Radio Free Enterprise | Brain Food For Business Owners

San Antonio, Texas Estate Planning Attorney Charlie Weisinger interviewed on the Radio Free Enterprise podcast about his bestselling book, Peace Through Planning. Charlie will explain why: An estate plan is needed by all adults over age 18 A will is not enough to properly protect or distribute your assets Without an estate plan, your current spouse may not inherit your assets More Info: https://weisingerlawfirm.com/ (210) 306-4789

My guest today is Mr. Michael England, president of River Capital in Stafford, Virginia.  What we’re talking about in this episode is credit. Specifically business credit; why it’s so important and what you can do to build up your company’s ability to borrow. The third of the Six M’s in my book Unlocking The M Cube is Money. Access to capital is a critical success factor when starting, growing and running your business. I am not a proponent of borrowing too much, having found myself overleveraged in the past. But I do know that the right mix of vendor credit, equipment financing and lines of credit are very important if you want to avoid cash flow problems. That’s why I invited Mr. England to share some knowledge on Radio Free Enterprise.

Regular listeners to the show know that I talk a lot about what I call The M Cube, the six sides of business success that every professional must recognize and master in their pursuit of their own entrepreneurial dream. The first and most important of those six Ms is M1: Mission. Why have you chosen to start and run a business rather than pursue a more traditional career path? Let's face it you're taking on a lot of risk. You're probably taking on a lot of ridicule from friends and family who say oh you're crazy, you can never do it. You're sacrificing time away from your family and from hobbies and other pursuits. I believe that if you're not clear about the reasons why you're making this move you could find yourself in trouble before you know it. Today's guest, Coach Reggie Jackson of JS Coaching in Woodbridge, Virginia, has a special gift for helping business owners discover their entrepreneurial WHY and use it to power their success.  

Of all the types of businesses we could choose to go into, it seems as though starting a home improvement business is one of the most popular options. The problem is that many people mistakenly assume that, just because they’re handy with a hammer they’re qualified to become the leader of a home improvement firm, which results in some less-than-professional contracting companies out there. But today's guest, Jeremiah Davies, is an exception to that profile. Jeremiah is the Founder and President of Orion Home Improvements in Merrifield, Virginia - a truly a professional contracting company that has seen tremendous growth over the past few years due to their focus on customer satisfaction. In this episode of Radio Free Enterprise, Jeremiah shares some of the elements that have gone into that success.

Sooner or later every entrepreneur moves from being a one-man-band to an employer. But very few of us have any recruiting or management experience. What is the best way to make that move? How do I go about hiring my first employee? In this episode of Radio Free Enterprise I have two guests joining me to talk about one topic: Attracting, Retaining and Developing Top Talent into your business. And, most especially, how to get started with that first hire. My first guest is former Air Force helicopter pilot turned first-time entrepreneur Curtis Marshall, owner of DC dot Rentals, a small but rapidly growing residential property management firm based out of Alexandria, Virginia. My second guest is a veteran entrepreneur. Brian Fielkow is president of JetCo Delivery in Houston, Texas and author of the book Driving To Perfection: Achieving Business Excellence by Creating a Vibrant Culture. In this interview Curtis explains the challenges he is confronting as he faces the task of hiring his first employee and Brian s

I like to talk about a lot of different things on this podcast including technology, venture capital, how businesses and industries arise to solve problems and address needs. I like to talk about first-time business owners and Boomerpreneurs - people who start a business in their retirement years. Most of all, I like speaking with creative and interesting people. In today’s program I am bringing you all of that in the person of Jeff Kofman, who is CEO and co-founder and an incredible startup called Trint. After 33 years as a broadcast journalist for CBC, BBC, CBS and ABC, Jeff Kofman became "The Accidental CEO" of this London-based tech startup. In this episode of Radio Free Enterprise, Jeff talks about how he came to be an entrepreneur at this stage in his life and the similarities between being a war correspondent and the CEO of a fast-growing company.

