Patricia Lohan, the author of the Happy, Healthy, Wealthy Home, that teaches entrepreneurs how magnetize their business for money, clients and fame through the ancient art of Feng Shui joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Patricia Lohan discuss the following:

1. What is Feng Shui?
2. Why is having a Feng Shui’d Office vital for business success ?
3. How can people improve their office space using Feng Shui?
4. What is the first thing you would like listeners to take action on in their offices?
5. Do you have any other tips for prosperity that our listners might be able to implement?

Patricia Lohan is a Feng Shui Expert, Speaker and Author. She helps entrepreneurs make their home magnetic to money, luck and blessings. She shows you what they don’t teach in business school, what lies between the lines, your top secret tool for success. She is a Feng Shui expert, a healer and passionate female entrepreneur who has shaped her dream life living in Bali with her husband. Patricia has a gift at making Feng Shui simple, easy to understand and implement.

She has helped thousands of people across the globe embrace Feng Shui and create lasting changes in their businesses, homes and lives. Patricia has seen first hand the power of the mind, surroundings and inner healing, clearing and aligning everything so it works holistically. She loves entrepreneurship with 15 years of experience running and growing three successful start ups of her own.

Website: www.patricialohan.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: facebook.com/PatriciaLohan.RestoringYouBack.ToHarmony
Dream Life & Biz Creators: facebook.com/groups/DreamLifeCreators
Twitter: @LohanPatricia
Instagram: instagram.com/lohanpatricia
Pinterest: pinterest.com/parashakti888

The views, ideas, thoughts and opinions expressed on any program are those of the persons appearing on the program and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Entrepreneur Podcast Network.

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Aidan Porter, Co-Founder & CTO at FREY that is a modern laundry detergent subscription service joins eCommerce Radio to discuss technology in the CPG industry.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Aidan Porter discuss the following:

1. Tell me a little about yourself.
2. Who is FREY and what do you do?
3. How is FREY bringing tech into the CPG industry?
4. How has social media pivoted the way companies market themselves?
5. How do you use data to make business decisions?
6. Where can you see technology leading industries such as this?

From top to bottom, we created FREY with you as the focus. Striving for the highest quality ingredients and minimalistic elegance, FREY brings a new element of class to laundry and clothing care, while making a positive impact on the world.

FREY formulations are created to treat your clothing better, lengthening its lifespan and helping to retain its natural color and feel.

We utilize natural, more readily-biodegradable ingredients because we know that you care about the products you choose.

We guarantee you will love FREY.  Get 20% off your first order and another 10% when you buy more than one item! If you don’t like FREY better than your current detergent, we will refund you 100%, no questions asked.

Website: https://livefrey.com

A product manager is an important member of any business organization. After all, a brand has to offer something to its audience, and product management teams are at the forefront in this area. They handle research and development of new offers that can benefit the market and enable the business to expand into newer areas of opportunity.

For this, effective leadership is essential. Product managers will need the right qualities in order to function well in their roles as the overseers of their businesses’ product lines. No doubt, much of this is developed through training and experience.

If you think you’re on your way to a career in product management, you can follow these important tips that will help you reach success in this area.

1. Have an eye for research

Product management is all about research — a ton of it! You will need to make time to gauge market preferences and know what people want from your line of industry. To make sure your business succeeds, there’s no room for inaccuracy, and there’s definitely no room for guessing games.

Data is important, so before thinking about creating a profitable product that your audience will buy, make sure you look at your numbers. Age, gender, and location are vital to mapping out your market. This will help you determine the type of product your business should invest in.

2. Take competitors into account

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, so don’t expect your competitors to be lax when it comes down to product development. If anything, you should be able to conduct competitor research to anticipate possible developments, offer something new to the market, and stay ahead of everybody else.

For this, make sure you’re keeping tabs on your competitors’ activities. You can monitor their websites and social media activity. This will provide you with ample market intelligence you can use to offer something better.

3. Keep yourself up to speed

The field of product management is continuously evolving, due largely to technological advancements. New tools are being made available to organizations, providing greater leverage along the lines of efficiency and productivity.

One thing’s for sure, you will need to keep yourself up to speed on these latest developments. Organizations are looking for individuals who can provide them with the skills they need to push their brands forward. Flexibility is one thing that’s important in this field, so it really pays a lot to be adaptive to the changing business landscape.

4. Be persistent

Patience and persistence are just the two ingredients you will need to make a breakthrough. If you’re starting out on this career path, it’s important to know that businesses want more than just technical knowledge in finding the right product managers. It takes a great deal of pitching and promoting yourself in order for these businesses to notice you.

For this reason, you may as well visit a Product Management Interview Blog for resources on how to make it past the application process for certain large enterprises. This should give you everything you need to know to make a successful career in product management.

Tim Eisenhauer, President and Co-Founder of Axero that develops and markets Communifire, a social intranet and collaboration platform & the author of WHO THE HELL WANTS TO WORK FOR YOU? joins Enterprise Radio.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Author Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Tim Eisenhauer discuss the following:

1. You say that employee engagement is such a pervasive problem and everyone is talking about it.  How does your book aim to solve it?
2. What are some key mistakes leaders in NOT engaging their teams? What starts the problems?
3. What are the basic steps to get your employees engaged and working together as a unit?
4. Communication clearly plays a big role — what are some effective ways to communicate with your people that will be clear and direct but also motivating?
5. What do you hope leaders or business owners will learn about themselves from your book?

I’m Tim Eisenhauer, president and co-founder of Axero. My company develops and markets Communifire, a social intranet and collaboration platform. Over five million people use our software, and that number is growing.

Our customers invest in Communifire because it saves them time and frustration. That’s the technology promise. The social element adds up to something extra–employee engagement.

Employee engagement has always been a vital topic for Axero. We are a virtual company in a highly competitive market. If people aren’t psyched to work for us, we go out of business tomorrow.

