Becoming Preferred

Michael Vickers
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

In this informative and practical podcast, Michael and his guests share the latest strategies and tactics to help you become the preferred provider (the emotional favorite) in the markets you serve. The key insights and strategies discussed, come from Michael's experience working with many of the finest brands in business today and his guest interviews will inspire you, educate you, and give you the tools you need to be successful in today's turbulent and competitive marketplace.

  1. 3d ago

    Nima Rahmany (Part 2) — Navigating Emotional Triggers: A Journey to Personal and Professional Development

    SEASON: 7 EPISODE: 4 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred! Last week, in part one of our conversation with Nima Rahmany, we laid the groundwork by looking inward—focusing on personal development, emotional regulation, and what it truly takes to become 'trigger-proof'. If you missed that episode, I highly encourage you to go back and give it a listen. But today, we are diving into part two, where we translate those personal insights directly into professional development. We’re taking a hard look at the 'paradox of the decorated wreck'—why so many high-achieving leaders and entrepreneurs master business execution, yet find themselves unequipped when personal dynamics or workplace stress spill over. We’ll explore how drive can sometimes be a coping mechanism, how to move from intellectual insight to real embodiment, and practical tools to regulate your nervous system under high stakes. Please join me for part two of my conversation with Nima Rahmany. Guest Bio: Nima Rhamany helps high-performing individuals, couples, and families heal relational wounds, regulate their nervous systems, and become trigger-proof in love, leadership, and connection. Formerly a chiropractor, Nima now guides clients through somatic and shadow integration to interrupt unconscious relational patterns and create emotionally safe, co-regulated relationships. Nima's work blends neuroscience, polyvagal theory, attachment theory, and transformational coaching to help people build more secure, authentic connections. Resource Links: Website: https://becometriggerproof.com/Product Link: https://becometriggerproof.com/shop/ Insight Gold Timestamps: 01:34 I want to talk about the paradox of the "decorated wreck" 02:08 The thing that makes us successful in business, it actually hurts us in intimate relationships 04:31 Most entrepreneurship and success-driven behavior is a trauma response 06:21 The wound will show up, and your children are designed to bring that up for you, your partner is designed to bring that up for you 09:24 Trauma is not just what happens to us, it's what's happening inside of us 12:48 How do we know then if our drive is coming from a place of inspiration or a place of running away? 15:35 Addictions in the child become the solution to receive the connection that they're not receiving from parents 19:08 Insight alone is not enough 20:55 It needs to be practiced and addressed the same way that you can't become a good dancer from reading a book or listening to a podcast 24:22 If you're living in an identity of a victimhood... 26:44 Their egos stop them from actually admitting the truth that there is a vulnerable part of them 28:51 What was the nervous system of the parents that got downloaded onto your nervous system 34:38 You can still have the same type of pain in losing a client 36:56 Disrespect is not a feeling; disrespect is a story 45:36 When you apply the skills, the methodology, regulate, integrate, communicate, you just come back home sooner 48:51 The first step is to repair with yourself Connect Socially: Facebook: facebook.com/nimarahmanyofficial Instagram: instagram.com/nimarahmanyofficial YouTube: youtube.com/@NimaRahmanyOfficial Email: support@becometriggerproof.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Nima Rahmany (Part 2) — Navigating Emotional Triggers: A Journey to Personal and Professional Development

  2. Aug 10

    Nima Rahmany (Part 1) — Navigating Emotional Triggers: A Journey to Personal and Professional Development

