Talking Business Now

Steve Wiideman, founder of Wiideman Consulting Group joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share his entrepreneurial journey discuss the latest trends in digital marketing, include voice search, SEO, SEM and inbound marketing. Prior to launching his own firm, Wiideman's career highlight was working at Disney, where his manager challenged him to rank #1 in Google for "SEO expert." Tune in to discover: Wiideman's tips for leaving the corporate world behind and taking the entrepreneurial plunge—including minimizing risks and finding talent. Steps your business needs to take to respond to the changing needs and online habits of customers. How the pandemic has impacted digital marketing. Search engine marketing tips businesses can put to work right away, including diversifying online traffic sources. How to measure the success of your SEO marketing efforts, including Google traffic. The societal and security implications of voice search and the Internet of Things.  WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT Understanding how customer behavior has changed MORE ABOUT STEVE WIIDEMAN Wiideman confesses that he lives, breathes, and eats SEO, SEM, and inbound marketing. He also enjoys teaching others about digital marketing. As an adjunct professor at UCSD and CSUF, Steve is building the Academy of Search, online courses for SEO marketing. He also volunteers to help improve transparency and industry standards as an agency trainer. An award-winning SEO strategist, Wiideman has worked with brands large and small for more than 22 years to improve their inbound marketing results. Among the larger brands Wiideman has assisted are Disney, Linksys, Belkin, Public Storage, Honda, Skechers, Applebee's, IHOP and Dole. He conducts online video and in-person presentations at conferences and tradeshows around the country on topics as the history of SEO, link-earning, multi-location ranking factors, pay-per-click advertising, responding to search engine updates, and others. He's also a frequent panelist and speaker at online marketing events, meet-up groups and networking events.  CONNECT WITH STEVE WIIDEMAN Facebook: facebook.com/wiideman Twitter: twitter.com/wiideman LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/wiideman RESOURCES Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/digital-entrepreneur-on-voice-seo/ Free Checklist to determine whether your SEO agency is being transparent and following SEO best practices: https://www.seoverified.com/free-downloads/ Get real-time feedback from real customers: UserTesting.com Enter a keyword to discover the questions internet users are asking about it: AnswerThePublic.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Manik Suri, founder of climatetech company Therma, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss the ways companies of all sizes can adopt tools and processes that are better for our planet—and help create efficiencies that lead to more sustainable enterprises. Therma is a smart cold-chain technology startup that builds safety and sustainability tools such as sensors to eliminate food waste, energy inefficiency, and refrigerant emissions to protect consumers. The company's mission aligns with Suri's passion: combating climate change by protecting our food, health and planet. Therma's technologies are used around the globe by several major restaurant chains, manufacturers, and logistics operators, including McDonalds, Taco Bell, NOW Foods, 7-Eleven, and Wyndham Hotels. Tune in to find out: The business case for innovation in the food industry: How entrepreneurs can marry profitability and sustainability How policy makers, regulators and entrepreneurs can work together to achieve meaningful impact Tools that help businesses using refrigeration and refrigerated products to reduce waste of energy, product, and refrigerants—all big drivers of emissions that impact climate change. The scope of the food industry's impact on climate change, including food waste and the kinds of food we eat New technologies that will drive change in the food industry Challenges with security as our food supply chain becomes more technology-driven WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT Why it's important to make sure the work you do matters MORE ABOUT MANIK SURI Before founding Therma, Suri co-founded the Governance Lab, an innovation center at NYU that developed technology solutions to improve government. A former affiliate of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Suri has held positions at D. E. Shaw & Company and the White House National Economic Council.  He has a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard College, a master of philosophy degree in international relations from Cambridge University, and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Suri has published in leading academic journals, edited volumes, and national media outlets, and he was a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and a Truman Security Fellow. He writes on technology, climate change and public policy.    