In this episode, Manley picks up where he left off on his journey from corporate executive to professional speaker. Among other things, he shares how learned first hand the importance of exponential commitment and the need to command your momentum.

Manley is the founder of Vertical Lessons, Inc. He is an award-winning international keynote speaker, business leader and best-selling author. Leveraging more than thirty years of business, professional speaking and adventure experience, his insight and energy will inspire and equip you to step up and reach your next summit.

He is the author of Reaching Your Next Summit: 9 Vertical Lessons for Leading with More Impact.

Manley’s 11 years of leadership influence contributed to a workplace culture that landed Build-A-Bear Workshop on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® List four years in a row. Manley served two terms as the president of the St. Louis chapter of the National Speakers Association.

Learn more about Manley here.

On a personal note, Manley likes to sleep on the side of mountains. Who doesn’t? Even more shocking is that his wife has been encouraging that for more than three decades, and his two kids still kiss him on the cheek in front of their friends.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

From the Workplace Pro studio, Nic has a conversation with Manley Feinberg. This is the first of a three-part series with Manley.

Manley is the founder of Vertical Lessons, Inc. He is an award-winning international keynote speaker, business leader and best-selling author. Leveraging more than thirty years of business, professional speaking and adventure experience, his insight and energy will inspire and equip you to step up and reach your next summit.

He is the author of Reaching Your Next Summit! 9 Vertical Lessons for Leading with More Impact.

Manley’s 11 years of leadership influence contributed to a workplace culture that landed Build-A-Bear Workshop on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® List four years in a row. Manley served two terms as the president of the St. Louis chapter of the National Speakers Association.

Learn more about Manley here.

On a personal note, Manley likes to sleep on the side of mountains. Who doesn’t? Even more shocking is that his wife has been encouraging that for more than three decades, and his two kids still kiss him on the cheek in front of their friends.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

In the flesh at the Nic Bittle Workplace Pro studio in Corn, Oklahoma, is Mark LeBlanc, Nic’s long-time friend, mentor, and business coach.

Mark LeBlanc, CSP, CPAE has been on his own virtually his entire adult life. He once had a job for six months and was inspired by the two words, “You’re fired!” At the ripe, young age of 21, he vowed he would do whatever it would take to make it on his own. And he has.

He recently celebrated his 40th anniversary in business! He has experienced the good, bad, ugly, and great of being his own boss. And in 2023, after 40 years as a professional speaker, Mark was inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame. You can see his acceptance speech here.

He and Nic talk about the ups and downs (a lot of downs) of business, life, and leadership. Mark shares how what you do every day matters way more than what you do every once in a while. And he discusses what he learned from the great Judith when he walked the El Camino (a short 400 mile hike in Spain) for the first time.

His keynote speech titled Never Be the Same (and book by the same name) is a catalyst for how consistency plays a vital role in achieving in times of challenge and change. While he shares unique insights and ideas on commitment, his reveal on resolve will change the way your people take action for the rest of their lives.

If there was one thing to take from this conversation is this: Mark believes in you more than you may believe in yourself.

The author and co-author of seven books, Mark resides in Minneapolis, MN.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

Leaders have a responsibility to connect a task to a purpose. Every job worth doing is worth doing well.

Nic and Tarina, in this episode, talk about Chapter 17 from Know This. Do That. They point out how even the menial and mundane tasks demand excellence. No job is too small, or insignificant, for someone to be good at it.

As Nic says, the foreman on an oil field needs to tell the fire watch, “You’re the most important guy on the job. When you’re not here, my welders can’t weld.”

And just like sealing duct work, leadership is messy, sticky work—and sometimes thankless. But a lot of leaders, unfortunately, feel it’s not their job to inspire their apprentices and workers to deliver greatness.

Nic shares how growing up on the farm his dad was tough on him and his brother. It was hard because consequences were high. He also talks about failing his first driving test.

When you care with intensity, you will do great work. You gotta care.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyways.”

In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk more about fear and the fear of failure. They take a break from discussing Nic’s book, Know This. Do That.

