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Is running a dental practice the most stressful part of your life? Does hiring and retaining the right people seem impossible? Do you question whether dentistry was the right choice for you? Kiera reflects on DAT's recent CEO Dentist Webinar, including what dental leadership ideally looks like — from an individual and team perspective. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript:   Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I am so giddy to be recording this podcast. If you missed it, you missed out. We did our CEO dentist webinar workshop and it was so rad. We did it in August and just kudos to all the doctors that were there. If you missed it, you're in luck. I'm going to give you the highlight reel. But I really hope that you plan to join us. It was a three day, ⁓ full playful out workshop that I just thoroughly loved. had doctors.   joining us every single night and really just having that mindset shift of how do I go from being this day in day out operator to a CEO owner of my business? Like what are the things that I really should be doing as a CEO versus what should I be doing as a founder? Like how do we shift that mindset? And we did it based on our proven model, the yes model. You guys have heard me chat about that. The focusing on you and your vision, earnings and profitability, and then systems and team development. So it was just really, really fun. This really was something to help.   Honestly, like afterwards, had so many calls with so many people that were there. And it was just joyful because they said, Kiera, I really want to learn how to be the CEO. Like as you talked about it, I finally understood like what my role should look like and how I should be evolving. And so just really fun. So just want to say thanks for our entire team. Thanks to everybody who joined. And for all of you, if you didn't ⁓ get to be there, you missed out. It was like full blown. And I did a little surprise. I wasn't expecting it, but I actually ended up ⁓   like doing an after party and it was really fun to just have real conversations. So ⁓ really, truly just a highlight. And today I'm going to kind of like break this down into what we did. I'll give a couple of highlights from each day of just for you to kind of get the highlight reel of it. And then, Hey, if you ever want to chat about how to become the CEO dentist of your practice, this is what we're doing for a lot of offices. I've kind of been shifting our model to help dentists and teams really elevate to have practices that run with team.   leadership to have dentists to truly run in their realm of being that healthcare provider that you love and or exiting and going out of the chair. No, there's no set path. It's your path and really helping dentists ⁓ just elevate to that level of like, do I own this business and not have it own me? So just super jazz. That's what we're working on. Just really, really, really fun and exciting things and getting your team bought into this as well. So with that, I'm just excited. Welcome. If you're new to the podcast, I'm Kiera. It's super nice to meet you.   ⁓ I love all things dentistry, including my last name is Dent. ⁓ I came from self-made, ⁓ being able to help practices grow to the level, the growth, the fulfillment, the joy that they want, helping doctors and teams align. And this is coming from real life, all of my experiences, all of our collective experience of our consulting team, bringing you tactical practical tips to make your life and your business work for you and not against you. So with that,   ⁓ was just a jazz. Like it was so fun. So the first day we really talked about, ⁓ just some topics of like who can relate. So if you can relate to this great, this podcast is for you. number one is running a dental practice is the most stressful part of your life. hiring and retaining the right people seems almost impossible. Some months so great. Others feel like you're drowning. Your patients are canceling last minute, leaving your team and you helpless. know how to be a dentist, but you have no clue how to run a business. You're alone with your problems.   You question if dentistry was the right choice for you. You feel like everyone has it together, but you don't. ⁓ and I hope if you answered yes to any of those questions, you realize that truly, truly, truly, you're not alone. And every single dentist feels this at some point and some survive and others thrive. And so the whole goal of the CEO Dennis workshop was to help you thrive. And so on the first day we really went through like, what exactly is a CEO? I remember there was this aha moment in my career where I'm like,   what does a CEO actually do? I'm not joking, I Googled this and I was like, what is a CEO? Like, what do they do? And it was a good, I would say a good, ⁓ probably identity shift for me. To realize like a CEO is your chief executive officer. So like, this is the person who executes. So you oversee the execution of day to day, but you don't do it all. So your job is to lead the vision, plan for the future.   Create and protect the culture and do big opportunities, but stay out of the weeds. Like that's genuinely what you're supposed to do. And a lot of dentists, we'll add one more Asherick. A lot of times you do the dentistry. Sometimes you do it full time and other times you hire associate dentists to do it with you. So like, that's what it means. It means you oversee. You think about a CEO of Amazon, they are not packing the boxes and shipping it out. They are not calling on all the customer service things. They are not creating the bots and the software.   Their job is to look over the vision. Their job is to keep people accountable. Their job is to plan for the future, look for the big opportunities, ⁓ really truly protect the culture and stay out of the weeds. So I think when I looked at that, I'm like, how many dentists actually live like this? Probably not a lot. So what we did is we like went through an audit and then we worked on like the key foundation and this might feel a little fluffy and I'm sure some participants might have thought this, but if we don't get the you portion of the yes model correct, we can't say yes to things.   The number one, and I purposely built the yes model in the pillars in the exact formula of you first earning second systems third. And if you will follow this model, you really truly can get there. And so what we talked about is how like how you show up as a leader directly impacts the success, the relationships, your financial and personal freedom and the overall happiness and fulfillment you have in your practice. So when I look at this, like, okay, great. You have to take care of you and   We talked about like actually how to shift your identity. And so a lot of times people identify themselves today. But if you knew like Tony Robbins said, the strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent with how we define ourselves, not who we actually are, but how we define ourselves. So what we actually had ⁓ everybody doing the workshop on day one was to create this new identity of being the CEO dentist. Like what would the CEO dentist do or not do? ⁓ you're still checking charts at night. What a CEO handle end of day task like that.   Yes or no. No one's held accountable. What does CEO allow chaos to become culture? Your team's just clocking in. How would a CEO reignite motivation? You're bleeding cancellations. How would a CEO oversee the systems to prevent that? Your schedule's full, but your profits don't show it. How would a CEO fix that? Cashflow is unpredictable. How would a CEO create stability? You're doing busy work and have no time to look at the big picture. How would a CEO solve it?   So just again, it's like when we shift our identity, not from who you are, but to a CEO. So I now am, I'm not Kiera, I'm not dentist Kiera. I am now, you guys, I was never dentist Kiera. I was dental assistant Kiera, I'm consulting Kiera. But for you, like you're dentist John, you go in, you do the fillings, you are this practice owner. But what would CEO John or CEO Kiera or CEO Sarah or CEO Marsha or CEO Tom or CEO Tony or CEO Kevin, what would they do or not do?   And when you can shift this identity, you can actually start to see, and you can look at the delegation ladder. And we talked about the delegation ladder of what tasks, because when you're a small business versus when you expand and become a larger business, you actually have different, like it's literally in a tier of what you're going to delegate and when, because as a founder is a new startup, as a CEO, you're doing a lot of the work. You don't have the cashflow. You can't afford it. You're going to do all the work. So at that point, that CEO is doing that.   But as the practice builds and evolves, a lot of CEOs stay there and they don't actually evolve into delegating the tasks that they should be. And so when we go through the entire delegation ladder from like administrative tasks, a patient experience, treatment coordinator, and selling cases to marketing, to leadership, these are all the zones of where is your name out on that delegation ladder and where should it be based on the current size of your practice. And then what, even if you're small, what's your next hire? Well, first hires administrative tasks. So it's either a front office team member, it's a personal assistant, or it's an office manager.   that's going to immediately delegate all of those front office tasks for you, but they're going to do all of that. And then you move into, you're doing the patient experience, you're doing the closing of the cases, you're doing the marketing, you're doing the leadership, like, but you, you offload that first and then you offload the next and the next and the next. And so really looking at this of like, we, it was really cute. We had this fairy godmother and it's like, you are now the CEO. It's time to be the CEO. And I think for us on day one of people just being highlighted of   you now have this new identity. And so looking at it of when I look at this, what's standing in my way of being the CEO? What does my dream business look like? What does that vision timeline look like for me? And what must change now to become the CEO? So as you go through that, that was a quick recap of day one. And then we rolled right into day two, which day two is a lot more tactical. Day one's a bit more of you, you becoming and taking on this new identity. And I will tell you,   when I got on calls afterwards, because it was actually real fun. We had a lot of calls, really excited to welcome the new offices to our company and to our group. And they're already shifting and changing. had some people text me after that of saying, I'm now committing to being the CEO dentist. And when you take and embody a new identity, like, because I thought through this and we were brainstorming as we were prepping this webinar or this workshop. And I thought, how am going to get people to recognize that the you portion is the most pivotal pillar of this whole success model?   And how do get them to do it quickly? And I realized change identity is the fastest way to change. But like changing identity can feel hard. But if I tell you like, it's like putting on a t-shirt and I say, all right, today you're wearing CEO t-shirt. How are you going to act? Just like I can be Kiera, the executor. I can be Kiera, the consultant. I can be Kiera, the sales. I can be Kiera, the customer service. Those are just t-shirts and hats. But if I'm going to put on my main t-shirt, my main hat, I change my identity and I walk into that office every day. And I'm now the CEO dentist.   you will start to act quicker and faster. It's just like the person who wants to get healthy read Atomic Habits. say what they do is they don't ask them to like become healthy. They say, what would a healthy person do? Well, they would walk to their car instead of driving and get the closest parking spot. They would eat snacks like celery sticks for snacks rather than other things. They would have their tennis shoes by the side of their bed. They would go walking every day. you don't, and that's how you'd be able to like, what would a CEO dentist do? What would a CEO dentist not do?   That's how you can start to shift this identity and become that. So that was just a quick, like I said, quick recap of day one and then day two is just fun. It's about numbers. ⁓ Numbers are one of my favorite things because you've got to really understand numbers because numbers are your superpower. Not knowing your numbers, believe it or not, causes more stress than knowing them. Even if they're bad, even if they're good, not knowing because you're getting this constant fear of like, are they good? Do we have money? I don't know. It's also helping you make confident decisions.   develops the steps of where you need to go. And it also helps you track progress to take action before it's too late. So really numbers to me are the proactive approach in a business rather than the reactive. And it's okay, it does not matter where we start. It always helps us then become more proactive as we're going through. So we went through KPI. So a key performance indicator, which one should you be looking at? What are some common ones? We went through stats and KPI spreadsheets, how we look at these, like what we need to do on the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. So like daily we're looking at month.   Today production collections, we only have that 98%. We also want to look at our end of day sheet, making sure we've got all of those procedures built out weekly. We're looking at our KPIs to review during doctor and OM weekly meetings. So looking at trends, creating action items before things get too late, like literally our entire team and our clients, they track stats every single week. Cause we're looking for trends. The offices that do this are always my profitable offices. The offices that don't are the not profitable. Like it is science though, like what you track and measure improves. So track.   