Our Responsibility to Identify Mental Health Struggles Around Us (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Roseann Capanna-Hodge returns to discuss the responsibility we have to identify the mental health struggles of the people around us. Roseann Capanna-Hodge has just released a new book entitled It’s Gonna Be OK: Proven Ways to Improve Your Child’s Mental Health.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Children’s mental health coming into sharp focus during the pandemic
Signs of mental health struggles in children and adults
Our responsibility to detect changes in behavior that could tip us off to someone going through a rough patch

Children’s Mental Health

Children’s mental health was probably not top-of-mind for a lot of people, even pre-pandemic. Obviously, people who have apparent issues, whatever they may be, have thought about their children’s mental health, but it isn’t generally what people typically talk about.

However, it has come into sharp focus, particularly through the pandemic. If we’re honest, it probably should have been a hot topic before the pandemic, but there has perhaps never been a better time to learn about some of the signs that a child may be struggling.

Signs of Mental Health Struggles

When it comes to signs of mental health difficulties, there are many crossovers between children and adults. Mental health struggles, particularly stress, will typically manifest themselves physically first. We’ve all experienced sleep issues, gastrointestinal difficulties, headaches, pain, heartburn, etc.

When these signs show up and are not clearly related to a radical change, such as a diet or an unhealthy sleep routine, they are most often signs of stress.

Recognizing Problems

Another big sign of mental health struggles is a major change. Whether you’re a parent, a partner or an employer, you should be able to see these changes. If your most valuable employee suddenly starts snapping at everybody on the team all of a sudden, there’s a pretty high chance that something’s going on.

It’s not just about the very obvious behavioral changes, either. Perhaps someone close to you has started looking disheveled or started showing up late to every appointment. These are all signs of someone struggling. We often expect people to tell us when they’re having a hard time, but the truth is that in most cases, this will not happen, and we have a responsibility to figure it out ourselves.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How to Become an Influencer (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Gordon Tredgold returns to discuss how to become an influencer. Gordon Tredgold is a business transformation expert and a published author.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

What it means to be an influencer
How to become an influencer in your community
Gordon Tredgold’s path from a complete unknown to one of the top leadership experts in the world

What Is an Influencer?

We hear the term “influencer” thrown around so much these days that it has almost become meaningless. In fact, it can mean 20 things to 20 different people. So, what is a real influencer when it comes to business?

For Gordon Tredgold, an influencer is someone people look to gain insight and information or someone they follow to learn how to improve themselves. For example, a sales influencer would be the person teaching people how to drive their growth, talking about new techniques, and improving the old ones.

Influencing Your Community

Gordon didn’t call himself an influencer until other people called him that, but some people are self-proclaimed, and if being a self-proclaimed influencer may sound nice but probably doesn’t mean a huge amount. Self-praise is perhaps only marginally better than no praise.

Nowadays, if a person decides they want to be an influencer, they may go on LinkedIn and write a few posts or create a few videos. Still, the reality is that if you want to become an influencer, the best people to influence are the people in your immediate surroundings, your friends, family, and the clients you work with.

From Rags to Riches

It isn’t easy to make the step towards becoming an influencer even if you’re one of the top people in your field, but Gordon’s story is on another level entirely. Eight years ago, he was a complete unknown, by his own account.

He was looking to change jobs, and one of his friends told him that the company he was applying for would Google him to learn more about him. He then decided to Google himself, and all he found was “tumbleweed.” He realized that he needed to start putting himself out there to fix this problem and has since become one of the top leadership experts in the world.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Ways to Secure Your Retirement (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Radon Stancil discusses ways to secure your retirement. Radon Stancil has written several books and has a new book, entitled Secure Your Retirement, out now.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The three ways to approach investing
Why speculating is extremely risky
How to actively manage your money to achieve the best results

Three Ways to Invest

We live in a time of confusion and even panic with rising inflation and people pulling money out of their retirement funds and putting it into precious metals and cryptocurrencies. People are finding it difficult to get their heads around the current economic situation and keep a perspective for the future.

When it comes to investing, there are three different ways to go about it. One is to simply buy a diversified portfolio and hold it no matter what. This approach is challenging because when the market starts to correct or crash, people panic and make emotional decisions. Unfortunately, that means they usually decide to sell and get out at the bottom of the market, which is the absolute worst time to do so.

Speculating

The second way to go about investing is speculating. This is what we mean when we talk about the idea of using your retirement funds to buy gold. The speculation here is that the economy or the dollar will crash, and buying gold can protect us from that. The reality is that gold has historically not been a very good investment.

