It's All About the Questions

What if you could turn upside down how you think about adding new partners and clients? What if you decided to create a business to help others do that? And what if that wasn't how you originally thought of your company?

Take a listen as I interview Dina Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of SaaSMAX ParterOptimizer as she shares her entrepreneurial journey and the pivots she learned to make along the way to success.

Dina Moskowitz is recognized as one of the IT Channel’s top influencers and innovators. She is Founder and CEO of PartnerOptimizer by SaaSMAX, an AI-powered partner marketing platform that analyzes millions of historical data points to help you create your ideal profile. Dina and was recently ranked #20 out of more than 2800 Channel Executives and in 2017 awarded the Cloud Girls Rising Trailblazer Award. She has been featured in the VAR Guy’s Top 50 Channel Influencers and recognized by CRN as a Women of the Channel Power 50 Solution Provider, by UBM Tech Channel CRN as one of the Top Women in the Channel (2016, 2015, 2014). Dina served on the CompTIA Vendor Advisory Council and now serves on their Business Applications Council.

Dina has led or provided consultation to cloud-based, SaaS and other technology companies throughout her career. Prior to PartnerOptimizer by SaaSMAX, she was CEO and founder of Critical Digital Data Solutions Inc., which developed cloud-based data storage solutions. Dina regular presents at Channel conferences. She is a member of Cloud Girls, Board Member of the Cloud Software Association, Judge and mentor for San Diego Women’s Hackathon and other San Diego start-up organizations, and a strong advocate of women in SaaS
and IT.

Worry, anxiety, fear, frustration, lethargy, exhaustion and stress. I could check off the boxes on one or more of these almost every day. How about you?

My guest is Dr. Katie Nall. She has a Ph.D in Mathematics Educations, is a multiple TEDx speaker and a Top level EFT practitioner. She didn't get her Ph.D until later in life but got it because she saw how stressed students were around math and matt classes. She made it her mission to help them and a new career was born. 

Dr. Nall has actually had several careers and her latest started after she retired from her full-time position.

On this episode Dr. Nall shares, and makes me a willing guinea pig, how to reduce the WAFFLES in your life and most of all their impact on your mind, body and soul. She also shares her philosophy on life, business and why she just keeps getting better every year.

Not only does our next guest have her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education, she also is a TEDx speaker, a professional member of National Speakers Association, and an Accredited Master Trainer and Certified Practitioner in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) with additional training in trauma and quantum EFT. Whether in person or online, Dr. Nall shows others how to dissolve their WAFFLES – worry, anxiety, fear, frustration, lethargy, exhaustion, and stress. A careless housekeeper and worse cook with no desire for rehabilitation she somehow is still married to the same person for over 48 years. https://linktr.ee/KatieNallPhD Website: NallEdgeCo.com

Joe Serio doesn't look like he was deeply involved with organized crime yet he was. But from the good end of it. The side of protecting against and understanding the deep tentacles between the Russian government and their mafia and how that relationship impacts everything about the Russian culture mindset and outreach into the rest of the world.

On this episode Joe discusses his latest book, Vodka, Hookers and the Russian Mafia: My Life in Moscow with raw honesty and a dizzying perspective shifting hour that left me rethinking everything I thought I knew about Russia and parts of my own country I now see with a different set of eyes.

This is not a political discussion, although it could be, this episode is about the questions we don't ask, the questions we should ask and how one man went on a journey of discovery he never planned to take when he entered college back in the 1980s.

Joe Serio, Ph.D., was the only American to work in the Organized Crime Control Department of the Soviet national police. Later, he was director of the Moscow office of the world’s leading corporate investigation and business intelligence firm. He is currently a leadership and wellness trainer for 9-1-1 dispatchers, law enforcement, fire departments, and other public safety agencies. www.gltraining.com; www.360dispatcher.com

Autographed, personalized copies of Vodka, Hookers, and the Russian Mafia: My Life in Moscow can be purchased at www.vodkahookers.com. Just in time for the holidays!

Do you find yourself getting angry more frequently? Crying more or sometimes feel like you have a rogue persona inside of you that takes control and sends you into worry tail spins or eating binges?

My guest on this episode is Rene Brent, RN and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist/Instructor. Today Rene shares a quick, and I mean quick, exercise you can do to calm your mind and your nervous system plus she shares her favorite phrase for shifting that rogue persona from control to the backseat.

Rene and I discuss how to give yourself permission to change your behavior that no longer serves you and a few questions you can ask yourself to gain awareness of patterns that build worry and increase your use of the but.

