The Action Catalyst

Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and bestselling author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior. Dr. Berger has spent over 15 years studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to catch on. He’s published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, consulted for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like the New York Times and Harvard Business Review often cover his work. Show Highlights: Social transmission is any time in which one person’s behavior effects another. @j1bergerSocial currency – we are more likely to share something the better it makes us look. @j1bergerThe things we share affects how other people see us. @j1bergerAs business owners we get people to talk about our product by sharing how talking about our product makes them look good. @j1bergerFocus needs to be on the customer or user and how it will make them look. @j1bergerTriggers – How can we link ourselves to something in the environment that people think of often. @j1bergerRather than thinking about what technology I’m on, focus on the underlying psychology of “why would someone share my product?” @j1bergerFocusing on your customer rather than the company will help you be more successful. @j1berger The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Angie Moss is a 25 year sales and sales management veteran with nationally recognized success spanning several different industries including real estate finance, healthcare, insurance, and printing/publishing. Brad Moore started in the mortgage business in 2009 and started Southwestern Coaching in February of 2015. Brad is now the Vice President of BancorpSouth Wealth Management Financial Advisor, Infinex Investments, Inc. Show Highlights: You must put your career goals down on paper. - Brad MooreI had hit my goal but still felt guilty. - Brad MooreSometimes you need to spend time working on your business not in your business. @coachingbyAngieUse the 10,000ft view to make a clear path from producer to leader. @coachingbyAngieThe quest is to stay away from complacency. @coachingbyAngieThe end is a moving target – Keep your feet moving. @coachingbyAngieSuccess is like sanctification; you never actually get there. Once you allow yourself to feel like you’re there you’ve capped your potential. - Brad Moore5 combatants of complacency -Reduce Your RiskRaise Your Expectation levelCreate New ChallengesInvest in SignificanceFocus on Giving The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Former NFL and CFL player and Olympic bobsledder Johnny Quinn details the struggle of realizing his life's dream, a career in the NFL, then having it snatched away...only to discover a new dream of chasing Olympic gold, and the lessons he learned along the way. Plus, get the inside story on the viral moment that made Johnny a social media sensation overnight. Johnny Quinn is a professional speaker, former professional football player and United States Olympian in the sport of bobsled. He spent time with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL, and competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Johnny travels the globe to inspire audiences by delivering thought-provoking and action-packed messages to businesses, schools and organizations. He is also the founder of The Athlete Watch, an online pro-active leadership course that helps student-athletes and their families search for scholarships, as well as the author of the book PUSH: Breaking Through The Barriers.

Former NFL and CFL player and Olympic bobsledder Johnny Quinn explains how the offer to pivot to bobsledding came about, and allowed him to dream big for himself once again. Hear Johnny's full interview in Episode 149 of The Action Catalyst.

Matt Curry, who is diagnosed with A.D.D., successfully built Curry’s Auto Service and ultimately became one of the largest independent auto repair chains in the Washington, D.C. area with annual sales close to $20 Million. In 2013, he sold Curry’s to a publicly traded $1 billion corporation. He has worked in the automotive aftermarket business for over 30 years. He started changing tires when he was 15 and worked his way into management, overseeing seven automotive stores for several different companies, doubling and tripling sales and profits at every store he managed. Show Highlights: Having A.D.D. gives me the opportunity to create unique solutions to problems. @matthybrid1I started my business with $103,000, $35,000 in loans and 13 credit cards and paid it all off in two years. @matthybrid1In the beginning, be prepared to do it all and anything you have to do to make it work. @matthybird1Hire people that compliment you the most and are good at what you’re not. @matthybird1Be tolerant of risk. When you jump to achieve any goal there will be risk involved. @matthybird1If you have expertise and a plan, you can achieve anything you want. @matthybird1Be blunt. Be respectful and kind, but always be blunt. @matthybird1You need to have policies and procedures that are scalable and repeatable in your business. @matthybird1It’s not always good news, but it’s always good information. @matthybird1Problem solving is the key to entrepreneurship. You will always have problem to solve. @matthybird1Empower your employees to be problem solvers. @matthybird1You get your best customers by how you solve their problems. @matthybird1 The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

