In the Fall of 2007, Eric Johnson, an entrepreneur and designer of satellite communications systems, was on vacation when he received a panicked call from his financial advisor.

“Need permission to sell.”

“Sell what?”

“Everything.”

Eric did sell, and his swift move saved him from getting walloped by the Great Recession and the ensuing turmoil in the markets.

Eric is a renaissance man: an instrument-rated private pilot, surfer, black belt, astrophotographer, angel investor, and co-founder and former CEO of Tourmaline Networks, a software engineering firm. 

After weathering the Great Recession, Eric determined he never again wanted to feel financially vulnerable. So, in addition to his other personal and professional pursuits, Eric set off on a 15-year odyssey to teach himself everything investors, owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to protect their wealth needs to know about finance and economics.

In his book, What the Hell is an Economy, Eric has distilled all that he’s learned into an easy-to-understand read that spells out what an economy is and how it works.

If you're wondering what recent bank failures, inflation, debt ceiling, currency fluctuations, and trade deficits mean for your business — where are the risks and where are the opportunities — Eric shares the answers with host and award-winning financial journalist Dean Rotbart exclusively on Monday Morning Radio.

Photo: Eric Johnson, What the Hell is an Economy
Posted: March 20, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:55
Episode: 11.31

Gene Sticco embraces three of the core tenets that Monday Morning Radio host Dean Rotbart advocates for anyone who wants to break from the pack:

1. Be audacious.

2. Act on your dreams and passions.

3. Let the naysayers laugh, and then do it anyway.

Sticco is an entrepreneur and U.S. Air Force special forces veteran. He is also a newly announced candidate for the Oval Office in 2024.

Rotbart describes Gene as a serious candidate with no serious chance of winning. That said, for the example Gene sets for business owners, entrepreneurs, and creatives, among others, he is already a victor. 

Plato once observed:

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

Sticco is taking the Greek philosopher’s words to heart, and they apply equally to those in every industry and profession where individuals settle for following rather than leading.

Although Gene knew nothing about running an Opera company, he has funneled his experience and passion into serving as General Director of the Mystic Side Opera, a newly formed company that showcases some impressive local talents, including Gene’s wife, Natalya, who is a mezzo-soprano.

Whether it's opera, the Air Force, or a run for the White House, Gene Sticco is a bold and decisive role model. You can vote for Gene with your ears right now, exclusively on Monday Morning Radio.

[You’ll find Gene’s campaign website at ForThePromiseofAmerica.com]

Photo: Gene Sticco, Committee to Elect Gene Sticco
Posted: March 13, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 54:40
Episode: 11.30

Matt Mason, who since 2019 has served as the official state poet of Nebraska, returns to Monday Morning Radio to discuss his latest collection of poems — At The Corner of Fantasy and Main: Disneyland, Midlife and Churros — and to share his ideas for making poetry and profits rhyme.

Matt, a Wizard Academy alumnus, was last a guest on this podcast in March 2019, shortly after publishing his previous poetry collection, The Baby That Ate Cincinnati. On this visit, he continues to explain the relationship between poetry and creativity in business and entrepreneurship.

Matt hopes that the introspections he shares in At the Corner of Fantasy and Main and The Baby That Ate Cincinnati will touch readers and help fuel his ambition to earn a living by writing, performing, and teaching poetry to a corporate audience.

Turning a passion into a profitable business is never easy. This week, Matt shares his game plan for overcoming the obstacles he is certain to encounter — strategies that can help anyone who wants to be gainfully employed doing what they love.

Photo: Matt Mason, At the Corner of Fantasy and Main
Posted: March 6, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:19
Episode: 11.29

The secret to Michael Kaeding’s success as the CEO of Norhart Inc., a company that designs, builds, and rents apartments, is that he had no idea how to run his family business when his father unexpectedly passed away.

“I had no preconceived notion of the way things were supposed to be done,” Mike recalls. “We just started to naively solve problems, and that was the magic.”

Norhart, headquartered in tiny Forest Lake, Minnesota, is booming. Because Mike has refined a process to save 50% or more over other residential developers, he tells host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart that he plans to expand his business nationwide and take a stab at solving America’s housing shortage and affordability crisis. 

Photo: Michael Kaeding, CEO, Norhart Inc.
Posted: February 27, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 46:02
Episode: 11.28

Four sneaky obstacles prevent most business owners and entrepreneurs from becoming peerless communicators, whether in writing, on video, or in front of a live audience.

There is a proven formula to vault over those hurdles, and this week’s guest, Michelle D. Gladieux, reveals how to become the best communicator you can be.

Michelle, president of Gladieux Consulting, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has taught at the college level for 18 years, starting when she was only 23.

Gladieux Consulting, which serves hundreds of companies and thousands of training participants, focuses on leadership and communication topics, strategic planning facilitation, and building creative tools that yield personal and professional development.  

Michelle’s new book, Communicate with Courage: Taking Risks to Overcome Four HIdden Challenges, provides a step-by-step guide to triumphing over fear to deliver your message more effectively and make a difference in the world.

