Best Seller Podcast

Randy Gage, author of Radical Rebirth: Kill Off the Old You and Create a New Life tells the tale of his troubled youth, which led him to become a keen student of human behavior and psychology, resulting in him writing this, his 14th, book. He sees the book as the culmination of all his work for the last 20 or 30 years and is aimed at those looking for professional and personal rebirth to become the highest possible version of themselves. It also encourages readers to take a look in the mirror, question their own premises and ask difficult questions to experience that radical rebirth. Gage says he “prosecutes” the process of rebirthing and states that, “Your vision is created by your core foundational beliefs.” He highlights six main categories people form strong foundational beliefs to, stating that each foundational belief determines our vision, the vision determines our daily habits, and those habits determine the kind of life we’re going to create.

It was a very personal situation that led to his radical rebirth. The story, not included in the book, is about him writing his suicide journal two decades ago. He says it took writing this book to discover that in that situation it’s not necessary to kill yourself, but kill off the parts of you that you don’t like. The book serves as a tool to reverse engineer the process of ridding our subconscious with the parts of ourselves we’re not happy with. He adds that the only “radical rebirth I’m doing these days is not because I have to kill this horrible part of myself that I don’t like but because I’m moving toward the me that I want to become.” Gage argues that people should experience multiple rebirths through their lifespan. If they don’t, they’re not fully living, but merely existing. He describes multiple rebirths as a “wonderful thing” and these breakthroughs are possible when we are really willing to confront ourselves and call us on our own stuff.

To learn more about Randy, visit his website: https://www.randygage.com/

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Mark Victor Hansen, author of You Have a Book In You: Make Money With Your Story, is known for co-authoring the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and has written a total of 309 books, including his most recent, You Have a Book In You: Make Money With Your Story. The purpose of this book is to serve as a reminder for anyone to “plug back into their genius.” Hansen believes that everyone has a story to tell. He says, “What writing does is it refines you, refines your spirit, your soul, and your heart. It defines who you are.” He stresses that writing is the outlet that allows people out of their own confinement.

Hansen says throughout his travels around the world promoting Chicken Soup, people often asked him “Can I tell you my story? That sparked an idea about writing a book that featured several stories about several successful writers and what catapulted them into greatness, including Michael Crichton. He says, “Michael is a great writer because you get intrigued by the people.” He adds, “All of us are supposed to have peaking life experiences and writing a book does get you out of mediocrity, gets you out of your complacency.” Hansen has collaborated with many industry giants as well as many others in the age spectrum – from a 4-year old, to 98-year old Art Linkletter.

It is essential that everyone writes their story – whatever that is, to leave it as a legacy, as ancestral wealth because “the world needs more intellect, more thinking, more spirit, and brightness and expand those opportunities for everybody.”

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Jeffrey Brandeis, author of Becoming a Rainmaker: A Guide for Accountants and CPAs wrote this book to bring a more specific approach to helping those in the accounting and CPA professions hone the sales skills needed to become rainmakers. He defined the term as someone who brings in revenue and in the CPA world, that person is referred to as a “rainmaker.” He adds, “To become a partner, you need to bring business through the door. If you’re not bringing revenue in, the chances of sharing the profits will be a lot slimmer.”

Brandeis says that accounting professionals are trained to handle numbers, but one skillset that is not taught is sales. “There’s no college degree for sales,” he adds. The book serves as a guide to help build better and faster rapport, with prospects and potential clients to cut down the sales cycle some might not fully understand. He adds, “How people learn is how people buy” and the book teaches how to match presentation and learning styles in order to build that rapport three times faster and in one-third of the time.

With businesses changing at a higher speed these days, Brandeis wants people to succeed, adding, “Even though times have changed, it’s actually brought opportunity that we probably would never have had if this hadn’t happened.” In simpler terms, success comes to those who embrace opportunity and the ever-changing landscape of business.

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Shellye Archambeau, author of Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success On Your Own Terms recalls how even as a high school student, her goal was to become a CEO. While she didn’t have a full understanding then about the implications of running a corporation, she set her goals and pursued them becoming one of the first African-American tech CEOs in Silicon Valley. Her book’s core message is to teach readers how to get what they want out of life – professionally and personally, by being intentional. The book shares strategies, approaches, tactics, and hacks on how to go about it, despite it being hard.

