Shock Your Potential

Dear Oprah - L. Y. Marlow

“It doesn't matter where you come from or what you did, you can step into who you were put on this earth to be. “ L. Y. Marlow
Breaking historical patterns doesn’t happen easily. This is especially true when it runs across multiple generations. It requires a strong will power and commitment to break off and out of such circumstances and that is what our guest today L. Y. Marlow, did. Marlow went through years of hard work and persistence to be a different story as well as to enable multiple generations tell their story and change it for the better.
L.Y. Marlow is an award-winning author and sought-after empowerment advocate and influencer whose life journey took her from a legacy of domestic violence to the opulence of corporate America and now to a life devoted to inspiring other women. L.Y.’s story would be notable enough given her tenacity to shatter the status quo, but it would be her courageous decision to step down from a progressive and stellar 20+ year corporate career to pursue her passion and write her award-winning Color Me Butterfly—the compelling and heart wrenching story behind the national organization she founded Saving Promise—inspired by five generations of mothers and daughters in her family that survived more than sixty years of domestic violence, including her granddaughter, a little girl named Promise.
This heartfelt and captivating story of tragedy to triumph inspired her memoir Don’t Look at the Monster: One Woman’s Journey to Embrace a Purposeful Life and MonsteRise—a women empowerment brand to inspire women to confront their fears and embrace their passion, purpose and power!
In today’s episode, Marlow will talk about her life journey and the events that led her to the business she does today.
Listen in!
Social Media
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/lymarlow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monste.rise.56
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lymarlow/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LYMarlow
Clubhouse: @lymarlow 
My journey started nearly fifty years ago, when I was in corporate America and I was at the top of my game. [4:27]
I grew up in poverty and in one of the most crime infested projects in Philadelphia. [4:40]
I was the first in my family to eventually leave Wilson Park and go to school for 16 years at night to earn three degrees. [4:58]
I had my daughter when I was 17 and was in an abusive relationship and I made a decision I was going to get up out of there. [5:20]
It would be 20 years into my career, that I got a call that my daughter had almost been killed through domestic violence which ultimately changed the shift of my life. [5:50]
I had published my first book called “Colour Me Butterfly,” about four generations that were trapped, suffered and survived 60 plus years of domestic violence. [6:03]
I wrote a letter to Oprah, about how my daughter was strangled and nearly killed for the second time and how, as a mother, was in pain. [6:50]
The words eventually led me to launch a national organization called Save me promise. [7:38]
I walked away from corporate America and had no idea how to do that or what my potential was because I was going through a tough time. [7:53]
No matter what I was coming against, I knew my life was purposeful and I was going to not only step up out of that, but pay it forward to help other women. [8:58]
Whatever you want in your life is 80% of mindset and 20% of strategy. [10:46]
My breakthrough in my mindset came when talking to a friend and I said that everything is a gift, a lesson or a blessing. [10:54]
Now even when I get annoyed I try to look for the gift, the lesson or the blessing in the situation. [12:45]
I now have come to acknowledge in these last few years that Oprah did me a favor by saying no. [13:29]
I had to go on and figure out how to build this organization on my own and step into it in a way that I not only believe in it, but it is me. [13:59]
I took my mission, my vision for Saving Promise and I launched a second company called Master rise. [16:16]
I teach women how to launch their business where I have a three-day intense mastermind and by the end of that third day you have a blueprint and on a path to launching your business in 90 days. [16:30]
I'm so good at helping women to strategize and to step outside of their lives and see a different perspective and how to get from point A to point B. [16:54]
Commercial break. [18:18]
I have learnt to be resilient and I didn't understand it until I was looking back at those times when I struggled where despite of the situation I always come out on the other end of it with resilience. [19:56]
I've learned to be vulnerable and stopped trying to put up a face that everything is perfect and also learned to accept help. [20:45]
Everything in your life is a gift, a lesson or a blessing and remember it is not always bow wrapped. [26:24]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

Become Best Friends With Money - Gull Khan

“Your inner world has to change in order for the external world to change. “
Often our experiences shape our mindsets and behaviors as well as determine how we respond to situations. Sometimes these experiences may not be the most ideal and end up leaving us with damaging energies that do not serve our best interests. It is therefore important to be self-aware and according to our guest today, Gull Khan, it all starts with acknowledging your inner self and have the willingness to work to be better.  
Gull Khan is an International #1 best-selling author, international speaker, podcaster, Barrister, Attorney, Solicitor, Intuitive Life Coach, an EFT expert, an Energy healer, a Money Mindset expert, and a Mother. 
 
