Paper Napkin Wisdom - Podcast And Blog For Entrepreneurs, Leaders And Difference-makers

What would you do if there were no rules or set path to achieving success? In this podcast, Matt Ward explains his philosophy behind his theory that there are no rules. “In life and business, there are set patterns,” he explains,”but at the end of the day, you can do what you want to do.” And he would know -- Matt started out as an engineer but now runs an ecommerce company.”I was always the straight A student, really rules focused, a bit of a nerd. Great at math and science, not so great at English,” he admits. After becoming dissatisfied with the corporate world and discovering his love for crowdfunding and ecommerce, he began exploring the idea that rules should be abandoned. He happened upon the idea after reading Eckhart Tolle’s bestseller (and Oprah approved) “The Power of Now”. The book asserts that there is no past because it's over, and there is no future. Additionally, Tolle believes that most problems technically don’t exist because they’re in the future. This was a life changing revelation for Mat

The concept of working a 9-5 position isn’t ancient. You may not realize it, but it’s actually only a few generations old. While people in the 1500s certainly had trades and appointed positions, the work force looked very different prior to the Industrial Revolution.”The concept of going to a big dark building was so foreign [500] years ago. [But] in the last five to ten years, there has been a shift. Entrepreneurship is the future,” explains Clay Hebert, marketing and growth hack expert. Prior to the turn of the century, the folks who approved or denied access to certain opportunities - otherwise known as gatekeepers - were the game changers. And although they still exist, Hebert believes they are a lot less relevant than they were in those days, stating, “All of the gatekeepers are gone. Except one. You are the last gatekeeper.” In this podcast, he explains his philosophy behind the quote, along with ways entrepreneurs and creatives can begin to rethink how they view gatekeepers. Gatekeepers follow the stan

What happens when you create a venn diagram that combines discovering your passion with providing unique value and figuring out where your audience is listening? In this podcast, Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of Moz, believes that is how you find your sweet spot.   As with most entrepreneurs, Fishkin knows a little bit about how failure can eventually inspire success. After dropping out of college in 2001, he began working with his mom at an agency where they offered clients web design and marketing solutions. However, they began drowning in debt, amassing over $500,000 from overhead expenses. In 2004, he started a blog called SEO Moz. “I spent four hours a day writing blogs. For the first year, it wasn’t really attracting anyone or resonating with a particular audience,” Fishkin recalls. But after a year of publishing blogs five days per week, eventually the audience came: SEO Moz (renamed Moz) became a credible source of information about the newest marketing phase - search engine  . In fact, the blog becam

Is there a formula for success? This week’s Paper Napkin Wisdom guest, Geoff Smart - CEO of lead consulting firm ghSMART - proposes just that . Dr. Smart, the best selling author of Who: The A Method for Hiring and the newly released Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success, holds a PhD in Psychology and has spent the last twenty years collecting and synthesizing data from over 3000 leaders and their teams. While most books on leadership suggest that most prominent trait of successful leaders is honesty, Dr. Smart discovered that this wasn’t necessarily a special trait, and that most people (successful or unsuccessful) rated themselves highly in this category. The Power Score (P x W x R) takes a look at the empirical data surrounding common traits of leaders and proposes that if teams are good at prioritizing, hiring the right people and building the right relationships, they are twenty times more likely to be successful than if they don’t have these traits. The concept was birthed by his publisher, w

Two years ago Rob Simons challenged me to by flipping around the Paper Napkin Wisdom podcast and turning me into the subject and he’d play the interviewer. To launch season 4, he came back to turn the tables once more by interviewing me in today’s podcast. I’ve been thinking a lot since the release of my book, “Your Five Step Plan For Life and Business Success”. As business owners and entrepreneurs, many times we worry about reaching our highest potential, often because we don’t think we are good enough. Thus, my paper napkin for today reads “Make it bad, then make it better. But make it.” This initially came to me when I created the first draft of my most recent book. I produced it before a keynote I did, and it was just my thoughts on paper. My friend and organizer of the event gave me one requirement in order to speak: they wanted me to give away 100 copies of my book. Having that first draft provided me with the opportunity to improve upon the product. Let’s go back even further. In 2009, my personal and

