Accelerate Your Business Growth

  In order to keep your audience checking you out instead of  their cell phones there are three things that will build  confidence and keep them glued to their seats! My guest today is Pamela Cournoyer, president of Communicate with CLASS. She'll share those 3 things so you can be a more engaging, dynamic speaker!   The show is sponsored by Szarka Financial and WIN Cleveland. Szarka Financial’s 25 years of business have included a strong commitment to educating their clients and others on timely and important financial topics and basic financial principles. They offer a full range of planning services for individuals, employees, and business owners across Northeast Ohio. Visit www.szarkafinancial.com to learn more.  WIN Cleveland is an organization that empowers female professionals by creating new access points for individual business development. They support one another by providing continual professional growth, sharing a wide variety of ideas and resources and assisting select women-based charities within their community. Visit www.wincleveland.org for more information.

  Let’s talk about marketing your business with my guest Diana Ennen of Virtual Word Publishing. Are you doing enough and getting the results you want? So many today just aren’t. That’s why we want to show you how you can get more for all you do and how to take your marketing full circle. That’s right.  We'll show you how just one article can be used in many ways to help you grow your business.  Diana Ennen has been a leader in the work-at-home industry since opening her business in 1985.  She’s the president of Virtual Word Publishing at http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com, where she specializes in publicity and marketing and PR and VA Coaching.  She’s the author of numerous books on business start-ups and has been featured in major media including CBS4News, Fox News, CNN, Woman’s World Magazine, USA Today, Wall Street Journal.  Today's show is sponsored by Robert H. Gray, CPA and ICNS. Robert H. Gray, CPA, Inc. is a business advisor to new and growing enterprises.  They provide timely, personalized accounting, planning and tax services.  They are also Certified QuickBooks Advisors.  Their focus is on planning, rather than reacting to events.  Please visit www.rhgraycpa.com for more information.   Are hidden IT system problems costing your business time and money?  Unless you have the time, expertise and manpower to continuously monitor your servers, network and workstations, chances are they aren’t functioning at their peak.  Let ICNS Managed Services be your 24-7 remote IT Lifeline – on site but out of site. Call 440-891-0465 or visit www.icnsinc.com to learn more.  

  Businesses have different life cycles and the business needs change depending on the cycle that it is in.  My guests are Rick Martin, CFP® & Chuck Conrad, JD of Szarka Financial. This program will explore financial planning implications and techniques for a business as it grows from a start-up into an established business and eventually to the point of transition, whether it is by sale or succession to a family member. Today's show is sponsored by ICNS Managed Services. Are hidden IT system problems costing your business time and money?  Unless you have the time, expertise and manpower to continuously monitor your servers, network and workstations, chances are they aren’t functioning at their peak.  That means your IT system is actually costing you money in the form of wasted time, service calls and lost productivity.  Let ICNS Managed Services be your 24-7 remote IT Lifeline – on site but out of site. Call 440-891-0465 or visit www.icnsinc.com to learn more.  

Discover your Entrepreneurial DNA and how that DNA should impact the type of business you launch, the team you build and the business model you design. Join me for a lively discussion with Joe Abraham, author of Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery That Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths. Joe Abraham has been involved in the startup and growth of over 20 companies ranging from IT and health care to consumer goods and motorsports. To date, those companies have generated in excess of $450 million in revenues from startup. He is CEO of bosiDNA.com.  BOSI (acronym for Builder, Opportunist, Specialist, and Innovator) is a behavioral quadrant that segments budding and practicing entrepreneurs into 4 "DNA's."  BOSI was discovered in a startup incubator and has been the subject of over 3 years of R&D with thousands of entrepreneurs participating. Today's show is sponsored by ICNS and Szarka Financial. Are hidden IT system problems costing your business time and money?  Let ICNS Managed Services be your 24-7 remote IT Lifeline – on site but out of site. Call 440-891-0465 or visit www.icnsinc.com to learn more. Szarka Financial’s 25 years of business have included a strong commitment to educating their clients and others on timely and important financial topics and basic financial principles. They offer a full range of planning services for individuals, employees, and business owners across Northeast Ohio. Visit www.szarkafinancial.com for details.

