Diane Helbig – Wild Business Growth Podcast #182: Strategy Sparker, Small Business Coach

What’s the most important thing for you to focus on in order to grow your small business? There are some exercises to help you figure this out – and it may change how you operate. These exercises are led time and time again by this week’s Wild Business Growth Podcast guest, Diane Helbig. Diane is a Business and Leadership Development Advisor and Founder of Helbig Enterprises. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast platforms.

• Episode Summary & Player
• Show Notes
• Wild Business Growth Podcast Summary

Episode 182: Diane Helbig – Strategy Sparker, Small Business Coach

Diane Helbig, the Business and Leadership Development Advisor, joins the show to share her journey from lemonade and candy stand to helping small business owners shape their business strategy. Hear how to grow your small business, tools to prioritize tasks, how to be crystal-clear with communication, pull a weird unplug, and what she’d do if she were starting a lemonade stand today. This episode covers everything from candy to sweet business strategies. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

• What was different about Diane’s lemonade stand
• How did she start a day camp as a teenager
• What business lesson did she learn from her babysitting business
• How does she advise small business owners to find what they should be focusing on
• What’s the “poker tell” that lets you know what a small business owner is passionate about
• Alliteration x Anagram = Emc^2
• Quionuuuuuu
• What’s Diane’s secret for keeping children unafraid of the Boogie Man

Connect with Diane at HelbigEnterprises.com.

Enjoy the shoooooow! Check out the show notes below for much more detail.

Show Notes

• Intro & Lemonade Candy Stands
  • [0:33] Email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool
  • [0:42] Connect with Diane at HelbigEnterprises.com
  • [1:58] Seize This Day
  • [2:12] Greg Branstetter (my dad), Podcast Movement
  • [2:31] Podcast
  • [2:58] Entrepreneurs
  • [3:06] What was different about Diane’s lemonade stand
  • [3:21] Juicy Fruit
  • [3:58] What were the reactions to buying custom Juicy Fruit balls
  • [4:28] What did the Juicy Fruit balls look like
  • [5:26] How did Diane start a day camp as a teenager
  • [5:55] Arts & Crafts
  • [6:25] How did Diane have such a high “conversion rate” with her “prospects” back then
  • [6:45] Clients
  • [7:39] What business lesson did Diane learn from her lemonade & candy stand
  • [8:32] Why don’t kids get as rattled with “no”
  • [9:39] What business lesson did Diane learn from her babysitting business
• Growing Your Small Business
  • [10:28] Thank you thank you for the segue
  • [10:58] Licking Stamps
  • [11:41] Sales, Account Executive
  • [11:58] What’s the #1 lesson for growing your small business
  • [13:43] Pri-or-i-ti-za-tion
  • [13:49] How does Diane advise small business owners to find what they should be focusing on
  • [14:45] Profitable
  • [15:28] What’s the “poker tell” that lets you know what a small business owner is passionate about
  • [16:03] What’s the next step
  • [16:18] What-Ifs
  • [17:37] I’ll procrastinate later
  • [18:13] What do you do about all that other stuff you have to do
  • [18:29] The SILOs System (Specific Itemized List of Objectives)
  • [18:42] Bonus Points on Bonus Points
  • [19:07] Alliteration x Anagram = Emc^2
  • [20:49] Write it down!
  • [21:18] Hippo Direct (Our Family Business)
  • [21:28] Post-it Notes, Microsoft Word, Evernote
  • [22:00] To-Do Lists
  • [22:54] We just invented the calendar
  • [23:04] What’s another tool Diane uses to prioritize
  • [23:15] Paper Calendar, Outlook Calendar
  • [23:52] Diane’s Podcast, Advising
  • [24:29] How do you be crystal-clear with communication
  • [24:55] Email
  • [27:24] What’s different about doing workshops vs. 1-on-1 advising
  • [28:31] Lecture! LECTURE! Ahhhhhh
  • [28:33] What would Diane say to someone who wants to advise businesses and conduct workshops
  • [29:58] That was an incredibly poor joke
  • [30:33] Virtual Training
  • [30:52] How long should an outline for a workshop be
  • [32:06] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool

• Inspiration & Creativity: People, Hobbies, and Resources
  • [33:07] How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  • [33:25] 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse
  • [33:54] Fascinate by Sally Hogshead
  • [34:18] How can you be and stay creative
  • [34:50] A Weird Unplug
  • [34:58] Trademark
  • [35:19] NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners)
  • [35:44] What stories inspire Diane the most
  • [35:53] Mullivated
  • [36:02] Origin Stories
• Wild Business Shoutout of the Week
  • [36:41] Creative Marketing
  • [36:50] New & Improved
  • [36:58] Episode #120 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast: Phil Marcus, David Haber, and Ben Haber of J. Marcus
  • [37:09] Progressive Commercials Unbecoming Your Parents
  • [37:33] “Tailgate” Parking Lot Commercial
  • [38:48] Shoutout Dana & her Quionuuuuuu in “Methods“
  • [39:18] Seinfeld
  • [39:53] Larry David
  • [39:57] Marketing

• The Unusual: Pet Peeves, Quirks, and Weird Talents
  • [40:38] What’s a weird talent Diane has
  • [40:57] What’s her biggest pet peeve
  • [41:44] Podcast Host
  • [41:53] What’s a quirk Diane has
  • [42:19] Shoutout Grandma Adele!
  • [42:42] Persnickety!
• Rapid-Fire Q&A
  • [43:28] Luca, sarita, Summer House
  • [43:58] What’s the biggest difference between Ohio State & Michigan fans
  • [44:12] Michigan State
  • [45:03] What makes a good babysitter
  • [45:19] What’s Diane’s secret for keeping children unafraid of the Boogie Man
  • [45:51] Cleveland Guardians
  • [46:01] If Diane was doing a lemonade stand today, what would she do to differentiate
  • [46:34] Connect with Diane at HelbigEnterprises.com
  • [47:02] What are Diane’s Final Thoughts
  • [47:48] Follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast and tell a friend about the podcast. And 5 stars on Apple Podcasts & Spotify if you dare
  • [48:05] Check out the Wild Business Growth Podcast on GoodPods, where you can see what your favorite people are listening to
  • [48:07] Connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn @MaxBranstetter
  • [48:09] Save time with your high-quality podcast. Email me at to bring your podcast to life and use it as a business-building tool
  • Theme music: Freestyle Percussion Magik – “Jungle Tribe” – provided by Jamendo

What is the Wild Business Growth Podcast?

Wild ideas. Wild growth. Every Wednesday morning a new entrepreneur joins the Wild Business Growth Podcast to share the wildly creative and unusual ways they grew their business – and teaches you how to do it, too. Hear the minds behind WordPress, Stacy’s Pita Chips, Drybar, the voice of Bart Simpson, and more wild stories. Hosted by Max Branstetter (that’s me), Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting.

How do you start a podcast?

Interested in starting a professional-sounding podcast for your brand, but don’t want to deal with the time commitment of all those behind-the-scenes details? I’ve got you covered. Email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast and use it as a business-building tool.

Thanks for listening to Diane Helbig on the Wild Business Growth Podcast. To hear more Wild stories like this one every Wednesday morning, follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast and tell a friend about it. And ask them 2 thought-provoking questions or impress them with the Magic Rule of 3. Until next time, Let your business Run Wild…and Bring on the Bongos!!