And also, as you taught me in Sell with authority, you can't spell authority without the word author. An author is an authority and people get your best thinking in the book. So share that with them. So for anybody in the predictive ROI world, if they wanna have a no cost, no selling zone strategy call with me on this. I'm happy to do it. Speaker 2: (48:51) Yeah. So you can just contact me at henry indie books i ntl.com. Steven will put it in the show notes, and, uh, we'll have what I call a book chat. I'll help you get clear on the goals for doing a book, what hidden assets you have to get a book done. A lot of people don't realize they're already have these assets. Uh, three, what are the roadblocks, uh, roadblocks. Don't stop agency owners, but you gotta figure a way around them, over 'em, through 'em. And then, uh, four, I'll tell you how others have gotten from where you are right now to where you want to go, because the path and the plan of others leaves the clues you need for your journey and your quest to sell with authority. Speaker 1: (49:36) Yeah. A a good friend of mine and one of my accountability partners, Don Yeager, um, often says this, this quote is not his. I just can't remember the, uh, person who originally said it. But anyway, Don often says, success leaves clues. And, and I think that that's a hundred percent correct. And Henry, uh, thank you very much for saying yes to come back to the show for this encore. And everyone, uh, no matter how many notes you took or how often you go back and re-listen to Henry's words of wisdom, which I sure hope that you do, the key is you have to take what he's so generously shared with you, the 10 filtering questions and all of the story in stories in each of those. 10, take them and apply them. Because again, the bottom line, how much work you put into the front end of this is what will determine the success. Success leaves clues, and he just gave you a bunch of them. Take it and apply it. Because when you do that through application, that's where the results will come. And again, Henry, thank you for saying yes, we all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day. And I'm grateful that you came onto the show to be our mentor and guide, uh, yet again. Thank you so much my friend, Speaker 2: (50:46) As they say at Chick-fil-A. My pleasure.

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “”8 Money Draining Mistakes”” and the “”8 Money Making Opportunities.”” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix the mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. We are doing something a little different for this episode of Sell With Authority by sharing my full length interview from an episode of the Build a Better Agency Podcast with Drew McLellan. Drew is the owner of McLellan Marketing Group and the owner and leader of the Agency Management Institute. In episode 354 of the Build a Better Agency Podcast, we have an important conversation about finding right-fit clients by going narrow and niching down – and how pivoting that niche can lead to fears of stepping into scarcity, instead of abundance. We talk through how pivoting agency niche can actually help improve sales and build community. What you will learn about in this episode: Why choosing your agency niche doesn't have to be a permanent decision Why sometimes throwing out the playbook and pivoting in a different direction is a better move for your agency, even if it doesn't seem that way at first How to know which types of clients you're already serving the best (this could be your new niche) What is cornerstone content, and why is it so important to establish? The importance of building a community of people wanting to learn from you and others to make more effortless sales You have permission to think differently about your agency and how you want to position it in your industry

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI (PROI), a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix their mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member, and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state, including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison. He has owned five businesses and is the bestselling author of five books, including “Profitable Podcasting” and “Sell with Authority.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. What you will learn about in this episode: How to conquer the fear that can set in when presented with opportunity How to break past the temptation to quit before even starting down the path Why the exterior trappings of success are not the true measure Real life lessons around the power of persistence, tenacity, and grit How if you take care of your clients — they will take care of you How to knit all of this together so you never, ever quit Free Resources: Order a free paperback or Kindle copy of “Sell with Authority”: https://predictiveroi.com/free-book Download the “WHO Framework”: https://predictiveroi.com/who Download the “WHAT Framework”: https://predictiveroi.com/what Download the “HOW Framework”: https://predictiveroi.com/how Newly expanded “Resource Library”: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ “How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/b2bsalesfunnel LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenwoessner Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ And — join us for our next open-mic Q&A

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “”8 Money Draining Mistakes”” and the “”8 Money Making Opportunities.”” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix the mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. Hannah Roth is currently Predictive Roi's Mad Scientist and Strategist. Hannah has a background as a wildlife biologist, and she started her own home decor and carpentry business that she ran quite successfully for 6 years, which segued into her current position with PROI. Hannah loves her work family, clients, and the fast paced environment of the agency world. She believes there is nothing quite as rewarding as walking alongside someone while they achieve their business goals. What you will learn about in this episode: Predictive ROI's origin story What the Predictive team does differently for their clients The transformation that comes with confidently stepping into your smarts The importance and benefits of PROI's full transparency approach Stephen's advice for instilling confidence and trust with clients that come from all points of the business spectrum The impact of being within a community that fosters collaboration and inspiration Resources: Newly expanded “Resource Library”: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ “How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/b2bsalesfunnel LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/predictive-roi/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-roth-387a6b223/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenwoessner Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI (PROI), a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix their mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison. He has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. What you will learn about in this episode: How to find and identify the right-fit clients How to become the known expert in a niche by solving the right problems, telling the right stories, and fishing in the right ponds Why a simple set of 6 criteria can help you design your compelling HERO offer How to identify the 3 “Measures for Success” that will give you the ability to charge a premium price — as a result — drive profits How to connect the “WHO” and “WHAT” frameworks to build your authority position Free Resources: Order a free paperback or Kindle copy of “Sell with Authority”: https://predictiveroi.com/free-book Download the “WHO Framework”: https://predictiveroi.com/who Download the “WHAT Framework”: https://predictiveroi.com/what Download the “HOW Framework”: https://predictiveroi.com/how Newly expanded “Resource Library”: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ “How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/b2bsalesfunnel LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenwoessner Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI (PROI), a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix their mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison. He has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. What you will learn about in this episode: What winning the Kentucky Derby and building a position of authority have in common Why Stephen believes the latest derby win was not an overnight success — and why there's no such thing How Stephen and Erik ended up at the derby in the first place, and what they learned from it The impressive amount of strategy, analysis, and research that go into the probability odds for every single horse in the race Why Stephen decided to place a bet on this year's biggest underdog…that's right, Rich Strike What we as thought leaders can learn from this year's Kentucky Derby winner, Richard Dawson — and why he entered the race in the first place Resources: Photos from Stephen: Book — “Sell with Authority,” by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/books/ Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ “How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/b2bsalesfunnel Website: https://predictiveroi.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenwoessner Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI  

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI (PROI), a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation and Sell With Authority Podcasts. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix their mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison. He has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. What you will learn about in this episode: What makes somebody a thought leader? What thought leadership and baseball have in common — and why Stephen loves both of those things so dang much Why becoming a great thought leader starts with allowing yourself to be bad at it What audiences are looking for when they seek out thought leaders in their industry Why instant gratification is a common trap for thought leaders — and how to avoid it The “10 Truths of Thought Leadership” — what they are and how to apply them How to start adopting the mindset of a thought leader Resources: Book — “Sell with Authority,” by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/books/ Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ “How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/b2bsalesfunnel Website: https://predictiveroi.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenwoessner Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI

​​Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency specializing in building thought leadership and authority to drive growth. He is also the host of the Onward Nation podcast and a bestselling author of two books. Stephen joins me to share his journey as an agency owner, podcast host, and author, and he talks about his unique business growth strategy of “niching down.”  What you will learn in this episode: Why living transparently helps you grow your business How depth of ownership makes a difference  Why sharing your goal and your numbers with your teams helps move the needle Why creating a roadmap to success helps with the visualization of key metrics Why it was easy for Stephen to motivate his team when he started to share the numbers Why Predictive ROI has an open and candid attitude to developing teammates and investing in their career goals What the Predictive ROI Everest Mission is, and how Stephen uses it in his business Resources: Website: https://predictiveroi.com/ (https://predictiveroi.com/)  Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research (https://predictiveroi.com/research)  Predictive ROI Free Resource Library:https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ ( https://predictiveroi.com/resources/) Predictive ROI Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/ ( https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/) Sell With Authority Podcast: https://predictiveroi.com/sell-with-authority-podcast/ (https://predictiveroi.com/sell-with-authority-podcast/)  Onward Nation Podcast: https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/ (https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/)  Stephen Woessner's LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ (www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/)  Stephen Woessner's Bookshttps://predictiveroi.com/resources/books/ (: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/book)s/ Additional Resources: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Onion-Unveil-highest-potential-ebook/dp/B094C6S7RZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1CQSDOLNATAJ7&dchild=1&keywords=april+ballestero+slaying+the+onion&qid=1624598750&sprefix=april+balleste%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-1 (Slaying the Onion Book ) https://www.onelightacademy.com/courses/slaying-the-onion (Buy Slaying the Onion Book here) and receive a signed copy, the course, and access to a community This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

After beginning her career as a journalist, Cheryl Broom got her start in public relations as a public information officer. Her career led her to higher education, which has been her focus ever since. In this episode, Cheryl describes the types of clients she works with, the challenges they face and what role marketing can play to overcome those challenges. Cheryl also talks about the changes marketing has seen since the beginning of her career, including her work with diversity, equity and inclusion.    3:12 – Cheryl explains how her career started as a journalist before transitioning to public relations in higher education 7:25 – Cheryl talks about the types of clients she works with at Graduate Communications, focusing on community colleges. 10:48 – Cheryl describes the decrease in enrollment right now and the role marketing plays in bringing students back. 14:19 – Cheryl shares what has and has not changed in marketing over the past 20 years. 20:32 – Cheryl explains her efforts to include diversity, equity and inclusion in the work she does for her clients. 26:19 – Cheryl shares why she focuses on marketing for higher education. 30:40 – Cheryl talks about the biggest challenges her clients face.   31:54 – Cheryl provides some resources she enjoys.   Quote “So many amazing things you can do that people don't even know are possibilities, but nobody's been talking about them and now it's this mad rush. Oh my gosh, enrollment's down. Classes start in six weeks. Can marketing do something? In a lot of cases, it's too late. Marketing needs to be ongoing. You need to constantly tell your story, right? Just like in PR, you've got to always be telling your story.” – Cheryl Broom, CEO at Graduate Communications   Links: 2Bobs Podcast: https://2bobs.com/ AMI Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ami-podcasts/id1468955744 Onward Nation: https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/   Activate the PR Maven® Flash Briefing on your Alexa Device.  Join the PR Maven® Facebook group.    About the guest:     Cheryl Broom is a national community college leader with a passion for student success and a deep commitment to serving her clients with integrity and passion. For 20 years, Cheryl has worked for and served community colleges across the nation on projects ranging from bond passages to complex marketing campaigns. A former television news reporter, Cheryl brings her knack for storytelling to everyday projects as well as to her presentations. An accomplished speaker, Cheryl has spoken for Google at their Menlo Park headquarters, has keynoted higher education conferences across the nation and today is a regular Zoom presenter and moderator. You'll also catch her teaching Communications 101 (the dreaded public speaking classes) at community colleges across San Diego. Cheryl Broom made her move into public relations and marketing when she became the first public information officer for a Northern California sheriff's office. After earning a master's degree in communication studies from California State University, Chico, Cheryl served for 11 years as director of public and government relations, marketing and communications at MiraCosta College. While at MiraCosta, Cheryl led a major rebrand effort, revitalized marketing efforts to sustain year-after-year enrollment growth, secured the 2016 passage of a $455 million facilities bond and spearheaded state legislation, helping her win 14 Paragons as well as nearly 100 National Council for Marketing and Public Relations Medallion and Community Colleges Public Relations Organization awards. As the CEO and founder of Graduate Communications, Cheryl provides the vision, action and commitment to client work that makes Graduate Communications top in its class for higher education communications, marketing and research. In her free time, you'll find her lifting weights, spending time with her family and golfing.   Looking to connect:           Email: cheryl@graduatecommunications.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylbroom/ Website: www.graduatecommunications.com Podcast: https://graduatecommunications.com/podcasts/

