Excellerate Associates

Excellerate Associates, the go-to business mentors for entrepreneurial and leadership development

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Be The Yellow Car

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On a recent drive with my great-niece and nephew, I asked them what game we could play to pass the time.

Their answer: “Let’s spot the yellow car!”

Not a white car. Not black, grey, blue, or red. Only yellow.

I thought it would be easy. After all, there are plenty of cars on the road.

Was I wrong.

We spotted yellow construction trucks.

Yellow delivery trucks.

Yellow trailers.

And just a few actual yellow cars.

That’s when it hit me—those yellow cars stood out precisely because they were rare.

In business, the same rule applies: if you want to create distinction, be the yellow car.

That unique feature.

That one-of-a-kind approach.

That signature system no one else has.

When you stand out, people notice—and they remember.

By Popular Demand – New Session Added

If you’re ready to develop the “yellow car” in your business, registration is open for our November 4-5, 2025 Master Class: Create Your Signature Program. Walk out with your branded Signature Asset that sets your brand apart from everyone else who does similar work.

Learn more.

Pattern Interrupt: The Shift from Business Owner to CEO

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One of the most powerful distinctions we teach at Excellerate Associates is Pattern Interrupt—recognizing when your current way of operating no longer serves you and intentionally creating a new way forward.

For many leaders, especially business owners, the pattern is clear: doing it all. You started your company, you know every inch of it, and you’ve built it with your own two hands. But as your business grows, that same pattern becomes the very thing holding you back.

If you’re still involved in every decision, approving every move, and solving every problem, you’re not leading—you’re managing. Worse, you’re creating a bottleneck.

It’s time for a Pattern Interrupt.

 

From Business Owner to CEO: Why the Shift Matters

A CEO doesn’t spend his/her time putting out fires or micromanaging. A CEO sets the vision, creates strategic priorities, and empowers the team to deliver. They work on the business, not just in the business.

If you’re stuck in “doing,” you’re likely feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or even resentful that people can’t just “do it like you do.” But here’s the truth: your team can’t rise to the occasion if you don’t give them the opportunity—and the structure—to succeed.

This shift doesn’t just free up your time. It creates scalability, improves team performance, and allows your business to run without everything depending on you.

 

How to Interrupt Your Pattern

Here’s how to break the cycle of doing it all and step fully into the CEO role:

  1. Recognize the Pattern

The first step is awareness. Notice where you’re inserting yourself into decisions unnecessarily. Ask:

  • “Does this decision need my input, or am I defaulting to habit?”
  • “Am I preventing my team from taking ownership because it feels easier to do it myself?”
  1. Set Clear Goals and Metrics

Instead of managing tasks, manage outcomes. Define what success looks like in measurable terms. For each department, set clear quarterly goals and the metrics that matter most. When your team knows exactly how success is measured, they can make decisions that align with those goals—without you needing to approve every move.

  1. Build and Use Action Plans

Replace reactive management with proactive planning. Develop action plans with your team that outline key initiatives, responsibilities, and timelines. These plans create a shared roadmap and allow you to step back while still ensuring accountability.

  1. Delegate with Accountability

Delegation is more than handing off tasks—it’s giving ownership. When you delegate, clarify:

  • The desired outcome
  • The decision-making authority they have
  • How and when you’ll check in on progress

This shifts your role from “doer” to “coach,” holding people accountable without hovering.

  1. Schedule CEO Time

Block out time each week for high-level thinking: reviewing metrics, assessing performance, and strategizing. This is your “CEO time”—a non-negotiable for working on the business.

 

Your Next Move

If you’ve built your business by being the one who solves every problem, shifting into a CEO mindset can feel uncomfortable at first. But it’s also liberating—and essential for sustainable growth.

A key question in a Pattern Interrupt is this: stop asking, “How can I do this?” and start asking, “Who can own this, and how will we measure success?”

When you move from doing it all to delegating with clear goals, metrics, and accountability, you free yourself to lead—and empower your team to excel.

