The Idea Climbing® Podcast

Jay is the Founder & President of Ink'd Stores, an on-demand swag and merchandise company serving thousands of organizations. He previously helped scale a company from startup to more than $1 billion in under five years and has built multiple successful businesses by focusing on relationships, resilience, and long-term growth. Today, Jay shares practical insights on entrepreneurship, branding, and overcoming adversity. We dive into topics and answer questions including: ● Jay’s resilience origin story. ● Where does resilience start? ● Why resilience, in its simplest form, is about the choices you make day to day and sometimes minute to minute. ● The number one cause of downward spirals. ● How to pull out of a downward spiral when you recognize it starting. ● The only ingredient necessary for resilience. ● Why is failure a fact of life and how can you overcome failures? ● What can you do to maintain a positive outlook on life? ● Why the same thing that gets you out of a funk keeps you out of a funk. ● The importance of self-reflection. ● How big of an impact does your self-talk and inner dialogue have on your life? ● The theme of “ego reduction” in Jay’s life and why he embraced the concept. ● How to let go of an overactive ego. ● How can you practice and build resilience every day? ● The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to build and maintain resilience in your life. …and other golden nuggets of advice!

Creating and scaling a successful coaching business is a science and an art form. I discuss how to do that today with my guest, Adam R. Roach. Adam who helps proven coaches and leaders turn their experience into a real, profitable coaching business through the REAL Coach Method with no certifications or complicated funnels required. We dive into topics and answer questions including: ● Adam’s origin story in the coaching world. ● The two things that your coaching clients crave and how to create them. ● How do you start building your own tribe(s) of clients? ● The four phases of Adam’s successful coaching blueprint and how to implement them. ● What are the biggest mistakes most coaches make and how can you avoid them? ● The three questions you must ask and answer to successfully build your ideal client avatar. ● Why you can’t chase success and significance at the same time. ● How to engage in making emotional relationship deposits instead of just withdrawals so that people will be drawn to you. ● What challenges come with going from one-to-one coaching to one-to-many coaching and how can you overcome them? ● Suggestions for how coaches growing their businesses can keep on keepin’ on during challenging times. ● The three components of transformation that happen when you successfully create and scale your coaching business. ● Why taking on the next level of scaling a coaching business becomes a personal choice; not a one size fits all answer. ● The one thing, above all else, that you have to do to successfully create and scale a coaching business… …and other golden nuggets of advice!

Differentiating your service business and standing out in a crowded B2B marketplace can be tough. Today I am discussing how to do that with my guest, John Ravaris. John is the founder of UVPsolutions®, creator of the proprietary 4D Roadmap®, and author of “Define Value, Drive Growth”—all dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses differentiate, define their unique value, and drive growth. We dive into topics and answers to questions including: ● Josh’s origin story about his passion for differentiation. ● Where do you begin when you set out to differentiate yourself and your business? ● How do you discover and connect your business with a bigger purpose in life? ● How do you combine your culture and values to become the cornerstone of the strength of your business? ● The concept of “strength buckets” and how to find and fill yours. ● How do you create a purpose for your business and further differentiate your business in the marketplace? ● How do you develop go-to market strategies by embracing your differentiating principles? ● The importance of connecting your organizational strengths to what your clients and prospects are trying to achieve. ● The importance of value creation when creating a growth plan for your business. ● Why does problem solving for your clients and prospects need to be a focus point to successfully differentiate yourself? ● How problem solving and success factors need to be woven together in your offerings to create lasting value. ● How to best stand out and differentiate yourself even in saturated markets. ● Why we’ve graduated from selling features to selling benefits and now from selling benefits to selling outcomes. ● Why 70%-80% of the buying decision is made before the prospect interacts with your organization and how to use that to your advantage. ● How to find out what outcomes your prospects want from your company and then how to deliver them. ● How to sustain differentiation in your marketplace once you’ve achieved it. ● The key component to continued growth as you gain momentum in your marketplace. ● Why “what got you here won’t get you there” and the need to be ready to pivot and change as you grow. ● The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to successfully differentiate yourself in a crowded B2B marketplace. …and other golden nuggets of advice!

