If it’s more than 5%..“Houston…we have a problem”…George and I talk about a range of teaching and evaluative tools for the betterment of your business…George says …“Truly effective management is about People, Planning, Projection, Cash Flow, Credit and the idea that if you can’t finance opportunity that’s a REAL ISSUE!!!”

See our video from Just Ask George Radio:

http://justaskgeorgeradio.com/2012/the-brass-ring/

We strategize, design and deploy in the disciplines of Master Data Management, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence.

We tend to take a different approach to information management than what you would usually find. We target business goals. We also believe that the one-size-fits all approach to information management leads to companies making do with solutions that are “good enough” and “almost” what they had in mind.

Between William McKnight and his team, we have some of the broadest information management experiences and successes. William has worked on over 60 end client programs to varying degrees.

We have a proven, streamlined approach that we adapt for a client’s specific needs. Our implementations are an infusion of the latest best practices from recent, personal experience.
Specialties

master data management, data warehousing, business intelligence, information management

1. Let’s talk about the current climate of activity in terms of transactions you’re seeing. What are you seeing right now in terms of activity?
2. When is it a good time to sell a small or mid sized business?
3. What are some of the key drivers or situations you find that cause business owners to want to consider selling their business?
4. Let’s walk through the process you follow to prepare owners to take the companies to market…
5. As we know…the credit markets have been tight. What are you seeing in terms of the way transactions are being financed?
6. Let’s talk about growing a business…perhaps by buying a competitor. Under what circumstances do you recommend growth by acquisition? And when is it not a good idea?

MORE INFORMATION FROM THE MARX GROUP:

Primary_Considerations_in_Selling_final.pdf

Buying_Your_Competiror_Final.pdf

Organizations are constantly in a game of one-upmanship.

Companies fight like mad to gain the smallest ounce of competitive advantage, only to have that fleeting win trumped by another competitor’s urgency. Each incremental gain becomes zeroed out as global competitors quickly copy and adapt. At the end of the day, the only sustainable competitive advantage-for individuals and companies-is creativity.

There is an undeniable correlation between the most innovative companies and those with cultures that nurture creativity. While these environments were looked down upon in the past as being “soft”, establishing a corporate culture that enables team members to express their creativity is now fundamentally linked to business success.

Josh has identified six common myths and seven key blockers that inhibit creativity. The good news is that each of them can be conquered and removed forever. Once you break free from the shackles of these obstacles, you will enjoy an overwhelming sense of freedom and your creativity will soar.

And, Urs Koenig specializes in leadership development for business owners and the next generation.

With their diverse backgrounds and personality styles, Lauren and Urs have the ability to guide clients straight to the heart of their communication challenges, tackle the tough decisions and get them resolved in a positive way, and then help them develop a plan to get to the next phase of their lives.

Here are some of the questions guiding our discussion:

1. We keep hearing about how so few businesses manage to survive the transition from one generation to the next. Why is that?
2. What do business owners tend to get wrong about what it really takes to transition to a next generation?
3. Let’s say you’ve been brought in by a business owner who wants to transition out of his or her business in the next couple of years. What does your process look like?
4. What’s the most important ONE thing a business owner listening needs to do to get started on his or succession plan?
5. Aside from the services you offer at Red Point, what kind of help and/or resources are available for business owners looking to transition out of their businesses?
6. For each of you-what would you say are your own personal connections to the work your now doing with business owners around transition and succession planning?

As a radio personality and public speaker, Marsha can be heard every week on the nationally syndicated talk radio show “The Family Roundtable” where problems that modern families face are discussed.

Marsha and her co-hosts have enjoyed interviewing family experts as well as celebrities such as Tony Curtis, Ed Begley Jr., Augusten Burroughs, Faith Evans, Vicki Lawrence, Denise Jackson, Janine Turner and Rose Rock.

1. When you first set out to start Benchmark Email ins 2004-what problem or set of problems were you looking to solve?
2. How do you define “permission-based” email marketing?
3. How has email marketing changed since 2004?
4. As you talk to small business owners around the globe-what are they saying are the most pressing challenges they face around email marketing?
5. What do business owners tend to misunderstand about email marketing?
6. Give us a tour of the services and feature-sets you provide today at Benchmark Email-how does it work?
7. What is your value proposition-and how are you doing this differently than your competition?

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 51.1% of 16 to 24 year olds were unemployed in July, the highest percentage in the history of record.

• And according to a recent Pew Research Center study, nearly 40% of 18-29 year olds have been unemployed or underemployed since December 2007.

• SCOTT’S MISSION: to help young people overcome the devastating epidemics of youth unemployment and underemployment (which affect over 100 million millenials worldwide) by teaching them how to build successful businesses that are capable of generating real revenue.

• Last month, Gerber launched the Young Entrepreneur Council, an advocacy group comprised of some of today’s most successful young entrepreneurs and business leaders. Members include Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint.com (acquired by Intuit last year for $170 million); David Hauser, founder of the Grasshopper Group; Nick Friedman of College Hunks Hauling Junk; Matt Mickiewicz, founder of Sitepoint and 99designs.com; Michael Mothner, founder of Wpromote; Jake Nickell, co-founder of Threadless; Neil Patel, founder of KISSmetrics; Ramit Sethi, founder of IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com; Shama Kabani, founder of the Marketing Zen Group; and Dan Schawbel, founder of Millenial Branding.

• Gen-Yers are encouraged to enter Gerber’s “Death to the Resume” contest by sending video links of themselves destroying their resumes to Scott@askgerber.com. The most creative videos will be posted on NeverGetaRealJob.com to be voted on by the community. The ten videos with the most votes by January 1, 2011 will receive one-on-one coaching from Scott Gerber and select members of the Young Entrepreneur Council. For more information, visit NeverGetaRealJob.com/burnyourresume.

