Business Leader's Handbook

Nick is a mental health advocate, not because he runs a cool company that sells cool T-shirts online to people struggling with mental health and mental illness, but because he’s running numerous companies and has grown personally, and has struggled himself with mental illness. I hope this interview is a slight departure from previous episodes where we can focus more on the struggles of what’s going on in your head as opposed to the exterior struggles and difficulties that business leaders face. I myself struggle with mental health and I hope you enjoy and gain something from this episode today. Struggling with anxiety and depression 1:07It’s scary to share this issue with others 4:12How to respond when people open up 10:36The first time is the hardest 14:23What things look like now 16:14“There’s also a fear when you’re dealing with these things of telling someone and having that person A) judge you, B) feel panic, like ‘Well I have to be the one to fix the problem,’ or C) retreat from you because they don’t know how to fix the problem, so they just remove themselves, and then you on the other end feel like you’re a leper.” 8:13wearemind.org @wearemind_

Every company has a weak spot. Needs, things they need to accomplish, whether that is needing to secure more funding, being outside and defining their market more effectively, executing on sales and marketing, or simply hiring the right people, every company is struggling or trying to gain the upper hand in some way. We often get so myopically focused on our own company, whether that’s establishing a mural on the wall or getting something cool for our team, we often forget about the needs of our customers and how intimately we need to understand them. Today, I talk to Tori Dundas who has seen this, felt this, and made a fantastic company surrounding a very important need. Breaking away from the pack 1:04Coming up with the idea 3:22Getting through the hard times 7:10Her tactics for gaining people’s trust 12:06“The industry will tell you that this is what you should buy, but this is as much as you’re going to see with the naked eye. So is it more important to you that something is microscopically beautiful? Or just do you want something that you can maybe get a bit bigger of a diamond or clearer of a diamond and the clarity to the naked eye is good enough. Having those conversations is how I’ve been able to build that trust as myself, as my brand.” 13:07truecurateddesigns.com

Today’s interviewee, Jesse Parent, is a fantastic example of what it means to be able to understand who you are, understand what you are trying to accomplish, and then articulate that in a fashion that is not only impactful, but also is poetic. “I think good communication is about listening and adjusting, and not catering, but honoring. It’s one of those things where you have to work with what you have, recognizing who you are.” Jesse’s wife was diagnosed with cancer and he shares how initially it was one of the worst things to deal with, but then he and his wife saw it as something that really helped them grow and strengthen their relationship between each other. Sorenson Media and deaf videos 1:07Origin of communication skill 5:09Handling the hard conversations 6:54Coping with his wife’s cancer diagnosis 12:21Emerging from sorrow 18:00“I always say, ‘How can I keep you? Let’s have conversations about how we can work on you.’ And sometimes people just don’t want to do that work or they can’t. It’s one of those things where like, ‘Hey look, I think we both realize or both understand that we’ve tried, and we didn’t make it. So it’s time to say goodbye and move on to other things.’ It feels like the worst thing in the world, but sometimes it’s just the best thing for that person.” 8:07

On January 24th, 1884, the Gold Rush started in Coloma California. The news of gold brought about 300,000 people from the rest of the United States to California to find their fortune. This particular gold rush caused a surge among the population and created entire industries surrounding them. Not only these prospectors, but their families, the people carrying shovels and sifters, or the people just making the machinery, or the hats and clothes that you needed to go and prospect for gold in the mountains. In the same method, today’s interviewee, Brian Sather’s father experienced a similar type of gold rush, what happened after the gold rush when people stopped visiting, and the lull that accompanied it. In entrepreneurship and starting a company, there are many things that involve the huge spike with the low valleys that we all experience and today’s interview highlights the ebb and flow of entrepreneurship with my wonderful guest, Brian Sather. Seeing and learning how business worked 1:22Be OK with the evolution of things 7:13A darker moment in Brian’s career 8:59Persevering in Blacksmith 15:42“I would say the darkest [ebb] for me was really early on when my dad lost everything, and that’s not my entrepreneurial career, but that felt really, really dark, but then I saw him pop out of it and the thing that I’ve learned from that life comes at you in waves. No matter how hard you try, you can be on top of the world, life is gonna find a way. The Universe is gonna find a way to knock you back on your heels because that’s how you grow. And that’s how you get better.” 9:00

