Salesforce for Everyone by Talent Stacker

In this episode, Bradley sits down with Dave Moudy, creator of Portwood, a completely free, natively built Salesforce document generation app that is now ranked number 12 on the Agent Exchange globally. Dave walks us through the full origin story, from a lead generation idea at a consulting firm to a growing business with over 1,200 installs and 10 to 20 new leads coming in daily. If you have ever thought about building your own app, or if you just need a free, powerful document generation tool in your Salesforce org, this one is for you. Timestamps: 0:45 - Introduction and What Portwood Does 4:10 - The Origin Story: Where the Idea Came From 8:26 - From Passion Project to Business: The Consultancy Chapter 19:02 - Intellectual Property and Leaving the Consultancy 24:22 - Getting Approved on the Agent Exchange 35:08 - Pricing a Free App and the Business Model Behind It 45:00 - AppExchange Amplified and Community-Led Marketing 57:55 - Scaling the Business: Hiring, Mindset, and Thick Skin Links and Resources: Dave Moudy/Portwood LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/portwoodllc Portwood Website: https://portwood.dev/ AgentExchange: https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=5a580bd8-2745-41e5-b62c-c495957857d3 Talent Stacker: https://talentstacker.com/appexchange-amplified-application/ https://talentstacker.com/appexchange-amplified-talent-show-building-a-real-world-salesforce-pdf-solution-with-portwood-docgen/ 

In this episode, Bradley sits down with returning guest Jordan Nelson, the only person Bradley personally knows who has grown to over 100,000 LinkedIn followers by doing it the right way: consistently, authentically, and with real content. As they explain, LinkedIn is the one platform that can change the entire trajectory of your Salesforce career. They cover everything from crafting your first post, optimizing your profile as a landing page, strategic DMing, the power of commenting, what not to do, and how LinkedIn has compounded into real career and business results for both of them over the years. Whether you are just starting out or ready to take your network to the next level, this episode is your LinkedIn playbook. Timestamps: 1:12 - Intro and Why LinkedIn Matters 4:00 - How to Post: Format, Length, and Tools 7:45 - Tagging, Hashtags, and Posting Etiquette 15:12 - Managing Comments and Why Engagement Is Everything 26:35 - Building a Profile That Works Like a Landing Page 33:17 - Connecting, DMing, and the Long Game. 48:26 - What Not to Do on LinkedIn 1:01:50 - LinkedIn in 20 Minutes a Day and the Long-Term Payoff Links and Resources: More detailed version of the podcast episode: https://talentstacker.com/media Start Your Salesforce Career w/ The Free 5 Day Challenge at TalentStacker.com/Start Magic Post: LinkedIn post writing and formatting tool WhisperFlow: Voice-to-text tool for creating human-sounding written content

Bradley sits down with Emily Witucki, a Salesforce consultant and first-time mentor on the Trailblazer Mentorship Platform, alongside her three mentees: Andi Poulson, Ola Mostafa, and Monique Larroux. Together, they pull back the curtain on what mentorship in the Salesforce ecosystem actually looks like: the vulnerability, the breakthroughs, the LinkedIn glow-ups, and the genuine human connections that form along the way. Whether you're chasing your first certification, stuck in a job search rut, or an experienced pro wondering if mentorship still applies to you, this episode will meet you where you are. Spoiler: it does. And it's free. Episode Timestamps 01:16 - Welcome & Panel Introductions: Bradley welcomes mentor Emily Witucki and her three mentees: Andi, Ola, and Monique. 06:18 - Why Emily Became a Mentor: The Salesforce Fairy Godmother: Emily shares that her motivation to mentor came from a deep love of helping people and a desire to pay forward the sense of community she found in Talent Stacker. 08:22 - The Mentee Perspective. What Andi, Ola & Monique Were Looking For: Each mentee shares what drew them to the platform, from bombing interviews and feeling stuck, to needing direction after certification, to simply wanting to level up. 10:00 - How the Trailblazer Mentorship Platform Actually Works: Bradley clarifies the application and matching process, explains that membership in Talent Stacker is not required, and notes that 100% of applicants were accepted in the last two cohorts. 26:05 - Branding: Emily identified Andi's brand right away by seeing her pink hair. Emily's approach with all of them on social media and resume and portfolio, is to show people who they are, that who they are is already amazing. 30:14 – LinkedIn and Community: The panel discusses the importance of LinkedIn in the modern job search, but also the supportive community to be found there, along with the Salesforce Ohana and Talent Stacker. 42:08 - What's Next: Goals from Each Mentee: Andi aims for two new certifications and deeper community involvement, Ola is pursuing Salesforce legend status and Google Data Analytics, and Monique is weeks away from passing her admin exam. 51:50 - Advice for the "Mentorless" & How to Get Involved: The group encourages listeners to apply for mentorship without hesitation, with Emily also calling on companies to consider sponsoring the program through trailblazermentorship.com. Links & Resources Trailblazer Mentorship Platform: trailblazermentorship.com Talent Stacker: talentstacker.com