Rene Brent has been a RN for 30 years and has worked in ICU, Trauma/ER and the Recovery Room. In her experience, she was inspired by the powerful mind/body connection and how self-awareness and reframing negative thoughts helps us heal emotionally and physically.

It was a natural transition for Rene Brent to go from being a healer of the body to a healer of the mind. She is passionate about helping her clients use the power of the mind and move forward in their lives and reach personal and professional goals.

Rene attended The Institute of Interpersonal Hypnotherapy (IIH in Tampa, Fl.) IIH is the only state licensed school of Hypnotherapy in Florida. Rene has trained over 1000 hours.

Rene Brent’s solo practice is located in Maitland, Florida. She is certified as a Clinical and Transpersonal Hypnotherapist. She is highly trained and uses a variety of modalities including Hypnotherapy, NLP, EMT and EFT. She finds these protocols help her clients change negative habits and behaviors. When her clients release false beliefs and let go of past hurts and events, then true healing can occur.

Rene Brent is an International speaker and a #1International Best Selling Author of  “How Big Is Your BUT?”. On March 16th, 2021 Rene released her latest book “Breaking the Worry Agreement” and has already reached International Best Seller status on Amazon.

Rene Brent is a registered member of The American Council of Hypnotherapist (ACHE) and the International Association of Interpersonal Hypnotherapist (IAIH) 

How do you build and maintain, "recency, frequency and money" while building raving fans?  Having a steady repeat stream of customers makes the difference between a profitable bottom line and one laden in red.

Amy Biddle is one of the top e-commerce digital strategists and on this episode she talks about and shares tips on the the different kinds of Facebook ads, the difference in marketing on social platforms, what a funnel means in the real world and one the trap of targeting to everyone is targeting to no one.

Amy Biddle has been obsessed with digital and traditional marketing since 1999.
"I was an English major," she confessed. "But when I discovered marketing I finally had a reason to pay attention to numbers, too. Now I'm really a geek. I do words fused with data that strategically advance the bottom line."

Having started her journey in content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), Amy has been consultant to over 10,000 business owners, advising small business owners how to create content that is both human friendly and search engine friendly.

She designed and led an ecommerce business program that facilitated over $20 million in revenue with participants.

She's managed paid marketing with budgets of $50 per day to $20,000 per day, managing ad strategy for companies selling everything from cat toys to SaaS.

Amy publishes a monthly newsletter for ecommerce business owners with customer lists of over 5000 names. Learn more at https://amybiddle.me/ .

Founder of the Mentoress Collective and world renowned Copy Chief Marcella Allison has the data and experiential proof to show that women who are a part of women only mentoring and peer groups reach higher levels in business and in life.

Join us as we discuss, and Marcella shares specifics on how women can close the success gap and raise each other up. Guys you can listen in as well :--).

Marcella Allison is the CEO of Copy Harvest LLC and the founder of the Mentoress Collective (formerly Titanides Mentoring Collective), an organization dedicated to promoting female freelancers, entrepreneurs, and copywriters. Learn more at sexistsecret.com.

As a copywriter, she works with some of the top direct-response companies in the industry. She has written for The Motley Fool, BottomLine, Inc., Advanced Bionutritionals, Money Map Press, Metabolic Living, The Bo Eason Group, and more.  Her copy has generated over $100 million in sales for financial trading services, alternative health supplements, and information products.

As a mentor and copy chief, she designed and led Money Map Press’s proprietary training program for in-house and freelance copywriters.  Today she mentors over 1,200 women in the Mentoress Collective. 

In 2018, Marcella was awarded Copywriter of the Year by American Writers and Artists Inc. for her outstanding performance record and impact on the copywriting industry. She’s a featured speaker at industry events including AWAI’s Copywriting Success Bootcamp, Copy Chief LIVE, and The Copywriter Club In Real Life.

Marcella is the co-author of, Why Didn’t Anybody Tell Me This Sh*t Before? a collection of wit and wisdom from women in business. As the founder of the Mentoress Collective she is dedicated to helping women go as fierce and far in business and life as they desire.

I had to have Jay McBain back on the show to continue our conversation from July, 2020 about customer obsession, journey mapping and the future of week. A year has gone by since then and I wanted to look at what he was seeing transformed, stagnant and a no go.

With that in mind we ventured into conversation about opportunity costs and how at some point it becomes numeric and definable. But should you quantify it or leap and take the risk on the opportunity?

