Every entrepreneur knows the hustle of getting tax information together to prepare for end of year tax returns. While in the middle of gathering documentation and receipts each year, you often mutter "next year this will all be automated!" Yet taking the time and figuring out the process to do so can seem overwhelming. In this 30 minute interview, Pamela Slim talks with Micky Deming from Kahuna Accounting about the ways that entrepreneurs can get over the hurdle of disorganized bookkeeping so th...
Feb 19, 2016•30 min
I have long been a fan of Malcolm Gladwell's book Tipping Point, in particular, the "Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen" chapter where he talks about different personality types that impact social change. So imagine my delight when I met Erica Dhawan the author of Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence , with co-author Saj-nicole A. Joni. They have spent years delving into research about what they term "connectional intelligence" -- arguably the most important skill currency of...
Feb 25, 2015•24 min
Whenever we set out to make things better in our lives -- improve our career, grow our business, get in shape, make a bigger impact in the world -- fear and doubt creep in. In her work coaching women and in her own personal life, Tara Mohr saw a pattern emerge, a problem she describes as women "playing small." Women are sitting on their big ideas rather than sharing them, holding back their most provocative questions instead of asking them. They are having a collective hallucination that they ar...
Oct 18, 2014•35 min
When I first started writing about small business marketing many years ago, one of the first people I heard about was John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. John had a great reputation, a solid business and a well-respected and highly trafficked blog. I referred many clients to his first book, Duct Tape Marketing. Then to his second, The Referral Engine, and his third, The Commitment Engine. Through the years, we became good friends, and he has been a very trusted and valued mentor in my own busin...
May 27, 2014•28 min
Many entrepreneurs dream of starting a business in their garage, scaling it, then selling it to Google for a billion dollars. Such things rarely happen. But scaling happens every day, in our career, our business or our workplace. We are constantly trying to improve ourselves, share our ideas, and put in systems and infrastructure that will grow our organizations without destroying that which made them great. Stanford professors Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao describe in their exceptionally well-res...
Feb 28, 2014•35 min
I have always been a huge fan of underdogs. Josh Shipp started his life without a safety net. Abandoned at birth by his mother, he spent most of his youth bouncing between foster homes, growing increasingly disillusioned and angry. He finally landed in a home with a family who gave him the kind of support and encouragment he needed. He then built an amazing speaking business, reaching more than 2 million teens with live presentations. He created a television show called Jump Shipp where he pairs...
Dec 05, 2013•34 min
When you think about it, navigating your life is a series of negotiations. In the course of a day, you may try to influence: Your new puppy to use the restroom outside Your customer to buy your product Your kid to brush his teeth Your neighbor to vote for your candidate Your boss to support your project How can you undertake these challenges with integrity, not force, and make all involved (especially the new puppy) feel like they got a win too? Bob Burg, the successful author of such classic bo...
Nov 07, 2013•26 min
There are some people I meet who I instantly feel not just a connection with, but true kinship. Todd Henry is one of these people. I first met him when he interviewed me about my book Escape from Cubicle Nation on his wildly popular podcast, Accidental Creative . I was intrigued by his work with creatives, where he acts, in his words, as an "arms dealer for the creative revolution." His ideas have inspired people from graphic artists to Hip Hop stars (LL Cool J is a fan). But I really got to kno...
Sep 16, 2013•35 min
Many years ago, when I was in the early years of blogging at Escape from Cubicle Nation, I heard about a young man named Dan Schawbel who was writing like crazy about personal branding and millenials in the workplace. His name and face were everywhere, as he wrote for his own blog, as well as grew an impressive byline in places like Fortune, Time and Fast Company. Dan's first book, Me 2.0, became an international bestseller, and has been translated in 13 languages. And yet, surprisingly as we di...
Sep 06, 2013•29 min
Imagine that you are driving down the road and you get a call from your office that a VC is interested in talking to you about investing in your business, but the only time they have to meet with you is tomorrow at noon. You have never put together a pitch before, and feel slightly panicked. But then you open an app, say "How to make a VC pitch" and immediately get 5 names of experienced VCs. You scan the list, see that one of them is Mark Cuban, and say "call Mark" and in 2 minutes you have him...
