Nick Gianoulis is the “The Godfather of Fun.” More than a decade ago, Nick founded The Fun Dept. He was inspired to start the company after experiencing firsthand the enhanced business results of fun during his 20-year corporate management tenure with a company that embraced a “work hard, play hard” culture.

He is the co-author of "Playing it Forward" and is recognized as the leading authority in implementing workplace fun. His company has been featured on CNN, BBC News, Washington Post, TEDx, and hundreds of media outlets. In 2018 his company joined forces with Delivering Happiness.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The story of what inspired Nick to leave the corporate world and become “The Godfather of Fun”
• How to use fun as a process to get great business results
• Dealing with getting a tough reception and how to push past that, especially in the beginning stages
• Why fun should be a component of the culture of any successful company
• Nick’s success rate when leadership buys into his model
• Details of the ROI the Fun Department is able to offer companies
• The importance of leadership in determining a company’s culture
• An example of how positive workplace culture can create big opportunities for companies
• Nick’s partnership with Delivering Happiness: how it got started organically and how the two companies complement each other
• How to find a shared experience to make fun organic within companies
• Examples of unique fun experiences companies have developed and how those experiences can be fun for each worker
• How to allow different sectors of a company to have their own fun experience
• The importance of leaders being respectful of their employees’ time after work, and how the Fun Department can help with that
• How Nick created his company to survive any economy and allow businesses to participate at various different price points
• A story about how Wegman’s got it right and became successful by putting culture first

Ways to contact Nick:

• Website: morefunatwork.com or thefundept.com

Jack Daly is an experienced and inspirational sales trainer and sales coaching expert who inspires audiences to take action in the areas of sales management, corporate culture, and sales training. He brings 30 plus years of field-proven experience from a starting base with CPA firm Arthur Andersen to the CEO level of several national companies. Jack is a proven CEO/Entrepreneur, having built 6 companies into national firms, two of which he has subsequently sold to the Wall Street firms of Solomon Brothers and First Boston.

Jack’s role as a sales trainer extraordinaire has helped craft “street tested” sales methodologies that help create truly successful sales professionals and profitable companies. His professional sales trainer know-how has turned him into an accomplished sales coaching authority and author of books including "Hyper Sales Growth," "The Sales Playbook for Hyper Sales Growth," and "Paper Napkin Wisdom," all Amazon #1 Bestsellers.

Jack is an Ironman on seven continents and has completed 92 marathons in over 49 states. He was married to his high school sweetheart Bonnie for 48 years before her passing in 2017 and is the proud grandfather to two grandsons. Jack received his B.S. from LaSalle University, an MBA from Wilmington College, and held the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why you need to have specific goals in order to get any aspect of your life in shape (and why you need to put your goals in writing)
• They key aspect needed in your life in order to have success
• How to make the most of the 168 hours you’re given each week, and how Jack managed to do that with his wife, Bonnie, and in his professional life
• Benefits of delegating tasks that you don’t like or aren’t skilled at
• High payoff activities (HPAs): what they are and how you can leverage them to help manage your time
• Secrets and habits Jack follows that allow him to run marathons and Ironmans at age 69
• Why so many people fail to meet their goals and some of Jack’s tips to make sure you meet yours
• The one thing that is the largest determinant in a person’s sales
• The number one thing to look for when finding an accountability coach
• Jack’s experiences running marathons on all 7 continents
• A tip on how to change your mindset to live a more positive life
• Jack’s story about how he quit his job to pursue his passion, and how it worked out for him in the long run

Ways to contact Jack:

• Email: jack@jackdaly.net

Ramon Ray is a four-time entrepreneur, best-selling author, global speaker, and producer. He is Editor & Founder of Smart Hustle Magazine, and his third book is Amazon.com best seller “Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing.”

Ramon has been invited as an expert witness to Congress, invited by the Office of the President of the United States to speak at the White House, and produced many events including the "Smart Hustle Small Business Conference," "Small Business Summit," "Small Business Technology Tour", "Small Biz Big Things," and more.

What you'll learn about in this episode:

• Why Ramon highly values marketing with an emphasis on a personal touch as something that is an integral part of a business relationship
• Why “you are your own company” in many small businesses and the company's success relies heavily on the image you project
• Ways that Ramon's successful business model allows him to derive approximately one-third of his revenue through talks to associations, groups, and other smaller entities about the importance of developing leads, building customers, and sustaining personal brands
• How Ramon earns another one-third of his revenue by working with large companies and brands on different types of engagements
• Methods Ramon has developed to help big brands establish a dialog and have a voice with smaller businesses through content marketing
• Why advance preparation is essential when we choose to enter an unfamiliar environment
• How we need to “own” our own turf in the marketing world if we expect to find success
• Ways that Ramon encourages us to try to find opportunities even in bad experiences, noting that even during a fender-bender we may meet someone who will help us down the road
• How successful entrepreneurs know the importance of succession planning when they themselves can no longer carry the same workload to make sure that their innovative ideas remain a powerful force even if they have to scale back their direct involvement
• Why personal branding is imperative and how you can improve your brand

Ways to contact Ramon:

• Twitter: @ramonray
• Website: www.ramonray.com
• Magazine: www.smarthustle.com
• Book: "The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing"

Michael Sabat has worked in the messaging space for a decade. He started working with SMS campaigns in 2008 at Mobile Commons. He was the first account manager and helped hundreds of organizations launch thousands of SMS campaigns.

Recently he started @Mssg (At Message), which is a platform that helps digital directors and digital marketers use Facebook Messenger for marketing and communications outcomes. Michael believes that messaging is the marketing and communications channel for mobile. His mission is to help organizations understand the channel and launch successful messaging campaigns.

He also hosts a podcast called The Chat Bubble. It's a podcast about messaging and related technologies.

What you'll learn about in this episode:

• How we have moved beyond the desktop era where emails and web pages were most effective into an era where our marketing efforts have to thrive on mobile devices
• Developing our marketing plans to match that customers are primarily mobile and use Facebook Messenger on portable devices
• Ways that businesses, non-profits, and other entities with Facebook pages can conduct human-monitored or automated conversations
• Why Michael encourages businesses to send customers into a live or automated Messenger conversation from their Facebook page rather than to web pages that do not convert very well onto a mobile device
• How automated conversations on Messenger have the potential to collect information that we once captured on web forms with the added benefit of having a live operator jump in if necessary
• How we can send prospective customers to our Facebook Messenger portal and have an auto responder help us do some of the work such as triage to determine the person’s interest in coming to our Facebook ads
• Ways that Messenger has the potential to be a better and more effective marketing channel than email blasts or static web pages by giving us the ability to drive conversations, collect data, and create action
• How appropriate staff at businesses need to have clear objectives and at least a basic understanding of how social media platforms such as Facebook operate to optimize the potential of Facebook Messenger
• Why Michael believes that messaging on a digital platform that emphasizes mobile devices is becoming a preferred way for us to interact with customers today
• How many small businesses make mistakes when rushing to do a “new thing” by failing to understand the success they would have by making the experience similar to the way that people already use technology to interact with family and friends

Ways to contact Michael:

• Twitter: @atmssg
• Website: michaelsabat.org
• Website: www.atmssg.com
• Podcast: thechatbubble.com