The demand for remote work and automation with AI is growing, fueling the rise of innovations such as “decentralized finance” (DeFi) and NFTs. With new policies in place on major advertising platforms such as the iOS 14 updates, established players in the space will be some of the most interesting people to watch in 2022 to see how they navigate their businesses during these uncertain times. 

Here are the movers and shakers who have overcome tribulations and pivoted to achieve great things while continuing to set trends and innovation in their industries.

Don Hobbs

As the former president of Success Magazine, Don has been quoted for over 35 years as one of Realtor Magazine’s “Top 25 Most Influential People in Real Estate after training over 1 million agents.

Elena Cardone

Bestselling author of the book “Build An Empire” and in-demand speaker, Elena has traveled the globe sharing her insight and experiences building an empire with her husband Grant Cardone whilst creating an extraordinary life for her family.

Imran Tariq

As a #1 WSJ best-selling author, pioneer in multilingual marketing, and expert in scaling companies through Google Ads and SEO, Imran has built his top-rated East Coast marketing agency on the belief that trust is everything.

Chris Winfield

Known worldwide as the “Super Connector”, Chris has built his brand on teaching thousands of people how to build genuine relationships. He’s used this principle to sell a company for $1.7 billion and become editor at Thrive Global.

Sofia Castro

After Sofia and her husband Bobby turned an $1800 investment into a one-billion dollar company, she discovered the power of multi-family real estate and has since built over $400 million in cash flow positive Real Estate.

Aimee Tariq

#1 Multiple WSJ best-selling author, Aimee has built a name for herself by consulting billionaires and celebrities wives on a variety of subjects from holistic health to personal image branding.

Barbara Majeski

After surviving stage-3 cancer, Barbara rose to national fame as the “Curator of the Good Life”, inspiring audiences to get out of their own way & live their best life with purpose, style and adventure.

Chad Dillow

CEO of Primal Steakhouse. After building one of the most innovative spaces in Las Vegas, this serial entrepreneur discovered how to turn a basic restaurant into a unique medieval experience that families and kids can’t get enough of.

Sabrina Stocker

As a finalist on The Apprentice UK, Sabrina built her own viral PR campaigns that took her Shopping Slot tech company to 3 million views in 6 weeks. She now helps others build wildly successful brands through Public Relations.

Trevor Houston

Trevor Houston is CEO of ClearPath Wealth Strategies. He specializes in handling 401k rollovers, as well as, helping job seekers get noticed to create opportunities & regain their main source of income. Trevor Houston has built his legacy on helping hungry job-seekers make successful career transitions through intentional financial planning and strategic visibility.

Akemi Sue Fisher

Akemi quickly became one of the most trusted and sought after e-commerce consultants in the world after her agency, Love & Launch, helped startups to Fortune 500 companies achieve over $2 billion in sales through various e-commerce platforms.

Jeremy Adams

CEO of Unicorn Innovations, Jeremy went from waiting tables to creating an industry-leading food truck business that landed him on Forbes’ 30 under 30 and became founding partner of Quantum Media with Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington and Maxwell Finn.

Gretta Rose Van Riel

Gretta launched her first successful startup SkinnyMe Tea at the age of 22 with $24 in the bank. Her bravery paid off, with SMT exploding to sell over 11 million cups of tea worldwide in 5 years.

Tyler Wagner

#1 WSJ best-selling author and founder of Authorsunite, a book marketing company that scaled to 7 figures through partnerships and utilizing his network of joint venture partners, Wagner now teaches other entrepreneurs how to do the same.

Josue Pena

Deemed the “#1 leader in Instagram growth hacking,” Josue has built a 7-figure company using Instagram and helps others do the same. His expertise has led to endorsements from Grant Cardone, Les Brown and speaking on Russell Brunson’s stage.

Lauren Tickner

After turning her fitness-coach side hustle into a seven-figure business by 23, Lauren now helps others achieve the same success in their businesses. Lauren stresses the importance of creating a need for your brand with your clientele.

Justin Winn Waller

Justin is the youngest board member of the MBCEA (Metal Building Contractors and Erectors Association) and owner of an 8-figure construction and real estate company that employs 90 people in over 10 states.

JB Owen

JB is a world-class speaker, 17-time bestselling author, publisher, and global business owner. She is the Founder and CEO of Ignite Moments Media and Ignite Publishing – responsible for publishing over 700 authors to date.

Jeremy Anderson

From failing in school to facing an ADHD diagnosis and years of drug and alcohol abuse, Jeremy now dedicates his life to helping others bounce back. He’s spoken to millions and trained thousands on launching their own speaking career.

Lauren Gordon

After leaving her hometown on a one-way ticket across the world and growing a successful consulting business while having three babies in three years all by the age of 26, Lauren empowers entrepreneurs to share their stories.

Zachary Trebbi

Zach had an interest in finance since he was a child that led to an early college start at 16, followed by a Doctorate. In 2020, Zach met Joshua Kiley and formed the popular online financial educational company CEO Watchlist.

Jessica Walker

CMO of FluidFi and content creator for coinmarketcap, Jessica is a highly skilled media professional with significant experience in the gaming and emerging tech sectors. She has worked with and managed several international media teams.

Anna Zege

Anna has built one of the fastest growing at home service companies for dog grooming especially during the pandemic as all the grooming salons were shut. The convenience and full control for pet owners to have this at home means they will pay a premium even as we slowly return to normal from the pandemic.

Kyle Sonlin

Founding Partner, Security Token Group and CEO, Security Token Market. Kyle is an advisor and investor who, after working with blockchain technology since 2015, speaks around the world as a thought-leader in the security token space.

Bailey Proulx

Bailey is an expert in scaling through paid advertising. After scaling his own ad campaigns to over $5000 a day to sell high ticket offers, he learned specifically what works for KPI optimization points and target objective to spend ratios.

