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Today on The Rise To The Top: The #1 Non-Boring Business Show: You probably know today’s guest, Carrie Wilkerson, as the massively successful “Barefoot Executive” who has created an empire around helping work at home professionals. Her empire includes Barefoot Executive TV, her book The Barefoot Executive (affiliate), live events, training, and more. She has raving fans and customers that number in the multiple thousands. But, how did she get started on the path to success? In today’s interview, Carrie reveals how she began, came up with her brand idea, built up her audience, put herself on the map, and ultimately sold her first product…so much juicy goodness. Enjoy the ideas, inspiration, and more!

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Today On The Rise To The Top: The #1 Non-Boring Business Show: One of my most requested guests of all time. The creator of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, New York Times Best-Selling Author (affiliate), and amazing Internet entrepreneur – Ramit Sethi – is in the house and spilling the beans on all kinds of secrets, including how his blog got so popular, how he monetized by launching his first product (and what he learned from it), his rigorous research process, and much more in this super naked interview.

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Today on The Rise To The Top: The #1 Non-Boring Business Show: Just one month ago, Lewis Howes and his business partner launched FBinfluence (affiliate), a Facebook training program for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers (In fact, I had Amy Porterfield on the show, Lewis’ Facebook expert, who totally rocked giving us all tons of actionable Facebook tips). In today’s episode, we go behind-the-scenes with Lewis as he reveals everything about the launch (and you won’t believe the numbers). You will learn how they went about creating the product (including costs, time, etc.), how many products they sold (and how they did it), and much more in incredible detail. Enjoy!

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I use RISE partner Wistia for video hosting because they rock. Check ‘em out.

The video is also on YouTube, if you want to check it out and comment there.

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Today on The Rise To The Top: The #1 Non-Boring Business Show: The husband and wife tag team of Joshua Sprague and France Morissette share how they turned a love for natural foods into a booming business with ideas and inspiration you can take away for your biz.

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Jonathan Fields is a trailblazer. Badass blogger. Creative entrepreneur. Amazing writer. Innovative marketer. His new book Uncertainty (affiliate) is just hitting shelves and besides being an absolutely fantastic book, there is a LOT to learn from Jonathan’s marketing efforts and perhaps an idea or 10 that you can steal for your business that we learn about in today’s conversation on The Rise To The Top.

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About Today’s Guest, Jonathan Fields:

What do you think of Jonathan’s marketing ideas that he is putting into practice for this book? Any ideas you can use for your business/blog/podcast/show?

Make sure to check out the book website at TheUncertaintyBook.com and watch the trailer we talked about in the show right here. You can check out Jonathan on Twitter @jonathanfields and his blog is at JonathanFields.com.

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When I heard about Nick Reese around a year ago, I knew I had to get him on the show. Why? Well for one thing, he is super successful (and humble): $1,000,000+ in sales over the past year. Secondly, he has a really interesting business model we can all learn from. Third is that he is extremely passionate. Fourth is that he is small…it is just him, a partner and a few contractors. Lastly, he is awesome at explaining things.

In this interview, Nick explains (super candidly) the ins and outs of his business and lots of advice for unconventional Internet entrepreneurs like all of us. Enjoy!

Oh, and if you need a solid primer on everything he has learned and want to give affiliate marketing a really good shot, I recommend his ebook How To Turn Traffic & Trust Into Sales (affiliate).

About Today’s Guest, Nick Reese:

Nick Reese is a strategic thinker, change maker, and over happy dude. He thoroughly enjoys challenging himself to new and unusual experiences. Some of his craziest experiences to date include, climbing Huayna Picchu (aka the hike of death) in the rain, experiencing a Kambo & Ayahuasca ritual in Peru, and being featured in the Austin American Statesman for sliding in the mud at ACL.

In 2010, NYT Best Seller, Chris Brogan approached Nick about writing a book on affiliate marketing. He jumped on board and Traffic and Trust is the end result. Traffic and Trust was written from the ground up to be the perfect beginners guide as it includes a planning guide and blue print to get even the most un-tech-savvy started online. If you are interested in learning more pickup the free chapter on mutual value.

