Agents of Change

Amner Martinez goes for the heart and bridges cultural gaps by inviting us all to tell our stories. Along with The Amner Martinez Podcast and Amplified DSM delivering an inspired environment for podcasters, Infinite Resources connects companies recruiting diverse talent and job seekers looking to fuel positive change within a new team.

If you’ve thought about starting a podcast, Amner and Ben will help you stay creative without a roadmap. After the break, we explore hiring talent and how job seekers can find a team to sing their own song of significance.

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BONUS MATERIALS
https://AmplifiedDSM.com
The Amner Martinez Podcast
https://InfiniteResourcesDSM.com
http://Agents-of-Change.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com
https://BenMcDougal.com/Producing-a-Podcast
http://CollectorHardbackEdition.com
http://RoastedReflections.com
http://FliteBrite.com
http://BENBOT.ai

Become What You Think

We hear the Internet is a big deal. Drew Harden is a web development wayfinder, author, and culture-building leader at Blue Compass. After some rich thoughts on creating significance within a company’s culture, we dive into the world of web development. Ben was in web development for 8 years back in the day, so this was a fun chance to hear how web design and development continues to evolve. Ben and Drew chat about key things for different types of websites. After BEN BOT suggested an average cost to have a web development company create a website, we talk about budgeting for web design projects, but also remember that it’s never one size fits all. Before the break, we run through content creation and the marathon of search engine optimization.

After the break, we double click on SEO (here’s a link to the Blue Compass SEO Guide), but stay plugged in! Drew and Ben shift into a great chat on writing and publishing your first book. Hear Drew share stories from his book writing quest that led to RETAIN: How to Create an Incredible Company Culture that No One Wants to Leave. Ben and Drew then have fun reflecting on narrating your own audiobook. In fact, let’s extend the fun! Use an Audible credit to enjoy Drew’s audiobook here and Ben’s audiobook here. If writing a book keeps you up at night, this is a fun listen. Drew then closes with a neat moment, which inspired the poetic title.

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Aunt Julie

Julie McDougal shares a chat before she retired from IBM. Can you imagine being at IBM for over 35 years?! The featured guest in EP47 has lived on the edge of technology her entire career! Julie worked within the culture and this fun episode is a glance at how she united others. As you’ll hear, Julie is also Ben’s aunt. Fun! Cheers to everyone at IBM and cheers to a long, interesting, and impactful career. Happy retirement, Aunt Julie!

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Head Start

The entrepreneurial lifestyle resists definition.

Business owners paint with strokes of curiosity, determination, and innovation. When people build with creative ambition, experience is valuable, but the symphony of desire and attitude plays an equally important role. It takes heart to start and resilience to keep building. Executing early moves, managing focus, collecting feedback, building a team, and maintaining sales is such an art form.

The best part about an entrepreneurial lifestyle is that it’s accessible to everyone. This can be seen as students explore projects that look like work to others, but feel like play to them. It’s intrapreneurs fueling positive change in existing companies. It’s startup founders achieving product-market fit with new ideas and others who build on existing momentum by acquiring an established business.

Extra Shot

This caffeinated contribution was written by Sheldon Ohringer. Sheldon has led large sales teams, is an active investor, a board member, and is now building Cocoon Growth to help others buy their first business.

Starting a business is one way to explore the entrepreneurial lifestyle, but buying an existing business is also an interesting way to write your own story. While there may be a cost for the head start, acquiring an existing business presents an interesting side door to the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

As you consider a business to buy, avoid future headaches by understanding industry requirements such as licenses, permits, zoning, and environmental requirements. As you work with existing ownership to determine a purchase price, a valuation based on capitalized earnings, excess earnings, cash flow, and tangible assets are all methods to guide fair negotiations. In the end, the right price is one that delights the seller and has the buyer excited.

As details come together, partner with legal and accounting experts who focus on mergers and acquisitions to document the transaction. A letter of intent, confidentiality agreement, contracts, leasing documents, financial statements, tax returns, and sales agreements are all important documents to talk with your M&A team about. Many transactions include a vesting schedule as well, so stay in-tune with these details to avoid unwanted surprises.

There are a variety of strategic ways to acquire a business, but once the transition takes place, new owners are given keys to a kingdom that hails an established team, customer base, and operating procedures. As we see in the Exit section of the Results chapter in YDNTB, there will be challenges during these transitory times, but in the end, virtuous leaders listen to keep the culture balanced. All the good that comes with a business is important to maintain, but an honest audit of negative aspects are important too. Intentional candor with areas to improve allows new owners to build on past success, while charting a renewed vision for lasting prosperity.