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Toccara Karizma is a digital marketing consultant and business growth strategist. She is the CEO of Karizma Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency dedicated to growing elite eCommerce brands online through email marketing, social media marketing, PPC, SEO, website conversion optimization, and more. Having built her own successful eCommerce business back in 2007, Toccara is now considered one of the world's top eCommerce marketing experts. Her out-of-the-box approach to digital marketing and expertise in the online business growth space is why I've asked her to join me today. The biggest, most critical failure with customers I have a two-fold failure. The biggest failures are taking on clients without the bandwidth, without the support system that I need. We are in demand and are blessed to be in demand. At some points, we want to take on clients when we just don't have the right support team in place. And that's not a fair thing for us to do because when we do that, we don't give them the best results or the best client experience with us. We want to be the Four Seasons of ad agencies. The second failure would be taking any client, especially when you’re newer. That was when we failed because we weren't working with a partner that had everything in place. It was kind of like putting a Ferrari engine in a VW Bug. Biggest success with customers I stand for full reporting. When we talk to our customers, it's almost like we're flipping all the ways in which they were mishandled and mismanaged by other agencies and saying, “You deserve this.” We do full transparency. We'll tell you when we're wrong and when we've done something wrong. We want to meet with you regularly and build a long-term relationship. We're always on camera with them. So, it's doing business with people. My son was working on a project at school. (He’s in high school now.) He was using a video editing software. I looked up that video editing software’s ads because I ran ads, and I realized that they were struggling. They just did not have great customer feedback. I went directly to this company, it's a SAS company, and said, “Can I get connected with your director of digital marketing?” I got the client, and I think it's funny because I had just interviewed someone for my own YouTube. <img class="aligncenter wp-image-7531" src="http://www.reachormiss.com/wp-conten...

Rick Elmore is an entrepreneur, sales and marketing expert, and former college and professional football athlete. As the Founder and CEO of Simply Noted, Rick developed a proprietary technology that puts real pen and ink to paper to scale handwritten communication, helping businesses of all industries scale this unique marketing platform to stand out from their competition and build meaningful relationships with clients, customers, and employees. Founded in 2018 and based in Tempe, Arizona, Simply Noted has grown into a thriving company with clients of various sizes across the country including in hospitality, real estate, insurance, nonprofit, franchise, B2B, and others. Rick has served as the company’s CEO since its founding, for more than three years, and has over a decade of sales and marketing industry experience. most passionate about My background is in athletics. I played college and professional American football. When I got done, I made the transition into sales and marketing. I started with medical companies in the United States, Stryker and Straumann, and in orthopedics and dental. I had a pretty good career. I'm currently doing Simply Noted. We help companies send and automate real, genuine handwritten notes with technology and have been doing that for the last three and a half years. We have developed technology – a handwriting robot that puts real pen to paper and helps businesses connect on a more personal level, building relationships with their clients. Rick’s career and story During my MBA, we had to start a project. When I was recruited in college, the coaches who always stood out the most to me were the coaches who sent handwritten notes. One year, in 2016, my wife and I had 400 clients. We tried sending out 400 printed holiday cards. All we did was hand-write the envelope and it took us over two weeks. I was like, “There has to be a better way.” So, I started researching. I looked up some technologies that were available. It wasn't until 2017 that I dove into it for a school project, but, really, I’d researched the technology for about a year. Best advice for entrepreneurs A lot of people want to become entrepreneurs or start a business, but they have analysis paralysis, overthink They think, 'I can't do it.' They think they have to have all the answers, but really, it's just taking that first step and getting started. Absolutely build the best relationships you can with those first clients. Those are your lighthouse customers. Those are the risk-takers. Those are the ones who are going to give you an opportunity. You have to make sure everything goes through. The biggest, most critical f...

