On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Shawn Casemore, who is the author of Operational Empowerment. Shawn is an internationally recognized speaker and writer. He is also the Principal of Management Consultancy at Casemore and Company Inc. After a 17-year corporate career in operation and sales roles, Shawn launched his company in 2008 with the intention of helping CEOs, executives, and business leaders to enable individuals and teams to be more productive, engaged, and participate to accelerate the growth of the organization. During this show, we discuss workplace communication, empowering employees, how to deal with new employees, and the entrepreneurial lifestyle movement. 

Main Questions Asked:

• What made you leave the corporate world and become an entrepreneur?
• What do you mean by ‘empowering employees?’
• How will empowering employees increase your competitive advantage?
• How do you have a structure where there’s no manager, but make sure new employees have a direct superior, to have someone to go to?
• Is there a movement toward entrepreneurial lifestyle and independent contracting jobs?
• Why did you decide to write a book that slams operational excellence and leadership as we know it?

Key Lessons Learned:

• Your employees are most important, as they are the ones operating your company.
• If you can’t get your employees engaged, then you will never be able to grow your business profitably.
• We have a 1 in 3 million chance we will run into an employee, boss, customer, and supplier that thinks and behaves the same way we do. This explains why there is so much conflict and poor communication in the workplace.

Empowering Employees

• The empowerment of employees is all about autonomy.
• The management hierarchy that most businesses are built on was derived from the military, and is now out of date.
• Today’s employees are the most highly educated that have ever been in the workforce throughout history.
• Employees today don’t like being delegated down to, and are smart enough to not have to be.
• Zappos is an example of a company that has changed the structure so there are no managers.

Achieving Empowerment

• Put people in cross-functional teams. This helps improve their experience, morale, and communication.
• Get rid of formal management and have team leaders who are self-selected by the teams.
• Create a community of people on the front line, and create the tools to get the communication from those teams to the people that matter.

Operational Empowerment

• Every business has a series of operations such as the sales process and marketing systems.
• Empowering people is the key to a competitive advantage because it is the best way to service your customers.

New Team Members

• Integrate team members into the interviewing process.
• Skills can be learned, but you can’t train people to ‘fit’ and force people to have the right dynamic.
• Hire for ‘fit’ relative to the community and culture of the team.
• Building a team of people who work well together matters more than them working well with the boss.

Entrepreneurial Lifestyle Movement

• The entrepreneurial lifestyle is more attractive to employees, as there is more independence.
• This movement allows people to have multiple streams of income.
• The millennials want the autonomy and variety that is offered by this lifestyle.
• Millennials are resistant to fit inside a mold.

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The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Casemore & Co

Free Chapter

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Michele Summers Colon, who is a physician, surgeon, yoga health coach, author, and overall health expert. Michele is known as the Holistic Podiatrist, and combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine to treat the whole patient and create individualized treatment plans, yoga sequences, and meal plans for her clients and patients. Michele is the creator of the Body Wisdom Coaching Program and believes food is medicine and that yoga, Ayurveda, and mediation are the keys to perfect health. During this episode, we discuss entrepreneur cycles, natural rhythms, breaking the cycle, setting your daily intentions, and how to get healthy again.

Main Questions Asked:

• At what point did you decide to expand your entrepreneurial ventures to include health and yoga coaching?
• How does being a holistic podiatrist set you apart from other podiatrists?
• Are you seeing entrepreneurs trying to fuel their bodies with unnatural treatments?
• What are the natural rhythms of the world?
• Talk about the ideal breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• What is your recommendation for turning your mind off at night so you can sleep?
• Talk about yoga and Ayurveda.
• What is the Body Wisdom Coaching Program?

Key Lessons Learned:

Entrepreneur Cycles

• Entrepreneurs often get into cycles where they need to use one drug to balance another, such as caffeine to wake up and other drugs to fall asleep.
• There is a shift in medicine where patients know what they want with regards to natural treatments.

Natural Rhythms

• People in general stay up far too late and need to get back to the natural rhythms of the world.
• The natural rhythms involve the light, darkness, and eating at the right times of the day.
• People often eat too late, which means they stay up later and can’t sleep well due to their bodies still trying to digest food rater than spending time rejuvenating in order to have energy for the following day.
• If you eat at the right time, you will go to bed at the right time, and in turn wake up at the right time.

Breaking the Cycle

• Breakfast should provide energy, but not be too heavy.
• Lunch should be the biggest meal of the day and eaten between 12pm-2pm, when digestion is at its strongest.
• Dinner should be lighter and not include greasy foods, and be eaten before the sun goes down, or 7pm.

Set Your Daily Intention   

• As soon as you wake up, take a couple of minutes to set your intention for the day.
• Keep your eyes closed and practice deep breathing.
• “Today my intention for the day is to_________.”
• Get a mental picture of how your day will run, and see it happen smoothly.

Go To Bed Earlier

• 10pm is the optimum time to go to sleep.
• Turn off all electronics and mind stimulus 1 hour before bed.
• In the last hour, set up a routine. E.g. Having a cup of hot tea, take a bath, or talk to your partner.

Getting Healthy Again

• For the majority of us, we were born healthy and knew when to go to sleep and eat.
• We need to get back to being healthy again.

Yoga and Ayurveda

• When starting yoga, it is all about breathing properly not necessarily about the complicated poses.
• Going to a class is best, but if you don’t have that option, check out a YouTube video.