 

At Excellerate Associates, we show business leaders like you how to make this crucial shift. If you’re ready to step fully into your CEO role and create a business that grows without depending on you for every decision, schedule a private indepth Discovery Session or register for our Introduction: Scale and Systematize Your Business.

 

Stop Winging It: Maximize Your Speaking Opportunities by Design, Not by Luck

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Whether you’re presenting to an audience of ideal clients, being interviewed by an influential podcaster, or rallying your internal team, each speaking engagement holds immense potential. These moments are opportunities to promote your brand, communicate a powerful idea, or advance an important initiative. They can become game-changing milestones—or missed chances—depending on your approach.

Recently, a client called thrilled about being invited to speak at a conference filled with her ideal prospects. After celebrating with her, I asked the one question every leader should ask before stepping up to the microphone:

“What’s your strategy?”

Her response? “I don’t have one.”

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of being invited to speak, but without a clear plan, you risk missing the mark. Together, we quickly crafted a strategy—complete with talking points—not just for that conference, but for future interviews and presentations as well.

Here’s the truth: You can try to wing it, but that rarely works. Without a strategy, you’re more likely to forget key points, come across as unprepared (or worse, arrogant), or share sound bites you later regret.

When you get intentional, everything changes. A well-thought-out strategy ensures that you communicate clearly with your desired audience, stay aligned with your purpose, and create outcomes by design—not by luck. Whether you want to capture the attention of your ideal clients, gain buy-in for a big idea, or inspire your team into action, it starts with knowing your strategy, including the transformation you want for your audience members.

Invitation to Elevate Your Speaking

If you’re ready to develop a clear, compelling strategy, develop your signature story, and align your memorable messaging and presentation, I invite you to join me at the Speaker Lab on August 13, 2025, with feedback sessions on August 27 and September 10. Register by August 1, 2025 at https://www.excellerateassociates.com/speaker-lab.

 

From Stage Fright to Spotlight: How One Leader Transformed Her Message into a Movement

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Monica had always been the behind-the-scenes powerhouse—strategizing, executing, leading initiatives with quiet precision. But when it came time to share her vision in front of a group, everything changed. Her throat tightened, her mind blanked, and her ideas—powerful as they were—got lost somewhere between her heart and the microphone.

She didn’t want to become a professional speaker. She simply wanted to stop dreading team meetings. She wanted to pitch investors without second-guessing herself. She wanted to rally her organization behind a bold new initiative—and sound as confident delivering it as she did thinking it.

In short, Monica wanted to inspire action, not just deliver information.

Like many of our clients, Monica tapped into her Authentic Speaker Style. Unlike typical presentation skills workshops that focus on posture and projection, the Speaker Lab was built with something deeper in mind: a reverse-engineered formula that moves people from passive listening into meaningful action. Whether you’re speaking to your internal team, a room full of prospects, or a panel of investors, the goal is the same—be authentic and connect with your audience.

During the Master Class, Monica would experience a step-by-step system that decodes how to:

  • Uncover the real contribution behind the data or pitch
  • Align her signature story and memorable messaging with how people are naturally wired to process information
  • Craft a call to action that didn’t feel forced or salesy, but felt 100% authentic

The most powerful shift wasn’t in how Monica spoke, but in how she connects.

By understanding her human wiring and Authentic Speaker Style, she would notice how certain people needed big-picture visions, while others needed practical steps. Some were driven by outcomes, others by relationships. She learned how to build her presentation to meet people where they are—and move them forward.

And that’s when everything changes.

From Presentation to Movement

In her next team meeting, Monica didn’t just report progress—she cast a vision, invited collaboration, and watched her team lean in. Instead of simply presenting a business case, she told a story that connected the initiative to their shared purpose, asked questions that invited their voices into the vision, and painted a picture of what success would look like for everyone in the room.

Her team didn’t just agree to participate – they owned the mission. Departments that once worked in silos came together to create a company-wide movement, cutting waste by 30% in its first year.