We also talked about making decisions, not making decisions and staying static are actually all forms of making a decision. And because he is top futurist Jay McBain, we talked about the future of work, why it is important to map your customers journey with you if you want a successful business and customer experience beyond the first sale.

Jay leads Forrester's research and advisory for global channels, alliances, and partnerships. He focuses on B2B marketing in the age of the customer; understanding and navigating the complexity of multiple routes to market; ensuring contextual and relevant content to accelerate the indirect sales process; and describing the technology infrastructure to build and support channel relationships.

His background is in channel leadership, sales, marketing, and operations, with a specific emphasis on indirect sales strategy/execution, covering multiple industries, segments, and underlying technologies. Jay is renowned for his industry thought leadership and expertise in partner recruitment, development, and acceleration through effective partner coverage, enablement, communication, and incentives. He is an expert in building and leveraging channel communities and one of the global leaders in social media, partner marketing automation, and other indirect growth strategies.

Jay provides research, advisory, and consulting to companies ranging from Fortune 100 vendors to startups on the entire scope of their channel and alliance strategies. He is a contributing author and has been cited in numerous channel media publications, including Channel Reseller News (CRN), ChannelPro, ChannelE2E, The VAR Guy, MSPMentor, Channelnomics, Computer Dealer News (CDN), Australia Reseller News (ARN), eChannelNews, Business Solutions Magazine, ChannelLine, ChannelInsider, SearchITChannel, Redmond Channel Magazine, Vertical Systems Reseller, Channel Buzz, and SMB Nation. He also maintains a popular blog on channel trends.

Jay is based in Florida but advises vendors, distributors, and partners around the world.

Forget finding your unique value proposition. Focus on making yourself chooseable. That's what my guest Belinda Weaver believes is more important to focus on instead of trying to figure out what makes you, your company or your products different than your competitors.

She believes that "we don't need to be 100% unique in business...we have to become chooseable.

What does that mean though and how do you position yourself to become chooseable? Belinda and I discuss three areas you can shine a spotlight on to make yourself chooseable and have your business land more clients.

Belinda Weaver helps people write copy that makes them money. Whether it's teaching copywriters how to run successful businesses or business owners how to write more effective copy Belinda has courses, coaching and mentoring that builds skills and confidence. But she wasn't always a copywriter. Belinda worked as a computer programmer, then in marketing before discovering copywriting was her jam. Since then, her business - Copywrite Matters - has not only survived but grown while she's moved between Australia, England and the USA, and had two kids.

She cohosts the popular copywriting podcast, Hot Copy with Kate Toon and is regularly featured in the media such as Copyblogger, Business Insider, Amy Porterfield's pod and The Copywriter Club.

An Aussie living in California with her pug, two daughters and husband (listed in order of neediness)... Belinda is obsessed with Doctor Who, English murder mysteries and making the perfect lemon curd.

I never turn down a chance to have John David Mann on the show. I crave reading any book, article, blog or social media post or even just an email he sends.

Each word is crafted. Not just typed onto a page but crafted to create maximum lift to the entire manuscript, post or other type of written composition. No wonder he is a multiple New York Times bestselling author and that The Go-Giver, cowritten with the amazing Bob Burg, is a must read around the world.

On this episode we discuss John David Mann's latest project with Brandon Webb, Steel Fear. Their first fiction novel which has been optioned to TV as has a second book in the series was just released and it required a different way of writing and thinking as John explains on the show.

We also talk about his other passion project that was an unplanned one, Write Good, (Or At Least Gooder!) If you've read Stephen King's famous book, On Writing, you will want to sign up on John's email list to get a copy of this fan only book.

Share your thoughts about this episode and one takeaway on social media and tag me on all platforms @TheLauraSteward

Becoming a Navy SEAL is hard enough but then becoming a SEAL Sniper and then SEAL Sniper instructor and then being asked to revamp SEAL Sniper training is not something many have on their resumes. Add NY Times Bestselling author, entrepreneur, military advisor, father, pilot, philanthropist and several other things to the list and you have an exciting repeat guest to my show.

Brandon Webb recently took a detour from his prolific non-fiction writing and wrote his first fiction novel, Steel Fear. Picture this, serial killer, aircraft carrier at sea... I devoured it in one sitting.

We talked about writing differences between non-fiction and fiction, where the premise for the book came from, his travels during COVID with his son and why his son is going to college in Europe versus the USA.

And, because I rarely get to speak to someone of Brandon's level when it comes to world events, we also talk about Afghanistan from the perspective of someone who has served there and still is informed.