At the end of the day, winning is all about mindset. We’re easily amazed when superstars sink a clutch three pointer in the final seconds, or make a one-handed catch in the back of the end zone. We rarely think about the hours of preparation and mindfulness superstars spend working on their craft.
When we watch our favorite athletes perform amazing feats on TV we seldom think about their personal coaches. The team’s head coaches and assistants are often interviewed after games and debated on sports radio, but there is a hidden cadre of trainers and coaches working with athletes to fine tune their skills and yes help them find mental resilience under pressure.
In the entrepreneurship and business sectors there’s a cadre of professionals and executive coaches helping business leaders work through problems, fine tune their skills, and hone mental resilience when the going gets tough. Midway through my second venture, BA Systems, I engaged Susan Katz to help me work through a rut after we completed our first large scale government contract.
Susan helped me tune out the noise and get rid of the clutter keeping me from growing the business as well has helping me hone my core strengths as leader.
Last winter, Susan invited me to give a testimonial for her executive and business coaching company, Susan Katz Advantage, and I was more than elated to do so. Watch her video below, and I would encourage you to give her a call.
I’m also going to share 5 reasons you should consider hiring a business coach as you develop in your entrepreneurial journey.
COACHES OFFER A THIRD PARTY PERSPECTIVE
Every day we wake up, put our pants on, and get busy. A fully functioning business has lots of moving parts. Employees to coral, suppliers to pay, and customers to care for. With so much going on, it’s easy to be insular and caught up in your own world. Your issues may be non-issues, or things you may NOT be concerned about could turn into trouble. Sometimes these things can only be observed by someone whose focus isn’t baked into the business every day. Business coaches can offer you a third party perspective on your challenges and concerns because they are seeing you and your business from the outside.
YOUR PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCED AND RESOLVED BEFORE
Business coaches have been around the block. Many coaches have worked in high corporate and started (and failed at) their own businesses before becoming coaches. They may have solutions to problems that you’ve been struggling with for months because, they’ve seen it before. I’ve always preferred learning from other people’s mistakes instead of experiencing avoidable problems.
THEIR NETWORK BECOMES YOUR NETWORK
Again, business coaches have been around the block. They’ll often know people in economic development organizations, professional clubs, and of course a bunch of other executives and business owners. Susan, has a network that is broad and wide spanning contacts across the entire spectrum of professions. If you need a lawyer for another set of eyes, your business coach may know someone. If you need to speak with someone who has gone through an acquisition, your coach may know someone. If you want to know if you should break up with your business partner…you get the point.
REAL CRITICISM IS PRICELESS
We all want to be successful, but deep down it can be down right hard to confront the issues within yourself that are holding you back. A good business coach wants you to be successful. They also understand, the more successful you become the problems don’t necessarily decrease — they change. A good business coach will help you discover your weaknesses in a way that isn’t malicious and give you tools and help to turn those weaknesses into strengths. Or…help you find ways of dealing with your weaknesses, like delegating for instance.
GROWTH CAN BE PAINFUL, YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO IT ALONE
Yeah. I’ve started a couple of companies and had varying levels of success. At each stage of each company there were painful moments mixed in with the wins. A good business coach will help you through your growth periods, and be there when you need the push when making difficult decisions. I’ve faced a bunch of hard and painful decisions through out the course of running my companies. Being able to talk through scenarios and run thought experiences by my coach was a valuable experience.
If you’re in this for real, you are always looking for an edge. You should consider engaging a business coach at all levels through out your entrepreneurial journey. Professional athletes engage personal coaches all the time. Professional business people should too.
Check out Susan Katz and schedule a consultative call if you’re serious about growth.
Happy Thursday, TTN readers! Chips (not chocolate) and privacy take center stage this week. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week: regulators approve chip deal allowing AMD to gobble up Xilinx, Facebook is pissed at Apple once again because of latest iOS update, and TikTok is being scrutinized AGAIN for potentially sharing data to China. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app.
TIKTOK SCRUTINIZED AGAIN FOR POTENTIAL CHINESE INFORMATION EXTRACTION
A couple of years ago, President Donald Trump thought TikTok was a bane on US consumers. He claimed the app was sending personal information and usage to its parent company, ByteDance, in China. Former President Trump even tried to force a sale of the company, and as wacky tech deals go, WalMart was in talks. Fast forward to the present and the Biden administration is considering new rules to force foreign made app companies to undergo a source code review to determine if the apps send data back ‘home’. These rules are being considered after the Chinese government has cracked down on its local tech scene. TikTok is banned in China in favor of a competing app called Douyin. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.
GLOBAL CHIP MARKET HEATS UP WITH AMD/XILINX MEGADEAL
As microchip supplies negatively impact every market from cars to computers, Chinese, US, and European regulators have approved the tech world’s latest megadeal, AMD’s purchase of Xilinx for $35 billion with a ‘B’. Xilinx makes a special kind of processor that’s specific for embedded applications like cars, appliances, and other devices that don’t require full-blown microprocessors like the Intel Pentium, Apple M1, or AMD’s K chips. The deal lets AMD compete in the market to supply chips to car manufacturers and others in a bid to best Intel. Government regulators have disliked semiconductor mega deals and have blocked Nvidia’s purchase of ARM (a maker of phone processors), and China’s blocking of Qualcomm buying NXP Semiconductor. Countries every are trying to protect semiconductor industries as supply is low an future depends on chips. The Chinese government allowed the sale as long as AMD continues to supply chips to the Chinese market and doesn’t discriminate against the country. For the first time, AMD surpassed Intel’s market cap this week.
