Coffee N° 5 with Lara Schmoisman

Latest Episodes:

Why Design Matters with Debbie Millman Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to another episode of the Coffee Number 5 Podcast! We are thrilled to have creative genius and design icon Debbie Millman with us today!
Debbie Millman is an author, educator, curator, and host of the podcast Design Matters. She was named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, and “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA.

She is the co-founder of the world’s first graduate program in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the author of seven books, including two collections of interviews that have extended the ethos and editorial vision of Design Matters to the printed page: How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer and Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits.

Today on the show, she chats with Lara about the important elements that make a good design and shares the creative process behind her intriguing designs.

With over 20 years of experience working as a creative and design guru, Debbie taps into her wealth of experience and shares about the fundamentals of what makes up good design, something every individual should know before calling themselves a designer. In addition, she discusses exactly how design affects information being publicized.

She also shares her personal journey into becoming a designer, how you can take courage to learn from mistakes, and how she has been able to carve a niche for herself.

This is not an episode you want to miss!

You can find her latest book, Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People here.
What you'll learn:

What does it mean to create with intention?
The importance of behavioral psychology in design
Does traditional education matter in design?
Understanding the law of accessibility
How to find the courage to turn your mistakes into success

You can follow Debbie Millman on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Check out her website and podcast.
Follow our host Lara Schmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Follow Business Forward on Facebook and Instagram

Go back to the homepage

Support the show

Mastering the Art of Sales with Stefanie Boyer Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Today our guest is Stefanie Boyer, a professor of marketing at Bryant University. She, along with our host, Lara Schmoisman, was recognized by Forbes Next 1000. She is here with us to discuss the vast topic of sales and creating a brand and marketing strategy. She is also here to talk about her book “The Little Black Book of Social Media Strategies to Ignite Your Business, Influencer, and Professional Brand.”

Stefanie talks with us about the importance of asking great questions and listening during a sales pitch. She even gives a process for selling online and shares why creating a buyer profile is important for future clients, colleagues, and employees. She also discusses why women are typically better at sales than men despite the perceived confidence of men entering the profession.

We are very pleased to have Stefanie join us today and look forward to seeing what she does next.
What you'll learn:

How can I start selling online?
Stefanie explains the importance of building your brand.
Why does the concept of “sales” have a bad reputation?
What are the critical components of a sales conversation?
Can you use LinkedIn to network and create a buyer profile?

Follow Stefanie Boyer’s LinkedIn profile.

Check out her book here!

Free resource for college students to learn about sales: RNMKRS.

Follow our host Lara Schmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Follow Business Forward on Facebook and Instagram

Go back to the homepage

Support the show

Building Your Personal Brand With Vinnie Potestivo Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

We are super excited to have celebrity branding expert Vinnie Potestivo with us today. Vinnie is an Emmy-award-winning media brand strategist born and raised in Staten Island, NY. He has over 25 years of experience working in branding for companies like Fox. He has worked with celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Mandy Moore, Jessica AND Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, and Nick Cannon.

Vinnie talks with us about the steps to creating your brand. He talks with us about starting with some of the simplest of things, like fonts, as a way to determine what we want to communicate to our audience. He then dives into how we can start with building our own brand, including removing the obstacles that could hinder us from taking that next step.

Vinnie has a wealth of knowledge to share with us today about branding, working with and as a creative, and how to determine how others view us. He also expounds on the importance of being present and the difference between creative and financial goals.

What will you learn:

Where do we start with branding?
How can you determine how others view you?
In what ways can you enjoy and celebrate the small successes?
What are the steps to starting your brand?

Check out Vinnie’s work on his website. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Check out the How to Fascinate Test that Vinnie suggested.

Follow our host Lara Schmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Follow Business Forward on Facebook and Instagram

Go back to the homepage

Support the show

Growing Captivating Brands in the Beauty Industry with Patricia Valera Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

We are so excited to have Patricia Valera with us to discuss how to break into the beauty industry. Patricia has worked for several major beauty companies in the world, including Redken (L’Oreal USA), Kenzo Parfums, and Keratin Complex. She has taken her 20 years of experience and amazing skills with marketing strategy and used that to help indie creators launch their own products with her company Beautybrandr.

Founded by Patricia, Beautybrandr’s mission is to motivate indie beauty founders to create and grow captivating brands that will excite them AND their customers. They help these creators find their own path to success through strategic guidance. The beauty industry is extremely complex and massive. Patricia’s mission is to help those smaller companies create their own space within a seemingly exclusive industry.

