Success Champions Magazine - September 2020

September 2020 • Issue 7 • Networking

SUCCESS CHAMPIONS

featured article: be the ripple you want to see in the world

“Quote”

- Author

Special Badass business Conference issue

Success Champions

Contents 4 What a year for success champions magazine!

26 How to be authentic ... authentically

Donnie Boivin shares his thoughts on the magazine’s firt anniversary.

Donald R Dodson, Jr.. dissects what it really means to be authentic

6 Badass Business Summit Speakers insert

29 Blogs are still a thing: here’s why

10 Stop wasting time on linkedin

30 Chapter Network Success challenge winner profiles

Preview the Speakers for the Conference.

Nate Peo shares insight in using LinkedIn effectively by taking action, providing content and solving problems.

12 Brand images bring bigger success

Michelle Henry shares tips on using personal brand images to move your brand forward.

16 You don’t have a sales problem!

Donnie Boivin gives the nuts and bolts of how to connect, converse and even sell.

24 feature: Be the ripple you want to see in the world

Feature Article on CEO of How to Build A Brand and Founder of One Drop Movement, Sammy Blindell.

Laura Di Franco explains how to best use blogs (Yes they are still important!).

Profiles of the winners of the SCN Network Challenge - Bethesda Chapter..

32 best online learning platforms for your intellectual property

Lorianne Vaughan Speaks explores the best platforms for courses.

36 how to grow your email list with facebook groups Kevin snow breaks down the ways you can use Facebook groups to grow your email list.

38 Instagram 2020 updates Sarah Ankney shares the 2020 updates to Instagram.

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Success Champions

What A Year for Success Champions magazine!

H

oly hell in a handbasket! Can you believe this is the first anniversary of Success Champions Magazine? In one year, we have learned a lot about publishing a magazine but we have learned a fuck-ton about business from all the contributors. Thank you for your awesome support and trusting us as we continue to up our game to bring you the best of the best of the Success Champions.

This anniversary edition is rad. It’s the most business development strategy and techniques we have ever compiled. From LinkedIn strategies, Facebook tactics, and how your images can help you sell.

The feature article with Sammy Blindell is an amazing story of one woman changing the world, one drop at a time. There are so many nuggets of gold in there and please read it because there

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is an opportunity to give back to my favorite charity.

Building Success Champions has been a helluva ride, but I won’t say I have loved every minute. I have, however, learned from every minute. Every step of the way, you, my champions have been the thing that keeps me going. Thank you for being you, and cheers to continued success.

Donnie

Badass Business Summit Speakers

Badass Business Summit speakers are some of the foremost thought leaders and innovators in their industries and they are experts in generating business exposure and business development.

Donnie Boivin Founding Badass, Success Champions

An award-winning professional sales trainer, top-200 iTunes podcaster, Marine Corps Veteran, and owner of Success Champions, you better be ready for the badassery that is Donnie Boivin.

Donnie learned what it took to be successful in sales, business and life over two decades of experience. At the age of 40 he realized he’d been living other people’s dreams and began chasing his own.

“I took the biggest risk in my life and opened up my own business!”

Donnie went from knowing nothing about running his own business and being on the brink of failure to launching his world-renowned Success Champions podcast, interviewing influencers in business and then building a business that’s now kicking ass and taking names.

Building on his experience, mindset, perseverance and attitude, Donnie now not only grew a profitable business…he’s creating other champions who are changing the world. He inspires entrepreneurs to be brave, take action and take things to the next level.

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Badass Business Summit Speakers

Nikole Dickman CEO, Envoy Managed Services

Nikole “It’s not really my story it’s the story of everyone around me.”

That’s what Nikole would say if you asked her to walk you through her journey. Finding herself in a situation where she was going to be relocated and didn’t want to make the move, she took the severance package and walked away. The team she had been working with for the last decade were facing the same situation as well. Instead of parting ways, Nikole started a company, brought her team onboard, and they walked right back into their previous company as consultants to finish the project her team had started.

Nikole is a humble CEO, never taking credit for creating anything, instead always crediting the team. She is an expert in finance and uses her knowledge to lead her IT company.

Stevie Dawn Carter Founder, Stevie Dawn Inspires

Dr. Stevie Dawn serves as CEO of Stevie Dawn Inspires, a platform dedicated to helping people be productive at work and happy at home. Whether it is through corporate training programs, leadership development days, coaching entrepreneurs, or speaking at conferences, Stevie Dawn always delivers high-energy, impactful sessions. With a variety of experience in the corporate, non-profit, and governmental sectors, her educational background includes a master’s degree in Sociology from Wichita State University and a doctorate in Leadership from Colorado State University. With over 20 years of teaching and training experience, Dr. Stevie Dawn delivers training sessions with humor and high-energy that leave all participants inspired.

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Badass Business Summit Speakers

Stacey Magovern CEO, Point Blank Safety Services and Blue Family Fund

Born and raised in Abilene Texas. Stacey grew up in retail. After graduating with a BA in Communications for National University Stacey opened her first retail store. In 2005 Stacey met and married Michael Magovern, a police officer.

Stacey and Michael later moved to DFW. As the wife of a police officer helping first responders became a passion for Stacey. She started Point Blank Safety in 2012, a management company for off duty work for police officers. After a phenomenal success with Point Blank Safety Stacey wanted to do more to pay it forward. In 2017 she founded Blue Family Fund, a nonprofit that provides scholarships and financial aid to families of first responders.

Stacey is a natural leader with experience in managing large sales teams with proven results in launching new products and services. She has spent her career developing her ability to build, maintain and develop customer relationships which result in her achieving both customer growth and a high retention.

Jeff Gerred

Creative Director and Co-Founder, LOVE Media Group Jeff Gerred is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of LOVE Media Group; A mission-driven creative agency based in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 2008, Jef became the youngest ever Marketing Director at Teletouch Communications. And in 2013 he left to launch his own creative agency, which he grew to a seven-figure agency with over 30 employees. After the sale of that agency in 2019, he launched the mission-driven Creative Agency: LOVE Media Group. “My goal through LOVE Media Group is to give 10% of our time to worthy nonprofits. We have also chosen to work exclusively with brands that are giving back to the community. My ultimate goal, through our donations, and through the donations of our clients - is to give away $1M to worthy nonprofits.�

Jeff is a husband, father, and occasional YouTuber.

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Badass Business Summit Speakers

Charles Read, CPA

Charles Read has 50 years of financial leadership experience in a broad range of industries, as well as a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

His background stretches across accounting, tax, manufacturing, construction, information technology, marketing, transportation, logistics, human resources, wholesale distribution, insurance, credit, and more.

One of 86 people in the last 16 years to pass the US Tax Court NonAttorney Practitioners Examination, which enables him to represent clients in the US Tax Court without being an attorney.

A decorated United States Marine Corps sergeant, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He authored three e-books: Starting a New Business: Accounting, Finance, Payroll, and Tax Considerations, Small Business Short Course (Employees Book 1) and The Little Black Book of the Beauty Biz, Volume 1. as well as numerous articles and blogs.

Kevin Snow Founder, Time On Target

Kevin Snow is the owner of Time On Target, a sales expert, and a serious technology geek who knows how to help his clients take their automation game to the next level.

With a 20-year career working with brands like Frontier Communications, Nextel, Salesforce, and BNI, his knowledge, skills and understanding of communication and technology are getting real results for the small businesses he works with. Kevin knows how to integrate digital technology with your sales process in an authentic, professional way. He’ll show you what’s been missing in terms of ensuring an effective system of outreach, and trust-building.

Part entrepreneur, part sales person, part technology master and part Star Wars fan…how can you afford not to have Kevin on your team this year?

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Success Champions First, it’s a blue ocean. This is a chance to grab some prime networking real estate.

None of your clients are on there? Good!

Stop Wasting Time on LinkedIn

By Nate Peo

P “Value on LinkedIn is solving problems.”

robably by now, everybody has told you that you need to get on LinkedIn. The experts have spoken and they’re telling you that to be successful, you need to be networking and you need to be active on the social media platform if you’re going to grow your business. But you’ve been on LinkedIn and none of your customers or clients are posting. So, instead of posting, you end up scrolling through the feeds a few times a week, maybe liking an interesting article, but not doing anything - You have to stop wasting time on LinkedIn!