Today's show was supposed to feature Susan Swartzwelder and Diana Geremia, and was to be sponsored by ICNS and Robert H. Gray, CPA, Inc. However, due to a family emergency I am rerunning one of our most popular shows - The Law of Charisma with Kurt Mortensen. I hope you enjoy it. The original show will be rescheduled. I apologize for any inconvenience.

This week we have two great guests, Tina Potts and Jennifer Chernisky. Tina will be talking with us about the resurgence of small business. In our second segment, Jennifer will share her thoughts on the value of outsourcing your non-core business tasks. Tina Brinkley Potts is a prominent small business consultant, coach and speaker. She has a 10 year history of guiding business owners and entrepreneurs on how to achieve greater potential, increased revenues and efficiency by using technology.  Jennifer Chernisky is the President and Founder of Jennasis and Associates. The Jennasis team includes 14 industry experts, including two graphic designers, a web designer, a social media expert, numerous writers, an event coordinator, a marketing director and numerous virtual assistants. Outsourcing has become a valuable tool for small business success. Many businesses have found the need to oursource tasks that don’t have to be handled in-house. They receive lower cost top quality work without potential personnel headaches. This frees them up to focus on their core competencies. Today's show is sponsored by ICNS Managed Services. Are hidden IT system problems costing your business time and money?  Unless you have the time, expertise and manpower to continuously monitor your servers, network and workstations, chances are they aren’t functioning at their peak.  That means your IT system is actually costing you money in the form of wasted time, service calls and lost productivity.  Let ICNS Managed Services be your 24-7 remote IT Lifeline – on site but out of site. Call 440-891-0465 or visit www.icnsinc.com to learn more.      

Buyers have changed the way they buy, but sellers – which includes all small business owners – have been struggling to keep up with these changes. And many business owners actually make it difficult for their buyers to buy, without realizing it. Are you making classic, easy-to-avoid marketing and selling mistakes? Find out when I interview Kristin Zhivago,  a “revenue coach” for CEOs and entrepreneurs. Kristin has developed a way for business owners to find and sell to new customers more successfully, by understanding how and why their current customers bought from them. Kristin Zhivago is a revenue coach who helps CEOs and entrepreneurs grow their companies. She works with them to improve the results from their marketing and selling efforts, but also works extensively on team building, leadership, corporate agility, and processes, so that companies are able to keep the promises they make to their various audiences. Kristin also helps companies make the shift from company-centered to customer-centric. She has interviewed literally thousands of customers for her clients and has become an expert on the customer’s buying process. Today's show is sponsored by ICNS. Are hidden IT system problems costing your business time and money?  Unless you have the time, expertise and manpower to continuously monitor your servers, network and workstations, chances are they aren’t functioning at their peak.  That means your IT system is actually costing you money in the form of wasted time, service calls and lost productivity.  Let ICNS Managed Services be your 24-7 remote IT Lifeline – on site but out of site. Call 440-891-0465 or visit www.icnsinc.com to learn more.

Manipulative sales tactics, long sales letters with big and bold headlines, and spammy emails aren’t the only way to get visibility and capture sales online. Join me and my guest Stephanie Chandler to talk about how to own your niche and gain the visibility you want. Stephanie Chandler is an author of several books including Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business, From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products, and LEAP! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business.    Stephanie is also founder and CEO of BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of resources for entrepreneurs, and Authority Publishing, a custom publisher specializing in non-fiction books. A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, BusinessWeek, Inc.com, and Wired magazine, and she is a contributing blogger for Forbes.   Today's show is sponsored by ICNS. Are hidden IT system problems costing your business time and money?  Unless you have the time, expertise and manpower to continuously monitor your servers, network and workstations, chances are they aren’t functioning at their peak.  That means your IT system is actually costing you money in the form of wasted time, service calls and lost productivity.  Let ICNS Managed Services be your 24-7 remote IT Lifeline – on site but out of site. Call 440-891-0465 or visit www.icnsinc.com to learn more.

