Building Better Businesses

Latest Episodes:

S1 Episode 038: Valuing Relationships Over Transactions to Solve Your Business Problems. Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

Amy Langer is an independent board member, successful entrepreneur and industry thought leader. She is currently Co-Founder and Owner of Salo, LLC, an $85M professional services company providing services throughout the U.S. out of offices in Minneapolis, MN, and Chicago, IL. At Salo, Ms. Langer has driven company growth and brand affinity through a keen analysis of market gaps, architecting and leading innovative strategies, and establishing sustainable and scalable infrastructure. Her unwavering commitment to creating an exceptional corporate culture and service environment has led Salo to be widely recognized for setting industry standards relative to innovative culture, superior client service, and workforce flexibility.

Prior to co-founding Salo, she was National Business Development Director at Robert Half International, a $1.5B publicly traded professional services company. In this role, she led transformative change in the North American territory, comprised of 25 offices, and drove a national product line that generated $10M in recurring annual revenue. Earlier in her career, Ms. Langer was employed as a CPA with KPMG, LLP a “big four” accounting firm, where she focused on global insurance and financial services client advisory work.

Committed to professional and community volunteerism, Ms. Langer has a history of service to not-for-profit boards and professional organizations. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Health Partners, Washburn Center for Children Emeritus, and Board Member of Greater MSP. She holds a BS in Accounting from the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University.

In this episode, we discuss:

Amy’s upbringing on a farm and how it taught her the value of hard work

Understanding what you love to do and what you excel at, and pursuing it

The transition from employee to business owner

Valuing relationships over the transaction

Resiliency as a necessary trait in business to overcome things not going as planned

Pursuing what you want to pursue and fulfilling it as the definition of winning

How your failures can provide the lessons you need to succeed

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Amy was so generous to share her better business practices regarding hiring efforts. Amy’s story of overcoming failures and working to her strengths can teach us all how to have a better business.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Amy

Guest Contact Info: 612-269-2401

Email: amylanger@salollc.com

Website https://salollc.com/

LinkedIn Page https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylanger/

Twitter @AmyLanger

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 37: A Better and Smarter Way to Run a Company Through Transformation Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

Trevor G. Blake has founded, managed, and sold three companies since 2003 for a combined value of over $300 million using a unique business structure based on a model of alliances. He is currently the founder and CEO of three more companies in varied industries which he runs simultaneously. His unique business approach is based on higher profitability, non-employee model, which also frees him to enjoy his other interests as a writer, coach, and animal welfare activist. Success with a balanced life is Trevor’s mantra and described in his free course The Practical Magic of the 5-hour workday.

Trevor is also a New York Times best-selling author of Three Simple Steps, A Map to Success in Business and Life (2012) and Secrets to a Successful Startup, A Recession-Proof Guide to Starting, Surviving, and Thriving in Your Own Venture. (2020) He has also created two unique experiential courses in which he coaches in real-time for personal growth and business success.

Trevor has been featured in: Business Insider, CNN, Forbes, PBS (Between the Lines), KOMO News, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, The Guardian, Inc. and is a regular radio and TV guest on both business and metaphysics shows.

In this episode, we discuss:

Trevor Blake’s phenomenal experience with his mother and how he is using it to deal with problems in his businesses

Key aspects of cash flow management that business owners should pay attention to

How to have a one-man business

Basic guidelines to develop trust in your people and determining the perfect employee for your business

Trevor’s other businesses and how they vary from each other

The right time to know when you need to exit or sell your business

How Trevor’s wife has helped him in making business decisions

Figuring out when to start to reinvent and achieve financial independence

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Trevor shared not only tools and techniques but also introduced an unusual business model for running and building better businesses.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Trevor

Biography https://www.trevorgblake.com/about/

Website www.trevorgblake.com

LinkedIn Page https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorgblake/

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @ SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 36: Know Your Audience to Get Referrals with Chris Pistorius Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Chris Pistorius is the Founder of KickStart Dental Marketing which has consistently been listed as one of the top dental marketing companies in the country by UpCity. Having over 15 years of experience in dental marketing, he has worked with countless dentists across multiple facets of marketing, consulting, and coaching. He shares his expertise by giving marketing seminars across the country and hosting a weekly dental marketing podcast. Chris’ goal is to improve the techniques individuals use throughout the dental industry from dentists and orthodontists to consultants.