    SEASON: 7 EPISODE: 3 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast dedicated to helping you level up your game and become the best version of you. Normally, we spend our time developing strategies for market dominance, leadership, and business growth. But true success isn't just about what you accomplish on paper—it's about how you show up as the highest, best version of yourself in every area of your life. That’s why today’s episode is part one of a special two-part series. This week, we’re laying the foundation by focusing entirely on personal development. We’re joined by Nima Rahmany to explore what it means to become 'trigger-proof,' break intergenerational patterns, and build genuine emotional safety. Then, be sure to tune in next week for part two, where we’ll build on these insights and pivot the conversation directly toward professional development! So, let's get into part one—join me for my conversation with Nima Rahmany. Guest Bio: Nima Rahmany helps high-performing individuals, couples, and families heal relational wounds, regulate their nervous systems, and become trigger-proof in love, leadership, and connection. Formerly a chiropractor, Nima now guides clients through somatic and shadow integration to interrupt unconscious relational patterns and create emotionally safe, co-regulated relationships. Nima's work blends neuroscience, polyvagal theory, attachment theory, and transformational coaching to help people build more secure, authentic connections. Resource Links: Website: https://becometriggerproof.com/Product Link: https://becometriggerproof.com/shop/ Insight Gold Timestamps: 04:35 By the age of 13, I was like hellbent on becoming a chiropractor 05:13 I inherited this intergenerational angst of this constant feeling of hypervigilance 10:02 This is what they call the anxiety alarm loop 14:56 It was like the universe gifted me this experience... 17:16 There's no gap between stimulus and response if you're carrying shame 22:01 The true test of somebody's teaching of something is what are they living? 24:40 What you're talking about is the concept of creating emotional safety 27:26 The first thing is when I put an expectation on myself to make a quick turnaround... 30:15 There's an unconscious covert expectation that we have 35:32 The problem is actually called enmeshment 38:00 Just normal experiences of people with different values 44:46 What would love do? 46:28 A true successful person, I look at the way their partner looks at them 47:19 The website is becometriggerproof.com Connect Socially: Facebook: facebook.com/nimarahmanyofficial Instagram: instagram.com/nimarahmanyofficial YouTube: youtube.com/@NimaRahmanyOfficial Free Gift from Nima Email: support@becometriggerproof.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Nima Rahmany (Part 1) — Navigating Emotional Triggers: A Journey to Personal and Professional Development

  3. Aug 3

    Matt Wolfe — What Broadway Stagecraft Teaches Us About Marketing

    SEASON: 7 EPISODE: 2 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast for business professionals and entrepreneurs who want to level up their game and become preferred in the markets they serve. If you run a B2B company, there’s a high probability you’ve hit a very specific growth ceiling: you built a fantastic business through relationships and word-of-mouth, but the moment you try to scale beyond referrals, your marketing completely stalls out. You keep tweaking your website, changing ad agencies, and wondering why it’s not converting.' Our guest today says the problem isn't your marketing tactics; it's that you are performing the wrong show. Matt Wolfe is a brand strategist, Partner at Brand3, and one of the country's most experienced StoryBrand Certified Guides, having transformed the messaging of over two hundred and fifty organizations across thirty industries. But what makes him truly unique in this space is his background: before moving into full-time marketing, Matt spent twenty-five years on professional stages, including Broadway. He understands better than anyone alive why some scripts grip an audience and others cause them to walk out by intermission. Today, we are unpacking his 'Brand-First Rule,' how to scale a relationship-driven B2B beyond referrals, and how to make your marketing look less digital and significantly more human. Join me for my conversation with Matt Wolfe. Guest Bio: Matt Wolfe spent 25 years on professional stages, including Broadway, before pivoting to full-time marketing. That path looks like a detour until you hear him explain why a business’s brand message works the same way a script does. Every word either earns an audience’s attention or loses it, and most companies are performing the wrong show. Today, Matt is a Partner at Brand3 and one of the most experienced StoryBrand Certified Guides in the country, with work across 250+ organizations in more than 30 industries. He helps B2B leaders who’ve built businesses on strong word-of-mouth figure out why their marketing doesn’t reflect that fact - and fix it at the source. Brand3’s Scale Beyond Referrals program helps relationship-driven B2Bs tell a story that connects with their ideal clients. In a world that’s growing more digital, his team makes marketing more human - and makes B2Bs the obvious choice to their ideal clients. Resource Links: Website: https://www.brand3.net/Website: https://www.mattwolfemarketing.com/Product Link: https://www.brand3.net/ways-to-engage/ Insight Gold Timestamps: 03:40 You have this fantastic phrase where you say that most B2B companies are performing the wrong show with their marketing 05:05 That's really all that is at the end of the day, is the right story to the right people 06:36 StoryBrand says make your audience the hero of the story 07:53 I think StoryBrand has moved the needle on that conversation 11:43 I'm going to make this bold statement, and then I'll qualify it: Demographics don't work 13:47 At the end of the day, these sales only happen through carefully built trust and relationships 17:02 We've been using the phrase: trust recession 19:30 You have a strict brand first rule that says, "Stop marketing a message you haven't built yet" 21:22 The game's going to be won or lost on that header and whether or not that says to somebody, "I'm telling your story" 23:39 Good marketing is shining the spotlight back on the ideal client 25:06 If you don't articulate the problem that they're facing, there just is no story 26:57 We just have to keep asking the question, how will this digital thing that we're doing now lead to a human encounter? 32:36 If you do this right, you're putting more humans in front of the right ideal client humans to have these great encounters 36:03 We were like, "Why aren't we telling that story?" 38:34 Matt Wolfe, the website is brand3.net 38:41 Your personal website as well mattwolfemarketing.com 38:58 You can also go to scalebeyondreferrals.com 39:13 We have a podcast called The CEO's Heart for Service Connect Socially: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/MattWolfeMarketing Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brand3marketing/ The CEO's Heart for Service Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ceos-heart-for-service-scaling-business-without/id1896298694 Email: mwolfe@brand3.net Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Matt Wolfe — What Broadway Stagecraft Teaches Us About Marketing

