The Impact Entrepreneur

Ep. 195 - Necessary Endings and New Beginnings

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 06:00:00 -0400

The end of the year presents us with a great opportunity to reflect and decide what we will take with us into the future.

Dr. Henry Cloud wrote a great book called Necessary Endings. The book helps readers make decisions on businesses, relationships, habits and ventures that must come to a necessary ending. Like a gardener that must prune the rosebuds that are stealing valuable nutrients and resources from the buds with the potential to blossom into the most beautiful flowers, we must prune things in our own lives.

Although pruning doesn’t come easily to me, it’s something I’m always thinking about. When I need to change something, I initially get a gut feeling about it. Then I take it to prayer and meditation and seek wise counsel from people like my wife, spiritual director and priest. I ask them to pray for me and offer practical advice and wisdom.

This has not been an easy decision to make, but this will be the final episode of The Impact Entrepreneur.

I started the podcast in December 2015 to facilitate a higher level of personal growth for myself and serve others. I wanted to learn how others are using the lessons from their lives to have a game-changing impact in the lives of others.

Hundreds of listeners have reached out to me over the last three years to share how the show has impacted you. I've had conversations with some of my personal heroes like Lou Holtz. I’ve been able to honor my wife on the podcast and share our journey with you and I've been deeply inspired by the strength, courage and resilience of each of my guests. I discovered the concepts that would become my first book, Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose.

The Impact Entrepreneur will still be my personal brand for my writing, speaking and other media appearances because my mission is still to have a game-changing impact in the lives of others. But in 2020, I am co-creating something that more closely aligns with and encompasses my Catholic faith as well as my role as an entrepreneur. It's called Catholiceo and will create spaces where Catholic entrepreneurs, executives and evangelists from around the globe can gather to enrich their faith, thrive at home, win well in business and deepen connection.

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped and supported me during this podcast journey, especially you, the listener. I invite you to join me on this next adventure, but thank you for tuning in each week, sharing the message and allowing me to breathe life into your potential. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will certainly be keeping you in my prayers, and I can't wait to see what you create in the years to come.

One thing is for certain - when you become who God created you to be, you and everyone around you better brace for impact!

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Read: Necessary Endings
Catholiceo
Email: info@theimpact entrepreneur.net
Email: mike@catholiceo.com
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 194 - How to Have More Fun & Be More Productive - with Mike Rucker, Ph.D

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Mike Rucker, Ph.D. is a self-described fun expert who helps people have more fun and be more productive as a result. But he certainly didn’t start his career going down that path.

Mike’s first job, so to speak, was creating a fanzine for skateboarders in the seventh grade. And his willingness to put himself out there, coupled with a bit of ingenuity, got him the opportunity to interview some big musicians.

He went on to study Communications and Filmmaking at college, and his first professional job was at Universal Studios. While he loved the work, watching his colleagues get in at 7 am, not leave till 8 am, and miss out on having significant relationships outside of work didn't appeal to him.

He pivoted into creating advertisements and websites, making a name for himself in the technology sector. Here’s where things went too good for Mike, or so he believes. Because Mike thinks entrepreneurs that get too many wins too early can get too cocky for their own good.

So, full of confidence, Mike decided to do something he knew nothing about — open a taco stand at Manhattan Beach near LAX. He spent all of the money that he made from his last tech exit, and then he lost it all.

So he pivoted, again, going back to university to get a Ph.D. in Psychology. His research centered on the importance of fun and play, and that’s what Mike continues to focus on today.

Mike’s top tips for fun and productivity are:

Stop using social media to wind down
Create a time log for your week and be honest about the activities that aren’t moving you forward
Replace unproductive time with opportunities for fun, delight, wonder, and play
Use lunch hours and weekends as actual breaks from work
Dedicate big chunks of time to particular tasks rather than trying to grab a few minutes here and there
Avoid multitasking, especially when you’re with your children and other loved ones

He says, “If you’re multitasking while you're also supposed to be spending time with the ones that you love, they feel that, and there's just no way to skirt around that.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

michaelrucker.com
Twitter: @performbetter
Instagram: @thewonderoffun
Read: Bird By Bird
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 193 - Helping Others Grow - with Tim Croll

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 06:00:00 -0400

When Tim Croll grew up, he really wanted to be a cowboy. There were a lot of adults in his life who promised a taste of that life, to take him fishing or hunting, but they didn’t come through. So Tim wanted to be self-reliant but also dependable.

In adulthood, he ended up taking on a lot of responsibility... then found himself trying to beat up a garage door that had fallen down one day. This was a turning point in Tim’s life. He felt like an idiot for acting like that in front of his wife and kids. He knew that he had to change things.

A mentor helped Tim realize that he was totally drained. He walked away from his highly successful eCommerce businesses and started journaling and reflecting with the help of books like Master the Key and the BeFulfilled Journal.

This led him to discover his true purpose — helping others grow. He now helps business owners get unstuck, whether it’s with their strategy or sales and marketing. But what he loves most about coaching is helping entrepreneurs do the important things, like spending more time with their family.

A huge part of his journey has involved giving up control and letting God take care of the results of his work. As he says, “It is definitely a test of faith.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

timcroll.com
Facebook: @tim.croll
LinkedIn: Tim Croll Coaching
The BeFulfilled Journal
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 192 - Sound Impact: How Music Changes, Heals, & Unites - with Rebecca Jackson (Replay)

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Today I’m re-releasing this amazing episode with musician Rebecca Jackson.

Rebecca grew up in a family of self-taught artists, with diverse backgrounds – the intersection of Midwestern fiddle jams and South Korean karaoke.

Music has given Rebecca a lot over the years, and now she is using music as a tool to give back as co-founder of Sound Impact, a collective of musicians dedicated to serving communities and igniting positive change in the U.S. and abroad through live performances, educational programs, and creative collaborations.

Rebecca is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Music in May, an annual festival serving the Santa Cruz community with chamber music, and a violinist with the Ensemble in San Francisco, a collective of talented Bay Area musicians who make chamber music hip again.

Learning to play music taught Rebecca many valuable lessons as a child, all of which helped her get to where she is today:

Humility. “You never stop growing. You always have something more to learn.”
Teamwork. “You’re not the only voice and you have to learn to play together to create a collective, beautiful sound.”
Perseverance. “Because some days are tough and you just have to keep on going, and trust the process and your teacher.”
Communication. Learning to have a stage presence teaches both verbal and nonverbal communication skills.
Mentorship. The student-teacher relationship is really important in learning music, and it’s a good introduction to the idea that there’s always someone to learn from.

Sound Impact

Rebecca co-founded Sound Impact because she believes music is an incredibly powerful tool for changing, healing, and uniting communities. It’s so much more than notes on a page – it’s capable of bridging nationalities, religions, and ideologies.

Rebecca has used music to honor Holocaust survivors, unite refugees, and empower children. She’s very much creating a positive Sound Impact in communities all around the world.

Below you can watch a video of Sound Impact playing “Haim” by Polina Nazaykinskaya. Rebecca commissioned this piece to remember the incredible life of David Arden, the sole survivor of his family during the holocaust and one of Rebecca’s mentors.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Sound Impact: SoundImpact.org | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
MusicInMay.org
Ensemble San Francisco

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 191 - In Pursuit of Wholeness - with Evan Herrman

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Evan Herrman recently interviewed me on his show The Whole Person Podcast and we had such a great conversation I wanted to share it here.

Evan and I got to know each other when he reached out to me after hearing me talk on someone else’s podcast. He wanted some financial advice, but also just to connect and make friends — and I’m so happy that he did. It’s truly amazing how podcasts can help people tap into new relationships and powerful communities.

When Evan was seven years old, he wanted to be a pastor. He went to college, graduated with a degree in theology, got married the next week, and was then unemployed for nine months. So he became a real estate agent, and that felt very much like a second choice for him until he realized that fulfillment isn’t about your job. It’s about the person that you’re being.

He started his podcast out of a desire to learn and grow, and he has been thrilled with the guests he’s been able to interview so far, including David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, and leadership mentor Michael Hyatt.

Before he started podcasting, one of the stories he was telling himself was that he didn’t have anything value-wise to give to people because he was hurt and broken. He had this idea that he needed to come from a place of almost perfection to speak to people and give them advice to grow and develop.

Then he thought, what if I don't come at my life from the perspective of having it together, but instead from the perspective of being a broken individual who's in the pursuit of wholeness?

This new story enabled him to get the podcast started, but also to see himself with more love.

In this conversation, we talk about the six bridges that are fundamental to self-worth and fulfillment - faith, family, finances, friendship, fitness, and fun. We also discuss how traditional measures of status and achievement can be taken away in the blink of an eye and how important it is to be vulnerable, humble, and open to the plan that God has for us.

As Evan shares about his experience, “As soon as I abandoned my thoughts of what I was supposed to be, God naturally brought things together into something that I wasn't expecting.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 190 - Find Your Worth

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0400

We've all heard it a thousand times: “If you want to be happy in life, follow your passion.” But is that true?

Let's take a closer look. The word ‘passion’ comes from the Latin-rooted word pati, which means to suffer. So when someone tells you to follow your passion, they're actually saying you should do something that you're willing to suffer for.

In today's entrepreneurial landscape, the word passion has been hijacked and saddled with a new meaning tied to a financial outcome. But passion has nothing to do with earning a 10x return or building a seven-figure business.

Here's the question to ask yourself to see if you're passionate about what you're doing: “Am I willing to put in the work and never see the fruit?” If the answer is no, I hate to break it to you, but that's not your passion.

Another reason people feel excited about following their passion is that their potential is not being realized at work. A Gallup study revealed that 85% of employees are not engaged, and it's costing us $7 trillion annually in lost productivity. And an estimated 37% of Americans have a side hustle, which is a chance for them to make extra money but also pursue something they’re more passionate about than their jobs.

Adding to that, about half of new businesses fail to make it past the five-year mark. If passion is tied to achieving a certain financial outcome and your business is one of the ones that fail, your self-worth will take a big hit.

So, let me suggest that you find your worth before you find your why.

In order to see yourself as worthy, you need to answer the question, who am I? Here are three ways I recommend doing that:

Do something that challenges you physically and mentally. For me, that was CrossFit because it required my full focus, attention, and awareness. As a result of successfully completing those challenging workouts, I discovered new neural pathways that fired off all kinds of creativity.
Make time for reflection and visualization, preferably shortly after you've completed the physically demanding activity.
Create “I am” statements. The great Lou Holtz once told me that the most important word in the English vocabulary is the word choice. The next two most important words are ‘I’ and ‘am.’

About a decade ago, I was nearly broke. We had to short-sell our first home and I was diagnosed with postpartum depression after the birth of our fourth child. In every way, I saw myself as a failure. As I worked through this process, I discovered new things about myself. I rebuilt my sense of self-worth. I found a new Why, which turned out to be helping people find the truth that dwells within them. Instead of focusing on outcome, I am focused on using my gifts to help as many people as I can, and I'm willing to suffer for that.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about the power of reflection. Go back in time and shine a light on the challenges that you've experienced in your life. Insert hope there and carry that forward into tomorrow.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 189 - When Corporate Life Ain’t For You - with Hamilton Chan

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Hamilton Chan’s parents told him he could be a doctor or a lawyer. His “tiger mom” even had a mini breakdown when he deferred law school for a year to work for JPMorgan Investment Banking. He promised her he’d go back to law school after the year was up, and that’s what he did.

Years later, his investment banking friends were making millions of dollars a year while he was slogging away doing due diligence as a corporate transactional attorney... and his mom asked him why he didn’t stick with investment banking. But Hamilton tells us you can’t blame anyone but yourself for your life decisions.

And Hamilton did experience outstanding success as a lawyer — he graduated from Harvard Law School, worked at a prestigious law firm in Los Angeles, represented Kobe Bryant, and worked at MGM Studios. But, ultimately, his legal career hit a dead end. He realized that he had taken what he was good at and polished it to such a point that it became something he no longer enjoyed. At one point, he was skimming hundreds of pages of documentation and writing about 15 pages of memos every day, without any time leftover to even pick up a magazine or read a book on the weekend.

Entrepreneurship was calling.

Hamilton wanted to be able to pursue creative endeavors, practice strategic thinking, and get out of corporate life. He told his family that he was very unhappy as an attorney, and his sister suggested he be a salesman at the family business, Charlie Chan Printing. After his whole family erupted in laughter, his mom and my dad said they could actually use some help. Although he had no experience in sales, he thought he could figure it out. Plus, he’d get to make business decisions and be involved in an enterprise that carried a lot of meaning and history for him.

After working in the family business, Hamilton went on to launch a tech startup. Then Loyola Law School approached him to start an executive education program, now called LLX. Hamilton was responsible for co-creating the vision behind it and coding a brand new interactive platform to host it on. He also teaches a six week class on negotiating, and really considers his role at Loyola Law School to be the culmination of his life experience and a true labor of love.

Hamilton’s tips from his off-the-beaten-path career are:

Learn to negotiate. You can leave a tremendous amount on the table if you are not skilled at negotiating.
Satisfy your curiosity and try new things.
Realize that the business world is at least 90% networking. Hamilton used to see the world as super meritocratic and believed that, if you just produced the best work, everything would work out perfectly. Now he says that might be true for K-12, but not for the rest of your life.
Make conscious choices to do the things that we should. The brain does such a phenomenal job of making sense of the world that it constantly discards contradictory information. And that's what helps us stay in a bad relationship, job, or situation.
Craft the life that you want. Hamilton loves being able to spend time with his two daughters and his wife plus, have time for recreation, and work on projects that he finds meaningful and interesting.

As for Hamilton’s view on the meaning of it all, he says, “The end purpose of life is love. And that that's why I value relationships so much.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

llx.lls.edu
Twitter: @hamiltonchan
Read: Delivering Happiness
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 188 - Living Life Curious, Fulfilled, & with Purpose – with Marie Forleo (Replay)

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Marie Forleo is a wildly successful coach and multi-passionate entrepreneur. Her new book Everything Is Figureoutable is out now, and to celebrate, I’m re-releasing this podcast episode with Marie (originally ep. 72).

Marie’s entrepreneurial journey started in a flurry on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She’d recently graduated with a degree in finance and picked the mayhem of the Stock Exchange over a job in a cubicle. However she learnt very quickly that she hated the idea of having to go to the same place day in and day out every single day for the majority of the year. Her intuition was screaming at her to get out, so she did, leaving the Stock Exchange for a variety of jobs including bartending.

How Intuition Drives Marie’s Business

Marie says that intuition is a core part of everything she does in her business, especially important things like marketing, hiring, pricing and product development. Growing up, her mom always taught her that if someone tried to talk to her and she felt uncomfortable, to trust that small little voice inside that says run or don't talk to this person or whatever it is.

Intuition led Marie in many directions, and that’s why she became a multi-passionate entrepreneur. When she started her coaching business she also had a passion for dance, fitness and for hip hop. She knew that if she split her focus, everything would grow slower and she wouldn't make as much money, but creatively she’d probably be fulfilled. That turned out to be true. Despite starting a dance career in her 20s (when some dancers are actually winding down their careers), Marie ended up choreographing hip hop for MTV and being one of the world’s first Nike Elite Dance Athletes.

Another core value that drives Marie is curiosity.

Curiosity is Essential

Marie believes that curiosity is integral to succeeding in business and life, especially in today’s environment where everything is changing so fast. She says, “If you believe that you already know everything, you're going to fail. Whether you fail right now or you fail in six months, or you fail in three years, you are going to fall on your face.”

The Future of Entrepreneurship

Marie predicts that soon more and more people will have to behave in an entrepreneurial manner, even if they’re not necessarily founding a company. There are more freelancers than there have ever been, more people working with flexible schedules, and intrapreneurs are becoming increasingly valuable within organizations.

She also believes that we’ll continue to see an emphasis on social entrepreneurship, and that, “Business owners who are wise enough to bake social good into their business model from a very sincere and genuine place are going to thrive in the future.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 187 - Employee Engagement and Appreciation at Work - with Dr. Paul White

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Dr. Paul White grew up in a family business - his parents and grandfather designed and created point of purchase display stands. Sometimes at dinnertime his dad would lead a discussion and ask questions like, what needs do you see out there? How might those needs be met?

Dr. White started working full-time on the factory floor the summer he was 12. He learnt a lot but declined to work at the company when he grew up, partly because he and his father didn’t always agree.

Instead he started counseling people at his church then became a psychologist who worked with kids and families. In the ‘90s he forged a career in the corporate realm. 85% of the companies in the U.S. are family-owned so business consultant friends started asking him to help out because of his background. That led him into business succession planning and employee engagement.

One day Dr. White was working with a father and son in their business, and realized they were just not connecting. Just prior to that he and his wife and had read the book, The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. He thought it might be of value in the workplace so pursued Dr. Chapman for a year and finally got through to his assistant and set up a meeting.

Dr. Chapman had already had 20-25 people pitch him with spin-off ideas about his book but was interested in Dr. White’s proposal about an online assessment tool for workplaces. Together they developed a set of tools to translate The Five Love Languages into a workplace context including a book called The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. The materials have been translated into 20 languages and the book is selling more than a thousand copies every week.

Dr. White is passionate about showing appreciation for employees, not just the high-achievers, partly because research shows that companies that treat their employees well and pay attention to employee engagement function better than those that don't.

He also loves helping organizations find the right way to show appreciation, depending on individual and cultural preferences. For instance, a side hug might be the way to go in the south but in the north-east a nod across the room is more common.

But it’s not all business. Dr. White is a huge proponent of empathy and treating employees well, not just because it’s good for the bottom line but because, “Employees are people. They're not just production units.”

Don’t be a podcast...

Ep. 186 - depression2extinction: Stepping Into the Good Possibilities of Your Day - with Luke Frazier

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 06:00:00 -0400

Luke Frazier defines himself as a servant leader who is inspired by the two great men in his life.

Firstly, his grandfather. Luke says he’s the type of person who wakes up in the morning and asks, ‘How can I help the world?’ The second person was a teacher and pastor from Luke’s high school. He went to breakfast with Luke and his friends every Friday for two years and would always tell them to be good, which Luke interpreted as doing good in the world. Luke and one of his friends even got ‘be good’ tattooed on themselves about a year after their teacher and mentor passed away.

And Luke sure has gone on to do good in the world.

He is co-founder and executive director of depression2extinction (d2e), a nonprofit on a mission to create space for mental health awareness. While Luke doesn’t think depression can ever be completely eradicated, d2e aims to end the stigma around depression and teaches people how to prevent going to really deep, dark places where they feel there’s no one to talk to.

To understand just how important this work is, you have to understand some of the facts around depression:

3.1 million adolescents aged 12-17 had at least one depressive episode last year
The total economic burden of depression is estimated to be $210.5 billion per year
⅔ people with depression do not seek or receive proper treatment
80% of those who receive treatment for depression show an improvement within 4-6 weeks

To address this problem of people not seeking the treatment that will most likely benefit them, d2e have developed a check-in tool (available on their website) so that people can easily communicate their feelings. They offer services for teens and young adults, and their program is currently in about 50 schools across the country. They are also implementing their first workplace health program with an aviation company in Austin.

Most importantly, Luke advocates a mindful approach to avoiding conflict and anger. He says that when someone does something like cutting us off in traffic, “we can take some time to consider what they might be going through, ignore the lies that tell us to react with our emotions, and step into the good possibilities of our day.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Ep. 184 - It’s All People - with Gustavo Fernández

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Gustavo Fernández’s first career in pharmaceutical sales was inspired by his stepfather, who was the general manager for Johnson & Johnson in the Dominican Republic. Gustavo stayed in the industry for 10 years after graduating college — until his real passion started calling to him.

Photography had been Gustavo’s hobby since college. Wherever he went, he always took a camera along with him. Then, when the internet became a massive tool for building communities, he started connecting with other photographers. Serendipitously, one of the top wedding photographers in the world lived just down the street from him. So he went to a workshop she was holding, and that changed the whole trajectory of his life.

Now, Gustavo has a career photographing people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

The internet and online communities continue to be hugely important to Gustavo’s photography and career, too. Because, in this era of social media, the vast majority of new business that comes to him is through word of mouth.

But you can’t just be part of a Facebook group and reap the benefits of belonging to a community — you have to create lasting, authentic relationships with people

When Gustavo is building relationships...

He always follows up leads and conversations (he even carries a notebook so he doesn’t forget anything!)
He always picks up the phone. A couple of years ago the event planner for Forbes called to ask him to photograph an event. And she told him, Thank you for picking up the phone. No-one picks up the phone anymore.
He gives unique, thoughtful gifts to clients and contacts. A $10 gift he sent to a contact actually resulted in $10,000 worth of business.

Gustavo says that people sometimes comment about how different his two careers are but, at the end of the day, it’s all the same — because “it's all people.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Gustavofernandez.com
Instagram: @gustavofernandez
Facebook: @gustavofernandezphotographer
Twitter: @gustavo
Read: Never Eat Alone
Read: Into Thin Air
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 183 - It’s Never Just Business - with Taylor Sledge

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Colleague, friend and fellow storyteller Taylor Sledge saw the way that his parents wrote the stories of their own lives — and their constant presence, love, and support gave him the foundation he needed to tell his story, too.

Taylor’s dad was an attorney. He owned his own business in a risky area of law, so his income was up and down, but Taylor loved that he set his own schedule and never missed family events. His mom was a flight attendant for Delta Airlines. She was never afraid to talk to anyone, regardless of how different they were to her, and this made a huge impact on Taylor.

Taylor founded the Big Small Business Story to tell the stories of entrepreneurs who are driven by purpose, character, and belief. Their trademarked slogan — “It’s never just business” — reflects his belief that your career or company is about the lives of other people, not just making money, and an understanding of psychology and the human condition are crucial to creating authentic business relationships.

It seems simple — your career is about the lives of other people — but a lot of businesspeople still don’t understand that. And it took Taylor a while to realize it, too.

When Taylor was 27, he had a business deal go upside down. He realized that he was experiencing the same gut feeling that he had when he was 10 bringing home a bad report card. There were areas in his life where he wasn't living as an adult, and this inspired him to work out where he needed to grow.

And it’s an ongoing journey. Taylor and his wife have recently experienced fertility challenges, and this forced Taylor to confront things he didn’t like about himself, including his self image, and work out what really matters in his life.

Something that really matters to Taylor is legacy. He doesn’t think that we spend enough time considering it, but believes that, “We have the responsibility of setting a trajectory for the future with every decision that we make.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at taylorsledge.com
YouTube: @TaylorSledge
Instagram: @taylorsledge
Facebook: @taylorsledge
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 182 - Running Toward the Flames - with Heather Adams

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Growing up, Heather Adams always had her nose in a book, and her heroes spoke to her from the pages; smart and savvy women like Anne of Green Gables, Jo from Little Women, and Nancy Drew.

Heather compares Nancy Drew’s mystery-solving adventures to her own life today — owner of a public relations agency, Choice Media & Communications — because she’s always “running toward the flames, constantly taking notes, and bringing order to the chaos.”

But, unlike Nancy Drew, Heather isn’t doing this alone, and she is passionate about building a cohesive, invested team. After the partnership with her co-founder dissolved, Heather held a strategic planning retreat for her entire team. They re-evaluated Choice’s mission and core values and Heather says this was a game-changer for their work culture — because, now, everyone has skin in the game.

Heather also has an unusual approach to human relations, arguing that you have to throw out all the policies and love your workers as human beings first. When one of her team members is going through a hard season, she puts their responsibilities aside and taps into what they need. This human-first approach carries through to every aspect of Heather’s business and life, including her attitude towards her competition.

Before Heather started her own company she worked at Thomas Nelson, which was then the world’s largest Christian publishing house, she worked with Michael Hyatt, who eventually became the CEO and chairman. He taught her many important lessons, including to embrace the competition and look at them as someone to learn from and champion instead of someone to take down.

Heather sees that as a crucial transformation in her life. As she says, “I have this mentality that a win for one is a win for all. And that was something I had to learn because I sucked at it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

choicepublicity.com
Instagram: @choicepublicity
Instagram: @heatherdixonadams
Twitter: @ChoicePublicity
Facebook: @choicepublicity
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 181 - You Can’t Grow Without Failure - with Remi Adeleke

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Remi Adeleke’s life changed abruptly when his father died—when his family went from being royalty in Nigeria to struggling to feed themselves in the Bronx.

The public education system was so poorly resourced and Remi was exposed to precious few role models in his early life. As a result, he didn’t feel that there was an expectation for him to even graduate high school; it seemed the only path available was stealing, selling drugs, and running scams.

But when Remi hit rock bottom at 26 and realized, he needed something bigger than himself. That’s when Remi met Tiana Reyes, a military recruiter who helped him find his true path. Tiana was also from the Bronx, so she was passionate about helping to give young people from the neighborhood an opportunity to establish a career and explore the world—because she knew that not many other people would give them the chance.

Tiana attended multiple court hearings to advocate for him and helped him fill out the paperwork to get Remi into the Navy. Once in Navy boot camp, Remi was exposed to all the different programs and set his heart on becoming a Navy SEAL.

But it wasn’t a slam dunk. He didn’t pass the academic test on his first attempt and, even if he had, he wouldn’t have passed the physical test because he didn’t know how to swim. But Remi’s mother always taught him to persevere, and he drew on that to train and study in the time outside of his role as a medic. The hard work paid off and Remi was accepted into Navy SEAL training.

In addition to fulfilling his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL, Remi is an actor, entrepreneur, writer, husband, and father. He has written a memoir about his life called Transformed and volunteers as a mentor for kids in similar situations that he was in.

He believes that the past does not have to be a template for our future, that there is always hope and that you can help a person so much that you’re actually hurting them because you're enabling them to keep doing what they’re doing.

As for all the hardships, setbacks and failures in his life, Remi says they made him who he is today because “you can't grow without failure.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Instagram: @remiadeleke
Twitter: @RemiAdeleke
Facebook: @RemiAdeleke
LinkedIn: @RemiAdeleke
Read: Transformed
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 180 - Do What You Love - with Vicky Oliver

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Vicky Oliver’s favorite days begin when somebody writes to her and says they read her book and it helped them get a job. But Vicky didn’t start her career writing about job hunting – it took quite a few twists and turns before she stumbled into a mission that she loved.

Vicky got her start in advertising. But, after September 11, 2001, there were articles in the New York Times every single day about people switching their careers. And this wasn’t because of a downturn in the economy – it was because they were looking inwards and asking, “Am I doing what I want to be doing should I die tomorrow?” And when people were honest with themselves, they started making gigantic changes.

Vicky enjoyed writing commercials, but there was always the lingering feeling that she was making corporations rich, making millions of dollars for them, without really enriching herself. So she looked at her skill, which was writing, and asked herself: Can I do something else with this skill? Can I help people more?

Throughout her career in advertising, Vicky was constantly looking for the next job opportunity, and she was actually really good at securing the jobs she wanted. She realized that she knew quite a bit about job hunting, and that was how she could help so many others achieve their mission. She started writing some articles, and then eventually a book.

Even though Vicky made more money when she was in advertising, writing books turned out to be the thing that brings her the most satisfaction. As she says, “If you look at what you love to do, you will probably be better at it than if you just do something because you think it's going to make you a lot of money.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Read: Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues
Live Like a Millionaire (Without Having to Be One)
vickyoliver.com
Twitter: @vickyoliver
Facebook: @vickyoliver
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 179 - Sucking The Marrow Out Of Life - with Alexis Meschi

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 10:00:00 -0400

The one thing Alexis Meschi remembers dreaming about when she was a kid was to be a mom. But something she had to learn was that most dreams don’t come true overnight – and that the dreams we have when we’re young aren’t necessarily going to be what fulfills us in the long term.

Alexis struggled with a lot of the things we’re “supposed” to do early in our lives. She never did well in school, has no idea how she got into college, and was actually asked to leave college at the end of her third year because her GPA wasn’t up to scratch. The college said she could come back if she got her GPA up, but at the time, Alexis just didn’t think she was good at anything or had any gifts. So she ended up not going back to college, married her husband, and set out to fulfill her dream of being a stay-at-home mom.

But her dreams were always getting bigger. She didn’t just want to be a stay-at-home mom; she wanted a career of her own. Alexis started blogging about sewing clothes for her girls, and it slowly grew into a business. She was asked to apply for Project Runway twice, which returned a lot of confidence that she lost in university. And after she taught for just a day as a substitute teacher, Alexis was inspired to get her four-year teaching degree – in just two years!

While teaching, Alexis also picked up photography. So now, in addition to teaching, Alexis photographs women that are in business. She says it can be hard to have your picture taken, especially if you're a woman, because women tell themselves false narratives all the time; there’s a lot of vulnerability and sometimes shame that comes with being photographed.

And Alexis continues to work on herself, too, on a constant mission to push herself out of her comfort zone and live her life to the fullest. She says, “I just knew that there was a mission that God had made for me and I was the only person that could fulfill that mission. And being comfortable was not going to achieve it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Instagram: @alexismeschiphotography
Facebook: @alexismeschiphotography
alexismeschi.com
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 178 - Speaking Out To Save Lives - with Colin Morgan

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Colin Morgan is a former pro golfer and the founder and host of The Daily Grind Podcast, where he interviews today’s most successful people in the hopes of inspiring the next great entrepreneur. But his mission grew from a place of deep pain.

Colin actually had a lot of support when he was growing up; he cites his father and his first golf coach as the people who instilled the belief that he could be successful. It was when he reached college that he discovered that not everyone had his best interests at heart, and this is when he experienced psychological and sexual abuse.

After the abuse, he started to hate golf, but still continued on the path to being a pro player. Then, mid-tournament, he realized that he wasn’t happy. He decided to make a dramatic change. He was drinking and partying to mask his feelings, and he says that's where he really learned that how you do one thing is how you do everything. The way that he was partying trickled down into every aspect of his life, including entrepreneurship. He was always looking for a get rich quick scheme, ultimately experiencing a cycle of failure and then getting excited about the next big idea.

To create the change he needed, Colin started to incorporate habits like journaling. He wrote down things that he was grateful for and worked on a goal to move his business forward, for at least 20 minutes each day.

And it paid off. Colin found a purpose in helping to prevent and stop abuse in sports, and he really encourages other survivors to reach out for help. Colin lost a college friend who also suffered abuse to suicide and says, “The work I'm doing goes much beyond abuse. It's about saving lives.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Read: Psyched Up

Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 177 - Grab the Gold Ring - with Eddie Osterland

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Eddie Osterland lives by a piece of advice that was told to him by his father: watch for the gold ring.

Eddie’s dad used to ride a merry-go-round in Brooklyn as a child. The best part was getting an outside horse and, every once in a while, there was an arm that would drop down with cartridges of lead rings that you could grab, if you were lucky enough to be on the right horse. And if you got one of these rings, you got a free ride. But, once a week, there was a brass ring, and if you managed to get it, you got free rides for the year.

Eddie’s dad called this the gold ring. You never know when it's going to come by. So be vigilant, reach out, grab it, and ride it wherever it takes you. It may not be the end-all, but the next gold ring you see coming along might be seven years from now.

Eddie’s gold ring was a plane ticket from New Jersey to Honolulu. He decided to take a vacation after he got a degree in psychology, before jumping into his career. He and a friend went down to a travel agency intending to buy one-way tickets to California. The travel agent told them for another $95 they could buy tickets to Honolulu instead, so that’s what they did.

Eddie decided to stay in Hawaii and started studying psychopharmacology at graduate school. He started working as a waiter at night, but one night the sommelier was sick so Eddie ended up filling in, which inspired him to move to France to study professional wine tasting at the University of Bordeaux, making Eddie America's first master sommelier.

Now, Eddie combines his food and wine expertise with sales psychology to create memorable events that help businesses acquire new clients.

His tips for power entertaining include:

Always serve wines in pairs so you have something to compare it to
Serve your best food and wine first
If you’re entertaining at a restaurant, don't let the restaurant control your experience – make friends with the sommelier and book a quiet, private dining room
Never let the check come to the table – give your credit card to the restaurant beforehand and tell them to add a 25% tip

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more: eddieosterland.com
Facebook: @eddie.osterland
Instagram: @eddieoeddieosterlandcom
Read: Power Entertaining
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 176 - Radical Honesty: The First Step - with Tommy Baker

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Tommy Baker is an author, podcaster, fitness junkie, and the founder of Resist Average Academy. His mission is to help you live a life you can’t wait to wake up for.

Tommy’s entrepreneurial career started in gyms, where he started to notice something that would eventually change the course of his life and career: one person can walk into a facility and experience transformational results while another person with a similar background and natural ability might barely scratch the surface.

This realization turned into a fascination, so Tommy started to learn more about neuroscience, human behavior, and positive psychology. In the process, he realized that those were really the things that lit him up.

So, as Tommy combined these new insights with his fitness knowledge, he identified the one thing that we all need to be successful – we need to operate with an incredibly powerful foundation; a strong connection between mind, body, and spirit.

Tommy recommends two techniques for reverse engineering success:

Imagining what your life looks like in a decade. What would it look like if our biggest dreams were realized?
Imagining your life five years from now as if nothing has changed. How does that feel?

But, above all, Tommy believes that if we continue to avoid the uncomfortable truth about our lives, then we’re going to miss out on what we want. As he says, “Radical honesty is the first step to changing anything.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

resistaverageacademy.com
Read: The Leap of Your Life
Facebook: @resistaverageacademy
Twitter: @ResistAverage
Instagram: @resistaverageacademy
YouTube: Resist Average Academy
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 175 - You Can’t Make An Impact If You’re Six Feet Under - with Jennifer L Carroll

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Jennifer Carroll has been a storyteller her whole life, but she believes the story she’s telling now is one that deserves to have massive impact. She wants to tell men and women that your health is the most important thing – because you can’t make an impact if you’re six feet under!

Jennifer grew up with loving parents who gave her the foundation of a strong, value-based upbringing, and she always had coaches and mentors in her life, beginning with her figure skating coach when she was a child.

But it was her late husband, entrepreneur Phil Carroll, who taught her the most – both the good and the bad. She says he had the most positive attitude in the world and chose to live a very forward-moving, impactful life. He also lived as if he was invincible. This was his greatest attribute, but it was also part of his demise. Because Phil didn't believe in going to doctors, he ignored the early symptoms of prostate cancer and, tragically, passed away at a very young age.

With the support of another mentor, speaking coach Joel Weldon, Jennifer is now on a mission to share her story and encourage other people to share theirs because she knows that our stories have an impact on others.

“Phil made his first million in his 20s. And he made his first widow in her 40s,” Jennifer says. “And I feel very driven to share that story to not only bring significance and meaning to Phil's life, as this incredible man and entrepreneur, but also to bring impact to his death.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more: jenniferlcarroll.com
Learn more: illuminateyousummit.com
Instagram: @jenniferlcarroll
Facebook: @livelargelivelong
Twitter: @largelonglegacy
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 174 - Make Your Dream Job a Reality - with Ken Coleman

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Ken Coleman is a career expert, the best-selling author of The Proximity Principle, and the host of The Ken Coleman Show. Pulling from his own personal struggles, missed opportunities, and career successes, Coleman helps people discover what they were born to do and provides practical steps to make their dream job a reality.

Ken’s parents were the first to breathe life into his dreams, but two of his teachers also made a big impact – the elementary school teacher who gave him an extra jolt of self-esteem by always calling him Doc and a drama teacher who poured gasoline on his dreams by telling him he could do great things.

And Ken always had big dreams of becoming a national broadcaster – but, of course, big dreams also come with big obstacles. Ken experienced a lot of rejection when he tried to break into radio, and things just weren’t working out the way he had hoped. Then, one day he was sitting on his patio having a one-man pity party when he realized that nobody was sitting around thinking about how they could help Ken Coleman out. Nobody was waking up going, “Hey, this Ken Coleman guy, I think he’d be a really good broadcaster. Why don’t we give him a call today and just open every door for him?”

Ken says that realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew he had the talent to be a great broadcaster, but that day, he realized that wasn’t enough – if he really wanted to make an impact, he had to actually pave that road, and that process was going to be long and arduous.

Ken’s book, The Proximity Principle, is all about helping people pave this road for themselves by showing up and getting to know the right people who are going to help you fulfil your dreams so that the right opportunities find their way to you. Ken says that we humans want progress, and that's a good thing. But, if you obsess about the next step, you miss what you're supposed to be doing and learning in the now. He offers three pieces of advice for people working towards their dream job:

Know your role. You have to have absolute clarity on what is expected and what the win looks like.
Accept your role. Be grateful for the job you have now because it’s a step on the ladder to your dream job.
Maximize your role. Do things outside of your normal duties and demonstrate value.

“If you do those three things, progress will find you, the promotion will find you. You don't have to worry about it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more: kencoleman.com
Read: The Proximity Principle
The Ken Coleman Show
Instagram: @kencoleman
Facebook: The Ken Coleman Show
Twitter: @KenColeman
Get your copy of Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life on Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 173 - The Four Phases of the Entrepreneur’s Journey - with Chris Cooper

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Chris Cooper is a serial entrepreneur who has seen a lot of success, so now he’s passing on what he’s learned through a mentorship company for entrepreneurs called Two-Brain Business. Chris is focused on nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship, like what are the phases people go through when developing scalable businesses and how do people move between them? To answer these questions, Chris brings together his personal business experience, incredible consistency (he’s written a blog post every day for the last 10 years), and a keen understanding of the benefits of entrepreneurship.

One of the macro benefits that Chris sees is that entrepreneurship makes the economy less fragile. A lot of cities and towns rely on major industrial employers – and when they close down or leave, that has a major impact on the economy of the region and almost every family in it. Chris says what these places need to bounce back is an anti-fragile approach, which is not one big industrial employer but 300 small businesses.

Another benefit is that when people don’t have to worry about money, they can worry about the important, impactful things – like spending time with their kids and living in alignment with their values.

You may think that being an entrepreneur isn’t for everybody, but Chris didn’t grow up in an entrepreneurial family or have access to a lot of extra resources. In fact, he attributes his jump into entrepreneurship to two former personal training clients who saw that personal training wasn’t paying the bills and pushed him to start his first company.

If it sounds like you’re in the same shoes that Chris had on back then, working for someone else but struggling to pay your bills, he has a lot of helpful tips:

It's super important to have both wins to motivate you and losses to keep you humble
Get into the habit of paying yourself at the start of your business
Focus on the information that applies to you and filter out the rest

Through his mentoring practice, Chris also identified four phases of entrepreneurship, which he wrote about them in his book Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief: The Four Phases of the Entrepreneur's Journey.

Want to know what phase of entrepreneurship you’re in? Well, you should be interested, because it can help you figure out where to go next – and you can find out at twobrain.com.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more: twobrain.com
Read: Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief: The Four Phases of the Entrepreneur's Journey
Read: Help First: Sell Less, Profit More
Listen: Two Brain Radio

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 172 - Leadership and Life Lessons From a Blue Angel Pilot - with John Foley

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 10:00:00 -0400

John Foley has some serious flying skills, but for him what’s truly important as a team member, leader, and mentor is connecting with people who have a deep connection to who they are and why they’re there.

John had an amazing childhood, where he received both wisdom and love from his parents, who created a supportive environment for his dreams. His father was an army instructor at West Point and John wanted to be an army officer just like him - until he saw an air show and decided that he wanted to be a pilot.

Of course, there were also rules in John’s family, and the self-discipline he developed as a child served him well when he went to study at the United States Naval Academy. He played college football while he was there and, after graduation, trained as a fighter pilot. Moving up the ranks, he then became an instructor pilot and later joined the Blue Angels, the United States Navy's flight demonstration squadron.

John’s hairy experiences in the Blue Angels included flying into Russian air space shortly after the end of the Cold War to do a show and seeing Russian fighter jets coming towards his plane. Fortunately, the Russians were also keen to make friends and John ended up waving at one of the Russians from his cockpit.

Flying in a squadron means that you and your teammates literally rely on each other to stay alive, and in this episode John talks about how it’s so important to hold up your end of the deal and do your job well. He explains that he sees a huge difference between being scared and being afraid. To him being scared just means, “Hey, I need to do my job. Everybody's counting on me.” Being fearful means that you go into defense mode.

John’s new book, Fearless Success, is about the secrets that elite performers know and practice on a daily basis. You can buy it from Amazon and other booksellers, but if you get it from his website, it comes with a free second book, Breaking Beliefs.

Some of John’s tips include:

Worry about performing well, not on the outcome.
Take negative thoughts and put them in the back of your head so you can focus on what you need to do
The key to doing something difficult is visualization and focus

Another one of the secrets to success revealed in the book is that he meditates every morning. He says gratitude is so important because, “Gratefulness changes the way you see the world. And then the way the world sees you changes too.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Johnfoleyinc.com
Read: Fearless Success
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnfoleyinc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnFoleyInc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfoleyinc/

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 171 - Make Shift Happen - with Anthony Trucks

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Anthony Trucks has accomplished so much in his life – he played in the NFL, built two extremely successful business, wrote a best selling book, and competed as an American Ninja Warrior – but that all pales in comparison to the positive impact he’s making on every single person he interacts with. Anthony has experienced extreme ups and downs of his life, and that’s what drives him to “help others take ‘shift’ seriously in their lives to make great ‘shift’ happen.”

Anthony was placed in foster care at the age of three, and he stayed in the system until he was adopted at the age of 14. Anthony loved his adoptive parents and says his mom taught him unconditional love, but he still struggled with being the only black kid in a white family and the abuse and neglect he experienced in earlier homes. He says that he used his turbulent background as an excuse until he heard two girls talking about him at school and realized how stupid that excuse sounded.

He played football in high school, college, and the NFL, and he attributes his capacity to withstand pain to a college coach that really pushed him.

When Anthony left the NFL, he opened his own gym... although he had no idea how to run a gym, or really a business at all. The problems with the gym also disrupted Anthony’s family life and his marriage ended in divorce (however, Anthony and his wife are now happily remarried).

Navigating these extreme shifts in his life has been extremely difficult, but through a lot of internal work, Anthony was able to make sense of life’s expected and unexpected shifts – How he’d accomplished all the great things, how he’d encountered and endured all the bad things, and how he could’ve handled them differently. But he sees others struggling through this all the time, and that’s why he created Modifidentify, a company focused on helping people take control of their lives by understanding how these shifts impact their identities.

As he says, “I just love being a part of the process of other people's joy.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at: anthonytrucks.com
Instagram: @anthonytrucks

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 170 - Nothing To Lose - with Vincent Pugliese

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 10:00:00 -0400

As a child Vincent Pugliese was, in his words, a giant pain in the butt. For example on the 200th year anniversary of the United States of America in 1976 everyone at his school had to wear red, white and blue, but he insisted on wearing a green suit. This rebel streak may not have endeared him to his teachers, but it has worked in his favor in the entrepreneurial world.

Vincent didn’t do well at school, dropped out of college five or six times and was arrested when he was 18 years old for stealing. As a 22-year-old he was working at a convenience store and making extra money by overcharging each customer a little. After a customer called him out on it, he woke up one night in a dead sweat and knew he had to change his life. His dad suggested he become a sports photographer and Vincent threw himself into attending games, hustling his way to the front row.

He got a lucky break at one game and his sports photography career took off.

Now he runs a photography business academy and a business mastermind program while enjoying financial freedom, homeschooling his three sons and traveling with his family. His new book, Freelance to Freedom, is available for free as an audio download.

Vincent’s tips for listeners are:

A lie is believing what happened in your former life. We base so much of our adult life on what that kid in eighth grade said on the basketball court.
Think, “How do I afford it?” as opposed to “I can't afford it.”
One of the lies we tell ourselves is, I’m not good enough.

Vincent’s achievements show how far being curious and generous can take you in life. His goal for his sons is for them “to constantly have a love for learning”.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Take action: https://totallifefreedom.com
Email: Vincent@freelancetofreedombook.com

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 169 - Late Bloomers with Rich Karlgaard

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Rich Karlgaard is the publisher of Forbes magazine, but when he was younger it wasn’t at all obvious that he was going to be successful. During this episode of the podcast he talks about growing up in North Dakota and developing an interest in running. He got into Stanford on a fluke when his coach misunderstood his race times but, in his words, squandered the opportunity. While his high-powered classmates were finishing law school and so on, he graduated with the minimum number of units and went to work as a dishwasher and a security guard. His story of how he went straight from dead-end jobs to working at Forbes magazine, and ultimately became its publisher, is the impetus behind his new book, Late Bloomers.

Late Bloomers
Late Bloomers laments the culture of obsession with SAT scores and early success and explains that finding one’s way later in life can be an advantage to long-term achievement and happiness.

Self doubt and the importance of self-discovery
Rich and Mike also discuss how people shouldn’t tie their self doubt to their self worth and how embracing self doubt can be a great strategy. They also talk about how early achievers can reinvent themselves in the face of job insecurity as more and more jobs are automated or taken over by artificial intelligence.

How harmful the culture of early success can be
Rich also tells the story of how shame around being academically average led to a spate of depression and even suicide amongst Palo Alto students in 2014 and 2015. It was discovered that the kids who were most at risk were B-plus students.

Rich’s tips

The task of a late bloomer is to get off the conventional path and become an explorer.
There’s no better decade than your 20s to take risks.
Self doubt isn’t something to run away from, it’s something to embrace.
Be prepared to find new friends and move to a different place if your current environment isn’t serving you.

One of Rich’s key teachings is that finding your purpose is everything. As he says, “When people feel pulled, they grow in amazing ways. And they surprise you.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Read: Late Bloomers
Learn more at richkarlgaard.com
Forbes: forbes.com
https://www.kleinerperkins.com
MindSet by Carol Dweck
Churchill Club: churchillclub.org

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 168 - Clothe Our Kids: Clothing Kids With Confidence & Doing the Impossible - with Laura Mayer

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Every child deserves the opportunity to feel good and feel safe – it’s a fundamental, foundational need for all humans, and when you don’t have that as a child, it can create limiting beliefs that obscure your potential.

That’s why Laura Mayer co-founded Clothe Our Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to providing at-risk children in Tennessee with much-needed clothing and shoes. Their goal is to help these children feel loved, cared for, and good about themselves – what they call “clothing kids with confidence” – and each bag they deliver is custom packed with quality items and with the individual needs of the child in mind.

Laura grew up in a loving home with support, where she was home schooled by her mother, but when she left home, she found that the rest of the world wasn’t always so supportive. She found herself in an abusive relationship, and after she escaped it, she felt lost. As a result, she put everyone else and everything else at a distance because she didn’t feel safe.

However, a transformative experience at church taught Laura that she had to let go of the past; she didn't know what that was going to look like, but she was done letting anyone else steal another day of her future. She couldn’t go back, she couldn’t change what happened to her, but she could choose to move forward with her head held high.

Laura also found inspiration and support in a wonderful book called Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life, which she recommends to anyone who resonates with her story.

It’ll help remind you, like I hope this podcast does, that everybody is here on this Earth for a purpose. We all have God-given abilities, and we all have the ability to create an impact on the world. But before you can find your Why, you must remember and believe that you are worthy of one to begin with – and giving children the opportunity to remember that is really why Clothe Our Kids is making such a positive impact on these young lives.

And if you want to make a positive impact today, you can support Clothe Our Kids – or even bringing Clothe Our Kids to your community because every city needs this! You can learn more at http://www.clotheourkids.com/take-action.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Take action: http://www.clotheourkids.com/take-action
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clotheourkids
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clotheourkidslc/
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 167 - Living the Life That You Were Created For - with Tiffany Bluhm

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Tiffany Bluhm is a beautiful writer and speaker with an incredible story that just breathes life into everyone who encounters it – so I am humbled and excited to be able to share it with all of you today.

Tiffany was born in India, abandoned as a newborn in New Delhi. She was one of more than 25 million Indian children who were orphaned in the ‘80s. And for most of her life, this origin was a thorn in her side; she saw a world where everyone had baby pictures and memories passed down by family, but she had no evidence of her beginning except for a number and a name given to her by an orphanage.

So, at her core, she struggled with her sense of identity. Tiffany was lucky enough, however, to be adopted, and to be given the opportunity to talk about how difficult it was. “So many adoptees go underground with their feelings. It’s called invisible trauma, when you can’t make sense of the trauma that’s happened because you don’t have conscious memories of it, but you can feel it and you’re still dealing with the effects of it.”

But Tiffany knew that if she was here, there must be a reason – and she had to make the best of it.

Although we don’t always come from such humbling pasts, most of us feel like this at some point in our lives: lost, confused, and a little unsure why we’re here. And when we feel that way, we often end up letting the things that we do to define who we are.

However, that’s now how you live a fulfilling life that lights you up. Who you are should define what you do, how you work, what your goals are, and what your values are. When you can align all of that, you can really achieve the life that you were created for.

“I am not leftovers,” Tiffany says confidently. “This isn’t going to be the breaking of me, but could potentially be the making of me.”

You can get more inspiration and wisdom from Tiffany in her upcoming book, She Dreams, or her own incredible podcast, Why Tho?.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at http://www.tiffanybluhm.com/
Listen to Why Tho?: http://www.tiffanybluhm.com/podcast/
Read: She Dreams
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffanybluhm/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TiffanyABluhm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TiffanyBluhm

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

166 | Worthy of Life: The Remarkable Story of Violinist and Holocaust Survivor David Arben | with Rebecca Jackson and Dr. John Jackson

Mon, 27 May 2019 10:00:00 -0400

In this episode, I talk to Rebecca Jackson and her father Dr John Jackson, authors of Arben: David Arben’s Life of Miracles and Successes. They discuss Warsaw-born Mr. Arben’s astonishing story of his survival from concentration camps during the Holocaust, his brushes with death, and subsequent achievements as a classical violinist.

His story is astonishing, from surviving a Nazi massacre to world acclamation for his work. We discuss how music helped Mr. Arben to carry on — and thrive— after surviving a number of close calls with death and coming face-to-face with the horror of a World War II Nazi concentration camp. The story of the Nazi guard and the camp orchestra is not to be missed.

What gave him the strength to survive? Dr. Jackson tells of the advice Mr. Arben received from his parents: 1) You’re a virtuoso and 2) don’t let anyone disrespect you. He never bowed or was submissive and this incredible courage and resilience was something that came directly from his parents. Others, including Dr. and Rebecca Jackson, were inspired by this strength of character.

Mr. Arben’s showed his strong will from an early age. Dr. Jackson tells the delightful and illuminating story of a young Arben dismissing his parents’ concerns about him taking up the violin as a career by going on a hunger strike to get music lessons.

After the war, he was classed as a displaced person and it was his determination to get to the U.S and play violin that, again, saved him. Eventually arriving on a converted troopship in Boston harbor in 1949, it was only a matter of weeks before he was able to secure a letter of recommendation from the acclaimed conductor Leonard Bernstein, which helped begin his musical career.

But how has Mr. Arben influenced Rebecca and Dr. Jackson? Rebecca shares a story of when he questioned her passion when she played. She vehemently denied this to Mr. Arben. Was he upset? No, it was this passion that he wanted to see come out of her. As her teacher, he saw her as a “connector of people.”

As we learn, he has strong views about what makes a great artist: “a combination of intellect and heart,” according to Dr. Jackson. A man of honour, Mr. Arben always kept his word and expected others to do the same. A man who lived in the “now,” he believed in using the gifts Nature had bestowed on him.

Resources:

Learn more about David Arben: https://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/David-Arben-dies---a-violinist-who-found-poetry-.html
Read: Arben: David Arben’s Life of Miracles and Successes
Read: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Music in May: http://musicinmay.org/

Ep. 165 - A Logical Justification for Pursuing Your Dreams - with Logan Gelbrich

Mon, 20 May 2019 10:00:00 -0400

There are a lot of conversations these days around really taking hold of the narrative of your life, and not just passively reacting to life but actively responding to who you are created to be, what you’re called to, and what you’re capable of becoming – and I am all for it!

So, today, I want to add on to this conversation that society is having through my conversation with Logan Gelbrich, a man who has not just asked himself these questions but embodies his answers to them.

