Business podcasts: The ultimate guide to starting yours

Dave Will, an EO Boston member, is the host of the EO 360° podcast. As the co-founder and CEO of PropFuel, Dave is a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur dedicated to creating a place for unique conversations with successful founders and business leaders.

In a popular episode of the EO 360° podcast, Dave spoke with Kevin Stoller, EO Arizona member and co-founder and president of Key-Twelve, a company that builds furniture for innovative learning environments that foster collaboration and engagement between students and teachers.

Dave and Kevin's podcast discussion centers around providing tips for businesses that want to start a podcast that is compelling and entertaining—and ultimately, impacts business.

Ask: Should I start a podcast?

Launching a podcast will require an investment from your business. Before you begin, ask yourself these questions to be sure that a podcast is the right next step for you.

1. What's your podcast "why"?

Getting a podcast up and running requires time and resources. Investing in a podcast can be worthwhile, but your organization needs to answer this question before you start: Does a podcast make sense within the whole of your marketing strategy? If you are going to spend even one to two hours a month on a podcast, will it pay off better than investing that time elsewhere? If you can answer yes to this question, then a podcast is right for your business.

2. Are you able to commit to it?

Think of podcasting like long-term marketing. Can you commit to doing 100 episodes? Because you won't get results from producing 10, 20 or even 50 podcasts. Your investment likely won't yield a return right away. But over the long-term, you are likely see some incredible results from a podcast.

Categories: BUSINESS GROWTH PR/MARKETING Video

Tags: Dave Will EO 360 podcast eo arizona eo boston Kay-Twelve Kevin Stoller Propfuel

4 Trending animation styles to level up your marketing in 2022

In marketing, as in life, change is the only constant. Trends in marketing come and go—causing a burden of uncertainty that torments every marketer. What might have worked last year may not work as effectively now, if it even works at all.

One marketing trend you've likely heard of is the use of animated videos—and videos in general. A highly compelling, profound and intriguing medium of marketing, animation holds the power to provide a massive ROI that maximizes leads and conversions. And its use and effectiveness are likely going to increase with time.

Let's explore the four most effective and modern types of animated videos you can leverage as we head into 2022, with some relevant statistics to underscore their importance.

Statistical analysis of video marketing

The use of animated videos in marketing hit an all-time high in 2021. According to statistics collected by Insivia, your website is 53 times more likely to rank on Google if it has a video on its front page.

Plus, 72 percent of viewers prefer watching videos to understand a service or product rather than reading through a lengthy text. Not surprisingly, as I dug a bit deeper, the majority of video types used while collecting these statistics are of the following styles.

Categories: Best Practices PR/MARKETING STARTUP Video

Tags: Alex Safavinia Insivia Kasra Design Statista Tickera

From sales to CEO: A female entrepreneur's journey in the beverage alcohol industry

Contributed by Alexi Cashen, an EO San Francisco member who is CEO and co-founder of Elenteny Imports , co-founder of St. Hildie's Botonica, and host of The Alexi Cashen Podcast.

The progress women in leadership have made over the past decade is energizing and generates hope and excitement for the future of female entrepreneurs. This historic shift is evidenced in a report published by Women Business Collaborative, C200 and Catalyst, which announced that the number of women CEOs has risen from 6 percent in 2019 to a projected 8.2 percent by February 2021.

It is humbling to be a part of the growing group of female CEOs and entrepreneurs—or "femmepreneurs," as some call us—in the beverage alcohol industry. As co-founder and CEO of Elenteny Imports, a B2B freight forwarding logistics company, and co-founder and chief revenue officer of St. Hildie's Botonica Spiked Tincture Tonics, I have been honing my business acumen for the past 19 years while working in the food, wine, and spirits industry.

Categories: Entrepreneurial Journey Inspirational Member Spotlight WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Tags: Alexi Cashen beverage alcohol industry Christine Peck Elenteny Imports eo san francisco femmepreneur Meghan Deroma St. Hildie's Botonica The Alexi Cashen Podcast Tim Elenteny womentrepreneur

8 EO members share how they define success

Contributed by Kym Huynh, an EO Melbourne member, EO Global Communications Committee member, and co-founder of WeTeachMe. Kym is fascinated by entrepreneurs and their journeys, so he asked EO members from various chapters to share their experiences. In this second installment of Kym Huynh's Leadership Toolkit series, Kym asked eight entrepreneurs how they view success.

We asked successful entrepreneurs from EO chapters around the world, "What does success look like to you?"

Success is often tied to the books we read and the people we meet

There are many forms of success: personal, parental, spiritual, spousal and financial—just to name a few.

  • For me business success appeared when I began to understand the difference in being a solopreneur versus being an entrepreneur — #TheEMyth.
  • Entrepreneurial success appeared when I began caring more about asking the right questions than having the right answers — #ScalingUp.
  • Leadership success appeared when I began thinking more like a leader in my company and less like a boss — #GreatbyChoice.