Brian Fielkow began changing the corporate culture at Jetco Delivery immediately upon purchasing the Houston-based freight hauler in 2006. In the ten years since then he has grown the company six-fold. In this episode of Radio Free Enterprise, Brian explains why Big C Culture is one of the most critical success factors for any company of any size, and gives example after example of companies that are living and dying based upon the values ingrained in their corporate culture. If you think your company is too small or too big or too new or too old to benefit from or implement a change in culture, you are mistaken. Spend thirty minutes listening to Brian and then get to work building a culture that reflects not only your goals and objectives but, more importantly, your beliefs and values. After you’re gone the culture you have created will live on as your legacy. Connect with Brian Fielkow Email: brian@brianfielkow.com Web: BrianFielkow.com Brian’s LinkedIn Profile

How do SBA Loans work? What exactly IS an SBA loan and why would I want one? How do you find the right SBA lender? How do you apply for an SBA loan? Is the approval process more complicated and time-consuming? All of these questions and much more are addressed by Brian Seliber and Craig Hairston of M&T Bank in this episode of Radio Free Enterprise. Debt Capital (loans) are an important option for the owners of main street lifestyle businesses. And the Small Business Administration has made it easier for lenders to say "Yes" to more small business borrowers by agreeing to guarantee the repayment of some portion of the loan should it go into default. But the entire program and the application process seem to be shrouded in mystery and many potential borrowers avoid this avenue because they just don't understand it. In this interview I ask all the questions I could think of to draw out the answers you're looking for about SBA Loans. If you have a question that wasn't answered, contact Brian Seliber of M&am

I believe that an investor pitch presentation is one of the most challenging forms of human communication. There is a huge chasm between the speaker and the recipient. The entrepreneur doesn’t understand what the investor wants to hear and the investor, while much more experienced in these conversations, probably can’t figure out what the heck this particular entrepreneur is trying to tell him. In this episode we shine a light on this problem with successful serial entrepreneur, former corporate venture capitalist and current angel investor Roger London. Roger explains in detail: How to land a meeting with an angel investor What that meeting will look like What investors want to hear in a pitch presentation How to build your slide deck Red Flags and Green Lights What a successful outcome looks like If you have ever wanted to make - or do a better job making - investor presentations, you do not want to miss this interview.

Michael Cheng, Founder of Snip.ly, is a serial entrepreneur from Vancouver, British Columbia who holds joint Chinese-Canadian citizenship. His company's content sharing app is causing a bit of a sensation in the Content Marketing world because of the way it allows the sharer to benefit from content they did not create while also helping content publishers expose their work to traffic they might otherwise never see. MORE INFORMATION Snip.ly Website Michael's Explanatory Video Tod Maffin's Explanatory Video Sniply's YouTube Playlist

If you have ever tried (and failed) to connect with a high-profile prospect by sending them a personalized – but unsolicited – “cold” email message, you need to listen to this interview with Alex Brennan, Chief Marketing Sumo of InspireBeats.com. Over the past year alone, Alex’s company has sent over 1 million cold emails for their prospects, with 2-3% of those messages resulting in the generation of an actual high-value introduction. Their technique is so effective that it actually caused a jaded old marketing wonk (me) to respond and agree to interview Alex on Radio Free Enterprise. At the bottom of this page is the exact email (Subject Line and Body Text) that Alex sent me on December 10, 2015 which resulted in him being interviewed eight days later. If you are in the business-to-business space with an offering that creates a high-level client lifetime value, this service can be a cost-effective way to generate a never-ending stream of qualified prospects. Connect with InspireBeats Website: InspireBeats.co

Every American feels a deep debt of gratitude to the brave men and women in our Armed Services and we’d all like to repay them any way we can. A wonderful way to do just that is by patronizing businesses founded and run by military veterans. But how can we find them? In this interview Rick Yost, CEO of VeteransList.us, explains how you can use his search engine to locate veteran-owned businesses in your community and also explains why you can expect a better experience when dealing with vetrepreneurs. And, if you are a veteran business owner yourself – or a veteran considering starting a business – Rick describes the advantages you hold and special challenges you face. Rick wraps up by explaining all the benefits veteran business owners receive by registering their companies for free with VeteransList. LEARN MORE ABOUT VETERANSLIST Search for Veteran-Owned Businesses Register Your Veteran-Owned Business with The Site Contact Rick Yost by Email: ryost@veteranslist.us

In today’s ever-changing business environment, perhaps no resource is more valuable than access to knowledge. Which may explain why the online education industry is absolutely exploding, with total 2015 revenue expected to top $50 billion. But as valuable as immediate access to the world’s top experts is, John Colley would argue that the online learning industry offers business owners an even greater resource: the opportunity to position yourself as one of those world-class experts by creating a library of classes based upon your own knowledge and experience. In this interview John talks about the benefits that accrue to successful online instructors and presents a road map to creating your first online course. RESOURCES MENTIONED Online Learning Club Facebook Group John’s Free Udemy Offering Analysis Course

