Michael Burton shares how vulnerability and authenticity have helped him build successful teams and trusted relationships. He discusses the importance of storytelling for consultants and emphasizes gradual progress through consistency and small wins.

April and Michael also explore building confidence through preparation, goal-setting, and embracing challenges both professionally and personally.

Michael is an entrepreneur with a passion for building and scaling professional services businesses. He has over two decades of experience in the industry and has held recent leadership positions at ExactTarget, Salesforce, and Lev.

In 2016, Michael joined Lev and quickly grew the company into the top global Salesforce consultancy for marketers. In less than four years, he took the company to a high eight-figure enterprise valuation through a successful acquisition by global strategic integrator, Cognizant.

Michael is now the CEO and co-founder of Stitch, a Braze consulting partner. Stitch is a rapidly growing company that is helping brands of all sizes engage their customers through Braze.

3 Key Learnings:

1. Share your authentic story and point of view to build credibility and connections with clients and colleagues.
2. Focus on consistency through small daily wins rather than only big successes to achieve gradual, sustainable progress.
3. Set intentional goals and push yourself outside your comfort zone to build self-confidence over time through practice and experience.

3 Benefits of Listening to this Episode:

1. It provides tangible strategies for building trust with clients through vulnerability, authentic storytelling, and focusing on their needs from day one. This can help professionals strengthen relationships and win more business.
2. Listeners learn approaches for developing self-confidence and public speaking abilities over time through goal-setting, preparation, and pushing outside their comfort zone. This is useful for career growth.
3. The emphasis on consistency, small wins, and embracing challenges both professionally and personally provides perspective that can help professionals combat stress and stay motivated long-term. This focus on well-being and gradual progress is applicable for many areas of life.

Resources:

• Connect with Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldburton
• Check out Stitch: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stitchcx/posts/?feedView=all and https://www.stitch.cx/

In this episode, April Rust interviews Bradley Rice, founder of Talent Stacker, about his journey in the Salesforce ecosystem and lessons learned in building a successful career and business. Bradley discusses overcoming self-doubt, lifestyle design principles, and how to align your work with your values for long-term success and fulfillment.

Key Learnings:

• Tough decisions lead to an easier life through compounding benefits over time in areas like health, finances, relationships, and career success.
• Design your life around a few core values and activities rather than societal expectations of success. Focus on quality time with family and meaningful work.
• Overcoming self-doubt is an ongoing process; surrounding yourself with a supportive community helps sustain success.

Reasons to Listen:

• Gain career inspiration and guidance from Bradley's story of breaking into and thriving in the Salesforce industry.
• Learn practical lifestyle design tips to find fulfillment and balance in your work.
• Discover free mentorship resources through Talent Stacker to advance your Salesforce career.

Learn more about Bradley Rice and Talent Stacker:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradforce/
• Website: https://www.talentstacker.com/now - free 5 day challenge
• Trailblazer Mentorship: https://trailblazermentorship.com/
• Podcast: https://talentstacker.com/ts-salesforce-for-everyone-podcast

In this episode, April Rust and guest Alec Dorner explore the concept that what drains your cup might also be able to fill it. We explore using mindset tips and tools to set healthy boundaries with your work.

Alec is a proud husband and father of a one and a half year old (and new baby boy on the way!) He's also the creator of Flow Analyzer, a Salesforce AppExchange product that scans flows for violations of best practices. He’s also the founder of Force for Change, a 100% pro-bono consulting firm on a mission to help Nonprofits free up time and capital by leveraging the power of Salesforce.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alec-dorner

Website: forceforchangeconsulting.com

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/alecdorner

Flow Analyzer: https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3u00000QvsN2EAJ

In Episode 13 with guest Charles Ackerman, we explore consulting project challenges, identity with work, working modalities, and more.

Key Learnings:

• Learn about a common challenge in consulting: misalignment between the client + consulting partner, and what to do about it
• We also explore the value of deep work and how to set expectations with your teams and clients to get back time for creative thinking and brainstorming during your work day

Charles Ackerman has made a career figuring out what he wants to be when he grows up. A former film student, teacher, help desk manager, and project manager, Charles approaches problems the way mountaineers are always chasing the next summit. Naturally, when he turned to consulting more than five years ago, he never looked back. He currently serves as the Regional Head of Delivery for North America with VRP Consulting.

Connect with Charles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-ackerman-833899a9/

Books mentioned in the show:

• Radical Candor
• How to win friends and influence people
• Crucial conversations
• 7 habits of highly effective people
• Deep Work
• Catching Fire/Stealing Fire

In this episode we hear from Brigette Sjoboen (B) on how she prioritizes projects for her technical team, and her experience navigating stakeholder management. We also get to hear her journey from reframing her identity and relationship with work.

About Brigette Sjoboen (B): B has been in the tech space for enough years to age her (direct quote haha). Currently managing/coaching technical teams to build out scalable GTM tech and reduce risk of redundancy and spend. Most importantly she is a proud mama to one seriously spicy fun-loving kiddo.

Learn more about B on her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigettesjoboen/

In this episode, guest Alanna Steffens (Managing Director, Attain Partners) and host April Rust, discuss the challenges of implementing CRM solutions (and solutions!). We also take a closer look at how to up-skill consultants who may be great at configuration, but need help learning how to navigate the consulting business. Lastly, we wrap up with Alanna's personal journey of work-life integration.

Key learnings:

• setting up a project for success by getting the pre-sales cycle right
• identifying and qualifying a potential client to understand what strategy they might need, outside of a technical solution
• qualities that make up an effective executive sponsor
• setting expectations and navigating hard conversations with clients
• coaching junior team members on consulting "how to's" and soft skills to enable their growth

Alanna Steffens is a Managing Director with Attain Partners, serving as the Salesforce Implementation Capability Lead for Attain Digital, providing customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to higher education and nonprofit clients. She has seven Salesforce certifications and participates in Attain Partners’ coaching and mentoring program.

Learn more about Alanna on her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanna-steffens-pmp-56a25a4/

Learn more about Attain Partners: https://attainpartners.com/

Learn about Pei Mun Lim's "Rubber and Glass Balls of Life" teachings: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pmlim_onthepeiroll-timemanagement-icantjugglefornuts-activity-7177644684796669953-d5A3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Learn lifestyle design practical tips to build a system of healthy + positive structure that becomes your default.

Meet our guest:

Alex currently serves as the Director of Operations for the Salesforce Career Development Program by Talent Stacker where she actively trains and supports individuals in changing their lives through Salesforce Careers.

When "Tech-ing Less"" you can most often find Alex traveling to a new country, hiking or rock climbing, or eating good food.

Learn more about Alex at: Alexwarneke.com or LinkedIn

Talent Stacker 5-Day Challenge: TalentStacker.com/start

Trailblazermentorship Program by TalentStacker: Trailblazermentorship.com

Books mentioned:

https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

https://www.andrewmellen.com/books

In this episode, host April Rust sits down with Scrum Master and business analyst Anita Smith to discuss how she helps teams work more effectively through optimized Scrum processes.

Three Key Learnings:

1. How Anita Smith created templates and lessons in her "Scrum in a Box" course to help new Scrum Masters get started.

2. Best practices for implementing Scrum frameworks like daily standups and adapting for larger distributed teams.

3. Insights into challenges of blending agile with professional services work, and tips for maintaining work-life balance.

Learn more about Anita at https://anitaunboxed.mykajabi.com/ or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-salesforce/