Laura Steward Atchison's Blog, page 13
October 3, 2019
Productivity for Success and a Life and a little Max Headroom for fun
There is a new article everyday about disconnecting from tech, not working 24/7/365 and increasing your productivity in fewer hours. Yet most of us cannot seem to stick to the ideas of those articles. We cannot seem to find a way to make time for life beyond work to the levels we say we want.
Karl W. Palachuk has been living a life that grows his business while growing his life outside of work. He writes a book a year, publishes multiple newsletters, consults, hosts multiple podcasts, speaks at events, runs workshops, manages his business and personal social media, meditates every day and lives a life filled with laughter and friends and family.
How does he do it without being filled with stress and exhaustion?
Take a listen as Karl shares how he manages his day, plans his life and most of all, finds joy and laughter in just about everything.
Karl W. Palachuk is the author of twenty books and the creator of dozens of information products and downloads. He is a business owner, entrepreneur, author, father, speaker, publisher, blogger, podcaster, and a community builder.
Karl’s Relax Focus Succeed philosophy topics include work-life balance, team building, goal-setting, and personal development. He built a successful technology consulting company and then used it to expand into book writing and business consulting.
He travels extensively, adding personal days to almost every trip. As a result, Karl visits 25-30 cities every year, often across three or four countries, and manages to take about fifty vacation days each year. Talk about Relax Focus Succeed!
He is the founder of the Small Biz Thoughts Community and maintains four blogs, including Small Biz Thoughts and Relax Focus Succeed.
Karl has owned several small businesses, including two very successful Managed Service companies in Sacramento, CA. He received his first Microsoft certification in 1995 and his first MCSE in 1999. He was an active, hands-on Systems Engineer until January of 2017.
He now provides coaching and consulting services to IT professionals of all sizes. www.karlpalachuk.com, www.smallbizthoughts.com
September 30, 2019
Fearless Storytelling
Everyone has a story. Some are able to tell their stories in a way that transforms the listener. Others, have a story that can change people but cannot seem to share it due to fear or some level of fear that minimizes the sharing. Ethan Freckleton had been so filled with fear that he was unable to lift himself up at one point and then something changed. He recognized that fear was the only thing between himself and his dreams.
On this episode, Ethan, known as the Ambassador of Fearless Storytelling, shares how he went from feeling trapped to live his life out loud and helping others do the same. Ethan shares several powerful questions you can ask yourself to shift you from feeding fear to nurturing hope and more.
If you are, or have ever been stopped by fear, this episode is for you.
Bellingham, WA based Ethan Freckleton continues the tradition of honest storytelling, whether that’s in the form of Americana – melding a heavy influence of blues and country music with the louder and heavier guitar sounds of the grunge era that he grew up with – or as an author of speculative fiction.
As an author, Ethan Freckleton has helped hundreds of people start living their best lives with ‘The Change Habit,’ and entertained thousands more with his fiction. His debut novel, PROPHET OF VIRTUE (March ’18), was a humorous exploration of the oft-dysfunctional Seattle software culture. Recent releases include OF DONKEYS, GODS, AND SPACE PIRATES (May ’19).
As a songwriter, devoted to writing great songs, he has continually refined his approach while studying the craft of songwriting with hit writers – among them: Jeffrey Steele, Tom Hambridge, Hugh Prestwood, Angela Kaset and Don Henry. Their teachings left their mark, as Ethan emerged with his own brand of sincere, soul-infused rock n’ roll.
Notable releases include FINALLY (March ’16), EMPTY PALACE (May ’14) and UNLIMITED LOVE (May ’13) recorded in Hawaii, THE CRAZY THINGS WE SAY(Feb ’12) recorded with his band and produced by Johnny Sangster(Mudhoney, Maggie Bjorkland), as well as ALL SHE NEEDS (June ’12) recorded in Nashville and produced by Jim Reilley (New Dylans).
He has been carried in rotation on independent and commercial radio stations around the globe, from the UK’s HOT RADIO 102.8 to Southern FM 88.3 in Melbourne, Australia; as well as in the USA on such stations as Los Angeles’ KPFK 90.7 FM and Hawaii’s KTUH 90.3 and KKCR 90.9.
Ethan is currently the host of THE FEARLESS STORYTELLER podcast, and busy penning the third and final book in a humorous science fiction trilogy. As a musician, he’s an alumni of Seattle, WA area bands The Troublefakers, Alectrophobia, The Disappointments and Lust for Kicks. As a teenager, he shared the stage with blues greats RL Burnside, Lonnie Pitchford, Dave Conant. https://www.ethanfreckleton.com/
September 23, 2019
Rebranding a book company and how it changed how we buy and sell books
From a bookstore in a hair salon in 1927 to a world dominating force in 2019 in getting books into the hands of readers while supporting the authors, Porchlight Books, formerly 800CEOReads, takes a chance on a name change.