  4. Jul 27

    Scott Armstrong — From A**hole to Ally: Why Ambitious Professionals Lose Trust and How to Get It Back

    SEASON: 7 EPISODE: 1 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast designed to help ambitious business professionals and entrepreneurs build unshakeable client trust, scale their impact, and become preferred in the markets they serve. If you run a professional services firm, an agency, or a consulting practice, you’ve likely fallen into a very common trap: you try to win clients by being the smartest person in the room. You show up to pitches armed with deep expertise and immediate answers, only to wonder why the client chose someone else. Our guest today says that over-indexing on your own 'smartness' is the fastest way to kill a deal. Scott Armstrong is a marketing veteran, global agency founder who scaled his business to over twenty-two million dollars, and the mastermind behind Win The Question. He is also a self-reformed 'expert' who learned how to build trust the hard way. His upcoming book, From A*****e to Ally, is a field manual on how highly qualified professionals accidentally lose trust and exactly how to get it back. Today, we’re unpacking how to stop relying on rare 'rainmakers,' how to coach trust as a tactical skill across your entire team, and how to shift from pitching answers to truly winning the question. Please join me for my conversation with Scott Armstrong. Guest Bio: R. "Scott" Armstrong has spent 38 years learning what most ambitious professionals figure out the hard way: it's not about you. Scott is the founder of Win The Question, where he teaches ambitious professionals how to build trust by reducing their natural self-orientation and working to win the question before the answer. Scott's book "From A*****e to Ally: How Ambitious Professionals Lose Trust and How To Get It Back" is the field manual and it will be launch in the fall. He lives at the end of a dirt road in Creemore where he trusts his neighbors and his motorcycle. Resource Links: Website: winthequestion.comProduct Link: https://www.winthequestion.com/book Insight Gold Timestamps: 02:20 I hadn't really learned yet how to build trust, I just learned how to hustle 04:27 Trust has a math to it, or professional services trust at least has a math to it 05:15 Trust is really the shift from about me to about you 07:31 Your upcoming book has a brilliantly provocative title, From A*****e to Ally 10:30 What does it mean to win the question in a high-stakes client meeting? 12:12 Stephen Covey's fifth habit, "Seek first to understand, then seek to be understood." 14:23 Often the managing partner or the leader of the firm doesn't even really know what skills they're using successfully to build trust 16:28 Ask before you answer 17:05 You should be learning from my mistakes rather than my successes 20:28 At the top of my page, I just put a little reminder, "Shut up," that's my first prep note 22:38 Using that methodology, we lost a $10 million account in a review, and won it all back and more 12 months later 25:08 Give me 45 minutes to come and have a conversation, and then we'll craft a perfect solution for you based on that conversation 27:52 He was better at asking questions than I was, and his big win question's a real simple one 31:30 One of the things I like about your podcast is how much research you all do 34:05 Bottom line is if you're putting deposits into that relationship bank account on an ongoing basis, they don't divorce you when the proverbial hits the fan 37:49 The tagline for that company is not go fast, don't die, it's really go fast, go far 39:47 You might have a weather forecast, but it can change 42:10 You can literally these days run Otter on a call or in the meeting itself... after the meeting is over, will tell you not only how often did you speak versus when your client spoke... 42:49 The book is From A*****e to Ally: Why Ambitious Professionals Lose Trust and How to Get It Back by Scott Armstrong. (available Q4) 43:33 Scott Armstrong at winthequestion.com Connect Socially: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rscottarmstrong/ Email: scott@thewtq.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Scott Armstrong — From A**hole to Ally: Why Ambitious Professionals Lose Trust and How to Get It Back

  5. Jul 20

    David Barnett - The Truth About Buying or Selling a Business: What Every Entrepreneur Should Know

