The Business Lounge Podcast (SeizeYourBusiness, OnPurpose Podcast, Making Real Estate Fun)

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/LiW81cCvb2s” align=”left”] You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Our Guest: Ben Chernivsky – This is Feeling Photography – 630-640-2362 –  hello@thisisfeeling.com – www.thisisfeeling.com 6 years as a camp counselor.  9 years in college.  Took that long to finally figure out he was an English major.  Liberal arts advocate.  32 years hunting for life and love and all things good and jolly and interesting.  Benhas been a full-time photographer for the past 4 years and is quickly learning that it’s not just about finding yourself – it’s about discovering who you don’t think you are.  That’s where you’ll find the real value in life.  This Is Feeling Photography is now a team of 3 photographers, and Ben is currently working through a new brand.   Show Notes: * When introducing a new skill, it’s not about burying your other traits. It’s about embracing all your features. * Be creative in everything you do. Try to find a new way to do something even if it’s something you have a routine for. * Never be satisfied. Always be able to revisit your past projects. * However, don’t be afraid to put a period at the end of the sentence in order to move on to the next opportunity. * Try to put yourself through the client’s experience. * Understand the value you provide for the client. * When you bring new lessons into your life, you increase all aspects in your life. * Introduce other services and products that the clients might be interested in rather than relying on the core practice. Ben’s Book List: * Brene Brown – Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are About our Hosts: Kevin O’Flaherty – (630)324-6666 – koflaherty@oflaherty-law.com –www.oflaherty-law.com Kevin owns O’Flaherty Law, a general practice law firm with four attorneys with expertise in many areas of law including but not limited to divorce and family law, civil litigation, 

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/A-IE1qt1aNA” align=”left”] You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Our Guest: Paula Gleason – Neighbors of Lisle – (630)222-3403 – paula_gleason@yahoo.com – www.neighborsoflisle.com A University of Toledo graduate and twelve-year member of the Lisle Area Chamber of Commerce, Paula is Past Chairman of the Lisle Chamber Board of Directors, Chairperson of the Ambassador Committee, Chair of the annual Dinner Dance/Silent Auction  Committee, Recording Secretary of the Government Affairs Committee, and serves on Alefest, Cruise Nights, Golf and Leads Group Committees. Paula is a member of the Board of Directors for the Eyes to the Skies and is Chair of their Scholarship Committee.  Paula is a member of the Lisle Convention & Visitors Bureau; and serves on the newly established Village of Lisle Special Events Committee.  Paula also serves on the West Suburban Community Pantry Board of Directors, is Chair of their Development Committee and Chairs the annual Chefs’ Culinary Challenge/Silent Auction Committee.   As a 24-year resident of Green Trails, Paula has served as the Recording Secretary for the Green Trails Improvement Association Board of Directors for 14 years and contributes articles to their newsletter.  Paula is a Bensidoun USA Supervisor of the summer outdoor French Market in Lisle.  Paula is co-publisher and Sales Director of the community resource magazine, Neighbors of Lisle and Account Executive for the Neighbors of Westmont community resource magazine.  Paula is a DuPage County Judge of Electionand also serves as a volunteer at the College of DuPage McAninch Arts Center. Takeaways from Episode 9 Magazine Marketing: *  People seem to think that print marketing is going away, and everything is going to be done by social media.  That is not the case.  In fact, Google does 1/3 of its marketing through print. * If you do a door hanger, people see it once and if people don’t need the service at the time that they see it.  If you advertise through a magazine, the customer will see it every 2 months. * People who do a full page ad, tend not to do it every month.  They are larger companies running the ad once for emphasis.  Paula recommends running smaller ads consistently, as opposed to one full page ad. * You won’t have a lot of phone calls from one ad.  What you are going for is top of mind awareness through multiple touches. * You can offer a discount code in order to track the amount of business coming from your ...