Stephen Woessner is the Founder and CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast. In this episode of the Smart Real Estate Coach podcast, Stephen returns to the show to discuss tackling the hills of business. Chris and Stephen offer insights about some of the behaviors that stop people from actually achieving their goals, as well as common practices of successful people. They also mention the Peter Taunton event that is designed to help you navigate the challenges in business. Resources Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13 Website: https://predictiveroi.com/ Onward Nation Podcast: https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ www.linkedin.com/company/predictive-roi/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenwoessner Additional resources: Follow Chris and Zach on Club House to learn even more about deal structures and how to get 3 paydays from your real estate investments. If looking to secure some lines of credit for your business, check out Fund and Grow – Visit our Resource page at https://www.smartrealestatecoach.com/resources Schedule a FREE Strategy Call: SmartRealEstateCoach.com/action Register for our free masterclass: www.SmartRealEstateCoach.com/mastersclass Real Estate on Your Terms by Chris Prefontaine SmartRealEstateCoach.com/webinar SmartRealRstateCoach.com/ebook SmartRealEstateCoach.com/QLS Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast Sponsor: Paul G. Dion CPA, CTC    

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches working alongside and consulting with agency owners, business coaches, and strategic consultants — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects, and ultimately — drive revenue in predictable and repeatable ways. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and owner. He's the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated podcast with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of four books, including his latest entitled, “Sell with Authority.” He believes we're entering the era of the AUTHORITY. Brands that occupy the coveted “expert” status are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust from their customers, prospects, and other stakeholders because they have a depth of knowledge and point-of-view that can't be denied or easily replicated. Stephen's practical and tactical training sessions help companies capitalize on the huge shift taking place in the market today. In our hyper-competitive market for awareness and attention — brands need to plant their flag of authority and then leverage this position to fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects while developing deeper relationships with existing customers. What you'll learn about in this episode: How the journey that has become “Onward Nation” impacted many people and made a difference in businesses around the world Why you should keep Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion front and center because it impacts the momentum of your business every day Why there's an equal amount of winning in every loss — and — an equal amount of loss in every win How to shift your perspective to be thankful for the losses just as much as the wins How transitioning from thoughts of loss over to gratitude and thanksgiving when a deep loss happens can be the difference between being able to move on or remaining stuck How changes in your team, clients, and revenue are all excellent indicators of your culture and where you're going Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches working alongside and consulting with agency owners, business coaches, and strategic consultants — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects, and ultimately — drive revenue in predictable and repeatable ways. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and owner. He's the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated podcast with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of four books, including his latest entitled, “Sell with Authority.” He believes we're entering the era of the AUTHORITY. Brands that occupy the coveted “expert” status are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust from their customers, prospects, and other stakeholders because they have a depth of knowledge and point-of-view that can't be denied or easily replicated. Stephen's practical and tactical training sessions help companies capitalize on the huge shift taking place in the market today. In our hyper-competitive market for awareness and attention — brands need to plant their flag of authority and then leverage this position to fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects while developing deeper relationships with existing customers. What you'll learn about in this episode: How to create a steady stream of well-prepared prospects into your sales pipeline How and why you should build out a series of “Transitional Moments” for your audience Why you should build out a topic list of your areas of expertise How to leverage your topic list into a guest appearance on podcasts, video series, etc. How to transform the cornerstone content that comes from the interviews into the “Siphon Strategy” How to use the Siphon Strategy and add more people into your email list Why you should add each new person to your list into what Stephen called the New Lead Sequence How to create your own New Lead Sequence How to leverage all of this new content into optimized blog posts for your website How all of this content builds out what Stephen calls, “The Infinity Loop” and will drive revenue for you Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Like many business owners Angela Ficken reached a point where she was burning the candle at both ends. She took the plunge to start private practice … and thought she would “hang out her shingle” and that's all she needed to do. It didn't work out that way and in this episode Angela tells us how she overcame the “hustle of being in business which is a constant grind” She says that she learned very fast that: “Your pay check is as much as you hustle” Angela has built her business Progress Welness into a worldwide brand. She offers online products that take her expertise out into the world for a wide range of clients.  She tells us that creating the brand allowed the creativity side of her personality. In this episode Angela walks us through the process she used to build her brand and the entire suit of online products – so helpful for every business person. Angela Ficken, LICSW is a full-time psychotherapist in private practice. She specializes in OCD, eating disorders, and anxiety-related concerns. She started her career at McLean Hospital, which is one of the top-ranking psychiatric hospitals in the country and affiliated with Harvard University. She was the head social worker on an inpatient unit that focuses on anxiety and depression. During her time at McLean, she trained in exposure therapy and became certified in CBT and DBT. Shortly thereafter, she worked at Harvard University as a primary therapist for undergraduate and graduate students. During her time there, she taught students CBT and DBT skills to help them manage a range of challenging emotions that young adults face daily.   Angela has focused her attention on working with young adults and entrepreneurs primarily after noticing that both groups struggled with anxiety disorders and stress-related issues due to life transitions and the uncertainty of what was coming next in their lives. The struggle, as they say, is "real". She has spent years fine-tuning her practice and building her business into something more than a standard full-time private practice. In this conversation she tells us how she has achieved this - with practical and actionable steps we can all implement. She began writing for Huffington Post as an expert, which then catapulted her into writing for other major online sources which include Marriage.com where she is a verified expert, YourTango.com, ThriveGlobal.com, and has been quoted in Oprah Magazine, and on Fastcompany.com, Inc.com, Forbes.com, MSN.com, Bustle.com, Popsugar.com, Buzzfeed.com, Nylon magazine, Getstigma.com, and Justluxe.com. She has also been a guest on Onward Nation with Stephen Woessner where she talked about OCD and intrusive thoughts, as well as on the radio in Chicago and Reno speaking about stress and anxiety. Through her writing and hearing from her clients how difficult it was finding an understanding therapist—one who could actually teach coping strategies to manage difficult emotions—she decided to create the Worried to Well-Balanced: Practical Skills to Deal With Everyday Stressors: Worried to Well-balanced course to reach more people other than those she could meet within her office. The course is designed to help those who have significant stress in their lives and struggle to find ways of coping and managing their emotions. You can find Angela Ficken and Progress Wellness: Pinterest.com/progresswellnes Facebook.com/progresswellness Instagram.com/progresswellness   You can find me, Ingrid Thompson: website: www.healthynumbers.com.au LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ingridthompson   My guess is you are listening to these podcasts because ..... My guess is that you are here because you are a business owner and what you really want - is to build and grow a successful business - whatever that means to you. We know that business owners want to feel more confident when it comes to the money side of business. Having a successful business might mean making business decisions with reliable information - facts & data as well as your "gut feel." …  ultimately you want to do what you do best AND have a successful business AND make a difference. I'm here to help you. Everything I do in my business, every decision I make is based on this question:  Will this make a difference? Will this help you, my listener - will this help you to build your business? will this help you to create your successful, viable and robust business so you can achieve Financial Independence? This is why I do what I do There are 2 ways you can access all my best material: Read my book! It is a Business 101 and can answer pretty much all your business questions. This book is designed to help you build your business - whether you are starting from scratch and creating something new or you have been in business for a couple of years and want to build from your foundations. The book is your step by step guide to building a business smarter and faster. "So You Want to Start a Business" Order your copy now from Booktopia, Amazon or Book Depository It's so exciting to be sharing it with you. If you prefer the kindle Head straight to Amazon Happy reading! AND I regularly run webinars on a range of money related topics: Managing Cash Flow so you never run out of money Understanding where your money goes - getting those expenses sorted out Understanding the Profit First book Pricing - getting it right for your studio The things you need to know before signing a commercial lease How to make more money ... and many other topics If you'd like the replay of any of these recent webinars, please email me ingrid@healthynumbers.com.au and put "Replay" in the subject and let me know which one you'd like to watch. I'll send you the link to the replay   Truly, I'm always keen to hear from you. Please send me an email ingrid@healthynumbers.com.au I personally answer all my own emails

In this special episode of the Smart Real Estate Coach podcast, I'm joined by special guest host Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and host of the Onward Nation podcast. Stephen interviews me about the important lessons we learned coming out of the 2008 debacle, why mindset and discipline are crucial ingredients for success, and how our business was honored to be named on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies. Additional resources:   Follow Chris and Zach on Clubhouse to learn even more about deal structures and how to get 3 paydays from your real estate investments. If you're looking to secure some lines of credit for your business, check out Fund and Grow - Visit the Resource page at https://www.smartrealestatecoach.com/resources  Schedule a FREE Strategy Call: www.SmartRealEstateCoach.com/action  SmartRealEstateCoachPodcast.com/webinar SmartRealEstateCoachPodcast.com/termsbook SmartRealEstateCoachPodcast.com/ebook SmartRealEstateCoach.com/QLS Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast Sponsor: Paul G. Dion CPA, CTC

Welcome to Episode 364 of the Yeukai Business Show. In this episode, Angela Ficken and Trevor discuss how to manage difficult emotions. So if you want to know the simple framework for stress and anxiety management., tune in now! In this episode, you'll discover: ·        How can entrepreneurs manage stress and anxiety at work. ·        How can entrepreneurs manage their mental health at work. ·        Helps entrepreneurs with wellness. About Angela Angela Ficken is an expert in managing mental health whose accomplishments include: ·        Angela Ficken, LICSW is a full-time psychotherapist in private practice. Her office is located in Boston, MA. She specializes in OCD, eating disorders, and anxiety related concerns. ·        She started her career at McLean Hospital, which is one of the top ranking psychiatric hospitals in the country, and affiliated with Harvard University. ·        She was the head social worker on an inpatient unit that focuses on anxiety and depression. ·        She trained in exposure therapy, and became certified in CBT and DBT. ·        She worked at Harvard University as a primary therapist for undergraduate and graduate students. ·        She taught students CBT and DBT skills to help them manage a range of challenging emotions that young adults face daily. ·        She is a verified expert, YourTango.com, ThriveGlobal.com, and has been quoted in Oprah Magazine, and on MSN.com, Bustle.com, Popsugar.com, Buzzfeed.com, Nylon magazine, Getstigma.com, and Justluxe.com. ·        She has also been a guest on Onward Nation with Stephen Woessner where she talked about OCD and intrusive thoughts, as well as on the radio in Chicago and Reno speaking about stress and anxiety. ·        She created the Breaking Every Day into Slivers Not Chunks: Practical Skills to Deal With Everyday Stressors course. More Information Learn more about how you can improve your results with manage mental health with Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/progresswellness/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/Progresswellnes Thanks for Tuning In! Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below! If you enjoyed this episode on How manage difficult emotions, please share it with your friends by using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic episode updates for our "Yeukai Business Show!" And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on iTunes. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get. Please leave a review right now  Thanks for listening!

