About David Shepherd, CEO & Founder of the SmallBIZ CEOs Audio Newsletter
I have become a student of business and am on the lookout for any opportunity to learn. My latest find is an audio newsletter by David Shepherd. David is a former University Business Professor at the University of Texas in Austin, an author and a Design Industry Consultant. He has founded and is CEO of SmallBIZ CEOs which offers the product that I am using. He also founded a company called Design Principles Inc. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
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| David Shepherd, CEO & Founder of SmallBIZ CEOs. |
Through a decade of dedicated study, the former business school professor, David Shepherd understands business. After twenty years of teaching entrepreneurial finance and strategy for one of the nation's top-ranked business schools, David turned his sights on the surprisingly complex industry of interior design. As an instructor, David was routinely rated among the most popular by the hundreds of undergraduate students in his classes. As a professor of high-tech finance for the prestigious ICC Institute of the University of Texas at Austin, he was given the award for "Outstanding Contribution." As an entrepreneur himself, David has started several successful businesses including technology and service firms, having raised millions of dollars along the way.
Based on his best-selling book, Your Business or Your Life: 8 Steps For Getting All You Want Out of BOTH, David designed a workshop for interior designers in 2002 at the request of a national trade association. Additional workshops and consulting work followed and David became enamored with the field and the impact he was able to have on these talented small business owners. Over 3,000 interior designers have attended a live “8 Steps” workshop and thousands more have read the book.
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| David Shepherd looking very focused during one of his conferences. |
To reduce traveling, he founded the Business of Design Conference in 2004, an annual event where interior designers come to learn how to clarify their strategies and improve their bottom lines. The conference, which ran for 10 years, remains the sole event of its kind in the industry, (that some designers have been to all of them, speaks volumes for its value).
To work more closely with select designers, David then formed the Best Practices Network, or BPN. This was a membership of from 70-100 design firms nationwide who attended semi-annual conferences and participated in online forums to share their “best practices” with each other. Members also received a monthly audio newsletter prepared by David to keep them up on the most current changes in the business environment, as well as leading edge strategies to capitalize on those changes. He has documented many of these best practices through more than 400 audio tracks developed for BPN Members.
Through his “Designing Your Future” consulting process (DYF) he has helped to redefine and restructure the focus of many individual designers. The process, including time with David on site, is consistent with David’s philosophy of closely linking business and life goals.
More recently, David has completed a manuscript version of The Path: A Course in Prosperity for Interior Designers and Decorators. This book (also a Webinar course) lays out 12 radical new approaches that designers must take in order to succeed in the post-Recession economy. In addition to his business books and articles, David has also written three novels including a literary work praised by both a Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, a historical novel on the Conquest of Mexico, and a Washington D.C. thriller.
After a decade as a design consultant, David Shepherd retired. "I never knew how fast a decade could pass!", he said.
"There I was back in 2003, innocently teaching small business finance and strategy at the University of Texas at Austin when I was asked to make a presentation to an interior design society. Interior design was a business? Who knew!"
"The rest, I suppose, is history. What I discovered was that interior design is just about the most complicated business on earth to run. And I also discovered that most of its practitioners don't get a lot yof business training in school."
"So I decided to fill the gap. Ten years later, after producing and delivering 19 unique conference events (from Cancun to New York to LA), consulting with dozens of firms, writing and recording over 400 audio tracks and countless reports and papers, I've decided to resign!"
"Well, I've decided to make a career shift—to writing books full time. But before I do, I'm going to present to a precious few designers (and friends) the "101 Best/BEST Practices" I've ever seen."
"On the one hand, I can't wait to settle into that quiet library in Santa Fe to write. On the other hand, I've grown to love this industry and its entrepreneurs. [My work has been] filled with emotion, celebration, laughter, and the highest level of education ever offered in your field."
He lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area where he writes and runs as often as he can. Shepherd holds B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin where he was also an All-American track and field athlete. He enjoys time with his sons, an attorney and an accountant.
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| Click on the image to find out what the audio advantage is all about. |
As a result of his lifetime work David has founded a company called SmallBIZ CEOs. He produces a monthly audio newsletter to which I have subscribed am trying out for 30 days. In it he shares the lessons he has imparted through his workshops. He is passionate about small business although his lessons can be applied to large corporations, start-ups or small business. I have been impressed by what I have listened to so far and I urge you to give it a try for yourself. The newsletter enables you to share the knowledge you pick up with others in business while earning a passive income for yourself. It is FREE to try for 30 days and if you are not satisfied you can cancel your subscription at the click of a single button on his website, without paying a single cent. The audios are fully downloadable so that you can listen to them at leisure on your favourute device. There are also weekly Webinars to discuss the material in the newsletters.
I am thankful that David has taken the time to make his Audio Newsletter. I have been in contact with him and hope to be able to host him in the city of Johannesburg in the near future. He says that he's as far as 15 minutes to the nearest airport and a 20 hour flight from Dallas to South Africa. Thank a teacher today for all the things that you have learned and experienced. Be thankful for your life for it has been your greatest teacher.
Be blessed,
Sam Maramba
Sam Maramba
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