Play Your Position With Mary Lou Kayser

Show me the money!   And in today's audible, it's show me some books about making money, thinking about money, keeping more of our money. To play our positions at peak levels, we have to have money. How much depends on what matters to you -- there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to money.   But there are some universal principles that, when applied, can mean the difference between just scraping by or living a full and abundant life.   I recommend 3 books in today's episode. Enjoy!   1. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz   2. Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins   3. You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero   Connect with me on social media:   Twitter   LinkedIn Instagram Facebook   PYP Leadership Academy

“What changed the game for the chatbot industry is when Facebook opened up its Messenger platform to automated communication for businesses. So just like with building our email lists where we send people automated messages periodically offering more value to them, we can now do the same thing in Messenger.”   Today’s PYP MVP Mary Kathryn Johnson is back for an encore appearance and A LOT has changed since she last came on the show. It’s safe to say that Mary Kathryn is one of the world’s leading experts on how to use chatbot technology for building a business and she has plenty of case studies to prove it.   Mary Kathryn Johnson is the CEO and Founder of Messenger Funnels which helps businesses message their way to sales and ridiculous ROIs. Based out of northern California, Mary Kathryn is leading the way for how we all will be marketing in the not so distant future.   If you are curious about these funny little things we call chatbots, and wonder how they could make a difference to your business or company

In this week’s Audible, I’m celebrating a big milestone here at PYP. Today’s episode marks a tremendous milestone in my podcasting journey: 150 shows in the vault! I look back over the last 149 episodes and see a lineup of phenomenal guests sprinkled in with some thought-provoking audibles to mix things up and keep it real. I’m excited about what’s coming; I’m excited about the future of PYP.   If you have been with me from the early days, I can’t thank you enough for taking this journey with me.   If you are a new listener to PYP, welcome to the family, welcome to team PYP! It’s so great to have you here.   To celebrate this milestone I decided I would share with you my gravel bar story, a story that harkens back to my days as a white water rafting guide on the Kenai River in Alaska.This is a story that clients and friends know well because I tell it a lot, but I’ve never shared it here on PYP and as I was thinking about what I wanted to do for this 150th episode, I decided the gravel bar story would be the

“A lot of people get to a point in their lives when they are so done with the 9-5,” says today’s PYP MVP Sue Monhait. “They may be 60, or 65 and ready for something else. But there’s only so many times they can work out, or play golf or tennis. A lot of people have crafts they enjoy that they can turn into a business.”   Sue loves the wonderful community she serves known as Gifters-Bakers-Crafters-Makers. She is known as the Gift Biz Gal and has worked in the retail and online spaces for over 25 years. After 15 years in corporate sales/marketing to both boutique shops and larger brands, she went on to open two profitable businesses of her own.   I mentioned how much I love Marcus Lemonis and his popular show on CNBC called “The Profit.” Sue told me he often comes to the coffee shop right below where she works. “If you’re listening to this show, Marcus, you need to stop by and say hello!” Sue laughed. “And I’d love to have you on my show!” I added. So Marcus, if you’re listening, consider this an invitation t

The startup scene in San Francisco is very much alive and brimming with ideas I recently had the opportunity to attend a pitch night in downtown SF. Think of it like a mini shark tank, minus Mr. Wonderful. :-) The place was packed. Adult beverages and pizza were served. I arrived early to check out the scene and network and in doing so, I met some fascinating people including: a woman who worked at LinkedIn for six and a half years before it was bought by Microsoft and became the BIG COMPANY it is today a man who puts on events for startups and was very excited to have his first one scheduled for London this summer a woman who came all the way from Ireland to pitch her idea a man who has created a sensing device that will track packages from start to finish and indicate exactly where damage occurs along the journey (if any)   The majority of attendees were originally from other countries including India, Pakistan, Italy and Russia. The predominant smell in the air besides pizza and beer was hunger -- hunger

“The things that I’ve accomplished have been amazing,” says today’s PYP MVP Vince Kramer. “I’ve held director jobs at the corporate level, my military career was way beyond what I expected, and I’ve been an entrepreneur with several different businesses. I had the big house, the beautiful wife, the big bank account and through all of that, there was still something missing in my life and I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t until I experienced a crisis awakening that what I was missing became clear.”   Like so many people who reach the level of being a successful discontent, Vince asked himself some tough questions about the meaning of life. These questions led him to start a new chapter that includes writing a best selling book with Jack Canfield called “Mastering the Art of Success,” founding Imagine Miracles toeducate and train people of all walks of life on how to discover, design and create their Miracle Life, and write and produce the Your Miracle Life series of online training programs and associated w

The future is here and it's called AWS.   I decided to attend the AWS Summit in San Francisco this week on a whim -- I am not a developer and have no intention of becoming one but as a small biz owner and leadership specialist, I believe it's important that everyone has a basic level of understanding around what this mega company known as Amazon is up to.   Long story short:    Mind. Blown. AWS stands for Amazon Web Services and it is true to its namesake. I had the chance to listen to Werner Vogels, Amazon dot com's CTO and Vice president speak about big things happening with AWS and my mind is still reeling from what I learned. In today's audible, you will hear me share 10 leadership lessons I learned from going to this summit. I recorded those lessons on my iPhone in my hotel room right after getting back from the event. You will hear that I sound a bit fatigued after a full day at the Summit, but also A LOT of excitement about what's happening with this company. If there's one thing I can stress her