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches working alongside and consulting with hundreds of clients — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects, and ultimately — drive revenue. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and owner. He's the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated podcast with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he's the bestselling author of four books, including his latest entitled, “Sell with Authority.” He believes we're entering the era of the AUTHORITY. Brands that occupy the coveted “expert” status are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust from their customers, prospects, and other stakeholders because they have a depth of knowledge and point-of-view that can't be denied or easily replicated. Stephen's practical and tactical training sessions help companies capitalize on the huge shift taking place in the market today. In our hyper-competitive market for awareness and attention — brands need to plant their flag of authority and then leverage this position to fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects while developing deeper relationships with existing customers. Our purpose is to deliver predictable and measurable ROI by positioning our clients as THE AUTHORITY in their niches and then monetizing that position. What you'll learn about in this episode: In this unique episode of Onward Nation, you'll hear audio from a guest appearance Stephen Woessner recently had on the Profit With Podcasting podcast, hosted by Noah Tetzner. You'll hear insights about: Why Noah's outstanding initial email where he reached out to invite Stephen to guest on his Profit With Podcasting show immediately caught Stephen's notice Stephen shares the origins of the Onward Nation podcast and discusses how the show has grown over its more than one thousand episodes How the Onward Nation podcast led to the Trojan Horse of Sales strategy and Predictive ROI's focus on thought leadership marketing What the Dream 25 list is, and how you can utilize your Dream 25 as a roadmap for getting intentional about your ideal client prospects How a podcast can be an ideal vehicle for connecting with your Dream 25 perfect-fit prospects as a Trojan Horse to get you in the gates Why the follow-up process after a Dream 25 client appears on your show is the crucial next step for furthering your relationship Why your contacts with your prospect need to be about them and their expertise and not be self-aggrandizing Why it's important to slice and dice your podcast episode to share through other channels so that you don't become a “one-trick pony” How the Sell With Authority methodology has grown into an encompassing, multifaceted thought leadership marketing strategy Resources from the Profit With Podcasting episode: Learn more about the power of thought leadership marketing with Noah Tetzner's Profit With Podcasting Email Noah: noah@profitwithpodcasting.com Get a free copy of Sell With Authority: https://predictiveroi.com/free-book Profitable Podcasting by Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/3qH3yZV Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

With a talent for creating special events that blossomed while working for her dad's car stereo shop, Nicole Mahoney got her start in marketing at Frontier Field in Rochester and she began serving as the executive director of the internationally known Lilac Festival. Later on, Nicole headed the Canandaigua, New York Business Improvement District while also performing projects for the tourism promotion agency Visit Rochester. In 2009, Nicole founded Break the Ice Media, with more than 20 years of experience in tourism marketing. She now hosts “Destination on the Left”, a highly successful tourism marketing podcast. As a business owner, Nicole knows what it takes to be successful. She founded BTI to help businesses tell their brand story through public relations, digital and traditional channels. She has the ability to uncover unique marketing opportunities and develop marketing and public relations initiatives that help clients build long-term success. What you'll learn about in this episode: How Nicole founded her marketing agency, Break The Ice Media, and how she specializes in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry Why the industry at large is experiencing a workforce shortage, and how it is impacting businesses during the global pandemic How Nicole built a team that is as passionate about helping businesses in their industry as she is, and why industry collaboration is one of Nicole's main focuses How launching the Destination on the Left podcast helped Nicole clarify her focus and led her to doing a collaboration research study to be helpful to her audience Why Nicole set out to answer the question “what makes collaborations work or fail in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry?” in her research How Nicole used her team, her podcast, and her network of connections in the industry as the foundation of her three-month collaboration research project What results Nicole and her research partner Susan Baier were able to discover through their research, and what content Nicole was able to develop based on the survey How Nicole determined her two-pronged webinar strategy with separate private client and public-facing webinar offerings How Nicole uses the research results as cornerstone content and then slices and dices it into many different smaller pieces of cobblestone content How planting her flag as the authority on travel, tourism, and hospitality industry collaboration has created new opportunities for Nicole's agency Resources: Email: nicole@breaktheicemedia.com Destination on the Left Podcast: https://breaktheicemedia.com/podcast/ Website: www.destinationontheleft.com/summit Website: https://breaktheicemedia.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nicolemahoney/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/break-the-ice-media/about/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/BreakTheIceMedia/ Twitter: @Break_TheIce Additional Resources: Edelman's 2020 Trust Barometer Special Report “Trust and the Coronavirus”: https://www.edelman.com/research/2020-edelman-trust-barometer-special-report-coronavirus-and-trust Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns: www.winwithoutpitching.com/pricing-creativity/ Listen to episode 999 of the Onward Nation podcast featuring Brett Gilliland: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/brett-gilliland-4/ Listen to episode 735 of the Onward Nation podcast featuring Clate Mask: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/clate-mask/ Listen to episode 35 of the Elite Entrepreneurs podcast featuring Brett Gilliland and Clate Mask: https://growwithelite.com/podcasts/solocast-8/

Raphael Bender believes everyone deserves the opportunity to transform into a better version of themselves. His main strength as a teacher and movement professional is the ability to distill complex research findings into a simple, science-based approach to help people move fearlessly, thoughtlessly, and painlessly. He LOVES running, weights, cycling, and Contrology. Raph holds a Master's degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology (Rehabilitation), a Bachelor's degree in Exercise and Sports Science, Diploma of Pilates Movement Therapy, and STOTT PILATES full certification. What you'll learn about in this episode: How Breathe Education has grown rapidly in just five years, and how Raph and his team plan to achieve their powerful two-year revenue goal of a staggering $50 million How Raph navigated a careful strategic pivot to adapt to the realities of the global pandemic, and how this has allowed them to outpace their less nimble competitors How Raph learned key leadership skills at each stage of business growth, and he discusses which skills a leader needs to develop to push through their challenges Raph outlines an exercise where you measure your work as $10/hr., $100/hr., $1k/hr., $10k/hr., and $100k/hr. activities to help you identify priorities What Breathe Education looked like early on, and how intentionality and strategy over the last six years have helped the team enter the pandemic prepared for its challenges Why Raph sees marketing and sales as key leadership skills, and why he believes business owners should learn to “think like a marketer and salesperson” Why the skills and systems you developed in the “hustle and grind” of getting to $1 million in revenue aren't necessarily the same ones that will get you to $5 million Why it is important to show people how your business can help them by actually helping them, and how this can transform your business Why Raph believes that being generous with your knowledge can be a powerful way to attract new customers by becoming a trusted resource Resources: Free, Live Q&A: Stop Faking It & Really Know Your Stuff: https://breathe-education.com/pilates_elephants-register/ Podcast: https://breathe-education.com/podcast/ Website: https://breathe-education.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-bender-8b436a1a/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/breathe-education/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_raphaelbender Additional Resources: Edelman's 2020 Trust Barometer Special Report “Trust and the Coronavirus”: https://www.edelman.com/research/2020-edelman-trust-barometer-special-report-coronavirus-and-trust Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns: www.winwithoutpitching.com/pricing-creativity/ Listen to episode 999 of the Onward Nation podcast featuring Brett Gilliland: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/brett-gilliland-4/ Listen to episode 735 of the Onward Nation podcast featuring Clate Mask: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/clate-mask/ Listen to episode 35 of the Elite Entrepreneurs podcast featuring Brett Gilliland and Clate Mask: https://growwithelite.com/podcasts/solocast-8/

