Onward Nation With Stephen Woessner | Interviews With Todays Top Business Owners | Careers

Zachary Beach grew up in central Massachusetts but relocated to Newport, Rhode Island when he graduated from college. After graduating from college, he had no idea what he wanted to do; the only thing he knew was that he didn’t want to be an employee. That word just makes Zach feel trapped. He decided to bartend and become a personal trainer for the time being while he decided what he wanted to do and soon realized that he was burning the candle at both ends, working late nights and early mornings, and he knew there was a better way. At age 25 Zach decided to jump into the family real estate business. It was one of the first big risks he took in his life. The business at the time was small and nothing was guaranteed. Plus he knew absolutely nothing about real estate and was as green as green could be. Fast forward almost 3 years later and he is a partner and buys all the properties that come through their personal buying and selling entities. He went from bartender to million dollar business owner in just und

Leif and Erin are the co-founders and CEOs of FREY, the modern lifestyle brand shaping the clothing care experience. They began FREY after they attended college and were introduced to the task of doing their laundry and quickly found themselves underwhelmed at the products available for consumers. After months of arduous research, they started a Kickstarter campaign and began filling orders from their basement. Since then FREY has evolved to become much more than detergent and is now a full clothing care line. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why Leif and his brother founded Frey due to being underwhelmed by the laundry products that were available Why Leif went to Kickstarter to fund his efforts and took an unusual path to growing his business How starting a business with minimal funding forces you to learn discipline and budget management How the motivation behind Frey was a mix of the small idea of helping Leif’s friends and the big idea of disrupting the laundry detergent market How Frey’s market

Michael Rosenblum is one of Chicago’s most successful residential real estate brokers, having generated career sales of over $400 million. Nationally, he’s been inducted into the Berkshire Hathaway Hall of Fame and is consistently ranked in the top half, of 1% of 46,000 real estate brokers in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network. In a career spanning three decades, Rosenblums collaborative style and integrity have also earned the abiding loyalty and admiration of his clients and colleagues within the industries of media and real estate. Born in Dallas, Texas and raised in the Washington D.C. area, Rosenblum studied business administration at the University of Missouri (Columbia). After graduation, he moved to Chicago to live Happily Ever Always which is the title of his first book. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How Michael’s career journey led him from journalism and media sales to the world of real estate Why Michael chose to name his book “Happily Ever Always” based on living an always-ha

Maxwell Cohen is currently 27 years old. As founder and CEO of Peel Away Labs, Inc., Maxwell is part of a true entrepreneurial family. All of the Cohen children were expected to have started a business by the time they turned 26. Maxwell started his company while a student at the University of Arizona where in 2013 he earned a B.S. in Environmental and water Resource Economics. Maxwell is the founder and CEO of Peel Away Labs, the innovative start-up company that developed Peelaways, the bedding industry’s first multilayered, disposable, waterproof fitted sheet designed for the home, industrial and healthcare markets. While attending the University of Arizona, Cohen observed students were not changing their bed sheets because stripping the bed, doing the laundry and remaking the bed were such a hassle. He also noticed his grandparents were struggling to change their own fitted sheet. Realizing this was a challenge for multiple life stages including parents of toddlers, Cohen knew there had to be a better way.

Christine Comaford is sought after for providing proven strategies to shift executive behavior to create more positive outcomes, enroll and align teams in times of change, profoundly increase sales, product offerings, and company value. Her coaching, consulting and strategies have created hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue and company value for her clients. What you’ll learn about in this episode: What has been happening in Christine’s business since her last appearance on Onward Nation in episode #579 How to completely change your mindset from feeling overwhelmed to feeling empowered with Christine’s maneuvers of consciousness, in just twelve minutes How Christine’s mother was able to reframe her leukemia as something to be grateful for before she passed Important lessons from Christine’s new book “Power Your Tribe: Create Resilient Teams in Turbulent Times” Why we all have the right to exist, to have needs, to take action, to have consequences for our actions, and to love and be loved Why Chris