This approach is not reserved for precious metals only. Selling any asset and buying something else because you believe it will perform better can be categorized as speculating. This way of investing can potentially make you a lot of money, but you’re exposing yourself to risk as well.

Actively Managing Money

The third category, which Radon Stancil recommends and employs, is actively managing your money. What he and his associates do is track demand in the market, weighing supply vs. demand constantly. This allows them to move as markets move and protect their investments from exposure.

For example, at the beginning of 2021, small-cap and mid-cap companies were big, but that is not the case anymore. So, savvy investors need to shift their portfolios out of these companies to where things are stronger.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How We Can Improve Our Sleep (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, David Shirazi discusses a topic that everyone is interested in — sleep. David Shirazi is the owner of TMJ and Sleep Therapy Center.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The importance of sleep hygiene for achieving high-quality sleep
What the perfect bedroom looks like
The four stages of sleep and how each affects our mind and body

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep is hugely important because it is exceedingly challenging to function at your optimal level if you’re not getting the proper amount of it. More and more people seem to be having trouble with sleep, and part of the problem is the inputs that we’re all experiencing before we go to bed or even throughout the day.

Obviously, many people out there have problems falling asleep or experience low-quality sleep due to health problems, but more often than not, the problem stems from poor sleep hygiene.

The Perfect Bedroom

If you were to look at the average master bedroom, you’d probably see a TV in it. There would also likely be phones plugged in beside the bed, along with other sources of light, stimulation, and distraction.

According to David Shirazi, this is the opposite of what a good sleep-hygiene bedroom should look like. He hasn’t had a TV in his bedroom for 15 years or so, and he claims that other light sources should be eliminated from the space as well. This is because our brains can’t tell the difference between light that comes from an artificial source and light that comes from the sun, which messes up our circadian rhythm and ruins our sleep.

Stages of Sleep

There are four stages of sleep: stage one, stage two, stage three, and REM sleep. In stages one and two, our body and mind experience a bit of rest, similar to closing your eyes while remaining awake.

In stage three, we get almost 100% of our growth hormone, so needless to say; this stage is crucial for our physical wellbeing. Finally, contrary to popular belief, REM is not just about dreaming. This is the stage where we get our mental and emotional consolidation and resolution to things that we’re processing.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

The Mindset of a Sales Warrior (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Jason Forrest discusses his book The Mindset of a Sales Warrior. Jason Forrest is the CEO at FPG, a leading authority in culture change programs, and an expert at creating high-performance, high-profit, Best Place to Work cultures.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The Mindset of a Sales Warrior
Leashes and internal blocks that hold us back
The way self-image affects how salespeople approach prospects

The Mindset of a Sales Warrior

Jason Forrest’s book The Mindset of a Sales Warrior: Unleash Your Mind, Become a Sales Warrior, and Earn What You’re Truly Worth, started from a belief system that he’s had for a long time, which is that you can teach a person what they need to know to be successful, but nothing guarantees that they’ll execute them.

The thing that stops people from executing the knowledge they’re taught is the various leashes they encounter along the way. Jason identifies four types of leashes: self-image, stories, reluctances, and rules.

Leashes

The key to Jason Forrest’s success in teaching people how to be successful sales warriors lies in teaching them about these leashes that hold them back from executing what they’ve been taught.

The fact of the matter is that you can give a person all the tools in the world and teach them all the knowledge there is to know in their field, but if they have internal blocks holding them back, they’re always going to bump into them no matter what you do.

Self-Image and Removing Internal Barriers

A great question to ask yourself at any moment in time is, “What is stopping me from doing what I want to do?” This is where the leashes come up, which you need to remove and address because it isn’t really about the tactics, but about how you execute said tactics and strategies.

We know that a lot of people “default” into the career. It is the first thing that many people do out of college, regardless of what they studied. Unfortunately, this leads to many people almost apologizing for the profession that they’re in, and their self-image impacts how they approach people.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Federal Government Contracting (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Kizzy Marie Parks discusses a subject that is not often discussed and is perhaps unfairly avoided — Federal Government Contracting. Kizzy Marie Parks is the President at K. Parks Consulting (KPC).

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Why Federal Government Contracting offers some great opportunities
What makes Government contracting different from other spheres of business
The step you need to take to become a government contractor

Federal Government Contracting

Federal Government Contracting is somewhat of an overlooked market and one that sometimes people avoid for various reasons. Although some of these reasons are valid, there’s also some mythology behind it too.

The Federal Government spends over 500 billion dollars a year, and they buy everything from pancake mix to marketing services. Often, when people think about Government contracting, they think of defense contracts and other big investments, but the truth is there are contracts for pretty much anything you can imagine.

Getting Approved

One of the things that make people reluctant to do Government contracting is that the process to get approved to be a government contractor seems complex, and to a degree, that is true. Like with many things in life — if it were easy, everyone would do it.

If being an entrepreneur was easy, everybody would be one, and it’s no different with Government contracting. It isn’t impossible, nor is it going to put you in a predicament. There are things you need to do to get approved, but it’s not much different from registering a regular business. Plus, there are various workarounds available as well.

Becoming a Government Contractor

Before you start selling to the Federal Government, you’ll need to have something that the Government would be interested in buying. Secondly, you need to be able to pay your bills. If you’re set up as an entrepreneur, and you’re struggling to pay your bills, going into Government contracting may not be the best idea.

You’ll want to make sure that you’re able to sustain your lifestyle regardless of whether a government contract lands or not. When it comes to the products that the Government is interested in buying, they are all listed at sam.gov

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How to Build Connections on LinkedIn the Right Way (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Viveka von Rosen discusses how to build connections on LinkedIn the right way. Viveka von Rosen helps sales professionals create more qualified and quality conversations.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The problem with LinkedIn today
Why one must approach LinkedIn an invitation as they would a real-life introduction
How to make connections on LinkedIn the right way

Perfect Storm of Spam

When the business world went “virtual” during the pandemic, everybody was desperately searching for ways to prospect and connect, so people flocked to LinkedIn. As a result of that, or perhaps independently, LinkedIn introduced a few new tools during the same period, so we ended up with a bit of a “spam explosion.”

Unfortunately, an inbox full of spam invitations has become a common sight on the platform. It has led to many users decreasing their activity on LinkedIn or abandoning the business-focused social network altogether.

LinkedIn vs Real Life

During this time, companies were quick to tell their employees to get on LinkedIn, but they didn’t explain or teach their team members what to do there. If you were to go to your inbox right now, you’d likely find a number of invitations from people you don’t know, and even if the invitations are customized, there’s rarely any real thought put into them.

These problems have given LinkedIn a bad reputation recently, but there is a way to counter it. All you need is to do things as you would in real life. In a convention, you wouldn’t simply run up to someone, shove your business card in their face and shout “Hire me!” yet, for whatever reason, people feel that this is a perfectly appropriate course of action on LinkedIn.

Engaging with Prospects Naturally

So, what does it mean to work on your connections on LinkedIn as you would in real life? Viveka von Rosen recommends finding your prospects on LinkedIn and engaging with them if they’re active on the platform.

If the person you’re trying to connect with is sharing posts, engage on their post to build some top-of-mind awareness. This means you’ll have something to refer back to when you do reach out to them. By showing your prospects that you have spent time on their content, you show them that they’re important to you and makes them more likely to accept your invitation.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

How Graphic Design Impacts Customer Confidence and Sales (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Ian Bower discusses how graphic design impacts customer confidence and sales. Ian Bower owns Graphic Rhythm Designs, a design agency that helps digital marketers and small businesses with visual identity and graphic design challenges.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The importance of graphic design and brand identity
Why a company’s visual identity needs to remain consistent
How successful companies keep their visual identity consistent

Importance of Graphic Design

Sales teams and other groups within an organization often see the graphic design and visual elements in marketing as a nice addition, but they don’t often see the impact it has on customers and prospects. In this sense, graphic design is quite underestimated by many other departments.

In fact, graphic design and visual identity contribute massively to customer decisions and can be crucial for brand trust and confidence.

Consistent Visual Identity and Brand Confidence

When you think of a customer working through a funnel, especially one that’s on the fence about a company, they’re often looking for a reason not to buy a product. An inconsistent visual identity could create a perception of illegitimacy, or at the very least, make it look like a company doesn’t have it all together.

That’s when a prospect’s confidence fails, and they start to lose interest in pursuing the deal or business opportunity. Graphic design is hugely important when it comes to building prospect and customer confidence in this sense.

Keyholders

Unfortunately, a company’s visual identity can quickly become disjointed. The brand presents itself in different ways on various platforms or adds things that don’t “gel” with what is already there. Any inconsistency in terms of visual identity is intuitively noticed by customers and prospects and can lead to problems.

These situations arise from different people in the company all trying to do their own thing and contribute in their own way without really understanding the overall visual identity of the brand. Most companies that are successful in keeping their visual identity consistent have a “keyholder” — a person or group that has the final say on any design, making sure it fits with the overall brand identity.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.