Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Jaime Taets has had a busy year. Her SuperPower Success podcast is popular and growing. She learned in the Spring she’d been named a recipient of the 2021 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards which honor women entrepreneurs across the U.S. And now she’s getting ready to release a book.
The CEO, founder and chief vision officer for Keystone Group International wrote “You Are Here: Kick-Ass Inspiration for Navigating Your Journey to Success” to help business owners get through the challenges they face regularly. She joined Upsize to discuss her hopes.
Andy Tellijohn: What motivated you to get this going?
When you feel that stuck feeling, it’s your decision point to say, ‘I have to do something different.’ So don’t fear the stuck feeling, use it as a catalyst to do something different.
Taets: The first step was three years ago when I did the podcast, really, because that was my first outlet to kind of share some of these lessons I’ve learned and things I had struggled with. I’d bring on other leaders that had struggled with the same thing. Eventually I got to a point where people were just asking ‘where’s the book?’ I kept thinking I’ve experienced so much and so that was really the motivation, that I was having so many conversations with leaders where they were stuck and they thought something was wrong with them.
Tellijohn: What will readers learn about being stuck?
Taets: None of us have failed. This is part of the journey. I just started to get frustrated with, why does everybody feel that there’s something wrong with them? And why do I feel like there’s something wrong with me every time I get stuck. And so I was like, I’m going to tell my story. I’m going to share my wisdom. And I’m going to be really vulnerable and tell people this [stuff] is not easy. It’s just not. And, but to be honest, those stuck points are a good place to be because it forces you to change
Tellijohn: How do you tell that story?
Taets: I wrote this book to be a reference manual. So, if you look at the table of contents, there are chapters and then there are what I call truths that are short and to the point, a page or less for each of the truths. I want someone to be able to read it, but then three months later come back and be like ‘I’m doing it again. I’ll be happy once I get to that point and I’m going to reread that piece.’
I want it to be something you go back to just to shift your perspective, to break you free. It’s that coaching alongside you as you’re trying to make decisions and trying to grow your business.
Tellijohn: Where can people get the book?
Taets: The easiest place is at JaimeTaets.com. You can pre-order now and it comes out in August.
The use of fractional executives — those hired by companies on contract to work a fraction of the hours at less cost than full-time hires — has been on the rise for years. That accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. John Arms, co-founder of Voyageur U, helped establish the organization to help educate free agents on what it takes to make it as a fractional executive. He’s now put that knowledge into print, recently releasing the book “Consult Your Way to a Full-Time Job.” Arms joined Upsize Minnesota Editor Andrew Tellijohn to talk about how the book can help potential fractional executives carve their new paths.
Branding expert Kate DiLeo wrote a book about how branding agencies need to do less storytelling and more listening to better meet their clients’ needs.