    SEASON: 6 EPISODE: 36 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs and business professionals who want to level up their game and become the best version of you. Every week, we talk about how to become preferred, but let me ask you a tough question: You might be building a brand that customers love, but are you building a business that an investor would actually buy? Whether you’re an established entrepreneur looking for an exit strategy, an investor looking for high-yield cash flow, or a professional wanting to skip the startup phase and buy an existing company, today’s episode is your ultimate playbook. Joining us is David C. Barnett, an international private transaction consultant, 3-time best-selling author, and the master strategist behind 11 books on business acquisitions, financing, and valuation. Today, we are pulling back the curtain on how businesses are actually bought, sold, and valued in the real world. Join me now for my conversation with David Barnett. Guest Bio: David Barnett has been working with small and medium sized businesses for over 20 years. He has helped entrepreneurs buy and sell them. He has helped them grow. He has helped people finance them. David is the host of a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos about buying, selling, financing and managing small and medium sized businesses and can be found anytime at his blog site www.DavidCBarnett.com. Resource Links: Website: www.DavidCBarnett.comDavid's Books: https://www.investlocalbook.com/p/buy-book.htmlProduct Link: https://www.investlocalbook.com/p/courses.html Insight Gold Timestamps: 03:13 It seems very obvious to me, and I didn't understand why they didn't see what I saw 07:07 I was with the Yellow Pages for about seven years, it was fantastic 10:46 If they don't pay for it, they don't value it 13:54 People seem to have a lack of imagination 19:06 All you're doing if you overpay for a business is you're trading startup risk for financing risk 20:40 There isn't anyone who is cautious, intelligent, and wise who's willing to write a check for that business 23:23 Would you like to hear some sobering statistics? 24:53 Cashing out of a business is something that happens in Silicon Valley, i's, it's really a unicorn story 29:15 Let me get something absolutely clear, it is possible for somebody to buy a business with none of their own money 30:15 How do you expect to trade nothing for something of great value... 31:28 I'll say, "What's the debt to equity ratio on your opening balance sheet?" 34:27 Do you know what it's called when you run a household profitably 38:57 Can you invest in a small business and outperform things like the stock market and all those other kinds of things? 41:05 You can actually get paid to learn about businesses by going and working there 43:25 Whether or not you're going to be able to sell your business comes down to two questions 46:01 The top 5 reasons small, privately controlled businesses go up for sale are... 43:37 You authored a book called 21 Stupid Things People Do When Trying to Buy a Business 47:05 You become the end of all blame-chains 49:08 If you're buying, selling, or starting, davidcbarnett.com Connect Socially: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbarnettmoncton/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidCBarnett Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dbarnettmoncton/ Email: info@alpatlantic.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    David Barnett - The Truth About Buying or Selling a Business: What Every Entrepreneur Should Know

  6. Jul 13

    Brian Fielkow - Leading People Safely: How to Win On The Business Battlefield

    SEASON: 6 EPISODE: 35 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast for business professionals and entrepreneurs who want to stand out, level up their game, and become the best version of themselves. Every leader listening to this wants three things: flawless operational excellence, absolute team accountability, and a bulletproof culture. Yet, so many organizations get it completely wrong. They mistake rigid compliance for culture, and they mistake punishment for accountability. Our guest today cracked the code on how to align these elements to drive massive enterprise value. Brian Fielkow is a veteran corporate executive, the former CEO of Jetco Delivery, and an organizational performance expert who has spent three decades leading companies in high-risk, high-hazard industries. He’s the author of the upcoming book, Making Safety Happen, but today, we are exploring the universal business principles that apply to any company—from startups to tech giants. We’re talking about how to break down silos, build unshakeable employee trust, and design bulletproof processes that eliminate dangerous shortcuts. Join me for my conversation with Brian Fielkow. Guest Bio: Brian L. Fielkow is a recognized business leader, board director, and advisor known for transforming how organizations manage safety, risk, and performance. He leads a national team supporting thousands of companies in strengthening culture, improving safety outcomes, and driving profitable growth across high-consequence industries. A sought-after international speaker, he is widely respected for translating safety leadership into practical business strategy. Previously, as CEO of Jetco Delivery, he built one of North America’s most admired logistics companies, earning national recognition for its safety culture. He is a recipient of the National Safety Council’s Distinguished Service to Safety Award and was named one of the Houston Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs. His insights have been featured in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Entrepreneur, and other leading business publications. His new book Making Safety Happen, is available for sale on Amazon. Resource Links: Website: https://brianfielkow.com/Product Link: https://brianfielkow.com/author-books/Product Link: http://brianfielkow.com/on-demand-courses/ Insight Gold Timestamps: 03:02 They pay a premium not necessarily for what you sell, but for how you deliver, for your reliability 06:37 I don't know with 100% turnover how you create a stable, predictable offering 07:52 Price can only be important if it's an apples to apples competition 08:43 Price is never the issue, unless it is the issue, and when it's the issue, it's the only issue 11:11 You talk about a direct connection between culture, accountability, and operational excellence 12:03 We had our drivers, our professional drivers write the handbook 13:10 Continuous training on the core processes to me is more important than trying to find a new topic every week 16:01 I figured that if I held myself to those standards, I would've had to fire myself in the first week because I make a lot of mistakes 18:45 Sometimes it's as simple as who you invite to the table 21:13 Leadership is how you show up 21:57 Everything improved because we broke down the silo, we opened up the lines of communication and built trust 24:38 You've got to remember that your employees are your representative to your customers and other stakeholders 27:22 If there's a better way of doing things, we keep our minds open and we adjust the process 29:15 The fact that something didn't go wrong, doesn't mean the process is a good one, it just might mean you're lucky 31:14 I recommend to your audience: The Checklist Manifesto 31:52 We need to be reminded more than we need to be taught 33:45 You only have one chance, and only one, to make a first impression 35:40 This is a journey with no finish line 37:31 The website is brianfielkow.com 38:00 brian@brianfielkow.com Connect Socially: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfielkow/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYzVEB9dcSsuHeDFpuDamIw Email: info@brianfielkow.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Brian Fielkow - Leading People Safely: How to Win On The Business Battlefield