I am fascinated by human behavior and ingrained biases in our thinking. If we are to achieve success, we must learn to work with the human brain, and not against it. It’s true for software development. And it’s true for employee engagement.

Website: https://axerosolutions.com/book

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Want to make your direct mail stand out from the rest and avoid the trash can? You need to check out this ultimate list of creative direct mail marketing ideas.

Don’t listen to the rumors, folks: direct mail is far from dead.

Even with the advancement of the internet, direct mail encourages anywhere from 10 to 30 times more responses than digital forms of marketing. Regardless of how far technology has come, nothing can quite compare to the power of touch.

But that doesn’t mean any old postcard will do the trick. If you really want responses, creative direct mail is a must.

That’s why we’ve created the top 10 ways to keep your mail from going into the trash.

10 Creative Direct Mail Ideas

To really grab the recipient’s attention, companies must get creative in their direct mail campaigns. Unfortunately, many businesses “make do” with a simple postcard complete with a blown up photo and some text.

But this doesn’t work. The piece has to sell itself in a way that is interesting and practically irresistible to the target audience.

It has to be creative. If it’s not, it’s going into the recycling bin.

1. Interactive Cards

Very often, marketers forget about one of the most fundamental senses humans have: touch. There’s nothing quite like a marketing ad that encourages people to touch it, move it and interact with it in order to receive a message.

These interactions form a symbolic link between the direct mail and the individual. In fact, studies find that individuals who hold merchandise are more likely to purchase it because the act of holding it encourages a psychological sense of ownership.

Perhaps it was this relationship that made Microsoft’s ad promoting Windows so effective. They embedded their envelopes in slabs of concrete and sent them to software sales staff. The accompanying hammer was used to break the concrete wall and reveal the letter inside.

Likewise, LavOnline sent fake tomatoes that individuals threw at a picture of a shirt. When the flattened tomato shrank back into its regular shape, removing itself from the shirt, the message was clear: LavOnline’s laundry service won’t leave a stain.

There are so many ideas to consider here:

• Puzzles
• Scratch-offs
• Magnet-embedded messages
• QR codes
• Letters or cards that can be folded into a 3-D object
• Stickers

The creative options are endless–and effective.

2. Free Gifts

Everyone loves free gifts, but the idea is to provide something that is surprising and that potential buyers will use.

Promotional advertising has the opportunity to increase brand recognition and loyalty. Keep it small enough to be held in the hand and make it something recipients will utilize often.

Freebies might seem like a waste of money, but they enhance a company’s reputation, customer loyalty and revenue if the brand name is included on the item.

Just consider 7-Eleven’s Free Slurpee Day. After giving away 4.5 million drinks, Slurpee sales increased a whopping 38%.

The more creative you are with these gifts, the better. Creative gifts that are associated with your goods or services stand out and create a lasting impression.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to make the envelope somewhat lumpy and to consider the packaging carefully. People simply can’t resist a lumpy package.

3. Folding Mailers

There’s interactive . . . and then there’s the never-ending card.

This is a simple yet effective design. With it, a new image and text appear with every fold, cycling through in an endless loop.

Not only do these designs encourage recipients to touch the mail itself, but they also allow marketing teams to utilize a broad range of messages. The curiosity about what the recipient will see next fuels them to actually engage with the mailer instead of throwing it in the trash.

Furthermore, endless folding mailers are inexpensive to create and market, making them an ideal choice for businesses.

4. Visual Effects

Fireworks make viewers “ooh” and “aah,” just like the right visual effects on letters or cards are sure to gain attention.

Coatings are especially gaining traction, as they can be used to create the illusion of anything from wood to mud spatters. This gives companies lots of wiggle room to find a coating that relays something about the product or business itself.

Effects can be used to create reflections, to distort images, to make words or pictures glow in the dark and more.

5. Pop-Ups

Even adults love pop-up picture books. If you don’t believe us, just consider the market for adult pop-up books that have sprung into the publishing world.

Pop-ups don’t have to be complicated, and their retro heritage makes them endearing and fun to practically every age. Marketers can even integrate cell phone use and QR codes to make the pop-ups more interactive and realistic.

If you want something jazzy and fun, a simple pop-up card goes a long way.

6. Audio

We can’t forget about one of our other senses: hearing.

Nothing draws attention or surprise quite like a burst of sound upon opening a mailer. But at the same time, you don’t want to annoy the viewer.

Instead, consider a more subtle approach. Sound doesn’t have to include a narrator. It could be a natural noise, like rain patters, or perhaps a well-known song.

If a narrator is used, make sure the message will resonate with the customer or that the voice is from a person the customer will recognize.

Aside from audio, even video is making its way into direct mailing campaigns. This choice is on the pricier side, but it’s a route a few companies take. It’s an easy way to stand out from the crowd.

7. Texture

It’s time to break out the fuzz and glitter. Research proves time and again that humans like certain textures.

If it’s soft or smooth, humans get a certain sort of pleasure from touching an item. Jagged and sharp items, however, have more negative responses.

Textures are so strong an element they even influence our moods. It’s why, on a bad day, we want to snuggle in bed under a soft blanket.

In the marketing world, textures offer a plethora of possibilities.

Paper can be made to feel like glass. Cloth samples can be utilized to demonstrate superior quality. Pearlescent shimmers can make your message shine.

Whatever the goal, identify the mood you want customers to have and find the texture to suit it.

8. 3-D Printing

3-D printing has opened an entirely new arena for print marketing. No longer are companies restricted to two dimensions to get their message across. Now, 3-D models can be affordably created and sent to homes.

3-D printing also allows personalization. Instead of relying on manufacturers to create large batches of the same item, businesses take it upon themselves to make whatever they see fit and vary it accordingly.

Furthermore, the blueprints for these items can be electronically sent to other businesses in the network, cutting delivery costs. And now, businesses can even print their own mailing labels using services like the one offered at this company.

