Laura Steward Atchison's Blog, page 12
December 20, 2019
Is That the Best You Can Do?
Is that the best you can do? A common question if you’ve even negotiated a purchase of a new car but have you ever thought of asking that question of yourself in all aspects of your life and business?
Kevin Hunter has applied that question to every action he takes and it has transformed his life and the lives of his clients. He wrote the book on that topic and it is life changing.
During this interview Kevin Hunter shares how to get out of your rut, stopped being trapped by your own mind and how OAR and BED are the best ways to know if you are doing the best you can do and find the thirsty horses that want to purchase your services and drink your products and services over and over and over again.
Kevin Hunter grew up in a very entrepreneurial family, and spent a majority of his professional life being self-employed. He got into media in 1999 broadcasting business talk radio. Moved into the online video broadcasting business in 2009, and by 2012 knew there was a serious future in publishing educational and informational video stories and consumer help videos.
Believe entirely in the fact that each of us has the power to choose either a VICTOR or VICTIM mindset, and depending on which one we chose, ultimately determines much of what we do with our lives. Kevin has also given a lot of attention to maintaining a flexible “comfort zone,” and have been asked to speak on this specific subject by many different organizations around the country.
Kevin has been an MC or Guest Speaker at a variety of functions and events in my state, and surrounding states on a variety of subjects. He likes to challenge people with developing better questions, deeper questions that go beyond the surface observations of any given issue, and allowing the information to lead them to conclusions (as opposed to assumptions).
In 2015, wrote “Is that the best you can do?” a book drawn from personal life experience, and interviews with guests from various walks of life.
Launched NOW Events in 2019 with a group of other concerned citizens in the state of Washington. The primary focus of hosted events are to bring engaging speakers from around the country to give people unfiltered access to some of the brightest minds in America today. Keeping it real and bypassing the Mainstream Media filter for what’s really happening in our country.
Kevin gives much time and attention to creating valuable stories for my online followers. I’m easy to find on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/kevinhunter Much of this content is significantly disliked by car dealers around the US, but he received more than 12,000 messages, comments, and emails from car buyers every year who are very appreciative of the help. Have saved Car Buyers as much as $14 Billion Dollars on car purchases in the US.
Enjoy using spare time for the pursuit of applying and analyzing statistics, and love how much information can be gleaned from studying the data. There is much peace of mind that comes from understanding a histogram (bell curve), trends and how to use them to predict outcomes, seasonal cycles of data across many different business types. With highly polarizing subjects, it can be hard to understand what data tells us. There’s too much smoke screen. However, when you remove that data and apply it to other things that have less emotional attachment or preconceived notions, it’s easier to understand what it tells us. I find it easy to establish common ground when a neutral subject is chosen, and then bring new understanding to a topic we may have already thought we knew the answer for.
December 10, 2019
LinkedIn: The 5 Minute Drill for LinkedIn Success
Lori Ruff, the original LinkedIn Diva herself, and Joe Frankie III discuss how to succeed with LinkedIn in 5 minutes/day. They call it a 5 minute drill. I call it simple to do every day.
What is LinkedIn and why should you care? If you are in business today LinkedIn can help your find clients, source vendors, find employees, get that new career you’ve always dreamed about, connect to like-minded people, get booked on podcasts and media and so much more. They key though is using it effectively to meet your goals.
During this episode Lori Ruff and Joe Frankie III share the key steps to take each day to make your profile be one people are looking at, how using their “Sword, Sabre and Scalpel” approach to using LinkedIn can rapidly focus your efforts and how, in just 5 minutes a day, you can use LinkedIn to achieve your goals.
Lori Ruff believes the magic of genuine human connection occurs when people behave authentically.
As a notable “professional brand” thought leader, Lori has written multiple books, spoken at numerous conferences with 12 to over 5,000 attendees, and have produced and hosted a fun and successful radio show spanning four years. She has been recognized on over 5,000 lists related to Social Media Marketing, e-commerce, Authors, and Leadership as well as being named by Forbes as a Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer.
Known as “The LinkedIn Diva” due to her focus on delivering world-class expertise at a time when today’s top performers are trying to make their mark in a bigger and ever more challenging world. She open doors to help leaders become thought leaders, shortening the path to success through key introductions, and provide provocative advice that makes an immediate impact.