It exists as an expert in the complex world of structured finance.

Through its ability to lend or invest singularly or in conjunction with other institutions or investors, American Enterprise has been able to resolve many of the complex issues surrounding corporate finance as a result of BH Capital Ltd participation.

Melanie RembrandtAs the founder of Rembrandt Communications©, LLC, Melanie is a public-relations consultant, SEO copywriter and published writer with over 20 years of extensive experience and an excellent track-record for success.

She specializes in helping entrepreneurs get the national media attention they need via targeted public-relations and SEO copywriting efforts.

Melanie offers tips and insights via her blog and monthly newsletter, “Rembrandt Writes Insights®.” And she provides in-depth training presentations to various businesses and organizations nationwide.

Melanie is also the author of “Simple Publicity-How to do your own public relations to boost sales, awareness and credibility fast… without spending a lot of money,” Secrets of Becoming a Publicist,” published by American Writers & Artists, Inc., “7 Steps to Successful Public Relations,” and the host of the SmallBiz America Radio Channel, “PR and SEO Quick Tips with Melanie Rembrandt.”

A magna cum laude graduate of the prestigious UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Melanie is the official, public relations and SEO copywriting expert for StartupNation and PINK Magazine Online.

Melanie only accepts a limited number of clients. Then, she acts as an extension of your team, provides the individual attention you deserve and uses her in-the-trenches media relations and SEO copywriting experience to help your business succeed.

Melanie Rembrandt And with over 200 published articles related to e-commerce, technology, HR, small business, entertainment, and more, Melanie is also a member of the following organizations:

Click here for “Rembrandt’s PR and Writing Blog for Startup Success!”

To boost sales, awareness and credibility with media coverage and SEO copywriting, put Melanie’s expertise and unique background to work for your business. Please contact us at info@rembrandtwrites.com!

1. What do most small business owners or consumers misunderstand about the whole subject of credit?
2. Overview of credit scores, the reporting bureaus, how they work, what the FICO mean and what effects them.
3. How does a bankruptcy effect an individual or couple’s credit profile moving forward?
4. Is there such a thing as GOOD DEBT?
5. When you talk about how the credit system treats us in the Real World-what do you mean?
6. The banking perspective: How banks view you tomorrow with your choices today?
7. Managing credit lines-Paying your bills-A bad thing?
8. You have tips about How to spot the scams. What scams are you talking about and how do we spot them?

To learn more about Wayne Stanford,

The_Real_World_of_Credit_by_Wayne_Sanford.pdf

Donald Trump says, “His story is not only compelling, it’s fun, inspiring and full of sound business advice.”

Harvey Mackay says, “If anyone is king of the jungle, it’s Steven Schussler. Entertaining and inspiring, a must-read for aspiring entrepreneurs!” -#1 New York Times best-seller….

Without a college degree, Schussler became the CEO of a company twice named by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 100 fasted growing companies in America.

Here are some of the questions guiding our discussions:

1. You had some major challenges in the beginnings. Tell us about the process that lead to the success of RainForest Cafes…

2. You have said the importance of researching a new product or service concept is paramount to success. How does an entrepreneur approach the matter of getting market validation for a new concept?

3. So much of doing business is about relationships. Let’s talk about the power of a first impression. I think you have a story to share around this theme.

4. We’re sitting together in late 2010. What is your sense about the current business-startup environment. How can entrepreneurs overcome the tight credit markets and low consumer spending headwinds.

Here are some of the questions that guided our discussion.

• What’s the biggest thing business owners get wrong about building their brands online?
• What lead you into the field of online marketing-ell us about your experiences leading up to the work you’re now doing?
• Let’s shift gears-the book is Attention-why did you write it and what gap did you want to fill in the market with it?
• Creating a compelling hook
• Maintaining a good brand name online
• Going from idea to success in eight hours
• Twenty-six ways to generate killer ideas
• Three truths for coming up with great ideas
• Making money from online videos
• Making money from social media
• Getting and keeping subscribers
• The universal truths of selling on the Web
• Filled with case studies, references, and proven examples of what works

Dr. Barbara Weaver Smith, founder and president of The Whale Hunters©, has an exceptional leadership background that began in higher education and successfully transitioned to entrepreneurship. With partner Larry Smith, she built the consulting firm Smith Weaver Smith, Inc., now celebrating more than
a decade of significant achievement in the education and economic sectors. Career highlights include serving as a dean at Ball State University, president of the Indiana Humanities Council, and founder of two thriving companies. She is known for inspiring, initiating, and managing accelerated change
through an uncanny ability to understand “how things work“in diverse organizations.

Dr. Smith has led more than 50 complex collaborations involving business, government, higher education, and not-for-profits. These partnerships created new ventures in economic development, education, and regional planning that resulted in millions of dollars in private and public investment. Through that work, Dr. Smith perfected a transformational, collaborative sales process that dramatically accelerates an organization’s growth trajectory: The Whale Hunters Process™.

In 2004, Dr. Smith founded The Whale Hunters to bring this proven change-management process to small, mid-sized, and large companies. Her Whale Hunting specialties include implementing the process, coaching the village, training RFP teams to win their hunts, and deal coaching for an RFP hunt. Dr. Smith guides entrepreneurs, CEOs, and sales leaders with education, peer coaching, and team training on this winning process that has helped transform more than 300 companies and counting.

Dr. Smith’s honors included being named by the late Governor Frank O’Bannon as Sagamore of the Wabash, the state of Indiana’s highest civilian honor, for service to the state of Indiana. As a renowned author of Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company (Wiley: 2008), Winning Whales with an RFP, and Whale Hunting Women, Dr. Smith is also an influential business leader and respected keynote speaker at events throughout the country.