  Have you come up with a plan for who will take over your business when you retire? Have you shared your plan with anyone else? There are many risks for small business owners when it comes to transitioning their business, whether to a family member, employee or through a sale. Unfortunately, family businesses experience high failure rates, especially during periods of generational transition. Anywhere from 50 – 70% of businesses don’t survive after the first generation retires. How do you prepare, and what are the major “what if’s” to prepare for? Listen to Les Szarka, CEO of Szarka Financial, as he discusses some of the financial issues related to transitioning a business as you prepare for retirement.   Les is Chief Executive Officer, founder and co-owner of Szarka Financial. He has been a financial advisor and retirement planning specialist for over 25 years. Les builds deep relationships with his clients and has a profound commitment to help them reach their financial goals and objectives.   Holding dual bachelor’s degrees in finance and marketing from Cleveland State University, Les is a Certified Financial Plannertm (CFP®), a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and a Registered Securities Principal through FSC Securities Corporation. He is also a member of the Financial Planners Association (FPA).   Today's show is sponsored by Vision 21. Vision 21 is an entrepreneur resource center in Northeast Ohio. Visit www.visiontwentyone.org for details.

Misty Williams will be joining me to talk about leveraging the top two strategies for creating an ongoing pipeline of leads. Misty is a marketing expert who helps speakers, authors, coaches and consultants develop strong, marketable platforms and a solid Marketing Gameplan; her marketing team partners with her clients to execute their gameplans to grow their businesses.  She delivers her strategy-packed presentations at conferences and meetings across the country to help demystify the marketing maze, support her clients in finding their breakthroughs, and super-charging their campaigns to take their businesses to the next level.   Today's show is sponsored by Szarka Financial and Robert H Gray CPA, inc. Szarka Financial’s 25 years of business have included a strong commitment to educating their clients and others on timely and important financial topics and basic financial principles. They offer a full range of planning services for individuals, employees, and business owners across Northeast Ohio. Visit www.szarkafinancial.com for details.   Robert H. Gray, CPA, Inc. are business advisors to new and growing enterprises.  They provide timely, personalized accounting, planning and tax services.  They are also Certified QuickBooks Advisors.  The firm blends their technical expertise with the business owner’s knowledge to become trusted advisors for business and personal issues.  Their focus is on planning, rather than reacting to events.  Please visit www.rhgraycpa.com for more information.

  Small business isn’t too stupid to be big…they aren’t just waiting to grow up…this is a good thing.  Small – lean – smart – complex businesses are the most financially viable in today’s post recession economy.  We’re going to talk about what this viable business model looks like and how, if you’re a small business you can benefit from the same financial vitality. Join me and my guest Marilyn Landis for this unique perspective on succeeding in today's economy. Marilyn D. Landis is the President & CEO of Basic Business Concepts, Inc., a multifaceted service firm providing the support to keep businesses financially balanced, on track and growing.  “We provide entrepreneurs access to affordable CFO-level skills that are customized to their unique business” Landis has over thirty years of experience in financial services. Today's show is sponsored by Robert H Gray CPA and Vision 21. Robert H. Gray, CPA, Inc. are business advisors to new and growing enterprises.  They provide timely, personalized accounting, planning and tax services.  They are also Certified QuickBooks Advisors.  The firm blends their technical expertise with the business owner’s knowledge to become trusted advisors for business and personal issues.  Their focus is on planning, rather than reacting to events.  Please visit www.rhgraycpa.com for more information. Vision 21 is an entrepreneur resource center in Northeast Ohio. It's aim is to provide small business owners the things they need when they need them. Visit www.visiontwentyone.org to learn more.

