Podcasts about Growth

Sitting with one of the most interesting and energized leaders in football, Liam Coen chops it up with the fellas during training camp for an honest conversation about his rise through the coaching ranks, the people who shaped him, and the lessons he's carrying into his second year in Jacksonville. Taking a 4-13 team to 13-4 in his first year as head coach is quite the feat but it also comes with high expectations in year two. Coen opens up on his approach, how he plans to capitalize on veteran talent and utilize young playmakers in every game-plan.  Coen takes us through the viral moments of his first year, on and off the field, and gives us an inside look into his journey from college football to the NFL, the success he found in Tampa Bay working with Baker Mayfield, and the impact of learning under Sean McVay. He opens up about his coaching philosophy, the evolution of his career, the one regret that haunts him still and how those experiences have prepared him for his opportunity to lead the Jaguars. He also gets personal, talking about his close relationship with his dad, the role family has played throughout his journey, and the sacrifices behind becoming an NFL head coach. With Trevor Lawrence and a young Jaguars team entering a pivotal season, Coen discusses his expectations, the identity he wants to build, what he sees in his team, and what it will take to take the team to the next level. A conversation about the journey, family, mentorship, leadership, and the pressure and opportunity that comes with building something from the ground up.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Growing often means becoming someone new, but not by rejecting who you used to be. Sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is acknowledge that the habits we're letting go of once protected us, even if they no longer serve us today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who gets a front row seat in your life? Not who you post about. Not who you have known the longest. The people who actually sit closest to you, who shape the way you think, the way you love, the way you show up in the world, whether you have chosen them consciously or not. Most of us are living with an audience we never actually auditioned. And that audience is writing the story of our confidence, our health, our relationships, our business, before we even realise the pen is in their hand.Growth is not just an inner shift. It is a social one. The moment you start becoming someone new, some relationships will stretch to meet you and some will not, and both of those things can be true without either person being wrong. This conversation is about learning to tell the difference between a season ending and a person leaving. It is about the radical, unselfish act of loving yourself first, so the home you build and the people you hold can feel it too.Head to www.melissaambrosini.com/707 for the show notes.Get on my email list: www.melissaambrosini.com/newsletterGet my FREE ZenTone Meditation: www.melissaambrosini.com/zentoneFollow me on Instagram: @melissaambrosini Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When small manufacturers hit a growth ceiling, the problem usually isn't the product, it's the constant firefighting, isolation, and lack of structured strategy. Strategic thinking, leadership development, and smart capacity planning often get pushed aside in favor of “just getting through the week.” Today's guest, Brian Becker of Becker Growth Strategy and program director of the Manufacturing Accelerator Program (MAP), helps small manufacturers escape that reactive mode and build organizations that are designed to scale on purpose, not by accident. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, Brian shares how MAP, a tuition-free, national, virtual executive education program gives small U.S.-based manufacturers the tools, peer community, and strategic frameworks they need to grow. He explains why founders often feel alone on an “island,” and how curated cohorts, breakout rooms, and cross-industry conversations (including everything from biotech to feral pig trapping to chocolatiers) create mastermind-style support that changes how owners think and lead. Brian dives into focus and execution as the real differentiators between businesses that plateau and those that expand. He walks through his “future casting” exercise, where owners imagine their ideal business five years from now with smooth operations, predictable revenue, strong team, and then reverse engineer the concrete steps to get there. From figuring out whether you truly have a sales problem or a capacity problem, to deciding whether to chase that dream big-box retail contract, Brian shows how clarity leads to better decisions.He also breaks down a practical task triage system what only you can do, what you can delegate, and what you should only touch on your worst day along with a powerful sports analogy of running a business like a soccer team: you can't play offense (big growth goals) if your defense (operations, fulfillment, and retention) isn't solid. For manufacturers eyeing larger enterprise customers, Brian shares the risks of overreaching too soon and how to ramp capacity intelligently so big opportunities don't become “career killers.” Beyond operations, Brian tackles workforce development and the talent gap in U.S. manufacturing, especially among younger workers. He explains how reframing roles around STEM, robotics, complex problem solving, and hands-on challenges can make manufacturing careers more attractive to the next generation, and how MAP is bringing in workforce experts to help owners rethink how they present and structure these jobs.Throughout the conversation, Brian emphasizes that no one is coming to save your business, but the right questions, the right community, and a willingness to invest time in your own growth can completely shift your trajectory. He shares hard-won lessons from his background in education, nonprofit fundraising, and as COO of Well Found Foods during COVID, plus life advice from his football days: “You said you wanted to be one. This is what being one means.” https://youtu.be/moRBOQXR_ck?si=TNRP9_l6sWXZnqpJ If you're a small manufacturer (or any small business owner) who feels stuck in the weeds, struggling to scale, or unsure whether to double down on sales or build capacity first, this episode will give you concrete mental models, frameworks, and next steps. Tune in to learn how to think more strategically, delegate more effectively, build your peer network, and grow a manufacturing business that doesn't depend on you doing everything yourself. Quotes: “Business owners oftentimes can fall into the trap of worrying about everything else except for the strategic growth of the business.” “Every single business is different, and most importantly, it's because of you and the other people in the business; there's no one-size-fits-all solution.” “For most business owners, they need to invest in themselves, and the sooner they can understand that no one is coming to save them,

Intermittent fasting and periodic prolonged fasting may be among the most beneficial things you can do for your health. Discover the benefits of fasting, the best intermittent fasting patterns, how to break a fast, and what happens to your body when you fast.0:00 Prolonged fasting 1:35 Intermittent fasting2:44 Benefits of fasting3:35 Ketones and fat burning4:17 Growth hormone 4:30 Extended fasting benefits 4:55 16:8 fasting and other fasting patterns5:27 Spermidine 5:52 Refeeding after a fast6:07 Fasting and stem cells6:30 How to break a fast6:54 Meal timing and insulin resistance 8:26 Fasting and menstrual cycles 9:02 Fasting and menopause 9:39 Fasting and PCOS 10:29 Prolonged fasting and testosterone11:17 Should I exercise while fasting?

Throwbacks are where I re-release old episodes from the archives. So don't worry if you have heard it already, as 'New episodes' will continue to come out on Sundays. To get some of the old episodes heard.~~~Our guest tonight is Nancy in Mississippi, sharing her experiences of being a lifelong contactee, as she explores her complex relationship with higher dimensional beings, and her quest for personal growth and spiritual understanding throughout her life. More information on this episode on the podcast website:https://ufochroniclespodcast.com/ep-267-you-already-know/Want to share your encounter on the show?Email: UFOChronicles@gmail.comOr Fill out Guest Form:https://forms.gle/uGQ8PTVRkcjy4nxS7Podcast Merchandise:https://www.teepublic.com/user/ufo-chronicles-podcastHelp Support UFO CHRONICLES by becoming a Patron:https://patreon.com/UFOChroniclespodcastX: https://x.com/UFOchronpodcastThank you for listening!Like share and subscribe it really helps me when people share the show on social media, it means we can reach more people and more witnesses and without your amazing support, it wouldn't be possible.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ufo-chronicles-podcast--3395068/support.

AGENDA: 05:00 Canva's Growth Gets Slashed as AI Costs Explode 20:00 The Great Software Reset: Why 2026 Will Punish AI Hesitancy 29:00 Canva's Valuation Reality Check—and the LP Liquidity Trap 35:00 Google's AI Brain Drain: Jeff Dean Leaves, Demis Steps Back 43:00 Why Google Can't Afford to Cure Alzheimer's 50:00 The Data-Centre Revolt: Can AI Survive the Political Backlash? 55:00 Elon Musk's $55BN Terrafab Bet to Break Free from TSMC 57:00 Revolut's $50BN CEO Pay Package—and the Return of Founder Control 01:13 AI Shopping, Atlassian's Revival, and Airtable's Brutal Sale Reality  

On this episode of Spaghetti on the Wall, Luis Scott—attorney, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and founder of Eight Figure Firm Consulting—shares what it really takes to build predictable, scalable growth. Drawing from his experience leading a multi-eight-figure firm and helping 35 law firms reach eight figures in predictable revenue, Luis discusses business systems, leadership, marketing momentum, hiring, accountability, and knowing when to persist versus when to pivot.Connect with Luis ScottInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/luisscottjr YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@luisscottjr Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Luis-Scott-Jr/61574208983141/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luisscott10 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisscottjrWebsite: https://www.8figurefirm.com/about-us/

Book Alan's Business Breakthrough Session. Your first 30-minute coaching call is FREE. Learn how to prioritize success and let your quality of life become the byproduct. - https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-breakthrough-sessionFitness is forever, it's a lifestyle. Join the Next Level Fitness Accountability Group. Reach out to Kevin or Alan on Instagram:Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/_______________________What if your current results are not a mystery, but a record of the choices you have repeated? In today's episode, Kevin and Alan clarify why your health, mindset, relationships, and finances are shaped by more than one big decision. They are built through the small actions you repeat when no one is watching. The conversation focuses on cause and effect, personal responsibility, and the difference between worrying about what you cannot control and improving what you can.You will hear why progress often feels slow, why many people mistake consistency for luck, and how honest self-awareness can help you change direction before the consequences become harder to ignore. This episode offers a direct framework for assessing your habits, owning your patterns, and building results that hold up over time._______________________NLU is more than a podcast. From the Next Level Dreamliner to Group Coaching, we provide tools and communities to help you grow with more clarity, consistency, and accountability.Visit our website and socials through the links below.

In this episode of the Independent Dealer Podcast, Jeff Watson and Luke Godwin check in with Garrett Jones of Ella Boulevard Motors in Houston, Texas — a second-generation dealer who took over a 1940s gas station doing 8 to 10 cars a month and has quietly grown it to 300-plus accounts while navigating a DMS switch, a new payment processor, a building remodel, a reinsurance upgrade, and an RFC — all in roughly the same 18-month window. This is what growing pains actually look like when a dealer is doing it right.What You'll Learn:Why Garrett switched from a Texas-based DMS he'd used for years to Automasters — and what finally pushed him over the edge after fighting the decision for monthsHow a $15,000 exterior remodel on a 1940s inner-city Houston gas station changed the way customers showed up — and why BHPH buyers care more about a clean, welcoming lot than most dealers thinkWhy Garrett launched an RFC despite Luke telling him not to — and the honest conversation about when kicking the tax can down the road makes sense and when it doesn'tHow Garrett manages a 15 to 18 percent leverage ratio on a real estate-backed line of credit — and why the type of line you have completely changes how aggressively you should use itWhy Garrett keeps his ACV under $6,500, targets Toyotas, Hondas, and Fords at 130,000 miles, and averages $1,900 to $2,000 in down payments — and why discipline on those numbers is what funds the reinsurance accountThe threshold Luke says every buy here pay here dealer needs to hit before they stop owning a job and start owning a business — and why 40 to 50 sales a month or 500 accounts is the number that changes everythingWhy Garrett went from a 3-and-3 warranty to a 6-and-6 — and the honest debate about whether a 12-and-12 or 24-and-24 makes sense when your ACV is under $6,000If you are a buy here pay here dealer in the thick of modernizing your operation — new systems, new vendors, new growth targets, and not enough cash flow to do all of it at once — Garrett's story is the most honest version of what that actually looks like from the inside.Support the businesses that support the podcast:Buckeye Risk Services - Reinsurance and wealth strategies for independent dealers.https://theindependentdealer.com/buckeyeBlytz - BHPH payment processing with fast funding and text-to-pay.https://theindependentdealer.com/blytzpayIturan GPS - Asset protection and customer management for BHPH and retail dealers.https://theindependentdealer.com/ituranFollow & Connect:Website: www.theindependentdealer.comFacebook Group: @independentautogroupLuke Godwin: @lukegodwinJeff Watson: /sendtojeffwLike, subscribe, and share this with a dealer who needs to hear it.

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In this episode of Topline Spotlight, Sam Jacobs sits down with Snehal Nimje, co-founder and CEO of Outdoo, to talk about one of the hardest calls an early-stage founder can make: narrowing focus when leads are coming in. Snehal breaks down how Outdoo went from trying to serve every mid-market and enterprise buyer to getting much more specific about where the product was truly essential. They get into why usage dropped, what customer conversations revealed, how the team handled the internal shift, and what changed once they focused on insurance and finance use cases where compliance and ramp speed mattered most. They also talk about: - Why enterprise readiness starts with architecture, compliance, and security - How to tell the difference between interest and real traction - What founders miss when they chase every lead - Where defensibility really comes from in AI Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:46 Meet Snehal Nimje and Outdoo 04:55 Why selling to everyone nearly derailed the business 06:51 Finding the customers who truly need your product 08:54 The hard decision to narrow their ICP 11:00 How focus accelerated enterprise growth 13:09 Advice for founders struggling to find product-market fit 15:36 What creates a moat in the AI era? 17:13 Why workflow—not AI models—is the real competitive advantage 18:51 Snehal's biggest business inspiration 19:38 Where to find Snehal and Outdoo Try Outdoo: outdoo.ai If you're building an early-stage company and trying to find traction without turning your product into a Frankenstein, this one's worth your time. Subscribe for more founder stories, operator lessons, and go-to-market conversations from Topline.

In this episode we sat down with the creator of 8103 Clothing, 904 Pop Up and 904 Lemonade, Mark Braddock, for an incredible part 2 conversation. We discussed everything from the new "bonus tents" at the 904 Pop Up to his mission to inspire the youth through sharing his story and keeping his brothers legacy alive. Tons of free game, funny moments and wild stories in this one you don't want to miss!Follow 8103: @8103clothingFollow 904 Pop Up: @904popupFollow 904 Lemonade: @904lemonadeSPONSORS: Olive My Pickle - olivemypickle.com promo code: "OGSP" for 10% offSPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES: boldcitymediagroup@gmail.comSHOP: ogsessions.comFOLLOW US:Instagram - @ogsessionspodX - @ogsessionspodTikTok: @ogsessions

Patrick Larkin, Partner & Practice Leader, Cerity Partners Three years after launching his independent RIA, Patrick Larkin merged with Cerity Partners—but not because that was the original plan. He explains how ownership changed the way he viewed enterprise value, optionality, and the future of his business. In Summary Going independent is often viewed as the destination. Patrick Larkin discovered it was just the beginning. Louis sits down with Patrick, Partner and Practice Leader at Cerity Partners and former founder of Oak Hill Wealth Advisors, to discuss an unconventional journey: leaving Wells Fargo to build an independent RIA, then choosing to merge that business just three years later. Rather than following a predetermined exit strategy, Patrick shares how ownership fundamentally changed the way he thought about enterprise value. A conversation with a prospective acquirer revealed that buyers weren't interested in purchasing a book of business—they were looking for a business. That realization reshaped how he invested, hired, delegated, and ultimately positioned his firm for the future. The conversation from our Build Grow & Transact series also offers a candid look at life after a merger, from evaluating cultural fit and partnership to balancing autonomy with the resources of a larger organization. More broadly, it illustrates how ownership creates optionality—and why the most valuable decision an advisor makes may not be the one they originally envisioned. The Storyline After spending nearly 15 years building a successful practice at AG Edwards, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo, Patrick Larkin launched Oak Hill Wealth Advisors in 2022 with a simple objective: build a business on his own terms. Like many advisors, he expected independence to be the final destination for a long time. But then there was the realization that ownership changes more than economics; it changes perspective. And it became the beginning of an entirely different way of thinking. As acquisition inquiries arrived sooner than expected, Patrick realized something that fundamentally changed his strategy. Sophisticated buyers weren't evaluating his client relationships as a book of business; they were evaluating Oak Hill as an enterprise. That insight shifted his priorities from maximizing short-term profitability to building a business that could thrive beyond its founder. Just three years after launching, Patrick chose to merge with Cerity Partners—not because he was looking for an exit, but because he believed it strengthened the future for his clients, his team, and his family. Louis and Patrick explore what led to that decision, how ownership increased the value of his business almost immediately, why he compares independence to an IPO, and what advisors should consider if they hope to create options for the future—even if they don't yet know what that future looks like. Topics Covered Building enterprise value versus maximizing annual income Creating optionality through ownership Leaving Wells Fargo to launch an independent RIA Why buyers value businesses more than books of business Evaluating strategic partners and acquisition opportunities The economics of independence and business valuation Life after merging with Cerity Partners Balancing autonomy with enterprise-scale resources Leadership, succession, and building beyond the founder Long-term ownership and partnership models > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why did Patrick decide to leave Wells Fargo? (11:07) Patrick explains why growing frustrations around control, firm priorities, and the ability to build his business eventually outweighed the comfort of staying put. How did going independent immediately change the value of his business? (21:42) Patrick introduces one of the episode's biggest ideas: why launching Oak Hill felt like taking a company public and how ownership increased the firm's value almost overnight. Why did Patrick sell only three years after becoming independent? (20:03) An unexpected conversation with a prospective acquirer completely changed how he viewed enterprise value and accelerated his long-term thinking. What separates a business from a book of business? (21:42) Patrick discusses why recruiting advisors, delegating client relationships, and investing beyond himself made Oak Hill more attractive to strategic buyers. Why Cerity Partners? (26:48) Rather than focusing on valuation, Cerity emphasized culture, partnership, and long-term alignment—qualities Patrick says ultimately mattered most. What is life actually like after a merger? (37:57) Patrick offers an unusually candid perspective on autonomy, leadership, and why he says he hasn't second-guessed the decision once. Key Takeaways Ownership creates opportunities that often aren't visible until after independence. Enterprise value is built by creating a business that can thrive beyond its founder. The first acquisition conversation can be valuable even if no transaction occurs. Cultural alignment may ultimately matter more than valuation when selecting a long-term partner. Independence doesn't eliminate future options—it expands them. Strategic transactions can strengthen outcomes for clients, employees, and owners simultaneously. The goal isn't simply to own a business; it's to create choices for what comes next. https://youtu.be/f7FGLGjBbyo Quotable Moments “The day Oak Hill launched felt like the business had gone public.” “Potential acquirers weren't interested in buying a book. They were interested in buying a business.” “Ownership isn't simply about control. It's about creating optionality.” “The fear of leaving is almost always worse than the actual experience of leaving.” FAQs Why did Patrick Larkin merge with Cerity Partners only three years after launching his RIA? Patrick explains that independence changed how he viewed enterprise value. After learning what sophisticated buyers were actually looking for, he intentionally built Oak Hill as a business rather than simply managing for annual profitability. Why does Patrick compare independence to an IPO? Because ownership immediately transformed the economic value of his practice. Rather than participating in an internal succession model, he owned an independent enterprise that carried substantially greater market value. What changed after Patrick became independent? Beyond gaining control, he began making decisions through the lens of enterprise value—investing in advisors, systems, and infrastructure that would make the business less dependent on him personally. What made Cerity Partners stand out? Patrick cites the firm's culture, partnership model, meritocracy, long-term vision, and ability to combine local autonomy with enterprise-level capabilities. Is this episode only relevant for advisors considering selling? No. The broader lesson is that ownership creates flexibility. Whether an advisor ultimately remains independent or joins another organization, understanding how enterprise value is created can influence decisions from day one. What is the biggest lesson Patrick hopes advisors take away? That independence isn't simply about leaving a firm. It's about creating the ability to choose what comes next on your own terms. Patrick explains that independence changed how he viewed enterprise value. After learning what sophisticated buyers were actually looking for, he intentionally built Oak Hill as a business rather than simply managing for annual profitability. Because ownership immediately transformed the economic value of his practice. Rather than participating in an internal succession model, he owned an independent enterprise that carried substantially greater market value. Beyond gaining control, he began making decisions through the lens of enterprise value—investing in advisors, systems, and infrastructure that would make the business less dependent on him personally. Patrick cites the firm's culture, partnership model, meritocracy, long-term vision, and ability to combine local autonomy with enterprise-level capabilities. No. The broader lesson is that ownership creates flexibility. Whether an advisor ultimately remains independent or joins another organization, understanding how enterprise value is created can influence decisions from day one. That independence isn't simply about leaving a firm. It's about creating the ability to choose what comes next on your own terms. Related Resources From Start-Up to $31B Behemoth RIA: The Catalysts Behind the Growth of Mega-Firm Cerity Partners Ownership Matters: What Advisors Need to Know When Evaluating Firms Top Tips for Setting Your Business Up for Success Years Before a Move Patrick LarkinPartner and Practice Leader Patrick is a Partner and Practice Leader in the Lansdowne, VA office. He is a member of the Lansdowne Practice, where he works closely with families, foundations, and non-profits to help them define and achieve their financial goals with clarity and confidence. With a deep specialization in retirement income distribution planning and complex risk and wealth management strategies, Patrick is known for helping clients simplify complicated financial decisions, reduce uncertainty, and build sustainable, long-term plans. His approach emphasizes fiduciary responsibility, transparency, and personalized guidance — ensuring clients always feel informed and empowered. Prior to joining Cerity Partners, Patrick was the founding member of Oak Hill Wealth Advisors, where he built a highly respected independent advisory practice that earned the trust of families, professionals, and mission-driven organizations across the region. His leadership was instrumental in shaping a client-first culture that continues today. Patrick's work is rooted in a passion for long-term relationships — guiding clients not just through markets, but through life's milestones such as retirement, business transitions, philanthropic planning, and wealth transfer across generations. He takes pride in being both a strategic advisor and a steady partner to the people he serves. Patrick lives in Bluemont, VA, with his wife Angela, their two children, Paige and Sean, and their Golden Retrievers, Huckleberry and Genoa. Outside of the office, Patrick and his family enjoy an active lifestyle — whether it's hiking and backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, biking the Great Allegheny Passage, or sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. These experiences reflect his belief in balance, resilience, and enjoying the journey — values he also brings to his work with clients. NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. View the transcript of this episode… Build, Grow & Transact: From Breakaway to Transaction in 3 Years A conversation with Louis Diamond and Patrick Larkin, Partner & Practice Leader at Cerity Partners.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: From Breakaway to Transaction in 3 Years. It’s a conversation with Patrick Larkin, Partner and Practice Leader at Cerity Partners. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is The Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education-driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning, data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: Ownership as a way of creating opportunities you can’t always predict. That’s exactly why we created our Build, Grow, and Transact series. Independence isn’t the end of the story. It’s often the beginning of thinking differently about enterprise value, optionality, and what comes next. Today’s guest is Patrick Larkin, Partner and Practice Leader at Cerity Partners, and formerly the founder of Oak Hill Wealth Advisors. Patrick spent nearly 15 years building a successful practice at A.G. Edwards, Wachovia, and eventually Wells Fargo before launching his own independent firm in 2022. Just three years later, he merged that firm into Cerity. At first glance, that timeline might seem surprisingly short, but as you’ll hear, the merger wasn’t a change in direction. It was the result of seeing his business differently once he owned it. Yet, it’s this perspective that really brings that thought home. Patrick said the day Oak Hill launched felt like the business had gone public because overnight, what had been viewed as a book of business became an enterprise with substantially greater value, some four to five times the value of what it was worth at Wells. And that realization changed the way he invested, the way he hired, and ultimately the way he thought about the future. Pat and I also talk about something advisors don’t often discuss candidly, what life actually looks like after a merger. How much control do you give up? What changes day to day? How do you know whether you’re joining a partner or simply selling a business? Whether your long-term plan is to remain independent forever or eventually join a larger organization, Patrick’s experience is a reminder that ownership isn’t simply about control. It’s about creating optionality and putting yourself in a position where the next decision is yours to make. So let’s get to it. Patrick, thanks for coming on our show today. Patrick Larkin: Oh, my pleasure. Nice to meet you, Louis. Louis Diamond: You too. So let’s start off basically how we start every interview. Tell us about yourself, your background, and how you found your way into our industry in the first place. Patrick Larkin: Yeah, thank you for asking. I knew I always wanted to be a financial advisor. That part really wasn’t in question, but upon graduating college and being a 22-year-old, I knew that it was probably not practical to walk in and start advising people my parents’ age with their life savings. Probably wasn’t going to be a recipe for success. So I took a quick tour through the pharmaceutical industry first, which ended up being unexpectedly valuable. My employers there pushed me to think like an entrepreneur and within our territories. And honestly, that mindset never left me. It shaped how I built everything that came after. Eventually, an opportunity presented itself in Loudoun County, Virginia in Northern Virginia, and I became an FA trainee with A.G. Edwards, absolutely fantastic firm to start my career. Now, what drew me to this career was pretty simple. I felt like it was one of the professions that we had an opportunity to do so much good for others while simultaneously also doing well for yourself, and those two things aren’t in conflict. I also really loved the idea that in this profession there was no hiding. You don’t get paid to show up. You get paid for what you actually do. And perhaps for me, what was most important, I loved the weight of responsibility. I loved earning people’s trust. I loved the idea of deserving, being deserving of their trust, and being a steward of what they’ve worked a lifetime to build. I never took that lightly, and I still don’t. Louis Diamond: That’s amazing. Yeah, I mean, the number of people I’ve heard, you talked so fondly about A.G. Edwards and there’s a bunch of other firms that have since been absorbed or emerged that are like the regional firms of old. So not surprised to hear you loved it. A.G. Edwards, obviously, became Wells Fargo Advisors or was acquired or merged with Wells Fargo. So I know you’re at Wells and A.G. Edwards until 2022. So give us a quick version. How’d you build your practice from the pharma world into being in FA? Patrick Larkin: Yeah, so as I started with A.G. Edwards, I came in at really just the perfect time. It was towards the end of the financial crisis. And I built the business the old-fashioned way with a lot of cold calling and eventually did some dinner seminars, which I can tell you is a very expensive way to learn how to speak in front of a room. But I made some progress, and I was also in a great office, small enough that some of the advisors there would hand off some of the smaller accounts that they weren’t interested in working with, and got an opportunity to get a lot of reps in working with real life clients and individuals. I knew early on I didn’t have enough talent to win on talent alone, so I made up for it and compensated for that with really hard work. The real turning point came for me when A.G. Edwards was first acquired by Wachovia Securities, and that was about five years into my career. And at that point, my branch manager, who was eyeing retirement, asked me to step in as her partner, and that changed everything. We eventually moved over to a Wachovia Securities office, another really great local office in Loudoun County, Virginia. And from that office, I worked on and became a CIMA, a CFP, worked with the clients, built a business through referrals. And I found at that point in my career when I would go to a meeting with Wachovia, eventually Wells Fargo, as a young 30-year-old, I would look around the room often and realize that I was the youngest person in the room. The funny thing was 10 years later, I would go into that same room and I’d look around and I still was the youngest guy in that room. And those demographics in our industry, and when I came into our industry, ultimately led that office that I worked in with Wells Fargo Advisors, I eventually was the recipient and party to five different succession plans- Louis Diamond: Wow. Patrick Larkin: … at Wells Fargo Advisors. I hoped that I had built a reputation as somebody that these other advisors would entrust with their clients. And over that time period, really, I would say professionally, one of my accomplishments I’m most proud of is all five of those retired advisors that I used to work with, who had an opportunity to see me work with clients, all became clients of mine, I still continue to work with. And it’s professionally just one of the greatest honors that I’ve ever had. Louis Diamond: I mean, that’s a large number of advisors you helped sunset, but I would agree it’s the ultimate proof of concept that they not only trusted you with their clients and their life’s work, but now also with their family’s wealth. So I like that, kind of the full life cycle there. So I’m curious, though, you stayed at Wells through a really turbulent time through the fake bank scandal. There’s a lot of attrition. I mean, obviously, they’re still a powerhouse to this day, but what kept you at Wells for as long as it did before you left in 2022? Patrick Larkin: You described it as a turbulent time. Pretty turbulent might be an understatement. Even before Wells, the transition to Wells, Wachovia Bank had been the first company that we transitioned to from A.G. Edwards. And we, of course, went through the financial crisis during that time period and handholding our clients and helping them get through that time period and dealing with concerns that we shouldn’t really have to be prepared with. “Is my money safe? It’s not what’s happening to the market, but is my money safe in your institution?” But once things stabilized, I found real purpose in partnering with some of the retiring advisors and opportunities that came up. It was a really wonderful climate and atmosphere in our local office. It was really a family-like atmosphere, and I still had a lot to learn. And all those advisors that I partnered with, I’ve joked I’ve never had an original idea in my entire life. I stole all my good ideas from them. And some of them were really ahead of their time, and I learned, adopted, and built my own philosophies by working closely with them. Ultimately, by the time I left Wells Fargo, I was finishing up the fifth sunset program and had only made my way halfway through the sunset before the opportunity presented itself to create my own practice. Louis