As a funding strategist, John Livesay helps CEOs craft a compelling pitch that engages investors in a way that inspires them to join a startup’s team. He hosts The Successful Pitch podcast with investors from around the world. He is the Pitch Mentor at Startfast.net, the number one accelerator in Upstate New York. After a successful 20 year career in media sales with Conde Nast where he worked across all 22 brands in their corporate division [GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, W and Vogue] and created integrated programs for clients such as Lexus, Hyundai and Guess, John won salesperson of the year in 2012 across the entire company. John’s book, The 7 Most Powerful Selling Secrets and has been translated into Spanish and Russian. John has a B.S in Advertising from the University of Illinois. Show Highlights: Not only do you need to have a solid pitch, you need to know the answers to the questions investors will ask you. @John_LivesayThe moment you lose credibility, the answer is no. @John_LivesayThe entire purpose of a sales pitch is to get people interested, not to over inform them. @John_LivesayInvestors invest in the jockey, not the horse. Your horse is the idea, but you make it happen. @John_LivesayThe two reasons people go out of business are 1) lack of customers 2) lack of funding @John_LivesayYour network is your net-knowledge. Who you know is everything. @John_LivesayThe more you understand the problem the more investors think you have the solution. @John_LivesaySell the problem before you sell the solution. @John_LivesayConfident people are quietly humble. Arrogant people are loudly braggadocios.When you become comfortable with the silence in your head, you become comfortable with the silence in the room. @John_Livesay The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Ron Wallace knows a thing or two about hard work and leadership. Over a career of nearly 40 years, he went from a UPS driver to the president of UPS International, where he was responsible for the operations of UPS in more than 200 countries and led more than 60000 employees. While at UPS, Wallace also served on the corporate management committee that oversaw the day-to-day operations of the entire organization and its 400,000 employees. In addition, he served as chairman or co-chairman of 33 different boards of directors of the UPS division of well known companies around the world. In his new book, Leadership Lessons from a UPS Driver: Delivering a Culture of We, Not Me, Wallace pulls back the curtain on UPS’s company culture of “we, not me,” and the principles written by the original UPS founders that have guided the success of the company for the past century. Leadership Lessons from a UPS Driver describes how the company inspired generations of motivated employees, and teaches leaders at any level how to build strong, unified teams and successfully weather the inevitable storms that come with running an organization. Show Highlights: Workplace culture isn't about words on a wall. It needs to be a living, breathing culture that is lived out everyday. @ronaldgwallaceIt always comes down to the people. Your employees are your hands, feet, and brains. Without them, you can't grow. @ronaldgwallaceConstructive dissatisfaction: there is a correct and more efficient way to do everything - there is always a better method. @ronaldgwallaceDo everything you can to attract and retain great talent. @ronaldgwallaceWhen people are working together towards a common goal, they get more accomplished than just one person. @ronaldgwallaceA real superstar sees and recognizes that there is a team behind them, allowing them to be the success they are. @ronaldgwallacePlay your best 5, not your 5 best. @ronaldgwallaceThe best leaders understand that it's their people that have the power to make or break them. @ronaldgwallaceDon't be boss, be a leader. @ronaldgwallace The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