Paling founded Sales Management Services in 1998 to provide practical advice to business executives, owners, and entrepreneurs seeking to increase their revenue and improve their sales organization’s performance. Sales Management Services’ roster of clients includes companies in the software, construction, medical, telecommunications, manufacturing, delivery, and the recruiting industries.

For more information on Sales Management Services, visit http://www.salesmanagementservices.com.

A respected voice on the topic of sales, Paling has contributed articles to Mass High Tech, The Boston Business Journal, Women’s Business, and Entrepreneur.com discussing a variety of sales topics. She is also the publisher of Sales Management Tips, a monthly newsletter for sales management executives.

Paling appears regularly as a panelist for the Women’s Enterprise Initiative (WEI), offering advice to small businesses such as a kitchen cabinetry distributor and a travel agency as well as serving as an instructor at the CEO Boot Camp, a three day instructional seminar for presidents of emerging growth organizations. She makes frequent presentations to local area business groups such as The Mass Technology Leadership Council on the subject of hiring and managing salespeople. She is a former Vice President of Membership and Board member of the Society of Professional Consultants. Suzanne has a B.A. in communications from the University of Missouri.

Lovato has extensive management experience in the areas of start-up companies, corporate finance, computer system and software development, international trade development and relations, as well as strategic planning, and sales and marketing development. He has been employed and intricately associated in business management, public relations, national advertising, budgeting, corporate finance, recapitalization of financial institutions, corporate turnarounds, asset-based lending, diversified agricultural companies, automobile industry consulting, travel industry, auto rental and leasing, and management and capitalization of a chartered insurance company.

Formally educated in New Mexico where he now resides, Lovato has founded and developed several nationally recognized companies ranging from local financial firms to international travel and communications-related businesses. His experience in the corporate finance environment has led him to management and control of publicly traded corporations. His expertise in marketing, management, and corporate finance, in addition to numerous international contracts, coupled with his demonstrated successes, offer a diverse alternative resource not often found in the executive marketplace. Lovato has served on the Governor’s Business Advisory Council for two administrations, and serves on several regional and national boards of directors. His merchant banking and business accomplishments have been featured in several national publications.

Lovato’s experience as a publisher with over 500 books to his credit, led him to publish his first book, “The Obstacle Course”, which recounts his experiences during the start-up of his first business, an auto rental electronic reservation system. That system ultimately grew to be the 8th largest auto rental operation, as well as a notable public company of the 1980’s. Packed with lessons learned and practical business advice it is a “must read” for people starting a business, currently running their own business, and executives seeking insight and inspiration.

Lovato is currently reprising his “best practices” structure of his auto rental operation into a new national pre-owned automotive brand AutoStar Superstores. His home nestles in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, where he lives with his wife Gale of 34 years and their five sighthounds.

He’s also the creator of one of the fastest-growing book series in the world, Wake Up? Live the Life You Love. Now, with over 30 books in print.

His last 26 books have been best sellers.

Steven E the bestseller guru is dedicated to teaching people to find their purpose in life. He’s worked with many of the leading inspirational authors and speakers including Michael Gerber, John Assaraf, Harvey McKay, Michael Drew, Wayne Dyer and many others.

Services Include:

1. Take your own book to the best seller list: We guarantee we can make it a bestseller: http://www.bestsellerguru.com or call Steven E direct: 562-884-0062

2. Intuitive consulting: be mentored by Steven E. He will show you how to create a multi million dollar empire. Go to: http://stevene.net or contact Steven E direct: 562-884-0062

3. Take pictures or get video of your book, product or service with Hollywood stars before the Emmys or Oscars: email: stevene@wakeuplive.com or call Steven E direct: 562-884-0062

4. If you have your own book, you may win the contest to be a best seller. Go to: wakeupcelebrityauthor.com

Joining us on the line from his office in Chicago to share his insights on raising capital and the systems he has created to help business owners do just that is Timothy Hogan, founder of Commonwealth Capital Advisors. Here are some of the questions guiding our conversation:

1. You spent years in the financial and investment banking world. How did your experience in that space lead to and inform the creation of Financial Architect?

2. What is the biggest challenge facing business startups or growth stage companies in terms of raising capital now?

3. What is the Financial Architect System?-how does it work?

4. What is the ideal user or client for the Financial Architect System?

5. What are some of the newest features contained within the Financial Architect System that you’d like listeners to know about?

6. Tell us about the level of activity you’re seeing with Financial Architect—obviously, this is working well for businesses?

7. Any success stories to share?

With KaCHING (Wiley; July 2010; $24.95), Comm returns to his roots, outlining the fundamentals to building a successful online business. In his accessible style, Comm walks the reader through the various online avenues of starting your business, promoting it, and inevitably, making money from it.

• Seven web content types that work together
• People who can help you generate content that gets hits, mailing lists, and merchandising
• Advertising strategies that connect you with contacts, partner sites, and customers
• YouTube, webinar, and other online video tools
• Branding approaches that speak to your customer base
• Search engine optimization (SEO) tips that get your web site and business more attention

The Web is a powerful “money button” that can connect you with vast networks of customers, solidify your business image, and create continual growth. The key is in knowing how to install that button effectively. In an era of blogging, social networking, message boards, and web sites for every subject under the sun, it’s difficult to figure out which Internet tools are the ones that will make your virtual register go KaCHING! It’s also important to create an overall strategy with these tools that will maximize your time and web usage.

1. Why did you write this book, Putting Your Best Book Forward?
2. Chapter 1, “Leveling the Playing Field”…what do you mean by this?
3. Are the days of getting an agent and a big publisher going away?
4. Chapter 3-” Setting Up Your Publishing Company”—I know you often recommend that authors set up their own publishing company. What are the advantages to doing this?
5. You’ve written that you love to see authors approach their projects as a self or independent publisher. Why is this the method you recommend?
6. What do so many authors seem to underestimate about this process-writing, creating and marketing a book?
7. In the book, you walk the reader through the process of taking a manuscript to a book and beyond. Walk us through what you, The Book Shepherd, does through each stage of production…
8. Let’s talk about distribution. What has been the traditional model for authors and where is it going?
9. Where can we find your book, “Putting Your Best Book Forward” to learn more?

ACH Federal provides banks with a simple Web-based technology platform to securely process ACH transactions through a terminal that provides direct access to the Federal Reserve. The outsourced solution enables banks to mitigate risk, reduce costs and drive better organizational efficiency. The automated platform meets the highest federal security standards, and uses multi-factor authentication and best-of-breed data encryption technology for all transactions. Founded in 2007, the company is privately-held and based in Chattanooga, TN.
ACH Federal provides a simple and secure Web-based solution for mid-tier and community banks to reduce the risk from processing electronic payments, while decreasing costs, increasing efficiency and leveling the playing field to compete against larger financial institutions.

1. You mention that you’re in sales and marketing market research- with the changes in the economy over the last few years, what are some of the primary changes and differences you are seeing in the market?

2. You mention now that there’s a distinction between traditional lead generation vs. what you refer to as “demand creation”. Can you explain that concept further?

3. So how do companies go about getting the information they need, in order to do demand generation?

4. How can companies uncover some of this information?

5. You also say that selling is now a two-step process- can you elaborate?

6. I know Verity also has a focus on win-loss sales analysis- what are the primary reasons you’re seeing for companies not winning sales in the current economy?

7. Where do sales training vendors play into today’s market? Are they changing in response to the increasingly difficult sales environment their customers are facing? What is their advice and has it changed in light of the economy?

8. What other trends are you seeing?

1. As you work with individuals, or speak with groups right now, we’re together in mid 2010-what is the zeitgeist out there-what are people’s fears right now?

2. One of your books of course is entitled, “Fearless” When you talk about moving toward a fearless approach to life-what might that look like?

3. Since so many or our listeners are business owners or entrepreneurs-what are some of the themes you work with that may be helpful to them as they do this courageous thing everyday that we call small business!

4. Another of your books is called, Zen Miracles-tell us about this. What is a Zen Miracle?

5. Coming to peace with loss and change. How do you approach working on this, and what are some of the key themes we can point to?

6. I wanted to spotlight the work you do around the practice of meditation. In someone’s life and in their professional endeavors-how is the practice of meditation transformational?

7. You are doing talks, workshops and trainings-Tell us about the work you’re doing right now at the Enlightened Living Institute, who you’re working with in terms of your clients.

8. How can our listeners can learn more about the work you’re doing?

In the course of her career as a broadcast journalist, Nance won four regional Emmy Awards. As a national Westinghouse Broadcasting executive and as Editorial Director of WBZ-TV and Radio in Boston, she launched national initiatives including the Designated Driver Program. She also developed the award winning For Kids’ Sake and Time to Care community action campaigns, which generated a $20 million dollar profit center for GroupW Television in over 100 cities. In the spirit of “doing well by doing good” these campaigns were the precursors of socially responsible business programs and inspired customer loyalty as well as public-private partnerships on behalf of children and families.

Before entering television, Nance was press secretary to the late U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas during his long-shot campaign for the coveted Senate seat in Massachusetts and remained on his staff once he took office. She honed her listening skills as an award winning news writer/syndicated producer at CBS Newsradio in Boston- juggling fast-moving stories in the 24/7 environment of live newsradio during the turbulent times of the mid-1970’s.

As a leadership educator, Nance provides strategic counsel, workshops, customized problem solving programs, and one-on-one executive mentoring. Her clients have included Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Florida International University, Cone, Inc. (an Omnicom company), OCEANAIR, Serono-Pfizer pharmaceuticals, Baptist Hospital, Sylvester Cancer Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Whole Foods Markets, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and numerous executives who seek her counsel. Hospitals across the country ask Nance to present Grand Rounds and professional development programs, and thousands have attended keynotes and “communications first aid” workshops.

Nance is a Trustee for the American Association for Cancer Research and is a Fellow of Florida International University’s Center for Leadership and a clinical adjunct faculty member for the College of Business Administration. She has served on boards for City Year, the youth service organization which became a model for AmeriCorps, and PE4Life, a national children’s fitness initiative.

Nance’s previous book, Healing Conversations: What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say (Wiley, 2002) has been published in twelve languages. She is a graduate of Tufts University with a B.A. in Political Science and credits her time there with honing her ability to ask questions that don’t immediately have answers and to go beyond boundaries to explore new possibilities. She lives in Massachusettes, surrounded by the inevitable rise and fall of the tides—and prizes that time when the tides turn as a daily reminder of the power of a pause.

ABOUT MURRAY SMITH

Co-author of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Amazon best seller, The Answer, Murray Smith bought the Indian Motorcycle trademark from bankruptcy and built it into the second-largest U.S. motorcycle company in the world, with sales exceeding $75 million in the first year and a business value of $300 million.

He has served as owner, director and officer for 13 companies in the technology, hospitality, retail, franchising, media, consumer products, training, energy, e-commerce, software, consulting, and entertainment industries and has a long record of building businesses, and turning failing corporations around. He has also authored and developed a comprehensive business-growth system, Attract More Clients that has helped numerous businesses. His passion for helping businesses grow has affected more than 50,000 businesses worldwide in growing their sales, revenues, profits and value. Murray loves seeing other business owners succeed beyond their wildest dreams and his track record proves it. Speaker services include live events, workshops, ask the experts sessions, Internet conferences, radio shows and expert interviews.

• Creating a new page? No need to start with a blank canvas. We have custom page formats for any occassion.
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If you can use Word, then you can use Nakea. Create and format text easily. Insert audio, video, flash & more. Use any of our pre-formatted templates to help you along. Enough said.

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We’ve got many more great features. Take a tour to learn more.

Clate joins us on the line now from Infusionsoft Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona-Here are the questions guiding the discussion…

So, you and co-author Scott Martineau team up to write this book together. As you began the process of assembling the ideas What was the core idea. What was your sense of the gap you might fill with this book?

Why are small business owners subject to going crazy?

One the things that struck me about the book is that your really talking about the whole person here-not just the business person. Is part of the “movement” here a trend towards achieving a constructive work-life balance?

I recently connected with Craig Jacobson, an associate of yours and of Infusionsoft. I interviewed a classic brick and mortar business owner-he does furniture rehab and re-upholstery work in San Diego. I was struck how classic, old school business guy would embrace the idea of automating his sales process! A re we seeing more sales automation move offline-is this a trend?

When I saw you out at InfusionCon-your annual event, I asked you about the eco-system of partners you have created with Infusionsoft-this diverse interlocked network of referral and functional partners—-was this an intended or unintended consequence as you grew Infusionsoft?

Back to the book, tell us about the structure of it, what would you like readers to take away most?

Where does sales and marketing automation go next, give us a glimpse around the proverbial development corner….

Originally born Richard Lowell Madden in Anchorage, Alaska, Christopher Lowell was destined for creative greatness. Son of a professional carpenter and cinematographer father and a mother who constantly worked to make a nice home on a limited budget, Christopher was raised in an artistic and fun-loving environment. Trained as a classical pianist, Christopher left home at age 9 to join the Southern California Boys Choir where he played until the age of 17.

Christopher tried his hand at acting and was a self-proclaimed “starving artist” throughout the 1970s. Eventually realizing that his talent was more useful off-stage, Christopher started designing everything from entire sets to individual costumes for numerous stage productions in both New York City and theaters across the country. With his eye for drama and his creative flair, Christopher decided to take his skills to the corporate world, where he successfully developed and created award-winning television and print ad campaigns for a variety of companies.

In 1992, Christopher opened the doors to his first home arts center in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. For the next four years he taught, encouraged and inspired average people to take charge of their lives and design dilemmas with his winning “you can do it” attitude. His ambition to reach more people drove Christopher to produce 10 years of programming for the Discovery Channel which included Interior Motives with Christopher Lowell, Wall to Wall and The Christopher Lowell Show for which he won an Emmy. Today, Christopher is the host of Work That Room with Christopher Lowell on the Fine Living Network, a part of the Scripps Howard family of networks which also includes HGTV.

Christopher heads Christopher Lowell Enterprises, the parent company to Christopher Lowell Productions and Christopher Lowell, Inc., the design, licensing and marketing arm of the consumer product division. His partners include many of America’s most respected retailers and manufacturers including Jo-Ann Stores, Office Depot, Smith+Noble, Simplicity, and PK Lifestyles. Christopher has helped the mass consumer take the guesswork out of home décor by providing concrete solutions.

An expert at smashing barriers-especially those that stifle creativity-Lowell offers ideas and provides inspiration so that consumers will have the courage needed to create the house of their dreams, starting with design and decorating and expanding into cooking, flower arranging, gardening and other subjects. He spreads this message in various ways – through his design shows, through his books (Seven Layers of Organization, Seven Layers of Design, The Hassle Free Host, You Can Do it: Small Spaces, If You Dream It, You Can Do It, and One-of-a-Kind Decorating Projects) and through his array of licensed consumer products: branded furniture, lighting, window coverings, and fully coordinated fabric and trim options.
Christopher Lowell can also be found online at the highly trafficked http:www.christopherlowell.com website or http://www.officedepot.com/christopherlowell. His radio show can be heard here for fans, shoppers and anyone surfing the Web to be entertained, educated and enlightened.

Reflective of his inspiring “You can do it!” mantra, Christopher Lowell says, “Remember that fear is the number one reason why things remain the same in the home. Where there is fear, there is no creativity. By dispelling fear, you unleash your creativity. Your environment should be a reflection of who you are. This has less to do with money and more to do with your spiritual well being. We are how we live. Who knew?”

In 2005, with over 9 years experience working for nationally known companies such as IBM, Carnation International and Capitol Records, Christy decided that it was time to follow a lifetime calling to help small-business owners learn to prosper doing the work they love. Considered an expert in small business, Christy has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Times and the Scottsdale Daily Progress, among others.

Throughout her career, Christy has received numerous honors. She won several regional managers awards during her tenure with IBM, has been honored by the Arizona Small Business Association, received the advanced Toastmasters Silver designation and earned her Certified Professional Co-Active Coaching (CPCC) certificate from the Coach Training Institute and her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) certificate from the International Coach Federation.

In 2005, Christy formed Clarity To Business, a coaching and consulting practice. To date, she has worked with over 300 small-business owners, from artists to real estate agents, helping them to both do what they are passionate about and to make a profit.

Christy is the author of Passion, Plan, Profit: 12 Simple Steps to Convert Your Passion into a Solid Business. This user-friendly book shows people who are passionate about their work how to succeed in the business side of business. She is currently at work on You Hate to Market, and What To Do About It, which will be available Fall 2010.

Darshan G Shanti is an expert in human motivation, rapid transformation and helping people eliminate unwanted, self-destructive behaviors in hours, not years. He is an author of three books workshop facilitator, transformational speaker and he is the founder and President of Freedom Incorporated, Inc.

He has a unique ability to very quickly empower participants to change their own mind about who they are, what they want and what’s possible. That leaves them free to make new decisions, take new actions and create new, powerful and fulfilling lives.

Across North America, he has worked with over 30,000 people from many diverse industries and backgrounds to help them find their hidden potential, purpose, passions, dreams and desires so they may experience true freedom in their lives and big success in their business.

His personal mission is to reach out and help at least 25 million people through his books, seminars, audio/video programs to discover and replace their core, limiting beliefs, blocks and barriers so they have the freedom to live the powerful, fulfilling and magnificent lives they truly deserve.

1. Take us back 27 years. What did the organization, then Co-Op America look like in its early stage?
2. Has the focus or mission evolved or is it principally the same as it was in the beginnings?
3. What is the scale of the organization in terms of staffing, local, and budget?
4. What is number 1, 2 and 3 on your radar right now in terms of your focus?
5. You’re the author of Green America’s Guide to Social Investing, with over a million copies in print and also the popular Guide to Community Investing. For listeners that might not know or are simply not yet thinking in these terms-what IS social or community investing?
6. Tell us about the event cycles and publications-let’s walk through them each if we can… Green Festivals, the Green Business Conference, National Green Pages and Real Green.
7. Green America operates the nation’s largest green business and green consumer networks. What is the Green Business Network and how does it work?
8. Give us your take on what’s happening in terms of the economic structural shift that we are experiencing-not only as a nation but as a planet. What can you say about the past 150 years or so and what it was about for us, and give us your vision for the new guiding themes we need to embrace going forward.
9. Give us the “color“of the climatic changes and trends-what do we not understand about the nature of the climate change and the pace at which it is occurring?
10. We’re sitting together in early June of 2010, top of mind is the BP disaster. How do you frame the impact of this event historically, and beyond that, is this a major tipping point for a potential range of new activities for Green America and for the planet?
11. You will be a featured key-note at the upcoming Slow Money event beginning on June 9th in Vermont. How do you characterize the importance of the Slow Money “movement” given the work you’ve been doing for nearly 30 years?
12. As a key note there—Give us a preview-what will be your main message?
13. Where can our listeners learn more about the work you’re doing at Green America and about how they can participate?

Contact Information: Green America
1612 K St., NW, Suite 600 W DC 20009
202-872-5307
alisa@GreenAmericaToday.org

Since 1983, Gary has overseen Stonyfield’s phenomenal growth, from its infancy as a seven-cow organic farming school to its current $330 million in annual sales. Stonyfield has enjoyed a compounded annual growth rate of over 24% for more than eighteen years, by consistently producing great-tasting products and using innovative marketing techniques that blend the company’s social, environmental, and financial missions. In 2001, Stonyfield Farm entered into a partnership with Groupe Danone, and in 2005, Gary was named managing director of Stonyfield Europe, a joint venture between the two firms with brands in Canada, Ireland, and France.

Previously, he directed the Rural Education Center, the small organic farming school from which Stonyfield was spawned. Before that, Gary had served as executive director of The New Alchemy Institute- a research and education center dedicated to organic farming, aquaculture, and renewable energy. Prior positions include serving as a water-pumping windmill specialist and an environmental education director with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He also authored books on wind-power and organic gardening.

A New Hampshire native, Gary was one of the first graduates of Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and has received eight honorary doctorates and was named a Gordon Grand Fellow at Yale University.

Gary has won numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership, including Global Green USA’s “1999 Green Cross Millennium Award for Corporate Environmental Leadership.“He was named “Business Leader of the Year” by Business NH Magazine and “New Hampshire’s 1998 Small Business Person of the Year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration. More recently, 2009 was a year of big wins as Gary was named one of “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs” by Business Week magazine, Stonyfield was chosen “Business of the Year -Manufacturing “by Business NH magazine and Stonyfield won an EPA Clean Air Excellence award. Gary also is featured in 2009’s most successful documentary,“Food, Inc.”

Gary serves on several corporate and non-profit boards including Applegate Farms, the Dannon Company, Honest Tea, Peak Organic Brewing Company, The Full Yield, Climate Counts, Stonyfield Europe, Ltd, Glenisk, Ltd and the Danone Communities Fund. He is the chairman and co-founder of O’Naturals, a natural fast food restaurant company. He served on the advisory panel for Newsweek magazine’s Global Environmental Leadership Conference and as an Advisor to Renewal Partners LLC, Solera Capital, the Heinz Center Leadership Summit and the Corporate Ecoforum.

He is the head coach of a Girls U17 travel soccer team and the Assistant Coach of the Concord (NH) High School girls varsity tennis team, both of which keep him humble and certain that he still has much to learn.

Jeffrey’s latest book has sort of wake up and remember why you’re here-grounding and small-business-fundamentals sense to it. I could almost recommend a business owner scan these chapter heading while drinking their morning coffee every morning!

Jeff is the founder and President of Fox & Company, Inc., a marketing consulting firm that specializes in marketing strategy development, innovation enhancement,
selling skills training, branding, and various applications of a proprietary value-selling methodology called dollarization.

1. To set the groundwork for this segment—-When you talk about what it means to be a “local” business-there’s a 2 part distinction to be made here-correct? (ownership and location)

2. To see what a “culture of sustainability” might really look like let’s travel together and pay a visit to Bellingham, Washington-2 hours north of Seattle. What does Bellingham have RIGHT about how to attract and retain global businesses.

3. Let’s talk about the idea of LOCALIZATION & SUSTAINABILITY. Themes include:

• Non locally owned companies-more difficult to regulate (environment).
• Local accountability
• Lower “cost” due to ease of shipping locally

4. The Idea of Prosperity with Localization

• First, the immobility of local businesses means that economic development efforts focused on them are more likely to produce enduring results.
• The $13/$45 idea in terms of dollarization within a community.
• Creative Economies-diversity, fun, socialiation and innovation

5. I wanted to spend some time with you on the subject of capital inflows into local, micro enterprises. What are some of the challenges here and given the local dollar spent ratios—-is their a vision for how we might infuse say stimulus money or otherwise into these businesses?

