
The Small Business School
Craig Staley, a 20-year retail veteran and eCommerce practitioner interviews successful small business owners from a variety of industries with one objective, to find out what makes them successful. Whether you have owned a small business for decades or are a budding entrepreneur you will discover ideas and learning lessons that others have implemented to grow their business.As small business owners a lot of the time it feels like we are just figuring stuff out and while there is a lot of truth to that, it doesn’t have to be this way. The Small Business School will help you find answers to questions like – How do I attract more customers? How do I pick the best location for my business? Should I start an online only business? How do I make it through the tough times? How do I use social media effectively? How do I scale my business from 1 person to 100? All of these are questions that are currently rattling around my brain when it comes to my business so I will be learning right along with you.The best way to learn is through experience and these business owners have experienced many challenges, successes and failures that have shaped them and their businesses. Sit back, grab a notepad and pen, maybe a glass of wine or whiskey (not if you’re driving) and let’s learn from these teachers that are gracious enough to open up and tell their stories and help us to grow.
Episodes
64 episodes
064 - Realizing a Gap in the Market with Tia Berens
My guest today is Tia Berens. She is a passionate service-driven entrepreneur, travel junkie, new mom, and active community member involved on several non-profit boards in the Black Hills. In 2019, she founded the Barn at Aspen Acres; a large, ...
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26:36

063: Writing Winning Press Releases with Mickie Kennedy
My guest today is Mickie Kennedy. He is an expert at helping small businesses, authors, and startups increase their visibility and credibility. Mickie founded eReleases 22+ years ago after realizing that small businesses desperately need a pres...
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Season 1
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Episode 63
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32:51

062: Caring For Your Customers with Lavender Menakaya
My guest today is Lavender Menakaya. She is a Nigerian American born in Texas and grew up in Silverspring MD. She is currently based in Alexandria Virginia. She has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, and high-end profess...
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Episode 62
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22:29

061: Growing Your Brand with James Patrick
My guest today is James Patrick. He is an award-winning photographer, best-selling author, entrepreneur coach, podcast host, and public speaker based in Phoenix, AZ. He is the founder of FITposium, an annual conference guiding fitness entrepren...
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Season 1
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Episode 61
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45:24

060: High-end Sales with Luci Dumas
My guest today is Luci Dumas. She is an award-winning PPA Master Craftsman Photographer, business coach, and podcaster. She has enjoyed a successful, profitable, and creatively satisfying full-time career for over 38 years. Her first 12 years w...
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Episode 60
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1:02:19

059: Finding Your Zone of Greatness with Anita "AC" Clinton
My guest today is Anita “AC” Clinton. She is a speaker, purpose strategist, author, and the go-to person for all aspects of purpose. She is passionate about helping Purpose-Seekers connect to their purpose, and transition to Game-Changers. Anit...
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35:50

058: Smarter Social Media with Arjun Rai
My guest today is Arjun, a New York City-based entrepreneur originally from West Windsor, New Jersey (aka Princeton Junction). Since high school, Arjun has been networking with some of the most well-known entrepreneurs and even worked on a few ...
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Episode 58
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38:31

057: Win The Hour Win The Day with Kris Ward
My guest today is Kris Ward is the leading authority in building your business by building your team. Kris is the founder of the Win The Hour, Win the Day philosophy. She helps entrepreneurs create their W.I.N Team (what is next) team using her...
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Episode 53
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29:57

056 - Social Selling with Ryan Dowdy
My guest today is Ryann Dowdy. Ryann helps 7 and 8 figure CEOs generate daily sales on demand WITHOUT more of their time, by building and training high-performing sales teams. Ryann is passionate about helping successful business owners take ba...
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Episode 56
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33:43

055 - Planning For The Future with Steven Goodman
My guest today is Steven Goodman. Steven Goodman has provided insightful solutions to the challenges of business succession, wealth preservation, and charitable planning, focusing on the needs of owners of closely-held businesses and high-net-w...
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Episode 55
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36:08

054 - Brand Like The Big Guys with Maureen Mwangi
My guest today is Maureen Mwangi. She is the brand growth strategist behind some of America’s most beloved brands, like L'Oréal, Chobani, Dove, and Lays. She is the creator of Big Brand Academy, The Product Profit Lab, and Startward Consulting ...
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Episode 54
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27:17

053 - Win Without Pitching with Shannyn Lee
My guest today is Shanynn Lee. She is the Win Without Pitching Director of Coaching. She spent a decade in senior marketing and communication roles in Fortune 500 companies before moving to a business development leadership role at a well-regar...
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Episode 53
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24:10

052: Sharing Your Wealth with John Lefebvre
My guest today is John Lefebvre. He is an author, musician, environmental and social activist, and philanthropist. He is also retired from practicing law. He came to public attention when his company landed the big one on the dot com wheel of f...
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43:32

051: Improve your Marketing with Seth Donlin
My Guest today is Seth Donlin he is the founder and principal strategist of Awen Coaching and we talk about a variety of different topics. We start off with imposter syndrome and we've talked about this on the show before, but I feel like each ...
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Episode 51
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36:51

050: Finding Financing with Mark Ritter
My guest today is Mark Ritter. He is the CEO of MBFS and Nu Direction Lending and an expert in all things credit union and small business lending. We discuss the stages of his business; the early years, the biggest challenges, the best moments,...
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Episode 50
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25:27

049: Crafting Your Message with Rachel Eubanks
My today's guest is Rachel Eubanks she is a Copywriter and the founder of Inspire To Engage. I pick Rachel's brain about all things, copywriting and she gives some great information about fear a small business owner and you're just starting out...
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Episode 49
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37:25

048: Profitably Scaling with Ciara Stockeland
My Guest today is Ciara Stockeland she is a Serial Entrepreneur and Profit First Certified Coach. She has so much experience in scaling businesses about some of the things you can do to scale a business, and we also talk about if your goal is t...
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Episode 48
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23:51

047: Securing your Data with Scott Schober
My today's guest is Scott Schober he is a Cybersecurity and Wireless Technology expert. Scott talk about the target breach that happened years ago, that's when everybody started really pouring resources into Cybersecurity and making sure of the...
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Episode 47
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56:19

046: How to Sell Without Being Sleezy with Annie P Ruggles
My Guest today is Annie P. Ruggles a founder of the Non Sleazy Sales Academy. She has a great personality. We have a great conversation as she talk about how to best position your business, she also gives a lot of actionable tips on how to over...
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Episode 46
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46:03

045: Relieving Your Pain with Janis Isman
My Guest today is Janis Isaman she is a movement specialist and the founder of My Body Couture. She talks about her transition from the corporate world and a job and career that had really nothing to do with health into the health profession an...
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Episode 45
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40:28

044: Balancing Your Entrepreneurial Life with La'Vista Jones
Today, La'Vista and I talked about what self-care looks like during this past year of Covid. Also if you feel like you're burning the candle at both ends, as an entrepreneur. She talks about some steps that you need to take right now to be able...
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Episode 44
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31:17

043: Launch Your Inner Entrepreneur with Charlene Walters
My guest today is Charlene Walters, she is a mentor and author of launch your inner entrepreneur. Today we talk a little bit about what imposter syndrome is and what you can do to overcome it. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’ve tried somethin...
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29:24

042: Taking Care of Your Health as an Entrepreneur with Shaun Provost
Today's GuestShaun ProvostIronman. World Class Triathlete. Marathoner. Runner. Gymnast. The original Live Unbreakable Athlete. She’s the sassy, sarcastic red-head who leads all things Live Unbreakable. From planning ...
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21:10

041: Carole Baskin A Life Changing Year
My Guest today is none other than Carole Baskin of the Tiger King Documentary on Netflix. I talked to Carole about a number of things concerning Tiger King and her Big Cat Rescue Sanctuary. I asked Carole why she decided to do the documen...
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Episode 41
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28:09