The difference between you and them is they’re not liking, commenting, and not posting; so it just looks like they’re invisible, but they’re there and they’re watching.

How do I know? Because I’ve been told many times in person, by people that have never liked my posts, never commented on my posts and never post themselves that they see my posts every day and they like what I’m doing.

We can conclude that the chances are, your customers are doing this same thing. Now, if they’re on there looking, that means you can get your profile in front of them and you better be posting some valuable content.

Let’s define ‘Valuable content.’ Valuable content isn’t ‘Hey, look at my business and how awesome it is and how much it’s gonna change your life!’ No, not at all... Value on LinkedIn is solving problems.

The problems you want to be solved or you want to solve are not ‘How can you as a person can become my customer’ no, they have other problems. Those other problems are where you provide the value.

“When you start posting valuable content daily, you’re going to start getting in front of potential customers and grabbing valuable digital real estate.”

Hold on for a second, I don’t mean what you think I mean – I don’t mean get off LinkedIn and don’t even bother.

What you need to do instead is get active, post engaging content, start liking some people’s posts, send some connection requests, make a few comments on their posts, and start commenting on their comments.

Why do you ask?

None of my customers were on LinkedIn - Now my clients are on LinkedIn.

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Now you can start getting seen, getting known, and build a base before they have a chance to do it.

None of your customers are on there? That’s where you’re wrong.

Most people have a LinkedIn account and if they have a LinkedIn account, they’re doing just what you’re doing - they’re logging on and lurking and scrolling through the feed.

www.DonnieBoivin.com

You answer the questions and provide information that they find useful. To be clear, it’s not ‘Hey

Networking

look at this shiny object,’ instead, it’s ‘Hey let me explain to you about this shiny object, what it does, why it’s beneficial to you.’ You could also provide insight into who you are as a company and the heart and soul behind what you do.

Not sure where to get started? Check out my 5 Things You Can Do Now to Start Standing Out on LinkedIn guide on my website www.natepeo.com.

The goal is to post valuable content daily. When you start posting valuable content daily, you’re going to start getting in front of potential customers and grabbing valuable digital real estate.

This will also help more people discover you and your business, which will in turn give you more opportunities and create more inbound leads.

“When you start posting valuable content daily, you’re going to start getting in front of potential customers and grabbing valuable digital real estate.”

In conclusion, if you’re on LinkedIn scrolling aimlessly not participating in the conversation, you’re wasting your time. Meanwhile, there’s a good chance your competition will seize this opportunity, sneak in, and they’re the ones that are going to land grab. Please, I’m begging you, do yourself a favor and get out there. Be bold because as we all know, Fortune favors the bold.

Unleash Your Inner Badass

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Success Champions

Brand Images Bring Bigger Success

in your industry?

Do you want to be a best-selling author?

Do you want to easily pivot in your business and bring your audience with you?

If you said yes to any of these questions, then stay with me,

What are personal brand photos anyway?

Personal brand photos are images that result from intentionally creating a visual interpretation of the concepts you want to communicate to your target audience and transformations your product or service provides to your ideal clients.

Yes, that’s my “technical definition” but since that’s pretty boring, I’ll also put it this way:

By Melissa Henry

“Did you know that social media posts that include images produce 650% higher engagement than text only posts?”

I

know, getting your photos taken is about as much fun as…going to the dentist. No offense to dentists; but if you are one, I bet you don’t like having your photo taken either!

I’ll bet when you started your business, you realized you needed a headshot for your LinkedIn profile and website. So, you found a headshot photographer and ended up with a decent professional photo of yourself on a boring gray background that shows people what you look like.

And hey, that’s all you really need. I mean you aren’t trying to become an Instagram influencer, you just want to have a successful business, right?

Well, let me ask you…

Do you dream of creating a wildly successful online business?

Are you a speaker who wants to land big stages and get paid to speak?

Do you dream of becoming known as the expert

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Personal brand images help you: • Stand out from your competition • Show your ideal client why they should

Networking like and trust you • Show your audience what makes you unique/why they should choose YOU • Sell your offers and services • Sell more books!

• Show event organizers why they should choose you to speak at their event Besides all of those pretty amazing things your personal brand photos can do for you and your business, here’s something really interesting:

branding is to highlight your uniqueness and why your ideal client should choose you, no one list of specific images will work for all people.

That said, I’ve put together some general ideas for images you can, and should have for your business: A high-quality horizontal image that can be used as the “hero” image on your website. For most service-based business, you can make this an image of you, you working with a “client” OR a client after they have experienced “transformation” as a

“Brand photos catapult you to a level that’s above and beyond your competition because they can’t touch you - you are unique!”

Did you know that social media posts that include images produce 650% higher engagement than text only posts? Yes, that saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is totally true!

Here’s more branding badassery: Brand photos catapult you to a level that’s above and beyond your competition because they can’t touch you you are unique!

You’re the only YOU there is, my friend!

What images Should I Have The possibilities for your brand images are practically endless. Since the whole point of

result of working with you.

Based on what you think is the most important personality trait that connects you with your ideal client, create an image that shows off your personality. The key here is being super intentional about connecting with that client.

Create images that show emotion. For example, if you want your clients to feel empowered and confident, an image of a client standing in a power pose looking towards the “future” with a smile really drives home the point!

Create some “behind the scenes” images too! It’s a

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Success Champions an ASSET to your business! When you are intentional about how you create and use these assets, you’ll see big results, bigger impact, bigger audiences and more success!

“At the end of the day, personal brand images are an ASSET to your business!”

fact that people will feel closer to you if you show them that little peek behind the curtain of what you do in your business.

Using your brand photos You may be thinking, “Hey Melissa, thanks for this great article but where the heck would I even use photos like these anyway?”

I’m here to tell you that you can use your images to connect with your target audience in tons of ways. Here’s how my clients have used their images to grow their business: Website Profiles and banners for social media Speaker bios and one-sheets Blog posts Media kits Podcast art and video podcast intros Social media posts Newsletters Lead pages Lead magnets Webinars Book covers Magazine articles, and much more!

At the end of the day, personal brand images are

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Melissa Henry, CEO of Melissa Demple Photography, helps speakers, authors and entrepreneurs become KNOWN as experts in their space. Walk away feeling like a rock star with powerful clarity on your personal brand and unique images that wow your target audience, help you sell out your programs and books, and win coveted keynote spots!

Featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global and on podcasts like The Rita Made Me Do It Show, No Fat Cats, and Two Girls Talking, Melissa understands the challenges of standing out in the crowded marketplace and will make sure you and your business do too!

Success Champions into giving up. I don’t know how they sleep at night, but they are good at it.

You don’t have a sales problem!

Nope, you have a business development problem.

“What most of you suck at is getting to that damn conversation.

Because no one teaches it - or very few at least.”

don’t care what the gurus say; there’s only thing that separates good salespeople from badass salespeople. That’s business development. Let me explain.

Most people who teach sales or selling, built their career in transactional sales. One time closes and they didn’t care if the individual ever came back.

What most of their training and coaching focuses on what to say and do once you’re in a sales call or conversation. What they suck at telling you is how to actually get into that call or conversation.

Why? Because most transactional salespeople have customers coming to them. They walk on a car lot or in a store and already are looking for what you sell.

Man, if people came to me over the years already looking to buy, I would have made a helluva lot more money. Unfortunately for most people in transactional sales, their commissions suck ass.

When you learn from people who only know transactional sales and not how to build relationships you learn conversational tactics.

Mindgames, where you learn to say x when a customer says y.

They are wicked smart in that conversation, and they can show how to quickly manipulate a person

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That conversation for most people is really simple.

Focus on the person, listen to their needs, bond with them, get real with them and they will agree to work with you. Because you both win.

What most of you suck at is getting to that damn conversation. Because no one teaches it - or very few at least.

So, for the rest of this article, I am going to teach you what I know about what has worked for me to get to those conversations.