From $54K to Six Figures — Working Part-Time & Fully Remote What does it look like to leave a career that's draining your time and capping your income and rebuild your professional life entirely on your own terms? Hermela is a former college advisor who pivoted into the Salesforce ecosystem and, in under a year, went from earning $54K with a 2+ hour daily commute to a six-figure job offer. She then strategically negotiated it down to work fewer hours, earn more than ever, and build the life she actually wanted. Today she's a fully independent Salesforce consultant working 15–20 hours a week, on her own schedule, from anywhere in the world. This episode is packed with repeatable strategies: landing your first Salesforce role, leveraging LinkedIn, turning transferable skills into offers, negotiating for time freedom and building toward full financial independence. Episode Timestamps 00:01:16 — Introduction & Guest Welcome: Bradley introduces Hermela and previews her journey from a capped career with a punishing commute to full autonomy as a Salesforce solopreneur. 00:02:54 — Life Before Salesforce: The Commute, the Cap, the Frustration: Hermela describes her previous reality — 2+ hours of daily DC traffic, a student caseload she loved, but an income ceiling that required waiting for someone else to leave just to get a raise. 00:08:01 — How She Landed Her First Salesforce Role in 3–4 Months: Trailhead, an 8-week bootcamp, internal Salesforce implementation experience, and Bradley's LinkedIn tips.  Hermela breaks down her exact preparation playbook. 00:14:48 — Strategic Job Searching: LinkedIn Networking Over Blind Applications: Instead of applying to posted jobs, Hermela messaged employees; it's not about asking for jobs, it's about having genuine conversations and consistently sharing both who you are and what your goals are. 00:33:29 — The Second Jump: Networking Into a $105K Offer: Through consistent networking while employed, a recruiter reached out on behalf of a hiring manager who already knew her name. Hermela landed a $105K offer, nearly double her pre-Salesforce salary. 00:38:27 — The Bold Move: Negotiating Down to 24 Hours/Week: Rather than accept full-time six figures, Hermela negotiated to 24 hours per week at 60% salary — still earning more than her college advisor role — freeing herself up to freelance and eventually go fully independent. 00:54:29 — Hermela's Advice for Anyone Considering This Path: Master your transferable skills, build on Trailhead, use LinkedIn as a landing page, network through real conversations, and tackle goals one step at a time.

What does it really take to build a Salesforce consultancy that people actually love? In this episode, Bradley sits down with Joshua Karrasch, founder and CEO of Dynamic Specialties Group (DSG) — a Salesforce partner consultancy that's quietly doing things differently. From going bankrupt and living in a friend's basement, to building a thriving boutique firm with a team of A-players and a growing list of loyal clients, Josh's journey is honest, hard-won, and deeply human. Josh shares the philosophy at the heart of DSG: the win-win-win. The client has to win. The consultant has to win. And the company has to win. You'll hear how that principle shapes everything — from how DSG takes on new clients, to how they hire, to how they handle growth. The conversation goes deep on the "accordion model" for staffing, why boutique doesn't have to mean small, the importance of leading with business process discovery before ever opening Salesforce, and why diverse, non-traditional backgrounds often make the best consultants. Josh also opens up about the mentorship relationship that changed his entrepreneurial career, and the ongoing challenge of learning to step back before burnout sets in. If you're building a consultancy, growing a Salesforce career, or just trying to run a business with integrity — this one's for you. Episode Timestamps 00:01:06 — Bradley Rice introduces his guest Joshua Karrasch Bradley, founder and CEO of Dynamic Specialties Group who discusses how he got started, challenges he faced along the way, to finally finding the footing to launch DSG, and his Win-Win-Win Philosophy DSG's core operating principle. 00:15:41 — The Accordion Model - How DSG found stability by moving to a 1099 contractor model that could expand and contract with the natural ebbs and flows of project-based consulting work. 00:27:44 — The single most pivotal moment in Josh's entrepreneurial career: meeting the mentor who could see what he couldn't — and how that relationship continues to shape DSG today. 00:37:51 —Why so many Salesforce implementations fail: clients know they're in pain but haven't diagnosed the root cause — and some partners are incentivized to oversell. 00:45:57 — The Hiring Challenge - Every company struggles with it. Josh explains why traditional interviews fall short — and how DSG discovered that TalentStacker graduates consistently showed up as A-players. Why diverse, non-traditional backgrounds often produce the strongest Salesforce consultants. 01:04:49 — What Makes DSG Fundamentally Different? The win-win-win, the empathy, the authenticity, the refusal to exploit anyone in the engagement. 01:07:45 — How to Reach Joshua Karrasch & DSG LinkedIn, email, advising services, fractional work, and through Bradley directly. Links, Contact, Resources Companies & Organizations Dynamic Specialties Group (DSG) — dynaspecgroup.com TalentStacker, run by host Bradley Rice — talentstacker.com  Contact Information Email: [email protected] Books Mentioned The Way and the Power — Strategy book referenced multiple times by Josh as foundational to his leadership philosophy; includes the concept of "The Watcher" The Art of War by Sun Tzu — Referenced by Josh as an early strategy text he studied