Diamond: So I’m curious, when did you first seriously start thinking about leaving and what really tipped the scales for you? What was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back? Patrick Larkin: Yeah, it really was a number of small items and ultimately one big one. But for a long time, I’d been content, but as I tried to grow the business beyond what I could do individually, I felt like I kept running into walls. There were it felt like limitations on how I could build out my team and structure the practice the way I envisioned it. Additionally, there were some new policies that also started to bother me. One of them was the platform advisory fee, which in my eyes was less about client transparency and more about replacing a declining revenue source on the firm’s balance sheet. And after dealing with clients and helping them through the bank scandal at the firm, I was concerned that this would come back and hurt me and the relationships that I had with my clients. Incidentally, I just recently onboarded a new client that transferred to us. And for them, looking at their statement, identifying this platform advisory fee- Louis Diamond: Oh boy. Patrick Larkin: … was the last straw for them before they moved about 15 million of assets to us. Also, I thought I would be I would be a better allocator of resources than Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo retained about half of the revenue that I earned for the business. They seemed to think that the best allocation of that money was additional middle management. Whereas, I thought investment in technology, investment in additional personnel, and an investment in marketing were best places to continue to build out my vision. The final straw, and really a thing that crystallized everything for me was when I read a book in 2021 called The Infinite Game, a book written by Simon Sinek. Chapter eight, the title is Ethical Fading. And it uses the Wells Fargo bank scandal as a case study in what happens when a firm loses its moral compass. I read the chapter and thought, “There it is, I have to do something.” That was really the final push I needed. I mentioned earlier I was very fortunate to start my career with a company called A.G. Edwards, a regional brokerage firm. And while I was at A.G. Edwards, there was a research report that came out on A.G. Edwards as a company. And I’m going to paraphrase a little bit on what was said in that report, but ultimately there was a line in there, and it was a criticism, but I took it as a huge positive as being an employee there. The line said, “While management does not necessarily say it, we believe the client is put ahead of the shareholder.” And that was something I was very proud of. And I just, upon reflecting on it, felt confident those were words that I never was going to see go to print about Wells Fargo. Louis Diamond: So you left Wells in 2022 and founded Oak Hill Wealth Partners in Lansdowne, Virginia. Walk us through that decision. Why go independent rather than going to another firm? Patrick Larkin: I really thought moving to another firm, the things that I had grown frustrated with at Wells Fargo Advisors, I would also find at another wirehouse firm. I was ready, and honestly, the simple answer is I thought I could do better. And I wanted control after having what I felt like was very little control. I had grown frustrated with others making important decisions, and I wanted an opportunity to grab the reins and make decisions on my own. I believe at that time, the future of wealth management was going to be built around fiduciary advice, and I didn’t want to watch that from the sidelines anymore. I was watching what was happening in the industry. And as we were trying to hire new advisors, reaching out to college graduates who were studying CFP programs, identified that they were more inclined to want to start employment with an RIA than a wirehouse. What made the timing work really well was Wells Fargo had actually introduced a program to help advisors in the private client group spin off and establish their own RIAs. Now, whenever I tell this to another advisor, particularly ones that are wirehouses, they can’t understand it. And quite frankly, I don’t understand why they helped us do it, but we were about the 30th practice that they helped us through this process and they provided real support. They hired consultants, made vendor recommendations, even referrals to financing so I could pay off my last succession plan before I left. The only really upside for Wells Fargo was that the ask was that we continue to use First Clearing as the custodian. And one of the downsides for me was I was going to leave all of my deferred comp behind with Wells Fargo. Now, all clients had to do to join me was sign a positive consent. And on May 9th, 2020, we turned on our computers in our new office and our clients were already there. That same day, we launched and started a relationship with Charles Schwab. And it was so exciting to be able to start shopping for what I thought was the best FinTech, really feeling like I was stuck with proprietary tools that Wells Fargo advisors had offered. I felt like I was a kid in a candy store. And if there was a cool tool that I identified that would help us serve our clients better, I was all in and I was buying it. I really feel that some of the technology that Oak Hill eventually bought into and some of the tools we’re using now are going to take years and years before they eventually trickle down to where the wirehouses are, if ever. Louis Diamond: Interesting. So it was really it was for the most part an internal move from one- Patrick Larkin: It was- Louis Diamond: … channel to the other. Patrick Larkin: … it was an internal move, but there was no requirement to stay at First Clearing. As a fiduciary, they couldn’t make those demands. And again, they helped us with the financing, which is really unusual that they helped us secure a loan so I could pay off the last retiring advisor. It’s really unusual that a bank will loan money where there is no business at the time, but because of previous experience that financial institution had working with Wells, they helped us facilitate the transaction. And the program is still in place at Wells Fargo, which is absolutely amazing to me after the experience that I’ve just had myself. Louis Diamond: Yeah, it’s interesting. I mean, does it cannibalize a more profitable revenue source? Sure. But if the alternative was all the assets go to Schwab or Fidelity, to me, honestly, it’s smart. I think they played the long game by not being adversarial on it. Patrick Larkin: I think they played a long game and they took the philosophy, and I think they use it as a recruiting tool that if you love them, set them free. And that’s exactly what they did. Louis Diamond: So for the rest of the episode, I want to talk about your eventual, and not that long period of time, transaction or decision to merge Oak Hill with Cerity Partners. This is our Build, Grow, Transact subseries. And I was really struck by your story because you were three years or so into running Oak Hill, and then your merger with Cerity Partners, an amazing RIA closed. That’s a fairly short runway. Usually when I see folks go independent for the first time, it’s 10, 15, 20 years, maybe never, that they decide to merge or sell. I’m curious to understand your thinking about the transaction. Were you looking to do something? Or was it just like right place, right time and the opportunity presented itself? Patrick Larkin: I had started Oak Hill with the intent of eventually down the road, much closer to retirement, looking for a partner. The opportunity and what I learned early on helped change that idea and philosophy, and I adapted and made modifications to take advantage of it. Louis Diamond: Interesting. So you weren’t necessarily planning on selling or merging the business, it just kind of circumstances happened the way they did? Patrick Larkin: Yeah. When we started Oak Hill Wealth Advisors, it was a really pretty short period of time before we started getting calls from larger national RIAs about potential acquisition, much sooner than I expected. Early on, I just brushed them off, but about a year in, I took one of those calls and it really just opened my eyes up. I realized for the first time this small firm, this little practice actually had some real value, way more than I’d given it credit for. That first call, that first exploration didn’t go anywhere. It wasn’t a good fit. But what it gave me was a much clearer picture of what the serious acquirers were actually looking for. And that changed decisions I made at Oak Hill going forward. I really at that point stopped trying to optimize for near-term profit and really thought of my business as a business and started building towards enterprise value, sometimes at the cost of short-term income. And that turned out to be exactly the right call. Louis Diamond: That’s such an interesting perspective. Let’s double-click into that concept. So it sounds almost counterintuitive that if you kind of had this light bulb moment that like, “Okay, maybe I want to transact my business sooner than I initially thought.” I think most people would say, “Let’s become lean and mean. Let’s become as profitable as possible so my EBITDA’s higher.” But you took the different approach. What were the decisions you did to invest more in enterprise value rather than current cash flow? Patrick Larkin: A true business is one that doesn’t need me to be here every day to operate. And when we left Wells Fargo Advisors, it was myself and one other advisor that created Oak Hill Wealth Advisors. I was responsible for about 95% of the assets and revenue. And one of the more significant investments we made is in additional advisors. I recruited three new advisors, all CFPs, to join Oak Hill Wealth Advisors. Whereas, before I had been largely managing all the relationships myself. For someone that kind of grew up in the regional wirehouse space, it’s pretty counterintuitive to start moving relationships away from you onto other advisors. You’re trained and built to create a moat around your relationships, and realized that the potential acquirers are not interested, at least the ones I was interested in, weren’t interested in buying a book. They were interested in buying a business. And that just meant every decision we made going forward was not profit-driven, but how can I increase the value of the business? So after that first call, I knew I probably would be looking to move forward with a transaction sooner as opposed to the end of retirement. That information that I got on that first call helped me realize that when Oak Hill Wealth Advisors opened its doors on May 9th, 2022, we effectively had an IPO. I had great familiarity with how the succession plans at Wells Fargo Advisors worked. And on that day that we opened our practice, the value of my business jumped to be four to five times the value of it in a succession plan at Wells Fargo Advisors. Now, I knew going forward that I was going to be able to increase revenue. I was going to be able to increase EBITDA. I was going to potentially have some benefits from a market tailwind. I knew the multiples of EBITDA that the firms use may fluctuate, but the biggest change by far occurred leaving the wirehouse and having the value of my business grow four to fivefold in that same day. So what I really focused on was making sure that I was going to, when I was ready to start looking again after I had worked on improving the practice, really was going to look for a firm that was going to be a good cultural fit for both my clients, my team, and myself. Louis Diamond: That’s such a cool perspective. I’ve never heard anyone say that the day we launched your independent business was like an IPO. But honestly, it’s so true. You’re planting a flag in the ground that like, “Here is real value. This is value that we’ve created that we own rather than it being a book of business and a W-2 paycheck.” And it’s a fascinating perspective. Patrick Larkin: Yep. It really is amazing that the value changed that much on one day and the future value changes. Looking at the equity that I owned in Oak Hill Wealth Advisors, it made sense to consider is there a better way to take some risk off the table for myself and my family and diversify some of the equity that I had in Oak Hill Wealth Advisors with a larger enterprise? Louis Diamond: It makes complete sense. Obviously, everyone would sign up for 4 to 5X increase in value. Patrick Larkin: Sure. Louis Diamond: That’s not the reason most people go independent, but it’s important to know. And also, what I really liked about what you shared is I think a really valuable learning for anyone is those calls come in, whether it’s from annoying people like me or from an acquirer, from a firm, they’re not all noise. You took it as an opportunity to learn. Even though that first person who called wasn’t the right fit, it crystallized something in your mind and it let you make proactive decisions that ultimately paid off in spades when it came time to sign the dotted line for your transaction with Cerity. So I think it’s brilliant. And it’s very big picture, big-business-owner-type stuff that I think a lot of people will just filter out because it’s annoying and I’m young, I’m not looking to sell, but that was the journey. Patrick Larkin: Yeah, that first call changed my opinion about timing of when to move forward with a partnership. Originally, I thought this would be something at the end of retirement. The timing of doing so sooner seemed a lot more appealing after having that conversation and realizing what we had actually built. Louis Diamond: Amazing. So ultimately you decided to merge with Cerity Partners. We’ve had Kurt Miscinski from Cerity Partners on the show. They’re a real heavyweight within the RIA world. Most recently, they were valued at $8 billion in a recap, and it’s a very impressive firm. What specifically drew you to Cerity versus other potential buyers? Like you said, you got a lot of calls. Patrick Larkin: After that first call, I just got to work and focused on continuing to take care of our clients, building a team, adding new advisors, being a mentor to those advisors. But at the same time, we were being approached fairly regularly by that point. And I had a pretty good system for quickly deciding whether something was worth a second look, and most weren’t. But about a year ago, one of the national RIAs caught my attention and I started having conversations with them. And once I had progressed with them, I though, “You know what? If I’m giving this consideration, I really need to cast a wider net.” So I reached out to other RIAs that I had looked at and admired and been keeping an eye on. And ultimately, my longtime business coach, Barbara Kay, suggested I talk with Cerity Partners, a company that one of her other clients had just recently joined. And from the very first call, I could tell something was different. And I talked to many different companies. Cerity Partners, and an individual I spoke with, Geoff Newman, they weren’t leading with valuation formulas or deal structure. They were asking questions about my clients, my team, and how I actually ran the practice. They had a very defined process for identifying partners who were genuinely compatible, not just advisors with books that were transferable. And that distinction mattered greatly to me. They also offered really, in my opinion, the right balance of support and still having some autonomy. And their aspiration to deliver consistent standard of care to clients, whether they be in California or Virginia, so that those individuals get the same quality of experience, resonated with how I was already running things within my practice. That combination of support and autonomy, I really liked the idea of continuing to have oversight over my local practice, over our practice, which included the budget, salaries, and bonuses. It more than anybody else felt like a partnership and not a buyout. And I really appreciate it during that first call, Cerity was the only company that talked about a hundred-year plan. It was amazing to me to hear what their thoughts were. Most of the other firms I spoke with talked about valuations. And very quickly in the process, I found myself on a Zoom call with a Patagonia fleece vest-wearing private equity rep walking me through a valuation. And it was efficient, but it was not a cultural fit for me. And the infrastructure behind us and the combination of autonomy is really harder to find than most people think. As I progressed with Cerity, I remember early on in the process thinking to myself, “My God, I hope they want me, I hope they want me,” because I could tell I’m a very process-driven person They had a process with the way they brought me on board. And ultimately, we had a due diligence trip set up to go to one of their larger offices where I met with one of their leaders, Claire O’Keefe, part of their practice development, and had an opportunity to meet with different leaders within the firm and really get my arms wrapped around the potential that they had. Just the quality of the people I encountered through the whole process just kept reinforcing the decision. And by the time we got to the finish line, it didn’t feel like a transaction. It felt like I was joining something that I was excited to be part of. So just a little bit more about what attracted me to Cerity, their culture is just phenomenal. Cerity Partners uses the word “meritocracy” and they actually mean it. Ownership and influence here track your contribution, not your tenure or how well you play the politics. I just attended my first partner meeting in April, and without exaggeration, it was the most extraordinary professional meeting I’ve attended in my 25-year career. During the meeting, there was open debate about the direction of the firm, and every voice in the room carried weight. You could feel the culture. And that type of culture is built over years. You can’t fake it. Everyone in the room it felt like was rowing in the same direction. And by the time the meeting was over, I was so excited to get back to my team and tell them about what I had just witnessed, I wasn’t looking for the exit. I was looking for the brick wall to run through. I was so excited. And every once in a while I wonder having spent so much time in the wirehouse spaces, the bar just set really low for me when I talked to some of my other colleagues that have been independent for a long time. But it was just an absolutely amazing experience. And I do want to just add, one of the last really important things to me about Cerity Partners is I’ve been very fortunate with my career and in this profession. And part of my goal over the rest of my career is to have a legacy. And my legacy currently exists with the families I’ve advised and the team that I’ve built and have served and led. But Cerity Partners is helping me achieve even a greater legacy in our industry with our shared long-term goals. During my first meeting, they talked about their hundred-year vision of being a worldwide employee-owned professional services firm. And currently, and this is very exciting, the employees are the largest shareholder of the firm. No one else I talked to talked about their long-term goals like this, and it’s a vision I believe in. I want to contribute to help to see it accomplished. And one day when I do retire, I want to look back and see how I contribute it to a company that I believe is going to change the direction of professional wealth management. Louis Diamond: Wow. Patrick Larkin: My partnership with Cerity Partners is going to make that a reality. It’s just an amazing place. Yeah, very happy. Louis Diamond: Honestly, you can’t fake that type of enthusiasm. It sounds like- Patrick Larkin: It’s not- Louis Diamond: … you entered into a transaction, which is it’s like jumping into the deep end. How do you sort through what’s the sales process versus what’s real? How much of this is actually going to translate to my life? But hearing you not that long after the transaction, you still feel that and it’s very cool. In the press release I read, you cited estate planning, private markets access, and cross-border planning as key reasons for the merger. Can you talk about what it was about those? Maybe- Patrick Larkin: Yeah. Louis Diamond: … anything else that was missed? Patrick Larkin: Yeah. Louis Diamond: And were those not things that you felt like you could have delivered yourself as a standalone? Patrick Larkin: I thought that they were going to help me be able to be more effective in delivering those, but they weren’t the complete picture. The capabilities that we cited in the release were genuine gaps I wanted to fill and have available for clients and be able to prospect and go after new additional clients. But being fully honest, there were also deeper drivers. One was my team. Sometimes we get emotional about this. Being someone who’s trusted is really important to me, and that’s something I hold in high priority. There are people that followed me out of Wells Fargo to join me. One of my client associates had delayed her retirement so that she could join me and help us launch for the first three months. One of my other client associates has been with me close to 15 years. These are people that trusted me to do the right thing and to make sure that I wasn’t walking them off the plank. Being able to join Cerity Partners and give them a future that didn’t hinge entirely on my personal longevity was a huge relief. And Cerity Partners is an ownership culture. I’m so happy to say today that every single individual on my team in our practice in Lansdowne is now either an equity owner in Cerity Partners or very shortly will be an equity- Louis Diamond: So cool. Patrick Larkin: … equity owner. So they have a stake as well in what they’re building. It matters. My youngest client associate noticed how much it costs to send to FedEx. And he goes, “Now that I’m an owner, maybe we should rethink about sending regular mail.” Another driver was my family. And I’ve always had the philosophy of trying to prioritize and clients first, team and colleagues, and then my family. And I’ve always made decisions that if I put those others before myself, eventually I’ll be taken care of. And going through this transaction, it was so generous to my family and provided such security. There was a little bit of guilt that, “Am I doing this for all the right reasons?” But being able to secure my family’s future, converting equity in a three-year-old RIA into a stake of a $8 billion-plus valuation with institutional backing, that was a meaningful moment and I’d be less than honest if I glossed over that. I also really wanted to be part of something larger than myself. And the opportunity to help build a legacy in this business with Cerity Partners really gives me the platform to do that. Louis Diamond: Very cool. I can tell that you’re genuine, not just because of the way you sound, the way you’re speaking, but in the very beginning of the episode, you talked about the reason you got into this business was because you thought it gave you the dual purpose of being able to help people, but also being able to enrich yourself or your family. So this answer, it comes full circle. You’re able to accomplish all these goals, which made it the right decision. And I think, look, I say to advisors all the time, “You’re allowed to be greedy, you’re allowed to be selfish as long as the clients are still in the front of your mind as the most important thing.” There’s nothing wrong with doing better for clients, building a legacy in your case, but also reaping the rewards of all your hard work and labor and also all the risks that you’ve taken over your career. I got to ask you, though, from being an employee of Wells, where you were running your team, for the most part, you can run the business within their guardrails the way you want, to then running an RIA, which is really like you’re fully in control of everything, to now being a partner, but you’re not the one who has the name on the door anymore. Patrick Larkin: Right, right. Louis Diamond: Well, how do you think about the giving up control and full ownership of your practice versus owning a very small amount of a much larger entity? Patrick Larkin: There was such continuity. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors and Cerity Partners were so philosophically aligned that I genuinely never felt like I was giving up anything that I wasn’t glad to let go. My wife joined the business shortly before I left Wells Fargo Advisors. And still to this day, on my drive home from work, I call her up and say, “You’re not going to believe this.” And it’s all a positive, good thing. So Cerity has struck the perfect balance of that autonomy and support combination that I was looking for. So I still have control and a say over the way our practice is managed. Very shortly after the merger, my supervisor came down and met me for the first time, and we went out together after the day had ended. And early in the conversation I said to him, “What can I do to make your life easier?” And he said, “Pat, what can I do to make your life easier?” And that set the tone that still exists to this day. I almost cried when he said that because that was so different than what I had experienced up to that point. So the collaboration, the way we work together, it’s just absolutely amazing. And not once for a single moment have I second-guessed my decision. And it’s really weird because I’ve now been part of this organization for nearly nine months, and there just has not been one thing that’s occurred where I said, “That’s a disappointment.” It’s just been absolutely amazing every single day. Louis Diamond: Very cool. To me, there’s different arcs of when you want to ask people the question of, “Hey, any regrets?” And usually you don’t want to ask them too soon because they’re still going through the transition and integration and growing pains. And you don’t want to ask them too far in the future because you forget about what was life before. To be this short of a duration into this new partnership and to have these feelings, that’s absolutely pretty special. I got two more questions for you, Pat, if you don’t mind. Patrick Larkin: Sure. Louis Diamond: First one, economically, to me, one of the hardest things for really any advisor to really grapple with or to fully comprehend or make their own is, “I own 100% of the equity in my business. I get to decide when I want to sell in the future. My business is growing 10% per year. I wait to sell until 10 years from now, my business is going to be much bigger and I get to keep all the cash flow. I get to make all the decisions.” That compared to the path that you took, which was take cash off the table, which everyone understands, to, “Now, I own a much smaller piece of a much larger pie.” How would you talk to someone about the financial trade-off between a hundred percent ownership in their business, full control, full discretion over everything, versus becoming a minority equity partner in a larger entity? Patrick Larkin: You have to look at the valuation of my business, again, the day that we opened our doors as Oak Hill Wealth Advisors. There was such a massive jump in the value of the business. There was not going to be an opportunity for an appreciation at that level. So then, you have to compare what the growth rate is of Oak Hill Wealth Advisors versus a Cerity Partners. And I’m not embarrassed to say that Cerity Partners is and has been growing at a much faster rate of return. The value of the equity that I have retained in Cerity Partners, my ownership stake, I fully expect by the time I transact that business as I get closer to retirement, that’s going to be worth many times more than whatever opportunity I would have had at Wells Fargo with the valuation they would have provided me. Nevermind, very important, the tax consequences of a structure like this is all the retiring advisors that I worked with were taxed at their highest marginal rate. I owned a business and we were taxed at long-term capital gains rates. A significant difference in savings in what as the owner we actually realize. So yeah, I feel very comfortable with the ownership that I have and the control and continued opportunity with the meritocracy culture to increase my share of ownership in the company. Louis Diamond: Okay, and let’s do one more question here. I’ll pick it back up. So Pat, I think it’s a really cool perspective. It’s almost do your homework, and if you find the right horse and the right jockey that can run faster than you can on your own, that the equity value will compound and grow and appreciate in a faster, more efficient way than what you’re doing on your own, which makes complete sense. It’s the ultimate trade-off. And again, it’s like jumping into the deep end. On the one hand, Oak Hill was all you, right? You control the growth, for better or worse, for the good days, the bad days, the good years, the bad years, versus now your growth is diversified amongst hundreds of partners across M&A, across different lead flow channels, et cetera. It makes complete sense. But honestly, if I were an advisor, I don’t know how I would think about it. I think it’s all just fact-and-circumstance-based on where I am in my life and who the firm is and what I’m trying to accomplish. But it’s such a cool perspective because usually the playbook that we see, which is why we did this series, is go independent and there’s a long pause until there is a realization of all the value that’s been created. So seeing you do this in a much quicker timeframe, it seems like it was the absolutely right decision. To me, it just is another path, another way that an advisor or a firm is able to think about their future. Any final advice or parting words for someone who is sitting right where you were in 2021 or 2022 thinking about making the leap? And we’ll say a transition in general, or really anything you want to share to wrap our episode here. Patrick Larkin: Thank you for having me, and this is a great question. Happy to give a thoughtful answer to it. Before I’d left Wells Fargo Advisors through the program and started Oak Hill Wealth Advisors, I had an opportunity to go through a due diligence process and make sure that this was going to be a right move for me. There was no carrot out there that was obvious. I learned after that first conversation that I had built a practice that had some value to it. I was leaving behind the security of something I knew, leaving behind a significant amount in deferred compensation, and I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision. And through that due diligence process, talked to about five other firms that had recently left Wells Fargo to join this RIA program. I asked them a lot of different questions about what their experience was. And at every point during those conversations, they all said the same thing at different points. And it sounded like this. They said, “I’m working harder than I ever have before, but I wish I had done this sooner.” So my advice to those people, do it. I know that sounds simple, but I mean it. The fear of leaving is almost always worse than the actual experience of leaving. And I understand the inertia of not leaving and the real apprehension of what was on the other side. But what I found was a version of this profession I genuinely didn’t know was possible. One where I could do things the right way on my terms for the people I care most about serving. And not every path is going to look like mine. Some advisors should go fully independent and stay there, and that can be an incredible life. But when it comes time to look for a partner, quite frankly, if Cerity Partners is not on your shortlist, you’re making a significant mistake. And I say that not to sell anything, but because I’ve lived the comparison firsthand and there’s simply nothing else like it. Louis Diamond: So Pat, it’s been really fun, but I don’t think we’ve had anyone on the eight years or so we’ve been doing this show that’s gone through this type of arc or journey that you have. One of my big takeaways or sticking points that this episode brought for me is by going independent and taking control over your future, you created complete optionality for yourself to do exactly what you wanted to do with your business, even if that was different than what you initially planned. So in your case, it was selling within three years of going independent, but by taking action, being proactive, playing some offense, you made the opportunity happen on your terms and your timeline. So this has been fun in so many different ways. I loved your comment about how when you went independent, it’s basically like the day of your IPO, the four-to-five-times increase in value versus an internal succession deal, and even just the way to think about getting equity in a larger entity versus running your own plays only. So thank you so much for doing this. This has been fun. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibility seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firm’s or could a better option exist? Should I Stay or Should I Go? Is a book written with you in mind? It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively, whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook.   Build, Grow & Transact: From Breakaway to Transaction in 3 Years A conversation with Louis Diamond and Patrick Larkin, Partner & Practice Leader at Cerity Partners.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: From Breakaway to Transaction in 3 Years. It’s a conversation with Patrick Larkin, Partner and Practice Leader at Cerity Partners. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is The Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education-driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning, data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: Ownership as a way of creating opportunities you can’t always predict. That’s exactly why we created our Build, Grow, and Transact series. Independence isn’t the end of the story. It’s often the beginning of thinking differently about enterprise value, optionality, and what comes next. Today’s guest is Patrick Larkin, Partner and Practice Leader at Cerity Partners, and formerly the founder of Oak Hill Wealth Advisors. Patrick spent nearly 15 years building a successful practice at A.G. Edwards, Wachovia, and eventually Wells Fargo before launching his own independent firm in 2022. Just three years later, he merged that firm into Cerity. At first glance, that timeline might seem surprisingly short, but as you’ll hear, the merger wasn’t a change in direction. It was the result of seeing his business differently once he owned it. Yet, it’s this perspective that really brings that thought home. Patrick said the day Oak Hill launched felt like the business had gone public because overnight, what had been viewed as a book of business became an enterprise with substantially greater value, some four to five times the value of what it was worth at Wells. And that realization changed the way he invested, the way he hired, and ultimately the way he thought about the future. Pat and I also talk about something advisors don’t often discuss candidly, what life actually looks like after a merger. How much control do you give up? What changes day to day? How do you know whether you’re joining a partner or simply selling a business? Whether your long-term plan is to remain independent forever or eventually join a larger organization, Patrick’s experience is a reminder that ownership isn’t simply about control. It’s about creating optionality and putting yourself in a position where the next decision is yours to make. So let’s get to it. Patrick, thanks for coming on our show today. Patrick Larkin: Oh, my pleasure. Nice to meet you, Louis. Louis Diamond: You too. So let’s start off basically how we start every interview. Tell us about yourself, your background, and how you found your way into our industry in the first place. Patrick Larkin: Yeah, thank you for asking. I knew I always wanted to be a financial advisor. That part really wasn’t in question, but upon graduating college and being a 22-year-old, I knew that it was probably not practical to walk in and start advising people my parents’ age with their life savings. Probably wasn’t going to be a recipe for success. So I took a quick tour through the pharmaceutical industry first, which ended up being unexpectedly valuable. My employers there pushed me to think like an entrepreneur and within our territories. And honestly, that mindset never left me. It shaped how I built everything that came after. Eventually, an opportunity presented itself in Loudoun County, Virginia in Northern Virginia, and I became an FA trainee with A.G. Edwards, absolutely fantastic firm to start my career. Now, what drew me to this career was pretty simple. I felt like it was one of the professions that we had an opportunity to do so much good for others while simultaneously also doing well for yourself, and those two things aren’t in conflict. I also really loved the idea that in this profession there was no hiding. You don’t get paid to show up. You get paid for what you actually do. And perhaps for me, what was most important, I loved the weight of responsibility. I loved earning people’s trust. I loved the idea of deserving, being deserving of their trust, and being a steward of what they’ve worked a lifetime to build. I never took that lightly, and I still don’t. Louis Diamond: That’s amazing. Yeah, I mean, the number of people I’ve heard, you talked so fondly about A.G. Edwards and there’s a bunch of other firms that have since been absorbed or emerged that are like the regional firms of old. So not surprised to hear you loved it. A.G. Edwards, obviously, became Wells Fargo Advisors or was acquired or merged with Wells Fargo. So I know you’re at Wells and A.G. Edwards until 2022. So give us a quick version. How’d you build your practice from the pharma world into being in FA? Patrick Larkin: Yeah, so as I started with A.G. Edwards, I came in at really just the perfect time. It was towards the end of the financial crisis. And I built the business the old-fashioned way with a lot of cold calling and eventually did some dinner seminars, which I can tell you is a very expensive way to learn how to speak in front of a room. But I made some progress, and I was also in a great office, small enough that some of the advisors there would hand off some of the smaller accounts that they weren’t interested in working with, and got an opportunity to get a lot of reps in working with real life clients and individuals. I knew early on I didn’t have enough talent to win on talent alone, so I made up for it and compensated for that with really hard work. The real turning point came for me when A.G. Edwards was first acquired by Wachovia Securities, and that was about five years into my career. And at that point, my branch manager, who was eyeing retirement, asked me to step in as her partner, and that changed everything. We eventually moved over to a Wachovia Securities office, another really great local office in Loudoun County, Virginia. And from that office, I worked on and became a CIMA, a CFP, worked with the clients, built a business through referrals. And I found at that point in my career when I would go to a meeting with Wachovia, eventually Wells Fargo, as a young 30-year-old, I would look around the room often and realize that I was the youngest person in the room. The funny thing was 10 years later, I would go into that same room and I’d look around and I still was the youngest guy in that room. And those demographics in our industry, and when I came into our industry, ultimately led that office that I worked in with Wells Fargo Advisors, I eventually was the recipient and party to five different succession plans- Louis Diamond: Wow. Patrick Larkin: … at Wells Fargo Advisors. I hoped that I had built a reputation as somebody that these other advisors would entrust with their clients. And over that time period, really, I would say professionally, one of my accomplishments I’m most proud of is all five of those retired advisors that I used to work with, who had an opportunity to see me work with clients, all became clients of mine, I still continue to work with. And it’s professionally just one of the greatest honors that I’ve ever had. Louis Diamond: I mean, that’s a large number of advisors you helped sunset, but I would agree it’s the ultimate p

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John Wadsworth, Co-CEO and Founder of Partner.Co, joins Direct Approach to explore wellness, community and direct selling growth. From improving wellness outcomes through human connection to developing distributors for the creator economy, John shares how strong products, simple systems and technology can help direct selling companies build sustainable growth. In this episode, you'll learn: Why community can dramatically improve wellness outcomes How simple systems can build distributor confidence and consistency What the creator economy means for the future of direct selling

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The Secret to Getting Your Optometry Team Excited About Growth | E318Highlights from this episode: The Secret to Getting Your Optometry Team Excited About Growth (00:52)Closing Thought: The real prize of achieving a goal (22:05)I've been thinking a lot about what it really means to have a vision for your practice—and I've realized that keeping that vision in my head isn't enough. In this episode, I'm sharing what happened when I started putting my vision out there with my associates and staff, how it created more energy and buy-in across the team, and why sharing where we're going also forces me to become the leader that vision requires. We'll talk about creating a three-year vision, developing your team around that future, staying committed when things get difficult, and redefining success from being the top-producing doctor to building something bigger than yourself.

Startup Project sits down with Sviat, CEO of Bright Machines, to unpack how the company is using software-first robotics to manufacture complex electronics closer to where they're deployed. The conversation focuses on why AI infrastructure is a strategic category, how Bright Machines differs from traditional contract manufacturing, and what onshoring really means for speed, quality, and security.Key Topics:In this episode, Sviat explains that Bright Machines is focused on AI infrastructure, specifically the electronics that go inside modern data centers, including compute nodes, storage, and racks.He traces the company's thesis back to a broader idea: use software and robotics to manufacture electronics anywhere, then narrow that focus to the data center market as demand became clearer.The discussion breaks down the market stack, from chip designers like NVIDIA and AMD, to ODMs, OEMs, hyperscalers, and contract manufacturers.Sviat shares why data center hardware became the right bet before ChatGPT accelerated the market: the products are expensive, strategically important, and driven by quality and throughput more than labor cost alone.The show compares traditional assembly lines with Bright Machines' approach, which uses more robotics, sensors, cameras, traceability, and humans in the loop where automation does not make sense.Sviat explains how Bright Machines starts with design, using Bright Designer to simulate and improve manufacturability before lines are built, which helps reduce bottlenecks and improve automation over time.He says the company's main differentiator is its software platform, which orchestrates the line, powers smart skills for navigation and inspection, collects data, and feeds insights back into design.The conversation covers line flexibility, including how much can be reused when switching between CPU, GPU, or different accelerator-based server designs, and when end-of-arm tooling must change.Sviat says Bright Machines is growing rapidly, expects more than 3x growth this year, and can produce high volumes from a small number of sites because of robotics efficiency.The episode closes on the broader case for onshoring AI infrastructure manufacturing in the US: security, time to market, quality, and a labor shortage that makes robotics necessary.Timestamps:06:39 - The market stack: chip designers, ODMs, OEMs, hyperscalers, and CMs09:07 - Why Foxconn, Jabil, and similar contract manufacturers matter10:04 - Why large factories still rely on massive manual labor12:20 - Why data centers are different from cheap consumer electronics13:49 - Security, strategic sectors, and why AI infrastructure belongs onshore16:26 - The first Bright Machines product: CPU compute servers for a hyperscaler17:58 - How the line works: modular stations, yields, and automation levels19:26 - Bright Designer and design-for-manufacturing feedback loops21:20 - Robots, sensors, traceability, and humans in the loop22:19 - Why time to market matters as much as cost23:31 - Yield and throughput: 98% line-level yields and up to 2x throughput25:25 - The Bright Robotic Cell and how the assembly line is structured27:35 - Reusability across products and when tooling changes are needed30:31 - Manufacturing as a service, not repair or field service31:24 - Growth, gigawatt-scale capacity, and output from a single site33:00 - Why current hyperscaler capex is not expected to slow near term34:45 - The bottlenecks before deployment: chips, components, power, permits36:54 - Bright Machines' three pillars: platform, data layer, and Bright Designer39:15 - Why humanoid robotics is exciting but not ready for industrial use41:16 - Where LLMs and newer AI tools can help the robotics workflow43:57 - The overlooked advantages of onshoring manufacturing in the US45:59 - What Bright Machines could build next: more complex electronics and future AI devices

Throwbacks are where I re-release old episodes from the archives. So don't worry if you have heard it already, as 'New episodes' will continue to come out on Sundays. To get some of the old episodes heard.~~~Our guest tonight is Nancy in Mississippi, sharing her experiences of being a lifelong contactee, as she explores her complex relationship with higher dimensional beings, and her quest for personal growth and spiritual understanding throughout her life. More information on this episode on the podcast website:https://ufochroniclespodcast.com/ep-267-you-already-know/Want to share your encounter on the show?Email: UFOChronicles@gmail.comOr Fill out Guest Form:https://forms.gle/uGQ8PTVRkcjy4nxS7Podcast Merchandise:https://www.teepublic.com/user/ufo-chronicles-podcastHelp Support UFO CHRONICLES by becoming a Patron:https://patreon.com/UFOChroniclespodcastX: https://x.com/UFOchronpodcastThank you for listening!Like share and subscribe it really helps me when people share the show on social media, it means we can reach more people and more witnesses and without your amazing support, it wouldn't be possible.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ufo-chronicles-podcast--3395068/support.

Welcome to The SaaS CFO Podcast! In today's episode, host Ben Murray welcomes Lyndon Stickley, CEO of Iplicit, and Rob Steele, CFO at Iplicit, for a lively exploration of SaaS, accounting software, and the dynamics of scaling a tech company. Lyndon, a seasoned entrepreneur with multiple exits, and Rob, a finance software veteran, share their unique backgrounds and how they teamed up to breathe new life into Iplicit—a cloud-first finance solution born from a deep understanding of complex ERP challenges in the mid-market. Listeners will hear the inside story of Iplicit's evolution, from humble beginnings and sizable personal investment to rapid growth—leveraging over $25 million in Series A funding and a people-centric, remote culture. Lyndon and Rob pull back the curtain on their fundraising process, explaining how clear vision and disciplined focus created high investor demand. They also dive into go-to-market strategies targeting CFOs and FDs, the pivotal role of partners and resellers, and how channel sales are poised to fuel their next phase of expansion. This episode is packed with real-world insights on the modernization of accounting platforms, the nuanced role of AI in finance, and the metrics that drive SaaS success. If you're interested in the intersection of SaaS, finance, and innovation—or curious about how to build, fund, and scale a company in a competitive software landscape—this conversation will leave you inspired and informed. Show Notes: 00:00 The origins of Iplicit software 06:20 Realizing broader customer demand 08:47 Open API for flexibility 10:50 Opening up to growth funds 16:12 Building Investor Relationships 19:47 Challenges in direct sales and marketing 20:36 Shifting to partner sales channels 26:41 Trust and adoption of AI solutions 28:00 Discussing AI native queries 31:06 Growth slowing as company scales Links: SaaS Fundraising Stories: https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/iplicit-raises-29-7-million-in-funding/ Rob Steele's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-steele-686a21169/ Lyndon Stickley's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndon-stickley-bab38b78/ Iplicit's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iplicit/ Iplicit's Website: https://www.iplicit.com/ To learn more about Ben check out the links below: Subscribe to Ben's daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben's SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/ Join Ben's SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray

If you find yourself constantly resetting back to square one, you aren't building capacity—you are managing symptoms.True resilience isn't defined by how fast you bounce back from pressure; it is measured by how steady your baseline remains when pressure hits. Every experience creates a somatic-mindset feedback loop. When you autonomously self-regulate, either you leverage these moments to expand your baseline capacity, or you stagnate in a cycle of temporary recovery that perpetuates as is over time.In this episode, we unpack why conscious leaders, spiritual practitioners, and self-led individuals utilize somatic-mindset micro-habits to transcend the reset loop and move into an enlightening and intelligence growing loop instead. Discover how shifting from basic emotional control to mastery and dynamic self-leadership allows you to expand your capacity and navigate pressure from a grounded baseline. This foundation creates empowered composure, allowing you to uphold relational integrity and co-regulation.In This Episode, We Cover: The Symptom Management Trap: Why relying on repeated "resets" keeps your baseline static. The SMART MICRO-HABIT Somatic-Mindset Loop: How real-time somatic awareness and conscious mindset choices strengthen your baseline under pressure. Expanding Capacity vs. Managing Activation: Transitioning from reactive coping mechanisms to proactive baseline expansion. Somatic-Mindset Micro-Habits in Action: Practical, high-impact strategies to maintain emotional sovereignty and personal accountability.Episode Timestamps:(0:00) — Beyond Symptom Management: Somatic-Mindset Micro-Habits & Expanding Capacity (Window of Tolerance to Welcome)(5:10) — Emotional Sovereignty & Self-Leadership: Evolving from Control to Dynamic Regulation(7:14) — The Liberating Shift: Empowering Personal Sovereignty through Somatic Integration(7:40) — Recommended Reading for Nervous System Sovereignty & Mindset Mastery(7:59) — Moving Beyond the Reset: Aligning Intrinsic Motivation with Adaptive Self-LeadershipResources & ConnectSubscribe & Share: If you know spiritual and conscious, regulated leaders who want to navigate reactive survival loops with self-compassionate honesty and steady empowering composure using somatic-mindset micro-habits share this episode with them.Explore the Frameworks and digital resources on the Payhip store: Access dedicated somatic-mindset tools, guides, and workbooks designed to support baseline expansion: https://payhip.com/InspiringHumanPotentialShift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW

Do you often mask your true feelings by saying “I'm fine”? Maurice discusses the dangers of falling into robotic routines and explains why honesty, rather than silence, is the true source of professional and personal strength.In This Episode:00:00:00 The Dishonesty of Being Fine00:06:26 Finding Purpose Through ChallengesKey Takeaways:Recognize the signs of living on autopilot to regain your genuine self.Practice radical honesty to build respect and connection with colleagues.Challenge your daily routine by finding small ways to add value and human connection.Embrace vulnerability as a pathway to purpose rather than a sign of weaknes

Today let's talk about something I’ve been asked many times over the years. “Why warehousing?” Or “Why transportation?” Or “Why the supply chain?”  After unloading trailers, pulling orders, operating forklifts, supervising teams, managing operations, and on to the executive team, I’ve been asked that question hundreds of times. People usually expect me to answer with one of the obvious reasons. That there’s good money, great benefits, opportunities for overtime, or the Job security and Promotion opportunities, and how the works stable, sometimes even considered essential. And those are all true, and they’re all important. But if I had to narrow everything down to just one reason? Just one thing that makes this industry different than almost every other career?  Well, I'd have to go with how this industry rewards the person you’re willing to become. Not who you are today or where you came from. Not what grades you made or where you went to school or who your parents were. This industry has always rewarded effort. It rewards people that keep showing up and that continue learning. It rewards people that become more valuable every year. And to me anyway, that’s something incredibly special.  When someone asks me what they should do with their career, I often tell them that warehousing isn’t just about moving boxes and transportation isn’t just about trucks and how the supply chain isn’t just about inventory. It’s about solving problems. It’s about making businesses successful and it’s about making sure families receive what they need. Every package is delivered. Every grocery shelf is stocked. Every hospital was supplied. Every manufacturing plant receives their raw materials. Every online order arrives on someone’s porch. All of that happens because thousands of us workers choose to become professionals. One of the things I love about this industry is that there are very few ceilings. As I've said many times, you can literally start today sweeping floors and next year you might be operating equipment. A year later you’re training others and soon you’re a lead. Then a supervisor. Maybe an inventory analyst. Perhaps a dispatcher or transportation coordinator or a safety professional. Even an operations manager, director, or Vice President. I’ve watched people make that journey. I’ve had the pleasure of hiring several of them and the honor of promoting many of them. Not because they had the fanciest résumé. But because they earned the opportunity.  First off, our industry notices consistency. I know I sound like a broken record sometimes. I keep repeating these things because they are that important and just that simple. Showing up everyday matters. Being dependable and taking ownership matters. If your supervisor never has to wonder whether you’ll be at work, if they know you’ll do quality work and they know you’ll help solve problems instead of creating them, you’ve already separated yourself from many others. Consistency becomes your resume.  Then comes learning. Every new skill increases your value. Learn a second department. Learn receiving, Shipping, Inventory Control, Quality Assurance, Cycle counting, Forklift operation, the Reach truck. What else, here's a few of my go too's, the order picker. Yard management. Transportation planning. Warehouse Management Systems. Excel. Everyone should feel comfortable working with Microsoft word and excel. And Leadership. Communication, and of course Safety. Every skill is another tool in your toolbox. And no bad manager or company can take those skills away from you. Even if you change employers, those skills travel with you.  One lesson I’ve learned throughout my own career, and try to share with every new boot I meet, is that companies don’t simply promote experience. They promote confidence and our confidence comes from preparation. I think being prepared comes from learning everything we can. The more you understand the operation, the more valuable you become. Eventually people begin asking for your opinion and that’s when your career really starts to grow.  Another reason I love this industry is because every day is different. No two days are exactly alike. One morning you may have weather delays, all your trucks and loads are running late. On another day we'll have equipment issues. A customer changes an order. A shipment arrives early. A truck breaks down. The inventory doesn’t match. The team is short-handed. Problems appear every single day!  Some people see stress. I've always tried to see opportunities.  Seriously, every problem solved teaches you something. Every challenge develops another leadership skill, and every difficult day prepares you for greater responsibility. Young people often ask me how to become successful, and my answer seems to surprise them. Just Become the person people trust. Trust opens doors. Trust gets assignments and earns promotions. Trust creates opportunities. Trust is built one decision at a time. A decision from us. Being on time. Following through. Owning mistakes. Helping our teammates. Doing the right thing when nobody’s watching. Those habits are noticed.  I also appreciate something else about our profession. You don’t have to wait for someone to allow you to grow. Growth is largely in your control. Read books. Watch training videos, there’s thousands on YouTube. Volunteer for projects. Crosstrain. Ask questions. Observe great leaders. Practice communication. Improve your safety knowledge. Become certified. Nobody can stop you from investing in yourself. The people who grow the fastest are usually the ones who never stop learning.  I’ve met warehouse associates making six figures. transportation professionals earning incredible incomes. Supply chain analysts traveling the country. Operations leaders running million-square-foot distribution centers. Safety professionals influencing thousands of employees. Corporate trainers teaching nationwide. None of them started there. Most started exactly where someone listening today may be standing. The difference wasn’t luck. It was growth.  You know, one of my favorite moments is watching someone realize they have more potential than they ever imagined. Maybe it’s the forklift operator who becomes a trainer. The selector who becomes a supervisor. The receptionist who becomes a recruiter. The dispatcher who becomes a transportation manager. And I could go on and on.  I’ve watched those transformations happen over and over again.  The warehouse is an incredible classroom. It teaches discipline, Communication, Teamwork, Safety, Accountability, Time management, Customer service, Leadership, Conflict resolution, Problem solving. And These aren’t just warehouse skills. They’re life skills. Skills that help in every profession and every stage of life.  People sometimes say they don’t want to work in a warehouse forever. I understand that. But don’t overlook what the warehouse can do for you. It can build confidence. Teach responsibility. Develop leadership. Provide financial stability. Introduce lifelong mentors. Open doors you never knew existed. The warehouse may not be your final destination. But it can absolutely become the foundation of an incredible career.  As I look back over my own career, I don’t remember every shipment. I don’t remember every inventory count. I don’t remember every dock schedule. What I remember are the people. The mentors who challenged me. The associates who inspired me. The supervisors who believed in me. The teams that accomplished incredible things together. That’s another gift this industry gives us. Relationships. And those relationships often last an entire lifetime.  So, if someone asked me today, Marty, what’s the one thing that makes this industry so great? My answer would be simple. Because this industry rewards the person you’re willing to become. It rewards effort. It rewards learning. It rewards reliability. It rewards character. It rewards ownership. It rewards growth. And the beautiful part is, every one of us gets to decide who we’re becoming tomorrow.  Ok, I've got to get back to work myself now. But I wanted to add that if you’re just beginning your career in warehousing, manufacturing, transportation, or supply chain, don’t focus only on the next paycheck. Focus on becoming the person everyone wants on their team. The promotions will come. The opportunities will come. The raises will come. The career will come. It's my opinion or my belief, in this industry, your greatest value isn’t the equipment you operate or the building or department you work in. It’s the person you choose to become.    I'm Marty T Hawkins and I want to thank you for checking in on Warehouse and Operations as a Career today. Until next time, be safe, keep learning, help someone else grow, and never stop investing in yourself. 

Growth rarely feels comfortable—especially when your business is deeply connected to your purpose, your gifts, and your identity. In this episode of the Money Lighthouse Podcast for Spiritual Entrepreneurs, Michel explores why discomfort is such a natural part of entrepreneurship and why feeling uncertain, nervous, or stretched doesn't necessarily mean you're moving in the wrong direction.Listeners will learn how to distinguish between expansion discomfort, misalignment discomfort, and nervous system discomfort, while exploring the ways spiritual practices can sometimes unintentionally become tools for avoiding the very growth they are meant to support. Rather than pushing through fear with hustle or forcing themselves into action, spiritual entrepreneurs are invited to develop a wiser relationship with discomfort—one rooted in curiosity, discernment, self-trust, and gentle courage.Michel also shares practical and spiritual tools for moving through uncomfortable seasons of business, including taking smaller courageous steps, creating a personal “brave container,” celebrating attempts rather than outcomes, and reframing discomfort as an initiation into the next version of themselves. The invitation is simple but powerful: perhaps discomfort isn't always a stop sign. Sometimes, it is a signal that something meaningful is asking to expand.Action Steps After ListeningIdentify your current discomfort. Choose one area of your business that feels uncomfortable right now—visibility, pricing, selling, launching, technology, reaching out, or something else. Ask yourself whether this feels like expansion discomfort, misalignment discomfort, or nervous system discomfort.Take one small courageous step. Instead of trying to conquer the entire fear, make the step smaller. Send one email. Make one invitation. Raise the price on one offer. Record one video. Let your nervous system gather evidence that you can move through discomfort safely.Create your own “brave container.” Develop a simple ritual that helps you feel grounded before doing something uncomfortable. This might include prayer, meditation, journaling, lighting a candle, taking a few deep breaths, or connecting with a trusted business friend.Celebrate courage instead of measuring only results. At the end of the week, make a list of the uncomfortable things you attempted—regardless of the outcome. Begin building your own “courage library” of evidence that you are capable of growing, stretching, and showing up for your calling.Journaling PromptsWhat discomfort am I currently experiencing in my business, and what might it be trying to tell me?Is this discomfort asking me to change direction—or is it asking me to expand my capacity?If I stopped waiting to feel completely ready, what small courageous step would I take next?If you've been wondering whether the discomfort you're experiencing means you're on the wrong path, this episode may offer a different perspective.Sometimes growth doesn't arrive feeling peaceful, certain, or perfectly aligned. Sometimes it arrives with butterflies, shaky knees, unanswered questions, and an invitation to trust yourself a little more deeply.Listen to this episode of the Money Lighthouse Podcast for Spiritual Entrepreneurs and discover how to meet discomfort with greater curiosity, courage, and spiritual discernment.And if there is another spiritual entrepreneur in your life who is standing at the edge of something new—raising their prices, becoming more visible, launching an offering, or simply trying to trust themselves enough to take the next step—please share this episode with them.Sometimes the reminder we most need is this:Discomfort is not always a stop sign. Sometimes, it is the doorway to expansion.Contact:michel@moneylighthouse.com

Senior Associate Editor Dave Pilla discusses AM Best's 2026 rankings that show California still leading the nation in private passenger auto direct premiums written, followed by Texas, Florida, New York and Georgia.

Makenna Gibbons became part of one of Utah's most public scandals when the “Mormon swinging” story exploded online in 2022. Behind the viral headlines, Makenna was simultaneously dealing with infidelity, divorce, motherhood, public scrutiny, and the collapse of the life she knew.In this episode, Makenna sits down with Jimmy to tell her side of the story and, more importantly, share what happened after the headlines faded. She talks about the boundaries she wishes she had protected, how group dynamics and alcohol contributed to decisions she regrets, the painful process of rebuilding her identity, and what years of therapy taught her about accountability without shame.Makenna also opens up about rebuilding a healthy co-parenting relationship with her ex-husband, getting remarried, learning to trust herself again, and why she believes even the darkest seasons eventually end.This conversation is ultimately about what happens when your worst mistakes become public—and how you rebuild a life you're proud of afterward.Follow Makenna Gibbons: IG

Send us Fan MailWhat does it take to evolve from a hands-on technologist into the CEO of a global cybersecurity company?In this episode of Joey Pinz Conversations, Joey sits down with Joe Levy, CEO of Sophos, to discuss leadership, technology, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, and personal growth. Joe shares his fascinating journey from writing software and running bulletin board systems as a teenager in Queens, New York, to becoming CTO and eventually CEO of one of the world's leading cybersecurity companies.The conversation explores the lessons learned from building technology businesses, transitioning into executive leadership, working with MSPs, and why the best products do not always win in the marketplace. Joe also shares insights on cybersecurity's leadership gap, the impact of AI, parenting in the digital age, and the importance of self-regulation in both business and life.From walking 12 miles a day on a treadmill desk to leading thousands of cybersecurity professionals worldwide, Joe offers practical wisdom on curiosity, learning, resilience, and long-term success.

Stop Letting Your Calendar Run Your Life | Design Your Week Like a CEOI used to think that being busy meant I was making progress. My days were packed with meetings, emails, phone calls, and endless to-do lists. I was constantly moving—but I wasn't actually building the business or life I wanted.Everything changed when I stopped asking, "What do I need to get done today?" and started asking, "What would the CEO of the business I'm building prioritize this week?"In this episode, I'm sharing one of the biggest mindset shifts that transformed how I lead my business. Your calendar isn't just where you schedule appointments—it's a reflection of your priorities, your leadership, and ultimately, your future.If you've ever felt overwhelmed, constantly reactive, or like there's never enough time, this conversation will help you stop chasing productivity and start designing your week with intention.Things I Cover:Why being busy doesn't always mean you're making progressThe hidden reason your calendar reveals your true prioritiesThe difference between reacting to your schedule and leading itThe five questions I ask every week to stay focused on growthHow to schedule revenue-generating activities firstWhy CEO Time is one of the most valuable appointments you'll ever makeThe importance of protecting your health, family, and personal life before filling your calendarThe biggest calendar mistakes entrepreneurs make (and how to avoid them)Why eliminating tasks is often more powerful than becoming more productiveA simple weekly habit that will completely change how you plan your business and your lifeYour future isn't created by your to-do list—it's built one calendar block at a time. If you want more freedom, more growth, and more impact, it starts with intentionally designing your week instead of letting it design you.---

The Wabanaki-Acadian old-growth forest is endangered — only one per cent of its old growth is left. The ancient forest, which stretches from parts of the Maritimes and Southern Quebec down into several New England states, is now comprised largely of newer forests, already cut down and logged, over and over. IDEAS explores the rare beauty of 300-year-old trees and astounding biodiversity before it's gone.*This episode originally aired on aired on June 11, 2024.Guests in this podcast:Peter Romkey is a naturalist, forest ranger and former executive director of the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre at Acadia University. He is retired and living on the south shore of Nova Scotia.Joan Maloof is an ecologist and the founder of the Old-Growth Forest Network, which works to preserve, protect, and promote America's few remaining stands of old-growth forests. She is the author of several books, including: Nature's Temples: A Natural History of Old-Growth Forests. Maloof lives in Maryland.Ursula Johnson is a renowned multidisciplinary artist. She won the 2017 Sobey Art Award. Johnson is a member of the Eskasoni Mi'kmaw Nation on Cape Breton Island (Unama'ki in Mi'kmaq). She also works for Parks Canada as the Mi'kmaq Relations Advisor for the mainland Nova Scotia field unit. She lives in southwestern Nova Scotia.

Growth changes more than your income. It changes your relationships. In this episode of The Level Up Podcast, Paul Alex breaks down why leveling up can create distance between you and the people who knew the old version of you—and why protecting your future sometimes requires stronger boundaries. Not everyone will understand your ambition. Some people will question your decisions. Others may resent the discipline, sacrifice, and focus required to change your life. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why personal growth can create tension inside your existing relationships• How shrinking yourself to keep others comfortable limits your potential• Why stronger boundaries become necessary as your goals get bigger• How creating space can attract mentors and operators who push you forward The truth is simple: You cannot carry every relationship into every season of your life. Protect your energy. Stay committed to the vision. Stop apologizing for the discipline required to build your future. When you outgrow the old room, you create space to enter a new one filled with people who challenge you to become even better. Your Network is your NETWORTH! Make sure to add me on all SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: Instagram: https://jo.my/paulalex2024Facebook: https://jo.my/fbpaulalex2024YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGhDAD1JyGGzSQUPD9lc9HQLinkedIn: https://jo.my/inpaulalex2024 Looking for a secondary source of income or want to become an entrepreneur? Check out one of my companies below to see if we can help you: www.CashSwipe.com FREE Copy of my book “Blue to Digital Gold - The New American Dream”www.officialPaulAlex.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the season 6 finale of A Little Help for Our Friends, Dr. Kibby McMahon looks back on a year of major change, both personally and professionally, and shares the three biggest lessons she's taking with her into the next chapter.Kibby talks about what it means to let go of roles and relationship patterns that no longer fit, why real growth often comes from consistency and the right support, and what she's learned from working with families affected by mental illness and addiction.She also reflects on stepping into a new role after a major change to the podcast, building KulaMind, growing an online community from scratch, and learning to become more comfortable being seen and leading.Most importantly, this episode explores something that has become increasingly clear through this work: mental illness is rarely a one-person problem. It affects partners, parents, children, caregivers, and entire family systems.If you've ever felt stuck in an old version of yourself, struggled to support someone you love, or wondered how to keep going when change feels uncomfortable, this episode is for you.A Little Help for Our Friends will be back for Season 7 after a short break.

Book Alan's Business Breakthrough Session. Your first 30-minute coaching call is FREE. Learn how to prioritize success and let your quality of life become the byproduct. - https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-breakthrough-sessionFitness is forever, it's a lifestyle. Join the Next Level Fitness Accountability Group. Reach out to Kevin or Alan on Instagram:Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/_______________________Success has a system. In this episode, Kevin and Alan explore why the results people call “luck” are usually built through years of focused effort, skill development, and consistent action. Drawing on their experience coaching clients, building businesses, and creating more than 2,500 episodes, they explain why opportunities often appear after the work has already been done. You will hear how clear goals shape what you notice, why small improvements create larger outcomes over time, and how to separate real cause and effect from surface-level success.They also address the pressure that comes with growth. More success can create more responsibility, more standards, and more problems worth solving. Do not wait to feel lucky. Build proof that you are ready when the opportunity arrives._______________________NLU is more than a podcast. From the Next Level Dreamliner to Group Coaching, we provide tools and communities to help you grow with more clarity, consistency, and accountability.Visit our website and socials through the links below.

In this episode, Bill Umansky interviews Jimmy Lai about building influence on LinkedIn, content creation strategies, and managing stress as a legal professional and entrepreneur. They share practical tips for growing an online presence, leveraging AI tools, and maintaining authenticity.

Read "Please Do Disturb": https://pleasedodisturbbook.com/ Connect with Rachel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelalday Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/ Check out Lodgify and get an exclusive discount: https://www.lodgify.com/behind-the-stays/  — In just a moment, you'll meet Rachel Alday, co-founder of Abode Luxury Rentals and author of the forthcoming book, "Please Do Disturb." I brought Rachel back on the podcast because she's an awesome friend of mine, but also because the frameworks and lessons she outlines in her book have guided her and her team in building Abode Luxury Rentals into one of the most respected vacation rental management companies in the country. Early in this conversation, Rachel tells a story about a guest family that called her team constantly with complaints — and then asked to extend their stay. What her team discovered when they stopped being defensive and started being curious became the foundation for everything she's built since. She breaks down the framework behind it: three deceptively simple commitments she and her co-authors spent years uncovering — show up, make room, and build belonging. We get into the service recovery paradox, a concept Tim Ferriss personally pushed her to put in the book, and why managing a mistake well can create a more loyal customer than a flawless experience ever could. Rachel makes a sharp case for why outsourcing guest communication to AI might be the single worst place to cut corners, and where she thinks AI actually belongs in vacation rentals instead. We talk about the real cost-benefit of writing a book while running a business, what a breathing coach taught her about leading under pressure, and why presence — the kind where the rest of the world genuinely disappears — might be the most underrated competitive advantage in hospitality leadership right now. Friends, you're going to love this conversation. Be sure to order her book, "Please Do Disturb," wherever you get your books. You can pre-order it now, and there's a link in the show notes below. Without further ado, get ready to hear from Rachel Alday. —   Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world's top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.   Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of Growth at Journey. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we'd love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.

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This week on the Oakley Podcast, Jeremy Kellett sits down with pneumatic operations managers Austin Allen and Bradley Simpson to break down Oakley's pneumatic division, including straight “dirt” tanks and vacuum pneumatics. They explain how pneumatic tanks work, why customers choose them for dry bulk products going into silos and plants, and how vacuum trailers can both load and unload material, especially plastics from rail cars. The conversation covers day-to-day operational challenges, the critical role of communication with dispatch and customers, and the intense focus on trailer cleanliness to avoid costly contamination issues. They also walk through how new drivers are trained, common rookie mistakes, what makes a top-tier pneumatic owner-operator, and why experience, patience, and professionalism at customer facilities are essential. Finally, they highlight strong freight demand, growth opportunities, new equipment coming in, and the higher pay and expectations that come with being part of Oakley's pneumatic and vacuum pneumatic operations. Key topics in today's conversation include: Company Updates, Iowa 80 Feature on CBS News (1:30) Introducing Bradley Simpson and Austin Allen and Their Backgrounds (4:30) What a Pneumatic Tank Is and How It Works (6:19) Why Customers Choose Pneumatic Trailers and Unloading Into Silos (9:17) Daily Operational Challenges and Serving 24/7 Plants (12:11) Changes in Customer Communication and EDI Freight Tenders (13:44) Difference Between Straight Tanks and Vacuum Pneumatic Tanks (15:35) Common Cleaning Practices, Drying Trailers, and Avoiding Contamination (18:19) Key Driver Qualities: Intimidation, Training, and What Makes a Good Operator (20:17) Why Communication With Dispatch Matters More Than Drivers Think (27:15) Customer Service Expectations and Representing Oakley at Facilities (29:44) Future of the Pneumatic Division, Growth, and New Trailers (32:22) Requirements to Move Into Pneumatics and Then Vacuum Pneumatics (35:48) Recruiting Challenges, Elite Owner Operators, and Final Advice (37:39) Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruceoakley.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us Fan MailManufacturers are under increasing pressure to adopt AI, yet many find it difficult to distinguish practical opportunities from market hype. In this webinar, we explore what AI actually looks like within a manufacturing ERP environment and where it can deliver measurable business value. We address common misconceptions, including the belief that AI requires replacing an existing ERP system, investing in enterprise-scale budgets, or operating as a Tier 1 manufacturer. Instead, attendees will learn how AI can enhance their current ERP platform by leveraging existing operational data to improve decision-making, automate routine processes, and increase overall business efficiency.Video: https://www.elevatiq.com/events-and-webinars/ai-for-manufacturers-practical-erp-use-cases-without-a-costly-system-reset/Questions for Panelists?

There's a strange part of growth we don't talk about enough. We talk a lot about becoming the next version of ourselves. About building confidence, changing habits, thinking differently, making better choices, and creating a life that feels more aligned with who we want to be. But becoming her doesn't only mean gaining something. Sometimes, it means letting something go. In this episode, I share a simple moment from Pilates that reminded her how easily an old story can become a rule we live by. I had almost convinced myself not to go because mat Pilates was "harder," my back might hurt, and getting down on the floor just wasn't for me anymore. Except none of that turned out to be true. I went. I enjoyed it. And I would have regretted allowing an old story to make the decision for me. That's how so many of our beliefs work. They may have made sense once. They may have protected us, helped us cope, or carried us through a difficult season. But eventually, we have to ask whether the woman who needed those stories is still the woman we want making our decisions today. Because the woman who got you through your hardest years may not be the woman who leads you into your happiest years. That doesn't mean rejecting who you were. It means honoring her. The younger version of you who was scared. The woman who didn't have confidence yet. The woman who stayed, left, started over, survived heartbreak, numbed herself, people-pleased, overworked, overate, shut down, or did whatever she knew how to do to make it through. She wasn't trying to ruin your life. She was trying to protect you with the tools she had. And maybe instead of looking back at her with shame, the next step is simply saying: Thank you. You got me here. But I can take it from here. Growth isn't always about adding more. Sometimes it's subtraction—releasing perfection, guilt, resentment, old expectations, the need for everyone to approve of you, and the belief that rest or love or happiness must somehow be earned. You can appreciate who you've been without asking her to lead the rest of your life. And that is so much of the work inside Becoming Her: Volume 2. Becoming Her isn't about turning yourself into someone completely different. It's about releasing the beliefs, patterns, expectations, and survival strategies that have kept you from fully living as the woman you already know you're capable of being. Enrollment for Becoming Her: Volume 2 is open now through August 28. If you're ready to stop allowing old versions of yourself to make decisions for the life you're creating now, this is your invitation. Because the woman you were deserves your compassion. The woman you are deserves your presence. And the woman you're becoming deserves your courage. One thought. One choice. One brave step at a time.

We've all said it before."That's just the way I am."Sometimes it's a way of describing ourselves. Other times, it's a way of avoiding a deeper question. In this episode, I invite you to become curious about the habits, reactions, and behaviors you've accepted as permanent.Instead of criticizing yourself or becoming defensive, what if you simply asked why? Why do I respond this way? Where did this habit come from? Is this still serving the person I want to become?We'll explore how curiosity creates opportunities for growth, why self-awareness is more productive than self-judgment, and how even small shifts in the way we respond can change our relationships, our confidence, and the way we experience everyday life.Growth doesn't begin by becoming someone else. It begins by understanding yourself a little better.In this episode, I discuss:• Why "that's just the way I am" can become an excuse that keeps us from growing.• The difference between approaching yourself with curiosity versus self-criticism.• How understanding your habits and reactions can lead to meaningful change.• Why small adjustments in your responses can improve your interactions with others.• How choosing who you want to become is more powerful than accepting who you've always been.Sign Up for the Journal PromptsIf you'd like to continue these conversations through personal reflection, sign up for my weekday Journal Prompts. They're designed to help you build greater self-awareness and intentionally apply these ideas to your own life.https://yourlevelfitness.com/email

A Quick Note to Listeners: Before this week’s interview, Will Parker and Jen Schwanke take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is: I'm wanting to intentionally develop leaders on my team. Ideas or suggestions? Listen in to hear their repsonse! Meet Dr. Darin Thompson: Darin A. Thompson, PhD, is a veteran K–12 leader from Fairfax, Virginia, with nearly 20 years of experience and the founder of Pivotal Leaders Group. A two-time Outstanding Principal of the Year semi-finalist within his region, Dr. Thompson has led transformative school improvement efforts across multiple school divisions, resulting in double-digit gains in student outcomes and significant reductions in achievement gaps for historically underserved populations. A regular presenter at conferences such as NAESP/NASSP's United Conference, Making Schools Work, and the Virginia Alliance of Black School Educators, Dr. Thompson has contributed to Education Week, the Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research, and other publications. He is the author of The Four Cornerstones of Effective Schools, published by Solution Tree, and a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Effective Schools & the Four Cornerstones: Dr. Thompson's framework centers on the belief that effective schools are built through intentional systems, not isolated initiatives. In The Four Cornerstones of Effective Schools, he outlines how culture, collaboration, and aligned structures work together to support improvement. Rather than chasing new programs, leaders are encouraged to focus on building systems that consistently reinforce high-quality teaching and learning. Dr. Thompson's Educational Journey: Dr. Thompson shares that his path into education was anything but traditional. Initially interested in careers in law and financial planning, he discovered his passion for teaching and was later encouraged by a principal to step into leadership. That encouragement set him on a path that would eventually lead to the principalship and beyond, shaping his belief that leadership development often begins with someone recognizing potential in others. The Pivotal Leader Mindset: A key takeaway from the conversation is the importance of developing a “pivotal leader mindset.” Dr. Thompson explains that school improvement begins with how leaders think. Growth-oriented beliefs, combined with a willingness to examine one's own assumptions, allow leaders to better navigate complex challenges. Without this mindset, even the best strategies can fall short. Limiting Beliefs in Leadership: As the discussion continues, Dr. Thompson highlights how limiting beliefs can quietly undermine progress. Under pressure, leaders may begin to question their own effectiveness or doubt the capabilities of their staff. He emphasizes the importance of confronting these beliefs with evidence and shifting the focus toward building skills and capacity. When leaders change how they think, they change how they lead. School Culture & Staff Support: The conversation reinforces that strong culture is foundational to any improvement effort. Dr. Thompson describes common barriers such as complacency, isolation, and command-and-control leadership, all of which can limit progress. He stresses that support must come before accountability—teachers need clarity, resources, and encouragement before they can be expected to perform at high levels. Diagnosing the Cultural Landscape: Before implementing change, Dr. Thompson encourages leaders to pause and assess their current environment. He introduces three essential elements for a culture of support: clarity, trust, and readiness. Clarity ensures everyone understands the vision, trust builds confidence in leadership, and readiness equips staff with the skills needed to succeed. Skipping this diagnostic step often leads to frustration and failed initiatives. Building Instructional Capacity: Improving instruction requires more than one-time professional development. Dr. Thompson shares strategies for building capacity over time, including job-embedded learning, teacher-led sessions, and consistent feedback. He describes practical approaches like teacher-led “egg camps,” where educators share effective practices based on real classroom data, creating relevance and ownership in the learning process. PLCs & Collaboration: Professional Learning Communities play a critical role in sustaining improvement. Dr. Thompson explains that effective PLCs go beyond logistics and focus on meaningful collaboration around instruction and student outcomes. While resistance is common at first, establishing clear expectations and purpose helps shift teams toward deeper engagement and shared responsibility. Systems for Sustainable Improvement: Throughout the conversation, Dr. Thompson returns to the importance of systems. Strong systems act as guardrails, helping leaders stay focused on priorities and avoid reactive decision-making. By aligning systems with the school's vision, leaders create consistency and momentum, allowing improvement efforts to take root and grow over time. Leadership & Well-Being: The episode concludes with an encouraging message for leaders. Dr. Thompson reminds listeners that meaningful school improvement is possible without burnout. By focusing on systems, maintaining clarity, and prioritizing the right work, leaders can create lasting impact while also sustaining their own well-being. His message is both practical and hopeful—offering a clear path forward for those committed to leading effective schools. Staying Connected: You can stay connected with Dr. Thompson’s work via the following channels: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdarinthompson/ Solution Tree contact: https://www.solutiontree.com/darin-a-thompson.html Visit Darin’s website, www.DrDarinThompson.com Follow Darin on Youtube @drdarinthompson Follow Darin on Instagram @drdarinthompson The post Cornerstones of Effective Schools with Dr. Darin Thompson – PMP513 appeared first on Principal Matters.

Have you ever looked at an opportunity and thought:Maybe someday.Maybe when you have more money. Maybe when your schedule settles down. Maybe when you know someone there. Maybe when you're more qualified. Maybe when you're finally ready.CarrieVee wants you to stop waiting.In this episode of Coffee & Tea with CarrieVee, Carrie shares the story of walking into her very first International Maxwell Conference completely alone. She didn't know anyone. She wasn't sure exactly what to expect. She didn't have guarantees that the experience would be worth the time, money, or effort.But she knew one thing:She needed to be in that room.And being in that room changed the trajectory of her life. This episode is about the power of your environment, the people you surround yourself with, and the rooms you choose to enter.Because sometimes the thing standing between you and your next level isn't a lack of ability.It's that you're standing in the wrong room.In This Episode, CarrieVee Talks About:Your environment is your destiny.The people around you influence your thinking, your expectations, your goals, and ultimately your behavior. Carrie challenges listeners to examine the five people they spend the most time with—and asks whether those people are helping them move forward or keeping them comfortable. Stop waiting for the perfect time.The perfect time doesn't exist. There will always be a reason to wait: money, timing, family, work, uncertainty, fear.Carrie shares how her parents taught her an important lesson growing up: if something mattered enough, they found a way to make it happen. That mindset has stayed with her. Get in the room—even when you're uncomfortable.Your room might be a conference, mastermind, workshop, networking group, community, retreat, or gathering of people pursuing the same things you are.And you don't have to know anyone before you go.You just have to show up.Carrie explains that she continues attending the International Maxwell Conference even when she's heard some of the content before because the value isn't only in what she learns. It's in who she's surrounded by. Stop complaining and start growing.Complaining is comfortable. Growth isn't.Carrie challenges listeners to pay attention to their language. Are you spending more time talking about what's wrong—or talking about what's possible? Are you looking for solutions or collecting evidence for why something can't work?Book a Discovery Call with CarrieVee:https://schedulewithcarrievee.as.me/?appointmentType=12343596 Book CarrieVee for a Speaking Engagement: https://www.coachcarriev.com/contact-me Connect with CarrieVee:www.carrievee.comcarriev@coachcarriev.comIG: @iamcarrievee TT: @carrievee2022FB: Carrie VerrocchioLI: Carrie Verrocchio   Episode's Publish Date:2026-08-11T04:00:00-04:00

Nancy Lieberman discusses the Dallas Power's success in the Big3 and the league's innovative rules and financial expansion. She reflects on coaching her son, T.J. Cline, while offering a seasoned perspective on the WNBA's growth and the rise of Caitlin Clark.

Growth is supposed to feel like winning. For a lot of contractors, it feels like drowning. Derek Isaac, founder of Rapid Result Creators, spent more than 20 years in construction and real estate before turning that experience into a systems coaching practice for general contractors and home builders. In this episode, he breaks down why a growing business quietly becomes harder to run, and what to do about it. We get into the real mechanics. How to spot the frog-in-boiling-water moment before something breaks. Why owners revert to the tools or start micromanaging instead of leading. How to make new systems actually stick when enthusiasm gets diluted at every level below you. And the difference between growth that builds a business and growth that breaks it. This one is for GCs, home builders, and any AEC owner who feels like the business runs through them. It's a straight, practical conversation about structure, margins, boundaries, and building a company that doesn't need you in the room to function.   About Derek Isaac Derek Isaac is a business systems coach who works with general contractors and home builders to bring structure and control to growing businesses. With more than 20 years in construction contracting and real estate investing, he understands how quickly growth creates complexity, reduces visibility, and increases reliance on the owner. Through coaching, training programs, and live education, Derek helps builders strengthen operations, improve margins, and run businesses that are easier to manage as they scale. He's the founder of Rapid Result Creators.   What We Cover Introduction and Derek's path from contractor to business systems coach Why technically great builders struggle the moment they become business owners The frog-in-boiling-water problem and the early warning signs owners miss Leadership catching up to growth, and why reverting to the tools is a trap Making systems stick: buy-in, enthusiasm, and the implementation period Finding the bottleneck when the bottleneck is the owner, using the org chart Healthy growth versus growth that breaks the business, and why margin beats revenue Setting client boundaries with a clear "what to expect" approach Hiring as a system problem first, the Ideal Employee Profile, and why good people stay with good businesses The one thing every contractor should fix: their numbers Where to find Derek and closing thoughts   Key Takeaways Systems are the foundation that lets your people do their jobs well. They are not bureaucracy, they are what makes a business feel professional and easier to run. When the bottleneck is you, fill the org chart from the bottom up. Document and delegate the lowest rungs first, then build management layers as your finances allow. Margin beats revenue. A 2 million dollar business at a healthy margin has more room and more resilience than a 5 million dollar business running on 5 percent. Boundaries protect the business, not just the owner. A clear "what to expect" conversation earns respect and still earns the referrals and the reviews. Hire like it's a six or seven figure decision. Build the Ideal Employee Profile, go find passive candidates, and keep a database of everyone who ever applied.   Resources + Links Rapid Result Creators: https://rapidresultcreators.com Derek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-isaac Career Collective: https://www.mycareercollective.com  

This is episode 864. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a Women in Sales Leadership sub-brand of the Sales Game Changers Podcast.  Watch the video of this podcast on YouTube here. The Sales Game Changers Podcast was recognized by YesWare as the top sales podcast. Read the announcement here. FeedSpot named the Sales Game Changers Podcast at a top 20 Sales Podcast and top 8 Sales Leadership Podcast! Subscribe to the Sales Game Changers Podcast now on Apple Podcasts! Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! On today's show, Gina meets with Amanda Brown, Senior Vice President of of Growth at XFERALL. Find Amanda on LinkedIn. AMANDA"S TIP: "Mentoring circles are important. Fill your circle with quality of individuals, ask for help. If you're doing all these things and you're not respected at that table, go build a different table, go find a different table. A lot of times we hold on in roles way too long, and you have a choice."

Apartment rents grew 1.5% over the past 90 days, the fastest pace since late 2022. RealPage Chief Economist Carl Whitaker joins Michael Bull, CCIM, to break down where the multifamily market stands at mid-year 2026. Carl walks through second quarter actuals and third quarter forecasts, and explains why the national average matters less than it ever has. Class A properties are posting growth rates on par with 2018 and 2019, Class B is finding its footing, and Class C has been left behind by a K-shaped economy. In Raleigh, Class C rents have now declined for 15 straight quarters. The conversation covers the supply pullback versus resilient demand, how the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act paused the build to rent pipeline and why new market rate starts are already returning in markets like Raleigh Durham, and why build to rent complements conventional apartments instead of competing with them. Michael and Carl also dig into submarket dispersion, with Midtown, Buckhead, and Northeast Atlanta Class A rents up 2% to 3% year over year while the Atlanta metro average shows rents down 1.5% to 2%. They cover the cost side of the business, where taxes and insurance are finally cooling while marketing costs climb, and the effect of AI on rents and underwriting, with median rent to income now at its lowest level since 2020. Carl closes on the barbell shape of today's investment sales market and where he sees opportunity in second tier Southeast markets including Greenville Spartanburg, western North Carolina, and Chattanooga. Connect with Carl Whitaker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlwhitaker15/ RealPage Website: https://www.realpage.com Connect with Michael Bull & The Show: Michael Bull, CCIM Bull Realty, Inc https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbull/   Read More Here: https://www.bullrealty.com/intel/blog-posts/view/the-return-of-rent-growth-why-the-multifamily-recovery-is-splitting-by-class-and-submarket For more commercial real estate market data, sector forecasts, and video episodes, visit CREshow.com. America's Commercial Real Estate Show is brought to you by our proud sponsors. TCN Worldwide: Commercial real estate property management, leasing, and sales solutions across the US and globally. Learn more: https://www.tcnworldwide.com Build Out: The ultimate product suite for commercial real estate brokerage firms looking to streamline their business. Learn more: https://www.buildout.com Bull Realty: Regional commercial real estate brokerage services headquartered in Atlanta, delivering market intel and strategies. Learn more: https://www.bullrealty.com Commercial Agent Success Strategies: Twenty-one cloud accessed commercial broker training videos with slide deck action notes. Learn more at https://www.commercialagentsuccess.com/ #Multifamily #MultifamilyInvesting #ApartmentInvesting #CommercialRealEstate #RentGrowth #BuildToRent #RealEstateInvesting #ApartmentMarket #CapRates #RealPage #CREShow #MichaelBull

How does a growth chain break into a competitive restaurant market?This week's episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features John Abdo, the CEO of the 11-unit, Minneapolis-based chain My Burger.We spoke with Abdo at the recent Create conference in California, an event hosted by Restaurant Business parent company Informa Connect that is targeted at growth restaurant brands.We wanted to get the perspective of a growth chain dealing with the various challenges the current industry operates in. Beef costs are soaring, the industry is competitive, and finding new locations isn't easy. We also get the story of an interesting, family-owned company and how it thinks about expansion, including strategies for new locations, and where the chain is planning new restaurants. We're talking growth on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.

Send us Fan MailIn this week's episode of the Digital and Dirt podcast, Ian sits down with Kelly O'Rourke, Director of Marketing at FiiZ Drinks, to discuss the rise of “dirty soda,” the power of customization, and how social media helped turn a regional beverage company into a cultural phenomenon.Podcast Breakdown:00:00 - 11:27 Introduction, FiiZ & The Dirty Soda Boom11:28 - 16:49 FiiZ Is More Than Just Dirty Soda16:50 - 20:25 Kelly's Unexpected Journey to FiiZ20:26 - 23:47 Why Customization Is Changing Beverage Culture23:48 - 41:08 FiiZ's Explosive Growth Beyond Utah41:09 - 47:35 The Secret Weapon: FiiZ's Frontline Experience47:36 - 55:38 How TikTok Changed Everything55:39 - 57:59 What's Next: Loyalty, Growth & FiiZ's Future

Marketing is one of those things businesses tend to overcomplicate with more channels, more content, more tools, and more tactics.But sustainable growth doesn't come from doing everything. It comes from understanding your business, knowing your customer, measuring what matters, and consistently taking action.In this episode of Uncomplicate It, I sit down with Robb Fahrion, co-founder and CEO of Flying V Group, to talk about what he's learned building a founder-owned agency from a $15,000 bet into a multimillion-dollar business that has served more than 450 clients.Robb shares how bootstrapping shaped the way he thinks about profitability, accountability, and making every marketing dollar count. He also explains why businesses should understand how their customers actually buy before deciding which channels or strategies deserve their time and budget.His message is simple: stop overthinking and start taking action.We talk about why perfection can become one of the biggest obstacles to effective marketing, why publishing consistently gives businesses more opportunities to learn, and how measuring even one meaningful metric is better than spending without knowing whether anything worked.We also get into how marketing is evolving with AI, SEO, and GEO—and why chasing the newest technology without getting the fundamentals right can do more harm than good.We cover:How Robb and his co-founders turned a $15,000 bet into a multimillion-dollar agencyWhat bootstrapping teaches you about discipline and profitabilityWhy understanding your customer should come before choosing marketing channelsHow to simplify your marketing strategyWhy action beats perfectionHow to measure marketing ROI beyond vanity metricsWhy profitability matters more than impressive revenue numbersHow to build a multi-channel content strategy without spreading yourself too thinThe 30, 60, 90-day framework for testing and scaling marketingWhy SEO isn't dead and how GEO is changing searchHow AI is changing marketing while making human trust even more importantWhy grit, consistency, and showing up matter in entrepreneurshipTakeaways:You don't need to be everywhere to market effectivelyStart with understanding your business and your customerMeasure what actually contributes to growth and profitabilityConsistent action beats waiting for perfect contentRevenue means little without understanding the cost behind itStrong marketing requires strong sales and operationsNew technology can't replace a weak foundationHuman trust and experience will become even more valuable as AI growsSimplification makes execution easierGrit keeps you moving when business gets difficultIf marketing has ever felt overwhelming, expensive, or harder than it needs to be, this conversation will help you rethink where to focus, what to measure, and how to build a strategy around what actually drives growth.Connect with Robb:

Should you use AI to write your sermon? Maybe not. Three years after ChatGPT, we don't just sound the same. We're starting to think the same, or not think at all. Enter brain rot. Carey walks through seven tells that give away AI writing, shows you how to find the voice only you have, and unpacks a new study on cognitive surrender that every pastor needs to hear before next Sunday's sermon.