Rhonda Petit is a Sales and Business Peak Performance Coach with 35 years of Sales and Sales Management experience in Corporate America in the life sciences and diagnostic markets. She has experience working with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies. Today she works enthusiastically with Corporations and Individuals with champion mindsets, who know school is never out, who want to continually grow to unleash and activate more of their true potential and power. She helps people discover their deepest desires, leverage the untapped potential in their hearts, activate their potential and achieve their personal and professional goals so they can create the life they want and realize true fulfillment. Rhonda is a seasoned Sales Professional, a certified coach, leader, in-demand speaker, and author of “The Spirit of Selling.” Most passionate about I am most passionate today about helping people realize the potential that lies within them, especially given the fast-paced changes that are occurring in the world today. I'm passionate about selling. I wrote a book about selling and how you can tap into the subconscious mind and your potential by understanding it and understanding more about the divinity within you. Rhonda’s career and story I intended to be a chemist, but I got a double major in business because I was always fascinated, especially living in the United States, with free enterprise, being an entrepreneur, and building my own business. I was working as a chemist for chemical company and called the representative for J.T.Baker. The chemical company had been promoted and, there, the sales position was open. My lab manager knew I liked the business end of things. My position was eliminated in 2019 and I had been going to coaching school because I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I had my own business when they informed me of the news. I looked up at the sky and said, “Okay, I guess it's time for me to do this now, as opposed to later.” That's when I started my coaching business. Best advice for entrepreneurs Recognize that your business is serving people and what the value of your business is. Know your worth and the impact you can make on other people with your services. Don't be timid or scared to step out and do what you love. The biggest, most critical failure with customers In the beginning, I was caught up in a lot of the mechanics and the details. Because I was not aware of, and really conscious of, the value of my service, I would let people off the hook. If they came up with an objection, I would be timid, stand back, and listen to what they were saying. <...

Jake Jorgovan is a Serial Entrepreneur, Podcast Producer and Business Advisor. He is the Founder of Content Allies and Lead Cookie. Through these companies he has generated $40M+ in sales for his clients. Jake is the host of the Working Without Pants Podcast, and Leaders of B2B Podcast. He also shares the raw lessons of his entrepreneurial journey at Jake-Jorgovan.com. Jake is the producer behind podcasts for brands such as Facebook, Siemens Energy, Stampli, and more. Jake’s professional focus is to build companies that enable freedom of time and financial profitability. He does that by being an active entrepreneur in the trenches and through training others on entrepreneurship, leadership, sales & marketing. Jake has degree in entrepreneurship from Belmont University and has been awarded Nashville’s Youth Entrepreneur of the Year. He has spoken at conferences such as SXSW and has been featured in publications such as Inc & Forbes. Jake lives a nomadic life and has traveled the world while running multiple companies. Current location: Barcelona, Spain Most passionate about I currently run Content Allies, which is a podcast agency. I'm really passionate about building this business up. Then, personally, on the side, I'm really passionate about playing with synthesizers. We produce revenue-generating B2B podcasts. That means we work primarily with businesses. These would be companies that are looking to launch a podcast. They tend to be of a decent size. Jake’s career and story I have been in entrepreneurship for about 12 or 13 years now and have been in a video agency for a while. I got really into the event, industry, and music industry early in my career. Then I went off and did freelance digital marketing—various iterations of digital marketing agencies. Eventually, I decided: Okay, I want to focus at the agency on content. My previous agency wasn't lead generation and got heavily disrupted; it kept changing the game. I started Content Allies. We did a bunch of different iterations of content offerings and eventually landed on podcasting as our core service, with a full suite of content marketing. We found that podcasts are growing. There are tons of stats out there, saying that every year podcasts are growing and that more people are listening to them. What is really interesting for B2B companies is that podcasts can become the epicenter of their content strategy. Out of a podcast, we'll create videos, we'll create articles, we'll create social posts, we'll create quote blocks, we'll create short, social videos, and YouTube videos. We'll als...