It’s in this podcast that I get the opportunity to speak with somebody my own age. I’m 30 and I’ve run this company, Launchpod Media, for a little over 3 years. Today I interview another fantastic, successful entrepreneur, Alexander Szul. He’s a fantastic leader, speaker, and he runs a fantastic company called Rome BlockChain. In our interview I just wanted to highlight how impressed I am at Alex’s ability to learn from failure and not be afraid of failure moving forward. I think we’re often boxed into our role or responsibility, or what we don’t know and what we do know. He was able to break out of that and encourage his team to break out of that as well, and I wonder if more people lead with that mindset and that type of leadership, how much more satisfied we would be as leaders, and our employees would be in moving the needle forward in their job. I invite you to tune in and enjoy this interview with my new friend, Alex. About Rome Blockchain Labs 1:32Fear is a beautiful thing 7:16One of Alex’s most impactful failures 12:42The feeling of fear when you’re a child 18:42“What IS fear? Practically speaking, what actually is fear? It’s sweaty palms, cold hands, it’s a tightness in the chest, it’s quick breathing, it’s perhaps a couple uncomfortable memories or thoughts in my mind, and Johnny that’s it. That’s all fear is actually. So when you can sit with that and actually let that entire process play out in your body and your mind, and you just watch it… the next time you’re afraid, it’s gonna be astronomically less. You’re actually gonna laugh at yourself because you’re thinking how funny it is that you were afraid of that in the first place.” 8:32https://romeblockchain.com/

Today’s interview with Laura Patrick is a fantastic conversation on what it means to be able to balance small expenses and big expenses, understanding the balance between employees and customers, and adhering to rules even if we don’t like them. Laura ran into the issue of Covid-19, which created all these additional, unforeseeable changes and rules she had to deal with and comply with in order to stay in business. No matter how prepared you might be, anything can happen that will throw your business off balance or make things a lot harder than you anticipated.The hard beginning 4:04Excitement and anxiety of reopening 7:49Family challenges during Covid 14:13Speed questions 16:18“Instead of thinking it’s gonna go perfectly, embrace the fact that it will not go perfectly, and that could be to your advantage in some ways, but I would say for us, you know we prepared as much as we possibly could, but you’re never totally ready and you never know if you’re going to crush it. You have no idea.” 18:17

Eric is a polymath, and I don’t say that about a lot of people. He has done science, math, art, and he somehow finds a way to make all of those things work. Whether it’s being a master in engineering or being able to mix a music track, whether he’s handling Krado, or he’s handling his music studio, Eric finds a way to help things make sense. Being able to pivot, adapt, and adjust his business based on what his market looks like and what’s happening in the world has helped him experience growth and success, which he shares with us in this episode. Where Eric started 0:49You have to be willing to adapt 4:23Mental health struggles 8:01Reacting to competition and diversifying 13:05Final questions 20:53“I’m just gonna let the data kinda tell me which way to go and it’s really about the adaptability and ability to pivot, right? That’s the thing I saw in the science world and the thing I see in the entrepreneurial world where people get so stuck on their original idea, like ‘No, this is how I want it to be.’ OK, but you pretty much have all this data saying it doesn’t work that way. So you have to pivot, right? And those are the ones that die. You can’t survive, and the ones that survive are the ones that pivot.” 11:21

In this episode we’re going to hear from a close friend of mine, Steve Candland. I think we can all relate to the aspects of Steve’s story and whether that’s coming up with a great idea, dealing with the opinions of others, or the rush of joy after the first sale, it’s not often we get to hear from someone so genuine in the entrepreneurial space. Please sit back, grab a soda (hopefully a Traveler’s Soda near you, and enjoy this wonderful, inspired story by my friend, Steve. Where the idea started 0:46What people don’t understand 4:54Wanting to quit 8:47The Scottish festival and his burning the ships moment 12:51Having to build it himself and final questions 14:56“So I make a beverage, but there’s a million different products. People that don’t really understand that there’s a lot of up front costs to even get to that point, like ‘Oh Steve, you just gotta have a big social media presence.’ I mean great, but what happens if I get a lot of social media presence and I can’t handle the volume? I have to actually deliver something to someone.” 4:54