Gull is a former Banking and Finance Lawyer, who left her corporate job to pursue her passion and become a Money Mindset Expert and Healer. She helps Entrepreneurs break free from their limiting beliefs about money so that they can live a life of unlimited abundance. 
Gull successfully overcame her battle with dyslexia and then completed her Law Degree at Queen Mary, University of London. She then went on to become a Barrister with Middle Temple (UK), Attorney with the New York Bar and a fully qualified Solicitor with the Law Society of England and Wales in the UK. As a lawyer, she has worked for some of the top international law firms, such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Herbert Smith as well as international companies, such as Shell Inc.
Gull is a trained Intuitive Life Coach and a certified Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) expert, with a special focus on money in each discipline. Gull has helped hundreds of men and women to heal their money stories and to manifest between $2000 to $830,000 within 8 weeks. 
Gull lives with her two children, two cats in London and has two passions, money and Bollywood.
In this episode, Gull will talk about her experiences growing up and how these experiences led her to what she does today.
Listen in!
Social Media: 
Free Gift: https://www.abundancemindsetmakeover.com/free-gift1
Abundance Workshop: www.abundancemindsetmakeover.com
Podcast website: https://moneymindsetwithgullkhan.podbean.com/
Book: www.lawsofmoney.com
Everything I teach is something that I've experienced firsthand in my own life and I've sort of come to an awareness around it. [5:08]
I didn’t succeed very well as a child but I was dyslexic. [5:28]
I was raised by a single mother and worked hard to complete my studies and became a barrister and an attorney at the same time and later on qualified as a solicitor as well. [6:02]
I set myself a target to become a millionaire before 30 and come 27 I hit that target. [6:34]
I went through similar events my mother went through and I never realized until my aunt pointed out to me. [6:54]
The realization was pivotal because instead of going into the victim mode, I decided I had to deal with my own energy and spiritual situations. [8:52]
My mastermind is based on the 10 core principles which I had to do myself. [10:14]
I had to experience and had to learn how to let go and forgive myself, as well as everyone else who played a part in creating the life of mine. [10:37]
Now when somebody else comes to me, I give them a step by step methodology, which changes their life beyond recognition. [10:51]
This stuff works because you have to experience it spiritually and move emotionally as well as go through the pain of removing the energy to get the transformation. [11:47]
One of the best things that I learned after forgiveness was early money paradigm and that scenario drummed into me how important our earliest money paradigms are. [13:04]
Zero to seven years of age is the primary age for your subconscious programming where people learn about everything. [13:19]
I realized I had to change the energetic imprint in me because even though I didn't consciously agree with the belief system, subconsciously I did which were reflected and reinforced. [14:01]
Your inner world has to change in order for the external world to change. [14:55]
We are too quick to judge ourselves and other people around us based on our external reality, and we don't want to take the personal responsibility for what shows up in our world. [15:02]
Most of the times we go into previous habits and those habits come from our normal way of thinking which in turn comes from our subconscious programming. [19:40]
Commercial break. [23:47]
What I found with my clients, and myself was all these excuses that we come up about what we don’t have. [26:02]
The self image is a major factor where we often get stuck in our own stories and focus more on our shortfalls. [27:01]
Entrepreneurial journey is a roller coaster and you have to take both the highs and lows with a pinch of salt. [27:15]
If you have issues with money, it will reflect in your business so you need to work more on your mindset. [27:47]
If you are not ready to fail, you are not ready for success as an entrepreneur. [28:38]
All entrepreneur I have met say the same thing and that is that they failed more often than they [28:45]
If you haven't done the inner work, the first sign of failure and even subsequent ones will make you give up. [29:13]
The third important thing is defining reasons why you want to be an entrepreneur and once you do, failure will not an option. [29:23]
You are only a failure if you stop trying and so by keeping on in the face of failure, you learn lessons which will give you the biggest boost. [33:51]
Every situation has an equal weight in goodness as it has the opposite, it just depends which way you look at it. [34:39]
Constantly have the attitude that you can do anything and when you do that you find that you win regardless of what is thrown at you. [35:50]
The one thing that you are supposed to be doing with money is becoming best friends with money and treat it with dignity and respect that it deserves. [39:40]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