Cheryl Bachelder is a passionate, purpose-led business leader — the former CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Cheryl is known for her crisp strategic thinking, a franchisee-focused approach, and superior financial performance. Guided by the servant leadership thinking of Robert Greenleaf, she believes highly caring, collaborative leaders with big ambitions for the enterprise, not themselves, generate the conditions for people to perform their best work. Cheryl served as CEO of Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., a NASDAQ traded company with over 2,600 restaurants in 26 countries, from 2007 to 2017. The story of Popeyes success is chronicled in her book, Dare to Serve: How to drive superior results by serving others. During her tenure, Popeyes stock price grew from $11 to $61, at which time the board sold the company to Restaurant Brands International Inc. for $1.8 billion dollars or $79 per share in March 2017. Cheryls earlier career included brand leadership roles at Yum Brands, Dominos Pizza, RJR Nabisco

Sarah Noked is an MBA graduate, Certified Online Business Manager and Digital Marketing Strategist with more than 10 years business experience in the online world. With her stellar team of OBMs, they help their clients stay on track for growth and development. They do this by managing their projects, teams, operations, automation, and launches. In turn, their clients gain the much needed time to focus on their big picture, revenue-generating ideas. Everyone wins! When she’s not working in the agency and with 6 to 7 figure entrepreneurs scaling their businesses, she’s helping other VAs and OBMs realize their worth and potential to scale and grow profitable teams and businesses. As a Certified OBM Trainer, Sarah trains and certifies fellow OBMs in the online business industry. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How family and a desire for flexibility were the catalyst for Sarah’s decision to leave her corporate job to become an online business manager How Sarah describes the role of an OBM and the value

Kwame Christian, Esq., M.A. is a business lawyer and the Director of the American Negotiation Institute where he puts on workshops designed to make difficult conversations easier. As an attorney and mediator with a bachelor of arts in Psychology, a Master of Public Policy, and a law degree, Kwame brings a unique multidisciplinary approach to the topic of conflict management and negotiation. His TEDx Talk, Finding Confidence in Conflict, was viewed over 24,000 times in 24 hours and was the most popular TED Talk on the topic of conflict of 2017. He also hosts the top negotiation podcast in the country, Negotiate Anything. The show has been downloaded over 350,000 times, has listeners in 181 different countries. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How Kwame’s passion lies in psychology, self-awareness and understanding others, and how that relates to the business world Why people are sometimes cognitively incapable of understanding your perspective, and how you can work around those barriers Why someone’s

Evan Hackel is the creator of the concept and the author of “Ingaging Leadership”. He’s a successful business owner who has started more than 10 companies and is recognized as a thought leader, speaker, and author on leadership. One of his signature achievements was turning around a bankrupt business in four years and more than doubling system-wide sales to exceed $2 billion. He is also Founder and Principal of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why Evan lives a “portfolio life”, and how he strives to positively add to the businesses he works with What Evan has been working on since his last visit to the Onward Nation podcast in episode #585 Why the theme of Evan’s upcoming franchise executive conference is “Rethink Everything”, and how that can apply to businesses of all types How technological advances will completely alter the world of business and the way customers interact with companies Why retailers must change their th

Bryan Miles is CEO & co-founder of BELAY. A leading US-based, virtual solutions company, BELAY has over six hundred team members all working from home, remotely. BELAY has graced the Inc. 5000 list three times and was awarded the number one spot in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Best Company Culture. BELAY provides virtual assistants, bookkeeping, copywriting, and webmaster services to leaders and fast-paced organizations. BELAY’s services equip leaders and organizations with the ability to climb higher when and where they need it most. BELAY’s vision is to help clients achieve their vision. What you’ll learn about in this episode: The book that helped Bryan begin his journey toward becoming an entrepreneur even after he initially thought his chance had passed him by. How a conversation with his wife about what he had in mind had her deciding to take the leap with him. Why Bryan believed the combination of her experience at executing plans with his vision would make them a powerful team. The importance of worki

