The Action Catalyst With Rory Vaden

Sally Lou Oaks Loveman, former audience producer for The Oprah Winfrey Show, lives her purpose by connecting with audiences. When she was 14, she tuned into her passion for television when she was an audience member at The Mike Douglas Show. She spotted a girl on the set with a clipboard, and while she had no idea what this girl did, she knew she would do it one day too. After her 35-year career in television and having entertained over half a million people from the Oprah stage, Loveman shares her “do what you love” message through her business, lovespeaks. In her new book, Speak: Love Your Story. Your Audience is Waiting, Sally Lou takes on a new audience—an audience of readers! Just like her pre-show warm-up at The Oprah Winfrey Show, Speak is participatory. Readers are invited to join in on the lessons shared in each chapter, and by the end of the book, her new audience has a start to their own story. Blending the genres of memoir and self-improvement, Speak shares Sally Lou’s story while offering t

Brian Biro is America’s Breakthrough Coach! He is one of the nation's foremost speakers and teachers of leadership, possibility thinking, thriving on change, and team-building. He has delivered more than 1,800 presentations around the world in the past 29 years. His clients include such diverse organizations as Lockheed Martin (94 events), the US Army, the University of Notre Dame, UCLA, the North Carolina Association for the Advancement of Teaching, senators, and representatives from 13 western states, the Virginia School Superintendents, Kaiser Permanente, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, IHOP, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Allstate Insurance, Good Samaritan Hospital, RE/MAX, Shaklee, the American Rental Association and hundreds more.  A former vice president of a major transportation corporation in the Pacific Northwest, he helped lead a major turnaround that resulted in the company quadrupling in revenues, becoming solidly profitable, and being named the leader in the air freight industry for

Gigi Butler, entrepreneur and founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes, admits her story of success is full of sweet irony. Gigi opened her first Gigi’s Cupcakes location just off Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee in 2008. Gigi’s Cupcakes is now the largest cupcake franchise in the world. With an entrepreneurial spirit that needed an outlet at the age of 15, Gigi opened her first business, Gigi’s Cleaning Company, which she continued to grow once she moved from California to Nashville in 1994. She cleaned houses during the day and sang at downtown Nashville honky-tonks at night. After a decade of pursuing a career as an entertainer, the heartaches of the music industry hit home. Gigi decided to step back and focus on her financial future. While building a sweet empire was never part of her plan, Gigi realized that her culinary and business skills could take her places that she never dreamed about. She decided to take a chance on her other passion—baking. After being turned down by various banks and down to her las

Dan Moore was recently featured on the Direct Selling Association CEOs in Focus podcast with Joe Mariano. Listen to the featured episode below. Show Highlights: The thing that differentiates Southwestern is our commitment to building character in young people. —Dan MooreIt's not the door-to-door sales, it's what it teaches a person that's key. Most people have preconceived notions of, "I'm not good at business," or "I can't talk to people." When they practice, they learn that's not true. —Dan MooreLive the best lives you can with the gifts you've been given and the opportunities put in front of you. Don't worry so much about what other people think of you. —Dan MooreI think it's important for me to still be in the field and with our recruiters, meeting new people. —Dan MooreYoung people all want to be somebody. What they don't know is how to get there. —Dan MooreYoung people also really value honesty and transparency. Being straight up with people is really important and making sure our hearts are rig

Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change for their organizations, leaders, and industries. He has a 30-year track record of helping some of the world’s most influential executives tackle challenges of strategy, organization, and leadership. From start-ups to Fortune 10’s, turnarounds to new markets and strategies, overhauling leadership and culture to re-designing for growth, he has worked in more than 25 countries on four continents. In addition to being a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and Forbes, he has also been featured in Fortune, CEO Magazine, BusinessInsider, MSNBC, Inc, Business Week, and Smart Business. Show Highlights: The biggest reinvention of myself now is to figure out how to set my firm apart from the others. That's a whole new set of muscles and skills. —Ron CarucciI want to make sure we can raise the bar in our craft. —Ron CarucciWe can warn companies about the landmines that they'll i

Jenny Buccos is a multi-award winning director and producer. She is the founder of the ProjectExplorer educational nonprofit, a multimedia education strategist, and an agent for global citizenship. She launched Season 1 of Crash Test World—a family-focused TV series with Kari Byron (Mythbusters) and Intuitive Content for broadcast in the fall of 2019. She serves as the show's creator and Executive Director. In 2003, before the existence of YouTube, she founded ProjectExplorer.org, a free multimedia website designed to educate primary and secondary school students about global issues, world cultures, and histories. She has directed and produced over 500 short films working with leaders and visionaries including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Belize’s First Lady Kim Simplis Barrow, Ziggy Marley, and Anthony Bourdain. An international specialist in video and media-focused curriculum design, Jenny provides consulting services for educational, cultural, and nonprofit organizations focused on increasing student