Patricia joins us today to talk about the different aspects of marketing strategy and how to create your own niche in a very broad market. She shares the different steps needed to narrow in on your own company’s vision as well as specifying who your audience is. She also shares tips on traditional marketing outside of social media. She also emphasizes the need for creating a plan and creating a foundation first before launching to the world.

From generating the idea, creating the product, manufacturing, marketing, and all of the steps in between, Patricia has all of the information an indie creator may need to generate a product and get it into stores worldwide.
What you'll learn:

What are the tools for success in the beauty industry?
How do you find your niche?
Why is it important to develop your manufacturing?
Are there other marketing ventures outside of social media to pursue?

For more information, check out Patricia through her website and follow her on LinkedIn.

Follow our host Lara Schmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Follow Business Forward on Facebook and Instagram

Go back to the homepage

Support the show

From Blogging to Becoming a Leading Voice with Liz Svatek Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

We are so excited to have writer, podcaster, and digital producer Liz Svatek on the Coffee No. 5 Podcast today. Liz started off as the first mom blogger with her blog One Fabulous Mom. She built her platform through transparency and straightforward stories about her life as a mom with children who have ongoing physical health issues.

From there, she was able to build her network of influential mom bloggers and connect with them to build huge followings. She then created the Warrior Moms Brands, which matches bloggers and other influencers with brands that have a similar audience. Next, she created Blacksheep Social Media Group and later on the Warrior Mom Podcast.

According to Liz, being a warrior is not something you are born into. That warrior mentality must be tapped into or unleashed through experiences, the drive to get through a rough time, or the desire to improve your life in any way possible.

Liz decided that she would not just allow life to happen to her. She took a leap of faith by just starting with a small blog and connecting with moms across the world. She developed a community of women with similar goals and values and built a brand and a business that matched. Liz unleashed her inner warrior and sat down to show us how we can do the same.

Highlights:

What was it like for Liz starting off as a mom blogger?
How has developing a brand affected her business?
Where does one find their inner warrior?
Is strategic marketing as complex as it sounds?

Follow Liz on her three Instagram pages: Liz Svatek, One Fabulous Mom, and Warrior Woman Podcast.
Also follow her on LinkedIn and check out her website.

Follow our host Lara Shmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman
Follow Business Forward on Facebook and Instagram

Go back to the homepage

Support the show

Behind The Scenes of Success with Alex Isenberg Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Today, we live in such a fast-paced world that many people think success can simply come from one viral, random post on the internet. This fast-paced nature of things is slowly eroding the importance of working hard from people's minds.

On this episode, Lara chats with multi-talented entertainer Alex Isenberg about the importance of working hard to achieve success as they both share how hard work helped them achieve success in their various fields.

Alex Isenberg is a talented actor, singer, dancer, and all-around entertainer. Alex is the resident choreographer and creative director for the musical group, Duelle.

He's appeared in Vogue, Dance, and Cool (Singapore) Magazine as a dancer and model. In his spare time, he teaches workshops, choreographs dances, and serves as a competitive dance judge across the United States.

Despite coming from a solid background, Alex has put the work in to achieve the level of success he possesses right now.

How do you position yourself for success? Why should you be working hard? What happens when you put in the work, but it doesn't seem to be paying off? Find out the answers to these questions and more when you listen to this podcast episode with Alex Isenberg and Lara schmoisman.
Things You’ll Learn:

The importance of putting in the work
Maintaining balance in an omni-skill world
How to deal with rejection and come out stronger in the end
The danger of seeking instant gratification in the pursuit of success
Why exactly does it mean to be resourceful?

You can follow Alex Isenberg on Instagram.

Check out his website!
Follow our host Lara Shmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman
Follow Business Forward on Facebook and Instagram

Go back to the homepage

Support the show

Reboot your Business with Marketing Expert Mitch Joel Nov 30, 2021

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Are you ready to give your brand an upside-down reboot with digital marketing?

Mitch Joel is known as a thought leader and genius in the digital marketing space. He started out in journalism and became a publisher of a magazine. During the time when print was fading away, he was one of the early adopters of the online publication. After that, he helped to build a metasearch company that was popular before Google was even established. He then worked in marketing for a mobile phone company before smartphones were popularized. After all of that, he started his own digital marketing agency called Twisted Image with a few partners. There he began the blog “Six Pixels of Separation” which later became a podcast and a best-selling book! His next book “Ctrl-Alt-Delete” would also go on to become a bestseller!