But host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart tells Michelle that she underestimated the import of her book. As Dean observes, Communicate with Courage is really a guidebook on how to live with courage. “And who couldn’t use an extra dose of self-confidence?” Dean asks.

Photo: Michelle D. Gladieux, Gladieux Consulting
Posted: February 20, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:04
Episode: 11.27

Although officially, the business spotlighted on this week’s podcast is less than a week old, host Dean Rotbart says that given its lineage and the marketing genius supporting it, RomanticSpotsinAustin.com is a sure bet to be an entrepreneurial role model and a global success story.

Two years in development, the online guidebook to amorous Austin, Texas, is the brainchild of Pennie Williams, brought from the drawing board to last week’s rollout with an assist by her son Jake and her husband, none other than Roy H. Williams.

Pennie has been nurturing love and romance for decades. She is responsible for launching Chapel Dulcinea — the world’s first free wedding chapel — in 2005. Situated cliffside on the edge of an ancient walking trail overlooking the Texas Hill Country, the chapel hosts 1,100 ceremonies annually.

RomanticSpotsinAustin offers searchable, unbiased descriptions of a cornucopia of places and activities — from famous landmarks to little-known hideaways, sweeping natural landscapes to rooftop lounges, crazy art and adventures to violins and candlelight. Listings on RomanticSpotsinAustin.com are free and selected for inclusion solely by the editorial team behind the digital guidebook.

“Visitors to RomanticSpotsinAustin.com need only be guided by their mood of the moment, whether that means hiking the cliffs at sunset, sharing cocktails at a dark corner table, or touring any of Austin’s outstanding museums,” says Jake Williams, who serves as chief executive of the new venture. “The only essential ingredient, of course, is that you have the one you love by your side.”

Listen closely, as this week Roy not only explains the strategy behind RomanticSpotsinAustin, but he also shares some of the proven marketing techniques that have made him the most successful and admired ad writer in history.

Photo: Jake Williams, CEO, Romantic Spots LLC
Posted: February 13, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 43:05
Episode: 11.26

Among the giants of self-improvement authors and speakers are Dale Carnegie, Earl Nightingale, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Blaine Oelkers.

Blaine who?

Blaine Oelkers, http://selfluence.com, is not yet as well known as these other inspiring speakers and authors — but he is a modern keeper of their inspirational flame.

In fact, Blaine is America’s only Chief Results Officer — an expert on how to get yourself to do those things you know you should do but aren’t.

In this week’s episode, Blaine will reveal his method of getting an hour’s worth of work done in only 30 minutes. He’ll show us how to create a durable new habit in only 21 seconds. And he’ll explain his WYTAYBA™ secret to unlocking the full power of your mind.

As host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart says, “While Blaine may channel Carnegie, Nightingale, and the others, he is an original — offering unique solutions for our 21st century professional and personal challenges.”

Photo: Blaine Oelkers, Selfluence.com
Posted: February 6, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:47

When a quality publishing house releases only one book a year, you know it will be a blockbuster.

That’s always been the case with award-winning Bard Press, which has brought out 18 business bestsellers over the past 25 years.

This year the business boutique imprint has tapped authors Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride. Their book, When Everyone Leads: The Toughest Challenges Get Seen and Solved, offers a revolutionary model that allows everyone to claim the mantle of “leader,” no matter how high up or low down they are on the organizational chart.

In When Everyone Leads, the authors lay out their five core tenets of leadership.

1. Leadership is an activity, not a position
2. Anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere
3. Leadership starts with you and must engage others
4. Leadership is risky
5. Leadership is about your toughest challenges

Ed and Julia know the genuine mechanisms of leadership.

The two authors honed their insights into leadership at the Kansas Leadership Center, which they launched in 2007. Ed’s background was in government and politics. Julia was an actor turned leadership coach.

Working from the premise that the quality and quantity of leadership is the key determinant

to prosperity, health, and success for organizations and communities, under their guidance the Kansas Leadership Center has empowered more than 15,000 individuals to set aside outdated concepts of leadership and anoint themselves pathfinders.

As Ed and Julia explain to host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart, anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere. Is it your turn to step up?

_____

Bard Press — founded by the incomparable Ray Bard and now piloted by veteran author, literary agent, editor, and blogger Todd Sattersten — picks winners. Among its most-recognized titles:

The Gift of Struggle: Life-Changing Lessons About Leading by Bobby Herrera 

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan

Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness by Jeffrey Gitomer

The Wizard of Ads: Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires by Roy Williams

When Everyone Leads will soon take its place among the pantheon of Bard Press success stories.

Photos: Julia Fabris McBride and Ed O’Malley, When Everyone Leads
Posted: January 30, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 50:49

The Phillipses have a combined five decades of experience evaluating the wisdom of investing in so-called “soft skills,” including employee training, human resources, community outreach, and DEI - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Companies large and small pour hefty sums into these and similar programs, but do they get their money’s worth?

The Phillipses know the answer and in their latest book, Show the Value of What You Do, they make ROI Methodology accessible and easy to implement for every business owner and executive, whether assessing an existing program or planning new projects.

As host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart says, “At last when directors or supervisors demand, ‘Prove to me the value’ of your projects, you can do exactly that, thanks to Jack and Patti.”

Photos: Jack and Patti Phillips, ROI Institute
Posted: January 23, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:57

Can you teach yourself and your colleagues to generate great ideas — ideas genuinely worth pursuing?

Robin Landa, an author and professor of design at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, has made a career studying where breakthrough ideas come from — so-called ideation —  and how anyone can conjure concepts that will be revolutionary.

Robin’s latest book is The New Art of Ideas: Unlock Your Creative Potential. In it, she identifies the required foundation of every good idea: Goal, Gap, and Gain - or what she terms the 3Gs.

Robin doesn’t promise that if you read her book, you or your employees will become the next Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, or Steve Jobs. But she doesn’t rule it out either.

Play along as host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart quizzes Robin — a Jeopardy enthusiast — on her mastery of various categories of creativity. And be sure your response is in the form of a question.

Photo: Robin Landa, The New Art of Ideas
Posted: January 16, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 41:42

Stephen Semple is a marketing and advertising wizard. Moreover, he is an iconoclast - creating winning campaigns for his grateful clients and his own agency by marching to a different drummer.

Officially, Stephen is the Director of Wizard of Ads Canada and one of the elite Wizard of Ads partners who work in collaboration with other creative geniuses around the globe. He is also the co-host of The Empire Builders Podcast, where each week, he and his co-host reverse engineer the playbook of some of today’s most admired and successful companies, traveling back in time to their early years to study their growth formula.

Host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart speaks with Stephen on this week’s Monday Morning Radio, covering a wide range of topics and dispensing invaluable business wisdom nuggets.

Among the topics, Stephen explains why cutting-edge online titans - including Google, Amazon, eBay, and Airbnb — are shifting their promotional dollars to traditional media, including TV, radio, direct mail, and billboards.

Stephen studies, dissects, and decodes the success secrets of business empires. This week, listeners get to see his decoder ring in operation.

Photo: Stephen Semple, Wizard of Ads Canada
Posted: January 9, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 1 hour and 56 seconds

LAST WEEK: Cathy Nesbitt is in a Slimy Business, and Her Customers Adore Her: How the One-Time Executive Secretary Wormed Her Way to Entrepreneurial Success

These were the ten most-listened to episodes of Monday Morning Radio in 2022. Hear for yourself why business owners and entrepreneurs around the world found them fascinating.

#1: Want a Standing Ovation for Your Company’s Financial Performance? Veteran Acting Coach Craig Archibald Raises the Curtain on the Correct Entrepreneur’s Mindset

#2: Set Off Emotional “Fireworks:” Writing Heartfelt Letters That Recipients Will Cherish: Lynette M. Smith on How to Show Genuine Gratitude to Colleagues, Family, and Friends

#3: Lift the Hood of Rapidly Growing DermatologistOnCall, and You’ll Discover An Engine Powered By Best-in-Class Technology: Investment Banker and CEO Douglas Holmes’s Insights Are Just What the Doctor Ordered

#4: This Couple, Both in Their 60s, Pedaled Coast-to-Coast on a Tandem Bike: Life and Career Lessons From an Inspirational 3,819-Mile Ride Across America

#5: Look Before You Leap into the Entrepreneurial Life: Bestselling Author Gino Wickman Asks, “Do You Have What It Takes?” to Succeed

#6: Why Make Being an Effective Leader So Complex When – DUH! — All It Takes is Common Sense? Authors Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley Offer 52 Ways to Bolster Employee Satisfaction and Productivity

#7: The Future of Business Journalism: A Special Edition of Monday Morning Radio

#8: Alfred Sloan, George Eastman, Julius Rosenwald, Olive Beech and Madame C.J. Walker: They May Be Gone, But Their Legacies — and Those of Dozens of Other Dead CEOs — Can Inform Today’s Business Leaders

#9: Shift Happens: We Can’t Control Our Personal or Business Misfortunes: But Author and Life Coach Ann Papayoti Knows How to Help Us Control Our Responses

#10: A Business Primer: See the Weiner Dog Run. Run. Run. Peter Nevland on What Your Marketing Campaigns Can Learn From Dachshund Races

If you have scoleciphobia — fear of worms, you may want to skip this week’s edition of Monday Morning Radio. 

Host Dean Rotbart’s guest, Cathy Nesbitt, is a passionate worm advocate and Canadian worm royalty. Since 2002, Cathy, owner of Cathy’s Crawly Composters, has bred and sold red wigglers and European nightcrawlers by the pound to enthusiastic customers who use the live squigglers for composting — converting household garbage into nutrient-rich fertilizer.

Many would-be entrepreneurs are unwilling to get their hands dirty in the pursuit of profit. The story of Cathy’s success is sure to make the clean freaks out there squirm.

Photo: Cathy Nesbitt, Cathy’s Crawly Composters
Posted: January 2, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:59