Shep Hyken is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, a grass roots entrepreneur, and a speaker. He’s a busy guy but he’s focused in a way that makes him effective and efficient. He’s already been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Speakers Association, an incredible feat considering he’s still amazing crowds around the world on the subject of consistently delivering Amazing Customer Service. In his Paper Napkin Wisdom, Shep shares with us a simple yet profound message. He says: “On successful people (and those that aren’t). Those that do, do. Those that don’t won’t!” Don’t Hold Back The first time Shep heard the above phrase, the last word was “don’t” rather than “won’t” but there’s a big difference between the two words and Shep believes his spin on it to be more accurate. “Won’t” conveys that we’re stopping ourselves, which is precisely what Shep thinks happens. He believes that some people hold back because they don’t see the bigger picture or don’t look for the po

Sean Costello is an entrepreneurial leader who values the right balance of culture and execution. He has founded multiple companies on the principles of patience and curiosity, and works hard to maintain a supportive atmosphere for his clines and employees. This has lead Sean to his contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom: People all around you want to help, they just don’t yet know how. In Sean’s experience, real connections become possible when you share with people how they can help you. We are all here to help unlock each other’s people and help each other succeed. In so doing, we ourselves will succeed by realizing our strength. Thinking of this another way, how effective would a sports team be if each player was wearing blinders and was unable to locate their teammates? The metaphor of the team can thus relate to family, an organization, a corporation, or any community of people that is reliant on one another. The requirement or exercise within this philosophy, as Sean explains, is quite simple. It is about

For more than two decades, Alex Charfen has been creating and testing business philosophies specifically geared towards entrepreneurs. Alex has been an entrepreneur himself during this period, and has developed the Entrepreneurial Personality Type to help business owners grow their business and themselves. He has contributed to numerous major media outlets and brings his core philosophy to Paper Napkin Wisdom: “There is nothing wrong with you.” Alex’s contribution stems from an observation that whoever has stood out in history has always had a restlessness - something that people constantly told them was a weakness. Ranging from the original great thinkers of Athens to Einstein to Buffett, opposition to this type of innovative thinking has always originated from a resistance to change. In the business world, entrepreneurs represent this archetype because we are highly susceptible to negative criticism. At every level of business - and especially when starting out - the message is “fix yourself.” In Alex’s exp

John Spence went from being kicked out of college with a D average to becoming CEO of an international Rockefeller foundation and reporting directly to Winthrop P. Rockefeller III just a few years later. This turn around wasn’t an accident, it was something John did by maintaining a focus on innovation, personal growth, and a thirst for learning. As an entrepreneur, he has worn many hats, but has always maintained that focus on innovation. This is the inspiration for his contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom: “II > EI”. Simply put, the equation means that to be successful in the future, the rate of internal innovation must exceed the rate of external innovation. In the entrepreneurial world, when everything around you becomes unstable, internal innovation is required in order to maintain (or grow), especially considering the speed of change around us. Entrepreneurs know in their core that in order to be successful, we must out-innovate, out-create, out-experiment, and out-deliver our competitors. The pace of in

Jason Womack is an educator, author, entrepreneur, and CEO, among other things. He is an avid practitioner of his own philosophies on work/life balance, productivity, and forward progress, and with Master’s degrees in Education and Psychology, is well-educated in the way we think. These facets of Jason’s life and work have inspired his contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom, which is a simple straight line from point A to point B. The philosophy behind Jason’s napkin focuses on how to get to point B without getting knocked off course, how to persevere when the path gets rough, and how to focus when it gets easy. As Jason explains, from a certain age, we are programmed to look towards “what is next” (e.g. in high school, we look towards college as the next step). This is the difference between destination-based goals and direction-based goals. “Getting through the day”, for example, is a destination-based goal - it is not necessarily a bad thing, but it may be limiting your perspective. After a few instances of c

