This episode originally aired on KDNL-ABC30 in St. Louis, Missouri as part of the Fall season of The Rise To The Top. You can catch new episodes every Sunday at 9:30 AM CST before “This Week”, with replays at 1 AM CST every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. In This Episode 1. I have a rapidly expanding practice that is very niche-focused and growth is becoming quite a challenge. When what you sell is not a computer program or a can of beer, but instead is your time, what is the best way to grow and scale up your operations? – Question submitted by Martin Kamenski, President, Rock Star CPA. Panelists:   JoAnna Dettmann, Co-Founder, tSunela       Ryan Mortland, Founder, MB Consulting Group       Interview with Jeff Michelman, Principal, Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal P.C.     2. Learning about sales incentives. Briefly, explain what is sales incentives? If you wanted to get started with a sales incentive program, what are maybe three tips?   Interview with Michelle Pokorny, Solution VP – Sales Incentives, Maritz     3. Two massively successful restaurants. You have cloned yourself. This is a problem many entrepreneurs have. So let us know the secrets.   Interview with Brad Beracha, Founder, Beracha Concepts     4. Becoming a better storyteller. All marketing and media is really stories. What would be one tip for entrepreneurs? Panelists:   Interview with Jamie Allman, Show Host, Allman In The Morning on FM NewsTalk 97.1… Read More

This episode originally aired on ABC (KDNL-ABC30). You can catch the new season every Sunday at 9:30 AM CST (before “This Week”), with replays Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, and of course here on The Rise To The Top. In This Episode Discussions on… 1. How do you find the right partners for your biz? – Question submitted by Michael Daehn, Founder of Marketing Genius. Panelists:   Bruce Gibbs, President, GFI Digital       JoAnna Dettmann, Co-Founder, tSunela       Kevin Gagnepain, Marketing Coordinator, APC Direct     2. The LLC is commonly known as the best way to setup a company. Why would someone do something else? What is the absolute WORST legal mistake entrepreneurs can make?   Interview with Jeff Michelman, Principal, Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal P.C.     3. How do you spice up your content?   Interview with Jamie Allman, Show Host, Allman In The Morning on FM NewsTalk 97.1     4. Big vs. Small: What are the keys to selling to big companies vs. small companies? Panelists: Ben Scully, President of Business Development, Abstrakt Marketing   Scott Scully, President of Agency Division, Abstrakt Marketing       Michelle Pokorny, Solution VP – Sales Incentives, Maritz     5. Customer Service: What are two ways to keep customers coming back? Panelists:   Johnny Londoff, President, Johnny Londoff Chevrolet       Brad Beracha, Founder, Beracha Concepts       Ryan Mortland, Founder, MB Consulting Group     6. Does every… Read More

This is part of a new series of 101 short videos with entrepreneurs trying something new. Something social. Something interactive. Something cool. Something experimental. Often times it will be something simple. Why? Because simplicity wins. 101 Marketing Strategies: The Twitter Roll First one up is “The Twitter Roll” from Miso Lounge in beautiful (!) St. Louis, Missouri. Disclosure: Miso Lounge and Araka Restaurant are sponsors of The Rise To The Top and we hold numerous events there. And it doesn’t make this story any less awesome-ly interesting. Here is the deal. On Miso’s Twitter account Twitter.com/misolounge they are starting to chat up the “The Twitter Roll” (which by the way I ate last night and I’m not telling you what is in it. But it is good. REAL good). Follow them and you will hear about it. And there is already buzz flying around town about it. Why? Because they are trying something different. And they are offering something cool for following them on Twitter (it isn’t free, but unique sort of like the secret codes at In & Out Burger). Now as an entrepreneur think about this for a second: -The only cost is creativity. No zillion dollar, boring ad campaigns. Yuck. That would ruin it. -There is a spreadable factor. A conversation piece. -It is interactive. Meaning it is fun to tell a friend about it. -It takes folks from behind the computer into a restaurant. -And while everything in social media doesn’t have to be measurable (you… Read More