In Layman's Terms

David Patrick learned first-hand from brilliant marketers like McDonald's, P&G, LG Electronics, General Motors, Miller Lite, Kellogg, and Burger King to name a few. He worked his way up through the ranks and has served as a COO, CMO for companies like Beauty Brands and Westlake Hardware, David looked beyond marketing to connect a vision to a strategy to an action plan; aligning the Why, What, and How.  Now as the Founder of High Performance Retail Marketing Group, David builds strategies that drive brands, businesses, leadership teams, and companies. He also teaches future builders of marketing, business strategy, and entrepreneurship in the MBA programs at the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas. In this how to episode, David shares insider strategies to grow your business through effective marketing. Of course, there are bonus adds too. 

As the business of sports has evolved, so has the industry that covers them which means the competition is increasing. Joel Goldberg has spent more than 20 years in television developing and maintaining relationships with professional athletes, coaches and team management. He's covered top athletes from Brett Favre to Kurt Warner to the 2015 World Championship Royals. In this episode, Joel shares insights on building trust, making key connections and of course baseball.

Erin Smith is the founder of FacePrint, a patent pending telemedicine system for the early and accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. FacePrint has received national attention including winning the #BUILTBYGIRLS Challenge at Twitter Headquarters along with being recognized by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. In this episode, Erin shares the science, struggles and successes of starting a business as a teenager. If you think you're busy, she also has productivity insights to offer. 

Kare Anderson is inordinately curious about why we do what we do. She's an Emmy-winning former NBC and Wall Street Journal reporter. Now a columnist for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and the Huffington Post she shares her knowledge and strategies on quotability and connective behavior. Kare's TED talk on The Web of Humanity: Becoming an Opportunity Maker has attracted over 2 million views. Her clients are as diverse as Salesforce, Novartis, S.F. Giants and The Skoll Foundation. In this episode, she shares insights on ways to build credibility, open opportunity to the unexpected and building trust.  

Established in 1893, US Engineering has grown to be one the nation’s top design-build mechanical contracting firms. Tyler Nottberg is the fifth generation of the Nottberg family to lead U.S. Engineering. He served in several roles in the company before taking over as Chairman and CEO. Tyler has been named one of the 250 Most powerful Business Leaders in the Kansas City area by Ingram’s Magazine. He was selected as one of Kansas City’s key executives from non-profit and public-sector settings, those whose day-to-day decisions go a long way toward influencing regional business. Along with serving on a number of nonprofit boards, Tyler is also a founder of the Alliance for Childhood Education, a group of business leaders focused on investing in high-performing schools in Kansas and Missouri. This episode is packed with leadership insights.  

Serial entrepreneur and business mentor Allison Maslan has built ten successful companies from the ground up starting as a single mom on her own. Her client list has included Ben & Jerry’s, Charlotte Russe, Supercuts, and Allstate. She has also been a world-renowned homeopath for the past 20 years which adds a unique whole person approach to her innovative business strategies. In this episode, she shares what so many of today’s entrepreneurs are missing when it comes to achieving success in life and work.

Stephen Heiner is an entrepreneur who owns several lifestyle businesses – in real estate, tourism, publishing and podcasting, and a particular passion: writing. He is in his 4th year of residence in Paris, where he is pursuing a French passport, the language itself, and the perfect walk.  He spends all but all but 100 days a year in France, and can often be found in the US – specifically Kansas City – or in other European countries.  In this episode, Stephen shares his entrepreneur insights and philosophies, some of which may push your comfort zones.

Cam Bishop has extensive experience building, buying, and running companies.  For over 30 years, he has led companies owned by a broad range of international, regional and institutional private equity. He's managed a workforce of nearly 2000 employees located in cities across the U.S. and several foreign countries. Most recently he combined his expertise in business and passion for fitness to launch Muscle Metrics, a company focused on body composition testing with the Bod Pod. In this episode Cam shares leadership and business insights you can apply no matter your industry or role. 

Have you ever taken an online quiz? If so there's a possibility Interact was the platform used to create it. To date, Interact has worked with brands like Starbucks, The United Nations, Home Depot, World Wildlife’s Fund and many more. They’ve helped companies around the world generate more than 4 million new email subscribers. In this episode, you’re going to hear Interact's co-founder Josh Haynam share entrepreneur insights on starting a company as well as the how to’s for content marketing, engagement and landing new customers and clients.

Working in an animal shelter and seeing 3 animals come in and less going out inspired Michelle Rivera to find a solution to the problem of pet homelessness. In 2002, without financial backing or an advisory board already in place, Michelle embarked on the most challenging career path ever to start Spay & Neuter Kansas City. SNKC was the first and is now largest “targeted” spay/neuter program in Kansas City. With over 100,000 spay/neuters to date, they have impacted the overall reduction of animals killed in Kansas City’s area shelters. Michelle recognized the need to expand services beyond free/low-cost spay and neuter programs. SNKC also has the Families Better Together Outreach Program, a wellness clinic and food pantry serving over 20,000 pets each year. In this episode Michelle shares entrepreneurial and leadership insights that you can apply no matter what business you are in.