Before starting his dental marketing agency in 2009, Chris worked for online marketing giants AOL & MapQuest. He holds several online marketing certifications and is trained by Google on how dentists & other businesses can get the most out of their marketing efforts. He’s also the author of "The Ultimate Guide to Internet Marketing for Dentists.” Chris resides in the Denver, CO area with his wife Michele and their two children Kaitlyn & Brody.

In this episode, we discuss:

● The family influences that Chris developed to become a dental marketing expert

● How Chris found his niche in dental marketing from a general marketing background

● How a background in sales helped Chris grow his business responsibly

● What makes dental marketing different than marketing for other industries

● The keys to landing new clients such as a good reputation, leveraging your good press, and making yourself visible

● How quality work and generating results will separate you from your competitors in the marketing world

● The advantages of staff working remotely to harness talent from anywhere and beat restrictions due to COVID

● The importance of knowing your numbers and having your business in order when looking to sell

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Chris gave a bunch of interesting ways to build better businesses in the form of word-of-mouth referrals, clients’ satisfaction, and knowledge.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Chris Pistorius

Website https://kickstartdental.com

LinkedIn Pagehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/pistorius/

Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/kickstartdentalmarketing

Twitter Handle https://twitter.com/KickStartDental

Link to the book or eBook https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Internet-Marketing-Dentists/dp/150272040X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1614111901&refinements=p_27%3AChris+Pistorius&s=books&sr=1-1

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @ SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 35: Investing in Real Estate to Build Capital with Paul Moore Aug 10, 2021

Show notes

Paul Moore is a returning guest of the Building Better Businesses Podcast. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can go to Episode 23 and hear his insights on how to grow and maximize investment through commercial real estate.

Paul Moore is the Founder and the Managing Partner of Wellings Capital. He offers a fresh perspective on creative real estate investing and philanthropy in 2020. After five years of work at Ford, Paul started a staffing company with a partner. Five years later, Paul and his partner sold it to a publicly traded firm for $2.9 million.

Along the way, Paul was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years straight (1996 & 1997). Paul later entered the real estate sector where he flipped over 50 homes and 25 high-end waterfront lots, appeared on HGTV’s House Hunters, rehabbed and managed rental properties, built a number of new homes, developed a subdivision, and started two successful online real estate marketing firms.

Paul is also the author of, The Perfect Investment, and the co-host of a podcast called, How to Lose Money.

In this episode, we discuss:

● The difference between investing versus speculating in business.

● The hidden secret of commercial real estate in the form of Value Proposition and the formula and mathematics behind it.

● The reason why Forbes 400 companies invest in commercial real estate with the equity being doubled before doing anything additional.

● The power of doing the work to always be following up and constantly checking in on your investments.

● Why mobile home parks and self-storage businesses were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Paul gave new and interesting ideas on building better businesses in the form of investing in commercial real estate, especially in regards to mobile home parks and self-storage.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Paul Moore/Wellings Capital

Website: https://www.wellingscapital.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellingscapital

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wellings-capital-llc/

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 34: The Right Referrals with Stacey Brown Randall Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

Stacey Brown Randall is the multiple award-winning author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, host of the Roadmap to Grow Your Business podcast and national speaker.

Stacey has had the privilege of helping well-known corporations and franchises, but her focus is on small business owners, solopreneurs and sales professionals. Her programs are uniquely tailored to help you take control of your referrals, your client experience and crush your goals.

Stacey has been featured in national publications like Entrepreneur magazine, Investor Business Daily, Forbes, CEO World, Fox News and more.

In this episode, we discuss:

· The importance of having a subject matter expert and having a team that helps you in your business.

