Join me, my guest and featured speaker, Gv (Shane) Freeman, and the 450+ ‘preneurs and 50+ speakers at EQ Leadership Labs the morning of April 15.

Most of us work at the intersection of many things, whether we are aware of it or not. Gv Freeman, who you may know as “Shane”, describes himself professionally as a “Venn diagram of sales and marketing, and technology and product” because for more than two decades he’s been involved in the conceptualization, development, marketing, and selling of various products, most of them software based.

Freeman has been in many kinds of ‘preneurship, from intrapreneur for many tech companies, to solopreneur in his own consulting company, to his current role as entrepreneur, founder, and principal at okapi.

okapi, a pioneer in the Event Program Management software space, is our sponsor for the EQ Leadership Lounge, for both the Leadership Labs event and for the run of the Midwest Digital Marketing Conference. If you’re attending either event you’ll find the Lounge near the exhibit hall so be sure and listen in to the live broadcasts from Innovation City and Connect Marketing and join us for the many informal discussions, Q&A sessions, and hotseat coaching workshops on everything from marketing, influence building, media and PR, and website design.

My chat with Freeman for Episode 4 of The Leadership Lounge Show was especially fun because we know each other so well. He’s been my client, my marketing advisor, my good friend, and my frequent sounding board. And yet, during this interview, I learned a few things, which I always do when I sit down with him.

We talked about the hard skills of sales and marketing, which are the focus for his #MDMC session and the breakout discussion he’ll be holding in the EQ Leadership Lounge on Thursday morning during MDMC. We also covered the “four bodies in balance” concept behind his session at EQ Leadership Labs, “Self-Care for Entrepreneurs: Let’s Put the Idea of “Struggle Porn” to Bed Once and For All,” which led to a conversation about how “Shane Freeman” came to be known as Gv Freeman and how identity plays a role in our balance of personal self and business persona.

In Freeman’s book, The SaaS Field Manual, a framework for tech founders or anyone considering becoming a tech founder, which will soon be rereleased as The Software Field Manual as SaaS has become synonymous with SaaS, he proposes that founders spend 80 percent of their resources working on the hard skills of business and 20 percent focused on their own care and development. And that’s about the ratio of how Freeman will spend his time next week between EQ Leadership Labs and #MDMC.

For Leadership Labs, Freeman will take you on a deep dive into what I call “leading from the inside out,” focused on your well-being, balance, and ability to function at your highest potential while avoiding illness and burnout.

Then Tuesday at #MDMC he’ll lead a B2B Marketing Automation Workshop which is currently sold out. He’ll recap that material as an informal presentation in the EQ Leadership Lounge on Thursday morning so if you miss his workshop you can sit in and watch him walk a participant through that process of decision making for marketing automation to achieve optimal sales results.

Wednesday, Freeman joins other panelists for #MDMCs Creating A Data Driven Organization Panel which brings in the expertise he’s gained while heading up a software company devoted to measuring, monitoring, and managing the data collection and analysis process for your event program.

When you watch the video you’ll soon realize that this is a man who lives his life as a Venn diagram as well, somewhere in the intersection of hardnosed data-driven strategy, soul aware intuition, and a commitment to lead with integrity and grace.

EQ Leadership Labs Event is Tomorrow, April 15th, Register NOW!