When it came time to pitch a new strategic partnership, she didn’t just list benefits—she told a story, asked powerful questions, and watched as the decision-makers nodded before she even reached the end of her presentation.

Confidence wasn’t the goal—it became the byproduct of clarity.

Whether you’re looking to win over investors, engage your internal team, or convert prospects into clients, the Speaker Lab equips you with understanding your unique Speaker Style and a replicable formula so your words don’t just inform—others are inspired into action.

When you’re moved to lead, your message should match the magnitude of your mission.

Invitation

If you are inspired to:

Secure critical funding by shifting your investor pitch from a deck of numbers to a compelling story of impact—earning the capital to launch a new product line

Turn prospects into champions by inspiring them to see themselves as co-creators in the solution, rather than passive buyers—resulting in record-breaking sales growth

Reshape company culture by connecting deeply with employees at all levels, transforming disengagement into a shared commitment of excellence

…we invite you to join us for the Excellerate Associates Speaker Lab on August 13, 2025 with online feedback sessions on Aug 27 and Sep 10 held at Excellerate Associates in the Business Innovation Lab CoWorking and Conference Center.

This Master Class gives you the framework to create a movement through your message and mission while inspiring others into meaningful action.

To experience a breakthrough in authentically presenting, register today at: https://excellerateassociates.com/speaker-lab

When Leading Feels Like Herding Cats

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Do you have problems with your team showing up to work?
Struggling with productivity?
Questioning how to lead more effectively?

If it feels like you’re constantly chasing team members, reminding them of deadlines, or wondering why they aren’t as invested as you are—you’re not alone. Many leaders describe this experience as herding cats. But what if the real issue is both visible and solvable?

Imagine if your team was eager to show up, highly productive, and required less oversight. What would that make possible for you—and your business?

Often, a few essential elements are missing: alignment, clear goals, proper training, and an understanding of how each role connects to the larger company mission. These are critical to engagement and performance. Without them, productivity stalls—and leadership becomes reactive.

But most important of all is alignment.

Leaders often focus on finding the “right person,” but rarely ask: How does this position need to be executed?

If the role is wired for high structure, but the person thrives in freedom and fast starts, misalignment can quietly erode performance. That disconnect can be why someone avoids showing up, underdelivers, or needs constant intervention.

Every person is innately wired to process information and make decisions in a specific way. This human wiring doesn’t change—it’s how we’re hardwired. When you understand this wiring, you stop trying to “fix” people and start leading them in alignment with their natural strengths.

Here’s what that looks like in action:
Someone wired for Structure, Certainty, and Information needs clear definitions and expectations. Without them, they stall.

Someone wired for Face-to-Face Interaction placed in an isolated or remote setting may disengage quickly.

Those wired for Think Time need space to process before responding. If forced to speak on the spot, you miss their best insights.

Without understanding these human wiring patterns, it’s easy to mislabel team behavior as lazy, unmotivated, or resistant. In reality, your team may just be wired differently than you.

Leading more effectively starts with awareness. When you lead with wiring in mind, you can:

✔️ Uncover the real reasons behind performance patterns
✔️ Assign roles based on natural strengths
✔️ Eliminate bottlenecks and avoid burnout
✔️ Shift your team from no-shows to full engagement

It’s not about changing people—it’s about changing how you lead them.
That’s when the chaos fades.
That’s when leading stops feeling like herding cats—and starts feeling like progress.

Ready to stop herding and start leading with clarity?
This Friday, July 18, 2025 is the final day to register for the Master Class:
Wired to Win 101: How Are You Hardwired?

Date: Friday, July 25, 2025
Time: 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Location:
Excellerate Associates – Business Innovation Lab
38221 Plymouth Road, Conference Suite 1
Livonia, MI 48150
(Also available online for out-of-state/country participants)

Tuition:
$299 per person
$199 per person when registering 2 or more

Includes your human wiring assessment.

Register Now:
https://www.excellerateassociates.com/wired-to-win-101

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