Leadership Wednesday | Hello Tech Pros

Michal Stawicki spends his days in IT and moonlights as a writer, but he hopes one day to turn his writing into a full-time passion. He calls himself a progress fanatic. Michal writes about how to 'expand beyond your limits' so you can regain control over your life (based on his personal experience). His mission is to help people change their lives… even if they don't believe they can. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/michal-stawicki-motivation/ What You'll Learn From This Episode What options you have when your "safe" career suddenly ends. How long it takes to become successful. The amount of time it really takes to write a book. The importance of a support group and accountability partners and where to look for them. What to do when the motivation ends.

This is Part 7 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business.   What You Will Learn In This Episode Why money is not a long-term motivator for many people. What happens to us emotionally when the lust / newlywed phase is over in your business. How the customers you serve will determine whether this is a job or a calling. How to identify your "soulmate business." When is the right time to make a pivot in your business and why I'm excited about the pivot I'm making.   Next Steps The next step you need to take is to complete the homework assignment for Module 7 in the follow-along email course. Click here to request access to the course materials and homework.   Anxiety? If you struggle with anxiety in your career, your business or in life, I can help. I've learn how to silence the inner voice that tells me I'm no good and channel my inner champion. Click here to learn how to deal with the anxiety that is troubling your career, your business and your

This is Part 6 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business.   What You Will Learn In This Episode Why advertising is a great way to lose money fast if you are not properly prepared. How to build an army of agents who want to spread your message. Whether a blog or podcast is right for your particular business. How to build and foster a community of followers without building a website. Why in-person networking events are critical to your business. How to be a guest on a successful podcast or blog.   Next Steps The next step you need to take is to complete the homework assignment for Module 6 in the follow-along email course. Click here to request access to the course materials and homework.  

This is Part 5 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business.   What You Will Learn In This Episode Why I've always felt "sales" and "salespeople" were sleazy scumbags. The trait you need to have as a marketer to not come across as a sleazy scumbag. How to connect with your potential customers on an emotional level to build raving fans. How to speak the language of your audience using their own words to build trust. Search engine tricks to find customers wanting to buy your product   Next Steps The next step you need to take is to complete the homework assignment for Module 5 in the follow-along email course. Click here to request access to the course materials and homework.

This is Part 4 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business.   What You Will Learn In This Episode Why most tech pros are wasting serious time and money on the wrong stacks when launching their business. The stack you need to master in any industry. The most critical piece of the stack that often gets overlooked. The biggest mistake I made when launching Hello Tech Pros and what I'm doing about it now. Why non-technical people often dominate at building business while tech pros struggle to find customers. How to change the relationship with your audience members from "Who are you again?" to "Please take my money!"   Resources Mentioned Start Your First Business Course

This is Part 3 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business.   What You Will Learn In This Episode How to make the decision to either bootstrap or find investors. Why you need to build as much value in your company as possible before bringing in an outsider. How to use your customer avatar to identify the most important tasks that need to get accomplished. An easy 5-step process to determine which tasks you do, which you outsource and which you should forget altogether. How to think like a CEO instead of a tech pro.   Resources Mentioned Start Your First Business Course

This is Part 2 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/business-productivity/ What You Will Learn In This Episode Why I spent thousands of dollars on domain names over the years and what I should have been doing instead. The Motivation/Productivity Cycle that can make or break your business. The reason why you tend to jump from idea to idea without making progress. The #1 mistake entrepreneurs make when working on a solution. An example of a customer avatar that I am using to change the direction of Hello Tech Pros.

This is Part 1 of the free 7-part audio and email course Starting Your First Business. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/business-motivation/ What You Will Learn In This Episode Why we don't start a business (even when we want to). The excuses we tell ourselves that prevents us from chasing our dreams. How are fear of failure is backwards and why we need to fail faster. The reason why I became more miserable after several promotions and raises. How to get 4 hours of free business training.

Anthony Delgado is a full stack developer and technology hero at websignia, a digital strategy and innovation agency. websignia has worked with a wide variety of different companies including sports, media, entertainment, healthcare, government agencies and non-profits. Anthony has been an explorer of the digital space for over a decade. From developing front end user interfaces, to creating advanced backend applications, Anthony's passion is using software to help change the way people interact with the world around them. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/anthony-delgado-unplugged/ What You Will Learn In This Episode Why Chad is a software guy not a hardware guy. How Anthony hacked the airwaves to broadcast Sega Genesis games over the television broadcast channels. Why you should do extracurriculars in the tech industry. How to get your boss to pay for conferences. What San Francisco is like from an outsider's perspective.

Jeremy Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast which helps entrepreneurs live the lives they know they were meant to.  He studied literature at Oxford University and specializes in using Online social networking to build offline relationship and was ranked #1 in iTunes New and Noteworthy. It is because of Jeremy's success in podcasting that he was able to accomplish 10,000 downloads of his podcast in the first month.  After his success in podcasting, Jeremy and his wife, Brielle, founded Slate Media Productions; a done-for-you podcast service and PR firm servicing busy entrepreneurs and helping to get their message out. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/jeremy-slate-entrepreneurship/ What You Will Learn In This Episode Why some people are following the dreams of others instead of their own dream. Why Jeremy's second podcast had success from the beginning, unlike his first show. What the average "guru" entrepreneur's success story is going to teach you and why you need to find

Clarence Washington is a manager of infrastructure architecture and engineering and has a strong belief in finding a way to give back to the community and blessing others with the things that you have yourself been blessed with. Clarence works with inner-city youth and uses sports (football) to reach children that we otherwise would not be able to reach. Although they have been a perennially successful and winning program, winning is not emphasized as the most important outcome. They believe in success. Wins and losses are short term outcomes, and even in an individual defeat successes can be found. Success on the field and in life comes with hard work, discipline, and perseverance. With those things there is no need to focus on the score, or even wins and losses on the field or in life because success is a byproduct of those things. Clarence and his team of coaches and mentors teach and live by that ethic. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/clarence-washington-people/ What You Will Learn I

Travis Tidwell has been developing advanced enterprise software solutions for over 15 years ranging from Embedded GPS navigation products to Open Source web solutions. In 2008, he developed and founded the popular Open Source multimedia solution MediaFront (http://mediafront.org), but has since then created Form.io, a groundbreaking technology that provides a Form and Data Management system for Serverless Applications. Travis now serves as the CTO. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/travis-tidwell-technology/ What You Will Learn In This Episode The evolution of early web to content management systems to web 2.0 apps to serverless apps. The change that has affected the development community because of mobile-first design. What serverless forms are and how they work. How to simplify the connections between your forms and APIs. A slick way to generate the API and bind to the data by designing the form UI. Where to find the code repos to deploy a serverless form in minutes.

Corey Grusden has been programming computers for 25 years, and has built software for government, education, and numerous companies. A few years ago he decided to cofound a software development consultancy to build web and mobile apps. They have been profitable since day 1. Corey's entire team works remotely, and through a dedicated process, build applications and platforms as efficiently as possible.   Corey started programming at eight years old. He's been working on growing a software agency that builds web and iphone applications. He also recently moved to Philadelphia! Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/corey-grusden-leadership/ What You Will Learn In This Episode Why leaders need to stop thinking about competing with the other division leads and start collaborating across silos. What happens to the company culture when you don't listen to your employees. How a team lead should respond when presented a crazy idea that you don't believe will work. How to make calculated risks on innovation. Th

Jaime is an avid hockey fan. He loves the competitive spirit and the team aspect of the game. He enjoys the sport so much that he decided to integrate his passion for the sport into his passion for marketing. Jaime has been working in the sales and marketing arena since he left the US Army as a paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. Working for three different Fortune 100 companies, Jaime learned quickly how to build relationships. The challenging aspect of working for a large company was having the ability to be creative. This is the main reason he went out on his own and started his own business. His first business was as a partner in a small California-based real estate advertising agency and publishing company. After the housing bubble burst in 2008, Jaime had to start over. As time progressed, Jaime found that he really enjoyed making websites for people and so he started Slapshot Studio in 2013 and never looked back. Jaime enjoys traveling, boating, playing guitar, hanging out with family,