There are a lot of misconceptions swirling around the idea of building a successful business in the network marketing (aka multi-level marketing) industry. Some people believe it can’t be done, that network marketing success is some kind of hoax or myth. Others believe that, while it is possible, only people who would do well on a used car lot could possibly succeed as network marketer. David Delevante is living proof that, not only is business success a reality within network marketing, but that anyone – even a nerdy former naval engineer – can create a fabulous, home-based business in the industry. In this episode, Dave explains how he originally got involved in network marketing and how he has built a successful business with over 14,000 team members, all while staying true to himself and never being pushy. CONTACT DAVE DELEVANTE Email: dave@usana.com Phone: 703-928-1116

Elvis Oxley is the Founder and President of GovernmentContracting.net His company's office is right on K Street in the heart of downtown Washington, DC.  And is contact list includes buyers of every conceivable product or service for virtually every Federal agency and military branch. In this episode of Radio Free Enterprise Elvis explains how he helps his clients generate millions of dollars of revenue by serving the single biggest customer in the world: the United States government. Whether or not you think Federal contracting could work for your business, you need to listen to what this expert has to share. And if you are already selling to Uncle Sam you are bound to pick up a tip or two that will help you grow that segment of your business going forward. Find Out If GovernmentContracting.net Can Help You

Laura B. Poindexter is a Social Media Marketing guru. She presents educational seminars on various social marketing topics to thousands of business owners and marketing managers every year and has a very successful social media marketing consulting practice. Nonetheless, on this episode of Radio Free Enterprise, Laura talks about the tremendous advantage email marketing holds over Facebook in that most critical of areas: actual sales generation. Laura breaks her thesis down into very understandable chunks and cites data from very reputable sources that proves that more people will read your emails than read your Facebook post – and click through to buy or register after that. Before she leaves Laura also shares a step-by-step process for getting your email and social media marketing plan put together quickly and correctly. MORE LAURA B. POINDEXTER WONDERFULNESS Read Laura’s Article That Proves Her Thesis On Email Free Access To Laura’s Fill-In-The-Blank Email Templates (You can also get the templates by texti

Regular listeners know that I firmly believe that Marketing is the single most critical success factor for any business. The problem is that, for most business owners, Marketing is a complete mystery. How can the average business owner take all their specialized knowledge and years of problem-solving experience for their customers and translate it into an effective marketing program that will resonate with their ideal clients and drive new business through the door? With Voice-Activated Marketing, that’s how! In this episode K. Conrad Bosmans, Founder and CEO of VAMO Media, explains what Voice-Activated Marketing is, why it works so well and how any business owner can put it to use today to dramatically elevate their brand and grow their sales. Click This Link To Schedule A Meeting with Conrad VAMOmedia.com/RFE

The headline for an article Chuck Boyce wrote in The Huffington Post caught my eye: Being A Best Seller Is NOT All About Sales How’s that again?  That provocative headline compelled me to read the article and the counter-intuitive slant of the article drove me to contact the author and ask him to appear on Radio Free Enterprise. Thank goodness he agreed because the resulting interview is chock-full of Ah-Hah moments and pearls of publishing wisdom. If you have a book on your bucket list you need to hear what Chuck Boyce, CEO of Authority Media Group, has to say. CONTACT CHUCK BOYCE Telephone: 302-352-9488 Speak to Chuck’s assistant Nancy to schedule a no-obligation telephone consultation with the man himself! Read Chuck’s Huffington Post article that started it all

Donna Gunter teaches entrepreneurs and professionals how to accelerate their authority positioning by appearing as an interview guest on multiple podcast shows. In this fast-moving interview she tells us why this strategy is the fastest conceivable way to reach the largest number of qualified prospects for your offering, how to locate and select the most effective podcasts to appear on, what you need to do in order to be invited to appear and how to maximize the value of your appearance in terms of lead captures and sales. LEARN MORE FROM DONNA GUNTER Donna has kindly made her 75-minute webinar“Be a Podcast Guest: The #1 Way to Attract More Clients, Enhance Your Authority and Increase Your Online Visibility”available to Radio Free Enterprise Listeners. Just click the link below for instant free access: http://www.bizsmartmedia.com/rfe

In this interview I speak with my Social Media content manager, Katherine Gotthardt of All Things Writing, LLC. Every business owner is aware of the branding and positioning opportunities available via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging and email marketing. But who has the time or knowhow to take advantage of them the way all the gurus say we must? Katherine offers a flexible support service that allows you to buy just the amount of social media presence you can afford.  Your budget may not allow for you to buy her ultimate combo package but let’s face it – you can’t afford to be invisible online either. Spend a few minutes to learn more about Katherine, her services and why I chose her to support my varied entrepreneurial identities in the social sphere. Connect with Katherine Gotthardt All Things Writing Website By Email: services@allthingswritingllc.com Telephone: 703-530-7445