Without any doubt, Mitch is a pioneer in the digital marketing space, and we are very excited to chat with him about the importance of marketing and creating a brand. Currently, he spends his time consulting as well as traveling and sharing his wisdom through speaking engagements. Mitch shares the importance of brand development and direct response. He also gives insight on how to have “a strong home base or an ownable asset that you can drive people to” for your business and build an infrastructure around that. He also talks about how to maximize opportunities as a part of your marketing strategy and the importance of creating a niche.
Things You’ll Learn

Is the customer always right?
What is brand awareness
How to maximize your market strategy via content development
Why should a company own its own brand
How to determine your audience and do market research

Follow Mitch on LinkedIn and Instagram, and check out his website.

For more information about Six Pixels of Separation, click here.

Follow our host Lara Shmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Go back to the homepage.

Support the show

Building Inclusive and Diverse Organizations with Arthur Woods Nov 23, 2021

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

Arthur Woods is a social entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ leader working at the intersection of equity, inclusion, and technology. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 by BEQ. He is the author of the book, Hiring for Diversity; he is a three-time TEDx speaker and has advised leading brands from Disney, Sonos, and MetLife to the Smithsonian.

He is the Co-Founder of Mathison, a venture-backed technology platform equipping employers with everything they need to manage their diverse hiring efforts. He is the creator of the first Equal Hiring Index to assess and benchmark inclusive hiring practices. Arthur came from Google, where he led operations for YouTube’s Education division and oversaw YouTube for Schools. Arthur previously co-founded Imperative, a leading social learning platform; Out in Tech, the largest global LGBTQ technology community; and Social Impact 360, a collegiate social enterprise education program.

He talks about the importance of leaders building an inclusive environment for individuals from diverse backgrounds to feel included in an organization and the many benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workforce.

His Book “Hiring for Diversity: The Guide to Building an Inclusive and Equitable Organization” brings together the most cutting-edge practices for implementing a diversity hiring strategy that leaves your organization with a comprehensive view and an actionable plan.

The paperback and ebook are currently available!
What You’ll learn

What does it mean to be a leader?
How to embrace the cultural diversity of your teams
Benefits of a diverse workforce

Follow Arthur Woods on Linkedin

Check out his website!

Follow our host Lara Shmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Support the show

How to Fire a Client with Lara Schmoisman Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

As a business owner, one thing you can not run away from is the agony of having to “break up” with a client. There are many reasons why you may want to discontinue your relationship with a client but how do you know the right time to leave? What are the things you need to know before and after establishing a relationship with a client to make sure that you do not suffer major losses after the break? We discuss this and many more in today’s episode of Coffee N5!

The host of the podcast, Lara Schmoisman is a marketing strategist, coach, international speaker and founder of The Darl. With extensive years of experience in helping businesses succeed in the real world, Lara has been a force to reckon with from the start. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she had her first radio job in her early teens, and started learning the ropes of marketing and advertising. Over the years, she worked her way up in the entertainment industry, digital marketing and advertising proving her grit along the way.

With skill sets and a bit of grit, she learned how to better understand what people need, how they need it delivered or accomplished, and how to automate systems to provide the best results.

Things You’ll Learn:

How to fire your client
What to do before and after you break up with your client
Create boundaries when dealing with a client
Safely protect your business against losses during a break up

Follow our host Lara Shmoisman on social media:

Instagram: @laraschmoisman

Facebook: @LaraSchmoisman

LinkedIn: @laraschmoisman

Twitter: @LaraSchmoisman

Support the show

Achieve Financial Stability with Rita Boccuzzi Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

Send us Fan Mail

It’s time to talk about MONEY! Who better to talk about money and financial intelligence than the one and only Mamma Rita Money, herself. We are so excited to chat with Rita Boccuzzi about financial intelligence and how she cracked the code on the money mystery.

With over 13 years of experience in financial services, Rita is armed with the wisdom and knowledge to help others. As a child she learned about saving from her parents. From age 18 to 33, she saved and received her first financial hit as the market reset, which resulted in the loss of half of her savings! As she began to rebuild, Rita was hit with another major situation: CANCER. While she was able to fight the cancer in her body, she wasn’t prepared for the cancer of her finances. Once again, her finances were drained, and she had to start from scratch—again.

From there, Rita was on a mission. Her mission and purpose is to educate 1 million families over the next five years on the mysteries of money and personal finance. She starts all of her educational resources and consultations with awareness and knowledge before building from there. She has helped many people, including other cancer survivors manage their money and turn hard situations into triumphs.

Things to Learn: