Failure Guy

An update from me as Benny Fitzpatrick (my standup comedy stage name).

Want to know the secrets behind successful livestreaming and podcasting?

Kevin Goatee, comedian, writer, and producer with 12 years of experience in the comedy industry discusses his meandering path of failures!

Michael Fritzius emphasizes the importance of accepting failure as a learning opportunity including the concept of 'failure therapy.'

Elijah Desmond began his professional career at the age of 15 as a youth motivational speaker.

Sid Meadows is a business strategist and high performance coach who works with entrepreneurs and small business to leverage digital sales strategies.

From corporate America to podcasting pro, Alex Sanfilippo shares his journey of overcoming failure and chasing dreams.

In this podcast episode, the guest, Nancy Debra Barrows, discusses the importance of authenticity and being genuine on LinkedIn. She encourages people to be themselves and share their personality, as this human connection is what draws people to engage with each other.

In this special April Fool's Day edition of "Failure Guy," we're revisiting the blooper-filled interview with Ben's 90-year-old nana from Episode 51. Join us for some laughs as Nana navigates what happens when podcasts bumps up against landlines and the need for lozenges!

Ben and Katie discuss the unique impact of podcasting, the power of voice, and how life's unpredictable turns can lead to personal and professional growth.

Kay Coté shares how she improved her mentality after growing up being bullied in school to finding her voice in the world of podcasting.

John David Mann, co-author of "The Go-Giver", describes his past experiences & failures in music, nutrition and education before he became a writer. This episode has lots of valuable insights and practical strategies for reframing one's perspective towards failure and using it as a tool for growth and success.

LinkedIn expert and friend Judi Fox joins to share some of the failures on her way to truly being herself and showing up as her best self. Hear Judi discuss her new podcast with Vinnie Potestivo called "Let's Talk Social Audio".

William Hung from American Idol seems to have a failure forcefield that's impossible to penetrate. His positivity is infectious, and his ability to turn what most thought to be a failure into lifelong success makes this episode incredibly special.

Actor, Keynote Speaker, and Author of 'The Power to Speak Naked' Sean Tyler Foley shares candid insights to his very non-traditional career path and the failures he faced (and embraced) along the way.

COO & Co-Founder of Waalaxy, a LnkedIn automation tool, Guillaume Portalier discusses the difficulties in starting and running a SaaS business especially when technology is ever evolving!

At her lowest point, Natasha Graziano was a homeless single mother in over $100K in debt. Now, she is a successful mindfulness coach, best-selling entrepreneurial author, and Forbes' #1 female motivational speaker under 40. In this episode, Natasha talks about her new book Be It Until You Become It: The Law of Attraction Explained Through Neuroscience and Ancient Wisdom.

Nigel Green isn't afraid of failure; honestly, that's a difficult lifestyle to choose when you primarily work in Sales. Listen as he shares his insights from his latest book "The Revenue Harvest".

Not many Americans can say they've visited North Korea. Even fewer have competed against them in any type of sport. Wally Green took an incredibly unlikely path to help spark change in international relations. From growing up with guns & bad influences to finding his life-saving calling in Ping Pong, Wally does not back down from failure. His optimism is infectious and his light-hearted nature (and bravery) is something that will stick with you long after listening. Enjoy!

Happy 2-year anniversary of the podcast!!! The first ever LIVE in-person Failure Guy episode is here! Chris Seferyn is not only a hilariously fun person to talk to but has a deep & long-lasting relationship with failure. From his initial story of getting drugged in Guadalajara just a week prior to our recording to running nightclubs for a couple of decades, he's seen it all! This is the first part of a two-part series, the second which has special guest Ivo Ivanov. You'll hear more from myself, Chris, and Ivo as we discuss our various upbringings in the next episode!

Brandon has a very close & familiar relationship with failure. He's an entrepreneur with two exits so far, and plenty of strikeouts. He's an angel investor and former venture capitalist who even worked in Marketing at America Online. Brandon started his professional career in technology as an Internet pioneer in 1996 as the Founder/CEO of Worldwide Angler, Inc. Worldwide Angler was recognized as the #1 social networking and e-commerce site for sport fishermen on the internet which he sold to a large media company. He has taught over 1,500 entrepreneurs in his business and marketing courses. His top course is on how to write a business plan and pitch deck in just 13 slides. He has taught the students of successful entrepreneurs like Daymond John & Robert Herjavec (Shark Tank) and Grant Cardone. He regularly is a keynote speaker at entrepreneur, business, and marketing conferences.

Travis Lachner is not only a friend of failure but a friend of fearless innovation. He has done many outside-the-box web ideas like having the first night club on LinkedIn, which is way more fun than it sounds. Listen as he recounts his tumultuous journey through the MySpace days with his screamo band all the way through to his current jam which is helping B2B clients create engaging content for their audiences. He gives plenty of advice for how to stay creative in today's crazy internet climate, so don't sleep on this one!

Tracey Becca is a fabulous friend who does hilarious things out in the world. Her 'Terrible Advice' Instagram account has me in stitches on a regular basis. I'm very happy to be bringing her joy, warmth, and some of that funny bone onto the podcast and into your ears! As she says: "everything you want is attainable, the only limits that you have are the limits that you place on yourself".

Five-time Amazon best-selling author Shara Ruffin shares some of the most difficult times that she went through along her path to getting her licenses including 6-7 years of being a working mom with no transportation, failing her tests by mere points, and even losing 4 months of progress in Animal Crossing! She made it her mission to help social workers pass their Bachelor, Master, and Clinical Licensing exams with an astonishing 99% success rate. Now she provides inspiration, as well as mental health & social work test prep through her company Journey to Licensure.

My friend, and a breath of fresh air on LinkedIn, Chris Bogue stops by to say hello! Learn how he came into his own level of comfort after studying improv at Second City. He shares his struggles trying to fit as a non-square peg in a very square world, dealing with divorce, and lacking self-confidence. He's hilarious, genuine, and oh so great to have on the podcast!

Travis Chappell, who matches up podcast hosts & guests in his position as founder & CEO at Guestio.com. As a podcast host of the Build Your Network podcast, Travis has interviewed some superstar networkers like Shaquille O'Neal, Grant Cardone, John C. Maxwell and many more! Learn how Travis went from selling solar alarms door-to-door to owning his own seven-figure business as he progressed through his many attempts at 'making it' in his own entrepreneurial journey!

Are you a data head? Jordan Goldmeier is! We have a fantastic conversation that dips into everything from pushing Excel to the limit, failing in business, and becoming a digital nomad! He's a three-time author as well as a fellow Microsoft MVP. We also deep dive into Jordan's interesting tattoo of a hot dog which leads us to: What is the proper Chicago-style hot dog? Is Big Ketchup out to get Jordan? Are hot dogs a sandwich? Are hot dogs a taco? Are tacos a sandwich..? All these questions and more will be answered right here!!!

The voice & personality behind Deb's Den and former Playboy playmate & centerfold, Deborah Driggs shares her experiences on her journey to becoming a friend of failure, in acting, sales, and now in becoming an author! Her upcoming book, releasing later in 2022, 'Son of a Basque' comes directly from her grandfather and tells a story she's been dying to tell! Learn from her experiences getting rejected from audition to audition as well as experiencing quite a lot of struggle in her personal career and in the process of writing and publishing her first books!

Wendy Harris is an absolutely fabulous friend from across the pond. She hosts 'Making Conversations Count' which is a podcast that emphasizes creating long-lasting business relationships and she has loads of experience to back it up! A sales trainer and speaker with over 30 years of experience perfecting sales calls, she shares her insights into that world as well as follows me along the many meandering tangents that we discuss. I hope you enjoy the 'Queen of Conversation' as much as I did!

What started as a simple little obsession with Skittles has now brought Phillip Deason, aka k1ngrand0om on TikTok, to the tiny screens of millions of users! With over 110 million views and over half a million subscribers, the Royalty of Random has found some of his passion. But he's just getting started! While the conversation certainly does drift into randomness here and there, his insights into how to get seen on platforms like TikTok are super useful. I still have yet to record my first official TikTok, but I can only imagine I'll use a video from our discussion as a first attempt. Enjoy!

Co-Author of The Go-Giver, Bob Burg, shares his insights as to why you should think about giving more than getting. We discuss topics like being resistant to change, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and the importance of providing immense value to everyone you deal with. His book has forever changed how I think about business, and my hope is that many of you will benefit from the concepts in his book and podcast!

Have you ever known someone who just knew how to get almost anything done? Well, that's kind of Angelique Stidhum's bread & butter. She's a self-proclaimed Professional Rabbit Hole Hunter and she delights in deep diving into different subjects to quickly become knowledgeable in almost any field. I highly suggest you watch the video version of the podcast as it's the first one I have edited and released in its' entirety and definitely adds so much more to the podcast. Watch as Angelique and I crack up talking about the many different rabbit holes that we ourselves go down!

How comfortable are you with sharing your feelings? If you're like me, this might be an area you struggle in... David Wood's new book Mouse in the Room, has a wonderfully artful way of getting around this issue by starting a new mouse-naming revolution! His book aims to help you improve connection and confidence to help unlock your badass leadership skills! A former Consulting Actuary to Fortune 100 companies, David Wood left his cushy Park Avenue job 20 years ago to build the world's largest coaching business. He became #1 on Google for “life coaching,” serving an audience of 150,000 coaches, and coaching thousands of hours across 12 countries. David coaches business owners, executives, and sometimes Colorado prison inmates to produce extraordinary results through authentic, transparent communication.

New baby daddy Bret Shuford shares what it's like to be a new father as part of the 'Broadway Husbands'. He also talks about his struggles battling his own inner demons which eventually lead to a life of coaching others how to be their truest self on social media. Bret Shuford's Broadway credits include Wicked, Cirque Du Soleil's Paramour, Amazing Grace, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid! Hear about the darker side of Broadway's bright lights, and how deep his Disney obsession runs...

I'm so excited for you to meet Raj! Raj Subrameyer is a tech career strategist focusing on helping people to land their dream job and becoming successful leaders. He is bursting at the seams to help professionals discover their zone of genius. He has given multiple TEDx talks and is a sought-after speaker at various conferences and has been featured in numerous TV news segments, podcasts, and publications including CBS, FOX, NPR, NBC, and many more! Enjoy his failures on his way toward conquering his fear of public speaking, and how he turned that fear into fuel to get himself on TEDx!

I've been looking forward to chatting with Ved for such a long time. He's developed one of my favorite SAAS tools as of late, which is Lead Delta, a CRM for LinkedIn. Despite being on it for 15 years, I've only recently started really digging into it. Our conversation is equal parts insightful and juvenile. We talk entirely too long about Arnold Schwarzenegger, and not long enough about why Ved is so scared of hosting a new podcast with me. Enjoy!

Zen comes in many forms, some unexpected. That's certainly the case with Mark Reid, an American ex-pat living in Japan. Previously a lawyer in the States, he's given that up for a life of being a Japanese paper maker or some such nonsense. Listen in for a peek behind the scenes as he shares the misadventures that brought him to where he is today. Please welcome, Zen Sammich host Mark Reid!

The wonderfully warm and supportive Barbara Barna Abel joins in to give more insight into the wild world of casting. She's a legend in the category having been the casting director on Queer Eye, What Not to Wear, and Man v. Food. We discuss a wide variety of topics from coming into your own personal brand to the importance of meditation and being gentler with yourself. I'd highly recommend listening in as Barbara shares incredibly generously and with sometimes reckless abandon.

Pellegrino Riccardi joins me for a long journey down many meandering paths. He provides unique insight into the Will Smith & Chris Rock kerfuffle that honestly is a take I hadn't heard. We also discuss the difficulties of communicating across cultural barriers, how hard it is to write a book even when you know you should, and much more! Check out his book 'Drowning Quietly: Memoir of a Man's Shortcomings' which I cannot wait to listen to when he records the audiobook (which he promised he would do). Warning: there is a decent amount of foul language...

ADHD coach extraordinaire Damon Manley has a deep desire to help others overcome their inner & outer struggles with ADHD. Throughout our time on the show, he talks about some of his failures and successes which include losing his engagement ring during the proposal, ascending from 400 Instagram followers to 27,000 in less than 6 months, his dashed dreams of being a basketball player, and his ambitious goal of planning to give away $50K in 2023 despite making a small fraction of that so far in his business. Wishing you all the best, Damon!

The most important person in my life is finally on my podcast! To celebrate March as MS Awareness Month (just a hair late), I've finally edited what has been 6 different phone calls with my Nana into one podcast episode that really shows off just how much life you can pack into 90 years. I call her every Sunday, but honestly, these calls where she had to tell her own life stories were so illuminating for me that I feel like I've been given a gift I didn't know was already there. Listen to her recount her life-long battle with MS. In addition, we also tackle semi-random topics like the transition from radio to black & white TV, my grandfather's rejection of Alexander Graham Bell, and even how the Boston Strangler made it harder for my Nana to collect donations for the MS organization she founded with her friend. I hope you enjoy her as much as I do (which, let's be honest, isn't possible). Thanks, Nana!

Have you ever been so inspired by someone that you walked away feeling like you owed them something? I feel that way every time I chat with Tom Langan, owner & founder of Talex Media. He's logged over 40,000 hours professionally behind the camera lens, and you'd do well to listen to the whole episode if you want to learn all the great insights he has to share. Special thanks to Dominick Domaski (episode 32) for the introduction!

Troy Holt, Chief Encouragement Officer of Troy Holt Consulting LLC shares intimate stories about working to spread financial literacy, and also lets us in on fabulous insights regarding failure: "Failure is an event, but if you get in a spirit of defeat, you'll give up, and you quit. Failure doesn't mean that a person is a failure, it just means that something didn't work out, they didn't have success, but they can get up and move forward." He shares a lesson I had to learn the hard way as well, but it's a lesson that is incredibly important: "You learn more in the valleys than on the mountaintops. When you're on the mountaintops, everybody wants you, and they're your friends, but when you're in the valleys, your low places, in the failures, that's when you have your true friends. They'll be with you when you're up or when you're down, and so just remember those that stick with you... don't forget those people when you get to the top!"

Emmy-winning Casting, Brand & Talent Development legend Vinnie Potestivo shares just how difficult show business can be. He discusses many hilarious and insightful stories about his career including his time at MTV Networks where, as producer, he helped to launch shows like Punk'd and The Osbournes. In addition, he also helped cast for shows like TRL, The Tom Green Show, Pimp My Ride and many more! I love his outlook on failure: "When you prepare for failure, it sets you up to win epically or fail collectively. If you're failing really really big, and you're the only person who's failing, you did it wrong. But if you're failing with a group of people, that's learning! That's relationship building and pioneering."

Author Bobby Shanks sheds light on the dating dilemma facing many singles today. His book 'Undateable' details why singles struggle with dating and what they can do about it! For this Valentine's Day episode, I figured I'd show the single people some love, and let Bobby help you graduate to the next level and rid yourself of any undateable tendencies you think you might have! He reminds us that "reciprocation is something that all human beings desire", and how important it is for any healthy relationship.

The Burgh Blonde April Marie gives a delightfully funny look into her hilariously awful date stories that she compiled for her recently released book 'Burgh Blonde: A Yinzer's Guide to Sex & Dating in the Steel City'. As she explains in the episode, she's actually learned some pretty important insights... "Things changed once I started forgiving people and trying to look on the bright side of things. You can't go around with bitterness in your heart. The sh***y things that happen in your life, it's to teach you something. Once you see that, you can grow from it and learn from your failures." - April Marie

Sexual empowerment coach Erica Wiederlight shines her not-so-wee light on the podcast as she courageously shares her story of evolving from a teenager riddled with anxiety to an adult sex & life coach likely still riddled with anxiety haha. Kicking off the Valentine's month of some love-related guests, Erica makes me laugh more than usual and shows just how fun & easy-going our own sexual and relationship journey can be.

The host of the Causing the Effect podcast, Scott Gazzoli, is definitely on my failure wavelength. He dives deep and shares readily with not only his more troubling times as he found his career path but also what he's learned to help better ground yourself during tough times. As he says in the episode, "be ready for the failures to get thrown in your face, because that is where your growth lies..." We also get into meandering discussions of addiction, past mistakes, and even discuss the greatest pro wrestler there ever wasn't: The Great Scott!

Doug Crowe is certainly a friend of failure and walks us through his most difficult moments on his path to success. His story includes losing a multi-million dollar business, nearly committing suicide, and reinventing himself with the help of an old 'friend'. We also meander through subjects including the future of AI and how he uses his motivational techniques to be a sort of "Author Whisperer" helping those with a story extract it and bring the best version of it to the world!

The one and only Carole Baskin joins me to talk about the latest updates on her ongoing effort to save Big Cats! She shares her insights on why it's so important to act now if we want to make sure Tigers are still here in the near future. She also sheds some light on the difficulties and disappointment related to how Tiger King ended up compared to how it was pitched. And we even get into what's next for her including NFTs, crypto and other ways in which we can utilize technology to help save the tigers!

The founders of BluWave Wellbeing are basically best friends and business partners! Lisa Thompson and Libby Rapin are trying to help remove the stigma about mental health, especially in the workplace. They're trying to get companies to take mental health & awareness services much more seriously. In these uncertain days, it's even more important than ever to make sure your inner self is in order so that your outer self can succeed!