Maxwell Finn

Maxwell co-founded his first agency, Quantum Media, with Jeremy Adams and Kevin Harrington. The agency ran ads and funnels for Fortune 500 companies, including 3M. He’s now educated over 3,000 students through his popular Facebook Ads course.

Jeremy Axel

Through his company Fluent Conveyors, Jeremy helps companies reduce their downtime and increase production with high quality conveyors. He’s known as an industry leader for building trusted relationships with dealer and reseller networks.

David Schloss

Founder of Convert ROI, David’s expertise lies in the psychology of running high converting Facebook advertising campaigns. David’s proprietary methods of “Contextual Congruence” are responsible for millions of dollars in revenue for his clients every year.

Marc Angelo Coppla

Co-founder of Valhalla Coop Farms and founder of Superhero Academy, Marc is dedicated to making an impact through his community on a farm outside of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He teaches others how to build a self sustaining lifestyle.

Herwig Konings

After advising one of the first Security Token Offerings in history in 2017, Herwig founded Security Token Group, a company that provides financial media, tokenization consulting, and investment products using blockchain technology.

Ximena Garcia

A leading DEI driven entrepreneur in Latin America, Ximena is the CEO & Founder of EQUALS TRUE, and the co-founder of ATHENAWORKS. Both are dedicated to the empowerment of minorities, women and the disadvantaged in the technology industry.

Joshua Kiley

Cofounder of CEO Watchlist, Joshua is a genius at content creation and works with co-founder Zachary Trebbi to simplify the complexity of investing and the stock market for new investors. He’s passionate about helping people change their financial trajectory.

Sabrina Starling

International best-selling author of The 4 Week Vacation, Sabrina is the founder of Tap the Potential and host of the Profit by Design podcast. She’s on a mission to disrupt the traditional story of “hustle culture” in entrepreneurship.

Jeremy Sigal

Multiple best-selling author and public speaker Jeremy is a force to be reckoned with as a serial entrepreneur who’s built multiple seven-figure companies with zero ad spend, all through deep directional relationships.

Shay Rowbottom

After amassing billions of impressions through her own video content and averaging over one billion views per month for her clients, Shay now focuses on helping business owners use organic video content to close more deals on Linkedin.

Maria Prieto

What started as a fitness coaching business quickly changed after Maria took her coaching profits, started investing into crypto, and grew a 7-figure income. Maria now teaches others how to make 7 figures a year through crypto.

Kerri Kasem

Kerri Kasem is a multimedia personality and humanitarian. She is the preeminent advocate against elder abuse in the United States as founder of the Kasem Cares Foundation  – fighting against guardians that attempt to exploit seniors and separate them from loved ones.

Emilie Edberg

Emilie pioneered social e-commerce upon co-founding Shopping Roulette. Coming from the events and fashion industry and working with the Kardashians and UK Royal Family inspired Emilie to create customer experiences that the VIPs are used to.

Keala Kane

Being the #1 affiliate in the world for the Clickfunnels and Moonstream Investment newsletter, Keala knows how to implement systems, funnels and traffic in a way that gets massive results. Keala also teaches others how to do the same.

Billy Carson

Billy Carson II is an American entrepreneur, best selling author, TV host, producer, actor, director, and expert in Ancient Civilizations. He is the founder of 7 figure company 4biddenknowledge TV, a TV network known for showcasing conscious documentaries.

Sarah P. Antonella

As a beauty influencer, business strategist and three times bestselling author, Sarah is an expert in negotiating six figure contracts with Fortune 500 companies. She focuses on helping women entrepreneurs close huge deals confidently.

Maggie Berghoff

Maggie is a Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner and health consultant. She is the founder and CEO of Celproceo, a cutting-edge health and wellness agency rooted in functional and integrative medicine, trusted by celebrities, professional athletes, and executives.

Brian Hess

Brian is the CEO of The Pavement Group, which is the largest pavement company in the east coast as well as top contractor school. Brian believes in utilizing direct response marketing strategies as well as hiring the top talent with the best customer service will allow you to scale any company.

Nick Paladis

Nick helps motivated thought leaders increase their impact and income by crafting a consistent message and using a proprietary content-creation process to create books, articles, and other content that build deep relationships with their audience.

Kentaro Roy

After growing up poor in a military family, Kentaro started freelancing as a web designer which grew into an international digital marketing agency by the time he was in his early twenties, allowing him to exit for 7 figures.

JayJay Live

Jay Jay is an engaging speaker who captivates crowds globally and teaches on personal branding With over 57 million views on YouTube and one million followers on Instagram, he teaches how to show up with consistency and positive energy.

Elizabeth Prairie

As a digital nomad and social media expert whose clients have been picked up by Forbes and CNN, Elizabeth believes that strategy is crucial for success on each platform if you want an ROI rather than arbitrary numbers like engagement.

Brandon Ivan Pena

Brandon is the founder of 787 Coffee Co., one of the fastest-growing coffee shops in the United States, including Puerto Rico. What started in Manhattan has expanded to 7 locations in under 2 years by putting their customers first.

Colin Boyd

Colin is obsessed with helping entrepreneurs sell from stage in a way that is neither pushy nor sleazy. He keynotes at conferences around the world on topics like persuasive communication ideas. His clients include Coca Cola, Suncorp, and Fuji Xerox.

Mark Stephen Pooler

Mark is a best selling author, founder, media & news publisher and editor-in-chief at MSP News Global where he oversees the company’s media and intersection with global business leaders. He helps people get placed in major TV and podcasts.