Other projects of Nick’s include: Becoming Bold (on the back burner), Art of Blog, and Skip Winter Conference.

Connect With Nick (and tell him you saw him on RISE!):

On His Website
On Twitter
Pick Up a Copy of How To Turn Traffic & Trust Into Sales

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You might remember my evil twin Carol Roth on this episode of The Rise To The Top. Since then, Carol has continued to dominate. In fact, her book The Entrepreneur Equation (affiliate) hit the New York Times Best-Seller List and #1 overall on Amazon.

One thing (among many) Carol has done extremely well is leverage herself into the media. She pops up everywhere…all the time. In this interview, I wanted to find out for all of us how she went about it and the results. Did she put a magic spell on TV stations? Did she beg and plead? What’s the deal?

Enjoy!

About Today’s Guest, Carol Roth:

Carol Roth is a business strategist, deal maker and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Entrepreneur Equation. Carol has worked with hundreds of companies, ranging from a single entrepreneur with an idea to Fortune 500 businesses, on all aspects of business and financial strategy. Collectively, she has helped her clients raise more than $1 billion in capital, complete $750+ million in mergers and acquisitions, secure high-profile licensing and partnership deals, brand loyalty programs and more.

Carol is known for her tough love style- she tells it like it is, but as she says, she will give you a hug afterwards. She draws upon her broad experience base to provide advice ranging from the business basics to the bold (think firing your customers) with a fresh, no-holds-barred approach. She refers to her advisory style as the “Spinach in Your Teeth®” philosophy, warning business owners to never trust anyone who won’t tell them that they have spinach stuck in their teeth.

Ms. Roth puts her vast experience with the “good, bad and ugly of business” to work on a daily basis. She has over 16 years of business advisory experience, which began at investment banking firm Montgomery Securities in San Francisco (currently Banc of America Securities), where she rapidly rose internally to become one of the youngest officers of the company by age 25. She is known for her significant knowledge base, can-do attitude, extreme efficiency, client dedication, frank opinions and “colorful” vocabulary. Her experience has encompassed a wide variety of products and services, including initial public offerings (IPOs), secondary offerings, private equity placements, private debt placements, buy-side M&A, sell-side M&A, LBOs/MBOs, recapitalizations, valuations, fairness opinions, licensing, marketing services, franchise work, start-up advisory and general strategic advisory work. She will also go out on a limb for her clients, who have asked her to do some very strange things, including filling-in as an auctioneer for a charity event auction.

Ms. Roth has truly “seen it all” from her diverse client base. Over her career she has worked with a wide variety of branded entities (her specialty is branded/consumer companies). Some of her noteworthy clients have included Integrity Toys, Applica and Pelstar/Pelouze, among many others. Ms. Roth is also a shareholder of and investor in several of her clients.

Ms. Roth holds a B.S. Degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, arguably the top business program in the world, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She has coined a number of terms and phrases ranging from “Cirque-du-So-Lame” (something that is beyond pathetic and pitiful) to “jobbie” (a hobby disguised as a job, career or business) to “business beer goggling”. She also is known for her propietary Customer Loyalty 3.0 methodology to engaging business senders and spenders. Ms. Roth is a former Director of Travelzoo (NASD:TZOO) and currently participates in a number of social, civic and other groups. She is also well versed on popular culture and consumer trends.

Carol is also a frequent radio, television and print media contributor on the topics of business and entrepreneurship, appearing on Fox News, MSNBC, Fox Business, WGN TV Chicago, among others. Additionally, Carol’s Unsolicited Business Advice blog at CarolRoth.com was recently named as one of the Top 10 small business blogs online and she is a contributing blogger to outlets like The Huffington Post and Crain’s Chicago Business/Enterprise City.

Connect With Carol (and tell her you saw her on RISE!):

On Her Website
On Twitter
If you want to find out about Carol’s new program to help you with PR, email info@CarolRoth.com with “Expert Program” in the subject.

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If everyone interview is like this one with Lewis Howes, we all win. Trust me. Lewis was on the show before talking about becoming an entrepreneur and getting off his sister’s couch, but now he has raised his entrepreneurial game to the next level, already eclipsing $1,000,000 in sales this year.

