Cow you doing?

 

I run the Distance Learning Association. Born in the 5 boroughs of New York City (1983) NYDLA.org expanded to all of North America (NADLA.org) and now we're global (GlobalDLA.org) 

Because of this, we partner with all of the vendors (sponsors) that 'enable' all things REMOTE. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Logitech, Lenovo, Zoom, Adobe, GoTo, etc. The list of TBLS vendors and sponsors is LONG. 

When Rocware (Rocware.com) wanted to break into the North America market, we got the call. (GetRocware.com). This has been our 'deal' since 1983. Distance Learning > DIGITALlearning > DIGITALLIVING. TBLS: Technology Based Learning Systems. Helping the world to live, learn, work, play, teach, train, coach, mentor in the GLOBAL Cloud COMMUNITY. 

OK, MOOOOOving on.....

One of our vendors (sponsors) is Horion.com. As you can see they are similar to Rocware, and they had a need and interest to 'break into' the North America market. So last year GetHorion.com went LIVE. We started to offer all of the members of the (now) GlobalDLA.org all things Horion. 

And then, I started getting the calls. Tom, you guys now sell............. milk? 

What are you talking about? 

Typos are a funny thing. We (our family) have been buying Horizon Organic milk from our local Kings grocery store for years. My wife runs a tight ship: ORGANIC is a big word in the Capone household. So, I have been seeing Horizon Organic in my refrigerator since my oldest son was born in the 90s. 

Horion.com makes interactive flat panel displays, also known as smart boards, and related accessories for business and education. These all-in-one systems are designed to replace traditional whiteboards, projectors, and video conferencing equipment with a single touch-screen device. 

Horizon.com makes healthy kids. Horizon Organic offers a range of organic dairy products, including milk, cheese, and butter.

This 'typo' led to my meeting the leadership of Danone North America, the parent company. 

Danone North America is the North American division of Danone, a global food and beverage company headquartered in France. It focuses on producing and distributing dairy, plant-based, and specialized nutrition products, emphasizing health, sustainability, and organic standards. In the U.S., Danone North America operates as a Public Benefit Corporation, balancing profit with social and environmental goals. 

Key brands under Danone North America include:

Horizon Organic: Organic dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt.

Silk: Plant-based milk and dairy alternatives.

So Delicious: Dairy-free products, including coconut and almond milk.

Oikos, Activia, Danimals: Popular yogurt brands.

International Delight: Coffee creamers and beverages.

The company is committed to sustainable practices, such as reducing carbon emissions and supporting regenerative agriculture. Its U.S. headquarters is in Broomfield, Colorado, with additional operations in New York and other locations. The CEO of Danone North America is Antoine de Saint-Affrique, who also serves as the global CEO of Danone. Turns out that my friend Marc de Swaan Arons from Harvard is friends with Antoine. Who is friends with Hubert Joly from Harvard and of 'Best Buy' fame - one of my first 'big' CoffeeInTheClouds.us interviews. And my friend Bill George and Hubert Joly are very close friends and colleagues. I think Hubert is taking over teaching all of Bill's courses at Harvard Business School. 

AND NOW..... there is a chance that all Danone people around the world shall GetZiik.us (our newest sponsor). Because we are telling the world to become PoweredByZiik.com - because we have Ziik on page 1 | slide 1 of our website, that was the first thing that everyone saw when this typo mystery unfolded. So, they clicked on it. 

Got people? Well then, GetZiik.us  

Oh, and get milk, too. Horizon Organic. 

Organic Milk is good for you. And so are organic typos. 

www.TomCapone.com

What's old is new again

The phrase "what's old is new again" means that trends, styles, or even ideas that were popular in the past can cycle back into fashion or relevance. This cyclical nature of trends suggests that things previously considered outdated or old-fashioned can be rediscovered, reinterpreted, and embraced as fresh and modern. 

This month (August 2025) really drove this concept home for me. Around 5 years ago the New York Distance Learning Association (now North America, NADLA) were approached by USI to service the insurance needs of our community. Actually it was Chubb ( www.chubbsmallbusiness.com ) that was seeking help in servicing Small Business and our NADLA business community (from LA to NYC) was deemed to be attractive. Especially for things like Cyber Insurance. If you use 'the Internet' you really need Cyber Insurance. 