By Donnie Boivin

I

Here is what I know. Most of you reading this have had some amazing conversations that lead to awesome relationships that ultimately lead you to have a client for life.

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You ready? Let’s do this shit.

Business development and sales are not the same thing. Sales is the result of business development activity. Easier said. Business development is all the things you do to get to a sales conversation.

Networking It’s the reach outs, the networking, the referrals, the speaking, and, yep, the phone calls.

I’m going to go through each one of these and give you the tips and tactics that have worked for me over the years.

Reach outs Also known as DMs (Direct Messages), PMs (Private Messages), and those fucking things I hate doing because I hate to get them from people who just want to sell me shit. Yep, those wonderful things.

Reach outs have become my goldmine for all my programs, groups, and conferences. People want to talk if you will just let them. Unfortunately, most people suck at reach outs because that’s all they want to do is sell their shit.

Here are the “Don’ts” of Reach Outs.

Don’t copy-paste your initial reach out – Trust me you will forget to change a name and all of sudden Donnie becomes Jasmine (it happened and now people in the Success Champion Facebook group call me Jasmine) that’s what I get for showing them. lol Don’t sell on the first reach outs. It’s like going to the bar seeing a hot person and walking up and saying “let’s get married” it might work but it’s a guaranteed recipe to be married to an asshole.

Don’t verbally puke all over them about you or your company because guess what they don’t give a shit about you

Here are the “Do’s” in reach outs Have an easy yes on the first reach out. If you are connecting with someone tell them why without selling them shit. For example. We have Virtual networking groups all over the world. I send DMs all the time that say. “Hey Mike, we have a Virtual Networking Group in Chicago would that be something your interested in?” Or you could say “Hey Mike do you use labels on your products?” or “Hey Mike is Branding on your radar this year?”

All of these are easy yes/no responses and the responses are high. Why because you are asking a question that they can say yes or no too.

Realize that most people are LinkedIn were guilttripped on to the platform. Some guru told them that to be professional they needed a LinkedIn profile. So, they set it up and have never looked at it. Really this one should have said expect a very low response rate from reach outs. That’s ok when they do respond it’s a better conversation.

Stay consistent. I’m nuts, I do 100 reach outs every day. Why because I know it takes a lot of damn reach outs to get to a “hell yes.” You should do 10 a day no matter what to your ideal perfect avatar.

Have patience, just because you’re sitting at your computer sending messages doesn’t mean that they are. Shit for me I get a response from messages I sent over a year ago. Remember the whole guilt trip thing?

“Reach outs have become my goldmine for all my programs, groups, and conferences.

People want to talk if you will just let them.”

The bottom line on reach outs is to be a fucking human that actually likes themselves and is interested in other people. Go have conversations and quit trying to sell your shit.

Here is a good conversation flow for reach outs.

This is a real conversation from LinkedIn with the name changed.

Donnie Boivin 6:59 AM - Danika, can you tell me more about what you do?

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Success Champions Danika Smith, MBA sent the following message at 7:02 AM - Hi Donnie, I’m a financial advisor. I help people achieve their financial goals.

For example, I help them retire comfortably and stay retired.

SUNDAY Donnie Boivin sent the following message at 7:58 AM - Would you be interested in a virtual networking group we started in the Barrie area?

MONDAY Danika Smith, MBA sent the following message at 11:22 AM - What’s it called and the goal of the members?

“That’s a lot of trust in introducing people to your best clients. To do that you really got to get to know somebody. “

Donnie Boivin sent the following message at 1:36 PM

Networking Networking is growing other people’s businesses.

Yep, it’s knowing exactly who other people need to meet to grow their business then making that connection.

The “Don’ts” of networking Don’t be that guy. You know what I mean. The one that jumps on a zoom call and won’t shut the fuck up and only wants to sell their shit and could give a rat’s ass about you or your business. You’re are literally a dollar sign to them. Shut up and get curious about people.

“Don’t be that guy. You know what I mean. The one that jumps on a zoom call and won’t shut the fuck up and only wants to sell their shit and could give a rat’s ass about you or your business.”

Success Champions Networking. The focus is simple if I can get you to the right prospects and the exact people you need to me then all business wins. Networking is about growing other people’s business.

TUESDAY

Danika Smith, MBA sent the following message at 2:23 PM - That sounds reasonable Donnie. Let me know how it works and let’s see how we can make something happen. I’m open to it.

TODAY Donnie Boivin sent the following message at 6:37 AM - We meet Fridays at 7:30 am via zoom.

If you can make it here is a link. ***Zoom Link*** Danika Smith, MBA sent the following message at 8:38 AM - I’ll jump on this Friday, I’m looking forward to participating.

Donnie Boivin sent the following message at 9:34 AM – Looking forward to meeting you

Don’t do other shit why you are having a conversation. Even in the days of zoom we all see you playing a game on your phone, reading emails, or posting on social media. Be into the conversation. If the conversation sucks either call it or fix it.

Don’t sell unless they know it’s a sales call.

Nothing worse than expecting to have a “get to know you conversation” and the person you’re talking to goes into some presentation about their shit. If people are interested in your shit they will tell you so. If they do ask if you can transition into the conversation into a sales conversation or if you should schedule another call: let them dictate that. Its karma - trust me - it comes around.

The “Do’s” of networking Give a shit about people. Invest in their story and want to learn about them. This is about getting to know them so well you can introduce them to your best clients. That’s a lot of trust in introducing people to your best clients. To do that you really got to get to know somebody. Be “In” to them and understand their world. You did it right if you walk away from that conversation with two or three people they should meet.

Always have your introduction radar on. You have

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Networking

people they should meet. I don’t care what you do unless you live in a cave on a rock island in the middle of nowhere you got people. Open doors for others. Be the person that is always top of mind when they need a product or service. Be a walking contact list. You are doing this right if you are constantly getting asked’ Hey Sally who do you know someone that does X Do make an introduction and referrals. An introduction is two people that need to meet. A referral is someone is looking for the services of the other. I needed an article for this magazine, so I asked the networking group who could do that and I was paying and guess what a bunch of names came up and referrals were made. That’s a referral. I need some Get shit done people who could start networking chapters. A ton of introductions have been made and some of those have started groups. Those are introductions The bottom line in networking is to grow other people’s business. Don’t worry the world will take care of you. You just open as many doors for others and good shit happens.

Referrals Now you know what a referral is let’s dive in.

Referral Don’ts Don’t assume a referral is a closed deal. Actually, assume it’s just an introduction and the other person has no clue why your meeting. Why because otherwise you will get too excited and fuck up the conversation by becoming a salesperson. Go into it to have a conversation.

Don’t hound the referral; we are all fucking busy.

Well except for Timmy he is shuffling business cards across his desk but the rest of you know you got a lot of shit on your plate. Just like dating.

Follow up the referral immediately then let it soak for a couple of days. If you get no response send another message. By the third time, reach out to the person who referred and let them know.

“The bottom line in networking is to grow other people’s business.

Don’t worry the world will take care of you.”

Don’t make the person who referred you look bad.

You fuck them doing that and you screw yourself too. Make the referrer look like a fucking Rockstar.

The Referral Do’s Do go into the conversation praising the person who gave you the referral. Say shit like “Man, Laura is a badass and when she tells me I need to meet someone I know it’s gonna be a fun conversation” Put the refer on a pedestal. They just put their brand on the line introducing you.

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Success Champions Do go above and beyond to get to know the person you got referred to. Even more so than on a networking call. Dive into the person to understand them. Don’t try and sell your shit right out the gate. (See Don’t ins networking) Do follow up with the person who referred you.

This is a killer. Ever given a referral and have no clue what happened to it? How else are you going to teach people what a badass referral is and what shitty referral is? Tell them what happened.

The bottom line on referrals be a badass for them. Treat it like a get to know ya, and enjoy the conversation.

“If you are NOT speaking virtually or in public you are missing a huge fucking opportunity in your business.”

Don’t be perfect. Oh, this drives me fucking nuts.