In this interview, he tells the story and the journey so far. He is super candid about how he makes money (and why), what he is great at (and not so good at), mistakes, building badass relationships, and much more.

I hope you will pick up all kinds of inspiration and ideas for yourself (yay!). Enjoy!

About Today’s Guest, Lewis Howes:

Lewis Howes, a former two sport All-American and current world record holding athlete, has graced lists such as Details Magazine’s “5 Internet Gurus Who Can Make You Rich” and Incomediary.com’s “50 Most Influential People in Blogging.” Most recently, Howes was ranked as one of Genjuice.com’s top “100 Most Desirable Mentors” along with the likes of Barack Obama, Russell Simmons and the Queen of Jordan.

In just three years, Howes went from sleeping on his sister’s couch to running a seven figure business. He began his entrepreneurial career by hosting LinkedIn meetups around the country, and co-authoring the successful book LinkedWorking. He has hosted over 400 webinars, spoken to thousands at conferences and events, and educated career professionals and business owners around the world on the power of LinkedIn.

Soon, Howes moved to capitalize on his passion for sports by founding The Sports Executives Association. The business features a monthly membership website for sports executives wanting to advance their career in sports and network with other top sports executives worldwide. Next, Howes focused on co-founding Inspired Marketing, which creates online education courses based on Social Media and effectively building a business online.

With over 75,000 in his weekly email reach, 44,000 Twitter followers, nearly 7,000 Facebook fans, 14,000 LinkedIn connections, and approaching 500,000 views on YouTube, Howes is a familiar face in the Social Media for business landscape. He has also been featured on some of the top blogs and media outlets in the world, including Mashable, Social Media Examiner, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Business Week, TIME, CBS Radio, Fast Company, The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

In his spare time, Lewis enjoys inventing products, angel investing, CrossFit and salsa dancing.

Connect With Lewis (and tell him you saw him on RISE!):

On His Website
On Twitter

I use RISE partner Wistia for video hosting because they rock. Check ‘em out.

Audio Only Player:

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I don’t know about you, but I hate meetings. When I started to revamp my business from stressfest to a funfest last year, one of the big areas of elimination was meetings. But here is the question: Is it that meetings suck or is it more the way we conduct meetings that suck?

I figure no better person to ask than today’s guest, Al Pittampalli, who is what I’d like to call a meeting nerd (he is obsessed with making meetings better) and the author of the new book from The Domino Project, Read This Before Our Next Meeting (affiliate).

What is your take? Are you pro/anti meeting? Do you wish you had less? More? A different way of doing it?

About Today’s Guest, Al Pittampalli:

In his own words:

Hi, my name is Al Pittampalli, and I’m the Author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting (The Domino Project Aug. 2011).

As a former IT advisor at Ernst & Young LLP, I worked on-site at Fortune 1000 companies all across the country. I sat in a lot of their meetings.

I’m still recovering.

Fish don’t know they’re in water, and the individuals working at these companies didn’t realize they were working in a culture plagued by meetings that lacked purpose, energy, and brevity. But I did.

That’s because a few companies I worked with (only a handful), seemed to have a wildly different kind of meeting . Their meetings were purposeful, intense, and short. And most importantly, they were rare. But it wasn’t just about the meetings, it was the culture…it was different. You could feel it. People at these organizations seemed committed to doing work that mattered, and they didn’t have the time or inclination for meetings. In fact, these guys avoided meetings at all costs.

Naturally, I had a burning question: What causes some organizations to have so many bad meetings?

I’m glad to say I found the answer. But you’ll have to read my blog (or my book) to find out.

Now, here I am, embarking an a revolution that might just have a chance. A movement dedicated to eradicating the traditional meeting, and replacing with what I call, the Modern Meeting.

I’m an unapologetic Meeting Culture Warrior driven to shake up the status quo. I’m part of a new generation. I brings fresh eyes to stuck business systems. I’m a speaker and blogger on making revolutionary change happen. I blog about meetings, decision making, teamwork, and coordinating action.

Connect With Al (and tell him you saw him on RISE!):

On His Website
On Twitter
Grab a Copy of His Book, Read This Before Our Next Meeting