Lori Ruff has held many titles in her career including Social Entrepreneur, Speaker, Mentor, Celebrity Spokesperson, Chief Executive Officer, and most recently Chief Branding Officer of ALPFA, where she strengthened our brand promise to empower and develop Latino men and women as leaders of character for the nation.
Over the past two decades, Lori has helped more than 450,000 people learn how to get a better job, how to be more successful in their profession, and how to leverage their strengths to exceed their company’s goals.
Joe Frankie III is a West Point graduate, combat veteran, award-winning author and knows the power of a team. As CEO at JFIII Associates, he helps companies build better teams. Joe brings 40 years of leading and untangling multiple business projects up to $8 billion worldwide and as many as 53,000 associates where he has a track record of building teams, deploying technology and mitigating risk. These include technology integrations, software, start-ups and heavy logistics moves in the private and public sectors—Asia, China, South Korea, Mideast, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
Successes include: Forged investment banking relationships internationally for $3 Billion, five-year program for project water/wastewater infrastructure in China as part of cooperative joint effort. Chief of Staff and Director for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), the “Wal-Mart” of the U.S. Military—the 12th largest retailer in the U.S., $7.5 Billion in revenue. Joint Program Manager to test combining an $8 Billion Army/Navy system. Award-Winning Co-Author of “LinkedIn: The 5-Minute Drill for Executive Networking Success”
December 7, 2019
Conflict Resolution for Everyone
Conflict resolution seems to be especially difficult around the holidays, well really all the time for most folks. I mean just think what is happening today around business, politics, religion. sexual definition and more. Most parents told us if you want to have an enjoyable meal with someone don’t discuss politics or religion at the dinner table. With social media and a 24/7/365 news cycle the world is always on the brink of something or other and tensions run high.
My guest, Mari Frank, has spent decades as a lawyer and family law mediator handling some of the toughest conflicts most people will ever encounter.
How does she stay cool under rapidly escalating conflict? how does she diffuse the seemingly unresolvable so that everyone walks away from the table with more ease than when they sat down?
Take a listen as Mari shares how H.A.R.D. L.O.V.E. can convert conflict into collaboration and how it only takes one person to stop a conflict. She also shares how asking yourself, “What do I need to do to be OK letting this go?,” can shift a conflict in an instant.
Mari Frank is an attorney, mediator, author (5 books), professional speaker, professor, and radio host of two shows (since 2005) airing on KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine CA. For 3 decades, she’s expertly been using her unique “solutioneering” tools to resolve conflicts and transform adversity into opportunity for her clients, and audiences. Unlike a shark, her dolphin approach, gentle yet powerful, transforms disputes between people so they may collaborate and create dynamic relationships. She’s mediated and resolved all types of fights including business lawsuits and divorce.
A healer of conflict, Mari empowers audiences with strategies so they may communicate without turning disagreements into hostility. She’s been a guest on over 300 radio shows, appeared on dozens of television shows and hosted her own PBS TV Special.
As a professional speaker, she’s motivated such companies as American Express. General Electric, Experian, Edward’s Life Sciences, etc. With humorous stories, Mari articulates how to turn adversity into opportunity to create positive relationships. She’ll inspire your audience with the 6 A’s to keep a romantic relationship, and the 5 steps to gain power in any negotiation
December 6, 2019
He Wrote the Soundtrack to Your Life
When I look back at the songs that influenced my life, that inspired me when I was down and that are always there when I need to express an emotion, I realized that Thomas Bahler invariably had a hand in the creation or production of the song. We met at a conference years ago and he helped me pick a song to bring me on stage for my keynote. he just seemed to know who I am via song.
On this episode, Thomas Bahler, who wrote or produced for Michael Jackson, Cher, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Quincy Jones, The Partridge Family, Bobby Sherman, Steve Spielberg and many more, talks about what inspired him, how he learned to ask questions, how his many decades long career took him in directions he never imagined but was open to and what inspires him to continue creating soundtracks for our lives.
Thomas Bähler has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the entertainment industry. He composed music for Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Cher, directors Steven Spielberg and Barry Levinson, magicians Siegfried and Roy, Superbowl Halftime Shows and a number of other high profile stage productions.
As a songwriter he’s written many hits including “She’s Out of My Life” “Living In A House Divided” (Cher) and “Julie Do You Love Me.” (Bobby Sherman) Thomas created vocal arrangements for the landmark charity event “We Are the World,” as well as for Barbara Streisand, Billy Joel, and the motion picture version of “The Wiz.”