Archambeau relates that when people say someone is “ambitious,” they don’t necessarily mean it as a compliment. She knew she wanted the word “ambitious” in the title; however, the “unapologetic” part was inspired by her friends. They noted that women tend to apologize for everything. She adds, “Everyone deserves the right to be ambitious and nobody should have to apologize for it.” Achambeau has a definition for ambition. She says it’s about being intentional – something she learned along the way simply by listening. It’s about paying close attention and watching other successful people and follow their path, take in all that knowledge and build it into your own plan. She adds, “There’s a lot of good advice that comes down if you actually listen to it.”

Archambeau encourages people to find mentors because they don’t have to have a “formal role.” Mentors are people that can offer you advice, counsel, and perspective so you can make decisions and take risks. “It is not weakness to take help, it’s actually a strength.” She also imparts great advice for readers: “You have to be strategic about what you’re doing” and “Ambition alone won’t get your where you need to be.”

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Bill Humbert, author of Employee 5.0: Secrets to a Successful Job Search in the New World Order, relies on his extensive background in sales and recruiting to write this book, where he uncovers the parallels between the sales process and the job search process. He chose “Employee 5.0” as the title to ‘get in front of the pack.’ He says that the problem most employees have is that they treat their careers just like jellyfish – “floating in the currents of their current company.” Basically, they adopt the “whatever happens, happens” attitude and that leads to them being laid off eventually. Employee 5.0 is the person that takes charge of their career, they’re not floating around, and strive to get to the next step.

Humbert was a recruiter for 39 years and a career transition coach for 25 years – and during that time, he’s seen his fair share of ‘floaters.’ He wrote the book to provide a more in-depth perspective of why we need to stop floating and take the reins of our careers. Long gone are the days where HR professionals sifted through thousands of pages of resumes. In this ‘new world order,’ HR departments use AI to screen candidates. However, the problem for applicants is that the resume doesn’t contain the same words that are used in the often poorly written job description; therefore, they never get chosen based on an algorithm.

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Mark Victor Hansen and Crystal Dwyer Hansen, authors of Ask! The Bridge From Your Dreams To Your Destiny sit down with host, Taryn Winter Brill to discuss their book that is a guide to awaken the innate ability of every human being to ask questions. While kids are naturally inquisitive, Crystal says that “Over time, just through basic life rejections, people get shot down. That spirit of asking gets crushed out of them.” They say that asking is truly the only thing that has the ability to reveal what’s hidden in our lives and “that is powerful.”

Learning the magic of asking can be achieved by three equally important channels: ask yourself, ask others, ask God. The book is chock-full of personal anecdotes and tidbits capable of re-instilling our natural curiosity to ask questions. The genesis of the book, which is extremely relevant, is to go back to a time in our lives where we were unafraid to ask for everything we wanted. “It’s important for each of us to become master askers,” the Hansens said. That’s the main reason they wanted to bring this particular message to the world. While everyone faces adversity, Mark Victor offers some sage advice, originated in his own hardship, including bankruptcy. He added, “I’ve always taken adversity and turn it into an advantage.” Out of this adversity, everyone can learn how to ask. During the interview, they also covered the six destinies everyone has, a personal anecdote about their young grandson that directly correlates to the book’s themes, and a reminder that “one question can pivot your entire career.”

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Stedman Graham, author of Identity Leadership: To Lead Others You Must Lead Yourself First, is an accomplished businessman and best-selling author of twelve books, the latest taking a closer look at the importance of understanding who we are as human beings first, before reaching out to help others. Graham wrote the book because he is passionate about self-development, self-empowerment and efficacy, and helping people find their own personal sense of identity.

As someone who spent most of his life searching for an identity, Graham wants to create awareness about all of the external factors that affect our sense of self. He states that while most people focus on the external and feel defined by the color of their skin, money, title, or religion, “the power is really in the internal.” In order to thrive nowadays, it’s essential to understand the definition of “identity leadership.” He defines it as “self-leadership based on the philosophy that you can’t lead anybody else until you first lead yourself.” He adds, “Leadership starts with the premise of being the best possible person you can, so that you can create value and serve the world with that value.”