Sure, dimensional mailers are a tad costly. However, studies demonstrate they have a higher response rate than traditional mail. In fact, responses are around 8.5%.

Simply put, people open them and they won’t soon forget about it.

9. Hidden Messages

Everyone loves a good mystery, and if you utilize this in marketing, you’re bound to get more attention.

Instead of giving your message outright, leave it up to the recipients to “decode” it using your directions.

Perhaps the mailer needs to be put together a certain way for the message to become clear. Maybe it has to be held under a certain light. Whatever it is, this provides a fun and entertaining way to share your message.

Just make sure the final outcome (the message) actually pays off.

A great example occurred in 2009 when Advertising Agency Duval Guillaume in Belgium sent out direct mailers to market World Water Day. The blue card had a simple instruction at the top informing the recipient to hold it under water. Only when it was held beneath water could the message be read.

10. Smells

What’s that delicious smell? No, it’s not cookies in the oven. It’s a scent attached to the card you just got in the mail.

Humans can sniff out at least one trillion different scents, and yet this is one of the five senses that is vastly underrated. It shouldn’t be.

Smells stick with us. We remember 65% of scents after one year whereas we retain only 50% of visuals after a few months. Even more importantly, 75% of our emotions are triggered by smells.

There is even a museum in England that pumps scents into the building so visitors know what it would have smelled like in the Viking days.

If you want to stand out, consider fraternizing with your customers’ noses.

Dive into the Business World

Mailers and direct marketing campaigns are far from over. Although digital media has made quite a splash in business, the traditional use of paper and the US Postal System are still alive and thriving.

However, for direct marketing tactics to work, entrepreneurs must know how to grab attention and make their message relevant. That’s why creative direct mail is a must.

Then again, every marketing team needs the right tools. Whether you’re going the digital route or using traditional media, check out our list of the top seven affordable marketing tools.

It’s time to wow some customers.

Samantha Brown, the CEO of JACK, Australia’s leading Personal Development Education Company who curate events joins Enterprise Radio. JACK is designed for you to play a bigger game. Achieve more. Do more. Be more.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Samantha Brown discuss the following:

1. What is one of the greatest pieces of advice you’ve applied to growing yourself and growing your business?
2. What are the mandatory pieces of the puzzle required for someone to actually expand their potential?
3. Was there a time in your life that might have been a bit of a catalyst for you, to expand into the next stage or phase of your self and your business?
4. You manage one of the worlds foremost Personal Development educators, Dr. John Demartini, What are some of the greatest lessons your community have learnt from him?
5. While we’re all striving to be the best version of ourselves, what do we do when we have a knock back or a set back —WHAT amount of personal development can motivate us?

JACK is a community, a hub and a platform that empowers personal growth. Through events, programs, consultancy and online content, Jack gives people the knowledge to help grow their business, their relationships and themselves.

For the past 12 years, Jack CEO, Samantha Brown has been partnering with the world’s leading minds in the field of personal development. Working closely with her carefully selected team, Sam has run life-changing events that have been the catalyst for exponential growth for tens of thousands of people across the country.

Jack is constantly evolving, which means that we are focused on delivering the best content in an accessible way. Our audience is empowered through exclusive access to:

• A digital resource that provides people with ongoing and up-to-the-minute tools and training, delivered on a variety of platforms
• A website that showcases all upcoming events and webinars
• A community of like-minded people who inspire each other and challenge each other to grow personally and professionally
• Print publications
• Live events that range from two-hour workshops to multi-speaker events and retreats.

Websites: www.jackgrows.com | www.jacklearns.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JACK.GrowBeyond
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackgrowbeyond

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Brenda Langstraat, CEO of WITS, a literacy program that supports students in Chicago Public Schools joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Brenda Langstraat discuss the following:

1. How did WITS get its start in Chicago?
2. What is WITS’ overarching mission? How do the current programs support this mission?
3. How does WITS collaborate with Chicago Public Schools and their existing curriculums?
4. How can people support WITS? (Either through fundraising or through your volunteer program)
5. Can you tell us more about The Blackboard Affair in November?

Summary: WITS serves over 10,000 students across 80+ schools in the Chicagoland area, and 100% of what we do is made possible through private fundraising. With zero funding coming from public school or city budgets, things like The Blackboard Affair make it possible for us to continue the great work that we’re doing.

Brenda Langstraat is the CEO of Working in the Schools (WITS). WITS is the largest literacy organization that partners with Chicago Public Schools (CPS). WITS provides holistic literacy support for students in Chicago Public Schools by creating positive and collaborative communities of teachers, volunteers, principals, and investors. WITS serves more than 10,000 students in 80 elementary schools through programs that provide professional development for teachers and engage volunteers with students in 1:1 literacy mentorship.

Brenda joined WITS in 2012, her life-long love of reading and MA in literary criticism driving her passion to advance students toward reading proficiency. From 2012 to 2013, WITS experienced revenue growth of more than 50%, giving the organization the capacity to expand school-year and summer programs and to support students impacted by school closures.

In January 2015 Boundless Readers, a leading literacy organization focused on teacher professional development, merged into WITS. Around the time of the merge, WITS moved its offices to the Chicago Literacy Alliance’s shared office space, the Literacenter. 

Brenda joined WITS after serving as Executive Director of Parkways Foundation for seven years and as a development professional at the Chicago Humanities Festival for five years. Brenda serves on Chicago Literacy Alliance Board of Directors, on the Forefront Mission Sustainability Oversight Committee and the Mentor Illinois Leadership Council.   

