CLOSE THE DEAL ISN'T ABOUT SALES

Hi, I'm Ewell Smith

Welcome to a place for people who are done overthinking - and ready to actually follow through. Most people don't have a knowledge problem. They have a finishing problem.

Author of Your First Franchise Roadmap & PINK SLIP COMEBACK · Host of the Close The Deal Podcast

Featured in The Wall Street Journal, PBS, Fox News, CNN, NPR, Reuters,BBC, Bloomberg, Politico and more.

Close The Deal – The Origin

The Origin

I grew up in New Orleans watching Al Copeland build Popeyes from the ground up. Bold. Creative. Relentless.

It showed me early what it looks like to build something that lasts.

Years later, I stepped into leadership roles at the worst possible times.

"The people who make it aren't always the smartest or the best funded. They're the ones who don't quit. The ones who adapt. The ones who keep moving forward when everything says stop."

— What a decade of crises taught Ewell Smith

Close The Deal – Cook-Off & Crisis

The Great American Seafood Cook-Off

Ewell created and hosted the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, featured on Food Network and PBS, alongside celebrity co-hosts including Sig Hansen from Deadliest Catch.

Tested by Crisis

Pre-2005

Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board

Took over leadership just four years before Hurricane Katrina. Commercial fishermen lost everything — homes, boats, trucks, gear. Some lost loved ones. Billions of dollars in lost sales.

Then we rebuilt.

2010

BP Oil Spill

Five years after Katrina, the oil spill hit. We lost 98% of the market. Billions lost again. Same people. Same fight. Different disaster. Restored billions in lost sales a second time.

We rebuilt again.

2020

Carolina Loggers Association

Led the association through COVID. Different industry. Same fight. The ones who adapt keep moving forward when everything says stop.

Same lesson.

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