Joyce Bone, MBA equips other achievers in skyrocketing their financial results through her guidance as a speaker, podcast host of the Anxiety-Free Selling show, author of Millionaire Moms, sales coach and business consultant. She is also active in real estate as both an investor and licensed agent. At age 28 as a former stay-at-home mom, Joyce co-founded and led EarthCare, an environmental company traded on NASDAQ achieving $125 million annual revenues. She has raised over $65 million dollars and has pitched investors nationally and internationally including Sweden, India and Canada. Since that time, she has successfully helped other companies and individuals learn to influence and sell in a more productive and empowering way. Past clients range from Fortune 500s to, “Eat What You Kill” (1099) sales professionals in the real estate, financial services, insurance, mortgage, and direct marketing sectors, to small business owners including IT and CPG companies. As an entrepreneur, she is nationally recognized fo

Our special encore guest today is Michael Stallard. Michael is a former Wall Street executive who left the Street 15 years ago to found the Connection Culture Group, a leadership training firm and focuses on improving workplace cultures. He’s a keynote speaker and expert on how effective leaders boost human connection in cultures to improve the health and performance of individuals and organizations. Michael is also the author of two books, “Connection Culture” and “Fired Up or Burned Out.” Now…you may remember Michael and the wisdom he shared during Episode 794 of Onward Nation. If you haven’t listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during his previous interview…I highly encourage you to add Episode 794 to your list of vital priorities. What you’ll learn about in this episode: What’s new with Michael and his business since he last joined us 6 months ago Insight into what Michael and his team teach leaders about culture when they work with a company The new e-course Michael is developing: how it brin

In the fifth grade, Robert Rose’s teacher sent him home with a note that said Robert likes to tell stories. Well, as it turns out, she was right. Robert is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer of The Content Advisory, the consulting and advisory group of The Content Marketing Institute. Robert has been helping marketers tell their story more effectively through digital media for more than 20 years. Over the last five years, Robert has worked with more than 500 companies of all sizes, including 15 of the Fortune 100. Hes provided strategic marketing advice and counsel for global brands such as Capital One, Dell, Ernst & Young, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UPS. What you’ll learn about in this episode: The strategy Robert came up with to win when he was part of a startup competing against big companies like Microsoft What Robert did to become successful and build up Content Marketing Institute to where it is today, helping major companies get things done How Robe

Daniel Gefen is the founder of Gefen Media Group — a done-for-you podcast booking service that helps inspiring authors sell more books by getting them booked as guests on relevant podcasts. He’s the best-selling author of The Self Help Addict and the top-rated podcast host of The Daniel Gefen Show and Can I Pick Your Brain. Daniel has been featured in major publications including Forbes and Inc. and has been a guest on over 50 podcasts. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Daniel’s childhood and how his time in school often felt like a prison sentence where he couldn’t be himself and how that transitioned into his early jobs in adulthood. How not fitting into the usual boxes was a hindrance to Daniel in school and when working for others, but how his unique personality helped him excel as an entrepreneur. Why going into business for himself didn’t quite live up to Daniel’s expectations at first He didn’t get the freedom he expected. The best move Daniel believes he’s made in his business and why it was s

Elise Keith is the founder and meeting maven for Lucid Meetings — an online meeting platform that helps teams run highly productive meetings. She’s also the best-selling author of Where the Action Is: The Meetings That Make or Break Your Organization. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How Elise began her career in business and the fortuitous twists and turns that led her to where she is now. Why Elise was motivated to strike out on her own after observing far too much discord and dysfunction in the company she initially worked with. Elise’s observations about the structure of larger companies for making decisions and her decision to create a product that would help smaller companies structure meetings so that they could make the transition from concept to reality without the drama and dysfunction that was prevalent in her own organization. The things people need to bring into meetings to solve problems and move forward: intentionality, purpose, structure. And how having a system aided in that. The imp

John Fairclough is the President and Founder of The Resicom Group which helps retailers optimize the way they improve and maintain their store environment. Under his leadership, the company has evolved from a local construction company into an international provider of facility maintenance and construction services. Now John enjoys sharing his story to inspire others. What you’ll learn about in this episode: The important role John believes the resilience he learned as a child has had on the business leader he has become. The strength that comes from difficult times often shapes the business leaders and how that has helped John persevere when many other leaders crash and burn. How seeing a need for businesses created a niche that John was able to fill with his company and run with on a widescale level. Why John believes it’s important to be useful to clients on a broader scale and how that sets his business apart from so many others. John’s belief that it’s just as easy to plan for one project with the same

Our special encore guest today is Sue Hawkes. Sue’s first interview aired as Episode 826 just a few weeks ago. And I typically don’t invite a guest back for an encore so quickly — but — during our post-interview chat — I knew I had to invite Sue to come back right away because our first discussion was so helpful and off-the-charts amazing. We dug into imposter syndrome, how it creeps in, and how we as business owners tend to chase perfection — and on the surface — that’s fine and dandy — but we also need to realize that perfection is just an illusion and there are some keys to maximizing success. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why Sue believes that business leaders gain incredible freedom once they’ve reached a place of internal peace and unshakable excellence. The stepping stones to becoming the type of leader that has that peace and confidence that comes with excellence. Imposter syndrome. What it is and why Sue believes it is how you respond to it when it shows up that defines you as a leader. W

Good Morning, Onward Nation — it’s Saturday, December 1, 2018 as I sit down to record this solocast. And I have to say — I’m so fired up for 2019 to get here. I’m fired up because for the first time in Predictive ROI’s history — we have given the coming year a theme and are building a strategy around that theme. 2019 is going to be the year of “Doubling Down” at Predictive ROI. So I’m going to do something in today’s solocast that I have never done before. I’m going to take you way, way, way behind the curtain at Predictive to share how we’re going to Double Down in 2019. But to be clear — this solocast is not a Predictive ROI commercial. Instead, I’m going to share insights into our plans, our concerns, our vulnerabilities, where we think we can be more helpful, and our strategy so you can take this episode and perhaps the lessons we have learned along the way might also be helpful to your team, too. More specifically…I will take you inside how we’re doubling down on: Being helpful to you, Onward Nation Bei

Brett Gilliland is Co-Founder and CEO of Elite Entrepreneurs, which specializes in helping 7-figure business owners with the knowledge, tools, and processes they need grow to $10 million and beyond. He’s an expert in organization development, leadership, and strategy and spent 10 years helping Infusionsoft grow from $7 million in annual revenue to over $100 million. One of Brett’s favorite professional accomplishments is co-creating Infusionsoft’s Elite Forum alongside CEO Clate Mask and building the Elite business. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Only three percent of businesses ever make it to the million dollar mark for revenue. It helps when you begin that business within the safety of another business. Why Brett decided to “spin out” Elite from InfusionSoft and how he believes it has helped Elite grow exponentially. The “value ladder.” What it is, the strategy behind it, and how the “slices” stack up. Building a customer acquisition machine and how Brett had to do it after the fact when Elite s

Emily Hirsh is an industry-leading Facebook ad manager and sales funnel strategist who has built an expert team of top-level professionals to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses using proven social media sales strategies and creativity that converts. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How a simple task as a virtual career path become the inspiration for a lucrative and satisfying career path. Emily’s path from loading Facebook ads for VA clients to running her own team of 24 people who run the ads for her. The way Emily’s business grew after hiring the first person to help, and then the second, and how she developed a process for teaching others to perform the tasks required, a system she calls the “Hirsh Process.” Why Emily decided to take the time to create a course outlining and training others to do what she does intuitively and how this “conveyer belt” strategy has helped her business grow. The difference when you’re representing yourself to clients and when you’re training others to represen