Why try to figure things out when you can get help along the way? Too many entrepreneurs try to be lone wolves when help is just an email or phone call away. I discuss how to create a Wisdom Accelerator of Mentors in this episode with my guest, Kevin Kinsella. Kevin's formal education (starting as a CPA and then his UC Booth MBA) was geared toward big business. He quickly pivoted into small business in his 20's, however! Since founding his first business (#59 on INC. Magazine's 500 Fastest Growing Companies in 1991), to today having coached and advised 100+ small business owners (over the past decade), he is forced to be state-of-the-art to best support his ever-aspiring entrepreneurial owners. We dive into topics and answers to questions including: ● Kevin’s origin story in the entrepreneurial world. ● Why is the need for vulnerability so important if you want to learn and grow faster than you could alone? ● How do you begin reaching out to potential mentors to learn from their wisdom and life experiences? ● Why does technology like AI makes it even more difficult to learn faster? ● Why are people, especially entrepreneurs, afraid to be vulnerable? ● Why do entrepreneurs need to be resilient to stay the course? ● Why do other people try to bring you down or encourage you to give up? ● What are some of the benefits of being vulnerable? ● Why is understanding that people just want to be heard such an important business tool? ● What are qualities to look for in a mentor? ● Where do you go to find mentors? ● What does approaching people for help or mentorship look like? ● How do you have meaningful mentoring conversations? ● What do meaningful mentoring conversations look like? ● What questions should you ask your mentors? ● Why don’t many entrepreneurs want to be held accountable? ● What are the ingredients to becoming a successful entrepreneur? ● How do you drive a mentoring relationship forward after your first conversation? ● How can you help your mentors and give back to them? ● Why do people need to be taught to ask better questions? ● The one thing, above all else, you need to do to create your own Wisdom Accelerator Program of mentors. …and other golden nuggets of advice!

Being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride; exhilarating in both good and scary ways. In this episode I discuss how to keep your personal and professional sanity while growing your business with guest, Mark Hartmann. Mark is a mergers and acquisitions advisor selling businesses valued from $1 Million-$25 Million. He’s the author of “Sweat Equity Payday”. We dive into topics including: ● Mark’s origin story of becoming and entrepreneur and keeping his sanity. ● The importance of focusing on and finding your niche for your services. ● Why Mark believes most people strive to become entrepreneurs. ● Guidelines to keep your personal and professional sanity while the grind is going on. ● Work-life balance in the entrepreneurial space and how it can affect your world. ● The benefits of having that ONE thing you’re great at and building a business around it. ● How to determine your unique addressable market to go after for clients. ● How to know when it’s time to add a new industry to your target market and how to do it. ● The difference between hunting for new clients and getting referrals as a growth strategy. ● The importance of becoming a thought leader in your industry and how to do it. ● How to figure out which social media platforms you should invest your time on. ● How to keep on keepin’ on during the tough times when you’re an entrepreneur. ● The one thing, above all else, that you must do to keep your personal and professional sanity as a growing entrepreneur… …and other golden nuggets of advice!

Growing from entrepreneur to solopreneur can be an arduous task. You need to take yourself out of everyday operations and build a team. I discuss how to do that in this episode with my guest, Aaron Scott Young. Aaron is a lifelong entrepreneur, trusted advisor to CEOs and business owners, and creator of The Unshackled Owner — a proven framework for entrepreneurs who want to build a real business, not just a glorified job. Aaron is Chairman/CEO of Laughlin Associates, a 44-year-old company that has helped over 100,000 entrepreneurs start, grow and profit from their business. This has given Aaron an ideal vantage point to observe common mistakes and successes in businesses from Main Street to America’s largest yacht broker from medical professionals to manufacturers to investors. We dive into topics including: ● Aaron’s origin story for successfully scaling from solopreneur to entrepreneur. ● Why the principles of scaling are the same regardless of the industry. ● The reasons it can be difficult to scale as a solopreneur. ● The starting point of scaling from solopreneur to entrepreneur. ● Why it’s important to get explicitly clear about what you want from your business. ● The next step after you decide what direction you want your business to move toward. ● How to figure out what types of people you need to find to build your team. ● How to create exponential growth by growing from solopreneur to entrepreneur. ● What exponential growth means psychologically to you as an entrepreneur. ● The three things a business needs as a foundation to become successful. ● How and why plateaus happen when scaling and how to embrace them. ● Why growth is a lifelong process, not a final destination. ● The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to scale from solopreneur to entrepreneur. …and other golden nuggets of advice!

Your business can’t operate in a vacuum; you need win-win strategic growth alliances to grow faster than you could alone. It’s one thing to say win-win; it’s another thing to successfully create those situations again and again. I discuss how to do that in this episode with my guest, Dr. J.C. Baker. Dr. Baker has invented the standard for Business Health and has dedicated his life to reducing business morbidity. He is the Founder of The Business Hospital, and The Business Hospital Institute. The Business Hospital is the only one in the world operating in 15 countries. Dr. Baker is a Doctor in Business Administration with a focus on Organizational Leadership. Dr. Baker is a six-time and #1 Best-Selling author with textbooks on how to launch a business and how to make good business decisions. We dive into topics including: ● The growth of The Business Hospital through strategic growth alliances. ● The problem with being too selective when it comes to who you network with and take meetings with. ● The art and science of asking the right questions at networking events. ● Examples of a series of meaningful questions to ask in different networking scenarios to uncover potential mutually beneficial alliances. ● How to bridge the gap between just giving help but also getting help at the same time. ● How to create,structure, and foster ongoing mutually beneficial strategic growth alliances. ● The importance of a CRM and how to use it to maintain and build strategic growth alliances. ● How to ask for help or referrals without coming across as pushy. ● What to do when an initially win-win strategic alliance becomes a one-way street. ● How to be discerning in the relationships you build without becoming transactional. ● How to know if and when you have enough strategic alliances to scale back your networking initatives. ● The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to create win-win strategic growth alliances. …and other golden nuggets of advice! Onwards and upwards!

Making money is all about Mindset. Your beliefs about yourself and the world around you make or break you in the money game of live. I discuss strategies to create a successful money mindset in this episode with my guest, Chris Jarvis. Chris is the Founder of Be the Giraffe and Giraffe Money, movements focused on helping families build wealth, character, and legacy across generations. He’s an entrepreneur, investor, leadership coach, and lifelong adventurer who believes climbing and business both reveal who we really are under pressure. Through his work, he helps people lead with purpose, think long-term, and build lives worth passing on. We dive into topics including: ● Chris’ origin story about how he discovered his own money mindset. ● How Chris’ childhood affected his mindset as an adult. ● How to embrace and start to build a successful money mindset at any age. ● Why people are so afraid of making mistakes and not fitting in that they don’t do anything interesting. ● Why if you’re going to be successful you have to be willing to do things that other people aren’t willing to do. ● The importance of finding mentors and other role models to give you advice and how to find them. ● Why it’s so important to know WHY you want money; it’s not just enough to say you want money. ● Why money alone isn’t a powerful motivator. ● How to discover a deeper purpose in life. ● How being of service to other people falls into your life and money plans. ● How to get paid well by removing other people’s pain. ● The concept of living intentionally instead of living blindly. ● The one thing, above all else, that you must do to create a successful money mindset. …and more golden nuggets of advice!

Self-awareness is the key to a successful entrepreneurial venture and knowing your Emotional Quotient, or EQ, pays dividends in the long run. I discuss how to embrace both in this episode with my guest, Gordon. D. Melville. Gordon, client dubbed, and now widely recognized as “The Vault,” has built his life’s work around one core belief: powerful people are still human, and ignored pressure eventually becomes destruction. He works with elite founders, professional athletes, operators, and a small circle of courageous women who are done tolerating the disconnect between who they appear to be publicly and who they know themselves to be privately. We dive into topics including: ● Gordon’s Emotional Quotient origin story. ● How to become aware of and embrace your Emotional Quotient. ● What you can do to start your self-help journey and where to get support for your journey. ● How to keep on keepin’ on during the rough times in your journey. ● Why emotions, good and bad, don’t happen to you – you actually choose them. ● The power of the “pause” and how to embrace it in your life. ● How to rewire your brain to get out of bad mental states and negative emotions. ● How to become aware of and shift your vibration or frequency. ● How to choose to respond instead of reacting to negative situations. ● Why knowing yourself is the best gift you can give yourself. ● The one thing, above all else, you need to do to raise your self-awareness and Emotional Quotient. …and more golden nuggets of advice!

Being a podcast or radio show host involves honing your skills as an interviewer. There are things successful hosts do differently than the average ones. I discuss some of those things, along with pitfalls to avoid, in this episode with my guest, Gary Scott Thomas. Gary found radio at thirteen and never looked back. Thirty years later, he is the morning voice of Silicon Valley on KRTY-FM in San Jose, one of America's most influential country radio stations. The names are impressive. That was never the point. The point is what happens in those conversations, and what his audience feels when they listen. We dive into topics including: ● The importance of being genuinely curious about and interested in your guests. ● How Gary prepares energetically for interviews before he even meets his guests. ● Where a great interview starts and how to successfully start one. ● The importance of staying focused on your guest and not your own opinions and thoughts. ● Why it pays to be a great listener first as an interviewer. ● How to know how far to go down a guest “rabbit hole” of information and when to move on. ● How to avoid negative conversations or get out of them so as not to kill the positive, uplifting energy in an interview. ● How to uncover conversational paths during an interview that your guests are excited to go down with you. ● The difference between open-ended questions and specific, targeted questions and what you can expect from each of them. ● How to start winding down your interviews without killing the energy of the interview. ● The one thing, above all else, you need to do to successfully embrace the art and science of interviewing. …and other golden nuggets of advice!