Podcasts about growth strategies

Many brands are finding that the growth strategies that once worked aren't delivering the same results anymore. In this episode, Sonia Thompson breaks down the marketplace shifts reshaping brand growth strategy in 2026 and beyond — and why traditional growth playbooks are falling flat. From trust becoming a real constraint on growth, to discovery happening in entirely new ways, this episode explains what's changed in the market — and what brands need to do differently to grow today. If your brand's growth feels harder than it used to, this episode will help you understand why — and how to adapt your brand growth strategy for the market we're actually in. Take the Frictionless Growth Quiz to identify where your brand may be creating hidden friction: frictionlessgrowthlab.com/quiz Also mentioned in this episode: Episode 198: The Growth Strategy Behind Crayola's Global Initiative Engaging 17 Million Kids | Brand Strategy and Customer Acquisition Case Study - https://www.frictionlessgrowthlab.com/brand-ecosystem-crayola/

Eleven successful founders reveal their exact playbooks for 2026. Discover AI commerce strategies, slow content that converts, gamified loyalty tips, and community-first growth tactics. Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.

Is the recruiting industry actually changing—or simply recalibrating? Kortney Harmon cuts through the noise to examine what's really shaping recruiting leadership as firms look toward 2026. Rather than chasing headlines or hyped predictions, this Express episode outlines eight quiet but powerful signals emerging from real conversations with owners, operators, and executives. Kortney explores why relationships are becoming strategic again, how discipline is replacing tech accumulation, and why AI is shifting from competitive advantage to expected infrastructure. The conversation reframes growth around sustainability, trust, and clarity—highlighting the rise of operator-strategists, the redefinition of candidate experience, and the identity questions firms can no longer avoid.Grab a coffee and tune in for quick, practical inspiration to help you lead and grow your talent business—with less chaos and more purpose.______________________Follow Crelate on LinkedIn: CrelateWant to learn more about Crelate? Book a demo hereSubscribe to our newsletter: https://www.crelate.com/blog/full-desk-experience

Whether you're in the trenches or taking time to reflect on your business journey, this episode is packed with advice and reflections to help you make informed decisions for 2026 and beyond.Welcome back to another insightful episode of Empowering Entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Glenn Harper, joined by my co-host, Julie Smith.Today, we're diving into a subject that many entrepreneurs grapple with: Is bigger always better, or is better just better? We'll explore the delicate balance between scaling a business and maintaining quality, how to decide which path aligns with your goals, and the crucial role of intention in growth strategies.This episode is brought to you by PureTax, LLC. Tax preparation services without the pressure. When all you need is to get your tax return done, take the stress out of tax season by working with a firm that has simplified the process and the pricing. Find out more about how we started.Actionable AdviceRegular Reflection: Make it a part of your business routine to step back and evaluate where you are and where you want to be.Intentional Planning: As the year comes to a close, use this period for setting clear, deliberate intentions for 2025.Opportunity Cost Evaluation: Consider what you might have to give up in order to achieve your desired growth. Is it worth it?Running a business doesn't have to run your life.Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it's easy to be so busy ‘doing' business that you don't have the right strategy to grow your business.Stop letting your business run you. At Harper & Co CPA Plus, we know that you want to be empowered to build the lifestyle you envision. In order to do that you need a clear path to follow for successOur clients enjoy a proactive partnership with us. Schedule a consultation with us today.Download our free guide - Entrepreneurial Success Formula: How to Avoid Managing Your Business From Your Bank Account.Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year. An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how

The 80/20 Principle of Running a Cash-Based PT Clinic In this episode of the PT Entrepreneur Podcast, Dr. Danny Matta breaks down the 80/20 principle for cash-based clinic owners and simplifies what you should track if you want to grow past yourself. Instead of obsessing over dozens of metrics, Danny argues there are three "dollar productive" KPIs that drive almost all clinic growth. He also explains why provider schedules either snowball fast or stall for a year and how to shorten that ramp from 12+ months to around six months with the right focus. In This Episode, You'll Learn: How Claire can save staff clinicians hours each week and translate that time into meaningful revenue What the 80/20 principle means inside a cash-based clinic The concept of "dollar productive activities" and why it matters The three KPIs Danny thinks drive the majority of clinic growth Why the owner should usually handle discovery calls during growth phases Benchmarks for conversion rates at different stages of scale Why recurring services are the "sneaky" variable that stabilizes schedules How to get a new provider productive faster so clinic growth compounds Claire: Turn Saved Time Into Revenue Without Burning Out Your Team Danny opens with a simple math breakdown clinic owners can understand quickly. Time is valuable, for you and for your staff clinicians. PT Biz has found that Claire, their AI scribe, saves staff clinicians about six hours per week on average. Even if you only reclaim half of that time and convert it into patient care, that is roughly three additional one-hour visits per week per clinician. Example Danny gives: 3 extra visits per week $200 average visit rate $600 more per week per clinician Roughly $30,000 per year in additional revenue per clinician The point is not to overload your team. The point is to use technology to remove the documentation burden so you can increase capacity without increasing burnout. Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai The 80/20 Principle in a Cash Practice The 80/20 principle is the idea that 20% of your actions lead to 80% of your results. Danny applies this directly to clinic growth. When your clinic is small, it is easy to get busy doing "everything" and tracking a long list of numbers. The problem is most of those activities do not move the business. Instead, Danny recommends narrowing your focus to the most "dollar productive" activities. In other words, the actions and metrics that actually drive revenue and schedule utilization. The Goal: Get a Provider Productive Fast Danny frames the big objective clearly. You want to get your own schedule full enough to hire someone. Then you want any provider you hire to get productive as fast as possible. In PT Biz's world, once a provider reaches roughly 80 to 90 visits per month, it tends to snowball into 100+ pretty quickly. But getting to that point can take some clinics over a year. If you can shorten that ramp to six months, your growth compounds. In a year, you might be able to hire two people instead of one, because each provider becomes profitable faster. The Three Dollar-Productive KPIs Danny says there are three key metrics that drive the majority of growth in a cash-based clinic. Each one represents a drop-off point that can either accelerate growth or quietly crush it. 1) New Patient Volume and Discovery Call Conversion Many owners only track "how many evals we have." Danny says you need to go one step back and track conversion from lead to evaluation. There is often a major drop-off between someone becoming a lead and actually booking an evaluation. This is usually happening on discovery calls. Benchmarks Danny shares: During growth, aim for 8 to 10 new patients per provider per month Once stable, new patient volume can drop closer to 5 per month Discovery call to eval conversion should be 70%+ He also makes a strong recommendation: during growth phases, the owner should handle discovery calls. Why? In many clinics, admins convert around 45% to 50%. Owners often convert 80% to 90% because they carry authority and can handle objections better. Danny gives an example: 20 discovery calls at 50% conversion = 10 evals 20 discovery calls at 80% conversion = 16 evals That gap can be the difference between a provider staying empty and a provider getting busy quickly. He also points out that owners sometimes resist this because it feels like a step backward, but the time requirement is smaller than most people assume. If you have 20 calls at 20 minutes each, that is under 10 hours per month and it can dramatically impact growth. 2) Evaluation to Plan of Care Conversion The second KPI is how many evaluations convert into a plan of care. When people do not commit to a plan of care, Danny says many still come back a few times, often around three visits, until symptoms improve and then they disappear. That creates unpredictable revenue and inconsistent schedules. Plan-of-care conversion makes volume and revenue more predictable. Benchmarks Danny shares: Owner: 70% conversion from eval to plan of care Staff providers: 60% conversion is a strong benchmark at scale He emphasizes that this requires quality control and training. Staff clinicians need to be comfortable with diagnosis, prognosis, and presenting a clear plan. Otherwise close rates drift and schedules stall. 3) Recurring Services After Plan of Care Danny calls this the sneaky variable that people forget, but it can make the biggest difference in schedule stability. Hiring a clinician is usually a net negative for the business at first. You are paying salary, taxes, and benefits while they are still ramping up. What stabilizes and compounds a provider schedule is recurring volume. The goal is that roughly 40% of plan-of-care patients transition into some type of recurring service after discharge. Why this matters: Recurring visits fill a predictable chunk of the schedule New patient volume no longer has to carry the whole load Providers get to work with people they enjoy long term It is mentally easier than constant evaluations Danny also explains why this is often hard for staff clinicians. They may feel uncomfortable "selling" ongoing support because they never did it in insurance clinics They may not know what to do clinically once a plan of care ends So this requires two things: education on the clinical delivery of recurring services and training on how to present it confidently. Put It Together: How to Grow Faster Without Tracking Everything Danny's bigger point is that clinic owners often get lost in too many tasks and too many numbers. If you simplify down to these three KPIs and train your team around them, your odds of building provider schedules faster go up dramatically: Discovery call conversion (lead to eval) Eval to plan-of-care conversion Plan-of-care to recurring conversion When those are strong, growth compounds. You hire faster, providers get productive faster, and you get to choose what you want the clinic to become instead of being stuck trying to "just get busy." Resources Mentioned Try Claire free for 7 days: https://meetclaire.ai Talk with a PT Biz advisor: https://vip.physicaltherapybiz.com/discovery-call Join the free Part Time to Full Time 5-Day Challenge: https://physicaltherapybiz.com/challenge

What if your website is quietly turning people away without you ever knowing it? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, Michael Hingson talks with Lori Osbourne, a branding strategist and web accessibility advocate whose personal health journey reshaped how she helps businesses show up online. Lori shares how unclear messaging, weak branding, and inaccessible websites block trust, visibility, and growth. Together, they unpack why accessibility is not just about compliance, but about inclusion, credibility, and better SEO, and how simple changes like clearer messaging, alt text, contrast, and video captions can transform both user experience and business results. Highlights: 00:01 – Understand why disability is often left out of diversity conversations and why that needs to change 13:56 – Learn how a life-altering health crisis forced a complete reset in career and priorities 27:10 – Discover why a website alone is not enough to establish authority or visibility 34:19 – Learn why unclear messaging is the biggest reason websites fail to convert 44:43 – Understand what website accessibility really means and who it impacts 59:42 – Learn the first step to take if your online presence feels overwhelming About the Guest: Lori Osborne, affectionately known as The Authority Amplifier, is a Brand Strategist, Website Consultant, and the founder of BizBolster Web Solutions. With over 25 years in technology and nearly a decade of experience helping coaches, consultants, authors, and speakers build a profitable online presence, Lori is the powerhouse behind The Authority Platform™, a complete done-for-you system designed to transform overwhelm into opportunity. Her signature branding process, The Authority Blueprint™, helps clients clarify their message, define their visual and verbal identity, and identify what truly sets them apart in their field. She then brings that strategy to life with an authority-building website - strategically crafted on the Duda platform to reflect credibility, connect authentically, and convert consistently - without the headaches of WordPress maintenance or tech confusion. Unlike agencies that offer cookie-cutter sites or developers who disappear after launch, Lori builds long-term relationships by delivering personalized, high-touch service. Through The Authority Platform™, she combines brand clarity, trust-building web design, lead generation funnels, SEO, accessibility, and sales systems into one cohesive, visibility-driving engine. Lori is known for her warmth, resilience, and insightfulness, and for making her clients feel fully seen and heard. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels with digital tools that don't deliver, and finally create a platform that amplifies your voice, authority, and impact, Lori is your strategic partner. Ways to connect with Lori**:** https://www.bizbolster.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriaosborne/ https://www.facebook.com/bizbolster https://www.instagram.com/bizbolsterlori Link to Freebie: https://www.bizbolster.com/vip-visibility-audit About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson  01:17 Well, hello everyone. Welcome to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. I am your host, Michael Hingson, or you can call me Mike, it's fine, and I gave the full title of the podcast for a very specific reason. Where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet, typically, diversity people never want to include disabilities in what they discuss or what they do. And if you ask the typical diversity people, what's diversity? They'll talk about race, gender, sexual orientation, and they don't deal with disabilities. But the reality is, and they say that disability isn't a real mindset. Well, Balderdash, it is. Just asked the 25% of America's population, according to the CDC, that has a disability, and they'll tell you that disability is a minority. But the reason I bring it all up is today, we get to talk with Lori Osborne, and she is a person who's been very deeply involved in website development, in branding and coaching, and she is very concerned about and likes to try to help deal with the issue of accessibility on websites. So we're going to have a fun time talking about all of that, much less the platform she uses, as opposed to WordPress, and I'm really curious to hear more about that, because I've my website is a WordPress website, but, but, you know, I think there are so many different ways to deal with things today. We'll, we'll have a fun time. But Lori, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Thank you Lori Osbourne  02:56 so much for having me. Mike, I love being here. Cannot wait to talk. Michael Hingson  03:01 Well, let's do it. Why don't we start by you telling us kind about the early Laurie growing up and all that stuff, and kind of how you got started. Okay, start at the beginning. Lori Osbourne  03:14 At the beginning. All right. I was born in San Diego. More your neck of the woods. San Diego Naval Hospital, but only got to live in California for two years, which I've always been disappointed about. My my family had my grandfather built a home in La Jolla. So you know, I was I've always been jealous of how my mom got to grow up, but I only got to spend two years there and then I got moved to Norman, Oklahoma, home of the Sooners, never watched football, never went to one football game my entire life. Michael Hingson  03:51 I've never been to a professional or college football game. My wife had, but I never got to go to a football game. I think it'd be kind of fun to do once, as long as I could still pick it up on the radio and know what's going on. Lori Osbourne  04:03 There you go. Yeah, I had zero interest in football until I met my current husband in 2011 and he doesn't miss a professional football game, an NFL game. So I have, I have come to embrace it and enjoy the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Kansas City Chiefs. So there you go. Michael Hingson  04:24 So you're in Florida and you don't root for a Florida team, huh? Lori Osbourne  04:29 I don't, we won't hold it again, you know. Well, you know, I'm one of those. So I moved from Oklahoma to Colorado to Denver area. So I was a Broncos fan when I lived in Colorado, but that was the days of, oh my gosh. Now my mind is going to completely go blank. This is so embarrassing. The the Great, the greatest Broncos player who is now a general manager, John, oh my gosh. Can think of a it'll come to me. But anyway, he, you know, we. Were actually like, yes, thank you. Thank you very much. Elway. Yes, I was a guest. So we were actually, like, winning Super Bowls when I first moved there, so, you know, and then it went, kind of went. Then I became a Peyton Manning fan, and my husband's from Pennsylvania, and he's like, you can't just change your mind about who you support every time we move. And I'm like, but I can't, yeah, why not? So when we moved to Florida, I Michael Hingson  05:26 the Jaguars, jaguars, yeah, yeah, they Lori Osbourne  05:29 just haven't been a great team. And I I watched Mahoney, Mahoney play for Kansas City, and I just fell in love with how he plays and just his style and his leadership, and I just became a Kansas City fan, just because I love watching him. And last season was a little disappointing because he didn't throw as much, but, but, you know, he's, he's amazing, so that's that's my reasoning. Michael Hingson  06:03 So So you you didn't fall in love with Travis Kelsey and try to go steal him away from Taylor Swift before things got serious? Lori Osbourne  06:12 No, no, I was already in love with my current husband. Michael Hingson  06:15 So see, tell him that there are some things and some loves that do transcend location. Lori Osbourne  06:23 There you go. Yes, absolutely. Well, you know, he's so obsessed with football that we I actually included in our marriage vows that I would support him through his two fantasy football teams and a lifetime of football in my future, because I knew I was marrying football when I married him. Michael Hingson  06:46 One of the things that spoils me about sports out here, and it's not so much anymore, but it used to be the case is, I think that here in especially southern California, we had the best sports announcers in the business. We had Vin Scully doing baseball, and I think that it'll be a long, long time before anyone comes up to the caliber of Vince Scully. And there, there are things that they do now that that really messed that up. But Vinnie was a was was the best. We had Dick Enberg, who did football and and other people. And Chick Hearn did basketball. Chick hurr had talked so fast that I don't know how he was able to do it, but I learned how to listen fast because I grew up listening to Chick Hearn new basketball. I love it. So, so I got spoiled on sports, listening to those announcers. I keep up with football from a news standpoint, especially when it gets close to the Super Bowl, so I can decide who I'm going to if anybody for for in the Super Bowl when they have it. Yeah, I do kind of like the Rams, because I live out here and I've always kind of liked them, although I was mad at them when they moved to St Louis for a while, but, but still, they're the Rams. I mean, we'll see what they do this year. I think they've got a good coach, but I by no means am a football expert or anything like that. I keep up though. Lori Osbourne  08:08 Me neither. I, yeah, I kind of joke, you know, my husband will watch like, you know, eight games at once, the red zone or the whatever, and it's flipping around. And I just can't, so I just joke I'm a fourth quarter watcher. On Sunday nights, Monday nights, I'll watch the fourth quarter and because that's where you know if it's gonna happen, that's where it's gonna happen if it's gonna be worth watching. Michael Hingson  08:30 Yeah, well, I'll be interested to see what happens tomorrow, because the Chargers are playing the chiefs in Brazil. Lori Osbourne  08:41 Yes, and I don't, I don't even know if we're going to get to watch it, because, you know, the NFL spread out across all these different platforms now, and if you don't have the platform, you're out of luck. Michael Hingson  08:52 I think it's going to be on TV. It'll be watchable, but it starts at 530 Pacific Time, and I don't quite understand that. If they're doing it live, that would mean it's going to start at nine. Start at 930 in the evening in San Paulo. So I don't know how all that's going to work. We'll see. Lori Osbourne  09:07 Yeah, yeah, we shall see. Yeah, we're I don't know if we're watching tomorrow nights, but my husband's definitely watching tonight, for sure. Well, I Michael Hingson  09:15 don't think there are more games on tomorrow other than that one, so maybe he will. And maybe you actually get to focus and just see one game, Lori Osbourne  09:24 right, right? That's, that's, that's the nice part about the non Sunday games. Usually it's just, Michael Hingson  09:31 well, so you, so you grew up and you, you only lived in California for two years, and then where did you go? Lori Osbourne  09:40 I lived in Norman, that's right, until I was 29 I actually found my birth father when I was 23 and moved to Colorado to get to know him and his family. Michael Hingson  09:55 So you were a diamond. Lori Osbourne  10:00 Not really. I just, he was just never part of my life. Your mom married someone else, yeah, okay, yeah. I always had. My mom just didn't have my dad. And it's, you know, it's been an interesting experience, because, you know, being in my 20s when I met him, and my mom and I were opposite growing up, and I never understood my personality, because she was quiet and passive and wanted to work in the same job her entire life, and I was the opposite. I was vivacious and loud and aggressive and always wanted to be self employed. Then I met my dad and went, Oh, it explained it all, I'm just like him. It's crazy how the you know the genes work for sure, Michael Hingson  10:51 but you got to know him, and the relationship was a good one. Lori Osbourne  10:55 Yeah, yeah, right. We just, he's in Idaho now. We just got back a couple of weeks ago from visiting. I mean, it's been interesting, trying to enter a family, you know, in your 20s is is bizarre. I kind of, I kind of equate it to being an in law, like, I'm not quite all the way in, because I, you know, I didn't grow up with these people. They don't know me. But, yeah, it's been interesting. So where in Idaho, near Coeur d'Alene Sand Point near Michael Hingson  11:25 standpoint, I have a brother in law who lives in Ketchum, in Sun Valley, and who is an avid skier, and has been an avid skier basically his whole life. Now the real big question is, of course, where is your father when it comes to football, Lori Osbourne  11:46 my father does not sit still. Okay? That is, that is one way that we are different. He I joke that he'll probably outlive me. I mean, he lives on 14 acres. I think he just, they just sold 40 Acres. But he doesn't. He never sits still. He He's always going, going, going, working on, you know, he had, he had his business, which he sort of still does. But he works on fences or helps with the does something with the horses or the hay or the, you know, it's just it. He works his plan does not I don't think he the TV when we were there was on music the entire time. Yep. Michael Hingson  12:30 So hardly a person who tends to watch football. Well, that's okay. So you, you grew up in Norman? Did you go to college there or in the area? Lori Osbourne  12:43 I went for a year and then couldn't figure out how to keep paying for it. I honestly didn't even realize financial aid was a thing. So I started in the workforce and became a recruiter, technical recruiter, pretty early in my career. I did that for 12 years, and then started my own recruiting business and got my degree during that time. So I got a bachelor's degree in business administration, 4.0 average while working. Proud of that, but I was in my 30s, and then I got cancer right after that, had colon cancer at 36 which I blame an 18 year abusive, horrible marriage, I think really led to that, but it pushed me To get out of that horrible abuse of marriage. And then a few years later, I met my current husband, and I am the happiest I've ever been, Michael Hingson  13:51 but you also were able to, in one way or another, beat the cancer Lori Osbourne  13:58 I was, yes, it was actually stage one colon cancer. Only had surgery so that one, yeah, didn't even have to have chemo or radiation. And actually, what got me into my current business? I was a when I got divorced, I did this is kind of funny to me. I when I got divorced, I decided I no longer wanted to be straight commission, and because I had gotten a job after after the cancer, and now I'm self employed. And so why? I think I wouldn't want to be straight commission, but it's okay to be self employed, but it's a completely different mindset. You know yourself very much a different mindset. But I was in tech. I moved from recruiting into hands on technology. I did project management, software testing, I looked at websites and helped design websites from a business perspective, but I was never, never a coder, never, you know, did the visual design? Nine and in 2015 I we had just moved to the opposite side of Denver. We had just changed, I had just changed jobs, had a brand new home, and then found out I had a brain tumor. Michael Hingson  15:15 Oh, gosh, yeah, you're just an attention getting person. Lori Osbourne  15:19 That's all you. I know. That's it. I just walk around going, yep, that's it. So, yeah. So I, I ended up leaving the job because it was, it was very traumatic. I ended up having two surgeries. They couldn't remove the tumor. It's part of my carotid artery. It's a meningioma. It's benign, but it's part of my carotid artery, and it was causing my left eye to droop, so they went in to get it off the optical nerve and nicked the carotid and caused a brain bleed. And that brain bleed caused that drooping eye to become a half blind eye. So I ended up, for about a year and a half, I had double vision. I also had found out I had a stroke from it, I was having problems with words and forming, you know, the right words. And I had no tolerance for stress for a long time, so there was no way I was going back to project management in the IT world, right? This wasn't so I literally, I spent about a year recovering and just started messing around, going, Okay, well, what can I do with the talents that I have? And I started building a website on Squarespace, and it was called Health Net, like grandma. And it was just talking about my I lost my mother and my grandmother to cancer at 63 both at 63 and then I had gone through what I went through. And I just wanted to share the stories, you know, the what I've learned from a health perspective. And in doing that, went, wow. Why have I not been developing websites the last 20 years? This is what I should be doing. I love this, and I bet other business owners could really use some help doing this. And that's when my business was born. Michael Hingson  17:20 Wow. How did they discover the brain tumor? Lori Osbourne  17:26 It started with me falling asleep at my brand new job desk. Was I could not hold my eyes open. I actually thought it was an adrenal reaction to leaving a super high stress job to a very boring job, but it was not. They did all these tests. They put me on thyroid medication, which helped, and then my left eye started drooping, like literally within weeks together and and it was funny, because they they sent me to an eye doctor, and the eye doctor sent me to an eye surgeon, and they wanted to do surgery on it. And I'm like, don't you want to figure out why this is happening? Like, I don't want you to touch my eye until you know why my eye is drooping. And my doctor thought that was the craziest thing she'd ever heard. So she goes, Well, have we done an MRI yet? And I said, No, so they sent me for an MRI that day. And lo and behold, not only do you have a brain tumor, but you have had a stroke. Okay. Gosh, you know, she did not want to share that news, those news with me. She was very embarrassed. Probably, well, Michael Hingson  18:43 but you need to know, yeah, and clearly you already had demonstrated that you had an analytical mind, and it would be valuable for you to know, because it would help you in dealing with making decisions, or thinking about what decisions to make going forward, right? Yeah, so you did. So you went through the surgeries and all of that, and what, what happened to your your left eye, Lori Osbourne  19:10 it, it's still mostly blind. I have a sliver of vision that I can't control. So if I go to the eye doctor, they try to get me to look at the chart, and I can't focus it on the chart, and I get very frustrated. I blocked it for the first year. Now my eyes are so it's it's developed its own way of working, so I can't even block it anymore without causing worse headaches than I already have. Bad headaches kind of came out of all of this. So I really just live with it. I live with the headaches, and I ignore it as much as I possibly can and and hope it's improved slightly over. The last 10 years, they told me it would never improve. But, you know, our brains are amazing things, and it's it's trying, but it's still not. I just tell them make the left eye prescription the same as the right eye because it makes no difference. Yeah. Michael Hingson  20:17 Well, so with, with with all that you've you've dealt with, with, with this clearly, you figured out a way to go forward, and you've, now, I assume, used all that happened to you, and you've analyzed it in some way or another, that you have made some decisions about what you want to do with your life, which is namely the whole brand development and web development and dealing with accessibility, which is pretty cool. Lori Osbourne  20:51 Yeah, yeah, I am. Once I discovered that passion and the I honestly never realized I had the creative side of me. I knew I had the analytical I knew I had the project management and tech, but once I realized I actually have a very strong creative side, then websites were the way to go. And it's it's really I can be working on a website for four hours straight and feel no pain, and that that alone tells me I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I love it that much, and I feel like I'm that talented at it. Michael Hingson  21:30 I think you've made a very interesting observation, and one that I relate to very well, which is working commission is one thing, but working for yourself, which, in some senses, is the same, but it's totally different, and you have to have a different mindset to make it work. Lori Osbourne  21:48 Oh, absolutely, yes. I mean, I'm I'm not selling a product for someone else. I'm selling myself, and I am the product, and I have to live by my my values and my mission and my why, which is completely different than selling services for someone else, for straight commission. Michael Hingson  22:12 I have always told my the people who I hired as sales people to analyze and and think about what they do. And one of the things that I did with every person I ever hired was I would say, tell me what you're going to sell. And literally, all but one person said, Oh, we're going to sell the product. This is the product we're selling. This is what it does. But the best sales guy I ever hired, when I asked that question, Said, the only thing I have to sell is myself and my word, and I need you to back me up when I give my word about something, Michael Hingson  22:50 great answer. It was, it was the actual, it was the answer I was looking for. And I said, well, as long as we communicate, and I know what you're going to say, and that's all about trust, I'm going to back you up. And never had an issue. And in fact, he and I worked very well together, because we figured out how my talents in sales and management could augment and accentuate what he did, so that the two of us could work together. And I think that's that's so important, but you're right. The only thing any really good salesperson has to sell is themselves, and you have to be true to your own attitudes. Yes, yes, which is so Lori Osbourne  23:33 integrity is everything. I mean, if you especially as a small business owner, I mean, and I'm in a very small community, and I this. I only lived here since 2018 and it's kind of been shocking to me how how a small community works. But if you do it right, everybody knows your name. If you do it wrong, everybody knows your name. Yeah, it's you know when, every time I get a call because the chamber has referred me again. I just smile, and I'm like, Okay, I'm doing it right, you know? And it's, to me, it's all about integrity. If you, if you say you're going to do something, do it, and if you can't do it, say you can't do it, say you can't do right, or say I'm going to figure it out. Yeah, you know, I didn't. I charged very little my first few years, and I always my first few years, I told clients, I don't know what I'm doing yet, so I'm not charging you for the time that I'm learning. I'm going to charge you for the time that I'm actually accomplishing something. Michael Hingson  24:30 One of the things I always told every again, every salesperson I ever hired is for at least the first year. You're a student. No matter what you think you know and what you know about sales, when you're working with customers, you're a student, ask them questions, really learn from them, because they want you to be successful, even if you don't think they do. And the reality is that, in general, they do want you to be successful, and the more you encourage them to teach you, the better relationship you're going to develop. Lori Osbourne  24:59 Absolutely. And 100% yes. Michael Hingson  25:02 So how long ago did you end up having the brain tumor? Lori Osbourne  25:07 I was diagnosed in August of 2015 So wow, I'm, I'm at exactly 10 years. 10 years. Yeah, I didn't, oh my gosh. September 22 will be my my first surgery dates. There you go. Wow. Right at 10 years Michael Hingson  25:23 See, I'm glad we we help you remember, Lori Osbourne  25:27 I can't, I can't believe that was, like, not even on my mind. I mean, it was actually September 17. Was the first surgery, that's right, and it's the same day as my dog's birthday. And we were just talking about my dog's birthday yesterday, but I didn't even think about the tumor. So well, it's all good Michael Hingson  25:47 a week from next Wednesday. But you know, you you obviously are doing well, well, so how did your your business in the the way you do things and what you do? How did all that change after the surgery, or had you already started down the road of branding and being a branding coach and website development and accessibility? Lori Osbourne  26:10 No, all of this came as a result of all of it. So it literally just grew with me, as I, you know, transitioned into life again, and being able to function mentally and physically, I would just start, you know, working on a little bit of, you know, a couple of websites. The first website I built was from for a realtor that we worked with. We did three different deals with him in two years. He was this great Scottish guy, great personality, and his website was horrific. And I begged him to let me do it. It was a I think we ended up doing 39 pages total, and just read redid the whole thing. He loved it. A lot of it's still in place 10 years later. But I just, I just started building, and then we moved to the area we are now outside Jacksonville, and I found a local networking group and started meeting people and getting introduced to businesses and just slowly built and learned a little bit at a time, and learned a little bit more. And then it was not actually until last year I realized that I have branding skills and talent that I haven't been promoting. I was using the skills and I was building on brand websites, but I didn't say that, and I didn't recognize it as a separate talent from website development. I kind of thought everybody did that, until I realized that that's not true. So I've been doing it, and a lot of it is just, I the natural, just natural talent for color and almost like designing houses. Like I knew I was really good at designing houses, but I didn't recognize that that translated to websites. And so for last, like, year to 18 months, I've really kind of bought into the brand strategy piece of what I offer. Michael Hingson  28:19 Well, how did you develop this concept of authority platforms, and what is it? Lori Osbourne  28:27 So the authority platform is what I'm calling the full package. It kind of started when I got really frustrated with everybody telling me or everybody's an exaggeration, but so many people saying, Oh, you don't need a website. You just need landing pages. And I would try to educate people that landing pages are not enough, but I couldn't put it in the right words, and when I started really looking at it, going, well, landing pages are great, if you have the visibility to get people to the landing page, and if you've built a relationship in a different way, if it's through speaking or through a book or through other types of promotions, then yes, the landing page can help or maybe replace the website. But where that led me was a website alone is also not enough. We need full visibility. We need to be seen in a lot of different ways to establish our authority as experts. So with the authority platform, I'm looking at the brand and understanding the brand, the website, the lead magnet, the funnels, the search engine optimization, and then helping them also have a good CRM to manage all of this, hooking them up with with good speaking coaches or podcast. Opportunities and just looking at it from a full life cycle of being visible and showing that authority online. Michael Hingson  30:10 And how's that gone over? Lori Osbourne  30:14 It's, I'm still building it honestly, the website's absolutely I'm I'm really working on building the collaboration pieces for the rest of it to truly say, Yes, I have the authority platform, the branding packages that I'm offering and the branding pieces that I'm doing are making a significant difference in the quality of the websites I'm building, because I come out of it with a custom GPT that they can use, and I can use that really establishes that baseline for the brand and the bringing in their values, bringing in their communication style, and bringing in their ideal client and how to speak to that ideal client. So the GPT is built around all of that, which is perfect when we're building the content for the website. So I would say, you know, we're 75% of the way there to having my true authority platform. But I'm still building, you know, authority building websites every day. Michael Hingson  31:20 Well, I gather that you don't tend to like to use WordPress. You use Duda as a platform builder and so on. Tell me, I'm curious why and what, and I don't have any any disagreement or or really knowledge to talk intelligently about it. But tell me why you use Duda and what, what it brings. Lori Osbourne  31:44 So my my challenges with WordPress started with my first client in Florida. They