Website: http://witschicago.org

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witschicago
Twitter: https://twitter.com/witschicago
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/witschicago

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Brian Trascher a best-selling author, a keynote speaker, and a governmental relations expert who is using his experience to help empower people on how to get involved in the public policy process joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Brian Trascher discuss the following:

1. The title of your book is “Laws and Sausage”, how did you come up with that title?
2. What type of organizations do you speak to, and who is your target audience?
3. Given the current toxic political climate, does that make people more or less likely to seek out your expertise?
4. What advice can you give people on how to effectively communicate with their elected representatives?
5. You say in your book that public protesters are just wasting their time, what do you mean by that?
6. What is a tip you give people on ice breakers and how to start a meeting with an elected official?

Brian S. Trascher is a New Orleans businessman who has helped to bridge the divide that often exists between business and politics. As a Senior Partner at Gulf South Strategies, a local governmental relations and business development firm, Brian has worked to give both access and a voice in local and state government to a diverse roster of clients that spans everything from local non-profit organizations to multi-billion dollar corporations on the Fortune 500 list. Gulf South Strategies is also the firm largely credited as the political force that paved the way for Uber Technologies’ recent entrance into the Louisiana market.

As the Principal of Laws and Sausage, LLC, Brian S. Trascher delivers keynote speeches about the public policy process to corporations and trade organizations. Brian also offers corporate consulting and training through the Laws and Sausage Citizen Advocacy Workshop. In 2017, Brian published “Laws and Sausage: You Never Want To See Either One Get Made!” The book is now available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle

Brian S. Trascher is also the Principal at CCS Business Services, a small business consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs get their projects off the ground. CCS also specializes in mergers and acquisitions of existing small businesses, providing turnaround services as well as marketing and structuring for resale consulting services. Trascher’s portfolio of companies include local brands in the car wash and food service industries, as well as international franchise brands like Planet Beach Automated Spas.

Brian S. Trascher is a Board Member of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, Past-President of the Third District Kiwanis Club of New Orleans, and a Parishioner and Lector at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in New Orleans. Brian also serves on the board of the Louisiana Living History Foundation, the entity which coordinated the Bicentennial of the Battle of New Orleans.

Brian S. Trascher is a 1993 graduate of Brother Martin High School, a 1997 graduate of Louisiana State University, and a 2007 Fellow of the Loyola University Institute of Politics.

Website: www.briantrascher.com/video

Social Media Links:
Facebook: facebook.com/briantrascher
Twitter: @Btrascher

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Drive in your car on any major freeway during rush hour in the United States, and it easy to understand why the virtual office has transformed the modern office. Originally, an offshoot of the remote-working platform, the virtual office has saved commuters countless miles and money in terms of mileage and gas. However, the virtual office has done more than save our time and environment. It provides basic apps in the online format.

Instant messaging and sending emails back forth made it awkward to work, but the virtual office made working in the online format effortless and simple. Moving out of antiquated office tools, today’s virtual office has created a landscape that is limitless and provides your business with a way to transition into other formats if necessary. Take a look at Servcorp Virtual Office America to learn how this office format can be leveraged to help your business by clicking onto the following link www.servcorp.com/en/virtual-offices/.

Keep reading to learn about all the ways that businesses can benefit from the virtual office platform.

Online Bookkeeping Apps And Software

The online platform has been made so much more accessible through the use of accounting and bookkeeping software. Much of the software can reduce the amount of time you spend with administrative tasks. Tasks related to tracking sales, generating invoices, paying bills, and an assortment of tasks can be automated.

Furthermore, some of the more advanced software allows you to sync your credit and bank account information. As opposed to storing all of this information in onsite file cabinets, your business can move unsightly file cabinets to an online format, which is much safer. Your virtual office can pretty much run itself these days with the right software.

Building Teams

Another way that the virtual office can be used to make the managing of your business run smoother is with team building. Creating teams in the online platform can happen at any one of the social media sites, or you can build a website that creates opportunities for others to contribute to conversations about new ideas or projects they are working on alone. Finally, the virtual office, through file sharing and other current communication, can pretty much be used to complete whole projects online.

Hiring Top Talent

The business of hiring qualified candidates has just been made easier. Hiring contractors has reduced the cost related to bringing others on board, but more importantly, it is the timeliness that has allowed business to make new hires in the professional marketplace that has been established online. Moreover, the online platform has made it possible for businesses to hire top talent from around the globe, which virtually eliminates geographical limitations to hiring qualified people.

Marketing Researching

Many of the tools that are used today are online research tools that allow business to complete a number of tasks. In addition to gathering data that can be used to predict behaviour, your online platform allows you to do much research on any topic or industry. Not only can you find information related to potential markets, but you can also figure out whether a particular industry is going to be lucrative in terms of your target demographic.

Maximising Public Relations      

Through social media and other popular platforms, you can essentially build your brand. You can create a recognisable logo, and create the momentum that gets brand recognition. A lot of what goes into making a product successful is connecting that product to its potential public, and to do that, you can begin the relationship online or in real space.

Virtual Office Efficiency

The virtual office has made much of modern office work so much more efficiently. At the same time, it has allowed businesses to tap into larger markets and not just in the United States but from around the world. Your business can only benefit from a platform that is a blank slate with limitless space and many opportunities to showcase your expertise.

If you have a tight marketing budget, you might feel like it is an impossible feat to reach your target audience. Yet it doesn’t need to be, as there are many affordable and unique methods when it comes to branding your business and reaching out to your audience. Read about the six powerful tactics for promoting your business on a budget.

1. Connect with Followers on Social Media Networks

As 56% of adults use more than one social media platform, you must develop a presence on the various popular channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Twitter. It is a free online platform that allows you to connect with your demographic. However, your success online will be determined by your commitment to developing a solid social media strategy. Instead of attempting to master every network in one quick swoop, you should focus your time and attention on learning about a few select channels. Once your business starts to generate a good ROI, you should then invest in sponsored social media posts.

2. Publish Valuable Content

Both Google and potential customers love great content. It can therefore be an effective and free way to market your business and increase your brand awareness. The more high-quality blogs, videos, infographics, and podcasts you produce, the more people with engage with your content and the higher it will appear in Google.

3. Invest in Custom Decals

Impress pedestrians and drivers with car advertising decals, which can provide your business with a fantastic return, as they can increase your brand awareness, provide information on your business, and can encourage customers to contact your company. High-quality decals can also last for a long time, so your business will benefit from the professional decals each time a company vehicle hits the road for many years to come.

4. Host a Giveaway or Contest

Giveaways and contests have the ability to go viral, as many people will happily engage with your social media posts to win a free prize. For example, you could provide your followers with a free item in exchange for sharing your post, submitting a contest entry, or writing a comment. The good news is, you do not need to provide an expensive product, as your audience might happily enter a contest or giveaway for an online eBook, notebook, or another affordable item.

5. Partner with Complementary Businesses

Marketing your business doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg. If you want to boost brand recognition and increase sales, you should aim to partner with other complementary businesses; for example, they should share your company values and target a similar demographic. You can then embark on cross-promotion advertising, or you could refer each other’s companies to customers for a mutually-beneficial relationship.

6. Increase Brand Recognition by Gaining Free Publicity

Increase brand exposure by finding ways to gain free press attention. For instance, you could do something beneficial for the community to encourage media coverage. You could also embark on a publicity stunt to help you appear in news articles online, newspapers or magazines. You could also find interview opportunities for TV, print or radio, so you can become an industry thought leader.

Glen Wakeman the co-founder and CEO of LaunchPad Holdings, LLC, a SAAS firm that enables early-stage entrepreneurs to increase their success rates by providing online business planning services joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Glen Wakeman discuss the following:

1. How important are setbacks to your entrepreneurial journey?
2. What are some of the key things you’ve learned working around the world?
3. What do start-ups have in common with established businesses?
4. How do start-ups differ from established businesses?
5. What advice would you offer to budding entrepreneurs?
6. What do you mean by “risk management”?

Glen Wakeman is the co-founder and CEO of LaunchPad Holdings, LLC, a SAAS firm that enables early-stage entrepreneurs to increase their success rates by providing an online business planning services.

Passionate about growth, innovation and executive development, Glen mentors several C-level executives and holds advisory positions in numerous start-up companies. He blogs frequently about business transformations, global affairs, emerging markets, and leadership skills. He also gives advice on business strategies, angel financing, and raising capital.

Educated at The University of Chicago, Glen Wakeman has lived in six countries and worked in 32 during his 20-year career with a previous company. He has led and transformed businesses with close to 20 thousand employees and $15bn in assets. His endeavours have included start-ups, divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, integrations, downsizing, new market entries, and exponential growth.

Websites: glenwakeman.com | LaunchpadHoldings.com

Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/glenwakeman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glen.wakeman

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Rich Donovan, the Founder of the Return on Disability Index and author of the new book Unleash Different: Achieving Business Success Through Disability joins Enterprise Radio.

This episode of Enterprise Radio is working in association with the Author Channel.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Rich Donovan discuss the following:

1. You state that today’s largest economic opportunity is disability.  Can you give a few reasons why?
2. What are some common misconceptions about the disability market?
3. You’ve worked with leading companies like Pepsi, Google and Walgreens on hiring disabled workers with great success.  How can smaller companies also employ disabled workers successfully?
4. In the book you provide some examples of how companies market – or should market — to disabled customers.  What are some ideas for reaching that market even if your product or service is not specifically for disabled people?
5. You speak about how you can actually build a better company by focusing on nontraditional markets.  What are some of the benefits?

Rich Donovan is the author of Unleash Different and is Founder/CEO of The Return on Disability Group and is an expert on the convergence of disability and corporate profitability. He has been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential People with Disabilities in the world.

Rich holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. Rich lives in Toronto, and is an avid sailor and proud parent of his son, Maverick, along with his wife, Jenn. Rich also happens to have cerebral palsy.

Website: www.unleashdifferent.com

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Christopher G. Machut, the Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Netarus, LLC, a Norfolk, Virginia-based company joins Enterprise Radio. Netarus manufactures and sells industrial-grade video monitoring solutions which improve employee productivity and workplace safety in the construction, industrial, marine and transportation industries.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Christopher G. Machut discuss the following:

1. For the benefit of our listeners, please tell us what Netarus does?
2. Regarding your HoistCam series of crane cameras, how do these products improve construction safety?
3. A recent column in Insurance Thought Leadership cited Netarus’s effort to increase safety. Why is it important for the insurance industry to encourage the use of HoistCam?
4. Briefly explain some of the key advantages of HoistCam.
5. Finally, what events (past or upcoming) or issues involving Netarus would you like our listeners to know?

Christopher G. Machut is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Netarus, LLC, a Norfolk, Virginia-based company. Netarus manufactures and sells industrial-grade video monitoring solutions which improve employee productivity and workplace safety in the construction, industrial, marine and transportation industries.

Its HoistCam product range is a rapidly deployable wireless camera system, placing the eyes of the crane operator anywhere on the job. The HoistCam platform suite provides optional remote monitoring, recording and management analytics reporting to operators and site supervisors. HoistCam Director enables centralized monitoring for the job site via HoistCam, other cameras and even drones.

Chris is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Engineering and is an experienced entrepreneur. He is responsible for researching, launching, and expanding two successful computer-based business companies.

Websites: netarus.com | hoistcam.com

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoistCam
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hoistcam

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Heading off to college has been romanticized in books and movies for decades. It’s a rite of passage for many people who have worked hard and earned the grades necessary to move on up in the world. However, what the stories don’t prepare you for is all the practical considerations that must be made—the mental adjustments and financial preparations that are essential for a happy and productive college career.  