“We only get one shot at this crazy thing called life,” today’s PYP MVP Christie Garcia says. “My personal goal is to make sure you leave your legacy and maximize your impact while you are here.”   When she was 29, Christie was the epitome of success. She had a great apartment in San Francisco, a nice car, friends, travel opportunities, an interesting career and all the other external symbols of making it in America. But a freak accident close to Christmas one year caused Christie to reevaluate her life and ultimately make some decisions that changed the course of her life forever. These days, Christie still has a great life; it just looks different than the one she used to have. These days, instead of selling medical devices, Christie is a Leadership Coach and founder of Mindful Choice. She works with groups and individuals to help them maximize their impact, improve their relationships and be more successful at both work and home. She believes good men can become great by making a 1% personal improvement ea

History has its eyes on you, Team! What are you doing to make it proud?   For those of you who are Hamilton fans, the title of this week’s audible will be familiar. For those of you who don’t know about Hamilton, who lives who dies who tells your story are lyrics to one of the songs from the musical. This past Sunday, I sat in the audience next to my daughter and experienced all that is Hamilton for more than three glorious hours.   In today's audible, I unpack the story of Hamilton, drawing direct parallels between it and how it reinforces the many themes of PYP including how we seek continuous improvement in our work and private lives, pursuing the glorious, imperfect and courageous End Zone of leadership excellence. I even go WAY outside my comfort zone and sing a line from the show! :-) Enjoy!   -------   Thanks so much for listening! If you like this show, consider subscribing to PYP and rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Connect with me on Social Media: Twitter   LinkedIn Ins

I’m not going to lie.   I was really excited when Andrea Owen accepted my invitation to come on PYP and share her stories about being more vulnerable, getting sober and building a life on your own terms. I learned about her through a podcast I listen to, which led me to her podcast Your Kick A$$ Life which led me to her book (which I highly recommend.)   Honest, energetic and inspirational, Andrea Owen isn’t afraid to play her position full out and is winning big time because she does. On today’s show, she opens her heart and gets super real about tough topics like making amends, letting go of what we thought would happen and accepting that when life doesn’t work out the way we imagined, there may actually be something better behind our disappointment.   Some details about Andrea:   She is an author, mentor, and certified life coach who helps high-achieving women let go of perfectionism, control, and isolation and choose courage and confidence instead. She has helped thousands of women manage their inner-crit

In this week's audible, I cut right to the chase and recommend three amazing podcasts for you to consider adding to your weekly playlist!   Don't miss any upcoming announcements about the PYP Leadership Academy Pilot Program coming later this spring! Get your name on the insider's list here today! Twitter   Website

The Aggarwal brothers like to laugh. And they are passionate about great design. We talked over Skype -- I was in Portland, Oregon and they were in India. It was morning for me and night for them. We had a great conversation about launching a business, moving through self-doubt to keep a vision alive and why customer service can be a company’s greatest competitive advantage.   In October 2014, brothers Rahul and Varun Aggarwal launched Designhill in an office in New Delhi, India. In the beginning, the co-founders had a small team of 4 developers and 2 designers to pioneer a new kind of marketplace for the design industry. Upon launch, Designhill quickly caught the attention of business owners around the world looking for a fast, reliable and quality alternative to the traditional design companies. The service received an overwhelming response from around the world, allowing the company to grow rapidly to a team of more than 45 with over 48,000 registered graphic designers from around the world. Designhill no

In this week’s audible, I share the story about my sixth grade bully and the impact getting bullied has had on how I’ve played my position over the years. I also have an exciting announcement to share with you so stay tuned for that!   As far as the big picture of bullying goes… We tend to think of bullying as a kid problem but it’s actually a human problem. Bullying in the workplace is on the rise and it’s impacting the bottom line of a lot of companies because people who don’t feel safe at work aren’t producing the work the companies expect them to. Every target of a bully may lose up to 200 hours of productivity annually. If that targeted employee takes sick or vacation time, it may be a total of 400 hours of lost production to the employer.   Here are a few 2017 stats about workplace bullying sponsored by the Workplace Bullying Institute:   60.3 Million American workers are affected by workplace bullying 70% of workplace bullies are male, 30% are female Rank -- 61% comes from the boss; 33% is coworker dr

On the surface, today’s PYP MVP Yigal Adato had what our culture tells men they’ve made it. The big business, the house, the car, the vacations, the beautiful wife, the family.   Yet…   Below the surface, Yigal was living a lie. He was overweight, he was addicted to porn and he was on the fast track to getting a divorce from the love of his life.   “I had to start telling the truth to myself,” Yigal said fairly early on in our conversation. “Doing that allowed me to become courageous and move forward with my life. It also saved my health, my primary relationships and my marriage.”   This kind of vulnerability took Yigal years to develop. It’s still a lot of work today for him to tell the truth. “If you want it, you have to work for it. If you want to have an epic life, you have to work for it.”   That’s one of the big themes from today’s conversation, which is a tough one, Team. Just preparing you for that. Yigal and I get into some pretty deep and raw territory. But like usual, the journey we go on is full o

