Two college best friends create their dream startup. Sounds like the classic entrepreneur fairy tale. Except the startup was a real estate company, and the year was 2007. You can probably guess what happened next – that is, until Oliver Seidler decided to pivot from a small company stuck in survival mode to a BIG business.

On today’s show, Oliver explains how he used technology, key performance indicators, top talent, and a commitment to his vision to pivot Property Force into a scalable, multimillion dollar business.

Allan Young got hooked on shaking up businesses at a young age – he estimates he started 14 different companies before he graduated from high school! This entrepreneurial spirit put Allan out of step with the dominant business thinking of the ‘70s and ‘80s: emulate what’s already successful. But today, being a disruptor in your business space isn’t just trendy – it’s essential to fighting off complacency, and staying ahead of the hungry start-ups chomping at your heels.

On today’s show, Allan gives his tips on how CEOs can embrace positive, forward thinking to transform their companies into powerful disruptors.

There’s truth in advertising to those LendingTree ads we all remember, in which a green puppet named Lenny tries to help people avoid getting the runaround from banks and lenders. That was once 24-year-old Doug Lebda, struggling to find a good mortgage rate for his first home purchase. From that frustration came a multi-billion-dollar idea: an online platform that makes it easier for consumers to comparison-shop for loans of all kinds.

On today’s show, Doug discusses how he grew LendingTree from $10,000 in seed money into an e-commerce giant, and how you can apply some of the same strategies to growing your own business BIG.

Richard Sapio is the founder of Mutual Capital Alliance, and its CEO for the last twenty years.

When his dad died unexpectedly, 13-year-old Richard's life was thrown into chaos. That experience instilled in Richard both a DIY entrepreneurial spirit, and a passion for finding order. During the 2008 economic downturn, Richard had the bright idea to bid on private lunches with six Texas billionaires. The investment paid off as Richard enjoyed personal master classes from some of the most successful people in the country…and it led to many more billionaire interviews.

On today’s show, Richard discusses the thought and behavioral patterns common to billionaires, and how he believes CEOs of all sizes can leverage those patterns to create “an entrepreneur in every home."

If you want to grow your business, you don’t need salespeople. You need THE BEST salespeople, a top-notch team that’s constantly moving your product or service, making a great impression on your current customers, and spreading the good word about your company whe.never possible.

So, step one: load up your sales team with grade-A talent.

On today’s show, Chris Larkins explains the importance of step two: ditch your flat-rate commission structure, and align your sales comp with the BIG goals all those sales should be building towards

You are what you sell, or at least your business is. If you’re happy with the small sales your mediocre sales team delivers month after month, quarter after quarter, you’re going to stay small … that is, until your competitors blow right past you.

On today’s show, Bill Whitehead delves into the sales skills that separate top performers from the middle of the pack. Use Bill’s insights to supercharge your lagging sales team, or to identify the habits of high-performing replacements you should be targeting.

Since 2008, TaskUs has grown from a struggling start-up run by two entrepreneurs out of their parents’ houses into a thriving company with more than 8,000 employees around the world.

Jaspar Weir, co-founder and president, says millennials comprise over 90% of his workforce, and TaskUs has invested substantial time and resources in measuring and improving the engagement of its employees to keep building on its rapid growth.

On today’s show, Jaspar points past Bulletproof Coffee and Avocado Toast memes to discuss how strong corporate culture and a defined sense of purpose can attract, engage, and retain top millennial talent.

Companies fail when their leaders fail to execute. But why do entrepreneurs fail in the first place? What are the habits of high-performing CEOs that anyone running a business should incorporate into their own routines and growth strategies?

Mark Moses has been asking these provocative questions for over 20 years, and using the answers to turn around distressed companies and guide top firms to exponential growth.

On today’s show, Mark discusses the top five reasons that entrepreneurs fail to create successful businesses, and the exercises he has designed to make sure your business steers clear of the same pitfalls.

Bad hires don’t just drag down your business -- they can be expensive to replace. Using Talent Insights assessments can help you get the right people in the right jobs the first time, which is why they are a key component of CEO Coaching International’s best practices methodology.

On today’s show, Sheldon Harris walks you through using Talent Insights to assess potential hires, break down their strengths and weaknesses, and determine who is the best person to help your company hit its goals and make BIG happen.

CEO Coaching International's David Sobel explains how to break down your long-term goals into a simple daily routine that can improve your personal business performance and your whole company, one win at a time.

Successful CEOs and entrepreneurs are all driven, hard-working people who demand big things from themselves. But too much go go GO can leave you exhausted, unproductive, and unhealthy.

On today’s show, Dr. Heidi Hanna gives her expert tips on keeping our stress low and productivity high.

If your business is on fire and threatening to burn to the ground by a specific date, you need a turnaround. If there’s smoke -- the death of a key partner, the loss of a big customer -- but nothing has burst into flames yet, your business is distressed. Either way, you need to do something, now, before trouble sparks and ignites.

On today’s show, CEO Coaching International coach Chris Larkins walks us through five steps to extinguishing trouble before it engulfs your business.

On this episode, Dr.  Marshall Goldsmith discusses the dangers of turning your business into a competition, and how effective CEOs learn to prioritize positive, impactful actions over winning trivial, and potentially harmful, victories.

Mikki Williams is a popular public speaker who regularly shares the stage with TED Talk luminaries and industry titans like Tony Robbins and Suzy Orman. Mikki purposely cultivates a BIG persona. Her personality is big, her speaking performances are big, and her brand is more than just big -- it’s OUTRAGEOUS. Is your company growing stagnant or complacent? If so, you may need some outrageousness to shake up your office and get your employees to Make Big Happen. And in this episode, Mikki shares some ideas on how to shake things up and get the energy flowing again.