The post These Are the 50 Top Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2022 appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Now, she represents a marginalized demographic dedicating her life to solving racial and gender equity in the field where she once felt alienated. “It’s just a space I love to be in,” she said. “Some people deem code as being pretty pictures and numbers and now we’re changing lives.”

Robinson is one of Google’s top 50 Black Founders, recipient of the Cloud Solution of the Year by M12 (Microsoft’s venture capital fund) and Women in Cloud, named Top 10 Under 40 and Top CEO by Mississippi Business Journal, a SheEO Venture semi-finalist, Databird’s “Rising Star,” a military wife, a mother, a Black Woman.

However, she is more than a name for February Black History Month or a name for March Women’s History Month.

Her name is Sheffie Robinson. She is the only Black woman that she knows of working in AI workforce development.

Robinson’s startup, Shamrck is an AI solutions company that is revolutionizing workforce development in underserved and minority communities. “Everything we do looks at success from a social lens –  cause and effect. How many lives can we change? How can we change the world with our technology?” she said.

“How many lives can we change?”

Robinson has always been social-impact driven. Even since childhood, Robinson could be found combining sociological theory with technology. This tech CEO/Founders’ whole life changed the day her mother brought home one of the first computers.

“At 12 years old, AOL was the thing. My Mom couldn’t afford AOL! We ran out of time on the free disks. So I remembered all the MS Docks commands from Oregon Trail, went into the back, and hacked my way into AOL. I realized I can do so many different things with code. It’s fun for me to see how much I can create with lines of words. It just snowballed from there,” said Sheffie Robinson.

Robinson has accumulated 23 years of experience in software engineering, spending seven years in the tech workforce as a freelance software engineer. Seven years masking a hidden talent as a mere hobby; “I have been building software since 1999 and I’m completely self-taught. I had a passion for finding ways to provide technical solutions for the underserved and I still possess that passion,” she said.

Although Robinson had work experience in technology, the lack of diverse representation in leadership throughout the industry discouraged the now, award winning innovator. In 2014, Robinson’s husband suggested she turn her side hustle into a career. In 2015, Shamrck was founded. Yet, not with the purpose of its work now. However, 95% of Robinson’s consumers were female or minority. 

“How can we change the world with our technology?“

Obtaining a Sociology degree from Thomas Edison State University, in Trenton, NJ, in 2020 amidst the commencement of a global pandemic, with a son entering his senior year of high school, Robinson had an insiders perspective of the pitfalls of COVID-level learning.

Shamrck’s business plan pivoted. Studying to be a mechanical engineer, her son’s high school didn’t offer the correct class for his high level course requirements. Robinson went to the local community college and school board. Resulting in a created a class for her son and the six other students they found with the same issue.

“It was like, wow, how many parents don’t know they can advocate for their kids this way? And how many schools don’t know they need these programs or have the resources behind them. How can we effect the future workforce in a way that gets them what they need not necessarily what we think they need. What are you going to college for? You’re not? What assistance do you get from there? Influencing diversity and equity in the workforce has to go back further than teaching college students and adults, otherwise, the next generation will have the same issues,” Sheffie Robinson said.

“Our goal is to make a community impact.”

Children in Hawaii believe in order to get a good job, they have to leave their home and family to receive proper training. However, Shamrck is repairing and impacting an entire island of overlooked people. The AI workforce development startup is currently integrated in a large high school in Hawaii stimulating economic development, solving long-stemming issues, and providing resources to students all without them having to leave the island.

Repurposing and expanding its preexisting AI functionality, Shamrck is standardizing education, creating metrics and facilitating benchmarks as it relates to current industry standards. Robinson changes lives and impacts communities, many of which are underrepresented and marginalized. Having personal experience in an industry lacking diversity, Robinson is first-handedly shaping the future for the better.

Yet, she’s as humble as she is heroic. “The work is more important than I even thought. People are recognizing. It’s just a highlight to the problem and the effort that is necessary to solve it. To me, that just means I gotta keep going. Were at the very beginning. We haven’t even touched a smidget of the capability of what the platform is or can do,” said Sheffie Robinson in response to her many awards and accolades.

The post Sheffie Robinson, Founder and CEO of Shamrck, Wants More Black Women in AI appeared first on Grit Daily News.

A number of leading economic indicators are pointing to rough times ahead, but the good news is that there is still time to prepare. Dr. Sabrin thinks that the next economic downturn could arrive in late 2023, and that the US Central Bank (FED) may not be able to intervene in markets to the degree it was able to in previous recessions.

Sabrin was the New Jersey Libertarian Party nominee for governor in 1997 and twice sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. His newly released book is Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide. Grit Daily asked Sabrin about the potential for a recession, and what it might mean for regular people, and the wider economy.

GD: The FED was able to create a massive rise in many assets in the Post-COVID era, why would it be unable to support the economy this time?

Murray Sabrin: At this time with price inflation at a 40 year high, the Fed will be tightening money and credit conditions to prevent price hikes from accelerating. When price inflation subsides, the Fed will then turn on the monetary spigot to juice the economy and the financial markets. In other words, the Fed’s easy money policies are always followed by its tight money policies, giving us the boom/bust cycle. Take away the Fed’s ability to manipulate interest rates and create money out of thin air, the economy would grow fairly steadily as savings/investments and consumption would not be subject to wild swings during the Fed-created business cycle.   

GD: The jobs numbers (BLS) that are used by the government and mainstream press clearly don’t represent reality. The masses of homeless on US streets are evidence of this. What would a modern recession look like? 

Murray Sabrin: When the recession unfolds, the sectors that “boomed” during the easy money phase — commodities, intermediate products such as machinery, housing, auto sales — would correct, that is, the cheap credit would dampen the demand for these products. As workers are laid off in these sectors, the retail sector would also feel the effects of tight money. However, the good news is the economy has been undergoing a technological revolution, so to speak, with e-commerce, artificial intelligence and other innovative breakthroughs that could last for decades, thus dampening the ill effects of the next downturn. In other words, there are always  secular trends in the economy that are relatively insulated from tight money policies. Nevertheless, for most companies, being prepared for a recession is typically not on their radar screen, but it should be.  