CONNECT WITH MANIK SURI Facebook Link https://www.facebook.com/hellotherma/ Twitter Link https://twitter.com/HelloTherma LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/company/hellotherma/ RESOURCES Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/climatetech-entrepreneur-protects-food-planet/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Christopherson, founder of iCUE Technology and Achieve Today, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how integrating people with cloud-based technology invites and enables employees to learn in a new way. Tune in to find out: How Christopherson's efforts to improve outreach to Achieve Today clients resulted in a technology solution that he was able to spin off into a new company. Tips for launching a new company from within an existing business. The advantages of using AI technology to keep employees engaged in education and training programs. The importance of addressing challenges in an employee's personal life into ongoing training programs. How to balance the benefits of technology with the risk of becoming overly dependent on it. WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT The role of technology in the future of education CONNECT WITH JOSH CHRISTOPHERSON LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherson RESOURCES Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/technology-solution-spins-out-new-edtech-company/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephan Aarstol, founder of Tower Paddle Boards and author of "The Five-hour Workday," joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss his company's experience implementing a shortened workday. Tune in to find out why Aarstol decided to promote a 5-hour workday; the lessons he learned from it, including the ways in which it failed and succeeded; and why he reintroduced a shortened workday in 2020 with a "twist." Aarstol also shares his Shark Tank experience, how his company recovered from near bankruptcy and the loss of half its employees, and the value of creating "artificial constraints" in a business, WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT How to build an "anti-fragile" company MORE ABOUT STEPHAN AARSTOL A serial entrepreneur, Aarstol founded Tower Paddle Boards in 2010 and later founded the No Middleman Project, Tower Electric Bikes, and other companies, When Aarstol pitched on Shark Tank in 2011, Mark Cuban invested $150,000 in the company when it had lifetime sales of just $100,000. Since then, the company has achieved more than $40 million in sales. In 2014, the San Diego Business Journal named Tower Paddle Boards the #1 fastest growing private company in San Diego. Just a year later, the company ranked #239 on the INC 500 list of America's fastest growing companies. Tower Paddle Boards was the #1 brand of more than 2 million third-party sellers that signed up for the pilot Amazon Exclusives program. Tower was named to Internet Retailer's 2016 "Hot 100" list of the world's most innovative e-retailers. CONNECT WITH STEPHAN AARSTOL Website: https://www.towerpaddleboards.com/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/towerpaddleboard/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Towerpb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TowerSUP/ RESOURCES Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/work-less-and-paddle-more/ The Five-hour Workday book: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Hour-Workday-Differently-Productivity-Happiness-ebook/dp/B01FGAFDBO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claudia Harvey is an avid gardener. But she was also a businesswoman who liked having her nails and hands in good shape at the office. After mentioning her frustration to a friend at a backyard Labor Day BBQ in 2007, she realized there was a marketplace need for gloves and other products that would protect women as they gardened. With that conversation, the seed for Dig It Apparel, a line of outdoor living products, was planted. After a year of research in which Harvey discovered that both the gardening industry and the nail salon industry were growing—and that the same women were customers in both industries—the company launched in spring 2009 in Canada. Initially, Dig It Apparel offered one product—a line of niche handwear. The company has since expanded its product line and its geographical reach. Harvey joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share her entrepreneurial story, which has taken her on a journey from a small town outside Toronto, Canada (where Dig It is headquartered) to global serial entrepreneurship with products in Home Depot Canada, Lowes Canada, nurseries, lawn and garden centers, pharmacies, hardware stores and other outlets throughout the world and offices in Buffalo, New York, and Brisbane, Australia. In late 2020, Dig It purchased Suncayr and its product SPOTMYUV, the world's first clinically proven UV detection sticker that provides users with a reminder of when it's time to reapply sunscreen based on personal indicators. Claudia is also an investor, best-selling author, speaker, and philanthropist. Tune in to discover: How her mom's life journey inspired her own journey. Insights Harvey has gleaned from her various entrepreneurial endeavors. What her deal with Kevin O'Leary taught her about business, including being included as the "perfect pitch" in O'Leary's book "The Cold Hard Truth." Harvey's experience as a contributing author of “America's Leading Ladies,” alongside Oprah Winfrey and Melinda Gates. How to apply Harvey's Three Pillars of Possibility to lead a fulfilling, well-rounded life. Harvey's system for helping businesses adopt the right strategies to move forward. Harvey's advice for making your money work for you. Why social entrepreneurship is important to Harvey and how she's incorporated it into her product line. WHAT CLAUDIA HARVEY IS TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT Amplification