  7. Jul 6

    Michael Kleinmann - From Chaos to Clarity: Streamlining Your Business for Sustainable Growth

    SEASON: 6 EPISODE: 34 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast for entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to grow their business, level up their game and become preferred in the markets they serve. Let’s be honest: in today’s market, growing your revenue is only half the battle. The real danger? Growing so fast that you break your own business. When your logistics fracture, your software stacks multiply, and your profit margins start bleeding cash, marketing success can quickly turn into an operational nightmare. Our guest today is the man who steps in when guesswork fails. Michael Kleinmann is a seasoned D2C operator, founder, and fractional C-suite executive who has built and scaled multiple businesses to the mid-eight-figure mark. He is a master at turning back-end infrastructure, fulfillment, and supply chains away from boring cost centers and into lethal competitive advantages. Whether you are running an e-commerce giant, scaling a subscription model, or just trying to protect your margins in a shifting economy, today’s conversation is a blueprint for logic-driven execution. Please join me for my conversation with Michael Kleinmann. Guest Bio: Michael Kleinmann is a seasoned direct-to-consumer (D2C) operator, founder, and executive advisor with more than two decades of experience building, scaling, and modernizing seven- and eight-figure e-commerce and subscription brands. A true pioneer in the digital retail space, Michael launched Freshpair from his New York City apartment in 2001, transforming it into a category leader with over 30,000 SKUs and even founding "National Underwear Day" before its successful acquisition. In 2012, he repeated his success by launching Underwear Expert, growing it from a massive content marketing platform into a high-performing subscription powerhouse driven by proprietary curation technology. Today, Michael steps into organizations as a fractional C-suite executive, transforming logistics, fulfillment, and operational infrastructure into true strategic assets. He brings deep, end-to-end expertise across product, tech stacks, marketing, and supply chain management, replacing guesswork with practical, logic-driven execution. Throughout his career, he has built a reputation for engineering creative solutions to complex operational bottlenecks—delivering massive freight cost savings, optimizing 3PL partnerships, and turning around struggling business processes. Michael is far from your typical, surface-level consultant. Having worn every imaginable hat over 25 years of hands-on business building, he knows exactly how to align infrastructure with rapid revenue growth while ruthlessly protecting profit margins. He joins us to share his proven systems for navigating the realities of scaling and removing the friction from modern e-commerce operations. Resource Links: Website: https://www.mkinc.com/Product Link: https://www.mkinc.com/services Insight Gold Timestamps: 02:40 I gravitated towards technology and business 04:41 We had just about every hurdle you can think of 06:12 I created National Underwear Day 08:20 How do you get from zero to 100 with next to nothing or maybe fumes? 10:38 I want to hear the problem from their perspective; that doesn't mean that that's what the problem is 15:11 There's a lot of analytics that you can get about different things to try to see if B2C makes sense 17:03 I was reading this morning that there's 73,000 3PLs in the United States 20:35 By moving to a 3PL, you can get your costs lower than if you did it yourself 21:48 Amazon is a shipping carrier that you can use separate from selling on Amazon 24:42 If you want to pick something easy to do, don't have a direct-to-consumer brand 28:40 I think asking for help is difficult 33:20 I just went through the whole entire business and tried to simplify everything 38:53 I think there's a lot more opportunity, but it's different 40:00 mkinc.com Connect Socially: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkleinmann/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@poweredbymk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poweredbymk Email: mk@mkinc.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Michael Kleinmann - From Chaos to Clarity: Streamlining Your Business for Sustainable Growth