FACEBOOK PISSED AGAIN AS APPLE INCREASES DEVICE PRIVACY
This week, Apple CEO, Time Cook, took a shot at Facebook by saying, “If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform.” Tim shot his shot after announcing Apple will be increasing user privacy in its latest iOS 14.5 update. Apple will require apps to ask for permission before using the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) ID on iPhones. The IDFA is a special identifier that is baked into every iOS device and is used be advertisers to send targeted ads and measure ad effectiveness. According to Facebook, up to 80% of its users will opt to say, “no,” and could cut its ad revenues by half. Facebook is also saying small businesses will be hurt the most because they can’t get their ads pushed.
Bonus Analysis: I’m not so sure about that. Facebook’s algorithms are already gamed against small advertisers. The average small business doesn’t have a large budget to spend across many social networks. And real metrics proves that if you aren’t spending THOUSANDS of dollars a month, consistently, on these platforms your content isn’t being seen by a critical mass. The dollar-to-eyeballs ROI just isn’t there. So, so saying small businesses are going to get hurt the most plays well to the politicos who are itching to regulate Big Tech. The reality is that this change will hurt Facebook because they’ll get less impressions and maybe small businesses can spend their resources on more effective growth strategies.
Happy Thursday, TTN readers! Crypto and Cars dominate this weeks news. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s top tech stories: DOJ arrests and recovers part of $4.5 billion crypto scam, Alfa Romeo creates car crypto, and car companies look to subscriptions for next cash grab. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app.
DOJ FOLLOWS THE MONEY IN $4.5 BILLION CRYPTO SCHEME
Earlier. A NYC couple was nabbed by the Feds after stealing $4.5 billion of BitCoin from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016. Yes, that was 6 years ago and yes, this is another instance of the Fed tracking down thieves and criminals who tried to duck authorities by hiding their transactions in BitCoin’s blockchain. Manhattanites, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, tried to launder the money using a twisty and winding path of crypto transactions that wound up in bank accounts they control. DOJ has already recovered $3.6 billion of the funds. Amazing.
CAR COMPANIES LOOK TO SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR NEXT CASH COW
Year after year, it seems we as consumers own less and less. Imagine buying a brand new car and having to pay a subscription in order to use heated seats. Or automatic high beams, or cruise control. Well, car companies are theorizing using a subscription model to increase revenues by forcing consumers to pay for features every month. Tesla and others have toyed with this idea by offering things like self-drive and media features as downloadable content that must be activated with additional fees. I think this is wrong. I come from an ownership era where things are tangible, but I can see newer generations paying for things that came standard.
Now that crypto is rebounding, now’s the time for new crypto news. Earlier this week, Alfa Romeo announced it will ship its Tonale SUV with an NFT. For something. An NFT is a non-fungible token that can act as a one-of-a-kind digital certificate. Alfa Romeo thinks embedding the car with an NFT will increase its resale value. The Tonale is the first car to ship with an NFT and will embed service history, performance, and other car care indicators on the blockchain. This information could help improve resale value. You’ll be able to order the Tonale in fourth quarter this year, in time to pick it up early 2023.
Happy Thursday, TTN readers! Today’s TTN is all about video gaming. I even led in today’s TTN with a TikTok I posted yesterday. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s top tech stories: SONY buys Bungie for billions, SEGA spins out of the coin-op business, and the New York Times spurtles Wordle. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app.
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SEGA COMPLETES SALE OF COIN-OP GAMES
An era has unfortunately come to an end. Video gaming innovator, SEGA, has sold the remaining pieces of its coin operated video game business. This week, SEGA announced it sold the business to Genda, Inc. After billions of quarters, SEGA is leaving the business after 56 years of installing cabinets running Shinobi, OutRun, Zaxxon, and Virtua Fighter in arcades the world over. COVID-19 hit SEGA especially hard forcing them to close the iconic SEGA Tower arcade in Akhibara. SEGA isn’t going anywhere. Sonic has a new movie out, and they’ve focused on shipping software titles after bowing out of the console wars after the much beloved, but not sold enough Dreamcast.
NYT GUESSES CORRECTLY: SPURTLES WORDLE
I told you it’s the gaming edition. Earlier this week, the New York Times purchased Aaron Rieke’s popular word game, Wordle, for a low seven-figure price. The NYT’s crossword is a much beloved game of the brainy set, and word fiends can be sure to find Wordle next to it. Don’t be afraid, you can still download Wordle for free and play it in your browser for years to come. My brainy wife plays Wordle everyday and she’s always showing me her phone when she guesses in one or two tries. Show off.
In a bizarre twist, SONY purchased the gaming studio, Bungie, for $3.6 billion. Bungie is most famous for developing the Halo franchise and making the Xbox a must buy. SONY HAAADDD to buy Bungie. They had to buy a studio when you have Microsoft out here snapping up software companies that make many of the games for your platform (PlayStation). Microsoft has acquired a huge list of game developers, the latest being Activision Blizzard. Bungie doesn’t have the cache` they once had. Destiny is their most popular title. Great but not a must have. After going through the acquisition process, I think they overpaid.
Extra analysis. I was on with some gamers earlier this week and here’s how they described SONY’s purchase:
“Bungie used to be Microsoft’s golden boy… without Bungie (who made Halo) the original Xbox probably would have failed. Then Bungie n microsoft broke up. Then Bungie got with Activision… they broke up… then Sony got with Bungie and now Sony is wifing Bungie after she has been good and ran through. Bungie is Drake”
and
“
Yeah. But all Bungie really has now is Destiny. None of their other stuff is as popular.
MS has licenses AND studios. They have been quietly buying independent developers for years.
I’m curious to see how this works out. Games Pass has made gaming a whole new experience. I don’t need to buy each and every game anymore. That’s HUGE.”
© 2026 William Lee Mapp, III - For the Benefit of All Mankind