For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches working alongside and consulting with hundreds of clients — teaching them how to plant their flag of authority within the markets they serve, grow their audience, fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects, and ultimately — drive revenue. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and owner. He’s the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated podcast with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His marketing insights have been featured in major media, and he’s the bestselling author of four books, including his latest entitled, “Sell with Authority.” He believes we’re entering the era of the AUTHORITY. Brands that occupy the coveted “expert” status are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust from their customers, prospects, and other stakeholders because they have a depth of knowledge and point-of-view that can’t be denied or easily replicated. Stephen’s practical and tactical training sessions help companies capitalize on the huge shift taking place in the market today. In our hyper-competitive market for awareness and attention — brands need to plant their flag of authority and then leverage this position to fill their sales pipeline with right-fit prospects while developing deeper relationships with existing customers. Our purpose is to deliver predictable and measurable ROI by positioning our clients as THE AUTHORITY in their niches and then monetizing that position. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why your goal should be to use search engine optimization to go narrow Why Seth Godin had it right when he urged business owners to focus on the smallest viable audience How to find long-tail super-niche “Predictive Keywords” and why they deliver big results How to take a meaty piece of cornerstone content, slice it into 4ths, and then optimize each piece for search with long-tail, niche keywords How to build your email list by converting your website traffic with your screaming cool value exchange Why attribution of results matters and why it’s so easy to get attribution wrong inside your analytics How to apply a simple formula/process for attribution How to scale your content optimization strategy and efforts so that you’re always helpful to your audience Resources: This is Marketing by Seth Godin Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner Tim Cameron-Kitchen, CEO of Exposure Ninjas and Onward Nation Alum: Episode 409: Raise your prices Episode 966: How to get to the top of Google Fernando Angulo, Head of Communications of SEMRush and Onward Nation Alum: Episode 964 – How to score a featured snippet in Google MOZ keyword suggestion tool SEMRush keyword suggestion tool Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Good Morning Onward Nation — I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host. Welcome back, and today’s episode is going to be a solocast — it will be just you and me exploring a topic with some real depth. If you’re new to Onward Nation — I tend to record a solocast every 5 to 6-weeks to share some insights, perhaps some research, or examples I gathered from hanging out and talking with agency owners, business coaches, and strategic consultants just like you. Or sometimes — I’ll pull some data points and results from the most recent experiments we’ve been running inside the Predictive ROI Lab so you can take and apply the new strategies or tactics to fill your sales pipeline with right-fit prospects. Okay — let’s shift our attention to today’s topic. I titled this episode “Now Is The Time to Double Down” for several specific reasons. Almost exactly to the day — one year ago — I shared with you a distillation of over 400 pages of research around how business owners marketed their way through a recession like what we were facing back in March 2020…and candidly…are still facing right now in April 2021. But — the data I shared with you then wasn’t focused on the survival of business owners of just the last recession but the last six recessions. If you listened to Episode 933 — you and I would have walked through all of that data…and more specifically…how the owners doubled down and made progressive decisions so they could navigate their business through the choppy waters and be in the exact right position to come roaring out the other side of their respective recession. The last 13-months have certainly taught us many lessons about navigating ourselves through a crisis — painful lessons personally — and of course — inside our businesses. We learned what it feels like to hurt — and to hurt in a big way — to hurt as family, as friends, as a country — to just hurt and to not feel like there was anywhere to turn. What it means to truly have grit. What it means to be compassionate and to take a stand for what we know is right. What it feels like when we can’t hug a loved one when they need it most. What it means to look into the eyes of your team and tell them everything’s going to be okay — when you know behind the curtain — you’re struggling to keep your head above water. In 2020 — we learned so many valuable lessons. And my hope is that through all of the mess that the year was — and the challenges that still linger today — that you also saw some silver linings. That you took the most overused word of 2020 — which was most likely “pivot” — and you put it to good use. That you reinvented. That you asked your clients, prospects, and audience how you could be even more helpful — and you stepped up — and showed your teammates what leadership is all about. That you jumped into the trenches — back to back — and you dug, slung, and moved the same mud as your team. And that you were open, you were honest, and you let them see you cry when you needed to cry. We all had those moments. You didn’t — and you don’t have to have all the answers — because you’re human. So for this solocast…we’re going to take a step back. I’m going to walk you through a small slice of the data from 12-months ago for a couple of reasons. One — I want you to see how far you have come…how you moved along that path…to reflect on the decisions you made…and the result outcomes. And yes — nothing is ever perfect…but you’re still here. And there’s victory in that. Two — we’re going to celebrate a few businesses and their owners who really crushed it. And I don’t mean necessarily from a revenue perspective…but I mean from the perspective of being the beacon of hope when we needed them to be. Being there every time their clients or customers had a question — and oftentimes a difficult one — there they were — being helpful. Let’s celebrate that because in good times — or in bad, like a global pandemic — it’s a great recipe for us to follow. And three — as we see the economy recovering — and we see momentum beginning to come back — what are some things you could be doing right now to fill your sales pipeline with right-fit prospects? I’ll share some insights that you can take and apply. So you see? Now’s the time to double down. Now’s the time to push even harder. Now’s the time to say to your team…“We’re going to plant our flag of authority in this niche so that during the next crisis — we will have even further future-proofed our business.” Now. Right now. Now’s the time to double down. Okay…deep breath. I have one more thing to share with you before we dive in. And it’s a really big, super awesome, and very sincere THANK YOU! If I could give you a big hug — I would. Today’s episode is number 1,000 of Onward Nation. And that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because you and all of our subscribers around the world have shared feedback with us, asked questions, cared enough to point out ways we could be even better, and you shared our episodes with your colleagues, family, and friends. THANK YOU — it has been my honor to sit in this seat for the last 6 years and to have the opportunity to share the insights and wisdom from our guests…with you. There is also a very long list of family, teammates, mentors, and friends who have made these 1,000 episodes possible. They were there in the beginning — they prodded me along the way — they encouraged me when I was down — and they held me accountable to get done what I promised to do. Needless to say — I have a lot of phone calls and thank you cards to write because what John Wooden said was so true — “You will never outperform your inner circle” — and I feel fortunate and blessed to be surrounded by rockstars. So sincerely, Onward Nation…THANK YOU! Okay… I built this solocast to act as a beacon around why — in my opinion — Now’s The Time to Double Down. What can we do to rebuild — and if we work hard at it — could it be possible to come out of this recession in an even better position than when we went in? I will — and will continue to argue — yes — it is possible. And that is what drove me to do the research. To look back through past recessions, past recoveries…to study the winners and the losers…and to share with you what they did…so we can all take some lessons out of their playbooks and put them to work right now. I’m going to give you the data points and examples to show it’s possible. And — I’m going to share the next steps that you and your team can take to make it happen as well as share some free resources. And all of the research citations that I will quote can be found in the endnotes section of today’s show notes on PredictiveROI.com. With all that said — let’s start stepping through why Now’s The Time to Double Down. Let’s start off by reviewing three research studies and articles published in the Harvard Business Review. Again all linked within today’s show notes. The first article is entitled “Preparing your business for a post—pandemic world,” which was published by HBR on April 10, 2020 and was written by Carsten Lund Pedersen and Thomas Ritter, both professors at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. I pulled golden nuggets out of Pedersen and Ritter’s work because of their emphasis on planning before and during a crisis — and how if your planning process was sound, Onward Nation — you will come roaring out the other side of the current recession and future proof your business so you’ll be even more prepared for the next crisis. But in order to prep the proper response plan with smart strategic decisions, you must first understand the position your business holds in the market. You can do that by asking yourself and your team some fundamental questions like, “who are we in our market,” “what role do we play in the market? (Are we price-sensitive suppliers, are we market leaders, do our clients and prospects see us as thought leaders, etc.?).” And — what if we double down make immediate course corrections…could we emerge as a market leader fueled by developments, new ideas, service offerings, or invest in new markets while the recession is still here — so that — we come roaring out the other side?[1] Onward Nation — the right plan should not just map out the where but also the how. You need to map out your action steps and milestones for today, next quarter, and for the remainder of the year. And it’s been my experience — this is where business owners get snagged. In fact — I just got home after several days in Chicago attending a live and in-person workshop for agency owners hosted by Drew McLellan, CEO of Agency Management Institute. Okay — quick detour — can I just say — holy frickin’ bananas — it was so awesome to be live and in-person with other owners. To sit, listen, share ideas…share a meal…oh…my…word. Amazing. Alright — well — one of the exercises during the workshop was the one-year business plan. All it took was a quick show of hands for who actually had a one-page…or any length…written business plan. And only a few hands were raised. Why? Business oftentimes — we owners create lofty ideas without any of the tactical detail our teams can challenge, make better, and then implement — or worse yet — there’s no plan at all because we rely on winging it. Winging it may work during good economic times — but what we learned in 2020 was that winging it falls super short during a crisis. Like the former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Your high-level, half-baked plan quickly falls about without the right operationalized strategy. And that is exactly why when the U.S. Navy SEALS create a mission plan along with 13 contingencies for each mission they execute. Yes — 13. The SEALS anticipate that there will be an ebb and flow to the mission plan as the situation evolves and changes with new data points, variables difficult to predict, or sudden changes. They never expect to not encounter changes to the plan. But if they didn’t have a plan – they wouldn’t know what gear to take, how much gear, transportation, extraction, and the litany of other things that need to be considered. The mission doesn’t change but how you accomplish it will most likely need to ebb and flow along the way. And yet – I know many business owners who bristle at the thought of planning because they don’t want to feel boxed in or the constraint on flexibility. The Seals would tell you that it is because of how they double down on the planning process that they can be more flexible on the battlefield. Because of their planning — they have already anticipated and thought through their options – and – have everything they need to quickly proceed with a new direction. Your business can be just as nimble with the right planning. Yes, COVID has been confusing. It’s been stressful. And there have been times when working with my leadership team at Predictive over the last 12 months when I felt overwhelmed and just wanted to start doing things to see if anything would stick. But — we didn’t until we had a plan. So as we start to see the end of this tunnel we’ve been in — I’m pushing you to take a step back…have discipline…look around…ask yourself and your team questions…look at today…this week…this month…and map out…IN WRITING…the steps you intend to take quickly for both the short—term — and — identify how those steps will set your business up for success in 12-months as it relates to your 3-year mission. Now — another lesson about planning. The plan is no good unless you have shared it — taught from it — marinated your team in it — and then repeated the process over and over again. You need to communicate the details of the plan as well as the process used to create the plan — with your entire team. If you or your leadership team works through the planning process in a vacuum and doesn’t share highlights, milestones, or progress as the plan is evolving — I’m telling you — your team will feel lost…they won’t know how to implement it…you will have lost your opportunity to create buy-in…and your culture will suffer. Your team was just as confused, scared, and concerned as you were when COVID first hit. And now — many of them…if not all of them…are looking forward to the possibilities that await you and your business on the other side of this recession. And you building the plan will help them not only see those possibilities — but — ensure that they see your vision — and — they will know how to make it become a reality. But to be clear — I’m not suggesting that your entire team needs to be involved in the creation of the core plan. But what I am suggesting is that you take a lesson out of the book, “Extreme Ownership” where you and your leadership team create the core plan — brief your entire team on the objectives and intent of the plan — and then ask junior members of your team to meet and work out the tactical details for implementing the plan.[3] Your job is to make sure you are clear on the objectives and the intent of the plan. Then set your expectations for the timing for the completion of the plan — quickly…like 24— to 48—hours — and have each of the junior team members present their portion of the plan back to you and your leadership team. Then everyone asks questions and in doing so – does some stress testing of the plan. It’s crucial to create space for the plan to evolve but that doesn’t mean your planning process needs to take weeks. It can be days and you will be off and running. I assure you — your greatest challenge during the planning process will be to prioritize. You need to be careful that you don’t start numerous projects that all depend on the same critical resources. If you do — you will burn out your team and nothing will get done with excellence. Instead — take your five, six, or 10 great ideas…apply pressure to them…and distill them down to one to two great ideas with clear steps for the next 30-days. And then keep a list of all of the other ideas and come back to it in 30-days and re-evaluate what should be next. And if you go to today’s show notes — you will be able to download a super helpful calendar from our good friends at Elite Entrepreneurs — it will help you visualize each and every meeting you should be having with your team throughout the year so that you can communicate the details of your plan. Now let’s shift our attention to the imagination — because we need it now more than ever. Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, both part of the Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute, wrote a brilliant article entitled, “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever” which was published by the Harvard Business Review on April 10, 2020. A link to the full text of the article can be found in the endnotes section of today’s show notes. Reeves and Fuller put forth the argument that imagination — in the face of uncertainty, economic recession, and the historic challenges we’re facing right now — is exactly what we need to solve the problem. But it is difficult to apply imagination and all of its benefits when we are in full-on crisis management mode. Why? Because when something unexpected and significant happens our first instinct is to defend against it. Then we later move to understand and manage whatever caused the crisis so we can get back to the status quo. The authors believe – and I agree – “that your capacity to imagine…to create, to evolve, and to pursue ideas — is a crucial factor in seizing and creating new opportunities, and finding new paths to growth.”[4] But the challenge is — and my guess is when I impressed upon you the importance of planning a few minutes ago — you may have said to yourself “Stephen…there’s no time for planning – I need to double down and take action now.” Same thing with imagination — because of the pressure of COVID— it will be one of the hardest things to keep alive in your business — both now and into the future. However — imagination — rethinking how you can double down in what you deliver to be helpful to your clients and prospects is exactly what can help you come roaring out the other side of this recession. For example — in recessions and downturns, 14 percent of companies outperform both historically and competitively because they invested in new growth areas. Apple released its first iPod in 2001 — the same year the U.S. economy experienced a recession that contributed to a 33 percent drop in Apple’s total revenue. Still – Apple saw the iPod’s ability to transform its product portfolio so the company increased R&D spending by double digits, which sparked an era of high growth for the company.[5] But — let’s shine a bright light on some non-Apple companies because sometimes it’s super easy to discount these types of case studies because most of us don’t have several hundred billion lying around that we can invest toward R&D. That said — if you were to take a look inside the communities of Agency Management Institute, Elite Entrepreneurs, and Smart Real Estate Coach — you could find business owner after business owner who had their best year in history during 2020. I know many business owners who doubled sales, team size, and profit in the last 12-months. How on Earth is that possible? Were they just lucky — in the right place — at the right time — with the right silver lining? It would be lovely if it were that simple — but no. They re-imagined the possibilities. They doubled down on being helpful. They asked their clients and prospects what they needed? They shared their insights and wisdom by teaching generously. And — they didn’t just focus on service delivery. They marketed. They created content. They stepped up in a big way to be a solution. They rolled out new offerings. Retired old offerings. And they made it even easier to do business with them. They reimagined every aspect of their business, Onward Nation — and you can too. And there’s still time. If you can rally your teams — create an imaginative plan that everyone buys into because they had a hand in building it — you will likely be way ahead of your competitors as we come roaring out of this recession. Right now — because of everything that has happened over the last year — you might be the only one serving your niche who is actually thinking about how best to double down on being helpful. The rest of your industry might be thinking about that next promotional push…something…anything in order to get a few dollars in to make Q2 look promising. But — I’m encouraging you to IMAGINE a completely different path. A path where you generously share your smarts, your insights, where you teach the best of what you have and how it aligns with the business issues and challenges your clients, prospects, audience face — in good times or in crisis. You do all of this while everyone else is simply reacting. You’ll be on a completely different level. Why? Because you allowed yourself the time to imagine the blue ocean of possibilities — and — you worked your butt off to make it happen. Okay — so let’s dial this in a little further. How do you do all of that? Let me help by giving you a push from the authors. Instead of asking yourself and your team passive questions like “What will happen to us during this recession?” — flip the script — by asking active, open questions like “How can we create new options?” Or — “How can we double down and be even more helpful to our clients and prospects during this crisis?” What could we teach? What research and strategic insights could we share? What online event, webinar, or forum could we host for our clients, prospects, and audience that would share the best of what we’ve got to help them navigate what’s next? And yes — I agree with you — there are no easy solutions or silver bullets. This is a ton of work. My Predictive team and I have wrestled through many options when we were building out our 1-year Strategic Plan. We’ve worked through everything I’m recommending to you…I have seen it in action. So yes — it’s hard — the discipline you need in order to essentially force yourself to imagine the possibilities — create a plan — and see it through — will — no doubt — be challenging. But — all of this work — I assure you — will help you plant your flag of authority in the niche you serve — and — you will be of greater service to your clients, prospects, and audience…and…when you do this the right way…and your heart is in the right place…you will attract an abundance of right-fit prospects into your sales pipeline. And you will come roaring out the other side of this recession. Okay – the last nugget I want to share with you was a game-changer for me. I have been a student of mindset, attraction theory, and the power of the mastermind for years. I’m a firm believer in that which we focus on we get more of. Perseverating over negative thoughts produces negative results and I have seen the reverse happen, too. And when blended with a great plan, intentional execution, and hard work – the details within the plan become reality. However — what I learned from this article and wanted to share with you is how this actually plays out in the world of statistics, too. For example — “when we lose hope and adopt a passive mindset, we cease to believe that we can meet our ideals or fix our problems. In statistics, what’s called “Bayesian Learning” involves taking a belief about a statistical distribution – the prior results in other words – and then updating it in the light of each new piece of information obtained. Essentially — the outcome of the entire process can be determined by the initial belief. Therefore Onward Nation — in a very real way — pessimism can become a self—fulfilling prophecy.”[6] In the show notes — I cite the section of research from the article I just shared with you so you can do a deep dive into the justification for it if you like. So let’s go high level for a minute — if you focus on being imaginative, being open to the possibilities, giving your team grounds for hope, encouraging them to be innovative…and all of this is done with the intent of being helpful to your clients and prospects in a way you never have been before…you will make progress. Meanwhile – your competitors will be bogged down in the myriad of thin things and trapped in a short-term survival mentality that requires them to TAKE from their clients and prospects…and guess what…it won’t work. There were many silver linings of the last 12-months if we look hard enough — and I will tell you that one of the biggest — is that we as people are even more attuned to generosity, transparency, truth, and it has become super easy to sniff out a fake. So — imagine yourself generously playing the long game and your clients and prospects will love you for it because they will see you are genuinely playing the game for their benefit. Trust me when I say that the trench you’re fighting in every day – that trench of pressure, doubt, fear, anxiety, and at times…overwhelm…yep, I know that trench well, too. And I’m right there — right here — with you…slugging it out, too…and working hard. One thing I’m grateful for is that because of the last 12 months — at Predictive — we sharpened our leadership and planning skills. We were forced to quickly build a plan. My fellow leaders and I prioritized…we mapped out how we could be helpful to our clients and prospects…and we did all of that from the spirit of imagination. And then we shared it with our team. Now – taking you behind the curtain in full transparency…we did all of that in 48—hours. This is not a 4—6 week process. Don’t get bogged down. Get moving. Let’s keep up the momentum of the planning process and begin to think about how you could deal with the myriad of business pressures right now. Do you continue to look to cut operating costs. Do you reduce staff? Do you work to open new markets and invest in R&D, or some other combination of strategies? And – is there an ideal combination or blend of the strategies – and if so – what have been the result outcomes from other companies as they worked to navigate past crises. Thankfully – there is some excellent research available on all of the above. With that said – it might seem a bit odd that I am going to now turn our attention toward an article / published study in the Harvard Business Review from 2010. Why would I pull from an article that is 10—years old? The article is entitled, “Roaring Out of Recession” and was published in HBR on March 3, 2010. I’m encouraging you and your team to study it because the data points within the article provide a whole lot of context that will be helpful to what you’re working on today. Back in 2010 of course – the country was looking for any and all help in pulling itself out of the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009. But in order to make smart recommendations to their 2010 readers – the authors went back and gathered data from the past three global recessions: The 1980 crisis (which lasted from 1980 to 1982) The 1990 slowdown (1990 to 1991) And the 2000 bust (2000 to 2002) They studied 4,700 public companies, breaking down the data into three periods: The three years before a recession The three years after And the recession years themselves.[8] It took the researchers over 12-months to complete the research and they focused on publicly traded companies because of the availability and access to data. Here are some of the strategic insights from the research… 17 percent of the companies in the study didn’t survive their respective recession. About 80 percent of 4,700 companies in the study (3,760 companies) had not yet regained their pre-recession growth rate for sales and profits three years after the recession. 40 percent of the 4,700 companies (1,880 companies) hadn’t even returned to their prerecession sales and profits levels by the end of the three years post-recession. For the majority of the companies – the financial impact of the recession were long-lasting. Only 9 percent of companies flourished after a slowdown and did better than they had before and outperformed rivals in their industry. Interestingly — companies that cut costs faster and deeper than their competitors didn’t flourish. In fact – these were the companies in the study with the LOWEST probability — 21 percent — of pulling ahead of their competition when the economy rebounded. Counterintuitively — the company leaders that decided to double down and boldly invest more than their rivals during a recession also didn’t fare well. They only enjoyed a 26 percent chance of becoming leaders after a downturn and then into an economic rebound. And most surprising to me when I studied the research was learning that 85 percent of growth leaders heading into a recession were toppled because of the crisis. So if you’re not currently the leader in your niche – then right NOW could absolutely be your perfect opportunity if you lead your team correctly, plant your flag of authority, and be the expert your clients, prospects, and audience need you to be. The post-recession winners were companies that mastered the art of making progression decisions and balancing cutting costs to survive AND investing to grow tomorrow. And the proof is in the results with 37 percent of the post-recession winners breaking away from the pack. “The post—recession winners were the companies that cut costs selectively by focusing on increasing operational efficiency — meanwhile — they invested relatively comprehensively in the future by spending on marketing, R&D, and new assets. This is the best antidote to a recession.”[9] The researchers called the segment of companies that had taken this strategic approach, “Progressive.” Okay — so let’s define that a little further. Progressive companies deploy the optimal combination of defense and offense. Conversely — the “prevention-focused companies” in the study were the ones whose leaders quickly implemented policies that reduced operating costs, shrunk discretionary expenditures, eliminated frills, lowered headcount, and preserved cash. They also postponed making new investments in R&D, developing new businesses, or buying assets such as plants and machinery to expand their capacity. Prevention-focused leaders cut back on almost every item of cost and investment and reduce expenditures significantly more than competitors. Focusing solely on cost—cutting causes executives and employees to approach every decision through a loss—minimizing lens and pessimism permeates the organization. Prevention-focused companies did exactly what Brett Gilliland, CEO of Elite Entrepreneurs, warned us against back in Episode 929 when he shared the lessons around flee, fight — and the most harmful to business owners — and that’s freezing and doing nothing. Prevention-focused companies were the ones that suffered the most during the recession – and – took the longest to recover. Or – never recovered to their pre-recession levels for sales and profit. So let’s flip that — is doubling down on promotion the right strategy…right now? No – it’s not that simple. When companies in the study focused purely on promotion — essentially having the mindset of we’re going to advertise our way out of the crisis by just shouting more often that our customers need our stuff — it developed a culture of optimism that led companies to deny the gravity of a crisis for a long time. They ignored early warning signs, such as customer’s budget cuts, and were steadfast in the belief that as long as they innovate, their sales and profits will continue to rise. They didn’t notice that because the pie was shrinking and that they must capture an even larger share from rivals to keep growing. And this typically leads to intense price competition and a zero—sum game. No one wins in a race to the bottom. However — progressive companies — which is where I’m urging you to begin thinking, Onward Nation — they are the companies that cut costs by improving operational efficiency rather than by slashing the number of employees. Only 23 percent of progressive companies cut staff — whereas 56% of prevention—focused companies do—and they lay off fewer people. And the offensive moves by progressive are even comprehensive. Progressive companies developed new business opportunities by making significantly greater investments than their rivals in R&D and marketing, and they invested in expanding their capacity. Progressive companies developed new markets and invested to enlarge their asset bases. They took advantage of depressed prices to buy property, equipment, etc. All of that combined is why the post-recession growth in sales and earnings by the progressive lead companies was the best among the 4,700 within the study. Okay — let’s do a quick recap of what we have covered so far. First — by the data — you need to have a plan that involves your entire team – you cannot afford to wing it through any crisis…and definitely not this one. Second — you need to find ways to stay open to imagination and let it impact your R&D and how you approach doubling down on being helpful to your clients and prospects. And third — if you want your business to make it through the other side of this crisis…and potentially…be in an even better position than when you entered it…now is the time to be progressive. Yes, reduce your operating expenses to boost efficiency…keep your team intact the best you can…and make investments in your marketing and R&D so you can be even more helpful to your clients, prospects, and audience. Let’s take the ROI around marketing investments a bit deeper with some data points collected from a study commissioned by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). “ASI studied 2,662 firms from 1970 – 1991 to determine the effect of marketing on a company during a recession. Firms that marketed during a recession increased in value and got more marketing bang for their investment. In some cases – up to three years after the recession had ended. It seems like common sense – if you market when everyone else stops marketing – your message is more likely to be noticed due to a less cluttered market and your business is more likely to be remembered once your competitors begin marketing again.” In my opinion, Onward Nation — this NOW’S THE TIME for you not to be silent. You need to be in front of your clients, prospects, and audience — and yes — that is marketing. But — not pitchy and salesy. Focus on helping. Drew McLellan and I mapped out a complete blueprint for how to do this — and how to do it well — in our book, “Sell with Authority.” And if you want a free paperback copy — all you need to do is send me an email at stephen@predictiveroi.com and I will ship you a copy. No shipping fees — nothing. Just let me know you want a copy — and we’ll ship it straight away. I want you to have a progressive mindset about how to lead your business to the other side of this recession — and — I want you to be very thoughtful about the content you and your team creates and shares. This is why I also want to share some highlights from a special report from Edelman because the context here will help guide the context of your content. You can access a full copy of the report from the Edelman website using the link at the bottom of today’s show notes. Edelman is a global communications firm that partners with businesses and organizations to evolve, promote, and protect their brands and reputations. Edelman employs 6,000 people in more than 60 offices. And they have been studying, researching, reporting on the topic of trust for the last 20—years. Their report has become the standard for excellence on the topic. Edelman conducted a 12—market study on the critical role brands are expected to play during COVID. They interviewed 12,000 people in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, the UK, and the U.S. I’m going to walk through a high—level overview of just a handful of key insights… 71 percent said if they perceive that a business is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that business forever.[10] 84 percent said they want advertising to focus on how brands help people cope with pandemic—related life challenges.[11] 77 percent said they want brands only to speak about products and services in ways that show they are aware of the crisis and the impact on people’s lives.[12] And the study showed that there’s a deep desire for expertise. 84 percent of respondents globally said that they want businesses to be a reliable news source that keeps people informed. They want to receive this information from multiple sources, in part because they are skeptical about any individual medium given the proliferation of fake news. Taking that further — 85 percent of respondents want you to be an educator, offering your audience instructional information. With that said — I’m not suggesting that you play doctor or infectious disease expert. But what I am recommending is that you pick up the torch and lead the conversations in your niche about the business impact COVID has had — and is having — on your customers, your vendors, your industry as a whole. And — continue to champion the distribution of resources, research, or anything else you think will be helpful to your community of clients and prospects who are desperately seeking answers. If you’re on our email list – you likely received updates from me when PPP was first a thing — and then the series of resources, calculators, applications, tax resources, etc. that were all made available shortly thereafter. Our expertise isn’t in the public health arena – but – we absolutely believed we could be helpful to business owners within our community by sharing resources we have curated. And you know what? The response from our community was incredible because we shared the right resources, at the right time, with absolutely no expectation of return. Helping, Onward Nation. Not selling. The team at Edelman believes that COVID has — and will — fundamentally change how we think, behave, and consume. Business owners that act in the interest of their employees, clients, prospects, and other stakeholders will reinforce their expertise, leadership, and trust and immeasurably strengthen those bonds. Your community is looking to you to share your thought leadership and expertise – and you can’t do that by shrinking or by being quiet. They want you to demonstrate your authority. Don’t be promotional – be helpful. Don’t focus on selling – but be solutions-focused. NOW’S THE TIME to Double down on sharing your expertise like you never have before. I assure you…creating an authority position will deliver a financial return on your investment. Okay – let’s begin to wrap up and come in for a landing by circling back to some additional framing about what makes someone an authority. Thought leaders don’t write content that anyone else could claim. Thought leaders don’t write about anything and everything. And thought leaders don’t compete on price. And because of COVID, the data from Edelman, the data from our own ROI of Thought Leadership study (we’ll add a link in the show notes so you can download a free copy), and many other relevant sources — I will argue — that NOW’S THE TIME TO DOUBLE DOWN and plant your flag of authority. Churning out generic content to get ahead in Google rankings may have worked 20 years ago – but it doesn’t work today and it’s not helpful to your audience. In our book entitled, “Sell with Authority”, Drew and I shared highlights from the 2019 Trust Barometer study from Edelman, a global PR agency, which has conducted the study each year for the last 20—years. It’s a worldwide study with 33,000 consumers participating in 27 countries. One of the biggest takeaways from the study was that buyers assign a high level of trust to people they believe are just like themselves. When you think about the impact that ratings, reviews, and influencers have with their audiences, you begin to see the power of that belief. But Edelman’s research isn’t about the celebrity influencer. This study documents the rise of the common man influencer – business owners just like you and me, Onward Nation. It’s noteworthy because it gives statistical validity to the idea of real people as influencers and the impact they can have on the beliefs around a brand. The one attribute that ranked higher than the trust we have in people like you and me is the trust we have in highly educated experts. The only three groups of people we trust more than people like ourselves are company, industry, and academic experts. Experts are afforded the highest level of confidence and trust because they have a depth of knowledge in a specific industry or niche. So why in the world wouldn’t you capitalize on that? Instead of creating generic content that looks and sounds like everyone else during this crisis – take the opportunity to create thought leadership content that is unique, different, and helpful – not promotional. A true authority has something specific to teach us, and they want to be helpful or illuminating. They’re eager to share what they know because they have a genuine passion for it, and they don’t fear giving away the recipe to their secret sauce (or so it’s perceived). That confidence and generosity are contagious. Their expertise is something specific groups of people (their sweet—spot prospects) are hungry to access. Call them an expert, a thought leader, an authority, a sought—after pundit, advisor, or specialist. They’re all words for the same thing—a trusted resource that has earned that trust by demonstrating and generously sharing the depth of their specialized knowledge over and over again. Drew and I would argue that a true authority has a strong point—of—view or belief that influences how they talk about their subject area. A narrow niche, a strong point—of—view, and being findable in multiple places are the hallmarks of an authority position. And — they have a plan for creating content that is helpful to their niche and not focused on selling. All of the data points to the validity of leveraging your own thought leadership as your core strategy to proactively market your way through the recession and to make it through to the other side in a stronger position than when all of this happened. You need a plan, with some imagination, some hard work, progressive ideas, and the willingness to invest your time and attention toward execution. But if you do that – and your clients, prospects, and audience can see that you are being helpful…when they are ready to enter the market again…you’ll have put yourself in the best possible position for a new trajectory of growth. Your competitors aren’t doing this hard work. And that should be the most compelling reason why NOW’S THE TIME TO DOUBLE DOWN. The data is all on your side, Onward Nation. Okay – whew – was that a lot? Holy bananas – it sure felt like a lot. And remember — all of the research sources can be found in the endnotes in today’s show notes on PredictiveROI.com. As always — I look forward to your feedback. The emails you send me — and your comments on social media — all help us get better every day — so thank you for that Onward Nation and keep them coming. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this solocast and to make Episode 1,000 that much more special. I’m grateful! And if you need me — you can reach me directly at Stephen@predictiveroi.com. That’s my actual Inbox and I read and reply to every email. Okay, Onward Nation — until our next episode — onward with gusto! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [1] “Preparing Your Business for a Post—Pandemic World”, Carsten Lund Pederson and Thomas Ritter, Harvard Business Review, April 10, 2020. [2] “Preparing Your Business for a Post—Pandemic World”, Carsten Lund Pederson and Thomas Ritter, Harvard Business Review, April 10, 2020. [3] “Extreme Ownership”, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, St. Martin’s Press, 2015. [4] “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever”, Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, Harvard Business Review, April 10, 2020. [5] “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever”, Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, Harvard Business Review, April 10, 2020. [6] “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever”, Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, Harvard Business Review, April 10, 2020. [7] “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever”, Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, Harvard Business Review, April 10, 2020. [8] “Roaring Out of Recession”, Ranjay Gulati, Nitin Nohria, Franz Wohlgezogen, Harvard Business Review, March 3, 2010. [9] “Roaring Out of Recession”, Ranjay Gulati, Nitin Nohria, Franz Wohlgezogen, Harvard Business Review, March 3, 2010. [10] “Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic”, Richard Edelman, Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, March 30, 2020. [11] “Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic”, Richard Edelman, Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, March 30, 2020. [12] “Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic”, Richard Edelman, Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, March 30, 2020.