Jun 06, 2013•27 min
In 2010, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson released their first book Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It , based on their experience leading a "Results Only Work Environment" (ROWE) while they were at Best Buy. In a results-only workplace, employees can do whatever they want whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. No more pointless meetings, racing to get in at 9:00, or begging for permission to watch your kid play soccer. You make the decisions about what you do and where you do it. It sou...
Feb 20, 2013•41 min
Starting a business can be a huge challenge, with a million things to learn, and the uncertainty of landing your first customers. Once you pass that gauntlet and develop a thriving business, another snag appears -- lack of focus, overwhelm and even burnout from trying to do everything yourself. In this interview, longtime business system expert Tina Forsyth explains what you need to put in place to ensure that you are able to scale and grow your business without losing your mind. We discuss: How...
Dec 04, 2012•34 min
Popular American business culture says that the more someone "participates" by talking aloud during a meeting or networking event, the more "active," "friendly" and "supportive" they are. This (erroneous) definition ignores the fact that many quiet, introverted people are also "active," "friendly" and "supportive," just in a different way. In this interview with Barbara Saunders, a "formerly shy introvert," we discuss: What is the correct definition of an introvert? What are common misconception...
Jun 27, 2012•38 min
A lot of entrepreneurs get all twisted up about branding. Either they think it is some huge, expensive thing that is only for large companies, or they get obsessed with nailing a complete brand strategy before taking the first tiny step in building a business. Neither extreme is true. In this podcast conversation with brand expert Liz Dennery-Sanders, we discuss what branding is and isn't, what is critical to know about branding at any stage of business, and how you must pay attention to every p...
Jun 07, 2012•24 min
This is the week of talent show finals: Dancing With the Stars contestants will be smiling and swirling on stage tonight, and American Idol contestants will sing their hearts out tomorrow for a chance at the grand prize. If there were a reality show for Nicest Person on the Internet , Bob Burg would be in the finals, graciously Tweeting and writing his way into the hearts of millions. Professional speaker and author of bestselling books Referral Engine , The Go-Giver , Go-Givers Sell More and hi...
May 21, 2012•55 min
Becky McCray and Barry Moltz have just released their new book Small Town Rules: How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prosper in a Connected Economy . It is a fascinating resource with genuinely new insights for everyone in business. In my 20-minute interview with Becky McCray, we discuss: Common misconceptions people have about small, local businesses What large corporations can learn about branding from small business The formula for instant social media success :) (I am only sort of kiddin...
Apr 26, 2012•28 min
In a departure from my normal entrepreneur interviews, in this podcast, I talk with Yum Brands CEO David Novak who talks about how to create a great culture for your startup. Although he is the head of a huge corporation, he talks about core building blocks that apply to any stage of business. His book Taking People With You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen breaks down the critical things you need to keep in mind to build a great business culture with happy employees, customers and shareh...
Feb 09, 2012•16 min
Those of you who have been following my work for awhile know that I have been heavily influenced by my coach mentor Dr. Martha Beck. Her book Finding Your Own North Star changed the course of my life when I read it nearly a decade ago, and eventually led to my Escape from Cubicle Nation work. Martha is a Harvard-trained sociologist and bestselling author. She is Oprah's life coach in residence, and writes a monthly column for O Magazine. In this interview, I talk with Martha about her brand new ...
Feb 06, 2012•24 min
Who has not fantasized about being a professional public speaker? Can you imagine how great it would be to fly to exotic locations and get paid large sums of money for a one-hour motivational talk? Before you quit your day job, Nick Morgan, Harvard-trained communication expert, founder of Public Words and author of Trust Me and Give Your Speech Change the World has some hard-won advice on both creating quality speeches and making it in the hyper-competitive world of professional speaking. In thi...
Aug 26, 2011•37 min
I had the great pleasure of interviewing Todd Henry, author of the new book The Accidental Creative: How to be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice. After years of putting together teams of highly creative people, Todd learned that there were some secrets and patterns that helped them be happy, healthy and productive. He formed a consultancy to help organizations be more effective and started The Accidental Creative Podcast in 2006 which quickly shot to the top of the business category. He synthesizes...
Jul 08, 2011•34 min
Before I interviewed CD Baby founder Derek Sivers, I asked my Twitter followers "What questions do you have for @sivers ?" Someone asked "How extensive was his business plan?" When I asked him that question, he started laughing, because the founding of what would become a multi-million dollar powerhouse in the world of music distribution involved no planning at all. In fact, as a professional musician Derek only started the company so he could sell his own CDs. The lessons he learned from "anti-...
Jun 29, 2011•29 min
Two years ago, when I was on my book tour, I had the great fortune of speaking at a management conference in Estonia. There were a number of other speakers there from Europe, including Morten Lund and Alexander Osterwalder . Alex's presentation was about business models, and I was immediately drawn in by the clear and simple way he explained them. He was a fantastic speaker, and I was very intrigued by his book, Business Model Generation . We rode together in the car from the conference site bac...
May 17, 2011•33 min
I have been in business for myself for sixteen years. I can't count the number of fun projects, amazing clients and life-changing opportunities this path has provided for me. But it wasn't until yesterday, when I was reading John Warrillow's Built to Sell , that I got the profound feeling that I was a total beginner in the world of preparing businesses for sale. I had never really asked myself the question "Do I want to stay in this business for the long term, or sell it and move on to something...
Apr 27, 2011•30 min
Few people know the subtle horrors of creative blocks like professional writers. Steven Pressfield is a master at naming, and slaying, the beast called Resistance. The author of many bestselling novels like The Legend of Bagger Vance and Gates of Fire as well as the masterpiece The War of Art , Steven's new book Do the Work breaks down in detail how to get past creative blocks and get great work done. Enjoy our 30 minute interview! I was totally inspired after the conversation, and got tons of w...
Apr 20, 2011•31 min
Those of you who have read my blog for a long time or have heard me speak know that I often reference a key moment in Escape from Cubicle Nation's history, when one incoming link from venture capitalist and blogger Guy Kawasaki turned my tiny audience into a massive wave of new subscribers. It certainly was a moment of enchantment for me, as I watched the power of connecting with a ripe market of my ideal clients. Today, Guy's brand new book, Enchantment , hits the stores. It is based on his dec...
Mar 08, 2011•30 min
"Didn't you ever want to get up from your desk one day and just walk away, not to go get a latte, but I mean walk away and not come back?" So asks Margaret Roach in her powerful book trailer, and powerful new book, And I Shall Have Some Peace There: Trading the Fast Lane for My Own Dirt Road . Margaret left her mega-powerful job as editorial director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and had been a New York Times editor. She set out on a long journey to get to know herself -- in her farmhouse ...
Feb 22, 2011•38 min
If you had been a fellow passenger on the Green Line train in Washington DC, looking at handsome young lawyer Warren Brown staring out the window, you may have thought he was composing his next great novel, or thinking about scaling Mt. Everest. Instead, he was formulating a new recipe for chocolate cake: "Dry chocolate cake is a no-no not to be tolerated. So I thought of coming at it from a unconventional angle. I decided to not use butter and boiled water in the batter, but use cream instead t...
Feb 02, 2011•38 min
I had the good fortune to meet Patrick Thompson at my Portland Escape from Cubicle Nation workshop in 2009. At the time, he had left his corporate job as a software development manager and was working on a speed-reading app called QuickReader . Patrick said that at 46 years old, he realized that it was the right time to try and see if he could replace his corporate income with his own business developing mobile device applications. Fast forward 18 months and he has leveraged the code from the or...
Jan 26, 2011•26 min
Note the rather uncharacteristic post title from my recent blog hack. The humor of the particular spam title and my post image was not lost on me. Call me the poster child for the need for a structured, secure data security plan: In 2008, the hard drive on my brand new iMac failed four months after purchase and I almost lost all my data (I was in the middle of working on my book). Earlier this year, my web host had a series of technical glitches and I lost all my sites for almost a week. It wasn...
Dec 28, 2010•26 min
Scott Gerber , twenty-six year old columnist for Entrepreneur and author of the new book Never Get a Real Job: How to dump your boss, build a business and not go broke , does not mince his words. He believes that many of the entrepreneur evangelists out there are selling snake oil when they encourage people to "do what you love and let the business model follow." In our 30-minute conversation, we talk (and sometimes agree to disagree) about what every young person needs to be considering in the ...
Dec 08, 2010•31 min