Jaak Roosaare is from Saku, Estonia. He is married to a Southwestern Advantage bookgirl, Maria, and they have two boys, Jako and Hugo, and a baby girl, Marie. Jaak was the number-one rookie in the Southwestern Baltics division and sold books for seven summers. He won Sizzler every single summer and was DSL of the year three times. He helped to start the Lithuanian division and also recruited in Poland. In 2018, Jaak started the new Southwestern company called E1 Ventures. It did almost half a million dollars in sales and made a profit in its first year. Jaak is also an active investor, founder of the 50% Club and a contributor to business newspapers in Estonia. He promotes financial literacy and investing in high schools and in society as a whole. He is the author of four best-selling books about personal finance and has coached hundreds of people on how to start investing. His book, Rikkaks Saamise Õpik ("Textbook for becoming wealthy") is the all-time number-one bestseller in the personal finance fiel

Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D. is a mental success coach and cutting-edge leadership consultant, author, trainer, and researcher. He helps improve organizations, leaders, teams, and employees by improving their mindsets. Ryan is currently a leadership and management professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton (CSUF). He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources from Indiana University and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. He is the author of Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership. He also works with organizations to develop their leaders and improve their culture (collective mindsets). He has worked with top leadership teams at CVS Health (top 130 leaders), Deutsche Telekom (500+ of their top 2,000 leaders), and a couple dozen other organizations. As a respected authority and researcher on topics related to leadership, management, and organizational behavior, Ryan has published over 1

Douglas Ward is a retired military veteran with 24 years of distinguished service. During his time, he held numerous leadership roles to include instructor and manager of over 500 personnel. Additionally, Douglas was the Troop Chief for a hand-selected group of special communicators who supported and deployed into austere environments with Special Operations Forces. Upon retirement, he supported government agencies as a subject matter expert in non-standard communications and as a business development executive. These experiences have enabled him to pass on the knowledge and lessons of leadership under extreme conditions for companies needing management team building. Pulling from his past military experience and as an executive-level technology leader, he collaborates with those in charge of providing unfiltered truths on the true state of a company. He specializes in encouraging the development of communication skills from the top down and bottom up increasing revenue growth, employee trust, and owner

Happy New Year from The Action Catalyst. This episode is a review of the highlights of 2019.   These clips provide inspiration from leaders, authors, entrepreneurs, and more on challenging situations and how to learn and grow from them. Speakers include Kathleen Sarpy, Gloria Mayfield Banks, Todd Duncan, Edie Allen, and Roger Nierenberg.

Chris Spurvey grew up and still lives on the picturesque island of Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. After consciously choosing entrepreneurship as a means to create a better life for his family, Chris realized that negative beliefs about sales were holding him back from taking his ventures to the next level. He saw this as a major hurdle to not only his businesses but the businesses of virtually every other entrepreneur. Chris went to work on himself and found a way to sell that felt right. Chris spearheaded the growth of Plato Consulting to the point it was acquired by one of the largest management consulting firms in the world (KPMG). In the process, he sold over $300 million in consulting services. Following the acquisition, Chris turned his focus to helping other “non-sales sellers” find a way to grow their revenue in a consistent, stress-free manner. He published It’s Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mindset, founded Make Sales a Habit University and today is a growth advisor to b

Michael Brody-Waite, a recovering addict, acclaimed speaker, 3x CEO, Inc. 500 Founder, andleadership coach is on a mission to revolutionize the rules of leadership. Michael's unique perspective, from a background in overcoming addiction, is the foundation for his Mask Free Leadership System, built upon three principles that saved him from death and set him apart as a leader. His TEDx talk, Great Leaders Do What Drug Addicts Do, has been viewed nearly 1,000,000 times in over 25 countries and provides insight into his 16-year journey from near homelessness and addiction to successful entrepreneurship. With no college degree, Michael entered corporate America and went on to receive eight promotions in seven years. He went from a temporary representative at a kiosk in a mall for a Fortune 50 company to be a corporate manager of a three-state territory with 19 employees and responsibility for $250 million in revenue. In 2010, Michael left that Fortune 50 company at the height of the recession to co-found

Nicole Zasowski is a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of From Lost to Found. She is based in the state of Connecticut where she lives with her husband and two sons. As an old soul who wears her heart proudly on her sleeve, Nicole loves using her words to help others find an enduring peace and joy outside of circumstance. Show Highlights: There's blessing in any story that cultivates growth and makes us whole. —Nicole ZasowskiWhen we confront the thing we cannot change, it has the opportunity to change us. We have a choice of what we do with it. —Nicole ZasowskiVulnerability is best served with boundaries. Different relationships have earned the right to hear different parts of our story. —Nicole ZasowskiIt's important to realize that empty hands are also open. Ask yourself, what makes me valuable and what makes me safe? —Nicole ZasowskiExperiencing failure doesn't make me a failure. —Nicole Zasowski The Action Catalyst is a weekly podcast hosted by Dan Moore, President of Southwester

Darrah is a four-time founder, author, and coach who used to cringe at the word "coaching." But she was called to do this and was begged by her first clients to work with them. When they saw massive and transformational results in their lives and businesses, she stopped resisting and continued to serve. After spending 10 years over-working and feeling burnt out while building a credit card processing company into 38 states and a networking events company for over 30,000 people, she learned the wrong way to do it. She then discovered that there was a better way. A prolific writer and interviewer, she's worked with Shaq, Seth Godin, Bobbi Brown, Jillian Michaels, Adam Grant, Robert Herjavec, Nastia Liukin, Cam Newton, and the list goes on, with well over 1 million views of her work. Her motto, "Design your life, build a career to fund it, and a network to support it," has inspired thousands to reach higher and dream bigger. She was even named as #1 to follow by BossBabe Magazine. Show Highligh

