Changing Lives Selling Knives

Jordan Curtis started selling Cutco on January 28, 2023. In just about 11 months, he sold $215,298 to win the Silver Cup as the #1 new (Rising Star) sales representative in the company, more than doubling his closest competition and setting an all-time Vector Marketing company record. Jordan displays a rare combination of confidence, coachability, discipline, and a relentless work ethic. He’s a student at Texas State University, graduating in May 2024, and is looking forward to a role as a Cutco Sales Professional. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Ben Lee is a young leader with a true passion for excellence. In high school, he was a captain on 2 California State Champion football teams. He started selling Cutco in 2019, and was #1 in sales among over 40,000 others recruited by the company that year. He advanced to the position of District Manager in 2020, and became the company’s #1 New District Manager out of over 100 dynamic competitors. He has evolved into a Pillar of the Western Region and has recently been appointed to serve as Assistant Division Manager in the Los Angeles Division. Ben Lee has the will to win and the ability to inspire others to join him in his mission. He’s one of the finest young leaders you might ever encounter. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Will Jenkins has spent the past 15 years of his career building businesses and cultivating sales talent. Will leveraged his Cutco/Vector management experience to develop expertise in scaling a customer-facing sales team, including all aspects of attracting, developing, and retaining top talent. He co-founded the freight brokerage MoLo Solutions, which he helped build to over 900 employees and $1 billion in annual revenue and achieved a highly lucrative exit. Will’s passion for personal and professional development is the driving force behind his new venture, Journey, a recruiting, consulting, and training company focused on freight brokerages. Will also consults/invests in start-ups, and is an advisor/mentor to various entrepreneurs, sales professionals and founders, and he serves on the Board of 3 local Chicago charities. Will’s successful experiences provide a duplicatable blueprint for entrepreneurial success. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Creating a great organizational culture is at the forefront of any leader’s mind. It’s the one key factor that affects everything else, so it’s critical to craft and shape and develop. Shelby (Wildgust) Brandt has spent her entire life on an entrepreneurial journey of discovery, learning about herself, others, business, and life. As Cutco/Vector Marketing’s Program Development Manager, Shelby has been on a deep dive into the ingredients of culture. In this special episode, Shelby pulls nuggets from eight past CLSK guests that form a recipe for great organizational culture, and adds one ingredient of her own. This episode features snippets from current and former Vector leaders, including Dan Casetta, Isaac Tolpin, Kristin Alli, Trey Harris, Drew Frank, Kate Vasey, Paige Weber, and Kevin Barthe. Use these ideas as a basis for crafting your own amazing team culture. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Amir Habash is a young leader who has learned to walk his own path in life. He became a Cutco/Vector District Manager at 18 years old, and has achieved consistent growth over the past 9 years, while accumulating over $10.8 million in Cutco sales, and advancing to serve as the Assistant Division Manager in Vector’s Carolina Division. Amir has been able to combine talent, work ethic, and the mindset of a champion to become the best version of himself and find his edge. In 2023, he won the Silver Cup in Vector’s Elite League manager category, and he continues to grow his results and his influence. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Jon Gordon is one of the most prolific and best-known business and personal development authors in the world today. The author of 28 books, most notably “The Energy Bus”, Jon has inspired readers and audiences all around the world with his message about the power of positive energy and positive leadership. His principles have been put to the test by countless Fortune 500 companies, school districts, hospitals, college and professional sports teams, and non-profits. He has consulted with leaders who have transformed organizations, won national championships, and are currently changing lives all over the world. Today’s episode is a mash-up of lessons from several of Jon’s books, including a quick opening message from a surprise guest speaker. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Jon Berghoff epitomizes the “changing lives” theme of this podcast as well as anyone we’ve ever featured. As a Cutco rep, Jon raised the bar of possibility for the entire company through his spectacular and unprecedented achievements, along the way to becoming the youngest ever inductee into the Cutco/Vector Hall of Fame. Now, as a respected business leader with an international following, Jon is teaching leaders how to multiply their influence through use of the “XChange” method of uniting groups of people, facilitating events, and leading others to embrace revolutionary challenges and opportunities. Jon teaches here how to ask the kinds of questions that open up new worlds of possibility, for yourself and for all those who you lead. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Tyler Strauss was Cutco/Vector Marketing’s Silver Cup winner in the Branch Manager race in the Summer of 2022. He’s now a District Manager in Nebraska, and is leading the company in New Business Sales for 2024. Elliot James was the Branch Silver Cup winner in the Summer of 2023. He’s about to graduate from the University of Minnesota and will be a District Manager starting in May of 2024. Both of these young leaders are a part of new wave of superstars in the Central Region of the Vector Marketing organization. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Tina-Marie Cooper-Minar has been one of the top-producing District Managers in Cutco/Vector history with over $19 million in career sales. Her early influences in the business include company legends such as Marty Domitrovich, Tim McCreadie, Chris Heigel, Jeff Bry and others. Tina-Marie has overcome numerous personal and professional challenges over the years, and she approaches it all with a tremendous spirit of optimism. Her combination of attitude, work ethic, and skill development has made her into a tremendous role model and major winner in business and in life. She was recently promoted to Division Coordinator of the Mid-Michigan Division, headquartered in East Lansing. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com

Stephen Hunt was the Silver Cup Champion in the New District Manager category in Cutco/Vector Marketing for 2023. He started in the business in 2019 and ran the #6 Branch in the company in 2022. He was promoted to District Manager in Amarillo TX in 2023, and is building an amazing organization. Stephen is already an integral part of the Lone Star Division and the Southwest Region. For the complete show notes and access to all episodes, visit ChangingLivesPodcast.com