Some people stay at the same company because it’s a perfect fit for their skill set, and their professional aspirations. Others just get complacent. In today’s episode, Feyzi Fatehi explains how his desire for learning, development, and professional growth led him to leave a cushy job at HP, strike out on his own to build cloud-computing leader Corent, and smack complacency in the face.

Leslie's first company, Value Health Sciences, was a big success and ultimately became part of a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company. From there, he realized the way to build successful businesses was to focus on an overlooked niche. Whenever he starts a new company, he finds a small niche that is being overlooked by the big players. As an entrepreneur, he said you're going to be playing the game with people who have more resources, more capacity to survive, and more capabilities than you're ever going to have. Following his own advice, he's now building his fourth company by focusing on delivering private healthcare to people of means who are willing to work outside the traditional medical system.

Long-time CEO Coaching International client Ron Carson grew up on a farm in a small town in Nebraska. He had few advantages. His dad was a workaholic who never spent any time with him. His mom and dad had a poor relationship. Scarcity thinking ruled the household. From those humble beginnings, Ron started selling insurance out of his dorm room in college. Soon, he was making so much money from selling that he decided to move full-time into financial services. Within a few years, he reached that elusive million-dollar producer level.

Today, after compound annual growth of more than 28% for more than 30 years, his companies generate tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue. Recently, he sold a 29% interest in his companies for $35 million. Ron Carson shares his insights on accelerating growth.

Strategic planning is a relic from a bygone era. Today, the most successful companies create an "Execution Plan" that identifies then delivers on the company's key objectives and initiatives for the year. In today's episode, Sheldon Harris walks us through a specific process that your leadership team can use to implement your own "Execution Plan" and make your next 12 months the most profitable ever. 

We all want the best for our kids. And for many of us, this includes getting admitted to top schools. For decades, Mimi Doe, who holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University, has been teaching students and their parents the proven roadmap to get accepted to top schools. The truth is, the top schools admission process is not transparent and it is shrouded in myths. In today’s show, Mimi shines a light on this opaque process and describes in detail the things you can do today to help ensure your kids have the best shot at getting admitted to the top schools of their choice. 

Culmen International is like a company you'd expect to see in a James Bond movie. They help the government to detect and interdict illicit trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, explosives, narcotics, and other weapons. They train people in counter-terrorism, ordnance logistics, and border security. And a couple years ago, Culmen, founded and led by its long-time CEO Dan Berkon, made a major play to enter a new line of business. Success was immediate, but there was one problem. The company had to raise $11 million--and fast--or they'd lose the contract. You'll learn in today's podcast how they scrambled to raise money, secure the contract, and double the size of the company. You'll also learn how Dan pulled a Jerry McGuire-like exit from his first employer, took one employee with him, and went on to build a $50 million company with offices all over the world.

Brenda Jacobsen started in the family business right out of college and eventually rose to CEO of the company. After a "type-A driven business woman" told Brenda about the coach she was using and raved about the tremendous results she was getting, Brenda decided to contact the coach. Shortly after hiring CEO Coaching International coach Jay Reid, Brenda's company got an unsolicited offer to buy her company. The timing was perfect. Working with Jay and the team at CEO Coaching, Brenda was able to bring in another buyer to the table, play one off the other, and get a much higher sale price--all while negotiating a good payout for herself. This is the behind the scenes story of a business sale that can benefit all small to mid-size companies when it comes time to sell your company.

Sheldon Harris, the former president of Cold Stone Creamery, entrepreneur, and now coach at CEO Coaching International, says meetings don’t have to be a boring waste of time. In fact, he says there’s a specific “cadence” of meetings and a structure that enables leaders at all levels to be highly effective communicators. By following his strategy, you can turn internal communication into a scalable competitive advantage for your company.

The amazing story of how two guys started a revolutionary real estate e-commerce company that has transacted more than $30 billion in real estate--online.

Rob Friedman and his high school friend Jeff started an offline auction company that did reasonably well. But then the internet came along and they decided to put some listings online. Things really took off when, after four years of badgering the owner, they bought the domain Auction.com for $1.7 million and rebranded the company.

Today, Auction.com is the country's (and possibly the world's) largest e-commerce seller of real estate. And they hold a world record! The Auction.com platform was used to facilitate the largest verified e-commerce transaction in history based on current Guinness World Records information: The $96 million sale of Manhattan Towers, a two-building, 309,734 square-foot office property in Southern California.

Like great entrepreneurs, Todd and Sean saw a need and built a company to fill it. Sensing that e-commerce was about to explode in the late 1990s, they decided to start a company to supply these firms with fulfillment services. Right on queue, business took off. However, they had to overcome early stumbles in hiring the right people for the leadership team before the business was on solid footing. Today, people, culture, and systems keep the firm on the Inc. 5000 list.

Former COO of Grasshopper shares the three keys and one metric you must optimize as you start massively scaling your business.

Don Schiavone, the former COO of fast-growing Grasshopper, "The Entrepreneur's Phone System," was instrumental in leading the company as it optimized its 100% digital marketing growth strategy and its eventual sale to a Fortune 500 company. He brings together an in-depth understanding of technology with a data-driven “test-everything” philosophy: You can’t manage what you can’t measure. While coaching entrepreneurs at CEO Coaching, Don's approach to coaching focuses on three pillars of success: people, process, and systems.