Graham’s goal is to “teach people how to work on themselves, teach them to self-actualize their potential based on who they are.” He argues that one thing this pandemic has taught us is how we need to do things for ourselves, not rely on anyone else for our own socio-economic development. “This is a ‘you economy.’” In fact, identity leadership is perfectly suited for the current marketplace because it teaches us to redefine our own existence. He admits that defining yourself is an evolving process. Graham said, “It’s a process of consciousness. You have to be aware of what you don’t have.” It’s about evolving into better versions of ourselves.

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Kelly Fuhlman, author of Be the Hero and Rescue Yourself: Creating the Inner Courage To Wear Your Own Cape, wrote the book to give people the opportunity to read and understand some of the lessons she learned throughout her life, while providing encouragement to journal their own ideas and solve their own problems. She says, “I have learned that people do better if they create their own strategy instead of someone handing it over to them.”

The book is about heroes in her own life that have come to her rescue and opened doors and opportunities; however, at the end of the day, it’s up to each and every single person to put in the work and rescue themselves. Fuhlman wanted to create a disruption in the self-help book industry and drive home the notion that life isn’t about “10 easy steps” – it’s far more complex than that. After being laid off from the Disney Institute, she decided to write a book, start a podcast, and create opportunities for herself at a time where she felt the rug was being pulled from under her. These opportunities led to growth and learning, but the journey wasn’t a perfect one. In fact, one of the chapter titles in her book is called, “My crown is crooked (and so is yours)” to reinforce the point that there’s no one path to success. Everyone must choose their own way and not rely on anyone else to rescue them.

Fuhlman wrote the book for anyone struggling to move forward, personally or professionally. This easy read aims to have great impact for readers as they reflect on the lessons learned and empowers them to write down their own thoughts, build their own plan, and move forward. “At the end of the day, it’s up to you,” she concludes.

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Dawn S. Kirk, author of Heartbeat Leadership: Empower Yourself, Engage Your Team and Impact Your Organization, decided to write her first solo book to empower those who often feel unheard in meetings. She wanted to ensure no one else felt like she did when they walked into a room because every person has something to offer and has value that can be added to any organization.

Kirk’s 26-year career in corporate America launched her on a quest to better understand what it meant to be a leader and to become the best version of herself. She recounts some experiences in that realm not being as positive as they could’ve been and realized, “The goals I set for myself were greater than the obstacles I was going to face.” This is the impetus for the book – getting out that message of empowerment to as many people as possible. Kirk says the book is for those already in leadership positions to become better leaders and for those who are not feeling heard. She uses the subtitle, “Empower Yourself” so people know they have a choice to empower themselves in any situation. The book is also for those responsible for larger teams to help them fully engage everyone and tapping into their potential.

She also argues that many organizations have a “heart problem,” where they’re focused on the bottom line more than they are focused on their people. While there’s nothing wrong with profitability, when that comes at the expense of the people, that’s when they have a heart problem. Kirk states, “At the end of the day, the heart of the business are the people that work for you. I truly believe people are your competitive advantage.”

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Jeffrey Brandeis, author of Done Deal!: The Step By Step Handbook to Sell Success, is a former accountant who transitioned into the sales realm, enjoyed being outside making things happen and selling to the same group of professionals he was once a part of. He made a conscious effort to gear the book content towards sales professionals and the 5-step process that every company should have. Brandeis insists that every company should have a documented sales process, no matter whether they’re selling a product or service. He also points out the biggest mistakes in sales by stating that salespeople are usually ahead of the buyers in the sales cycle. This misstep is what causes some to be bad forecasters. Another mistake is that they fail to recognize that the prospect may not be the only decision-maker they need to reach in order to close the sale.

While there’s no sure-fire way to troubleshoot every problem, Brandeis says it’s on every sales person to try to uncover everything there is to uncover. Brandeis also encourages sales professionals to remain innovative and continue honing their skills. He argues that while the sales process itself doesn’t drastically change, the tools and technology used do. He states that there are some companies who haven’t fully trained employees on how to sell remotely and have failed to transition effectively, affecting the sales quotas and other metrics. “If you don’t keep your sales skills up, and constantly look for new techniques and new styles, then your techniques will get stale,” Brandeis says. He adds, “Sales is a perishable…like a banana.”

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