Ultimately, success on every front can often be tied to the books we read and the people we meet. I certainly wish everyone great and abundant adventures in both.

— Arnie Malham, EO Nashville, founder, Better Book Club; author and speaker, Worth Doing Wrong

Financial success won't matter if your home life, health or mindset isn't good

Success means inner and outer harmony; personally and professionally. The amount of financial success won't matter at all if my home life, my health or my mindset isn't good.

Success means happiness, fulfillment and contribution to something bigger than me.

—  Katty Douraghy, EO San Francisco, president of Artisan Creative

Categories: Entrepreneurial Journey Inspirational Interview members

Tags: Arnie Malham Artisan Creative Ash Rathod Better Book Club BridgeView eo colorado eo melbourne eo nashville eo san francisco Finnian Kelley katty douraghy kym huynh Relish Studio Richard J Bryan Stu Swineford Tim Glennie We Teach Me Worth Doing Wrong

How to practice rigorous authenticity by surrendering what others think

Contributed by Michael Brody-Waite, a recovered addict of 18 years who uses his incredible experience with addiction and recovery to benefit leaders and entrepreneurs who want to step into their own authentic leadership style. He's the author of Great Leaders Live Like Drug Addicts: How to Lead Like Your Life Depends on It and was a recent EO 360 podcast guest.

The Question

In teaching leaders a step-by-step program to find their own authentic leadership style, I often look inward and ask questions about where I can improve my practice of rigorous authenticity.

Doing so often inspires difficult questions, including this one:

What are you holding onto because of what people will think?

If I answer that myself, I have to say that I have a large book collection. I love reading, highlighting and learning.

And—confession time—I keep most of my books around to impress YOU.

The Story

For the last 10 years, I have moved my entire book collection from house to house.

Each time we moved, they stayed boxed up in the attic or garage.
Each time, my wife begged me, "Can we please donate the ones you don't love to people who need them?"
Each time, I responded, "No way. I'm going to have a library someday!"

And if I get rigorously authentic, I want that library someday so that I can impress you.

Categories: Best Practices Coaching Guest contributors Inspirational

Tags: EO 360 EO 360 podcast Mask-Free Society Michael Brody-Waite rigorous authenticity

3 Tips to repurpose website content into growth-focused marketing videos

There are two inescapable truths in content marketing:

  1. You need to produce new content consistently to be successful.
  2. Consistently coming up with new content ideas is hard.

Fortunately, you don't have to come up with a new idea for every single piece of content you produce. Repurposing your existing content into growth-focused marketing videos helps you maintain consistent content production without spending hours racking your brain for new ideas.

Worried all this repurposing will create redundant content? Don't be. It's true that video outperforms all other types of content, but some customers still prefer reading blog articles or perusing charts and graphs.

People will engage with your brand in the way that works best for them.

Creating repurposed marketing videos provides an easy and effective way to connect with your (many, many) customers who prefer video—all the while raking in the traffic, engagement and conversions that are the hallmark of video marketing.

Repurposing content into videos is a win all the way around.

Categories: Best Practices BUSINESS GROWTH Media PR/MARKETING

Tags: Biteable Leah Diviney

GSA Oct 2021

7 Ways to maximize your EO Global Speakers Academy experience

GSA Oct 2021Contributed by Marina Byezhanova, an EO Canada Bridge member in Montreal and the founder of Brand of a Leader, a personal branding agency that builds and scales the personal brands of entrepreneurs who inspire and make an impact.

In October 2021, after months of anticipation, I was finally sitting in San Diego in a room of 30 entrepreneurs, who gathered both in person and virtually to spend five full days learning how to become world-class public speakers.

I felt both exhilarated and nervous at the same time. I had been waiting to work on my public speaking skills, but this was so intimidating. Would I be asked to do improv speaking in front of others? Was I going to embarrass myself? Was I ready to do this?

I was at Global Speakers Academy, the newest addition to EO's executive education programme offering. GSA launched in the spring of 2021 with the first cohort gathering in Miami, Florida. I was eager to apply for the programme as soon as I heard about it, but the pandemic made travel from Canada challenging, and I was keen to attend in person. Begrudgingly, I waited for the borders to fully re-open and for my opportunity to participate.

Once the first cohort completed their GSA training in March of 2021, EO's social media exploded—experience shares about #EOGSA2021 were FOMO-inducing and solidified my desire to be a part of the next cohort. I applied in the summer, was accepted, and thus my journey began.

In true EO style, we were pushed out of our comfort zones, exposed to so much learning that it felt akin to drinking from a firehose, and felt challenged every step of the way. But we also felt supported every step of the way. What space can possibly feel safer than a room of EOers cheering each other on, practicing, learning and growing together? Talk about "instimacy"—we had it from the moment we stepped into the room.

Categories: Best Practices Coaching Entrepreneurial Journey Inspirational LEADERSHIP Legacy Member Spotlight WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Tags: Daymond John EO Canada EO Canada Bridge EO Executive Education EO San Diego Global Speakers Academy Pat Quinn Renee Marino Sarah Blakeley Tony Robbins virtual learning

How I built a talent-first mortgage bank to win the hearts of employees and veterans

Bill Lyons, EO San Diego, is founder and CEO of Griffin Funding , a regional boutique mortgage bank that helps veterans, active-duty military and the self-employed achieve and maintain the American dream of homeownership. Griffin Funding ranked among the highest-scoring businesses on Inc. Magazine's annual list of Best Workplaces for 2021 and was listed as No. 2,471 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list of North America's fastest-growing privately held companies. We asked Bill how he built such a unique mortgage banking business. Here's what he shared.

Your company focuses on serving veterans through both its home mortgage products and community impact. What led you to this niche?

In 2013, when I started the company, I wanted to focus on a niche instead of being all things to all people. I wanted the company to be different. When you operate in a niche, you can specialize in it and become experts in it.

I chose VA loans because it allowed us to specialize and help active-duty military and veterans—who have served our country—achieve and maintain the American dream of homeownership. VA loans are a type of mortgage offered through the US Department of Veterans Affairs program. Having expertise in VA loans allows our loan officers to be advisors and consultants rather than salespeople just selling a mortgage. Most mortgage companies don't know all of the ins and outs of VA loans and what you can and cannot do. Focusing on VA loans allows us to provide the most value to our clients.

Because we work so closely with veterans, getting involved in a great program like Shelter to Soldier was a no-brainer. Shelter to Soldier is a non-profit that brings combat veterans together with rescue dogs—essentially helping two lives recover and move forward together. We've seen the positive impact that offering the right loan that fits veterans' needs makes on these heroes who have done so much for our country. When we learned about a non-profit that connects rescue dogs with veterans, we wanted to be a part of it and further our positive impact on the local veteran community.

Categories: Best Practices Company Culture Entrepreneurial Journey Member Spotlight OPERATIONS

Tags: 2021 Inc. 5000 Bill Lyons EO San Diego Evan Kidwell Griffin Funding Inc. 5000 Inc. Best Workplaces Shelter to Soldiers

Google Translate: What's the worst that could happen?

Contributed by Wendy Pease an EO Boston member and president of Rapport International, which specializes in multilingual communications, providing language translation and interpretation services that are accurate and culturally appropriate. We use the right voice, correct terminology to avoid liability, customize services to your needs, and deliver on time and within your budget. We asked Wendy about the differences between human and machine translation. Here's what she shared:

In the US and other English-speaking countries, the tagline "Driving Matters!" brings the popular car company Mazda to mind.

Yet in Japan, the company's tagline is "Jinbai Ittai," a phrase that captures the feeling of a horseman warrior, riding across the plains totally in sync with his horse, or "the oneness of horse and rider." Mazda wanted the tagline to evoke the energy and passion you feel when you drive their cars. Had their marketing department used Google Translate to convert the tagline to English, they would have sent a much different message to their US customers.

On three separate occasions, I put "Jinba Ittai" into Google Translate. The "oneness of horse and rider" translated to the following:

  • One Horse
  • Danger
  • Jinba (the current translation)

Fortunately, the marketing team at Mazda researched the best way to adapt their tagline: human translation. Sure, taglines are a special case, so it makes sense that they benefit from human translation, but what about other text? How does Google Translate do with everyday language?

Categories: Best Practices WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Tags: Google Translate Mazda Rapport International Wendy Pease

EO Canada Bridge chapter welcomes its youngest member

Contributed by Marina Byezhanova, an EO Canada Bridge member in Montreal and the founder of Brand of a Leader, a personal branding agency that builds and scales the personal brands of entrepreneurs who inspire and make an impact. Marina is delighted to introduce a new member of her chapter, Brandan Ranaldi—a former GSEA competitor and EO Accelerator—who is now one of the youngest members in EO. Here's what she shared:

(Photo: Marina prepares to toast the newest and youngest member of her chapter, Brandan Ranaldi.)

It's a proud moment for EO Canada Bridge—the coolest chapter in the region, as we so proudly call it! We are excited to welcome our youngest chapter member yet, and I feel compelled to share his incredible success story with all of you globally.

Meet Brandan Ranaldi, a 23-year-old student entrepreneur. We first met Brandan when he competed in a local GSEA competition. We then welcomed him into an EO Accelerator class. And we are now thrilled to call him a peer as he joined EO as a member, not only meeting but vastly surpassing the qualifying criteria.

Here is his story.

Brandan Ranaldi always had a passion for being outdoors and working with wood. He, along with Justin Szekely, started building decks when they were only teenagers. Since they were too young to drive at the time, they biked to their job sites, balancing bags of tools on their handlebars.

Categories: Entrepreneurial Journey GSEA Member Spotlight

Tags: Ace of Decks Brandan Ranaldi EO Accelerator EO Canada EO Canada Bridge eo gsea EO Montreal Justin Szekely Marina Byezhanova