Check out this week’s Question Corner episode of It’s Great Business where our guest, Lara Shackelford shares what she has learned including details about resilience and relationships.

And don’t forget to subscribe to It’s Great Business on your favorite podcast app and like us on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram.

Have you done a career checkup lately? Need some inspirational ideas? Check out this week’s It’s Great Business interview with Lara Shackelford. Lara is Chairman and Founder of Fidere.ai, a company whose mission is to rebuild genuine trust between businesses and their customers through intelligent AI-powered engagements. Lara brings over two decades of leadership in data and AI technologies and experience as a Chief Marketing Officer. She has served in a variety of marketing positions at some of the world’s most recognized companies that include Oracle, Marketo, Microsoft Bearing Point and IBM as well as at a selection of tech startups. During our discussion, Lara shares some great career stories and deeply personal thoughts about her career journey. When you listen to Lara’s stories about how her career at Levi Strauss coupled with grit ultimately led her to open doors into the world of tech marketing. Most importantly, she shares how having clear career goals will lead to success. When you listen, you will hear details about the importance of taking a periodic assessment of where you are in your career (not the title but the learning and development. She implores you to consider how taking risks can lead to great fulfillment. Want to hear more? Be sure to subscribe to It’s Great Business, available on your favorite streaming platform. If you would like to connect with Lara, she can be reached on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/larashackelford.

Looking for some inspiration this week? Check out this week’s It’s Great Business interview with Belinda Beard, an ex-EY professional and owner of EggRoll Diva, a woman-owned minority-owned Food Truck business based in Southfield, Michigan (near Detroit.) When you listen to the fun and yummy discussion you quickly learn why Belinda’s story is so special. You will also see how realizing a dream of becoming your own boss, even during a pandemic is possible. How did she do it? How can you do it? What is Belinda doing now? You will not want to miss this episode and find out how passion and innovation became the recipe for delicious success.

Want to hear more? Be sure to subscribe to It’s Great Business, available on your favorite streaming platform. If you would like to connect with Belinda and find out more about her success, she can be reached at Eggrolldiva.com.

Be sure to listen to this week’s Question Corner with Scott Brenner and Ahsan Karim
where they offer you some quick hit tips to those considering the route of
entrepreneurship which begin with self-awareness, flexibility and transparency.

And don’t forget to subscribe to It’s Great Business on your favorite podcast app. Also be sure to like us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.

Trying to figure out if you should take the entrepreneurial journey? On this week’s
It’s Great Business Podcast, you will hear from Ahsan Karim, who was an Accenture
training professional and Scott Brenner, who had been an AT&T software engineer and
tech program manager that it is possible to successfully move from corporate
management to becoming entrepreneurs who run their own business. Today, this
dynamic professional team runs Onlinebizfromscratch, a company that provides
masterclass, workshops, and courses to help aspiring entrepreneurs build profitable
online businesses.
During our discussion, both professionals share the importance of finding the right partner who you can team with from either working on projects or even working with a like-minded business professional who you can brainstorm with. Most importantly, the professionals also emphasize that you have control over your career and that you must remember that you are not trapped in a job. So, if you are one of the many people who is considering a career and lifestyle change, now might be the time to get off the so called “track” and find your value.
Want to hear more? Be sure to subscribe to It’s Great Business, available on your favorite streaming platform. If you would like to connect with Ahsan and Scott and perhaps ask them to help you find your value, they can be reached at onlinebizfromscratch.com. They are also offering It’s Great Business listeners a 20% discount with the promo code "Podcast" when you try an onlinebizfromscratch Master Class.

Trying to figure out the next step in your career and need some inspiration? Check this
week’s It’s Great Business interview with Nick Panayi. Nick is the Chief Marketing
Officer for Inovalon, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions in healthcare.
Prior to joining Inovalon, the Farleigh Dickinson business graduate was Chief Marketing Officer at Amelia a conversational AI SaaS company. Nick has also served as VP of Brand and Digital Marketing at DXC, HP and Avaya.

During our discussion, Nick shares so of his career life lessons, one of which includes focusing on the end goal while having great experiences along the way. He suggests that we should all, “meet as many people as possible and try to look for ways to positively impact lives.”

Want to hear more? Be sure to subscribe to It’s Great Business, available on your favorite streaming platform. If you would like to connect with Nick, he can be reached on LinkedIn.

Our It’s Great Business interview with Tim Flaherty, Global Account Director at NCR provides a thoughtful perspective on careers in sales and business development. Having held top leadership roles at Verizon, Dimension Data, Avaya, Lucent and AT&T, the University of Michigan and Duke University business graduate’s experience offer a personal perspective on how relationship building, and effective communication can create a solid foundation for career growth. During our discussion, Tim shares an important piece of work life balance advice that we may need to be reminded of, “take the time to enjoy what you have achieved as you strive for success.“

Be sure to subscribe to It’s Great Business, available on your favorite streaming platform. If you would like to connect with Tim, he can be reached at tpflaherty57@yahoo.com.

Welcome to the It’s Great Business 2023 year end episode. We hope that you enjoy listening to some of the best advice from real world professionals who are the who’s who across varied industries and geographies. If you would like to hear more from any of the guests we have featured, you can find them on your favorite streaming platform.

Thank you for following us and allowing It’s Great Business to come into your life. We so appreciate you. We have plenty of new guests lined up for the new year and as always we welcome your suggestions and feedback. Stay well, stay happy and keep listening in 2024. Happy Holidays and Here’s to an even Happier and Kinder New Year.

Guests
2:14 - The Band of Sisters
3:53 - David Shriner-Cahn
5:14 - Jen Sloan
9:41 - Lynn Hazan
11:19 - Chris Clark
15:12 - Bob Goodwin