And so, next thing you know I was doing a www.CoffeeInTheClouds.us video podcast interview with Mike Sicard, Chairman and CEO of www.USI.com as USI is one of the largest Chubb partnerships. For many months, the landing page www.NYDLA.org/USI received millions of views. Very cool indeed.

And then, life goes on. We moved on to other projects, other opportunities. Many years passed. 

Until THIS month, August 2025 USI sponsored a webinar with a focus on Insurance for the "Trucking and Logistics" vertical market. Out of the blue I got an email: 

Hi Thomas,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is {name} and I am a Partner and Vice President of our commercial insurance division here at USI. I have been following the impactful work your organization is doing and believe there are exciting opportunities for collaboration between our organizations. 

I would love to discuss this further over the phone or even by grabbing coffee/lunch at your convenience. Please let me know if you have any availability in the coming weeks. Looking forward to connecting!

---------------------------------------

I said, "Well, did you know that we have the landing page www.NYDLA.org/USI still up, from our Chubb Cyber Insurance campaign years ago? Check it out." 

AND SO........ on 8/13/2025 we invited 15,700 of our NADLA.org members who are in "Trucking and Logistics" to attend the USI webinar. And now we are offering those 15,700 attendees 'Dash Cams' and support services via www.VerizonConnect.com and www.Azuga.com (our NADLA sponsors). If a trucking company uses Dash Cams and related services, they can reduce their insurance premiums by 10% or more. So, it's a perfect fit. It's a perfect value-added member benefit. 

Oh, and we are also offering those 15,700 webinar attendees all things www.8x8.com 

In 2018 we helped to 'Ring the Bell' with 8x8 at the NYSE in NYC. Back in the day, the NYDLA.org was a major promoter of all things 8x8. Long story short, they ran into some headwinds, as did many telecom and technology companies in the last ten years. Well, 8x8 is back - in a big way. 

I expect to do a CoffeeInTheClouds video podcast interview the CEO and/or the CTO of 8x8 very soon, same as we did with www.NYDLA.org/USI and Mike Sicard. Instantly and immediately we can offer these 15,700 Trucking and Logistics companies who attended the USI webinar on 8/13 the opportunity to be www.PoweredBy8x8.com  Oh, and if there are (now) GlobalDLA.org members who GetAireSpring.com (GLOBAL) they can now use all things 8x8 to live, learn, work, play, teach, train, coach, mentor to/from ANYWHERE in the world. 

My first 'MTP' company from the 80s was MaritimeTechnologyPartners.com as we sold AireSpring's Blackberry Phones and Service to the Maritime industry. By default, the 'Maritime' is global, and requires robust and affordable global communications. Along the way, we formed MyTeachingPartners.com and even MyTruckingPartners.us all serviced by AireSpring.com - we are constantly telling the world to GetAireSpring.com - it's a DLA member benefit! 

Old, old, old...........and now NEW again. I love how that works. 

For all of us - for all of our... members.

www.NYDLA.org/USI

Teach Everything You Know

I am now teaching a CRO Mastery Program | Executive Education at many colleges and universities across North America. I own TheCloudUniversity.com which is going LIVE Q4 2025. The best of our 174K+ schools serviced by the NADLA.org We're like Wonder.com but for education - not food. My buddy from Columbia University put me on the spot. We did a '10 in 10' interview, 10 questions in less than 10 minutes. I said sure, let's go.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for offering your insights re: sales!  Below are 10 questions and would welcome your expert opinions on as many of them as you feel comfortable sharing. For the context of a small, but scaling B2B startups:

Which CRM platform would you recommend and why?

{TAC} Hubspot if you are on a budget, Salesforce if you are well funded. Salesforce is great, but expensive.  

What communications tools would you recommend and why?

{TAC} I am a big fan of Zoom Workplace. Next would be 8x8 and GoTo and then RingCentral. The Zoom brand is now ubiquitous with UCaaS and they integrate with all major 3rd party apps.  

In your experience what has been the best cold email outbound template that worked?

{TAC} THE BEST is to offer a $25 gift card or some other reward for 5 or 10 minutes of their time. But don't cold call, only follow up with those who have visited your website, downloaded a whitepaper, or attended your webinar or trade show booth. Don't talk to strangers! ;-)  

What has been the best inbound follow up email template that worked well?

{TAC} We use and sell Dotdigital.com They are the best I have ever used, hands down. 

What are 1-2 of the best phrases and general approach to handling objections?

{TAC} I believe there is no such thing as objections. It is expected to have valid questions on any buying decision. The old adage of people wanting to buy, they don't want to be sold. If it is a valid opportunity, have a conversation. Teach everything you know. 

To grow a team to handle growth, after the first sales lead, what function should be hired next in the sales team?

{TAC} The key to everything is nurturing relationships. Moving from strangers to clients/customers to community members. It goes: attention > engagement > adoption > utilization. If I don't have your attention I cannot teach you anything, and I certainly cannot sell you anything. So, you need people with situational awareness, excellent communication skills, and problem-solving skills. Hire teachers. Hire veterans. 

What does the best framework to prioritize leads looks like?

{TAC} Find out are they shopping? Buying? Researching? Are they the buyer or do they report to the buyer?  People want business outcomes. They want solutions to problems. The faster you can find out if there is actually a problem to solve, the easier the process will be. Try to make a new relationship, not a new sale. Remember, he who controls the checkbook controls the company. 

What is the best current process to close leads and what's the best close %?

{TAC} Email 100,000 ICP Ideal Client Personas for your product | service | book | course. 10% will become MQLs and 10% of those will become SQLs. 10% of those will purchase. I have made a career of counting on 10% of 10% of 10%. And over time, with proper nurturing, those MQLs and SQLs will also convert. 

What has been the best framework to structure sales comp and why?

{TAC} This might be 'Old School' but if you can hire experienced, vetted Sales Professionals, give them a draw and full commission. Have a budget to cover their expenses for 90 days. If they can last 90 days, if they can pay for themselves after 90 days, they can last 90 years..... 

What is the best sales tool/tactic that has made the biggest difference for you?

{TAC} Become a storyteller. I sell via stories, parables, and sharing experiences. Try to sell a 'vision' of a future with the product, service, book, course. Paint a picture of how life is better, work is better, everything is measurably better in a world with you (your product, your service, your solution) in it. 

Much obliged!

Pete

-------

There is a 'School of Hard Knocks' on social media. I am sure you have seen the videos on Facebook or on YouTube. They are up to 10M+ followers. The concept is simple: "Excuse me, how did you become so rich...." and the impromptu interviews with (usually) self-made millionaires (sometimes billionaires) is always captivating. It is also interesting how such a social media site went from hundreds of views to tens of millions and growing. Here is something from Jack Dumoulin's LinkedIn:

About Jack Dumoulin

I'm the co-founder of The School of Hard Knocks LLC, a media company I started in 2021 with two co-founders in Austin, Texas. Since launching, we've built one of the largest media platforms in the business and entrepreneurship space, growing to over 15 million followers and 4 billion+ views across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and a variety of sub-accounts.

Our content features interviews with some of the most accomplished individuals in the world - including Shaquille O’Neal, Mark Cuban, Gary Vee, Kendra Scott, Elliott Hill (CEO of Nike), Steven Williams (CEO of Frito Lay), and many others. To date, we’ve interviewed more than 1,000 millionaires and 15+ billionaires, with the mission of improving financial literacy, inspiring entrepreneurial action, and providing mentorship to those who may not otherwise have access.

We generate revenue through platform ad monetization and high-level brand partnerships, but our impact extends through the ecosystem of businesses we’ve built:

-Organic Content Agency (2023): Full-service short-form video production and management for entrepreneur-led brands. We help clients grow across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

-School of Mentors (2024): A 4,000+ member entrepreneur community with access to the millionaire and billionaire mentors we interview, hands-on workshops, and tactical trainings from proven founders.

-School of Scaling (2025): A high-level training program designed for entrepreneurs scaling to 7-figures and beyond, featuring daily guidance from 7- and 8-figure operators across content, marketing, sales, ops, tech, AI, and finance.

-J3 Capital Group (2025): Our real estate investment fund. We made our first investment this year through a syndication deal.

While I started on camera, my current focus is behind the scenes - leading operations, managing teams, and building systems to scale our company from now 7-figures to 9-figures and beyond.

A few personal milestones:

-University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business graduate

-2017 Microsoft Excel World Champion (1st out of 2 million+ competitors from 54 countries)

-Senior Little League Baseball World Series Player (2x); 3x VA State Champion, 2x Southeast Regional Champion

-Eagle Scout with over 2,000+ hours of community service

-Traveled to 24 countries including living in Korea for 4 years

-First-degree black belt (Taekwondo)

-Proud lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan

If you're building something impactful, exploring collaboration, or want to talk content, scale, or investing - let’s connect!

----------

All of this made me pause and reflect. Lifelong Education. Teaching, training, coaching, mentoring. Living, learning, working, playing in the (now) GLOBAL Cloud COMMUNITY. Yours. Folks like Pete Novak. Folks like Jack Dumoulin. And all of the amazing folks who 'made it' and now are paying it forward. The folks that are teaching everything they know. 

It really is a great time to be us! 

A good education

When my youngest son was attending Mountain Lakes High School in New Jersey he had a best friend. Devesh. 

His hometown is Mumbai, Maharashtra. When he was very young, his family made the decision to send Devesh to the USA for his education. Wow. 

From time to time his family would cross the ocean to visit. And from time to time (once a year?) Devesh would travel back home. The ultimate sacrifice - the ultimate demonstration of love - for Devesh to get a good education. Devesh had to leave his home, leave his family - to live in the USA to make this happen. Quality Life = Quality Education. 

Many times, Devesh would join us at our home for a holiday. I can remember hosting a few Thanksgivings at our home in Boonton Township, New Jersey. I don't think I will ever meet a nicer kid. Ah, a nicer young man. 

• August 2007 - June 2009 Mountain Lakes High School
• 2009 - 2013 Rutgers University
• 2016 - 2020 Rutgers University Master of Business Administration (MBA) Finance, Data Analytics & Information Management. 

When Devesh was only driving for a short time (still in High School) he had to go to traffic court. A minor incident (NOT his fault) but this can be very traumatic. Very scary. I had the honor of being asked by Devesh to go with him that day. It all worked out. I will always remember the look in his eyes when I showed up for him. After all, he was my 3rd son...

When the NYDLA.org launched its partnership with RUTGERS in 2012, Devesh was sitting in the front row. Whenever I would 'present' at RUTGERS School of Business Devesh was always in the room. 

Now in 2025, you (anyone) can access an AMAZING education from ANYWHERE in the world. Today the NADLA.org services 174K+ K-20 schools across North America. There are more people attending PURDUE University Online than attending LIVE on their West Lafayette, IN campus. There are more people paying tuition to attend Penn State World Campus, than to attend Penn State LIVE in Pennsylvania. And you can now attend RUTGERS ONLINE and get an amazing RUTGERS education from anywhere. From places such as Mumbai, Maharashtra. 

This is a little snippet, a 'clip' from his LinkedIn profile:

About

Hi, I’m Devesh. Throughout my career, I’ve explored opportunities to create, collaborate, and grow alongside inspiring founders and businesses. Today, I lead Investor Relations at Mercurius Media Capital (MMC), where I work with innovative consumer-tech startups to help them grow and succeed in the US market. Here’s my story:

I grew up in India and moved to the U.S. at 16. My first job—while still in high school—was as a customer service representative at a consumer goods company, followed by a similar role at a D2C electronics startup in India. It was here that I discovered the importance of understanding and solving customer pain points, a lesson that shaped my approach to business and communication.

College was where my passion for finance and strategy truly developed. I balanced my classes with internships at Kotak Mahindra Bank and Prudential Financial, gaining firsthand insights into the financial services industry. These experiences set the stage for the next chapter of my career.

At Prudential Financial, I spent seven years developing project management and business strategy skills. From leading cross-functional initiatives to tackling complex challenges, I learned how to drive measurable outcomes while growing as a leader.

-------

2012 - RUTGERS School of Business

Here is the point of today's Sunday Blog. Quality of Life = Quality of Education. In 2025 you can indeed access an AMAZING education from anywhere in the world. You can get a degree (including MBA or PhD) from RUTGERS and others, without ever stepping foot in the USA. 

Yes, but also this: Quality of Life = Quality of the People in your Life 

Tip of the Hat to my youngest son Bobby for bringing Devesh into our lives. 

2025: 174K+ K-20 schools across North America

are serviced by the NADLA.org