Sally Haldorson has worked at 800CEORead for over 21 years and for the last four years she has been at the helm. How do you navigate and thrive in a world where, as Sally puts it, “Amazon Happened”?
I love when I get to interview people in the trenches. The ones doing the work everyday. The ones who are not just thought leaders but leaders in every sense of the word. In the world of publishing many companies come and go and few thrive AND are considered leaders in making a difference for their employees and their clients. Porchlight Book Company and Sally Haldorson are the real deal in the world of publishing. They make things happen for authors and their clients. They also have their own Business Book Awards and a highly sought after bestseller ranking list.
So why change your name and risk losing the momentum you have built for decades?
Take a listen as Sally shares with us the why and the how behind the change. She also shares why she feels books are like concerts and how selling books should be like selling tickets to a concert. You get more than just the music at a concert and readers need to get more than just the book to build raving fans. Changing a business name is not for the faint of heart and I know that this rebranding is the continuation of a beloved brand that will enable it to help authors for decades to come.
Sally Haldorson is a 25-year veteran of book selling and a live-long lover of books. Her first job post-college (English degree, of course) was working for the now-defunct B.Dalton and then supervising at their short-lived children’s store P.B.Pages. After attending graduate school in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, it was her husband’s turn to return to school, so she once again turned to book selling, taking a job in 1997 at Schwartz Business Books, one of 9 stores owned by Milwaukee’s independent bookstore chain, the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops. The Schwartz family legacy had begun in 1927 as a publisher in the back of a hair salon and in 1984, in addition to many brick-and-mortar stores run by Harry’s son, David, had added business books as a concentration, lead by Jack Covert.
Through the 21 years she has worked for the family as Schwartz Business Books later became 800-CEO-READ (to emphasize its business concentration) and has now re-branded as Porchlight Book Company to represent its ability and desire to help sell and promote all types of books with large audiences, Sally has worked her way through all aspects of the company— customer service, operations, accounting, marketing, and now management—, and helped guide the company through external industry disruptions such as Amazon, the roller-coaster economy, and the emergence of technology in publishing, as well as internal change as the family was forced to close the bookstore chain itself in the late 00s and retirements have instigated changes in leadership in the most recent decade.
Working for a small, family company has also allowed Sally the opportunity and flexibility to give attention to her own family. When her son was born on 2005, and began to show signs of ill-health and disability, the company adapted to the demands of being a mother to a special needs child and offered her work she could do from home—during those years, she helped Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten (then 800ceoread’s General Manager) write and publish the book The 100 Best Business Books of All Time with Portfolio now in its 3rd edition and having sold over 30,000 copies. She became General Manager of 800-CEO-READ in 2015, the same year Sally’s husband was diagnosed with leukemia at age 47. With the company’s support Sally was able to manage both her family’s needs as well as the company’s growth as 800-CEO-READ moved into a new building with the space to expand its logistics capabilities and staff.
2019 has brought about even more change as Sally and new CEO Rebecca Schwartz have led a re-brand with new technological infrastructure to enable the company to contribute even more to the authors and publishes who bring great work into the marketplace of ideas. In her “spare time” Sally has drafted a memoir titled Brave as Stars, and you can find her work at sallyehaldorson.com.
September 19, 2019
Book Marketing for Every Author – Jane Ubell-Meyer
Just because you publish your book doesn’t mean you will sell any copies. My guest today has been helping get books sold for authors for many years. Jane Ubell-Meyer has worked in TV and movies and publishing for many years and is considered by those in the know to be the one to turn to help launch and relaunch books to get sales happening.
The founder of bedsidereading.com shares tips, strategies and invaluable resources you can use to get your books found by your target reader. Jane also shares why the book cover matters and the three things you need to do to make your book a success out of the gate.
Jane Ubell-Meyer has been a successful television and film producer and entrepreneur. She comes from three generations of entrepreneurs. She learned how to build a business by following her father at a very young age to tradeshows, working side by side in his office and augmented her work ethic from her years at Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, Wall St Journal Television, Hearst Magazines and as a film producer in Hollywood.
Jane created Bedside Reading® and innovative program placing books by the bedsides in luxury hotels and in the Media. The goal being to help expand an author’s fanbase and promote an author’s book in the Media. Her hotel clients include Waldorf Astoria, Mandarin Oriental, Fairmont among others. Her Bedside Reading portfolio includes 24 hotels. Her publishing clients include Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster, Harper Collins, Hachette, Macmillan, Kensington as well as countless small publishers and indie-authors.