Hello Team PYP, welcome to this week’s Audible, Episode #138. I’m calling this audible “We’re not really sharing what’s real” because in my next show, you will hear my guest Yigal Adato go into more detail about why this is happening and what it means for us as men, women and citizens of a global community. You are not going to want to miss that episode because it is one of the most raw and emotional conversations I’ve ever had with a guest here on PYP. That episode is scheduled to drop in the next few days, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.    A quick preview: Yigal talks about how he personally transformed his life from being 40 pounds overweight and addicted to porn -- to being able to speak his truth so he can work with people to help them speak theirs. He openly admits it has taken him years of doing hard work to get to where he is today, and he has to work on telling the truth every single day… but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. Doing that work saved his health, his marriage and probably his li

We are facing an unprecedented addiction epidemic in America. Deaths by overdose are growing every year; addiction is a problem millions face every single day. Today’s PYP MVP believes there’s a better way for addicts to get the help they need when they are ready for recovery. A few years ago, Megan Peterson saw how technology could bridge the gap between addicts seeking help and the therapists who want to serve this demographic.   With over 15 years experience in the addiction field as both a counselor and pharmaceutical representative, Megan Peterson knew there could be a better way for patients to get the help they needed. As a result, she started 2nd Chance Counseling Service, providing a cost effective and discreet solution for patients seeking drug and alcohol addiction therapy. Megan believes that as long as patients are willing to put in the time and do the work, they deserve that 2nd, 3rd, even 10th chance at getting clean and living a full life. The creative solution at 2nd Chance Counseling provide

Welcome to this week’s audible. Last week I dropped the first part of this 2 part series exploring the question, Is self help selfish? And in that episode, I shared my initial thoughts about that question. If you haven’t listened to that episode, if you are just tuning into PYP for the first time, welcome -- be sure to go back and listen to episode #134 but for the sake of time here’s a spoiler alert -- I concluded that self help is not selfish. However… What happens when we become too obsessed with knowing ourselves? What happens then? Is all this obsession with self help making us a culture of raging narcissists who can’t get out of the weeds of our own lives and our own problems because self help can perpetuate our feelings of unease and confusion? Do we believe we have more problems than we actually do as a consequence of immersing ourselves in personal development activities? And, where do we draw the line between doing the self help work like journaling or talk therapy or reading books or listening to

Scott Beebe admits he’s not a good marketer.   He might even admit he’s a little jealous of people who are good marketers.   But what Scott Beebe does do well is what plenty of people wish they could do.   Scott Beebe is the Founder and Head Coach of MyBusinessOnPurpose.com   He also hosts the Business On Purpose podcast. Small business owners pay him well to help them articulate and implement intentional Vision/Mission/Values, Systems, and Processes which can liberate them from the chaos of working IN their business. Once they’ve shed the shackles, they find the freedom to work ON their business (shout out to Michael Gerber of the E-Myth!)      So ya. Scott Beebe is a pretty terrific guy. When he played football, he played a little known position called the deep snapper. The deep snapper may not get all the glory that a quarterback or star wide receiver gets, but no team can succeed without a great deep snapper. The deep snapper is a special teams specialist whose duty is to snap the football over a longer

Want to improve your relationships? Having trouble sleeping? Feeling stuck in your career? Coping with grief? Looking to hone your leadership skills?   If you’re like many people, you’ll try to find the answers to these questions and other problems in your life by browsing Google or heading over to the self-help aisles of your favorite bookstore or let’s be honest -- cruising on Amazon. Self-improvement books now account for billions of dollars a year in the U.S. alone. Approximately one-third to one-half of adults in the U.S. have purchased a self-improvement book at least once in their lifetime. That includes yours truly! :-)   Most of us wish we could improve certain things about ourselves. But change that sticks around is difficult. Many of our habits are deeply ingrained, and certain core personality traits may be fixed for good. Don't let that discourage you from making changes, though -- Honestly, it's never too late to change if change is what you truly want! With effort and determination, it is possi

“Do you guys remember Periscope or Meerkat?” today’s PYP MVP Lauren Fritsch asked during our conversation. “That was the hottest thing at SXSW a couple of years ago...and where are they now?”   We both chuckled about this.   “The world is changing at an incredible pace,” she continued. “And it’s great to be curious and it’s great to be an early adopter...but always remember it’s far more important to be super clear on why you do what you do so that when that next round of bright shiny objects comes around, you don’t get stung.”   Just because everyone else is doing something doesn’t mean you have to do it, too.   Lauren and I spoke near the end of last year just as the holidays were upon us. In fact, she was one of the last people I talked to for the show in 2017 and I've been super excited about her episode airing in this newest season of PYP since we talked.   Lauren Fritsch is a speaker, entrepreneur, artist and mom. Her mental model, the Joy|Money Matrix, is a simple tool that empowers creative entreprene