· The essentials skills of speaking and defending an argument

· How failed businesses should be a motivation to try and be open with different things

· Building a relationship with your referral sources and prospects

· The first step into figuring out and generating referrals without asking.

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Stacey shared some valuable insights on how to effectively generate referrals without asking, without manipulation, or feeling inauthentic.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Stacey Brown Randall

Website: http://www.staceybrownrandall.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceybrandall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StaceyBrownRandall

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staceybrownrandall

Twitter: @staceybrandall

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 33: Discovering Your True Purpose with Rob Oliver Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

Rob Oliver is an award-winning speaker, school presenter, and best-selling author. He is also the host of a podcast called, Learning from Smart People.

At 21 years old, Rob Oliver sustained a spinal cord injury while body surfing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The injury left him paralyzed from the chest down with limited use of his arms and hands. These limitations forced Rob to take a long hard look at life, relationships and success. The insights that he gained during that experience and through the ensuing years of living with quadriplegia are invaluable, practical, powerful and applicable to all humanity.

In this episode, we discuss:

· The learning opportunity, resilience, and growth that is brought by the difficult adverse experiences like COVID-19.

· Why his passion deals with the employment for people with disabilities and medical professionals

· The importance of psychology in building a better business.

· Becoming who you are, to who you are with a purpose to make the biggest impact in the world around you.

· How we are like a Lodgepole Pine, which needs to go through a forest fire before the seeds germinate and grow.

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Rob shared a lot of valuable insights and information to help you achieve who you want to be. Get to know how to build better businesses by knowing your purpose and getting to have the biggest impact that you can have.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Rob Oliver / Learning From Smart People

Website: http://yourmotivationalspeaker.com and http://www.learningfromsmartpeople.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LFSPPodcast

Instagram: http://instagram.com/LFSPPodcast

Facebook: http://facebook.com/LFSPPodcast

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lfsppodcast/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbWV_LuUad7ZWuE9j5D9v-w

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @ SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 32: How Doing Less Can Help You and Your Business with Ari Meisel Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

Ari Meisel is the founder of "Less Doing", where they do two things: defy industry norms that glorify the hustle and free founders from entrepreneurial bondage. He believes the greatest success, freedom, and fulfillment depend on taking the leap and doing LESS.

While working hard around the clock, Ari received a diagnosis of Crohn's disease, which is incurable. Shortly after, he gets into a major car crash and comes away unhurt. He decided he needed to find a better way to live.

Crohn’s left him with only enough energy to work one single hour a day. So, he created new systems to get as much done in that one hour as possible. He's taken back control of his time. By optimizing, automating, and outsourcing, he has elevated himself out of the day-to-day and solved the overwhelm.

Today, he spends fewer than 20 minutes on his business every day.

In this episode, we discuss:

· How to make the business stand on its own by making entrepreneurs and people in your organization “replaceable.”

· The two concepts of freedom that entrepreneurs need to know about and work on.

· How to work for just an hour a day with the productivity system that Ari created.

· The framework of “Optimize, Automate, and Outsource” to achieve more success in the business.

· The idea of asynchronous communication and how it can be used efficiently and effectively in business interactions.

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Ari is into helping entrepreneurs and people in the business organization be replaceable ‘up’ and not ‘out.’ This results to more freedom and a lot of things that you can do while you also build a better business.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Ari Meisel / Less Doing

Website: https://lessdoing.com/ and http://voxwithari.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC53dmsgvA6uraPK_cwGcfLQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/productivity-coach-entrepreneur/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arimeisel/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lessdoing/

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @ SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 31: Targeting Your Consumer Market on LinkedIn with AJ Wilcox Jul 13, 2021

Show notes

AJ Wilcox is a LinkedIn Ads pro who founded B2Linked.com, a LinkedIn Ads-specific ad agency, in 2014. As official LinkedIn partners, they manage among the world’s most sophisticated advertising accounts worldwide. He also hosts a show LinkedIn Ads Show that dives into some aspects of LinkedIn.