Her experiences as a journalist, television & film producer and entrepreneur led her to realize that anyone who is an entrepreneur can always use a roadmap, guidance and help as they journey through the world of being an entrepreneur.
Jane is a painter (JaneUbellPaintings.com) and lives in Connecticut with her husband. She is also a contributor to Afar Magazine, Hollywood Weekly, and East Hampton press, Southampton Press, etc.
September 5, 2019
So you want to get published?
It seems like every other person I talk to wants to write and publish a book. But what does it really take to get a book to market and, even more important, have it get into the hands of the right readers?
David Hancock founded Morgan James Publishing to help entrepreneurs get their messages out through books. He felt there had to be a better way for thought leaders to keep their copyrights and sell books. Publisher’s Weekly consistently ranks his publishing house as one of the top houses. Their authors top the charts of the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and other bestseller lists as well. Yet, many authors seem to struggle with the process from start to finish.
On this episode David shares his best tips on getting accepted by a publisher, writing your book and marketing and selling your book. We also talk about the state of the industry and what is next in digital book sales and block chain.
David L. Hancock founded Morgan James Publishing in 2003.
David has revolutionized book publishing from the author’s standpoint. As Founder of Morgan James, he was personally selected for Fast Company Magazine’s Fast 50 for his leadership, creative thinking, significant accomplishments, and his significant impact on the industry over the next ten years. David was cited by NASDAQ as one of the world’s most prestigious business leaders, and named a Finalist in the Best Chairman category in The American Business Awards, hailed as “the business world’s own Oscars” by the New York Post.
David serves as President of the Executive Board for Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, and as Chairman of the Board of The National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence.
David and his wife Susan live in Hampton Roads, Virginia with their two children, Morgan Renee and Ethan James.
August 28, 2019
Success as an author – Thomas Kies
Thomas Kies was a journalist for many years and now he is a successful thriller writer. The twist? His main character is a woman!
Three books into the series the books just keep getting better and the Publisher wants a fourth. Yet the journey was not an easy one. Many books were trashed and many books not accepted by agents. Until, one day, a yes.
So what did Thomas have inside that allowed him to persevere all while keeping a day job that often went into the night?
This episode is for everyone who wonders when their day will come or better yet, when the no will turn to yes. It doesn’t matter if it is a book you want to write, a business you want to start or something on more of a personal level. We all have a dream whether they are small or large doesn’t matter. What matters is how you move through the journey.
Take a listen as Tom shares the question his editor asked that put him on the track to success.
Author of the Geneva Chase Mystery Series, Thomas Kies lives and writes on a barrier island on the coast of North Carolina with his wife, Cindy, and Lilly, their Shih-Tzu.
He has a long career working for newspapers and magazines, primarily in New England and New York, and is currently working on his next novel, Graveyard Bay.
August 21, 2019
Boundaries or Burnout? – Michael Levitt
Michael Levitt, The Founder of Breakfast Leadership and the namesake podcast knows a think or two about how burnout can destroy your life, business and health. After a devastating loss he learned to set boundaries in all aspects of his business and his life and know advises others on how to see the warning signs of burnout, how to turn it around and most of all how to grow your business and enjoy your life at the same time.
The World Health Organization recognizes burnout as a legitimate syndrome and defines it as “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.” We also know it happens to mom’s who work outside the home and inside the home and to caregivers.
The term burnout used to be used to describe hippies and druggies in the 70’s yet now it is a part of our daily language and is becoming an epidemic with potentially catastrophic results. Can you recognize when you or someone around you has it? How do you help yourself or others to heal from it? What do you do if you have it and need that job? Can you recover or is your only option to leave or suffer?
My guest on this episode has dedicated his life and his business to helping not just leaders recognize burnout and recover from it but also help everyone avoid ever suffering from it.
Take a listen as Michael shares when you should take a step back, who may get burnout and the questions you need to ask before, during and after burnout to have your best life.
Michael Levitt brings people back to life. Focused on helping individuals and leaders within corporations (Re)Learn BOUNDARIES in their work and personal lives – So that they can accomplish more, by doing less, which will save their careers and possibly their lives.
Michael lost his health, his job, his car, and his home all in 369 days. Michael teaches people on how that happened to him, so that they can make the crucial changes in their lives to prevent those losses from happening to them.
Michael is a Thought Leader, and Author of 369 Days: How To Survive A Year of Worst-Case Scenarios. With over 30 years’ experience during a career in leadership, healthcare, finance and information technology. He has led community engagement, fund raising, and government engagement, which led to thousands of patients getting access to primary healthcare, reducing emergency room visits.