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/kJh8GQTl1I4″ align=”left”] You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Our Guest: Chuck Zimmerman – Corporate Strategies, a Sandler Training Center – czimmerman@sandler.com – (630)778-1500 x 226 – www.corporatestrategies.sandler.com We specialize in business development through customized sales and management training and coaching. We are a Sandler Training Company, America’s leader in corporate development for more than 40 years. The key to our success with clients is ongoing reinforcement. Typically we work with clients who face one of several challenges: common objections like price, bad timing and competition prevent closing sales; getting “think it overs” instead of definite answers at the end of a sales call; a leadership and/or management team that isn’t as successful as it could be or achieves inconsistent results; features & benefits sound the same as competitors; and prospecting activities that don’t yield enough results to grow business. Takeaways from Episode 8 *  A lot of sales people sell on intuition and personality and blame external factors when something goes wrong rather than looking internally. * Many sales managers manage by intuition and personality and are not systematic enough. * Unless you educate yourself to become a professional salesperson, rather than having 5 years of experience you will have 1 year of experience 5 times over. * Salespeople who don’t have a process end up following the buyer’s process: * The buyer’s process is to mislead (saying, “I’m interested”), steal information and expertise, and hide (avoiding the salesperson’s calls). * In order for the salesperson to follow their process, rather than the buyer’s process, the salesperson should set the rules up front. * Chuck believes that the salesperson should sell today and educate tomorrow.  Find out what the buyer’s issue is and see if you can help them, before trying to educate. * In the most simplistic person, Chuck recommends getting information about the prospect, figuring out what makes them tick, and with that information learn how the prospect wants to be sold to. * You have to be very intentional when going into a sales call, as opposed to reactionary to the prospect.  Preplanning for the day, the week, the month, and the year is essential. * You don’t have to like cold calling.

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/h2nLiMeFq4g” align=”left”] You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Our Guest: Doreen Petty – Doreen Petty Coaching – www.DoreenPettyCoaching.com  – 630-995-0317  – info@doreenpettycoaching.com         Talking Points: * When people make a transition into business ownership something changes about their life, their expectations for themselves it changes their identity. * People don’t know what they don’t know. * The key most important criteria or trait that a leader in business needs to have is self-awareness. * In order for people to be successful in coaching, you need to be willing to be a little selfish and focus on investing time and effort in themselves to define themselves as a business owner and successful person. * Once you define a goal, it becomes the reward for doing what you need to do to get there. * The tighter you can define what that future vision is the shorter the path to it gets. * Each time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else. * A big thing that a couch provides to people is an accountability partner. * There is a choice in everything you do. * Manage how you’re coming off to others by being self-aware of it. * When business owners use confirmation bias, they lose focus and options because they’re focused on what they already believe. * When you put out positive energy in the world it opens up a lot of options; when it’s negative it tends to close you out from those options. * The comfort zone is a vacuum and you can’t create change in a vacuum. * If you think something happens to you, that means you’re going to judge it and you’re going to try to find somebody to blame for it. * Everything that I do, say, believe and think and feel is all on me.   Doreen’s Book Choices: * The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference – Malcolm Gladwell * Managing Transitions Making the Most of Change – William Bridges  * Energy Leadership: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life from th...

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/lgkKzKfekTo” align=”left”]  You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Our Guest: Troy Golden – (630)805-2463 – tgolden@scgroupre.com – www.scgroupre.com  Troy Golden is Senior Director at SCGroup Real Estate. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 2005. After graduation, Troy worked on political campaigns, managing a state house race in North Carolina. In 2008, He returned to school to earn his MBA in Real Estate from the Wisconsin School of Business. Today, Troy is the senior tenant representation broker at SCGroup. He specializes in office space in the western suburbs. Troy is the founder and Executive Director of Greater Oak Brook Business Leaders (www.GreaterOakBrookBusinessLeaders.com). Greater Oak Brook Business Leaders is an invitation-only networking group. Its members are business owners, c-suite executives, nonprofit executives, and elected officials. Troy is a nationally recognized expert in commercial real estate. He authors the Oak Brook Office Report (www.OakBrookOfficeReport.org), voted the top commercial real estate blog of 2014 by theBrokerList. Troy speaks at commercial real estate forums across the country. Lessons Troy has Learned from Business * Treat everyone as a potential client.  When Troy used to run political campaigns, he learned not to judge a potential donor by the * Develop your ability to deal with rejection.  Troy used to make political cold-calls in New Jersey during dinner and people would say terrible things to him.  He developed a thick skin, and now when he makes professional calls, they seem easy by contrast. Relationship-Based Sales * In politics, good data is the foundation of a good field system.  If you want to win a campaign you have to find out who your voters are, and then you deliver them to the polls on election day.  Sales is similar. * The first thing Troy did when he got into sales was to put together a database.  As a campaign manager, you have a database of all the voters in the district divided into people who may vote for you and people who you expect will not (the other political party).  When Troy got into sales, he determined what type of client he was looking for (not too big, and not too small).  He then went through every single building at his territory and recorded everyone that fit ...

