Steve Wiideman, founder of Wiideman Consulting Group joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share his entrepreneurial journey discuss the latest trends in digital marketing, include voice search, SEO, SEM and inbound marketing. Prior to launching his own firm, Wiideman's career highlight was working at Disney, where his manager challenged him to rank #1 in Google for "SEO expert." Tune in to discover: Wiideman's tips for leaving the corporate world behind and taking the...

Manik Suri, founder of climatetech company Therma, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss the ways companies of all sizes can adopt tools and processes that are better for our planet—and help create efficiencies that lead to more sustainable enterprises. Therma is a smart cold-chain technology startup that builds safety and sustainability tools such as sensors to eliminate food waste, energy inefficiency, and refrigerant emissions to protect consumers. The company's mission...

Josh Christopherson, founder of iCUE Technology and Achieve Today, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how integrating people with cloud-based technology invites and enables employees to learn in a new way. Tune in to find out: How Christopherson's efforts to improve outreach to Achieve Today clients resulted in a technology solution that he was able to spin off into a new company. Tips for launching a new company from within an existing business. The advantages of...

Stephan Aarstol, founder of Tower Paddle Boards and author of "The Five-hour Workday," joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss his company's experience implementing a shortened workday. Tune in to find out why Aarstol decided to promote a 5-hour workday; the lessons he learned from it, including the ways in which it failed and succeeded; and why he reintroduced a shortened workday in 2020 with a "twist." Aarstol also shares his Shark Tank experience, how his company recovered...

Claudia Harvey is an avid gardener. But she was also a businesswoman who liked having her nails and hands in good shape at the office. After mentioning her frustration to a friend at a backyard Labor Day BBQ in 2007, she realized there was a marketplace need for gloves and other products that would protect women as they gardened. With that conversation, the seed for Dig It Apparel, a line of outdoor living products, was planted. After a year of research in which Harvey discovered that both...

Excy co-founder and CEO Michele Mehl joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share the story behind her company's 2014 launch and the lessons she's learned as she's steered it into a national brand. The Seattle-based startup develops, manufactures, and sells portable, total-body exercise bikes. Mehl's mission is to eliminate barriers to people getting enough exercise—health conditions, injuries, and lack of time and space—so people can conveniently connect exercise to the...

On this episode of Talking Business Now, Southern Caramel founder Sarah Smith joins host Kelly Scanlon to share the entrepreneurial journey that has taken her from the Space Coast of Florida to caramel industry entrepreneur. Employed as a project manager and scheduler in the aerospace industry, Smith enjoyed making caramels as gifts for her family and friends. After the birth of her daughter, she decided to launch a business making and wholesaling the caramels. Sales rocketed, and soon she...

As businesses and individuals struggle with an uncertain future from the coronavirus pandemic, aviation entrepreneur Barry Alexander, founder of Hartford, Connecticut-based Aquiline Drones, has a clear vision for success. Through his latest innovative endeavor, Alexander has created a full-service drone manufacturing and cloud technology company that's poised to change the global landscape as it takes drone technology to the next level. He's also helping others learn a skill and create...

Stacia Guzzo, founder of SmartyPits, a manufacturer of aluminum-free deodorant, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss her entrepreneurial journey, including the practical growth strategies that allowed the company to evolve from a kitchen sink and sales at farmers markets endeavor to having a retail presence in more than a 1,000 stores nationally. Inspired to create an aluminum-free deodorant after her mother's breast cancer diagnosis, Guzzo began making the formula in her...

Retail pioneer Bob Fisch learned a lot about younger generations while at the helm of fashion giants like Casual Corner and rue21. Now, after exiting the industry, he's helping to transform workplaces using the Millennial Baby Boomer concept he developed and explains in his book Fisch Tales: The Making of a Millennial Baby Boomer, featured by ForbesBooks. Fisch made a name for himself in value-priced, fast-fashion retailing, rising to president at Casual Corner and later becoming CEO of...

Sam Schutte, a software developer, was out of work and studying for his MBA; he and his wife were expecting a baby; and they had their house up for sale. Oh, and it was also 2008. What's the logical thing to add to that mix? Launching a new company. But Schutte saw an opportunity. He had started to question the standard approach to software development that resulted in scope creep, projects being over budget, missed deadlines and "solutions" to business problems that didn't solve anything. He...

Elyse Dickerson, co-founder and CEO of biotech company Eosera, which develops ear care products, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss entrepreneurship, lessons learned and women in bioscience. Tune in as Dickerson shares her experiences on: Listening to the market before launching a product. Being "the only woman in the room" and how being a CEO now gives her a platform for opening doors for other aspiring women. The importance of developing a strong relationship with...

Rosabeth Moss Kanter joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to talk about her latest book "Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time" and how experienced leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs can apply their knowledge to some of the world's most pressing social, economic and environmental problems. Professor Kanter is one of the foremost names in leadership and business. The former chief editor of Harvard Business Review, Kanter...

Gino Wickman joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to talk about his latest book "Entrepreneurial Leap: Do You Have What It Takes to Become an Entrepreneurs?" and how entrepreneurs can realize their purpose and live the life they were born to live. At the age of 25, Wickman took over the family business. Seven years later, after turning the company around, he successfully sold it. An award-winning author and speaker, Wickman has delivered more than 1,800 full-day sessions for more...

Laura Laiben, founder and CEO of The Culinary Center of Kansas City, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon, to discuss doing business during the coronavirus pandemic. Laura, like all of us, is trying to cope with the extraordinary challenges that each new day brings. But the particular reason I asked Laura to join me is that although the coronavirus is a challenge on a scale none of us has dealt with before, she has experienced long-term business interruption due to a fire as well as...

Dave Farrow, the two-time Guinness World Record Holder for Greatest Memory, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how to achieve better sales and marketing results by using memory techniques. Tune in to learn: How Dave developed the "Farrow Memory Method" to deal with his own dyslexia, how he used it to set two Guinness World Records for Greatest Memory, and how he teaches his clients at Farrow Communications to use it in business to improve sales and marketing...

Serial entrepreneur Carl Gould, the founder of 7 Stage Advisors and the 7 Stage Growth Academy, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share five key business lessons he's learned on his entrepreneurial journey. By the age of 40, Gould had built three multimillion dollar companies. He started his first—a landscaping business—while he was still in college and working at UPS. His next business was a construction company. Along the way, he's learned a lot about himself, about...

Inspired by her mother Lillian and drawing on her experiences as a company founder and journalist, Jan Sokoloff Harness, has written a new book "Look Up: Your Unexpected Guide to Good." Her central message is that if we'd only take the time to "look up," we'll find good that's right in front of us. Harness embraces the broad meaning of "look up." Tune in to this episode of Talking Business Now to be reminded of often overlooked ways to "look up" in business—and life, in general—to discover...

Bill George has seen a lot of change during his many decades in the ground transportation industry—he's owned cab companies since 1984. But his journey started even earlier than that, when he grew up working in his dad's Chrysler dealership. Now, George is the one driving the change. The CEO of Kansas City Transportation Group and owner of WHC Worldwide, George joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how he's capitalized on shifting consumer expectations and introduced a...

What do you do when you've spent your entire career in one industry, and then in an instant, it's over? Such was the case for Scott Ringlein. In 2008, he was a chief engineer for a Fortune 500 auto supplier and was responsible for global product development and launches. In addition to the U.S., he had staff in Europe, Asia and South America. But one Monday morning in June when he arrived at work, Ringlein and thousand of others were told it would be their last day. The Million Mile Flyer was...

Do you ever wonder whether your brand's message is breaking through the noise that inundates consumers every day? And, just as important, do they trust it once they finally hear it? Ron Tite, the founder of content marketing agency Church+State, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to offer a simple philosophy for accomplishing just that. Tune in to understand the basics of the gimmick-free and jargon-free approach Tite presents in his book "Think. Do. Say: How to Seize Attention and...

In this humorous but candid interview, entrepreneur and author Lee Caraher talks about how she epically failed but ultimately succeeded with her 15-year-old PR and digital marketing firm Double Forte because she didn't know how to work with millennials. She hired six, but lost them all within three months, which created a major disruption for her business. Determined to buck the negative reporting about that age cohort, Caraher did her own research on multiple generations in the workplace,...

Mike Moyer, serial entrepreneur and author of Slicing Pie Handbook: Perfectly Fair Equity Splits for Bootstrapped Startups, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss fair equity models for startups and early-stage companies. Tune in to find out: The basics of the Slicing Pie model. Whether the person who has the most risk in the startup always has the controlling interest. The pitfalls of equity being used as compensation. What pre-revenue equity allocation is. Why...

During this holiday season, I hope you enjoy a replay of my popular Elf on the Shelf episode. I recorded this several years ago on the Smart Companies Thinking Bigger Network. Elf on the Shelf co-founder Chanda Bell gives us the behind-the-scenes story on how she, along with her twin sister Christa Pitts and her mother Carol Aebersold, transformed a cherished family tradition into a best-selling and enduring holiday brand. Listen in as Bell shares: The inspiration behind the story—and how...