Jeff Hoffman’s career has provided him with many hats to wear: successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, worldwide motivational speaker, Hollywood film producer, and a producer of a Grammy winning jazz album. Jeff has had various roles in companies large and small, along with being the founder of multiple startups. Along the path of this career, Jeff one day noticed a sign that said “You may be successful, but will you matter?” Along with the concept of using your career to make a difference, that is the essence of Jeff’s contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom. Conventional wisdom in the entrepreneur world states that you can either be someone who cares about doing good - i.e. a social entrepreneur - or you can concentrate on making money. In Jeff’s experience, however, this is not a binary decision - the two elements are not mutually exclusive. Your product may not change the world, but your life should: the results of your effort - what you do with your success, your life, your time - can make the world better aro

Dave Rendall is an entrepreneur who has worn many hats during his professional career, which started when he was very young. All told, he has delivered newspapers, been a stock boy, lawn boy, caddie, painter, janitor, tutor, resident assistant, job coach, supervisor, nonprofit manager, and senior executive. Just to spice things up, he also has experience as a leadership professor, stand-up comedian, and endurance athlete. Drawing from this vast array of experience, Dave’s contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom is rooted in reality: “What makes us weird, makes us wonderful. What makes us weak, also makes us strong.”   The common social reaction to uniqueness is one that nearly every teenage kid experiences at least once: rejection. Weirdness has a negative connotation; the word “unusual” is usually meant as a criticism. The resistance once receives for being weird is a push to be more conventional; to fit in. Robert Quinn once observed: “Deviants will always generate external pressures to conform when you perform

Kris Kaplan is a firm believer that if you’re not having fun at what you do, you shouldn’t be doing it. After a long career on the road as a rep, Kris decided it was time to create an organization of people who shared the same values as him and were wholly focused on a singular vision. He is now a coach to entrepreneurs, business leaders, and other high-performing individuals, providing them with tools needed to simply execute. It is that focus on execution that inspired his contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom: “Giddy Up and Make It Happen.”   Kris’ personal mantra of making it happen originated from taking his own thirst for learning and turning it into action - step on the gas and go for it. Within his own business, he found himself in a learning mode, protecting what was his during the post-recession free fall. Dealing with that kind of negativity in his business - a focus on saving what was left - made the business gun-shy about being as forward/active as possible. It also drove Kris toward developing a p

 Hybrid thinking has defined Matt Curry's career as an entrepreneur. His professional career started out changing tires and eventually working his way into a management role, but his entrepreneurial career flourished after he launched his first auto shop in 1997 and ultimately grew it into one of the largest auto repair chains in the Washington, DC metro area. Having embraced the evolution of the auto industry by educating his line of business in the art of hybrid and electric car repair, Matt has also embraced the evolution of employee engagement through his contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom: "You can't rule your world by email." Whether your business is a brick and mortar operation or entirely virtual, Matt's experience has taught him that you still need boots on the ground and, as a leader, you still need to be involved in all aspects of your operation. This is a lesson learned from observing his four original locations, meeting with his key people, and maintaining a “two-minute meeting” strategy for ali

Michael Walsh has built his company, Kaizen Consulting, into something that allows him to explore his own personal freedom. By embracing the methods that he uses when working with other entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses, he has surpassed his own expectations for what the entrepreneurial life can bring. His Paper Napkin Wisdom was inspired from his work with a particular client who experience a five-fold increase in sales: "Thinking big is not enough." This concept arose when Michael asked himself the following two questions: "What stops businesses from growing?" and "What moves businesses past those things that have stopped them?" The conclusion at which he arrived was simple: vision is exciting and aspirational, in the way that limbic energy is contagious. Vision without structure, however, either creates chaos or will fall flat. Vision is fast and compelling, while structure is slow and stable. (Conversely, structure without vision is like slogging through the mud).  Michael observed that whi

Fran Biderman-Gross calls herself the “Strategista” of Advantages, a New York City-based company that helps companies to get noticed through branding, marketing, and print production management. Her professional background includes more than twenty years’ professional experience in the niche print industry, but when it comes to her Paper Napkin Wisdom, she's all about turning things upside down (or in this case, on their side). If you envision the traditional sales funnel, you see a Y-shaped graphic with all the effort of your business focused on eventually converting hundreds (if not thousands) of leads from the top to one or a handful of customers at the bottom. Tradition says that this is a numbers game - increase the number of leads, you increase the number of prospects, and eventually, you increase your number of customers. Fran's take: tip the funnel on its side (so it looks like a megaphone) and concentrate on what you're projecting out into the world. What you project should be singular and simple; fo

Rich Mulholland has had one of the more an entrepreneurial careers of all the Paper Napkin Wisdom contributors. He started out as a roadie for bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi and eventually realized that there was a lack of energy in the industry during the winter months in South Africa. Driven by his entrepreneurial spirit, he took the initiative to adapt the “rock show” model to corporate clients. He started out by dressing up corporate speeches and presentations with pyrotechnics and grand theatrics, but quickly realized that he was solving the wrong problem: he needed to work on the presentations themselves, rather than the theatrics surrounding them. This was a result of the intense hatred that Rich (and really, all of us) had for boring presentations - it is also the motivation for his contribution to Paper Napkin Wisdom: "“We all need to fall in hate with something.” An oft-cited quote from Ghandi says that if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. According to Ri

Alan Miltz’s 20+ years of executive background ranges from founding director of Inmatrix Pty Ltd through to most recently, director of Pearl Finance Australia. Alan has extensive experience across all major finance fields, including financial analysis and debt finance boosting, and spends a large amount of time helping entrepreneurs handle their banking relationships, cash flow analysis, and other financial matters. His Paper Napkin Wisdom reflects this level of expertise: “Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. Cash is king.” In Alan's experience, most entrepreneurs and CEOs only want to talk about revenue, margins, profit, etc. Profit, as Alan puts it, is an opinion - you can manipulate it to any degree necessary to fit your message. Here's another way of thinking about the relationship between profitability and cash flow: businesses speak Spanish, but banks speak Portuguese. A competent business owner must be fluent in both because banks talk about cash flow as an ability to service your debt.  There are fo

I so often hear about entrepreneurs, leaders, and difference-makers wanting to get more results – scalable results – exponential results. They talk about their hearts being into it, but they are not driving the results they want. The answer is simple, you have to couple passion and process to get crazy results – exponential results. You have to be wildly committed to the goals that you set, and make progress on them every day. You cannot do this without a process that permits you to focus on them, to relentlessly execute on them. If you want a structure to help you do this, I want to give it to you. Please go to www.PaperNapkinWisdom.com and sign up, we’ll send you the e-book that contains the secret structure that will build more scalable, even exponential results than you had thought possible. You have so much to give, you had better start now. Take Action is a short podcast, usually between 3 to 5 minutes long, and the focus is on the small, 1% improvements we can make in our businesses and lives. Small ch

Dr. Heidi Hanna is CEO and founder of SYNERGY, an integrative neuroscience partnership that provides brain-based training for individuals and organizations. Heidi’s publications include the NY Times best seller The SHARP Solution: A Brain-Based Approach for Optimal Performance (Wiley, Feb 2013), and the follow-up release Stressaholic: 5 Steps to Transform Your Relationship With Stress (Wiley, Jan 2014). In addition to those accomplishments, Heidi also attended college on a full scholarship to play softball. As a pitcher, she quickly realized that athletes share a common awareness of the window they possess to perform an optimal level. She also discovered that most high-performing athletics perfected ways to recharge their energy in order to continue performing that those levels. Finally, as with any pitcher, she become intimately familiar with the pitch counts imposed upon her. Throughout these experiences, it became clear that energy is our most important resource. In softball (and baseball), a pitch count i