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/RtZwqfjMDGM” align=”left”]    You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Lessons Scott Has Learned From Business * The difference between success and failure is to keep trying.  Successful people do, and other people quit before they do it. * The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber  – It is not efficient to be working in your business. You should be working ON your business.  (This book is also referenced by Ken Adams in Episode 4.  Maybe you should read it.) * When you look down on your business from an eagle-eye view you can often gain insights that are not apparent when you are the boots on the ground. * Positive change often requires conflict.  This conflict is frightening when you are working in your business, but becomes less scary and requires less personal conflict when you have removed yourself from day to day operations. * As an entrepreneur it is scary to fire someone, because you will have to take over their job until you find a replacement. However, if an employee is at the point where they are a candidate to be fired, he or she is probably not doing that much anyway. Mentors * Being the smartest person in the room doesn’t necessarily make you smart.  You need to find experts to help guide you. * Great minds think alike, but so do buffoons.  Make sure you know which one you are and that you are getting good advice. * The number of people who think you have a good idea doesn’t necessarily correlate to the amount of success you’ll have.  Your mother may think you have a great idea, but she isn’t necessarily the best person to be vetting it. * Networking is the best way to find mentors. * Getting involved in either formal or informal entrepreneur peer groups is a great way to exchange ideas. * The best way to vet a mentor is through referrals, because someone you trust has seen them work. * A mentor can answer the question, “what are the questions I need to ask?” * The big opportunity often comes to you before your ready.  The great things about mentors is that they have failed.  You have to have had those failures to know how to maximize these big opportunities (Remember, Episode 1: Fail Faster?).

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/KoEmgOLSH5I” align=”left”]  You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Ken Adams’ business – Sip-Comm.com * Sip-Comm.com does consulting services for multiple types of businesses.  It partners with multiple different companies to teach you how to run your business and outsource certain services, so you as the business owner can focus on what you do best. General Business Lessons * You will redefine your business at least 9 times before you get a hit. * Let go of control of your business to succeed. * The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber – You can’t work ON your business if you are working IN your business.  (See all of the books referenced in our podcasts as well as book reviews at our Business Book Club). * The 4-Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferriss – Only check e-mails at specific times during the day, and make it clear to your customers that this is your policy. * There is a false economy when you try to save money by not outsourcing or hiring someone to perform tasks that can be delegated if the delegation costs less than you can charge for your time. * Record your processes in document management systems so that if you have to replace your employees it will be a smooth transition, or if you have to repeat the process you won’t have to relearn it.  When you hire new employees, you can then tell them “your job is to learn the articles in this system.” Unleashing your Entrepreneurial Potential (Don’t be a Job Zombie) * Ken is writing a book called Avoiding the Job Zombie. * Every day you plug away at your daily work routine without realizing that the zombie apocalypse (i.e. the microbusiness revolution) is happening outside. * Microbusinesses are popping up all over the place, because people are waking up from their daily work routine and asking themselves, “what am I doing?” * Schools train us to be good workers, so that other people can make money.

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/BUhZlnvs7Tw” align=”left”]  You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes! Keith Hoffman’s Business * Keith is a loan originator for 1st Advantage Mortgage, with 23 years of experience. * Keith bought into 1st Advantage Mortgage before deciding to sell the company.  Keith’s partner continues to be president of the business. * He has also written 2 books on horse betting, which are both available on Amazon.com: Smarter Bets the Exacta Way and Inside the Sport of Kings. * Keith has been to the Kentucky Derby every year since 1974, with the exception of the year his son was born. Strategies for Creating and Nurturing Power Partner Relationships * The #1 thing that has gotten Keith business is becoming involved with the Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber allows you to build trust with other business owners.  You get to know the good businesses as well as the mediocre and bad businesses. * You don’t get business from the Chamber or any other group unless you get involved.  Keith is a member of the board for the Downers Grove Chamber of Commerce. * If you don’t show up, nobody knows who you are. * Join a leads group within the Chamber in order explicitly exchange referrals.Join charitable community organizations such as the Kiwanis Club and Rotary Club in order to get involved in the community. Charitable groups like the Rotary Club and Kiwanis club allow business owners in the community to get to know you.  Once the members of the community get to know you, the business will come. * Go out to lunch in order to truly learn about the potential power partner and what they do.  Ask questions.  Don’t talk about yourself.  Learn about the other person. * Ask open-ended questions, not closed ended questions.  “Tell me about your business,” as opposed to “what do you do for a living?” * Ask the questions, and THEN come up with a solution.  You can’t come up with a solution for someone without learning about them first. * Connect the people you know with one another in order to strengthen your relationship with everyone involved.  Have lunch with multiple people to introduce them to each other. * I have trouble sustaining relationships with people unless I can get them plugged into a group that I am in.

