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Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh Steelers’

A Look Behind Talk Business With Howard & His Tips To Grow Your Company

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

As everyone knows I am a huge Cleveland Browns fan and I have to say I do generally dislike all things Pittsburgh (Steelers!).  But I have the constant and recurring issue in my life of getting connected to just some fantastic people from Pittsburgh.  Well it starts with my wife, Rebecca, but it goes on an on.  It is really tough for me to keep up my angst about the 3 River city when they just have such great people from there!

So I met another former Pittsburgher, Howard Lewinter from yet another Pittsburgh native Ivana Taylor of DIY Marketers (and of course I met Ivana through Anita Campbell…..ah yes another Ex-Pittsburgher).  About a month ago Ivana said to me I just have to meet Howard because he is great.  You know what, Howard is just fantastic and has been tremendously helpful in providing amazing practical guidance and direction to me at KikScore, among other things.  Then I found out that Howard has launched his own new radio show called Talk Business with Howard.  It is a great hour of radio where he interviews and talks with small business thought leaders and entrepreneurs.  The nuggets coming out of the show are excellent.  We at KikScore highly recommend Howard’s show to all of the businesses, startups and the entrepreneur community.  So we are really excited to give you a look behind Talk Business with Howard and also Howard takes a few minutes to give some great guidance to all of us business owners.

1. Tell us about your business and who you focus on serving?

I’m a Business Management Specialist. I advise, guide and focus CEOs, presidents and business owners.  My specialty is solving business problems and business issues. Whatever is holding you back from greater profit and success. I help CEOs, presidents and business owners get to where they want to be with their business regardless of what’s happening in the economy.

2. How did you get the idea for Talk Business With Howard?

I was sitting at my desk one day thinking about how many times I had to spell my name over and over again when I would talk with people and gave them my web or email address.  Although I’d been working with CEOs, presidents and business owners since 1989, about 5 years ago on that day I was sitting at my desk I asked myself the question of: What do I do?  I answered myself: I talk about business.  That’s how the URL of my website plus blog, radio show and Facebook page became Talk Business With Howard.  Easy to remember and very descriptive as to what I do.

3. What upcoming topics are you going to cover on the radio show?

My goal is always to get people in business to really think.  The greatest asset anyone has is to be thinking clearly and to have a positive attitude.  How you think determines how successful you will be in business – or anything else. The topics covered on Talk Business With Howard, either the blog or the radio show, always relate to business success.  Topics include: Almost anything you can think of related to running a successful, profitable business.

4. If you had 2 lessons learned from starting your radio show that you could pass on to others about starting a business, what are those?

First: Plan.  Be prepared.  Second: Know who you are and where you want to go.  Relax and be yourself.

5. Where has your business focused most of its energy this year?

The focus is always on the need of the client.  My objective is to help CEOs, presidents and business owners breakthrough the barriers that keep them from the success they deserve.  I’ve advised business people to become millionaires; struggling companies to stabilize, turnaround and become profitable again; and I’ve advised multi-millionaires.  I help successful business people become more successful – or successful once again.

6. What do you see as 2 new trends that your guests are talking about for small business?

Several years ago everyone who ran a company wanted to talk about employee problems – how to train, motivate and have employees do the best work they possibly can; and how to grow their business. Today many businesses are talking about survival and how to best navigate through this uncertain economy.  The two topics they are most interested in are: 1) prospecting for new leads  2) closing more sales.

7. Who would be your dream guest for the radio show and why?

It’s not just one individual.   It’s any book author or business person that will help the listeners understand how to run or operate a better business with less stress and more profit.

8. What is the biggest challenge that your business and your show faces as a small business and how do you work to overcome that challenge?

Time.  There is no more time.  So whether someone is running their business or hosting a radio show, they have to use their time wisely.  You can buy a new car, get new clothes, go out to a fabulous restaurant, take a vacation or any other number of things; but the one thing you can’t buy is time.  You can’t get any more time.  There are only 24 hours in a day.  That’s it.  Use time wisely.

9. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

Yes! Don’t think of yourselves as small business.  Think as a business that every day is gaining momentum and growing into a very nice sized business that will help bring profit to the company and provide for their family, employees and everyone they are associated with a very nice living and way of life.

10. What is your 140 letter Twitter quote of your message to small businesses out there in the form of guidance, lessons learned or just your special thought?

Don’t sit behind your desk. Get out there. Get involved. Be in action with your business.

Thanks Howard for sitting down with us.  If any of our readers have questions for Howard, please leave them in the comments section and we will work to get answers to those questions.

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Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh Steelers’

KikScore & the Pittsburgh Steelers Promoted on the Same Pickup Truck? – My Worst Nightmare

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Disclaimer, this is a vacation post (yes, I am out on vacation from my day job but KikScore never stops!) but I had to discuss what happened this weekend. This post is really about branding your business and how you sometimes have no control over how your customers will sing your praises.

My 5 month old daughter, Asha, made her first trip this weekend to see her grandma, uncle, aunt and cousins in my wife’s hometown just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  Great idea, seeing the family, getting out of DC for a weekend and spending some time on my mother-in-law’s beautiful farm.  It actually was a lot of fun, even having my brother-in-law make fun of me when I made the crazy comment asking why does the backyard have so many rattlesnakes – are they attracted to the the vegetable garden back there.  Uh…..how many snakes do you know are attracted to vegetables over perhaps some chipmunks, small rodents etc that usually populate most farms?

So where does KikScore  and branding come in?  We had just arrived Friday afternoon on the farm.  I was pulling our car into the farm when my saw my wife’s family pick-up truck.  The truck was parked there outside the farm house and I had to snap the above picture.  So on the right hand side of the bumper is everything I have grown up to detest in an important part of my life – football – that would be the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Yes, when you grow up outside Cleveland, Ohio you are indeed taught that at a young age.  Then on the left side of the bumper is the gorgeous bumper sticker, of a company that I passionately give my blood, sweat and tears to every day – KikScore.

So on that one side of the bumper I see something I enjoy mocking and on the other side is my pride and joy.  So there I was – what do I say or feel?  I just had to laugh and be super proud that my family has so unconditionally adopted KikScore to the point that my mother-in law greeted us when we arrived in her KikScore baseball cap.

So what is the point of this post.  That sometimes your small business or your startup can not decide/control how your customers decide to evangalize your brand.  When you see your brand out there be promoted like this, just smile, laugh and be proud.  And also be sure to say thanks as I did when we pulled away from the driveway late yesterday right before we started our 4 hour ride home.

Have you seen your business being promoted in a similar way?

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