He served as Music Director for a number of events sponsored by the White House, including “America’s Millennium”, “Points of Light” and President Clinton’s Inaugural Concert. Mr. Bähler has also served as Music Director and arranger for “The Kennedy Center Honors.”
Thomas is the author of two bestselling books, Anything is Possible: A Tale of Æsop and What You Want Wants You (1st ed.)
November 15, 2019
How a $10 million loss shaped a business growth
Pat Grillo shares how a vendor decision cost his 35 year company over 10 million dollars in sales and how it changed his business and life for the better.
Did that get your attention? It can happen to any entrepreneur. You choose a vendor partner that has products that your clients can use and you enter into a relationship with them that allows you to provide better pricing to your clients and higher margins to you. Over the years you build trust together and you have an increasing amount of your business that is built off that stream of revenue.
But what happens when that vendor you trusted for years cuts you out of the picture and starts selling directly to the client at a lower price and then cancels your relationship with you so you can no longer sell their product?
Think this is a rare occurrence in the world of business? It is not.
Take a listen and learn what Pat Grillo and his team learned and did and what they had in place before the floor fell out that has enabled them to grow their business to a different level.
Pat Grillo is the founder and CEO of Atrion Communication Resources, Inc (Atrion). Atrion was incorporated in June 1985 as a reseller and integrator of state-of-the-art data communications equipment and services.
Pat is a pioneer in the computer networking, cyber security and advanced technology industries. He was particularly instrumental in the creation of the value-added reseller (VAR) channel model that now forms the backbone of high-tech industry sales and service worldwide. Under Pat’s leadership over the past 35 years, Atrion has evolved into an information technology industry leader.
Prior to founding Atrion, Pat gained more than 10 years of experience in sales and management for several high-tech companies, leveraging that experience and knowledge to further Atrion’s success every year since its founding.
Pat’s experience and deep commitment to total customer satisfaction allows Atrion to specialize in working with Fortune 1000 companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Air Products, Armstrong World Industries, Dun & Bradstreet and Merck Pharmaceuticals. He also established vendor-partnering agreements with a number of the leading pharmaceutical and financial companies in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania region.
Additional career highlights include the co-founding of Atrion Networking Corp in 1988 and 1NService Corporation in 1997. He served for two years as 1NService Board Chairman. Pat is currently a member of numerous manufacturer executive advisory councils, member of CMP’s BoB Conference Advisory Board, Secure World Expo Advisory Board, Ingram Micro Security Advisory Board and ICS Board of Directors.
Pat served four years in the United States Marines Corps and is a Vietnam Veteran. Pat is committed to supporting Veteran and First Responder causes and has raised more than $50,000 for charities like Folds of Honor, NY Run for The Fallen, Wounded Warrior Foundation, NPower, Operation Shoe Box and several police & fire organizations. . In September 2019, Pat started the Atrion Charitable Foundation. The foundation will allow Pat to grow the company’s and Pat’s philanthropic endeavors.
November 8, 2019
5 Keys to Successful Negotiating
Negotiations happen every day and not just in business. We negotiate with our families, at work, with vendors and more. Negotiation is not about win-win or win-lose. Rather according to Mari Frank it is about finding the sweet spot where each party knows their needs and can express them so results happen without anyone feeling like a loser.
Mari Frank reveals how she uses negotiation as a legal mediator and attorney and shares her 5 key tips to walking into and away from your negotiations with strength.
There was so much she had to share around negotiation that she is coming back on the show.
Mari Frank is an attorney, mediator, author (5 books), professional speaker, professor, and radio host of two shows (since 2005) airing on KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine CA. For 3 decades, she’s expertly been using her unique “solutioneering” tools to resolve conflicts and transform adversity into opportunity for her clients, and audiences. Unlike a shark, her dolphin approach, gentle yet powerful, transforms disputes between people so they may collaborate and create dynamic relationships. She’s mediated and resolved all types of fights including business lawsuits and divorce.
A healer of conflict, Mari empowers audiences with strategies so they may communicate without turning disagreements into hostility. She’s been a guest on over 300 radio shows, appeared on dozens of television shows and hosted her own PBS TV Special.