Today’s interview with Sean Spencer dives into an emerging, amazing community and what it means to make a community through content and actual growth, and what it means to not take business too seriously in hopes of building that community. Building his business was definitely more difficult than he expected, but join us to hear how Sean has been able to face the challenges of business and leadership head on. Sean tells about how he used to struggle a lot with mental health and refused to get on medication, but eventually was able to get into meditation and therapy, leading to him improving upon these issues. Building a community 1:06The AI foundation 4:07Some more stark challenges Sean has had to deal with 7:22Dealing with depression and anxiety 12:19Going to a therapist and getting help 15:39Final questions 17:26“The thing that I’ve really tried to avoid as I’ve grown throughout my career and found success, is letting any of that become too serious or affect me, or create an ego. Coming from Los Angeles, that’s sort of the land of egos.” 7:40

A lot of entrepreneurs out there will relate with Jesse’s story. Stories like these inspire us to keep going, even when failure is imminent. In every entrepreneur’s story, there is a point of no return. For some it happens quickly and for others it might not happen until the end of their business journey telling them to be done. A point of no return can happen in times of financial difficulty or a wide variety of struggles and problems. It’s important to learn from those who have gone through this journey already, which is why in today’s episode I interview my friend, Jesse Randall. If there’s anybody who knows what it’s like to fail and get back up, it’s Jesse. He tells about his earlier business ventures and the harder parts of them, and then how he was eventually able to learn from his mistakes and get his current venture, Sweater, to where it is now. Who is Jesse Randall? 1:35Learning the game on his business path 5:17Solving the idea that he was a failure 12:51Final questions 16:27“You wonder why that ball goes in the net at the end and you don’t realize what’s going on until you step off the field and you go up in the stands and you look down, and you can see a scoreboard now, and then you figure it out. It was like I was missing all that context about what it would take to raise money and what was required. In retrospect I shouldn’t have been raising money, that’s one of the big “Aha’s” that I had, and one of the biggest components of what I screwed up on was being able to take care of myself, and that’s why I failed.” 7:47https://www.linkedin.com/in/deviantstrat/detail/profile-cover-story/?enableAutoPlayWithoutMute=truehttps://www.sweaterventures.com/

Today I met with Travis Pike, who is an intrapreneur and has really been focusing on how to maximize his team, but also how to find more people like him, which isn’t his perspective, but my own. Where he’s trying to focus on being a team leader and making sure people are taken care of, and also identifying how to more fully take care of his customers, he’s trailblazing, which is why he has grown so much within his organization. I think it’s important to be able to identify these traits in a unique employee so that we can replicate them ourselves. We connected for a couple of different reasons, we have similar views and also how he reacted for his company was pretty interesting to learn about. About Travis Pike 1:36The biggest problem they went about solving with the pandemic 5:45Adjusting for this new work environment 13:44Why his team was close 19:12Elements he would repeat if another situation like Covid happened 24:10What he would tell top leaders that he needs and wants 27:31“It wasn’t terribly productive meetings in the business sense. We mostly just caught up with each other and kind of just let each other vent a little bit with how hard the pandemic had hit them, but then you’re able to build that community with the team. The team recognized, ‘Hey, know what? I’m not alone.’ And because they weren’t talking to their peers every day, because you weren’t inside the office, that strengthened the bond with them so that way they were still reaching out, even on a personal level.” 16:29Email: travis.d.pike@gmail.comLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisdpike/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eldertravis.pikeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/travi_d_pike/Twitter: https://twitter.com/travi_d_pike

Today I’ll be talking with my new friend, Eric Smith, who’s an owner of a multi billion dollar company and who has been influential in moving the fight forward and making technology that has really shaped the modern world, but Eric didn’t start off with a silver dollar in his pocket. He’s really shown what it takes to have grit and determination, and to take advantage of that little break that you get sometimes and how to actually blow it out of the park. Where things started early on 1:23The difficulty of starting a company 6:52Every new business requires a lot of work 10:23Maintaining a great relationship with your cofounder 12:56His first company and co founders 15:30Final questions 19:47“Every new business takes massive amounts of grit and execution … For most of us, we’re not the first to market, we didn’t invent something dramatic. We just get in there and execute like crazy, and we just kill it. And you just have to work and it’s hard.” 10:25