David Nour is a growth strategist and the thought leader on Relationship Economics® – the quantifiable value of business relationships. In a global economy that is becoming increasingly disconnected, The Nour Group, Inc. has attracted consulting engagements from over 100 marquee organizations in driving unprecedented growth through unique return on their strategic relationships. David has pioneered the phenomenon that relationships are the greatest off balance sheet asset any organization possesses, large and small, public and private. He annually delivers 50 global keynotes on business relationships, social & mobile disruptive technologies, and adaptive innovation at leading industry association conferences, corporate meetings, and academic forums. The Nour Group’s sample clients include: Amerinet, American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Assurant Solutions, Chubb Insurance, Cisco Systems, Deloitte Consulting, Delta Dental, Disney, Equifax, Emory University, General Reinsurance, Hilton Worldwide, HP, IBM, InfoComm International, KPMG, Novelis, and UBM. Show Highlights: There is a systematic disciplined process to become more intentional in the relationships you chose to invest in. @davidnourAn average individual can actively manage about 100-150 relationships. Which people do you focus the most on? @davidnourWhy networking doesn't work well: there's no purpose, goal, or plan. @davidnourRelationships are not a stand alone concept. We build relationships to get things done. @davidnourThree types of relationships: personal, functional, and strategic. @davidnourBuild strategic relationships to help you get where you want to go and accomplish your goals. @davidnourWrite down your goals. Now think of the people that can help you accomplish those goals. @davidnourOne of the most undervalued assets is our portfolio relationships. @davidnourWe do a terrible job at keeping up with the contacts and relationships we already have. @davidnourYou can't improve something you don't measure. @davidnourFocus on the relationships that are the most relevant to your business goals and objectives. @davidnour The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Greg Mckeown has dedicated his career to discovering why some people break through to the next level—and others don’t. The definitive treatment of this issue is addressed in McKeown’s latest project: the instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. As well as frequently being the #1 Time Management book on Amazon, this book challenges core assumptions about achievement to get to the essence of what really drives success. McKeown is the CEO of THIS Inc, a company whose mission is to assist people and companies to spend 80 percent of their time on the vital few rather than the trivial many. Clients include Adobe, Apple, Google, Facebook, Pixar, Salesforce.com, Symantec, Twitter, VMware and Yahoo!. Show Highlights: • We have been conned by the idea that we should be able to do it all and have it all. And it’s a lie. @GregoryMckeown • We live in a world where almost everything is worthless and very few things are exceptionally valuable. @GregoryMckeown • Essentialism – the disciplined pursuit of less but better @GregoryMckeown • Employers want people who actually create value, not people that measure value by how busy they are. @GregoryMckeown • What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance?@GregoryMcKeown • The key to living a life of essentialism is to figure out what is important to you. Then it’s easy to find the unessentials in life. @GregoryMckeown • What is the very best way you can serve? What is the highest contribution you can make? @GregoryMckeown • Do you want to do your best? Or do your average? @GregoryMckeown • If things don’t spark joy in your life, get rid of it. @GregoryMckeown • We say yes to too many things. Instead, we need to find what is essential in life to us so we can gracefully say no. @GregoryMckeown The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Scott Stratten - Scott Stratten is the President of Un-Marketing. He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing which he calls Un-Marketing. It’s all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of your target market, so when they have the need, they choose you. Formerly a music industry marketer, national sales training manager and a Professor at the Sheridan College School of Business, he ran his “UnAgency” for a nearly a decade before solely focusing on speaking at events for companies like PepsiCo, Adobe, Red Cross, Hard Rock Cafe, Cirque du Soleil, Saks Fifth Avenue, Deloitte and Fidelity Investments when they need help guiding their way through the viral/social media and relationship marketing landscape. His clients’ viral marketing videos have been viewed over 60 million times and he’s recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, USA Today, Entrepreneur Magazine, CNN.com, Inc.com and Fast Company and was named one of “America’s 10 Marketing Gurus” by Business Review USA. That plus $5 gets him a coffee anywhere in the world.” Show Highlights: Stop marketing to people the way you hate to be marketed to. @unmarketingIt doesn’t make sense to push people to think we all need to be marketing the same way. @unmarketingThe same marketing strategy doesn’t work for everyone. Find yours and do it well. @unmarketingNothing works for everybody and everything doesn’t work for nobody. @unmarketingThe bigger the trust gap when making the sale, the more you are going to have to work to bridge the gap. @unmarketingMarketing is driving awareness of a product or a service that leads to sales. @unmarketingMarketing is always happening. It’s everything you do, say, and appear on. It’s everything. @unmarketingYou can’t just market well without performing well. @unmarketingThe reason the youth have gone to snapchat is because marketers aren’t there. @unmarketingFacebook has become the homepage of our computers. Over 1 billion people are logging in a day. @unmarketing The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Jim Steeg, known as the man who branded the Super Bowl, explains the thing that took halftime entertainment to the next level, and got Michael Jackson to agree to the halftime show. Hear Jim’s full interview in Episode 139 of The Action Catalyst.

