In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews sales and business strategist Kelli Sample. Kelli shares a personal story about rushing a German exchange program application, illustrating the power of persistence and making the most of limited time. She explains her core expertise: helping entrepreneurs improve their messaging and sales confidence, emphasizing that sales skills can be learned rather than innate. Her top business advice is to stay persistent and patient, especially during the early, learning‑heavy years of entrepreneurship. When reflecting on advice for her younger self, she stresses ignoring naysayers, believing in oneself, and avoiding fitting into others' molds. Kelli discusses her view on happiness, advocating living in the present, not dwelling on past negativity, and appreciating surroundings. She recommends the book Evolve Your Brain by Joe Dispenza, highlighting neuroplasticity and the ability to rewire habits through focused effort. Her favorite quote—"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it"—captures her belief that response shapes outcomes. The episode concludes with a call to find Kelli online at www.kellisample.com.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola!
¡Hola! ¡Hola! Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner and today I have Kelly Sample with us. She is a sales and business strategist and she works with entrepreneurs to help convert more paying clients and increase their profits. So welcome to the show, Kelly.
Thank you.
Of course, thanks for joining us. We'll dive into the first question. The first one I have for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Tyler, this is pretty awesome. I had something, an opportunity when I was in college to be a part of a German exchange program. And when I saw the poster, I've always wanted to do an exchange. I had 2 days to actually complete the application. And with the application, I needed 2 recommendations, one from a professional and one from like a teacher. And then I had like all of these essays I had to write. And when I first looked at it, I was like, oh my gosh, I totally cannot, you know, do this in 2 days. I have so many things that I have to get from other people. And I had somebody give me some advice and say, you know what, Kelly, the deadline isn't until Friday. You know, you have 2 days, make the most of those 2 days, do the best you can and see if you can get that in by that day. And I went forward, I, you know, got everything. I called up a professor that I knew that I worked with actually, that I knew he was a late-nighter. So I call them up that night for a recommendation that I could get by the next morning. I had a teacher also do something that, you know, was a quick overnight delivery and I got all my application done. I had to actually deliver the application on Friday to the airport post office because it was the only thing that was open and I had a first date scheduled that night. So I had to actually take my date to the post office to drop off this application. And, you know, not, not always the best first impression, but yet at the same time, it was, it was for me just kind of exciting to get done. And it was something that I was really glad I did. I got invited for the interview and then I actually got accepted into the program. So it was definitely something that for me taught me that, number one, don't give up until you know it's over. So if you have a deadline, you have all the minutes up until that and keep working. You can accomplish a lot. Between the time of when you know and when the actual deadline is.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
As a sales and business strategist, I really work with entrepreneurs on their messaging and their sales confidence so that they can speak clearly with prospects. And one thing that I hear a lot is that people don't feel, or they feel uncomfortable, or they feel awkward when it comes to sales conversations. And one of the biggest pieces of information is that you don't have to be a naturally born salesperson to be successful in sales, and you can learn the skills. And the great thing is, once you learn those skills, you have them for life, and you can use them in so many areas of your life.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Yeah, the best piece of overall business advice is really just to keep being persistent.
Persistence is really key.
I mean, there are so many things as a business owner, and especially when you're starting your own business, in the first couple of years you're learning so much information and you may feel like really stupid in one area or another. And I say that not, not, you know, meaning, you know, something bad, but like sometimes we really get ourselves down because we don't necessarily know what we're doing. And that's okay because as a business owner, when you're starting a business, there are so many things that you have to learn so many new things and just be patient with yourself, be persistent and keep pushing through. It will happen. You just have to make sure to put in the effort.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
That would be to not listen to the naysayers and don't let other people get you down. Believe in yourself and stay determined and continue to do what you're doing and do you. Instead of trying to fit into a mold that somebody else is telling you that you need to be.
And in your opinion, it might tie in, what is the key to happiness?
I wish I had the key to happiness, man. I would be a very rich person if I had, you know, all the keys to that. But for me, you know, the biggest thing for me is whenever I get down is to really just, number one, you know, don't really dwell on those things that are you know, in the past and those things that people have done or said, that sometimes we just get in our head and we create this loop back and forth of, you know, redoing conversations. You know, stop that. That isn't doing you any good in the moment. It's not doing you any good in the future. And just continue to live as much as you can in the present and creating your future. And you can create your future. So, um, it's just, it's just I was looking there and noticing the great things around you and appreciating those things.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, I have so many books that I've read and what I'm going to say is actually Evolve Your Brain by Joe Dispenza. And one thing is, is I am a geek at heart, so I love science and I actually started out as an engineer. And so, you know, the science behind things is something that really intrigues me. The one thing I learned from this book is that your brain has the opportunity to change and to change easily with some effort. And as long as you make, again, a very directed effort to changing some of your habits, some of your, your thought patterns, that you can really change the outcome of your life very quickly. I think all too often, too many people give up on themselves too quickly, or they think it has to be a certain way because that's just the way it's always been. And that's not necessarily the case. There are some miraculous things that have happened with the brain, even people losing some major functions like your senses and stuff that have been able to retrain their brain to now redo those things. And you see it every day in like these miracle stories. No, it's not a miracle story. It's just taking the proper effort and learning the skills that you need to then rewire your brain. So that's a pretty awesome book.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Again, it kind of goes with the theme of what we're talking about is life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. I'm not sure exactly who said that, but really when, you know, it isn't necessarily again what happens, it's how you, what you make it mean and all of the things that happen after what happens. You know, it's the stories you tell, the things in your mind that go in circles, or how you are able to take that information and use it, whether good or bad. I mean, even good stuff, we learn things and then, you know, we don't use it. So our reaction is nothing versus taking it and actually using it, putting it into our lives and making things happen from that.
I love it. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, the best place to find me is at my website, which is www.kellisample.com. That's Kelly with an I, so K-E-L-L-I-sample.com.
Perfect. Thanks again, Kelly. We appreciate you hopping on.
Thank you so much, Tyler Wagner.
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