A question they ask is: Are you one of those whose tombstone should read, “Died at 30 - Buried at 60”?

Failure is not the end of the world. If you fail, pick yourself up and do something new. We might think we’re playing it safe by not pursuing what we want. But you can fail at what you don’t want in life just as easily as what you do want.

This is a deeply personal conversation about failure and how to overcome it.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

Nic and Tarina talk about the benefits of not being busy. They ask the question, “What are we doing for the sake of being busy?” And how we wear our calendar on our sleeve—puffing up our importance.

In San Diego, they took a pedal taxi to a Ralph’s grocery store so they didn’t pay $7 for a bottle of water at their hotel. The punch line was how much Nic had to pay for a ride that was shorter than the song Piano Man by Billy Joel. But they did save $5 on their bottled water!

They return to Know This. Do That. and discuss how it is important for apprentices to fail early and fail often. Reflecting on their own experience and failures, Nic asks, “Why is failure such a dirty word?”

The saddest thing about failure is we don’t share it. Our ego tries to make us look smart and successful—we are often too proud to admit it. Nic encourages all of us to not be perfect. We will screw up and we learn and we will get better.

And the greatest quality of a leader is the ability and willingness to fail and learn from it. Failure is something we can’t avoid—but progress is defined by those who learn how to do it better and not repeat their mistakes.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

Nic takes a moment to talk about how easy it was to remove the corner post at The Bittle Ranch. Much easier than he imagined it would be—even had four batteries charged and ready for the job. And at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Tarina tells him he looks fat in a pair of shoes. But don’t worry, they didn’t buy them.

The corner post project—and Nic’s procrastination over way too much time—triggered the question: Why do we procrastinate? “I often build up projects in my mind into a near-impossible task.” As they discuss, we tell ourselves lies so we kick the can down the road. Nic admits to falling into the Perfection Trap—only one of nine ways we put off or avoid the work that needs to get done. But once he tackled the corner post, his Milwaukee Sawzall in hand, it took him about five minutes.

They return to Know This Do That—being smart about spending money you have and not money you don’t have; and being constant students about your craft and sharpening your saw.

And the other day the mailman, Scott, delivers 11 packages to Nic, not Tarina.

If you enjoy Nic and Tarina’s podcast and get something from listening to “all this Nic Bittle Crap,” please hit the like button, share it with a friend, or both. Your recommendation goes a long way in helping us reach more people.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.

In this episode, Nic and Tarina talk about his journey of writing multiple books, the challenges he faced, and the lessons learned along the way. As you will hear, it wasn’t all puppies and rainbows. He shares how people need micro-learning to help reinforce what they read or what they learn in a workshop, which explains the origins of his Leadership DRIP YouTube videos. They also discuss some of his early writing experiences and how his process evolved.

With over four book completed, Nic knows the ups and downs, ins and outs, of writing and publishing. His dedication and commitment to developing leaders is clear. You’ll want to stay to the end to hear about his latest project: how he has adapted his work into a leadership training curriculum for high school students called Life Ready (see link below).

Here are some key take-aways:

• Micro learning is essential for effective leadership training.
• Personal relationships can influence professional growth.
• Writing a book requires a clear purpose and target audience.
• Feedback is crucial in the writing process.
• Collaboration can enhance the quality of your content.
• Self-publishing offers flexibility but comes with challenges.
• Storytelling is a powerful tool in engaging readers.
• Curriculum development should address the needs of your audience.
• Every writing experience contributes to personal and professional development.

---

🛟 Click here to order your copy of Nic’s Life Ready Curriculum

🧰 Check out Nic’s new solution for foremen: The Foreman's Inner Circle

💬 To subscribe to Nic’s Leadership DRIP, please text the word “DRIP” to 866-998-4545 then follow the prompts.

❓ If you have questions or comments for Nic & Tarina, please send an email to info@nicbittle.com.

🎬 Check out Nic's Work Force Pro YouTube channel.

📚 Nic has written 4 books. You can decide which one is best for you here.