Zone of Genius - Maria Carras

“Consistency is the key to pretty much anything you do in life.” Maria Carras
Entrepreneurial opportunities often avail themselves to people in the most unconventional way. Having that wit and passion is what is required to identify and grab these opportunities and work towards scaling them up into thriving businesses. Our guest today, Maria Carras, was able to do just that and says it’s all about consistency and persistence.
Maria Carras is the CEO & Founder of Maria Carras | Creative Virtual Assistance -- a training membership for virtual assistants and matchmaking service for business owners seeking marketing & admin support.
After running her own successful virtual assistance agency for 7 years, Maria now coaches & mentors new and established virtual assistants through her Inner Circle membership, her coaching programs, courses, and free Facebook community of over 1,700+ passion-driven women, the Start, Market & Grow Your Virtual Assistant Business community. She has helped hundreds of women launch as location-independent virtual assistants and has helped over 200 business owners create freedom in their business by matching them with their right-fit virtual assistant.
In today’s episode, Maria will talk about her business and what motivated her to get into entrepreneurship as well as the success factors that have led her business to thrive.
Listen in!
Social Handles
https://Instagram.com.carrascreative.com/
https://Twitter.com/carrascreative/
https://facebook.com/mcarrascreative/
I have the big passion to help women sort of create a similar path that I did for my own business. [2:59]
I became an entrepreneur about 2011, but I kind of followed a very traditional path and I went to university and thought I'd get a corporate job, climb the ladder and later retire. [3:08]
All of a sudden, I kind of fell into entrepreneurship by becoming sort of a virtual assistant when I moved from London to Greece. [3:30]
When I started, I got more clients than I could handle myself and I started to build a team where I subcontracted work to them. [4:41]
I thought that I needed to let more people know about this, especially the women who were finding it really hard to either go back to work or find jobs. [5:06]
Now, the demand is never going to go down for virtual assistants because we're living in this world where mostly everyone is working remotely. [5:33]
A lot of people are turning to side hustles, or getting laid off from their jobs, and they're looking for other opportunities, and building their own businesses. [5:45]
The demand for virtual assistants is really going up and it's a great time to kind of explore this opportunity. [5:54]
You get people to shock their potential by getting them to focus on their zone of genius and handing off everything that isn't within their zone of genius. [7:20]
Virtual assistants give you your time back where you can focus on what brings you revenue and grow your business. [7:38]
I hope to help entrepreneurs by making them realize that, even though they’re feeling like they're not ready to hire a virtual assistant. [7:57]
The time that we're living in, so many brick and mortar businesses are having to turn to digital means of reaching their customers and many are not familiar. [11:44]
That's where VA could really come in and guide you and help you do that. [11:58]
We've matched about 200 virtual assistants in the past year, which is incredible. [13:24]
This gives our VAs that confidence and that momentum to build a life of freedom and flexibility and a career that they love. [13:33]
It also gives the business owners that gift of time and the ability to scale their business with a team. [13:44]
Commercial break. [14:05]
I learned that I'm a lot more persistent and resourceful than I thought I could be. [15:27]
I love being challenged in that way and I kind of became obsessed with the online space and digital marketing. [15:58]
My secret is consistency and I have shown up every single day in one form or another for the past 10 years. [16:30]
I started building a community from the very beginning of my virtual assistant journey by building a list. [16:51]
I wanted to coach others because I got so much fulfillment from empowering other women. [18:02]
As a VA, I kind of specialized in working with coaches, and course creators because I wanted to learn from them. [18:18]
I was obviously inspired by what they were doing and what worked for them and I was able to take that knowledge and apply it to my own business. [18:31]
I tell my virtual assistants to work with people that they can learn from especially if being a VA isn't the end goal. [20:34]
Hire virtual assistant to give yourself time and freedom. [21:55]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

The Power of Cultural Agility - Paula Caligiuri

“Organizations that are successful globally, sometimes have to be culturally agile enough to recognize the cultural difference.” Paula Caligiuri
With the increased globalization of markets, businesses are finding it necessary to develop the competencies that would enable them thrive in cross-cultural contexts. Our guest today, Paula Caligiuri, has specialized in the area of cultural agility and says it involves awareness and the ability to put into practice skills that enhance cultural adaptation.
Paula Caligiuri is a D’Amore-McKim School of Business Distinguished Professor of International Business and Strategy at Northeastern University.  Researching and consulting in the areas of global leadership, cultural agility development, and global mobility, Paula has authored or co-authored several articles and books – including her most recent, Build Your Cultural Agility. She was named a semi-finalist for the 2021 Forbes “50 over 50” for co-founding a public benefit corporation, Skiilify, to help foster cultural understanding. Skiilify offers a free tool (www.myGiide.com) to build awareness and develop cultural agility.   Paula holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
In today’s episode, Paula shades light on cultural agility and why it is important for businesses that operate in a multicultural context to adapt to being culturally sensitive.
Listen in!
Contacts
TASCAglobal.com
myGiide.com.
I studied abroad in Rome, Italy, in 1987 and unfortunately for me, the market crashed while I was in Italy. [3:30]
I ended up doing my PhD in psychology which is around what makes people effective living and working internationally, and how they change from deep developmental cross cultural experiences. [4:21]
I've just been blessed with a much wider audience now to talk about how we become effective living and working in different countries. [4:47]
When humans are under any position of stress or any sense of anxiety, we tend to cling to what is familiar. [6:42]
There is cultural agility which comes in two ways and that is first, awareness of proper etiquette norms and values and second, the competencies needed in order to be successful. [8:07]
I always encourage people to certainly build that awareness not only of the superficial things, but of the much deeper values, and then also concurrently build those competencies. [9:26]
We have to remember that culture is socialized, we're not we're not born with culture. [10:18]
We all know that when we go into another organization, we have to realize that that organization has its own set of norms and values and behaviors. [10:47]
With tech, what's happening is because we're doing it so quickly, and with such ease, we're forgetting that we need to attend to a lot of the cultural cues just like we would if we were in person. [12:00]
This is kind of masking the need for cultural agility, because we're doing it at such a fast pace. [12:43]
I've watched countless meetings where individuals from different cultures misinterpret their colleague’s body language due to perceptual differences. [12:49]
Organizations that are successful globally, sometimes have to be culturally agile enough to recognize the cultural difference. [16:00]
Professionals know when to adapt, but they also know when to integrate to create something completely new that is unique. [16:41]
Commercial break. [17:00]
I wish companies would really spend more time thinking about building cultural agility as opposed to just offering this training because everyone else is doing it. [20:18]
We build cultural agility by finding similarities with people who we don't know because we bond with people around similarities, and the only way we go there is through authentic conversations. [21:13]
The last thing companies should be doing is setting up anything structurally that keeps people from having natural conversations. [21:30]
My initial research was on what made people successful internationally and the product turned into consulting which later turned into keynoting. [22:23]
We recently formed a company called Skiilify where we provide a tool which people can use to assess your own values and competencies and learn how to build them. [22:52]
Humans form trust in different ways depending on how they've been socialized, but underlying it all is seeing someone as authentic, real and similar. [26:09]
Having those conversations that enable us to get to similarities is the easiest way to build trust and skill that will never be run. 26:20]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

Ugly Mug Marketing - Wayne Mullins

“Brands that are succeeding today are those that can take ordinary customers and turn them into evangelists for their brand.” Wayne Mullins
The journey of entrepreneurship is filled with ups and downs which can sometimes be overwhelming. Learning how to deal with different situations and being less reactive to events happening around helps to balance leaders to focus on being productive. This is according to our guest today, Wayne Mullins, who continues influence entrepreneurs around the word.
Wayne Mullins is the founder and CEO of Ugly Mug Marketing. Over the past 20 years, he has scaled multiple companies and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs do the same with their companies. Ugly Mug Marketing has won the praises of some of the leading influencers in the business world, such as Chris Voss (New York Times Best Selling Author of Never Split the Difference), Neil Patel (Founder of QuickSprout & Kissmetrics), and Ari Weinzweig (Co-Founder of Zingerman’s).
Wayne’s work directly influences more than one hundred thousand entrepreneurs annually through his blog, books, and training programs. Wayne has personally worked with clients in over 100 industries - from every corner of the globe. And through his books and training programs, Wayne directly influences more than a quarter million entrepreneurs each year.
In this episode, Wayne talks about his business and why it is important for entrepreneurs to focus on incremental improvements especially when they are facing difficult times.
Listen in!
Social Media
https://www.uglymugmarketing.com/
https://www.facebook.com/uglymugmarketing/
https://www.instagram.com/uglymugmarketing/
In Ugly Mug marketing, we are coming up on our 13th year in business and it has been an entrepreneurial roller coaster. [3:12]
One thing that has remained consistent is our desire as a company and as an organization to continually get better. [3:30]
Sometimes when we're enduring the great highs and the terrible lows, it's easy to lose sight of the incremental improvements. [4:15]
If things are terrible right now in your business, make a commitment to yourself to find out how you can make whatever it is you're trying a little bit better tomorrow. [4:34]
A big part of it is learning to kind of ignore what appears to be going on around us. [6:31]
The name ugly mug marketing is actually a play on a phrase from a gentleman of the name, David Ogilvy who was the co founder of Ogilvy and Mather marketing agency in the world. [7:27]
In marketing advertising, it's very easy to get caught up and get distracted by pursuing design awards or pursuing clever marketing campaign awards. [7:58]
For us, what matters is, no matter what we're doing, our clients’ best interests are the things that we should be aiming for. [8:10]
To entrepreneurs, the comparison trap is an extremely dangerous one for us. [10:02]
Sometimes we will spend so much time wishing ourselves into other environments, not really understanding or grasping that problems don't problems disappear. [12:33]
Commercial break. [13:04]
We work in three buckets, which include web development, social media marketing and conduct results-based marketing where we completely come in and take over all of a client’s [14:04]
One of the things that makes us a little bit different than a lot of our competitors is the way that we try to stand out. 15:46]
We define marketing to be your ability to attract and to keep a customer. [15:57]
When we look around the brands that are succeeding today are those that can take ordinary customers in turn them into evangelist for their brand. [16:20]
I'm the founder and leader of this company which means that its state is a reflection of me as a leader. [18:19]
How you do anything, is how you do everything and as entrepreneurs we need to be the example before we come in and start demanding other people to live up to their full potential. [19:52]
We do have to give ourselves grace and understand that entrepreneurship is a journey and a process. [21:44]
I realized I have to work on myself and learn to embrace the challenge and hardships as much as I love to embrace the good. [22:56]
Empathy is the ultimate marketing secret. [24:33]
There is a difference between acknowledging someone else's pain, desires or their goals, versus acknowledging them and actually having the ability to feel what they feel. [25:04]
When a client truly has empathy for the people they serve, everything changes for them and so I think would be the magic word for marketing. [25:15]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

The Next Measurable Step - Tim Fitzpatrick

“The quality of your relationships is it has a direct correlation to the results that you end up seeing.” Tim Fitzpatrick
The journey of entrepreneurship primarily entails building strong and meaningful relationships with different stakeholders. Among all the different factors that interplay to ensure success, strong relationships in business remain central to building a sustainable business. This is according to our guest today Tim Fitzpatrick, who further reiterates the importance of taking time to understand and laydown foundational principles that are necessary for businesses to achieve long-term success. 
Tim is an entrepreneur/business owner with expertise in marketing and business growth. He has 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience with a passion for developing and growing businesses. That passion served him well in operating and managing a wholesale distribution company he co-owned for nine years. The company grew an average of 60% a year before being acquired in 2005.
Since then, he’s had failures and successes that have been valuable learning experiences. He started Rialto Marketing in 2013 and has been helping service businesses simplify marketing so they can grow with less stress. Tim believes that most people overcomplicate marketing yet doesn't have to be that way.
In today’s episode, Tim talks about how he got into entrepreneurship, relationships in business and why facing the uncomfortable challenges fearlessly is the key to growth in business.
Listen in!
Social Links:
http://www.twitter.com/rialtomarketing
https://www.facebook.com/rialtomarketing/
https://www.pinterest.com/rialtomarketing/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rialto-marketing
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timpfitzpatrick
I grew up in Northern California in the Bay Area and my wife and I moved to the Denver area in 2008. [2:34]
From a business standpoint, realtor marketing is my current business. [2:51]
When I initially started that business, we were actually focused specifically on selling mobile applications into the K12 education space. [2:57]
My entrepreneurial journey has not been a straight path where I have had multiple shifts due to changes in the app market. [3:07]
What we're doing today is working primarily with service based businesses so they can grow with less stress. [3:28]
We help them create an implemented plan to communicate the right message to the right people. [3:39]
Many people are just battling information overload when it comes to marketing due to the many different channels, and tactics within those channels. [3:51]
I think the reason we overcomplicate marketing is because we skip the fundamentals and that's what we help people really get in place. [6:38]
When I communicate what the fundamentals are and why they're so important, most people understand it. [7:04]
I fell into entrepreneurship after I graduated from college and went to help my father manage his distribution company on a day to day basis. [7:40]
The biggest driver in our success in that business was the quality of the relationships that we had which a lot of those relationships my dad had been building for years. [9:11]
The quality of your relationships has a direct correlation to the results that you end up seeing. [9:42]
With long term thinking, you don't build relationships overnight but have to have that patience, and discipline to what you need to do to build those relationships. [10:36]
I've gotten to a place from a sales standpoint where I look to understand the problem you have first before taking that next step. [12:31]
Commercial break [13:20]
I transitioned into residential real estate for about three years ago and one of the things that real estate really pushed me to do was get outside of my comfort zone on a daily basis. [14:39]
If you are going to be successful long term, you have to be comfortable getting outside your comfort zone because it helps you to continue to grow and embrace change. [15:31]
I feel fortunate that I've never really shied away from change all that much but rather I tend to embrace it. [17:05]
The information you need to be successful is already there and you do not need to start from ground zero, you just need to know where to go to get that information. [19:06]
Entrepreneurs need to focus on the next measurable step and break the larger things down into the small steps that they can really focus on. [22:52]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

Cultivating Empathy -Alison Tedford

"If we don't have the competency to actually be able to serve folks with different experiences, then it can actually be more harmful than closing the door to somebody.” Alison Tedford
Everyone, regardless of their differences and abilities, desire to feel welcome and valued wherever they go. By creating a positive work environment that is inclusive, businesses position themselves for greater success. Our guest today, Alison Tedford, helps business be more inclusive and says that it is all about cultivating empathy and matching what businesses communicate with their actions.
Alison Tedford is an author, business consultant in inclusive communications and Indigenous mother from Abbotsford, BC, Canada. She has written five books and advocates on issues of disability and Indigenous rights. 
In today’s episode, Alison talks about her career journey and how it prepared her for the work she currently does of helping business be more inclusive and cohesive.
Listen in!
Social media handles: 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisontedford
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisontedford
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/alliespins 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-tedford-4a064793/ 
I started my career working for the Canadian federal government where I worked on indigenous issues within residential school claims, and then moving into the prison system. [2:20]
I moved into the private sector and moved that big government experience into the private sector to help small businesses. [3:08]
Diversity is about cultivating empathy and creating experiences where people feel welcome and valued. [4:38]
A lot of people tend to shy away from having those conversations because they feel they don’t want to get political. [5:22]
The ultimate message is about letting people know that I care about what they're going through and what happens to them. [5:35]
Politics will influence things and the decisions that are made impact different people in different ways. [6:25]
It is just understanding that people are all having different experiences, and things are impacting them on different levels. [6:40]
Often people come to me because they want to make a statement about something that's happened. [7:25]
We always want to make it clear that we care about what's happening and that we're an inclusive business welcoming all sorts of people. [7:35]
We have to look at how we make the experience match with what's in our hearts and what we want to say. [8:04]
It's really about creating checks and balances so that your message is cohesive. [8:26]
I don't have the same budget like Amazon or Google to implement some big initiative, but we can start from where we are instead and look at what we can do with the budget we have. [9:52]
I try to encourage folks that it's okay to focus on an area that you're passionate about. [10:49]
Just because you care about things doesn't mean you have to care about all the things all the time, you still have to leave room for yourself and to serve your clients. [11:15]
The reality is that we need to welcome people that we're ready to serve. [11:35]
If we don't have the competency to actually be able to serve folks with different experiences, then it can actually be more harmful than closing the door to somebody. [11:42]
We don't have to be everything for everybody but we want to be intentional about having respect, care and concern for all people. [12:28]
Commercial break [14:10]
I try to keep things as simple as possible where I create systems that enable me do things consistently. [14:42
I try to make sure that I'm taking time to take care of myself as much as possible. [17:52]
If you're going to spend the time and the energy and take the risks, it should be for something that means something to you. [18:14]
I really make sure that what I do matters to me, and it's something that I feel like is consistent with what I want to see in the world. [18:50]
I took a lot of time to experiment and find what I liked and finding the best environments. [20:39]
There's so much abundance of opportunity and we really have to be judicious about what we decide to invest in. [21:02]
If you're looking to make your business more inclusive, but you're feeling inadequate, remember Brene Brown’s quote that say ‘Daring leaders are never silent about hard things. [21:52]
If you're a business owner, you're daring leader meaning you're already qualified to speak on hard things. [22:09]
You innovate every single day, and so you can innovate the way you work with people too. [22:18]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

We Give Your Business A Voice - John C. Morley

“What I've learned is everything happens in life to help us become better versions of ourselves.” John C. Morley
The entrepreneurial journey is filled with numerous learning opportunities that are sometimes pleasant and most of the time difficult and unpleasant. The attitude towards these learning opportunities is often central to how successful entrepreneurs turn out to be. Our guest today, John Morley has been through many of such instances and attributes his success to persistence and having an attitude of gratitude.
John C. Morley started his first company just about 30 years ago and as a passionate serial entrepreneur, he didn't stop there.  He later went on to build his own marketing and full print publication production center. Today he gets people more quality connections on LinkedIn by telling their stories in a unique way.
John is a serial entrepreneur, engineer and marketing expert with a personality that you will want on your show. His diverse experience from serving small business to enterprise environments make him someone that just doesn't understand technology but lives it. Two of our world's largest international banks have chosen John's company because they know that he is the mastermind of the company's operations.
Since the inception of John's tech company, he had one of NY's largest marketing and advertiser companies working for him. Several years ago he realized they were not making the progress they should. So he decided to fire them; John knew that no-one would know his company as well as he did. He researched the concept of starting his own full in-house digital and print production company. The first few years John made lots of mistakes but quickly realized how to reach his clients and the right way to do so. Later on, he concluded that there was a void in the market place and that he knew how to market companies to get their message out to the world. Thus John trademarked the phrase "We Give your Business a Voice"™.John Morley
John’s Specialties include : CEO, Technology leader, Innovator, Thought Leader, Engineer & Marketer
In today’s episode, John recounts his journey to becoming an entrepreneur as well as the events that led him to starting his company.
Listen in!
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncmorleyiv/
http://jmor.com
https://www.instagram.com/gosocialjmor/?hl=en
The company started off when I was in college around 1993 so the company is about 32 years young. [2:42]
When I was in college, and I still am today, I liked to help other people and being a first responder. [3:22]
While in college, I knew that there was a void in the technology market and people weren't doing the right things which led me to start a company. [3:57]
I learned you could make a certain amount of money before you had to get formal. [4:43]
I went through a lot of accounting programs, and I found a lot of them out there which were very expensive and left you indebted to them. [8:29]
I had this marketing advertising company who gave us a discount at the time but my business was not going anywhere. [8:53]
After college I went back and got my certification, Hypnosis, NLP neuro linguistic programming and also I got my Reiki level two certification. [9:56]
I remember creating my first mp3 and I was so happy I made my first subliminal hypnosis program, and I would listen to it every night. [10:20]
I got a loan from the bank and started a print business where we struggled for the first couple years and then after that, we build a full print production graphic, medium Digital Design Center. [11:38]
I then decided to go for my lungs and build a new center with a video production center, a photo center and next year, we'll be launching our own green screen studio. [17:54]
A lot of these superstores have the equipment but not the greatest equipment, and they don't have the right knowledge. [18:31]
I have the knowledge of better equipment and we've been doing videos religiously for over a year. [18:37]
I run an internship school where I have about five interns now working with me. [19:37]
My biggest thing is teaching people how to network where it is usually all about you. [20:08]
I'm also the leading host of the J Moore tech talk show a national talk show and we just became a TV show about seven months ago in Princeton. [20:47]
I just love to have conversations with people and understand what their challenges are. [21:59]
The agenda that I have is to help everyone become better versions of themselves. [22:15]
What I've learned is everything happens in life to help us become better versions of ourselves. [24:03]
Commercial break. [24:50]
If everybody likes you in this world, then you're not bringing your A game. [28:22]
Another lesson I've learned in the entrepreneurial world is that you can be or have anything you want but you have to realize that your inner voice runs your subconscious. [28:50]
Look at the things you're doing and realize that no one in life has the right to make you feel inferior about yourself, except one person. [28:29]
You have to know when to say no. [30:13]
When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. [32:07]
My advice to you is to document appropriately with whatever authority wherever you have to document things, because people will try to rain on your parade every single day. [32:29]
Realize that your inner team is the one you want with you while you keep other people outside your circle. [33:49]
If you have a vision, and it's clear in your head, be very descriptive and make sure you know every little detail about it. [34:51]
The universe will unfold that to you, if you are persistent and have a good attitude, and make sure that you maintain an attitude of gratitude. [35:08]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

Keepin‘ It Country - Richard Lynch

“Music can actually act as a bridge between a complete different upbringing or a whole complete difference mindset of people.” Richard Lynch
The opportunity for entrepreneurs to use their abilities and talents to build a business that gives back to the society is phenomenal. This was a chance of a life time for our guest today, Richard Lynch, who was able to build a foundation through his talent of writing and singing country music, thus expressing his love and passion for country and veterans.
Upholding the traditions set forth by artists like Haggard, Strait, Jackson, Jennings and other legends, Richard Lynch has been flying the flag for this brand of country music for the past 30+ years.  Residing in Waynesville, OH, Lynch not only sings about country music, he lives it. As the owner of Keepin’ It Country Farm with his wife, Donna, Richard knows the meaning of a day’s hard work.
As the co-founder of the Love Tattoo Foundation, which assists with veteran programs, Lynch understands the sacrifices of our service men and women and the importance of giving back to your community.  In fact, his farm plays host to fundraising benefits for the organization featuring some of the biggest names in traditional country music.  Richard also cherishes his love and respect for God, family, and his fellow hard-working Americans. The words of his songs speak to his values, values that his fans and lovers of country music everywhere hold dear.
Over the past 3 decades, Richard Lynch has compiled a long list of country hits and chart-toppers on both domestic and international sales and radio airplay charts, including two #1 iTunes chart singles, multiple #1 New Music Weekly radio songs, #1 IndieWorld and Roots Music Report chart tracks and a Christian Music Weekly Top 20 single.  Richard has been in Billboard Magazine, Taste Of Country, The Boot, CCM Magazine, Country Music People, and countless others. He has also appeared on WSM Radio Nashville, RFD TV, Fox TV and more.  He has recorded popular duets with legendary artists like Ronnie McDowell and Leona Williams, as well as Grammy Winner, Rhonda Vincent.  Richard Lynch is a proud member of the Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame and the Independent Country Music Hall of Fame.
On February 12th, 2021, Richard Lynch released his brand new album, “My Guitar Drips Country” featuring 12 songs written or co-written by Richard, including his touching tribute to the late Doug Supernaw.
In today’s episode, Richard will talk about his love for country music and living, and the motivation to start the Love Tattoo Foundation that caters for veterans.
Listen in!
Social Media and Contacts
https://www.reverbnation.com/richardlynchband
https://www.facebook.com/RichardLynchBand
http://www.twittyoutuer.com/richardlynchbnd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lynch_(musician)
michael@mtsmanagementgroup.com
I was born into country music and my dad was an incredible singer entertainer. [3:11]
At the ripe old age of eight years old, I got to watch my dad perform for the first time with this guy that we watched on television every Saturday night. [4:03]
He called me to perform with him on stage where I did an old buck on the song ‘I've got a tiger by the tail’ and I was bit right then and there by the Country Music bug. [4:29]
I want to make sure that everybody felt comfortable because the music is one thing, but when you make that connection with people, it doesn't matter what you do. [6:04]
Country music can be relevant for all forms of life and if I wrote it from the heart, and it connects with that person, I have fulfilled what I need to be doing. [7:17]
Sometimes I'll write a song with a thought or a direction in mind, and someone will come to me with a completely different take on how I wrote it, but it fits their life completely. [10:00]
The older I get, the more I realize we're all in this old world together and we are never all going to totally agree, but there's a whole lot more room for agreeing and disagreeing. [10:12]
Music can actually act as a bridge between a complete different upbringing or a whole complete difference mindset of people. [10:26]
I love the music but I also love my country upbringing. [11:32]
I learned to accept life as it comes especially when we had the COVID-19 which restricted our music so much. [12:19]
I missed and the camaraderie with people but on the other hand, it gave me an opportunity to really dive in and write some good music. [12:34]
A lot of times I realize that you make your life by your own decisions and hopefully you make the right decision. [13:19]
I am thankful that I'm fortunate enough to be in a situation where I can do what I want and make a living with what I want. [13:39]
Commercial break. [14:03]
The love tattoo Foundation was started by me and my wife, and we both have a huge appreciation and admiration for men and women who have served our country. [15:26]
I was sent a poem from a gentleman who really liked my music and I was absolutely blown away and we came up with the song from the poem. [15:39]
We decided right then and there that if there was a nickel or a million dollars to be made off of this particular song, we're going to give it all to a foundation. [16:46]
We found this place in northern Michigan called the whirlwind Lodge which is a place for these folks to get away. [16:54]
We want to make all the awareness we can for our guys and girls who serve our country to where there is help. [17:22]
Surround yourself with people that believe in you because you can waste an awful lot of time with people that don't necessarily want to see you succeed. [20:12]
If you surround yourself with people that believe in you and genuinely want you to have a successful career, it's amazing how fast you'll get there. [20:26]
Keep it country. [22:13]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com

Planet Subaru - Jeff Morill

“There are all these Win-Win situations, if you're intentional about looking for them and building that into your culture and operating philosophy.” Jeff Morill
The most successful and sustainable business often have their strengths anchored in the fundamental values rather than products. These values dictate how these business relate with both their employees and customers. This is according to our guest today, Jeff Morill, who believes that once established and entrenched in the business culture, positive values will remain alive and serve your business a great deal.
Jeff Morill’s first business was Planet Subaru, perhaps the world’s first ethical car dealership. He co-founded Planet Subaru, “your undealership,” in 1998, and built it into one of the most successful privately-held car dealerships in the United States. He later started other businesses in automotive retail, real estate, telecommunications, and insurance that generate over $100,000,000 in annual revenue. His achievements in building profitable and ethical companies have been featured in a variety of national media including USA Today, Entrepreneur Magazine, Automotive News, The Boston Globe, and others.
After Jeff nearly killed himself in an accident, he wrote a book to pass along the unusual things he had learned about how to sell a lot without selling out your integrity. The book comes out February 28th and is titled ‘Profit Wise: How to Make More Money in Business by Doing the Right Thing.’ Learn more at www.jeffmorrill.com (I’m donating all author royalties to charity.)
Jeff reveals things about the car business, but prefers to speak thoughtfully about personal development and entrepreneurship. For example, He developed a straightforward hiring process that makes a lot more sense than what most businesses are using (if they have any process at all).
In today’s episode, Jeff discusses how he was able to form a highly profitable company based that was anchored on ethical practices and superior customer experiences.
Listen in!
Social media handles:
https://www.jeffmorrill.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59FdefHNgM1pxwNSipQOqw
When we opened our business, we saw an opportunity to differentiate ourselves from the terrible state of the showroom experience. [3:03]
My brother who is the co- founder business partner, and I grew up under very modest conditions. [3:42]
We knew from the beginning that we wanted our lives to be about a lot more than just moving iron and making profits. [4:16]
Other businesses that we've bought have put us in a position to do some pretty neat things in terms of giving back and serving the community. [4:26]
I think it's important to understand that with all the success we've had, we've had some struggles too. [5:32]
I guess I look at it like a garden, that is growing and it has its own energy and we have to go in and make sure that we're providing it with all the resources it needs. [6:19]
It's a ton of focus on making sure that the stated values that you started the company with are actually alive in it every day. [6:44]
One of the things that has really made us successful relative to competition is our ability to hire people. [7:29]
A lot of businesses though, if you lose the interest in making those investments, the withdrawals happen sort of automatically. [10:13]
What I want to do is articulate this vision and hopefully inspire other entrepreneurs to think about it the way I do. [11:38]
One of the things I'm really proud of at the Subaru dealership, we've hired many female technicians which supports their families and their communities. [12:18]
There are all these Win-Win situations, if you're intentional about looking for them and building that into your culture and operating philosophy. [13:56]
The most conspicuous thing we see from having more women in our team is that the men felt like they needed to act a little more professionally. [15:48]
Commercial break [18:05]
I think I have a very high pain threshold, which has served me very well and another thing that I'm really proud of is my communication ability [19:48]
I was very scared for many years that we were going to lose it all because we're very lightly capitalized, highly leveraged. [23:55]
If I could write myself a letter back to when I was starting a business, I would tell myself to make sure I enjoy it along the way and that it was going to turn out fine. [24:22]
One of the things I did do well is I started the business with love in the model. [24:54]
Human institutions ultimately need to be there for the benefit of people, and to serve others and to benefit the earth in some way. [26:06]
If all your business does is pad your pockets, you've failed regardless of how rich you are, that's where I'm coming from. [26:20]
If you're going to succeed in business, just make sure that you're doing it for the right reasons and that you're taking care of people. [26:26]
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Thank you to our December sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more.
Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com