Dan Zavorotny is the co-founder of NutriSense – a metabolic health company that utilizes Continuous Glucose Monitoring (GCM) technology to provide real-time data to clients. He launched 3 months before Covid, and he has grown the company from an idea to over $150 million valuation in just 26 months and 120 employees. Previously, he worked as a management consultant for KPMG where he consulted for 3 out of top 5 hospitals in the world. When Dan’s not working, he loves to travel, and he has been to over 100 countries before the age of 30. Most passionate about I was working in healthcare consulting and saw a trend over and over. We saw people, hospitals, and insurance companies spend more money every single year on healthcare. I ran into one of my friends who was wearing a device called a continuous glucose monitor. It tracks your glucose in real-time, 24/7. I put on a device and it completely changed the way I looked at health. We said, “Let's start a company around it.” We basically launched in two weeks. I quit my job and then we just started going, going, going. Since then, we've gotten to an over $150 million value. Dan’s career and story We immigrated from Ukraine. My parents didn't have much money. So, I picked jobs in corporate finance that let me live in France for a year. Then I focused on my career. I said, “How do I become the best employee possible?” I was doing healthcare consulting. I quickly realized that there are fundamental shifts in the industry of healthcare that need to happen, and there's not enough drive or change inside. So, that has to happen from external forces. I started looking at, like, “What can I start? How can I help this industry?” This was when I ran into my friend, Alex, whom I started a company with and who was an acknowledged expert. We brought in a third person, Kara, who's our head of nutrition. We can focus on the business, the software, and the human capital in this area to change behavior. That's been guiding us. It's been very effective by focusing on hiring the best people. Best advice for entrepreneurs The first one is, in every business, there are always two things that are most important. It's either build the product or service and offering or sell that product or service and offering. You must always say who's doing the first and who’s doing the second. Remember, no matter what you're doing, always focus on those two functions at the beginning. Number two is, you just gotta go and try to sell this to someone to see who wants it. The goal here is to get them to put their credit card in. Always focus on credit. Until someone's putting a credit card down, they're not actually your customer.</li...

Five years ago, I started my podcast REACH OR MISS for entrepreneurs. Two hundred sixty episodes to date and counting. I took something from any episode, and, of course, many taught me something new. However, three past episodes are the core of entrepreneurial marketing. In today’s episode, I invite you to listen to these three thought-leaders and find the difference between what you do and what they talk about. Choose one thing that you will do differently from today. I think that will help you become a better entrepreneurial marketer. And every entrepreneur should also become their own marketer. John Lee Dumas John Lee Dumas: John is the host of EOFire, an award winning podcast where he interviews today’s most successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. JLD has grown EOFire into a multi-million dollar a year business. with over 2000 interviews. He’s the author of The Freedom Journal and The Mastery Journal, two of the most funded publishing campaigns of all time on Kickstarter. All the magic happens at EOFire.com! Fire Nation (EOFire) John’s best advice about approaching the customer Number one, you need to know who your perfect customer is, the ideal customer, your avatar. Once you know who that person is, you can start creating free valuable, and consisting content for that person. Then you want to make sure you are getting it in front of them, so you have to find them and put that content in front of them. And, of course, they will be attracted to that content because you are creating it for them specifically. Then, once you have the opportunity to get in front of them, ask them a question, send them an email, newsletter, or a social media message, you have to ask: What are you struggling with? Then you can start to understand your ideal customers, what their pain points, obstacles, challenges, and struggles are, so then you – the person that, by the way, has been delivering them free value and assisting content, can provide the solution in the form of a product, a service or a community. You are not just somebody pitching them something; you are somebody that already provided them value, who they are growing to know, like, and trust, who asked them what they are struggling with, who listened to them when they were telling their pain point, and who now says: ‘Hi, you told me you are struggling with this, here is the solution, and I’d love to offer it.’ That’s the way to approach your customer. Biggest failure with customers <ul...

For over 17 years, Lucas Root led numerous teams on Wall Street. After establishing a consistent track record of success, Lucas started his own consulting business. Lucas works with strong brands with a well-funded great idea, who doesn’t quite know how to execute. Since early 2019, Lucas has had the wonderful opportunity to speak to numerous audiences in North America, Australia, and Europe, as well as partner with both businesses and VCs for mentoring. Most passionate about I launched my consulting company and was really focused on the thing that I got paid for on Wall Street. On Wall Street I was hired to execute the strategies they would come up with and to give them constructive feedback. I've partnered with the NCN university, which has one of the largest MBA programs in the world. They strongly encourage their MBA students to start a business while they're going through the MBA program so that they can test out the things they're learning in the program real-time, live, in their own business. They support them with this program called The Launchpad. Three years ago, I decided, for better or worse, “I'm doing good things here.” So, I started focusing on women entrepreneurs. I found that there are significant barriers to success for women. I wasn't happy with that. Lucas’s career and story I was on Wall Street for 17 years doing mergers and acquisitions. I always had a side project. My first two side hustles were real estate businesses and they were great. My third side hustle was a food blog where I wrote about recipes and food. I shared my passion with the world and it was wildly successful. Once I was satisfied that I knew how to create a marketplace and have people get excited to show up and have that conversation with me, I decided it was time for the next thing, not a side hustle. So, I left Wall Street. Best advice for entrepreneurs To be a successful business owner, you must be able to create a conversation with a marketplace and have people excited to show up and have that conversation with you at its very core. That's what it is to be a business. Get started. Go out, start your idea, bring it to the market. Find a team that believes in you and supports you, and just start doing something. Don't get stuck trying to create some version of perfection just to get started. The biggest reason that businesses fail is not the thing you see in the newspapers. The newspapers are lying to you. The magazines are lying to you. The entrepreneurship books that you're buying from Barnes & Noble are lying to you. The biggest reason that businesses fail is that the founder didn't have enough money t...

One of the most popular questions on my REACH OR MISS podcast for entrepreneurs is the question about the biggest, most critical failure with customers. I often think about my biggest failure with customers. It was when I promoted my online course. Five years ago, a short while after I started my podcast for entrepreneurs, I decided to create an online course for entrepreneurs and teach them the secrets of entrepreneurial marketing. I invested in a rather expensive online course to study how to create my successful course. I learned every aspect of creating the course, and I studied four different ways to promote my course. The expert I learned from about creating an online course had a very clear recommendation about promoting the online course: he warmly recommended not using webinars to promote and sell my course. Webinars are too complicated, he said, and you should use a better, easier way to sell your course. But I didn’t listen. I listened to another mentor who was a great believer in webinars. On my first webinar, I had 25 participants and not one sale. I had 12 participants and not one deal on the second webinar, and on the third and last webinar, I had 4 participants and not even one sale. You got it right; my webinars were a total failure, and although I tried again two years later, I didn’t manage to use webinars to sell my course. The reason for my failure: I didn’t focus on the one most important challenge of selling my course. Instead, I wasted a lot of energy and time learning how to make webinars. It took me a while, and I found a different successful way to sell my courses. But this was a fundamental lesson for me. In today’s episode, I chose to focus on the stories of six successful entrepreneurs who shared with me the stories of their biggest failures and what they learned from them. Failures are an excellent opportunity to learn. Don’t be afraid to fail; dare to win!! Khaled Maziad is a marketing consultant who specializes in the Psychology of persuasion and high-ticket sales. He helps coaches transform their uncharged-non-monetary offer into a high-ticket one without having Tony Robbins like Brand. He shares his story on struggling to give away his stuff for free to charging high-ticket offers and helping his clients from all around the world do the same. He is known as the Copy & Messaging Alchemist. He has been featured in FOX as one of 21 Entrepreneurs You Need to Know About in 2021. He has also been featured in ANLP, Fox, CBS & NBC. Khaled is a professional member of ANLP International CIC, a certified Master of NLP, and holds a degree in Civil Engineering. Before becoming marketing, Khaled ...

Robbie Samuels is an author, speaker, and business growth strategy coach recognized as a networking expert by Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Lifehacker, and Inc. He is also a virtual event design consultant and executive Zoom producer recognized as an industry expert in the field of digital event design by JDC Events. Robbie is the author of "Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective, and Inclusive Networking at Conferences" and "Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List." He is a Harvard Business Review contributor. His clients include thought leaders, entrepreneurial women, associations, national, and statewide advocacy organizations, women’s leadership summits, including Feeding America, California WIC Association, and AmeriCorps. Robbie is the host of the On the Schmooze podcast and #NoMoreBadZoom Virtual Happy Hours. Most passionate about I have multiple tracks in my business. I do one-on-one coaching, group programs, all about helping people build an audience before they try to launch an offer. I also work with my virtual event clients on bringing their events online with less stress and greater participant engagement. What had been somewhat dormant, but is just starting to come back, is working with organizations around their in-person events to help them become more engaging and to really support their participants through what, for many, is their first experience at an in-person event. Robbie’s career and story I spent 15 years organizing fundraising events and doing major gift work. On the side, I started speaking and showing people how to network. I was working with boards of directors and foundations. I did both of those things for about five years. Eventually, I realized that there was a possible career in doing this full-time. In 2015, I left my comfortable and safe career to really see if this thing I'd been doing for five years was going to turn into something. That's when I decided to launch a podcast, which came out a year later. I launched my first book, which today has 191 reviews on Amazon. I then got a chance to do a TEDx. Every year, I had different opportunities. I was well on my way to being an overnight success, 10 years in the making, when everything got upended in March 2020. Best advice for entrepreneurs My second book is called Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List. That subtitle belies the fact that, a lot of times, as entrepreneurs, as experts, we get really excited about some kind of solution, some kind of offer. We get some kind of program offer—an online course app, whatever the modality is. And we ...

For 30 years Chris Beall has led software start-ups as a founder or early-stage developer. He believes the most powerful part of a software system is the human being, and that the value key is to let the computer do what it does well — go fast without getting bored — in order to free up human potential. Chris is currently CEO of ConnectAndSell, Inc., based in Silicon Valley, and hosts a podcast at MarketDominanceGuys. Most passionate about What I'm doing now, and I’ve been doing for quite a while, is running a company called It helps companies dominate their markets by leading with the human voice. I've been passionate for a long time about having computers and humans work together in a way that unleashes the strengths of each. Chris’s career and story I was raised out in the desert in Arizona, pretty far away from most people. I was raised by animals—by horses and dogs and cats and goats and all manner of creatures like that. I think that's how I learned how to sell. My first sale ever, where I was successful, was getting a bridle on a horse when I was seven years old. I was very interested in mathematics and the physical sciences. Kerry Wilcox took me aside and said, “I want to let you know something that might change your mind about teaching.” Here I was with this dream of being a teacher. She said to me, “You are an entrepreneur by nature.” “I invest in my former students' companies.” This was all a revelation to me, that she was an angel investor. She said, “You can teach if you want to, but I don't want you to go off into industry, get a job in some field where there's a lot of opportunity.” I reluctantly followed her instructions when I got a job at an NCR computer company in 1979. Sure enough, I was dissatisfied. That led me down a path where, within four years, I was starting my first company. Best advice for entrepreneurs One thing I find that's the number one mistake that entrepreneurs make is that they build the product before they sell the product. I think you should do it the other way around. I highly recommend that any entrepreneur who wants to be a product entrepreneur, especially in B2B, start by having conversations—sales conversations, not survey conversations. If you're not doing it under pressure, you're probably not really doing it. So, try to sell your product before you build it and be serious about it. The biggest, most critical failure with customers I can go back to 1984. The company was called Unison software. Unison was an ERP system before there were ERP systems. So, it was called an MRP II system. It was intended ...