As a professional speaker, she’s motivated such companies as American Express. General Electric, Experian, Edward’s Life Sciences, etc. With humorous stories, Mari articulates how to turn adversity into opportunity to create positive relationships. She’ll inspire your audience with the 6 A’s to keep a romantic relationship, and the 5 steps to gain power in any negotiation! www.marifrank.com
October 31, 2019
You are Enough – Dr. Anita M Jackson
Dr. Anita Jackson has 5 advanced degrees including ones in organizational psychology and Marriage and Family therapy and through it all she realized she never felt she was enough so she kept getting more letters after her name. Then one day, at the very bottom, after having lost, her house, her car, er health and more she realized, I am enough.
Cut to today where she is the Founder and CEO of The Unlimited Woman Alliance, has her own production company and is a multiple times bestselling author who coaches women to achieve their highest potential and you will quickly realize she really is enough.
Take a listen to this episode as Dr Anita M. Jackson shares the questions to ask to shift from I am not enough to I am enough; how to skip analysis paralysis and make strong decisions and how she weaves her faith and her experience into all she does and what you absolutely must do after you ask the right questions.
Dr. Anita M. Jackson is fast becoming a sought after feminine transformational mentor, speaker, leader, and success coach within the feminine empowerment movement. She has an unquenchable passion to lead a movement of women to a higher level of being and doing that literally creates a tipping point of healing for others worldwide. At the core, Dr. Anita mentors women entrepreneurs in knowing, “I Am Enough” while helping them lead, live, and leverage their unlimited potential, power, and purpose in life, business, wealth, and so much more.
She is the founder and CEO of The Unlimited Woman Alliance, Her Global Voice, and AMJ Productions and Publications. She is also the former Sr. Executive Producer of Outrageous Success Women’s Network Channel (powered by VoiceAmerica Network), producing and broadcasting online TV shows promoting the empowerment and success of women worldwide. She was the host of Outrageous Success Women’s TV and The Unlimited Woman Show.
Through AMJ Productions and Publications, she was the publisher of I Am Enough Magazine, an international recognized online magazine, and is the current publisher of the Unlimited Woman Magazine which is a lifestyle, luxury magazine mentoring spiritual, heart-centered women in making a conscious decision to be unapologetic in creating, living and having an outrageously successful life and business. She is a #1 Best-Selling author of four books and co-author in seven other books
For the past 25 years, Dr. Anita has worked with human and spiritual development and transformation as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Organizational Psychologist. She also has a rich background in Christian higher education, personal and professional coaching, and organizational consultation and leadership. She has participated as an advisory member for one of the largest Christian movements, Daughters of The King (the women’s division of Promise Keepers) launched at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA in 1997 with over 32,00 women.
Dr. Anita believes that despite the amazing contributions women have already made to society, there is so much more for women to contribute and to offer — and she is dedicated to helping women realize their unlimited potential NOW! Get your free copy of Becoming and Unlimited Woman Ebook.
4 Magic Questions of Screenwriting
Marilyn Horowitz teaches screenwriting at NYU and is herself a screenwriter and producer and author. Screenwriting is in her blood and she has even been called in to be a script doctor when scripts need some fixing.
What is it about movies, TV Shows and plays that makes mostly every author want their book to come alive on the big or small screen?
I’ve always wondered why some books succeed on the screen and some books don’t. I’ve also wondered why some screen adaptations are even better than the books but I never understood what it really takes to do the writing. It just seemed like a foreign language to me.
Marilyn shares tips from her trademarked Horowitz System of writing including content from her NYU textbook, The 4 Magic Questions of Screenwriting on this episode. She explains how you can eliminate writers block and also clears up how you can use each side of your brain to write quickly and easily.
Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning New York University professor, TV show creator, producer, and Manhattan-based writing coach, who works with successful novelists, produced screenwriters, and award-winning filmmakers. She has a passion for helping novices get started. Since 1998 she has taught thousands of aspiring screenwriters to complete a feature length screenplay using her method. She completed her tenure as a judge for the Fulbright Scholarship Program for film and media students in 2013 and as a judge for the New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) Ravenal Foundation Grant. In 2004 she received the coveted New York University Award for Teaching Excellence.
Professor Horowitz has a created a revolutionary system that yields a new, more effective way of writing. She is the author of six books that help the writer learn her trademarked system, including editions for college, high school, and middle school. The college version is a required text at New York University and the University of California, Long Beach. Two of her books have been used in the Lights, Camera, Literacy! program taught to over 1,000 children in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public School System (a recent recipient of the “Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award” for outstanding scholastic performance).
Professor Horowitz writes articles for Script magazine, and she pens a monthly column for MovieOutline.com, an online magazine with 30,000 subscribers. She is featured in Now Write! Screenwriting anthology published by Tarcher/Penguin edited by Sherry Ellis and the 2014 edition of The Expert Success Solution. Marilyn’s latest novel, The Book of Zev, reached Amazon Best Seller status when it was released in December 2014.
Professor Horowitz has taught more than 100 classes, seminars, and workshops across the country for groups including the Writers Guild of America East, NYWIFT, Philadelphia Writer’s Conference, Script DC, Screenwriters World East, and the Great American PitchFest. In addition, she also hosts periodic writers retreats in Tuscany, Italy.
Professor Horowitz has written several feature-length screenplays. Her production credits include the feature films And Then Came Love (2007), starring Vanessa Williams and distributed by Warner Bros.; Caleb’s Door (2009), distributed by Around the Scenes; Found in Time (2011); Nocturnal Agony (2011); and The One(2011).
October 21, 2019
What is your MO when it comes to doing anything?
Have you ever taken one of those personality or strength tests like Meyers-Briggs, Strength Finders or another in an attempt to understand what drives you and how you think? Kathy Tagenel says learning what makes you tick can make your business and life choices have a greater chance of success without all the drama.
What seems to be missing from several of the assessments is your action model. How you will make decisions and then take action. I don’t know about you but knowing that information would seem like it would have saved me a lot of pain in my career in corporate and as an entrepreneur.
My guest today is Kathy Tagenel and she is better known as Agent 99 to Bob Burg’s Maxwell Smart but anyone who knows her knows she is a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Kathy shares with us what conative strengths are, the power behind performance, and uses me as a guinea pig to explain my Modus Operandi (MO). Hint, she is eerily accurate!
Kathy Tagenel is an entrepreneur and business developer. She is the Chief Marketing Officer of Burg Communications, Inc. and president of Zoom Strategies, Inc., the marketing firm she started in 2004. Since 2008 Kathy has been working with Bob Burg to help build The Go-Giver Movement. Kathy’s background is in marketing, information technology, and management; her passion is working with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to help them develop and grow their businesses.
She received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University and her MBA from the University of Chicago. She started her own consulting business in 1999 and previously had worked for large corporations such as IBM, Ameritech and Verio. Kathy is an adventurer who loves to travel and boldly go where she’s never gone before! She looks forward to meeting all the amazing ambassadors of the Go-Giver movement.
October 10, 2019
A New Way to Market to Land Clients
Sarah Santacroce says its time to stop the, “But wait, there’s more” way of marketing. The deluge of ads and emails that hit your inbox and TV and news feed saying buy now or miss out, only 5 left, or signup now and start making money today are overwhelming. They are enough to make you say, STOP THE MADNESS! But they work for a specific segment of the population so businesses continue to use that method of marketing
Yet what about those who just mass delete those emails, change the channel or skip over the ad in their feed? How do you market to them? Is it worth marketing to the other kind of client? YES.
There is no one size fits all to marketing from the consumer side or the business side. Take a listen as Sarah shares how you can land clients and not just leads.
Sarah Santacroce is an internationally recognized LinkedIn Specialist & Online Presence Mentor who has personally coached, mentored and guided over 1,900 entrepreneurs. She helps them position themselves as experts on LinkedIn, shows them how to find & express their unique voice & stand out as thought leaders. As a result they find their tribe, get the recognition they deserve & a steady flow of clients – with ease & not sleaze.
In addition to her LinkedIn expertise, Sarah is known for helping fellow entrepreneurs market their business authentically & anxiety-free, sell their services & make a difference. She’s also the host of the ‘Gentle Business Revolution’ podcast where she has conversations that aim to disrupt the current marketing paradigm and bring more empathy and kindness to the business world.
Sarah’s upbringing and life’s experiences inspired a yearning to create a global movement that encourages people to bring more empathy and kindness to the business world, live a more meaningful life and take care of our mother earth and each other. Her Gentle Marketing Revolution Program is an integral part of the The Gentle Business Revolution movement.
When she’s not working she loves adventure & traveling (ask her about her alter ego in Sicily), yoga & nature walks or hanging out with her family. www.sarahsantacroce.com