Michael Hyatt is the co-author of Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want along with his good friend Daniel Harkavy. It is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best seller. In the book, they discuss the importance of creating a life plan and how to do it. Michael is also the the founder of 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever,™ Platform University®, and Get Published. He has been blogging since 2004 and really has a firm understanding of book launches and building online products. His work has been featured in publications like Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes and many more. Michael is the former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He now writes, speaks, and coaches full-time. Show Highlights The way to avoid a stalled career, a stale marriage, and an unhappy life is to be intentional by building a life plan. @MichaelHyattMost people drift through life not realizing how much they’ve lost direction. @MichaelHyattNo one ever drifted to a destination they would’ve chosen. @MichaelHyattLife is a lot more than work. I want to win at work, but succeed at life. @MichaelHyattYou may have a plan for your career, but what about a plan for your life? @MichaelHyattAll the domains of your lives - work, relationships, health, etc. - are all connected. They affect each other. @MichaelHyattSleep is directly related to your productivity and ability to focus. @MichaelHyattAll of us will leave a legacy. The only question is will it be good, or will it be bad? @MichaelHyattIf we don’t know what our own priorities are, it’s going to be very difficult to order our life in a way that gets us what we want. @MichaelHyattIt’s God first and me second. If I can’t take care of myself, how can I take care of anyone else? @MichaelHyattWhen you know your priorities, it gives you clarity and courage. @MichaelHyattAlways make your future bigger than your past. @MichaelHyattHappiness comes not in obtaining anything, but in the pursuit of things that are important to you. @MichaelHyatt To learn more about Michael, visit MichaelHyatt.com. Interested in creating a life plan? Visit LivingForwardBook.com to get a free Life Profile Assessment and download the templates for a life plan. The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

This week’s podcast is highlighting a life story from one of our Southwestern Consulting™ coaching clients. This week’s client is financial representative, Alex Pace from Northwestern Mutual. Alex is a financial planner, helping individuals, families and businesses put their goals and ambitions into a plan that will make sure they live financially secure… The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

John O'Leary - Expected to die, John O’Leary now teaches others how to truly live. John’s journey overcoming his fire had mostly been kept private. Then, in 2007, his parents’ showcased the story in their book, Overwhelming Odds, which they wrote as a thank you to the family and friends who supported them. This book resulted in organizations around the world requesting to hear first-hand how John defied the odds. To meet the growing requests and recognizing his calling to be an agent of inspirational living and overcoming adversity, John began professionally speaking in 2008. Since then, John has shared his message with more than 500,000 people in ten countries at 1,200 events for clients including LEGO, Southwest Airlines, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and more. His newest book is On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life. Show Highlights: Everybody has a story. It's just not usually the story we are telling the world. @JOLearyinspiresThere are two motivations in life that we lead and live from: fear or love. @JOLearyinspiresYou have to meet people where they are. That's where you connect the most with people. @JOLearyinspiresOur scars are useless when we cover them up. But they are illuminating and empowering when we share them with the world. @JOLearyinspiresChoose gratefulness through the struggle.3 questions victims always ask themselves: 1) Why me? 2) Who cares? 3) What more can I do? @JOLearyinspiresOur mindset profoundly shapes how we view what happened yesterday, how we show up today, and the life we create for ourselves tomorrow. @JOLearyinspiresAttitude is simply the way you choose to see things.Those that have the least are grateful for the most. @JOLearyinspiresFrom I did it. To we did it. To He did it. @JOLearyinspiresYou never know who you are impacting with your story. Be authentic with it. @JOLearyinspires The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!

Marcia Wieder - Marcia Wieder, CEO and Founder of Dream University, has spent the last 30 years launching and leading a world-wide Dream Movement. With her proven DreamSteps Methodology to help people identify and realize their dreams, Marcia has literally changed the world. Marcia has collaborated with 3 U.S. presidents, been a repeat guest on the Oprah Winfrey show, had her own PBS television special and has trained thousands of people from all walks of life. Known for her inspirational and motivating speaking style, Marcia is in demand on stages around the world. Her newest book is Dream: Clarify and Create What YOU Want. Show Highlights: A dream is something that you can create a plan for and make happen. A fantasy had no plan of action. @marciawiederGoals are measurable checkpoints towards a dream. @marciawiederOur ability to take risks stems from our ability to trust ourselves. @marciawiederIntention is the rudder that steers the course of our lives. But it doesn't work well without integrity. @marciawiederWe have to be more committed to our dream than we are to any doubt, fear or reality that might get in the way. @marciawieder The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwestern Advantage, the oldest direct-sales company in America, and Partner with Southwestern Consulting. With more than 45 years in sales leadership and marketing management, Dan has a wealth of knowledge to share on how to make better use of time to achieve life, sales, and other business goals. Each week, he interviews some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Subscribe on iTunes and please leave a rating and review!