GD: From the standpoint of a US business, what would the effects of a recession be? What could be done to prepare? 

Murray Sabrin: Businesses that are in economically sensitive sectors have to monitor their sales and expenses closely to determine if their company’s future may have hit the proverbial bump in the road. Entrepreneurs should have contingencies in place if it appears the economy is rolling over and there may be disruptions in their supply chains. One of the best leading indicators of an upcoming recession is when short term rates rise above long-term rates, which is an inverted yield curve. The lead time for a recession when the yield curve inverts is usually about 12 months.

The financial press reports on the yield curve constantly, and it can be monitored here, and here.

The former chart is the one that is usually reported in the financial media. The latter one reflects the Federal Reserve’s ongoing tightening of credit conditions.

Companies should consider setting aside cash from their operations as the year unfolds, which would provide them with the ability to pick up assets on the cheap when producer prices and other prices fall during a recession. Famed investor Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has squirreled away, so to speak, more than $140 billion in cash on the company’s balance sheet, a huge amount of liquidity. Is he waiting for the next stock market decline to pick up quality stocks at bargain basement levels? Time will tell.

GD: Policymakers at the federal level in the USA no longer work for main street or the shrinking middle class. It’s clear that the top 1% of the economic ladder has an outsized influence in policy decisions. How does this impact government policy in a recessionary environment? 

Murray Sabrin: Wall Street is the biggest cheerleader for easy money because it causes asset prices to increase substantially during the boom. When the recession unfolds and the stock market tanks, the 1 percenters know the Fed will “have their back” and inflate to raise asset prices. We’ve seen this play out over and over again since the Fed was created in 1913. Recently, the Fed inflated the supply of money credit after the dotcom bubble burst in the early 2000s and then in the depths of the housing bubble in 2008-’09. And in 2020, the Fed went wild to deal with the government lockdowns and added more than $4 trillion to its balance sheet while the M2 money supply increased 25 percent. The new money has been spreading through the economy causing prices to rise — the law of supply and demand is working as usual — for the past year, and prices will probably accelerate in 2022 unless there’s a huge burst of production that will “soak up” the excess liquidity that’s been injected into the economy.

GD: Let’s talk about the “bust.” Can you lay out a few things that are likely to happen in the next recession?

Murray Sabrin: The next recession should occur in 2023 and no later than 2024 as the Fed begins to tighten money and credit to dampen price inflation. There may be a period known as “stagflation,” where the economy contracts but price inflation is still high. The lead time from tight money conditions to a recession is variable, but should be obvious when the unemployment rate begins to increase.

The post Economist Murray Sabrin Sees Recession Coming appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Bob Schlegel and Myrna Schlegel are natives of a small farming community in Ontario, Canada. They launched their first family business, PeopleCare Heritage Centers, and grew it to 15 facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Later, Schlegel and a partner launched Pavestone Company, which became a leading supplier of concrete landscaping products. The Schlegels sold both businesses but are still involved in various enterprises and philanthropic endeavors.

Bob Schlegel has written a new book, Angels and Entrepreneurs: A Lifestyle Formula for Starting Your Own Business and Riding the Rollercoaster of Entrepreneurship to share what he has learned about what is really required to succeed as an entrepreneur and why good business sense is just one ingredient. We asked him to elaborate in this interview.

GD: You say there are five foundational pillars necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur. What are they?

Bob Schlegel: I like to refer to the required Energy and Enthusiasm attributes of most entrepreneurs as my PEP acronym:

Persistence – This is key for every entrepreneur. You’re going to get knocked down a lot and you have to keep getting up, make adjustments and try again and again!

Education – The more education the better — both from formal training and experiential work in your trade or profession.

Entrepreneurial Drive – You must have drive to provide products or service, call your own shots building an enterprise and create a foundation for your family and community.

Passion – When you love what you’re doing, you’ll enjoy it so much that you’ll never “work” another day in your life.

Partnerships with a Purpose – You’ll need to build strong and mutually rewarding relationships with all your stakeholders, family, suppliers and customers. It’s not a job, it’s your life.

These five pillars add up to an exciting purpose and give you the PEP to jump out of bed every morning.

GD: How important is it for business leaders to define their values and principles? Isn’t it just enough to know how to turn a profit?

Bob Schlegel: I think it’s very important to establish your company’s vision and mission in a written statement with your team. It sets the tone and spirit of your service to customers and way of working with each other. It’s also leads to more successful results.  

GD: We generally think of entrepreneurs as people who start with an idea and build a business. Are you still an entrepreneur if you buy a business instead of starting from scratch?

Bob Schlegel: Absolutely. The only difference is timing — the business stage you’re starting from. It’s obviously easier but usually more costly to buy than to embark on a startup. When you buy you’ll usually need to make a big upfront payment, but you can hit the ground running with customers, suppliers and operating systems that you can gradually improve on. Many startups are built on a shoestring budget and can take years to build. One of my startups took 14 years to get nicely profitable, but shortly after was doubling every 2 or 3 years.

GD: Is it smarter to ignore your competition (within reason) to focus on your own business? How familiar should a business owner be with their competitors?

Bob Schlegel: Yes, of course you’ll need to focus on your own business first, but you’ll need to know what the competition is doing so you can provide something better (quality, service or price) to attract your own customers. Your business marketing team will need to be very aware of how your products or service compare to what’s available in the marketplace. You’re going to want know everything you can about your competition. The internet has made that so much easier than in the old days.

Also, just because you’re in competition doesn’t mean you have to be enemies. It may seem like a strange concept, but your competition is a type of partner in the sense that they drive you to work harder, think smarter and stay on top of market shifts. I try to take my major competitor to lunch once a year. We face a lot of common issues and discussing them can benefit both our companies. And, you never know if your competitor might be the one who ends up buying your business when you’re ready to retire.

GD:The pandemic might be the ultimate example of what you can’t plan for but can’t avoid dealing with. What is your advice for weathering the inevitable ups and downs of starting and running a business? 

Bob Schlegel: Yes, that was a brutal shock and was hard to survive when a whole global economy ground to a halt. On top of the human health scare, it affected the most important thing in every business — cash flow — which killed a lot businesses, from big ones like Hertz to small family restaurants.

The only thing you can do is be honest with your stakeholders, banks, suppliers, etc. The government’s PPP was a lifeline for many business, but also reminded us all about the risks of too much leverage or bank debt.

The post Bob Schlegel Is Sharing 40 Years of Advice on Starting and Growing a Business appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Tire Agent is a leading online retailer of tires. It offers consumers great buying options for new tires in an online platform. Kugel understands how important tires are for safe driving, and how to make it convenient and affordable to buy new tires when it’s time. Tire Agent is an authorized retailer for the majority of top-tier brands, which it offers for sale with flexible payment plans with a proprietary product called PayPair.

Grit Daily was able to talk to Jared Kugel, and learn more about what has made Tire Agent so successful in a market that is extremely competitive.

GD: Besides funding a new venture, what was the most challenging thing about taking Tire Agent into the marketplace?

Jared Kugel: Trying to change consumer behavior is always difficult. In our case, it’s educating consumers that buying tires online with Tire Agent.com in many cases can be a better experience than what they are used to or what they imagine. Much like how many consumers have migrated to purchasing mattresses online, which traditionally have been in-store; tires are gradually going in that direction as well. When it comes to buying tires online consumers can make a more educational and unrushed decision, choose from a larger selection, and utilize a variety of flexible payment options. Customers love the Tire Agent experience. We get a lot of customers recommending us to their friends/family so thankfully it hasn’t been as challenging for us as it may be for others. Like any business, you have to listen to your audience and constantly evolve; that’s the key to growing.

GD: There are already a number of national tire retail chains. Do you view this as a hindrance to your business, or was it good that there was such a large existing market for tires.

Jared Kugel: I see this as a good thing. The replacement tire market is massive and proven to be able to sustain a large number of competitors. We welcome the competition because it motivates us to innovate and to never be complacent. Our goal when entering the tire & wheel space was to differentiate ourselves from legacy retailers. Consumers didn’t need just another retailer of tires & wheels, we’re building lifelong relationships by providing a unique set of services not found anywhere else.

GD: There are persistent reports of a looming rubber shortage. As an industry insider, what is your view of the situation?

Jared Kugel: A lot of these issues are resulting from supply chain challenges; including container shortages, and bottlenecks at ports across the US. The result of this has been unfortunate price increases across the supply chain which ultimately is being passed down to the consumer. Tire manufacturers are doing their best to manage any additional price increases.

GD: The vast majority of car owners are impacted on inflation. Given the probability of price hikes going forward, do you think it is a good idea to buy tires now?

Jared Kugel: Given the amount of price increases by tire manufacturers due to supply chain challenges in 2021, the longer consumers wait to purchase new tires the more expensive the product becomes. There are many indicators signaling further price increases in 2022 so people may want to consider getting tires now. For people who need tires but have struggled to afford them, our alternative payment product, PayPair, is a great solution.

GD: Please tell us more about PayPair. How large a part of the business is it?

Jared Kugel: PayPair helps reduce the stress of paying for new tires and wheels upfront by connecting consumers with alternative payment options. After answering a few short questions during checkout our customers can compare multiple offers that break payments down into weeks, months or years. PayPair is a very strategic aspect of our business. As consumer adoption of pay over time and alternative payments methods within e-commerce grows, Tire Agent has been at the forefront, providing our customers with a multitude of options for all credit types.

Tires aren’t the kind of thing that most people think about everyday – but they are one of the most important things in the life of any driver. Jared Kugel created a new way to access tires for both consumers and businesses. With great brands, new ways to pay, and a convenient platform, Tire Agent.com is ready for more success in the coming years.

The post Jared Kugel, Founder/CEO of Tire Agent, Tells How He Makes the Best Tires Affordable appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Unlike many entrants to the smart products space, Berdugo saw the potential for the sector as early as 2013, when Wellbots was founded. Smart products are entering more areas of daily life, not only in personal life, but also in the professional world. As a leading retailer of numerous smart products, Wellbots has to stay on top of market trends. Wellbots offers large discounts to schools, universities, hospitals and other corporate clients.

Grit Daily had the opportunity to ask Berdugo about the success of Wellbots, as well as where he sees the space going in the future.

GD: You were an early mover in the smart products space. Why did you see potential in smart products so early?

Philippe: Growing up, I always had an interest in technology and the most innovative products on the market. It was hard to ignore how popular new forms of technology were at the beginning of the last decade. Smartphones were just starting to become a common consumer item, and I saw that the same kind of smart technology could be applied to numerous other everyday items. The founding of Wellbots made sense to me, as I thought there would be a huge opportunity for any company that could make connections in the smart products sector, and offer competitive prices on great new products. As I grew Wellbots, I realized the company was ideally positioned to issue a ranking of the best 25 smart products on the market. It has since become the Annual Wellbots Ranking and includes the best robot vacuums, electric scooters, smartwatches, drones, air purifiers and more.

GD: How do you see the role of data in the smart economy?