Logan is a former professional baseball player for the San Diego Padres, a “Functional Coach” working with DEUCE Gym, and the author of Going Right: A Logical Justification for Pursuing Your Dreams.

Logan was lucky enough to know that he wanted to be a baseball player from a very young age, and he had the drive to make it happen – but, unfortunately, professional sports careers often don’t have a very long lifespan. So, after Logan’s professional baseball career was over, he had to ask himself all of those questions again.

Luckily, baseball taught Logan to orient towards that which is in his control. So, instead of wallowing in a decision he couldn’t change, he focused on what he could do moving forward.

Finding our next best next step in life requires identifying what’s at the intersection of our curiosity and commitment, and in Logan’s book, he takes an objective and utilitarian view on this subject. He urges readers to ask themselves, “How are you most useful to yourself and your community?”

What doesn’t work, he says, is just picking what you’re going to do next arbitrarily. You can’t stay committed to an idea you just picked out of a hat, or because it was trending on Google. You probably can, however, stay committed to an idea or organization that has captured your curiosity and lit you up in the past. And through that commitment and curiosity, you can pursue a life where you are always pushing yourself to the edge of what you are capable of and constantly evolving.

But Logan says that a lot of us are intentionally avoiding difficulty, and as a result, we are losing ourselves along the way. The path most travelled is covered in complacency, so I urge you to choose the path less travelled; a path packed with curiosity, challenge, and growth.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at http://holdthestandard.com
Read: Going Right: A Logical Justification for Pursuing Your Dreams
Instagram: instagram.com/functionalcoach/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Logan-Gelbrich-1867808216814552/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FunctionalCoach
Hold the Standard Summit: https://prep.deucegym.com/courses/category/Seminars

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 164 - One Life to Give - with Brandon Adams

Mon, 13 May 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Brandon T. Adams is a serial entrepreneur who owns a stake in a number of businesses, including the Accelerant Media Group, Live to Grind, Young Entrepreneur Convention, and Arctic Stick. He is also the co-host and executive producer of the reality TV series Ambitious Adventures, and the host of the business podcast Live to Grind. His most recent project is a TV series called Success in Your City.

Brandon is an entrepreneur who lives life on his own terms, and there’s a reason for that. In a story that is both fascinating and relatable, he talks about his own journey of working hard, though as he admits, “not smart” – and he paid the consequences. Brandon shares an incident where he had a mental and physical breakdown while driving, a sure sign his body was telling him to work for his own reward, not others. Working in real estate at the time, the moment was crucial for Brandon, for he knew it was the signal that he had to change his ways.

Think and Grow Rich

Brandon knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur at the age of 21, after he read Napoleon Hill’s acclaimed 1937 book “Think and Grow Rich.” The lesson he learned was that the famous entrepreneurs of the day — Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie — weren’t necessarily the brightest in the land. However, they all shared one goal: the “drive to achieve something,” said Brandon.

This drive is shown in the determination to succeed that has characterised Brandon’s life, most noticeably in his drive to release his Emmy award TV series “Success in your City.”

Handling pressure

As many entrepreneurs know, life is never easy and Brandon’s had his own share of trials and tribulations. He speaks candidly of the adverse reaction to his film proposal and tells me how he dealt with the pressure and incessant trolling on social media. Brandon says no matter how unpleasant the experience, “...you grow, you learn, and you open up doors.”

Brandon’s message for budding entrepreneurs is simple: Live life the way you want and always be prepared to grow and learn. Every day is precious to Brandon. As he says, we all have only “one life to give.” Let’s make the most of it.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at http://brandontadams.com/
Success in Your City: http://successinyourcity.com/
Pick up your copy of Master The Key: A story to free your potential, find meaning and live life on purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 163 - RISE & Shine Gold - with Jim Afremow & Caroline Burckle

Mon, 06 May 2019 10:00:00 -0400

One week ago today, my first book, Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose, debuted on Amazon – and you all showed up in a purposeful way!

Together, we made Master The Key a #1 bestseller in spiritual growth on day one, top three in the interpersonal relationships on day two, and #29 in new releases in the personal transformation category on day three. Just being ranked in that category was one of my BHAGs, and just to put that in perspective, Oprah Winfrey was #1 at the time.

So, I want to take this opportunity to thank you all again. I am humbled by the way you all showed up and I have nothing but gratitude for you. But we’re still just getting started, and I am so excited to see where this journey takes us.

And today, I want to share two more of the people who endorsed and influenced my book: Dr. Jim Afremow and Caroline Burckle.

Dr. Afremow is one of the world’s most sought after mental game coaches and the author of three books about being a champion, The Champion’s Mind, The Champion’s Comeback, and The Young Champion’s Mind. Caroline is an Olympic athlete-turned-entrepreneur who, In 2015, Co-Founded RISE Athletes with Rebecca Soni with an ambitious goal: creating a community for cultivating, creating, and discussing things that would uplift them, their peers, and the next generation of athletes.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Get your copy: Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose
Learn more about Jim: Gold Medal Mind | Twitter | Facebook

The Champion’s Mind by Dr. Jim Afremow

The Champion’s Comeback by Dr. Jim Afremow

The Young Champion’s Mind by Dr. Jim Afremow
Learn more at RISE-athletes.com
Connect with Caroline: CarolineBurckle.com | Instagram | Facebook

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is a production of Crate Media

Ep. 162 - Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose (Chapter One)

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 10:00:00 -0400

The wait is over – Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose is here! I am so excited to finally be able to share this story with all of you. It’s honestly difficult to put into words.

So, to celebrate this momentous day, I am going to introduce you to Steve, your companion on the journey to mastering the key, by reading the first chapter of the book.

Resources:

Get your copy: Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 161 - Unstoppable Leaders & Profitable Conversations - with AmyK Hutchens and Kara Goldin

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 10:00:00 -0400

We are exactly seven days away from April 29th, which means we’re only one week away from the launch of my first book, Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose!

We’ve been celebrating all month by highlighting some of the people who influenced this book, and this week we’re continuing that by shining a light on two of the most powerful, incredible leaders that I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know: AmyK Hutchens and Kara Goldin!

AmyK has become a great friend and a valuable member of my tribe through her two previous times joining the show, and she’s the author of her own phenomenal book, The Secrets Leaders Keep, which is a must-read for anyone in any kind of leadership role.

Kara is the founder and CEO at Hint, the creators of Hint Water. She is like a modern-day David, overcoming unlikely odds to not only heal herself but also create an awesome business in the process. She has since grown into an unstoppable force in the entrepreneurial world, also starting the Unstoppable podcast (which I will be appearing on very soon).

If you want to be one of the first people to receive a copy of the book, subscribe to my newsletter at https://theimpactentrepreneur.net or text the word KEY followed by your first time to 831-607-1818.

Resources:

Learn more at http://www.amyk.com/
Connect with AmyK: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn
Learn more at DrinkHint.com
Connect with Kara: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Listen: Unstoppable
The Power of Profitable Conversations course: http://amyk.com/ppc
Read: The Secrets Leaders Keep by AmyK Hutchens

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 160 - Positive Leadership & The Warrior Tradition - with Greg Amundson & Jon Gordon

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 10:00:00 -0400

We’re one week closer to April 29th, which means we’re one week closer to the release of Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose!

We’re celebrating all month by highlighting some of the people who influenced this book, and we have two of the most positive people in the world this week: Greg Amundson and Jon Gordon! Greg is a former DEA special agent, the bestselling author of The Warrior and the Monk, and one of the original crossfitters (he’s also my coach here in Santa Cruz). Jon is a prolific author and speaker, the host of Positive University, the author of a number of inspiring books, and I really can’t underscore this enough – this man is Mr. Positive!

Jon is also hosting The Power of Positive Summit, a FREE online event, from April 22-28. You can learn more at https://www.powerofpositivesummit.com.

Resources:

The Power of Positive Summit, a FREE online event (April 22-28): https://www.powerofpositivesummit.com/
Connect with Greg: Website | Facebook
Crossfit Amundson
Warrior Yoga
God in Me by Greg Amundson
Connect with Jon: JonGordon.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram
PositiveUniversity.com
Watch: “The Secrets That Drive Us To Greater Success | Jon Gordon | TEDxHilliard”
Read: “The 4 Stages of Greatness”
The Power of Positive Leadership by Jon Gordon
The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon

The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All by Jon Gordon

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 159 - Happiness, Love, & the #5SecondRule - with Mel Robbins & Sheryl O'Loughlin

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 10:00:00 -0400

We’re still on the road to releasing Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose (which will be available April 29th, 2019), and to celebrate, we’re checking back in with some of the people who influenced the book.

Today, we’re reflecting back on the wisdom of Mel Robbins, an expert on leadership and the best-selling author of The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage, and Sheryl O’Loughlin, the CEO of REBBL superherb beverages and the author of KILLING IT!: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart.

Resources:

Connect with Mel: MelRobbins.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Read: The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins
Watch Mel’s TEDxSF talk: “How to stop screwing yourself over”
Connect with Sheryl: sheryloloughlin.com | LinkedIn | Facebook
Read: KILLING IT!: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart
Learn more about REBBL: rebbl.co | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 158 - Motivation, Belief, & The Power of Words - with Kevin Hall & Lou Holtz

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:00:00 -0400

We are less than 30 days away from the release of my book, Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose!

So, this month, we’re going to share the wisdom of some of the people who have influenced the book and offered endorsements from the book, starting today with Kevin Hall and Lou Holtz. We’ll reflect on what these mentors have to teach us, and I’ll share what they have to say about the book.

You’ll be able to get your copy of Master the Key on April 29th, 2019, and if you want to be one of the first people to receive a copy of the book, subscribe to my newsletter at https://theimpactentrepreneur.net or text the word KEY followed by your first time to 831-607-1818.

Resources:

Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography by Lou Holtz

Winning Every Day: The Game Plan for Success by Lou Holtz

The Fighting Spirit: A Championship Season at Notre Dame by Lou Holtz

PowerOfWords.com
Connect with Kevin: Facebook | Twitter | kevin@powerofwords.com
Watch Kevin discuss Genshai at TEDxBountiful
Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theimpactmike/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/impactentrepreneurshow
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactmike/

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 157 - Like a Whip: Training & Mindset Lessons from a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt - with Nathan Mendelsohn

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Nathan Mendelsohn is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Cláudio França, who is one of the very first black belts to bring Jiu Jitsu to California, Santa Cruz in particular, and a crucial contributor to the growth of this sport/martial art in North America. Nathan is one of the top American grapplers of his generation, but it’s not just his tremendous list of achievements that garnered him notoriety in the martial arts community – it’s also his open minded attitude towards training, often breaking strict team taboos to practice with the best in this martial art/sport.

Nathan was inspired by his childhood hero Rickson Gracie, a famed practitioner of Gracie jiu jitsu and the subject of the 1995 documentary, Choke. Nathan describes him as the embodiment of the modern-day samurai, and learning jiu jitsu was Nathan’s own way of chasing that childhood dream of being a real-life samurai.

Nathan was ranked as the #8 middleweight blackbelt in the world, positioned to move even higher up the rankings, before he hit a roadblock: a knee injury. Thanks to medical advances over the past 10 or 20 years, this wasn’t the career-ending injury it could have been, but it still lead to a number of frustrating moments during recovery and caused him to slide in the rankings.

But he tried not to let negativity own his life, telling us that “it’s really important to have a positive storyline happening in your head.” Instead of viewing the injury as an obstacle to his goal, he took it as an opportunity to take six months off, for the first time in his life. It was time he could use to not only let his body recover, but also hone his mindset.

Like a lot of what you learn when training in a martial art, I think this lesson is highly applicable to everyone’s life. In our conversation, Nathan shares a number of other lessons he’s learned over the years:

When we learn new things, we’re always focused on the little details – but it’s more just about being there, being present, and letting the situation “churn” you. If you embrace that churn, you’ll naturally get better and better. If you focus on the little details, it’s extremely easy to get overwhelmed.
Not drinking alcohol also had a significant impact on both Nathan’s training and mindset. He didn’t like who he was when he drank, and it negatively affected every aspect of training. It just wasn’t helping to contribute to his goals, so he took it out of his life. This isn’t easy to do in a world where drinking is present at many (if not most) social occasions, but he says it’s one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
After becoming a black belt, the pressure ramped up for Nathan. So one of his mentors taught him about affirmations and mantras, which he now uses before he competes. His main mantra is “I always believe in my ability to impose my game on any opponent,” and he also likes “Every fight is my first fight, my last fight, and my only fight,” for long tournaments.

Resources:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanmendelsohnbjj
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.mendelsohn.10
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSahSf0Zdrv0uvZPapBqd1Q
Watch Nathan’s highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiYC9uFuGlM
Elite Technique (Nathan’s rap persona): https://soundcloud.com/elite_technique

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 156 - When Leaders Help People Achieve Their Goals, the World Wins - with Robert Glazer

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Robert Glazer, founder of Acceleration Partners and co-founder of BrandCycle, says that we all come out of the factory without our instruction manual.

Unfortunately, too many of us don’t figure out who we are and how we function until we’re well into our 30s and 40s – but, as leaders and entrepreneurs, we can change that. We can honor each person in our world; we can highlight and support their unique dreams, hopes, and desires.

And when we don’t do this, when we forget that our organizations are made up of individual people who have their own vision for their life and their own goals, the results can be disastrous. All you have to do is look at employee engagement worldwide: 85 percent of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, resulting in approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity, according to Gallup.

That’s not because most employees don’t want to be engaged, excel, and improve. It’s because most employees don’t have anyone helping them identify their strengths or use these strengths to move the organization forward. So this isn’t on the employees – it’s on the leadership that isn’t helping their people find their instruction manuals.

In Robert’s businesses, this comes down to building capacity in people holistically. He needs his people to grow with the business, and that means they need to do more than just work better – the whole person needs to get better. The business sees a tangible benefit from this personal investment and the employees associate working for the business with being a better person.

I think every company, big and small, needs to focus on creating a culture of personal empowerment and work-life integration like this. It helps businesses succeed, but that’s not even the point – everyone deserves the opportunity to hone their strengths and contribute to something greater than themselves, and as leaders, that’s how we can truly make an impact on the world.

Resources:

Learn more at https://www.robertglazer.com/
Listen: The Elevate Podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AccelerationPartners/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/robert_glazer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glazer/
Read: Performance Partnerships: The Checkered Past, Changing Present and Exciting Future of Affiliate Marketing

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 155 - The AMRAP Mentality: As Many Reps as Possible - with Jason Khalipa

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 10:00:00 -0400

When you walk through the doors of NCFIT, the first thing you’re going to be greeted by is a smiling face, then another and another – and, immediately, even a stranger will feel welcome. That’s the power of community.

And cultivating a passionate community is exactly what NCFIT founder Jason Khalipa wanted to do when he started what is now a small CrossFit empire; he wanted to create an environment where employees were paid to chase their passion, do what they love, and create happier, healthier communities along the way. It’s a marriage of fitness and hospitality that really makes an impact on the people who come through the doors.

But running NCFIT is just one of Jason’s many hats. He is also author of As Many Reps as Possible, the host of two podcasts (AMRAP Mentality and Business of Fitness), and a dedicated philanthropist who gives so much to spread awareness for pediatric cancer and provide support to families fighting that difficult fight.

Jason started his philanthropy work in 2016, after he and his wife were faced with a parent’s worst nightmare: their daughter, Ava, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of four. But the Khalipa family embraced Ava’s diagnosis and faced it with unyielding positivity.

Instead of playing it safe, they went all in. Instead of focusing on themselves, they spread support. Instead of worrying, they celebrated. Because those are the memories that Jason wants Ava to remember.

And no matter what is happening or where you are in your life, it’s never too late. You can overcome any adversity. You can start that business. You can write the story of your own life.

You are the only person who can free your potential.

Resources:

Learn more at http://www.jasonkhalipa.com/
Read: As Many Reps as Possible
Listen to AMRAP Mentality: http://www.jasonkhalipa.com/ampodcast
Listen to Business of Fitness: https://www.ncfitpodcast.fit/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonkhalipa/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jasonkhalipa

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 154 - Honoring Your God-Given Talent - with Phil White

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 11:00:00 -0400

Phil White is the co-author of Waterman 2.0 (with past guest Dr. Kelly Starrett), The 17 Hour Fast (with Dr. Frank Merritt), Unplugged (with Dr. Andy Galpin and Brian Mackenzie) and Game Changer (with Fergus Connolly). He also writes for many of the leading brands in the human performance space and tells stories for Intrinsic, which helps military veterans, firefighters, police officers, and athletes overcome PTSD, TBIs, and concussions.

But before Phil started telling stories, he wanted to be an athlete. He moved across the pond from the UK, and then a ways further into the Midwest, to join a college soccer team in Kansas City and pursue this childhood dream.

Phil was an English major, though, and the more he wrote, the more his talent started to shine. After graduating, he had his first opportunity to co-write a book. This was a pivotal point in his writing career. He continued to write more and more and more – and before he knew it, he was a writer.

In this process, Phil learned an important lesson, and it’s one he shares with all of us in this episode: “Honor your god-given talent, in whatever you got.”

But Phil isn’t just a talented wordsmith, he’s also a talented collaborator; really, a master communicator by any measure. He’s exceptionally good at helping to draw ideas out of others, which he says is driven by an insatiable curiosity, and then translating those ideas into the written word.

Phil turns these ideas into art through his talent, but at the foundation of it all is a willingness to build relationships – which I think is probably the least taught, but most important, skill that anyone and everyone should have.

And here’s the thing: you don’t even need to rely on your God-given talents to form relationships! You’ll be able to create something incredible if you combine the two, but anyone and everyone CAN build healthy and strong relationships, in any area of their life, if they’re willing to put in the time and effort.

Resources:

Learn more at www.philwhitebooks.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philwhitebooks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilWhiteBooks

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 153 - Made for More - with Leah Darrow

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 11:00:00 -0400

Leah Darrow joins the show today to teach us all about the Made for More Mentality.

Leah is a former model and contestant on America’s Next Top Model who has a driving passion to inspire women to do something beautiful with their lives. She is an international Catholic speaker, author of The Other Side of Beauty, and host of the Do Something Beautiful podcast.

I ask Leah about her final episode of Top Model and what attracted her to modeling in the first place – with that high-stress situation as an example, in particular, it can be difficult to understand why anyone would want to do that.

However, it all comes down to one of the most basic human desires: you want to be loved and you want to be beautiful.

Unfortunately, we’ve distorted beauty so it almost exclusively pertains to the physical these days, and at the time, that’s what she was pursuing. But she got fed up with it. She didn’t want to be known as a pretty picture or a pretty girl, and she certainly didn’t want to get used to being used to sell products.

So today, Leah is concerned with the beauty of the soul; the beauty of someone who is compassionate, who is generous, who forgives, who dives deep into friendships. “That is a beauty that remains with you throughout time, and that is why people who engage in that type of a lifestyle have a lot of beauty around them and in them – and we are attracted to them!”

And Leah is on a mission to help other women tap into their God-given potential and let it shine, which is why she created Lux U, a first of its kind online learning program for Catholic women who want to be informed, inspired, and empowered in their faith.

“We need to connect on a more human level because people are not projects, people are not deadlines, people are not profit. Until we engage with the people around us, in our personal life and our business life, we will not make the impact that the world needs.”

Resources:

Learn more at https://leahdarrow.com/
Listen: Do Something Beautiful
Lux U: http://theluxuniversity.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah.darrow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leah.darrow
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leahdarrow
Read: The Other Side of Beauty

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 152 - Couple Q&A: Your Questions, Our Answers - with Lisa Flynn

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 11:00:00 -0400

About a year ago, I invited my beautiful wife, Lisa, on the show for episode 100. That was one of our most popular episodes of the year so, today, she is coming back by popular demand! We each pour a glass of bourbon, sit down in front of a mic, and kick things off with our traditional toast: to us and to all of our friends, past, present, and future.

Then we take turns asking each other questions submitted by you, the listeners of the show, and our friends (and I may have added a couple extra questions as well). I hope you are able to take away some tips from our conversation so that you can make a greater impact on the people you love, your community, and the world.

I highlighted a few of my favorite questions and responses below, but there’s a lot more in the full episode.

Mike: If someone wants things to go differently, wants things to go well, wants to take action, what’s the first thing they should do?

Lisa: You have to make forward progress every day. Every little opportunity you have to choose to have a different response and choose to make a different path for yourself or your family – that’s why we’re here. We’ve had many opportunities this past year to stop and say, no, we’re going to do something different. We’re not going to just react. We’re going to choose to respond in the way that we want and the way that we feel called to and gifted for.

Ross: What did you think would be significantly easier or harder in marriage?

Lisa: From the beginning, I felt like we had all the building blocks for a great marriage and relationship, and that has proven to be true ... But harder, in terms of marriage, is the every single day dying to self. Every single day, I’m going to do something that I know Mike would appreciate. I’m going to say yes to our children in a loving way – the everyday part of it. ... What I mean by that is making a very intentional decision to do something that you don’t feel like doing.

Mike: I want to reiterate that we have the building blocks for a good marriage, and I want to share a little bit about how we do it... First of all, we both have good parents to set examples for us... And their marriages weren’t perfect, and I think we saw that, and that also helped us understand that perfection is a myth and something that will never be achieved. ... And we’re very intentional. We communicate!

Mike: Why is having gifts – and using them – important to you?

Lisa: We all have gifts. We all have things inside of us that we were made and born to do, and if you don’t use them, that equals the worst kind of suffering.

Mike: We know that people struggle with the belief that they don’t have any gifts or that they don’t know what their gifts are... So if someone feels like they don’t know how to articulate it or they don’t know what their gifts are, what would you tell them to do?

Lisa: The first step is that you need to make a lot of room and time for silence. Because in the classroom for silence is where you will discern and know a lot of things. So you need to make room for silence first, and then you need to follow the little whisper inside of you.

Resources:

Connect with us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 151 - The Power of Profitable Conversations - with AmyK Hutchens

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 11:00:00 -0400

AmyK Hutchens first joined the show back way back in episode 26, which published in September 2016. We talked about her phenomenal book, The Secrets Leaders Keep, which is still a must-read for anyone in any kind of leadership role.

Today AmyK is back and we’re talking about her recent work focusing on the power of profitable conversations, especially tough conversations.

AmyK teaches us that life happens one conversation at a time – and the quality of our lives are a direct reflection of the quality of our conversations.

And really, it only takes a few minutes of intentional thought and preparation to assure that almost any conversation will be a high-quality conversation, whether it’s a tough conversation to have or not. We just keep lying to ourselves that we don’t have enough time when, in reality, we can’t afford not to take the time to think about the way we communicate with others.

Whether you’re talking to your employees in a Fortune 500 company or your daughter, immediately reacting to a conversation can lead to irresponsible communication that negatively impacts your relationship. However, if you take the time to consider the context around a conversation and how you want to be treated by others, you can approach every conversation with a strategy and tone that leads it in a positive direction.

Amazingly, all it takes is pausing before you respond, as opposed to reacting. It’s okay if you feel angry or have an emotional response, but you have to keep in mind that as a parent, as a boss, or as a spouse, the very first words that you say will set the entire tone, tenor, and direction for everything that follows.

AmyK tells us that, when we get in these tough conversations, there’s two things you can do to sustain a relationship (or not): go in for connection or go in for power. If this is a conversation with your partner, children, or friends, obviously it makes sense to go for connection. But there are other times when you have to draw a line or a boundary, and that’s when you have to go for a power play – and you have to make this choice consciously.

If you want to have more impactful and profitable conversations in your life, I highly recommend checking out AmyK’s new course: The Power of Profitable Conversations. After you’re done, you’ll be confidently and competently leading your toughest conversations without saying something that you regret, giving your power away, or damaging your relationships.

Resources:

Learn more at http://www.amyk.com/
The Power of Profitable Conversations course: http://amyk.com/ppc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyKincFans
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amykinc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AmyKInc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amykhutchens
Listen: "Ep. 26 – Learning & Leadership With the Queen Of Questions – AmyK Hutchens"
Read: The Secrets Leaders Keep by AmyK Hutchens

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 150 - A Listing Ship Righted: My Dad’s Origin Story - with Mike Flynn Sr.

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 11:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest served his country with honor and distinction, has been committed to his wife for over 40 years, has six kids who love each other (most of the time), has enough grandchildren to field a football team (and still have a few subs), has cultivated a dedicated and loyal community of friends, and is generous with his time and resources – and I am proud to call this man the most successful man that I know and my father.

All that Mike Flynn Sr. has achieved is even more impressive when you consider the fact that he didn’t necessarily grow up in a home that modeled the generosity and love that he offers his children, grandchildren, and community. His childhood home was marked with abuse and self-medication, which ultimately led to him dropping out of high school at 16 years old.

He was looking for an opportunity – and that’s when he found the Army. He started as a clerk, quickly moving up to infantry and then long range reconnaissance patrol (which is part of the 75th Ranger lineage). In the jungles of Vietnam, he saw a degree of safety belonging to a smaller patrol, as well as the adventure and excitement he was originally sold by military recruiters.

Mike Flynn Sr. left the military almost as quickly as he joined, young and confused. He had packed away his grief for the young people who fell beside him, but it all came unpacked in college. He sent a letter forgiving and apologizing to his father. He never received a reply, but it opened something in him.

“I let go of anger and hatred. I let go of it, in that act... I found myself back in church and I renewed my relationship with Jesus and the Catholic church, and I came into a relationship with God, and all of that confusion went away. I always said felt like I was a ship that was listing to the side and that ship was righted.”

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 149 - From Here to There: A Quarter-Life Perspective On The Path To Mastery - with Thane Marcus Ringler

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 11:00:00 -0400

Thane Marcus Ringler recently published his first book, From Here to There: A Quarter-Life Perspective On The Path To Mastery.

Some people might find the idea of even writing the book, or coming on this show to share his perspective, to be audacious for a 25 year old. But I believe that there’s something to learn from everybody, whether it’s my eight-year-old son, a 74-year-old ex-Army Ranger, or a former PGA tour pro like Thane who was forced to pivot.

So I’m grateful Thane gave me the opportunity to learn from him, and I’m looking forward to sharing his wisdom with all of you today.

The Yips

Thane found himself at the 2015 Australian Open, his first big tour as a professional golfer. He was playing against big names like Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, and Lee Westwood. These were people he looked up to, and seeing them next to him “really solidified in my mind that the game is not the thing that’s different. It’s the experience, the mindset, the confidence, the belief, the focus. The things that are intangible in the mind.”

But leading up to this tour, Thane had his first experience with The Yips: an involuntary, fear-based movement of the body that gets ingrained into, generally, an athlete’s performance. It was just a week before the biggest game of his life, and he just couldn’t keep a clubface square during his wedges.

He went out there, every day, in a battle against The Yips, and it was his greatest battle on the golf course and, in many ways, in his own mind.

Thane did get to a place where he was able to compete, although he still faltered in the second round of the Australian Open. “But I was proud of myself for getting to a place where I could compete, and I could stand next to these players and recognize that mys kill and my talent was parallel, in a lot of ways.”

Words are cheap. Actions cost.

Thane teaches us that talking about things is one thing, but actually doing them is something else entirely. This is true when it comes to competition, and this is true in our daily lives.

But the golf can help us illustrate this because, ultimately, it’s a game against yourself. It’s so mental, individualized, and long-form that, even though there are competitors, it’s more a battle against you, your mind, and your own self-limiting beliefs.

“You have to take 100% ownership of what you’re doing. There’s no referees to blame, there’s no teammates – it’s all on you.” Although Thane pivoted away from golf, he still applies this mindset to everything he does.

We all have to take full ownership of our actions and our decisions. If we don’t, it’s going to be limiting our own growth and our own progress, in whatever we’re doing.

Resources:

Learn more at https://www.thanemarcus.com/
Read: From Here to There: A Quarter-Life Perspective On The Path To Mastery
Listen: The Up & Comers Show
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thanemarcus/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thane.ringler
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thanemarcus
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thaneringler/

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 148 - Live a Great Story - with Zach Horvath

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:00:00 -0400

I was waiting for coffee here in Santa Cruz when I saw a young woman sitting in the corner reading former guest Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Advantage. I had to know more about her – because this isn’t something you see that often around here – and she told me that she’s on a journey with an organization called LIVE A GREAT STORY.

I share that little story (which ended up being a magical moment of serendipity) with all of you because that’s how I ended up meeting today’s guest and the organization’s founder, Zach Horvath, someone I had been wanting to talk to for quite a while. LIVE A GREAT STORY is a diverse and authentic community focused on inspiring each other to craft their own journey, be true to themselves, and make a unique and meaningful impact.

This powerful community was born out of Zach’s desire to connect with people from all around the world. Someone who speaks a different language, comes from a different place, or looks different than you may seem, well, different. However, once you get past the outer layer and start learning about their life story, you start to realize that we are all more similar than we are different.

“At the core, we’re all people. No matter the variables that we tend to stack on top of that foundation of being a person – like a worldview, experience, situation, and geography – we’re all just people underneath it all.”

Be the Author of Your Own Story

Zach tells us that “the daily decisions that we make are what make up our story.” So when we live each day with intention and don’t let life just happen to us, we become the authors of our stories.

I hope this episode and the LIVE community inspire you to take the proverbial pen and live as the author of your story, pushing yourself forward to become a hub of inspiration in your community. Because this is a way we can all make a profound impact on our families, our friends, our communities, and the world – and all it takes to get started is positive intention and a few kind words.

Resources:

Learn more at https://liveagreatstory.com/
Join the FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LIVEAGREATSTORY/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liveagreatstory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liveagreatstory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/liveagr8story
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoomhorvath/
Watch: "Somm: Into the Bottle"

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 147 - Give, Grow, & Let Your Gift Shine - with Philip McKernan

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:00:00 -0400

When Philip McKernan watched Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time, his perspective was completely and utterly changed. Indiana Jones cared immensely, but didn’t care what people thought of him; he lived a wild, amazing, carefree life that was deeply connected to humanity and its history.

Since then, Philip has traveled the world embarking on his own adventures and making an impact in his own unique way. He has caddied in golf for the President of Ireland, been chased and nearly killed by a bull elephant in Nigeria, made wine in Australia, built an orphanage in Peru, written five books despite being dyslexic, and created a documentary film called Give & Grow. This film explores how the gift of giving makes us feel more worthy and alive, as well as the science behind the impact of giving on our emotional well being, our mental health, our physiology, and our businesses.

Through all of this, Philip came to believe that the path to a happy and fulfilling life is found through the meaning we derive in life through the work we do, our relationship to others, and the most important relationship of all – your relationship with yourself.

Uncover Your Gifts

Discovering these truths about himself, discovering his gift for inspiring others, wasn’t easy, and it didn’t all happen at once.

“My gifts have been dragged out of me,” Philip says. “I’ve been brought to my gifts kicking and screaming... and, unfortunately, that’s what a lot of us need in order to impact the world using our gifts, as opposed to our talents.”

So many of us are lost when we try to make an impact because our God-given gifts get tied up with the inherent need to matter or the need to be seen, and we don’t really understand how to separate the two anymore.

But as Philip says, “If you’re tying your gift into some kind of recognition or result, you’re not really allowing your gift to shine.” So take a moment to consider who you are seeking validation from today – not if you are seeking validation, but who you are seeking it from.

This need for validation may drive you to financial success, but it’s never going to drive you to feel fulfilled or satisfied. And you do deserve fulfillment in your life, just as much as you deserve success!

Remember, “There’s no amount of external validation on Earth that is ever, ever, ever going to be able to fill the gap if you don’t matter, at some level, to yourself – and that is the most important relationship on Earth.”

Resources:

Learn more at https://philipmckernan.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philip_mckernan/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philip.mckernan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/philipmckernan?lang=en
Watch: Give & Grow
Read: One Last Talk: Why Your Truth Matters and How to Speak It
Read: Rich on Paper, Poor on Life: 3 Paths to More Meaning (And Money)

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 146 - Approach Each Day Like New Year’s: Creating the Life You Want to Live - with John Brenkus

Mon, 07 Jan 2019 11:00:00 -0400

The beginning of a new year is just like any other day: an opportunity to refresh and create the life you want to live. It’s great that people focus on this every new year, but can you imagine living a life where you wake up and approach every day with this mindset?

Too often, the New Year comes and we make a resolution – we decide to lose weight, drink less, etc. – and then, after a few days or weeks, we start to slide. But today’s guest understands that you can’t do something halfway. If you want to make a change, you have to make the choice to change. But not only that, you also have to be committed to that choice!

John Brenkus (affectionately referred to as “Johnny One Speed” by his wife) is the 6x Emmy-Award Winning Creator, Host, and Producer of Sport Science, the Best-Selling Author of The Perfection Point, and host of The Brink of Midnight Podcast – and he is the perfect person to teach us how to tackle each day like an opportunity to do more.

The 7 P's of Life

John’s dad had a profound impact on his life, and one of the most important things he taught him were the 7 P’s: Prior Proper Planning Prevent Piss-Poor Performance. In other words, you’re never going to get where you want to go without direction.

At the same time, John’s father taught him to dream big. When you combine these lessons, you have a recipe for a remarkable life. And when you take that with you every day, it’s almost impossible not to achieve what you set out to do.

“Whatever it is that I want to do, I’m either doing it or I’m not doing it; I’m either on or I’m off.”

In a world full of get-rich-quick schemes and Facebook ads promising one product to solve all of your weight-loss problems, there are people selling shortcuts to every dream. But shortcuts rarely work the way they’re sold, and there’s great value in choosing the more difficult path.

This path less traveled will require constant reinvention, and that’s definitely not an easy thing to do – but it will be just a little bit easier if you approach each day as an opportunity to refresh.

Resources:

Learn more at https://www.johnbrenkus.com/
Connect with John: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Listen: The Brink of Midnight Podcast
Watch: Soul & Science
Watch: Sport Science
Read: The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
Support the Ray of Hope Foundation: https://www.rayofhopefoundation.org/
Get tickets for the Gold Jacket Party for a Purpose: https://www.rayofhopefoundation.org/tickets

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 145 - A Conversation with My Wife - with Lisa Flynn

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 11:00:00 -0400

2018 is almost over, and to celebrate, I’m re-releasing my favorite episode of the year – which was also one of the most popular episodes of the year – my conversation with the insightful and lovely Lisa Flynn... who also happens to be my wonderful wife!

I will forever be going back to this conversation to draw inspiration for myself, and I hope Lisa is able to inspire you in the same way.

Resources:

Connect with us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Read: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 144 - Master the Key: A Story to Free Your Potential (Chapter One) - with Mike Flynn

Mon, 24 Dec 2018 11:00:00 -0400

For this special Christmas edition of the show, I am so excited to share the first chapter of my upcoming book, Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose. But first, I want to share a little bit more about why I wrote the book.

I have spent the last 14 years as an entrepreneur and business owner. I’ve had the great privilege of working with families and fellow business owners interested in protecting what matters most to them – their family and their finances. And beginning in 2009, I felt a call to do something more, to do something even greater.

I began to answer that call in 2015 by starting The Impact Entrepreneur Show. The mission of that show was to help myself, listeners, and even guests of the show to have an encounter with the various impact moments of their lives and learn how they’ve responded to them and are now using those lessons to pay it forward to the next generation of thinkers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. I’ve had the great honor of interviewing some of my personal heroes, as well as some of the greatest thinkers and action-takers of our time.

I’ve also had the great honor of receiving heartfelt messages from listeners who courageously shared their joys, struggles, victories, and failures with me. Every single encounter has moved me, shaped me, and created even more space for the truth to continue making itself known in new ways.

I never imagined I would write a book, but I did envision myself speaking on stages and sharing the insight I recorded on the podcast. So, I began to craft a framework to communicate what I learned from these great leaders and thinkers – PEAK.

Position
Engagement
Action
Kinetic

As I gave this keynote presentation and spoke about it on various podcasts as a guest, the same question popped up: when are you writing a book? I take these types of questions very seriously because it is a sign that someone may see something in me that I myself do not yet have eyes to see. I started to talk with people and ask them if they would like to read a book that taught something around the idea that we already possess everything we need to perform at a PEAK level in every area of life. And while people kept asking for something more simple and relatable, they also kept saying YES, so off to work I went.

Fast forward to today. It’s Christmas Eve and we are a few weeks away from the launch of Master The Key: A Story To Free Your Potential, Find Meaning and Live Life On Purpose.

I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would be writing a post sharing something about the upcoming release of a book written by yours truly. But I am! I wrote a BOOK! Okay, so maybe I imagined writing something in my wildest dreams but I had no idea what was within me. A good friend of mine referred to it as a fictional story that leads you to the truth. That is a perfect synopsis. No, I did not imagine this; this is much better.

When you begin to master your story, you discover dormant gifts; and when you discover dormant gifts, you feel compelled, driven, and inspired to take action; and when you take action, you begin to see your community for what it is and you either embrace it further or embark on a journey to find or create a new one.

All of this is preceded by an awakening event, or what I refer to in Part One of my book as The Call. Like the main character, Steve, my “event” came during the financial crisis, which rocked me to the core in the obvious ways – but also in ways not seen by the naked eye. Yes, those events rocked me, but they also broke free truth that had been buried deep within me. Slowly and surely, that truth has been bubbling to the surface of my heart and mind.

I am confident that the key inside you will begin to vibrate with truth as well when you read and digest the lessons within the pages of Master The Key, a parable meant to illustrate lessons like:

Before you can find your why, you must believe you are worth of one.
Amazing things can happen when you free yourself from the status associated with your gifts.
Identify what is at stake for you, why it matters, and when it becomes real.
Your environment matters, but who you allow in your environment matters more.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the audio version of the first chapter, entitled “Shattered.”

If you want to be one of the first people to receive a copy of the book, subscribe to my newsletter at https://theimpactentrepreneur.net or send a text to 831-607-1818

Resources:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theimpactmike/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/impactentrepreneurshow
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactmike/

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 143 - Inside Out Health: Emotional, Physical, & Spiritual Healing - with Dr. Nick Hyde

Mon, 17 Dec 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Dr. Nick Hyde is a Chiropractic Neurologist with a unique approach to health, but one that we can all embrace for a lifetime of health, happiness, and freedom. His one-stop shop for alternative health solutions, Inside Out Health, focuses on holistic healing of the body, mind, and spirit – and it all begins with The Emergence Process.

Dr. Nick first turned to alternative medicine shortly after marrying his childhood sweetheart Clare. She began to suffer from severe abdominal pain that baffled doctors, and even surgery didn't help. But a Functional Neurologist named Dr. Joseph Smith was able to help, and his wife felt relief for the first time after just one appointment.

Dr. Joe told them that instead of being dependent on him for constant relief, his mission was to show the body how to heal itself. Clare went from barely walking to competing in a Sprint Triathlon just a year later – and Dr. Nick knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

I’ve been Dr. Nick’s patient and experienced the impact of this holistic healing methodology myself, and it really is transformational. Sometimes we get so caught up on the desired outcome that we only focus on the outcome, and we don’t focus on the process(es) to get there.

But The Emergence Process that Dr. Nick practices is... well, it’s a process! One that requires we trust the power of one of the most advanced technologies in creation: the human cell.

As Dr. Nick says, “More technologically advanced than all of the supercomputers in the world, far more advanced than anything any scientist has been able to do, is the intelligence of a human cell.”

You have a trillion of them in your body, and they’re all so incredibly organized, efficient, and communicative. So instead of relying on some other medical technology to help heal the body, The Emergence Process involves removing physical, emotional, and spiritual blockages in our bodies so that our cells can work the way they’re supposed to.

It all starts with listening to your body, instead of quieting it. “We are nurtured, in this country of ours, to ignore the symptoms, to medicate the symptoms, to avoid symptoms at all costs... and all a symptom is is a signal! It’s our body’s way of communicating to us that there’s something going on.” Why would we want to medicate that?

“People just need to forgive themselves. That’s where the healing happens ... We need to practice letting go, and you need to be more serious about letting go than any other practice in your life.”

Resources:

Learn more at https://www.getinsideouthealth.com/who-we-are
Listen: The Cultivated Being
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drnickhyde/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnickhyde/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hyde-44059885/

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 142 - Share Your WILDSTORY - with Marc Gutman

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 11:00:00 -0400

“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.” ― Erin Morgenstern

Marc Gutman has always been captivated by stories, especially the movies he watched with his father. He learned about life through the likes of Ferris Bueller, and he eventually found himself in Hollywood. But, like many of us, Marc was bit by the entrepreneurial bug. He wanted the freedom to architect his own life and and a new story.

So Marc learned everything he could about marketing and PR and founded WILDSTORY, a storytelling and content strategy shop that helps spark conversations that change the way people feel about their clients and their clients’ brands (one of whom is former guest Ryan Evans, founder of Inboard Technologies).

So what makes a good story, especially online?

Take a moment to reflect on the stories that have really impacted you in the past, whether it was a movie or a book or an Instagram post. I bet the first thing you think of is how it made you feel, not how shots were composed or sentences were constructed. This is because the best stories elicit emotion.

When you understand this, it reveals that everyone has the opportunity to tell their story in a way that creates an impact – and with the ability to easily create and share all sorts of media online, doing so is easier than ever before.

“Think about what we have, in terms of storytelling tools today. The only thing we’re limited by is our storytelling abilities and our imagination.”

Now why should we focus on telling stories? If we have a great product and value to add, isn’t that enough?

The honest truth is, no, that’s often not enough to succeed as an entrepreneur. As Marc puts it, “Your backstory is your differentiator” – so take advantage of the tools available to you and set yourself apart!

Resources:

Learn more at https://wildstory.com/
Listen: Baby Got Backstory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildstorymedia/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildstorymedia
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wildstory-media/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wildstorymedia

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 141 - Out of the Fire, Into Inspire: Going All-in on Life - with John O'Leary

Mon, 03 Dec 2018 11:00:00 -0400

“Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.” –Lovelle Drachman

I actually have a lot in common with today’s guest, John O'Leary: we have a shared faith, beautiful wives who are more awesome than we'll ever be, four children, a love for Matt Maher’s music, and an insatiable curiosity... one that manifested as a childhood love for playing with fire.

My pyrotechnic tendencies ended after accidentally setting my brother’s clothes on fire. No one was seriously injured, but we learned to stop playing with fire. John, unfortunately, had to learn this lesson in a life-altering away.

At age nine, a fire exploded John was launched 20 feet against the far side of his garage, trapped and on fire. When he was brought to the burn center, 100% of his body was burned and he was given a one-percent chance to live.

But John fought these extraordinary odds, although he didn’t face this battle alone.

He spent five months in the hospital, underwent dozens of surgeries, lost all of his fingers to amputation. He had to relearn to walk, write, and feed himself. “I endured, persevered, and survived – largely because others emerged, served and inspired.” Now, John lives to share the life-giving lessons from this story in hope that he can be a spark for positive change in others.

“I share these lessons as a tribute to those who leapt into the flames to save me. Who worked tirelessly to restore me. Who pushed me to write though I no longer had fingers. Who held me close when the days were dark and the nights scary. I share these lessons as an invitation for you to choose to wake up to the fullness of your life, to embrace the amazing gift of each moment, and to celebrate the joy of your inspired life!”

We often feel like we have to have things mapped out and scheduled. We’ve been told that we need checkpoints and milestones in order to move forward in life and achieve anything worthwhile – but that’s a big fat lie.

So I asked John, someone who could never have planned the experiences he had to overcome, what’s the one thing that we need to move all in and move forward in our lives?

“We are in battle every day... but most of us don’t even recognize it as being a battle. We just view it as being the ordinary or the mundane or just my life or just work, and we don’t recognize how sacred the moment is; we don’t recognize how freaking blessed we are to be in the game in the first place.”

There is roughly a 1 in 400 trillion chance of you being born in the first place – “Maybe it’s time that we act like it.”

Resources:

Learn more at http://johnolearyinspires.com/
Read: On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnOLearyRisingAbove
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnoleary.inspires/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-o-leary-08b2805/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jolearyinspires

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 140 - Righteous Impact: Putting an End to Human Trafficking - with Nic McKinley (#TheRealJackRyan)

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:00:00 -0400

“Stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Work hard, and never give up on your dreams, even when nobody else believes they can come true but you. These are not cliches but real tools you need no matter what you do in life to stay focused on your path.” – Phillip Sweet

After watching Jack Ryan with my wife, the Amazon series based on a Tom Clancy character, we checked out a short documentary series featuring former operators and analysts who worked with the CIA – and that’s where I first saw our guest Nic McKinley, the founder and CEO of DeliverFund and the man who inspired the hashtag #TheRealJackRyan.

When Nic was growing up, he wanted to be Batman; “Just a normal guy who used his resources to change the world, and worked really hard to build himself up to be the catalyst that would change the world.”

And Nic pretty much got as close to being Batman as anyone gets: CIA special agent. He served as a member of a special unit focused on providing unique capabilities and expertise, regardless of threat or environment, in response to the critical operational needs of the Intelligence Community as part of an overseas unit conducting complex operations in non-permissive countries.

Like Batman, Nic did start with some privilege. He didn’t have the entire fortune of Wayne Enterprises behind him, but he didn’t need it. He says, “The ultimate privilege is good parenting – and I had really good parents.”

Nic was also a USAF Pararescueman (PJ) for 10 years, but exceptional dedication in the military alone isn’t what got him recruited into the CIA (although it didn’t hurt). He later worked as a consultant for fortune 10 investment banks, where he demonstrated a penchant for finding solutions to hard problems, and these diverse experiences are what made him so appealing for high-stakes operations in high threat countries.

But this isn’t even the most awesome impact that Nic has made to protect our country and world.

After being exposed to the human trafficking epidemic that is still very alive today, Nic was moved to found DeliverFund, an organization that equips, trains, and advises law enforcement around the world on how they can arrest human traffickers.

Together with law enforcement, they work to counter human trafficking, eliminate this horrible market, and really save lives.

You can help their mission by going to https://deliverfund.org/donate.

Resources:

Learn more at https://www.deliverfund.org/
Donate to DeliverFund: https://deliverfund.org/donate
Connect with Nic: Facebook | LinkedIn

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 139 - Out of Darkness, Shine - with Ike Ndolo

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 11:00:00 -0400

I’ve known Ike Ndolo for 20 years, and when we first met, he didn’t know how to play a single chord on the guitar. But in September 2018, Ike released his third album, “Shine” – and it is beautiful.

Time is truly amazing, and Ike’s journey reminded me of this quote from Colin Powell: “A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” And the more you get to know Ike, the more applicable this quote becomes.

Ike grew up in Missouri as the son of Nigerian immigrants and, according to his bio, “the life of Ike Ndolo is a woven tapestry of experiences: hymns and Bob Marley, injustice and mercy, discrimination and acceptance. As a result, Ike has become a well-tested navigator of the human experience.”

His goal is to share and guide listeners through stories that inform and even reorient their perspective. His music harkens back to his soulful gospel roots, mixing it with new wave R&B, modern influences, and a few choice synth beats to create something “that musically mirrors the many worlds he walks through daily.”

When you listen to Ike’s music, he wants you to explore what you think about yourself, consider your negative perceptions, and then choose to SHINE.

“We’re all afraid of the unknown and what the world has to offer. But more than that, we’re afraid of what we have to offer. We’re afraid of what’s inside and who we are. We’re afraid of our potential and what we could be and what we’re supposed to be. We’re afraid of how brightly we can shine.”

We bury what we want to do, what we can do, under what we feel we ought to do; what’s right, what’s proper, what’s normal. We get so bogged down in these ideas that we never take a risk, look inside ourselves, and figure out what we truly have to offer the world.

“Out of darkness and despair and doubt and rejection, shine” – and don’t let that shine be taken away from you.

Resources:

Learn more at http://www.ikendolo.com/
Buy Shine on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shine/1432386982
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ikendolomusic/
Instagram: @ikendolo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5hy8oilLmMbRJ6m2TsO30A

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 138 - How You Can Use the FBI’s Field-Tested Negotiation Strategies in Business - with Chris Voss

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Chris Voss is the CEO & Founder of the Black Swan Group and author of Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. But before Chris donned his entrepreneur hat, he was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group.

He has used his many years of experience in international crisis and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program and team that applies these globally proven techniques to the business world, and today we’re going to learn some of those techniques.

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” –Zig Ziglar

In reflecting on the Zig Ziglar quote above, I found myself pondering a question: do you need to know what you want before you can help other people get what they want?

“Absolutely not,” Chris answered without hesitation. “It’s much more a question of is that the beginning of your thinking or confining your thinking.” What Chris means is that we can’t allow goal setting to narrow our focus because “whatever goal you have in mind is, at best, maybe 80% of what’s out there.”

Let’s use an FBI negotiation as an example. In any negotiation, there are two problems: being focused on a goal and being focused on how you’re going to get there.

The inherent danger in these problems – things that some might consider common course in their business or life – is that when you know exactly what you want, you can become inflexible and miss out on unexpected opportunities that come up.

“Never be so sure of what you want that you wouldn’t take something better,” Chris says. It helps the FBI get the best information, and it can help you get the most of what’s available in business and in life.

Conquering Fear

What role does fear play in negotiation, in business, and in life? “THE role.”

Chris says the hardest thing for us to do is admit that we’re afraid of anything. So how do you conquer or overcome that? There are two hacks:

Chris learned in his time on crisis intervention lines that if you can turn someone from grief to gratitude, regardless of what the issue is, they’ll be almost instantaneously healed.
The identification of the negative diminishes it, “every single time.” A study highlighted in the book The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time demonstrates that when people simply identify what they’re feeling (whether it’s sadness, disparity, fear, or something else) the electrical activity in the negative part of the brain drops. Not some of the time, but every single time.

So how do you deal with a negative feeling like fear? Self-identify it and then reorient yourself towards gratitude!

You can learn more incredible hacks like this in Chris’ “The Edge” newsletter.

“The Edge” is a free newsletter that comes out every Tuesday. It’s a short, easy read that will help you keep your negotiation skills up-to-speed.

To sign up, head over to https://blog.blackswanltd.com/the-edge or text “fbiempathy” to 22828.

Resources:

Learn more at blackswanltd.com
Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
Connect with Chris: Facebook | Twitter
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time by Alex Korb

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 137 - Life-Changing Lessons Learned by an Olympian & Serial Entrepreneur - with Eli Bremer

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 11:00:00 -0400

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” –Isaac Newton

Today’s guest, like Isaac Newton, has certainly stood on the shoulders of giants: his phenomenal parents, his longtime coach Alan Arata, the ‘96 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Dan O’Brien, and too many others to name.

With the teachings of these mentors as his rock-solid foundation, Eli Bremer became an Olympian, an Air Force Academy graduate, and a serial entrepreneur specializing in high-impact business activities.

These mentors “helped me understand who I was, who I am, and what my potential would be.” They were more than just leaders – they were partners who invested their time and shined a light on his potential, even when Eli couldn’t see it himself, “and that makes a big difference.”

Becoming an Olympic Modern Pentathlete

If you’re not familiar, the pentathlon is a unique Olympic sport tracing back to the original games.

The Greeks valued a well-rounded person, so they created the traditional pentathlon as the culminating event of early Olympic games. Comprised of a number of fighting skills, the traditional pentathlon included a short foot race, the javelin throw, the discus throw, the long jump, and wrestling. It was the ultimate test of the all-around athlete.

When the Olympics were revived in 1912, they kept the idea but chose different events for the modern pentathlon: fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, and a combined event of pistol shooting and cross country running.

Through the early 2000s, Eli was an up-and-coming modern pentathlete, winning in the 2007 Pan Am Games and earning a slot for the 2008 Olympics. Before the 2008 games, Eli was ranked in the top 10 in the world.

Lessons Learned Through Training

Through training for this taxing event, Eli learned a few lessons we can all benefit from.

“The harder I trained, I didn’t necessarily get better – but the more I learned how to recover and to balance everything out, the more I advanced.”

As a result, Eli got better at balancing more things in every area of his life and, ultimately, get more things done – a skill that certainly benefits him today in the entrepreneurial world.

Eli also learned to care more about the process than the results. “You just have to learn to focus on the process. Because if you let yourself focus on the outcome, it’s going to kill you.” And as soon as Eli made this psychological transition to committing to the process over anything else, his scores got better, he was more consistent, and he made fewer errors.

This last lesson took a longer time to learn, but it’s a goodie: “Quit trying to win and start trying to be good – because good athletes win more often.” Focusing on the outliers too much can put you in a dangerous state of mind, and this is as true in competition as it is in business or personal life.

“Winning can happen by accident, but being the best you can be or the best in the world is much more difficult than simply winning.”

Overcoming Catastrophe

Unfortunately, Eli experienced a disappointing Olympics after a catastrophic horseback riding accident hospitalized him just over a week before the competition.

The weeks after the accident were devastating, but those lessons Eli learned through training helped carry him through to one of the best performances in his athletic career. Just two months after his accident, he won a Bronze Medal at the World Cup Final, the top individual medal won by a U.S. athlete since 1979.

“The more I was able to rely on the fact that I had integrity with myself and had done everything I could to get ready for that competition, as much as it hurt to have a freak accident take me out, at least I could say that’s what took me out, as opposed to I didn’t do as much as I could to win the medal.

“That I can live with... it still hurts, but I can live with it.”

Resources:

Learn more at elibremer.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eli.bremer.3
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elibremer

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 136 - Imperfect Courage: Live a Life of Purpose by Leaving Comfort and Going Scared - with Jessica Honegger

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 10:00:00 -0400

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” –J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Jessica Honegger is the author of Imperfect Courage: Live a Life of Purpose by Leaving Comfort and Going Scared and the Founder of socially conscious fashion brand Noonday Collection, the world’s most successful fair trade fashion brand.

And in her book, Jessica shares the powerful story of Noonday: “The story of Noonday is so much bigger than me. It’s the story of artisans all around the world. It’s the story of entrepreneurs in young America. It’s the story of my partner and I and my family.”

This story all began with a trip to Washington, D.C., where Jessica was shown poverty firsthand for the first time – “and that was really what sparked bravery in me, seeing this context of living outside of my own bubble, living outside of myself, being willing to go pioneer a new script.”

Jessica grew up in a community where everyone followed very traditional scripts that had a narrow view of success, but being exposed to the Church of the Savior, its founder Gordon Cosby, and the greater efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired Jessica to write a new script.

She didn’t have the support of everyone she grew up with, she didn’t even have the support of the voice in her head all the time, but she had to walk through her fear to reach the life of impact and meaning that she was destined for.

Because we can’t let fear be a red flag, as Jessica describes. We have to view it as a yellow flag that means, no, walk this way and come see what’s on the other side of that fear. “You can’t really walk around fear – you just kinda have to walk through it.”

And when you read Imperfect Courage, it will guide you through these same steps so that you can live the life of impact and meaning that you were meant to live, too.

Resources:

Read: Imperfect Courage: Live a Life of Purpose by Leaving Comfort and Going Scared
Listen: Going Scared Podcast
Shop Noonday Collection: noondaycollection.com
Connect with Jessica: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 135 - Epic Fatherhood: How to Hone The Dad Edge - with Larry Hagner

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 10:00:00 -0400

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” –Graham Greene

Larry Hagner is the founder of The Dad Edge (formerly The Good Dad Project), a strong community of fathers with a simple but powerful mission: to help dads become the best, strongest, and happiest versions of themselves so that they can guide their kids to the best versions of themselves, too.

However, as a kid, Larry’s greatest fear was being a father. Growing up, he never saw a successful marriage modeled for him – he “always looked at marriage as a step to divorce” – and he didn’t have any positive male role models to speak of.

From that scared kid to the epic father that Larry is today is a huge gap – so I had to ask when the moment was that he opened the door to let the future in.

It all started with focusing on personal development. Larry, like a lot of us, was heavy growing up, and it really affected the way he thought about himself and approached life. However, he was pushed to wake up early, put the work in, and ended up losing 40 pounds over the course of a few months.

“I never felt so good in my life. I hated waking up that early, but we did it and that was the beginning of a whole new world for me and that’s when I started to really love fitness... and that’s when the future really opened up for me.”

You can see how that experience shaped the mission of The Dad Edge, too. It’s not all about relationship counseling or parenting tactics – it’s about becoming the best version of yourself so that you can share that with your children, and for most people, that requires taking action to fill a void in your life.

There’s a movement in The Dad Edge Alliance, of which I am a proud member, to “own your shit,” and that requires leaning into a place where you can be vulnerable and viewing that vulnerability as strength.

We don’t have to be invincible, we don’t have to be perfect, and we don’t have to have all the answers. It’s okay to reach out for help from your partner, or a wonderful community of like-minded people who will support you. Because none of us have this whole life thing all figured out, but together we can do better than any of us can do alone.

Resources:

Learn more at TheDadEdge.com
Join the FB community: The Dad Edge - Real Dads with Purpose
Listen: The Dad Edge Podcast

Read: The Dad's Edge: 9 Simple Ways to Have: Unlimited Patience, Improved

Join The Dad Edge Alliance

Relationships, and Positive Lasting Memories

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 134 - Change Your Behavior, Change Your Life - with Tony Grebmeier

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Tony Grebmeier is probably best known for building a multi-million dollar business with his childhood friends, ShipOffers, but it is Tony's mission in life is to create a community where entrepreneurs know they can achieve anything they want and find fulfillment, despite their past.

Growing up wasn’t always easy without a present father, and it was the community of friends and mentors – as well as his amazing mother – who taught him that life’s not easy, but you can make it easier.

One of Tony’s earliest mentors, his next-door neighbor Dan, used to tell him, “You can do this – take it easy.” Although he didn’t necessarily understand it at the time, he has come to learn that this is an excellent way to live a fulfilled life.

In our fast-paced world, we can all use a reminder to slow down.

Now a mentor himself, Tony has his own suggestions (not advice) for those that look up to him: “Chase the wins, study the lessons, and never quit.”

I absolutely love this mantra, particularly the idea of studying the lessons you receive in life. Because there are lessons to be learned in both our wins and losses, and we will never achieve our greatest potential without learning from both.

So how do we study? Tony suggests creating “when life works” and “when life doesn’t work” lists, tools he learned from his friend Dr. Sean Stephenson.

You know when your life is working, and when it isn’t, so reflect on those moments. What were you doing? Get at least 10-14 items on each list – now you have the curriculum you need to study.

Then, every day, try to practice one item on your “when life works” list – and note that it all comes back to YOUR behavior, not what other people do to you.

Because when you change your behavior, you change your life.

For more great lessons on how you can change your life and be more fulfilled, get your copy of Tony’s Be Fulfilled Journal.

“I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.” –Vince Lombardi

Resources:

Learn more at tonygrebmeier.com
Connect with Tony: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Listen: BEFULFILLED: The Real Stories Behind Success
Get you Be Fulfilled Journal: befulfilledjournal.com

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 133 - Stretched Too Thin - with Jessica Turner

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Jessica Turner is the author of the brand-new book Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Smarter, and Thrive and the creator of The Mom Creative, a blog “all about creating a life well-crafted, which means different things on different days.”

Jessica’s mother was a great role model, a mentor, and the strongest person Jessica ever met. Stretched Too Thin is dedicated to her, and when you listen to Jessica talk about her strength, it’s no surprise.

She persevered through a difficult childhood, then set out to do something more for her own family. So she worked full-time, but that didn’t stop her from dedicating time and love to her children and husband.

Although everyone isn’t lucky enough to have had such a great role model in their life, Jessica has some sage words of encouragement: “You have the opportunity to be that person to someone else – and what a powerful opportunity that is!

“Every day, we have the opportunity to impact people with the way we speak to them, with the kindness that we show to them, and with having them be seen just as they are.”

Because the most important work that any of us does is the work we do with other people. And even if you weren’t shown that as a kid, you still have the opportunity to invest in other people, every single day.

Are You Stretched Too Thin?

Jessica has a 9-5 job, her entrepreneurial endeavors, and a family. Plus, she has to make time for herself. That’s simply too much to focus on all at the same time.

We too often fall into the fallacy that we have to be everything all the time – but that’s just not possible. We have to create boundaries between the different roles in our lives, and in doing this, we give ourselves the room to be fully present in whatever role we are in at any given moment.

We also have to understand our priorities. We’re all juggling a lot of balls, but some of them are rubber and some of them are glass. If we drop a glass ball, it might crack. And if we continue to drop a glass ball, it will shatter. Your health and your family are glass balls – so when it comes down to it, those have to be your biggest priorities.

And when we view our lives through that lens, it helps us get clarity on where to invest our time. To help you with this, Jessica created a free time tracker that you can download at fringehours.com/tracker. She suggests writing down everything you do for a week so that you can get an objective look at where you are investing your time and then adjust from there.

Because we have to, as the title of Jessica’s book suggests, work smarter to thrive.

“The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.” –Thomas Paine

Resources:

Learn more at themomcreative.com
Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Smarter, and Thrive
Connect with Jessica: Instagram | Facebook

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 132 - Everything is Better as a Team: From SEAL Teams to the Business World - with Flynn Cochran

Mon, 01 Oct 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Shakespeare said, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” And our guest, Flynn Cochran, is definitely someone who achieved greatness (although he was born with a great name).

Flynn is a former U.S. Navy SEAL Officer, a former McKinsey & Co. Engagement Manager, and a graduate of Harvard Business School. Today he is the Chief Strategy Officer at Echelon Front, where he shares the exceptional leadership experience and insight he learned from both the SEAL Teams and business world. He had the benefit of experiencing leadership lessons from the likes of Leif Babin and Jocko Willink (a previous guest on the show: Ep. 25 – Navy SEAL & Leadership Expert Jocko Willink: Taking Extreme Ownership), and he saw the power of Extreme Ownership firsthand.

When I look back at Flynn’s impressive resume, I see a throughline of intensity, from football to ROTC to the Navy SEALS to Harvard to Echelon Front. So I wanted to know, what drives this?

In many ways, it goes back to growing up as the sixth of eight kids. Growing up in a large family taught Flynn two huge lessons: you have to do something exceptional to get attention, be it good or bad, and everything is better as a team.

“Individual achievements are just that – individual. They don’t bring up the rest of the team.”

Think of the business world today, where disengagement is rising and, ultimately, costing industry $500B annually. If that had happened in the SEAL Teams, missions would fail and lives would be lost – but they didn’t show up disengaged because they knew what was at stake.

This is an element missing in business today, as well as in our own individual lives; we don’t have a clear idea of what’s at stake, what matters, and why we should take action on it.

Flynn warns us that it certainly isn’t easy to create an organization where everyone believes in a single, unified Why, but what worth doing is ever easy?

Going back to the idea of team unity, as opposed to the pursuit of individual achievement, is a great place to start. Building meaningful relationships with the people around you will allow you to stay more engaged because you care about how your work impacts them, and the same lesson can be applied to your life at home.

Again, everything is better as a team – and all great teams need an exceptional leader.

“Leaders who take the blinders off take their organizations to heights they haven’t seen, and they realize that their influence, their actions, can have a massive impact on where it goes.”

Resources:

Learn more at echelonfront.com
Connect with Flynn: Facebook | Twitter
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 131 - Movement is Life - with Jeff Moreno

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:00:00 -0400

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose... And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along, you’ll start happening too. ... You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win? ... You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!”

In this excerpt from Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, Dr. Seuss reminds us that our thoughts become our actions and our choices shape our destiny – something that our guest Jeff Moreno, Co-Founder & CEO of PWR Lab, learned early in life.

Even as a kid, Jeff had an unusual superpower: the power of observation. He was always watching and learning, and through his observation, Jeff saw that movement is life; the result of curiosity in action.

This ultimately led him to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and later a Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, dedicating his professional life to understanding athletic development and movement skill acquisition in order to empower individuals with the opportunity and choice to be their best self – a choice that many don’t realize they can make.

In empowering others, Jeff is also passing on the blessing that a high school coach and mentor gave him: the understanding that if you put the time in and just step forward every day, you can get to what you want to do.

But too often, athletes and active individuals run into unnecessary obstacles in the form of avoidable injuries. Jeff tells us that 60% of athlete injuries are not the result of training errors, but due to the reactive nature of our health care system, there’s typically nothing a physical therapist can do about that until the injury happens.

Frustrated with this dynamic, Jeff decided to start playing with PWR!

PWR Lab is a team of data scientists, practitioners, and sports scientists whose purpose is to empower individuals and give them the opportunity to sustainably optimize performance through resilient health. Using their unique system of data collection and visualization, they are able to better address each person as a complex individual, and in turn, proactively keep players and teams moving forward.

Because performance is individual to each person, and it’s not just for the elite – it’s for everybody!

So how can we optimize our performance? Jeff believes it is the byproduct of three distinct things: Preparedness, Wellness, and Resiliency

If you focus on the long game by prioritizing these three things and trusting the process every day, in whatever you’re doing, you will eventually achieve your goal. People who play the short game, on the other hand, will at best experience unsustainable success.

Remember: “You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!”

Resources:

Learn more at pwrlab.com
Connect with Jeff: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 130 - Learning at the Speed of Love - with Dr. Carrie Rose

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Dr. Carrie Rose is a Transformational Learning Expert, Entrepreneur, and Internet Marketing Influencer who was named one of Huffington Post’s Must-Follow Women Entrepreneurs in 2017.

She holds an Ed.D in Educational Leadership from the University of Central Florida, wrote her doctoral dissertation on Professional Development, and is best known for developing the innovative teaching strategies and methodology that are becoming an industry standard for internet marketing and online education.

Dr. Rose offers a unique insight grounded in unparalleled research in how the human brain connects with content – and the necessary marketing processes to engage any audience.

I really wanted to know what made Dr. Rose so fascinated that she became one of the internet’s foremost education experts, and the answer will probably surprise you.

Witnessing a traumatic event at the age of four caused Dr. Rose to develop selective mutism, meaning she didn’t speak for the better part of six years. At the same time, she had dyslexia, and the combination of those two circumstances resulted in her not being able to read when she entered third grade.

One remarkable teacher, Mrs. Taylor, helped Dr. Rose transform from “this shell of a human being to the highest standardized test scorer that school had seen, in one year.”

Wow.

In the process, Dr. Rose learned the powerful impact one human being can have on another, if they care, give it all of their heart, and know the right strategies to use.

Because while the best teaching methodologies are important and effective, it’s the relationships we form that really have the biggest impact. And that doesn’t just mean relationships with others – the relationship with yourself is just as important.

“Love is this resonance, it’s this frequency, and it feels the same leaving as it does coming in.”

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that offering love to a stranger, or even just offering love to yourself, makes you feel the same as having received it from someone else.

So, have you offered your love to anyone today? It could have a profound impact.

Resources:

Learn more at drcarrierose.com
Want to create your own course? Check out of-course.us
Connect with Dr. Rose: facebook.com/DrCarrieRose
The Completed Course: The Secret To Creating Lasting Impact, Raving Fans, And Increased Profits With Online Courses by Dr. Carrie Rose
What Great Teachers Do Differently: 17 Things That Matter Most by Todd Whitaker

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 129 - Being Chief - with Rick Miller

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Rick Miller joins us to talk about being Chief: an important topic in today’s political environment, the business world, and individual lives.

Rick is an unconventional turnaround specialist and servant leader. He has successfully turned around a Fortune 10, a Fortune 30, a startup, and a non-profit over the past 30 years. But Rick’s high-ranking titles are not what made him a chief – Rick is a chief because he has the ability to bring out the best in others and empower them to be chiefs, in whatever role they’re in.

And Rick has packaged these decades of wisdom in the wonderful book, Be Chief: It’s a Choice, Not a Title.

“Yes, people with titles have power – but people without titles have power, and everyone is at their best when they feel powerful and they make their own choices!”

So how do you convey this to not only individuals, but an entire organization of individuals?

Well, you have to speak to the business in their language: numbers.

And Rick tells us about a startling statistic that 7/10 people, while at work, aren’t contributing their best efforts. Some people say this is an engagement issue or a talent issue – but what it comes down to is that “70% of your human capital is underperforming, by choice!”

And according to Gallup, that lackluster performance results in U.S. companies losing $500 BILLION annually.

So if you want your business to improve, yes, you can develop a new product or sell more. But you’ll have a greater impact if you focus on your people and give them a reason to be enthusiastic about doing their best every day.

Remember: “anyone in your organization affects everyone in your organization.”

If you want to help everyone in an organization make and find meaning in their work, it helps greatly to give them a purpose or a mission that they can align to and get behind. So create value, not just for your customers or shareholders, but for your community and the world.

It’s time to move beyond the “do not harm” phase and enter the “do more good” phase of business.

Resources:

Learn more at beingchief.com
Read: Be Chief: It’s a Choice, Not a Title
Take Rick’s Power Compass Survey: beingchief.com/compass
Connect with Rick: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
Watch: Being Chief - Unlocking your power: Rick Miller at TEDxPSU

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 128 - Start, Love, Repeat: Choosing to Trust & Love in Your Relationship - with Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Last time Dorcas Cheng-Tozun was on the show, she joined me in sunny California to discuss the ins and outs of supporting an entrepreneurial spouse. Today, things are a bit different: Dorcas is in Nairobi, Kenya, sharing all about the big move and how moving overseas three times over the past decade inspired her book Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur in a Crazy Start-up World.

Dorcas is a woman who practices what she preaches. Like Tim Ferriss, she makes herself a guinea pig to test her hypotheses – and now she has an opportunity to test the principles from Start, Love, Repeat in the field.

Because with being an entrepreneurial – or the family member of an entrepreneur – comes distractions.

There’s so much going on and so many moving parts, and things like the work that needs to get done, taking care of your kids, housework, errands, and other activities can pull all of your focus.

But when you spend all of your time focusing on everything else, you can end up losing the touchpoints that a relationship needs in order to stay closely connected. And as that happens, questions and doubts about your relationship can slip into your mind.

So how do you come back from that or prevent yourself from getting to that place?

Critically, it’s important to recognize that “trust can be a choice.” You may not necessarily be feeling it in the moment, but if you choose to act like you do and choose to continue sharing with them, those actions can actually reinforce your bond.

“Your behavior comes first, and then your mind, spirit, and soul can follow.”

If you don’t make the choice to try, it can be devastating to a relationship. Because as it turns out, the number one reason people get divorced isn’t actually infidelity or any big event – it’s because they give up; they feel like the spark is gone and they just stop investing in the relationship.

One of the first steps when we’re talking about maintaining intimacy is the recognition that it’s not going to happen by itself.

So listen empathetically and get to know one another. That’s how you’ll ultimately connect emotionally. Really, it’s impossible to overemphasize just how important that is – because you CAN make a choice to create the conditions that help develop intimacy!

Resources:

Learn more at chengtozun.com
Connect with Dorcas: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur in a Crazy Start-up World

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 127 - Being Different Makes the Biggest Difference - with Christopher Lochhead

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 10:00:00 -0400

One of the most popular pieces of advice in the entrepreneurial world is to hustle, hustle, hustle – what our guest Christopher Lochhead describes as “one of the dumbest pieces of advice of all time” – to reach a place of financial freedom and then coast.

This paradigm, then, is working hard now for the ultimate goal of not working... but I don’t think that’s really being an entrepreneur. That’s just making money.

And Christopher Lochhead – a retired three-time CMO, the co-author of both Play Bigger and Niche Down, and the host of Legends & Losers – knows a thing or two about being an entrepreneur.

Many of the leading “entrepreneurs” will teach us that success is having the freedom to sit on a beach drinking mai tais all day, but the unfortunate reality is that a lot of people are just trading comfort for aliveness.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Drinking mai tais on a beach can be a lot of fun (although I’d prefer a whiskey) – but there comes a time when doing nothing, or “trolling around in your net worth,” as Christopher describes it, is just boring.

And on a more existential level, that kind of comfort doesn’t come with a purpose or real fulfillment – because “who we are is a direct function of the difference that we make.”

The mistake almost everybody makes is that they get fooled into believing that the pathway to success is fitting in.

When in reality, “it’s the people who are different that make the difference” – and that’s true in entrepreneurship and in life.

Legendary entrepreneurs are known for the niche that they own, not their product or service. That comes later.

Too many entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to compete with their product or company, so don’t make the same mistake – making the biggest difference comes down to being the most different.

Resources:

Learn more at lochhead.com
Listen to Christopher’s podcast: Legends & Losers
Connect with Christopher: Twitter | LinkedIn
Read: Niche Down: How To Become Legendary By Being Different
Read: Play Bigger: Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 126 - What Have You Been Given Breath to Do? - with Cara Miller

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Cara Miller doesn’t choose when and where to make inquiry about her impact – she’s awake to her purpose every day, and using her coaching skills to help others make better sense of the world, become more useful, and be of greater service.

And when Cara is working with other businesses, she’s sometimes the only person who is, in the moment, aware of the ultimate benefactors of that work. Whether you work at an investment firm or in food service, there is someone being directly impacted by what you do.

The simple fact that you’re using your gift has an impact on others, no matter what your gift is, and being aware of the multiple impacts of your gift can provide you with a great sense of fulfillment and gratitude, regardless of your role.

Too often, we get stuck in the middle, stuck in the minute-by-minute stuff that we’re doing, and we forget the people who are impacting us and the people being impacted by our actions.

So if you ever find yourself getting stuck there, take a moment to pause and recalibrate. Cara suggests holding onto three things, as they are here and now:

The me. Can you stay in your physical body? Can you take a look at your sense, your judgements, your conclusions, your thinking?
The we. What is going in on the space between you and everyone else? What is happening? What is the dynamic? Can you empathize with the shared experience?
The thee. Can you connect and check in with where the spirit is present now? What is the spirit up to? Where is the spirit moving? Where is source? How is it moving here and how can we join that? What is God up to in this?

“I am trying, with everything in me, to hold tight to what’s going on in me right now, what’s going in with us right now, and what’s going on with the spirit right now so that I might join more fully with all of those layers.” And the closer you can do this to the moment the more effective it will be.

Cara shares another important mantra and exercise during this conversation, useful for when you need a reminder that your circumstances don’t define you.

It all starts with a simple question: Are you approaching the world as if it’s happening to you or it’s happening for you?

It can be a lonely and crippling thought that world is happening to you, falling on you, defining you, and limiting you. That line of thinking can also cause you to lose all responsibility and agency toward your actions.

If you can, instead, see that everything happening is creating opportunities for you to become an actor, influencer, and impacting force in the world, your perspective changes – all responsibility comes back to you, you have agency in every move you make, and you have to actively construct the way you move in the world.

And you can use this line of inquiry at any time, in any situation. It’s simple, sure – but powerful.

If you are interested in bringing more of this kind of inquiry into your organization or life, check out what Cara has to offer at inquiryp.com.

Resources:

Learn more at inquiryp.com
Connect with Cara: Facebook | Instagram
Visioneering: God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Personal Vision by Andy Stanley
In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life by Robert Kegan
The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni
Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 125 - Multiplying Your Understanding of Purpose & Passion - with Cara Miller

Mon, 13 Aug 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Like previous guest Jesse Itzler, Cara Miller, MDiv, PhD, has spent time in monasteries. One particular time, she spent the bulk of her week shelling almonds. As encouragement, she was asked to reflect on a question: What is this task doing to you? Not why are you doing this task, but what it this task doing for you?

The answers to that question, Cara realized, are infinite – and the possibility for that reflection isn’t hidden away in a monastery! Considering who you are doing a task on behalf of and why you are doing what you are doing can – and should – be an everyday practice.

This kind of reflection is what you’ll find in Cara’s work, too, as a professor, executive developmental coach, and the Founder of Inquiry Partners.

Cara draws on developmental psychology to coach people in many contexts, uses adaptive leadership theory to consult diverse organizations engaging in change efforts, and is committed to practices that support the sustainability of this integrative work.

These commitments, disciplines, and liberating structures reflect Cara’s desire to continually teach and practice an embodied form of leadership that brings alignment to her own and others’ spiritual and psychological development. Her ultimate purpose across these roles is to grow as an ongoing reflection of the deep, glorious, complex source of love – and to invite others to do the same.

And as an added bonus, Cara will be back again for part two of this enlightening conversation next week!

Resources:

Learn more at inquiryp.com
Connect with Cara: Facebook | Instagram
Beginning to Pray by Anthony of Sourozh

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 124 - Designing Your Life: Lessons from One of Stanford’s Most Popular Classes - with Dave Evans

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Dave Evans teaches Designing Your Life, an open enrollment class at Stanford and one of the most popular electives on campus, and co-authored the New York Times bestseller Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-lived, Joyful Life.

The “design thinking” methodology taught in the class and book is a process and a way of thinking about tough-to-solve problems, rooted in the principles of product design that Dave used while building products (like the original computer mouse) at companies like Apple and Electronic Arts.

Designing Your Life is a class unlike any other, and in a way that’s a shame – because there aren’t a lot of places where young people can talk about and learn about designing the life they want, but there should be.

It’s not exactly a complex philosophy, but it flies in the face of how most people solve problems, in any area of their life.

Most people tend to start with problem solving – however, in design thinking, you start with problem finding. The problem with traditional problem solving is that we tend to frame problems with an answer or a situation, and your assumed answer may be a bad answer or the situation may be entirely unavoidable (like gravity).

This is just one of the dysfunctional beliefs rampant in our society; a collection of popular Shoulds and Ought Tos that don’t actually contribute to much of anything. As Dave playfully describes, “There are really many fewer rules than they tell you. If you can stay out of addiction, jail, or trouble with the the IRS – you’re paying your bills, you’re not violating the law – the rest is actually up to you.”

It all comes down to one question: Do you live in the land of Is or the land of Should?

Designing Your Life starts with is – because the only place you can develop anything is reality.

Resources:

Learn more at designingyour.life
Take an online version of the course: Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
Connect with Dave on Twitter: @DaveEvansDYL
Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 123 - White Collar Warriors: What We Can Learn From Army Rangers & Navy SEALs - with Bill Hart

Mon, 30 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Bill Hart is an executive coach and the author of White Collar Warrior: Lessons for Sales Professionals from America's Military Elite, a book exploring the disciplines and commonalities between Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, and the best sales professionals in the country.

As a coach, Bill’s job is to come alongside people, help them get clear about what they truly want, help them create action plans that will close the gaps between where they are and where they want to be, and hold them accountable.

“It’s almost the opposite of boot camp – instead of breaking somebody down, I actually try to find a way to build them up.”

He’s looking for something to shine light: a strength of theirs that they don’t see yet, a God-given gift that can help them to become a difference maker.

But the only way to really bridge that gap and arrive at success is through work. It’s not something that’s given to you. It requires effort, intentionality, discipline, pursuit of mastery, adapting, overcoming, and patience: all the same thing that make up a warrior.

In White Collar Warrior, Bill breaks down these lessons learned through military training and service, through the lens of a sales professional, and applies them in a way that is realistic and achievable.

The individuals who have trained and served in the U.S. military are so well-equipped to be some of the most tremendous leaders, sales people, innovators, and disruptors that have ever existed – and thanks to Bill and his book, we can bring many of the same lessons into our own lives to better equip ourselves as leaders and impact makers.

Resources:

Learn more at coachbillhart.com
Connect with Bill: Facebook | Twitter
White Collar Warrior: Lessons for Sales Professionals from America's Military Elite by Bill Blankschaen and Bill Hart

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 122 - Grit, Gratitude and Beating Chains - with Rusty Labuschagne

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Rusty Labuschagne, formerly a successful businessman from Zimbabwe and now a powerful speaker, overcame a trauma that few have experienced: In 2003, he was framed and wrongfully convicted of drowning a poacher.

Rusty served 10 years in Zimbabwe’s prisons (including the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison during the Zim dollar crash), with food shortages, no running water, and people dying around him daily.

Everyone is faced with challenges – hopefully, not quite as harrowing as Rusty’s – but Rusty emphasizes that who you are and the depth of your determination will get you through life’s darkest moments. He shows how one can harness one’s inner strength and let go of what one cannot control.

After this episode, I hope you recognize that you possess all that you need to free yourself from the self-imposed prisons of limiting beliefs, what could have been, and what other people have told you and pursue that which you were born to do.

You have a tremendous inner strength, and Rusty is going to help you harness it.

Resources:

Check out beatingchains.com
Connect with Rusty: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Read the Beating Chains book
Watch the Beating Chains DVD

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 121 - The Art of Coming Back - with Jordan Harbinger

Mon, 16 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Jordan Harbinger last joined The Impact Entrepreneur show on our second episode back in 2016. A lot has changed in our lives, so I wanted to catch up on Jordan new marriage, how he’s been developing himself as a person, and what’s been going on with his newest adventure, The Jordan Harbinger Show.

If you don’t know Jordan already, he’s a lawyer turned social dynamics expert and entrepreneur. He hosted The Art of Charm for 11 years, but now he’s running The Jordan Harbinger Show, where he deconstructs the playbooks of the most successful people on earth and shares their strategies, perspectives, and insights with the rest of us.

Getting fired from The Art of Charm and being forced to start a new project felt daunting at first – but in reality, Jordan had already created powerful relationships with fans and colleagues who were more than willing to support him through the transition. Even most of his team stayed with him!

“They say you lose your platform, you lose your business, then people aren’t going to be around anymore... and that was not the case at all,” Jordan says. “Which was great because it showed me that I made the right kinds of relationships!”

Resources:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 120 - Leading from Purpose - with Nick Craig

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Nick Craig is the author of Leading from Purpose: Clarity and the Confidence to Act When It Matters Most and the President of the Core Leadership Institute, a leadership consulting firm committed to creating leaders and organizations with a deeper purpose and the courage to transform their business impact.

In finding and connecting to your purpose, it’s best to start by stepping back into the stories of your life that are most connected to purpose.

Consider those magical childhood moments; the little stories or vignettes when something magical happened in front of us that changed our perception. Each of those stories has significant meaning for us because they helped shape the lens through which we view the world.

Also reflect on your most challenging life experiences. How is it you got through the most trying times? What was your way of surviving the journey?

We’ve talked about it on the show before, but the stories that we choose to define us and the stories that we tell about ourselves have a huge impact on how we see ourselves and how we show up in the world.

I think one of the most powerful exercises anyone can do is reflecting on these Impact Moments in your life and then plotting them out on a timeline – recognize the choices that you made, how you responded or reacted to different experiences, and bring awareness to the choices so that you can alter your trajectory going forward.

Just finding and understanding your purpose isn’t the end of this journey, though – if you truly want to lead with purpose, you have to be willing to fully own your purpose and live it in every action you take.

And following your purpose doesn’t always make you happier, at least not right away. It’s fulfilling, for sure, but it’s not necessarily a quick way to solve all of life’s problems. “Purpose is the most helpful to us when we’re not good at it, the world doesn’t want us to do it, we struggle with why we’re doing this, but we’ve got to do it anyway,” Nick says. “That’s purpose.”

Truly, you spend most of your time along this journey realizing that you’re not leading from your purpose – but the act of knowing it is the act of stepping back into it.

Resources:

Learn more at coreleader.com
Connect: Facebook | Twitter
Leading from Purpose: Clarity and the Confidence to Act When It Matters Most by Nick Craig
"The Common Denominator of Success” by Albert E.N. Gray

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 119 - Start, Love, Repeat: Supporting an Entrepreneurial Spouse Through The Struggle - with Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Many people (especially aspiring entrepreneurs) have a romantic view of what entrepreneurship looks like – and while there is a lot of freedom, getting there is a long and difficult journey. It’s The Struggle, Ben Horowitz posits in his poem. A highly rewarding and beautiful struggle, but a struggle nonetheless.

And it’s easy for entrepreneurs to get laser focused on their mission and let everything else slip through the cracks along this journey… if there’s not somebody there to help and offer support.

Our guest Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is an award-winning writer and speaker who explores the intersection of start-up life with marriage, family, and well-being through columns and her book, Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur in a Crazy Start-up World.

This isn’t your average book about entrepreneurship. It’s written from Dorcas’ point of view, as the veritable Chief of Staff for her husband’s entrepreneurial endeavors, and it offers an incredibly unique and insightful perspective on the entrepreneurial mind.

It also teaches entrepreneurs an incredibly important lesson about bringing their spouse in: your spouse is a stakeholder in your business, just like an investor would be, just like a key business partner would be – and their buy-in is essential. Beyond that, they can be your cheerleader, your unique competitive advantage encouraging you each step of the way.

“Build your business, do what you want to do, but don’t forget about the rest of your life,” Dorcas says. “Don’t forget about the other people in your life. Don’t forget about what you love to do, the things that feed your soul and spirit, that will enable you to survive these crazy ups and downs in the rollercoaster ride of being an entrepreneur.”

Resources:

Learn more at chengtozun.com
Connect with Dorcas: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur in a Crazy Start-up World

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 118 - Recovering from Addiction & Sharing Our Stories to Empower Others - with Jason Coombs

Mon, 25 Jun 2018 10:00:00 -0400

When I think about someone listening to this show, I imagine each guest reaching out of the phone to offer the listener something we all desperately need: the ability to believe that we are capable of accomplishing great things and creating a huge impact. And today’s guest, Jason Coombs, has a profound story that I believe will do just that.

Jason Coombs is the Founder of Brick House Recovery, a faith-based addiction treatment center in Boise, Idaho – and Jason himself is living proof that this program works.

After a car accident, Jason was offered his first Oxycontin (crushed up and in a line) and an opportunity to get his own prescription. A few months later, the FBI and DEA knocked on his door to serve him four felonies and a misdemeanor… and that wasn’t even the worst of it.

The fraudulent doctor’s office that prescribed Jason was the center of the largest Oxycontin ring in history, and after it was gone hundreds of addicts had nowhere else to go. So they went to the black market, where prices skyrocketed and Jason drained his bank account. Eventually, Jason moved on to heroin – a cheaper and more available alternative.

Jason tried to control his drug use for nearly ten years, attempting five treatment programs and failing. He was taught “what” addiction was, “where” it could lead, and “why” it was destructive to him, but something was missing. Finally, following the program he now shares with others through Brick House Recovery, Jason and his family learned how to put the disease into remission, one day at a time.

Now, clean and sober for many years, Jason passes on this faith-based approach to his clients and their families.

We all get to decide whether what we’ve been given is a gift or not. We all get to control the narrative of our own life and how we share it with others – and we can choose to use our stories to make a huge, positive impact.

Resources:

Learn more at brickhouserecovery.com

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 117 - Cracking The Legacy Code & Creating a R.I.C.H. Experience - with Armando Cruz

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Armando Cruz is the bestselling author of The Legacy Code and the creator of The R.I.C.H. Man Experience. He helps growth-minded married men show up powerfully in their relationship with their wife, kids, health, and business to live out a legacy they can be proud of.

But just a few years ago, Armando felt dissatisfied, at the lowest point in his life. It was a prison of his own making, and it was made worse because, from the outside, everything looked great. He had a successful business, he was helping people, he was healthy, his family was growing, they went on vacations – so who was he not to be happy with that?

Armando just wanted something more, which is a feeling I think a lot of entrepreneurs, in particular, can relate to.

Armando says he was “tanking the business,” and there was fear – he couldn’t keep living that way. That’s when an influential coach and mentor reached out to Armando about a retreat that could help him.

Although they couldn’t afford this retreat, Armando’s wife offered one of the courageous acts of love he has ever experienced: she said he had to go, not for himself but for his family.

Armando found clarity on that retreat, and created the R.I.C.H. Man Experience.

R.I.C.H. is a redefinition of Rich, and living the R.I.C.H. Man life is about showing up Respected, Inspired, Connected, and Happy – “It’s an acronym for a value system that we use as a compass to help you make sure that you’re showing up as the best version of yourself, in every decision and every situation.”

The Legacy Code

In The Legacy Code, Armando breaks down the five steps anyone has to take to create a legacy that inspires:

Awareness
Vision
Purpose
Process
Implementation

“Whenever you feel like you’re not moving fast enough, very often it’s directly related to a lack of clarity. So if you want to move quicker, get more clarity.”

Resources:

Connect with Armando: armandocruz.com | Facebook
Learn more about the RICH Man Experience: facebook.com/richmanexperience
The Legacy Code: Modern Man's Guide To Escape Obscurity & Live A Life Unleashed by Armando Cruz III

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 116 - Get Your Foot in the Door & Figure it Out - with Jesse Itzler

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Jesse Itzler is a former rapper, an entrepreneur, and the author of New York Times bestseller Living with a Seal: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet. It might seem like an odd resume to some, but Jesse doesn’t fit in anyone else’s box or allow anyone else to write his script – he’s here to write the script of his own life.

When Jesse started in the music business, he had no experience and no connections. When he got into private aviation, he had no airplanes.

But that didn't stop him from getting on the Billboard 100 or writing the New York Knicks theme song. That didn’t stop him from co-founding Marquis Jet, the world’s largest private jet card company, which he has since sold to Berkshire Hataway/NetJets.

Jesse says you shouldn’t wait for the right time to try something, and you shouldn’t wait until you have enough experience – “Get your foot in the door and figure it out after.”

Jesse took a similar “just do it” approach to writing his books Living with a SEAL and Living with the Monks. The former helped him hone his physical body, by jumping feet first into one of the most intense training regimens on the planet. The latter helped him explore the spiritual side of his life.

It felt like a struggle at first but by the end, “it reinforced that I want to live by putting as many experiences on my plate as I could.”

Want to live life full blast like Jesse? Well, he challenges all of you to put one thing on your calendars that seems so hard that the benefit of the challenge will last the entire year. There should be a challenge or a struggle (not necessarily a physical one) because those are the things that make you feel most alive and offer the most valuable lessons.

Resources:

Learn more at jesseitzler.com
Connect with Jesse: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Living With a SEAL: 31 Days Training With the Toughest Man on the Planet by Jesse Itzler
Living with the Monks: What Turning Off My Phone Taught Me about Happiness, Gratitude, and Focus by Jesse Itzler

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 115 - The Risk of Not Taking Risks - with Zach Obront

Mon, 04 Jun 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Zach Obront is the Co-Founder of Book in a Box, which helps innovators and entrepreneurs turn their ideas into a book in just 6 months. At this point, Book in a Box has helped write, publish, and market about 900 books, and they have reached tens of thousands of people.

Zach’s co-founder was Tucker Max, a four-time New York Times bestseller, serial entrepreneur, and “reformed bad boy.” As you might expect, Zach first reached out to Tucker Max for a completely normal reason: to learn more about Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud’s nephew who is sometimes referred to as “the father of public relations.”

Just what you expected, right? Well, the info about Bernays was questionable online, save for a great article by Tucker. Zach was nervous about potentially taking a leap to reach out, but he did anyway – it’s just an email, what’s the worst that can happen?

Within an hour, Tucker sent back a really thoughtful answer, and they stayed in touch. Eventually, they connected over a shared passion for publishing, created a new model for writing and publishing books, and started Book in a Box.

Zach teaches us that being an impactful entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be able to think outside of the box – it’s often better to be able to identify a potential problem and have the willingness to try creating a solution.

And while identifying the problem is certainly important, it’s that willingness to take a risk that really separates the extraordinary from the rest of the pack. The best ideas don’t do anything without action.

“My deep discomfort and fear comes from the feeling that I might be boring and not take a risk – the thought of taking a risk doesn’t feel risky to me.”

Resources:

Check out bookinabox.com
Connect with Zach: Twitter | LinkedIn
Take the Kolbe Index: www.kolbe.com

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 114 - Creating a Vivid Vision & Collaborating on the Future - with Cameron Herold

Mon, 28 May 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Cameron Herold is back, and he’s been busy since we last talked on episode 52! Cameron started a new podcast, Second in Command, in which he interviews the chief behind the chief to learn the tips, systems, and insights of the chief who actually runs the business; the COO.

Cameron also has an excellent new book called Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future.

What’s a Vivid Vision?

Most entrepreneurs have an idea of what they want their company to look like. However, their employees can’t necessarily see that same vision; the movie in their head.

But if you can pull those ideas out of your mind and write it down on a 3 to 5-page document that describes your business three years in the future, with clarity, then they can get everybody to see what they can see.

Here are some other things to consider when drafting your Vivid Vision:

The CEO writes it, and the COO’s job is to reverse engineer it and make it come true
You talk about it in the finished state, as if it’s already done.
Talk about the vision, and share it with everybody! “The more people that know where you’re going, the more they’ll help you get there.”
Cameron suggests getting a copywriter to take your words and make them pop.
Similarly, quality graphic design is a must because this is a forward-facing document that you share with customers, suppliers, bankers, employees, and prospects.
Try creating an audio recording of your vivid vision so that you can re-listen to it, while doing other things, to reinforce it.
You write the Vivid Vision in a way that it magnetizes people towards it – but if it attracts, it also has to push some people away. If you try to create something that everyone loves, no one actually cares.
Every single sentence of that Vivid Vision becomes a future statement, and you can figure out one or two projects to make each sentence come true.”

If you want to see an excellent example of a vivid vision, check out what Cameron wrote for the COO Alliance’s City Forums: https://cooalliance.com/city-forums-vivid-vision.

“I want to replace vision statements with Vivid Visions, worldwide, because vision statements or mission statements don’t work and businesses have been starving for this piece.”

Resources:

Check out Second in Command: cooalliance.com/podcasts
Connect with Cameron: cameronherold.com | Facebook | Twitter

Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 113 - You’re Not Normal, You’re an Entrepreneur - with Malorie Tadimi

Mon, 21 May 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Malorie Tadimi grew up in a “normal” family, expected to get a 9-5 job and join Corporate America. Like many people who grow up in a stable environment, she felt average – which can create an uncomfortable cognitive dissonance when you grow to loathe the very concept of being “normal” or “average.”

Malorie was miserable, exhausted, and passionless in her 9-5 job. She was checking off all the boxes for normal, but it didn’t feel right – she wanted to be extraordinary, and she wanted to be an entrepreneur.

It’s safe to say she’s accomplished that. Today, Malorie is the owner of her own consulting company, Tadimi, which has crafted strategic plans to help its clients earn over $800 billion annually.

“I really came into my own and accepted the fact that I’m not normal, and when that happened, that opened the doors for me to stop filtering myself and to stop holding my shine in – it just allowed me to open that box and see what came out!”

Corporate Exit Blueprint

When Malorie decided to let her inner entrepreneur out, she didn’t jump into the water without a life vest – she created a Corporate Exit Blueprint for herself.

If you feel stuck in your current job, if it feels like you’re in a striped jumpsuit locked behind bars, then a Corporate Exit Blueprint is like your “get out of jail free” card. Really, it all comes down to assuring that you can meet your most basic needs.

You have two options: live off of your savings or create an income stream before you leave your job. If you can get all of your work done quickly and efficiently then use the surplus time (or time at home) for learning and building a side hustle, you will be better prepared to make the leap.

Plus, you’ll already have one income stream and be able to build on that momentum!

How do you stand out as an entrepreneur?

After you leave your corporate nest and set out as an entrepreneur, you’ll soon run into another problem: it’s really hard to stand out online.

If you want to find an audience, you have to offer something that no one else is offering – this may be a new service or product, a novel business model, or a new way to deliver the service or product to your customer.

One recent example that Malorie points to is the “don’t pay until you get results” trend, a strategy that many marketers use to stand out in Facebook ads. At the same time, other marketers are having success using direct mail.

So standing out as an entrepreneur is not necessarily about doing something brand new – you just have to do something that no one else is doing in your space.

“Stop being so hard on yourself. Look at what you’ve already achieved; you’ve done all of this on your own and no one has handed you a single thing! Wouldn’t it be cool to know what else you could create if you just got out of jail?”

Resources:

Learn more at Tadimi.com
Connect with Malorie: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 112 - Never Limit Your Life: Old-School Rap + New-School Mindset - with Derek Clark AKA The Rapping Dad

Mon, 14 May 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Derek Clark, best known as The Rapping Dad from his viral YouTube videos, is an inspiring motivational speaker and the author of Never Limit Your Life.

Although you might see Derek having fun with his wonderful family online and think “this guy has it made,” things weren’t always going so well for him.

Derek spent 13 years of his life in the Alameda County foster care system, where he struggled with rejection, humiliation, abuse, emotional distress, and overwhelming anxiety.

The abuse and abandonment, naturally, felt like a curse – but it turned out to be one of Derek’s greatest blessings. Derek believes he thrives as a leader because of his painful past, compassion for others, and "No Excuse" attitude.

Now, Derek's life mission is to help others find the mental strength to recognize and take advantage of their opportunities. His keynotes are based on true-life trials and triumphs, inspiring thousands to overcome adversity and fear.

Although it probably didn’t seem so important at the time, one of the most influential moments of Derek’s childhood was when he was first introduced to rap, and rap battles in particular. “I was always getting in trouble for fighting with my fists, but what if I could use my mouth and tongue as a weapon, instead of my fists?”

Rap helped Derek, for the first time, deal with his tumultuous inner world – and this was life-changing. When your inner world is a mess, your outer world is going to reflect that. But “rap was a taxi to my spirit, and it let me get the inside stuff, the crap, out.”

We all get to choose how we live, and we get to choose our attitude. You’re only ever one thought away from another positive thought, and that can make all the difference.

Resources:

Learn more at iwillnevergiveup.com
Connect with Derek: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Never Limit Your Life by Derek Clark
Listen: Hope Dealers Podcast
Watch: “It's not about your IQ, it's about your I WILL: Derek Clark at TEDxGreenbrookSchool”

We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 111 - Shaping Stories & Faces on the Silver Screen - with makeup artist John Caglione Jr.

Mon, 07 May 2018 10:00:00 -0400

John Caglione Jr. has had an illustrious career as a makeup artist – over the past 40 years, his hands and creative genius have helped create new worlds and tell powerful stories on screen.

John is credited on over 80 shows and movies, helping to create iconic characters like Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (which earned him an Academy Award) and Heath Ledger’s The Joker (for which earned him another Oscar nomination). John’s work has also influenced many more incredible movies and shows, including Saturday Night Live, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Angels in America, The Sopranos, and Donnie Brasco.

Without John (and all of the other makeup, tech, and effects people out there), these modern stories couldn’t happen; the silver screen wouldn’t impact and move audiences in the same magical way.

John knew he wanted to be a makeup artist when he was just 14-years-old, after watching The Exorcist. He became a fan of Dick Smith, who John still believes is the great makeup artist of all time.

John eventually started a correspondence with Dick Smith, which grew into a mentor-mentee relationship. This “miraculous” series of events came at just the right time in John’s life, as his family was kind of falling apart.

In one phone call, Dick Smith’s generosity changed the entire dynamic of John’s life. “People really think about this master’s work, but one thing that I always think about him… was his love for his fellow man. He was so in touch with people and their lives – it was beyond the work, really.”

John has carried that mindset through his own career, and it’s paid off. Caring about people and focusing on the personal relationships (with Al Pacino, specifically) got him his shot at Dick Tracy, then his skill got him the job. And since then (1990), John is the only makeup artist that Al Pacino will work with.

“What I’ve learned, in my old age, is that we really have to care for each other, as much as possible… There’s work and art and business, and that’s good, but it’s all wrapped around me and you, here, right at this moment.”

Resources:

Learn more at johncaglionejr.net
Connect with John: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 110 - The Perfect Day Formula: Get Beyond the Morning Routine - with Craig Ballantyne

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 10:00:00 -0400

There are too many people out there who just want the harvest, but don’t necessarily want to do the hard work of farming; they want a 7-figure business or a huge social media following, but they’re not willing to put in the work, every single day.

The desire for (and expectation of) instant gratification is pervasive in our culture today, and there’s no substance behind any of it. But today’s guest, Craig Ballantyne, provides a remarkable amount of substance – at least, for high performers who want to take action and do the work.

Craig Ballantyne is a Productivity & Success Transformation Coach, co-owner of EarlyToRise.com, and the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life, a book that I think goes beyond the morning routine to offer an ideal way for high performers to stay focused on what they’re called to do.

Structure = Freedom

One of the key principles in The Perfect Day Formula is that “structure equals freedom.” Specifically, Craig highlights three ways to control your day: controlling your mornings, conquering your afternoon chaos, and concentrating on what matters in the evening.

So how does this work – how does structure give us more freedom?

Well, Craig used to experience crippling anxiety attacks due to the paradox of freedom; he could do anything he wanted, even if that was working 12 hours a day and then partying in the city, and that started to catch up with him.

But when you put structure in your day, when you put boundaries around your work time and become more productive, you can get work done on time and get home to your family, be present with them, and concentrate on what counts.

“We are disciplined during the day so that we are enjoying true freedom at night.”

Scripting Your Day

Is there a script in Hamilton? Was there a script for Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech? Do successful salespeople wing it, or do they use a script?

Scripting your day is as essential as scripting every play in the Super Bowl – “You don’t just go and wing it. That’s not how a high performer acts.”

Craig’s tips for scripting your day:

The first mistake that people make is they try to create a to-do list with 19 things on it, but that’s too much for one day and you end up frustrated.
You need to buffer for the chaos of the world and only script what you CAN do.
You also need to script your communications; a lot of people forget about how long phone calls and emails can take when they plan out their day.
Create end times! Everyone creates a start time for a meeting, but few people establish an end time.

“You have to choose something that you’re willing to do when it sucks. You have to be willing to suffer, in order to succeed.”

Resources:

Learn more at CraigBallantyne.com
Connect with Craig: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
Read Craig’s writing at EarlyToRise.com
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 109 - The Changing Image of Entrepreneurship - with Bo Burlingham, Editor-at-Large of Inc.

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Bo Burlingham is an editor-at-large of Inc. magazine and the author of five books, including Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top, which has been praised by thought leaders like Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, and Jim Collins.

Today we discuss Bo’s fascinating journey, and how the very image of entrepreneurship has fundamentally changed over the past few decades – a shift that is highlighted in Bo’s previous book, Small Giants, which features the stories of small companies that value greatness over growth; companies that have the opportunity to get bigger a lot faster, but chose not to because they have other goals that they consider more important.

Forbes also continues to update a list of Small Giants, annually. And at this point in time, the hardest part of creating the list is narrowing it down to just 25 small giants every year – entrepreneurs are, increasingly, using their resources and drive to create a huge impact.

In the book (you can read an excerpt here), Bo identifies six characteristics of Small Giants:

They have a relationship with the community that they’re located in; they not only give back to their communities, but their personalities are shaped by the communities in which they live.
They have a close, personal relationship with their customers (which they sought to develop).
The only relationships these companies value more than their customers is their relationship with their employees. They try to create what Bo calls a “culture of intimacy.”
The leaders know who they are, what they want out of business, and why.
These leaders also have a passion for what the company does.
And of course, finances are also important: these companies have a large variety of business models that protect gross margins.

The face of entrepreneurship is still changing – with the change being led by these Small Giants and the next generation of entrepreneurs both brave and passionate enough to make an impact.

Resources:

Learn more at BoBurlingham.com
Connect with Bo on Twitter: @BoBurlingham
Read Bo’s articles on Inc.com: inc.com/author/bo-burlingham
Join the Small Giants community at SmallGiants.org

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 108 - Adversity? Bring It On: Moving from Mental Paralysis to Progress - with Nathan Ogden

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Nathan Ogden is an inspirational speaker, coach, quadriplegic athlete, and the author of UnFrozen: Superior Systems to Move from Paralysis to Progress. He has spent years motivating and inspiring audiences and readers on how to conquer their fears and move from paralysis to progress.

Nathan’s life changed in 2001. He was skiing and hit a jump, launching himself over 20 feet in the air. He landed on his neck, shattering his C7 vertebrae. Nathan was instantly paralyzed and told he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Nathan and his wife didn’t listen to that prognosis; “We have too many things that we want to do, so I will walk again and we will do whatever we have to do to get there.”

But, unfortunately, Nathan’s adversity didn’t end there.