So many speakers have been trained to follow some sort of routine when they speak. Stand here when you say this. Stand here when you say that.

Use this hand gesture when you say that. Fuck all that. You are a person and not a robot. Have fun.

Don’t follow a script verbatim. Ok, I am not 100% against notes or a PowerPoint as long as they are not a crutch. Too many people read from slides and such, and never talk to the audience. I’ve giving multiple-day workshops, trust me it’s ok to have shit to keep you on point. Just know that what it is for. Just like a page of contents in a book they just need to know what the next chapter is.

Don’t give your life story just to prolong the presentation.

Holy fuck its annoying when someone spends 45 minutes of an hour-long presentation touting their accolades and not teaching shit. Nobody gives a shit how many years you have been in business or what awards you have won.

The Do’s of speaking.

Speaking Ok, soapbox time. I feel like I have had quite a few so far but here is one more. If you are NOT speaking virtually or in public you are missing a huge fucking opportunity in your business. Get over your fear and get in the game. But - but - but… and hush; just go speak. I know that’s tough, but damn, so much business comes from being in front of people. Learn, embrace it, do it.

Go speak.

Don’t of speaking.

Don’t drone the fuck on. Speaking is like having a conversation with a group of people. Don’t keynote - just talk and let them ask questions. If the audience isn’t engaging, then you’re just being

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a college professor and not helping them.

www.DonnieBoivin.com

Edutain. Educate and entertain.. It’s a speech, not the Gettysburg address (even though I bet that was a badass speech). Give them information, keep it light, let them ask questions, and for the love of Gawd, laugh especially when you fuck up. I have another nickname it’s REX, I fucked up my own acronym on stage it was supposed to be RELAX and I forgot the L and the A. (Ya the champions won’t let me live that shit down lol.) But I stop midspeech and laugh then ask the crowd why they didn’t call me out. They laughed; I laughed, and I went back to cover L and A. Be yourself. Seriously relax and just be you. This isn’t a popularity contest this is you helping others with your message in your style. Speak like you speak and talk like you talk. Be you. It’s the only

Networking way to truly connect with your audience.

Have a purpose and takeaways. Know what they should learn and the takeaways they should get and then help them learn them.

Phone Calls I used to teach cold calling by standing in front of a room of people and doing live dials on speakerphone. Why? Because it scared the shit out of me, and it showed what I was teaching was working.

The Don’ts of Phone calls Don’t “just” – Don’t use the word just. I am just calling, I just wanted to say. You are literally trying to justify what your calling about Don’t smash them over the head. Have you ever gotten a phone call where the person calling immediately goes into a 100 mph sales pitch? Tell them why your calling. I work for XYZ company do you use labels from products?

Don’t keep it about you. Shut up and ask questions. The greatest skill in sales is the ability to ask the right questions.

The Do’s on Phone calls Relax it’s a conversation. Don’t worry about your pitch; get to know them. Speak to them how you would like someone to talk to you on the phone.

Have fun. One of my favorite things to do is to tell them what you’re doing. If it’s a cold call tell them if it’s a get to know ya tell them. Don’t hide that stuff, it makes you human.

Always get to the next step - One thing a lot of people screw up is getting closure.

A yes let’s talk further or do business, a no it’s over for now or scheduled next step. Don’t leave any conversation without closure.

Zoom Calls If I am awesome I don’t do phone calls anymore unless it’s a family or friend calling. Technology is amazing and I would rather see who I am talking to. I’ve told companies that try and sell me their stuff, no, simply because they wouldn’t jump on a Zoom call. Are you really that insecure? If you are that insecure about you how am I supposed to have confidence in what you will deliver?

The Don’ts of zoom calls Don’t use your computers camera and speakers.

Upgrade a little bit. Use AirPods, a headset, or anything to keep the noises in your office or house from playing through zoom. Get a better camera.

We want to see you.

Don’t have shitty internet. Upgrade and get better internet. It sucks to listen to someone talk and most of what they are saying is cut out.

Don’t railroad the conversation. It’s called a conversation, you know two people talking, back and forth. Learn to shut up and get curious about them.

The Do’s of zoom calls Have a cool background. If you don’t have one jump on amazon and buy a cheap backdrop you can set up and takedown. This is what I do.

Stand up – your body posture and your energy change when you stand up, so get in the game. I

“Don’t railroad the conversation.

It’s called a conversation, you know two people talking, back and forth.

Learn to shut up and get curious about them.”

Photo credit: mccun934 on VisualHunt.com / CC BY Unleash Your Inner Badass

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Success Champions bought a standing desk so I can raise and lower it as needed.

Have fun and be yourself – Connect by being who you are in all its glory. The more real and authentic you are the better the conversation will be.

Here is the thing guys. Business development is about getting into the game and doing the work.

I’ve built my business on doing a minimum of 10 reach outs every day no matter what. A lot of days I do a bunch more but come hell or high water I’m doing the reach outs.

Do the work and you will build the business you have always wanted.

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www.DonnieBoivin.com

Networking

Unleash Your Inner Badass

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Success Champions

Feature Article

“Individually we are One Drop. Together we are the ocean.” Ryunosuke Satoro

Be The Ripple You Want To See In The World

I

f you spent years building a multimillion dollar company would you sell it for £1 (about $1.30)? Probably not, but Sammy Blindell did just that; now she’s living the life that she wanted.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering, “How somebody can basically give away the business she has worked so hard to

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build?” Let me tell you Sammy’s story, and you’ll understand why she had to do that and why it was the perfect thing for her to do.

Sammy Blindell is the CEO of How To Build A Brand and the Chief Visionary Officer of The Brand Builders Club. She is also the founder of the One Drop

Networking Movement. If that wasn’t enough, she is also an awardwinning international speaker and best-selling author.

So, yeah, she has already accomplished a lot in her life.

You see, Sammy’s an incredibly high achiever who launched her first business in 2002. After 13 years in branding and marketing, she has also built six more companies in the business growth sector. However, after working herself nearly to death for 12 years, she finally got to the point where her health was deteriorating and she was completely burned out.

so they decided to give the business to someone who would take good care of it.

So on the 30th of September 2013, they sold the company for £1.

Sammy explains, “I was done. I was cooked.

After she sold the business, Sammy went I remember the doctor pulling me into his through a grieving period. It was really little consultant room and saying to me, ‘Ms. hard for her to let go of something she had Blindell, you have to change what you’re built from the ground up. It took a while doing. I’ve seen you in here just too often. for her to discover what she wanted to do This has to be the last time because I cannot next; something she really loved. Once guarantee that what you are doing to your she figured that part out, she decided to body is going to be reversible. You have to build this business change.’ He said around the life that it and he got up “I wake up every morning and I do my she wanted. as if he was going blessings and my gratitudes, and I So in 2014, Sammy to walk away, but ask, ‘Who am I going to be the ripple launched How something must To Build A Brand have snapped for maker for today? Who is my One and took it from him because he Drop?

Who can I pay it forward to?’ £0 to £18,000 of turned around, monthly revenue in That’s all I focus on. How can I be sat back down, 12 weeks. Then in faced me and he that One Drop?”

2017, she launched said, ‘You’re free The Brand Builders to make your Club, which own choices. But you’re not free of the currently has hundreds of members globally. consequences of those choices. You have to change what you’re doing.’”

Her most recent business, the global movement One Drop, was founded in After that visit to the hospital, Sammy April 2019 to celebrate the ripple that decided to sell the business and call it a day.

Changemakers can achieve through Her business partner also wanted to step collaboration rather than competition. It away because of his own health problems,

Unleash Your Inner Badass

“she decided to build this business around the life that she wanted.”

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Success Champions So I made a commitment. I was going to be a One Drop. So I wake up every morning and I do my blessings and my gratitudes, and I ask, ‘Who am I going to be the ripple maker for today? Who is my One Drop? Who can I pay it forward to?’ That’s all I focus on. How can I be that One Drop?”

“If I’m a One Drop and they’re One Drops, what could we create together?’ I was just in this whole daydreaming thing.”

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was a noble idea that Sammy first thought of back in 2002 when she saw a quote by Ryunosuke Satoro that says, “Individually we are One Drop. Together we are the ocean.”