AJ is a ginger and a triathlete. He and his wife live in Utah, with their 4 kids, and his company car is a wicked-fast go-kart.

In this episode, we discuss:

· How AJ started his business despite of learning to avoid risk in a fiscally conservative family

· Why learning to focus on both technology and marketing can help a company learn to stay on the cutting edge of a changing media landscape.

· How Sales Navigator differs from LinkedIn ads marketing, and what we need to know to be successful in this platform to grow businesses

· Why targeting your market on LinkedIn can get you in front of the right people more efficiently than other types of marketing

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. AJ’s specialty is one of those that business owners would be interested knowing. His team has cracked the code to get the quality leads at the least amount that they need to pay. His insights will surely be valuable if you are looking to expand and grow better businesses.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with AJ Wilcox / B2Linked

Website: https://b2linked.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilcoxaj/

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @ SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 30: Connecting Opposing Industries with Bruce Bourgeau Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Bruce Bourgeau is the founder of B2 Marketing Solutions. He was born and raised in Canada, and presently lives in Northern, Ontario. He started his career with the Provincial Government immediately after graduating college from Trent University with a BSc in Environmental Science, and he started as a “Fish Technician” for the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Shortly after that, Bruce started his career with the Ministry of Environment as a Wastewater Technician. He then transferred to his present location and earned his Water Treatment license, where he continued his career with the Provincial Government as a Water and Wastewater Operator. Then, he left the Provincial Government and started his next career in the private sector as an environmental technician for a local firm.

In 2020, he left Detour Gold and became an entrepreneur, where he started his current career as an Affiliate Marketer. That is how he created his own marketing consulting agency, under Umbrella Local as “B2 Marketing Solutions”.

In this episode, we discuss:

· How Bruce built B2 Marketing Solutions, and how he transitioned from being an Engineer and Operator to the Marketing industry.

· His previous corporate experience, which is in the Gold Mining industry – what he did, what he specializes on, and why he left.

· How he made the connection between his two industries and bringing his operations knowledge into marketing other businesses.

· Bruce’s insights on Zoom meetings even when COVID is gone, and how he is looking forward to the plans of expanding in the future.

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Bruce reminds us to always be optimistic, to persevere until we achieve success, and that failure actually helps us grow.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Bruce Bourgeau

Website: https://www.b2marketingsolutions.ca/

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/

Twitter: @ SteveEschbach

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S1 Episode 29: A Purposeful Business and Life with Laura Treonze Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

Laura Treonze is the owner and the Chief Life Strategist at LMT Consulting. She is an executive coach who specializes in behavioral understanding to enhance company culture, maximize executive talent and boost employee engagement. She combines psychology with experiential coaching methods to help individuals and teams break through limiting beliefs to increase productivity and profit.

Laura has the equivalency of a Master Certified Coach having worked as a coach for Tony Robbins and in her own consultancy practice.

Laura also does videos on YouTube and a podcast called, Own Your Truth with Laura T which can be all seen on her website. The link will be provided below.

In this episode, we discuss:

· How Laura helps others live a life that is purposeful – not just in business, but also in their everyday personal life. Along those lines, she shared how she perceives work-life balance.

· The formula of energy management over time management, along with the equation for an ideal life experience, which is, “Experience, Communication, Consistency.”

· Laura grew up with a business family, she shared how it’s like being a manager at such a young age and how it attributes to what she is doing now.

· Why coaching a manager is important before coaching the whole team.

I hope you will find this episode as exciting and informative as I have. Laura had a lot of powerful insights and statements that will definitely help you get clear on what is important into building a better business and living a purposeful life that is worth talking about.

Please let me know your thoughts!

Connect with Laura Treonze/ LMT Consulting

Website: http://www.lmtworthtalkingabout.com/ and https://purposeful-life.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauratreonze/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.treonze

Twitter: @LauraTreonze

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LMTConsulting

Connect with Steve Eschbach

Website: https://www.tworld.com/locations/naperville/ or https://eschbachassoc.com/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWqgICqaSI8xE2GRYY1HWJA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speschbach/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveeschbach/