Talking Business Now Kelly Scanlon & C-Suite Radio

Steve Wiideman, founder of Wiideman Consulting Group joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share his entrepreneurial journey discuss the latest trends in digital marketing, include voice search, SEO, SEM and inbound marketing. Prior to launching his own firm, Wiideman's career highlight was working at Disney, where his manager challenged him to rank #1 in Google for "SEO expert."
Tune in to discover:

Wiideman's tips for leaving the corporate world behind and taking the entrepreneurial plunge—including minimizing risks and finding talent.

Steps your business needs to take to respond to the changing needs and online habits of customers.

How the pandemic has impacted digital marketing.

Search engine marketing tips businesses can put to work right away, including diversifying online traffic sources.

How to measure the success of your SEO marketing efforts, including Google traffic.

The societal and security implications of voice search and the Internet of Things.


 WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT
Understanding how customer behavior has changed

MORE ABOUT STEVE WIIDEMAN
Wiideman confesses that he lives, breathes, and eats SEO, SEM, and inbound marketing. He also enjoys teaching others about digital marketing. As an adjunct professor at UCSD and CSUF, Steve is building the Academy of Search, online courses for SEO marketing. He also volunteers to help improve transparency and industry standards as an agency trainer.
An award-winning SEO strategist, Wiideman has worked with brands large and small for more than 22 years to improve their inbound marketing results. Among the larger brands Wiideman has assisted are Disney, Linksys, Belkin, Public Storage, Honda, Skechers, Applebee's, IHOP and Dole.
He conducts online video and in-person presentations at conferences and tradeshows around the country on topics as the history of SEO, link-earning, multi-location ranking factors, pay-per-click advertising, responding to search engine updates, and others. He's also a frequent panelist and speaker at online marketing events, meet-up groups and networking events. 

CONNECT WITH STEVE WIIDEMAN


Facebook: facebook.com/wiideman



Twitter: twitter.com/wiideman



LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/wiideman



RESOURCES

Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/digital-entrepreneur-on-voice-seo/



Free Checklist to determine whether your SEO agency is being transparent and following SEO best practices: https://www.seoverified.com/free-downloads/


Get real-time feedback from real customers: UserTesting.com


Enter a keyword to discover the questions internet users are asking about it: AnswerThePublic.com



 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Manik Suri, founder of climatetech company Therma, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss the ways companies of all sizes can adopt tools and processes that are better for our planet—and help create efficiencies that lead to more sustainable enterprises.
Therma is a smart cold-chain technology startup that builds safety and sustainability tools such as sensors to eliminate food waste, energy inefficiency, and refrigerant emissions to protect consumers. The company's mission aligns with Suri's passion: combating climate change by protecting our food, health and planet.
Therma's technologies are used around the globe by several major restaurant chains, manufacturers, and logistics operators, including McDonalds, Taco Bell, NOW Foods, 7-Eleven, and Wyndham Hotels.
Tune in to find out:

The business case for innovation in the food industry: How entrepreneurs can marry profitability and sustainability

How policy makers, regulators and entrepreneurs can work together to achieve meaningful impact

Tools that help businesses using refrigeration and refrigerated products to reduce waste of energy, product, and refrigerants—all big drivers of emissions that impact climate change.

The scope of the food industry's impact on climate change, including food waste and the kinds of food we eat

New technologies that will drive change in the food industry

Challenges with security as our food supply chain becomes more technology-driven


WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT
Why it's important to make sure the work you do matters

MORE ABOUT MANIK SURI
Before founding Therma, Suri co-founded the Governance Lab, an innovation center at NYU that developed technology solutions to improve government. A former affiliate of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Suri has held positions at D. E. Shaw & Company and the White House National Economic Council. 
He has a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard College, a master of philosophy degree in international relations from Cambridge University, and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Suri has published in leading academic journals, edited volumes, and national media outlets, and he was a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and a Truman Security Fellow. He writes on technology, climate change and public policy.
  