Contact Michael at www.BreakfastLeadership.com and catch his podcast of the same name.
August 7, 2019
How to recover from life disruptions – Kim Becker
We’ve all had those curve balls thrown at us in our lives and our businesses. You know, the ones that seem to come out of left field that disrupt our plans for our lives and the course of our business. Why do some people seem to be able to get right back on track and others seem to never recover?
My guest today has had several major life disruptions and for awhile there they came one right after another. She lost her husband and co-founder of their business who was her best friend, confidant and father to her son. Two months before he passed away a fire destroyed a critical part of their business that cost $250,000 to replace and there is more to tell.
During this interview, Kim M. Becker, Founder of Hello Gorgeous!, shares how we each need to find our own safe person to share the real gritty stuff with, and we are not talking social media here. She also shares real word advice for how she has kept the faith, created new rituals and traditions while honoring the old, let her son see her cry and let her staff and clients know that even though Michael is now watching from Heaven that the work they are doing with Hello Gorgeous! will carry on.
Kim Becker is a motivational and inspirational speaker and an award-winning author of two books about beauty, cancer and the amazing scope of the human spirit. Kim is a dynamic communicator with an incredible story of faith, hope and service to others, and the founder of Hello Gorgeous! of HOPE, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides Red-Carpet Experiences for women battling all cancers across the United States,
Kim has been a business owner and national educator for more than 30 years. Through her many experiences in the for-profit and non-profit business worlds, Kim has become a business woman, fundraiser, event planner, educator, public speaker, author, podcast host and the face of Hello Gorgeous! Kim received the Mom`s Choice Award for her first book, “Hello Gorgeous!: A Journey of Faith, Love and Hope”. Kim received the 2011 Spirit of Women award, an American Cancer Society 2014 Coaches Verses Cancer Inspirational Award, she received the prestigious George H. W. Bush, Points of Light award in 2015 and in 2019 Kim received the Shero Award from Zeta Phi Beta Society. Contact Kim at Hello Gorgeous!
August 4, 2019
Growing your business online and offline – Stuart Crawford
Stuart Crawford has built an international business helping other businesses grow and serve their customers. He also does it with a complete money back guaranty unheard of in this day and age.
He ran a successful technology services company, known as an MSP, for many years until one day he realized it was time to sell and also time to move from his home base of Canada to Florida.
Stuart shares with me how it knew it was time to sell, time to pack up and relocate and how he has learned to change the way he does business after a heart attack. He also shares tips for building your business online and offline because without the two, sales really do not keep building for a service based business.
When he was 18, Stuart Crawford had dreams of being a career soldier, so he joined the Canadian military. Over a nine-year period, he put his boyhood love of electronics and communication to good use first as a radio operator with the Canadian Artillery in Shilo, Manitoba; then as a strategic communications specialist in Penhold, Alberta; and finally, as brigade network administrator with 1 Brigade in Calgary, Alberta. Always civic minded, Stuart served as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus in 1992.
In 2001, Stuart founded IT Matters, a Microsoft award-winning computer and technology partner, and served as the Vice President of Business Development for eight years. In 2009, he played a vital role in the merger of Bulletproof InfoTech and CompuConsult.com and helped the resulting new startup IT firm gain a competitive edge in the Alberta small-business community.
Today, Stuart serves as Creative Director and CEO with Sebring, FL and Fort Erie, ON-based Ulistic, a specialty firm focused on information technology marketing and business development. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience pertaining to how technology business owners and IT firms can use marketing as a vehicle to obtain success.
Although his passion still revolves around using technology and electronics, this global IT community leader has shifted his focus serving the IT business community, entrepreneurs, small-business owners and marketing executives. He teaches them how to maximize their online marketing, social media, search engine optimization, how to communicate their expertise to the marketplace and serve their clients more efficiently. His unique ability to see past the Internet enables Ulistic’s clients to balance the online and offline worlds.
July 24, 2019
Entrepreneur Hacks – Richard Tubb
Life as an entrepreneur needs help and my guest today shares what he has learned building and selling his own successful business and helping others do the same. Based out of the UK, Richard Tubb has built an international business helping MSP’s and other companies build their dream business while having a life.
It’s not easy being an entrepreneur yet everyone seems to want to be one. On this episode Richard Tubb talks productivity, procrastination (yup he admits he is a procrastinator who happens to be highly productive), the secret sauce to grow your busy and what the heck is a cheeky nandos. I really wanted the answer to that last one!
We also touch on some difference between being in business in the UK versus the US and how he learned to take his weakest link and turn it into a secret weapon.
Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
Podcast: http://tubb.co/TubbTalk
Twitter: @tubblog