there was a nonprofit. They had no idea what they were doing, and I'm like, I I'm techie. I can go in, I can figure it out, and I could not figure out WordPress, and I got very frustrated with it going, how in the world does anybody else do this? So I kind of stayed away from it for a little while, and I was building on Squarespace for a time, and then I discovered Duda. I consider Duda to be the best of Wix and Squarespace. It's very similar. But the things I don't like about Wix, I don't like about Squarespace, Duda has resolved. It's also very customer oriented and SEO oriented and accessibility oriented. So there's a lot of advantages to the platform. The reason I don't support WordPress is I've had too many, too many people come to me with broken websites. Too many WordPress people do not educate their clients that that you have to update the plugins, and they don't. They just leave them and don't offer to do that for them, and it's it's an unnecessary addition that I don't think most people need for their website. There's plenty of things that we can do and do to that we can do exactly like WordPress without the headaches of that extra tech and plugins breaking and security breaking because the plugins are breaking, and it's it just it's too unnecessary, in my opinion. I tried to support WordPress for about a year and a half, and I found that I was not helping my Duda clients because the WordPress was always so much high maintenance. And those were the websites that were going down, and those are the websites that were having issues where my due to clients, their websites were never down, they never had issues. Michael Hingson  33:51 But don't need, but don't you, from time to time need to provide any kind of updates to Duda doesn't. Aren't there as the as the whole website evolves, doesn't, don't you need to find ways to evolve what they are and what they do Lori Osbourne  34:05 on the front end, on the front end, absolutely I mean, but from the back end, from a platform perspective, Duda handles all of that. It's self contained. Got it? I don't have to worry about that. And they're also always adding new features, which is another thing I absolutely love about them there, and I have yet to find, let me rephrase that. I've probably found a couple of things that if I could not duplicate on Duda to match WordPress, it would require code, and I don't code, but I can still achieve the goal of what my clients are looking for. There's nothing that they've said I have to have this that I can't provide. And the offset of not having the worry around the tech is has always been worth it. Michael Hingson  34:55 So the creators of Duda in the background as. They make updates and changes, they go out to everybody who uses it to create their websites automatically. Is that? Is that what happens? Lori Osbourne  35:07 Okay, yeah, it's seamless. Yeah, you don't even, you have no idea that there's even updates being done. It's completely seamless. Michael Hingson  35:15 Yeah, okay, well, I understand that. That makes a lot of sense. What's the one mistake that you find that keeps business owners from really progressing and keeping their websites and them invisible? What's the biggest mistake you see? Lori Osbourne  35:36 Messaging unclear, messaging which, which really goes back to the brand. If you don't understand your brand, you don't understand your why, and you don't know how to express how you solve problems for your ideal client, let me, let me rephrase. If you don't even know your ideal client is and you're trying to speak to them, a lot of people think they sell to everyone, and when you try to sell to everyone, you sell to no one. And if you are trying to speak to the masses from your website, you're going to lose the people you really want to reach. So it comes down to that, that niching down factor and really understanding your ideal client, so that when they hit your website, they immediately know you understand my problem and you can fix it. And it really comes down to that versus I can fix, you know, I can build a website for anybody. Well, then that makes me no different than a website developer down the street. Then it comes down to a price comparison, and then we're just bidding against each other. So you've gotta, you've gotta what makes you special, and what and and your why is a big part of that. Your values are a big part of that. And speaking the right language and that messaging. Michael Hingson  37:03 Can you tell me a story of maybe one customer that you worked with where you can demonstrate exactly what you're talking about here and why it made a difference without mentioning customer names, but the story? Lori Osbourne  37:17 Oh, yeah, um, you know, it's been a while since I did that realtor, but that realtor is still just such a great example, because you the fact that he was from Scotland doesn't necessarily seem significant, but it really does, because, you Know that Scottish accent made him endearing. He was a very professional, good looking guy. And you go out to his website, and it was, I can still see it today. It was like green and this old, funky text, and it, it represented him in no way. And I remember the first thing he told me was, you know, I've got this video where I introduced myself and I went, why in the world is that not on your homepage, like what people need to hear you speak and see you and experience you. He was phenomenal. And we did three deals with him. He was phenomenal at what he did, and that what, you know, if we had just rebuilt his website and just did the video, it would have that alone would have made a huge difference in people knowing who they were working with and how he was different. And another example I can give more recently, I work with a mentor who mentors seven figure coaches on how to work harder, make more money and and do it in less, less investment of your time. And when I took over her WordPress website for for two years, I just kept repeating and rebuilding the same crap, basically. And finally, when I decided to leave WordPress, I said, you know, I really want to start all over. And I realized in that two years, you know, I had not taken the time to really get to know her brand. And when we sat down and really learned what made her special and different, and we were able to capture that in in the website, that the difference in the experience was night and day, you know, before it was just text, and, you know, a little bit of information. She never referred anybody to her website. And now it, you know, opens with a video. She's also a professional speaker. Opens with a video of her speaking. She is very she's a. Ballroom dancer on the side, she's very elite. So we, you know, pulling in things like gold and video, I have a lot of motion on the website with gold moving because it, it, it's that brand of that dancer that, you know, that eliteness of it and it, it's subtle, and it has nothing to do with the messaging side that I just mentioned, but it's still back to the brand and the representing of who you are, who she is, what we're selling, you know, we're selling ourselves. Michael Hingson  40:33 Yeah, well, websites and website developers put all sorts of things out there and that that's not necessarily a good thing. But what are some signs that a business's online presence don't necessarily match their real life expertise? Because I I believe that people see through people who just sort of talk, and I think that that all too often, you get this reaction, oh, they're just talking that isn't what they really believe or that isn't what they really know. So what are some signs that the online presence doesn't match what they really know and what they really are? Lori Osbourne  41:15 Part of it is that that genericness, if you if you can't even say who you are serving, then you're obviously the person you're looking at is obviously not clear about their ideal client. If it's not clear who they are serving, and if it's this just generic message of not in these words, but we're the best use us. You know, there's, there's no detail about what makes them different and how they specifically solve your problem. If the website is completely outdated or generic, that may or may not allude to anything but it, it definitely shows that they don't, are not using their website to show their expertise. The other huge thing, I would say, is testimonials. Every website should have reviews. I mean, what better way to sell ourselves than to have someone else say how we're different, how we operate and why we're the why we're the best. That is huge. If it's all about them, as in the person's website you're looking at, if it's not, if I'm, if I'm getting on a website and they're not even acknowledging what's in it for me and how they're going to solve my problems, then I'm not going to have any confidence that they have any idea how to solve my problems. They haven't even they haven't even talked about my problems. They haven't even mentioned my problems. They're just telling me that they're selling me something, and this is how much it costs, and this is what it's going to do. But I but do you get me? Do you know? Do you understand me? I think all those are it's really important that we are speaking to the ideal client in their language about their problem. Michael Hingson  43:10 I have heard so many times and totally agree with and work to do this myself. Michael Hingson  43:18 The whole concept of when I'm invited to speak, it's not about me. Yeah, I'm invited to speak, but my job is to enhance, to help to make life as easy as possible for the event organizer, to help the event organizer make this, the whole conference, even better than they thought it would be. And and I have to do that because it's not about me, and it should never be about me as such, right? Lori Osbourne  43:48 It's also about your audience and your audience, yeah, so that they know you want them to want to know more. Yeah, that's also the purpose of your website to make people want to know more. Michael Hingson  44:01 Yeah, very true, and it should be that way. And if you're doing it right, you'll also provide more for them to know. Right? Lori Osbourne  44:15 Absolutely. Well, that would be something else that I would say I I always encourage people to give away as much as possible on their website. It if people know that you really want to help me solve my problems, and you're willing to give me something for free that starts a relationship. And that's really, at the end of the day, that's the point of the website. It's not to sell, it's to start a relationship. It's like the first step of dating. We're not getting married yet. We're dating, and if you're if you're giving away a piece of yourself through a video or a download or even a free course. Course, that's it. That's going to endear the audience to to want to come back for more. And even blogs, great blogs will get people coming back for more. And people always go, Well, you know, if I give everything away, I'm not going to make any money. No, you give away what? What doesn't cost you time, but is giving some knowledge so that they want more, and they know that you you get them, and they can trust, you know, like and trust so they can build that, that base for a relationship. Michael Hingson  45:32 Yeah, and it, it makes perfect sense. It is all about building trust. And everything that we do is all about building trust, and the more trust you build, the more loyalty you'll create. Lori Osbourne  45:47 Absolutely, yes, absolutely. Michael Hingson  45:49 So we've talked about website accessibility. What is website accessibility and why is it something that people really should focus on? Why is it important? Lori Osbourne  45:59 That feels weird coming from you, Mike, Michael Hingson  46:03 because I know you are an expert in this, but I preach it, but I preach it all the time, so I want to hear what somebody else has to say, and I want people who are watching and listening to this hear from somebody else other than me. Okay, that's the motivation behind it. Lori Osbourne  46:18 All right. All right. Well, website accessibility is at its core. It's making the website available and usable for everyone, including those with disabilities. So whether it's blindness or inability to use a mouse or you said it earlier, dyslexic, Michael Hingson  46:40 epilepsy, any number of things, right? Lori Osbourne  46:43 So anybody, just like accessibility for a ramp into a store, it's allowing me, from my home, as as a disabled person, to be able to function on your website. And as we know, I believe the stat is 20% of people have some kind of disability. It's also an inclusion. It is a piece of I consider a piece of your marketing, because if you are excluding 20% of the people with your website, why? Why are you doing that? It also builds strong Search Engine Optimization. Because if you look at all of the guidelines for accessibility, they're very similar to the guidelines you need to have in place for good search engine optimization. Google is looking for the exact same things. Yep. So it's it's really just making your website available to everyone Michael Hingson  47:42 well, and the reality is, well, let me ask this question, rather than me just saying it beyond legal compliance. Why should accessibility be a priority in website design? You've kind of alluded to it already. Lori Osbourne  47:56 Yeah, part of what I just said, it's including everyone. It's not excluding 20% of your market, and it's building trust, inclusivity and credibility. It's, it's, and it to me, it's showing that you care. It's, it's very bothersome to me when someone says, Well, I probably won't get sued, so I'm not going to worry about it. Okay? But why do you want to not do these basic things so that everyone can access your website? Well? Michael Hingson  48:33 And also, in reality, it does get back to if you're a website owner, that is, you're a company that has a website, and you recognize that the job of your website is to help people see why you have something they need. The fact of the matter is, do you really want to not make available to 20 or 25% of the population your website, or to put it another way, don't you want to make sure that you are making your information available to everyone? And that's what the real reason for website accessibility is truly all about. The fact of the matter is that it's good business to make your website accessible. Lori Osbourne  49:24 Absolutely, yes, absolutely. Michael Hingson  49:26 What are some high impact changes that you think that website owners can make, to make their websites or to have their websites be more accessible, maybe even just some simple things? Lori Osbourne  49:38 Oh, there are so many simple things. I mean, the easiest thing that so many people miss is adding alt text to images. I mean, it's, and it's one thing I love about Duda, by the way, it they do it with AI and do it for you, and you can edit it. It's so, so wonderful. But it's, it's a simple step. It also is. Great step to even help with SEO, because you can include some keywords there, but that that alt text tells someone that's using a tool that's blind exactly what that image is, and what is the point in putting that image on your website if it's not going to provide any value to those that can't see. I mean that, in my opinion, another thing is the contrast in colors. A lot of people don't understand that contrasting colors has a lot to do with readability, and if you are putting two colors together, I mean, think about it even from a scene person, if you're looking at it and you can't read it. It's not accessible, right? So, you know, have high contrast in the colors of text on anything over it. Don't try to put something over an image that can't be read that just just, don't do it. Skip that. I was just doing this on my website today. I was trying to put an image, and I went, you know what? That's just not going to work. I'm going back to a solid color. It doesn't it's it and it, you know, that's from a business perspective as well. Because even if you're not thinking about accessibility, if someone can't read the text or can't read the button, they're not going to click it. You're not going to read it. They're not going to buy it if they can't read it. So simple little things like that. Those would be the two biggest things I would say. And then just, you know, little additional things like making sure that your website is converting properly to mobile, if it's if it's not, if things are coming off the page, because you didn't bother to look at the mobile side, which is easy to miss on many platforms that can have a huge impact on the scene and those that need the tools or need accessibility pieces that's, you know, commonplace design and very easy thing to fix. Michael Hingson  52:11 It's been a while since I looked at this website, and I think it's not quite what it used to be, but for a while, my favorite website, absolutely. My favorite website for accessibility was the website of the National Security Agency, nsa.gov, Michael Hingson  52:31 of all the websites in the entire world. The reason I liked it is that not only did they have all text on images if you were using a screen reader and you moved your cursor over an image, you suddenly got a very detailed description of that image, like you. Michael Hingson  52:55 You moved your cursor where you used your screen reader to move over the American flag. It would say the American flag on a flagpole hanging in front of the opening to the building of the National Security Agency. Yada yada yada. I mean, it's just everything was there. It was the most amazing website. I don't know that it's that way anymore. I haven't looked at it in a little while, but I was very impressed with how much they did and relative and relevantly and appropriately so to make sure that everything on that website was totally usable. And a lot of people could say, Well, why do I have to do that? And the answer is, you have to do it for the same reason that you want to make your website accessible, if you will, for people who don't happen to have a disability. The reality is, all those things that you put on the website for people who can see them and so on, like pictures and so on, if you don't make those things accessible, you're doing a disservice to a significant amount of the population. Whereas, if you do it all, then while you can look at the picture, I can hear all about it, and that's the way it ought to Lori Osbourne  54:10 be well. And there's so much I mean to me that is an opportunity to to even go further with the folks that need the screen reader. Because, I mean, when I'm and I mentioned that dude, it does it with AI, but they, they do it too generically. When I go in, I'm doing exactly what you're talking about. I want to, I want to build the presence of the picture. This is who they're doing, who it is from the business, and this is what they're doing, and this is what you know, this offer is talking about that's an extra sales opportunity right there. For those that you know, need the alt text, why not use that? Michael Hingson  54:49 And also, I'm amazed at how many people may look at pictures and so on and look at words and not really pay attention to them very well, because they just kind of skip over it. So the more you can do to attract people's attention to the right things. Is relevant too. I'm amazed at how many people just gloss over so much. Lori Osbourne  55:09 Oh, absolutely. Well, you know, this kind of become our society, yeah, short attention span for sure. You know, I want to mention two videos. I really feel like people need videos on their website, especially of themselves, because it helps people get to know you. But you need to have that closed captioning and again, dialog. Michael Hingson  55:33 You need to have dialog so that a person who can't see the video will also know what the video shows. Lori Osbourne  55:41 Explain, explain what you mean by that a little bit more. Michael Hingson  55:44 So you go to a website, and there's a video, and you click it, and you start hearing music, and that's all you hear, even though, on the screen you see a person walking down the street, walking into somebody's store, finding a product they want and buying it. But if you don't have a way to make that information audibly accessible to people who can't see the images and who don't see the videos, then what good is it you haven't made it accessible? Yes, closed captioning works for deaf or hard of hearing people, but again, there's so much more that needs to be done. Wow. Lori Osbourne  56:25 Thank you for sharing that, Mike. You just gave me more to think about on videos. Michael Hingson  56:31 One of my favorite commercials to pick on today, and for the longest time, I had no idea at all what it was about. It starts out with music, and somebody says something like, so what do people over 60s show and bring out today? And they talk about love and they talk about something else, and suddenly the sound goes dead, and all you hear for the next 20 seconds or more is this high pitched whistle sound. Ooh, yeah. And I finally got somebody. I finally was in a room with somebody when I heard the beginning of this, and I said, What is it showing? And all it was showing, and what, apparently it is, is a promotion for people getting the RSV vaccination. Lori Osbourne  57:19 Oh, right. Oh, I do know what commercial you're talking about, yes, but text just goes on the screen. Michael Hingson  57:26 RSV, RSV, RSV. But there's nothing that says what that is at all, period, Lori Osbourne  57:33 because they're trying to make the point that you're that your life shuts down when this hits. But yeah, for someone like you, that's completely worthless. Michael Hingson  57:41 Not only does my life not shut down, my life gets very active, and I want to go off and find those commercial designers and show them what true accessibility really ought to be about. But that's another story. But yeah, Lori Osbourne  57:53 yeah, exactly, wow. I mean, I think about you every time I see that commercial, those rare times I see commercials, Michael Hingson  58:05 what's one of the what's one of the myths about branding and websites that you could erase, that you really wish you could race forever? Lori Osbourne  58:18 I probably told you to ask me that question, and now I'm stumped by how I want to answer it. I think, I think I know where I wanted to go with that. Yes, a lot of people think branding is just colors and fonts, and honestly, when I first started doing it, I thought it was just colors and fonts. And I kind of go, I went into Okay, colors and fonts, and then consistency, okay, we want to make sure we got we're consistent with our colors and fonts across everything that we do that's that's branding, that's visual branding. But real branding is Our Story. Is who we are, what we stand for and who we serve. It's the package of everything around what we're selling, back to selling ourselves and really understanding this package and making that consistent across everything. And consistency is huge, in my opinion, when it comes to branding, if you have a different header image or marketing image on every single thing you do and there's no consistency in the look, then you're not going to be memorable. You. I can't help you see this, Mike, but anyone that does go out to anything of mine, I have a very consistent image that was used to build my logo, and it's on everything that I do. I also wear very bright, colorful glasses. Everything I do is very bright and colorful, and it's memorable when people see me and they see my glasses, it can be three years later and they go. I don't remember your name, but boy, I remember those glasses. You know, it's, it's, and that's part of my branding. When people say, I love your your glasses, I go, thank you. It's part of my branding. Yeah. So it's a, it's an overall everything about you. When people describe me, they usually describe me as bright and colorful, like, that's, that's one of the first things that comes to their their mind, and then they it translates to energy, because they think bright, colorful energy. So it's, you know what branding really is, is, what do people say about you when you're not in the room? Michael Hingson  1:00:30 Yeah, that's, that's a good that's what it is. Well, if there is a business owner who is in our audience today who feels overwhelmed by their digital presence. What would you suggest is the first step they should take to change that? Lori Osbourne  1:00:47 Well, the the first thing I would love to see anyone do is sign up for a visibility review or audit with me, so that we can look at your presence and talk about it, and I can give you some very specific suggestions for how to improve your online visibility. If you're wanting to do something on your own and you're you're trying to figure out where to start, sit down and look at first, your your homepage, in your first line of every bit of your marketing and ask yourself, does it say who I serve and how I serve them, and the problems that I solve. Because every ounce of your marketing needs to say that immediately you have less than eight seconds when someone hits your website. And there's all kinds of some people say three, some people say 10s and 15. I just leave it at eight. Do eight or eight or less seconds on your website. So start there is my messaging clear? And then look at your website overall and does it represent me and the message I want people to see. We can go into a whole lot more about it being up to date and everything else, but that's where I would start, right there. Michael Hingson  1:01:58 So how do people reach out to you to get your help to deal with all of this. Lori Osbourne  1:02:02 Well, you can obviously go to my website, which is biz bolster.com, B, I, Z, B, O, L, S, T, E, r.com and I believe you will be sharing a link to that visibility audit. Just sign up for that or a free strategy session. But I encourage the visibility audit, because it literally takes about an hour of my time to check out everything about you and then share that with you. So this is an investment that I'm willing to give you to help you all understand how you show up online, and then what to do about Michael Hingson  1:02:45 it, biz, bolster.com, I hope people will do that, and they can reach out and contact you through that website. Lori Osbourne  1:02:53 Yes, click on, let's chat, and it gives you all the all the calls that you can sign up for in my calendar, and I would absolutely love to speak to anybody that has questions or wants some direction. Michael Hingson  1:03:07 Well, cool. Well, I really appreciate you being here today and spending so much time talking about all this, and I hope people will take it to heart. Wherever you are listening. Reach out, biz, bolster.com and get some insights and get some help to improve the website the web world, because only about 3% of all websites are really accessible today, which means there are a whole lot that are not, and there is no real excuse for that being the case. So reach out and Michael Hingson  1:03:41 you can get all the help that you need. I'd love to hear from you, to hear what you think about today's podcast. Please feel free to email me at Michael H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, and wherever you're listening, please give us a five star review. We value your ratings and your reviews a lot, and I but I do want to hear from you. I want to hear what your thoughts are. Also, if you know of anyone who might make a good guest for unstoppable mindset, Lori, including you, would really appreciate you introducing us, because we're always looking for people who have great stories to tell, and today has certainly been one of my favorite podcast recordings in a long time, and that's because we really did have fun, and I think we accomplished a lot and we learned a lot. So I want to thank you, Lori, once again, for being here and for being a part of unstoppable mindset. Lori Osbourne  1:04:35 Thank you, Mike. It has definitely been a pleasure. I've enjoyed talking with you a lot. Michael Hingson  1:04:42 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Our latest C-Suite Outlook reveals CEOs' biggest concerns—and why they're measuring the ROI of AI.     US CEOs rank economic and geopolitical uncertainty as top risk factors for 2026, according to the C-Suite Outlook 2026 survey from The Conference Board. How can CEOs overcome the lack of policy certainty while making investments that lead to long-term success?     Join Steve Odland and guest David Young, president of the Committee for Economic Development, the public policy center of The Conference Board, to find out why CEOs continue to seek regulatory consistency, how they plan to grow their businesses this year, and how CEOs are evolving their view of AI investment.     For more from The Conference Board:  Uncertainty and Opportunity: The CEO Playbook for 2026  The CEO Outlook for 2026—Uncertainty, Risks, Growth & Strategy  2026: A Year in Preview    The survey would not have been possible without the support of Ipsos, one of the world's leading market research companies and the sole sponsor for the C-Suite Outlook Survey 2026. 

In this episode, the VENDO team is joined by Bryan Rangel, Head of Partnerships at Cruva, to break down TikTok Shop growth strategies just in time for BFCM and the holiday season. From creator-led acceleration and affiliate strategies to cold-starting brands and driving halo effects across Amazon and other marketplaces, we share actionable insights to help brands build momentum and scale with confidence. Topics Covered: Halo Impacts (1:30) What performs well on TikTok Shop? (5:00) Affiliates on TikTok Shop (7:50) What is TikTok Affiliate Partner(TAP)?(10:00) What winning TikTok Shop setups look like (12:05) What is "Cold Start" (14:45) What is a healthy mix of sales? (17:35) Success on TikTok Shop: building the infrastructure (22:35) BFCM on TikTok Shop (24:45) Best Practices/Tips & Tricks (27:00) Speakers: Bryan Rangel, Head of Partnerships, Cruva Delaney Del Mundo, VP Account Strategy - Amazon & TikTok Shop, VENDO Want to stay up to date on topics like this? Subscribe to our Amazon & Walmart Growth #podcast for bi-weekly episodes every other Thursday! ➡️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr2VTsj1X3PRZWE97n-tDbA ➡️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4HXz504VRToYzafHcAhzke?si=9d57599ed19e4362 ➡️ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vendo-amazon-walmart-growth-experts/id1512362107

In year one, Crayola launched a global initiative expecting to engage about 500,000 kids. Instead, more than 2 million participated. Five years later, that same initiative now engages over 17 million kids across more than 120 countries. In this episode, Sonia Thompson breaks down the brand strategy and customer acquisition approach behind that scale with Crayola's Chief Marketing Officer. Together, they explore how the brand designed a global initiative rooted in inclusive marketing principles — and how focusing on engagement across the customer journey became a powerful engine for building trust, relationships, and long-term growth. You'll hear how Crayola: Used brand strategy to design a global initiative that scales year over year Approached customer acquisition through participation, not promotion Built an ecosystem across products, experiences, and content Applied inclusive marketing to engage diverse audiences worldwide This conversation offers a clear lesson for modern brands: sustainable growth comes from engaging customers throughout the journey — not just reaching them once. If you're curious how other billion-dollar brands are driving growth in today's market, I've linked my Billion-Dollar Brands Roadmap in the show notes. It breaks down the strategies leading brands are using to build relevance, trust, and loyalty at scale. - www.frictionlessgrowthlab.com/roadmap Crayola Creativity Week 2026 - https://www.crayola.com/learning/creativity-week

Find out how CEOs are planning to win this year amid a world of uncertainty.     As 2026 begins, CEOs are worried about uncertainty — in the economy, geopolitics, trade policy, supply chains, and more. What does the C-Suite Outlook 2026 survey tell us about how CEOs plan to grow and invest despite the headwinds?     Join Steve Odland and guest Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board and leader of the Economy, Strategy & Finance Center, to find out what's next for AI, which areas companies are investing in, and where CEOs are optimistic for 2026.     For more from The Conference Board:  Uncertainty and Opportunity: The CEO Playbook for 2026  The CEO Outlook for 2026—Uncertainty, Risks, Growth & Strategy  2026: A Year in Preview 

In this episode of Disruption/Interruption, marketing veteran Ed Locher pulls back the curtain on B2B marketing's biggest lie: that the MQL machine actually drives growth. As CMO of PureFacts Financial Solutions and author of "Digital Transformation: People, Process and Technology," Ed reveals why 15 years of marketing automation created a sugar rush that's now crashing, and how AI can help fix it without repeating the same mistakes. This is a no-holds-barred conversation about emotional connection, the 95% of buyers marketers ignore, and why marketing tenure averages just 18 months. Four Key Takeaways: The MQL Mirage Is Built on a Lie 8:56Marketing automation promised accountability through MQLs, but overdelivering on MQL targets quarter after quarter never translated to actual revenue growth. The entire system targets only the 5% of the market ready to buy right now—ignoring the 95% who need demand creation, not demand capture. B2B Buying Committees Have Tripled in Size 16:30The buying committee for enterprise B2B purchases has exploded from 5 people to 16. You can't build credibility and trust with 16 stakeholders through email sequences—you need emotional connection and personalized storytelling that speaks to each person's specific drivers (CFO cares about ROI, compliance cares about regulations, operations cares about not making headlines). AI Raises the Floor, Not the Ceiling 29:59AI protects terrible marketers from themselves by raising the quality floor, but it hasn't raised the bar for great marketing. The real opportunity lies 3-4 standard deviations above the mean—where human empathy, emotional triggers, and genuine understanding of customer pain create outsized impact that AI can't replicate. Marketing Attribution Is a Myth 44:13There will never be a "cast iron steel rod of attribution" connecting marketing activities directly to purchases. Marketers who work for leadership that doesn't understand this are doomed to 18-month tenures, chasing MQL targets that deliver short-term sugar rushes followed by revenue crashes. The rare CEO or investor who recognizes this broken motion is the problem—not the marketer—creates space for real growth. Quote of the Show (44:13):"There will never be a cast iron steel rod of attribution that says marketing did X, which led to this person buying something. It just doesn't work that way.” — Ed Locher Join our Anti-PR newsletter where we’re keeping a watchful and clever eye on PR trends, PR fails, and interesting news in tech so you don't have to. You're welcome. Want PR that actually matters? Get 30 minutes of expert advice in a fast-paced, zero-nonsense session from Karla Jo Helms, a veteran Crisis PR and Anti-PR Strategist who knows how to tell your story in the best possible light and get the exposure you need to disrupt your industry. Click here to book your call: https://info.jotopr.com/free-anti-pr-eval Ways to connect with Ed Locher: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edlocher/ Company Website: https://purefacts.com How to get more Disruption/Interruption: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlDSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aaron Peabody, CEO and Co-Founder at Untitled, an identity resolution and audience intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies identify anonymous website visitors, take control … Read more The post What Comes After AI Hype: Practical Growth Strategies for Ecommerce in 2026 appeared first on Top Entrepreneurs Podcast | Enterprise Podcast Network.

Everyone is clamouring to integrate AI into their businesses and personal lives, but our guest today is concerned that some AI companies aren't taking the necessary steps to protect personal data. Thankfully a privacy-centric option does exist, through Telegram, and today's company is helping to build it.Brittany Kaiser is the CEO of AlphaTON Capital (ATON), the world's leading technology public company scaling the Telegram super-app, with an addressable market of a billion plus monthly active users. Brittany is a globally recognized expert at the intersection of digital assets, public policy, and the capital markets. She's spent her career guiding companies and governments through technological and legislative changes. Brittany joins us today to walk us through her incredible career, demystify the Telegram ecosystem, and explain AlphaTON's myriad strategies for value creation.  Highlights:Brittany's career (2:26)The Telegram Ecosystem (4:23)What is TON? (9:21)AlphaTON's Growth Strategy (13:44)A Treasury and More (19:38)Brittany's Approach to Risk Management (20:38)Evolution of Privacy Centric AI (23:40)The AlphaTON Management Team (27:56)Links:Brittany's LinkedInAlphaTON LinkedInAlphaTON WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co.

This short episode was recorded live at GetYourGuide's Unlocked conference in September 2025.When you meet Arturo Ardao Rivera, the first thing you feel is his energy. He doesn't come off as an engineer, which was his profession until he discovered a joy for tour guiding and running a tour business. Originally from Madrid, Arturo found his true passion when he created Rainbow Tours Stockholm. It has grown from a solo operation to employing 26 guides.His story is one of rejecting some of his engineering tendencies (choosing feelings over numbers!) and leaning into strategies that appear unorthodox but have worked well for him.You'll discover:His unique "taxi tariff" model for private tours, and his approach to hyper-personalization.Why he doesn't ask for reviewsWhy he's not sold on the "get more bookings" industry mantra Why he visits guides he's thinking of hiring in their comfort zone, not hisHow guide applicants are asked to become undercover tour takersHow he leverages running two separate brands for pricing strategyHow he grow leveraging 10+ OTA partners, and how he's managing his distribution mixConnect with Arturo on LinkedIn, and visit Rainbow Tours Stockholm!

In this episode, I'm sharing how we, as mom entrepreneurs, can truly transform our lives and businesses with my “microdosing on your future self” strategy. I'll break down the science behind identity-based habits and reveal how small, daily micro-actions—like simple resets, intentional routines, and clear boundaries—can boost your confidence, productivity, and work-life balance.I'll guide you through my four-step microdosing framework:Visualize and “name” your empowered future self,Pick one focus area (business, health, parenting, or time management),Take one small, consistent daily action,Anchor your progress by reflecting or journaling.Stop waiting for the perfect time—I encourage you to start now, making real change through intentional micro habits. If you want more tips and to connect with other incredible mom entrepreneurs, follow me on Instagram.  Free Resources:Join 30 Day Calendar Blocking Blueprint and finally feel in control. ​Click here to join the next round. ​Are you a business owner making $100,000+ and still wearing all the hats? ​Click here​ to learn about my upcoming 12-week Outsourcing Mastermind.Are you an aspiring or newer business owner who needs some accountability and clarity on the next steps? ​Click here​ to join my 6-month accountability group - Simplify.

You don't need more hours in the day to grow your podcast; you just need smarter strategies. In this episode, I'm revealing 3 of the most effective ways to get your podcast in front of more people this month and why they work so well. You'll discover why your podcast might not be getting the attention it deserves, what most podcasters are overlooking when it comes to growth, and how to start seeing more downloads even if you're short on time.Take Your Next Step:Podcast Startup Academy: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/academyPodcast Growth Collective: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/collectiveA free consultation: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/consultThis episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

In this solo episode of Building Unbreakable Brands, Meghan Lynch, CEO of Six-Point Strategy, takes on one of the most urgent (and misunderstood) questions facing family business leaders today: can you scale your brand with AI without losing what makes it real? Speaking directly to next-gen CEOs navigating legacy and leadership, Meghan shares two foundational principles that determine whether AI will dilute your brand or amplify it. This kicks off a special AI mini-series designed for business leaders at turning points. Plus, a guest appearance from her son Henry offers a next-gen perspective on what makes AI helpful, and where businesses often get it wrong.Key Topics DiscussedWhy AI often exposes weak brands instead of strengthening themHow a strong differentiation strategy turns AI into a competitive advantageThe critical role of brand structure, like voice, tone, and messaging guardrails, in helping AI scale your presence without diluting your identityReal-world examples of how family businesses can train custom GPTs to stay on-messageHow voice-of-customer systems fuel smarter, more consistent AI-generated contentA next-gen take on AI's limits and what it means to “use it wisely”Follow Meghan Lynch on LinkedInProduced by Six-Point Strategy Want to find out if your brand is ready for AI? Take Six-Point's free AI effectiveness assessment: ai-effectiveness-assessment.scoreapp.com

On this episode of Wash Talk: The Carwash Podcast, host Rich DiPaolo sits down with Dave Kelly, Chief Development Officer for Spotless Brands, to discuss the company's recent acquisition and its broader Northeast growth strategy. Kelly explains why Pete's Express Car Wash was a natural fit for Spotless and how the deal strengthens the Flagship Carwash brand in Greater Philadelphia. The conversation covers how Spotless balances operational consistency with local brand equity across its multi-brand portfolio, while evaluating dense, competitive markets for long-term carwash development. Kelly also breaks down what increased regional presence unlocks for member value and operational efficiency, how access to a $450 million credit facility shapes development pace and scale for the company, and what opportunities and constraints lie ahead for express car wash growth in mature Northeast regions.

MY NEWSLETTER - https://nikolas-newsletter-241a64.beehiiv.com/subscribeJoin me, Nik (https://x.com/CoFoundersNik), as I interview Sean O'Dowd (https://x.com/SeanODowd). In this episode, I sit down with Sean to discuss his transition from consulting at BCG to launching Scholastic Capital, a real estate fund that targets homes in high-end school districts. We explore how he used the Catalant platform to scale his independent consulting income to over $500,000 a year by acting as a versatile "athlete" for private equity firms. Sean shares the gutsy move of leaving that high salary for zero income to build a professional leadership team and why he views consulting as the perfect "business training wheels".We also dive into his "underrated" use of Twitter as a powerful fundraising engine and a way to recruit elite vendors and investors. This is a must-watch for anyone interested in operations, asset management, and the logistics of a portfolio roll-up. Enjoy the conversation!Questions This Episode Answers:1. How can an independent consultant scale their earnings to over $500,000 a year?2. What is the specific investment thesis behind buying rental homes in elite school districts?3. How can Twitter be utilized to find investors, vendors, and legal counsel for a fund?4. What are the "business training wheels" learned in consulting that prepare you for entrepreneurship?5. How do you successfully win real estate deals while being the lowest bidder?__________________________Love it or hate it, I'd love your feedback.Please fill out this brief survey with your opinion or email me at nik@cofounders.com with your thoughts.__________________________MY NEWSLETTER: https://nikolas-newsletter-241a64.beehiiv.com/subscribeSpotify: https://tinyurl.com/5avyu98yApple: https://tinyurl.com/bdxbr284YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/nikonomicsYT__________________________This week we covered:00:00 Highlights00:40 Introduction to the Real Estate Fund01:08 From Consulting to Real Estate01:48 The Consulting Journey02:33 Breaking into Entrepreneurship03:49 The Catalan Experience04:30 Financial Success and Lifestyle Changes12:40 Starting the Real Estate Fund17:40 Understanding the Fund Structure18:23 Management Fees and Team Building19:11 GP LP Model Explained19:39 Preferred Returns and Fund Models20:10 Hiring and Operational Costs23:23 Growth Strategy and Future Plans25:45 Acquisition Strategy and Market Focus28:23 Twitter as a Fundraising Tool31:46 Investor Relations and Transparency32:55 Current Performance and Market Tactics

Chris shares how the pandemic prompted a fundamental shift in how he viewed his role as a lawyer — from focusing primarily on results to becoming deeply intentional about how clients feel at every stage of representation. He explains why client service begins at intake, long before a fee agreement is signed, and why firms that ignore the client experience do so at their own risk. With honesty, humor, and concrete examples, Chris discusses:Why client experience starts at the first phone call — and how tone, empathy, and responsiveness shape trustHow over-communication beats silence, even when there are no case updatesUsing client portals, automation, and surveys to improve communication without increasing attorney workloadTurning clients into “raving fans” who drive referrals long after a case endsWhy unhappy clients rarely complain directly — but always remember poor communicationHow brutal honesty, delivered with care, strengthens client relationshipsThe parallels between law firms and service businesses like restaurants and AmazonHow improving client experience benefits not only clients, but also staff morale and firm culture Chris emphasizes that most of the most impactful improvements to client experience are low-cost or free, requiring intention rather than technology — and that firms who prioritize service see fewer bar complaints, better reviews, and stronger reputations over time. Featured GuestChris Earley, Esq. — Boston personal injury attorney and firm owner with nearly 20 years of experience. Chris focuses on client-centered practice design, communication systems, and building law firms that grow through trust, service, and referrals. Links and Resources:MCLE Online PassEarley Law Group Injury Lawyers Connect with us on social!Instagram: mcle.newenglandLinkedIn: Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE│New England)X (Formerly Twitter): MCLENewEnglandBluesky: mclenewengland.bsky.socialFacebook: MCLE New England Important Note:Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing high-quality, practical continuing legal education for the legal community. As part of its educational mission, MCLE presents a wide range of viewpoints and instructional content intended solely for educational purposes.The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by individual participants in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of MCLE, its Board of Trustees, staff, or affiliated institutions. Inclusion of any material or commentary does not constitute an endorsement of any position on any issue by MCLE.

If growth is stalling, the problem is rarely the media plan. It is friction in the patient experience that marketing cannot fix after the fact. On this episode of Ignite, Cardinals VP of Brand Marketing Ashley Petrochenko sits down with Ben Whitaker, Director of Digital Strategies, Marketing, and Communications at UofL Health, to unpack why sustainable healthcare growth starts long before the appointment and often breaks at the digital front door. Drawing on 25 years of digital and SEO experience across industries, Ben shares how consumer behavior, not new tactics, should shape SEO, AI search, site experience, reviews, and scheduling. This conversation matters now as AI accelerates search behavior and raises the stakes for accuracy, trust, and usability across the entire patient journey. You'll learn: Why SEO still underpins patient acquisition in an AI-driven search world How small experience gaps quietly kill conversion and retention What healthcare marketers can fix without waiting on a full redesign How marketing can lead cross-functional alignment around patient access If improving patient access and driving real growth are priorities for 2026, this is the episode to listen to next. RELATED RESOURCES Connect with Ben - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bentwhitaker/ What is a Patient Journey? Examples to Grow Your Practice - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/what-is-a-patient-journey-grow-your-practice/ Optimizing for AI Search: A New Era in Healthcare Marketing - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/optimizing-for-ai-search-a-new-era-in-healthcare-marketing/ How to Build a Full-Funnel Healthcare Marketing Strategy - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/healthcare-full-funnel-marketing-strategy/ How a Primary Care Provider Futureproofed Their SEO in an AI-Driven Search World - https://www.cardinaldigitalmarketing.com/healthcare-resources/blog/search-content-strategy-ai-landscape/

In this solo episode of the I Fired My Boss podcast, host Dan Claps dives into a powerful yet often overlooked strategy for growing any local business: asking for referrals. Drawing from a recent training call with franchise owners, Dan breaks down the four core ways to grow a business: acquiring more customers, increasing average ticket value, cross-selling additional services, and reducing costs. While all four are essential, Dan zeroes in on the high-impact, zero-cost opportunity most business owners ignore: generating referrals from already satisfied customers.Dan shares a practical, confidence-building framework for how to ask for referrals effectively without feeling pushy, including the exact language to use and the psychology behind why it works. He emphasizes the importance of consistency and persistence, reminding listeners that one "no" shouldn't stop them from asking again. Whether you're in home services or any customer-facing business, this episode is packed with actionable insights that can help you generate more revenue without spending another dime on marketing.

In this episode of Predictable B2B Success, Vinay Koshy interviews Adam Callinan, a serial entrepreneur who built Bottle Keeper from the ground up to over $8 million in revenue without employees or debt, secured a “Shark Tank” deal, and achieved a successful acquisition. As the founder of Pentane, Adam now focuses on simplifying profitability for e-commerce and consumer brands. Adam Callinan discusses the origins of his “profitability first” approach and how automation and data-driven decision-making have shaped his success. He shares lessons on avoiding distractions, leveraging KPIs for real-time guidance, and recognizing the risks of unchecked growth. The conversation includes practical strategies for operational clarity, determining when to automate or hire, and delivering exceptional customer experiences. This episode offers candid stories and actionable insights to challenge your perspective on growth and profitability, providing strategies to help you drive your business forward with purpose. Some topics we explore in this episode include: Genesis of Pentane: How Adam Callinan's Bottle Keeper experience led to creating a profitability platform for e-commerce.Financial Pitfalls for Startups: Common reasons startups fail and how Pentane addresses cash flow and financial clarity.Intentional Business Operations: The importance of using structure, math, and process over guesswork for growth and profitability.Managing Operating Expenses: Dangers of adding headcount and expenses without understanding their impact.Automation vs. Hiring: Scaling with automation, Adam Callinan's “hire nobody” strategy, and knowing when tech hits its limits.Rejecting ‘Growth at All Costs': Why sustainable, profitable growth matters more than chasing scale blindly.Real-Time, Actionable Data: Using leading indicators and live dashboards (like Pentane) for smarter decisions.Customer Experience with Automation: Ensuring quality and a “wow” experience, even in highly automated businesses.Pricing and Gross Margin Strategy: Data-driven approaches to pricing, margin, and customer acquisition cost.Go-to-Market & Partnerships: Driving growth through agency partnerships, customer education, and personal brand-building.And much, much more...

Chris May, VP of Security and Growth at Advantage Technology, joins Pathmonk Presents to break down how cybersecurity directly impacts business growth in regulated industries. With decades of hands-on experience, Chris explains why healthcare systems, law firms, financial institutions, and defense contractors are prime targets for cybercrime. He shares how Advantage Technology positions itself as a managed security services provider built on senior engineering talent, not entry-level staffing models. The conversation explores why educating CEOs and CFOs is critical, how storytelling and website education drive inbound demand, and why cybersecurity is no longer optional for any business with sensitive data and a bank account.

Sammy Davies, Director of Sustainability & Brand at EcoSafe Zero Waste, is a regenerative leader who bridges the gap between high-level brand strategy and deep ecological advocacy. With over a decade of experience in cleantech, she brings a "systems change" mindset to the heart of the circular economy.What if the secret to fixing our broken industrial systems isn't found in a boardroom, but in the ancient wisdom of the earth? We explore how a background in herbalism and ancestral medicine can fundamentally reshape our approach to environmental leadership and personal connection.Modern waste management is full of promises, but how much of it is actually working? We take a closer look at the innovative tools driving real diversion and the specific household items that are quietly revolutionizing how we handle our daily footprint.The journey toward zero waste is rarely a straight line. We dive into the uncomfortable truths regarding the "green" products we rely on and why true transformation requires us to fall in love with the very systems we often overlook.Join host Ved Krishna as he learns from inspiring guests and experts in the industry of sustainable packaging about ways to leave the planet cleaner and answer what is #GoodGarbage? Check out the Good Garbage podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to podcasts about making the planet cleaner! Check out more on our journey! Get involved at pakka.com#composting #sustainability #packaging #environment #compostableProducer: Sargam KrishnaSubscribe to Good Garbage Podcast on Apple PodcastsSubscribe to Good Garbage Podcast on YouTube: @goodgarbageFollow us on Instagram: @goodgarbagepodcastGood Garbage Podcast, Ved Krishna, Samantha Davies, EcoSafe Zero Waste, Sustainability, Circular Economy, Composting, Compostable Packaging, Regenerative Agriculture, Systems Change, India Sustainability, India's Future, Family Business, Innovation, Technology, Modernization, Legacy, Future Vision, Waste Diversion, Zero Waste, Environmental Advocacy, Cleantech, Climate Action, Sustainable Branding, Green Innovation, Soil Regeneration, Nature Connection, Ayurvedic Medicine, Herbalism, Waste Management, Growth Strategy, Global Sustainability

In this solo wrap-up of Building Unbreakable Brands, Meghan Lynch shares the two forces that quietly shaped every room she entered this year: identity and intention. From farm offices to boardrooms, generational businesses faced growing pressure, but those that navigated change with clarity weren't the ones pushing hardest. They were the ones willing to pause.Through client stories and conversations from the past year, Meghan explores what happens when companies stop clinging to the past and start asking: Who are we now? and What are we choosing to create on purpose?If your company is entering a transition, wrestling with succession, or trying to reconnect to its culture or market, this episode will help you find a steadier starting point.Key Topics DiscussedWhy identity is the foundation of every generational brand, and what happens when it gets fuzzyA story of one CEO who reframed legacy and unlocked bold strategyThe hidden cost of unclear vision on teams and cultureHow intention, not speed, differentiates successful changeWhy “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast” is the mindset leaders need heading into 2026Reflection Questions to ConsiderWhat part of your company's identity feels unsettled right now, and why?Where are you reacting? Where might intentional slowing down help you go further, faster?If this episode sparked a conversation you want to explore, reach out to us. This is the work we're built for.Building Unbreakable Brands is hosted by Meghan and Henry LynchConnect with Meghan on LinkedIn Produced by Six-Point Strategy

In this Kitchen Side episode of The Long Game Podcast, Alex Birkett and the team unpack a question that's coming up more and more: who actually “owns” being found in AI search—and what AI visibility means for modern marketing teams. They explore why the “AI is killing SEO” debate misses the point, and how AI search is collapsing traditional channel boundaries while changing how buyers discover brands.They also dig into what's actually being cannibalized (undifferentiated, consensus content), how teams should rethink success metrics as clicks get harder to track, and what the velocity vs. quality debate looks like now—especially as some teams bet on subject-matter depth while others bet on scaled output with AI-assisted production.Key TakeawaysAI isn't “killing SEO” so much as reducing the value of undifferentiated, consensus content that used to earn easy traffic.Losing traffic doesn't automatically mean losing business value—teams should validate impact through conversions, leads, and pipeline, not sessions alone.AI visibility is increasingly a composite outcome of everything a company publishes and does (content, comms, brand, product, reviews, community, and customer experience).Measurement is getting harder as discovery shifts to “dark” channels (e.g., AI tools) and attribution breaks—teams may need new proxies and self-reported attribution.“Listicles dominate AI citations” may be partly a prompt and sampling bias problem—inputs strongly shape outputs and visibility reporting can be manipulated.The hardest visibility problem is higher up the funnel: influencing problem-aware searches before buyers even know what category or solution to ask for.Content teams are splitting into different bets: deep, SME-led quality (often from people who've done the job) vs. high-velocity production supported by AI.A modern in-house writer role trends toward “jack of all trades” output (research, PR-like writing, CEO comms, etc.), using AI to lower marginal cost without collapsing quality control.Show LinksConnect with David Khim on LinkedIn and TwitterConnect with Alex Birkett on LinkedIn and TwitterConnect with Allie Decker on LinkedIn and TwitterConnect with Omniscient Digital on LinkedIn or TwitterWhat is Kitchen Side?One big benefit of running an agency or working at one is you get to see the “kitchen side” of many different businesses; their revenue, their operations, their automations, and their culture.You understand how things look from the inside and how that differs from the outside.You understand how the sausage is made. As an agency ourselves, we're working both on growing our clients' businesses as well as our own. This podcast is one project, but we also blog, make videos, do sales, and have quite a robust portfolio of automations and hacks to run our business.We want to take you behind the curtain, to the kitchen side of our business, to witness our brainstorms, discussions, and internal dialogues behind the public works that we ship.Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Ryan McReady (Reforge), and many more.Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)Building Competitive Marketing Content with Sam Chapman (Aprimo)How to Build the Right Data Workflow with Blake Burch (Shipyard)Data-Driven Thought Leadership with Alicia Johnston (Sprout Social)Purpose-Driven Leadership & Building a Content Team with Ty Magnin (UiPath)Also, check out our Kitchen Side series where we take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made at our agency:Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean SEOShould You Hire Writers or Subject Matter Experts?How Do Growth and Content Overlap?Connect with Omniscient Digital on social:Twitter: @beomniscientLinkedin: Be OmniscientListen to more episodes of The Long Game podcast here: https://beomniscient.com/podcast/

In this best of episode, Derek Streat, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of DexCare here to discuss unlocking capacity, growth strategies for CFOs, and COOs in healthcare.

Recorded live at Caglary's SocialWest in June of 2025, this episode of the Marketing News Canada podcast features a conversation with Dave Thomas, Director of Strategy at Everbrave, hosted by Laila Hobbs, Co-Founder of Social Launch Labs.Dave breaks down his Strategy of Everything framework, a practical approach to improving strategic thinking for marketers, founders, and business leaders. The conversation explores how to set clear goals, align day-to-day work to long-term outcomes, understand constraints, assess risks and opportunities, and identify unfair advantages that drive better decisions.From navigating complexity and avoiding distraction to building common language across teams, this episode offers a grounded, actionable way to think more clearly, communicate better, and execute strategy with confidence.

Send us a textWatch the top MBA teams in the 2025 MBA Case Competition World Cup Finals go head-to-head in a live, high-pressure strategy showdown.Five finalist teams take on The Cava Challenge: build a 3–5 year growth strategy to scale Cava nationally — without sacrificing the flavor, quality, and culture that made the brand.You'll see:5-minute executive-style presentationsLive Q&A / defense under pressureHow employers evaluate structure, judgment, and communication in real timeWhether you're recruiting for consulting, strategy, or business roles, this episode is a front-row seat to what “top-tier” thinking looks like.Judging employers: Accenture • L.E.K. • Netflix • OC&C • Simon-Kucher • SlalomAdditional Resources:Learn more about running a case competition for your university or club (Career Services & Club Leaders only)Get your copy of Marc Cosentino's newest book: Case In Point - Case Competition: Creating Winning Strategy Presentations for Case Competitions and Job OffersPartner Links:Learn more about NordStellar's Threat Exposure Management Program; unlock 10% off with code SIMPLIFIED-10Listen to the Market Outsiders podcast, the new daily show with the Management Consulted teamConnect With Management Consulted Schedule free 15min consultation with the MC Team. Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube! Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and industry insights! Join an upcoming live event - case interviews demos, expert panels, and more. Email us (team@managementconsulted.com) with questions or feedback.

Renowned American civil rights and women's rights attorney Gloria Allred joins Legal Face-Off to discuss the latest with Jeffrey Epstein's survivors. BlankRome Co-Chair of the Tax Benefits and Private Client Practice Sean Weissbart discusses Nick Reiner's inheritance. Michigan State University College of Law Professor David S. Favre joins Rich and Tina to discuss the custody battle […]

In this episode, I invite my fellow mom-entrepreneurs to embrace the power of owning your decisions, especially during the busy holiday season. Through my own stories—like choosing comfort with yoga pants at an event or taking a break from business to prioritize family—I show how simple, intentional choices can bring more presence and less stress.I encourage letting go of guilt and the heavy burden of societal “shoulds,” reminding you that saying no or stepping back doesn't diminish your worth as a business owner or a mom. I candidly share how I navigate external judgments and internal pressures, and remind you that it's always okay to re-decide and shift direction as your priorities change. By reflecting on budgeting and redefining holiday traditions, my hope is to inspire you to align your decisions with your values and confidently do what works best for your family and your business.This episode is a heartfelt reminder to simplify, trust your choices, and show up authentically in both your work and your home.  Free Resources:Join 30 Day Calendar Blocking Blueprint and finally feel in control. ​Click here to join the next round. ​Are you a business owner making $100,000+ and still wearing all the hats? ​Click here​ to learn about my upcoming 12-week Outsourcing Mastermind.Are you an aspiring or newer business owner who needs some accountability and clarity on the next steps? ​Click here​ to join my 6-month accountability group - Simplify.

Success does not eliminate pressure. It often multiplies it.Once you experience a win, the fear shifts from “what if I fail?” to “what if I can't do it again?” In this episode, I unpack why success can feel heavier than failure, how emotional attachment to outcomes distorts clarity, and why many people end up running in place even while working hard.We explore how open loops, unfinished commitments, and mental clutter quietly drain focus, energy, and momentum. I share why learning to detach emotionally from outcomes is not about becoming numb or disconnected, but about creating enough objectivity to take better action. When everything feels personal, every fluctuation feels like failure.You'll learn how to:Detach your identity from results so one miss doesn't spiral into self-doubtClose open loops that create constant mental taxationCut through noise, distractions, and unnecessary commitmentsSay no with intention so yes actually means somethingMeasure progress beyond a single KPI or narrow definition of successBuild systems, structure, and infrastructure that support sustainable growthWe also talk about why sustainability must come before scalability, how discipline fills the gap when motivation fades, and why progress often comes from doing less, more intentionally, instead of chasing everything at once.This episode is a reminder that clarity creates momentum, simplicity creates leverage, and consistent execution is what turns intention into real results.Close the loops. Cut the noise. Get to work.Beyond The Episode Gems:Subscribe To My New Weekly LinkedIn Newsletter: Strategize. Market. Grow.Buy My Book, Strategize Up: The Blueprint To Scale Your Business: StrategizeUpBook.comDiscover All Podcasts On The HubSpot Podcast NetworkGet Free HubSpot Marketing Tools To Help You Grow Your Business Grow Your Business Faster Using HubSpot's CRM PlatformSupport The Podcast & Connect With Troy: Rate & Review iDigress: iDigress.fm/ReviewsFollow Troy's Socials @FindTroy: LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, TikTokSubscribe to Troy's YouTube Channel For Strategy Videos & See Masterclass EpisodesNeed Growth Strategy, A Keynote Speaker, Or Want To Sponsor The Podcast? Go To FindTroy.com 

Silver Viper Minerals (TSXV: VIPR; OTCQB: VIPRF), a Canada-based junior mineral exploration company, is focused on advancing precious metals projects in Mexico.In this interview, Chairman Adam Cegielski discusses the acquisition of the Coneto Silver-Gold Project in Mexico, shareholder support from Fresnillo, progress at the La Virginia Project, and key investment highlights and catalysts.Learn more: https://silverviperminerals.com/Watch the full YouTube interview here: https://youtu.be/3vgLuhanyuI?si=opg-WQ0s0y2Z8IsFAnd follow us to stay updated: https://www.youtube.com/@GlobalOneMedia

Silver Viper Minerals (TSXV: VIPR; OTCQB: VIPRF), a Canada-based junior mineral exploration company, is focused on advancing precious metals projects in Mexico.In this interview, Chairman Adam Cegielski discusses the acquisition of the Coneto Silver-Gold Project in Mexico, shareholder support from Fresnillo, progress at the La Virginia Project, and key investment highlights and catalysts.Learn more: https://silverviperminerals.com/Watch the full YouTube interview here: https://youtu.be/3vgLuhanyuI?si=opg-WQ0s0y2Z8IsFAnd follow us to stay updated: https://www.youtube.com/@GlobalOneMedia

In this episode of Advanced Manufacturing Now, Editor Rachael Thomas is joined by Hendrie Victor, vice president and head of sales at ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions North America.

Brittany Ranew shares how building community, prioritizing mindset, and designing a values-driven business can create lasting wealth, personal fulfillment, and a life that feels aligned instead of exhausting.See full article: https://www.unitedstatesrealestateinvestor.com/building-a-business-that-feeds-the-soul-and-the-community-with-brittany-ranew/(00:00) - Opening Music and Welcome to The REI Agent Podcast(00:42) - Episode Introduction and Guest Overview(01:00) - Meet Brittany Ranew and Her Tampa Bay Market Background(02:13) - Brittany's Community First Philosophy in Real Estate(03:37) - Choosing Entrepreneurship and the Path Into Real Estate(04:37) - Early Career Experience as a Transaction Coordinator(06:27) - Transition to Sotheby's and Defining the Luxury Experience(07:47) - Referral Based Business Versus Cold Lead Strategies(09:44) - Moving to Tampa Bay and Rebuilding a Network From Scratch(11:24) - Community Immersion as a Growth Strategy(12:08) - Introduction to Ninja Selling and Relationship Focused Systems(13:12) - Morning Routines, Mindset, and Daily Discipline(15:27) - Social Media Engagement as Modern Relationship Building(17:39) - Going Deep With Relationships Instead of Going Wide(19:13) - Being a Good Human as a Business Strategy(20:27) - Managing Stressful Clients and Emotional Transactions(21:19) - Living a Holistic Life While Building a Real Estate Career(23:05) - Avoiding Burnout and Redefining Success(24:47) - Tampa Bay Market Conditions and Recent Challenges(26:49) - Pricing Strategies in a Slower Market(28:22) - Insurance Costs, Condos, and Florida Market Pressures(30:37) - Marketing, Staging, and Standing Out Online(32:06) - Professionalism in a Changing Market(34:44) - Brittany's Golden Nugget on Community Centered Marketing(36:07) - Book Recommendations and Personal Growth Influences(37:35) - Where to Follow Brittany and Final Thoughts(38:03) - Show Closing, Disclaimer, and Sign OffContact Brittany Ranewhttps://www.brittanyranew.com/https://www.authorbrittanyranew.com/https://youtube.com/@brittanyranew If this conversation sparked something in you, remember that the most powerful businesses are built with intention, community, and heart. Keep designing a life that actually feels good to live. Visit https://reiagent.com

What if the key to your next growth move was hidden in the world of video games and children's books? In this episode of Building Unbreakable Brands, Meghan Lynch talks with father-son duo Myke Connolly, Sr. (CEO of Stand Out Truck) and Mikey Connolly, Jr. (CEO of Realistic CEO) about how a high school teacher's comment sparked a multiverse of businesses, books, and leadership lessons. From turning criticism into strategy to raising confident next-gen leaders, this episode explores how purpose, storytelling, and structure can bring your brand to life—across generations and platforms.Key Topics DiscussedTurn personal setbacks into brand-building opportunitiesUse multiverse thinking to unify diverse business venturesCreate “dream environments” that foster early leadershipBalance personal identity with a public-facing brandNavigate different leadership styles across generationsInfuse service and community into every brand decisionConnect with Myke Connolly, Sr. on LinkedIn Connect with Mikey Connolly, Jr. on LinkedInBuilding Unbreakable Brands is hosted by Meghan LynchProduced by Six-Point Strategy

Welcome to The SaaS CFO Podcast! In today's episode, host Ben Murray welcomes John Glasgow, founder and CEO of Campfire—a fast-growing, AI-powered ERP solution built for modern finance teams. John Glasgow shares his background, from early days in finance at Adobe to leading partnerships at Invoice2Go and the inspiration behind starting Campfire. Together, they explore the challenges of building a next-generation ERP, the role of AI in streamlining finance workflows, and Campfire's rapid rise—including raising $100 million and landing marquee customers in just two years. You'll hear insights on current trends in CFO tech stacks, best practices for disciplined growth, and why accounting is becoming more strategic than ever. Whether you're a SaaS founder, CFO, or just curious about the future of finance software, this episode is packed with honest lessons, actionable insights, and a look at what's next for Campfire and the industry at large. Show Notes: 00:00 "From Finance to Founding Campfire" 03:22 "Building the Modern ERP" 09:58 "Accelerating Growth in ERP Space" 11:44 "AI Growth and Rapid Funding" 14:37 "New Logo ARR Growth Focus" 17:21 "Building ERP: Focus and Conviction" 23:31 Capacity Planning and Growth Strategy 27:23 Finance Software Revolution Insights 28:54 "Ember AI: Agentic Workflows Evolution" Links: SaaS Fundraising Stories: https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/campfire-raises-3-5-million-in-seed-round https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/campfire-secures-35-million-in-series-a https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/campfire-raises-65-million-in-series-b John Glasgow's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnglasgow/ Campfire's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/meetcampfire/ Campfire's Website: https://campfire.ai/ 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

In this episode, I'm talking to moms who are running a business and a household—and are tired of feeling behind. I share the story of my appendix surgery, when our home felt totally out of control, and how hiring a household helper/babysitter through a local Facebook group changed everything.We'll unpack what a household helper actually does (laundry, errands, tidying, returns, sheets, kid help) and why you don't need to be “bursting at the seams” to justify getting support. You'll hear common signs it's time to get help—like constant resentment, never feeling caught up, or canceling work blocks because the house feels chaotic.We'll also dig into the mindset and money blocks: believing you “should be able to do it all,” feeling guilty for wanting help, or thinking it has to be a huge financial commitment.You'll leave this episode with permission to outsource at home, practical ideas for starting small, and a new way to think about trading a little money for time, capacity, and mental peace.  Free Resources:Join 30 Day Calendar Blocking Blueprint and finally feel in control. ​Click here to join the next round. ​Are you a business owner making $100,000+ and still wearing all the hats? ​Click here​ to learn about my upcoming 12-week Outsourcing Mastermind.Are you an aspiring or newer business owner who needs some accountability and clarity on the next steps? ​Click here​ to join my 6-month accountability group - Simplify.

Most accountants say the same thing: “I'm already too busy… why would I need marketing?”In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant, hosts Lee Reams II and Rebekah Barton break down the real reason fast-growing firms keep winning—while others unknowingly fall behind:

This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at how my entire business model has evolved and exactly how we are preparing to scale in 2026. After spending 2025 rebuilding my offer suite and marketing ecosystem from the ground up, this next chapter is all about visibility, leverage, and building a business that grows without requiring more of my time. I share my full marketing ecosystem, how each offer works together, how revenue streams have shifted, and what this means for how you can grow your own med spa or aesthetic business with clarity and confidence.    HIGHLIGHTS Why 2025 was all about foundation, and why 2026 is about massive visibility. The reason I rebuilt my entire business model and offer suite. Why I chose a small and mighty team over scaling a giant sales organization. The three parts of the marketing ecosystem and how they work together. How tiny offers and lead magnets drive long-term growth and revenue. The biggest revenue shift from 2024 to 2025 and what it taught me.   RESOURCES + LINKS Try Ask Heather AI for 30 Days HERE Apply for The Med Spa Advantage HERE   FOLLOW Heather: @heatherterveen Website: heatherterveen.com

Emera is advancing energy leadership through strategic investment, operational excellence, and a long-term commitment to customers and communities. CEO Scott Balfour joins Inside the ICE House to discuss how the company's NYSE listing expands access to global capital and strengthens its ability to deliver reliable, affordable power.

In this episode of the Noob Spearo Podcast, host Shrek interviews Jordan Hunter, founder of the Your Fish app. They discuss Jordan's background in spearfishing, the inspiration and development of the app, and its features such as social networking, buddy finding, and competition management. Jordan also shares insights into his personal spearfishing journey, the importance of meditation and relaxation in diving, and the potential of ice baths to improve diving performance. The conversation highlights the app's goal of building a global community of spearfishers and anglers, making it easier to connect and share their passion. Listeners are encouraged to download the app and join the community. Important Times 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 01:27 Meet Jordan Hunter: Founder of Your Fish App 03:35 The Inspiration Behind Your Fish App 06:07 Features and Future of Your Fish App 07:48 Community and Competitions 12:52 Monetization and Growth Strategies 15:26 User Experience and Tech Challenges 29:15 Personal Journey: Jordan's Spearfishing Story 34:03 Lessons from Free Diving 34:49 Wave Three Deep Week in Thailand 36:49 Spearfishing Retreats and Life Changes 37:58 Culinary Adventures with Surgeon Fish 48:08 The Importance of Meditation and Ice Baths 01:01:09 The Vision for YourFish App 01:04:05 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans Links Mentioned, Partner Deals and Discounts + Froth

In this episode, Jim Feinstein, CEO of ENT Partners, shares core leadership principles, lessons from decades in physician practice management, and strategies for balancing investor expectations, physician engagement, and sustainable growth in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape.

In this episode, I share my own holiday reflections and reveal six practical strategies I use to stay out of overwhelm in December. From setting boundaries and deciding what's “enough” to protecting my time and taking intentional breaks from social media, I offer the actionable steps that help me find balance and joy through the season.I talk about focusing on routines that matter, avoiding unnecessary projects or stress, and documenting activities now to make things easier next year. Tune in as I discuss how I stay present, let go of comparison, and embrace a peaceful, intentional holiday season.Grab my Holiday Headquarters guide to get everything you need to organize, plan, and celebrate with ease, think gift lists, family photos, meal plans, and memory-making ideas all in one place!  Free Resources:Join 30 Day Calendar Blocking Blueprint and finally feel in control. ​Click here to join the next round. ​Are you a business owner making $100,000+ and still wearing all the hats? ​Click here​ to learn about my upcoming 12-week Outsourcing Mastermind.Are you an aspiring or newer business owner who needs some accountability and clarity on the next steps? ​Click here​ to join my 6-month accountability group - Simplify.

In this episode of The Modern Man Podcast, host Ted Phaeton speaks with Sean Tepper, founder and CEO of Tykr, an investment platform designed to empower users in navigating the stock market. Sean shares his journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship, discussing the challenges and lessons learned along the way. The conversation explores the significance of financial literacy, the distinctions between investing and trading, and the innovative features of Tykr that aim to simplify investing for users. Sean emphasizes the importance of situational awareness in business and investing, and how leveraging technology, including AI, can enhance investment analysis. The episode concludes with insights on the future of Tykr and the importance of doing what you love while also generating revenue. Chapters 00:00 – Billionaire Investors, Not Traders 01:00 – Introduction to The Modern Man Podcast 03:09 – Sean Tepper's Journey into Investing 08:22 – The Transition from Corporate to Entrepreneurship 13:15 – Overcoming Fear and Embracing Risk 19:00 – The Aha Moment in Investing 24:49 – Building Ticker: The Education Piece 30:26 – Micro Learning and Financial Literacy 35:33 – Investing vs. Trading: The Key Differences 38:46 – Future Goals for Ticker and Growth Strategies 39:56 – Leveraging AI in Investment Analysis   Tepper’s Links Website:  tykr.com Facebook: tykrpro LinkedIn: seantepper Instagram: tykrinvest Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: m2ebook   ⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️ https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights  

In this episode of Excess Returns, we sit down with Louis-Vincent Gave of Gavekal Research for one of the most wide-ranging and eye-opening conversations we have ever hosted. Louis breaks down how China transformed its economy over the last seven years, why Western observers consistently misunderstand the country's growth model, and what this means for global markets, AI competition, supply chains, currencies, energy, demographics, and the next decade of investing. If you want a clearer picture of China, global macro dynamics, and the forces shaping markets today, this is essential viewing.Topics covered in this episode:• Why Western investors misread China's economy• China's response to the US semiconductor embargo• How China redirected all lending toward industry• The scale and speed of China's move up the value chain• China's EV dominance and the BYD vs. Tesla comparison• The new global deflation and reflation forces• Why China now looks like the US did in 2009• Energy, labor, and industrial competitiveness• China's open-source AI approach vs. America's closed systems• “Hunger Games” capitalism and the impact on investors• Where foreign investors consistently get China wrong• The RMB as the most mispriced major asset• How China's demographics shape policy and markets• Why fears of a Taiwan conflict are overblown• How Louis is positioning for China's next bull marketTimestamps:00:00 China's economic shock and the US semiconductor embargo02:00 What the West gets wrong about China04:00 Competition, local governments, and industrial incentives06:10 China's lending shift: real estate to industry08:00 China's rapid climb up the value chain10:00 BYD vs Tesla and China's engineering surge12:30 The global deflationary shock and US–China tensions15:00 From defense to offense: China's policy pivot17:00 China's reflation and emerging market implications18:20 Scarcity of energy, labor, and time21:00 China's cost advantages vs the US24:00 Comparing AI strategies: open vs closed systems28:00 “Hunger Games” capitalism in China31:30 Investing challenges and opportunities in China34:00 China's new high-tech niche champions37:00 Capital-light Chinese AI vs US capital intensity40:30 Rethinking US-China blocs and global alliances44:00 Why Europe will be torn apart by the next phase45:30 Will China outperform the US over the next decade?47:00 The massively undervalued RMB49:00 China's barbell investment setup50:00 China's demographic crisis and policy response53:00 Taiwan risk: myth vs reality58:00 How Louis could be wrong01:00:40 Louis's contrarian investing belief01:02:00 Louis's one lesson for investors

What if letting go isn't just a business strategy, but the very thing that unlocks your next level of growth? In today's episode, I'm joined by Nata Salvatori, leadership strategist, founder of Accidental CEO, and creator of the Delegation Playbook. Nata helps high-capacity entrepreneurs redesign how they lead so they can stop white-knuckling their businesses and finally build the support systems they deserve. We talk about why most people think they're delegating when they're actually just task-dumping, the mindset shifts that make letting go possible, and the structure you need in place so your team can succeed without you controlling every detail. If you've ever said “It's just easier if I do it myself,” this episode will completely reframe what delegation really requires from you. If you're ready to reclaim your time, your energy, and your role as a true CEO, this conversation will show you why delegation isn't a luxury…it's a leadership identity. Today you'll hear:02:30 – What a “life-first business” means to Nata and how she aligns her calendar with her values04:57 – The subtle signs she hit her capacity (and why resentment was the red flag she ignored)06:10 – The grocery-store moment that revealed she could no longer do everything herself07:06 – Why even “small business owners” still need support behind the scenes08:29 – The biggest reason most entrepreneurs fail at delegating (hint: it's NOT about tasks)09:48 – The mindset shift about money and why waiting until you can “afford help” keeps you stuck11:08 – What actually causes bad hiring experiences (and why it's rarely the hire)12:47 – How to properly audit your tasks so you know what to automate, eliminate, or delegate13:52 – Why “just tell them what to do” never works — and how to create a real task brief15:00 – The communication rhythms Nata recommends for smooth delegation16:29 – How to give feedback without guilt — and why your team needs it18:07 – Why values make delegation easier and healthier for everyone20:53 – The message she wishes she could tell her earlier self about rest CONNECT WITH NATA:Website: HTTP://accidentalceo.coInstagram: @accidentalceo.coFree Download: The Delegation Playbook http://accidentalceo.co/deleg-playbook-freebieNata's Course: https://hollyhaynes--accidentalceo.thrivecart.com/delegate-course/