Philippe: Data is at the center of the modern economy. It is a highly-coveted skill and asset to be able to leverage data to make business decisions. Companies large and small are fighting to get more data on their (potential) customers’ behaviors and interests. It allows companies to be much smarter at marketing their products, reaching out to the right people to grow their business. At the same time, data collection has become a growing concern for many because of its impact on privacy.

In addition, smart products are now able to connect and communicate with other products to make our lives easier. That is what has been coined the Internet-of-Things, which heavily relies on data and is expected to be one of the fastest-growing industries in the coming decade.

GD: Can you tell us more about how Wellbots has been such a success in a competitive marketplace?

Philippe: At Wellbots, we curate the best products in each category of smart products. We pride ourselves on only selling the best. We are not generalists, we are experts in the space. The Wellbots Brand Partnership team carefully vets the best products such as drones, robotic pool cleaners, connected toys, portable power stations, electric bikes and more. There is a thorough selection process for a brand to make it to Wellbots.

Our team knows all the products we sell: customers call us and live chat with us every day. We are known for our white-glove customer service and offering innovative & pioneering features such as:

Pay with crypto

The Wellbots VIP Program

Free Shipping on Everything

2% Cashback Loyalty Program

Extended 2 or 3-year warranties

The Special Wellbots Bundles

GD: Can you tell us a little more about the bulk buying program that Wellbots offers?

Philippe: The bulk buying program at Wellbots offers discounted quotes to business customers placing large orders. The B2B team members are always available to answer any questions business customers may have: our team has been carefully trained and educated on the technicalities and functionalities of all the products we sell. Our goal is to make the process as seamless, enjoyable and efficient as possible.

Some of our business customers include local police departments, fire stations, coast line guards and government agencies, private/corporate campuses and buildings, hotels, amusement parks, hospitals, universities among others.

Philippe Berdugo graduated from ESSEC Business School in France and also the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Wellbots offers its products in both the USA and France, and was featured by the Financial Times of London in 2021 on its list of the 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in the Americas. It ranked #7 in the ecommerce section of the 500 companies, as at #122 across the entire group. Berdugo is also a co-founder of Berd Industries, an investment firm that focuses on real estate and a director at TP NYC, which is a real estate investment firm.

The post Wellbots CEO Philippe Berdugo Sees More Growth Ahead in Smart Products appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Today, Walker leads TSMA. The company was formerly known as The Social Media Advantage. Currently, the company’s moniker is The Social Media Agency and has experienced meteoric growth over the last decade since he founded it. As one of the pioneers in the influencer economy, TSMA quickly gained notoriety amongst the celebrity crowd. Walker’s agency quickly emerged as a global leader in social media management. Influencers liked the perks and financial remuneration. And developing economies like Argentina were receiving tens of thousands of dollars per month by bringing international followers to celebrities’ social media platforms. Indeed, TSMA had found the path to the triple win.

Grit Daily queried Walker about how TSMA manages to stay one step ahead in a very competitive market. He explained, “We incentivize the creator community with giveaways and we’ve leveraged that influencer economy for a long time, even before it was trendy to do so. TSMA is the first and only firm that uses the creator economy.”

Social media is constantly changing

Of course, TSMA’s success wouldn’t be possible without two critical components. One, a focus on developing the talent within. And two, a lot of hustling and hard work. When asked how social media has shifted since TSMA launched, Walker had this to say, “Prior to the pandemic, we didn’t anticipate a large boom and pivot to e-Commerce. That high influx led to new departments and adding a dozen new hires which was a boost to our social media community.”

Along the way, they’ve also had to make adjustments to evolve in parallel to how consumer habits were changing. “We’ve seen a massive shift in how people consume content and how individuals and businesses use it, and the strong desire for education in this space,” Walker said. He continued, “What I’m most proud of is the educational content that we’ve created. We’ve seen the impact that education can have.”

Maintaining compliance with ever-changing policies on social media platforms is an essential hallmark of the TSMA brand. “We’re always compliant so that we can attract the level of client base that we have.” However, one effort maintaining social media compliance threw them for an unexpected loop. “Back in October, 2019, Instagram made a wide-sweeping shift that wasn’t well documented publicly. They changed the way they allow third-party software to access their back end. Automated actions changed the way our clients were getting engagement literally overnight. Each account went from say a thousand likes to just a few hundred. Billions of actions per month went away which put a lot of social media agencies out of business. And engagement levels have been been lower ever since.”

What consumers want

Consumers want fresh, quality content. Short-form video content around 30-seconds at a time, “TikTok style,” is being voraciously consumed. In fact, TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform. Stock imagery is no longer resonating with the audience. People want authentic material; videos in particular. Each day, more than one billion hours of video are consumed on YouTube alone.

Walker shared his thoughts on how social media was likely to shift over the months and year ahead. “Short-form video content isn’t going to go away anytime soon.” To hear more insights about social media management and the grit required to build a massively successful company, tune into Grit Daily Like a Boss podcast. As Season 2 wraps up next week, we’ll soon be launching Season 3 under a new podcast title, “The Grit Files: Startup Stories.” Listen to the episode featuring Ryan Walker anywhere that content is streamed.

The post Taking Social Media to the Next Level appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Sports represented his ticket to the future so he played hard. Upon graduation, he had more than thirty scholarships and selected the University of Minnesota. There, he went on to play football and was scouted by the NFL – only to have a career-ending injury that put him on a new path and focused on education. What he left behind included two parents and a brother in prison plus a sister addicted to crack. He vowed to move forward: motivation became his M.O..

I had to learn how to dream beyond my circumstances – it’s so important to have a vision for yourself.

