Overview
On this episode of Business Insanity Talk Radio, we first talk to author and satirist Sarah Cooper about how to appear smart in meetings without even trying. Then, one of the biggest problems holding small business back is their poor branding. We talk to the host of a hit TV show that turns around small business brands to give you solutions. Plus, we’ll share the results of AT&T’s new survey that shows us the state of retail, who is thriving, and what are the factors for success. Also, we’ll introduce you to a company that is providing funding for small businesses in real-time so you can have money when you need it. Finally, we’ll talk to an immigrant who came to this country many years ago and built a thriving business and share his advice for other immigrants looking to do the same.
Listen
Segment 1: From the creator of the viral sensation “10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings” Sarah Cooper shows how to appear smart in less than half the time it takes to actually learn anything. She now has a book out called “100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings: How to Get By Without Even Trying”.
1:30 – Top tricks to appear smart in meetings: pace the room.
3:00 – “Can you go back a slide?”
3:45 – Translate percentages into fractions and vice versa.
4:45 – “Is it going to scale?”
5:15 – Draw a Venn diagram.
6:30 – Repeat what someone said, except repeat it very slowly.
7:30 – Interrupt someone and then let them continue.
8:30 – Make fun of yourself.
9:15 – Sit next to the leader of the meeting.
Segment 2: With her Neuro Human Branding™ method, Ali Craig weaves science, psychology, design, and human nature into an easy to apply system that any brand can use to grow their audience’s connections, conversions, and community. Fix My Brand with Ali Craig is a nine-week social experiment to take nine brands of all types and from around the world and transform them from fledgling to fierce competition. Season one of the show is now streaming on the Success Network through Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire.
15:30 – Why are so many small business brands such a mess?
16:15 – When is the right time to brand?
17:30 – Don’t have a lead funnel with no bucket at the end.
19:15 – What’s the magic bullet for changing a brand?
21:15 – What do you do if you don’t know what direction to take your brand?
23:30 – What’s the future of the show Fix My Brand with Ali Craig?
Segment 3: Michael Colaneri is Vice President for AT&T Global Business-Enterprise Solutions overseeing the Retail, Restaurant and Consumer Packaged Goods Vertical Organization.
31:00 – What does AT&T’s new survey measure?
31:45 – What is the state of retail in the US?
32:30 – What are the most important steps retailers need to take to thrive?
33:30 – Do retailers need to compete with the personalized experience of the web? What types of technology do retailers need to invest in to accomplish this?
35:30 – How can retailers leverage the cloud?
Segment 4: Kathryn Petralia is the cofounder of Kabbage, small business funding for the real world. When Rob Frohwein shared his idea for Kabbage with Kathryn, she immediately saw the value in using technology to reexamine lending. She believed funding decisions could be automated based on access to real-time data generated by numerous business operations rather than a lengthy, manual process.
40:30 – How did the idea for Kabbage come about?
41:15 – How does Kabbage work as an alternative to traditional banks and solve a problem in small business lending?
42:45 – Advice to small businesses on landing financing.
44:00 – How today’s small businesses are using working capital to grow.
44:45 – What’s next for small business lending?
45:45 – How many businesses has Kabbage funded?
Segment 5: Alex Dastmalchi grew up in war-torn Iran with a vision of moving to the United States and becoming a successful business owner. Working by age 16 and having escaped out of Iran with a passport from Austria, Alex arrived in America a year later and quickly launched a lifelong journey as an entrepreneur and business leader. Today, he is a U.S. citizen, an MBA college graduate, a devoted father, philanthropist, and CEO of multiple high-profit companies.
49:45 – Why did you leave your country? What challenges did you face as an immigrant?
51:00 – Why did you decide to start a business, a seemingly impossible task?
51:30 – What advice do you have for other immigrants wanting to start a business?
