Author: Noah Graff

Today’s episode is extra fun for me because I had the pleasure of interviewing my brother, Dr. Ari Graff. Recently, Ari has shifted his career focus from practicing psychotherapy to life coaching. His coaching focuses specifically on helping men who feel unhappy and stuck in romantic relationships. It also helps single men who have difficulty maintaining or starting satisfying relationships. As you might have guessed, today we’re not going to be talking about the machining business. But I wanted to do this interview because to reach your full potential in your professional life, it’s beneficial to have a solid personal…

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For those who don’t know, I am a used machinery dealer, with a specialty in selling Screw Machines. I like to romanticize the used machinery business by referring to it as treasure hunting. We specialize in selling rare models of machinery, located in remote locations, owned by esoteric folk, serendipitously stumbled upon. Every used machine we sell has a story behind it. And I have found the machines and deals that have most interesting stories often turn out to be some of the most lucrative. Today I’m going to tell you one of those stories. It all started three years…

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On today’s show we’re talking about what you do if your business’s growth becomes stagnant or even stops all together. Our guest is Jose Palomino, host of the Business Growth on Purpose podcast and founder and CEO of Value Prop, a consultancy that gives established B2B companies strategies to jump start growth when it has fallen off. Jose gave me great insight about how you objectively examine the health of your company and take steps to make changes. We talked about B2B marketing and what you can do to revitalize relationships with your customers. If your business’s growth is stuck,…

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I know you will enjoy this favorite past episode, whether or not it’s your first time hearing it. As Swiss machines continue to improve, so does the capability of the accessories and tooling to aid you in the machining process. This episode will hopefully illuminate some ways you can improve your efficiency and accuracy by adding modern technology to your current machines. Our guest is Jim Gosselin, owner and President of Genevieve Swiss Industries. Genevieve Swiss sells innovative accessories specifically for Swiss CNC lathes, such as live tooling and cutting tools, to combat the problems small parts manufacturers constantly deal…

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I am a treasure hunter for a living. I pay my mortgage by finding obscure used machines from all over the world and then finding people who want to buy sexy-ugly/high-tech equipment. The best way to do that is by interacting with customers in ways that create serendipity. Today, I’m going to tell you how calling people on the phone, even when it seems like a long shot, can result in serendipity. If you approach talking to people with the right strategies you have the potential to create tons of meaningful, significant, productive conversations. You can also view the podcast…

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Today’s podcast episode is the second half of our interview with Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, the founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops low cost, damage resistant aerospace components. When Onome does engineering research, he fuels his creativity by embracing resource constraints and what he calls the “fail fast” mentality. The fail fast mentality means you can look at failure during the problem solving process as a positive. If “failing” means you learn something that propels you forward the next time you try to solve the same problem, then it really isn’t a failure. It’s a success. We also discussed…

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On today’s podcast, we talk about how you can apply the artistic side of your brain to solve engineering challenges. Our guest is aerospace engineer, Dr. Onome Scott-Emuakpor, founder of Hyphen Innovations, a firm that develops new advanced aerospace components for the Department of Defense and other clients.  Onome’s family immigrated from Nigeria to Lansing, Michigan, before he was born. In high school, he was an average student but excelled in fine arts classes. In college, he played Division I basketball at Wright State. While at Wright State, Onome realized he had a passion for engineering. Today, he says one…

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With the latest news that unemployment is at its lowest in 54 years, we thought it was important to post this favorite episode about how to hire the employee who fits correctly for a specific position. Our guest on the podcast today is Brian Balasia, CEO and Co-Founder of TalentEi, a company that produces a software platform that matches employers and job seekers across a variety of sectors. Brian says the platform enables companies to hire superior people, more quickly, and at a better price than traditional hiring methods such as job descriptions and resumes. Scroll down to read more…

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As machinery dealers, we are constantly evaluating when we should trust the people we are attempting to work with. Fortunately, the United States has a solid legal system that keeps people straight for the most part, and we live in a culture with relative social trust, despite our ever-growing divisiveness. Social psychology studies have shown that people naturally default to trusting each other, and for better or worse, I consider myself one of those instinctual trusters. Most of the people we make machinery deals with don’t try to screw us over, and through the years, Graff-Pinkert has dealt with only…

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