Today we’re speaking with my good friend Jeremy. He’s a business leader, an entrepreneur, and he actually graduated from the same college that I did. Jeremy is the CEO and founder of Assure and fits the mold of being an entrepreneur so well that through the ups and downs, he teaches us just how to hold strong through our own business ideas. Jeremy went from one thing to the next and things weren’t very stable for a while, which was hard for his wife. He couldn’t stomach working for someone else and by the time he decided to just do his own thing, his wife was exhausted from everything and was very supportive of him going this route. They have a big vision for where they want to take the company. “Don’t get too caught up in the struggles of right now.” The struggles we experience as leaders are most likely just quick things that won’t affect the long term. Don’t get blinded by failure. Get the car restarted and try again and tackle every issue one at a time. “Once you solve this, you’re just going to run into more hard things.”About Jeremy 1:18Starting Assure 6:50Some of the struggles and despair they experienced 11:20Establishing new standards and taking his culture back 18:58“I want to come up with the ideas, I want to come up with the culture, I want to come up the cadence and the KPIs, and the ideas and everything like that. That’s just who I am and when somebody else tells me what to do, I just can’t do it.” 7:18https://www.assure.co/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyneilson/

In this episode I had the opportunity to speak with Danny Naylor, CEO and co-founder of Storier, a children’s audio book, podcast, and music app, whose whole goal is to make screen free appropriate content for kids. Danny was born and raised in Holladay, Utah and went to BYU, during which time he was building Storier while he studied Business Management and entrepreneurship. There’s a problem when it comes to children’s media where it often gets mixed with adult content due to the nature of the various mediums for media being intermingled, and then there’s another issue is how much kids are spending their time on screens, which is what initially drove Danny to build Storier. About Danny 1:02A big problem we face with entertainment and media 2:28Why Danny started with kids 6:35Running into a speed bump 11:11Getting over discouragement 16:19Perceptions of entrepreneurship 24:19Rapid fire questions 29:29“Content creators can come onto Storier, upload their content, and we pay them 10 cents for every hour of listening time. We don’t let any ads in the content, we screen through it to make sure it’s appropriate for kids, but it’s twice the technology, right? You’re building out this entire other side of letting people come into it to upload content, which causes that whole other list of challenges and concerns, but it was necessary for us and I’m grateful for that experience now because we are a much stronger company, a much better product, and I think we’ll be much more successful at accomplishing our mission.” 19:08LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannynaylor/Storier: https://storier.fm/homeEmail: dnaylor@mystorier.com

Today I’m talking with my friend Josh Ashton. Josh is a master of getting above the fold and explains in his story today what it takes to get above the fold and what it’s like to hit that delete button and have a terrible, unfortunate event hit you, and suddenly have to start over with a complete blank slate. Josh tells about how he got so into his work that he often found himself putting it above everything else in his life, including his family, faith, and health, which was detrimental to his life, but he has since been able to change. Some of Josh’s background 1:51Getting reacquainted with the marketing world 5:41When things are difficult 13:28Understanding what you have to do to get where you want to be 18:31Get in contact 20:54“That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned is I was helping a lot of people for years and years and years, giving advice, giving thoughts. That paid back in a very short amount of time for me when all these people came back to me and gave me advice. Super cool stuff.” 6:09

In this episode I interviewed a new friend. He’s an amazing entrepreneur who has started, jumped into, funded, and done a number of different things for a fantastic variety of different companies. He is the founder and CEO of Workpulse, the CEO of IdealEstate, and the CSO at Encore Fantasy Games, and it was a pleasure speaking with him today. Brody explains that the path isn’t just difficult until you get to the top, but that difficulty even continues on your way back down. He and multiple of his family members were sued, resulting in his father’s suicide, and all this happened during a time when Brody was having to take care of his family. All these things gave him a bit of PTSD, but at the same time it made him bulletproof for when someone else got upset with him, because of the difficulty he went through. Brody shares how he builds and maintains such great relationships with people, which often lead to great things, such as trusted investors and business partners. About Brody 1:30Having to take a different route and push through difficulty 6:29After Brody lost his first company and everyone got sued 14:23A day that really impacted Brody 19:21Some of the things that helped him keep such good investor relations 23:00Some things he’s looking forward to and excited about 25:16“I wasn’t discouraged at all. I actually was excited to start a new idea and it was just 10 times easier because of all of the hardships that I had gone through before. I’m a big fan of the obstacle is the way and I’ve never learned anything from a pat on the back or a high five. It all comes from the hard things when people say no, when people back out, when people don’t follow through or they don’t do a good job.” 8:14