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/tTF8fYMkyt8″ align=”left”]  You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes!   Kent’s Business * Ebersold, Inc. was founded by Kent Ebersold’s grandfather in 1932 as an industrial advertising agency, doing the ads, marketing, printing, promotional products, and direct mail for many businesses in the Chicagoland area. * The firm is currently located in Downers Grove, Illinois. * Ebersold, inc. is still doing similar things that Kent’s grandfather did in 1932. * Kent’s father came into the firm in 1956, and Kent joined in 1986. Lessons Kent has learned in the course of his business * Spend your client’s money as if it were your own. * Don’t try to take advantage of people in business, because reputation is everything. * Be quick to apologize for mistakes and make them right if mistakes ever happen. * Kent used to work for a big corporation.  Even though owning his own business is challenging, being in control of his time and being his own boss makes the challenge worth it. * Many years ago, Kent was kicked out of college due to GPA and told he could not come back until he got his Associate Degree. This was the first time that “no” meant “no” to him.  Many people would have just quit, but Kent got his Associate Degree, was reinstated in college and graduated with an excellent GPA.  Having a set back like this makes you stronger as a businessperson later in life.  Kent is glad that he went through this experience, because the failure was necessary to learn the leson that helped him later in life. * When you fail, recognize it and make an adjustment.  Sound familiar?  See Episode 1 – Fail Faster. Print Marketing with a Personal Touch * Don’t be afraid to brainstorm and try multiple creative ideas and see if they stick. * Years ago, many industries cut out their budgets for print advertising to go digital.  This means that consumers are receiving less print marketing than ever. * Nothing impacts someone like opening a letter.  Many e-mails are deleted without opening. * Direct mail should be personalized.  People like to see their names in print. * Give useful materials like calendars, and make your own logo subtle. * It is important to have a mix of digital and print marketing.  The potential customer should see your message in print, and also see it online to reinforce the message. * I send out newsletters and e-newsletters that are simply an invit...

jQuery(window).load(function() { jQuery(".container img,iframe,blackquote").sti({ primary_menu: ["facebook","pinterest" ] }); }); [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/rFHqWyoFjFw” align=”left”]  You have until June 11th to help us achieve our goal of appearing on iTunes’ New and Noteworthy list by reviewing us.   Click Here for easy 3-step instructions. At our launch party on 5/19 we will be raffling off White Sox and Cubs tickets as well as many other prizes to the people who have reviewed us (even if you can’t make it to the party).  If you won’t be easily identifiable to us by your iTunes ID, please either leave your e-mail in the review or e-mail us at info@seizeyourbusiness.com with your iTunes ID, so that we can get you your prizes!   In our inaugural episode, Tony and I discussed the number 1 hard lesson that we have each learned in our years of business. Tony’s Lesson: Overcoming Fear of Prospecting  * Putting yourself out there in social situations to meet new potential clients or business partners is uncomfortable and scary.  You simply have to force yourself to attend events and interact outside of your comfort zone in order to overcome this roadblock. * 90% of success is showing up.  Don’t whimp out! * You don’t have to do “salesy” activities.  Find a networking group.  Meet one or two people with a lot of contacts.  Treat them right and they will include you in their circles if you are “includable.” * Building long-term personal relationships with prospects is more effective than a short-term view of selling.  If a sale does not close on the first meeting, do not shut down the relationship.  If you continue to develop the relationship, you won’t have to sell anything to anybody.  If someone is your friend, they will want to work with you. * “No” doesn’t mean “no” in sales.  Sometimes it just means “not now.” * Nobody likes to be chased down.  Tony instead tries to build organic relationships, rather than putting prospects into a sales funnel with a follow-up systems. Kevin’s Lesson: Fail Faster * Failure is inevitable * Don’t be afraid to identify something as a failure, correct it, and move on in a different direction. * I used to have associates paid on a salary which was not tied to production.  This was a failing business model, because the associates were not incentivized to produced.  I stuck with this model for two-and-a-half years before I was willing to accept that the business model had to change, and switching over to a compensation system based on actual production.  This problem could have been identified two-and-a-half years earlier, and the business would have been profitable two-and-a-half-years sooner. * Separate your sense of pride and ego from your business model, so that you can identify problems with a clear head and correct them. * You can be married to your business, but you can’t be married to a particular idea. * Try radical ideas, and if they work, great!–If they don’t work, move on quickly. Thank you so much for listening!  We invite you to connect with us on social media and to e-mail us with comments,