Monthly, you do your month and number review, like all the KPIs, what were the trends and what are we going to do better next month? Where are we at? I just talked to an office the other day. We realized we're a hundred thousand behind where we want to be for end of year. We have four months left or two months left or one mother, wherever you are. But if you plan and you look ahead. Four months, trying to make up a hundred grand is way easier to do than two months, trying to make up a hundred grand. So when we look at that and you just change the game, you change how we schedule, we change how we're going to do our block schedules. All of it is really easy, but if you don't look at this and you don't measure it.   Huh, you're in stress. This is stress. ⁓ We look at our overhead, we look at our PNL, and then quarterly we look at our year to date, where are we at? What are the gaps? We're gonna set reach goals or quarterly goals, and then we track weekly and make sure we're on track for that. So we went through a monthly cost spreadsheet too. This is honestly my most favorite spreadsheet of all time. So legit, I love it, and it's here, and it's something that I have of what is our monthly BAM, our bare ACE minimum? What does it cost us to run the practice?   on a high end, low end and where we currently are. So if I've got to scale and add more people, if I need to reduce in times of chaos or hard times, I at least know those numbers and that will give you so much confidence because now you've got a piece of the puzzle to then know what do we need to produce? What do we need to collect? We went through an overhead calculator and what are the benchmarks? What should my payroll be? What should my supplies be? Labs, advertising, all of that. What's my overhead? What's my doctor salary and where can I cut? Because the way to fix your numbers are three things. One, decrease what we're spending.   That's one, two, increase production and three, increase collections. If our collections, cause you can be producing and if you're not collecting, guess what your overhead sky high strip, like that's a stressful zone. Just go collect the money. You've already done it. Collect the money. If we're not producing enough to cover our bills, well, we need to increase our production and build block schedules and different pieces like that to make sure what we need to produce for our practice is actually there. And then like looking at our costs, what can we cut? What things could be more efficient in? do we maybe need to delay a hire or do we need to make the hire?   whatever it is, but knowing those areas, like that's where math becomes very fun. Numbers become fun. It's just a simple math equation. It's not hard. We're not going into algebra and geometry and calculus and all of that trig. No, it's literally simple, basic math where we can say, okay, this is what I'm making. This is what I'm spending. And this is what we're collecting. Which of those levers do I need to turn? And so showing offices how like collections matter and different pieces like   going through an overhead calculator, had actual spreadsheets for KPIs, for a monthly cost spreadsheet, for our overhead calculator. All of that was actually really, really lovely. And then showing offices like we're aiming for you to be 20 % profitable after doctors paid, after all expenses are paid, 20 % profit is what we aim for with our practices. And so when you look at your profit, and if right now you're like, I don't even know profit, hey, let's chat. Let's talk about it because you gotta make the money and keep the money. We're gonna make sure we're not spending more money than we're making. And then we're prepping and preparing and we're working towards that profit margin.   having cash flow, having profit at the end of the month will lower your stress radically. So we went through all that. We also had like a whole KPI checklist to have, and it was really fun because when we look at these numbers, this is where the stress stops. And we actually went through like a real life example with the people that were participating with us and they could quickly see, you don't even know this practice. Look at this KPI scorecard. What do you see and what should this practice take immediate action on? Again, a CEO hat, a CEO shirt.   That person's going to look at the trends. They're not going to go dig into the weeds. Most of the time, they're going to look at this and say, okay, well, if my production's 160 and my collections are a hundred right now, even you listening on the podcast, you can tell that's my gap. We're producing 160, but we're collecting a hundred now that one succeed because we're putting in our numbers in gross, not net production. That's a problem. Fix that. Maybe our collections are good, but if we're producing that in net and we're only collecting a hundred thousand, that's a huge gap. What do we need to do to fix our collections?   Our year to date collection presented 62%. You know right there. And when this office had an overhead of 85%, well, to me looking at that without even knowing this practice, they have a collections problem right there. They increase the collections, their overhead goes down, money instantly becomes available. So many offers like, here, we don't have the money. And I look and I'm like, you got 500,000 in AR, you've got the money. We just need to collect the money. You're producing well, your expenses are in line. Or other times like our expenses are high. Let's reduce that. Let's figure out how we can get it.   So giving some parameters in that and really knowing like, when you look at as a quick review for you, do you actually use your numbers as super power? So one, do you have KPIs? Two, do you review them weekly? Three, does every team member have their own number and do they track them? So meaning like a number that's going to move the business forward that they know that they can impact that they own as ownership. Does your team know how they can impact the numbers? Do you know your overhead? Do you know what's in your AR right now? How much money is sitting out?   And do you have a plan to get to ideal profit? So answering those questions really will help you kind of have an overview of, all right, got it. These are the things. And I will say for anybody, you want, we actually gave away a lot of these worksheets. So to anybody who scheduled the call. So if you're like, Hey, I'm just curious, like, how can you help me with like maybe my you portion, maybe my earning portion or the last person of systems and team development. Hey, schedule a call with us. I'm happy to share a lot of these spreadsheets with you in a lot of the pieces, because why not? I know you weren't there and I know you didn't get all of it.   But I would love to help you out and I'd love to give you a lot of these resources. So book a call. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website, TheDentalATeam.com click book a call. I think it's really something lovely to be able to help. And honestly, Hey, why not? You're going to get all the resources and we're to be able to give you a true roadmap for your practice. actually do. ⁓ it's about an hour long complimentary call where we actually go through your practice. give you a highlight, ⁓ of where to go. What are kind of the big pieces in your practice and then also give you resources. So really it's a no risk for you.   ⁓ It's no pressure, just truly clarity and momentum. So, ⁓ and like I said, the KPI scorecard, the monthly spending, the overhead calculator, those types of things I think are just so powerful to be able to access those and to even see what you should or could be doing. So then as a wrap, day three of the workshop was so fun. It was one of my favorite days. Shout out to Eve, our marketer. She said, Kiera.   I want you to really try something for me. And I'm all here for innovation creation. Like let's try something new. And she said on systems, I want us to do like a rapid fire. And so what we did, because what I found is one, you have the vision, you take on this, this, this new hat, new identity of I'm the CEO dentist. You now know that numbers are your superpower and you're going to use your numbers to not be used by your numbers. So you're to look at the numbers and we're going to see where are the gaps.   whatever your numbers are. So the numbers need to lead to the vision and whatever numbers tell us, the numbers tell us a story. Just like that example I gave you, there was a collections problem. Well, great. If there's a collections problem, that's the system that we now go implement into a practice. So it's really, really great to see like, my gosh, I don't have to like eat this whole elephant. It's very simple based on the vision and the numbers to tell you which systems are broken, which systems are lacking and what things we need to implement, improve or optimize. So the last part was systems and Dental A Team, I   I like cadences. like to see like a map. So I put 12 systems for the 12 months of the year. And some of you have heard these things in the past. You can look these up on our website. We've got lots of them, but basically just like, okay, what's my kind of outlook for every single month? So January's office management mastery and leadership, February's doctor optimization. So making sure like endo, CE, Botox, like whatever it is, we're just optimizing our doctor procedures in-house, looking to see what could we do to optimize that more.   March is billing with ease, April's five-star patient experience, May is smooth sailing scheduling, June is maximized case acceptance, July is dynamite dental assistance, August is elevated hygiene, September is confident marketing, October is complete operations manual, so get that thing done, November is practice profitability, what we just discussed, and December, yes, pun intended, A-Team hiring and onboarding. So like a little calendar for you to, as you're going through as a CEO,   Now you don't have to think of like, I've got to do all the systems. You've got a checklist of, all right, let me go look at this system. Let me go look at this system. Let me look at this category and see what could I optimize? What could we improve? What could we enhance? So what we did is we actually did a speed round and it was a yes or no. You weren't allowed to have anything gray and we had three questions under every system. So they went through 36 different areas of their practice and it was either yes or no to then say, how are your systems in those areas?   So for example, and people were giving a zero out of three, a one out of three, a two out of three or a three out of three. So let's go to management mastery. This would be your office manager. I review weekly KPIs to ensure we're on track to hit goals. It's either a yes or no. There's no in between. My leadership team runs effective meetings and follows up on action items. Yes or no. know each team members receiving regular one-on-one coachings for growth monthly. Yes or no. And I'll give you a trickier one. Cause why not? Let's like, people were like, I was doing so good. And then I got into.   Some of these other ones, so let me grab, let's do maximize case acceptance. This one would be our practice maintains at least a 75 % patient case acceptance and tracks it daily. Yes or no? You might be having that. And if you don't know, then it's a no. We have a solid follow-up system for unscheduled treatment and offer easy financing options. Yes or no? Next, visits are scheduled in the back office to help increase case acceptance. Yes or no? So what we did is there's so many things within every single system, but tried to break it down so people could quickly see.   of the 12 systems, where am I maybe lacking to then maybe take execution and action and also as CEO. then no great. have a focus for every single month that I can really look at. I can have a checklist. I can look at this and then we actually take action to improve our practice consistently. So we worked through that. And then we said that the piece is we can talk about you as a leader. We can talk about money and profitability and systemization, but for excellent systems to stick.   You have to have extraordinary leadership. And this is where it was like, but wait, what about the CEO dentist? Do I have to do all of this? And the answer is again, as a CEO, your job is to lead the vision, plan for the future, create and protect the culture, big opportunities and stay out of the weeds. That's your job. That's what you're supposed to do. And maybe we can add in their clinical dentistry if you want to, but like that is what you do. So for that, Britt and I actually then went into their, their two dimensions of leadership because we started thinking about this and in that delegation ladder,   There is this zone of leadership and one side is going to be the executive and that's the future planning, the vision, the culture. Like that is truly the CEO dentist, but there's a split side to it. And the other side is the management side. So Britt and I actually make the yin and yang of the leadership team. I've got the executive side. Britt's got the management side. And management side is operations and systems, people, and then nitty gritty details. Britt is amazing at this. I'm amazing at vision and you need both of those pieces to work in harmony together.   to have it and it's usually not the same person. And so helping people go through that and to see where am I strong? And as the CEO of your practice, you might actually flourish in the management side and that's a okay. You need to hire somebody who's a visionary next to you. Or you might be freaking awesome at the visionary side. You need a strong manager that does all the pieces that you are actually not naturally good at, nor should you be spending your time on to pair gently with you and perfectly with you.   