Cameron Herold is known as the business growth guru and Forbes calls him the CEO whisperer. By age 21, Cameron had 14 employees and by the age of 35, he'd help build his first two $100 million dollar companies. By the age of 42, he engineered 1-800-GOT-JUNK?'s spectacular growth from $2 million to $106 million in revenue, and 3100 employees in just six years. Cameron is the mastermind behind hundreds of clients exponential growth and they will tell you he speaks only from experience. He's the author of three books including The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs, Meetings Suck, and the global best-selling book Double Double.  No matter if you're looking to start a business or grow your business, you'll gain valuable insights from this episode!

Coss Marte, former inmate turned CEO, knows he beat the odds. By age 19, Coss was making $2 million a year running one of the largest drug delivery services in New York. At 23 he was caught and faced seven years in prison. Upon entering prison, the medical unit told him he could die in prison because at 5'8" and 230 pounds, he was overweight with dangerously high blood pressure. A year before he was scheduled to be released, Coss ended up in solitary confinement. During that time, he refocused, starting working out in his cell and without any equipment, lost 70 pounds in six months. He also helped 20 inmates lose over 1000lbs. It was during an Alcohol/Substance Abuse Treatment meeting where he came up with a business plan and the idea for Conbody was formed. After Coss was released, he applied the same marketing tactics that he used to build his drug business to build his fitness business. With the help of Defy Ventures, he entered a business pitch competition and was awarded $100,000 via Shark Tank's Barbara

Angel Morales will tell you pushing comfort zones is a must no matter what role you're in. As the head of C3 International, he works with clients in 25 countries and it started with a simple phone call to a friend. Angel's multi-language and multi-cultural skills along with his experience and expertise in international marketing have made him a sought-after consultant for clients in various industries who seek to achieve success with strategic and marketing programs targeted at families and children. As a creative with the wheels always spinning, Angel turned a carbon fiber wallet he created for himself into a second company - Tailwag. In this episode you'll learn the keys to launching and growing a business in international markets. The bonus, you can apply the same insights domestically too. 

Mental toughness is the birthplace of personal leadership development. LaRae Quy knows firsthand that mental toughness is not something you're born with. As an FBI undercover and counterintelligence agent for 24 years, she faced stressful fast-moving situations, risk, and deception on a regular basis. In this episode, LaRae shares insights learned in the field that you can use to move through discomfort zones and tackle limiting beliefs to achieve bolder goals. 

In 1989 when the economy was unstable, Mitchell Gold knew he had to break some of the rules to succeed in the furniture industry and it paid off in a big way. From an initial investment of $60,000, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams has grown to $250 million in annual sales with 30 signature stores, boutique shops, as well as an e-commerce and hospitality division. His defiance of conventional wisdom and investment in his employees helped fuel the meteoric growth of the company. Mitchell runs his business with the same passion and commitment he brings to his work on behalf of LGBT equality. 

“Great things won’t happen to you unless you put yourself into uncomfortable situations.” Chef and restaurateur Celina Tio knows getting uncomfortable has been key in her success. Her path was influenced by her family and Julia Child at an early age. She developed the skills necessary to be an award winning chef and combined that with an entrepreneur spirit and desire to tackle the challenges that come with opening restaurants. In this episode, Chef Tio shares insights gained and lessons learned along the way. 

Perry Brandt's forty-year law practice is defined not by the clients he's served or the trials he's won, but by principals that have made him one of the most sought-after and respected lawyers in his industry. Even though the stakes of his cases have grown from millions to billions of dollars, Perry's fundamental perspective has remained unchanged: being a lawyer is the ultimate people business. He believes in being a positive leader who improves every situation he's in. In this episode, Perry shares his insights on leadership, persuasion and mastering skills while having fun in the process.  

Launching a successful technology startup takes vision, guts, execution, and patience. Drew D'Agostino recognized the importance of communication between individuals and within organizations. He created Crystal, a technology platform that analyzes public data on the internet. Crystal gives you personality information for everyone you contact helping you to communicate better with empathy. His company has been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, Wired, and CNN to name a few. in this episode, Drew shares entrepreneurial insights and lessons learned while growing his company. As for the bedbugs, that was Drew's oh sh#t moment that took his business endeavors in another direction. 

Fred Pryor is a renowned speaker, author, and philanthropist. He pioneered the one-day seminar business model in 1970. He recognized the need for companies to provide leadership training to employees that focused on internal drivers like motivation and achievement. Not only did he write the curriculum, he taught the class that generated organizational results. After speaking an average of 225 times a year Fred expanded his vision to create a professional development business that today has transformed into Fred Pryor Seminars and CareerTrack. In this episode, Fred shares his wisdom and philosophies on business and life. 

Howard Putnam's passion for aviation began early on. He learned to fly out of a pasture in his Father's J-3 Piper Cub. His career didn't start out of college but instead as a baggage handler at Midway Airport. He held 13 different positions before being named to Group VP of Marketing for United in 1976. Howard was recruited to become President and CEO of Southwest Airlines in 1978. He led the visioning process and further developed the fun culture and excellent customer service that Southwest is known for today.  In 1981 he was recruited by Braniff International to restructure the financially failing airline. He was the first airline CEO to successfully take a major carrier into and out of chapter 11. This episode is packed full leadership wisdom and stories to remember.