During recovery, Nathan contracted pneumonia. He went unconscious in the middle of the night, so he was rushed to the hospital. While they were getting ready to take x-rays, he fell off the x-ray table – breaking his neck a second time.

When he woke up a few hours later and his wife told him what happened, the first three words out of Nathan’s mouth were, “Bring it on.”

However, after about a month, negative thoughts started creeping in. He lost the use of everything from the chest down, a considerable amount of what he had already worked to recover. “That’s when it hit me and I became what I call mentally paralyzed.”

If you’re depressed or feel stuck, Nathan believes there are a few small (but significant) steps you need to take:

You have to put a name to what you’re feeling – then you can start dealing with it.
Identify things that will make you feel good about yourself during the day. For example, Nathan wouldn’t check his social media until he had helped at least one person that day.
Don’t compare yourself to other people. “I need to quit comparing myself to others and be the best that I know I can be. That’s good enough.”

Even two neck breaks couldn’t stop Nathan for long because he lives by the words his father passed down to him: “Live adventure – don’t watch it.”

This is never more obvious than in his philanthropic work: Nathan and his family created Chair the Hope to raise awareness and money for wheelchairs to be delivered in developing countries.

Nathan, his wife, and their four children kicked this off with a 1,200 mile bike ride, which they rode together, relay style, over the course of 12 days.

You can help help Ogden family in their mission to inspire others to get outside and keep moving despite disabilities, fears, or excuses, while raising money to donate to the Wheelchair Foundation, by supporting Chair of Hope at https://www.wheelchairfoundation.org/donations.

Resources:

Learn more at NathanOgden.com
Connect with Nathan: Facebook | Twitter
Support Chair of Hope

UnFrozen: Superior Systems to Move from Paralysis to Progress

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 107 - Become The Ideal Team Player - with Patrick Lencioni

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Patrick Lencioni is the founder of The Table Group and the bestselling author of 11 books. He is the architect of organizational health, a concept that he calls the last competitive advantage in business today.

Pat’s passion for leadership and organizational health can be traced all the way to his first exposure to business as a child, when his dad lamented about working for a company with “bad management.”

Pat didn’t really know what management was at the time, but he knew that it was a bummer for his dad – and he eventually learned, after starting his first job, that that was dysfunction.

“I’m passionate about helping organizations not be dysfunctional so that people like my dad don’t have to suffer through it, because we spend too many hours at work for it to be dysfunctional.”

Pat’s dad always wanted him to get a great job, and he did! He got the best job of anyone in his graduating class… and he was bored. “I was so un-attracted to data and analysis, and I was fascinated by the human beings I saw. I was watching really intelligent people make fundamental mistakes because of human behavior, ego, and things like that,” and he realized that he could help.

In Patrick’s most recent book, The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues, he aims to help individuals make a difference in their own teams.

Pat identifies the three virtues that make some people better team players than others:

Humility - If pride is the root of all sin, then humility is the antidote. “And human beings are attracted to others that are not tied up in themselves.”
Hunger - If you want to be a great team player, you have to be the kind of person who works really hard. That doesn’t mean be a workaholic, but if you’re going to do something, do it well.
Emotional Intelligence - You need common sense around other people; you have to understand how what you say impacts others, be sensitive to their needs, and consider what they’re thinking.

“If you are emotionally intelligent, hard working, and humble, your career will have no problems. I promise!”

Resources:

Learn more at TheTableGroup.com
Connect with Pat: LinkedIn | Twitter
Join Patrick for the Inaugural Organizational Health Summit (May 10, 2018)

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 106 - Reshape the Story of Your Life & Elevate Your Inner Hero - with Andy Janning

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Andy Janning is a photographer, storyteller, and the author of Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life. Using the hero’s journey as a model, the book guides readers on their own heroic journey at work and home, helping them avoid becoming the villain in their own story.

Kindled by movies like Star Wars, Andy grew up with a love for stories – a love for not only the visuals, but for the people and the journey they go through to transform into something better.

This fascination with the hero’s journey sparked an intense desire to help other people, which ultimately led Andy to an (unexpected) career in financial services. He saw an opportunity “to really make it about hearts and dreams and hopes, and what folks want for the future.”

But over the years, Andy’s love of visual storytelling reawakened and he saw a new opportunity to combine his passions – he doesn’t have to choose between photography, filmmaking, storytelling, serving others, and helping people grow.

Reshape Your Story

There are periods of time in all of our lives where we feel like everything is crumbling, but we can begin to circumvent that pain when we invite other people into our life, our stories, and we can help others in the same way.

Those are the moments that really impact our stories, or when we can impact someone else’s.

If you know the right questions to ask, you can start to reshape your own story, too. Andy released a supplementary book, 8 Questions for Every Hero: The Story of Your Journey, that identifies the eight questions every hero should answer in the process of transforming:

What do you really want?
Who is going to be your mentor (and hold you accountable)?
How are you going to fail?
How are you going to succeed?
What are you going to fight for and against?
What will victory (or success) look like?
What are you going to give away?
Where are you going to go next?

“Those questions have helped me in my journey, have helped me define where I’ve gone, and have helped other people do that as well. The times when I’ve really screwed up in my life, I’ve forgotten one or all of those eight questions. So I need these things in front of me, reminding me of where I’m going to go, and that’s really what helps me on my journey, every single day.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at AndyJanning.com
Connect with Andy: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life
8 Questions for Every Hero: The Story of Your Journey

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 105 - Mentoring the Next Gen of Athletes & Allowing Your Purpose to Change - with Olympians Caroline Burckle & Rebecca Soni of RISE Athletes

Mon, 26 Mar 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Caroline Burckle and Rebecca Soni are both successful Olympic athletes-turned-entrepreneurs. In 2015, they Co-Founded RISE Athletes with an ambitious goal: to create a community for cultivating, creating, and discussing things that would uplift them, their peers, and the next generation of athletes.

It’s not just a worthwhile goal – I love the way they are accomplishing it.

RISE is an all-inclusive mentorship and education platform. When someone signs up, they will receive weekly face-to-face video meetings with their very own Olympic Mentor, an accountability partner who can reinforce positive habits, cultivate a positive mindset for performance, and help you overcome obstacles in sport and life.

I don’t know if getting a knowledgeable and supportive mentor has ever been more accessible.

There’s a lot of talk these days about the power of having a Why. However, I think that before you can have a Why or a What, you need to feel worthy of one – and that starts with belief, or loving yourself.

And self-belief is one of the greatest gifts that a mentor can give their mentee. When Rebecca was a young athlete in training, she didn’t necessarily sit down to consider what she was capable of. But she did know that her coach saw a lot more in her than she did at the time.

“In a way, it took a lot of pressure off of me,” because we trust our mentors and what they say is possible. When Rebecca’s coach said that she would be the first woman to break 2:20 in the 200 breaststroke, it didn’t make any sense to her – but 10 years later, that’s exactly what happened.

Caroline had almost the same experience. “And it wasn’t necessarily the thing he was telling me, but the belief and the feeling that I was being supported, that someone believed in me, and that I was significant.”

Caroline, Rebecca, and all of the mentors at RISE seek to provide that same level of support and belief to all of their mentees. Because regardless of the outcome, when we know that we have someone in our corner, that goes a long way towards achieving greatness.

Resources:

Learn more at RISE-athletes.com
Connect with Caroline: CarolineBurckle.com | Instagram | Facebook
Connect with Rebecca: RebeccaSoni.com | Instagram | Facebook
Read: Surf Shacks: An Eclectic Compilation of Surfers' Homes from Coast to Coast

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Ep. 104 - What You Can Learn from the New Rules of Marksmanship - with Chris Sajnog

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Chris Sajnog is a retired Navy SEAL who literally wrote the books on Navy SEAL shooting: How to Shoot Like Navy SEAL, followed by Navy SEAL Shooting. However, Chris has a passion for training and excellence that goes far beyond the firing range – his mission is to help others realize their full potential and cure the disease of mediocrity.

In the Navy, Chris was introduced to a brotherhood of excellence – and, believe it or not, it was also his first introduction to firearms!

Chris excelled in sniper training, so he went on to become a sniper instructor and, ultimately, re-wrote the training curriculum. However, that same curriculum, which focused on the fundamentals of marksmanship, didn’t translate when trying to instruct civilians.

Because being a successful marksman has little to do with how you stand, how you grip, and how you hold the gun – it’s about not getting in the way of what the tool is designed to do. So success all comes down to how you train.

“If I had one thing that I could teach people, to learn anything in life, it’d be to meditate.”

That’s why Chris developed the New Rules of Marksmanship:

Although designed for training in marksmanship, the basic principles can be applied to learning anything. A lot of it boils down to making yourself open to change, and then putting yourself in a position where change is possible.

Remember, the gun, the tools, and the systems are made to be accurate – it’s the person who succeeds or fails, in everything they do.

Resources:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 103 - Bada** Bodies, Big Brother, & Broken Bones: Finding Purpose & Choosing to Change - with Christmas Abbott

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 10:00:00 -0400

Christmas Abbott is a professional athlete, branding advisor, transformational guru, motivational speaker, TV personality, and one of my favorite badasses around. (And, a soon-to-be mother!)

Christmas created The Badass Body Diet and BBX Challenge, competed in the CrossFit Games and olympic weightlifting, became the first female member of a NASCAR pit crew, and joined the cast of CBS’ Big Brother Season 19.

But before she could accomplish all of those amazing things, Christmas had to find her purpose.

Christmas grew up “dirt poor,” surrounded by not-so-positive influences (particularly when it came to her health). She didn’t realize it at the time – that was just growing up – but she became a product of that environment.

Then, when she was in her early 20s and employed as a civilian contractor in Iraq, Christmas was working at a location when it was bombarded by mortar rounds.

The explosions shocked Christmas to her core, and she came to two important realizations:

I don’t want to die.
My decisions are affecting my life, and putting me in bad situations.

Christmas realized that we all have the power to change, and she chose to start making better decisions. And that mindset has dictated her decisions ever since.

Our purpose and mission is always within us – we just have to be like Christmas and make the decision to claim it.

Of course, life doesn’t stop challenging us when we make that decision. And, unfortunately, life threw a big challenge at Christmas last year: While competing on Big Brother, she broke her foot (in a piggybacking accident). It would have been a devastating injury for anyone, but especially an athlete.

Through perseverance, even in the face of that adversity, Christmas continued to inspire people, and the empowering stories that her fans shared helped her realize that she wasn’t alone – and that “there is a purpose to what happened.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at ChristmasAbbott.com
Connect with Christmas: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
The Badass Body Diet
BBX Challenge

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 102 - Take Your Life Pro - with Dana Cavalea

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Dana Cavalea spent his career with the New York Yankees Organization as the Director of Strength and Conditioning, training the likes of Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera, and Posada during their greatest years.

Dana wanted to work with the Yankees from a very young age. First, as a player, but later he realized where his passions truly lied: in training, preparing, and coaching others.

He says he manifested a spot in the big leagues, but that doesn’t mean he waited for that opportunity to come to him; “Whatever you do, to do well and to be great at it, there’s a commitment that goes towards that.”

Today, Dana is a high performance speaker and consultant for Pro Athletes, Entrepreneurs, Business Executives, Workforces, and Universities. He helps implement lifestyle strategies to reduce stress, improve work/life balance, and most importantly, improve daily performance and outcomes; AKA Performance Enhancement.

One of the things that Dana is most outspoken about is that running a business is, in many ways, more difficult than being in pro athletics – and it takes conditioning to achieve peak performance there, too.

Dana’s work is based on four principles, or four drivers of performance:

Training your mentality / mindset
Training
Fueling
Recovery

We often think of training as just something you do with your physical body, but it’s really more about your mindset. In order to be great at anything, you have to have a great mindset, and “mindset is really about teaching yourself to frame things appropriately, and giving things the appropriate weight that they should have in your life.”

Resources:

Learn more at DanaCavalea.com
Connect with Dana: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 101 - Find Your WHAT - with Steve Olsher, America’s Reinvention Expert

Mon, 26 Feb 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Steve Olsher is America’s Reinvention Expert and the author of the New York Times Bestselling book, What is Your WHAT?: Discover The One Amazing Thing You Were Born To Do.

Steve was born and raised an entrepreneur, and he’s constantly reinvented himself along his journey – from a 19-year-old club owner to the owner of liquor.com to the creator of the New Media Summit and beyond.

People don’t try to reinvent themselves unless they are driven by something, often pain – and the #1 crisis that most people will face is not a lack of money, but a lack of purpose.

Throughout decades of ups and downs, Steve was constantly going back to the same question: How am I naturally wired to excel, and what really does give fire to my soul?

In that question, the What is Your WHAT? framework was born.

Want to learn more about the framework and find your What? You’re in luck because Steve is generous enough to offer copies of his book for FREE at WhatIsYourWhat.com!

Resources:

Learn more at steveolsher.com
Connect with Steve: Facebook | Twitter
What is Your WHAT?: Discover The One Amazing Thing You Were Born To Do

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 100 - Celebrating Our Centennial - with a Very Special Guest

Mon, 19 Feb 2018 11:00:00 -0400

I’m incredibly honored to have a Very Special (Secret) Guest on the podcast today, one of my biggest inspirations and supports in starting this podcast.

We start off fun, but this conversation gets raw, authentic, and real – for both of us! I I thank you all for joining me on this journey. We’re 100 episodes in, but we’re only just beginning.

Resources:

Connect with us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Read: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Ep. 99 - How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed - with Daniel McGinn

Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Daniel McGinn is a senior editor at Harvard Business Review and the author of Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed. He was also recently named one of the top 100 leadership speakers for 2018 by Inc.

Daniel wanted to write a book about mental preparation and leadership for three reasons:

Going back to high school, Daniel was on a number of sports teams. He wasn’t a star player, but he always tried his hardest. He became fascinated by the psychological and emotional tactics that coaches used to motivate their players, especially in the minutes leading up to a game.
When Daniel got out of school, he saw former athletes turned professionals using some of those same techniques to psych themselves up for their jobs.
When Daniel started working at HBR, he started seeing studies supporting the efficacy of mental preparation techniques for improving performance.

It’s interesting to look at the pep talk as an example of these preparation techniques. In sports, business, and even the military, there are three elements that these pre-engagement speeches need to be effective:

Direction. The nuts and bolts; the offensive scheme, business plan, or battle strategy.
Empathy. The leader needs to say things that make it clear he or she personally cares for the team. Actively try to build that connection so that the team wants to please and satisfy that leader.
Meaning-making. Whatever the task is, make it seem more important, more meaningful, or related to a larger message.

Another prevalent and intriguing mental preparation technique is the pre-game ritual, which can be simultaneously “meaningless” and effective at building confidence (or even just making someone feel more comfortable).

LeBron James will walk to the center of the court and chalk his hands, and then he takes a handful of the chalk and makes it rain over his head; Jerry Seinfeld listens to Sinatra, puts on a suit jacket five minutes before the show, and paces in a certain pattern; Daniel puts on a pair of sound-blocking headphones.

So we don’t always need to get “psyched up” to mentally prepare ourselves, but high achievers (and their mentors or coaches) develop techniques, sometimes unconsciously, that help them succeed.

Resources:

Learn more at PsychedUpBook.com
Connect with Daniel on Twitter
Read: Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 98 - Find Your Purpose, Be a Positive Leader, & Transform the World - with Jon Gordon

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Jon Gordon is an inspiring speaker and the author of several books, including best sellers The Power of Positive Leadership and The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy. Through his speaking engagements and books, Jon is truly a positive force on the world.

But when most people hear Jon speak or read his books, they usually just see his current success; they don’t take the time to engage with his work and learn about the adversity or inner journey that helped transform him into who he is today.

Whether it was losing an election or jumping into the Dot-com bubble right before it burst, Jon’s journey was full of harsh twists, surprising turns, and new beginnings.

After almost getting whiplash from those twists and turns, Jon paused to ask himself an important question, for the first time: What is my purpose?

Jon found that his purpose, his Why, was being a famous writer and speaker – so then he just needed to find a How. “And it didn’t go well early on.”

Eventually, Jon discovered the key that changed everything: “Your purpose isn’t about you. It’s about others.”

After that point, Jon still had to put in the work – a lot of work, for years – but he was on the right path. Little by little, newsletters and blogs and speaking engagements started to build on one another to create momentum.

“When you’re on the right path, God will move Heaven and Earth to support you. You’ll face obstacles along the way, but you’ll receive that support and that knowing that you’re on the right path.”

Resources:

Learn more: JonGordon.com | PositiveUniversity.com
Connect with Jon: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram
Watch: “The Secrets That Drive Us To Greater Success | Jon Gordon | TEDxHilliard”
Read: “The 4 Stages of Greatness”
Read Jon’s books:
- The Power of Positive Leadership
- The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy

The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 97 - How to Learn from, Manage, and Take Risks - with former Navy SEAL Kevin Lacz

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Kevin Lacz is a former SEAL Team THREE sniper, breacher, and combat medic. He joins the show to chat about his experiences as a SEAL, how he’s applying those lessons in his life today, taking risks, and his book, The Last Punisher.

Being a SEAL taught Kevin important lessons about casting a vision, developing a strategy, and taking advantage of opportunity – lessons that are just as important on civilian life as they are in military life.

“You can’t win the game if you’re sitting on the sidelines. You need to be active and proactive.” Opportunities don’t wait for you take action.
Although you need to take action, you shouldn’t do so prematurely. We all want things to happen quickly, but you can’t get ahead of the ball – especially when you are working with other people.
Everybody has a limit. It’s okay to tactically pull back and wait for a better time, and it’s important to understand where your limits are.

Being a SEAL was an important part of Kevin’s life, but it isn’t what defines him – “I don’t want to be defined as just a SEAL. I want to be able to be a positive force in every part of my community. I think that’s necessary for my peace of mind, and as an example to my kids.”

So take these lessons to heart, get off the bench, and start making an impact in your community – and pick up a copy of The Last Punisher if you need any more inspiration. Anyone can be a force of positivity in this world.

Resources:

Learn more at KevinLacz.com
Connect with Kevin: Facebook | Instagram

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 96 - Pioneering the Future of Learning & Healthcare - with Eren Bali of Udemy & Carbon Health

Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Eren Bali is the Co-Founder & Chairman of Udemy (formerly CEO), an online learning and teaching marketplace with over 55,000 courses and 15 million students. He saw that the future of learning was democratized online, and then he pioneered that future.

In our constantly-changing world, you cannot expect to go to college, learn everything that you need to know, and then be done with learning for the rest of your life. “You have to make learning a continuous part of your life.”

The most important skill for succeeding in today’s world is learning how to learn by yourself; the ability to identify a personal gap in knowledge, find instruction, and implement what you learn.

Plus, with resources like Udemy, education is more accessible than ever before – potential entrepreneurs and curious learners can access world-class education for cheap, and sometimes even free, and find valuable mentors in, say, podcasts.

Now Eren is looking to pioneer the future of healthcare: He founded a new company, Carbon Health, which aims to create the world’s largest connected healthcare network.

Carbon Health is an app that integrates with pharmacies, labs, insurance providers and specialists to allow you to access your treatment plans, manage prescriptions, see lab results, schedule appointments, and much more – all through this one app.

Carbon is currently available in the Bay Area, and they hope to expand throughout the U.S. to become the “world’s largest hospital,” in the same way that Udemy is the “world’s largest school.”

Resources:

Learn more about Carbon Health: CarbonHealth.com
Teach yourself at Udemy.com
Connect with Erin: Twitter | LinkedIn
Watch Eren’s TEDx Talk: “The most precious skill you can learn!”

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 95 - The Story Behind Hint Water’s Sweet Success (& How They’re Disrupting Big Bev) - with Kara Goldin

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Hint Water is a modern-day David versus Goliath story, but Kara Goldin didn’t wake up one day intending to take on the beverage market and disrupt Big Bev. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth… at least initially.

Kara previously worked for AOL, where she helped grow their eCommerce business to a $1 billion enterprise. She had four kids and wanted to do something different, but she encountered health challenges that made it difficult.

After seeing several doctors and not getting any real answers, she decided to take things into her own hands and hit the reset button on her nutrition – starting with her beloved Diet Coke, which was truly an addiction.

So Kara set out on a mission to solve a problem for one person: herself.

When Kara first cut Diet Coke out of her diet, she was still craving a sweet drink (and, frankly, she just didn’t like the taste of water). She started adding cut fruit into her own water, and the weight loss she experienced just from that small change was dramatic.

When she tried to find something similar at the store, all she could find was Vitamin Water… which had just as much sugar as the soda she was trying to cut out of her diet.

Although she couldn’t find the product she wanted, she did find other people who were struggling with the same problem – and an opportunity. Since then, Kara has grown Hint® into a $90 million beverage company, and they show no signs of slowing down.

What exactly is Hint Water?

“Hint® is water—just more delicious.” It has no sugar, diet sweeteners, stevia, preservatives, calories, or GMOs. It is only flavored with natural fruit oils and essence, and it is indeed tasty!

Resources:

Learn more at DrinkHint.com
Connect with Kara: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 94 - Inspiring a Global Health Transformation - with Dr. Isaac Jones of The Superhuman Entrepreneur

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 11:00:00 -0400

Dr. Isaac Jones is a functional nutrition expert, doctor of chiropractic, and certified in human potential medicine. He recently founded Elevays to teach high performers performance nutrition, natural medicine, healthy recipes, organic product reviews, healthy travel hacks, and much more.

I first met Dr. Jones at the Advance Your Reach Summit in 2016, but I’ve been following his podcast, The Superhuman Entrepreneur, for years – and I absolutely love his mission: “to help entrepreneurs and executives activate their highest level of human performance so they can get an unfair competitive advantage, get more done in less time, and multiply their impact and capabilities.”

When Dr. Jones was a child, like many of us, he was prescribed medicine for his acne, ADHD, and any other “problem” that popped up… but he came to realize that that system was broken because it did not address the root problems that created the symptoms.

After this realization, Dr. Jones transformed his health through natural lifestyle changes and high-performance strategies.

Because of the results that Dr. Jones sees in his own transformation and the 1000’s of people he works with globally, he knows it’s possible for anyone to access high performance – or what he calls becoming “superhuman.”

Resources:

Listen to The Superhuman Entrepreneur
Connect with Dr. Jones: Twitter | LinkedIn
Learn more about Elevays

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 93 - The Power of Play, Praise, & Purpose in Thriving Entrepreneurial Relationships - with Kelly Clements

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 11:00:00 -0400

After a decade of coaching extremely successful individuals in their businesses, our guest Kelly Clements understands where the true power comes from: the relationship that they have with their spouse, specifically. This precious relationship is a huge driver towards success, yet it’s often the relationship that suffers most in the pursuit of excellence.

Kelly is the author of The Power of Play, Praise and Purpose: The Best Kept Secrets of Thriving Entrepreneurial Couples, in which she has created a process to not only revive these relationships, but also help these relationships THRIVE.

When shared, purpose can unite a couple – however, when it’s not shared, it will divide them. And Kelly believes that everybody has a purpose, but that purpose is only revealed when we step into our best self.

However, we can’t necessarily coach our spouses, so Kelly’s program gives each person in a relationship the opportunity to learn, grow, and focus on themselves.

When entrepreneurs are at work, they can get in a state of flow – and that can be addicting. Play at home is so powerful because it activates the same part of our brains as flow, or alcohol. Play is the only thing that recharges the batteries; “Play precedes productivity.”

How can we start incorporating more play today? Kelly suggests...

15 minutes of play every day
One date night every week
A quarterly or annual getaway

Start by just saying yes, and then you can figure out the pace that is right for you.

Resources:

Learn more at TheEntrepRenewer.com
Connect with Kelly on Facebook
Read: The Power of Play, Praise and Purpose: The Best Kept Secrets of Thriving Entrepreneurial Couples

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 92 - The #1 Impact Moment of 2017: Make the #5SecondRule Your Resolution - with Mel Robbins

Mon, 25 Dec 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Last week, I started counting down my five favorite impact moments from the show in 2017. Today we’re wrapping up the year by reflecting on the words of a truly incredible and inspirational person: Mel Robbins.

Mel is an expert on leadership and defeating doubt, a motivational powerhouse, and the best-selling author of The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage.

The #5SecondRule is unbelievably simple, but practicing it can change the way you approach life – and I don’t know if there’s a better New Year’s Resolution than choosing to implement it in your daily life.

Don’t remember what the #5SecondRule is? Here’s a refresher...

The first thing you have to understand is that your whole life happens in five second windows.

Throughout your day, whether you’re flying high or down in the dumps, you’re making decisions… and when you’re not paying attention, you make decisions based on self-doubt, procrastination, fears, excuses, and feelings.

However, within any five second window, you have the choice to ether let self-doubt pull you back down the path or beat the habit of self doubt and take a step forward. “Once you understand the power to these five second decisions, you have the secret to changing absolutely everything.”

How does The Five Second Rule work?

It’s incredibly simple: the moment you are facing a decision and you are beginning to doubt yourself, count 5-4-3-2-1 in your head.

Don’t count up, because you can keep going – when you count backwards, your brain is allowed to shift gears; you can turn off the interior region of the brain where habits are encoded and self-doubt lives, and turn on your prefrontal cortex.

By counting, which is an action, you are already making a different decision than listening to self-doubt, and by counting you are moving in a direction that is opposite of self-doubt. As dumb as it may sound, the actual act of counting is incredibly powerful.

Bring your resolution to the next level with the 5 Second Journal

The 5 Second Journal was created for real people who might miss a couple days of journaling, have a desire to quit forgetting their best friend’s birthday, and want to bring out the badass within by using a simple and science-back solution proven to get the important (and real life) sh*t done.

Get your own journal and start 2018 off right by going to 5secondjournal.com.

Resources:

Learn more at MelRobbins.com
Get your own 5 Second Journal: 5secondjournal.com
Connect with Mel: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Read: The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 91 - Top 5 Impact Moments of 2017

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 11:00:00 -0400

2017 has been a wild ride, and I am so grateful that you all have been going on this journey with me. To celebrate the year’s end, I’m sharing the five most impactful moments from the show this year.

#5 - Ep. 64 – Getting Motivated at Halftime - with Coach Lou Holtz

My conversation with Coach Holtz aired in the middle of the year as part of our Halftime Series. If you had a chance to listen, you understand he knows what it takes to lead and he knows what it takes to win. He taught us that there are three powerful keys to motivation: belief, choices, and dreams.  

Not only did Coach Holtz succinctly describe the motivation process, but he also precisely highlighted that, at the end of the day, only one person is responsible for our choices. So, as is evidenced by his winning record, he is adept at drawing the very best talent out of people, but he also possess the ability to lead people to greatness. And while the title of leader may be given to you from someone else, true leadership is earned.  

#4 - Ep. 48 – The Secret to Disrupting Human Performance – with Steven Kotler

Steven is the best selling author of books like Rise of Superman, Abundance, BOLD and Stealing Fire, and my conversation with Steven was part of our Disruption Series. His core mission is to design a way for you and me to get into a flow state. When our normal sense of self and time vanishes, we are freed from the drudgery of daily life, we possess a sense of effortless motivation, and are able to tap into a level of inspiration that is normally unavailable to us.  

Think this stuff is all hocus pocus? Well right now the US Government, the Navy SEALs, Apple, Google, and many others are heavily invested in creating and developing environments around this concept in an effort to massively uplevel human performance – to the tune of $4 trillion.  

Another incredible factoid that Steven dropped has to do with anxiety and excitement. The chemicals our brain releases when we feel anxious are the same as those that release when we feel excited. The difference in how we experience those chemicals is how we frame the event. Seriously… that was awesome.

#3 - Ep. 70 – Giving, Purpose, and Fulfillment & Ep. 71 – Mastering Behavior Change: Tap into Your Purpose & Potential – with John Berardi

Dr. John Berardi, co-founder of Precision Nutrition, actually joined us for episodes 70 and 71, in which we talked about purpose. In episode 70, we discussed Precision’s marketing philosophy and why they have grown to be as successful as they are. It’s pretty simple: it’s give, give, give, give, ask. And if you have ever signed up for one of their programs, you know they give a ton away. In fact, just recently, they gave away a 70,000-word document that could have surely been a NYTimes best seller – But their marketing tactic is to give.  

One of the most important lessons they learned early in the business has to do with Scale. Scale is another one of those buzz words, but what happens if you experience the rewards of success before you have the infrastructure behind you to back you up? In PN’s case, they had a HUGE sale that quickly became their greatest weakness. The proceeds from the sale ended up getting flagged and held by their merchant and, over the course of several months, they sold nearly a half a million dollars in product without receiving a single penny.

The first episode with JB was so awesome that I had to bring him on again to talk about his approach to goal setting and planning, as well as what drives real behavior change. Instead of focusing on a specific five year plan the achieve X goal or work with X client by X time, JB and his team focused more on being interested than being interesting, when everyone else was being needy, too aspirational, or all about money and getting paid.  

#2 - Ep. 72 – Living Life Curious, Fulfilled, & with Purpose – with Marie Forleo

The wild and successful Marie Forleo’s has had quite a journey: from NYSE to bartending to choreographing hip hop to launching her digital education company to ultimately being dubbed by Oprah as a thought leader for the next generation.  

And finally, coming in at number 1...

...well. actually. you’re going to have to wait until next week when I play that episode in full.

Until then, I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Now go make an impact! 

Resources:

Coach Lou Holtz: Pick up a book on Amazon.com
Steven Kotler: StevenKotler.com | Twitter | Stealing Fire
John Berardi & Precision Nutrition: Coaching | Free Articles | Twitter | Facebook
Marie Forleo: MarieForleo.com | MarieTV

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 90 - Tap Your Creative Mind to Thrive in Any Environment

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 11:00:00 -0400

The creative mindset is powerful – and guess what? We all possess it.

Those who have tapped it may sometimes seem as if they possess superpowers but they don’t; they are just normal people like you and me. The creative mind is simply a way off seeing and engaging in the world around us.

Put another way, the creative mindset is a powerful thought process that can open doors and enable us to see opportunity where it seemingly did not exist before. In some cases, it can even make the impossible possible.

Think for a moment about all the lessons that Rebecca Jackson, the Juilliard-trained violist, learned during her journey and imparted to us through the stories she told back in episode 87. Rebecca has used music to honor Holocaust survivors, unite refugees, and empower children. She’s very much creating a positive Sound Impact in communities all around the world.

Learning to play music taught Rebecca many valuable lessons as a child, all of which helped her get to where she is today. Regardless of our skill, abilities, knowledge, or education, there is always room for growth and we always have something more to learn.

Who can you learn from? Well, in Rebecca’s case, in addition to learning from her immediate family, her fellow musicians, and the incredible teachers and mentors she encounters along the way, she is also able to learn from the stories of others: the stories told through voice, through music, and through community.

We have to learn to play together to create a collective, beautiful sound, beautiful product, or beautiful community. This requires an important degree of humility and open-mindedness to hear and see other people’s vision.

The incredible artist, Blake Jamieson, shared with us in episode 88 that despite growing up in a creative household, the idea of being a successful professional artist seemed outside the realm of possibility. So he pursued a degree in economics and ended up as a digital marketer helping make other people’s dreams a reality.

But that voice inside of him, the seed that was planted in him on the day he was born, kept nagging and he knew he needed to make change. The only thing he knew for certain was that his relationships would be a critical element to his success as an entrepreneur.

None of us have to follow the paths forged by others – we can all take action, make ourselves more accountable, and treat our ventures as art so that we can achieve the impact we want to have in the world.  

The eclectic and talented Lauren Mayhew joined us in episode 89. As an actress and performer, Lauren encounters and manages changing environments on a regular, sometimes moment-by-moment, basis. She shared a ton of insight about developing the ability to be fully present in any situation, making your own opportunity, dealing with rejection, managing her own expectations, and much more.

These are not just skills for performers; they are life skill that we all need to develop and hone – not just so we can survive, but so that we can THRIVE.

Perhaps the most important insight Lauren shared is the importance of following direction. In her case, she receives a script and reads the script based on her interpretation of the character, the environment, the time, the place, her emotional state, etc. Her ability to adapt to the change, to be flexible to those guiding her, can be the difference between landing the role or not. The same is true for all of us.

Whether it is a relationship, a business deal, or any other kind of venture, life will throw us curve balls, deals will fall apart, and relationships will change. If we are too rigid, it can prevent us from adapting and ultimately succeeding in life.

This is not to say that you should simply toss in the towel if something falls apart. We should pause, listen, learn, and then respond.

This is the perfect time to slow down.

As many of you know, I am a Christian, and one of the reasons I launched this show is because I want you and I to realize our God-given potential. It is the season of advent in the Christian tradition. This is a period of time when we wait in hope of the birth of our savior, Jesus.

But it is not a time for being idle; it is a time of preparation. Prepare your heart, prepare your mind, till the soil, pick the weeds, and remove the rocks in your heart, mind, and soul to make way for new seeds that will bear great fruit.

This is not an easy task because it requires us to become quiet in a very noisy world, and reflect on the rocks and weeds that are preventing the seeds God has planted in us from realizing their full potential, from fully blossoming, from bearing the fruit they are intended to.

Regardless of your faith, I invite you to examine your heart and mind, and identify the things that are holding you back or preventing the seeds in your heart from bearing the fruit they are intended to.

Until next time, go make an impact!

Resources:

Learn more about Rebecca Jackson & Sound Impact: SoundImpact.org | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Connect with Blake Jamieson: BlakeJamieson.com | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Connect with Lauren Mayhew: LaurenMayhew.com | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 89 - Positivity, Consistency, & Opportunity - with Lauren Mayhew

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Lauren Mayhew is a powerfully positive person with an eclectic background. She is an actress, a former member of a girl band (that performed with the likes of NSYNC and Destiny’s Child), a TV host, and an EDM performer.

Even with all of those notches in her belt, there’s still so much more that Lauren wants to do – “There’s still so much more to accomplish.”

Sometimes moving forward means looking back. There’s a reason why cars have a rearview mirror that is smaller than the windshield: it’s important to reflect on the past and see what’s behind you because that informs where you’re going.

People like to try to bury the past, but reflecting on both successes and failures can help you in the future – even rejection can be an opportunity.

As you move forward, it’s important to stay positive, strive for improvement, and be consistent... although it’s not always easy.

Start by identifying the things that will make you more successful, or more well-rounded as a person, and then act on that.

“You have to keep driving at it, and that’s what makes the difference. You may not be where you want to be in six months, but you’ll definitely be substantially farther than you were when you started.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at LaurenMayhew.com
Connect with Lauren: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 88 - Making a Necessary Change: Digital Marketer to EntreprenArtist - with Blake Jamieson

Mon, 27 Nov 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Blake Jamieson grew up in a creative and artistic household, but he had convinced himself that art wasn’t a viable career path. He worked as a digital marketer for eight years until, just a few years ago, he quit to follow his passion – and stop using his skills to build other people’s dreams.

Now Blake is an entrepreneur and an artist. He didn’t have a plan, but he needed a change.

During the transition, relationships were everything. “I think the way I was able to transition from a digital marketing nerd to an artist has all just been because of the relationships that I’ve built,” whether those are relationships with other creatives, entrepreneurs, or patrons.

Blake’s relationship with himself has also changed dramatically. “I’ve gotten a lot better at self-talk, getting myself ready for the day, and keeping myself accountable (because no one else is doing it).”

I believe that we are the ones who are accountable for our choices, and one of the most powerful choices that an entrepreneur, artist, or parent can make is how they talk to themselves about what they are capable of achieving.

“I do not have to follow a traditional artist’s path to be a successful artist.”

For Blake to achieve his desired reality, painting every day, he had to forge a new path – one that strayed from the traditional artist’s path.

Blake’s unique path is creating art for businesses, and he promotes himself through social media, primarily LinkedIn. And, really, LinkedIn is about as unconventional as it gets in the art world.

Resources:

Check out Blake’s art: BlakeJamieson.com
Connect with Blake: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 87 - Sound Impact: How Music Changes, Heals, & Unites - with Rebecca Jackson

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Rebecca Jackson grew up in a family of self-taught artists, with diverse backgrounds – the intersection of Midwestern fiddle jams and South Korean karaoke.

Music has given Rebecca a lot over the years, and now she is using music as a tool to give back as Co-Founder of Sound Impact, a collective of musicians dedicated to serving communities and igniting positive change in the U.S. and abroad through live performances, educational programs, and creative collaborations.

Learning to play music taught Rebecca many valuable lessons as a child, all of which helped her get to where she is today:

Humility. “You never stop growing. You always have something more to learn.”
Teamwork. “You’re not the only voice and you have to learn to play together to create a collective, beautiful sound.”
Perseverance. “Because some days are tough and you just have to keep on going, and trust the process and your teacher.”
Communication. Learning to have a stage presence teaches both verbal and nonverbal communication skills.
Mentorship. The student-teacher relationship is really important in learning music, and it’s a good introduction to the idea that there’s always someone to learn more from.

Sound Impact

Rebecca Co-Founded Sound Impact because she believes music is an incredibly powerful tool for changing, healing, and uniting communities. It’s so much more than notes on a page – it’s capable of bridging nationalities, religions, and ideologies.

Rebecca has used music to honor Holocaust survivors, unite refugees, and empower children. She’s very much creating a positive Sound Impact in communities all around the world.

Resources:

Sound Impact: SoundImpact.org | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
MusicInMay.org
Ensemble San Francisco

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 86 - Developing a Warrior’s Heart

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked to some incredible warriors with powerful stories and huge hearts. I’ve come up with three things that I’m going to do to help me develop a warrior’s heart, and I hope you’ll join me.

I’m also going to challenge all of you to share how these Warriors have encouraged you:

Create an Instagram story sharing how any of the guests I’ve had on my show have impacted you.
Tag me: @theimpactmike

Find mentors – Each of our guests developed strong relationships with mentors from an early age, and continue to cultivate those kinds of relationships to this very day. Mentors matter because they can accelerate your success, and they can do that in three ways:
1. Showing you the path.
2. Helping you understand and adapt to the environment.
3. Quickly identifying opportunities and threats.

Don’t fall victim to the “comparison conundrum” – Each of our journeys is intensely personal, and it’s because of that very fact that we need to fight the tendency to compare ourselves or our experiences to others. Comparison will do nothing but steal our joy. Here’s how we can kick that habit to the curb:
1. Choose to – because our choices are incredibly powerful.
2. Develop greater self-awareness so we can easily identify situations that may cause us to compare ourselves or our experiences to others.
3. Practice gratitude, because it kills negativity.
4. Begin taking inventory of our skills. We all possess talents and strengths, and they don’t have to be huge things.
5. Embrace imperfection.
6. Enjoy the journey! When you’re fully present in the moment, you’re able to enjoy the process of growth.

Say NO to the comfort zone – You don’t have to be the biggest person or the smartest person, but you do have to have what Jason Redman calls a “No Quit Attitude.” You must drive forward, find a way to accomplish your mission, reach your goal, and never quit. We all want to be confident, but the only way we can develop our confidence and grow is if we take action, try new things, embrace failure, and learn from it. It’s only in the possibility for failure that you’ll find the possibility for incredible amounts of success, growth, and development.

In the next episode, we’ll be starting The Creative Mindset Series, which will feature some incredibly talented artists and musicians from a variety of mediums. You’ll learn a tremendous amount about entrepreneurship by hearing how they approach and deploy their craft on a daily basis.

Previous episodes in The Warrior’s Heart series:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 85 - Lessons Learned at 45,000 Feet: The 1st Female F-14 Fighter Pilot - with Carey Lohrenz

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Carey Lohrenz grew up in a high-performing military family. Her dad was a former United States Marine Corps aviator, and she grew up hoping to be an “awesome warrior aviator just like him.”

When Carey grew up, she achieved her dream – she became the first female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy.

Today, Carey is a speaker and author who inspires others to do more by sharing the fundamentals that helped her achieve success in the cockpit at Mach 2.

Carey never accepted the notion that she wasn’t capable of anything, although people didn’t expect much from her. Her family was told, repeatedly, that she would live a very limited life because she was born without fully-formed hips.

Carey spent the first two years of her life in a plaster cast, but her family persisted until, against the odds, she was able to walk.

“When you’re growing up and you see pictures of yourself and hear stories of how many people said you weren’t ever going to be capable of anything, it’s going to do one of two things: it’ll either break you or light a fire under your tail.” –Carey Lohrenz

In Carey’s book, Fearless Leadership: High Performance Lessons From the Flight Deck, she she walks readers through the three fundamentals a leader must possess to exhibit real fearlessness: courage, tenacity, and integrity.

Developing those fundamentals requires action. High achievers aren’t just lucky – they try and try again, even when they’re stuck. Simply stated, “The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.”

Resources:

Learn more at CareyLohrenz.com
Connect with Carey: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Fearless Leadership: High Performance Lessons From the Flight Deck

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 84 - A Warrior’s Grit: Forging (and Reforging) a Navy SEAL Leader - with Jason Redman

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Jason Redman is a retired naval officer and U.S. Navy SEAL, and author of The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader. He shares the leadership and life lessons he learned in his business, SOF Spoken, and inspires wounded warriors to overcome with his nonprofit, Wounded Wear.

The process of becoming a SEAL has changed over the years, but the ingredients that make up a good candidate remain the same. During that time, the military has spent a lot of time and money trying to figure out the difference between an individual who completes training and an individual who doesn’t.

Despite all that money, the attrition rate has stayed about the same since SEAL training started – about 75%.

So why don’t more people pass SEAL training?

There’s no one answer, but Jason believes it’s a cultural problem – “As a nation, we are not allowing America’s youth to grow up and encounter failure, and navigate their way through adversity on their own … that cultural shift is having a direct impact on the grit of this current generation.”

Jason credits his own success to grit and tenacity. “I’m definitely not the smartest guy, the biggest guy, or the strongest guy … but I will drive forward, and I will never quit. It doesn’t matter what you tell me – I will figure out a way to get there, and I think that is truly the key to success.”

Jason sees people quitting way too easily in today’s society, and that’s a big problem because you don’t grow when you’re in your comfort zone.

The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader

In his book, Jason is extremely vulnerable and brutally honest about his journey – from not being accepted into the SEALs or Army on his first attempt to his first mistake as a military leader to getting struck by machine-gun fire at point-blank range – and how overcoming those challenges allowed him to grow into a more effective leader.

SOF Spoken

Jason founded SOF Spoken after retiring so that he could share the lessons and abilities learned by Special Operations Forces with leaders, entrepreneurs, and communicators, and the company is built on the idea that leadership is forged by experience in the most difficult moments.

How can entrepreneurs apply these lessons?

Tenacity is required – You have to believe in yourself and what you’re doing. Sometimes this means understanding the difference between quitting and falling back.
Communication is key – If everybody you work with is informed about what’s going on, you foster better relationships and invite potentially critical feedback.
Develop an overcome mindset – “Leaders figure out what they need to do, and they get it done … they evaluate what needs to get done, and then they put the steps in place and discipline themselves to accomplish it.”

Resources:

Learn more about Jason at SOFspoken.com
Connect with Jason: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram
Pick up a signed copy of Jason’s book: The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader
Do you want to give back and sponsor a Wounded Warrior? Check out the Combat Wounded Coalition

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 83 - Overcoming Trauma & Finding Meaning in Suffering - with Josh Mantz

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Josh Mantz returns for part two of our conversation in this series about the Warrior’s Heart. Last week, we discussed why Josh became a soldier, the day he died, and the decade-long emotional struggle that inspired his mission to help veterans and non-veterans alike recover from the emotional wounds that severe trauma can cause.

Today, we dig into Josh’s imminent book: The Beauty of a Darker Soul: Overcoming Trauma Through the Power of Human Connection. Josh wrote this book to help others uncover and validate the true source of their pain, and to give them a shared language they can use to express that pain productively.

How Josh Found Meaning in the Suffering

1. Trauma is complex, cumulative, and personal.

That’s why we need to fight our natural tendency to compare ourselves to others. Your experiences are unique and powerful, and you shouldn’t invalidate your trauma by telling yourself the story that it’s less than someone else’s experience.

2. Trauma isn’t always what it seems.

The experience of dying isn’t what caused Josh’s decade of trauma, and it wasn’t the most difficult part for him – it was living with the incurable immune disorder Crohn’s Disease, going through a divorce, and other failed relationships.

That’s why it’s important that you do the deep (and, yes, difficult) forensic work necessary to uncover the root of your trauma, because it may have started 10 years ago and you didn’t notice (because, as we’ve mentioned, it’s also cumulative).

3. Suffer productively

Although trauma is a very personal experience, you don’t need to go on the journey to overcome it alone. If you try to suffer alone, the paths you take can be dangerous, and even irreversible at times.

“Every moment of my life, even times when I adamantly believed that no one could possibly understand the depths of what I was experiencing, there was always someone in my life who proved me wrong. There’s always someone who had the courage and strength to plant healing seeds inside my mind that would eventually start to grow. They had the strength to be vulnerable, and I really believe that that vulnerability is what binds us together at the core of the human experience.”

There’s nothing more powerful in the resolution of trauma than the power of human connection.

Resources:

Learn more at DarkerSouls.com

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 82 - Revealing the Beauty of a Darker Soul - with Josh Mantz

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This week we kick off our series about The Warrior’s Heart with Josh Mantz, who was shot and killed in Iraq but came back to life – now he’s on a mission to help veterans and non-veterans alike recover from the emotional wounds that severe trauma can cause.

Two mentors and role models had a significant influence on Josh’s life, and his decision to be a soldier.

The first was his stepfather, a police officer and former infantry officer who brought Josh into a military and police family. He had an incredible positive influence on Josh’s life, and got him thinking about the military as a possibility.

Second was a gentleman named Sergeant Major Doug Van Der Pool. After retiring from the special forces, where he ran anti-drug operations in South America, he took over the Junior ROTC program at a small high school in Pennsylvania.

SGM Van Der Pool and Josh’s stepfather drove home the importance of appreciating foreign cultures, appreciating the capacity of human beings wherever they come from, learning language, understanding cultural norms, and understanding empathy.

Josh entered West Point in 2001 and graduated in 2005. His class is considered “the class of 9/11” because they were freshman on that fateful day, and four years later there was no doubt that they would be sent to fight.

Josh and the other cadets wanted to quit the academy – not to leave the fight, but to enlist and ship off immediately – but, for the most part, they waited and graduated.

The Day Josh Died

Because Josh majored in Arabic, his unit was partnered with the local Iraqi police force and tasked with training them.

One day, they were on a humanitarian mission to deliver school supplies. The operation went off without a hitch, and the Iraqi police did a great job. On the way back, a RPG was fired at an American unit.

While investigating, they noticed a suspicious vehicle driving in the area. They stopped the car, and then they were engaged by an enemy sniper. A bullet ripped through the aorta of the Staff Sergeant and then severed Josh’s femoral artery.

At first, Josh didn’t know he was shot. Time and sound were distorted. “I could only hear the muted sound of the sniper shot and my own voice calling for a medic.”

Despite a brilliant evacuation effort, Josh started to die. “I consciously knew that was it. I took my last breath, said my last thought, and I died.”

His last thought was, “Please take care of them.”

Two days later, Josh woke up in the green zone. He had flatlined for 15 minutes straight and, while he survived, his Staff Sergeant did not. “I would soon come to learn that the experience of dying would pale in comparison to the decade-long emotional struggle that I’d go through as I sought to find meaning in a second life.”

The Beauty of a Darker Soul: Overcoming Trauma Through the Power of Human Connection

Trauma isn’t always what it seems.

It took almost a decade of struggle for Josh to uncover the meaning in his second life – and to admit that the experience of dying wasn’t the source of his trauma… It was the guilt in his ability to heal when so many others in the hospital couldn’t.

This may seem like an unimportant distinction, but when it comes to the resolution of trauma, it’s incredibly important to do the forensic investigation and piece the sequence of events back together, in context.

Josh wrote his upcoming book, The Beauty of a Darker Soul, to help others uncover and validate the true source of their pain, too, and to give them a shared language they can use to express that pain productively.

You can join the Darker Souls community and get news about the release of the book at DarkerSouls.com.

Resources:

Learn more at DarkerSouls.com
Watch: “Overcoming Moral Injuries | Joshua Mantz | TEDxSantoDomingo”
Watch: “My Second Life -- Joshua Mantz”
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Dave Grossman

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 81 - The Power of Belief: Small Shifts & Massive Change

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 10:00:00 -0400

For the last several weeks, we’ve been studying the power of belief, how we can develop it, and what is required of us. We’ve talked about how small shifts can lead to massive change in our lives.

It's been said that if the Earth shifted its Axis by even 1°, it would alter the landscape and environment permanently. Fortunately, the Earth sits perfectly on its axis… But what if we could tilt the landscape of our mind, our beliefs, and our actions by 1 degree? What would your life look like? Who would you be surrounded by? What kind of impact would you have? How fulfilled would you be? What choices would you make?

We kicked off the Belief series with the incredible Tom Bilyeu, Co-Founder of Quest Nutrition, which he helped grow to a BILLION dollars in revenue over the course of 2 years.

He was called to do more, so he started an internet TV show called Impact Theory about mindset, peak performance, and fulfillment. This was my second conversation with Tom and it was just as powerful and inspirational as the first interview.

There were two key moments that stood out in my mind.

If you want to take advantage of your latent potential, it’s important to shift your beliefs. You can’t necessarily do everything – but you can learn how to do anything, if you put in the effort.
Far too many gifted people quit just because someone is better. How bad do you want it? If you’re willing to put yourself on the path and do the hard work for years (or even decades), you can achieve the most extraordinary results. Most people are too afraid to suffer, give things up, and accept that long period of hard work.

Dr. Colby Jubenville, co-author of the book Me: How to Sell Who You Are, What You Do, and Why You Matter to the World, joined us to address how he is working with college students and executives across America to bring an end to this self-belief crisis.

Dr. Jubenville had his share of adversity from the time he was born; He had a vision problem and was essentially blind, but through continuous support, improvement, and struggle, Colby taught himself to see through the cobwebs in his eyes. Colby said we live in a society where belief isn’t appreciated, intentional, or taught, but Colby believes that the two greatest opportunities we have in life are:

Helping people find their voice (and voice is the intersection of talent, passion, conscience, and need in the world) 
After they find their voice, teaching them to develop, protect, and maintain their confidence.

If you can help someone do both of those things, there’s nothing they can’t do.

Kevin Hall, author of Aspire: Discover Your Life Purpose Through the Power of Words, joined us to talk about… well, words. It may sound simple, but this is one of the most powerful episodes I have done on this show. His work literally changed my life 6 years ago, and I continue to talk about it on a daily basis.

Our words – internal or external – precede our action, so first it starts with understanding the power of the words we use when we are speaking to ourselves or others.

One of the most powerful words Kevin has encountered is the word GENSHAI, which means never treat another person in a manner that will make them feel small, including yourself.

I think this world could use a lot more of that, but here’s the thing: it starts with yourself. In other words, I am not going to wait around for someone else to treat me with dignity before I begin treating others with dignity.

Doing so leads directly into the power of the word BELIEVE, which means to Be Love. When you believe in yourself, you love yourself. When you believe in others, you love others.

I know some of you might think that is corny, but why? Why do we think that way? In order to break the cycle of limiting belief that we’ve been living in, we must start loving ourselves and others.

Now you might be feeling overwhelmed or thinking to yourself that there is a bunch of stuff you need to do. Don’t I need a vision? Don’t I need a mission? Don’t I need a purpose? No!

You just need to start taking action.

As Dr. Albert Bandura says in his Self Efficacy Theory, the fastest way to build self confidence is to move from ‘I think I can,’ to ‘I know I can,’ to ‘I can.’ And the only way to do that is by taking action.

Once you get comfortable taking action, then you will have developed the fundamentals to being to build a vision, a mission and a purpose.

Mel Robbins, author of The 5 Second Rule, ties TNT to the common motivational content ubiquitous in the entrepreneurial world and detonates it. Mel is trying to rid the world of the notion that one can just sit around and wait for some fairy godmother to do the work for them.

Too often, we allow ourselves to get stuck, but Mel’s 5 Second Rule is so simple and powerful there is no way to really argue against it: “Either you’re somebody who wants to change, or you’re someone who wants to bitch about it. “ Which one are you?

Finally, once we get comfortable with taking action and begin to build a vision and discover our purpose, the fastest way to accelerate achievement is to understand how we are wired or manufactured. Gary Vee talks about this, Mike Dillard talked about this back in January, Dr. Jubenville talked about it a few weeks ago, and he specifically mentioned the power of the Harrison Assessment.

I am a huge fan of assessments because they use innovative processes to ask you questions you might otherwise not ask yourself, and the answers uncover your key strengths and areas you might need to examine.

In my episode with Julie Scher, managing partner of Harrison Assessments and Co-Founder of Peak Focus Coaching, you were able to listen into a private conversation where she picked apart an assessment I took analyzing my key strengths and areas of growth. What have you done to assess your innate skills, gifts and talents?

Next week, we’re starting a new series on The Warrior’s Heart. Our guests will include:

Josh Mantz, who was shot and killed in Iraq but came back to life and is now on a mission to help veterans and non-veterans alike recover the emotional wounds severe trauma can cause.
Jason Redman is a NAVY SEAL and author of The Trident, where he shares the dangerous effects of ego and the leadership lessons he learned after nearly losing his Trident, and how those lessons ultimately helped him regain the respect of his brothers, become a leader in the team, and aided in his recovery after nearly dying from a gunshot wound to the face.
Carey Lohrenz is the US NAVY’s first female F14 Tomcat Fighter pilot, and we will discuss the lessons she learned to become a Fearless Leader while in the midst of a great many obstacles.

If you want to join the movement to have a game changing impact in the lives of others, head over to theimpactentreprenuer.net/join to learn more.

Resources:

Tom Bilyeu:
- Connect with Tom: YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
- Learn more about Impact Theory
Dr. Colby Jubenville:

Connect with Dr. Colby: DrJubenville.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Me: How to Sell Who You Are, What You Do, and Why You Matter to the World

Kevin Hall:
- Connect with Kevin: Facebook | Twitter | kevin@powerofwords.com
- Learn more at PowerOfWords.com
- Watch Kevin discuss Genshai at TEDxBountiful
- Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words
Mel Robbins:
- Connect with Mel: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
- Learn more at MelRobbins.com
- Watch Mel’s TEDxSF talk: “How to stop screwing yourself over”
- The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
- Stop Saying You’re Fine: The No-BS Guide to Getting What You Want
Julie Scher:
- Connect with Julie: PeakFocusCoach.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
- Learn more about Harrison Assessments

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 80 - Self-Awareness: The Key to Personal & Professional Growth - with Julie Scher

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 10:00:00 -0400

One of the quickest ways to accelerate achievement and progress in your own personal development is to understand how you are manufactured. We touched on this idea in Episode 77 when Dr. Colby Jubenville discussed his experience with the Harrison Assessment.

Today we’re diving deeper into the power of self-awareness, and Harrison Assessments specifically, with Julie Scher, a die-hard entrepreneur and a Founder of Peak Focus, a business coaching and consulting company.

Julie’s first experience with Harrison Assessments was about 15 years ago, when she was a shareholder in a startup company. There was a major internal management conflict, so they brought in a Harrison expert. It was an extremely painful experience for everybody involved, but the assessment helped them resolve the conflict.

“At that point, I was just sold on Harrison. It was an amazing tool. It not only helped us all understand ourselves – it helped the team understand how our behavior impacted ourselves and impacted others.”

After the conflict was resolved, Julie left the startup, pulled her father out of retirement, and started Peak Focus. They became managing partners of Harrison Assessments so that they could help others resolve similar conflicts.

It all comes down to developing self-awareness around how your behavior impacts other people, and understanding that behavior is a choice. We can choose to adapt and behave differently, if we are aware and willing.

So what exactly is the Harrison Assessment?

The Harrison Assessment helps you understand your strengths, challenges, enjoyments, and interest levels – and it provides a roadmap of the next steps you can take to get where you want to be.

Specifically, it gathers data to measure the strength of behavioral tendencies, which is your preference level for specific behavioral traits. From one assessment, a Harrison expert can generate multiple reports that will enable you to explore your successes and challenges, and the reports describe your likely behavior based on your answers to a questionnaire.

This will give you insight into specific, actionable behaviors that you can use to further your personal development; an opportunity for self-awareness.

There are two theories behind Harrison Assessments:

Enjoyment-Performance Theory – When we enjoy a task, we do it more often, and when we repeat a behavior, we tend to get better at doing it. This results is positive recognition and feedback, which further increases our enjoyment of the behavior. On the flip side, we tend to avoid the things we don’t enjoy, and we don’t usually do them enough to get better or improve.
Paradox Theory – Paradoxical traits are those that may seem to be contradictory, but in fact are complementary and synergistic. According to this theory, a trait can either be constructive or destructive, depending on other complementary traits. For example, when frankness is complimented by diplomacy, it takes the constructive form of being forthright and truthful… however, without the complementary trait of diplomacy, frankness can become bluntness. There are 12 sets of paradoxical behaviors, and each of these pairs consists of a dynamic trait and a gentle trait.

What’s wrong with Mike Flynn (AKA Mike’s Development Report for the Analyzes Pitfalls trait)?

If you want a better idea of how these assessments work, here you can view a report analyzing the development area of Analyzes Pitfalls, or Mike’s tendency to scrutinize potential difficulties related to a plan or strategy.

The first part of the report is an assessment that concludes, “If you keep a balance of optimism and scrutinizing potential pitfalls, you are much more likely to achieve your goals at work and in your personal life. Although strategic decision-making is usually only important in the workplace for management positions, each of us could benefit from better strategic decisions in our personal lives.”

Following the assessment is an exercise Mike can use to analyze the potential pitfalls of a plan or strategy.

If you are interested in working with Julie for personal or professional development, head over to PeakFocusCoach.com.

Resources:

Connect with Julie: PeakFocusCoach.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Learn more about Harrison Assessments

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 79 - Transform Your Life with the #5SecondRule - with Mel Robbins

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Mel Robbins is an expert on leadership and defeating doubt, a motivational powerhouse, and the best-selling author of Stop Saying You’re Fine and The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage.

Nine years ago, things weren’t going quite as well for Mel. She lost her job, and she was on the verge of divorce and bankruptcy. As things started to go off the rails financially, her attitude, habits, and ability to cope followed. “It was a major crisis of confidence, of belonging, of career, of marriage… of everything.”

When we experience adversity, the problems can feel so overwhelming that we don’t know how to solve them… and, in those moments, we will fall back on our habits, good or bad.

If Mel had discovered The Five Second Rule earlier in life, she would have been equipped to respond to that adversity a little differently.

So how can we use The Five Second Rule to get past setbacks or disappointments?

The first thing you have to understand is that your whole life happens in five second windows.

How does The Five Second Rule work?

It’s incredibly simple: the moment you are facing a decision and you are beginning to doubt yourself, count 5-4-3-2-1 in your head.

After Mel started implementing the five second rule, everything in her life changed. She was changing your decisions, five seconds at a time.

Nine years later, she and her husband have gone from facing divorce and bankruptcy to celebrating 21 years of marriage and launching two multi-million dollar companies together.

Resources:

Learn more at MelRobbins.com
Connect with Mel: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Watch Mel’s TEDxSF talk: “How to stop screwing yourself over”
Read Mel’s books:
- The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
- Stop Saying You’re Fine: The No-BS Guide to Getting What You Want

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 78 - Belief & The Power of Words - with Kevin Hall

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Kevin Hall’s book, Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words, changed my life… and I don’t use those words lightly. There are very few events or books that have impacted my life in such a profound way.

When I was gifted a copy of Aspire, I was intending to leave the financial services industry – however, I devoured the book, and I came away re-committed and re-engaged. The book taught me just how powerful our words are, and how they can change the way we believe about ourselves and impact the world.

Embark on a Journey To Fulfill Who You Are Meant to Be

In Aspire, Kevin writes, “Understanding, as well as appreciating, our unique calling is critical. The two most important days of our life are the day we are born and the day we discover what we were born to do. That’s the day we catch the vision of who we are meant to be.”

There are two words that helped guide Kevin to his unique calling:

Genshai - Originating in India, Genshai means that you will never treat another person in a manner that will make them feel small – including yourself. “When I believe in myself I love myself, and when I love myself I treat myself with respect.”
Inspire - The earliest origin to ‘-spire’ is breath, and inspiration is a way to breathe life into someone else and their dreams.

3 Questions That Will Guide You

How can I bring more joy into my life each day?
How can I become greater at what I’m greatest at?
How can I best serve others?

Five Affirmations to Get Ollin

Ollin is a word from the Aztec calendar that means you have to move and act with all your heart. It engages your heart, and the more senses you can get engaged with an intention, goal, or dream, the more likely you are to achieve it.

I am worthy.
I am capable and grateful.
I forgive (myself and others).
I am abundant.
I trust myself.

As you embark on your journey, remember these eight words: Act as if it is impossible to fail.

Do you want to help this podcast make an even greater impact? Click here to go to patreon.com/theimpactmike and show your support.

Resources:

Learn more at PowerOfWords.com
Connect with Kevin: Facebook | Twitter | kevin@powerofwords.com
Watch Kevin discuss Genshai at TEDxBountiful
Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall
Release Your Brakes by James Newman

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 77 - Restoring Self-Belief - with Colby Jubenville

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 10:00:00 -0400

We’re suffering from a crisis of self-belief in which people limit themselves and what they’re capable of achieving.

The entrepreneurial world focuses heavily on casting a vision, as if your vision is the #1 reason you’re either going to succeed or fail. That vision is certainly important, but before you can have a vision, you need to believe you’re capable of achieving something.

Growing up, Dr. Colby Jubenville could barely see and he didn’t think he was enough. However, a support system that instilled resilience and perseverance helped him work through the adversity and restore his self-belief. In this conversation, we explore how he was able to make such a powerful transformation, adversity’s role in change, and why self-belief is so vital.

Colby is an accomplished author, international speaker, professor, business advisor, entrepreneur, and inventor. He holds an academic appointment at Middle Tennessee State University as Special Assistant to the Dean for Student Success and Strategic Partnerships in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences.

When Colby was born with an eye condition, the doctors told his parents that he was technically blind and the best he could achieve was functional literacy.

Colby’s parents never believed that. Through continuous support, improvement, and struggle, Colby taught himself to see through the cobwebs in his eyes.

Colby’s coaches, teachers, and parents did three extremely important things to help restore his self-belief:

They made him have conversations he didn’t want to have
They made him do things he did not want to do.
They believed Colby could be something greater than he thought was possible, and they reinforced that belief.

We live in a society where belief isn’t appreciated, intentional, or taught… but Colby believes that the two greatest opportunities we have in life are:

Helping people find their voice (and voice is the intersection of talent, passion, conscience, and need in the world)
After they find their voice, teaching them to develop, protect, and maintain their confidence.

If you can help someone do both of those things, there’s nothing they can’t do.

People want personal change, and they’re not necessarily afraid of change – but they are afraid of the transition between their current reality and their desired reality. People tend to make that transition bigger in their head than it actually is, so how can we make that transition feel smaller?

Colby says changes comes from “Do. Feel. Think.”

Colby changed what he did in the weight room and in practice.
That changed the way he felt about himself and what he could become.
Eventually, that changed the way he thought about what the future could look like.

“To really be an entrepreneur, you have learn how to use adversity to accelerate growth.”

Resources:

Learn more about Colby: DrJubenville.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Grind Your BE: The Quest for Purpose by Jimmy Hensel
Managing the Dynamics of Change by Jerald M. Jellison

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 76 - Learn to Express Your True Potential - with Tom Bilyeu

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 10:00:00 -0400

There are some people who say you’re either born an entrepreneur or you’re not – we reject that theory entirely here at The Impact Entrepreneur Show, and so does our returning guest, Tom Bilyeu, CEO of Impact Theory and Co-Founder of QuestNutrition.

Tom is passionate about pulling people out of “The Matrix” by helping them overcome the limiting beliefs that hold them back from expressing their true potential. And the belief that you are born one way, or not, is one of the most fundamentally limiting beliefs that you can have.

If you want to take advantage of your latent potential, it’s important to shift your beliefs. You can’t necessarily do everything – but you can learn how to do anything, if you put in the effort.

“I believe that humans are this big bundle of latent potential, and the meaning of life is to see how much of that potential you can actually transform into action and accomplishment.”

A Healthy Growth Mindset

Tom also experienced an important mindset shift related to money and growth.

As a kid, Tom promised himself he would be ripped and rich. He ultimately succeeded, but he realized that money wasn’t really what he wanted. Money can’t affect the way you feel about yourself.

“The moment of generating wealth in your life is like having the greatest bowl of ice cream you’ve ever had. It’s awesome… and then it will wear off more rapidly than you can imagine.”

However, money is still an incredibly powerful tool and its ability to facilitate is unparalleled. Bill Gates may actually cure malaria, but he’ll only be able to do it because he has access to massive resources.

By itself, money is inert... But once you have a mission, and build a business around that, the money becomes an incredibly empowering force.

The most important thing you can do before launching a new business or platform is finding your mission – your Why – so that you can use it as a filter to guide your strategy.

Conquering Your Fear

Many people don’t achieve their true potential, or even try, because they’re afraid. So many of us look up to high achievers and make excuses about why we’re not able to do as much.

But if you’re willing to put yourself on the path and do the hard work for years (or even decades), you can achieve the most extraordinary results. Most people are too afraid to suffer, give things up, and accept that long period of hard work.

Will you let fear prevent you from creating a massive impact?

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Tom: YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
Learn more about Impact Theory
Read: “Albert Bandura: Self Efficacy for Agentic Positive Psychology”
Pick up your copy of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 75 - Lean Into a Purpose-Driven Life

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Our lives have meaning. We are called to do something. We can do more than we can possibly ask, think, or imagine. And if you even hope that last statement is true… why wouldn’t you choose to lean into that belief?

This is the last episode in the Find Your Purpose series, in which we reflect on the most important lessons that our guests shared. This series is meant to stoke your thinking, inspire you to ask questions, and show you that it is possible to be an entrepreneur driven by a strong purpose and mission, while serving others and living the life that you want.

The major thread tying all of these episodes together is that aligning your goals with a purpose greater than yourself, what you are creating, or the amount of money you have in the bank can give you the perspective and mindset necessary to achieve success in almost any environment.

The other thing that sets high achievers apart is that they know what they stand for – they have a set of core values that drive them, and that they can refer back to when they are going astray or times get tough. Create your own list and ask yourself: Am I living these values right now?

Did you miss an episodes in the Find Your Purpose series? Click the links below to listen on TheImpactEntrepreneur.net, or subscribe to the show on iTunes or Google Play so you never miss an episode.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 74 - How Entrepreneurs Can Thrive Together & Make Money Matter - with Cole Hatter

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Cole Hatter is an entrepreneur and the creator of Thrive: Make Money Matter, the conference for entrepreneurs and business professionals who want to discover practical income-growing business strategies, create a positive impact in the world, and leave a lasting legacy.

We explore Cole’s story, what you can expect from Thrive 2017, and how he uses his platform to have a game-changing impact in the lives of others.

Finding Your Community & Making an Impact

At a young age, Cole’s family and community exposed him to a life of giving, making an impact, and living a life of purpose. This made a big imprint on his life, and it’s guided his career course.

Even if you didn’t grow up in a supporting community or don’t have one now, it’s not too late to find a group of people that share your core values and wants to make a difference in the world. It’s just a matter of plugging in and finding those communities.

We all have habits, hobbies, passions, and careers, so it’s just a matter of identifying what those things are and finding people to share them with you. You have to take a quick survey of who you are to find connecting points.

Turning Adversity into Impact

When Cole was young, he had two car accidents in two months that left him physically broken, and he was emotionally broken after losing two friends. Cole knew he couldn’t waste the rest of his life feeling sorry for surviving, so now he lives life big enough to honor all three of them.

Thrive: Make Money Matter

Cole’s life is dedicated to changing the world, and he saw that there were a lot of other people who also wanted to own businesses that do the same. So he decided to start an event, called it Thrive, and tried to fill a room with entrepreneurs who want to make money AND make their money matter.

Cole started the first Thrive because he wanted to share this message with the world, and he put $500,000 of his own money on the line to make it happen.

The event gets awesome speakers – previous speakers include Gary Vaynerchuk, Jack Canfield, John Lee Dumas, Grant Cardone, Lewis Howes, and more – but, surprisingly (and appropriately), attendees say that their favorite part is the community of like-minded individuals who want to change the world.

If you want to attend Thrive 2017 from September 29th to October 1st in Las Vegas, head over to AttendThrive.com to reserve your spot!

Resources:

Reserve your spot for Thrive 2017
Connect with Cole: ColeHatter.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Watch Cole’s touching video about giving a great gift to his father
Little Voice Mastery: How to Win the War Between Your Ears in 30 Seconds or Less and Have an Extraordinary Life! by Blair Singer
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini

Ep. 73 - The Origins of Saddleback Leather: Saying Yes & Giving with Purpose - with Dave Munson

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 10:00:00 -0400

How does a volunteer english teacher from Oregon end up starting one of the world’s most premium leather bag companies, in Mexico of all places?

It all starts with the spirit of adventure and optimism that was instilled in our guest, Dave Munson, CEO of Saddleback Leather Co., at a young age.

You’ll notice throughout this conversation that Dave raises his hand and says “Yes!” a lot.

Dave’s first introduction to tough leather was on the back of a bull, during a bullfight… while he was fighting the bull. Then he relocated to be closer to his fledgling bag business, and soon found himself in an encounter with a corrupt Federale, who quickly became a friendly (but still corrupt) Federale.

At every step of his incredible journey, Dave’s confidence and willingness to accept new challenges led him to new opportunities. He believes that trying new and unfamiliar things is one of the keys to success in every area of life.

“It’s kinda weird when I see someone being self-centered. You’re really missing out, buddy!”

Saddleback Leather started as just Dave and his dad fulfilling orders together, but now it’s a thriving company with 70 employees and a factory in Mexico. Of course, he can’t pilot that ship alone. Dave understands the value of keeping wise counsel, asking great questions, and letting the sailors sail the ship.

Following his passion for producing the perfect leather bag did come at a cost – he had to stop working directly with youths, and he felt like helping children was his mission in life.

As it turns out, Saddleback Leather supports a much larger ministry than Dave was ever able to alone. Instead of Dave around a campfire with 30 kids, he can financially support dozens of campfires surrounded by kids. On top of that, he’s able to provide free daycare for employees in his factory, offer classes to employees internationally, and support a vocational training program in Rwanda.

“The more you step out and try things, the easier it is to say yes.”

Resources:

Learn more: SaddlebackLeather.com | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 72 - Living Life Curious, Fulfilled, & with Purpose - with Marie Forleo

Mon, 07 Aug 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Marie Forleo’s is a wildly successful coach with the mission to live a full life as a multi-passionate entrepreneur, and help others do the same. She didn’t get there overnight, though. The journey took years, an incredible amount of hard work, and humility.

Her entrepreneurial journey started in a flurry on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, when Marie realized that she was not being the person she wanted to be. Marie had to quit her job on the floor of the NYSE and pursue her purpose.

She then went from the trading floor to bartending to Condé Nast to choreographing hip hop for MTV to being one of the world’s first Nike Elite Dance Athletes – then she went on to write an international bestseller and launch a digital education company that caused Oprah Winfrey to dub Marie as “a thought leader for the next generation.”

Curiosity is Essential

“You have to be curious and you have to stay curious, if you want to continue learning and growing and, most importantly, innovating.”

Curiosity is one of the keys to long-term success, and Marie’s multi-passionate career is driven by an insatiable curiosity.

If you believe you already know everything, you’re going to fail. You may fail in six months or six years, but you’re going to fall on your face.

The Future of Entrepreneurship

Soon, more and more people will have to behave in an entrepreneurial manner, even if they’re not necessarily founding a company. There are more freelancers than there have ever been, more people working with flexible schedules, and intrapreneurs are becoming increasingly valuable within organizations.

Resources:

Learn more at MarieForleo.com
Watch MarieTV
Ready to grow your dream business? Check out B-School

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 71 - Mastering Behavior Change: Tap into Your Purpose & Potential - with John Berardi

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 10:00:00 -0400

John Berardi, PhD, CSCS, Co-Founder of Precision Nutrition, is back for round 2! In the last episode, we discussed the importance of mentorship and how John uses Precision Nutrition as a vehicle to help others find the relationships they need to make meaningful changes in their lives.

This week we’re digging into what John and his team have learned about mastering behavior change, and applying that to industries outside of the fitness and nutrition space.

You Can Lead a Horse to Water...

When John is talking about behavior change, he likes to use the old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Essentially, that adage means that, unless someone wants to drink the water, unless they want to change, nothing else can have an impact.

But John disagrees. You can’t make the horse drink – but you can make it very, very thirsty.

That’s what coaching behavior change is: you can’t force or trick anyone to change, but you can put them in a position where they decide to change themselves; you can make them thirsty.

Coaching with Psychology

Most fitness and coaching programs are very prescriptive: eat this, don’t eat that, do these exercises, and do this number of reps. The coach positions themselves as an expert who tells the person being coached what to do.

It’s the easiest possible way to coach, but it’s not effective. People join programs, lose focus from other parts of their life, “fall off the wagon,” then go back to the gym... But now they’re less fit, more dejected, and their behavior hasn’t changed. It’s a vicious yo-yo.

Precision Nutrition does things differently, and they incorporate change psychology: building practices and habits that integrate with your life as it is today to develop skills that you can take with you into the future.

They want to engage with the client in a way that recognizes the realities of their life and helps them make changes that are lifestyle-based, instead of project-based.

Practice > Skills > Goals

Practice leads to skills, and skills lead to goals.

You can use Precision Nutrition’s style of coaching to achieve any goal, not just fitness goals. First you develop skills or habits, then those skills help you achieve your goals. But the development of those skills doesn’t come naturally. It comes through daily practice.

Willpower is Irrelevant in Real Behavior Change

John says that willpower is irrelevant in real behavior change because it speaks to the very thing that he wants to avoid when trying to coach change.

He doesn’t want you to white knuckle your way to any lifestyle change – he wants it to feel like a natural part of your existence.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more at Precision Nutrition: Free Articles

Join the Precision Nutrition Newsletter

The Precision Nutrition System

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 70 - Giving, Purpose, and Fulfillment - with Dr. John Berardi

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest, John Berardi, PhD, CSCS, is Co-Founder of Precision Nutrition. His purpose is making health and fitness something that's achievable and attainable for every type of person, from every walk of life.

Mentors helped John completely change his life and start his path in nutrition, so the company is his vehicle to pay that forward and help others find the relationships they need to make meaningful changes in their lives.

Give, Give, Give, Give, Ask

Precision Nutrition’s marketing has a specific cadence and ratio for how much they want to give before they ask for anything in return. It can be summed up simply as Give, Give, Give, Give, Ask.

It’s strategic, but it also reflects the idea of giving without expectation of return on a huge scale. This changes the business at its core, and it impacts how other people perceive the business.

Be a Mentor and a Mentee

The mentor-mentee relationship is extremely important for personal and career development. Mentors have something valuable to offer people who are trying to follow a similar path, and it’s only good to share that.

Mentors also get a lot of value in seeing their mentee implement the teachings and grow, so it becomes a mutually rewarding relationship.

However, even after you have a lot of value to offer, it’s still important to look at the people farther on the path than you and find your own mentors. This will help you continue to grow, and it will help you offer the most to your own mentees.

Precision Nutrition: Give Yourself an Opportunity to Continue

The precursor to Precision Nutrition was a dial-up era website, Science Link, attempting to link regular people with the helpful information discussed in scientific research.

They weren’t selling anything but, two years later, they had 40,000 people subscribed to their newsletter, and they were building a reputation in the industry.

Precision Nutrition officially launched in late 2006. They consolidated their teachings into the Precision Nutrition System, created an online support community, and created a series of books. Their greatest success – a huge sale – quickly became their greatest weakness.

Because the fitness industry is known for scams and there are frequent chargebacks, the sudden success got flagged as a scam and their merchant company held the money. Over the course of the sale, which went on for a few months, they sold nearly half a million dollars in product without receiving a single dollar.

This taught John an important lesson: the ability to keep doing what you love doing is fragile. Even a big success can topple it so, if you love what you’re doing, you have to give yourself the opportunity to continue.

Resources:

Learn more at Precision Nutrition: Coaching | Free Articles | Twitter | Facebook

Join the Precision Nutrition Newsletter

The Precision Nutrition System

The Hero Handbook: A Crash-Course in Building a Badass Body, Getting Your Shit Together, and Living the Life of Your Dreams by Nate Green (free)

We are also brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 69 - Why Peak Performers are Driven by Purpose - with Brad Stulberg

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Brad Stulberg researches, writes, speaks, and coaches on the science of human performance. He explores the principles of mastery that transcend capabilities and domains – the underlying practices that are necessary for sustainable success – and helps others implement those practices.

Brad writes about performance in New York and Outside magazines and co-authored Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success.

“It’s very, very hard to go full tilt without giving yourself time to rest and recover.”

High performers are often driven or passionate, and we’ve discussed passion a lot on The Impact Entrepreneur Show, but we rarely discuss the dark side of passion.

When we’re truly driven by a passion, we may not have the ability to turn it off or detach from it. This is dangerous because, inevitably, you will burn out and fall short of your peak. That’s why rest is a vital ingredient in sustainable success.

In Peak Performance, Brad writes about The Growth Equation: Stress + Rest = Growth. (Stress, in this context, doesn’t mean something negative – in biological terms, it is any stimulus or challenge to an organism.)

Balance doesn’t really exist, so we’re not going consider this equation in terms of balance. Instead, the challenge is finding just the right amount of friction to keep going without experiencing so much friction that you stop completely.

All world-class performers are aware of this cycle. They understand that achieving a goal requires leaving their comfort zone (stress), but what separates the best performers from those that fall short is that the best performers also have the courage to rest.

So how can individuals and organizations prevent their passion from turning into obsession and figure out The Growth Equation?

Aligning your goals with a purpose greater than yourself, what you are creating, or the amount of money you have in the bank can give you the perspective and mindset necessary to achieve sustainable success.

The first step is to reflect on what your core values are, or guiding principles for how you want to live your life and function as a person.

Examples of common core values: Creativity, community, intellect, health, knowledge, power, humility, love, relationships.
Reflect on one or two values that really resonate with you and what they mean to you, and put a personal spin on it. Then you can ask yourself, “Am I living these core values?”

When we combine this sort of visualization and reflection with presence, powerful things can happen.

“All great performers have figured out the value of single-tasking.”

The key to maintaining presence, especially in today’s notification-heavy digital age, is single-tasking.

Whether you’re having an important conversation with your romantic partner, writing a white paper, pitching a client, or building a financial model, if you are completely focused on what you are doing you tend to have significantly better results and output.

One of the simplest tricks to make single-tasking easier is to simply remove temptation. Even when we’re not using our phones, for example, their presence has an effect on our brain and our focus. If we remove the possibility of distraction, and another decision, we don’t have to rely on our willpower to be productive.

Resources:

Connect with Brad: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success by Brad Stulberg & Steve Magness
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 68 - Let’s Get Back in the Game

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode marks the end of the Halftime Series. Mike reflects on the biggest lessons our guests taught us about not giving up, growth, and serving others.

Halftime is over. Get ready for kick-off and remember to grab the opportunity bull by the horns and ride it into submission. You can start by heading over to The Impact Entrepreneur Show page on Facebook and sharing what you are going to do with the rest of your year.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 67 - Red Fish, Bluefish: Perfection is in the Imperfection - with Steve Sims

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 10:00:00 -0400

It’s the middle of the year… are you still on track to meet your goals? Many of us have gotten off track but now is the perfect time to determine how the rest of the year will go. It’s time to grab the opportunity bull by the horns and ride it into submission with the help of these inspiring guests. Get ready: this episode is part of the Halftime Series.

Steve Sims is an international speaker and the visionary founder of Bluefish, the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel, transportation, and cutting-edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest.

What is cutting-edge entertainment with concierge service? Well how about a 16-day trip to the International Space Station, or a submarine trip to the wreck of the Titanic. Those are the types of experiences that members of Blue Fish can look forward to.

“The perfection is in the imperfection.”

Steve grew up in a modest family from East London, and three generations of his family worked in the family construction business… but that wasn’t enough for him, and he wasn’t going to let it hold him back.

After a few stumbles, which led to Steve jobless in Hong Kong, he wanted to get a job at the bank (where the rich people were). To get that job, he started throwing exclusive parties for wealthy people – the seed that eventually grew into Bluefish.

“If you want to kill passion, work out how you can make money out of that passion.”

Steve continued to throw clandestine parties for much of the 90’s and 00’s before Bluefish was officially founded in 2008.

Every time Steve started to change, or monetize his passion, he would stumble. When he listened to his gut and remained authentic, his ability to form relationships propelled him to great success.

You have to own your story if you want other people to listen. Give them the real you – don’t give them the filter.

“There’s been no thought or intelligence that’s gone into Bluefish in the past 50 years – it’s all been gut reaction, keeping things primitive, and doing s&!% you like doing.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Steve: UglySims.com | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook
Learn more about Bluefish: TheBluefish.com | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 66 - Understanding is Half the Battle - with Ken Kannappan

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Today our inspiration is Ken Kannappan, Executive Vice Chair of Plantronics. He is an incredibly thoughtful leader with a wealth of insight about humble leadership, generosity, and smart working philosophy.

In a former life, Ken Kannappan was Senior Vice President of Kidder Peabody. He then took a massive pay cut and jumped into the entrepreneurial tech space. As President and CEO of Plantronics for nearly two decades, Ken helped transform the company from a manufacturer of contact center headsets with annual revenues just over $100M into a global audio communications leader with annual revenues of approximately $1B.

As G.I. Joe very nearly said, understanding is half the battle. In every area of your life, you can make better decisions and communicate more effectively when you understand what other people are saying and what they want.

If you want to understand, you have to listen – and it’s important to listen with your ears AND your eyes. People say more with nonverbal communication and tone than they do with their words.

In the workplace, understanding what other people want is one of the most valuable skills you can have, which makes collaboration and communication with others imperative. The best developer can’t sell an app if it doesn’t appeal to others and the most creative person in the world can’t create something valuable in a vacuum.

“In the real world, creativity that comes from understanding what people want is going to be very successful in the market”

A sad truth of leadership is that, as people move up the ladder, their ability to listen and understand often diminishes. This is because understanding is heavily correlated with humility.

Humble and open-minded leaders can simply do more. The more humble you are...

the more open you are to what other people are telling you.
the more you are listening and learning all the time.
the more likely you are to notice when things are going off target.

“Focus on your vision. Focus on what you want to accomplish. Focus on what makes you happy… then the fit’s going to become natural. You’ll wind up doing something you love and you’ll be very happy.”

Resources:

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg
How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 65 - A School of Champions - with Todd Stottlemyre

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the Halftime Series. It’s the middle of the year… are you still on track to meet your goals? Many of us have gotten off track but now is the perfect time to determine how the rest of the year will go. It’s time to grab the opportunity bull by the horns and ride it into submission with the help of these inspiring guests.

Todd Stottlemyre grew up around Yankee Stadium in “a school of champions." His teachers were legends like Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson, and his father, Mel Stottlemyre.

Growing up in that environment inspired Todd to dream of following in his dad’s footsteps and playing in Major League Baseball, but things weren’t always easy for this high-performing family. When Todd was just 15-years-old, his brother died after an extended battle with leukemia.

This devastated Todd, but his father’s leadership helped carry the family through that adversity and the community lifted him up. He credits the experience with helping him become the man he is today: a man who has spent 15 seasons in MLB and played on three World Series Championship teams.

Todd learned some incredible lessons in the school of champions, especially from his dad, and he wants to pass them on to others. He wrote Relentless Success: 9-Point System for Major League Achievement so that other people can benefit from the school of champions and live their championship life.

Everyone’s championship life looks different, but success is always built around these same core principles.

In the spirit of Halftime, you should follow Todd on Facebook and check out his recent Facebook Live videos. He’s been talking about how 2017 is all about the endless pursuit for human potential, and the only way to discover what we can achieve as human beings is to fail miserably – you have to get out there and go for it. We have to learn in order to move forward.

Resources:

Connect with Todd: Website | Facebook
Relentless Success: 9-Point System for Major League Achievement by Todd Stottlemyre
Pride and Pinstripes: The Yankees, Mets, and Surviving Life's Challenges by Mel Stottlemyre & John Harper
No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity by John C. Maxwell

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 64 - Getting Motivated at Halftime - with Coach Lou Holtz

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Today you will be inspired by former American college football coach and sports analyst Lou Holtz. For many years, Coach Holtz has been considered among the greatest speaking legends in America. He talks about overcoming seemingly impossible challenges by setting your own goals and working to achieve them – the perfect person to kick off the Halftime Series.

Despite never inheriting a winning team, Coach Holtz compiled an impressive 249-132-7 career record and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He is also the only coach in the history of college football to…

Take six different teams to a bowl game.
Win five bowl games with different teams.
Have four different college teams ranked in the top 20 poll.

Coach Holtz doesn’t claim to have achieved any of his accomplishments because he is above average – he is intensely motivated, constantly learning, and tries to help the people around him believe in themselves.

Motivation is a critical factor for success. There’s really only two things a leader or coach can help you with: your belief in yourself and your skillset… but if you’re not motivated, nobody can help you with those two things.

Everything, especially motivation, starts with a dream; a goal.

Coach Holtz believes that only one thing determines whether you’re growing or you’re dying, and it’s not age... It’s whether you are trying to accomplish something. If you’re trying to accomplish something – if you have a goal – then you will have enthusiasm and excitement when you get up every day.

“One thing determines whether you’re growing or you’re dying: are you trying to accomplish something?”

This idea applies to any and every aspect of life. If you aren’t trying to figure out how to improve your marriage, the marriage is dying. If you aren’t trying to find new solutions for your business, your business is dying.

Even when you’re moving forward with motivation, you will still have to make some tough decisions along your path. When Coach Holtz was the head of a team, he only had two mandates: graduate and win. Every decision he made had to help his team meet one of those two mandates.

As a business leader, you also only have two mandates: satisfy the customer and make a profit. Once you understand what your mandates are and what you’re trying to accomplish, then the right thing will be more obvious and you will start making the changes that are necessary to do those two things.

“There’s no right time to do the wrong thing and there’s no wrong time to do the right thing.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Get inspired with Coach Lou Holtz’s books:

Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography

Winning Every Day: The Game Plan for Success

The Fighting Spirit: A Championship Season at Notre Dame

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 63 - Rise From The Ashes

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is the conclusion to the Comeback Series, which featured Entrepreneurs who have experienced a major setback and then successfully pivoted to something different, bigger, and more impactful.

There are few things in life that are universally true. However, regardless of race, religion, or nationality, we love to celebrate people overcoming adversity and shutting down the naysayers; we love to see people bounce back, crush obstacles, and face seemingly insurmountable obstacles head on.

Don’t just celebrate – take action.

Where is your comeback?

Here’s my challenge to you:

Take a moment over the next few days to reflect on your story. What has made you who you are? What are you proud of? What are you embarrassed by? What scares you? What gets you excited?
Write those things down, own it, and visualize it.
Share it with your friends, family, and me. Write about it on Instagram and tag me @TheImpactMike so that I can read, comment, and share it with my community.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 62 - What Are You Doing to Better Yourself Today? - with Adam Eidson

Mon, 29 May 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the Comeback Series, which features Entrepreneurs who have experienced a major setback and then successfully pivoted to something different, bigger, and more impactful.

Today’s guest is Adam Eidson, an entrepreneur who left his high-paying corporate and took a 50% pay cut to pursue a more purpose-driven life. He is driven by empowering others and making them feel better about themselves so he opened his own gym, RARE Crossfit, and started hosting The Mentee podcast.

Growing up, Adam didn’t have the confidence or self-esteem he has today. There was no consistent father figure for much of his early childhood, being a smaller guy made school a challenge (he graduated high school at 118 pounds), and he was shrouded in limiting beliefs.

Ultimately, it was support from his first mentor and father figure that helped Adam realize his own abilities and grow into a more confident human being.

Later, mentorship from former guest Geoff Woods guided Adam on a transformative journey. He developed clarity about the incredible power of people, relationships, and action. To foster those relationships – and add more value to the people in his life – Adam started practicing greater transparency and vulnerability in every aspect of his life.

Like crossfit, being open and vulnerable requires a lot of strength. But we have to acknowledge our weaknesses to grow beyond them, and we have to be honest to form real connections with other people.

When we support each other, we are all capable of a major Comeback.

Resources:

Listen to The Mentee
RARE Crossfit

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 61 - Give Back to Comeback - with Cindi Busenhart

Mon, 22 May 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the Comeback Series, which features Entrepreneurs who have experienced a major setback and then successfully pivoted to something different, bigger, and more impactful.

Today’s guest, Cindi Busenhart, is the Founder & CEO of MERGE4, one of the most exciting action sports sock brands in the world. Before Founding MERGE4, she was President of Sessions and Este, one of the original snowboard brands on the market.

Sessions went through a few difficulties in the ‘00s. The bulk of their snow wear started shipping on September 1st, and the events of 9/11 caused many stores to cancel their shipments. Nobody wanted to get on a plane and fly to a resort. A few years later, the global financial crisis took another toll.

While weathering these challenges, community was hugely important for Cindi and the company. Community is important when we’re thriving, but it’s critical when we’re facing adversity.

“Persistence trumps brilliance almost every time.”

When we experience these moments of adversity, it’s also important to be persistent. Even in the most difficult times, there is opportunity if you’re willing to look for it. If, on top of that, you can continue to believe in yourself and your passion, your positive outlook will reap greater opportunity.

Cindi tries to persistently keep a positive outlook because she believes that if you want to get something, you have to give it. This can be positivity, support, or even health.

Cindi lives this belief. When her brother was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that shut down his kidneys, she persisted to jump through every hoop put in front of her so that she would be allowed to donate a kidney. “It was hard for us, but there was never a moment that I didn’t think I could do it.”

Because of her extreme giving, Cindi got what she wanted: her brother’s health.

Cindi applies this same giving philosophy to MERGE4. In addition to fostering a positive community, they are a B Corp, which means they are a for-profit company certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. They are dedicated to providing cool socks to children, teens, and those receiving extended treatment in hospitals.

“If you want to get something, give it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Cindi: LinkedIn
Pick up some MERGE4 socks

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 60 - The Game of Adversity - with Nick DiNardo

Mon, 15 May 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the Comeback Series, which features Entrepreneurs who have experienced a major setback and then successfully pivoted to something different, bigger, and more impactful.

Today’s guest, Nick DiNardo, had his whole world flipped upside down at age seven. Now he helps entrepreneurs perform at their very best and teaches them to overcome overwhelm… but he had to build resilience to get there.

Nick’s mother experienced her second bipolar episode when he was seven, which led to some time in a hospital, his parent’s divorce, and his father’s bankruptcy. He felt angry, ashamed, misplaced, and like everyone else had a nuclear family that he could not have.

These experiences allowed Nick to develop resilience, and he believes he has thrived off of the adversity he experienced.

But how does someone build resilience if they experience success, instead of adversity? If Nick’s son grows up under better circumstances, how will he develop an awareness of struggle?

“The difference between the high-performers and the average is the ability to identify and use adversity to your opportunity, rather than avoiding it or just letting it pass you by.”

Nick’s book, The Game of Adversity, offers eight practices that will help anyone turn difficulty into opportunity, developed through his years of experience as a practitioner of resilience.

Building a Growth Mindset is the keystone habit and foundational principle of his book.
Process Over Outcome is about focusing on the daily habits and practices that we need, rather than being too overly-focused on goal-setting. We shouldn’t rely too much on goal-setting.
Focus on Stoicism, or what we can control, and our relationship with failure.

Building Self-Awareness

Focus on Goals That are Bigger Than You

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants is about perspective, and understanding history and the challenges people have gone through before you.

Preparation

Gratitude, and appreciation over expectation.

If you have faced adversity or struggle and you haven’t built your resiliency, where should you start? Nick suggests an exercise for identifying how you naturally react to adversity so that you can review the game tape and change your processes.

Tim Kight, Founder of Focus3 Consulting, developed this heuristic: Event + Response = Outcome (E + R = O).
You can’t control the event and you can’t control the outcome, but you can control your response.
Brainstorm 10 specific tough times that you have experienced adversity (small to big).
In each of those moments, what was the outcome and how did you respond?
How would you respond now, knowing what you know now and what the optimal response would have been?

I appreciate Nick coming on the show and sharing his vulnerability. People don’t think of vulnerability as a strength often enough, but it is incredibly powerful – and Nick is living proof.

Resources:

Connect with Nick: Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram
Listen to Nick’s podcast: The Sweet Adversity Podcast
The Game of Adversity: 8 Practices To Turn Life's Toughest Moments Into Your Greatest Opportunities by Nick DiNardo
Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
“Here’s The Strategy Elite Athletes Follow To Perform At The Highest Level” by Ryan Holiday

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 59 - Why We Love the Comeback Story (and How You Can Leverage That) - with Geoff Woods

Mon, 08 May 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the Comeback Series, which will feature Entrepreneurs who have experienced a major setback and then successfully pivoted to something different, bigger, and more impactful.

There is a narrative pervading our society that we have to be perfect, and we project perfection into the world – but we don’t relate to any single person through their success or their perfection.

We relate to other people through their struggle.

That’s why we’re talking to Geoff Woods, a man who has come up against adversity numerous times in his life only to overcome it, and grow stronger as a result. He’s Vice President of The ONE Thing, the company behind the best-selling book of the same name written by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan, and host of The ONE Thing podcast.

As we discussed last time Geoff was on the show, his entrepreneurial journey began with a tragedy: in just one week, his pay was dramatically slashed and a co-worked died of a heart attack.

He then went on a mission, inspired by Jim Rohn, to surround himself with new people and change his life, and he started The Mentee podcast as a vehicle for this journey. He discovered that people really connected with his struggle, “and it was at that moment that I realized the greatest power that I could possibly have, being the man behind the mic, was vulnerability.”

But he’s not just vulnerable – he’s committed to change, and courageous enough to share it with us. You can hear more of Geoff’s vulnerability on The ONE Thing podcast.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 58 - Happiness, Fulfillment, & You

Mon, 01 May 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This is the last episode in the Happiness Series. We have been taught to believe that we can not choose to be happy because happiness is something that can only be earned – that’s not true.

We can take hold of happiness any time we choose. Happiness is an attitude, and attitude is a choice.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” –Viktor Frankl

Over the past several weeks, we had leading experts from a wide array of industries share, confirm, and reiterate simple truths about happiness, fulfillment, and impact.

Sheryl O'Loughlin had a phenomenal job, great career, and great potential – all of the success we might imagine for ourselves. However, it came at a great cost… one that nearly took her life. Sheryl taught us how truly powerful our choice to be happy can be.
- Ep. 53 – How Happiness & Love Help Entrepreneurs & Businesses Succeed – with Sheryl O’Loughlin.
JP Sears joined us for two hilarious and ultra spiritual episodes. He helped us laugh, but he also offered insight about cultivating our greatness, belief, and rejoicing in small victories.
- Ep. 54 – Allow Yourself to Choose a Happier Mindset – with JP Sears
- Ep. 55 – How to Cultivate Your Greatness & Happiness – with JP Sears
Doug Kisgen challenged us to rethink happiness, and in doing so accomplish great things by living a life of virtue (which means to do the common uncommonly well). He wasn’t talking about scaling, hustling, or grinding – he was talking about love, patience, prudence, and justice.
- Ep. 56 – Rethink Happiness & Live a Life of Authentic Joy – with Doug Kisgen
Jason Kotecki revealed the epidemic of adultitis, and encouraged us to engage in our childlike nature from time to time. Children are creative, insightful, speak their minds, and love unconditionally… can we do that?
- Ep. 57 – Annihilating Adultitis – with Jason Kotecki

Resources:

Rethink Happy

Escape Adulthood

KILLING IT!: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart by Sheryl O'Loughlin
Get a free excerpt from How To Be Ultra Spiritual: 12½ Steps to Spiritual Superiority by JP Sears

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 57 - Annihilating Adultitis - with Jason Kotecki

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the Happiness Series. We have been taught to believe that we can not choose to be happy because happiness is something that can only be earned – that’s not true, and I hope these amazing entrepreneurs will help you choose to find happiness. Doing so will give you an advantage in business, relationships, and life in general.

Jason Kotecki is an artist, author, professional speaker, and entrepreneur. He and his wife founded Escape Adulthood in 2000 (and later The Cure Adultitis Institute) with one goal: annihilate Adultitis.

Jason and his wife envisioned an ideal version of adulthood, but the “real world” didn’t live up to it. Bitterness and cynicism are rampant – excitement and enthusiasm are elusive.

Why?

They realized that most of us lose something in the transition from childhood to adulthood: curiosity, delight, and the ability to dream big.

However, the most successful entrepreneurs – the Musks and Jobs of the world – never lose these super powers.

Escaping Adulthood isn’t about ditching responsibilities to rediscover fun. It’s about remembering what we once knew as kids so that we can improve our lives, our relationships, and our businesses.

How do you bring more fun into the workplace in a productive way, without being branded the crazy misfit?
How do you become a more fun parent and raise your children with discipline?
How do you find time for yourself when you’re a caregiver?

Don’t get caught living a paint-by-numbers life – we are made for more. The beauty of adulthood is freedom and choice, so live freely and make your own choices!

If you want a crash course in productive fun, you can attend the 2017 Escape Adulthood Summit.

You can also join their free community of insiders and find a ton of awesome escape tools, and so much more, over on EscapeAdulthood.com.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Jason:
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Pinterest
- Twitter
- YouTube
Escape Adulthood:

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 56 - Rethink Happiness & Live a Life of Authentic Joy - with Doug Kisgen

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest, Doug Kisgen, is the author of Rethink Happy: An Entrepreneur’s Journey Toward Finding Authentic Joy.

One of the key tenets in Rethink Happy is the importance of living a life of virtue. We often focus on the hustle, the monetary success, aesthetics, and independence… but we try to hide the adversity, the struggle, or the heartache we experience along the way.

If we live a life of virtue – which doesn’t mean we have to stop hustling – we can fill the holes that we try to cover up.

So what does living a life of virtue mean? Doug breaks it down to six parts…

Love
Wisdom
Temperance
Courage
Justice
Transcendence

We can see these virtues brought up throughout history by great minds such as Aristotle and Benjamin Franklin, but we also seem to have forgotten them – and we aren’t actively or intentionally trying to bring them into our lives.

If you want to challenge yourself to embrace these virtues, don’t take on too much at once. We often fail to create lasting change in ourselves because we try to make too many changes at one time.

You have a finite amount of willpower, so don’t wear it out.

You can start living a life of greater virtue and make the most out of your willpower by taking baby steps. Committing to small changes can lead to big results. Ask yourself: What’s a small win that I can get on a daily basis, and that I can keep track of?

Learn more about living a life of virtue in Rethink Happy: An Entrepreneur’s Journey Toward Finding Authentic Joy.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Rethink Happy
Connect with Doug: Twitter | LinkedIn

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 55 - How to Cultivate Your Greatness & Happiness - with JP Sears

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 10:00:00 -0400

JP Sears is back for round two!

If you haven’t checked out last week’s interview with JP, you should go back and listen to it. It’s a fun conversation and he shares some wonderful stories. Today we really dig into what happiness is, why people tend to look for happiness in the wrong places, and how to cultivate your own greatness.

JP’s entrepreneurial journey didn’t begin until he started believing in himself, and using that belief productively. There are millions of people who believe in themselves, but it’s much more difficult to cultivate that belief.

Start by doing things you’ve never done before. Put yourself in a situation where you are required to give yourself more support and more belief than ever before. You won’t enhance your self-belief unless you give yourself a good reason.

For a big wave surfer, the 30-foot wave is a good reason. It’s a high-pressure environment that allows the surfer to become extra present and enter a flow state, which they may not be able to access without that environment.

You need to create a big wave for yourself – we are incredibly resourceful beings, but we can’t mine deeper resources unless we put ourselves in a situation where more resources are required.

Similarly, you need to have the right mindset and set yourself up to find happiness. Too often, people look for happiness in all the wrong places: what we do, what we have, what we own, material possessions, status, etc.

But happiness is found in what you are, not not what you do or what you have. If you cultivate your greatness, you will likely find happiness growing too.

“Bet on your authenticity and risk discovering it.”

Resources:

Connect with JP:
Get a free excerpt from How To Be Ultra Spiritual: 12½ Steps to Spiritual Superiority

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 54 - Allow Yourself to Choose a Happier Mindset - with JP Sears

Mon, 03 Apr 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest is JP Sears. You may be familiar with his Ultra Spiritual comedy series from YouTube or Facebook, but he is also an emotional healing coach and a curious student of life. We share powerful stories about our journey, explore the (often overlooked) importance of our feelings, and have a lot of fun.

JP is known by many as his comedy persona, easily identified by the headband and flowers in his hair, but that doesn’t excite him anymore. The last time he donned the flowers was in January 2017, and he knew he needed to make a change.

JP knew this because he listened to his feelings. Carl Jung once said that our feelings are the language of our soul, and JP adds that “if we pretend that we have even half a clue of what a soul is, then maybe we can pretend that our soul is a wiser source than our intellectual brain.”

Our feelings are difficult to comprehend – they don’t seem to be communicated through a human language – but maybe that is because they contain so much wisdom.

Did you enjoy this episode? Then you’re in luck! JP Sears will be back next week for Part 2 of this interview. In the meantime, you can get your fix at AwakenWithJP.com.

Resources:

Connect with JP:
Get a free excerpt from How To Be Ultra Spiritual: 12½ Steps to Spiritual Superiority
“What is Your Poop Saying About You?” by Inside Out Health

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 53 - How Happiness & Love Help Entrepreneurs & Businesses Succeed - with Sheryl O'Loughlin

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:00:00 -0400

Sheryl O’Loughlin is an eager entrepreneur who leverages passion and purpose to create a happy life and a huge impact. She is a huge proponent of bringing love and happiness into your work, and into your work culture.

She previously served as the CEO of Clif Bar, where she introduced the world to Luna bars (and grew the bars into a $70M business in just three years); she was the cofounder and CEO of Plum Organics; and she is currently CEO of REBBL super herb beverages.

Sheryl is also the author of KILLING IT!: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart.

KILLING IT! was sparked by a study conducted by Dr. Michael A. Freeman, which found a correlation between entrepreneurs and illness such as ADHD, bipolar disease, depression, and drug abuse. He found these were present in about 72% of the entrepreneurial population, compared to about 40% of the general population.

Sheryl was experiencing this dark side of entrepreneurship, and she realized the need for a change in entrepreneurial culture. We need to start talking about the the dark side of killing it every day, and how we can avoid the big pitfalls.

“99% of business don’t make it, and entrepreneurs are going through this hardship alone because they think they’re the only ones. I want to change the culture of that so people don’t feel like they’re alone!”

Love and time helped Sheryl out of the darkness.

She fell in love with REBBL, a super herb elixir business created in collaboration with the nonprofit Not For Sale.

The nonprofit’s goal is to stop human trafficking. REBBL helps them achieve that goal because they source ingredients from affected indigenous communities, and the income helps support their livelihood so that they are no longer vulnerable to trafficking. A portion of the net profits also helps fund Not For Sale’s rehabilitation efforts.

“It’s a joy to go to work when you know you’re doing something with so much meaning.”

Social Mission Companies like REBBL, companies that intentionally pursue a greater purpose than pure profit, are able to create a powerful and sustainable impact that other support organizations don’t have the resources to accomplish. As an added benefit, the social mission creates an environment where people love to work because something truly meaningful drives every individual's actions.

Entrepreneurs, be wary of the hustle and the grind. Remember that the dark side is part of our nature, and that we can forge a path through the darkness and back to the light with support, love, and purpose.

“People are talking about how they’re killing it, but it could be killing you.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Sheryl: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook
Get your own copy of KILLING IT!: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart
Learn more about REBBL Inc.: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 52 - How to Build Momentum & Disrupt Your Business - with Cameron Herold

Mon, 20 Mar 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode marks the one-year anniversary for The Impact Entrepreneur Show, and I want to thank you for tuning in every week and inviting me into your lives. It’s an awesome gift, and I take this privilege very seriously. Today I want to offer you a couple gifts…

The Clarity of Purpose Scorecard will help you measure and guide your progress in 10 critical areas: developing your superpower, your spirituality, your emotional strength, your intellectual capacity, your physical strength, your recreational capacity, your ability to volunteer, your romantic strength, your social strength, and your professional strength. Click here to head over to TheImpactEntrepreneur.net/scorecard and get your copy for FREE.
6 Bridges to Wellbeing and Personal Growth is a bonus tool I will send you after you pick up your scorecard. This is based on a template that my wife and I have used for the last couple of years to help us focus in on our goals and objectives.

This episode is part of the disruption series. We’re going to discover how incredible people disrupt their lives, their industries, and the world to create a powerful impact.

We’re chatting with return guest Cameron Herold. He is a best-selling author, coach, and speaker who strives to simplify business problems and guide business leaders to previously unimagined success.

Cameron also created the COO Alliance, an opportunity for second-in-command business leaders (or Chief Operating Officers) to connect and grow. These people are often left behind the curtains and don’t get any of the attention, events, or masterminds that CEOs and other leaders often get.

“Perfect is the enemy of good.”

Cameron has a unique (and potentially counter-intuitive) perspective on disruption: “It’s less about innovating, and it’s more about rip off and duplicate.” Momentum creates momentum, and far too often entrepreneurs try to find a newer, cooler, or better way to do something instead of taking the really great systems that already exist and just doing it.

Sometimes disruption is the result of significant momentum, not significant innovation. To build momentum, your business needs more than just a Minimally Viable Product – it needs Minimally Viable Everything: emails, meetings, software, etc. Perfect is the enemy of good.

How did Cameron train his teams to pursue momentum? It’s a simple process...

Set goals
Break the goals down into specific projects and tasks
Declare when to work on each task (not when the task will be completed)
Create time constraints for specific tasks

You can use my new tools (detailed above) to help you identify goals, hold yourself accountable, and build some momentum.

If you want to hear another conversation with Cameron Herold, check out Episode 6 – Cameron Herold on Supercharging Your Focus.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

The Clarity of Purpose Scorecard is a free tool that will help you measure and guide your progress in 10 critical areas
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Pick up one of Cameron’s books:
- Meetings Suck
- The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs

Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 51 - Disruptive Iteration & The Future of Transportation - with Ryan Evans

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the disruption series. We’re going to discover how incredible people disrupt their lives, their industries, and the world to create a powerful impact.

Ryan Evans is the CEO & Co-Founder of Inboard Technologies, home of the M1 Electric Skateboard. He and his team were recently featured on Shark Tank and convinced Mr. Wonderful, AKA Kevin O’Leary, to partner with them in their mission to create a massive disruption in the transportation industry.

Since then, the M1 Electric Skateboard has taken the world by storm and the company is growing at a blistering pace.

“Lightweight, portable, electric transportation that you can take with you anywhere empowers everyone. We all need to move.”

Ryan rejects the idea that things should be done one way because they’ve always been done that way. We are able to do incredible things when we think creatively about process.

People often spend too much time focusing on an end goal, but real progress is made when iterating the process.

Inboard’s end goal is to create lightweight transportation technology that flows, but Ryan understands that you’ll go out of business if you wait until a product is perfect before you launch it.

They didn’t wait. They embrace an iterative product development process, and they are able to improve their products remotely. Inboard engineers are constantly working behind the scenes so that the customer experience is constantly improving.

You have to constantly change and improve because there is no one big challenge to overcome – there are always challenges. The road to success is a constant struggle, so you need to come prepared. You need the right mindset and a support group.

You won’t create a powerful impact if you go alone.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Inboard: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Pick up your own M1 Electric Skateboard
“A Skateboard Startup’s Radical Ambition: Disrupting Urban Transit” on Fast Company
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert Cialdini

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 50 - Disrupting Education Through Innovation & Open-Source Learning - with Don Wettrick

Mon, 06 Mar 2017 11:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the disruption series. We’re going to discover how incredible people disrupt their lives, their industries, and the world to create a powerful impact.

Don Wettrick is an Innovation Specialist at Noblesville High School and author of Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level. He is disrupting the education system and teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Don teaches a class called Innovation and Open-Source Learning. They explore how to network, how to collaborate with intelligent people, how to market, and so much more. Businesses have been launched from his classroom. In one year, four patents were filed.

The class has their own methodology. They call it R.O.T.H. I.R.A.

Realization – Related to flow states, realization often comes about through movement. They start the school day by walking and talking.
Open Discussion – The thoughts generated through realization will fade if they aren’t discussed.
Tussling – “I love a good fight.” Debate challenges people to think.
Homogeneous Grouping – Kids split off to collaborate on the same projects, but coming from different perspectives.
Ideation & Prototyping – “We jokingly call this the difference between December 31st and January 15th.” It’s fun to brainstorm, but it’s hard to actually do it.
Reflect – Every project is two weeks, because that gives you enough time to know whether or not you are interested in the subject.
Adjustment – This loops back to the ROTH for Realization #2.

Don started the class because he didn’t see any passion for learning – or much of anything – in his students. They were being churned through a system that destroyed their interest in learning.

Not only is the current educational paradigm passionless, it’s just old. As a culture and a society, we are moving exponentially faster outside of education.

What did your phone look like five years ago? Vastly different.
What did your public high school look like in 1980? Roughly the same.

“Here’s the cruel joke we’re playing on a lot of our students:

we’re preparing you for a future that used to exist in 1970.”

Why is education innovating so slowly?

We still measure success by test scores. You get into college largely based on your SAT score. They’re accepting the kids who are best at not taking risks.
We reward memorization far more than creativity.
Some teacher unions have pushed back (not all).

Don can’t disrupt the entire educational system on his own. If you are a parent, student, or teacher and you want to change something about your local school system, Don will help. You can head to StartEdUpInnovation.com for a podcast, consulting, teacher training, and all the core services necessary to start and strive with new educational initiatives.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Don & his class: Twitter | Facebook
Learn more & Listen to the StartEdUp Podcast
Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level by Don Wettrick
TEDTalk - “The Puzzle of Motivation” by Dan Pink
The Art of People by Dave Kerpen

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 49 - How Disrupting the Workday Improves Productivity & Happiness - with Stephan Aarstol

Mon, 27 Feb 2017 11:00:00 -0400

This episode is part of the disruption series. We’re going to discover how incredible people disrupt their lives, their industries, and the world to create a powerful impact.

Stephan Aarstol is the Founder & CEO at Tower Paddle Boards, author of The Five Hour Workday, and one of the most unique success stories from ABC’s Shark Tank.

Stephan didn’t have the most elegant pitch on Shark Tank, but he still secured investment from Mark Cuban. The show wasn’t his endgame – it was just the first stepping stone towards disrupting an industry.

The five-hour workday was the second stepping stone.

“You want to get your employees to where they’ll run through walls for you. To do that in the modern world with knowledge workers, you can’t whip them harder or give them a little bit more money. You have to do something that is meaningful to them.”

Tower Paddle Boards was an attractive place to work, but they still lost some of their top talent. Stephan wanted to sweeten the pot.

How does Stephan change his company to attract the best people?

Transition from an e-commerce company to a brand
Embrace a consistent company culture
Shorten the workday (for the same compensation)

Stephan wanted to attract efficient team members and repel slow workers; he wanted superstars. If you can adapt to a five-hour workday, you are rewarded with more control over your work life and personal life. If you can’t adapt, you’re fired.

This strategy puts full autonomy and pressure on the employee to figure things out, and the end result is that they actually think and act a lot more like entrepreneurs. The friction helps them cut waste and identify better tools. “You turn everybody into their own little productivity expert.”

Think about how you work – don’t be satisfied with just working.

Head over to FiveHourWorkday.com to read the first 48 pages of the book, receive a subscription to Tower Magazine, and download a bonus list of 38 amazing productivity tools… all for free!

“Work is not the point of life. The point of work is to finance this incredible life for us.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Stephan: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
Read the first 48 pages of The Five Hour Workday by Stephan Aarstol & download a bonus list of 38 amazing productivity tools for FREE
Read Tower Magazine

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 48 - The Secret to Disrupting Human Performance - with Steven Kotler

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:00:00 -0400

This week we’re kicking off the disruption series. We’re going to discover how incredible people disrupt their lives, their industries, and the world to create a powerful impact.

Today’s guest, Steven Kotler, is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Co-Founder / Director of Research for the Flow Genome Project.

He is one of the world’s leading experts on ultimate human performance and he has spent his entire career exploring how people do the impossible.

Rise of Superman is about how action and adventure sports athletes reinvent kinesthetic possibility.

Abundance and Bold are about the entrepreneurs who have built the fastest and largest companies in the shortest amount of time.

Small Furry Prayer is about the cutting edge of empathy and altruism.

Stealing Fire (Steven’s newest book) is about a $4 trillion underground movement to harness alternate states of consciousness to massively uplevel performance.

Through years of research, Steven has discovered that the secret to disrupting human performance is the same across the board: altered states of consciousness. This includes flow states, meditative states, psychedelic states, and more.

“One of the most well-established facts in the whole history of psychology is that altered states are incredibly good for us, and it’s not common knowledge.”

If you’re not familiar, altered states of consciousness can be defined as a specific bandwidth of non-ordinary states of consciousness where...

our normal sense of self vanishes
our normal sense of time disappears
we are freed from the drudgery of daily life
we get a sense of effortless motivation
and we can tap into a level of inspiration information that is normally unavailable.

In Stealing Fire, Steven uses the Greek term ecstasis to refer to this phenomenon and bypass the negative stigma placed upon altered states of consciousness. He also discusses the four forces accelerating this movement towards the upper possibility space of human experience, which he calls the Four Forces for Ecstasy:

Psychology
Neurobiology
Pharmacology
Technology

Altered states of consciousness aren’t just for team building at Burning Man. They can be directly applied to your life and workspace.

After rolling out mindfulness training at Aetna, they gained $3,000 per employee in productivity and saved $2,000 per employee in healthcare costs.
At Patagonia, the Founder has a “let my people go surfing” policy to encourage flow.
Standing in a power pose for a few minutes can change your physiology and empower you.
We get more flow any time the challenge at hand slightly exceeds our skillset.
Physical, emotional, psychological, and social risk can all focus our attention.

We are all created with the potential to do more than we could possibly ask for or possibly imagine. Steven’s research is a gift that will help us take a few steps towards disrupting what is possible. If you’re interested in exploring the fringes of human possibility, you can’t do better than Steven’s books.

These are a few of my favorites…

BOLD – This book challenged me to have a bigger vision for my life and the impact I'm capable of having. I still don't believe I am thinking boldly enough.
Abundance – Beyond loving the word, this book woke me up to the fact that NOW is the best time in human history to create and innovate amazing solutions to today's problems and tomorrow's challenges. Contrary to past experience or what one may have been led to believe, the resources are abundantly available.
Rise of Superman – We all have the ability to perform at super optimized levels. We refer to it as being "in the zone." God created us with an amazing organ - the brain - and if we put ourselves in the right environment it is amazing what each of us is capable of doing.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Pre-Order Stealing Fire through StealingFireBook.com to receive some awesome bonuses
Connect with Steven on Twitter @steven_kotler
Discover your Flow Profile for free at FlowGenomeProject.com

We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your web site, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 47 - The Many Faces of Courage

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 11:00:00 -0400

The past couple episodes have focused on courage. In today’s episode I am going to highlight the key points from the conversations I had with Justin Constantine and Noah Galloway. I’ll also share some of my thoughts on courage and what it means to me.

We all have the skills and ability to overcome the greatest adversity and most difficult challenges... if we choose to.
You are stronger than you think you are.
Depression has no reason, depression is real, and depression can strike anyone. You can be the most powerful person on the planet and depression can still affect you.
It takes both strength and courage to overcome depression, but that process starts by acknowledging that you are vulnerable. When you allow yourself to be vulnerable, no one else can make you vulnerable.
Sometimes being courageous simply means talking to someone or seeking help.

You are special. You are created for greatness. You are courageous.

Go out and make an impact by encouraging someone today – by adding to their heart – even if that someone happens to be you.

Resources:

If you or someone you know is depressed and considering taking their own life, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1.800.273.8255 (open 24/7)

This episode is brought to you by SY Partners and Unstuck, helping you make a change by identifying the things holding you up. Their new program “Life Courses” are based on decades of learning about what inspires people to change. It is created by SYPartners, a transformation company that helps individuals, teams, and organizations become the best version of themselves, so they can create massive positive impact in business and society.

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

We are also brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your web site, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 46 - Living With No Excuses - with Noah Galloway

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Today we’re learning more about courage with Noah Galloway, a former U.S. Army soldier, motivational speaker, and author of Living with No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier.

Growing up, Noah’s father worked construction with only one hand. It was a powerful inspiration that ended up affecting him more than he ever expected.

During the Iraq War, Noah lost his left arm and leg.

“Someone is going to read Living With No Excuses and see that they are not alone. Whatever they are going through, they can get through it, get some help, and see there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

He struggled with depression and denial for a few years before embracing physical activity again. He started running marathons and, in 2014, he was named the Ultimate Men’s Health Guy.

He spoke on The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Today Show, and came in 3rd place on Dancing With The Stars.

Noah’s run on Dancing With The Stars highlights the power of mindset. You have the ability to overcome any obstacle that is presented to you.

“I was glazing over the depression part. I felt like it was unrealistic to people to lose two limbs, have all those things happen to you, and then make it on the cover of the world’s largest men’s magazine and go on Dancing With The Stars. Not having that piece of the puzzle didn’t make sense with me and I wanted to share that.”

War is full of obstacles, but writing Living With No Excuses was an obstacle too. Sharing your most difficult experiences and making yourself vulnerable requires incredible courage, but it is so important.

In Living With No Excuses, Noah emphasizes that struggle is universal. No experience “earns you the right” to be depressed. Depression can happen to anyone.

“Depression is real and can strike anyone. You can be the most powerful person on the planet but depression can still affect you.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Noah: Facebook | Twitter
Living with No Excuses: The Remarkable Rebirth of an American Soldier by Noah Galloway
Watch Noah dance on Dancing With The Stars

We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 45 - A Lion of Courage: Choosing to Overcome Great Adversity - with Justin Constantine

Mon, 30 Jan 2017 11:00:00 -0400

To kick off a short series about Courage, I’m speaking with Justin Constantine, an expert in overcoming adversity and leadership. He is a former Marine and attorney and is now an inspirational speaker and leadership consultant.

Justin recently completed his first book, My Battlefield, Your Office: Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines. Justin draws on his experiences with the Marine Corps, the US Chamber of Commerce, and in the nonprofit sector and shares what it takes to be a good leader in any environment.

On October 18, 2006, Justin was deployed in Iraq. He was on patrol when an enemy sniper shot him in the head, behind his left ear. Incredibly, the young Marine he was with performed an emergency tracheotomy and saved his life.

Recovering from the experience was difficult. For a long time he was embarrassed, but then he saw the inspiration that his recovery gave others. The experience gave Justin a renewed sense of focus, optimism, and intention.

“It wasn’t something to be embarrassed about. The bottom line was that I was so fortunate for surviving, but really I was so fortunate that so many people along the way had reached out to help me.”

Justin’s definition of courage has changed since his recovery. Before he was shot, he would have given a pretty typical definition of courage: doing the right thing when no one is watching, or something along those lines.

Now, Justin believes courage is choosing to persevere in the face of the toughest adversity – even if that means taking the tougher road sometimes. Life is about choices and sometimes choosing the tougher road leads to much greater results.

“I think courage comes down to taking the time to understand what you believe in and what you stand for, and then taking that road.”

Remember, you are stronger than you think you are. “Take the time. Be thoughtful about what you want to accomplish in life in life and you will do it.”

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Justin: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Support Veterans by Purchasing a My Veteran Desktop Calendar
My Battlefield, Your Office: Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines by Justin Constantine
Justin’s TEDTalk: “You’re Stronger Than You Think You Are”
Deep Work by Cal Newport

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 44 - Find Your One Word - with Evan Carmichael

Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Today’s episode is the final part of our Getting Started series. We’re talking to people who got off their butt and took action to accomplish the dream they have been sitting on for years.

I can’t think of a better topic to end the series with than Your One Word.

“I think everyone does have one core value that cuts to the root of who they are, and if you’re not happy with your life then it’s because your life is too incongruent with what your One Word core value is.”

Evan Carmichael coaches entrepreneurs for peak performance, and he’s helping even more people reach their peak performance with his new book: Your One Word.

Your One Word is a guide to greater self-awareness, because it’s easier to forge a path towards your ideal future when you are aware of your single most important core value. It provides a blueprint for a process that has helped entrepreneurs build multi-million dollar businesses.

“A lot of people feel like they have potential, but they don’t know what to do.”

Your Word is only for you. It’s a word or phrase that represents what you are about, at a core level. The process of picking Your One Word helps you reflect on your purpose and move forward with more intention. Evan’s word is Believe. Mine is Impact.

“Having that self-awareness helps me create with more consistency, create with more intention and build a team around something super meaningful.”

The exercises in the book will bring you through a process of self-reflection that starts by reinforcing the constant nature of Your One Word. It’s not who you want to be in 2017. It’s not your New Year’s Resolution. It’s who you’ve always been and always will be.

It has to be a personal exercise. After you understand yourself, you can apply that to running a business.

You can learn more about the book on Evan’s website and you can check out Evan’s YouTube channel to see how he’s incorporated Believe into his brand and business.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn More About Evan: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Your One Word: The Powerful Secret to Creating a Business and Life That Matter by Evan Carmichael

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 43 - Thinking Outside the To-Do List - with Michael Sacca

Mon, 16 Jan 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Today’s episode is the second part of our Getting Started series. We’re talking to people who got off their butt and took action to accomplish the dream they have been sitting on for years.

Michael Sacca is President of Crew, a service that matches skilled freelancers with project owners, and co-host of Rocketship.FM, a podcast that dives into funding, growth, culture, sales and everything in between.

Michael expected he would be a developer forever – he never expected to be the chief sales person at a company. Yet, in the first half of 2016, he was responsible for 40% of Crew’s revenue.

He succeeds as a marketer by building relationships with clients and former clients. Those relationships have allowed him to identify where Crew provides the most value and sell the product to higher-paying clients.

Crew is a little different than your typical freelance economy business. They tried to solve many of the problems usually experienced by freelancers and project owners.

For freelancers, things like sourcing work, vetting work, filling out RFPs and bidding on projects is time-consuming. Crew takes over business development tasks so that the freelancers can just focus on being creative.

For project owners, there is a templated system that will help even first time project managers create milestones and schedule check-ins, plus it offers them extra protections. Of course, they are also paired with the most appropriate talent working with Crew.

99% of their projects have been completed on time, on budget and issue-free.

You can learn more at Crew.co, follow Michael on Twitter @MichaelSacca or send him an email.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Michael: Facebook | Twitter | Michael.Sacca (at) gmail.com
Crew.co
Rocketship.FM

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 42 - How Mike Dillard Became a Self-Made Man

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 11:00:00 -0400

As we kick off a new year, The Impact Entrepreneur Show is kicking off the Starting Up series. We’re talking to people who got off their butt and took action to accomplish the dream they have been sitting on for years.

Mike Dillard is Founder of SelfMadeMan.com and host of Self Made Man, the #1 self-help podcast on iTunes.

The mentors in Mike’s life shaped his business destiny by giving him a wake-up call and encouraging him to invest in himself.

He was told that, if he wanted to achieve his goal, he had to become someone who was capable of achieving that result and he had to stop looking for that to come from something or someone outside of himself.

The first step towards investing in yourself is knowing what you’re investing in.

How were you manufactured? Find out.

Take the Myers-Briggs test
Take the Kolbe A Index
Take the DiSC Test

Figure out how you are built and then, once you have that information, you can apply it to whatever you’re passionate about and you can execute in a way that is aligned with how your brain is wired.

The second step towards investing in yourself is mastery.

To develop a mastery of any skill:

Put your devices away.
Get deep into something. Read books for 2-3 hours a day & take an intensive course on the subject.
Find the best practices of the best practitioners and create activities that will help you internalize their skills.
Take action and see what happens.
Do it over and over again, for a couple years.

“If you’re just sitting here in learning mode, you’re doing absolutely nothing. The biggest moment of learning or understanding you can have is by actually doing something and failing at it or succeeding.”

If you want to be a self-made person, there’s no big secret. Stop waiting for something outside of yourself, put time into mastering a skill, take action and add value.

I can’t wait to see what you do.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Self Made Man: Website | Podcast
Magnetic Sponsoring: How To Attract Endless New Leads And Distributors To You Automatically by Mike Dillard
Take the Myers-Briggs test
Take the Kolbe A Index
Take the DiSC Test

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 41 - Understanding Human Behavior & The World’s Leading Facebook Advertising Strategies - with Nicholas Kusmich

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 11:00:00 -0400

Nicholas Kusmich is the world’s leading Facebook advertising strategist, Founder of H2H Media Group and the League Of Extraordinary Marketers and creator of The Art Of Lead Generation. Nicholas is using his unique ability to understand behavior to create advertising strategies that leverage social platforms.

The most important question you should ask before advertising, but probably aren’t, is do I have a Predictable Profit Process in place that makes it worthy enough to go to Facebook and drive traffic?

More eyes will not always equal more sales. Media platforms like Facebook are accelerators. In order for Facebook to be a game changer for you, you must know exactly what a lead is worth to you and how many web visitors become clients in a predictable fashion. Otherwise, Facebook ads will be your downfall.

“Facebook is the eyeball store.”

How do you develop a Predictable Profit Process?

Who are you trying to serve? The business should not revolve around you or your product, but rather the marketplace you are trying to serve. In order to build a sustainable system, you need to identify the specific steps that prospects take before they become an actual client or customer.
- Be very specific. Pareto had the 80/20 principle, but that doesn’t work in social media marketing. Nicholas takes it a step further with the 4 percent rule. Building on Pareto’s 80/20 rule, take 20 percent of the 20 percent, which represents 4 percent. The end result is the exact population of the marketplace you are attempting to serve.
Get clear on their problems, needs and fears. Learn their four forces: Fears, Frustrations, Wants and Aspirations.
Articulate how your product or service gets them closer to where they want to go or solves one of those four forces. Then ask what are the one, two or three conversion events you can put in front of them that will move them from prospect to client.
Begin to drive a small number of people there to see if it converts. Track how many people convert for every 100 people who see it. If you know how much each visitor is worth to you, then you now have the magic metric and now have a Predictable Profit Process.

Understand that Facebook is not a commerce-driven platform – it is a socially-driven platform. You can not sell directly on Facebook. There always needs to be an intermediary step.

“The worst thing you can do on a social platform is bring commercial intent to it.”

Nicholas doesn’t follow the rules of traditional advertising copy. The one thing that causes people to buy from you and not your competitors is resonance. They have to know, like and trust you. Good communication is when your ideal prospect or customer feels understood by you. If you are not connecting on an emotional level, your copy will not be well received.

Nicholas developed the Look, Hook and Took approach to writing copy.

Look. The most important step a marketer can take with their Facebook ad is with their image, especially in an attention deficit world. Find images that provoke an emotion through story.
Hook. It is important is build rapport. A fundamental strategy to build rapport is a methodology called feel, felt, found: I understand where you are coming from. I have experienced this emotion too and I overcame it when I found _______.
Took. In every ad, there must be a very clear Call to Action. The language used should be simple, but direct. For example, I want to give this to you. Click here to download, watch, etc.

“In today’s world, the currency that creates transactions is connection.”

If you want to take the next step towards building a marketing strategy that resonates with your audience and has a huge impact, then check out Nicholas’ Behind Closed Doors workshop.

Resources:

Learn more about Nicholas: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Join the FB Marketing Mastery group
Watch the Behind Closed Doors workshop
What Made Me Who I Am by Bernie Swain

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 40 - Top 10 Lessons For Creating a Game-Changing Impact

Mon, 26 Dec 2016 11:00:00 -0400

Over the past several months, we’ve had incredible conversations with New York Times best-selling authors, world champion athletes, award-winning entrepreneurs, Navy SEALs, leadership experts and a variety of other entrepreneurs.

Each and every one of them has provided incredible takeaways and lessons that each and every one of us can apply to our mission to have a game-changing impact in the lives of others.

I created a special episode that features the key lessons from the top 10 interviews and conversations from 2016.

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #10 – The most important question you can ask

Starts at 00:45
From Ep. 5 - 11 People Skill To Get Everything You Want - with Dave Kerpen

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #9 – The importance of humility & not letting your career define you

Starts at 3:10
From Ep. 12 - 7 Principles to Grow A Successful Company - with Ian Utile

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #8 – The difference between those who succeed and those who don't

Starts at 5:25
From Ep. 3 - The Evolution of Entrepreneurship - with Amy Cosper

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #7 – Facing and overcoming challenges using the Champion’s Mindset

Starts at 7:10
From Ep. 34 - Resilience, Adversity, Risk & the Champion’s Mindset - with Juliet Starrett

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #6 – Steps to supercharge your Vision and Focus

Starts at 13:55
From Ep. 6 - A Vivid Vision for Achieving Growth - with Cameron Herold

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #5 – The favorite and most-used tool for getting unstuck

Starts at 18:20
From Ep. 1 - Nancy Hawley & Sara Kalick of SY/Partners, Unstuck & Leadfully

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #4 – Living Forward: The power and importance of a life plan

Starts at 19:30
From Ep. 4 - Stop Drifting and Start Living Forward - with Daniel Harkavy

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #3 – Set yourself up to learn from other industries’ best practices & how to apply them to have a game-changing impact in your business and life

Starts at 24:25
From Ep. 13 - From Chiropractor to Beverage Game Changer - with Aaron Hinde

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #2 – How to stay relevant in a crowded marketplace

Starts at 29:55
From Ep. 24 - Movement In A Sedentary Society - with Kelly Starrett

Impact Entrepreneur Lesson #1 – Commander’s intent & the #1 tool needed to adapt to different personalities

Starts at 32:05
From Ep. 25 - Taking Extreme Ownership - Navy SEAL & Leadership Expert Jocko Willink

Thank you all for being such an important part of The Impact Entrepreneur Show. Without each of you listeners, this show would not happen. I am incredibly grateful and humbled by your participation.

I want to hear how this show and how my guests have impacted you, so please email me at info (at) theimpactentrepreneur.net to share with me your stories about the game-changing impact these guests have had in your life.

Don’t forget: go make an impact!

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 39 – The Tables Are Turned – an interview with Mike Flynn

Mon, 19 Dec 2016 11:00:00 -0400

We’re changing things up in today’s episode. Justis Earle – innovator, entrepreneur and guest of Ep. 31 – is turning the microphone onto Mike “The Impact Entrepreneur” Flynn.

“We all crave knowledge.
We all recognize that we have greatness within us.
We were born to do great things.
We were not born to be mediocre people.”

The core purpose of The Impact Entrepreneur show is to draw out why entrepreneurs are doing what they are doing and to find out how they are using their platform to have an impact on the world.

Through the process of interviewing these entrepreneurs, Mike hopes that others are equipped with the knowledge to overcome struggle and take the next best step towards realizing their full potential.

“When I have a goal, I’m a bulldog and I don’t stop.”

Mike was inspired to have a greater impact years ago, but he didn’t do anything to pursue that until he participated in Michael Hyatt’s Best Year Ever program and started setting goals.

After deciding on a goal and setting a deadline, Mike began taking action steps to make it happen.

There were about 12 hours between when Mike said to his wife he wanted to try podcasting and when Mike said to his wife he was going to start podcasting – because he is a bulldog. Mike’s wife is a big fan of the show now, and listening to the podcast has actually helped them both learn and grow together.

Mike craves vulnerable, authentic relationships because they allow you to have an impact on someone – and for someone to have an impact on you.

Throughout the podcast, Mike has developed new relationships with guests, and with you listening. All of you have impacted him so much, and he’s learned a lot.

He identifies with being an impatient optimist.
We have to be oriented towards others because that’s where we’re going to have the biggest impact.
Words have an incredible impact. People don’t always understand the power of the words they speak to others or the words they speak to themselves.
We need to address our limiting beliefs.
- We can overcome our limiting beliefs by setting goals, taking small steps and building a tribe of trusted advisors.

“The impact of your kind words today – you have no idea the butterfly effect they could have tomorrow.”

If you’ve learned anything from the podcast or Mike has had an impact on your life over the past 39 episodes, then please share those stories on Facebook, on Twitter, on the website, or by leaving a review on iTunes.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

This Is Your Life™ Podcast with Michael Hyatt
Learn more about Michael Hyatt’s Best Year Ever program
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & John David Mann
Drive by Daniel H. Pink
The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

This episode is brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your web site, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 38 - How to Think Gold and Never Settle for Silver - with Dr Jim Afremow

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 11:00:00 -0400

Welcome to the last episode of the Champion’s Mindset series on The Impact Entrepreneur Show. Today’s guest, Dr. Jim Afremow, is a much sought-after mental game coach and the author of two great books about being a champion: The Champion’s Mind & The Champion’s Comeback.

“No one is born with a Champion’s Mind gene, but there’s nothing preventing us from thinking, feeling and acting like them – to be our best, and I think that’s the ultimate gold medal.”

Body language plays an important role in reaching peak performance and developing a champion’s mindset. Your body language affects your mood, so it’s not just fake it ‘til you make it – it’s also fake it ‘til you feel it.

Changing your attitude and body language isn’t just for show. Your testosterone goes up and your stress hormones go down, so the result is that you will actually be more confident and more focused.

“If you sit up straight and put a big smile on your face, it’s not going to make everything perfect – but it’s certainly going to help.”

Socialization also has a significant effect on developing a champion’s mindset. We’re taught to be confident, but not cocky, and conflicting messages from society can negatively reinforce successful behaviors. In a team environment, the person with the best attitude who is working hardest might be negatively singled out.

“When we start to change in different ways, or go outside the norm, and do things bigger and better than before, we get held back a little bit. Socialization really, really affects us much more than we think it does.”

We start to separate ourselves from average when we work to master the things we are most passionate about. This can be in a sport, a business or something else entirely, but at the end of the day peak performance is peak performance. You’ll never maximize your potential by working for the weekend.

When we’re pursuing peak performance, we don’t receive a lot of positive feedback. It’s important to realize that, when you are being tested a lot, you are on the right track.

“Life is supposed to test you, it’s not supposed to praise you.”

In The Champion’s Comeback: How Great Athletes Recover, Reflect, and Reignite, Jim explores the powerful experience of a comeback and how it relates to being reborn. Entertainment and social media can give us a skewed perspective on a champion’s peak performance, but this book reveals the disappointments and struggles that go along with achieving peak performance.

You can be a champion in anything you are passionate about, but it requires effort. Start acting and thinking like a champion, don’t stop when you’re tested and work hard every day.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about Jim: Gold Medal Mind | Twitter | Facebook

The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train and Thrive by Dr. Jim Afremow

The Champion’s Comeback: How Great Athletes Recover, Reflect, and Reignite by Dr. Jim Afremow

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

We are also brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 37 - Struggle & Community: Recipe of a Champion - with Erin Cafaro MacKenzie

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:00:00 -0400

It’s week five of the Champion’s Mindset series and I am talking to Erin Cafaro MacKenzie. She is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in rowing and she has podiumed at every World Championship rowing competition that she has competed in – a total of six World Championship Gold Medals and two Bronze Medals. Erin and her husband currently run Power Speed Endurance, a sports-specific training program dedicated to improving skill, performance, fitness and overall potential.

Erin’s definition of the Champion’s Mindset has evolved over the years. At first, it was related to an indomitable spirit – the “X factor” of just going. While that may be a common definition, Erin believes the Champion’s Mindset is something that is more at peace, as opposed to forceful.

“A champion is someone who is doing it not to beat someone else – it’s for them.”

At Power Speed Endurance, Erin and her husband are trying to figure out an equation for each sport to use speed as a monitor for skill. In most monostructural (or endurance) sports – like running, rowing and even skateboarding – the athlete’s balance of friction and connection dictates the speed at which they can perform tasks, and the ability to perform those tasks relates directly to an athlete's skill.

We’ve discussed Grit a lot during the Champion’s Mindset series, and it’s an idea that Erin has been exploring as well. Angela Duckworth has a fantastic TED Talk and book on the subject, but there is also a downside to Grit. Too much friction prevents us from realizing our fullest potential, but just the right amount of friction can propel us to amazing heights.

It’s rare for someone to make the Olympics once, let alone twice, and it’s even more difficult than you might imagine when you consider the adversity and setbacks an intensive athlete can experience. In 2011, a month before the World Championships, Erin broke two ribs; one on the right and one on the left. It was hard for her to stay sane at the time, but, in hindsight, the break gave her perspective on what it means to be a champion.

“If everything was going great and came easily, I probably wouldn’t take as much interest in it.”

After the 2012 Olympics, Erin had to develop a different perspective on fulfillment. Her whole adult life leading up to that was devoted to training and pursuing the win, and then she thoroughly accomplished that. Experiencing depression after a period of great accomplishment or during a big transition is common, and this is a good time to turn to your tribe for support.

“Pain is one of our greatest teachers”

Erin’s ability to endure struggle actually became an obstacle at times, because having a high pain threshold also means having a low ability to evolve and to change. “When it comes to everyday life and you have painful thoughts, and you’re just sitting on them versus actually dealing with them or doing something different so that they don’t reoccur, then that’s when it’s pretty un-functional.”

The greatest lesson that Erin has learned as an athlete is that being a champion is not about being the superstar – it’s about being able to get the best out of your teammates. She is trying to apply this lesson by creating a platform for Power Speed Endurance coaches to share their strengths, reach more athletes and thrive.

I appreciate Erin’s vulnerability and authenticity on this week’s episode, because it shows that even the greatest champions experience struggle and need help picking themselves back up. Communities and adversity can be really powerful tools to help us grow.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Power Speed Endurance
Watch Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk on Grit
Tribe by Sebastian Junger
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 36 - Empowering Women & Athletes from the Dugout - with Rachel Balkovec

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 11:00:00 -0400

This week’s episode is part four of the Champion’s Mindset series and I’m talking to Rachel Balkovec, the first female strength and conditioning coach in the history of professional baseball. She is also an entrepreneur and an international speaker.

Rachel has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for organizations such as Arizona State University, Louisiana State University, Los Tigres Del Licey Beisbol and the St. Louis Cardinals. Most recently, she has joined the Houston Astros as their Latin American Strength and Conditioning Coordinator.

“I was discriminated against. Was I bitter? Yes. Am I bitter? No. I just realized that it wasn’t ever me, it was just baseball being ready for it and them thinking that the players couldn’t handle it.”

During Rachel’s first day at her first internship with a professional baseball organization, there was a staff member that singled her presence out. There were preconceived notions that players had to behave differently around her, or that they could not handle themselves around her, but she overcame those notions by showing up every day and doing her job well.

“I wonder just how fast we would get to where we were going if we could just say what we mean instead of taking days, months, years, decades to say it.”

Listeners of the podcast know that I have a love-hate relationship with the word passion, because people often use it incorrectly. To be passionate about something means that you are willing to suffer for it – and Rachel is truly passionate about coaching professional baseball. After graduating with a Master’s degree, she spent multiple baseball seasons working in retail and as an unpaid intern, as opposed to taking positions in college athletics. She had a goal, and she was going to do whatever she could do to achieve it.

“I knew whatever I was doing was getting me closer. Even if it was an inch closer I was going to do it. I would crawl and scratch my way to get where I wanted to go, and I would say no to things that seemed like no-brainers. I knew it wasn’t getting me closer to my goal.”

Rachel doesn’t call herself a public speaker, she calls herself a public empowerer. She loves her job and empowering the athletes, but right now there is nothing that fulfills her more than getting in front of a group of women and empowering them. Her business is not “successful” yet, in the traditional sense, but nothing else gives her the same high as seeing a group of newly-empowered young women.

“How many times can you stand to fail and still continue down your path? That’s the Champion’s Mindset.”

Rachel made history and set herself apart from other coaches by, she says, “being a little crazy.” People on the same path as her didn’t put the same amount of time, dedication or intention into getting things accomplished every single day. For example, she wakes up at 4:30 AM every morning and starts the day by immediately starting a podcast. Before most people are even awake, she spends over an hour learning.

“I’ve just been devouring information to make myself better.”

I really appreciate what Rachel is doing, accomplishing and building. I’m excited to see where her Champion’s Mindset takes her, because I see huge things ahead. You can learn more about Rachel on her website.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Reach out to Rachel: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Grit by Angela Duckworth

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 35 - Preparation, Perseverance and Big Wave Surfing - with Tyler Fox

Mon, 21 Nov 2016 11:00:00 -0400

This week’s episode is part three of the Champion’s Mindset series and I’m talking to Tyler Fox, a professional big wave surfer, Titan of Mavericks, Founder and CEO of Santa Cruz Waves Inc, and Founder of Santa Cruz Waves Magazine.

Big wave surfing, like many sports, requires diligent preparation. Surfers at Mavericks have to be ready to be jump out into an arena in front of hundreds of thousands of people watching when the right wave comes. Big wave surfers have to train their bodies, calm their minds, and know their equipment. Any error and you may find yourself being dragged 20 feet underwater.

“There’s no room for hesitation. You have to give it your all.”

Timing, commitment and endurance are all necessary to become a Titan of Mavericks, but these tenets will also help make you a titan of entrepreneurship.

Timing – When are you starting this business? What is your competition doing? Do you need to stop doing something that is costing money? Timing is hugely important, but it’s also very difficult to master.
Commitment – Entrepreneurs need to commit to their instinct and their decisions. If you think you have a good idea and the whole flock of sheep are walking the other way, don’t be discouraged.
Endurance – Everyone runs into obstacles, but overcoming those obstacles is how we grow. It’s easy to quit when things are difficult, but anything worthwhile requires effort.

We’re all fascinated by champions and we often see them at their peak, but people don’t often think about champion’s struggling. Tyler was having a great year when he was nominated for Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award and featured in magazines, but then his sponsor dropped him. Instead of quitting, which would have been easy, Tyler decided to take fate into his own hands and start his own business.

“A lot of times I think champions are where they are because of perseverance. They didn’t let a setback hinder them from getting to their goals.”

Tyler was an awesome guest. He gave us an idea of what it is like to experience some of the biggest waves on earth and went into detail on how the Champion’s Mindset has helped him succeed both in surfing and in his business. Check out Santa Cruz Waves to learn more about the area, check up on the surf and see some amazing surfing videos.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Reach out to Tyler: Instagram | Facebook
Learn more about Santa Cruz Waves: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Watch Pro Surfer Tyler Fox Surfing in Santa Cruz to see him in action
Watch GoPro: Mavericks 2014 to see what it’s like at Mavericks
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 34 - Resilience, Adversity, Risk & the Champion’s Mindset - with Juliet Starrett

Mon, 14 Nov 2016 10:46:48 -0400

This week’s episode is part two of the Champion’s Mindset series and I’m talking to Juliet Starrett, a lifelong athlete, attorney, entrepreneur, and Crossfit affiliate. Juliet rowed in high-school, joined the U.C. Berkeley crew team, and paddled for the US Women’s Extreme Whitewater Team from 1997-2000, winning two World Championships and five national titles.

In episode 24 we spoke with Juliet’s husband, Kelly Starrett, about their entrepreneurial journey co-Founding MobiltyWOD.com – the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury, and optimizing athletic performance – and their endeavor to combat sedentary living.

“People need to sweat the small stuff. They need to show up on time, they need to send professional emails, they need to be pro in everything.”

Juliet’s freshman Crew coach, Jenny Hale, set an expectation that her rowers would show up, give their all on and off the water, be efficient, be prepared, and be professional. It didn’t matter that these college freshman were basically kids, they were expected to be pros – and the champions among them rose to that expectation.

“To be a champion you have to be doing something that you’re interested in. Focus on it, cultivate it, because that’s what’s ultimately going to bring people joy.”

Juliet believes that a lot of an individual’s mindset is mutable, or liable to change. It is possible to develop some aspects of a Champion’s Mindset, which Juliet says is composed of two parts:

Someone who’s willing to take risks.
Someone who responds well to adversity.

Other aspects of a Champion’s Mindset are immutable, because not everybody is a born competitor. You can’t necessarily learn the drive to surpass the person in front of you.

“Can you disassociate from your physical pain and strategize and say I now need to push myself even harder than the plan I had so that I can surpass this person? Not everybody has that.”

Juliet has responded incredibly well to extreme adversity. In college she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and managing her thyroid levels is a lifelong challenge. Then, when she was pregnant with her second child, Juliet was diagnosed with placenta previa. She lost ¾ of the blood in her body and required nine blood transfusions. She was healthy and fit before going to the hospital, and then she was back at square one.

“I went down to do a pushup and I just fell to the ground and I could not push myself back up, and I remember being like, ‘Oh my god, it’s on. Here we go. Have to start somewhere.’”

Less than two years after her daughter was born Juliet competed in the CrossFit Games. Through grit and training, she went from not being able to do one pushup to competing in extreme fitness.

“Resilience, the ability to deal with adversity, risk, having a growth mindset – I think all those things are so mission critical to being able to manage this entrepreneur life.”

This is a very powerful conversation with a lot of very powerful advice, and I appreciate Juliet taking the time out of her day to be featured in the Champion’s Mindset series on The Impact Entrepreneur Show. You can learn more about resolving pain, preventing injury and optimizing athletic performance at MobiltyWOD.com; participate in programs at San Francisco CrossFit; or fight for children’s health at StartupKids.org.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about Juliet: MobilityWOD | San Francisco CrossFit | Startup Kids
The Power of Community by Allison Wenglin Belger
Grit by Angela Duckworth
Mindset by Carol Dweck
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow: Book | Video

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

We are also brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 33 - A.J. Hawk: Learning About Process & Consistency With A Super Bowl Champion

Mon, 07 Nov 2016 11:00:00 -0400

Today we’re kicking off the Champion’s Mindset series by speaking with AJ Hawk, Super Bowl Champion and host of The HawkCast. He was a linebacker for Ohio State, the Green Bay Packers, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons. I also spoke with AJ’s brother, Ryan Hawk, on episode 23 of The Impact Entrepreneur Show.

The HawkCast is a podcast in which AJ interviews rock stars, hall of fame broadcasters, world class athletes, war heroes, bestselling authors, philosophers, and even an astronaut. The podcast is his platform to share great stories and pursue a deeper understanding of what makes people tick.

As an athlete, AJ was mentored by a number of great coaches. At Centerville High School, Bob Gregg and Ron Ullery were incredibly influential. “Those two guys shaped how I attack every single day. They taught me how to work, how to be open-minded, how to learn and how to just shut up and do it.”

AJ’s other coaches – Jim Tressel, Mike McCarthy and Marvin Lewis – had every second of the day planned out. He knew they weren’t going to waste his time, and he respected that. Jim Tressel, AJ’s college coach, surprised him by how much he cared. He didn’t want to make them better athletes, he wanted to make them better people.

“In the meeting rooms with Coach Tressel it would always start out with things that had nothing to do with football. It was about your character and your integrity and how to be a good, moral person and how to treat the people around you.”

AJ developed a deep respect for process and consistency. If you’re an athlete, entrepreneur or parent, you need to find a way to live in the moment. It’s about the process and being consistent every day.

“If you stay the course and you stick with what you believe in, good things will happen eventually.”

It’s easy to work when you feel good, but what are you going to do when you have a moment of weakness and feel tired? Committing to the process can help you stay on track in difficult moments, and overcoming obstacles will help you grow as a person.

“When things are really tough I can actually grow as a person.”

As AJ transitions from the NFL to pursue a life in broadcasting, he is using the mindset and skills he developed as a champion athlete. He is doing his reps and being consistent by getting out there, getting on camera or on mic any chance he gets, and doing what he is passionate about. He’s just trying to get better every single day.

“If you just act like you know what you’re doing, chances are people are going to believe you. Just get started, and it’s amazing the momentum you can build through that.”

AJ is a tremendously humble and courageous champion, and I can’t thank him enough for coming on the show. Make sure you subscribe and listen to The HawkCast for more of AJ’s thoughts and insights, plus some incredible stories.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Listen to The HawkCast
Follow AJ on Twitter
Listen to my interview with AJ’s brother, Ryan Hawk

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

We are also brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 32 - Learning About Holistic Fitness & The Warrior Tradition - with Greg Amundson

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest, Greg Amundson, is a fitness expert, masterful storyteller and warrior with an extremely diverse set of experiences: college athlete, sheriff’s deputy, DEA agent, Army officer, author, and CrossFit affiliate. His focus is currently on speaking, writing, CrossFit and promoting Warrior Yoga.

“Mentors come in all different shapes and forms, so there’s an opportunity for God to bring people into our life on a regular basis. These seemingly fleeting and temporary relationships all serve a purpose in our growth, in our evolution, in our awareness, in our self-discovery.”

One of the most influential relationships Greg has is with Mark Divine, Founder and CEO of SEALFIT and Founder of Warrior Yoga. One of the key gifts that Mark gave Greg was awareness of breath. Mindful breathing is the basis of most forms of meditation, and the story of how Greg found his awareness of breath is quite exciting. It involves hanging from a cargo net in a steel compound, and even more about their powerful mentor-mentee relationship is explored in the upcoming book Firebreather Fitness.

Firebreather Fitness is a profound book in that it is the first to fully integrate holistic fitness, which is simultaneously developing the mind, the body and the spirit. In the early days of CrossFit, Firebreather became a term of endearment based around physical accomplishment. Then Greg realized that there was more to a physical fitness program than physicality.

“There’s way more to a physical fitness program than physicality. There’s an opportunity to develop character, emotional resilience, discipline and spiritual awareness, and now we define a Firebreather as one who faces the trials and tribulations of great physical opposition with an indomitable spirit.”

A huge part of Greg and Mark’s lives are their morning rituals, and they are both passionate about instilling in people the warrior quality of the morning ritual. Every morning, Greg:

Wakes up at four and becomes aware of the transition between the waking state and the sleeping state
Remains silent
Goes into the kitchen to pour a glass of water
Introduces the feeling of gratitude as he drinks the water of immense gratitude
Goes into the living room and goes through a series of breathing exercises that are designed to still the mind
Meditates to achieve a transcendent state and
Transitions to the warrior tradition of First Words, which is the practice of bringing awareness to the first offering of our spoken word

The First Word process creates a rippling effect from the beginning of our day throughout the rest of the day. Through breathing exercises and meditation you create a still body of water in your mind, and “the spoken word is like a pebble that you drop into stillness to create an even rippling effect touching the shore of our life on every corner.”

“Words are real.”

Greg is the last guest in our Small Town series, and he proves that you don’t need to be from a big town to have a big impact. God in Me is available now; Firebreather Fitness releases January 5th, 2017; and you can connect with Greg at www.GregoryAmundson.com.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Connect with Greg: Website | Facebook
Crossfit Amundson
Warrior Yoga
God in Me by Greg Amundson
Firebreather Fitness by Greg Amundson and T.J. Murphy (releases Jan. 5, 2017)
SEALFIT
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 31 - From Crowd Surfing To Crowdfunding HANSNAP - with Justis Earle

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest, Justis Earle, is a natural disruptor and innovator. He successfully Kickstarted HANSNAP, Inc., a mobile accessory design company focused on film stabilization for the active lifestyle. Their main product, the HANSNAP, is a hand-mounted smartphone filming system that folds neatly onto the back of your hand for quick access and hands-free filming.

Before launching HANSNAP Justis was at Tigo Energy, a highly disruptive startup that was one of the first companies to bring the Internet of Things (IoT) to the solar industry. He led the development of a mobile app-based IoT consumer solar system with three of the largest companies in the solar industry, founded the Product and Software Quality department, and designed the largest IoT solar system in Europe.

“I believe there’s a definite connection between entrepreneurship and the potential or risk factor of being a troublemaker.”

Justis sees a fine line between troublemakers and entrepreneurs. Some people are just natural disruptors, and unfortunately some disruptors don’t receive any guidance, mentorship or leadership. Ultimately, an entrepreneur is somebody who has to challenge the way other people do things.

“I look at crowdfunding as a microcosm of business.”

Justis actually launched two crowdfunding campaigns. The first attempt failed, but Justis learned a lot and still saw value in crowdfunding. He realized that the crowdfunding campaign had to be run like a microcosm of a business – accounting, engineering, development, photography, video, marketing and more need to be organized, started and completed in a very short period of time.

“A crowdfunding campaign is really a fantastic way to put all of those pieces together in a short amount of time and see if you even want to run your own business.”

If you want to disrupt a space with your own entrepreneurial vision, Justis has some awesome tips for small town entrepreneurs:

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is telling the wrong people about your ideas. “An idea is like a seed. Seeds are pretty robust, but when a seed is cracked – when the idea is formed – it becomes very fragile, and it needs a nurturing environment to really grow and mature.”
Do it. Just start doing it. There’s really no substitute for that. “It’s through doing that you understand whether you’re passionate enough about something to endure the hardship and the pain to get to where you want to go.”
You have to have a regular influx of positive material in your life. You have to keep putting that stuff in to keep you motivated.

Keep your eyes locked to Justis Earle and HANSNAP to see some big announcements soon. I really appreciate his doer mentality, the fact that he doesn’t take no for an answer, and the example that he sets for other small town entrepreneurs.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

HANSNAP
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Flow Genome Project
The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 30 - Hard Work, Perseverance, & Purpose Are An Entrepreneur’s Best Friend - with Matthew Swinnerton

Mon, 17 Oct 2016 10:00:00 -0400

Today’s guest, Matthew Swinnerton, has an eclectic background in Business Development, Event Planning, Public Speaking and Sales. He is currently the Owner, Creative Director and Magic Maker at Event Santa Cruz.

Event Santa Cruz is a monthly speaker series in which entrepreneurs discuss why they do what they do and what motivates them to do what they do, and in between the community enjoys a festive atmosphere with craft beers, live music and fun people. It’s an inspiring night that brings the community together for a purpose.

“I like putting on shows. I like getting communities and people together to make something.”

If you are starting something and want to build a community, Matthew has one simple but effective piece of advice: “Respect your community.” It’s all about building relationships.

Matthew was born with an entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic. There are very few entrepreneurs who have the same hustle. He gets things done, and through years of hard work he has learned he also needs to work smart.

“I hustle, but the next thing I need to do is work smart.”

Matthew works hard, but he still spent some time slogging through the corporate world before he found his passion. He shares three tips for exiting the corporate world and launching your own startup:

Start Planning – Really plan it out. Write down in detail what you want to accomplish and by when, and hold yourself accountable. Try to find your passion and establish a business around it.
Associate With Other Entrepreneurs – Whether it’s a mentor or a group, in every community there’s a group of entrepreneurs that can help you get into the spirit of doing.
A Good Social Lubricant is Beer – “When I first started my events I didn’t have beer. After six months I brought in beer. People thought it was the best event ever … and not cheap beer. Like actually good, craft beer.” Of course, drink in moderation.

Matthew also shares a powerful story about persevering and adapting in a period of great adversity. His third child was born with health complications, and for nearly a year he basically lived and worked out of the hospital. He managed to give his family everything they needed in a trying time and still maintain enough momentum in the business for it to survive. Three years later, the business is making money and his daughter is doing great.

“Take the first step, then take the second step – and plan it out. Every single day do something that gets you to that goal.”

Matthew is a powerful inspiration for any entrepreneur, new or old. His work ethic, perseverance and purpose fuel an incredible passion. If you live near Santa Cruz or plan to travel there, I highly recommend checking out the upcoming events being planned by Event Santa Cruz.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about Matthew: Event Santa Cruz | Twitter
Attend an event by Event Santa Cruz
Born For This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do by Chris Guillebeau

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

We are also brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group. A full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 29 - David Dennis: Bootstrapping A Positive Change With Passion

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 10:00:00 -0400

David Dennis is an incredibly interesting individual. He has a degree in sociology, a masters in political science, a career working with major tech companies such as Microsoft, and he is co-founder of a surfboard company focused on ocean conservation.

Dennis is co-founder of Ventana Surfboards & Supplies. They produce hollow, reclaimed wooden surfboards; bodysurfing handplanes; and eco surf supplies. The boards are high performance, surfable works of art that jumpstart conversations in homes and wave lineups.

“I wanted to use my skills to give back in more a meaningful way to the community in the areas that I care most about: homelessness, ocean conservation and education.”

Ventana gained clarity of purpose through research and a simple vision of creating the most loved surf company in the world, “and sometimes we put surf in brackets because we want to be the most loved company in the world.” In an effort to create the most loved company in the world, Dennis focuses on three brand values:

Craftsmanship
Responsibility
Adventure

“We vet everything we’re going to do against that vision and against those brand values and that’s helped us keep very focused.”

One way that Ventana maintains their values is the Ventana Upcycle Partner Program. The pitch is simple: Ventana allows companies and individuals to reduce the amount wood and other materials they send to the landfill; they market partners as environmentally responsible; and then they create beautiful, high-quality craftsman products as a result.

Ventana uses upcycled wood from donors like Santa Cruz Guitars, a Czech Republic swamp, wine barrels from SoCal vineyards, offcuts from Knotty Hole Woodworks, wood from the boardwalk rollercoaster, old cedar benches from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and pieces of John Steinbeck’s original home.

“The short version of what we’re doing is we’re taking other people’s trash and we’re turning it into amazing products.”

For David and his co-founder to maintain focus on their brand values and mission, they have remained bootstrapped since the company launched – and they hope to continue to do that as long as possible.

“Find what you’re passionate about and see if you can amplify it for social good.”

David is a passionate and courageous entrepreneur endeavoring to make a positive difference in the world by doing what he’s good at, and what he loves. He’s an inspiring and impactful business leader, and I greatly appreciate him coming on the show.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about Ventana: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest
Contact David at David@VentanaSurfboards.com

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 28 - Building A Business With Trust, Risk, & Soul - with Bernie Swain

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 10:00:00 -0400

Today I’m speaking with Bernie Swain, co-founder and Chairman of the Washington Speakers Bureau and author of What Made Me Who I Am. Bernie fell into this career by accident, but he developed a passion for meeting new people and forming relationships.

Bernie was prepared to pursue a career in college athletics but, as his boss was ready to retire and promote him, Swain quit to join his wife Paula and his friend Harry Rhoads to start a lecture agency without experience, without a plan, and without a single client.

“We started out not knowing anything.”

The three co-founders started Washington Speakers Bureau from a supply closet belonging to Chuck Hagel, who would later become Secretary of Defense. After a rough year, when their savings were running out, Swain secured their first speaker: Steve Bell, then the anchorman for Good Morning America. Eight years later, WSB was established as the top lecture agency in the world.

“Your brand is trust and honesty: being able to deliver what you say you’re going to deliver, and deliver it well.”

Over the last 35 years, WSB has represented three US Presidents, four prime ministers of Great Britain, countless American and world leaders, business and economic visionaries, journalists, authors, and sport legends.

“The most important thing is relationships.”

Bernie’s career is built on networking and good relationships. Steve Bell reached out because of a positive experience with Bernie at his previous career working in the athletics department of GWU, and then Bernie and Steve made their deal based on a handshake – a sign of trust. What could have been a huge mistake (not signing a contract) became a huge boon for WSB.

“A surprising number of speakers gave us a chance knowing they could walk away from us at any time if we didn’t do a good job for them, or if they didn’t trust us they could walk away from us. On the other hand, we knew because they could walk away from us that we had to work hard to make them happy.”

WSB continues to represent everyone on a handshake, because that’s the soul of their business. Good leaders build a strong foundation with solid character. With their solid foundation, WSB is still on top and they’ve made countless friends along the way.

“No matter who you are, or what the decision is, you want to make decisions that you feel in your heart are the right things to do.”

What Made Me Who I Am isn’t the story of how Bernie became successful, they’re the stories about how his life changed because of the relationships he has made. Bernie shares first-hand accounts of the powerful influences and defining moments from accomplished leaders like Doris Kearns Goodwin, Colin Powell and Terry Bradshaw. You can find an excerpt on Bernie’s site.

I appreciate Bernie coming by and sharing his story. He is a passionate, risk-taking leader who sets a great example by building a business with a soul and serving his clients well.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about Bernie: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
What Made Me Who I Am by Bernie Swain
Washington Speakers Bureau

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 27 - Choosing To Live A Life Of Success & Significance - with Aaron Walker

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 10:00:00 -0400

Aaron Walker is a businessman and life coach who has inspired many through his leadership, mentorship and consistent pursuit of excellence. 35 years of entrepreneurship and marriage have given Aaron a wealth of valuable experience. Aaron is currently on his twelfth venture as an entrepreneur – that’s right, twelfth. He is the founder of View From the Top, a coaching service and community that aims to help men live a life of success and significance.

Aaron is an authority on leadership and what it takes to lead a holistic, successful life. In this interview, Aaron discusses how grit and determination have paid off, how he helps ordinary men become extraordinary, how to live a successful and significant life, and the power of Masterminds and community.

“I’m helping ordinary men become extraordinary, and we do it in a holistic fashion. We don’t do it just in business and we don’t do it just in life. We do it in both, because I think they’re inseparable.”

Retirement doesn’t agree with Aaron. He has retired three different times – sometimes because of success, sometimes because of traumatic events – but not working always makes him (and his wife) unhappy. After his most recent retirement, Aaron was invited by Dan Miller to speak at an Innov8 event.

“I’m having more fun today than I’ve ever had in my life.”

Before Aaron was in a car accident, he was very successful. However, the accident helped him realize that, while he had great success, he had no significance. Nobody cared about his success but him and his family, but he realized he wanted to leave a legacy of people happy to have known him.

“I don’t believe in failure. I believe you either succeed or you learn.”

For Aaron, success means:

Choosing his schedule
Having and engaging family and meaningful relationships
Having a clear conscience with every transaction that he does

Aaron also believes that you can easily define significance: it is meeting the needs of others. Success has something to do with you, significance has something to mean for others.

“I want to learn to be content, but not complacent.”

Relationships are everything. Literally. For example, Aaron is in the construction business, and he formed an alliance of sorts with his competitors. By pooling resources, they all saved money – and in the process, they also support a number of local tradesmen. Now all of the people in the alliance are more successful, and they’re friends.

“When you start helping, you start sharing, then what it does is it drops the veil and everybody starts helping. There’s enough business for everybody, but we have this mentality that the pie is only so big, but there’s nothing further from the truth.”

Aaron brought a gift for the Impact Entrepreneur audience. It is a personal assessment that dives into your identity, ideals, relationship, career and faith. Answering the questions can help you think, and help you realize what it is that you want. Go to ViewFromTheTop.com/Impact to pick up your own copy of the personal assessment, and hopefully they will help you live more successfully and significantly.

I am extremely thankful to Aaron, or Big A as he is sometimes called, for sharing so much with us all. He is an incredibly generous person, and he has a lot of valuable lessons to teach the Impact Entrepreneur audience.

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about Aaron: View From The Top | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube
ViewFromTheTop.com/Impact to pick up a free personal assessment
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by George McKeown
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk
The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want by Dave Kerpen
CommitTo3

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 26 - Learning & Leadership With the Queen Of Questions - AmyK Hutchens

Mon, 19 Sep 2016 10:00:00 -0400

Today I have the 2nd episode in my interview series on leadership, and it’s a great one. AmyK Hutchens is an incredibly accomplished speaker, author, trainer and business strategist. Her latest book, The Secrets Leaders Keep, is an Amazon bestseller, and it resonates with me on a lot of levels.

AmyK is a catalyst for producing sustainable solutions to a leader’s most pressing challenges, and more than 45,000 executives in nine countries have benefited from her keen insight and intuitive understanding of the issues leaders face.

Before entering the corporate world, AmyK was an elementary school teacher. As a student and then as a teacher, she was inspired by a 5th grade teacher to be curious and love learning.

“For everything that I do, whether it’s a corporate job or going out on my own, she taught me to be curious, and then she taught me how to help other students be curious, and that stayed with me.”

When AmyK was 14, her 5th grade teacher taught her the concept of guided choices. “Guided choices was really about giving people the freedom to explore their own passions.” It taught AmyK to follow her passion, identify where there is a need in the world, and identify the point at which her passion and that need intersect with her skillset.

A couple months ago, when AmyK was giving a talk, she was approached and asked why she gives so many of her tools away. Her answer? “Because I have so many more.”

“I could train and I could speak every single day until the day that i die, and I would still probably touch a very small percentage of the population on this planet. So, I just believe in playing bigger and finding a bigger stage, and sharing it.”

In The Secrets Leaders Keep, AmyK shares many secrets from the perspective of 14 leaders. She shared some of the most common secrets that we can all relate to and learn from:

“The most common thing I heard was, ‘Well, it’s lonely at the top.’” It wouldn’t be if the people at the top started talking to each other, because they all have the same issues.
Imposter Syndrome is a common issue for entrepreneurs. “Imposter syndrome is when entrepreneurs experience feelings of inadequacy, or chronic self doubt, that persist even when results indicate that the opposite is true.”
The Comparison Condition is one of the worst forms of self-abuse, especially for entrepreneurs, because people are constantly looking at the people around them, and thinking they should be there.
Choosing to live a life in a state of self-doubt is really selfish, and prevents you from showing up in the world.
Leave the ‘hood. “We have to let go of our neighbors, our initial community, to actually maximize and reach our potential.”

AmyK helps entrepreneurs overcome Imposter Syndrome and The Comparison Condition: “Stay focused on your journey. Stay on your path, and know that you’re going to make mistakes, and everybody else is making mistakes too.”

“Every single day you need to wake up and say, ‘There is room for me in this world.’ I don’t need to be competitive, I don’t need to hoard, I don’t need to be filled with fear. There is room for my gifts and talents for me to play today.”

AmyK is the Queen of Questions, and she invented a business adage: “Change your thinking, change your behavior, change your result.” You can’t get a different result if you’re thinking in the same way, so it starts with thinking, “and the very best way to raise the level of critical thinking in a dialog is to ask the bigger, better, bolder question.”

AmyK shared some of her favorite questions:

How do we define an ideal client relationship?
How do we define ideal performance and productivity?
- Or, what does an A Player look like for our organization?

AmyK discusses how, in 90 seconds, you can go from tight ass to triumphant. Start by taking a deep breath and honestly answering four questions:

What would Calm do now?
What would Grace do now?
What would Wisdom do now?
What’s the ideal response if my sincerest intent is to help, not hurt?

AmyK’s next writing project is The Secrets that He Keeps. It’s not a self-help book, but a collection of fictional stories, similar to the stories in The Secrets Leaders Keep. “What we’re hoping is that men will read it so that they’re not so hard on themselves, and that women will read it so that they will be more understanding and have a depth of compassion in a relationship with their guy.”

“Have compassion and start asking questions.”

I had a blast speaking with the Queen of Questions, AmyK Hutchens, about leadership, learning and success. I highly encourage everyone to go out and pick up a copy of her book, The Secrets Leaders Keep.

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

Learn more about AmyK: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Google+
The Secrets Leaders Keep by AmyK Hutchens
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Ep. 25 - Navy SEAL & Leadership Expert Jocko Willink: Taking Extreme Ownership

Mon, 12 Sep 2016 10:00:00 -0400

This week I have a powerful conversation with Jocko Willink about ownership and leadership. Jocko is a retired Navy SEAL, extreme leadership expert and co-author of Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win.

Jocko retired from the United States Navy SEALs in 2010, with a Silver Star and Bronze Star, and formed the company Echelon Front with Leif Babin, who served under Jocko in the Battle of Ramadi. Echelon Front offers training services that help build, train and lead high-performance winning teams. Jocko and Leif also co-authored Extreme Ownership as a leadership manual.

Mentorship is important as a Navy SEAL and a business leader. Jocko embraces mentorship from anyone with something to teach him. He realized early on that he needed to understand something in order to make sense of it.

“When you’re working with businesses and working with leaders, you can’t just tell them, ‘here’s the problem and here’s the solution,’ because every problem is different. There’s going to be nuances in everything, and so you have to take these principles that you learn and apply those principles. But you have to apply them not as a mechanic, but as an artist.”

Jocko relates the process of reaching understanding to a concept called Commander’s Intent, which describes the overall goals, purpose, strategy, and desired end state. A German general once said that the Commander’s Intent should not be added on to the end of a briefing, but replace the briefing entirely.

“Knowing where you’re heading, and what the end state you’re looking for is, and what the intent of the operation or the mission is, it should certainly be enough.”

Jocko’s military career and his current entrepreneurial lifestyle requires constantly adapting to new and different people, with new and different personalities. He doesn’t have a very large tool kit for adapting to different personalities, but he has effective tools:

Listen.

“Tool number two is what you’re going to take out of your box after you’ve listened.”

Jocko is a champion of Extreme Ownership, the central concept and title of his book, and he believes that it is the number one characteristic of a high performance individual or team. “The reason that extreme ownership is the most important characteristic is because, if you don’t take ownership over what’s happening in your world, how can you change any of it? ... If you face the reality that what’s going on in your world actually is your fault, and if anyone can fix it it’s you, then you can actually take action.”

There’s always other things in the world to blame, but there’s only one you can fix, and that’s you. Taking Extreme Ownership can be simple:

Acknowledge that things aren’t going the way you want them to go
Identify the elements that play into the way things are
Take action to fix what you aren’t happy with

Ownership is integral to leadership, and to Jocko leadership is what makes or breaks a mission. Leadership isn’t just about taking orders – it’s about building a two-way relationship with trust and communication.

“My goal with every leader that I ever worked for, whether they were horrible or they were awesome, my goal was always the same: to develop a relationship with them where they trusted me and they let me do what I want.” If it’s en egomaniac, Jocko strokes their ego. If it’s a great leader, then out of the gate you are working with them, building a relationship and developing trust.

You don’t need to be in charge to take ownership. In most situations, whatever your boss is trying to make happen, you’re the one doing it. Do it the right way (or the wrong way), and you can have a massive amount of influence over it. “If my boss has a vision, I’m going to take ownership and make it happen, and I’m going to build trust. And when they tell me to do something that doesn’t make sense, I’m going to have the relationship to say, ‘Hey boss, this doesn’t make sense right here.’”

Jocko shares stories about some of the times things didn’t go well, but he always holds on to the will to win. “The will to win isn’t a short-term thing. The will to win is a deep-seated desire for a long-term end state. You have to recognize that, along the way, you’re going to take wins and you’re going to take losses.” What’s going to trip you up when you fail is when your ego doesn’t allow you to take ownership of the failure.

Success is often driven by ego, and Jocko embraces that. We should want to do well, and we should care how we perform. “Where it goes sideways is where the ego becomes so big that it no longer thinks it can do any better, no longer can you be corrected, no longer can you be coached, no longer can you change, no longer can you evolve, because your ego thinks you’re already there.”

To keep our egos in check, Jocko has a few simple tools:

Keep an open mind
Don’t believe your own hype
Make an honest self-assessment. The way that you make an honest self-assessment is to detach from yourself and look at yourself from an exterior point of view.

I’m honored to have gotten to speak with Jocko about his book, his business and his past experiences. He is a powerful speaker, and he has a lot to share about leadership, ownership and success.

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

 Download this Episode MP3.
 
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What are some steps Jocko takes to bridge the gap between knowledge and understanding?
 Is it enough to simply begin with the end in mind in order to get to understanding?
 How does Jocko adapt to different personalities on the fly?
 Why is Extreme Ownership the number one characteristic of a high performance individual or team?
 How does the will to win aid in recovering from a situation that is in essence failure?
 How does Jocko use The Leader’s Checklist with his fellow SEALS, and how can entrepreneurs adapt this checklist in their businesses?
 

  
 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  Why extreme ownership is the number one characteristic of a high performance individual
 How to build relationships with the leaders around you
 How aspects of military strategy can improve business strategy
 How to use your ego as a driver, but keep it in check
 

  
 DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…
  Learn more about Jocko: Echelon Front | Twitter |  Facebook |  Instagram
 Listen to the Jocko Podcast
  Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win
 

  
 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Live to Tell, “Charlie Platoon & The Story of Marc Lee”



Ep. 24 - Kelly Starrett: Movement In A Sedentary Society
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 10:00:00 -0400
Today’s guest, Kelly Starrett, is a coach, physical therapist, speaker, co-creator of MobiltyWOD.com, and author of two NY Times Best Sellers: Becoming a Supple Leopard & Ready to Run. Kelly recently published his third book, Deskbound.
 Kelly started the 27th CrossFit gym in the country, with a private student loan from grad school. “It was a total calculated risk. No one knew this; they didn’t know what this was.“ Kelly thought it would be a great place for his friends to train, and he hoped to pick up skills that would make him a better physiotherapist. The gym evolved into a lot more.
 “Then we started solving a problem. We started to see the way people moved … Don’t set up a business, be useful.”
 Kelly didn’t have one distinct mentor, but he did have many talented colleagues and inspirations around him. “There’s this constant loop of creativity that doesn’t turn off.”
 “Process begets process. For us, the mentorship is that we all feed each other and draft off each other and push each other and nudge each other, and that really is sustainable.”
 Kelly’s third book, Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World, was released in April, and it is currently the #1 Best Seller in Exercise & Fitness Injury Prevention on Amazon. Deskbound is a blueprint for living pain free in a sedimentary society. It identifies the epigenetic implications of not moving (pelvic floor dysfunction, jaw clenching, shortened hips, insulin insensitivity) and seeks to structure a solution.
 “At some point, there’s going to have to be an intervention that actually works, and we think that this is one of those interventions that’s so simple – i.e. get human beings to be what human beings are, what they’re supposed to do, which is move.”
 The book opens with, “The human body is incredibly robust. This is a good thing, if you have a plan for getting organized.” Immediately, you can divide your life into opportunities where you can sit, and opportunities where you don’t have to sit. It becomes optional and non-optional sitting.
 The book is trying to encourage readers to adapt the environment around them to force more movement. For example, during this interview, Kelly and I are sitting on the floor. Because of this, we’re already in better metabolic positions. We’re not metabolically active, but we’re taking our hips through the full range of motion and we’re at least obeying the range of motion that the tissues are designed for. “What we’ve done is immediately program a whole bunch more movement in, and all we did was say, ‘Let’s not sit in a chair.’”
 If you do find yourself having to sit a lot, you have to have a plan to address the tissue restrictions. The second half of the book provides simple tools to open up tissues that are stiff, restore normal sliding surfaces and regain function.
 Kids who stand in school will burn an additional 15-30% more calories daily than kids who don’t, and they even focus better. Kelly’s partner at Texas A&M, Mark Benden, has research showing that kids are gaining about 2 percentage points on their body index every year they sit at school, and what Kelly’s seen is that in two years they’ve actually been able to reverse that trend.
 “We have to start playing the long game: just do the right thing, day after day, and pretty soon it really makes massive change.”
 Kelly is incredibly passionate about health and healing, and he’s doing great work with his wife at MobilityWOD.com. I’m grateful to Kelly for sharing his passion with the Impact Entrepreneur Show.
   SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What is the premise of Kelly’s new book, Deskbound?
 What are some consequences of not being organized?
 What are physical cues listeners can pay attention to as they’re listening to analyze what they’re doing right now to see if they’re helping or hindering themselves?
 What can parents do to improve movement in their children’s lives?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  The danger in sedimentary living
 How we can structure our lives and environments to involve more movement
 How standing can combat the trend of childhood obesity
 Why Kelly was drawn to CrossFit in its infancy
 

 DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…
  Learn more about Kelly: MobilityWOD | Facebook
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Deskbound
 Ready To Run
 Becoming A Supple Leopard
 




Ep. 23 - Ryan Hawk: From NCAA Quarterback To the Learning Leader
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 10:00:00 -0400
This week I have a wonderful conversation with Ryan Hawk, host of The Learning Leader Show, Huffington Post contributor and executive at LexisNexis. Ryan truly has a passion for learning, and he shares that passion in this interview.
 Ryan was a decorated college football quarterback at Miami University and Ohio University. After college, he wanted to learn more about leadership. He launched The Learning Leader Show in an attempt to build the ultimate PhD curriculum on leadership. Ryan also writes on the topics of leading and empowering others for The Huffington Post.
 Ryan believes you learn a lot about someone by the questions they ask. One question that he likes to ask others, particularly deep thinkers, is, “What initial questions do you ask others to truly understand how they think?”
 Ryan has done thousands of interviews with professionals over the course of his career. “What really differentiates some of the great ones from some of the good ones [are] the questions that they ask. How curious are they? How thoughtful? How good of a listener are they?”
 Ryan suggests making a list of the people that you admire and believe are interesting – people you know or don’t know and people that are famous or not famous – and then ask if you can speak with them. It helps if you have a podcast or write for Forbes, but many people will be willing (and happy) to speak with you.
 You can also employ this exercise to seek mentorship and education within your business, community or organization. At the end of this process, the people you admire (and who may be in leadership positions) will like you even more, and you will learn a ton. It’s a simple and repeatable process:
  Make a list of the people who really impress you within the company, and then call them or send them a thoughtful e-mail asking if you can talk to them for an hour. By doing this, you are showing that you’re a curious and thoughtful person who likes to learn, and they will be flattered.
 Listen, ask good follow-up questions and take really detailed notes.
 When you are done with the meeting, send them a recap e-mail of everything you learned in that one-hour conversation.
 

 A key aspect of this exercise is to do it because you want to learn and improve. Most people are trying to find a short cut to a promotion. You want to develop relationships. “Relationships are what this world is made of. People who are not willing or are not willing to build relationships probably don’t do well, and the ones that can usually do quite well.”
 Ryan’s impact moment began during a dinner with Todd Wagner, one of Mark Cuban’s business partners. Later, after earning his MBA, Ryan was looking at PhD programs focusing on leadership. However, he did not see any curriculum that he enjoyed. “So I thought, why don’t I just create my own Leadership PhD?”
 By creating his own Leadership PhD, Ryan is able to seek out the people that he looks up to and admires, and ask to speak with them. “In addition to just learning for myself, I could release those conversations for potentially all of the world to be positively impacted at the same time. I thought that was a beautiful way to share what I was learning with others.” This project grew into The Learning Leader Show.
 There are a few things that happen when you give a speech, or record a podcast episode. “You can change the way people think, you can change the way people feel, and you can change the way people act. I want to do all three of those things for my listeners, and for anybody who comes to one of my talks in person.”
 Ryan’s original plan was professional football. He received a scholarship to the University of Miami to play as a quarterback, as was Ben Roethlisberger. Other schools tried to pull him away from Miami, so that he would not have to compete with the best. Ryan did the opposite. He moved to campus the day after graduating high school. “My goal was to show the guys that I was willing to outwork everybody. My goal also was to learn every single teammate’s name.”
 After two seasons at Miami, Ryan realized that it still wasn’t enough. “It was a great moment, for me, because it taught me that sometimes you can do everything within your power, everything, and you’re still going to lose.” It’s a powerful (and difficult) lesson to learn that helps Ryan overcome things that other people are unable to overcome.
 It was a delight speaking with Ryan today. He is one of the most effective and passionate learners in the entrepreneurial space, and I highly recommend checking out some of his interviews with the best leaders in the world.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How have mentors impacted you directly?
 What are things that Ryan did to let go of one dream in order to move into a potentially greater opportunity?
 What does Ryan desire for his audience?
 What’s the most memorable experience that Ryan has had executing his process of requesting interviews from the people he admires?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  A process for seeking out knowledge and mentorship from the people that inspire you
 How pursuing knowledge from the people you admire can improve your life
 What the questions you ask (or don’t ask) may reveal about yourself
 How Ryan embraces being a lifelong learner in every aspect of his life
 How Ryan learned a huge life lesson after working to be a better quarterback than Ben Roethlisberger
 

 DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…
  Learn more about Ryan: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
 Listen to The Learning Leader Show
 Join the Learning Leader Facebook Group
 




Ep. 22 - Ryan Michler: Helping Men Become Strong Leaders
Mon, 22 Aug 2016 10:00:00 -0400
I’m excited to have Ryan Michler on the show today. His goal is to help men become better leaders through the Order of Man. Most entrepreneurs think about building a product, but Ryan is building a community.
 Ryan grew up without a significant father figure in his life. After getting married and having children, Ryan realized he needed to learn a few things. So, Ryan started the Order of Man: a podcast, blog and community.
 “I just had no idea how guys are supposed to do this thing, so I went on a journey for myself to figure this out.” Ryan realized that he couldn’t sit on the sidelines of this conversation. He had to be engaged and leading the discussion.
 Six years into working for someone else, Ryan made the decision to start his own practice. “But the reality is I just didn’t know how to do it.” So he hired a coach, a mentor, who helped Ryan wrap his head around why this change could be a good thing. “He also got me thinking on a different level, and I think that’s what mentors do. They help you see things you can’t see yourself.”
 Ryan has always been a structured, organized and deliberate person, and his experience in the military solidified that. There are other blogs like Order of Man, started at roughly the same time, but they aren’t all successful. Most of that is due to a lack of consistency. “If you want to have success: you gotta be disciplined, you gotta be committed, you gotta be consistent. Those are three things that you can do that you have complete control over.”
 Ryan doesn’t believe everyone needs to be organized, but they do need to have organization in their life. If it’s a weakness, you don’t necessarily need to make it your strength. Maybe you’re a visionary; maybe you’re the person who can launch that idea. That being said, Ryan has a lot of tools that are easy to use that can help bring more organization to your life.
 One of Ryan’s tools is his Weekly Battle Plan. He schedules everything out. “If you’re not going to schedule your day out, including the planning that you’re going to be doing every day, the likelihood of it actually getting done is very minimal.” Ryan goes through his list every morning, and there are certain things he does every day: exercise, meditate, read, journal, plan out his day.
 In addition to his everyday routine, Ryan writes down daily tasks and goals. “What do I actually want to get accomplished today? What is important to me when it comes to the relationships I have with my kid, or the relationships I have with my wife? What’s important with my health, with my money?”
 He makes this list every morning without fail, and then he also does an After Action Review at the end of the day. During the After Action Review, Ryan reflects on what he was able to get accomplished, and what he wasn’t, to help him plan the next day. Ryan’s goal is to be deliberate so that every step he makes is maximum efficiency.
 Ryan’s goal for his community is to help them become better leaders. That’s the overarching vision. “I want them to become better leaders of themselves. I want them to be able to lead and preside over their own families. I want them to be able to lead in their businesses and communities.” But in order to have that, Ryan believes you need to focus on three strengths:
  Physical Strength – Taking care of your mind and body
 Mental Fortitude – Mental toughness, resiliency and the ability to overcome obstacles
 Emotional Fortitude – Not being scattered or letting other people offend you.
 

 “If I can help guys in those three strengths, in order for them to be better leaders, they’re going to live more fulfilled lives.” They’re going to have deeper relationships, more wealth and be able to succeed in business. Whatever a man is trying to accomplish, Ryan believes they can do that by becoming a leader and focusing on physical strength, mental fortitude and emotional fortitude.
 Developing those strengths is a form of self-mastery; something that Ryan believes every man should strive for. Ryan refers to the natural man: a hypothetical man that tends to be lazy, unorganized, undisciplined. Self-mastery is about overcoming those things you have struggles with, and getting better in those key areas. You have to recognize that the natural man is actually there, and then realize you want to actually overcome it.
 “Stop sitting on the idea that you have … and start taking action on it.”
 I appreciate Ryan coming by to talk about how the Order of Man, the value of structure and his own life experiences.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What is Ryan doing to get clarity every day?
 What was the impact moment that inspired Ryan to star the Order of Man podcast and community?
 Did Ryan’s experience in the military shape his outlet for the Order of Man?
 What are things that anybody can do to exercise their organization muscle?
 What does Ryan desire for the Order of Man community?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How not having a father around in Ryan’s childhood drives him to become the best man he can be
 How the Order of Man helps men become better leaders
 How the structure instilled by the military has helped Ryan achieve success
 The three strengths that help men become better leaders of themselves
 The importance of self-mastery
 

 DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…
  Learn more about Ryan: Order of Man | Facebook | Twitter
 




Ep. 21 - Get Unstuck & Get Your Momentum - with Jason & Jodi Womack
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 10:00:00 -0400
I have a lot of firsts for you in this week’s episode. Jason and Jodi Womack are my first married guests, my first live interview with two guests and my first co-author guests. We also have a lot of fun talking, as usual, and the result is a huge episode packed full of ways to make an impact and get momentum.
 The Womacks want entrepreneurs to Get Momentum, over and over again. Get Momentum is an executive coaching and development program that is designed for busy people who want to work smarter, think bigger, lead better and achieve more. Since launching their business in 2012, they have expanded to include the Get Momentum Leadership Academy and Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck.
 The Womacks are both big proponents of mentorship. “The purpose of a mentor is to have someone act as the visionary,” Jason said. “You’re looking at you right then, a mentor can look at you and see you months from now.”
 Jodi added that, “I love to think of mentors as someone I have a real relationship with … a real mentor cares about you the person, and the big vision of you that they can see.”
 Jason has a tactic he uses for clarifying, expanding or narrowing his vision. He looks at a subject as 100, 25 or 1. If you take 100 pennies, 4 quarters or 1 dollar, they all add up to the same amount. “There are some times you need to look at all 100 pieces of the problem, some times I just need to buck it into four quarters, and sometimes I just need to know what the problem is.” Mentors help you look at the problem from a different perspective.
 Jodi’s impact moment came while she was Director of Public Events at a training firm. One day, all of the public events were canceled. “I realized I wasn’t the director of anything, as long as I was an employee,” Jodi said. Jason felt he was always running out of goals to reach for. So, they left the firm and started their own coaching and development business.
 Eventually, customers were reaching out because they wanted more. They needed a continual refreshing of the content, so the Get Momentum Leadership Academy was born. “If you can get your clients to ask you for your next product before it is built, you are onto something,” Jason said.
 Their book, Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck, is another project that was started after customers expressed interest in a book based on the course. The book is about how you reverse engineer that feeling you wish you had more: momentum. Jason described momentum as “the feeling that you recognize after you’ve had it.”
 Being stuck sucks. “There’s no pretty way to dress that up. It is hard, it is lonely, it is depressing,” Jodi said. The other side of the coin is that, if you’re stuck, you’re trying to do something you’ve never done before.
 When are you at your best? Every question Jason asks comes down to this central idea. If people consider when they are at their best, they give themselves what he describes as “the gift of their own attention.”
 What do you want to be known for? The Womacks suggest you pick a role and pick a period of time. The answer is constantly changing. It’s a powerful perspective, because it makes the question actionable. The book does a wonderful job at providing actionable activities that reinforce the motivational message.
 “Get Momentum” is broken into the Five Stages of Momentum:
  Motivation – What did I do that motivated me? “The idea of catching someone doing something right is so bizarre, unusual and unique. If you try that for a couple days, you might just revolutionize what’s going on in your office. Since school and the red pen, we’ve been taught to find what’s wrong,” said Jodi. “People are starved for wins.”
 Mentors – Jason has two kinds of mentors: Mentors he knows and mentors he doesn’t know. Learn from anybody you can. Jason picks one person from history every month to learn from.
 Milestones – The Womacks take everything they are working on and break it out into 90-day chunks. People get overwhelmed with big projects, but this lets you focus on something you can complete – and completing builds momentum.
 Monitor – You will know what to look for if you have clear milestones. “What is noticed is repeated. What is negatively noticed is repeated.”
 Modify – A dictionary definition of modify is “to make a small change.” The Womacks are big fans of small things done incrementally and repeated. There are three changes you can make to gain or re-gain momentum:  Automate
 Delegate
 Eliminate
 

 
 

 If you consider yourself a life long learner, head over to Get Momentum. I’m grateful that the Womacks took the time to sit down and talk. Their program, and their book, provide a lot of actionable strategies and motivational messages that will help entrepreneurs gain and re-gain momentum.
   SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  Can the Womacks share a story where a mentor has impacted their outlook?
 What were the Womacks’ impact moments?
 Why do we constantly find ourselves getting stuck?
 What are the Five Stages of Momentum, and why are they important?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  Why a good mentor is a visionary, and how they can help you shift perspective
 How to reverse engineer the feeling of momentum
 The Five Stages of Momentum
 The value of catching someone who is doing something right, as opposed to something wrong
 The three modifications you can make to your life or business gain or re-gain momentum
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Jason and Jodi Womack: Get Momentum | Twitter | Email
 Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck
 If you want to get a cup of coffee with the Womacks during their travels, click here
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More by Jason Womack
 Mentor Cloud
 Rajeesh Setty – tell him the Womacks said, “Hello.”
 Tony Robbins
 




Ep. 20 - Chris Faddis: How Losing His Wife Led Him To Launch A Food Revolution
Mon, 08 Aug 2016 10:00:00 -0400
This is an incredibly powerful and authentic episode of The Impact Entrepreneur Show. My guest, Chris Faddis, is an author, speaker and entrepreneur. He launched Bene Plates, a revolutionary food and nutrition company serving the chronically ill and the walking well, just a year ago.
 In 2011, Chris’ late wife was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Colon Cancer. Fighting that battle with his wife made Chris aware of the importance of nutrition for the terminally ill: 85% of cancer patients suffer from malnutrition, and 40% of cancer patients die from it. “Ultimately, it was food that kept her alive.” Bene Plates mission is to provide high quality, great tasting and nourishing meals for their clients, whether they are chronically ill or one of the walking well.
 Rather than going through institutions, which are always going to make decisions for other reasons, Bene Plates goes directly to the patients. “Our goal is to create the demand by proving to people – proving to doctors, proving to hospitals, proving to individuals – that, when they eat well while they’re in treatment, they will do better.”
 Chris launched Bene Plates about a year ago, and mind mapping tools have been helpful in the early stages of the business. Mapping his thoughts helps him articulate a clear vision, which in turn makes it easier to delegate tasks.
 Chris believes it’s really important to be able to articulate a vision to the people around you, and trust them to make decisions on how to build your vision. “I have to step back, and I have to let certain things go, because if I don’t just articulate the vision and trust the team around me that I put in place, then it’s always going to be me and it’s never going to grow.”
 If Chris could go back and launch again, there’s two things he would make sure to do:
  Don’t rush to launch. Take the time to read the market, make every small decision and fine-tune your processes.
 Don’t launch with debt.
 

 Mentorship helped Chris realize the value of authenticity. Chris has a background mixing corporate business, entrepreneurship and the church space. He used to segment himself between the different aspects of his life, mentally and as separate online brands. “Honestly what I’ve found is … people are more accepting.”
 Being authentic – being who you were made to be and living to your full potential – is a big hurdle for a lot of entrepreneurs. Chris believes a key to remaining authentic is having the right partner, whether that person is a spouse, mentor or business partner. “If you ever feel like you’re a wannabe fake when that person’s around, you’re not going to lie.”
 Chris overcomes the Fear of Feedback by maintaining authenticity online. “When you’re transparent in your business and who you are, as a company and as a person, all that stuff is accountability.” In one way, that’s where social media is a positive thing.
 The idea of the “Walking Well” was born out of Chris’ authenticity on social media – and an accidental reference to The Walking Dead. Delivering healthy food to healthy people is important to Chris too. “I think there’s something really important about us working with the walking well. It’s knowing that, when you buy a product from us, you’re helping us support more cancer patients.”
 If you feel stuck in your career and want to break away to start a business, Chris suggests you sit down and think through your intentions. Is it about making money, or is it about doing something good? You will know you are ready to break away from a stagnant career after you:
  Articulate in three sentences, very clearly, what you want to do
 Talk about it with other people
 Start writing it down
 Get advice
 Make a business plan (Chris used com)
 

 Chris Faddis is a born entrepreneur and an incredibly authentic human being. I’m so grateful that he came by to share his story and I’m excited to see how Bene Plates grows in the years to come.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How important have mentors been in Chris’ life?
 What are some steps Chris is taking to make sure he is checking what he is doing against who he is authentically?
 If Chris was starting this company again today, what are 2-3 things he would do differently?
 What’s a step someone can take to break away from a career they feel stuck in?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  Why to be authentic online, in person and when running your company
 How to overcome the Fear of Feedback online
 The value of articulating a vision, then letting people help you build it
 Why it’s usually better to take your time and launch a new business patiently
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Chris: Website | Twitter | Instagram
  It Is Well: Life in the Storm by Chris Faddis
 Bene Plates
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  LivePlan
 




Ep. 19 - Geoff Woods: How Leaning Into Adversity Created A Platform For Impact
Mon, 01 Aug 2016 10:00:00 -0400
Geoff Woods is full of great stories in today’s episode. Geoff is host of The Mentee Podcast and he came by to share how he went from employee to entrepreneur in just 10 months.
 Geoff Woods’ journey as an entrepreneur (and a self-described Super Connecter) began with tragedy, but a Jim Rohn quote helped Geoff shift his life course: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Geoff wanted to own his own business, wake up every day and feel like he was making an impact, but he didn’t have anyone in his life that.
 
 Geoff wanted to make an impact, followed by the money, and he’s able to do that with a knack for networking. “I try to find a way to add value to people.” He always asks, “What are you working on and how can I help?”
 Geoff didn’t just want to make an impact. He also had the courage to act. His first goal was in real estate, so his first step was connecting with people who owned property. “The very first time I opened my mouth, I had the opportunity to become the owner of a 10-story building on the water in North Carolina.” Things only got cooler from there.
 Jay Papasan and Gary Keller approached Geoff because they were looking for a new CEO for a publishing company. Geoff took the call because he had a couple names in mind, but ultimately he discovered they were looking for a CEO just like him. “Because I led with trying to be a super connecter, because I led trying to add value, I now have the opportunity to call a billionaire my partner.”
 Geoff’s success, and his constant endeavor to add value to other people’s lives, starts with overcoming the limiting beliefs that make us believe we don’t have value to add. “The reality is you have value to give, you just have to figure out how to give value to those people.” Learn new skills and meet new people to increase the value you have to offer.
 Geoff is learning the value of leverage. He can only contribute time towards things that align with and further his goals, but he still wants to add value to the people who approach him. He is learning to create systems and hire a person to manage those systems, which in turn creates opportunity for people in his community.
 Geoff has advice for how you can find the best mentors, available in a free guide. He provided a great overview:
  The mentor-mentee relationship is something that happens over time. “For you to walk up to a successful persona and ask them to be your mentor … is the same as men walking into a bar, seeing a hot woman, dropping down to one knee before you’ve said anything to her and saying, ‘Will you marry me?’”
 You don’t even realize the value you bring to the table
 Being in the position of the mentee is the most powerful position you can be in
 Successful people look for up-and-comers who are hungry
 

 Geoff provided an extra tip not in his guide: drop your ego and speak from the heart.
 I can’t thank Geoff enough for being so authentic and vulnerable with us. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out The Mentee Podcast.
  
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How has Geoff been able to connect people to create awesome things?
 What doors have opened for Geoff because he has the courage to act?
 What filters can entrepreneurs apply so that they don’t lose sight on the impact and the value they want to have in the world?
 What are opportunities Geoff has had to turn down because he would not be adding value?
 Can Geoff share his approach to building the mentor-mentee relationship in the right way?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  The power of adding value to other people’s lives
 Why success follows entrepreneurs who have the courage to act
 Geoff Wood’s approach to building a mentor-mentee relationship in the right way
 Plus much more…
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Geoff: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram |  LinkedIn
 Listen and Subscribe to The Mentee Podcast: Website |  iTunes
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  The ONE Thing by Gary W. Keller & Jay Papasan
 Expert’s Academy
 com
 Geoff’s Mastermind group: The Inner Circle
 




Ep. 18 - Bob Burg: How Becoming A Go-Giver Can Be A Game Changer
Mon, 25 Jul 2016 10:00:00 -0400
Today’s conversation with Bob Burg is packed full of authenticity, empathy and value. He is author of The Go-Giver, a business parable about consistently providing values to others, and he has made a career out of helping others.
 “I choose to be in business for myself. I have a much better feeling of freedom and liberty that way. I have a better feeling about myself, and quite frankly I think I can help a lot more people by being an entrepreneur than I can working in someone else’s organization.” Bob’s entrepreneurial success is driven by an innate sense of empathy.
 “Empathy can be developed, but I think the first step is understanding why it is important.” Empathy is a major aspect of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is understanding both your own and another person’s feelings, or at least understanding that they have feelings about something, and being able to regulate those feelings. By being able to act in such a way because of, or in spite of, those feelings, you are able to bring the most value to other people. “The single greatest people skill is simply a highly developed and authentic interest in the other person.”
 Bob’s book, The Go-Giver, is a business parable that collects aspects of many true stories into the fictional story of Joe. In the story, Joe learns a very valuable lesson: shifting one’s focus from getting to giving, by which Bob means constantly and consistently providing value to others, isn’t just a pleasant way to live, but a profitable way to live as well.
 For example, Joe asks a mentor if a product will make money. Joe’s mentor tells him that it’s not a bad question; in fact, it’s a great question. It’s just a bad first question. If your first thought is to ask if something will make money, then you’re not thinking about the marketplace itself. A better question to ask is “Will it serve?” or “Does it add value?”
 The Go-Giver also provides five laws to guide the way Bob believes we should live our lives:
  Value – Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. We have to understand the profound difference between price and value. Price is a dollar figure, and it’s finite. Value, on the other hand, is the desirability of an end product.
 Compensation – Your income is determined by how many people you serve, and how well you serve them. It’s not just value; it’s also how many lives you impact. Your compensation is directly under your control, and there’s no limit to your compensation because you always have more people to serve. Understand that success is a mindset, you can do it, and that building relationships is a skillset.
 Influence – Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interest first. Don’t be a doormat or sacrificial, but make your success about other people’s success. The essence of influence is pull, as opposed to push. Great influencers attract people.
 Authenticity – The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself. All of the skills in the world are for naught if you don’t come at everything from your true, authentic core.
 Receptivity – The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving. We breathe out, and we must also breathe in. All of the giving in the world is for naught if you do not make yourself available to receive in like measure. “This is why we say that money is simply an echo of value.”
 

 “The Golden Rule of Business is that, all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to the people they know, like and trust.“ There is no faster, more powerful or more effective way to elicit those feelings towards you from others than by making your win about the other person’s win. It’s moving from an “I” or “Me” focus to an “Other” focus.
 Bob’s book emphasizes the role of focus and intention for entrepreneurs. “You have to be very focused on accomplishing what you know you want to accomplish every day, every week, every month, every year. Intention comes right along with that. You have an intention to do a certain thing, and you don’t stop until it happens.” Entrepreneurs need to be flexible with strategy and tactics in order to accomplish what they intend to do.
 Bob’s passion for helping others is palpable in this interview. I’m grateful that he took the time to share his thought process and some stories about The Go-Giver. He definitely has a lot of value to offer.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What are some ways that entrepreneurs can develop empathy and apply it in our daily lives?
 What is the premise of The Go-Giver?
 A character in Bob’s book says, “‘Does it make money?’ is not a bad question, it’s a great question. It’s just a bad first question.” What does he mean by that?
 How should entrepreneurs think about focus and intention?
 In Bob’s book, the Law of Compensation says that your compensation is directly under your control, and there’s no limit to your compensation because you always have more people to serve. How can entrepreneurs operate under this mindset and live out this law?
 How does a go-giver create influence, both personally and in business, and how does that directly relate to new business, or even leadership?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  A greater understanding of what makes empathy an important aspect of a successful business and personal life
 Why The Go-Giver is a valuable business parable for entrepreneurs
 The Golden Rule of Business
 The value of focus and intention
 How giving can create influence
 Plus much more…
 

  
 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Bob: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube
 Read The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
 Listen to The Go-Giver Podcast
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
 The Purple Cow by Seth Godin
 




Ep. 17 - Honoree Corder: How Short-Term Massive Action Can Lead To Long-Term Massive Results
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 10:00:00 -0400
Today I have a delightful and authentic conversation with Honoree Corder. She is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker and prolific author. Currently, she is writing her 20th book, You Must Write a Book, for professionals who absolutely should write a book as a differentiator. She calls writing a book “the new business card.”
 Honoree was raised with an entrepreneurial spirit. “Being an entrepreneur means you get to eat what you kill.” Your effort is returned to you, and only to you. Entrepreneurs are punished or rewarded based on how much time and effort they put into their businesses.
 “Go ahead and start the business, instead of having it as an idea that’s marinating. If it’s been marinating, it’s marinated.” If you start, your business will, over time, take on a life of its own. If you’re currently an employee with the hunger for entrepreneurship, turn your idea into a side hustle.
 “Keep going. Be patient. Some day your side hustle will be your main hustle.” Carve out time to do the thing that you really want to do. That will fuel you, feed you and tide you over. If you’re waiting to jump from one situation to the next, you’re missing out on an opportunity for your passion to grow and be nurtured.
 Honoree wrote her first book because she had a 15 second mentor. She met Mark Victor Hansen at a conference, and he said to her, “Everybody is a coach and a speaker, you need a book.” She took her most popular presentation and turned it into a book.
 Honoree wrote the amazing book Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results. In order to get from where you are now to your dreams, there are certain steps that have to be taken. You have to take short-term, massive action that will compound, and it will lead to long-term massive results. Four things precede a successful new reality:
  Think – If you don’t think you can achieve your vision, you want get to the next step.
 Believe – If you don’t believe your vision is possible for you, it will not be possible.
 Deserve – If you don’t believe you deserve your vision, you will reach an upper limit to success.
 Commit – Finally, you have to commit yourself mentally, and commit your time, to your vision.
 

 Be authentically yourself. Authenticity is so powerful because people want to know that others are imperfect, and that others are vulnerable. Those are strengths, not weaknesses. Honoree invents the word “authentistic” during the interview to describe the act of being authentic and fantastic. You mess up, you have struggles, you are human, and it’s okay.
 If you want something, you have to give it away: this can be anything from money to love to authenticity. As an author, Honoree wants good reviews. So, one day she decides to review The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod on Goodreads. Now, she and Hal have a partnership to create The Miracle Morning book series.
 “I think that people have the perception that successful people, in whatever they do, are somehow special people, and the only difference between successful people and people who aren’t as successful as they want to be … is that they have done a little bit more a little bit longer.”
 Honoree truly exudes authenticity and positivity in the advice and stories she offers during this episode. I had a lot of fun talking to her, and I hope you got something great from it too.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How did Honoree go from single mom to prolific author?
 What are some ways that employees with a hunger for entrepreneurship can take their first step?
 Why did Honoree write Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results?
 How do people break through their own façade to be authentic?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How authenticity can be a powerful force for success
 Why, if you want something, you have to give it away
 How to bring an idea from vision to reality
 Why you should write a book
 Plus much more… 
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Honoree: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
 Read Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results by Honoree Corder
 

  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Authenticity is the New Black – TedX by Honoree Corder
 You Must Write a Book by Honoree Corder (coming September 2016)
 Giftology by John Ruhlin
 The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
 




Ep. 16 - Tom Bilyeu: How Clarity Of Purpose Drove Quest Nurition's 57,000% Growth
Mon, 11 Jul 2016 10:00:00 -0400
I had a very open and passionate conversation with Tom Bilyeu today. He is the Co-founder and President of Quest Nutrition, a company that endeavors to transform the entire food industry by creating foods that taste as good as they are good for you. In 2014, it was named the #2 fastest-growing private company in America by  Inc.com. Tom also hosts the weekly thought leadership talk show Inside Quest.
 Surprisingly, Tom says that he was not a born entrepreneur – he was actually inspired by The Matrix to challenge his construct of reality and change his mindset. “The Matrix really gave me the framework with which to begin thinking about my life … I think that our mindset is the real-world equivalent of The Matrix.” To get out of the matrix, you have to change the way you think. “You have to stop allowing yourself to believe things about yourself, even if they’re true, that don’t move you forward.”
 Changing your mindset is a battle. For Tom, the process of becoming an entrepreneur was really the process of controlling his mindset and realizing it is possible to take control of destiny – not only realizing he didn’t have to be an employee, but also realizing that financial independence was achievable. “Your mind is everything, and the narrative that you tell yourself about yourself is the most important thing in your life. If you don’t take time to construct and repeat a narrative that is empowering, you are doing yourself a disservice.”
 Tom’s Morpheus(es), or mentors, are the authors of books. He has a deep sense of gratitude for people who take the time to put their wisdom down in a book so that others can learn easy what they learned hard. “It’s a great tradition to write down that knowledge so that it can be passed on.”
 On Tom’s site, it says that companies only have a chance at greatness when driven by a mission. He also says that the mission of Quest was born out of misery. When Tom first started working with his current partners, they were working to get rich. After a lot of success, Tom was miserable. He left to embark on a life of purpose and lasting fulfillment. However, his partners agreed, and fought to keep Tom on board. They came up with a new mantra:
  Work on something that brings value to people
 Believe in what they’re working towards
 Work towards something they want to fight for, even if they’re falling
 

 The mission of Quest Nutrition is simple, but big: to put an end to metabolic disease. That’s what makes Quest more than just a food company. It’s a company that won’t stop innovating until global nutrition has been freed from the stranglehold of junk food. This is not a knock on money, but saying that money can come in the service of providing value to others and in service of a greater mission. “It’s about becoming something, rather than having something.”
 When you’re solving a real problem, people are going to pay for that value, and what you’re doing is going to matter. Our world is so interconnected that companies can be punished for either having a mission or not having a mission, and your community cares about what you’re trying to do. “All of a sudden you live in this world where people can learn the truth of why your company exists, beyond your products.”
 Tom demonstrates that Quest Nutrition makes decisions based on their mission and community, and people think they’re out of their mind for making some of those decisions. Recently, they switched to a different fiber source that costs a lot more than their pervious source, without changing the cost of their product. It nearly cut their profitability in half. However, the scientific community was questioning whether their previous fiber source was, in fact, a source of fiber at all, and the new fiber is much more metabolically beneficial. “If it’s really going to take us 25 years to end metabolic disease, we have to be relevant that long, we have to be trusted that long.”
 The Quest Belief System goes beyond core values to draw the map of how Tom evolved from financial instability to confident business leader. “In all of that, I realized there are some real truths here that anyone can apply to their life to, in my language, ‘escape The Matrix.’” Highlights of the 25 bullet points in the Quest Belief System include:
  Personal growth is the highest priority of all Team Quest members
 Mistakes are a great teacher to those who are willing to admit that they’ve made one
 Build your self esteem around identifying the right answer and pursuing it faster than anyone else
 Take the red pill
 

 Tom and his business partners at Quest Nutrition are doing some truly impressive things. Tom’s passion to end metabolic disease comes through loud and clear in this interview. We should all follow his lead, and work towards solving real problems.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What is the story of Quest Nutrition, and what is it’s mission?
 What steps can entrepreneurs take to ensure their product or service passes the “soul test?”
 How does Quest Nutrition you use their community and mission to make decisions?
 Can Tom tell us how they developed the Quest Belief System?
 What does Tom think has stirred up this renewed interest in self-awareness and mindfulness?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How the narrative you construct about yourself influences your success
 How the Quest Belief System can shape the way you think about yourself
 Why businesses that solve real problems often find success
 Why every business decision needs to reflect your mission statement and your community
 Plus much more…
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Tom: Inside Quest Podcast | Twitter
 Learn more about Quest Nutrition: Website
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  The Matrix
 The Quest Belief System
 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
 The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
 




Ep. 15 - Brian Dickinson: Alone & Blind At 29,000 Feet
Mon, 04 Jul 2016 10:00:00 -0400
I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone who lives more in the moment than Brian Dickinson, and he shares his incredible story in today’s interview. He is an ex-Navy rescue swimmer, a world-class mountain climber and the author of  Blind Descent, the inspiring story about how he summited Mount Everest – alone – and overcame descending the mountain blind.
 Brian is still learning the ability to slow down and live in the moment, gathering the courage to be content. Brian’s climbs help him gain perspective on the world off of the mountain, because he experiences how slowly time can feel.
 It can be dangerous to start climbing alone. “Not even climbing, but everything. If you can latch onto somebody who has a clue, has made the mistakes, you’re going to learn a ton.” There’s so much in your control, if you know how to control it.
 Control, on the mountain and in your business, comes down to preparation. “The success is creating a lifestyle of change,” and then you will always be prepared for that next climb or business endeavor.
 I’ve described preparation as the bridge between expectation and reality. Sometimes, that bridge can collapse, and things will go south in spite of your preparation – like when you start to develop snow blindness at the highest point on Earth. In these situations, success can come down to willpower. Sometimes willpower means moving forward, using your training, without overthinking the situation.
 Motivation can pull us through the impossible, in our lives and in our businesses. Brian used his family to help him descend Mount Everest and overcome his instinct to panic. Use your motivation to focus on breaking a bad experience down to small successes, keeping a map in your mind of where you are going.
 For now, Brian is taking what he learned and focusing on having the courage to be content. There’s no shortage of adventures in this world, and he’s going to go on the next few with his family.
 We are put in situations for a reason. Usually it’s not at the top of Mount Everest, but it’s always so that we can share something of value with other people, and maybe save someone’s life, career or marriage through our stories.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How did Brian learn the ability to slow down and live in the moment?
 How did Brian’s military training aid him in transitioning towards entrepreneurship and the tech industry?
 How important has mentorship been to Brian in his climbing endeavors?
 What are Brian’s thoughts on preparation and willpower?
 When Brian was descending Mount Everest and started going blind, how did he not give in to the harsh conditions?
 How did Brian overcome panic in an unpredictable situation?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  An incredible story about human strength and willpower
 How preparation is a lifestyle as much as an activity
 Why it is courageous to be content
 How to use motivation to overcome the worst situations
 Plus much more…
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Brian: Website | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
   Blind Descent: Surviving Alone and Blind on Mount Everest by Brian Dickinson
 




Ep. 14 - Kelly Roach: From NFL Cheerleader To Unstoppable Success Coach
Mon, 27 Jun 2016 10:56:27 -0400
Today I have an interview with a modern Renaissance Woman. Kelly Roach is an ex-NFL cheerleader, formerly the top sales person in a Fortune 500 company, author of Unstoppable, the loving mother of a two-year-old, and a successful entrepreneur. Kelly trains other entrepreneurs to launch, monetize and scale profitable businesses.
 Kelly was promoted seven times in eight years. She was the youngest Senior VP of the company and managed 17 locations. Her health was sliding to the back burner until she thought, “Every time I get promoted, every time I have success in this environment, it compromises more of who I am.”
 Taking some time to think is critical. After reflecting on her core values as a person, she came to the conclusion that she was not living the life she wanted. Kelly’s core values:
  Freedom
 Financial abundance
 Fulfillment
 

 By fulfillment, Kelly means making an impact, doing work that she feels matters, and helping people. Every time she has success in the wrong environment, she will have less freedom to pursue making a difference. She also doesn’t like making a company millions of dollars. She can make that money for herself.
 It can be difficult to stop your life and shift course, particularly when things are going according to plan. Kelly accomplished one of her goals when she became Senior VP, but the experience wasn’t exactly what she thought it would be. “I’m getting exactly what I set out to achieve, which means I also have the power and the control to decide where this goes next.”
 Take time to consider where your core skillsets intersect with what people are willing to pay for in the market. Kelly believes that, with an 80% failure rate, the people who really need her training are small business owners and entrepreneurs.
 Mentorship is critical. Kelly’s passion for leadership, coaching others and making others successful is a direct result of her first mentor’s advice, and they are the ingredients of her success. The prevalence of podcasting and social media makes the process of finding a mentor easier than ever. Look for people who have success in the area you wish to pursue and start following them online. You will be able to find the voice and teaching style that resonates with you and begin a relationship.
 Kelly’s book, Unstoppable, ties into her message on every platform. To Kelly, being unstoppable means you are so driven, focused and motivated that you have to be the best you can possibly be in any given situation, no matter what life throws at you. The human experience is full of chaos, but the book provides nine key principles that will help entrepreneurs achieve unlimited success in business and in life.
 Kelly is generous enough to share a couple of the principles from her book:
  “Stop resenting the 1% and join them.” Kelly started with this chapter because success follows a successful mindset. It comes down to how you perceive others, money, and your own self worth. You can’t attract something to your life that you perceive negatively.
 “Focus on something bigger than yourself.” It’s all about imperfect action, and it’s all about focusing on achieving something bigger than you.
 