  8. Jun 29

    Danielle Hayden - Confessions of a Free Spender: Overcoming Your Financial Blind Spots

    SEASON: 6 EPISODE: 33 Episode Overview: Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast designed to help you become the best version of you. Let’s be honest: most entrepreneurs start a business out of a deep passion for a craft, not a love for spreadsheets. But as your business scales, relying on gut instinct or simply checking your bank balance to see if you're successful becomes a dangerous game. If you’re only looking at your numbers once a year at tax time, you aren't driving your business—you’re just reacting to it. Our guest today is here to take the fear out of finance. Danielle Hayden went from working behind a salon chair to earning her CPA and stepping into the corporate boardroom as a CFO. Today, she is the founder of Kickstart Accounting Inc., where her team of nearly 50 professionals has helped thousands of small business owners transition from emotional guessing to data-driven confidence. Whether you are trying to price your services for true profit, looking to make your next big hire, or ready to step into your true power as a CEO, today’s conversation is an essential roadmap for turning financial clarity into a massive competitive advantage. Please join me for my conversation with Danielle Hayden Guest Bio: Danielle Hayden started her career behind the salon chair. Working as a hairdresser, she discovered she had a knack for using numbers to help herself and the people around her hit their goals. That instinct sent her back to school, through a CPA and a master’s in accounting, and into the corporate boardroom as a CFO. After more than a decade there, she left to build Kickstart Accounting Inc., where her team is nearly 50 now and has served thousands of small business owners through bookkeeping, CFO services, and tax preparation. Danielle’s approach starts with the foundation: clean books, the right systems, and a clear picture of cash and profit. From there, she teaches business owners to use their numbers every month, not just at tax time. For owners who have been avoiding their finances or running on gut instinct, she gives them the tools to lead with data. Resource Links: Website: https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/Product Link: https://envisioncfo.org/ Insight Gold Timestamps: 02:38 I left high school with no interest in math or numbers or accounting 05:00 I keep on using the words tool in our toolbox, and I do that very intentionally 07:19 I think you call it 'tax time only accounting' 08:58 My mission is that every single business owner looks at their numbers every single month 10:42 A lot of the bad habits that we have in business, they're probably because we have bad habits personally 12:10 Four key performance indicators that you're looking at every single month 13:59 So I have a confession that I am guilty as well, okay? I am what I call a free spender 15:14 Answer these three questions: What just happened? Why did it happen, and what am I going to do about it? 23:10 Make sure that your bookkeeping is accurate first, and then go play in AI with those accurate financial statements instead of doing it the other direction 24:40 Do not go dump a product line just because it's not profitable 27:29 Why did you make the choices that you made? 29:58 We need to understand what we're spending and why, and then use that same data to properly price ourselves 31:33 Bookkeeping is looking backwards, and CFO is looking forward 34:50 The website is kickstartaccountinginc.com and from there you can get over to the envisioncfo.org. Connect Socially: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-hayden-kickstartaccounting/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kickstartaccountinginc/ X: https://x.com/kickstartacct CEO Numbers Network Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ceo-numbers-network-with-danielle-hayden/id1574515604 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kickstartaccounting/ Email: danielle@kickstartaccountinginc.com Sponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIx Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

    Danielle Hayden - Confessions of a Free Spender: Overcoming Your Financial Blind Spots
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5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

In this informative and practical podcast, Michael and his guests share the latest strategies and tactics to help you become the preferred provider (the emotional favorite) in the markets you serve. The key insights and strategies discussed, come from Michael's experience working with many of the finest brands in business today and his guest interviews will inspire you, educate you, and give you the tools you need to be successful in today's turbulent and competitive marketplace.

Information

  • Creator
    Michael Vickers
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    200
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Michael Vickers
  • Show Website
    Becoming Preferred

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