Stephen is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation -- a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today's top business owners think, act, and achieve. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the "8 Money Draining Mistakes" and the "8 Money Making Opportunities."Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member, taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, "The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization", "Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking", and "Profitable Podcasting."His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine.In this episode of the Rock Your Money, Rock Your Life, Stephen and I discuss how his grandfather created opportunities for his entire family, why we need to always give value and take care of our customers, and why entrepreneurs need to slow down and appreciate the process because it won’t happen overnight.

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today’s top business owners think, act, and achieve. Onward Nation is listened to in 120 countries around the world with over 28,000+ email subscribers. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix the mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner’s Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Stephen offers a high-level review of the “Sell With Authority” methodology outlined in the book of the same name he co-authored with Drew McLellan How the research presented in the Edelman Trust Barometer illustrates that an audience trusts industry experts and people like them more than anyone else What four key qualifications serve to make someone a true thought leader, and why each of these qualifications matter when creating your cornerstone content The three steps to take to “plant your flag of authority” within your chosen niche and with build trust and credibility with your target audience How “cobblestone content” can lead people back to your cornerstone content and down your sales funnel How to find the real “golden nuggets” in your cornerstone content that can be sliced and diced into your cobblestone content Stephen provides several real-world examples of slicing and dicing content and the power of cobblestone and cornerstone content in thought leadership Why a weekly Q&A session can be a fantastic way to connect with your audience, and how content can interconnect and cross-promote to expand your reach What other powerful and proven resources, tools and other content Predictive ROI has found useful in reaching out to their audience Why low-pressure and no-pressure email content can turn out a surprising number of high-quality leads Resources: The Edelman Trust Barometer: www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13 Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Mary Shores is an innovative collection agency owner, communication expert, and best-selling author who transforms people’s words to help them fall back in love with their work and their customers. Fifteen years ago, Mary discovered a game-changing formula to connect to your customers and clients. It all started with a Do-Not-Say List and grew into an entire strategy that will fix your relationships and grow your business. What you’ll learn about in this episode: What big changes Mary has experienced in her business and strategic thinking since her previous appearance in Onward Nation episode 781 How realizing the power of validation communication transformed Mary’s business and created profound opportunities How the myriad challenges of 2020 showed us that transparency is a powerful and vital communication tool that builds brand trust and strengthens relationships Why strong transparency is the first step in clearly defining and articulating your strategy to those outside your organization Why the way we have been conditioned to speak is opposite to how we can actually create a real connection, and why we must learn to communicate differently How neuroscience shows that validation communication is a powerful trust builder, and why validating feelings of the people you’re speaking with matters Why the secret recipe of “validate, activate, integrate” can transform your relationships with your customers and anyone you interact with How the global pandemic has presented a golden opportunity for Mary to teach other debt collection agencies how to communicate with greater empathy and understanding What words appear on Mary’s “Do-Not-Say List” in her debt collection business, and why those particular words are banned Why now is the ideal time to experience exponential growth in your business and career through the extraordinary power of collaboration Resources: Website: www.maryshores.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shoresmary/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/shores-communications/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/shoresmary Twitter: @mary_shores Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13 Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

In this one-of-a-kind episode of the Smart Real Estate Coach podcast, guest host Stephen Woessner turns the tables on Chris and interviews him about his background, how he got into real estate, and how he navigated the crushing challenges of the 2008 real estate market crash. Whether you're new to the Wicked Smart community or you've been here for the long haul, this episode gives you a glimpse into who Chris Prefontaine is and why he feels so passionately about helping others build true financial freedom through real estate. Chris's Bio: Chris Prefontaine is the best-selling author of Real Estate on Your Terms: Create Continuous Cash Flow Now, Without Using Your Cash or Credit. He's also the founder of SmartRealEstateCoach.com and the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 25 years. His experience includes the construction of over 100 single-family and duplex homes (mostly in the 1990's and selectively to date), has owned a Realty Executives Franchise (Massachusetts 1994-2000) as broker/owner which maintained high per-agent standards and eventually sold to Coldwell Banker in 2000. The 2000's included coaching ½ million and higher REALTORs® in order to scale & automate their business throughout the US and Canada. He also participated (and still does selectively) in doing condo conversions (multi-family homes to condos) and “raise the roof” projects (converting single-family ranches to colonials in growth neighborhoods). Chris has been a big advocate of constant education and participates regularly in high-end mastermind groups, as well as consults with private mentors. He runs his own buying and selling businesses with his family team, which buys 2-5 properties monthly, so they're in the trenches every single week. They also help clients do the same thing around the country. Chris and his family team have done over 80 million in real estate transactions. They mentor, coach, consult, and actually partner with students around the country (by application only) to do exactly what they do. Stephen's Bio: Stephen Woessner is the Founder and CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast, a top-rated podcast for learning how business owners think, act, and achieve success. Onward Nation is listened to in more than 120 countries around the world. He is the author of three bestselling books including the Amazon #1 Bestseller Profitable Podcasting. He is also a speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. What you will learn in this episode: What important lessons Chris learned during the 2008 collapse that have continued to pay dividends even today Why developing the right mindset was crucial for Chris's survival after losing everything in 2008, and why having the right mindset is vital for Chris's students Why TTFD (Time To First Deal) is one of the key metrics Chris tracks in his students, and why the biggest slowdown they often encounter comes from mindset and fear How focusing on the “third pillar” of mindset has helped Chris and his team dramatically decrease students' TTFD How Chris realized his “Three Paydays” system was going to allow him to create the financial freedom he wanted for his family How an early deal morphed and converted over time, and how Chris has been able to hang onto that deal for over eight years and continue to profit Why being able to smartly pivot is a key skill that has helped Chris repeatedly grow his profits from his deals What important lessons and “aha!” moments Chris has experienced that he has been able to share with the Wicked Smart community Why Chris does the work that he does, and why his purpose is to empower people and change their lives How Chris built the Wicked Smart community with intentionality and care, with the goal of creating something to truly support his students Additional resources: Download the 7 Steps PDF Here SmartRealEstateCoachPodcast.com/webinar SmartRealEstateCoachPodcast.com/termsbook SmartRealEstateCoachPodcast.com/ebook SmartRealEstateCoach.com/QLS Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast Sponsor: Paul G. Dion CPA, CTC  

Stephen Woessner shares his business growth strategy called “niching down.” Learn how agency owners can drive revenue by establishing their authority position with insights about: His journey as an agency owner, podcast host, and author Why niching down and becoming the go-to thought leader in your industry is the key to achieving growth and scalability Different ways you can carve out your niche and develop thought leadership Why niching down results in more efficient use of an agency's time and resources Why any agency is fit to begin the process of niching down How he managed to become more helpful to clients by focusing on a specific superpower The most important financial lesson he learned in building an agency Business Growth Strategy: Niching Down Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency that specializes in building thought leadership and authority to drive growth. He is also the host of the “Onward Nation” podcast and a bestselling author of two books. In this episode of the Progressive Agency podcast, Stephen joins us to share his journey as an agency owner, podcast host, and author, and he talks about his unique business growth strategy of niching down. If you want to learn how you can focus your sales and communication efforts to generate cash flow, this episode is for you. Planting Your Flag of Authority In Stephen's latest book with Drew McLellan, “Sell With Authority,” he teaches agency owners how to plant the flag of authority and establish themselves as the go-to thought leaders within their respective industries. This business growth strategy enables agency owners to sell with confidence to right-fit clients while carving out their own unique slice of market share. It is not just limited to industries either. Agency owners can brand themselves with a particular specialty or “superpower” as well. Narrowing the focus results in more efficient use of the agency owner's time and resources. This is something that anyone in any industry can implement with relative ease. Anyone Can Carve Out a Niche I understand why agency owners might be hesitant to shake up their business growth strategy in Q1, but niching down works and anyone can do it. Niching down is an easy decision to make, however, the work is difficult and it takes time. That is why agencies should start now. Even if 60% of their revenue comes from accepting any work that comes through the door, you don't have to start turning that away. Catering your brand position to a specific niche is a long-term play, and niching down is the key to building a position of financial strength from which you can navigate the ups and downs of any market. Additional Resources: FREE COVID Loan Grant Calculator Download Website: www.theprogressivedentist.com Twitter: @CraigC2742 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa How to Connect with Stephen Woessner: Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x18 Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ About Stephen Woessner: Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today's top business owners think, act, and achieve. Onward Nation is listened to in 120 countries around the world with over 28,000+ email subscribers. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix the mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization,” “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking,” and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine.

Russ Sorrells’s bio, in his own words: It all started because I wanted to be a better dad. I was driving home with my kids one day and thought, “Why doesn’t the school system teach kids how to live a happy life?” It dawned on me, “because that’s my job as a parent.” Duh. From then on, I started teaching daily 5 minute lessons to my kids based on everything I’ve learned over my 5 years as a high-performance coach. At first it was hard to add it to our manic morning routine, but now my kids harass me if they don’t get their daily Lunchbox Lesson. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How Russ has expanded his brick-and-mortar business empire since his previous appearance on Onward Nation back on episode 21 How Russ created Lunchbox Lessons when he saw there are many life lessons his kids weren’t being taught, and realized school doesn’t prepare us for life in some key ways How Russ used his Lunchbox Lessons to teach his kids about things like first puppy love and other life experiences How each month’s Lunchbox Lessons deal with overarching themes and shares lessons in bite-sized pieces each day How Russ structures his Lunchbox Lessons, and how that same learning structure can be applied to business as well How Russ deals with feelings of Imposter Syndrome when sharing these important lessons with his kids, and why his goal is to give them an advantage in life What vision Russ has for his Lunchbox Lessons business, and how he hopes to create a cradle-to-grave personal development program discussing key life inflection points Why too few people engage in personal development, and why having the right mentors and role models can help you achieve your maximum potential in life Why Russ has focused on a particular niche by creating content exclusively for the families that would make use of and benefit from it Russ shares the story of a clinician friend who excels at connecting with doctors and patients because he leaves his ego at the door Resources: Russ’s previous visit to Onward Nation in episode 21: https://predictiveroi.com/podcasts/russ-sorrells/ Website: www.lunchboxlessons.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/russ-sorrells-001391b/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/Lunchbox-Lessons-111552050725699/ Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13 Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Business exit plan preparation and adding value to your business What You Will Learn: How Michelle’s ability to close deals led her to becoming regional vice president at Xerox after just six months at the company Why 70% of businesses which have been operating for 10 years or longer will go out of business because they haven’t adapted to how consumers buy products and services today How Michelle dipped her toe into working in franchise development while still working at Xerox, and how she sold 100 franchises in six months How Michelle transitioned her expertise from selling franchises to selling businesses and helping owners develop a business exit plan Why many established businesses aren’t salable because they are too dependent upon the business owner What common mistakes business owners make that can end up hurting their company’s value or salability down the road Why preparing your business for sale requires you to ensure that six P’s are in place: people, product, processes, proprietary, patrons and profits What important lessons can be learned from explosive brands like Amazon, McDonalds and Apple that can be applied to businesses of any industry and size What surprising systems, relationships and other assets add value to your company and make it more attractive to potential buyers Why profits are never the problem hurting your company’s value but are a symptom of the real problems Business exit plan preparation and adding value to your business Failure to prepare for your eventual exit from your company is a common mistake. This poor planning makes it much more difficult to sell your business when you’re ready to leave, and it has a negative impact on the value of your company when you do eventually sell. In this episode of Onward Nation, business buying, growing, fixing and selling authority Michelle Seiler Tucker shares tips, strategies and actionable steps to help you prepare a business exit plan that will add value to your company now and get it ready for sale in the future. The importance of a solid business exit plan Here’s a surprising and troubling statistic for you: 70% of businesses that have been operating for 10 years or longer will go out of business, either because they haven’t taken steps to adapt to consumers’ modern shopping habits, or because they have failed to take the steps necessary to get the business ready for sale. Most business owners plan on eventually exiting their business, either by transferring ownership to a family member or through selling the business at retirement. However, if you wait until you’re ready to leave the business to begin getting it ready for sale, you’re going to have a lot of uphill work to do. Instead, Michelle suggests you begin creating a business exit plan now, so that you’re able to “exit rich” when the time comes. According to Michelle, there are “six P’s” that determine how valuable a business is to potential buyers: People Products Processes Proprietary assets Patrons Profits Getting those six P’s in order is crucial for ensuring that your business is saleable. As Michelle explained, a dentist who owns a dental practice but is the only dentist in the practice is going to have a difficult time exiting and selling the business, because the dentist is the business. So, the dentist would need to add people, in this case other dentists, to the business to make it more attractive to buyers. Look to big brands for inspiration Michelle says that companies like McDonalds and Amazon have a lot to teach owners of businesses of any size or industry about creating a successful business exit plan and how to add value to a business to make it more attractive at sale. For example, McDonald’s isn’t really a fast food chain; it’s a $30 billion real estate company. McDonald’s isn’t in the business of selling hamburgers. The company’s real business is owning real estate that it leases to franchisees. Amazon started out as an online bookstore. But as Michelle explained, the company realized it excelled in fulfilment, and when it leaned into that strength and branched out beyond books, Amazon became one of the most valuable companies in the world. By asking yourself the right questions, leaning into your strengths, and getting the six P’s in place today, you can make your business much more valuable and attractive to potential buyers in the future. About Michelle Seiler Tucker Michelle Seiler Tucker is the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. As a 20-year veteran in mergers & acquisitions, Michelle has sold hundreds of businesses. She owns and operates several successful companies and holds the following professional designations and certifications: Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary (M&AMI), Certified Senior Business Analyst (CSBA), Certified Mergers & Acquisitions Professional (CM&AP) Certified Business Broker (CBB), Panelist for M&A Source, Keynote Speaker. Michelle is also the Best-Selling Author of the book Sell Your Business for More than It’s Worth, and her latest book Exit Rich is available now for purchase. In addition to being featured in INC, Forbes, and USA Magazine, Michelle makes regular radio and TV appearances on Fox Business News and CNBC. She has spoken alongside many prominent speakers: Eric Trump, Kathy Ireland, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Donna Karen, Stedman Graham, Randi Zuckerberg, Steve Wozniak, and more. Michelle also shares her wealth of experience with perspective M&A advisors by conducting multiple training, mentoring, and partnering programs. Over the years, these programs have helped many individuals become successful M&A advisors and business brokers. Recognized as the leading authority on buying, selling, fixing, and growing businesses, Michelle sees opportunity where many are discouraged or have given up. Her passion is to save businesses that might otherwise close. By identifying and correcting the top mistakes business owners make, Michelle will fine-tune a business into a well-oiled machine. Sometimes investing her own money to help owners build their business, Michelle’s primary objective is to sell for huge profits. Michelle Seiler Tucker’s remarkable track record proves her dedication to her clients and has solidified her as a formidable force in her industry. She closes nearly 98% of all written offers and, on average, obtains 20-40% above asking price for her clients. Through this process, she empowers her clients to afford the lifestyles they have always dreamed of and, most importantly, deserve! How to Connect with Michelle Seiler Tucker: Text “Michelle” to (888) 526-5750 Website: www.seilertucker.com Read Michelle’s business exit plan book “Exit Rich”, releasing Jan. 26, 2021 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michelleseiler/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/michele.seilertucker Twitter: @MichelleSeilerT Additional Resources: Free Executive Leadership Summary report from Predictive ROI: https://predictiveroi.com/research Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13 Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/ Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Welcome to The FM Shift podcast. I'm one of your hosts Dr. Brandon David Credeur and I'm super excited to share today's episode with you. Heather and I were recently interviewed by Stephen Woessner on his podcast, Onward Nation, which is a top-rated business podcast. He asked really probing questions that pulled out great content that you can use to have more fun, be more successful, and make the impact you're looking to make in your FM practice. We talk about our early challenges, how we overcame those challenges, and more importantly used them as a springboard to polish our business model. We also talk about the realization we had early on that we had to be more than clinicians to build the practice of our dreams, have the lifestyle we wanted, and make the impact in the patient community we know we needed to make. And finally, we dug deep to pull out several key lessons we learned along the way that helped us get to the very top of the FM profession. I think you will love the content and get a lot out of it. So without further ado here is Heather and I being interviewed on the Onward Nation podcast In this unique episode of the FM Shift podcast, Brandon and Heather are interviewed by Stephen Woessner, host of the Onward Nation podcast and CEO of Predictive ROI, to discuss how they initially discovered Functional Medicine and why they chose to make it the focus of their work. What you'll learn about in this episode: How Brandon and Heather discovered Functional Medicine and why it became the focus of their practice What early challenges they faced and how their business model changed Why learning business leadership was a vital new skill they had to develop Why mentoring with others was a necessary step in the growth of their practice Why following their passion for Functional Medicine led to tremendous business growth How Brandon and Heather became coaches for other doctors through the FM Shift platform What key lessons Brandon and Heather have learned on their journey Resources: Website: https://predictiveroi.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ www.linkedin.com/company/predictive-roi/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/ Twitter: @stephenwoessner

Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation — a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today's top business owners think, act, and achieve. Onward Nation is listened to in 120 countries around the world with over 28,000+ email subscribers. Since the advent of the commercial Internet, Stephen has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the “8 Money Draining Mistakes” and the “8 Money Making Opportunities.” Darren Hardy, then-publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, interviewed Stephen to discuss how business owners can identify and fix the mistakes. Stephen served in the United States Air Force, spent six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a full-time academic staff member and taught digital marketing classes to small business owners throughout the state including the prestigious School of Business at UW-Madison, has owned five businesses, and is the author of three books, “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization”, “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking”, and “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. Craig Cody is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Tax Coach™, business owner, and the host of The Progressive Dentist Podcast. Prior to his current work, Craig spent seventeen years with the NYPD, where he retired as a Lieutenant in September 2000. Craig is an expert in helping his clients legally reduce their tax liabilities and keep more of their money. Through his podcast, Craig helps dentists grow their practices through smart financial decisions and through financial education of the kind that isn't offered in dental school. What You Will Learn: How the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan has changed recently, and what you need to know about the program What further changes Craig anticipates the government making to the PPP loan and forgiveness requirements How the government has created new options for partnership business that could result in those businesses getting still more money How to reach out to Craig if you have any other questions or need clarification on these new changes Why additional money for business partners may not have any cap, starting at around $40,000 for the first partner and going up Why Craig sees the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) as “cheap insurance” to help protect against whatever may happen in the near future What changes Craig believes might happen to the EIDL, and why it is taking a while for small businesses to get approved for EIDL How the use of the EIDL funds can potentially increase your business tax liability due to the use of EIDL funds cutting into your tax deductions How many of Craig's clients are operating under business-as-usual with relatively minor changes, with the exception of restaurants which are still struggling How to access Craig's free course “The Five Simple Ways to Save Thousands on Taxes and How Business Owners Can Start Today” How to contact Stephen Woessner: Sell With Authority Book: //amzn.to/39y7x13 Website: //predictiveroi.com/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ //www.linkedin.com/company/predictive-roi/ Facebook: //www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/ Twitter: @stephenwoessner How to contact Craig Cody: Website: www.theprogressivedentist.com Twitter: @CraigC2742 LinkedIn: //www.linkedin.com/in/craigcodycpa