CONNECT WITH CLAUDIA HARVEY □       Facebook: https://facebook.com/claudiaharveyinc □       Twitter: @CHarveyInc □       LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiaharvey/ RESOURCES Episode Transcript: https://interrobangsolutions.com/garden-manicure-mishap-sprouts-dig-it-apparel/ America's Leading Ladies (Claudia is chapter 2) The 5 Strategies That Lead to an Unstoppable Life (free e-book) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Excy co-founder and CEO Michele Mehl joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share the story behind her company's 2014 launch and the lessons she's learned as she's steered it into a national brand. The Seattle-based startup develops, manufactures, and sells portable, total-body exercise bikes. Mehl's mission is to eliminate barriers to people getting enough exercise—health conditions, injuries, and lack of time and space—so people can conveniently connect exercise to the circumstances of their everyday lives. The 14-pound bikes provide cardio, strength training, and full-body physical therapy cycling. The company also offers a mobile coaching application. Excy (short for "exercise cycling") grew out of Mehl's own life circumstances, more specifically her personal fitness woes, a challenging work schedule as the owner of a PR company that helped launch brands such as Zulily and OfferUp into market leaders, and a family history of heart disease. As she thought about how to create a better, more convenient way to exercise for a healthier quality of life, she recruited her co-founder, Mike Rector, to begin prototyping a portable stationary exercise bike, one that offered the same quality of exercises people could find at a gym or spin class but that was portable enough to use anywhere. An injury Mehl suffered shortly before product launch, though unfortunate, proved to be timely. Her badly broken leg required a rod, screws, and a plate, and resulted in a blood clot. Facing surgeries, months of wearing a boot, and a crooked leg for the rest of her life, the duo used the injury as inspiration to innovate the bike's design and create a product that has become essential to rehab patients and people with diseases and disabilities that keep them from accessing traditional exercise equipment and routines. Today, the multimillion-dollar company employs dozens of associates and has been featured in Inc., MSNBC, The Huffington Post, the Sacramento Bee, the Seattle Times and several other regional and national media outlets. Tune in to find out: How to use Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms to glean important market data, not just funds. Why she abandoned an effort to raise millions of dollars in venture capital and focused instead on an intentional, steady growth trajectory focused on her customers. How she's used content marketing, especially video, as an effective tool to connect with customers and grow sales—and why content marketing requires a longtail approach. Why being "all in" on the company doesn't mean compromising the people and things she values most. The advantages of creating a "universal" product design. Why inclusiveness has been key to Excy's success. WHAT MICHELE MEHL IS TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT Connection, Not Perfection - listen in near the end of the episode to find out why she thinks this is so important. CONNECT WITH MICHELE MEHL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excyfit Twitter: https://twitter.com/excyfit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelemehlexcy RESOURCES Episode Transcript: https://interrobangsolutions.com/exercise-bike-builds-strong-bodies-strong-business/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Talking Business Now, Southern Caramel founder Sarah Smith joins host Kelly Scanlon to share the entrepreneurial journey that has taken her from the Space Coast of Florida to caramel industry entrepreneur. Employed as a project manager and scheduler in the aerospace industry, Smith enjoyed making caramels as gifts for her family and friends. After the birth of her daughter, she decided to launch a business making and wholesaling the caramels. Sales rocketed, and soon she moved from her home-based operation to a commercial kitchen. The Central Florida company's growth trajectory included expanding into local grocery markets, online sales, and eventually retailers across the country. Tune in to discover insights into: How a nearly devastating challenge involving shelf life became a selling point for the caramels. The importance of aligning your business location with your business model. One of the most important considerations when taking on a business partner. Why the company donates at least 10% of total sales dollars to nonprofit organizations. Southern Caramel has been featured in Forbes, Cooking With Paula Dean, Authority Magazine! and several other media outlets. CONNECT WITH SARAH SMITH AND SOUTHERN CARAMEL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Southern-Caramel-343804439118770 Twitter: @handmadecaramel LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-smith-1a7b78a RESOURCES Episode Transcript: https://interrobangsolutions.com/caramels-launch-entrepreneurial-journey-for-aerospace-worker/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As businesses and individuals struggle with an uncertain future from the coronavirus pandemic, aviation entrepreneur Barry Alexander, founder of Hartford, Connecticut-based Aquiline Drones, has a clear vision for success. Through his latest innovative endeavor, Alexander has created a full-service drone manufacturing and cloud technology company that's poised to change the global landscape as it takes drone technology to the next level. He's also helping others learn a skill and create companies of their own. A native of St. Lucia, Alexander is a veteran aerospace professional who has more than 25 years of experience as an aviator. A licensed aircraft technician for both airplanes and helicopters operating at the highest technical levels, Alexander has more than 20,000 hours of flight time logged in global commercial aviation. He spent most of his aviation career as an airline captain, but he's also served stints as a flight instructor, chief pilot, and director of operations and transport pilot of a Boeing 747 aircraft globally. Alexander migrated to the U.S. as a teenager to pursue his interest in flying. After receiving airplane and helicopter certifications, he returned to the Carribean to establish Aquiline Air Ambulance, an air ambulance transportation network, in concert with the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the Caribbean Ministers of Health, the Caribbean Common Market, and regional Governments to help implement a regional project known at the time as Health Sector Reform. A serial entrepreneur, Alexander has owned several businesses over the years in the fields of construction, digital media, and electronic payment services. RESOURCES Episode Transcript: https://interrobangsolutions.com/drones-provide-flight-path-to-entrepreneurship/ Flight to the Future Registration and Details: ADflight.to/future CONNECT WITH BARRY ALEXANDER & AQUILINE DRONES Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Aquiline-Drones-104820991044367/?modal=admin_todo_tour Twitter: https://twitter.com/AquilineD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/51706826/admin/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stacia Guzzo, founder of SmartyPits, a manufacturer of aluminum-free deodorant, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss her entrepreneurial journey, including the practical growth strategies that allowed the company to evolve from a kitchen sink and sales at farmers markets endeavor to having a retail presence in more than a 1,000 stores nationally. Inspired to create an aluminum-free deodorant after her mother's breast cancer diagnosis, Guzzo began making the formula in her kitchen sink in 2014, used herself as the guinea pig to test its effectivness and started selling the hand-poured and labeled product at farmers markets. Before long, she attracted the attention of major retailers, including HEB, TJ Maxx, Marshall's and others, as she attended national gift shows. Tune in as Guzzo shares her journey from classroom teacher to deodorant manufacturer and her insights into achieving steady, sustainable business growth, including: How to gradually scale so product orders don't overwhelm the stability of the company. Why it's important to look ahead and make important decisions about staffing, warehousing, etc., before you actually may need those resources. How she came up with the SmartyPits name. Balancing "gut" decisions with data and strategic planning. Focusing the company's product line. Doing your due diligence as you choose a "cause marketing" partner. RESOURCES Episode Transcript CONNECT WITH STACIA GUZZO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smartypitsdeo/ Twitter: @smartypits LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staciaguzzo/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Retail pioneer Bob Fisch learned a lot about younger generations while at the helm of fashion giants like Casual Corner and rue21. Now, after exiting the industry, he's helping to transform workplaces using the Millennial Baby Boomer concept he developed and explains in his book Fisch Tales: The Making of a Millennial Baby Boomer, featured by ForbesBooks. Fisch made a name for himself in value-priced, fast-fashion retailing, rising to president at Casual Corner and later becoming CEO of rue21, a retailer of women’s casual apparel and accessories. Fisch took took rue21 from bankruptcy to a fast-track winning streak and a hot-stock IPO, Along the way, he built out a national network of 1,200 stores, and a billion-dollar-plus valuation. Bob earned the reputation as a “disrupter” in the retail industry, and he’s at it again as he works to expand what he calls the Millennial Baby Boomer brand and mindset. In this episode of Talking Business Now, Bob discusses his book and how Baby Boomers and millennials can mentor each other in an ever-evolving workplace. Tune in find out: The importance of recognizing that “millennial” is more than the name of a generation—it also characterizes our evolving culture and Age. What a Millennial Baby Boomer actually is—and how any business can apply the concept to foster more ideas, cooperation and profits. How to bridge the generation gap and create a new generation through mutual mentoring. How to avoid labels that get in the way of how people view each other. Millennial traits that serve them well in business. What baby boomers risk missing out on when they are quick to criticize millennials or to dismiss their ideas—and vice versa. RESOURCES Episode Transcript CONNECT WITH BOB FISCH Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.fisch.925 Twitter: @fischtales1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-fisch-mbb-067a44149/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices