• Under the guidance of Carl Gould, the 7 Stage Advisors team helps clients discover where they need to place their efforts for maximum efficacy by coaching, mentoring, and training clients on how to sustain growth over an extended period.
• Gould’s dynamic presentations, practical content, and real-world experience makes him one of the world’s most sought-after speakers. 
• Gould built three multi-million dollar businesses by the age of 40 and has donated thousands of hours of coaching to populations in need. 

About 7 Stage Advisors 

Carl Gould

Gould is an inspirational leader, always challenging those around him to seek out their passions, reach their potential, and make and achieve their goals. He has experienced adversity and challenges in his life. However, he has used those experiences to push himself in new directions by never allowing negative circumstances to dictate his potential future opportunities. For example, when he was in college, he broke his leg which required several surgeries and extensive recuperation. Gould was forced to drop out of college because his funding ran out. This “opportunity,” however, was where it all started: It was his chance to start a business and begin his path to entrepreneurship.

Gould’s Achievements 

Gould donated over 1,000 coaching hours to those in need including the homeless, military personnel, assisted living and nursing home recipients, students, and emerging entrepreneurs. This coaching experience not only aligned with his philanthropic values, but it also helped him hone his skills as one of the pioneers of the coaching and professional services sector.

A serial entrepreneur, author, and speaker, Gould built three multi-million dollar businesses by the age of 40. He is at the forefront of the entrepreneurial community domestically and globally. Gould believes that the mark of a great leader/executive is defined by the value you create for others and the legacy you leave behind. There are more than 7,000 advisors worldwide that are serving over 35,000 businesses on six continents as a result of Gould’s methodologies. His company, 7 Stage Advisors, has mentored the launch of over 5,000 businesses. 7 Stage Advisors donated over 400 hours of coaching to entrepreneurs as a service to the community. 

Recent Accolades

The past couple of years have been a busy time for Gould. He has extended his impact not only domestically but around the world, through mentoring, coaching, consulting, speaking, and appearing in the media. He is also an influential thought leader in the area of business growth, focusing on growth strategies for small- to mid-market companies. 

Gould’s dynamic, energetic presentation style combined with his practical, impactful content and real-world experience are the reasons why he is one of the most sought-after speakers globally. He engages his audience and keeps them on the edge of their seats. His content is original, profound, and battle-tested.

Gould appears regularly in print publications, podcasts, and on television and radio, providing his expertise and analysis on today's most pressing political and business issues. His appearances include Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, Forbes, and iHeartRadio.

This year he launched his own daily micro-podcast #70secondCEO, a daily fix for busy CEOs and entrepreneurs. 

This year also saw the launch of Hypergrowth Academy. Gould grew four businesses in his career (landscaping, construction, real estate development, and coaching) and advised tens of thousands of others on six continents to do the same. He now wants to help others achieve their business goals. Gould’s inspiration for the academy came from the tremendous lessons he has learned, the benefit of working with top mentors, and the experiences he has been grateful for his entire career.

Since 2019, his major accomplishments include: 

• Launching “#70secondCEO”, a daily micro-podcast for CEOs and business owners
• Launching Hypergrowth Academy for committed entrepreneurs who want to build a sustainable, profitable business that reaches its full potential 
• Donating 7 Stage Advisors’ mentoring services to over 240 businesses in eight countries
• Winning Visionary Co-Chair for the Entrepreneur’s Organization NJ chapter
• Winning The Bronze Stevie® Award - Entrepreneur of the Year
• Becoming a member of Forbes Coaches Council 
• Winning the prestigious CEO World Awards® in the Gold Award Entrepreneur of the Year category
• Winning NJBIA Executive of the Year award
• Mentoring entrepreneurs in five countries
• Being the keynote at conferences in seven different countries

7 Stage Advisors’ COVID-19 Response

This team has been helping CEOs, business owners, and others navigate through this pandemic, equipping them to cope with the swift changes and come through prepared and stronger than before. 7 Stage Advisors has offered live sessions and weekly offerings including helpful Q&A time to hear and respond to their business needs on a weekly basis.

7 Stage Advisors won the Silver Stevie for Entrepreneur of the Year - Business & Professional Services in The 2020 American Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The 2021 American Business Awards? 

“Complacency” is not a word in Renee Tocco’s vocabulary.

Whether it is using her skills to encourage people to live healthier or supporting any number of philanthropic causes ‒ from helping low-income children to protecting rainforests ‒  the energetic Aussie is keen to make a difference wherever she can.

It is no surprise when it comes to her main career as a business executive, Tocco does not settle for the status quo. A former sales and business accounts manager for Telstra, Australia’s largest telecom company, she started her own commercial finance brokerage, Loanezi, in 2014. In the process, she is bringing a fresh approach to an industry that is not necessarily known for innovation.

In three years, her company has become one of the fastest-growing players in the country’s asset finance industry. “Loanezi is my greatest achievement so far,” the entrepreneur says, proud of the success her venture has earned.

For as long as she can remember, dreaming big has been one of her character traits. “I always believed that I will one day build up an empire or disrupt an industry with a revolutionary invention,” concedes Tocco, who lives on The Gold Coast, a metropolitan area on Australia’s eastern shore.

Loanezi is the marriage of that enterprising spirit with the industry knowledge she acquired at Telstra. It was there Tocco realized the impact information and communication technology could have on businesses ‒ particularly smaller ones. For clients, new equipment was often the difference between growing or falling behind the competition.

Tocco vividly remembers her first client, a woman who was starting her own real estate practice. “Without a new phone system and printer, this new little real estate business literally would not have been able to successfully function,” Tocco told her hometown newspaper, The Gold Coast Bulletin.

Three years later, the company’s trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable. In early 2016, Loanezi was already generating enough revenue to pay back all borrowed capital, becoming 100% self-funded. During the 2016-2017 financial year, Loanezi generated 450 commercial loans, outpacing its own ambitious sales goals.

What makes Loanezi different from the competition? Tocco says it is, in part, the novel use of technology, something that is transforming what had long been a “staid” finance broking sector.

The company also offers a large panel of vendors, enabling it to serve customers with a wide range of needs, including new businesses that sometimes have trouble getting financial support.

Despite the success the firm is enjoying, Tocco makes it clear the company is not pulling off the accelerator pedal. “My goal is to become the largest commercial asset finance broker in Australia within the next three years, a humongous goal that I am focused on achieving.”

In August, Tocco and her team found out they won the Silver Stevie® Award in the “Startup of the Year – Business Services Industries” category of The 14th Annual International Business Awards.

“These awards have a great impact when building a brand and trying to stand out from the crowd,” says Tocco. “The day we added the Silver Stevie seal to the website was such a fun moment, as we appreciate the impact this has in building my profile and that of Loanezi.”

Thinking Big

For Tocco, one of the biggest benefits to the company’s success is the opportunity to give back. The business has partnered with the business giving initiative known as Buy1Give1 (B1G1), providing donations for every corporate loan it settles.

Among the results of its B1G1 gifts so far: 175 days of shelter and 225 days of education for children in need, as well as the protection of 45 square meters of rainforest and 2,000 meals for orphaned children.

“My desire is to change as many lives as possible, directly or indirectly,” she says. “The bigger Loanezi grows, the more impact we can have.”

Tocco is also using her experiences to help other female entrepreneurs achieve a similar level of success. “Through my blogs in the finance industry, I am already mentoring several females and believe that will foster into perpetuity the gift of shared knowledge.”

In that same spirit, she is hoping to offer traineeships to help students achieve their business goals and tackle important challenges around the world.

“I believe young people, offered the novelty of mentorship, will thrive in whatever industry they choose as their end goal,” says Tocco. “I hope my company will be the launching pad of future leaders with a global conscious mindset.”

You've been busy. Summer's over and you're getting back into the swing of things. Whatever the reason, you didn't get around to submitting entries to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business. But you've gotten a reprieve. We have some tips on how you can submit your nominations in as little time as possible. The last day final entries wil be accepted is Friday, September 30.

We know, you're still busy. Your calendar this week is still chockablock. But surely you can find 10 free minutes. Because in 10 minutes you can prepare and submit an entry to the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and potentially win a Stevie®, one of the most coveted trophies on the planet.

Here are a number of ways you can do that:

Repurpose Nominations From Other Awards Programs
The submission requirements are fairly open-ended, and there's a wide variety of categories to choose from. If you've entered any other awards programs this year, simply repurpose the nominations you wrote for those competitions, as long as they qualify as being run by women. Most categories require only the submission of an essay of up to 650 words and a bullet-list summary of the achievements portrayed in the essay.

Repurpose Your Press Releases and White Papers
It's likely you've already done the heavy-lifting of describing your organization's achievements, your innovations, your new products and services, your marketing and PR campaigns, etc. Throughout the year you've been trumpeting your successes through press releases and white papers. Simply comb through your output over the past year and cobble together the text you've already written into a short essay. Note that the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will recognize your achievements since the middle of 2015.

Repurpose Your Press Clippings
With every nomination you have the option to attach any number of press clippings, work samples, video clips, photographs, etc. to your essay, to help paint the picture for the judges. Does one or more of your press clippings feature a compelling story that can be the basis of the essay for your Stevie Awards for Women in Business nomination? There's no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists and you can reuse it.

Hire a Consultant
Did you know that there are a number of consultancies that specialize in preparing and submitting awards nominations on behalf of their clients? There are quite a few in the U.S.A., and internationally and they've been remarkably successful over the years in winning Stevie Awards for their clients. Contact us if you'd like a referral to one of them who can take the process of getting entries into the Stevie Awards for Women in Business off your hands this week.

Submit Media Work
Sometimes you hope to win a Stevie for a specific reason - for a major achievement, or a member of your team - but you can also win a Stevie Award for specific media work. If that's the case, take a look at the categories for videos, apps, websites, publications, and live events. It's really easy to enter these categories. These categories generally require only a short essay of up to 125 words, describing the nominated work's purpose and results to date, and the nominated video or app, etc., itself.

Resubmit a Nomination From Another Stevie Awards Program
Did you have success with a nomination in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, or The American Business Awards? One Stevie Awards competition has nothing to do with another, and resubmitting a nomination from one program to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business is a valid strategy followed by many organizations.

Contact Us for Help
You'll save a lot of time by letting us do some of the important work for you. We'll save you the trouble of plowing through our category lists to find the category that's right for you, for example. Contact us, by email at help@stevieawards or telephone at +1 703-547-8389. Tell us what your organization wants to be recognized for, and we'll suggest the best category for your nomination.

Whichever strategy you choose to get your nominations written and submitted this week, do get them submitted by the final entry deadline of Friday, September 30.

Ready to Enter the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?