CONNECT WITH MANIK SURI

Facebook Link https://www.facebook.com/hellotherma/


Twitter Link https://twitter.com/HelloTherma


LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/company/hellotherma/



RESOURCES
Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/climatetech-entrepreneur-protects-food-planet/

 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Christopherson, founder of iCUE Technology and Achieve Today, joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how integrating people with cloud-based technology invites and enables employees to learn in a new way.
Tune in to find out:

How Christopherson's efforts to improve outreach to Achieve Today clients resulted in a technology solution that he was able to spin off into a new company.

Tips for launching a new company from within an existing business.

The advantages of using AI technology to keep employees engaged in education and training programs.

The importance of addressing challenges in an employee's personal life into ongoing training programs.

How to balance the benefits of technology with the risk of becoming overly dependent on it.


WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT
The role of technology in the future of education

CONNECT WITH JOSH CHRISTOPHERSON
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherson

RESOURCES
Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/technology-solution-spins-out-new-edtech-company/

 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephan Aarstol, founder of Tower Paddle Boards and author of "The Five-hour Workday," joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss his company's experience implementing a shortened workday.
Tune in to find out why Aarstol decided to promote a 5-hour workday; the lessons he learned from it, including the ways in which it failed and succeeded; and why he reintroduced a shortened workday in 2020 with a "twist."
Aarstol also shares his Shark Tank experience, how his company recovered from near bankruptcy and the loss of half its employees, and the value of creating "artificial constraints" in a business,
WHAT WE SHOULD BE TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT
How to build an "anti-fragile" company
MORE ABOUT STEPHAN AARSTOL
A serial entrepreneur, Aarstol founded Tower Paddle Boards in 2010 and later founded the No Middleman Project, Tower Electric Bikes, and other companies,
When Aarstol pitched on Shark Tank in 2011, Mark Cuban invested $150,000 in the company when it had lifetime sales of just $100,000. Since then, the company has achieved more than $40 million in sales.
In 2014, the San Diego Business Journal named Tower Paddle Boards the #1 fastest growing private company in San Diego. Just a year later, the company ranked #239 on the INC 500 list of America's fastest growing companies.
Tower Paddle Boards was the #1 brand of more than 2 million third-party sellers that signed up for the pilot Amazon Exclusives program. Tower was named to Internet Retailer's 2016 "Hot 100" list of the world's most innovative e-retailers.
CONNECT WITH STEPHAN AARSTOL
Website: https://www.towerpaddleboards.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/towerpaddleboard/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Towerpb
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TowerSUP/
RESOURCES
Transcript of this episode: https://interrobangsolutions.com/work-less-and-paddle-more/
The Five-hour Workday book: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Hour-Workday-Differently-Productivity-Happiness-ebook/dp/B01FGAFDBO
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claudia Harvey is an avid gardener. But she was also a businesswoman who liked having her nails and hands in good shape at the office. After mentioning her frustration to a friend at a backyard Labor Day BBQ in 2007, she realized there was a marketplace need for gloves and other products that would protect women as they gardened. With that conversation, the seed for Dig It Apparel, a line of outdoor living products, was planted. After a year of research in which Harvey discovered that both the gardening industry and the nail salon industry were growing—and that the same women were customers in both industries—the company launched in spring 2009 in Canada. Initially, Dig It Apparel offered one product—a line of niche handwear. The company has since expanded its product line and its geographical reach.
Harvey joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share her entrepreneurial story, which has taken her on a journey from a small town outside Toronto, Canada (where Dig It is headquartered) to global serial entrepreneurship with products in Home Depot Canada, Lowes Canada, nurseries, lawn and garden centers, pharmacies, hardware stores and other outlets throughout the world and offices in Buffalo, New York, and Brisbane, Australia.
In late 2020, Dig It purchased Suncayr and its product SPOTMYUV, the world's first clinically proven UV detection sticker that provides users with a reminder of when it's time to reapply sunscreen based on personal indicators. Claudia is also an investor, best-selling author, speaker, and philanthropist.
Tune in to discover:

How her mom's life journey inspired her own journey.

Insights Harvey has gleaned from her various entrepreneurial endeavors.

What her deal with Kevin O'Leary taught her about business, including being included as the "perfect pitch" in O'Leary's book "The Cold Hard Truth."

Harvey's experience as a contributing author of “America's Leading Ladies,” alongside Oprah Winfrey and Melinda Gates.

How to apply Harvey's Three Pillars of Possibility to lead a fulfilling, well-rounded life.

Harvey's system for helping businesses adopt the right strategies to move forward.

Harvey's advice for making your money work for you.


Why social entrepreneurship is important to Harvey and how she's incorporated it into her product line.


WHAT CLAUDIA HARVEY IS TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT
Amplification

CONNECT WITH CLAUDIA HARVEY
□       Facebook: https://facebook.com/claudiaharveyinc
□       Twitter: @CHarveyInc
□       LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiaharvey/
RESOURCES

Episode Transcript: https://interrobangsolutions.com/garden-manicure-mishap-sprouts-dig-it-apparel/


America's Leading Ladies (Claudia is chapter 2)

The 5 Strategies That Lead to an Unstoppable Life (free e-book)



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Excy co-founder and CEO Michele Mehl joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to share the story behind her company's 2014 launch and the lessons she's learned as she's steered it into a national brand.
The Seattle-based startup develops, manufactures, and sells portable, total-body exercise bikes. Mehl's mission is to eliminate barriers to people getting enough exercise—health conditions, injuries, and lack of time and space—so people can conveniently connect exercise to the circumstances of their everyday lives. The 14-pound bikes provide cardio, strength training, and full-body physical therapy cycling. The company also offers a mobile coaching application.
Excy (short for "exercise cycling") grew out of Mehl's own life circumstances, more specifically her personal fitness woes, a challenging work schedule as the owner of a PR company that helped launch brands such as Zulily and OfferUp into market leaders, and a family history of heart disease. As she thought about how to create a better, more convenient way to exercise for a healthier quality of life, she recruited her co-founder, Mike Rector, to begin prototyping a portable stationary exercise bike, one that offered the same quality of exercises people could find at a gym or spin class but that was portable enough to use anywhere.
An injury Mehl suffered shortly before product launch, though unfortunate, proved to be timely. Her badly broken leg required a rod, screws, and a plate, and resulted in a blood clot. Facing surgeries, months of wearing a boot, and a crooked leg for the rest of her life, the duo used the injury as inspiration to innovate the bike's design and create a product that has become essential to rehab patients and people with diseases and disabilities that keep them from accessing traditional exercise equipment and routines.
Today, the multimillion-dollar company employs dozens of associates and has been featured in Inc., MSNBC, The Huffington Post, the Sacramento Bee, the Seattle Times and several other regional and national media outlets.
Tune in to find out:

How to use Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms to glean important market data, not just funds.

Why she abandoned an effort to raise millions of dollars in venture capital and focused instead on an intentional, steady growth trajectory focused on her customers.

How she's used content marketing, especially video, as an effective tool to connect with customers and grow sales—and why content marketing requires a longtail approach.

Why being "all in" on the company doesn't mean compromising the people and things she values most.

The advantages of creating a "universal" product design.

Why inclusiveness has been key to Excy's success.


WHAT MICHELE MEHL IS TALKING BUSINESS NOW ABOUT
Connection, Not Perfection - listen in near the end of the episode to find out why she thinks this is so important.

CONNECT WITH MICHELE MEHL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/excyfit
Twitter: https://twitter.com/excyfit
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelemehlexcy

RESOURCES
Episode Transcript: https://interrobangsolutions.com/exercise-bike-builds-strong-bodies-strong-business/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices