Rulebreaker Awards Announces 7 Finalists — GrowBiz Media Inc.

LAKEWOOD, Calif. – Sept. 18, 2017 – PRLog — Seven finalists have been selected in the fourth annual RuleBreaker awards. Sponsored by Nextiva, this unique awards program celebrates entrepreneurs who break the rules in pursuit of business success.

One grand-prize winner will be chosen from among the seven category winners and honored during a gala event at Nextiva’s NextCon conference (www.nextcon.nextiva.com) in Scottsdale, AZ, on October 24, 2017.

The category winners are:

• Small Business Under 3 Years Old: Matthew Goodman of Smilocracy, https://smilocracy.org, a nonprofit community platform to promote the power of smiling to change lives.
• Small Business Over 3 Years Old: Ingrid Edstrom, Polymath, www.Polymath.com, is  redefining what it means to be an accountant/bookkeeper by making intimidating ideas fun and digestible.
• Retail RuleBreakerof the Year: Bedros Keuilian of Fit Body Boot Camp, www.fitbodybootcamp.com, is breaking the rules of franchising with his “anti-franchise franchise.”
• Tech Services RuleBreaker of the Year: Daniel Salisbury and Anselm Ball of Kegboss,www.kegboss.com, whose app helps small craft breweries track and manage their kegs, saving time and money.
• Professional Services RuleBreaker of the Year: Dr. Barbara L. McClatchie’s Complete Health Dentistry of Columbus, www.mcclatchiedds.com, is saving lives by partnering with a cardiologist to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
• Perennial RuleBreaker: Peter Shankman of Shankminds, www.shankminds.com, is breaking the rule that says entrepreneurship has to be a lonely road with his entrepreneurial community/coaching program.
• RuleMaker of the Year: David Meerman Scott of Freshspot Marketing LLC, www.davidmeermanscott.com, wrote the book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, an international bestseller now in its sixth printing and available

“I’m proud to be part of this year’s RuleBreakers, honoring entrepreneurs who are not only changing the rules of business, but also making a difference wfv in the world,” said Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media and a co-host of the RuleBreaker Awards.

“As we enter our fourth year of the RuleBreaker awards, I am impressed more than ever by the continuous innovation of entrepreneurs,” said co-host Mike Michalowicz, author of Surge. “You might think that all the great ideas in the world would be exhausted, but it is just the opposite. This year may have the most innovative entrepreneurs to date!”

“With over 2,000 people being nominated for this award, it’s easy to see how RuleBreakers are making a big difference in the business world,” said co-host Barry Moltz, author of How to Get Unstuck.

Winners were selected by a panel of judges including:

·          Ken Yancey, CEO, SCORE

·          Yaniv Masjedi, CMO, Nextiva

·          Anita Campbell, founder, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends and BizSugar

·          Brian Moran, CEO, Brian Moran & Associates

·          Shama Kabani, CEO, Marketing Zen Group

·          JJ Ramberg, co-founder of Goodsearch.com and host of MSNBC’s Your Business

For more information about NextCon, visit http://nextcon.nextiva.com or for information about the RuleBreaker Awards, visit http://www.rulebreakerawards.com.

ABOUT RIEVA LESONSKY:Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. A nationally recognized speaker who regularly addresses audiences across the country, Rieva broke the rules by becoming the first female editorial director of a general business magazine; she was SVP/Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine for more than 25 years.

ABOUT MIKE MICHALOWICZ: Mike Michalowicz is the author of Surge, Profit First, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur and The Pumpkin Plan. Mike has grown and sold two multimillion-dollar companies and now operates his third, Profit First Professionals. And if there is one thing he attributes entrepreneurial success to, it’s breaking the rules.

ABOUT BARRY MOLTZ: Barry Moltz is the author of How to Get Unstuck: 25 Ways To Get Your Business Growing Again. He is a small business motivational speaker and radio talk show host. He breaks rules by having entrepreneurs stop doing what they have always done to move forward.

ABOUT NEXTIVA: Nextiva is a cloud-based communications provider that delivers hosted unified phone services to companies across the country. Nextiva allows business owners and managers to confidently run their organizations from anywhere with the support of innovative features and an easy-to-use dashboard on a state-of-the-art platform.