This way your practice can flourish and you can actually be the owner of your business rather than being owned by your business. So looking at this, was really like, where do you actually fall as a CEO dentist, executive leader? Where are you doing? What needs to change in your practice? And as we go through this for you to even kind of do an assessment of how am doing on my vision and owning and being the CEO dentist and that identity and truly sitting in that seat. Then what about my numbers and how's the profitability of my business, the future progress and growth?   And then looking at my systems, how are we on those 12 systems? What needs to happen? And then on my executive leadership, am I on the visionary side or on the management side? And who do I need to have? And do I have a strong person? Is that the right person in the right seat there? Or does that need to be evolved? And so it's one of those pieces of like, we have all the pieces, like we, we know, but how do we actually make this go from like knowledge to action? And I think that was the piece of really helping people.   ⁓ recognize that time is so fluid and so fast. And when I look back, I shared a story of where I truly was sitting in a room of a bunch of really smart business owners and I'm like, I don't even know what they're talking about. And I think so many times when we hear a podcast like this or we listen, we know we should be doing it, but we don't actually know how and we feel inferior. It's what we do is we just keep doing the same thing. And rather than that, I would maybe suggest you take a pause and you say, are you really the best person as a CEO to do this? Or...   Is it maybe worth it to hire somebody who knows how to do it and has been there, done that and done it successfully to help you and your team. I really, really dislike coaching for myself. So that's why I built that only team the way I did. I don't like to be coached as the CEO and then have to try and take that back to my team. That's exhausting. There's things that I need to know. And there's things that my team needs to know. And that's actually why we built Dental A Team the way we did. We coach doctors and teams. We teach doctors how to be the executive.   We teach you how to be the CEO, how to get out of the weeds, how to empower your team. And then we teach teams how to follow up so dentists can actually let go. We can build the leadership. We build the tracking. We build the numbers so you can sit there and confidently run your business rather than being ran by your business. And to think about like when I took the leap of faith to hire a coach, when I didn't know and was so scared to do it, I look, and that was six years ago that I hired her. And in those six years, things that happened like Dental A Team,   has definitely grown. Like we have hundreds of clients that we're able to serve on a very personal intimate level. I was very adamant as we built this company that I would never go to a spot where people just felt like a number and not a person. And so being able to scale it to grow, because my mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry and to do it in the greatest way possible. Like truly, how do I do this, but make people still feel like a person and to be seen. So Dental A Team, you want to be here? If I would have not like taken the leap and.   gotten the help that I needed and truly owned that I'm a CEO. I'm not expected to know everything. And I need to hire people that are smarter than me, better than me, and help me grow and optimize in areas that I don't even know. ⁓ My confidence wouldn't be here. My passion, the certainty of myself, my growth, my purpose, my freedom of life, like the life that I get to live now versus the life I was living, the ability to say yes to everything I need, want, and deserve. And that's why I built the yes model, because to help other doctors, other team members be able to say yes.   to everything you need, want and deserve is life changing. That's why we've got the Yes model. And so for that, it was just a really fun, like it was such a beautiful thing to walk people through a complete workshop to help them see where am I at? And I hope today you took kind of the notes and you look to see like, am I at? And just know that being the CEO and owning your business is not a destination, but it's a journey.   It's a space and you'll get more and more into that, but it's a forever evolution. You're never fully systematized. You're never always profitable. You're never always going to sit perfectly in the CEO seat. You're going to ebb and flow and it's just like a mountain and climbing the mountain. There's peaks and valleys and there's highs and there's lows and that's the game of business that we signed up for, but not doing it alone, not trying to figure it all out on your own, not trying to solve all the problems. I think is one of the most beautiful things. So if that resonates with you, we really talked about like joining consulting.   is only for offices that want to thrive and not just survive. It's you want strong systems in your practice that work with or without you there. You want to improve your leadership skills and actually learn how to be the CEO dentist. You want to be the CEO dentist that you were meant to be. You want to have a team that enjoys their work and owns their work. You want to be with peers like other dentists, other office managers, other leadership teams that make you better. Not that of like comparison and competition, but out of true genuine lifting each other up.   bringing part of a bigger community that's more that gives you hope, gives you help, gives you ⁓ benchmarks to look forward to, gives you ideas of how to do it differently and better. And you know that there must be a better, easier way because you know that there truly is. And so if that's something that you're interested in, like I'd love for you to reach out. Like I know you weren't able to attend the workshop. I hope you tend next year. Cause it was like so much more than I could even give on this podcast. But if that resonates with you.   Schedule the practice growth call. Like truly we're going to go through it. It's complimentary. We're going to dig through all the pieces of your practice. Look at a lot of things we just discussed and the added bonus is you will get all of the resources. So KPI scorecard, KPI checklist, fixed cost spreadsheet, ⁓ our monthly cost spreadsheet, the overhead calculator, the cashflow guide, some really, really incredible things that I think are just so valuable and powerful for you. But more than that, you're going to get clarity and momentum. And I think right now that's one of the greatest gifts you could give yourself. So book the call.   take action. You don't have to do it all yourself. And I think that that's like get out of the weeds because we need your vision. We need you to be the leader of the business. We need you to actually be looking at the numbers, having a team, driving that forward because no one else is doing that. You're the leader at the helm and it's either you or it's got to be someone else. But generally speaking, it's you, the dentist, the owner. And so let's help you out. Let's give you that freedom. Let's give you that confidence. Let's give you that roadmap.   and do it in a way that's for you and your practice. So reach out, head to the website, TheDentalATeam.com, book a call, email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And truly let's help you out. Let's do a complimentary call and just see where are you at? How can we help you? And like I said, as an ad bonus, let them know you listened to the CEO Dennis Workshop ⁓ podcast and we will happily give you those downloads. ⁓ They are tactical, they're practical, they're able to be put into place right away because you all know I love tactical, practical, and you know that my biggest passion is you.   It's you being successful. It's you having the life that you want. It's being able to have life on your terms, to be able to say yes to everything that you want, need and deserve. That's why you did this. That's why you went to dentistry. And so let's give you the life that you had always envisioned. And let's take that from a dream and a wish to a reality. And with that, thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast. ⁓  

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Lesley Conway, VP & Head of Walmart Connect Canada, the Retail Media arm of Walmart's Canadian retail division.Follow Lesley on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesleyconway/Follow Walmart Connect Canada on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/walmartconnectcanada/Follow Walmart Connect Canada online at: https://www.walmartconnect.ca/Here's what we asked Lesley: Please provide us with an overview of Walmart Connect in terms of your mission and how you integrate into the merchandising activities?How do you define success for Walmart Connect in Canada, both from a brand advertiser and a consumer experience standpoint?Recently, Walmart Connect in Canada adopted the core retail media campaign development platform being operated by your colleagues in the U.S. Would you please elaborate on this change?Walk us through the full funnel capabilities of Walmart Connect Canada: onsite, offsite and in store.What is happening in Canada relative to behavioral data applications?How are you leveraging AI and data analytics to refine ad targeting and improve campaign effectiveness?What strategies are you implementing to deepen partnerships with brands and agency partners in Canada?What KPIs are you prioritizing to measure campaign success and media ROI and how transparent is your measurement approach for brands seeking to activate via Walmart Connect Canada?What is WMC's current capabilities for self-serve vs managed services and how are your working with commerce acceleration agencies like Flywheel to activate on your platform?What's the next big milestone you're aiming for with Walmart Connect Canada?How should brands not currently working with WMC get started with you?CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.comFMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.comRhea Raj's Website: http://rhearaj.comLara Raj in Katseye: https://www.katseye.world/DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Wondering what the #1 reason is for salespeople to fail? You'll discover the answer in this episode! This week on the podcast, we are recasting a great interview with Jeffrey Gitomer, co-host of the Sell or Die podcast. He to joined Bradley for an essential conversation about sales mastery. Jeffrey, widely recognized as "the King of Sales," has authored numerous #1 best-selling books on sales, delivers over 40 corporate presentations annually, leads "The Insiders Club" for elite salespeople, and provides transformative free resources to empower sales professionals worldwide.In this powerful episode, Jeffrey and Bradley explore the foundational belief system that separates successful salespeople from those who struggle. The key insight? You must genuinely believe in what you're selling. If you don't truly think your product or service will improve people's lives, your motivation and effectiveness will inevitably suffer.They also dive deep into the critical importance of referrals in today's sales landscape. While you may have heard this discussed before, when one of the world's leading sales authorities emphasizes it, it's worth your full attention! Referrals remain the highest-quality leads available because the referred prospect already shares the same belief in your offering that you and your advocate do.Jeffrey Gitomer continues to be a creative, cutting-edge thought leader whose expertise in sales, customer loyalty, and personal development maintains its world-renowned status. His insightful, humorous, and direct approach resonates powerfully in corporate environments globally. His audiences benefit from real-world sales strategies and leave with immediately actionable advice they can implement from day one.Discover all of Jeffrey's current resources and latest insights at www.gitomer.comThe main updates I made:Changed "This week" to "This episode" and "returns to join" to indicate it's a recast.Updated "today's episode" to "this powerful episode."Refreshed language while maintaining the core message.Added "in today's sales landscape" to make the referral discussion feel current.Updated the bio section to present tense while acknowledging his continued leadership.Made the call-to-action more current with "current resources and latest insights."Join Bradley for The Quarterly September 23rd, 2025...The Quarterly is a business planning workshop. We help business owners make plans for the next three months. Our goal is to help you go from doing all the work yourself to building a business that runs without you. Save your seat here: https://quarterly.blueprintos.comThanks to our sponsors...BlueprintOS equips business owners to design and install an operating system that runs like clockwork. Through BlueprintOS, you will grow and develop your leadership, clarify your culture and business game plan, align your operations with your KPIs, develop a team of A-Players, and execute your playbooks. Register to join us at an upcoming WebClass when you visit www.blueprintos.com!Coach P found great success as an insurance agent and agency owner. He leads a large, stable team of professionals who are at the top of their game year after year. Now he shares the systems, processes, delegation, and specialization he developed along the way. Gain access to weekly training calls and mentoring at www.coachpconsulting.com. Be sure to mention the Above The Business Podcast when you get in touch.Club Capital is the ultimate partner for financial management and marketing services, designed specifically for insurance agencies, fitness franchises, and youth soccer organizations. As the nation's largest accounting and financial advisory firm for insurance agencies, Club Capital...

The Profit Pitfalls Most Business Owners Miss with Lisa Hennigar   Most business owners don't lose profit because of one big mistake — it's usually a thousand tiny leaks. From not knowing your why, to ignoring customer service, to failing to track the right numbers, the truth is this: profit slips away quietly while you're busy working hard.   In this episode of Profit Answer Man, I sit down with Lisa Hennigar, Vice President of Franchise Development at ERA Group and a nationally recognized franchise strategist with over 22 years in the industry. Lisa has worked with everyone from household-name brands to emerging concepts, and she knows exactly where businesses get stuck — and how to turn things around.   In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why your “why” matters more than you think — and how it fuels resilience, team buy-in, and long-term success. The danger of ignoring your P&L — why most owners don't understand it, and what metrics you actually need to track. Scaling without losing profit — why growing too fast, or in the wrong way, can turn you into an employee of your own business. Customer service as a profit driver — how fast response times and the right client mix can outperform bigger competitors. The hidden costs that eat your margins — from bad leases to auto-renew contracts, to discounting that destroys profitability.   Key Takeaway: Profit doesn't come from working harder — it comes from working smarter. That means knowing your numbers, understanding your why, and being intentional about both the clients you serve and the systems you build. As Lisa reminds us, “Doing simple is hard — but simple is where the money is.”   About Lisa Hennigar: Lisa Hennigar is a nationally recognized franchise growth strategist with over 22 years in the franchising industry. She currently serves as Vice President of Franchise Development at ERA Group, an executive cost intelligence consulting firm, where she has been instrumental in helping ERA achieve its highest ranking in 30 years in Entrepreneur Magazine and secure the #1 Global Franchise Brand designation.   Her expertise spans franchise recruitment, operations, and unit economics—bridging the gap between sales and ongoing franchisee success. She has worked with brands from iconic household names to emerging concepts, creating scalable growth strategies, improving validation, and streamlining onboarding.   Lisa is known as a true change agent, keeping culture, unit economics, and KPIs at the forefront of every transformation she leads—powered by grit, resilience, and a relentless work ethic.   Beyond corporate leadership, Lisa served as Chair of SCORE in Michigan, sat on the YMCA Board in Michigan where she helped drive donor fundraising, and was active in Toastmasters, contributing to membership growth.   Earning a Certified Franchise Executive, with the International Franchise Association in 2011, Lisa has also been instrumental in attracting top-tier executive talent into franchising and converting independent businesses into thriving franchise locations.   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisahennigar/   Conclusion: Profit isn't accidental — it's the result of clarity, discipline, and intentional choices. As Lisa Hennigar reminds us, too many business owners ignore their why, overlook their numbers, or scale without strategy — and those blind spots quietly drain their wealth. The good news? Profit is always within reach when you track the right metrics, serve the right clients, and make simple, focused improvements.   Remember, your business should give you both time and money. If it's not, it's time to plug the leaks and reset your strategy.   #ProfitFirst #BusinessProfit #SmartScaling #EntrepreneurFinance #CashFlowFix #RevenueLeaks #BusinessClarity #OwnerPay   Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@profitanswerman Sign up to be notified when the next cohort of the Profit First Experience Course is available! Profit First Toolkit: https://lp.profitcomesfirst.com/landing-page-page  Relay Bank (affiliate link): https://relayfi.com/?referralcode=profitcomesfirst Profit Answer Man Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitanswerman/ My podcast about living a richer more meaningful life: http://richersoul.com/ Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.

Mandates, metrics, and momentum decide whether great ideas ever reach the boardroom. In this episode of the Innovation Storytellers Show, I sit down with Jonathan Livescault, Managing Director at Itonics, to unpack how enterprise innovators move from hunches to hard results.  Jonathan shares the origin of Itonics' “Big Picture” framework, built to give leaders a clear mandate, shared governance, and the right KPIs across the entire innovation lifecycle. He explains why ideation is only one piece of the puzzle, how strategic foresight defines the “where to play,” and what it takes to run disciplined pilots that fold fast and scale faster. You'll hear how global brands replace scattered spreadsheets with a single source of truth, create a visible performance cockpit for executives, and align risk appetite with a balanced portfolio of bets. We explore culture, transparency, and the handoff problem that kills promising pilots, then dig into practical ways to set stage gates, secure ownership, and measure progress in real time. If you've ever struggled to turn innovation into a repeatable business function, this conversation offers a step-by-step view of the processes, mindsets, and tooling that make it work at scale. Tune in to learn how to give your program a clear mandate, choose smarter metrics, and build momentum that lasts.  

269. Questions for More Connection and Laughter in Marriage with Casey and Meygan Caston   *Disclaimer* This episode contains some mature themes and listener discretion is advised.   2 Corinthians 1:4 NIRV "He comforts us in all our troubles. Now we can comfort others when they are in trouble. We ourselves receive comfort from God."   *Transcript Below*   Questions and Topics We Cover: Will you share three of the questions from your most recent book, specifically the ones people have told you unlocked the best conversations in their own marriage? You say you're an unlikely couple to help support marriages. Will you share a glimpse of your own backstory? What are a handful of ideas for ways couples can strengthen their connection with one another?   Casey and Meygan Caston are the Co-Founders of Marriage365. Casey and Meygan were perfect examples of what not to do in marriage. Three years into marriage, they found themselves having racked up more than $250,000 in debt, fighting constantly, and were ready to call it quits. Despite the 12 failed marriages between their parents, they knew this wasn't the legacy they wanted for themselves or their children. They began reading and educating themselves on how to do marriage the right way. The result of their journey is Marriage365, where they millions of people worldwide through their books, social media, retreats, and their online streaming service, Marriage365.   Marriage 365 Website Marriage 365 App Marriage 365 Books Marriage 365 Coaching   Thank You to Our Sponsor: WinShape Marriage   Sample of Previous Episodes on Sexual Intimacy on The Savvy Sauce: 4 Fostering a Fun, Healthy Sex Life With Your Spouse With Certified Sex Therapist and Author, Dr. Jennifer Konzen 5 Ways to Deepen Your Intimacy in Marriage with Dr. Douglas Rosenau  6 Ten Common Questions About Sex, Shared Through a Biblical Worldview with Dr. Michael Sytsma 89 Passion Pursuit with Dr. Juli Slattery 108 Anatomy of an Affair with Dave Carder 135 Healthy Ways for Females to Increase Sexual Enjoyment with Tracey LeGrand 155 Sex in Marriage and Its Positive Effects with Francie Winslow, Part 1 156 Science and Art of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage, Part 2 158 Making Love in Marriage with Debra Fileta 165 Mutually Pleasing Sex in Marriage with Gary Thomas 186 Sex Series: Enhancing Female Pleasure and Enjoyment of Sex: An Interview with Dr. Jennifer Degler 218 Secrets of Sex and Marriage: An Interview with Dr. Michael Sytsma Special Patreon Release: Protecting Your Marriage Against Unfaithfulness with Dave Carder 252 Maximizing Sexual Connection as Newlyweds to Long Term Marriages and Recovering from a Sexless Marriage with Dr. Clifford & Joyce Penner   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook, Instagram or Our Website   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcript*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:15)  Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.    Today's message is not intended for little ears. We'll be discussing some adult themes, and I want you to be aware before you listen to this message.    I'm thrilled to introduce you to our sponsor, WinShape Marriage. Their weekend marriage retreats will strengthen your marriage while you enjoy the gorgeous setting, delicious food, and quality time with your spouse.   To find out more, visit them online at winshapemarriage.org.    Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Casey and Meygan.   Casey Caston:  Thanks for having us. Excited to be here.   Laura Dugger: So, thrilled to have both of you, and let's just dive right into one of your sweet spots. How can open-ended questions change a marriage?   Casey Caston: (1:16 - 2:33)  Yeah, well, if you think about when we first met somebody that we fell in love with, fell attracted to that first date, as you're sitting across the table, you are looking at that person with so much curiosity. Like, who is this person? What are their hopes and their dreams and their life experiences?   What are they afraid of? Where are they going in life? And that curiosity drove us to ask really good open-ended questions.   Like, tell me more about yourself. It's funny because we were just reading in Proverbs this morning that in a man's heart, he has a purpose, but a man of understanding draws from the deep wells to pull that out. And I just, I always think about how a great question plums the deep wells of a man's heart or woman's heart.   And that attraction, that energy we feel, helps us with asking great questions. But then what happens is when we get married and we move into the wash, rinse, repeat of childcare and chores and, you know, the mundaneness of going to work, coming home, dinner, like, it can really sap all of the romance out of a relationship. And so, what happens is we fall into asking really boring questions.   Meygan Caston: (2:33 - 2:34)  Like, how was your day?   Casey Caston: (2:34 - 2:36)  What's picking up the kids?   Meygan Caston: (2:36 - 2:37)  What's for dinner? Yeah.   Casey Caston: (2:38 - 3:18)  So, we realize that when the well is dry, so to speak, you're not asking those great questions. We need prompts. We need an outside prompt because I don't think naturally we would ask great questions to spark this, you know, connecting conversation.   And I will tell you too, that if you just dropped in and, you know, just ask your spouse, like, “Hey, so, tell me some boundaries we need to set up with your parents.” People are going to be like, “Excuse me, where did that question come from? And what's the question behind the question?   What's your motivation here?” But those are conversations we need to have. We just need prompts.   So, yeah.   Laura Dugger: (3:19 - 3:32)  Well, I love that response. And I'm also curious after working with so many married couples, what have you seen as that connection between these amazing prompts for open-ended questions and emotional intimacy?   Meygan Caston: (3:34 - 4:20)  Yeah. Well, kind of like what Casey was mentioning about, um, just that curiosity of getting to know each other. I think the other part of asking those open-ended questions and having these deeper conversations is really about intentionality.   Like you still care about me. You still want to know about my heart. Well, for us, 25 years later, I still care about you.   I still love you. And I think that of course, as women, we long for that emotional connection. And I don't think that men realize it, but they actually long for that too.   And it's creating a safe place for spouses to share, to cry, to even, um, dream together about their future. And I think, again, if we don't give ourselves those opportunities and we're not intentional with that, we get stuck in the mundaneness of marriage.   Casey Caston: (4:20 - 5:03)  But, uh, and I would add to that, that curiosity, Meygan, I've talked about how curiosity is the pursuit of something. Right. And we all long to be desired to be pursued.   I mean, that is, that underlying communication is so powerful in relationships, because if you think about it, if you're not being pursued and your spouse isn't curious, I mean, that's like the, the heart of apathy. It's like, I don't care. And I know that people aren't intentionally trying to communicate that, but when you feel that, like my spouse doesn't really care about what I dream about or what I'm hoping to achieve this year, they just come home and they just watch TV or they're on their phone.   Meygan Caston: (5:04 - 5:18)  Right. That communicates a lot non-verbally. And so, that's why these open-ended questions are something that we should never stop being a learner of each other and of ourselves.   And that will provide that emotional intimacy.   Laura Dugger: (5:19 - 5:45)  That's so good. And obviously your resources are amazing. I would love, because you have these 365 Connecting Questions for Couples.   And so, I want to just hear maybe three of these questions that come to mind for you guys, especially as you've heard, these are the ones that tend to unlock something deeper in the conversation.   Meygan Caston: (5:46 - 6:07)  Absolutely. So, August 3rd is, are you someone who spends a lot of time in deep thought, processing things before making a decision, or do you tend to make quick decisions? Why or why not?   That question has genuinely sparked so much conversation between us and even like with our kids and other couples. Maybe you can explain why.   Casey Caston: (6:07 - 6:11)  Yeah. Well, I'm Mr. Impulsivity, so.   Meygan Caston: (6:11 - 6:29)  Yeah, you are. Where I, I don't, I wouldn't consider myself a deep thinker, but I definitely like to make pros and cons lists and think through things. But if you think about a dynamic between a husband and a wife, you know, there are so many decisions that you make together, small and large, your whole life, every day.   Casey Caston: (6:29 - 6:30)  Decision-making is huge in relationships.   Meygan Caston: (6:31 - 6:57)  And it's an everyday thing that couples are tackling. And it's important to know that no one is better than the other. It's not that a deep thinker is better than a more impulsive person. It's kind of more just naturally how you are. Have you always been this way? Do you like that about yourself?   Wow. You know, well, when it comes to these bigger decisions, I do spend, make more time, you know, thinking through and pros and cons. Oh, well, with small decisions, I'm more impulsive. I mean, you could just talk about that for hours and hours.   Casey Caston: (6:57 - 7:01) Yeah. But what's interesting is I tend to think more futuristic and big picture.   Meygan Caston: (7:01 - 7:01)  Yes.   Casey Caston: (7:01 - 7:03)  Even though I'm impulsive in the moment.   Meygan Caston: (7:03 - 7:05)  And I cannot, I can't do that.   Casey Caston: (7:05 - 7:06)  You are Ms. Realist.   Meygan Caston: (7:06 - 7:08)  Just tell me today, tell me this week.   Casey Caston: (7:09 - 7:10)  I can't think about this fun sponge.   Meygan Caston: (7:11 - 7:11)  Yes. Yeah.   Casey Caston: (7:12 - 7:15)  Because I'm like, let's dream big. And she's like, yeah, but what's happening today?   Meygan Caston: (7:16 - 7:49)  Yeah. Yeah. Another great question is January 18th.   How can we romance each other during the day in anticipation of sex? Because as we all know, us ladies, we need the foreplay. But again, I think that husbands also enjoy the foreplay.   But I don't think that couples are having these conversations. I think they think a foreplay is, well, once we enter into the bedroom, you know, and what we like to say is it's anything positive is foreplay. So, a thoughtful text, you know, a flirty I'm going to grab your hand to empty out the dishwasher.   Casey Caston: (7:49 - 7:50)  Amen.   Meygan Caston: (7:50 - 7:55)  Yeah. You know, it's those kinds of conversations. But like, I would never think of asking you that.   Casey Caston: (7:56 - 7:56)  Right.   Meygan Caston: (7:56 - 7:58)  Right. Thankfully for those.   Casey Caston: (7:58 - 8:10)  But as you know, Laura, like couples that need to talk about their sex life. And if you don't talk about your sex life, most oftentimes there's a lot of assumptions. And that leads to, you know, dysfunction.   Meygan Caston: (8:11 - 9:14)  Well, and missed expectations. Totally. Yeah. And then I have another question. April 25th is how do our differences help complement each other?   Oh, so, kind of another one of those things, like with making decisions. Every single couple has differences. And we always tell people Casey, and I are more different than alike.   I think people see us online and whatnot. And they hear, oh, we're both extroverts. We are. So, we have some similarities. We're both stubborn, very competitive, both competitive. But in the day-to-day operations of who Casey and Meygan are, we make decisions, we run our lives, run our business, run our business.   We are completely opposite. And what I think it's good to do for couples is to actually own your differences rather than shy away from them or make yourselves feel bad, like, oh, I wish we were the same. I get it.   You know, we actually are attracted to those things when we're dating. That's why opposites attract. But then when we get married, it's like, why doesn't he do everything the same way? I do it because I do it the right way. That's what we think. Right.   Casey Caston: (9:15 - 9:21)  Well, you heard the joke that marriage is about becoming one. And in the earlier years, it's about which one.   Meygan Caston: (9:21 - 10:14)  Yeah. Which one? Which figure out?   Yeah. And so, that question really allows you to identify your differences, but then go, how do they balance each other out? And I think for me, as someone who is organized, type A Casey's very spontaneous.   If we were both type A and structured, we wouldn't have a lot of fun. We really wouldn't. His spontaneity really brings out that side of me.   But if we were both spontaneous, our bills would never be paid, and we'd be broke. So, you know, I'm a I'm a saver. He's a spender.   You can see the balance in that. It's good that we're both those things. Right.   I'm on time. He's late. We could continue going on and on and on and on.   But I think that he's a risk taker. I'm a complete play it safer. And so, those really draw out a beautiful balance in our marriage versus trying to change one another.   So, I hope that question sparks listeners to really ask your spouse that and have fun with the conversation.   Laura Dugger: (10:15 - 11:03)  Well, you chose three great ones. I love it. And they draw out such different parts of our personality.   You highlighted where Casey's more futuristic. Meygan, you're more present. Some people will connect with questions that direct them more past oriented.   And so, our orientation to time comes out and the meta conversations, the talking like having the conversation about your conversation. Just so much goodness. And yes, especially with sexual intimacy.   So, many couples report that it is much harder to engage in conversation about sex rather than just have sex. And like you said, missed expectations can be one of the blow ups there, among many other things. So, you have questions that don't shy away from all forms of intimacy.   Meygan Caston: (11:04 - 11:10)  Yeah. And to also say we have a lot of fun questions, too. Like, tell me about what your bedroom looked like when you were a teenager.   Casey Caston: (11:11 - 11:12)  That's a great one. I love that one.   Meygan Caston: (11:12 - 11:47)  Let's talk couples. If you had a really hard day with the kids or at work, pick a fun question. You don't have to go by the date.   If you don't like the question, it's triggering, then flip to the next one. But going back to that emotional intimacy and connection that you were talking about, Laura, is you have to have those deep questions and those conversations. And you did when you were dating, because if you went on a date with your husband and you were like, hey, tell me, you know, what do you want to do when you retire?   And he was like, I don't know. Yeah, you'd be like snooze fest. This guy's boring, right?   Or if he was on his phone the whole time, there was something intriguing about your spouse.   Casey Caston: (11:47 - 11:48)  I don't know. I don't know.   Meygan Caston: (11:48 - 12:01)  Yeah, there was something intriguing about your spouse when you were dating and you were asking those questions that should never stop. Just like we hear that quote, never stop dating your spouse. Well, never stop learning about your spouse.   It's the same thing. Absolutely.   Laura Dugger: (12:02 - 12:16)  And I love how you two have such a humble approach because you say that you're a very unlikely couple to help support marriages. So, will you let us in on your own backstory?   Meygan Caston: (12:17 - 12:46)  Yeah, well, can I just start off by saying this? We live in a county that has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation. So, it's 72 percent divorce rate where we live.   We also come from there's 12 marriages between our parents. So, we come from so much divorce and trauma. And then we also got married very, very, very young.   So, all those statistics were against us on top of that. I'm just going to start off by saying that. Casey Caston: (12:46 - 13:18)  Yeah, my mom's been married six times. So, when by the time I hit junior high, I had probably like nine different iterations of home life and different dads and step siblings and half brothers. And all of that between both of our parents.   There's just there's some mental illness. There's affairs. There's all this trauma that was really unprocessed.   But then when Meygan and I saw each other, it was like we knew the wounds that we shared. It was like almost like a trauma bond.   Meygan Caston: (13:19 - 13:19)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (13:19 - 14:08)  Like, oh, I've got abandonment. So, do you. And, you know, let's do it's like, wow.   So, let's make each other happy. And dating was just all the fun stuff, right? It was long walks along the beach.   It was going to street fairs or, you know, going out and having fun. And then we're like, if this is what life could be like, then we should do this forever and ever and ever. And just, you know, we were so doe eyed of like and optimistic about how marriage life would look like.   So, then once we did get married, done, done, done, we had to like work through stuff. Now, I was so conflict avoidant because I was afraid if there was conflict, then that means that there's going to be distance between Meygan and I and she might leave me.   Meygan Caston: (14:08 - 14:24)  Oh, there's another there's another difference. I'm a fighter. He's a fighter.   So, anytime we would have conflict triggers, you know, emotional regulation, I was like, we're going to go for it. Now, of course, my fighting tactics were not healthy. I yelled. I blamed. I was very aggressive, assertive.   Casey Caston: (14:24 - 14:37)  Conflict was very scary for me. Now. Now, Meygan, she's like wanting to deal with issues. And here I am, like trying to run for the hills. And she's like, he doesn't care about me. And I'm like, I'm trying to protect the marriage by not dealing with it.   Meygan Caston: (14:37 - 14:49)  So, you never really resolved anything. We would fight really bad. We broke all the fighting rules.   And then there was no true resolve, no apologies, no remorse. And you just kind of move forward.   Casey Caston: (14:49 - 15:06)  And so, then we piled ourselves like we had over two hundred fifty thousand dollars of debt when we started to try to work on getting pregnant. We we dealt with infertility. We I have ADHD, so that creates a lot of that's fun.   A lot of fun for the marriage.   Meygan Caston: (15:06 - 15:08)  The divorce rate is very high with ADHD.   Casey Caston: (15:08 - 15:10)  My life gets to teach you patience.   Meygan Caston: (15:11 - 15:11)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (15:12 - 16:44)  But and then we have a child with special needs as well. So, we we had like if there's something that could go wrong, it it went wrong. We had you know, once we got married, there was toxic in-laws that boundaries that were crossed.   So, it just nothing for us came easy. And so, that's why we were the least likely to succeed in marriage. I mean, if we there was a couple doomed from the get go, it was Meygan and I believe a hundred percent that God used those trials, those hardships to create marriage.   Three sixty five. He gave us the strength to, you know, have the courage to say we're not going to follow in our parents footsteps. We're going to change that.    You know, it ends with us literally like we are going to change and break this generational sin because it goes back many, many generations for both of us. Our whole family is littered with divorce. And now like when we approach marriage, it because of where we've come from, it wasn't all flowery.   It was really tough. We have to be practical and very tactical with our advice, because when you're sitting across from a couple that's angry and resentful. We have to sit there and go, we know what that's like.   And here's exactly what you need to do next. I'm not going to give you a platitude. I'm not going to give you some flowery statement or we're not going to just talk through it.    No, we're going to give you a tool and an action step that's going to help you. Laura Dugger: (16:46 - 18:56)  Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. Friends, I'm excited to share with you today's sponsor, WinShape Marriage. Do you feel like you need a weekend away with your spouse and a chance to grow in your relationship together at the same time?    WinShape Marriage is a fantastic ministry that provides weekend marriage retreats to help couples grow closer together in every season and stage of life from premarital to parenting to the emptiness phase. There is an opportunity for you. WinShape Marriage is grounded on the belief that the strongest marriages are the ones that are nurtured, even when it seems things are going smoothly so that they're stronger if they do hit a bump along their marital journey.   These weekend retreats are hosted within the beautiful refuge of WinShape Retreat, perched in the mountains of Rome, Georgia, which is a short drive from Atlanta, Birmingham and Chattanooga. While you're there, you will be well fed, well nurtured and well cared for. During your time away in this beautiful place, you and your spouse will learn from expert speakers and explore topics related to intimacy, overcoming challenges, improving communication and more.   I've stayed on site at WinShape before, and I can attest to their generosity, food and content. You will be so grateful you went to find an experience that's right for you and your spouse. Head to their website, winshapemarriage.org/savvy. That's W-I-N-S-H-A-P-E marriage dot org slash S-A-V-V-Y. Thanks for your sponsorship.   I'd love to hear even more into the redemption part of it, because Marriage 365, you had shared before we had recorded that you launched that in 2013. So, just to get the timeline straight, had you already done some work and some counseling before you launched that?   Meygan Caston: (18:56 - 19:26)  Or what was that journey? Yeah, so, we always say we it took us two years to fall in love and get married. It took us three years to destroy our marriage, and it took about four or five years to repair our marriage.   It was, as you know, Laura, it is not a quick fix when your marriage is as bad as ours. And so, our story is unique in the sense where we were both not wanting to get help for our marriage. I love you, babe, but he was resistant.   He didn't want to go to therapy. His family didn't go to therapy. That wasn't normalized.   Casey Caston: (19:26 - 19:31)  Well, my faith background said that therapy is bad from the from the devil.   Meygan Caston: (19:31 - 19:38)  It was specifically your parents. But from the devil. Yeah, because I have a faith background, too. And my parents went to therapy. But that's what I was saying.   Casey Caston: (19:38 - 19:40)  My background was that you don't do that.   Meygan Caston: (19:40 - 21:16)  Yeah. So, I was wanting to get divorced and he wouldn't divorce me. He was like, no.   So, if you're going to do it, you got to do it. And so, I got help for myself. And I had the most amazing woman who a therapist who just walked me through basically how to save my marriage by myself.   And she goes, listen, you know, at the end of the day, if you want to make a better marriage, it starts by making a better you. You have zero control over Casey. You have 100 percent control over you.   He's not here. You are. I can show you how to communicate, how to forgive him even without getting an apology.   I can show you how to bring to his defenses down. I can show you how to create boundaries so he doesn't yell at you anymore. I mean, and that's literally for 13 months I worked on myself. And I believe that that is what genuinely changed everything. And that's really the message behind Marriage 365 is if you want to make a better marriage, it starts by making a better you. Stop waiting around for your husband or your wife to get on board.   They may never. Then you're only going to build resentment while you sit there and wait. At the end of the day, you're responsible for how you show up.   And so, in that 13 months, the hope was, of course, that I would positively influence Casey, which I did. And he saw the change in me. Everything changed.   I mean, like we both used to be yellers, right? We would both yell and scream. And I was like, I'm not going to yell anymore.   Like, I just I don't want to be a yeller of a mom. I don't want to be a yeller of a wife. Like, I don't like this part of me. My mom was a yeller. I mean, oh, yeah, I hate this. And I just remember like one day he came walking in and he was all heated and frustrated and he started yelling at me. And do you remember what I did, babe?   Casey Caston: (21:17 - 21:33)  Yeah. She looked at me and calmly said, you know, I can tell that you're very upset. I really want to have to listen to what you want to share with me.   Why don't you go outside, take a break, come back in? We're going to sit back on the couch. We can talk about it. I'm here for you. And I was like, what a change.   Meygan Caston: (21:33 - 22:07)  Who is this person? I changed the way that we did marriage. I did that.   And I tell people that I didn't do that once. I didn't do it twice. I did that for months because we had habits we had created.   But I was like, that was like a new boundary. I'm like, I'm not going to engage with him when he's angry. It's been triggered.   Nothing good is coming from this. So, it was all of that we started to really adopt and learn together because he's like, you're a different person. Like, it was obvious we were doing the tango.   And now I was doing the rumba and he was over there doing the tango. And I'm like, come join me in the healthy rumba over here because it's way better.   Casey Caston: (22:07 - 22:09)  And so, for toxic tango.   Meygan Caston: (22:09 - 23:20)  Yeah, we went to a marriage. Yeah, we went to a marriage intensive. And we did some therapy.   We did a lot of self-help. But through that journey, this is kind of where we started Marriage 365 is. First off, we couldn't afford therapy.   We needed to pay off all that debt that we had with a lot of student loan debt, a lot of stupid debt. What do you do if you can't afford therapy? What do you do if you don't have a good therapist?   What do you do if you have a bad experience with therapy? What do you do if the books aren't enough? And that was there was a really big hole and missing part in the marriage.   I don't say industry, but in the marriage space, where were all the online resources? Because this was back again in like 2010 when like podcasts weren't even around, social media was just becoming a thing. And it was really hard.   We were really disappointed with the lack of resources there were for marriage. And it felt like every church you go to, there was, you know, the missions ministry and the children's ministry and the youth groups. And all those are great.   Where in the world are all the marriage ministries? Then we found out only 3% of churches have actual paid marriage ministries. And I thought, that's messed up.   That's reverse. It's supposed to be the opposite, because then everything else will work itself out, as we know, with what research shows.   Casey Caston: (23:20 - 23:21)  Same with men's ministry, by the way.   Meygan Caston: (23:21 - 23:22)  Yes, same with men's ministry.   Casey Caston: (23:22 - 23:23)  Men's and marriage.   Meygan Caston: (23:23 - 23:26)  That's like the stepchild.   Casey Caston: (23:26 - 23:33)  Tech guy slash men's guy slash, you know. Children's persons can also do marriage.   Meygan Caston: (23:33 - 23:40)  So, we really just started helping our friends out. Obviously, people could see the change. Then people would come to us. We started helping couples at our church.   Casey Caston: (23:40 - 23:48)  And we had a ghoul pool. Like people were like, we give you guys another like ten months and then we're expecting you.   Meygan Caston: (23:48 - 23:51)  Yeah, everyone that knew us thought we'd get divorced.   Casey Caston: (23:51 - 23:52)  We were messy.   Meygan Caston: (23:52 - 23:58)  We were bad. Yeah. So, to see the complete transformation. And again, I go back to that work we did was on ourselves.   Casey Caston: (23:58 - 25:31)  And I just have to say that if you want to make a better marriage, it starts by making a better you. If you're hearing that. And you're kind of in a one sided marriage right now, I got to just say, I know that message sucks because it's a message that says you have to go first.   And that's not fair. In a marriage, you're supposed to be a team. But I do want to say there's so many couples that are stuck. Waiting for their spouse to join them on the let's get healthy train. So, their spouse doesn't join them. And then what they do is they kind of lean back, fold their arms and go, well, I guess we're stuck.   But I want to say that that's there is a message of empowerment to say you do have influence and the ability to steer your marriage in a healthy way. I have lots of regret that I did not join that train much sooner. But the story is that Meygan, you know, became the hero of our journey.   And that is something that I work actively so that I'm never in that place again, that I am the one that's always actively trying to improve myself, that I'm a better communicator, that I'm not a yeller, which we've ditched that a long time ago, that that I'm considered of Meygan's needs. And I'm even like attuned to like, what is she feeling? And how do I meet her where she's at?   Laura Dugger: (25:32 - 25:54)  Which is amazing that watching Meygan, it was compelling enough for you to join in. And it's admirable on both sides, the work that you've done. And are there any specific areas that you grew in that now you teach couples? I'm thinking specifically under conflict and repair or communication.   Casey Caston: (25:55 - 27:42)  Yeah. So, I remember those early years and every single week was chaos to chaos. Like coming home, it'd be like, what's for dinner?   I'm hungry and we need to make a decision now. Or, you know, it's Friday night or Saturday morning. What's going on this weekend?   Or where's all our money going? It was very, it was very reactionary. And I remember reading through Stephen Covey's, you know, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.   And the first habit is be proactive. You cannot be intentional with your life. You cannot create purpose and meaning unless you are proactive with your life.   So, Meygan and I, you know, I'm working in a company and every single week we get together and we go through what are everyone's goals? What do we need to accomplish this week? We find alignment and the week goes really well.   We've got KPIs. We've got all these like, hey, as a team, you know, work team, here's what we're trying to accomplish this week. And it just kind of dawned on us like, well, why don't we do that in marriage?   Why don't we do that for a family? You got a family of six. You got six people running around the house. All have agendas. And you are trying to find alignment so that, hey, this is what the family is all about this week, right? We've got tournaments.   We've got parties. We've got projects. We've got meals.   And I think for so many couples we talk to, they live. Life with purpose on like building their career or their business or purpose with other areas of their life. And then when it comes to family, they wing it.   