6. Let’s talk about efficiencies-perhaps a jump off point would be the subject of foods-logistics. What is some of the thinking around finding economies of scale that say a Sysco Foodservice System has verses the matter of shipping smaller quanities within a local market system? How do we get there?

7. Finally, there is the idea of competition. How can local businesses compete with the non-locally owned big boxes? (banding together?) And…can they find a way to coexist with the big guys?

Articles from Michael Shuman:

Michael_Shuman_Article.pdf
MichaeShuman_SOW10.pdf

In a delightful step-by-step fashion Gelb guides readers to express their experience of wine in poetic terms. He shows how to do this in a way that makes it easy and fun to share this exploration with family and friends or more formally as an organizational team-building exercise.

Gelb shows how the love of wine inspired the Ancient Greeks, Renaissance Masters and America’s Founding Fathers as he guides you to become part of this enlightened wave of culture. And he illuminates the greatest wine-inspired art, architecture and music.

The book also provides a clear introduction to all the basics of “left hemisphere” practical wine knowledge, including:

• A confidence-building, user-friendly guide to wine etiquette.
• Savvy advice on how to purchase fine wines at great prices
• The WINO Principles: Essential things to remember when matching food and wine
• The 7 Wine and Food Pairings You Must Experience Before You Die.

Gelb’s hilarious “Wine Geek Jargon Guide” and his thoughtful review of the most useful resources for wine lovers help to make this a powerful consumer guide as well as an unequivocally unique creative approach to wine enjoyment.

This book offers an ideal introduction for novices, and aficionados will discover a new twist to appreciation and enjoyment. All readers will find a wonderful way to bring people together in an inspiring fashion.

Tasch is Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of Investors’ Circle, a network of angel investors, family offices, social purpose funds and foundations that since 1992 has invested $133 million in 200 early stage sustainability-promoting ventures and venture funds. During much of the 1990s, he was Treasurer of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, where, as part of an innovative mission-related venture capital program, a substantial investment was made in Stonyfield Farm, now the world’s largest maker of organic yogurt.

He has worked as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, board member and consultant with such organizations as Prince Ventures (a healthcare venture fund), Healthdata International, CERES (the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies), National Mentor, Greenway, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Northwest Area Foundation, CIMMYT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), Chelsea Green Publishing and The Farmers Diner.

Woody’s involvement in food dates back to 1979, when he developed a case study program at The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (home of Norman Borlaug’s dwarf wheat and the Green Revolution); he co-authored Food Production and Public Policy in Developing Countries (Praeger Special Studies, 1983).

He has been founding Chairman of several NGOs: the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (supporting over 100 small-scale venture funds that target economically disadvantaged regions), Sustainable Nantucket (environmentally responsible growth management on Nantucket Island) and the Nantucket Education Trust (affordable housing for teachers). Articles, interviews or profiles have appeared in Ode, Christian Science Monitor, Hemisphere, Green Money Journal, Amherst Alumni Magazine, Resurgence, Andover Review, Utne Reader, More Than Money, Il Sole-24 Ore (Italian financial press) and Steering Business Towards Sustainability (United Nations University Press). He is a frequent speaker on regional and national public radio programs and at various socially responsible business and sustainable agriculture venues, including Social Venture Network, SRI in the Rockies, Green Festival, Bioneers, BALLE, Slow Food and NYU’s Reynolds Program on Social Entrepreneurship. He is the author of the recently published Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered.

Woody graduated in 1973 Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College, where he won the Collin Armstrong Poetry Prize.

1. Did you always want to get into media and publishing?
2. What inspired you to move into consolidating your expertise into the Skinny On Series?
3. (Inspired by the widely celebrated Japanese literary form, Manga)-Tell us about the DESIGN character of the Skinny Series-how are these books different from others?
4. How do you choose the subjects to cover with the Skinny On series books?
5. What do you think “worked” in your book, Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur ? Why did it do so well.
6. Some examples from the series include….

Clay’s book answers each of these key questions:

• Does your sales force need to change? If so, how?
• Are you a change leader? If not, how do you become one?
• Which one of the six change personalities are you?
• Have you embraced the five disciplines of the Change Leadership Framework?
• Are you aware of the four forces driving your clients to act (needs, behaviors, strategies, environment)?
• What causes people to change? How do they decide to change or go about making change?

Selling Change is written for the busy salesperson on the go, presenting 101 secrets that can be conquered one secret per day. Each two-page secret includes a ‘What I Need to Know’ section and a ‘What I Need to Do’area. Steps are shown on how to implement the secret, including an ‘Action Summary’ and an illustrative cartoon that features a bulldog character that was first included in Clay’s earlier book, Forceful Selling.

In June 2002, Marc and his company was forced to file for bankruptcy. After going back into the work force in 2002, it wasn’t long before Marc started a new company called Rapid Success in 2003. The name was later changed to Success Connection Team Corporation in 2005. Marc has also had a successful career in Network Marketing, rising to leadershipranks in multiple companies. In 2004 Marc started using books as part of his marketing strategy, and quickly gained the title of ‘The Tax Expert’ as a result of using Ron Mueller’s book It’s How Much You Keep That Counts Not How Much You Make (now called Home Business Tax Savings Made Easy). Marc hosted his own radio show on (WPAT 930 AM ) and has also appeared as a guest on many radio programs including Night Talk with Dr. Ron Daniels (WBAI 99.5 FM), Connections Radio with Gem Morrison (WVIP 93.5 FM), The Trevor Ford Morning Show with host Trevor Ford (WVIP93.5 FM), The Reality Show with Joyce Sibley (WPAT 930 AM), The Communicators with Leroy Baylor (WHCR 90.3 FM) and What’s In Your Hand with Ricky Young (former boxing champion) just to name a few. Marc has also served as the Marketing Director for the “By-Ways and Hedges Real Life Times Immigration Newspaper” along side Rev. Terry Lee in Brooklyn, NY.For more than 16 years Marc has been in sales/marketing and has a track record of motivating others to realize their true potential. Mr. Grant has received many community awards including the 110th Congress United States of America Congressional Record by Congressman Ed Towns. Marc is not only the CEO of the Success Connection Team, Corporation but a highly sought after Public Speaker, Self-Publishing, Business Development, and

Marketing Consultant.Marc is the proud father of 7 year old Marc Grant, Jr. and currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Rhonda. Marc enjoys reading, listening to inspirational audio programs, mentoring others, bike riding, traveling, watching movies, going to church, spending time with family, raising money and awareness for Success Foundation, one of his favorite charities.