 Entrepreneurship is heavily romanticized. Don’t expect success to come overnight. There is a grind that everyone goes through – most people fail, often more than once, before they succeed. Entrepreneurs need to be aware that there is nothing wrong with failure, because that’s how we find out what works.
 Too many entrepreneurs spend their business life planning. They wait for the perfect opportunity, the perfect product, and it never comes. “The imperfect action is the most important entrepreneurial skill,” so get out there, make an offer, create a course, and start advertising.
 Last year, Kelly helped her first client add over $1 million to their business. The key is to put a sales and marketing system in place. Online marketing has been romanticized in the same way as entrepreneurship – to the point that many entrepreneurs forego sales. Marketing is great, but at some point there has to be a conversion event between marketing and sales.
 There needs to be a system to convert potential buyers to sales. Kelly’s three-step system:
  Leads are generated through marketing
 Nurture events take place
 Conversion events translate prospective buyers into sales
 

 Kelly’s business has been a great vehicle for freedom and flexibility in her life, and she encourages others to pursue entrepreneurship to gain more freedom in their own lives. I hope she inspires you to reflect on your core values, and to start improving your life.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What was the turning point that set Kelly on the entrepreneurial path?
 How did you think about what you wanted for your life? What process did you use to crystalize your thinking?
 How important is grit?
 How important has mentorship been for Kelly?
 What are some steps entrepreneurs can take to find a mentor?
 What was the inspiration for Kelly’s book Unstoppable?
 What does Kelly hope to accomplish with her book?
 How can people push through the grind of starting a business?
 Does Kelly have to overcome coaching entrepreneurs who spend too much time planning and waiting for the perfection?
 What shift allowed Kelly’s client to add $1 million in sales to their business?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  The importance of taking time to reflect
 What it means to be Unstoppable
 How mentorship can put you on a path to success
 The vital entrepreneurial skill that is imperfect action
 Why businesses need a system to convert sales
 Plus much more… 
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Kelly: Website | Facebook | Twitter
 Unstoppable Success Radio: Website |  iTunes | YouTube
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Unstoppable: 9 Principles for Unlimited Success in Business & Life by Kelly Roach
 If you’re interested in additional training from Kelly, text the word “profitclass” to 44222
 




Ep. 13 - Aaron Hinde: From Chiropractor to Beverage Game Changer
Mon, 20 Jun 2016 11:25:03 -0400
My long-time friend Aaron Hinde came in for a value packed interview today. He’s a fearless risk taker who jumped into one of the toughest industries out there, the beverage industry, and has successfully grown it and now leads a team of 28 people.
 Aaron’s always had the unique ability of empathy which has served him well. It’s the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand where they’re coming from. Many people make the mistake of trying to meet somebody where they think they should be, but Aaron says empathy is about quieting your mind and listening with a non-judgmental attitude.
 This kind of positive attitude is also a big part of mentorship, something Aaron is a strong proponent of. All successful entrepreneurs have at least one mentor, and some are paid for and some are not. If you’re in the business of offering your own mentorship or coaching at a price, you’ve also got to have your own mentor you’re paying for, as you’ve got to do in order to be.
 Relationships are key in business; mentors, business partners and spouses. An understanding spouse is a necessity as it’s all but impossible to succeed without someone supportive at your side. The same thing holds true for business partners. Make sure yours is one you can bounce ideas off of, one you can trust and share a unified vision and purpose for your business with.
 Aaron’s a risk taker, and the ability to take risks is important for aspiring entrepreneurs. If you’re gun shy there are ways to train yourself to take the plunge, like going all-in in poker or scaling heights if you’re afraid. “Push yourself constantly in that uncomfortable zone or else you’ll never grow as an entrepreneur.”
 Aaron’s entrepreneurial journey hasn’t been an easy one. But he and his family were willing to endure the years of being broke and living in a tiny apartment to gain the success they now have. He started LIFEAID Beverage with the idea of creating a healthy beverage alternative that actually benefitted you (not like the sodas and energy drinks prevalent today). What drives his company is their over-arching vision of having a tangible, healthy impact on the world, and his million+ cans sold every month is a testament to that.
 His company not only has a great vision, but some strong BHAG’s as well (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals):
  To be the next BILLION dollar beverage company
 To have the most awesome, engaged, kick-ass workplace in Santa Cruz County with the best team surrounding that
 

 BHAG #2 is his actual focus, because a great team is essential and they’re a reflection of the brand. If you make sure the team is engaged and focused then that’ll lead to goal #1. It also helps to constantly invest in your team by making your workplace comfortable and fun, and being ultra-supportive of everyone.
 One tenant that Aaron really holds onto is the tried and true “Hire slow, fire fast” mentality. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is hiring quickly out of desperation as you grow. Aaron makes sure they hire great people by following some important steps in the hiring process:
  Look for a long history with one employer
 Look for a favorable review of their previous boss
 Have the applicant set-up a five minute interview with their previous boss
 

 Taking these steps helps him find great people with a cooperative team attitude and a good cultural fit with the company.
 Aaron’s empathy and his passion for entrepreneurship and his company really came through in this episode. I’m grateful that he gave us his time and shared with us much of what he knows of running a successful company.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How has empathy been a game changer within his business?
 What are the steps a growing company can take to make sure their vision and values continue to lead them?
 How does Aaron get his employees to buy-in to his company and culture so well?
 How does an aspiring entrepreneur protect the business from the overwhelming inspiration behind the business?
 

  
 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  The key to success for any enterprise
 Why it’s important to carry a note pad with you everywhere you go
 How having an abundance mindset can lead to raving fans
 Why discussing the current needs of the business with your team can get them committed to working hard for the customer
 Plus much more…
 

   
 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Aaron: Instagram | Twitter
 LIFEAID: Website | Twitter | FITAID
 

  
  
 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Joe Polish and the Genius Network: Website
 com: Website
 The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly
 Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
 Living Forward by Michael Hyatt & Danial Harkavy
 




Ep. 12 - 7 Principles to Grow A Successful Company - with Ian Utile
Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:00:00 -0400
Ian and I go way back to high school, and it was great having him on the show today. He’s a lifelong entrepreneur, a creative thinker, risk taker and relationship builder, and I’m thankful he joined us for this episode.
 Ian’s always had a natural leader’s charisma; something unique and influential that led people to follow him. He really learned to harness his gifts through his work with ‘The Master’s Program’ with Bob Shank. Bob’s was the most authoritative voice outside of his influential father’s, and the 3-year program really grounded Ian.
 He believes that the key to his success is that he’s so committed to mentorship. “If you don’t follow the advice of your mentor, they are not your mentor.” With mentorship, you find somebody that’s a peer or higher than you, and you position them in such a way so that they can start speaking into your life about something or some things. Then you make a deliberate decision to not knit pick their life or how they apply what they’re telling you. A mentor’s role is not to show you how to live, their role is to declare what they know to be true.
 Confidence is something that Ian has always had. He admits, though, that he isn’t 100% confident, but he seems to be more confident than most. And there’s a big relationship between confidence and being risk-averse: the less risk-averse you are, the more you’re willing to take chances, so the more confidence you appear to have. One of Ian’s favorite mantras and confidence boosters is, “The wind is at my back, all I do is win.”
 One thing that Ian learned early in life is that high capacity people like him need to be challenged in order to avoid some of the perils that life can throw at you. If you’re not challenged, you can tend to look for immediate pleasure or a numbing of feelings in the form of drugs. For these reasons, he has lovingly pushed his children to excel in what they love to do and to help them avoid the things that derailed him early in life.
 As one of the co-creators who launched the software company Kukui, Ian learned some value lessons about business and relationships. He wrote about these seven lessons in a LinkedIn article called  ‘7 Principles I Learned Launching Inc. 76th Fastest Growing Company.’ He broke down the seven principles for us:
  Don’t let your job define you  Be defined by other more important values like your faith, your family or your character. Don’t let the 14 hour days and the total commitment to the company be all you’re about.
 

 
 Find a trustworthy partner  You need someone you can trust that will look after your needs as well as have the skills to take care of the company.
 

 
 Just sell  Sales solve everything. You don’t need a loan or startup money. Get out there and find the people who are willing to buy from you.
 

 
 Be your customer’s partner, not a vendor  You have to be willing to sacrifice to put your client first. This goes both ways and they need to be willing to tolerate and be gracious with your mistakes.
 

 
 Be generous to employees with equity and bonuses  Share with your team so they feel as they’re part owners, that they’re building their
 

 
 Recruit the right people at the right time  This is the toughest thing, as many of those initial employees aren’t right for the company beyond that initial growth phase. If they’re no longer a fit, you have to part ways, but do so graciously.
 

 
 Live your brand  Be faithful to your message and be a signboard for it.
 

 
 

 Ian shared quite a lot of powerful and inspiring words today, and I’m very grateful for this awesome interview.
  SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What are some historical entrepreneurial influences of Ian’s?
 What are some things he learned on his wayward path early in life?
 What are Ian’s views on mentorship?
 What are some questions entrepreneurs should be asking themselves daily?
 

 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How ‘The Master’s Program’ with Bob Shank really impacted him
 How his parents and lineage influence him
 What ways Ian and Mike Tyson are very similar
 How having a “safety rope” for entrepreneurs can stifle success
 Plus much more…
 

 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Ian: Website | LinkedIn | Email
 Guerilla Branders: Website
 7 Principles I Learned Launching Inc. 76th Fastest Growing Company:  Article
 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  ‘The Master’s Program’: Website
 




Ep. 11 - Edgy Conversations: Taking Success To A Whole New Level - with Dan Waldschmidt
Mon, 06 Jun 2016 10:00:00 -0400
 
 Dan Waldschmidt is a busy guy whose mission, vision and passions align with The Impact Entrepreneur show. I’m extremely grateful to have this self-challenging, ultra-hard working person (to the point of barfing) on today’s show.
 Speaking of challenging himself, Dan is looking forward to running a 500-mile ultra-marathon in July. Just thinking of that is fear inducing, but he welcomes the challenge. At a young age he stumbled across the formula of hard work and sacrifice equals the ability to achieve anything.
 With this idea in mind, he took a $150,000 business to $8 million within one year. He did this because he was extremely hungry for success, so much so that he never ate lunch. “When you’re hungry, you’re willing to do things that you wouldn’t otherwise be willing to do.” He started with the challenge of 25 calls before lunch. This led to success so he upped it to 35, then 50, 60, 70 and finally 75 calls. Eventually, he just didn’t have time for lunch at all because he was so caught up in this challenge.
 All of this hard work led him to being the CEO of the company at a young age, as well as becoming D.C.’s leading legal litigation strategist without even having a legal degree (or even completing college). He had dropped out of school because he was too busy making things happen to spend the time to learn.
 Dan created the EDGY Audit. It’s a simple 12 question multiple choice test that helps you understand your business strengths and weaknesses. Your results give you an EDGY score that’s based on:
  Extreme Behavior – Awesome isn’t ordinary, it’s extraordinary. If you’re not willing to be extreme (and get noticed), you won’t be successful.
 Disciplined Activity – You don’t know when success will strike, but you’ll be more likely to attain it if you live fit financially, spiritually, mentally and physically. “You can’t do the same things to soar as you do to crawl.”
 Giving Mindset – When you give more than they pay for, or over deliver, they will want to do business with you forever.
 Y(h)uman Strategy – People aren’t looking for the superficial. They want their needs, pains, love/loss from deep down in their souls addressed. Do this for them and for yourself and you’ll win them for life.
 

 The average score is in the 140’s, but don’t compare yourself to others. “It’s not where you’re at, it’s where you’re headed.”   Take your score and the interpretations and decide how you can go about improving these to be a more edgy and successful business person.
 Through the course of his work, Dan has interviewed thousands of people and not a single one of them ever said, “I quit, then all of a sudden life was good.” In fact, it was just the opposite; “I’m so glad I didn’t quit.” It was fighting through the tough times, when others criticized or outside forces conspired against them, that led to true success.
 Dan and I had a fun talk, and he gave us tons of great information. I’m sure you’ll get just as much out of this candid discussion as I did.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What is Dan most looking forward to accomplishing this year?
 Was there a moment of impact that set him on the entrepreneurial path?
 Does he have any mentors that help to influence his path and mindset?
 How did he get past the extremely difficult initial 20 miles of his first 100-mile run?
 

  
 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How Dan became the leading D.C. legal litigation strategist without a law degree
 How the EDGY Audit can give you insights into how you can push the edge more
 How you can spend that $125 Facebook ad budget for a bigger return
 Why it’s so important to practice like a champion
 Plus much more…
 

  
 GO MAKE AN IMPACT:
  Take the EDGY Audit for yourself and assess the scores and interpretations. Then start making changes to turn yourself into a more edgy business person.
 

  
 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Dan: Website | Facebook |  Twitter | LinkedIn
 Edgy Conversations: Website | Book | Free Stuff
 The EDGY AUDIT: Website
 

  
 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Book: ‘You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar’ | Amazon
 




Ep. 10 - Success For the Rest Of Us - with Kelsey Humphreys
Mon, 30 May 2016 10:38:28 -0400
Kelsey Humphreys is a perfect fit for our audience: enthusiastic, encouraging and freely shares her expertise in moving in the right direction as a driven entrepreneur. We were very fortunate to have her on the podcast.
 If Kelsey could choose a super power, it would be super speed. But, even though that’s not possible, there are ways that we as entrepreneurs can apply the essence of super speed to our lives. What she recommends is getting organized right from the start of your journey. Organization early on allows for outsourcing your work sooner, which is the real-life way of multiplying yourself and getting more done.
 When Kelsey started her entrepreneurial journey, her passion allowed her to accomplish a lot, but the lack of direction meant she didn’t attain any great success. She knows first-hand that many entrepreneurs go through multiple course corrections before finally understanding their true passion and using that to guide them.
 Kelsey’s book, ‘Go Solo’ is all about how to start your own small business while you keep your day job. Anybody can do it, all you need is an Instagram or a blog where you curate the content you’re interested in. As you do so, she recommends curating your content to where you want to go. That’s how she built up her fan base on her business success blog KelseyHumphreys.com.
 If you’re going to be a successful entrepreneur, one of the skills she recommends you build is your “figure it out” skillset. She was first introduced to this by her entrepreneurial father, an actual Church Growth Consultant back when you had to travel around to do that (pre-internet). He always had the attitude of “figure it out” and “make it happen.” If you don’t have this for yourself, it’s actually a muscle you can build. Every time you’re confronted with a situation where you want to shut down, stop yourself and say, “Alright, this is part of delivering my message, so I’ve got to figure it out.” The more you do this, the easier it becomes and the sooner it turns into a healthy habit.
 Kelsey’s “Success for the Rest of Us” mantra is all about avoiding overwhelm in business and making success possible through 2 doable, short and digestible steps:  
  Figure out what needs to change first. What’s holding you back from success?
 What’s the first baby step you can take to fix this? Don’t overthink or overcomplicate this step. What’s a small thing you can do to set you on the right path?
 

 This is the message she sends through her podcast  The Pursuit and through her YouTube video channel. She gives one tip through each episode, something that the average Joe or Jane can take and run with to move them forward.
 This was a fun, impactful and interesting interview with Kelsey, and I’m sure after listening to this you’ll be a fan of hers if you aren’t already.
  SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  How can entrepreneurs take the essence of the power of super speed and apply it to their daily professional and personal lives?
 What did your life look like before you overcame your driven but directionless nature?
 How can somebody start their entrepreneurial journey while still employed?
 What can the audience take away from your mantra “Success for the rest of us”?
 How do you tackle the fear of feedback?
 

  IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How you can avoid frustration at not having a clear goal for your business
 Why execution is the name of the game.
 How you can practice entrepreneurship at your own job, whatever it is right now.
 How to deal with a fear of feedback when putting yourself out there for the world to see.
 Plus much more…
 

  GO MAKE AN IMPACT:
  Put yourself on the path to success. Wake up every Monday and ask yourself:  How can I be my best self?
 How can I put out my best work?
 

 
 

  DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Kelsey: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
 The Pursuit.tv: Website
 The Pursuit Podcast:  iTunes
 Success for the Rest of Us Podcast:  iTunes
 Kelsey’s book ‘Go Solo: How to Quit the Job You Hate and Start a Small Business You Love’: Amazon
 

  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Brendon Burchard Interview on The Pursuit.tv: View
 




Ep. 9 - Living Life In The Front Row - with Jon Vroman
Mon, 23 May 2016 10:55:12 -0400
Jon Vroman is a super passionate speaker and coach and he was a blast on the podcast. He believes in giving big of himself and his expertise, and has incredible passion for helping others live a present and meaningful life.
 Jon started out as your average corporate employee until he encountered what he calls “the trifecta” that led him to entrepreneurship:
  Attended a life changing Tony Robbins conference
 At a Jason Mraz concert he sat in the back row and saw the people in the front row were having the time of their lives while he wasn’t
 Decided to run a 52-mile ultramarathon
 

 These three events opened his eyes to who he really was and his passions in life. He discovered his “why” through these three events, and after this he couldn’t not pursue this journey. So, he left the corporate gig to pursue speaking, coaching and running the charity he created called The Front Row Foundation.
 Jon credits his habit of getting “silent” to helping him find direction and to accomplish so much with his foundation. When you find ways to change your environment and get away from the distractions, it frees your mind to envision your future and to get focused on what you can do now to lead you to your goals.
 Jon’s true passion in life is the foundation. He started it back in ’05 with the intent of giving people facing critical health challenges a front row experience at the event of their dreams. This foundation combined his greatest fear with this passion: dying early and living your best experiences.
 Starting a foundation is surprisingly simple, but it’s keeping it strong that’s the real challenge. You start with passion and dedicated supporters and that can build momentum and some early wins. But it’s tough to keep up this momentum over time. Donations start to dry up as do volunteers and community support. There are two things that Jon recommends to get you past this:
  Have a clear mission and purpose for the foundation. Share the vision with supporters and the community.
 Surround yourself with the right team. Be selective in your own front row as this is critical in long-term success for any endeavor. You need to have people in your corner who you can discuss, share and co-create with you.
 

 Jon developed a powerful acronym out of the FRONT ROW:
  Follow your heart – live and work from a sense of passion
 Rise to the occasion – stand up for what you believe
 Open your mind – look around and experience it all. Don’t miss the forest for the trees.
 Never back down – don’t let anything stand in your way
 Throw your hands up – use your body for full expression, act your way into the feelings you desire
 Redefine reality – use the ability to attach new meanings to something
 Own the moment – be present and experience the now
 Win the Day – focus on winning the day, the months and years take care of themselves
 

 This was a fun, insightful and impactful podcast with Jon that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.
  
 SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What was the impactful moment that set Jon on his entrepreneurial path?
 How important is mentorship to him?
 What were some of the early challenges he faced in raising money for the foundation?
 How do people overcome a lack of skills when creating their own business?
 What are the 2 or 3 things that are holding people back in entrepreneurship and what steps can they take to move through these?
 

  
 IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  Which mentors Jon credits with changing his life.
 How taking massive action can lead to success.
 The crucial wins he first booked when raising money for his foundation.
 The power of choosing your peer group.
 Plus much more…
 

  
 GO MAKE AN IMPACT:
  Make a list of your 10 closest friends with their biggest goals and ask yourself every day, “What am I doing to help my best friends to hit their #1 goals?”
 

  
 DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about John and the Front Row Factor: Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
 The Front Row Foundation: Website
 The Front Row Factor Podcast:  iTunes
 




Ep. 8 - Make your relationships PROFIT – with Susie Miller
Mon, 16 May 2016 07:00:00 -0400
 It was lovely having Susie Miller on the podcast. She’s a successful entrepreneur, podcaster, author and a Huffington Post contributing writer.
 
 Susie’s super power is her willingness to discuss openly and honestly any topic. She feels that when people share and talk openly about what they’re feeling it builds collaboration and community, benefitting everyone.
 She knows first-hand how hard it is to have a spouse and run your own business at the same time. “Entrespouse” is a term gaining in popularity and is something that Susie speaks to quite a bit. Often a spouse can feel like they’re competing with the business for the attention of the entrepreneur in the couple. This can really hurt the relationship.
 In her work over the years with entrepreneurs, she found that “A lot of people were bankrupting their relationships in pursuit of success.”
 Because of this issue, she found a way to tag the entrepreneur’s natural concern for profits to their personal life. This lead Susie to the P.R.O.F.I.T. Method.
 Priorities – We have plans for business or work, but not for our relationships. The things that are important to our spouses should be important to us. Every entrepreneur needs to understand how their actions communicate to their spouse.
 Rekindle – Over the years relationships can go from romance to roommates. We often get consumed with all we do for our businesses and we neglect our spouse. Rekindling the romance in the relationship has long-term benefits for the marriage.
 Open-up – Communication skills are of utmost importance in business and in maintaining important relationships. Having conversations, whether serious or fun and silly, are important as long as what’s being discussed is meaningful to both of you. Be aware of sharing too much or too little.
 Focus – Being present is an important part of business success, and it’s also a major part of relational success. When you’re at work, be there 100%. When you’re in your relationship, be there 100%. You also need to learn how to get back to the present moment when something pulls you away temporarily.
 Intentional Interactions – Be intentional in your interactions, and you can even utilize the technology you use daily in your business to bring you closer to your spouse.
 Tenacity – It takes hard work for a relationship to stay strong over time. You have to be tenacious and be willing to work hard on it. Be honest with your spouse in what will make your relationship be a lasting one.
 Susie said something that will strike home with many entrepreneurs:
 “Entrepreneurship is like a high-wire solo act, and marriage is about sharing and stability and two becoming one. They are so diametrically opposite that you really have to pause and think about it.”
 Susie was a delight to speak with and she’s so insightful and experienced when it comes to helping entrepreneurs develop and maintain their relationships outside of the businesses they run. I learned so much from her and I’m sure you will as well.
  SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  Why is Susie an entrepreneur?
 Was there a personal moment that led to her discovering the entrepreneur lifestyle?
 Was there a mentor or somebody who has really impacted her life and guided her?
 Does she have any stories about rock star couples who have turned their relationships around due to her help?
 What are some questions that entrepreneurs can ask themselves to engage their thinking and build up their relationships?
 

  IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  About the mentors that Susie has drawn much wisdom from
 Some stories from successful couples that she has coached
 Some questions that entrepreneurs can ask themselves to keep them on the right relational paths
 The type of legacy that Susie wants to leave the world with
 Plus much more…
 

  GO MAKE AN IMPACT:
  Regarding your own relationships, ask yourself:  Am I really listening to what my spouse is saying and communicating?
 What can I learn and embrace about my spouse today?
 How does my spouse show love, and how do they want love expressed to them?
 

 
 

  DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Susie: Website
 The Better Relationship Podcast:  iTunes
 Susie’s book ‘Listen, Learn, Love: How to Dramatically Improve Your Relationships in 30 Days or Less!’: Amazon
 

  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  Michael Hyatt’s Best Year Ever: Website
 Dan Miller of 48 Days: Website
 




Ep. 7 - From Fronting a Rock Band to Sales Industry Expert and Game Changer – with Anthony Iannarino
Mon, 09 May 2016 07:00:00 -0400
I was fortunate to have Anthony Iannarino on the podcast this week. He’s a successful blogger, podcaster, public speaker and writer. He shares with us his wisdom regarding success, nurturing relationships, mindset, using your time wisely, and having an “other-oriented” sales outlook.
 Anthony’s entrepreneurial journey is all about helping people by doing meaningful and purposeful work. He first found success in blogging with his ‘The Sales Blog’ website through consistently putting out great content related to sales and nurturing relationships with your clientele. Now Hhe’s also putting his message out through his podcast ‘In the Arena’ where he interviews successful people in the sales and entrepreneurial world.
 While success is different for everybody, Anthony thinks there are a few key questions to guide you on your path:
  What do you love to do?
 What will make your life meaningful?
 If you’re not doing this now, what would be meaningful work to you?
 

 Entrepreneurship is about finding an area where you can make a difference and a contribution, one in which you can use your passions to fuel your work
 When it comes to helping sales people, Anthony knows firsthand the pain associated with not achieving the outcomes you desire. He suggests that you avoid emotional attachment to outcomes by being flexible and detached from sales process. Maybe you envisioned things going one way, but the client said “no.” It’s time to pivot and find another angle to approach the problem from. You can accept temporary defeat but choose to stick with it; play the long game and win later.
 Anthony wrote a great article about this called “Why Fast Is Slow.” It’s about slowing down the sales process and working at a relational level with the client. Human relationships are built on trust, and moving fast doesn’t build trust; it takes time.
 There are two levels of selling:
  Commodity – this is a transactional approach (think Amazon or Walmart)
 Relational – this is a people approach, taking the time to build relationships. People are willing to pay premiums for this relationship (think mom and pop or “Cheers” where everybody knows your name)
 

 One huge downfall of the sales process that Anthony discusses is the self-oriented way salespeople often approach their clients.
 “The more self-oriented you are, the less other-oriented you are. The more other-oriented you are, the greater the benefits accrue to you and the faster you get the things you want.”
 This idea has been around for a long time, and it rings true even more today than ever before. The more you help and support others, the more you’ll receive.
 Another thing that Anthony is passionate about is controlling what he spends his time doing. We all have the same amount of time and your choices are your own. You have the time to get stuff done provided you can ignore the distractions. Instead of one hour on Facebook, spending that time more productively can produce tremendous results:
  Prospecting for clients
 Making cold calls to clients and nurturing those relationships
 Taking your team out to lunch to deepen that relationship
 

 “I don’t have the time” means you’re saying yes to small things but no to the big things. Being consistent and doing a little bit everyday will get you there. “500 words per day will get you a book in 90 days.”
 Anthony put this idea to work in creating his upcoming book, ‘The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need’ coming out October 11th, 2016. It’s about what you need to do now to sell well. The first half of the book is personal development and “Me Management.” The second half is full of workable sales strategies organized by “pick your weakness” chapters.
 I truly enjoyed my talk with Anthony and learned a lot from it, as I’m sure you will as well.
  SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:
  What moment launched Anthony on this trajectory?
 How have his mentors helped him?
 How does he avoid emotional attachments to outcomes?
 How does he know his sales presentation isn’t self-oriented?
 How did he overcome the adversities he hit early in life?
 

  IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:
  How you know you’re on the right path
 How Anthony defines and pursues success
 How being other-orientated in the sales process will lead to more sales
 About the fallacy in believing you’re too busy
 Plus much more…
 

  GO MAKE AN IMPACT:
  Spend one hour taking your team out to lunch to deepen that relationship
 

  DON’T STOP HERE…
  Learn more about Anthony: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter
 

  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
  “Why Fast Is Slow” Article: Read
 “7 Ways You Prove That You Are Self-Oriented” Article:  Read
 ‘In The Arena Podcast’:  iTunes | Website
 ‘The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need’ available October 11th, 2016: Amazon Pre-order
 

 


Ep. 6 - Cameron Herold On Supercharging Your Focus
Mon, 02 May 2016 07:00:00 -0400
Cameron Herold has taken 20 years of experience operating some
of the biggest business success stories in North America and turned
it into a flourishing career as both a motivational speaker and
management consultant. Cameron is a business coach and mentor to
several companies, and a CEO coach to large corporations globally.
He is also the best-selling author of 
Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years
or Less.
 
If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and
how would you use it?
I’d pick the one my oldest son has and it’s his smile. Every
time he smiles, the whole world stops.
 
Was there an impact moment that led you on this journey
to being an entrepreneur?
I was groomed by my father to be an entrepreneur, but the real
moment that showed me that being an entrepreneur was where I wanted
to be was one day my dad took me to a golf course in the middle of
the day. He pointed out to me all the people who were playing golf
at twelve o’clock, and what company they owned. His lesson was, the
people who could play golf in the middle of the day are the ones
who control their free time, and the way they control their free
time is by controlling the way they make their money which is by
running their own company.
 
How has mentorship impacted you and influenced your
outlook?
The mentoring for me comes in various forms. The first is
focusing where I’m going, the second is having a mentor board of
advisors that I could always learn from, and the third is
surrounding myself with others in masterminds who are learning in
the same focused area.
 
Entrepreneurs are wired differently than the rest of
society:
Most have the following traits:

Are often filled with energy
Are flooded with ideas
Are driven
Are restless
Are unable to keep still
Works on little sleep
Get euphoric
Get easily irritated by minor obstacles
Gets burnt out periodically
Acts out sexually / flirting
Feels persecuted by those who do not accept their vision


 
Those aren’t necessarily traits that describe entrepreneurs.
They are actually clinically diagnosed traits for bi-polar
disorder. Most entrepreneurs have the traits of manic depression.
We also have a lot of the signs of attention deficit disorder.
 
According to the medical community, we’re disasters. We should
be medicated. The reality is we are sane. We’re wired exactly the
way we’re supposed to be wired. They should not be medicating us.
We should learn how to actually leverage those strengths and not
call them weaknesses anymore because they’re absolutely strengths
that we have.
 
What we need is for the entrepreneurs to rise
up and say, “Stop medicating our kids. Stop saying there’s
something wrong with them. Maybe they’re wired exactly as they’re
supposed to be. Maybe this is how they’re supposed to think.”, and
starting to show the education system they can actually function in
high functional ways if they would try to accommodate for those
styles.

How can entrepreneurs get supercharged
focus?

Write down what your company looks like in 3 years, described
in vivid detail on a 3-4 document. Then share it with all of your
employees so that everyone is on the same page.
Continually surround yourself with people that are stronger
than you in the areas that you’re not strong in. Focus your effort
around the stuff that you’re great at.

Start delegating everything else except genius.



Make sure that you’re setting the right goals: annual,
quarterly, monthly, weekly & daily. Get an accountability
partner. Every day, set your daily top 3 business goals and send
them to each other using the CommitTo3

When you commit your goals to someone in writing, there’s a
higher chance that they’re actually going to get done.



Recognize you need breaks in your day. Only schedule 60-70% of
your calendar during the day and leaving the rest as open, free
time or project work. Allow yourself to sit in different parts of
your home or business.
Use a Pomodoro app. Focus in bursts.
Stop beating yourself up for not being focused for 12 hours a
day day or 5 days a week.



We need to give ourselves a little bit of a break and allow
ourselves to hyperfocus for maybe 8 hours a week, do some buffer
work for 16-20 hours a week, and then have lots of free time &
breaks scheduled in between just to recharge our brains.

How can entrepreneurs and leaders approach leading teams
that consists of four different generations?
We need to understand how each generation works & leverage
their strengths, and also teach each other. Traditionalists and
baby boomers can learn a ton from Gen X, Gen Y & Gen Z on
leveraging technology. Gen X, Y & Z can learn a ton on business
processes, planning, and leveraging networking the old fashion way
& truly building deep relationships.

How did you enroll “the dream manager” into
1-800-GOT-JUNK?
On day one, get your employees to write down their bucket list.
Your role is to help coach people and connect them to people, and
get them to start crossing things off their bucket list.

Imagine you could start getting people on your team to achieve
the things they want to do before they die, and how much more
engaged they’d be in the company.

In your book, you talk about the 5 stages of the
rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship. How can entrepreneurs
approach that Crisis of Meaning (questioning the meaning
of life) stage, and what are the steps they should follow to get to
the Hopeful Realization stage?
You need to relax your brain and take disconnect times from work
or you’ll never be recharged enough to hit the ground running.

Why is important to take time and reflect on the
past?
Instead of being busy and learning from everybody else, it’s
important to dig deep and ask, “What have I learned from me?”.
Instead of reading a book of someone else’s experience, why don’t
we tap into our own experiences.

I am probably the best mentor I can have for myself if I
will allow myself to be introspective and look at my contributions
to my successes and failures.

How will you measure your life?
Right now it’s on my ability to raise good kids. Our role is to
raise nice young adults, and to raise happy, healthy children so
they can leave the nest.

Last words of wisdom
At the end of the day, let’s not take ourselves so seriously.
Can we just wake up in the morning and start having fun with what
we do? Let’s leave others that we touch every day with a sense of
our smile, our fun and our healthy enjoyment of life cause at the
end of the day none of us are getting out of this alive. We might
as well have fun along the way.

Show Links
Cameron’s Website - CameronHerold.com
Meetings
Suck, Cameron’s newest book on Amazon

Double Double on Amazon
“Let’s
Raise Kids to Be Entrepreneurs” Tedx Talk
Commit To 3 App - CommitTo3.com
FocusTime (Pomodoro app) - FocusTimeapp.com


Ep. 5 – The Difference Between Listening & Waiting To Talk – with Dave Kerpen
Mon, 25 Apr 2016 07:00:00 -0400
If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
I would choose the ability to read people’s minds and I would use it know what people were thinking at all times.
 
Why are you an entrepreneur? Was there an impact moment that led you to this path?
It was our sponsored wedding that got us thinking we could build businesses, but I’ve always had some entrepreneurial thinking. What I teach my kids now is to think about solving problems creatively and if you can figure out how to do that, you can probably solve other people’s problems and build a business doing that.
 
What do you want readers to take away from reading The Art of People? 
“Everything you get out of life is a result of your interactions with other people.” 
What The Art of People is all about is how can you live your life in a way that is going to make people want to do things for you, and position yourself to be the person people think about when they want to help someone.
The number one thread is the power of listening, and listening better than you do today. Most people aren’t listening, they’re waiting to talk. If you’re waiting to talk, you can’t possibly be listening for meaning and understanding, and that’s where you can get to the heart of connecting with other people. If you want to become a better listener, it comes with intention and practice.

What’s the most important question they should ask in order to stand out, and what should they do to stay top of mind with their colleagues and customers?

Ask them “How can I help you?” with sincerity
Share content that people like on social media



What are some quick tips people can execute immediately to change their social media strategy to stay in front of people?
Find out what your keywords are for when people talk about you or the problem you solve.

How is tapping through someone’s stories on Snapchat going to be a gamechanger? 
It represents how people communicate with each other. It’s more like the real world where if you say something, it doesn’t last forever. Real life is just random moments.

What is the most underrated key in networking?
Build your own personal brand. Make your own distinction on your outfit. What can you do that makes yourself stand out a little bit and helps brand you over time?

How will you measure your life?
I will measure it by the impact that I have on others and my family through my business, books, speaking and everything else to come.

Show Links
Take the People Assessment - ArtofPeopleQuiz.com
Dave’s company Likeable Media - Likeable.com
Likeable Local - LikeableLocal.com
Dave’s website - davekerpen.ceo
Follow Dave on Snapchat - @DaveKerpen
Email Dave at dave@likeable.com


Ep. 4 - Daniel Harkavy, Best-Selling Author of 'Living Forward'
Mon, 18 Apr 2016 13:20:27 -0400
If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
If I had to pick a superpower it'd have to be healing, the ultimate physician and healer. I can't think of a more powerful and impactful superpower. If I could touch anybody and all of a sudden ailment and disease are taken away, I think that wins.
 
What was the impact moment that launched you on the path of entrepreneurship?
The idea of Building Champions came to me after taking a sabbatical from the mortgage banking world. What fueled my passion for this business was that I loved the coaching piece of my last job. I really excelled at management and my style of management was to work with really talented, hungry, humble people and help go further, faster.
Something that really excited me was owning my own company. I was surrounded by entrepreneurs from my grandparents to aunts and uncles. They were all startup kind of folks. I saw that as really real and possible.
 
Can you tell us a story of a mentor in your life who impacted your mindset and influenced outlook on your life and business?
I'm always comfortable with asking people for help. I will always people for a cup of coffee. I will always ask people for 30 minutes.
I always pushed myself to get out of my comfort zone. Therefore it enabled me to meet with a bunch a people that other people might be intimidated by.
 
You co-authored Living Forward with Michael Hyatt, but you were the first one to introduce him to the concept?
I started coaching Michael and walked him through the Life Planning process which is one of the things we outlined in Living Forward. It made a profound impact on him, his thinking, his beliefs, his behaviors, and he's grown immensely since then. He loved Life Planning. He began sharing it. He wrote an ebook off our process, and then a couple years later approached me and said, "Hey, would you like to write this book with me?" and I said, "Dude I'm going to write it, so let's give it a go together." I'm really grateful we came together and created the Living Forward piece.
 
What is a Life Plan, and why do we need it?
This Life Plan has your vision, your purpose, your primary role, and then it has specific actions that you can implement on a daily and weekly basis, so that every time you do you’re mindful of increasing net worth in all those areas. So it helps you to see what’s really important to you, and how you can strategically close the gap from current reality to that future state. A Life Plan is a dynamic tool that you plan from. It helps you to make more intentional decisions.
You need one because most of us drift through life. Most of us will not tend to what matters most today. We buy a lie that we can get to it tomorrow. You need one so you don’t amass great net worth in certain accounts in your life, and go bankrupt in some others that are really important.
 
“How you lead life, impacts how you lead others. People don’t leave companies, they leave leaders.”

What are the main questions we need to be asking ourselves as we approach completing our Life Plan 
Am I ready to fill my days with more intentionality? Am I at a place where I don’t want to feel like I’m out of control anymore? Am I at a place in my life where I know no matter what, I’m not going to get it all done, but I need to get the right things done?

What would you tell a 21-year old who looks at the word “legacy” and doesn’t think it applies to them?
The sooner you come to grips with your mortality, and the opportunity you have today to make a difference - regardless of how young you are - you can make a huge difference today, but you’ve got to be crystal clear on what matters most to you. This world today doesn’t need a bunch of people to just say yes and go along with the trend. What we need is people who stand for something.

What impact can we expect to see from completing the Life Plan?
You’re going to see impact everywhere. I’m not saying if you do it you’re going to have this perfect life. What is does is position to be filling your days and reacting to whatever life throws your way in ways that enable you to make proactive and intentional decisions. You’re in control more than you think so there’s peace in that. At the end of the day, when you look at your life 30 years from now, if you do this, you’re going to have a much high probability of living a regret-free life.

How will you measure your life?
What fans my flames is how I impact others. My life’s going to be measured by how I live out my gifts, my callings, my passions, my purpose so I make a positive and lasting difference in the life of everybody I come into contact with.

Show Links
Daniel’s Coaching Company - buildingchampions.com
Living Forward book - livingforwardbook.com
Living Forward Life Assesment - livingforwardassessment.com
Facebook/Twitter - @DanielHarkavy


Ep. 3 - Amy Cosper, Editor-In-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 02:03:00 -0400
“On the other side of fear is success.”
 On this episode of The Impact Entrepreneur Show we have Amy Cosper, vice president and editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine.
 
If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
Having the ability to fly, and see all kinds of things, and go on all kinds of adventures.
I think that having a superpower that lends itself to adventures is good for the human spirit. The ability to see things from different perspectives is good for the soul.
 
Who is a person whose impacted you as a leader and entrepreneur?
The person who gave me sense of confidence and natural curiosity was my mother.
My mother exposed me to a lot of different things which gave me a different world view and an appreciation for all things adventurous, and just having the ability to be curious.
 
Do you think there’s a critical thinking gap in entrepreneurship today, and what advantages do entrepreneurs that possess the ability to think critically and write well have over those who don’t possess those skills?
I think there are always gaps in critical thinking. The entrepreneurs and business people who are layered up with business degrees and masters of their crafts, but they’re not always the most creative thinkers. I think that it’s a gap that’s largely brought on my academics.
 
What is one trait that you see in entrepreneurs that significantly enhances the probability of success?
Clarity of vision. They can tell you in 3 sentences or less what their idea, company or service is. Their idea keeps them up at night. There’s a passion that comes from a gut level and drives them towards their vision.
 
What are some ways that entrepreneurs can measure their confidence and make sure it’s not flipping into arrogance?
Staying true to your mission, and not doing things because they’re cool. Keeping the silliness in check and keeping true to yourself and your mission without all the bull s**t is how you keep arrogance out of your organization. The minute you introduce it in, it creates toxicity.
 
What are some steps entrepreneurs can do to make sure they stay true to their vision?
Know where you’re going. Focus on the execution and look for opportunities. Know what you want to accomplish.
 
What are some of the trends you see happening as it relates to bootstrapping in the future?
Crowdfunding and the peer-to-peer nature of business is going to increase. It’s going to increase opportunities and ideas and collaboration. The laws of crowdfunding are changing on May 19th where the platforms will be allowed to accept much larger investments.
Hand in hand with that is social media. The impact and reach and power of these free platforms in business is unprecedented. You can launch an entire company on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. You don’t even need a marketing department.
 
What are some ways small companies can break through the noise on social media?
If you want to have a presence, you need to be on social media in some capacity. You need to understand your universe and you need to understand who you are trying to attract. The way to do that is to watch successful brands and how they are engaging their customers and prospects on social media. It’s never a hard sell. It’s always becoming a part of the conversation of your target area. Go out there and pick a big brand and observe. It’s not going to cost you anything. Figure out how to make those successful models work for your model.
 
How will you measure life?
The way I measure the impact my life every day is if I can impact one person’s day with something I’ve created or written and inspire them to greatness, if I can inspire one person every single month to be great that is how I measure my career and my life.
 
Parting words of wisdom:
Don’t let your fear paralyze your creativity. Go forth and conquer. It’s okay to have stage fright. It’s not easy, but if you want want to be an entrepreneur, if you want to succeed, you have to get to the other side of that fear barrier.
 
Show Links:
Read Amy’s Articles via: Entrepreneur.com/author/amy-cosper
Pitch Ideas to Amy via Twitter: @amyccosper


Ep. 2 - Jordan Harbinger from The Art Of Charm Podcast
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 02:02:00 -0400
“Authenticity is hard because it requires us knowing who we are before we can be ‘authentic.’ Develop the hell out of yourself so that you know what you want and what you don’t want.”
On this episode of The Impact Entrepreneur Show we have Jordan Harbinger, founder of The Art of Charm, an iTunes Top 50 podcast, and advanced social skills training program for top performers.
 
If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
Freeze time. This has so many applications. You decide, “Oh man, I’m not getting enough stuff done!” No problem; freeze time, go to sleep, wake up fully rested, keep outworking everybody.
 
What are you most excited about?
I’m excited about is moving the show [The Art of Charm Podcast] forward, and getting better at the craft of talking to other people and creating the show. So feasibly, my goal is to become one of the best interviewers in the world where it becomes a right of passage to come on the show.
 
How do you decide what opportunities to pursue and what to pass on?
The way that I started promoting the show was “I’m going to do every podcast, I’m going to say yes to everything”. What I found was, after a while I got sick of being interviewed poorly. So I created a focused filter of things that make me happy and things that move my business forward. I choose my opportunities like I choose my tools
 
How have you evolved and remained true to your vision over the years?
I don’t know if we have. We’re constantly evolving what we teach and what we do. The intent is being helpful to other people and not be spammy internet marketers. We always knew that we couldn’t sleep well at night creating a crappy business and it had to be something that had longevity. We’re playing long game and so a lot of our decisions have been made in that way.
 
How did you overcome the obstacles you’ve faced?
A lot of what we have that’s worked for us is delusional confidence in the product, as in “This is gonna work even if we have to change it a thousand times we’re probably not going to go out of business because this is so good. We have the idea. We have the technology. It’s gonna work. We’re smart. We can figure this out.” That kind of confidence.
 
How do you go about changing one’s mindset it 6 day span after a lifetime of bad habits?
The way that we change habits in that super short amount of time is that we don’t change your habits in that short amount of time. We give you 6 months of prep before your program. You have a lot of drills and exercises. There’s pre-calls with the coach before the program. Then you come in for the week-long live component. After the program, we have an alumni network, and a follow up program. It’s just the live component part of the program that’s a week.
 
How will you measure your life?
I really want to put as much knowledge, information, and practical stuff out there as I can. It’s like, have I really left it all out on the table? The real way I would probably measure my life is whether my kids are great productive members of society or whether they’re crappy.
 
Parting words of wisdom:
“Legacy is greater than currency” helps you make decisions better than you normally would.
 
Show Links:
Art of Charm: ArtofCharm.com
Twitter: @theartofcharm
Email: jordan@theartofcharm.com


Ep. 1 - Nancy Hawley & Sara Kalick of SY/Partners, Unstuck, & Leadfully
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 02:01:00 -0400
Impact Entrepreneur: Someone who is impacting the world or their industry with their product, service or platform.
 
On this episode of The Impact Entrepreneur Show we have Nancy Hawley and Sara Kalick. Both are Vice Presidents and General Managers of their respective app products at SY/Partners in New York.
 
Nancy spent a years in her early career doing digital content at large publishing companies like Time Inc. and Condé Nast. She was part of the Unstuck launch team and has been with SY/Partners for 5+ years. She considers herself a “maker by nature, entrepreneur by circumstance.”
 
Sara considers herself a “professional storyteller”. In her early career she managed nightclubs and ran bars, and also worked in fashion. She went to business school in Spain and learned about design thinking and innovation. Sara then took that knowledge and applied during her internship at SY/Partners, where she was responsible for running their strategy group. She now works on one SY/Partners newest tools, Leadfully.
 
SY/Partners helps leaders transform their organizations, their teams, and themselves. Their mission statement is:
 
“In a world that too easily settles for less, we believe that it’s worthy work to envision, believe in, and fight for greatness. That’s the work we do every day.”
 
 
What it’s like to work for SY/Partners?
 
Sara:

SY/Partners is about all about change, and transforming to meet the needs of the world.
Creates opportunity for people to be entrepreneurial within the organization.


 
Nancy:

The company thinks differently of how everyone works together.
I’ve never worked at a place that’s so collaborate, and with so little ego.
There aren’t politics or hidden agendas. Everyone is together with the same purpose and everyone has a voice at the table.


 
 
 
If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
 
Nancy: Visual design. Design is critical to the work we do.
Sara: Helping people figure out who they want to be and how to get there.
 
 
What’s your favorite tool on Unstuck?
                  
A tool incorporated in the Unstuck app is Tell Me Why, and it helps you get to the root of why you aren’t doing something. Unstuck is designed to help you dig up the answer that you already have inside, but won’t give yourself.
 
Get Your Game On is a planning tool for people who don’t like to plan.
 
Pros vs. Pros primarily for “wafflers” or people who can’t decide. You write all the effects of all options, and then sort them by importance.
 
About Leadfully
 
Helping individual leaders at companies be their best selves. Our hope is to give people practical tools in order to start taking action and building new behaviors.
 
 
Show Links:
Website: SYPartners.com
Twitter: @SYPartners
Unstuck App: Unstuck.com
Leadfully Tool: Leadfully.com


Ep. 0 - Brace For Impact with Mike Flynn
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 02:00:00 -0400
Welcome to The Impact Entrepreneur Podcast!
 
Music for this episode comes courtesy of Sylence - check him out at www.sylencemusic.com