Meygan Caston: (27:42 - 27:43)  They just wing it.   Casey Caston: (27:43 - 28:31)  Yeah. And it's like, well, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. It's the winging attitude creates chaos.   And so, Meygan and I love to teach this tool called the Weekly Marriage Business Meeting. And it is all of the logistics of our relationship schedules, meal plans, budgets, connection time, sexy time, alone time, self-care time. Yeah.   And and we kind of set with intention the week ahead for us. And we go through all the decisions of who's going, what, where, when. And all of that's done.   So, when you walk into the day, you're not like stressed about what's supposed to be happening. There is alignment and there's no missed expectations.   Meygan Caston: (28:31 - 29:27)  Yeah, there's no fights anymore about, well, you said you'd be home at six. No, I didn't. I said I'd be home at seven.   We sync our calendars. And I think, too, a big thing with this is we've noticed we fight when we don't do this now. It's one of those tools that it's prevented most of conflict.   I mean, we say it will on average for the most couples that use it. We have at least over 10,000 couples we know right now currently using it that are our members that they say it cuts conflict in half in half, because what you're doing is you're even scheduling that connection time or date night time where you're like, no matter how busy we are, when are Casey and Meygan going to get to be Casey and Meygan?   And that's so important, because again, if you're winging it and you're just trying to find time to connect, well, you've got four kids, we've got two teenagers. It's never going to happen. Right. And so, the weekly marriage business meeting is definitely one of the amazing and favorite worksheets and tools that we've taught and that we use ourselves because it works.   Casey Caston: (29:28 - 29:28)  Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (29:28 - 29:59)  What a game changer. That is awesome and so practical, so intentional, which we're all about. But then also we had talked about emotional intimacy earlier and emotional intimacy is interconnected with sexual intimacy and communication is the root issue.   And that's what you teach couples. So, what are some conversations that couples can begin so that they can grow in both of those types of intimacy and enjoyment?   Casey Caston: (30:01 - 31:34)  Yeah, so, I feel like I have to start off by saying I got this so wrong when we were first married. It's OK. I forgive you now.   Yeah, because, you know. Let's just let's be we'll be we'll be completely transparent. So, Meygan and I waited to have sex until we were married.   So, now I actually waited till I was married to have sex. And I thought that under that purity guideline, I was promised maybe by a youth group, maybe by a convention, that if you withhold sex and remain pure, God is going to bless you with the best sex life when you're married. And that just simply did not happen.   Like when we first got married, I really got went into the bedroom thinking. I don't know what foreplay is, but let's have intercourse until I come and then we're done. And that's sex. That's our sexual intimacy. And we missed out on so many intimate ways of knowing each other and sex being an obligation and something like I just was demanding of it from Meygan. And. What I've come to discover and what I love to teach other men is that sex is so much more broader than just having intercourse. I mean, there was this total understanding like, well, I feel good during intercourse. This feels very stimulating, which means that Meygan must feel the exact same way while we're having intercourse.   Meygan Caston: (31:35 - 31:35)  Nope.   Casey Caston: (31:36 - 32:35)  Because that's because listen, I never had sex before. But anytime I watched a rom com, you know, the guy threw up, you know, against the wall or they're having intercourse and she's going and he's going and they're having a great time. Like this must be what sex is all about.   And what I've discovered now and I get to teach other men is that emotional intimacy is kind of the birthplace of sexual expression of love, right? That we we create safe places for our wives to to open up. And because of that, they become more willing and wanting that that sexual expression rather than us just coming in and saying, OK, it's time for sex.   Let's go. And so, when we talk about just this book, this 365 Connecting Questions for Couples, I tell my guys, I'm like, hey, if you want to have great sex, start here because that is foreplay.   Meygan Caston: (32:35 - 33:48)  That's start here. It's good to know my heart, not just use me for my body, which can feel like that for a lot of people. And I think going back to the emotional intimacy, I think that, again, you had that when you were dating or you wouldn't have gotten married.   There was no way you were. If the person was boring, closed off, if, you know, your spouse was just completely on their phone every time, you wouldn't have had that second, third, fourth date. So, there was emotional intimacy at some point, which means you can't ever say we never had it.    You can always get it back, but you can have to be intentional. And I think a great way is we call it connection time. I think date night scares a lot of people.    I think it's the idea of. We have to go to a restaurant, we have to spend money, we have to find a babysitter, all these hurdles that you have to go through to make it happen, so then couples just don't even do it. So, we're like, listen, if you if that's overwhelming to you, then try connection time.    And really what that is, it's still undivided, you know, attention and time with you and your spouse. Maybe it's smaller, maybe it's 15 minutes, 30 minutes. And I know for when our kids were little, we played board games and card games and they'd go to bed, you know, at 7:30 or 8:00 PM.    And we would bring out Yahtzee.   Casey Caston: (33:48 - 33:51)  There'd be a lot of trash talking over chutes and ladders.   Meygan Caston: (33:52 - 34:29)  But we would play. We would play games. And it was our time to connect.    And when we didn't talk about the kids, you know, we just chatted about our day and again, going through some of these connecting questions that didn't even really exist yet, but they were in our heads. Taking a walk with the dog and, you know, going to a little local coffee shop, even if it's just 30 minutes and sharing and talking and exploring that emotional intimacy should never stop again. And that's going to give people opportunities to then go into the bedroom, like Casey mentioned, more willing and more excited to be intimate to each other because it's like, oh, that's right.    We like each other. We're still married. We're still friends.   Casey Caston: (34:29 - 35:15)  You bring up a great point. Like I said, I think sitting down over the table, staring at each other can be intimidating for a lot of guys, because especially if this is not a regular habit in your relationship and taking a walk for guys when we're doing something and maybe it's less intimidating because we're not even staring at each other. But that kind of like getting the, you know, oxytocin going, like getting moving, like that kind of adrenaline can actually stimulate guys for good conversations and processing things.    And so, what we hear from a lot of couples that take our book, maybe they'll take a picture of the question and they'll go, Hey, let's take a walk. And then they'll use the question on their walk.   Meygan Caston: (35:15 - 35:15)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (35:15 - 35:24)  And that gets conversations going. So, if that's like a on ramp onto this, that's a that's a great starting point for a lot of people.   Laura Dugger: (35:24 - 36:48)  Oh, that's so good. And I love how you say just an on ramp, because the goal is more intimacy overall together to know one another, be known. And I love that you're showing this is not a manipulation factor.    This isn't ask these questions so we can be more active in the bedroom, regardless of whichever spouse is the higher desire one. But this is to really enhance all levels of your relationship. And as you talk about oxytocin, it just makes me think such an interesting cycle that the Lord created where I will speak more stereotypically that where women require the emotional connection and then they open up and enjoy sex more.    But then men, once they've had sex and they just have this like 500 percent increase of oxytocin in this neurochemical bath that opens them up emotionally. And we could see it even as we view our differences. You could be upset because they're opposite or we can see it as a gift that they can fuel one another.    And then we get more of a holistic picture of overall intimacy. So, I'll also link to quite a few episodes because we do about one per month where we dive deeper into sexual intimacy. S   o, I can link all of those in the show notes.    But Casey, were you going to say something?   Meygan Caston: (36:49 - 36:50)  I want to say something to it.   Casey Caston: (36:51 - 37:16)  He loves. Well, so, we're talking chicken and egg, right? Like who gets the emotional intimacy, who gets the physical intimacy first?    And I just think that there's if we approach our relationship with selfishness, well, then neither people get satisfied. But if we are in an approach to serve one another and be selfless lovers. So, men would be like, you know what?    I want to meet my wife's emotional needs.   Meygan Caston: (37:16 - 37:16)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (37:17 - 37:38)  Like and I do believe that men are the spark of initiation. If you're a husband out there listening to this, like that one of your greatest gifts to marriage is initiation. You were the one who asked for the first date.    You were the one who got down one the knee. You are the spark of initiation. And I believe that God's created women as nurturers of that initiation.   Meygan Caston: (37:39 - 37:41)  And to clarify, you're not talking just about initiating sex.   Casey Caston: (37:41 - 37:43)  Well, yes. Just everything.   Meygan Caston: (37:43 - 37:55)  Initiating, just initiating, initiating a weekly marriage business meeting. Women are so turned on by when a husband's like, hey, I don't necessarily know what we want to do for a date night, but I want to take you on a date. Can I get an amen, Laura?   Laura Dugger: (37:55 - 37:56)  Right, sister?   Meygan Caston: (37:57 - 38:14)  Hey, women are turned on. Listen, men, women are turned on. If you say, you know what?    I know that like this has been an issue with my parents and I don't even know how to handle it, but I really want to have that conversation. Oh, my gosh. Just initiating the conversation is all we're looking for.    It's OK that you don't have all the answers.   Casey Caston: (38:14 - 38:14)  Yeah.   Meygan Caston: (38:14 - 38:23)  But for men that avoid stonewall, escape, numb out, busy themselves, it is such a turnoff. It is so not what we want.   Laura Dugger: (38:23 - 39:55)  I want to make sure that you're up to date with our latest news. We have a new website. You can visit theSavvySauce.com and see all of the latest updates. You may remember Francie Heinrichsen from episode 132, where we talked about pursuing our God given dreams. She is the amazing businesswoman who has carefully designed a brand-new website for Savvy Sauce Charities. And we are thrilled with the final product.    So, I hope you check it out there. You're going to find all of our podcasts now with show notes and transcriptions listed a scrapbook of various previous guests and an easy place to join our email list to receive monthly encouragement and questions to ask your loved ones so that you can have your own practical chats for intentional living. You will also be able to access our donation button or our mailing address for sending checks that are tax deductible so that you can support the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and help us continue to reach the nation with the good news of Jesus Christ.    So, make sure you visit theSavvySauce.com.    Okay, so, then continue the conversation with just overall intimacy. What are some examples of de-escalation techniques that you recommend to couples who are in conflict, ones that can maybe help the strained relationships so that they can be repaired?  Yeah.   