In this special episode of the Elite Entrepreneurs podcast, Predictive ROI CEO, author and Onward Nation podcast host Stephen Woessner turns the tables on Brett Gilliland as they discuss key leadership strategies, processes, and systems business owners and entrepreneurs can implement to prepare their organizations for the global coronavirus pandemic and the tough financial times ahead. Stephen's Bio: Stephen Woessner is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation—a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today's top business owners think, act, and achieve. Onward Nation is listened to in 120 countries around the world. Stephen is the author of four books, including the newly released Sell with Authority: Own and Monetize Your Agency's Authority Position with co-author Drew McLellan, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. Brett's Bio: Brett Gilliland is Founder and CEO of Elite Entrepreneurs, a company that specializes in giving $1M+ business owners the knowledge, processes, and tools to grow to $10M and beyond. Brett is an expert in organization development, leadership, and strategy and spent 10 years helping Infusionsoft grow from $7M in revenue to over $100M. Brett was involved in the foundational work of Purpose, Values, and Mission at Infusionsoft and facilitated the strategic planning process for many years. One of Brett's favorite professional accomplishments is co-creating Infusionsoft's Elite Forum along with Clate Mask and building the Elite business inside of Infusionsoft. As the leader of the Elite business, Brett has helped hundreds of struggling seven-figure business owners overcome their biggest challenges and achieve new levels of success. He also played a central role in the development of Infusionsoft's Leadership Model and was serving as the VP of Leadership Development when the decision was made to spin the Elite business out of Infusionsoft. As the new owner of Elite Entrepreneurs, Brett can't think of anything else he'd rather be doing professionally. When Brett isn't busy helping $1M+ businesses succeed, he is a family man who enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Sharon, and their 8 children. What the podcast will teach you: What shared responsibilities every business owner has during trying economic times, and why scarcity thinking can cause us to make short-sighted decisions Why a leader's role is to fight against FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), and why there is a real danger of freezing in place during a crisis Why you must first deal with your own fear, uncertainty, and doubt before you can lead others, and why intentionality of mental and emotional health is vital What qualities you should look for in the ideal mentor who can help you navigate the complexities of challenging times Why fear cannot be countered with logic and facts, and why as a leader you must make your team feel safe first before they can hear logic Why members of your team need to feel acknowledged and need to be reassured that their fears and concerns are valid and normal How to use your team's track record of surviving challenges as a source of motivation and evidence that you will survive this current danger Which three activities you can turn to that will help you and your team dispel negative thoughts and feelings Why now is the time to increase your communication with your team, and what steps you can take to help your team maintain focus and optimism What “positive focus” is and how it can help your team recenter themselves and ward off negative thoughts Resources: Onward Nation podcast with host Stephen Woessner: https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/ Email: brett@GrowWithElite.com Website: https://growwithelite.com/

Since the advent of the commercial internet, Stephen Woessner has collected tens of thousands of data points that have given him the ability to identify what he calls the 8 Money Draining Mistakes. These are the things that literally cause a website to leak serious money every day. Stephen teaches companies and organizations how to fix them and how to fix them immediately. Stephen also teaches how to apply what he calls the 8 Money Making Opportunities. These are the things that really matter because they increase financial return on investment in the digital world by 200 to 500 percent or more in 12-months or less. And all of this can be done without needing technical skills. Stephen is the host of the Onward Nation podcast, CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing authority, speaker, educator, and bestselling author of two books, The Small Business Owners Handbook to Search Engine Optimization and Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking. Clients include Cisco, Advisors Excel, Agency Management Institute, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and others. Linda Fassig-Knauer, US Channels, Cisco Systems, said Stephen really engaged the audience at our SMB Advisory Council. His presentation hit the mark. His digital marketing insights have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and The Washington Post. Stephen's practical and tactical training sessions and keynote presentations teach the valuable principle of predicting and then measuring financial return on investment (ROI) before any action is taken. He has also developed a mathematical, patent-pending process that can be used to predict the increase in online sales a business can achieve based on his methods. What You Will Learn: Stephen's journey into entrepreneurship How Predictive ROI has differentiates itself from other digital marketing agencies Why Stephen is considering inorganic growth right now The indicators that deal-driven growth is the right option for your business The lessons Stephen has taken away from his past deals What to know if you plan on taking money from professional investors How Stephen launched his podcast and turned it into a business How to connect with Stephen Woessner: Website: www.predictiveroi.com Podcast: Onward Nation Twitter: @stephenwoessner Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PredictiveROI/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Stephen Woessner is the Founder and CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of the Onward Nation podcast, a top-rated podcast for learning how business owners think, act, and achieve success. Onward Nation is listened to in more than 120 countries around the world. He is the author of three bestselling books including the Amazon #1 Bestseller Profitable Podcasting. He is also a speaker, trainer, and his digital marketing insights have been featured in SUCCESS, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and other media. What the podcast will teach you: Stephen shares his background, history and experience that led him to be an entrepreneur and to his current role as the CEO of Predictive ROI How the Onward Nation podcast grew over the course of more than four years and almost 1000 episodes, and how it is now listened to in more than 120 countries How, at the age of 8, Stephen's grandfather was forced to become the man of the house, and how that sparked his family's tradition of entrepreneurship How Predictive ROI recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, and how Predictive overcame the challenges of reaching plateaus at $100k, $300k, and $1M+ in revenue How having a roadmap for future growth challenges helps Stephen plan ahead to navigate those challenges and identify resources to overcome them Stephen shares one of the true low points he and his partner encountered when they lost one of their largest clients, and why it led to a change in their business model What advice Stephen would offer business leaders whose businesses rely too much on a few big clients or who have reached a revenue plateau What more recent challenges Stephen's business has faced now that they've crossed $1M in revenue, and why growing a business is never painless Why hiring more people often creates short-term pain points for the business and increased complexity Resources: Website: www.PredictiveROI.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/ Onward Nation Podcast: https://predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/

If you've ever been interested in podcasting to grow your business and expand your platform, this is the episode for you! Today, the Max Potential Habits podcast features advice, tips, and wisdom from guest Stephen Woessner, the host of Onward Nation - a top rated podcast that is listened to in 120 countries around the world. Stephen is also the CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the author of three books, including the #1 best seller, “Profitable Podcasting.” His digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. Episode Highlights: *Turning Road Blocks into a Podcast *The Trojan Horse of Selling *Expanding Your Business through Podcasting *Business Development Tips Stephen's Top 3 Max Potential Habits: 1. Daily Devotional - Ask, Seek, Knock 2. Discipline 3. We Win Together Links to Stephen: www.predictiveroi.com/ www.predictiveroi.com/onward-nation-podcast/ www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Stephen is the founder and CEO of Predictive ROI, a digital marketing agency, and the host of Onward Nation—a top-rated daily podcast for learning how today's top business owners think, act, and achieve. Onward Nation is listened to in 120 countries around the world. Stephen is the author of three books, including the #1 bestseller, “Profitable Podcasting,” and his digital marketing insights have been featured in Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, The Washington Post, and Inc. Magazine. What you'll learn about in this episode: Why Stephen feels a close connection to higher ed thanks to values he learned from his immigrant grandfather and from his time at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse Why it is important to remember that any higher education institution is still a business with similar marketing and financial needs to any other kind of business What role Stephen played in his role as Business Education Outreach Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin in raising funds and “keeping the lights on” Why it is vital to understand the needs of your “customer” and meet those needs, even within higher education, and how doing so can open new opportunities How Stephen and the University of Wisconsin built up their professional development offerings, and how he got buy-in from across the university for the program Why Stephen defines marketing as recognizing a customer's problems and engineering a solution that is priced correctly How principles from data collection and digital marketing in the corporate world can be used for and applied to higher ed marketing Why higher education institutions often put more thought into the construction of new facilities than into their marketing, even though marketing deserves as much attention Why immediate marketing results aren't necessary unless there are deep, systemic problems at the university Why measuring return on investment means understanding and defining your goals, and why everyone needs to be on the same page when adjusting success metrics Additional resources: Website: www.theundeclaredpodcast.com

Marketing and markets are changing, and if you get left behind, so will your profits. That's what horse farmers found out too late after Henry Ford changed everything. And a digital shift of similar proportions is ongoing today. My guest today is on the leading edge of the shifts happening in digital marketing. As the host of the Onward Nation podcast and CEO of Predictive ROI, Stephen embraces the future of marketing and helps other businesses do the same. Particularly through business-to-business marketing in the podcasting sphere. And even though things are completely different now than they were 10 or 15 years ago in marketing, Stephen says business owners need to understand how it all works—even if they don't do it all themselves. You have to be engaged in the practical side of your business.   He learned this lesson in a big way when talking to Google's digital marketing evangelist, Avinash Kaushik. Stephen asked Avinash what he would tell a business owner who doesn't want to pay attention to the shift and all the new moving parts of digital marketing. The answer made a lot of sense. “Do you want to be rich, or do you want to be poor?” In this episode, we talk about some ways a business owner can stay current, talk about how podcasting has changed the game for many business owners, and how long-term trends will buck you if you're not paying attention. Regardless of your industry. Don't get left behind. Click play in the player above to hear this excellent interview with Stephen Woessner. Listen to this episode to hear Stephen Woessner tell me about growing and going with digital marketing and more: Managing inventory and cost at age 10. How checking a box can land you working on intercontinental ballistic missiles. Why delegating things you don't understand first is a bad idea. Using podcast guests as a prospect pipeline. Shooing your voice of doubt. How Stephen lost $250,000 in an early stage business despite having Darren Hardy and Ritz Carlton on his side. Why your value needs to come across clearly. What you can learn from a Greek immigrant with a third-grade education. Why Stephen's grandfather gave away tons of soup during the impression (Warning: Tear jerker moment, here.) A “silly” answer that's just about perfect. Books and resources mentioned in this episode: "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win,” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin “The Small Business Owner's Handbook to Search Engine Optimization: Increase Your Google Rankings, Double Your Site Traffic...In Just 15 Steps – Guaranteed,” by Stephen Woessner “Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking,” by Stephen Woessner “Profitable Podcasting: Grow Your Business, Expand Your Platform, and Build a Nation of True Fans,” by Stephen Woessner How to connect with Stephen Woessner: Onward Nation Podcast Predictive ROI Email Website Do this next to grow your company—without screwing up your life: Marketing is exhausting. Growing a company is hard work. But if winning at work keeps you from winning at home, you're losing at life. Can we clue you in on a little secret? You can have it all. Freedom to go big at the office and still go big for the ones you love. Apply for your free 30-minute Freedom Breakthrough Session to start making your ordinary home life extraordinary while making your work life even more awesome. Click here to change your life.