The Body Wisdom Coaching Program

• This is for women entrepreneurs whose health has been put on the backburner.
• The program is for anyone who doesn’t have enough energy and isn’t feeling the best and is stuck in a rut.
• This is a 10-week program that goes through the process of changing one habit per week.
• The same 10 habits are for everyone, but each person starts in a different place.
• The first habit is “earlier, lighter dinner.”

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Dr. Michele

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Glenn the Geek, who is known as America’s Horse Husband. Glenn is a full time podcaster and the founder of the Horse Radio Network. During the show, we discuss starting a podcasting network, sponsorship, challenges, consistency, show length, and pitching sponsors.

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about your journey from zero listeners to landing big sponsors.
• How long did it to make your first sponsorship dollar in podcasting?
• At what point should someone approach sponsors?

Key Lessons Learned:

Sponsorship

• The first sponsor came in about 3-6 months after the first podcast.
• When selling sponsorships, you aren’t selling download ‘numbers;’ you are selling the 20% of people who are actively engaged in a niche topic.
• Podcast sponsorship is not a quick fix, but rather about building a brand over time.
• The audience still needs to hear a product or service being spoken about multiple times before they engage.
• In order to get a sponsor, you have to be consistent and never miss an episode.

Challenges

• ‘Horse people’ are 2-3 years behind people in technology.
• It took 3 years before Glenn was able to quit his job and podcast full time.
• Podcasting isn’t the best way to grow your list or get effective sales, but if you do it right, you will build your brand and increase your creditability.
• The biggest misconception about people who work for themselves is that they are able to work less. Glenn puts in 60-80 hours per week.

Consistency

• The only reason listeners continue to listen to your show is because they like you. If they don’t like the host, they won’t listen.
• When you start a show, there is an unwritten contract between you and your listener.
• If you miss episodes, you have broken the contract you made with the listener in the first episode.
• Listeners feel personally violated when you break the consistency contract.

Show Length

• You are also contracting with the listener for the length of time your show is going to be.
• If your show is good enough, people will allot the time for it.

Approaching Sponsors

• Glenn doesn't sell based on CPM but rather a flat rate per episode.
• When going after a sponsor, it should be the mid-size and smaller companies who need your help to grow.
• Include the sponsors as part of the content in your show, and offer them an interview, regular segments, or a way to provide tips.
• Tradeshows in your niche are a great way to approach sponsors.

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Horse Radio Network

Stable Scoop Radio Show

The 2010 Radio Show  

Horse Tip Daily

Tack and Habit 

PodFest

On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview David Ralph, who is a financial trainer-turned-full time podcaster. During the show, David and I discuss podcasting philosophy and freestyling, the art of the interview, releasing average shows, self-editing, new and noteworthy hype, and longevity in podcasting.

Main Questions Asked:

• Talk about your podcasting philosophy and why you like ‘freestyle.’
• Do you have any ‘I don’t know what to ask next’ moments?
• What are your tips for staying inspired and keeping up with the podcasting workload?
• Talk about the concept of the ‘Avatar.’
• Talk about how you introduce your podcast guests and how that affects the show.

Key Lessons Learned:

Conversational Podcasts

• Conversation develops into relationships, and then into business and sales.
• The true value of a podcast comes not just from talking but building relationship bridges.
• As a podcaster, you should treat interviewing as an art.
• To have a conversational interview, you have to really listen.

Taking Control

• As an interviewer, it is not just about asking questions but also taking control of the interview.
• Consider making a lengthy introduction in order to tell your guest’s story before they get to it.
• Guests often tell stories that they have told hundreds of times before. If you tell the story for them, then they have nothing to ‘hide behind’ and are forced to provide new content.

Releasing Average Shows

• Releasing an episode you aren’t happy with shows the journey.
• The end product of a show is different for every listener.
• Listeners will still find value in every episode, even if it isn’t a home run.

Self-Edit & Improve

• It is possible to train yourself to speak in a fluent and engaging manner instead of taking the ‘ums and ahs’ out in post-production.
• Fine-tuning your super-talent will separate you from the masses.
• David listens to each of his shows twice in order to improve his presentation.
• If you want to get better at your own podcast, you need to listen back to your own shows and pick out the faults.
• If you’re happy with your first podcast episode, you probably waited too long to launch.

New and Noteworthy

• This is overhyped in iTunes and often gives new shows a false boost.
• A successful podcaster is someone who continues to podcast past the first 8 weeks.

The Avatar

• There’s a lot of work in finding your avatar, but not a lot in understanding yourself.
• The key failing is that people are trained to go for the ‘avatar’ character.
• A lot of podcasters don’t look at themselves, and instead create content for others, which leads to them being bored as a host or without subject breadth.

Introducing the Guests                                                                                   

• Introducing the guest sets the tone for the entire interview and shows that the host is in control.
• The last two words of an introduction should be the guest’s name.
• Take the bio and replace with ‘he’ or ‘she,’ and make it exciting.
• Think about how the professional late night talk show hosts introduce their guests.

Common Problems

• Podcasters sounding bored and formulaic.
• Podcasters seem to base their presentation on new media rather than old media.

David’s Tips

• Make your show as generic as possible so it doesn’t date. Can it be listened to in 5 years and still be relevant?
• You have to gain the skills of becoming a host before you gain the skills of becoming a guest.
• Hosts lead the conversation. Guests leave gaps the host can step into.

Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Stitcher Radio!

The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

Links to Resources Mentioned

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