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The Impact Entrepreneur

Mike Flynn takes you behind closed doors and invites you into his conversations with game changing entrepreneurs. These conversations go beyond success and failure, beyond product or service or platform, to uncover what is really behind the decisions these entrepreneurs make and what IMPACT they hope to have in the world.
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Now displaying: March, 2019
Mar 25, 2019

Nathan Mendelsohn is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Cláudio França, who is one of the very first black belts to bring Jiu Jitsu to California, Santa Cruz in particular, and a crucial contributor to the growth of this sport/martial art in North America. Nathan is one of the top American grapplers of his generation, but it’s not just his tremendous list of achievements that garnered him notoriety in the martial arts community – it’s also his open minded attitude towards training, often breaking strict team taboos to practice with the best in this martial art/sport.

 

Nathan was inspired by his childhood hero Rickson Gracie, a famed practitioner of Gracie jiu jitsu and the subject of the 1995 documentary, Choke. Nathan describes him as the embodiment of the modern-day samurai, and learning jiu jitsu was Nathan’s own way of chasing that childhood dream of being a real-life samurai.

 

Nathan was ranked as the #8 middleweight blackbelt in the world, positioned to move even higher up the rankings, before he hit a roadblock: a knee injury. Thanks to medical advances over the past 10 or 20 years, this wasn’t the career-ending injury it could have been, but it still lead to a number of frustrating moments during recovery and caused him to slide in the rankings.

 

But he tried not to let negativity own his life, telling us that “it’s really important to have a positive storyline happening in your head.” Instead of viewing the injury as an obstacle to his goal, he took it as an opportunity to take six months off, for the first time in his life. It was time he could use to not only let his body recover, but also hone his mindset.

 

Like a lot of what you learn when training in a martial art, I think this lesson is highly applicable to everyone’s life. In our conversation, Nathan shares a number of other lessons he’s learned over the years:

 

  • When we learn new things, we’re always focused on the little details – but it’s more just about being there, being present, and letting the situation “churn” you. If you embrace that churn, you’ll naturally get better and better. If you focus on the little details, it’s extremely easy to get overwhelmed.
  • Not drinking alcohol also had a significant impact on both Nathan’s training and mindset. He didn’t like who he was when he drank, and it negatively affected every aspect of training. It just wasn’t helping to contribute to his goals, so he took it out of his life. This isn’t easy to do in a world where drinking is present at many (if not most) social occasions, but he says it’s one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
  • After becoming a black belt, the pressure ramped up for Nathan. So one of his mentors taught him about affirmations and mantras, which he now uses before he competes. His main mantra is “I always believe in my ability to impose my game on any opponent,” and he also likes “Every fight is my first fight, my last fight, and my only fight,” for long tournaments.

 

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

 

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

 

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Mar 18, 2019

Robert Glazer, founder of Acceleration Partners and co-founder of BrandCycle, says that we all come out of the factory without our instruction manual.

 

Unfortunately, too many of us don’t figure out who we are and how we function until we’re well into our 30s and 40s – but, as leaders and entrepreneurs, we can change that. We can honor each person in our world; we can highlight and support their unique dreams, hopes, and desires.

 

And when we don’t do this, when we forget that our organizations are made up of individual people who have their own vision for their life and their own goals, the results can be disastrous. All you have to do is look at employee engagement worldwide: 85 percent of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, resulting in approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity, according to Gallup.

 

That’s not because most employees don’t want to be engaged, excel, and improve. It’s because most employees don’t have anyone helping them identify their strengths or use these strengths to move the organization forward. So this isn’t on the employees – it’s on the leadership that isn’t helping their people find their instruction manuals.

 

In Robert’s businesses, this comes down to building capacity in people holistically. He needs his people to grow with the business, and that means they need to do more than just work better – the whole person needs to get better. The business sees a tangible benefit from this personal investment and the employees associate working for the business with being a better person.

 

I think every company, big and small, needs to focus on creating a culture of personal empowerment and work-life integration like this. It helps businesses succeed, but that’s not even the point – everyone deserves the opportunity to hone their strengths and contribute to something greater than themselves, and as leaders, that’s how we can truly make an impact on the world.

 

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Resources:

 

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

 

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

 

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Mar 11, 2019

When you walk through the doors of NCFIT, the first thing you’re going to be greeted by is a smiling face, then another and another – and, immediately, even a stranger will feel welcome. That’s the power of community.

 

And cultivating a passionate community is exactly what NCFIT founder Jason Khalipa wanted to do when he started what is now a small CrossFit empire; he wanted to create an environment where employees were paid to chase their passion, do what they love, and create happier, healthier communities along the way. It’s a marriage of fitness and hospitality that really makes an impact on the people who come through the doors.

 

But running NCFIT is just one of Jason’s many hats. He is also author of As Many Reps as Possible, the host of two podcasts (AMRAP Mentality and Business of Fitness), and a dedicated philanthropist who gives so much to spread awareness for pediatric cancer and provide support to families fighting that difficult fight.

 

Jason started his philanthropy work in 2016, after he and his wife were faced with a parent’s worst nightmare: their daughter, Ava, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of four. But the Khalipa family embraced Ava’s diagnosis and faced it with unyielding positivity.

 

Instead of playing it safe, they went all in. Instead of focusing on themselves, they spread support. Instead of worrying, they celebrated. Because those are the memories that Jason wants Ava to remember.

 

And no matter what is happening or where you are in your life, it’s never too late. You can overcome any adversity. You can start that business. You can write the story of your own life.

 

You are the only person who can free your potential.

 

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Resources:

 

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

 

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

 

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

Mar 4, 2019

Phil White is the co-author of Waterman 2.0 (with past guest Dr. Kelly Starrett), The 17 Hour Fast (with Dr. Frank Merritt), Unplugged (with Dr. Andy Galpin and Brian Mackenzie) and Game Changer (with Fergus Connolly). He also writes for many of the leading brands in the human performance space and tells stories for Intrinsic, which helps military veterans, firefighters, police officers, and athletes overcome PTSD, TBIs, and concussions.

 

But before Phil started telling stories, he wanted to be an athlete. He moved across the pond from the UK, and then a ways further into the Midwest, to join a college soccer team in Kansas City and pursue this childhood dream.

 

Phil was an English major, though, and the more he wrote, the more his talent started to shine. After graduating, he had his first opportunity to co-write a book. This was a pivotal point in his writing career. He continued to write more and more and more – and before he knew it, he was a writer.

 

In this process, Phil learned an important lesson, and it’s one he shares with all of us in this episode: “Honor your god-given talent, in whatever you got.”

 

But Phil isn’t just a talented wordsmith, he’s also a talented collaborator; really, a master communicator by any measure. He’s exceptionally good at helping to draw ideas out of others, which he says is driven by an insatiable curiosity, and then translating those ideas into the written word.

 

Phil turns these ideas into art through his talent, but at the foundation of it all is a willingness to build relationships – which I think is probably the least taught, but most important, skill that anyone and everyone should have.

 

And here’s the thing: you don’t even need to rely on your God-given talents to form relationships! You’ll be able to create something incredible if you combine the two, but anyone and everyone CAN build healthy and strong relationships, in any area of their life, if they’re willing to put in the time and effort.

 

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Resources:

 

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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full-service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. They are your one-stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.

 

Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.

 

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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters

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