Wes Pinkston is an entrepreneur focusing on building and executing digital strategies. He is a leading Social Media and Digital Marketing consultant for real estate agents and brokers. He was recently named a Swanepoel Top 20 Social Media Influencer in Real Estate and is an Inman News Contributor and Ambassador. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/wes-pinkston-motivation/ You Will Learn How our compulsive Do, Do, Do culture affects us. Why very successful people sometimes feel unsatisfied and void. Where to find the answers to your internal questions. How to achieve amazing results by having conversations with people. What our "monkey mind" is and how to put it in check. You mind is complex and your emotions are deep. So are your colleagues. How to create meaningful relationships through social media.

Kris Reid Computer geek and SEO super star based in the Philippines and Cambodia. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/kris-reid-unplugged/ What You Will Learn in This Episode Why you should take extended time off for travel and where you should go. What happens to your mind and body when you make too many decisions. What the heck Ashtanga yoga is and how it can benefit you. How to live like a local, no matter where you go.

Kwame Christian is a lawyer that focuses on serving the needs of small businesses. He founded the American Negotiation Institute, a consulting firm that specializes in teaching entrepreneurs and professionals how to negotiate in the business world and is regularly invited to speak on the topic. In this role he helps individuals and companies create and implement powerful negotiation strategies. Kwame also hosts a podcast called Negotiation for Entrepreneurs where he interviews successful entrepreneurs and shares powerful persuasion techniques. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/kwame-christian-entrepreneurship/ What You Will Learn in This Episode What types of things are negotiable. How to ask for more. How to negotiate without offending people. Why you should focus on the other person in the negotiation instead of yourself. The circumstances that increase and decrease your room for negotiation. How to spot negotiation tactics when they are being use on you and what to do to counter them. How to negotiat

While working on his PhD in NeuroEconomics, Dalton Combs learned a lot about motivation and why people do what they do. Now he's the founder-CEO of Dopamine Labs. They've designed a product that makes it easy for any developer to increase retention and engagement by turning their app into a habit. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/dalton-combs-people/ What You'll Learn in This Episode Why users "stick" to some apps and quit using others. The key to rewarding users in ways that surprise and delight. How dopamine works in the human brain and reinforces behaviors (even bad behaviors). The strategy to developing an app that is as addicting as Angry Birds.

Brad Folkens is Co-Founder and CTO of CloudSight, where he oversees all technical aspects of the image cognition technology. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Theoretical Computer Science and Mathematics from Northern Illinois University. Prior to creating CloudSight, he co-founded CityTech USA, notable for creating the web-based collaborative government website PublicSalary.com. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/brad-folkens-technology/ What You Will Learn in This Episode The current differences between image cognition and voice cognition. The history of image recognition, pioneered by the postal and banking industries. How some companies are creating computer models that simulate the way the humen brain works. The industries that will most benefit from image cognition.

Tom Cooper, father of 7, started out his career as a computer geek. Along his journey he worked in big and small companies building teams, running projects, and building software products. Today Tom is a speaker, trainer and coach. He says he gets really excited when he works with people who want to become better leaders by getting better at planning, communicating and connecting with others. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/tom-cooper-leadership/ What You Will Learn in This Episode What causes projects to fail when the teams consist of really smart people. The things a leader should be focused on (hint: it isn't the tasks). The difference between the success that come from geeky knowledge and the success that come from people knowledge. The 4 levels of thinking as a Geek Leader: how to self-assess and climb the ranks. What Uber Geeks need to focus on in order to get recognized. Why geeks are rarely self-aware and how it can kill their career. The issues our business customers want to ta