When planning for that first year of college, most people think about what TV shows they will be watching in their dorms or what their new roommate will be like. While it’s not a waste of time to think about these things, the best way to prepare for success is by making sure that you’re ready to deal with whatever challenges might arise. Contained within the standard four-year college experience are countless opportunities for growth, but the only guarantee is that it won’t always be easy.

Taking stock of what you want to get out of college before you get there is a great way to prepare yourself. When you run into the inevitable hurtles, you’ll be able to pass right over them and continue on towards your goals. So before you start packing up a truck and getting ready to leave, take some time to mull over the following things that every college student needs to consider before leaving.  

Mental Preparation

For many kids who arrive on college campuses, it’s the first time that they’re going to spend sustained months or years away from home. That’s not easy for a lot of people, and people are often surprised by the intensity of their homesickness. Learning how to meditate can be a great way to calm yourself down if anxiety starts to become a problem. Before you leave, spend some valuable one-on-one time with the people back home who are most important to you. You will see them again, but those special moments right before you depart will become touchstone memories that give you the strength to continue with your studies. 

It’s also common for college students to find themselves in situations they’ve never been in before, or are uncomfortable being in. Before you leave, really think about what matters to you. Consider your values. This act of introspection will help you better understand yourself, will help you grow, and when situations do arise that you’re unfamiliar with, you will be able to trust your gut reactions and act according to your core principals.  

What Should You Bring?

It’s almost impossible to finish college without a laptop, and if you read something like an HP ENVY x360 review, it will help you get an idea of the kind of hardware that best suits your needs. It’s tempting to bring a bunch of things that will remind you of home, but part of college is learning to embrace a new environment. Bring an item or two, but don’t try to recreate your childhood bedroom—you can always use music to feed your nostalgia for a familiar space.  

There are obvious essentials that you should bring, such as clothes and school supplies, but without making an incredibly long list the best way to determine if you should bring something is by asking yourself: How often will I use this? 

Financial Planning

College is many things, but one thing it isn’t is cheap. It’s no mystery that college loans can follow you for years after graduating—President Obama famously didn’t pay off his until he got to office. Before you get to college, you need to figure out how you’re going to finance the next couple of years. That might mean taking a job and signing up for fewer classes, or applying for grants or scholarships if you’re eligible. 

While it’s important to determine how you’re going to finance your education, it’s also necessary to figure out how to manage your money on a day-to-day basis. Using a budget calculator can help you map out a plan. Decide how much you’re willing to spend every week on activities, going out, food, etc. Books and other class necessities are notoriously expensive, and should be treated as a serious but necessary expenditure. 

Considering these needs before you earn your degree is a critical step. It will ensure peace of mind and will set you up for a successful couple of years. For many, college is remembered as some of the best years of their lives. Take full advantage of this special time by being prepared.  

Every business, regardless of sector, niche, and industry, has different needs, especially when it comes to efficiency and productivity. However, if you’re able to find solutions to these needs, it can definitely help ignite business growth. 

As 2018 comes to an end, it’s likely that you’re evaluating your performance and strategizing to discover how you can move forward. One of the areas that you should focus on is seamless collaboration. This is because internal communications are so important and essential for the effective carrying out of tasks and objectives. Below, you will see a few collaborative solutions that you can use for your business in 2019.

AI for Customer Service Reps 

Customer service is possibly the most integral part of any business, so it should be carried out with the utmost care and efficiency. However, attending to customers can be both demanding and time-consuming, so using tools that can help make the process easier is vital. One solution to consider is Smart AI; this innovative option can perform tasks such as providing information about your company, products and responding to demands. By using it, it could help save customer service reps a significant amount of time because they don’t have to carry out repetitive and time-consuming tasks and can focus on delivering the best service instead. 

Instant Messaging For Teams 

Teamwork is something that will likely never become dated because every thriving business needs a strong team to bring their goals to life. In light of this, in the coming year, you want to be sure that team members can communicate with one another quickly and effectively. One way of doing so that beats long-winded email threads is instant messaging for teams such as Voxer. One of this solution’s best features is that it enables voice conversations in addition to texting and they can be stored and kept in the cloud. Additionally, Slack and Instantbird are helpful instant messaging tools suitable for teams as well. By choosing the right chat app, your team should stay in sync, and there should be a lot less confusion. 

Video Chats for Clients 

The world we live in is becoming increasingly globalized, which means that geographical boundaries are no longer stopping people from partnering and collaborating. One of the ways that many businesses do so, especially with people in different locations, is via video chats. If you need to speak to clients, you should consider video chat services such as Join.Me which makes it easy to share your screen for collaboration, training and helping others. You should also try Meeting IO for virtual meetings as well as ooVoo as you can share files, send text messages and make video calls. 

Tools for Team Productivity 

Productivity should be at the top of your agenda as a business as it increases the chances of you meeting your targets and deadlines. There are so many tools out there that can help in this department, such as Asana. This is an excellent tool if you want to manage projects and tasks as it allows users to assign tasks to other members, add followers to projects and monitor deadlines. 

If you want your business to grow in 2019, it’s essential that you put plans in place to make collaboration more effective. You have to collaborate with others in order to produce the best results, so ensure you invest in this if you can.

Gavin Altus, Co-Founder and Director at Sentrient, an Australian online learning business that specializes in workplace compliance joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Gavin Altus discuss the following:

1. I notice that #1 on the list is all about making people feel safe? Please explain?
2. Now, the second on your list is all about setting and maintaining standards? An oldie but a goodie, and please talk to us about your take on professional standards?
3. While it might seem obvious to most business owners, I notice that ‘staying on the right side of the law is’ is also up there in your top five? Tell us more about that?
4. Your fourth on the list is an interesting one, talking about the importance of Human Resources, you make reference to playing HR in offense rather than defense which is an interesting view, please explain?
5. I quite like your final tip for creating better workplaces, it is all about ‘prevention is better than cure’ with a twist of technology thrown in. Please explain?
6. You’ve seen a dramatic rise in the uptake of your online learning and workplace compliance services at Sentrient over the past 12-18 months, please talk us about the trends you are seeing in Australia with regard to businesses thriving to create better workplace culture?

Summary/Tip: The next BIG competitive advantage in business is going to be drive by INCLUSION, i.e. creating a workplace that is safe, inclusive and respectful, as TRUST is fast becoming as important as BRAND RECOGNITION!

Gavin Altus is Co-Founder and Director at Sentrient, an Australian online learning business business that specialize in workplace compliance. At Sentrient we make it easy for small and medium businesses and larger organisations to do the right thing and protect their people and their business from the ever-increasing cost associated with breaches in safety, invasion of privacy and workplace incidents such as bullying, harassment and discrimination. By doing so, we help create a high trust organisation and that is where life starts to get better for everyone!

Website: www.sentrient.com.au

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Jess Tiffany the C.E.O of the Marketing and Networking University and sister marketing agency MNU Digital and International Best Selling Author of his LinkedIn book “Growth Hacking: Strategically Grow Your Business Network from Zero to 10K in 365 Days” joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Jess Tiffany discuss the following:

1. Have you always been into sales and marketing?
2. So what made you decide to combine your sales and marketing with education online?
3. How does the online learning marketplace work?
4. You say you can find $25k-$50k of hidden revenue streams in companies, in less than an hour, is there one or two strategies you could share?
5. How did you build up a social media following of well over 100,000 and a reach into the millions?

Jess Tiffany is the C.E.O. of the Marketing and Networking University, an online business education marketplace and its sister company M.N.U. Digital. The Marketing and Networking University is a place where business experts can share their knowledge and create additional revenue streams. 

MNU Digital was created when we realized many people didn’t have enough time or desire to learn how to do everything in their business and were looking for a complete solution. MNU Digital assembled top industry experts to create a “dream team” approach to solving your entire marketing strategy. When you hire MNU Digital you are hiring a team. 

M.N.U.’s C.E.O. Jess Tiffany’s specialty is his in-depth service offerings like finding businesses $50k in hidden revenue opportunities in under an hour. Jess coaches businesses to higher revenue, lead generation strategies, joint venture creation, unique proposition isolation, and implementations. 

For those who are unable to work with Jess, he does offer an online version called the 52 Week Industry Domination Training. This program has been called “the most powerful and dynamic client attraction program ever created!” It also has been featured on Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC. This amazing program will take you through some of the most powerful business fundamentals that are overlooked and lead to most businesses failings. It continues on teaching proven advanced marketing skills and ultimately if implemented these skills will lead many businesses on to millions of dollars in revenue.

Jess is also an International Best Selling author with his LinkedIn Book called “Growth Hacking Strategically Grow Your Business Connections from Zero to 10K in 365 Days”.

Websites: marketingandnetworkinguniversity.com |  mnudigital.com

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Your business may be doing a mediocre job and barely getting by as it stands today, but it’s likely you want to see your business advance. The good news is that there are five ways in particular that you can take your small business from good to great and truly succeed.

Avoid wondering what could be and instead focus on turning your dreams into a reality. With a few adjustments you’ll be experiencing the future you always envisioned for your brand and company. Remain patient because change takes time and some of these initiatives may be a bit more challenging than others.

1. Set Goals

Goal setting will not only help you focus but will also allow you to push boundaries and get outside your comfort zone. Take the time to set new goals for your company and make sure you communicate these to your staff members too. You want to confirm everyone’s on the same page and working hard to achieve your most important objectives.

2. Focus on Your Personal Development

Your business will get better when you get better at running it and improve as an entrepreneur. It’s important to put forth an extra effort to advance in areas where you’re falling short. For example, finance may not be your forte, but knowledge in this area is going to help you succeed over the long-term. Hop online and check out resources such as Keith Fitz Gerald reviews so you can get started expanding your knowledge in this area today. 

3. Learn How to Delegate

Another way to take your small business from good to great is by learning how to delegate tasks to your employees. Figure out what each person’s strong suits are and try to match your assignments with their abilities. This is also a great way to clear your schedule, so you have time to focus on higher level business initiatives. 

4. Keep up with Technology

If you want your company to get to another level, then it’s in your best interest to learn more about how technology can help you grow and innovate. Keep up with the latest advancements and rollouts for businesses so your company can begin to run more efficiently. You’ll all be more productive and achieve more when you bring your tasks online. Winning over new customers will also become easier when you create an online presence for your business. 

5. Hire Slowly & Methodically 

Your business will be in a much stronger position in the marketplace when you have talented people working for you. It’s a wise idea to hire slowly and methodically and not just bring onboard the first person who you meet. Sit down and review resumes, interview any potential candidates and have specific roles and responsibilities documented so you know you’re hiring people for a certain need.

Take advantage of these fives ways for how you can elevate your business from good to great in no time. Be willing to modify your current approach so you can start to focus on the areas that truly matter the most. Track your progress so you can see for yourself the positive impact these tips have on your business.

What is CRM?

What does CRM mean for business and why is it necessary? In a few minutes, you’ll understand the importance of CRM and will more likely use the strategy to increase business efficiency and profit.  Managing a company is challenging because every decision will affect the business and employees.

Customer Relationship Management is a software that aids in leads administration, including investors and existing clients, which can sufficiently excerpt the most value. In short, the definition of CRM system is a way to measure and analyze data of sales and customer’s needs.

Through this, it increases profit by focusing on customer retention and acquisition. Implementing CRM can lead to happy paying individuals who is not only an advocate of your business but also receives a great experience on the services.

If you want a place to store information and have it accessible across multiple devices or desire to increase customer relations by focusing on customer satisfaction, you’ll need a program.

More than 40% of companies resort to solve issues through spreadsheets, emails, and other means before realizing the importance of CRM system because it merely makes things much more manageable.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Determinants of A Successful CRM Software

Customer Relationship Management isn’t just software; it’s a foundation that holds the overall success in sales and marketing. Sales increased by 29% for companies with CRM system due to:

1. Data Warehouse

From the word itself, It stores everything a company needs. You import the list of leads, and customer data to CRM to track sales and engagement. Besides this, you should also consider data protection – make sure the software won’t leak confidential information to third parties.

      2.  Information Sharing

CRM is the core software where you store and share data with the team. It can aid people to access specific resources with the use of selective sharing.

Most people consider CRM as a solution, but it’s merely a strategy -you’ll need to study the gathered data and try to make sense of it. It helps you manage more than your business contacts but also your vendor relationships, internal sales activities, and marketing team.

       3.  Marketspace

Marketspace creates diversity in the workplace through the use of numerous techniques in CRM. One strategy isn’t enough to solve all the problems in the workplace which is why CRM introduces itself as a long-term strategy and action plan for a company.

How will you know if it’s useful? If the data improves business sales performance and customer satisfaction.

You’ll also help your sales team stay on task by using automatic workflow which is automated actions and messages that triggers on certain events. It ensures interactions with potential customers and saves you time from having to repeat the same steps over and over again.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Conclusion

As you can imagine, there are indeed a lot of benefits in implementing a CRM system — a tool used to bring discipline into a company’s operations.

Managing a company is rewarding, but an organization can be stressful. With the current system of manually doing paperwork, it’s overwhelming — paperwork from vendors, customers, and sales team.

A solution is Customer Relationship Management which offers email organization, scheduling tasks, and meetings, document management, deal tracking, and sales tools. With this, you can focus more on growing your business!

Jason Peterson, CEO and Chairman of GoDigital Media Group, a media and technology company focused on intellectual property rights and content distribution through its business units joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Jason Peterson discuss the following:

1. Tell us about GoDigital and what it does.
2. Give us a breakdown of each of your business units, Cinq Music, VidaPrimo, AdShare and ContentBridge.
3. Tell our listeners how you got started in the entertainment industry. You went to business school and studied film at USC, then went on to Pepperdine for your law degree…
4. One of your companies, Cinq Music, just signed Janet Jackson.Tell us about that and why Janet chose Cinq out of hundreds of possible music labels and distributors?
5. What is the future of entertainment content, from music to movies? Streaming over ownership? What’s next Jason?
6. Last question, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to get into the business side of entertainment?

Jason Peterson is an experienced entrepreneur, attorney, and producer, named in 2009 as one of the ‘Top 30 entrepreneurs under 30’ in Los Angeles by LA Business Journal. Jason is the current Chairman of GoDigital Media Group (godigitalmg.com), Cinq Music (cinqmusic.com), VidaPrimo (vidaprimo.com), CEO of ContentBridge Systems (contentbridge.tv), AdShare (adshare.tv), and past founder of GoDigital Distribution (godigital.com) (now known as Amplify Releasing).

In his role as Chairman at GoDigital Media Group, Jason works to help the entertainment business manage and monetize its content, be it an artist, publisher, studio or digital platform.

As Chairman of Cinq Music, a leading music rights management company, Jason has helped establish Cinq as one of the fastest growing labels in Hispanic music with a 2015 Latin Grammy win and a Billboard nomination for Latin Rhythm Label of the Year in 2016.

As Chairman of VidaPrimo, the largest Hispanic millennial targeted multi-platform network, Jason has worked to build the management team and establish a repeatable and scalable business model that now has nearly 2 billion monthly users globally.

In his role as CEO at ContentBridge, a media supply chain solutions provider, Jason works to define the market opportunity and leads the development of ContentBridge’s software tools and high throughput cloud infrastructure. ContentBridge powers several of the leading studio’s digital supply chains.

As the CEO of AdShare, Jason has developed the technology and market for monetizing the identification and tracking of unlicensed uses of professional content online. AdShare services over two million copyrights from hundreds of clients.

As a founder of GoDigital, a leading movie distributor, Jason worked towards scaling the company’s library to more than 1200 movies. This included guiding its management team through the acquisition of Might Entertainment, Variance Films, and an investment by Facebook founder Chris Kelly and FreeCreditReport.com founder Ed Ojdana.

Prior to GoDigital, Jason was President of Symbolic Entertainment. During his tenure at Symbolic he produced music videos for Sony, EMI, Universal, and Warner Bros among others.  His clientele has included Master P, Lil’ Romeo, Ashley Tisdale, T.I., Obie Trice, Switchfoot, Chris Tomlin, Belinda, and Death Cab for Cutie.  His videos have won “Video of the Year” at the Gospel Music Awards and MTV Latin Video Music Awards as well as “Best Directorial Debut” at the MVPA awards. His commercial credits include spots for InBev S.A.’s Becks Beer, Verizon DSL, and Nike’s “Ole” campaign.

In addition to videos and commercials, Jason has been a producer on seven feature films and nine television pilots.  Jason remains the youngest producer to ever have produced a feature film in competition at the Sundance Film Festival (“The Beat”, Sundance 2003).

Jason has been chosen to speak as an expert in production, distribution, and marketing at many conferences including MIDEM, SXSW, Digital Hollywood, Music Biz, and CBC Music Day, and has been quoted in industry publications as an authority in the area.

Jason is very active in support of industry and academic efforts in the media and technology space. He currently sits on the digital steering committee for the Entertainment Merchants Association, the trade group for home entertainment, the executive advisory board to the Association for Volleyball Professionals (the AVP), and has lectured at or worked with the University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount, and UC Berkeley on innovative projects. He also helps raise money for the City of Hope.

The foundation for his work is a license to practice law, a Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University and a business degree with an emphasis in Cinema/Television from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business honors program.

Website: www.godigitalmg.com

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