Since 2003, Anthony has helped hundreds of thousands of students make smart decisions with their money, relationships, and education. He’s a national best-selling author and travels the country spreading his encouraging message to help teens and young adults start their lives off right. His latest book, Debt-Free Degree, launched in October 2019. You can follow Anthony on YouTube and Instagram @AnthonyONeal and online at anthonyoneal.com or facebook.com/aoneal. Show Highlights: A huge pivot moment for myself was when I was living in the back of my car. The second biggest pivot moment of my life was joining the amazing Dave Ramsey team in 2015. —Anthony ONealIf you want to have freedom for the future, you need to make debt-free decisions today. —Anthony ONealThe caliber of your future is determined by the choices you make today. —Anthony ONealWhen there's no plan for your life, there's no plan for your money. That's a problem I see with today's generation is just a lack of vision for their life. —Anthony

As Chief Executive Officer, Dustin Hillis is leading the vision and strategy to make Southwestern Family of Companies the largest and most impactful privately-owned company worldwide by 2048. Under his leadership, the company has grown from 19 to 30 businesses and is well on its way to reaching the aggressive goal of more than 200 businesses in less than 30 years. In addition to being CEO of Southwestern Family of Companies, Hillis is a Co-Founder of Southwestern Consulting, a sales and leadership coaching, keynote speaking and personal empowerment firm that helps clients around the world drive sales performance through the use of time-tested principles and proven methodologies. He remains the head of Southwestern Coaching. With more than 100 fully dedicated Southwestern Consulting Certified Coaches operating in seven countries, the business has helped over 10,000 clients grow their incomes by more than 25 percent on average. The coaching business grew at 60 percent per year for the last 8 years before Hil

Joseph N. Mariano joined the Direct Selling Association (DSA) in 1985 and assumed the role of President in 2011. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. DSA is the 109-year-old not-for-profit national trade organization representing approximately 250 direct sales firms, and their 26.2 million independent salespeople. The Association's mission is "To protect, serve, and promote the effectiveness of member companies and the independent business people they represent. To ensure that the marketing by member companies of products and/or the direct sales opportunity is conducted with the highest level of business ethics and service to consumers." Mr. Mariano serves as chief executive officer of the Association with ultimate responsibility for all association programs and activities; he is charged with providing progressive association leadership, development, and implementation of Association policies in the fields of government, consumer, and international affairs. He has bee

Jason Harris is the co-founder and CEO/President of creative agency Mekanism—his new book The Soulful Art of Persuasionlaunched in September on The Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list for business books. In The Soulful Art of Persuasion, Jason believes that persuasion usually isn't about facts and argument. It's about personal character—for that reason, it’s vital to become the kind of person that others want to agree with and be around. He offers a guide with 11 key character-building habits that are essential to becoming original, generous, empathetic, and soulful (sharing an attached overview as well). Jason has more than 20 years of expertise building provocative campaigns and engaging audiences for iconic brands like Peloton, Ben & Jerry’s, HBO, MedMen, and the United Nations—he also worked with the Obama White House and Joe Biden on the “It’s On Us” campaign. Through instructive and entertaining stories, Harris pulls from his personal and professional experiences to demonstrate how people can be

John Mitchell’s 12-minute a day Think It Be It technique is recognized today as the “Top Practical Application in the World” of the legendary book Think and Grow Rich. When he applied his technique to his own life, he saw his income go to over $5 million a year. Previously, for 20 years as an entrepreneur, he earned low six figures a year. The 20-times difference happen because his daily technique significantly increased his control over himself, by probably double. It also made him laser-focused every day on only the 2 to 3 things that move the needle in his business. It also allowed him to rapidly evolve his “Strategy for Success.” He was simply operating every day at a higher level than he ever had before, and it showed up in his income. The science behind his technique was profiled in a Time magazine cover story. John started out as a CPA but became an entrepreneur at the age of 30. He owned companies in a variety of industries: real estate development, a bank, a restaurant, children’s book publishi

Andrew (Andy) L. Gutman, President and Chief Financial Officer of Farbman Group and related companies, oversees the myriad of Farbman companies, its >25,000,000 rsf of commercial real estate and its 200+ employees. Andy worked for much of his career in the arenas of accounting, finance, and asset management. He has spent over 27 years of commercial real estate working for international and family-owned, multi-generational commercial real estate companies. Andy has financed and overseen assets with values in excess of $1 billion and has been an active part of the structuring of the ownership and financing of these assets. With a focus on client service, customer satisfaction, and maximizing asset value, he derives pleasure from problem-solving and finding opportunities that provide appreciated value, additional revenue and cost savings for the organization and its client. Andy Gutman cares about people, processes, community, and is committed to the corporate vision of operating with ethics and integrity.