Brandon Hasseler creates fun and educational content on YouTube that helps everyday people build the best possible setup their budget allows. Whether you are building the ultimate gaming/streaming room or just want a stylish work-from-home desk setup, he has you covered. We talk about what got Brandon on his current path and what to do when you hit a wall in your business/career. We talk about whether death or failure is more important and explain why it’s important to be transparent and humble to ensure people know where you’re at. About Brandon 1:06Pushing through struggles 6:16Putting all focus in your business 8:59Which is worse: Death or failure? 12:10Brandon’s favorite book of late 16:30“If you have the mentality that all you need is an income, not a job, it opens up your opportunities because now getting a job is not so insulting. It’s just another source of income and that’s great.” 19:42https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrYC09QBJQzvBSw9M6fMbHwSearch Tech Audit TV on YouTubebrandon@techaudit.tv

Today I speak with my good friend, Robyn Cohen. She’s an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, as well as a leader of things like the W Collective, and a litany of other things that we’ll discuss on today’s podcast. However, I wanted to highlight with her episode today that while there may be no manual for life and there may be no manual for how to run your company, it is up to us to make those rules and figure out how to jump in, even when you’re given a hard stop. Robyn tells about the difficult task of having to take care of her sister and learn about the workplace from a very young age, which pushed her to grow up fast. Who is Robyn Cohen? 1:15What does being a hustler mean? 3:20Learning life lessons from a young age 7:15Making her trials and struggles a part of her progress 11:00Get in contact with Robyn 14:43“So with everything, that’s when I’m just kinda like, ‘OK, what do we have to do? How do we handle this? How do we move through this challenge? How can I take care of myself while still taking care of whatever else that looks like, ya know, family, or your work, or whatever that looks like.’” 13:46http://thewcollectiveco.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/robyncohen/msrobyncohen@gmail.com

Rob has been 26+ years in the making of becoming a fantastic business leader and entrepreneur. A wonderful mentor of mine, he has gone from running the phones and talking to people in basic sales in the biz dev department of a company that was failing all the way to running for office and being able to start an amazing company, Game Face, and make it successful with a wonderful team that expands the entire country. Rob is a competitive guy and that’s one of the reasons I like him. Competition is not just the wins or losses, but the persistence and the making of mature decisions and being able to take a look at your stadium. Who is at your stadium? What are they actually doing? “Stop selling the product. Sell the results you get from the product, because that is not objectionable.” 9:24An itch he couldn’t scratch 1:45A goose egg in sales 5:28Everyone is associated with objectionable products 8:40Realizing there was a need that should to be filled 14:56How he handled all the growth 16:09Who you should keep and who you should let go 18:42“You know what? I’ve been selling the wrong thing. I’ve been selling as we say in sports X’s and O’s and W’s and L’s. No, I gotta be selling positive outcomes that come from an association with our game, our brand, our venue, our team, our event that night. So when I got back on the phones the next day, that’s what I started to talk about with people.” 7:38

Today I talk to Mark Smith, a fantastic world renowned speaker as well as a business leader who’s run a number of different companies from the bottom to the top and it has been a pleasure to have him as my guest on the podcast. Mark is a formulative speaker. He identifies things as groups so they’re easier to remember, and things like his 4 V’s, which we’re going to highlight in this episode. If you find a unique quote or something interesting that stands out on this podcast, please feel free to give us a rating or review that allows us to see what you like so we can formulate content to reflect more what you like. Say no to anything that will steer you away from your vision, ask yourself how you are making sure you’re adding value, how fast you should be growing and in what direction, and then figure out what the hard tasks are that you need to do today. Realizing what he does best 1:24Hard lessons and the 4 V’s 3:435 layer model that allows you to know where to focus your attention 10:52Context and final thoughts 17:31“What that tells me is that early on you understood the concept of priorities. Priorities in the order in which you accomplish your outcomes, and there are priorities that are critical to an organization and as an entrepreneur, you have to understand your priorities.” 5:18https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksasmith/marksonlinkedin.com