However, the movement didn’t become a reality until 2018 when Sammy spotted a teardrop pendant browsing an airport crystal shop en route to Los Angeles.

She thought it was a perfect representation of One Drop and she bought it immediately.

The pendant got a lot of attention wherever she went, and Sammy found herself talking about One Drop whenever people asked her about the pendant.

Sammy explains,“When I started my first business back in 2002… I had no experience in business. So I started my business and I go on this business course, and I couldn’t even remember what this (business course) Then everything came together in January was. It was probably bookkeeping or 2019 by accident while she was speaking at something that I knew I had to do, and I an event in Palm Beach. was going to master this thing. But the first The person running slide on this guy’s the event was one of presentation had that “with the power of our her Brand Builders quote. collaborative network, we can Club members, and I didn’t hear a was there stop fighting, start uniting, and Sammy word this guy said as a guest speaker. through his entire we can collaborate instead of Everybody at the presentation because event was supposed compete. I want to live in that all I could think make a vision world. If no one else is going to to about was, ‘What’s board, but since a One Drop then? create it, One Drop is.”

Sammy was one of What does it mean the speakers, she to be a One Drop? thought she didn’t And if I were a One Drop, then what would have to participate. She only wrote two I need to do? So can other people be One words on the blank sheet of paper that was Drops? If I’m a One Drop and they’re One given: “One Drop.” Well, the funny thing Drops, what could we create together?’ I was that her friend did ask her to share was just in this whole daydreaming thing. what she wrote, and what she said that day

www.DonnieBoivin.com

Networking spurred an entire movement.

anywhere but her friend had a brilliant idea.

Sammy remembers, “I just started talking “She said, ‘Didn’t your mom have a glass and I said: I have a dream. If we could fusing workshop in France? Can’t she make create 1 million OneDropreuners, who all these One Drops and you could keep each contribute $1 a month so that we can it in the family?’” Ultimately, that’s what invest in ideas that are stillborn because happened. those people that have these amazing world“I called my mum from America. She’s in changing ideas don’t have the money, they France. I sent her pictures of this One Drop don’t have the mindset, they don’t know and I said, ‘Actually, I like this One Drop, the marketing, they but it’s not the right don’t have the map, shape. I want it like they just haven’t “In fact, it will benefit one of this, and when it hits got a clue how to the light it needs to our own Success Champions measure anything.

Your whole dreams! Thirty percent of the glow.

But with the power heart area just needs of our collaborative sales from each pendant goes to light up. And I network, we can want everybody to to The Blue Family Fund (BFF) stop fighting, start be able to wear this because Sammy and Donnie uniting, and we can One Drop. Men can collaborate instead of believe in paying it forward!” have lapel badges, compete. I want to and women can have live in that world. If rings or pendants or no one else is going to create it, One Drop whatever, and we can create a whole range is. of things so that everybody is included.’”

I just came out with this thing. I was glad So after 11 months of glass fusing, they they recorded it. I didn’t know what came managed to create the symbol for the out of my mouth. Luckily, I wasn’t speaking movement that Sammy had in mind, and in that day because I just walked around in a November 2019, the first 1,000 pendants daze and I had all these people coming to were made. me saying, ‘How do I sign up to it?’ I haven’t Would you like to be part of this movement? created it yet.

Would you like to inspire change? You It got to the point where all the people at can by purchasing a One Drop pendant at the event were coming up to me and asking me about this. So now I’ve got over 500 people on my list that want a pendant.

I’ve got 400 people at this event who want to be part of One Drop, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to create something.

How do I do this?’”

“Luckily, I wasn’t speaking that day because I just walked around in a daze and I had all these people coming to me saying, ‘How do I sign up to it?’ I haven’t created it yet.”

Sammy couldn’t find the pendants

Unleash Your Inner Badass

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Success Champions https://onedropmovement.com.

“Her mission is to turn innovative ideas into reality. That’s what One Drop is all about.

It’s about the things that can be achieved if we all work together. It’s the power of collaboration over competition.”

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In fact, it will benefit one of our own Success Champions dreams! Thirty percent of the sales from each pendant goes to The Blue Family Fund (BFF) because Sammy and Donnie believe in paying it forward!

BFF is a nonprofit started by Stacey & Michael Magovern that raises funds to support the dependents of law enforcement officers everywhere. The organization provides financial assistance for families of fallen law enforcement officers, and it offers financial support through higher education scholarships for dependents of law enforcement officers. *It should be noted that a dependent must be a senior in high school in order to be eligible.

Fifty percent of proceeds go to Sammy’s mom for making the pendants, and 20% gets reinvested back into the business for future projects.

www.DonnieBoivin.com

The One Drop Movement is still in its infancy, but Sammy already has grand plans for the future. Her mission is to turn innovative ideas into reality.

That’s what One Drop is all about. It’s about the things that can be achieved if we all work together. It’s the power of collaboration over competition. So, we encourage you to be the ripple you want to see in the world!

Success Champions from authentes “person who did a particular thing”

Brain Drippings

How to be Authentic ...Authentically Or How to not Look Like an Obnoxious Jerk

By Donald R Dodson, Jr.

T “We struggle with being different, authentic or our weird-ass selves because we never DO ANYTHING with that! We don’t turn that “authentic self” that we are, into purpose and action.”

he brash young man haughtily declares in his livestream, “Like, I am just being authentic! Lettin’ my freak flag fly ya know? I dig (insert “weird” hobby or proclivity here) Now buy my stuff, cuz I am being REAL.” Let’s face it, this is bullshit.

You’ve all come across this crap. Folks who are maybe even actually being authentic, but it doesn’t make sense. Or, worse it feels, well, forced or even -- fake!

Why is this popular buzzword -- authenticity – often used so poorly? Perhaps we don’t even realize it. See, the word and its related roots and phrases, have been watered down to a shallow “be yourself ”. For a craftsman such as myself it holds even deeper value and meaning but let’s dig into the word itself and maybe shed some light.

Cracking open the dust-covered digital dictionary, your humble author blows dust from the cracked pages and shares what he finds:

“Etymology: from 1340, “authoritative”, from Old French autentique, from Medieval Latin authenticus, from the Greek authentikos “ original, genuine, principal,.” Originally from Greek authentikos, it was a derivative of the noun authentes, “doer, master”, which was formed from autos, “self ” and the base -hentes, “worker, doer, being” Ok. A bit tricky. Not simple (which is why we are in this mess) Lets look at this one. “authentic (1300-1400) Old French autentique, from Late Latin, from Greek authentikos,

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Now, we are getting somewhere. See the theme?

The master/owner/person is the one who DID something. And because they did it, we know its “real” – its, you guessed it, “authentic”. A key part though is there is an ACTION! Here is another that I particularly felt drawn to: “that what you do with your own hands” The craftsman in me loves this!

There are two aspects to authenticity. The “authentic self or being” aspect – the psychology of who our genuine self is. This is the one we see the most. And, then there is “authentic action” – this is the manifestations in actions and deeds of our authentic selves. This is us doing something authentically with purpose derived from what we are.

But why has so much been focused on the authentic being and not taking action? I think there are a few reasons. So, lets unpack this.

We see this authentic – “Be your weird-ass self ” promoted a great deal in part because of the head trash we have. We are taught to be humble and to “fit in”. Hell, our parents and grandparents come from a period where you had to be “the Man in the Grey suit” and blend in, to do your part for the greater good! We come pre-loaded with an adverse reaction to being different. Certainly, this has improved. But we often are fighting in our own heads significant doubt or lack of self-worth.

It’s also pretty scary to put ourselves out there. We can spend years “working on ourselves “and never really figure out “who we are”.

But there is another reason why this is an ongoing and popular theme and it might surprise you in its shocking simplicity. This is where the action part comes in. We struggle with being different, authentic or our weird-ass selves because we never DO ANYTHING with that! We don’t turn that “authentic self ” that we are, into purpose and action. If you leverage that authentic self into active expression, then you suddenly have a more sustainable and realistic affirming sense of self because it means something to someone else. A truly authentic teacher or coach teaches because

Networking that is what they ARE! Okay, so now what? How do we be authentically, well, authentic. How can you not look like the dude at the beginning of this article? We can be authentic and/or take authentic action. How do we rightly leverage our badass-authentic-selves”?