Dr. Watson

Dr. Watson was fired from his first job but that fueled his motivation to do better. In his mid-20s and with a college degree, he joined McDonalds. There, he was groomed for leadership and worked hard to complete his doctorate. It may come as no surprise that his PhD thesis was on motivation. “My McDonald’s experience was one of the best of my life – I got to learn about marketing and leadership on their dime. I learned how to develop other people and how to work through other people to get things done. One of the keys to successful entrepreneurship is to delegate because you can’t do everything yourself,” he said.

Motivation comes from freedom

Money isn’t what motivates him – freedom does. “That why entrepreneurship works for me,” he mused. He lives to make a difference in people’s lives. When Grit Daily probed on how he stays positive despite all the adversity he’s faced, this was his response. “Failure and success aren’t opposite ends of the spectrum; they’re intertwined in a circle and you need them both. I wouldn’t be who I am today with the agony, the defeat, and the victories.”

What do you learn from winning all the time? We learn from our bumps and bruises. Sometimes we have to look back to move forward.

Dr. Watson

He closed the podcast lamenting the lack of creativity and critical thinking being taught in schools. Dr. Watson urges everyone to share their stories so that we can find a middle ground and get along. If you need a dose of Monday Motivation, tune in!

The post Today’s Dose of Monday Motivation appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Jeremy has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Inc, Entrepreneur magazine, Thrive Global, Yahoo Finance, Disrupt magazine and a host of other publications on the topic of sales, persuasion and role of psychology and human behavior in the buying process.

As companies and entrepreneurs increasingly seek to introduce more persuasive principles of psychology and even sociology into their marketing and sales efforts, the landscape of communicating has changed drastically. Here’s how Jeremy believes that less “selling” leads to more sales.

Where and how did you get started in sales?

Jeremy Miner: I started from ground zero about 20 years ago, out of college.  My first job was  selling home security systems door to door. The company hired everybody because it was a straight commission job. They trained you for about a week, handed you a script and map, then dropped you off and basically said “Hey, go make some sales.” 

At that point, I thought selling was just going to be easy,  but quickly found out otherwise and started experimenting with different techniques.

You’ve created a new methodology called NEPQ. Can you explain what that is and how it works?

Jeremy Miner: Neuro Emotional Persuasion Questions (NEPQ) is a methodology that pivots on a key principle of behavioral science:

Human beings are the most persuasive when they allow others to persuade themselves. 

This means asking the right questions, in the right sequence, with the right delivery – causing your prospect to be drawn towards you, to pull you in and pursue you – as opposed to being repelled by, rejecting and trying to get rid of you.

How is NEPQ different from other sales strategies, what are your big differentiators?

Jeremy Miner: The biggest differentiator is that most other sales methods tend to work in direct opposition to the laws of human behavior and psychology, whereas, in contrast, NEPQ originates from the question, ‘What do studies in human behavior psychology actually tell us about different forms of communication, and the degree to which each either is – or isn’t – persuasive?’

It  turns out science tells us there are three forms of communication, the first being the least persuasive,  is “telling” people things – or “pushing” them into doing something.

The second form, which is a little more persuasive is discussion, as embraced by proponents of consultative selling. Consultative selling, developed in the late 1980’s centers around asking logic-based questions to find out the needs of the client. The downfall with this approach is that logical questions invite logical answers but people’s buying decisions aren’t based on logic but emotion.

The third and most persuasive mode of communication happens when we allow others to persuade themselves. Also known as dialogue, this happens when we ask what I call Neuro-emotional Persuasion Questions (NEPQ) –  skilled questions which, when positioned within a scientifically designed sequence and structure, trigger the prospect to answer in such a way that they seamlessly sell themselves.

Does the NEPQ method work cross all industries?

Jeremy Miner:  Not only have I used NEPQ myself to sell and earn multiple seven-figure commissions year-on-year in four separate industries as a W-2 sales rep during my seventeen year sales career but since starting 7th Level we’ve also trained clients across hundreds of industries who continue to report exponential sales gains using the NEPQ process.

One of the primary reasons NEPQ is applicable across the board is because the questions and tonality we coach our clients’ sales teams to use are designed to work with human behavior – rather than against it.  Regardless of industry, every product or service out there exists to solve a problem or an emotional need.  

Using NEPQ allows you to not only help your prospect uncover their real problems or emotional needs, but more importantly what’s behind the problem, what’s driving the need, giving clients across any industry the foundation for radical results. In fact, we’ve collected thousands of examples from clients: individual salespeople – and companies – substantiating the exponential difference NEPQ has made to their sales by way of favorable responses from prospects – and close rates achieved.  It’s personally satisfying for me to see NEPQ’s persuasive power working so well for those we train. 

Is NEPQ only sales tool or can it be used in other ways/circumstances?

Jeremy Miner: We need to understand we are ALL in sales now, it does not matter what you do!  

Even if you’re not out there getting paid a commission, you would most certainly be seeking in some way to persuade, influence and convince others.  In fact,to be  human is to be hard-wired with a desire to “move others.”

To break it down – If you’re a business owner seeking to have your employees follow your vision for the company, then you’re trying to persuade, influence and move others.

If you’re an employee wanting to convince your boss to give you a pay rise, then you’re in the business of trying to convince, persuade and move others.

If you’re an attorney endeavoring to convince the jury that your client is innocent, you are most definitely transacting in persuasion, influence and moving others.

If you’re a teacher setting out to convince your class to apply themselves to an assignment, you are undertaking to persuade, influence and move others.

Heck, if you are a politician who is trying to get people to vote for you, you are doing this too.  In fact, I have a student who applies his knowledge in NEPQ to help politicians and legislators ‘sell ideas’ to their constituents and get re-elected!

So the short answer is no, industry doesn’t.  The number one skill a human being needs in order to get ahead in life, is – learning how to persuade and influence others.

Covid has changed sales and how most businesses interact with clients, how does NEPQ fit into this new normal?