  Whether in your business or personal life, making deals—from the biggest ones that take months to finalize and involve teams of lawyers to the nominal ones that are sealed with a handshake after a 10-minute chat—is an art. Deal making is a craft that, when done well, requires a skillful, visionary and inspired application of key principles and methods to create a desirable end result. What are the secrets to masterful deal making? In this show, Arthur  Wylie offers basic steps to becoming an ace dealmaker—skills that will help bolster your position whether you’re negotiating for a railroad or a rental car, and whether you’re acting on behalf of a worldwide organization, a sole proprietorship or just your own personal finances.   Among his current endeavors, Arthur Wylie is an executive at Global Entertainment Holding's Film Fund, a publicly traded film production firm currently building a $100 million dollar film fund. His duties there range from capital raising, film production oversight, distribution, to marketing and working with some of Hollywood's top producers who have more than $9 billion in box office sales.   Arthur holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and has been a licensed securities principal for some of the top investment companies in the world. Arthur is also the author of "Only the Crazy and Fearless Win Big."   Today's show is sponsored by Seize This Day Coaching's Clarity of Course®: Sales Training Program. Visit  http://www.seizethisdaycoaching.com/coaching/clarity-course-sales-training-program for details and to register.

  Anyone who sells knows that it takes energy to keep up the stamina, creativity and positive connection.   Coach and bestselling author Betsy Muller has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and sales professionals rev up their energy so that they operate with greater health, purpose, awareness and intuition.  Today she'll share some of the top energy drains sales professionals have admitted behind closed doors and the self-care coaching solutions which have worked so well to  restore balance and resilience.  Come away with tips that will help you deepen relationships, recharge more effectively and serve your market in ways that make a very positive difference.   Our guest today is Betsy Muller, a coach, speaker and bestselling author who has assisted thousands of people in discovering their full potential through conscious self-care. In addition to an MBA and over 30 years of business management experience, Ms. Muller is a noted authority and popular radio and TV guest on work/life balance and using energy self-care as a vehicle for personal success.  Betsy is only ACEP-Certified Practitioner of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) in Ohio. Today's show is sponsored by WIN Cleveland. WIN Cleveland is an organization that empowers female professionals by creating new access points for individual business development. They support one another by providing continual professional growth, sharing a wide variety of ideas and resources and assisting select women-based charities within their community. Visit www.wincleveland.org for more information. 

Employee theft at small businesses is a big problem and getting bigger with the sour economy.  82% of small to mid-size businesses report they have experienced employee theft. If you know what broad types of fraud schemes exist and have some basic knowledge of internal control, perhaps it can help you prevent employee fraud at your company.  If you take small, simple steps, you can create a healthier internal control system and help discourage employee fraud at your company.   Join me and my guest Ron Baker as we discuss this critical issue. Ron is a seasoned financial executive with 30+ years experience, managing Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Information Technology, and Human Resources. He has successfully led business start-ups and turnarounds. Ron's industry experience includes manufacturing, services, distribution, retail, telecom, and specialty plastics. Ron provides on-site CFO services to companies on an as-needed basis. As a former CEO, Ron understands the criticality of a strong financial function and the importance of timely, accurate, and relevant financial information, along with good internal control and risk management. Today's show is being sponsored by Vision 21. As an entrepreneur resource center, Vision 21 offers various services to help small business owners succeed. Visit www.visiontwentyone.org to learn more.  

  Jane Applegate, the author of Highlights from 201 Great Ideas.. the top 10 ideas for growing, promoting and managing your company, will be joining us to talk about t 10 of those 201 Great Ideas.  Jane is one of America's most respected small business experts. She's the author of four books, including 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, published in all formats by Wiley. She's the host and producer of Tech Essentials, a new, online show about small business technology, sponsored by Microsoft.  Jane's company, The Applegate Group, creates original web and video content for big companies serving small business owners. Clients include: Bloomberg, Cox Communications, Microsoft and Pitney Bowes. A former syndicated columnist for theLos Angeles Times, Jane covers small business for OpenForum.com, Bloomberg.com and other websites. She's produced small business programs for Bloomberg, CNN and CNBC. For more information visit: www.theapplegategroup.com. Today's show is sponsored by Szarka Financial. Szarka Financial's 25 years of business have included a strong commitment to educating their clients and others on timely and important financial topics and basic financial principles. They offer a full range of planning services for individuals, employees, and business owners across Northeast Ohio.