As I see it (in business), authenticity should: • Be relevant • Differentiate you in a (hopefully) positive way • Be relatable providing connection • Translate into authentic action

Relevance Joe Smith is, say, a really, you know, a kind of brash, acerbic in your face kind of person – okay he is kind of an asshole. That’s them being their authentic self, it’s how they are, right? What do they do with that? What, you want a cookie? No. that’s bullshit. Now if they use that trait, say as a coach, to get people to find their better selves.

Or, maybe to motivate them to become more successful entrepreneurs or athletes, then that’s good. It might work. There is purpose behind embracing that authentic self.

They are using their natural, brusque and blunt traits to motivate others through words and action --- and being an asshole. They were called Drill Sergeants for some.

Differentiation Differentiation goes hand in hand with relevance.

Let’s look at Joe Smith again. Now, what action can he make? What can he do with that assholery that sets him apart from others that can provide some positive action or change? What product or service does his authentic asshole-self provide that is relevant? Most likely, unless he is a Gordon Ramsey – nothing. It is important to figuring yourself out. Not only in terms of who/ what you are, but how best to help others with that authenticity. That’s where we can use our authenticity to its best and greatest advantage.

Provide connection and building an audience Being authentic and embracing who or what we are is useful in attracting an audience or market.

We are using our authentic self to attract others.

They may appreciate the “real you” for your honesty, are like you and are attracted because you are the same way or, they want to BE like you.

It’s like finding YOUR tribe. So, if you are Joe Smith, regardless of your actual actions or vocation is, it attracts. There’s nothing wrong with that and, in some cases, that’s perfect.

That doesn’t mean that they’re going to want the same things as Joe. That’s going to help him find his audience, but perhaps not his market.

“What sets us apart as an entrepreneur is not just WHO we are, but what we DO with who we are!”

Not all aspects or traits of your authentic self are useful though. If you are an obnoxious asshole who does graphic design or makes furniture, those personality traits aren’t really serving anyone, are they? They might even be hindering you. You are just an obnoxious designer.

“Not all aspects or traits of your authentic self are useful though. If you are an obnoxious asshole who does graphic design or makes furniture, those personality traits aren’t really serving anyone, are they?”

We aren’t always quite like our audience or market, though, are we? And the authentic attributes one shares must again be relevant to be valuable. That’s an important distinction. As a craftsperson, how angry and brash I might be, or a deep abiding love of comic books (just an example) probably has very little to do with what I create. However, if I am sharing my obsession for attention to detail, or that I have OCD, or that I am stubborn,

Unleash Your Inner Badass

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Success Champions those attributes CAN have a great deal of value beyond gathering an audience. I can leverage those attributes into action, purpose, and as well as differentiation, too. In some cases, being like Joe will attract fans who will buy because they like him, even as an asshole. Howard Stern, famous shock jock attracted radio audiences simply because they wanted to hear what he was gonna do or say next.

Authentic Action “how” does an authenticself manifest into authentic action? That “how” is best described as a purpose.”

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We have already done a lot of heavy lifting on this and with the help of early topics Authentic Action is easier to execute. What sets us apart as an entrepreneur is not just WHO we are, but what we do with who we are. In other words, “how” does an authentic-self manifest into authentic action?

That “how” is best described as a purpose. For some it’s a passion, but purpose is a better fit. It denotes an external impact.

Take my personal perspective, for example. My authentic self certainly has a lot to do with how that work comes out. It is the embodiment of my craft, but also my values, my design ideas, and, in some cases my interests. The one definition says, “made with their own hands,” that concept is very powerful, and of course creates a large deal of ownership. Because part of authenticity is owning who or what you are. That extends to a “why” as well, whether it’s a craft or a calling like folks like Donnie Boivin have, we have a vision and a purpose!

www.DonnieBoivin.com

We crave purpose! Too often, we are so inwardly focused that we miss or fail to put that authentic self into authentic action. Here is the awesome part. Because it is a reflection of our genuine self, so is the action and the purpose; sincere, genuine, and yes, Authentic! People will see that and connect to it! That is at the heart of authentic action.

Endeavor to figure out not only who you are – your authentic weird-ass-self – but a purpose and action to make it all make sense.

Donald Dodson, owner of Dodson Designs, has been involved in artistic pursuits for as long as he can remember.

Starting at age 16 as a sign painter assistant, and after high school, he pursued a career in graphic arts, finding his home in graphic design and web design. After an eight-year stint as a teacher, Dodson, a combat veteran, longed to return to his passion for the arts and, at 49, started a full-time leather working business.

He crafts handmade, creative custom leather goods and accessories near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Networking

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Success Champions and entertains; and that people then share

Blogs are Still a Thing; Here’s Why

By Laura Di Franco

I

’ve been blogging to build my business since 2008. In that amount of time I’ve trained with the world’s best bloggers, learned the tricks, mastered the tips, and watched many bloggers (myself included) make healthy extra income from their words.

“Yes, blogging is still a thing. And you can build your network, business, and income with it.”

Why are blogs still a thing? Because there are seven billion people in the world, each consuming content in different ways, and many preferring to read, learn, and be entertained by badass words on a page.

And if you’re a writer with a goal to do big-ass things like land a book deal, be quoted by major corporations, and be considered an authority in your field, blogging will help you.

Yes, blogging is still a thing. And you can build your network, business, and income with it.

Remember though, the income may not come directly from the writing. In most instances, it’s your call to action after some valuable content, that does it.

Badassery you might experience from consistent blogging includes:

• Making extra income from your writing • Making extra income from your call to action • Building your social platforms I could actually make this list longer. There are some real benefits to blogging. Notice the word I used in the heading above, however. Consistency is the key. So is using your authentic voice to build your “know, love, and trust” with your audience.

One of the biggest ways to benefit from blogging is to land a guest blog spot on a bigger platform.

These platforms are always looking for amazing content from experts who can help add value for their audiences. And when you position yourself in that world with a reputation as an expert and a

“Because there are seven billion people in the world, each consuming content in different ways, and many preferring to read, learn, and be entertained by badass words on a page.” good writer, you’ll land more gigs. You may even wake up to hundreds more on your email list as a result. Wouldn’t that be cool?

If you’re excited by the idea of all this but not excited by the work a consistent blog seems to require, I’ve included some pointers here for you.

• Landing an article on a bigger platform

Tips for blogging like a badass:

• Landing a book deal from a publisher

Consistency is more important than frequency.

Pick a day, and blog on that day every week.

Your audience will get used to that and want to read your next thing. But, out of sight, out of mind, just like your email newsletter, you must be consistent.

• Helping to build others’ businesses Building your email list • Showing off and sharing your expertise • Provide valuable content that educates

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• Landing a quote from a bigger blog

www.DonnieBoivin.com

Networking Write like you talk, not like a robot. Make your blogs well-written, conversational nuggets of awesomeness. Share your authentic voice and have fun with the writing.

If you are hating it, guess what? That energy comes through.

Pitch bigger blogging platforms regularly and don’t be discouraged by rejections at first. You will get a win sooner or later. It’s about knowing how to pitch, and pitching on a regular basis.

Now that you wrote it, you better share it, or else your worst nightmare will come true; your mom will be your only reader. Sharing regularly is key to building your audience.

If you leave without a “call to action” you’re shooting yourself in the foot. If they loved it, they will want something to do at the end. Please give them something awesome to click on.

It’s not about you, it’s about them. Teach your audience valuable information. Make them laugh. Inspire them. If the blog is all about you, they won’t make it to the end. Make sure you’re focusing on the takeaway for your reader; and doing that with every blog.

Okay, listen, there’s more, but Donnie only lets us have 750 words for these articles and I don’t want to piss him off. So, I’m going to close up here by telling you that it’s time to get over your fear of not-good-enough with your writing and get some brave words out into the world. Hire someone to read and edit for you. Read up on good copywriting. Practice. This gets more fun as you go, and when you land your first big connection, deal, viral piece, or massive platform builder, you’ll

be hooked like I am. In the meantime, you know how to find me if you need some help.

Laura Di Franco is the owner of Brave Healer Productions where she’ll help you share your story, build your business and change the world. With three decades of expertise in holistic physical therapy, a third-degree black belt and eight books, she has a clear preference for being badass but she’s also the champion of entrepreneurs who want to grow their health-based practices. Her writing workshops, business strategy sessions, and online writing club are just some of the ways she helps talented professionals maximize their professional impact. www.BraveHealer. com

Unleash Your Inner Badass

“So, I’m going to close up here by telling you that it’s time to get over your fear of not-goodenough with your writing and get some brave words out into the world.”

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chapter Winners

Winner of the Chapter Networking Challenge

The Bethesda Badasses, one of the first chapters, and the most quickly-growing of the Success Champion Networking organization, founded by Donnie Boivin, is run by chapter president Laura Di Franco, the owner of Brave Healer Productions, based in Bethesda, Maryland.

“I used to hate networking,” said Laura, “Until I met Donnie and started to understand just how awesome connecting with other like-minded business owners and developing those powerful relationships could be.”

Comprised of small businesses in and around the DMV (District, Maryland, and Virginia) The Bethesda Badasses have a goal to reach 30 members by year end and help other local chapters branch off and begin their journey in learning how to network in a way that actually produces results.

“We have an incredibly talented leadership team, including Dawn Shuler of The Shuler Group (VP), Melissa Henry of Melissa Demple Photography (Secretary), and Frank Byskov of Forty4Financial, (Education Chair), said Laura, “What I’ve seen this team and all the members do in just a short amount of time has been extraordinary.

And right smack dab in the middle of the current global crisis we’re having. These people are badass, hence the name I picked for our chapter.”

If you know someone who should be part of this badass group, send them our way!

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Chapter Winners

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chapter Winners

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Chapter Winners

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chapter Winners

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Chapter Winners

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Success Champions

The Outsourcing corner

you can start building and selling for free, and then scale up to paid plans as your business grows, and there are no transaction fees. Teachable requires a paid plan for you to start running your business and doesn’t scale up to support high volume businesses.

Though they offer templates and easy uploading of video and content – you are responsible for the video quality you can afford and have access to for your content. However, the upside is that you create your program; price it and collect the money for your programs. The higher quality WILL cost you, however.

Best Online Learning Platforms for Your Intellectual Property?

By Lorianne Vaughan Speaks

I “There are many articles that help the user pick the best platform for their learning, but what about the best platforms for the teacher, mentor and coaches?”

n the past few years, online learning has drastically evolved and changed the face of modern personal development. A recent Forbes report stated that by 2025 we will be spending $1 Billion A DAY on our personal development: and as someone who supports speakers and authors this is a wonderful glimpse of profit to be made. There are many articles that help the user pick the best platform for their learning, but what about the best platforms for the teacher, mentor and coaches?

To gain traction on your message, I recommend submitting your class/coaching program to many sites. You may not be accepted by all, but why limit yourself.

At no cost to you are LinkedIn’s Learning portal Lynda as well as Ascira. While both offer you, as the instructor, visibility; Ascira will share revenue with you. For the student, LinkedIn costs the learner the Premium subscription at approximately $300 a year while Ascira is $100 per month and offers other perks to keep the subscribers coming back. Both offer unlimited courses to the learner.

I would recommend applying to both!

On the other side of the coin is Thinkific and Teachable. Thinkific has plans designed so that

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I would recommend that if you put your program here, you make sure you have it on your own website as well. Or better yet, use these low-cost classes as your external funnel to you high-cost programs or one-on-one coaching.

There are many more platforms to choose from; and I recommend you do your due diligence on where you can stand out from the other programs and be unique in your offering. Other sites to look at are: • Skillshare • MasterClass • Udemy • Edx.org • Udacity • Coursera.org • Futurelearn.com I am steering my clients to all these options, but I have to admit, I am most excited about Ascira. It is actually in its pre-launch stage, so you are not competing with 100.000s of other instructors.

And, if you are chosen, they will take on all the cost of filming, producing, editing and uploading your content in 6K (Hollywood quality!). You can be a content provider without being part of the

Networking If you would like to learn more about any of these platforms, feel free to reach out to me for a free consultation at Lorianne@LVSConsultingServices. com.

business of marketing and share revenue based on your viewing numbers...though why you would not want to capitalize on the business side escapes me. You can become an affiliate marketer and collect commission on all who you sign up. For coaches who understand that they can’t provide all the learning that might be necessary for your clients, you are offering them content from other instructors in other areas of need. That is a winwin for you are giving them the ability to learn from many – and they see that you care about their growth from wherever it may come.

Lorianne Speaks is an expert in the area of Speaker/ Author support. She amplifies the visibility of Authors/ Speakers/Messengers while they do what they love SPEAK! Lorianne has helped spearhead multiple bestselling book campaigns - editing, proofing, through to launch and social media marketing to help authors create buzz and momentum throughout the social media platforms and increasing their message WorldWide. Lorianne and her team have made it their mission to empower speakers to deliver their message by handling the rest of the details!

Unleash Your Inner Badass

“use these low-cost classes as your external funnel to you high-cost programs or one-on-one coaching.”

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Success Champions that want to engage with you.

technology corner

How to grow your Email list with Facbook Groups By kevin Snow

“Facebook groups are a powerful marketing tool. They help you attract new customers and engage current ones with exclusive content, community, and support.”

L

ong gone are the days where you could post to your Facebook business page and reach the majority of your followers.

Business page posts have become notorious for low reach. Part of this is done purposefully by Facebook to drive advertising revenue but it is also a result of the sheer numbers of content that can be in a user’s timeline. A user can like up to 5000 pages, be in 6000 groups, and have up to 5000 friends.

That is a lot of content. Facebook realizes that we spend more time on their platform rather than other social media when our feeds are filled with posts from our communities, so groups and personal-profile posts are prioritized.

Facebook groups are a powerful marketing tool.

They help you attract new customers and engage current ones with exclusive content, community, and support. Many Facebook users prefer to participate in groups, rather than follow specific businesses (particularly “unsexy” ones). For example, if you run a parking garage, it might be hard to get followers. But if you start a group about “Parking in (Your City)”, it should be easier to get people to join.

But a lot of people spend time building engagement in their group, but don’t go any further to take full advantage of having people

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What we do with our groups at Success Champions is to collect emails as soon as people show some interest in joining our communities.

This allows us to accomplish two things: 1. Get them actively participating in the groups.

2. Open up the email communication channel so we can engage with them outside of Facebook.

So how do we do this?

We use features built into the Facebook groups along with other third-party tools to capture the new members information when they join the group. Here’s how you can do it too.

Step 1: Go over to your group and setup the three Facebook group questions you want new members to answer when they join.

Since we are focused on helping people grow and scale their business, we are interested in knowing the biggest challenges they face and the way they found out about our group. For my group that is focused on sales automation, I have questions about goals for sales technology and challenges people are having.

These questions are your first filter for prospective clients, so the best thing you can do is think about the following as you are creating your group questions: “What feature describes my dream customer/group member?”

As far as questions go, here is what I recommend.

Obviously, you need to ask for their email, but don’t just say “What’s your email?” Give them something in return.

In my group, “Close More Sales with Automation”, I offer them a free guide to the best types of content for each stage in the sales process.

For the other two questions you can be as creative as you want and you should choose your questions based on what you want the group to

Networking accomplish.”Here are a few ideas: • How did you learn about us?

• What do you plan to learn/get from this group?

• Where are you from? (This works better on local groups).

• What is the biggest challenge you face with <your group’s topic>

Clicking on the ask question button loads a popup that lets you add different kinds of membership question types for your new group members to choose from.

You’ve got multiple choice, checkboxes as well as the normal written answer.

Keep in mind you can only ask three questions!

Here’s how you set up your questions: 1. Go over to the group where you want to enable questions and click on More menu at the top and then click on Edit Group Settings from the drop down.

Once this is saved, the first question each member would see when they want to join your group is what is shown above.

Step 2: Install chrome extension that integrates with Facebook.

Normally what happens when a new member applies to join your group you are able to see their answers to the questions, but once you hit accept those answers, including their email is gone.

2. You need to scroll down to the Membership requests section and then click on Ask Questions button over there.

To save all the information your new members enter, you need to use a third-party extension for the Chrome browser. Firefox and the other mainstream browsers do not have a comparable extension.

This extension will take the answers Facebook users enter for your questions and send them to a Google sheet when they are accepted.

On the new page, you will be able to add group rules as well as different group membership question types as shown in the image below.

“use features built into the Facebook groups along with other third-party tools to capture the new members information when they join the group.”

There are many to choose from, but the two I recommend are called Group Convert and Group Leads.

They each come with detailed set up instructions and a template for the Google sheet that the extension will send the user info too. They also allow you to capture member info from multiple Facebook groups at once.

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Success Champions introducing themselves.

Step 3: Link Google Sheets to your Email Marketing Software So, having the email and user info in a Google sheet is nice but not a lot of use, and who has time to manually enter all that info into a email system?

“Facebook users join groups because they want to engage and interact with people not because they want to get sold to.”

To link your Google Sheet to your email marketing system you can use a tool called Zapier. Zapier can be set up to watch your Google Sheet and when a new row is added, it will take that information and automatically add it to your email marketing software, your client relationship management tool or pretty much any other system you want.

For this to work you will need to create two custom fields in your email system, one for each of the non-email questions you ask. If you don’t have these fields created, Zapier won’t know where to place the information it pulls from your Google Sheet.

Email 3: Solve Their Problem – In this email we answer the response Donnie gets to the question we asked in Email 2. We also introduce the Champion’s Live Happy Hour event and invite them to join us.

Email 4: Bonus Tool – This email is the last in the sequence and is set up to get them to trigger another email sequence. We offer them a free download for a tool that is geared around the problem answered in the last email. When they click the button to download the file, they are automatically added to the follow up campaign for that tool. This keeps our email communication lines with them active.

Email 4a: Did Your Forget? – This email is only sent to people that didn’t click the download link in Email 4.

Step 4: Design Your Welcome Email Sequence

Step 5: Approve New Members

Now you need something to send the new members joining your group.

Go over to new members’ requests, select your filters, and hit Approve All button and see all the leads info get added to your Google sheet and your email list populated with the leads’ emails with just ONE CLICK

Facebook users join groups because they want to engage and interact with people not because they want to get sold to. So, your initial communications with them need to focus on helping them become active members in the group.

Here is the email sequence that we send new members in the Success Champions group.

Email 1: Welcome to the group! - This email is sent immediately after someone joins the group and welcomes them to Success Champions. It also reminds the new members of the rules and not to be a jackass. The action we want them to complete is making their first post in the group

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Email 2: Introduce Donnie – We have some fun with this one and introduce people to Donnie’s personality and communication style. We ask them to reply to the email to let Donnie know what their biggest challenge in achieving their idea of success. We have a huge response rate on this email. In addition to emailing us we ask them to check out the Units section of the group and watch some of the training videos.

www.DonnieBoivin.com

Networking Step 6: Keep Records.

Facebook.

This step is optional, but you can keep a record of the numbers each day so you can track the % who answer the question/s and provide their email address. If you want to do the same, first make a note of how many join requests there are, then filter the requests for ‘Answered Questions’ and keep a note of that number too.

Kevin Snow is the founder of Time On Target, a digital marketing agency that helps businesses effectively use technology to grow their business. Kevin has helped companies all across the United States shorten their sales cycle and increase their closing rates by utilizing sales automation to increase the time sales teams are in front of prospects selling. You can reach Kevin at kevin.snow@ time-on-target.com

To give you an idea, here is a sample of a spreadsheet tracking a Facebook group’s stats:

“Groups provide an avenue for businesses like yours to nurture and build engaged communities of people that you can interact with one-on-one. “

Groups provide an avenue for businesses like yours to nurture and build engaged communities of people that you can interact with one-on-one.

By taking time to set up the tools to capture your members info, you are able to optimize the reach of your group and your audience will be able to engage with you even when they aren’t logged into

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Success Champions holders can analyze data and make your account work for you.

Sassy Social media

Reels - Video

Instagram 2020 Updates

Instagram reels was recently rolled out to rival the Tik Tok platform, which is set to close shortly.

This is where you can create 15 sec videos set to background music. You can incorporate humor or an inspirational vibe. To do this, use the in-app camera aka stories to search through the database for a song. You can add AR affects and filters. You can sync previous clips as well as speed up or slow down the video.

Stories

By Sarah Ankney

T “Make sure if you are using the stories feature to post consistently and on regular basis to be top of mind for your followers...”

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his year has been the year for tons of updates to Instagram. But how does this affect you? It all depends on how you feel about the updates and what you do with the information provided. There were privacy updates, new features, shopping features, and algorithm updates. This information will help you to make the best use of Instagram for you and your business.

Privacy Let’s talk privacy updates. Third party applications will need your permission to display photos on a case by case basis. This will protect your information and location. Part of the privacy feature is how “likes” and comments are displayed for private and business accounts. Only business accounts will have access to the number of “likes” and comments that are displayed so that account

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There is a testing of stories to be displayed all on one page with those you interact most with being shown the content first. These are followers with whom you have built relationships. There are a few things you can do to get followers to interact with your stories more; and that is to use stickers to get more engagement through encouragement by using a poll, emoji slider, and questions stickers.

Make sure if you are using the stories feature to post consistently and on regular basis to be top of mind for your followers, and be at the top of feed for your followers. Lastly, there are new fonts for the stories to make your story stand out and be unique. If these stories do well, do not forget to save them to IGTV so that they will stay in your feed forever.

Other New Features Other new features include the heart in the navigation bar being replaced with a shopping bag for a short cut to shopping on Instagram. There

Networking is also the ability to pin 3 comments to manage the tone of responses to your content.

This can be done by swiping left and taping on the pin icon for the comment you wish to pin. These are the comments that will be shown first to your followers. You can also see the first 20 followers and 50 followers that interacted least. There is also a sorting option under your follower’s tab where you can see latest to earliest. Messenger and Instagram Direct are set to merge sometime this year where you will be able to chat with contacts on Instagram. This will allow Instagram to host up to 50 people in a room.

Fighting back against Bots Instagram is also cracking down on the number of bot accounts. There is a brand-new review and ID process for accounts. If there is a pattern of inauthentic behavior which is common in political and hate groups. These accounts are then flagged and asked to provide ID. If you fail to provide ID within 30 days these accounts will be deleted and not displayed on any accounts. Remember do not purchase “likes or follows” because this can get your account deleted as well.

money and get more followers for your Instagram business profile. Stories, shopping, privacy, and more are constantly changing. Make sure you keep up with the updates so that you can get the most out of your social media strategy for Instagram.

Sarah Ankney of Sassy Pinterest is a Pinterest Account Manager. She wants to empower your business with a bit of magic to help you get visible. Sassy Pinterest creates graphics and descriptions as well as manages your Pinterest account so that you can do all the things you need to do and drive traffic to your business. If you need assistance in your business to get traffic to all your sites, please contact Sarah Ankney to add another powerful marketing tool.

Business and Shopping Upgrades

“You can open storefronts showcasing collections and products which can be purchased in-app. People can shop through Instagram profiles, the feed, explore tabs, and stories. “

Businesses have more access to shopping.

Businesses must have 1 eligible product which is available for direct purchase from verifiable website or Instagram checkout. Another feature to the shopping is product tags can be spotted on captions. The tags will open a shoppable product page. You can open storefronts showcasing collections and products which can be purchased in-app. People can shop through Instagram profiles, the feed, explore tabs, and stories. If you have products this would be a great way to get additional customers.

These are the updates that are coming or have already happened to Instagram for 2020. Use these updates to your advantage to make more

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