Jeremy Miner: When the pandemic set in, a lot of our clients in various industries weren’t phased at all.  They simply took what they were learning and went virtual with it.

The fact is, because of the advanced questioning skills and human-behavior-friendly techniques NEPQ equips salespeople with, they are able to effect amazing results with prospects – even when they don’t meet in person.

For example: instead of the usual in-person meeting at a prospects home that an insurance rep would have, with Covid they’d just sent out a Zoom link and hop into a virtual meeting with that prospect.  Really easy.

Ironically, because of Covid the majority of our clients actually increased sales significantly.  This is because the time it would usually take reps to travel to and from appointments, is now spent meeting with more people.  In some cases – double the amount of prospective customers on Zoom per day!

The post “Neuro-Emotional Persuasion” Made Jeremy Miner a 7 Figure Earner appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Here’s a deeper look into the trials of this serial entrepreneur — an immigrant that has launched a number of successful projects despite being rejected by — in her words, “practically all” — venture investors. Her take? Hack it, and make money the “old-fashioned way” through sales. 

Grit Daily: Where do you start when it comes to conjuring up viable business ideas?

Irina Lebedeva: I start with the overall strategy. Provided that you choose your goal wisely and have the right resources to achieve it, your chances of success are pretty high even if you have to pivot from your original idea down the line. Basically it all comes down to two factors: creating a Minimum Viable Product using as little development resources as you can and being able to get first clients with a zero budget by using strategic partnerships, for example. 

This can help you stay independent from VCs and angel investors who are often too demanding when you need them. Closing a round of investment can take from 6 to 12 months, and most projects fail to get funded. If you are a female founder and an immigrant who doesn’t have a record of success in this country your chances are basically zero. But this doesn’t mean your project cannot succeed, though! 

You simply will be much better off using these 6 to 12 months developing the first version of your product and getting the first clients or users, and make VCs approach you themselves later down the line when you get your metrics right by having a product that is already in high demand.

Grit Daily: So how do you minimise development involved in the first version of the product?

Irina Lebedeva: This depends on each particular product. When it’s a service, you don’t even need to develop anything, you just need to focus on onboarding the first clients and then scaling it. For example, you can use the existing functionality of Instagram and Whastapp to provide consultations or educational services. 

Often you do not need to create a complicated platform or mobile app, you just need a landing page, where your potential clients can put in their contact details, for instance. A product is a tool, so development of the MVP is not your end goal, focus on the cash positive business instead, and your happy customers are at the core of it. 

But if you are sure the mobile app is the solution, again, you don’t have to develop it! You can create a clickable design in Invision, show it to your first users and then use this design and their positive feedback as an MVP to get funding from angel investors. You can have a perfectly designed app for less than $2k if you use outsource designers. Developing an app will cost you at least $20k and will take more time (up to six months instead of 1-2 months). With proper testing the app can cost you $200k. Investors do not care how much money you have spent developing your prototype, but they eagerly invest in successful scalable businesses.

Grit Daily: How can you simplify development of something worth millions of dollars? 

Irina Lebedeva: Well, first, you need to verify if you actually need a platform, or a landing page/chatbot will suffice for an MVP. The more aps you have, the more complexities you create, which can shoot you in the leg once you start testing the product on real users. Put simply, involve no more than one full stack developer for the prototype, if you can. When it comes to mobile apps, for example, one native iOS developer can develop both the interface and also simple backend using firebase. So you can actually have one person doing design, frontend and backend, because native interface 

Secondly, you focus on what really matters, this will also make your product more sustainable in the long run. At Teamkraft, which is a social sports app, at some point we needed to develop a system that could track and verify user data and reputation across sports and across countries. At that time, the majority of companies would have developed their own non fungible tokens to launch collectible items. This process, however, cost them millions of dollars and took at least  a year to develop a prototype while hiring the world’s most expensive developers. We decided to keep things simple and start by storing hashes of data on the blockchain, which would make it immutable and verifiable. 

This approach of using blockchain as a database was extremely quick in comparison to developing, for example, an ERC-721 token, and was also extremely cheap. This allowed Teamkraft to have a prototype ready in mere months without any additional developers and financing. Further, because the transaction costs were much lower, it allowed for an overall more sustainable business. Morale of the story: you can build apps without hiring an army of developers if you simplify your prototype by focusing on what really matters to the consumer and eliminate the noise. 

Grit Daily: We got the prototype. What’s next?

Irina Lebedeva: Marketing is one of the toughest parts of early stage projects. Prototypes require thousands of dollars, but marketing costs can be in the millions. This is why optimising the marketing costs is one of the core skills of Founders and Product Managers. 

At Xfinite, which is a crypto entertainment platform (“Netflix on the blockchain”), we didn’t start the acquisition of users with raising dozens of millions of dollars through private sale or ICO like other blockchain projects did. The product itself started with developing strategic partnerships, including a partnership with Eros Now (India’s major media company with over 220M subscribers) and scaling to over two dozen international content partners even before we got any blockchain development done. Morale of the story: you can build an outreach of hundreds of millions of users even if you do not have any marketing budget!

Grit Daily: So you can launch any product and market it to millions of people without any financing. What are the venture capitalists for then?

Irina Lebedeva: Once you have your product ready, and start scaling the number of customers or users, you can start talking to VCs and angel investors. Now you will have the data for them to be able to assess your product in terms of valuation and future cash flows. 

At this point you have all the chances to get funded no matter who you are, where you come from, what projects you have had in the past. This might not sound like a shortcut but this is one of the very few sure ways to building a successful venture project even if you have no access to financing.

Looking to get together with startup enthusiasts like Irina? Take a look at the upcoming Congressional Startup Day, August 11 in Tampa.

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