Infusionsoft combines CRM + email marketing + ecommerce into a powerful, all-in-one system. Get it now.

Infusionsoft combines CRM + email marketing + ecommerce into a powerful, all-in-one system. Get it now.

Since he sold his company, Dick now consults with CEOs who are grooming their company to be sold or building it through acquisitions.

In his new book, Expensive Mistakes When Buying & Selling Companies – And How to Avoid Them in Your Deals, Dick shares his insights based on his M&A experiences and includes many interviews with leading investment bankers, and M&A attorneys and CPAs.

Here are some of the questions guiding the discussion:

1. How has the economy affected the M&A market? What’s happening in the market today?

2. Let’s focus on business owners who may be thinking about putting their companies on the market. When should they begin planning their exit strategy?

3. What can they be doing today to maximize their proceeds in an M&A transaction?

4. How does a company go about finding a buyer and getting a fair price?

5. What can make a deal fall apart and how can those things be avoided?

Dick Rennick is recognized as one of the leading experts in the franchise community, and has built large scale multi-unit operations such as American Leak Detection. He also served as chairman of the International Franchise Association Educational Foundation and in 2005 became chairman of the IFA. Today, with the creation of Team Rennick, Dick is helping to provide insights, experience and possibly some shortcuts to emerging franchise company entrepreneurs.

Mentoring – My Shortcut To “Franchise My Business”

“People keep asking me to Franchise My Business – so I decided that it’s time to share what I’ve learned along the way, you know, how to franchise” said Dick Rennick to his friends one day. He had built American Leak Detection to over 360 franchise locations and had determined his next adventure: “I want to coach the young Franchise Owner and Small Business Owner to success; be their Franchise Mentor, Consultant, Coach and Guide.”

When Dick started in business, there were limited answers to the questions he had while building his monumental leak detection business. During this early growth period there was no one readily available to whom he could turn and ask for help solving the mounting franchising costs and issues. He was forced to solve them with his own indomitable will, personal drive, and intensive effort. Because of this, he has gathered enormous amounts of franchise business information that you can tap into, to build your Franchise Business and succeed.

His passion is to help people starting a franchise business to shortcut their learning curve and succeed by using his life-long business and coaching experience, insights, intuition, and franchise expertise.

Lifelong lessons were taught to him during his company’s growth period by some of the world’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders. As Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Your Coach, unlike many of the franchise expert consultants in this business, Dick Rennick actually built a business to over 360 franchise locations in 44 states and 13 foreign countries. Coach Rennick can answer your questions based upon his own hard work and hands-on effort. Some questions you may want to ask him are:

Dick Rennick is known by many names – Franchise Expert – Franchise Coach – Franchise Consultant – Franchise Mentor. But he loves to be called “Coach”. He has answers to the above questions – and many more – that relate to all aspects of franchise development and growth.

• Millions of small business owners have been notified of double-digit, and in some cases even triple-digit, increases to their healthcare premiums recently. It’s becoming more and more difficult for the nation’s 28 million small business owners to afford health insurance.
  Where do we go from here?

• More than 60% of businesses with fewer than 10 employees no longer offer insurance, and 28% of the 22 million self-employed Americans can’t afford insurance at all. According to a survey by Hewitt Associates, 19% of employers are planning to stop offering health benefits in the next two to five years. They simply can’t afford it.
  So, they stop offering the benefits-what choice do they have?

• Last month’s election in Massachusetts doesn’t change the fact that healthcare is an enormous problem for small business owners, and they are still desperate for reform. An economic study we commissioned shows that without reform, small businesses will pay $2.4 trillion in healthcare costs over the next decade, and lose $834 billion in wages over that period due to those costs.

• As premiums get higher and higher, more and more small businesses will be priced out of insurance. Amid all the talk about what small business owners can and can’t afford in regard to reform, what they truly cannot bear is a continuation of the status quo.

• Small businesses are looking to Congress to pass legislation this year, so they can keep their doors open.
  What is the Small Business Majority doing right now about this legislation, and how can our listeners help out or learn more about what they can do in their own business?

About Gayl Murphy’s “Interview Tactics!” Working with the press and the media and getting the word out about who you are and what you do on TV, radio, print and online is about as good as it gets!

One hot story can bring you an avalanche of new clients and even more coverage. And, having an arsenal of engaging, media-savvy and sticky soundbites to get you there is the best news of all!

In today’s highly competitive, time-crunching and media-morphing world, you’ve gotta tell it to sell it! And, having stockpile of “Interview Tactics!” to get you there is about knowing the lay of Media Land-and being a MEDIA STAR in ANY situation that requires stepping up, answering questions, telling your story, peaking your listener’s interest and wrapping it up in 20 seconds or less…because sometimes that’s all you’re going to get.

Go one-on-one with the press, or any gatekeeper/decision-maker and tell the world about who you are, what you do and what’s next using “Interview Tactics!” Learn REAL insider strategies for navigating the media and pitching any business, any product, any service, anytime, anywhere! Because when the going gets tough, the tough use the media!