Listen to this short message from host Ken Inlow to hear what Tools For Success is all about, learn how to easily navigate around the site, and discover how you can connect, contribute, and grow! We’re excited you’re here and we hope you find Tools For Success to be an invaluable resource for your business.

To help build the Tools For Success community, please invite your friends, family, co-workers, chamber members, plus other business owners to join you here at our website. We want to feature you and others on the program, so we encourage you to contribute to the show and to invite other’s you know to do so as well.

 

 Media Center Welcome Message [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You may have gone to the right schools, taken the right courses, made all the right moves in your career. But somehow it’s not working. You’re stuck, and nobody will tell you why. The doors of corporate America have opened wider than ever for minorities, but the cement ceiling is still thick.

The competition is brutal for everyone, but especially brutal if you are a member of a minority group. Luckily, there is a way out. Keith R. Wyche, a division president at a Fortune 500 company, has been there and broken through the cement ceiling, making him the perfect mentor for ambitious minorities at all levels of business.

In this book he tells stories of his own experience and those of some of the thousands of minorities he has counseled on how to overcome the (often hidden) obstacles to getting ahead in their careers. In Good Is Not Enough you’ll also gain insight from prominent minority executives at the highest levels of corporate America, such as Ken Chenault of American Express, Richard Parsons of Time Warner, Aylwin Lewis of Sears Holdings, and Lloyd Trotter of GE. Wyche reveals “the unwritten rules” such as:

• Know how others see you—because their perception can become your reality.
• Stay current to remain relevant—being a continuous learner is a must.
• Always have an “exit strategy”—it’s better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.

 

 Keith Wyche Interview [26:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For more than 20 years, Martin Yate has been helping job seekers just like you achieve their ultimate career potential. In Knock ‘Em Dead 2008, you’ll find the latest on job market development, professional networking strategies, effective career-researching methods, and the expert advice that has benefited millions to date.

Whether you are searching for an entry-level position, changing professions, or climbing the corporate ladder, you’ll find the strategies and solutions you need to make the most of your specific situation, including how to:

* Structure your resume and cover letter for maximum impact
* Conduct a telephone interview
* Decide what to wear, say, and do during the face-to-face
* Negotiate the title and salary you deserve

There’s a reason the Wall Street Journal and USA Today praise this series as one of the best-it works. With celebrated career guru Martin Yate as your guide, you’ll nail the job you want in no time!

 

 Martin Yate Interview [19:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Many homeowners facing foreclosure don’t have to lose their homes. In fact, there are proven tactics for keeping your home—no matter the size of your debt and even if your mortgage is already in default. More than half of homeowners facing foreclosure didn’t ask their lender about these strategies. But it’s never too late.

Millions of Americans could lose their homes due to subprime mortgages. If you’re one of them—or if you fear you may become one of them—don’t panic. Save My Home! is the step-by-step guide to avoiding foreclosure. You’ll learn why lenders and banks don’t want to foreclose on your home and how you can use their reluctance to your advantage. You’ll also find:

* New methods to determine the true value of your home
* How to find hidden sources of equity
* The pros and cons of modifying existing loans
* Information to avoid scams

 

 Tom Geller Interview [23:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A bold new way to tackle tough business problems—even if you draw like a second grader

When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.

Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply “get”. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can’t draw.

Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools – tools that take advantage of everyone’s innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show.

THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

 

 Dan Roam Interview [34:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Does your corporate career leave you stressed out, burned out, or just plain bummed out? You’re not alone. The good news is that there’s a way out–and you’re holding it. Written by career expert and corporate escapee Pamela Skillings, Escape from Corporate America inspires the cubicle-bound and the corner-office-cornered to break free and create the career of their dreams–without going broke. With no-nonsense advice and unflagging humor, Skillings shows you how to

• assess your job’s “suck” factor–from terminal boredom to boss from hell
• identify your true calling–brainstorm fantasy careers and test-drive your dream jobs
• develop your Escape Plan–set goals, figure out your timing, and evaluate your finances and health insurance options
• find jobs that don’t bite–entrepreneurial corporate environments, energetic start-ups, the nonprofit sector, and flexible work options
• be your own boss–explore entrepreneurship and freelancing, assemble an advisory team, and start a business while you collect a paycheck
• follow your creative dreams–learn how to make time for your artistic passion and develop a plan to quit your day job
• overcome any obstacle–deal with fear, doubt, negative people, and other bumps along the road

Plus, Skillings shares success stories from dozens of corporate escape artists, including celebrity TV chef Andrea Beaman, Cranium CEO Richard Tait, and many others.

Full of practical strategies and fun-to-follow exercises, Escape from Corporate America will help disgruntled office workers everywhere find more meaningful, fulfilling careers.

 

 Pamela Skillings Interview [24:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Internet has profoundly changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. But it has also changed the way businesses communicate with their customers (and those who they want to be customers). In the old days, companies could only communicate through the filter of expensive advertising or media ink placed by a PR firm. Today the rules have changed entirely.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR shows you how to leverage the potential that Web-based communication offers your business. Finally, you can speak directly to customers and buyers, establishing a personal link with the those who make your business work. You can reach niche buyers with targeted messages that cost a fraction of your big-budget ad campaign. Rather than bombard them with advertising they’ll likely ignore, you can focus on getting the right message to the right people at the right time.

When people visit your company’s Web site, they aren’t there to hear your slogan or see your logo again. They want information, interaction, and choice—and you’d be a fool not to give it to them. This one-of-a-kind guide to the future of marketing includes a step-by-step action plan for harnessing the power of the Internet, showing you how to identify audiences, create compelling messages, get those messages to the right people, and lead those consumers into the buying process. Including a wealth of compelling case studies and real-world examples, this is a practical guide to the new reality of PR and marketing.

 

 David Meerman Scott Interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From desperate interest rate cuts and chaos in global financial markets to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and a fast-crumbling tower of public and private debt, Wall Street insider Michael J. Panzner exposes the cracks in the dike, the looming economic threats, and the vast array of promises and obligations that will ultimately go unfulfilled.

How did we get to this place, and how can we protect ourselves from the fallout?

This revised and updated edition features a new introduction by the author on the predictions that have come to pass since the book was first published. It also provides a financial bomb shelter for every American by identifying the most pressing risks we face today as well as what we can do to survive the crisis:

* How an unraveling economy will affect each one of us
* When to sell, what to buy, and where to invest as the crisis unfolds
* The social, political, and geopolitical fallout from widespread financial upheaval

Everyone must learn of the disaster-in-the-making so they can protect themselves, their families, and their economic well-being—before it’s too late. Financial Armageddon is today’s call to action.

 

 Michael Panzner Interview [26:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When you get pregnant, you read What to Expect When you’re Expecting. When you get laid off, you read What Color is Your Parachute?. When you get entrepreneurial, you read The Art of the Start.

This book is a weapon of mass construction. My goal was to provide the definitive guide for anyone starting anything. It builds upon my experience as an evangelist, entrepreneur, and most recently, as a venture capitalist who found, fixed, and funded startups.

The book is as relevant for two guys in a garage starting the next Google as social activists trying to save the world. GIST: cuts through the theoretical crap, theories and gets down to the real-world tactics of pitching, positioning, branding, recruiting, bootstrapping, and rainmaking.

 

 Guy Kawasaki Interview [22:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download