Meygan Caston: (39:55 - 42:19)  Yeah. So, a big thing that I've learned as someone who's very direct, I can tend to be on that, like I mentioned, fighter side. And I know a lot of women, studies have shown 75 percent of us ladies are the ones that typically bring up the issues.    So, just be aware that there is a gender difference there. And if you're a dude, there's nothing wrong with you if you're in, you know, that 75 percent or 25 percent. But I think the biggest thing I've recognized is to remind your spouse in the very beginning of the conversation, why you're having the conversation.    You know, I love you. I love us. I want to see us be the best people that we can be.    I want to see us enjoy marriage and enjoy life. I love you. Like bring the positivity and the reminder that you're better together than apart.    And really, that's part of what we call a soft startup, right? There's a lot of different soft startups you've heard of. You know, I feel when you I need those work to but I like to take it a little bit deeper to say, remind your spouse how much that you love being married to them.    Or again, whatever the issue is like we have the most. Let's say it's parenting. Casey and I are very different in our parenting styles.    Last night would have been a great difference of how that happened. But like reminder that like we both love our children. We both want the best for our kids.    No one doubts that. We both have made we made two beautiful, wonderful, quirky children. Right.    And so, even you can start the conversation with that. But I wish that more people did that because I think people are are, you know, I'm really upset about something. OK, well, the second you say that defenses, sorry, but defenses are going to go up.    We want to keep the conversations defenses low, guards low, right, de-escalation. And so, use soft startups, use kind, positive language. But I think another thing behind that would be come to the conversation processed.    Do not have these conversations 11 o'clock at night when you're tired or when you're hungry. Do not have these conversations when it just happened and you haven't had the time to just like stop. Think about what do I really need?    Why did that trigger me? What am I hoping to achieve? Why is my husband acting this way?    Oh, is he under a lot of stress? Yeah, we got to give ourselves time to sit and process before we even use those soft startups. So, that would be my advice for de-escalation.   Casey Caston: (42:20 - 43:04)  And mine actually would be an apology. I think that we all make mistakes. And when you think about a couple that's maybe living reactively, just winging it, I doubt that there's ever an apology that's given on either side because it takes a little it takes awareness to recognize, gosh, you know what?    My that little comment I just made that probably had a little zing to it. Or, you know, I really let my spouse down by not parenting the children the way she would want me to. Or, you know, I said I was going to do something and I didn't.    And I let my partner down. You want to de-escalate a tense situation. Apologize.   Meygan Caston: (43:04 - 43:04)  Yeah. Own it.   Casey Caston: (43:05 - 43:12)  When you apologize, you know, you're taking all of the heat out of the fire. They really are.   Meygan Caston: (43:12 - 43:16)  And you're validating your spouse's feelings. Who doesn't want to be validated and seen? Everybody does.   Casey Caston: (43:16 - 43:38)  And then you're taking responsibility and accountability for your actions, which is the trust builder for relationships. So, that's why when you talk about high conflict relationships, there aren't a lot of there's not a lot of trust there. It's not a safe place anymore.    So, to create that safety, we want to we want to build trust back into the relationship.   Laura Dugger: (43:39 - 43:50)  Those are fantastic. And do you guys just have maybe a handful of ideas for ways that couples can strengthen their marriage with one another?   Meygan Caston: (43:51 - 44:09)  Absolutely. I would say, obviously, the weekly marriage business meeting. I mean, I know we talked about it, but the important thing is to schedule it, put it in the calendar because you don't want to wing it.    And that way it's showing, oh, you're prioritizing us. Taking walks has been a big one for us. Playing games is a big one.   Casey Caston: (44:09 - 45:18)  The 60 second blessing is where we intentionally spend time. 60 seconds reminding our partner of how much we love them, using our words to say, like, I saw how hard you work for the family. I love how you take care of the kids and kind of reminding your partner, like I see the goodness in each other.    I think it's really important because. Day to day life, we can just be very transactional, and if we again, we have any sort of criticism or, you know, our words just are not flavored with life, well, proverb says, you know, our words have the power to give life or to give death. Right.    So, the words that we speak, if we evaluate. Are we producing what I call weed seeds? Or are we planting fruit trees?    Because weed seeds choke out the garden. Those sharp, critical words can leave your garden looking pretty shabby, whereas being intentional by speaking positive over each other. It's like planting fruit trees.    And who doesn't like a good, juicy orange? Right.   Meygan Caston: (45:18 - 47:15)  Well, and the 60 second blessing, you know, you start off by writing five to seven positive things you love about your spouse. And so, one spouse shares their list for 60 seconds and then the second spouse shares their list. And it's this habit that we actually started doing after our marriage intensive that we did as we were repairing our marriage because we had yeah, we had we had spoken such mean and harsh words or just a lot of roommate stuff.    And we needed that positivity. And it's a great foreplay tip, by the way, just to sit, sometimes sit down and go, I just need to tell you how wonderful you are. Like, who doesn't want to hear that about themselves?    I think another thing that Casey and I have recognized it is the only thing, by the way, Laura, in our marriage, the only thing that has ever stayed consistent. That's we have fun together. We laugh a lot, even in hard times.    Yeah, it wasn't as enjoyable, but we still had fun. And, you know, again, fun is different for everybody. We don't ever want to judge someone else's fun.    But we are constantly like we we are sarcastic. But that's for us because we have high trust levels. I usually tell couples if you're, you know, in a fair recovery or you have low trust levels, sarcasm is probably not great.    But we're very playful. We have again, we play a lot of fun games and we play ping pong and cornhole and we take our dogs on our dog on a walk. And we, you know, we're going to try to go ax throwing in April.    We've never done that before. Like there are fun that we've taken dance lessons. So, we like to think out of the box and do new things or things that we know that like how many games of Yahtzee have we played?    I don't even know. I mean, we've lost count. Or gin rummy, you know, I mean, we just play Sequence or Rummikub like we play them all.    And for that for us, that's really fun. We dance a lot. We love the 90's music.    Like get out your favorite playlist and just dance and sing and be goofy. Like I think if couples were to laugh and enjoy each other more and be able to laugh with themselves, I think that there would be more marriages that would stay together. Laura Dugger: (47:16 - 47:39)  That is something that I've even experienced in this time together. You guys are so fun to be around. And that's very life giving to others.    But I can see where it starts in that secret place between just the two of you, your best friend. And you share a lot of this goodness with Marriage 365. So, can you let us know all the different things that you have to offer?   Casey Caston: (47:40 - 48:48)  Yeah, I would probably say the number one way that people experience all of the resources that we've created over the years is through our mobile app. So, we have an app that has over a thousand pieces of videos, workshop, worksheet, excuse me, courses, challenges. We even have a checkup so you can actually rate kind of your marriage.    And that is a great way for people to be able to have access, you know, on the spot if they're dealing with an issue, they don't know how to get through and they're looking for a tool or a conversation to help them work through that. That our app provides such a valuable resource. I mean, beyond that, you know, some couples need a little bit more hands on approach.    So, we do coaching. We have a coaching staff actually to handle all the incoming couples that are saying, hey, can you can you help us out? And again, I just want to say coaching is really, really focused on giving action plans and homework and accountability to our clients.    And coaching is really, really helpful if you're like, I just need to know what to do next.   Meygan Caston: (48:48 - 49:17)  Yeah. We do intensives for couples that are in crisis, you know, there that are seriously considering separation or divorce or an affair recovery and that we have an over 90 percent success rate because we went through an intensive when we were struggling and it was something we knew we wanted to get trained on and do. And it's a full two days with Casey and I.    I mean, two days back-to-back. We know you. We get Christmas cards from all of our couples, you know, every year.    We love it. And it's they become almost I mean, yes, they're our clients, but they almost become like our friends.   Casey Caston: (49:17 - 49:45)  Yeah. And then probably personally, one of my favorite things that we do is we host our own couple's getaway. And this is a four-day experience.    It's not your it's not like a typical retreat where you're sitting in a conference room, you're just getting lectured all day. We're actually facilitating tools and then giving couples opportunities to work on them. Then some free time to really spend some time making great memories.    We have a dance party. It is a ton of fun.   Meygan Caston: (49:45 - 49:55)  We make sure. Yeah, we make sure it's fun. It's more it's definitely more for couples who are doing OK or want to do better, not they're not ideal for couples in crisis because it's going to be very uncomfortable.   Casey Caston: (49:55 - 49:56)  I love our retreats.   Meygan Caston: (49:56 - 49:57)  I know.   Casey Caston: (49:57 - 49:58)  I love interacting with her.   Meygan Caston: (49:58 - 50:05)  And of course, we have our social media. You can just search Marriage 365 and then we have our website, too. And we have our books, of course.   Casey Caston: (50:05 - 50:09)  Oh, and I have a men's group. I know I launched a five-week men's reset. . Meygan Caston: (50:09 - 50:34)  Needless to say, Laura, we're really busy. I do a lot. I think that's what's funny, right?    I think that people see us online and they think that we just have an Instagram, or we just have Facebook. And I'm like, we've been doing this for 12 years and we have a staff of 12 people. So, we reach a lot of people.    And we because marriage is never a one stop, you know, one size fits all. It's it's true. There are so many different dynamics, and we want to be able to help as many people as we can.   Laura Dugger: (50:35 - 50:59)  Wow. Thank you for sharing that. We will add all of those links.    I love all these different offerings that you have and that will meet people in whatever phase they're in. But you two already know we are called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for both of you, what is your Savvy Sauce?   Meygan Caston: (51:00 - 51:47)  Mine would be I would want every single person to think about becoming more confident. And that starts with becoming more self-aware. I think that that is completely changed who I am.   And I'm we're raising two kids, and I see the confidence that they have. And we're modeling that but also walking them through how to be self-aware. And really, that starts with having to be one with your thoughts, turning off the phone, sorry, turning off the podcast, sometimes turning off the music and just actually sitting and really going.    Do I really know my thoughts, my feelings, my values, my personality, my good, my bad, my ugly? And we don't do this enough. We are busy ourselves.    We're distracted constantly. And I think that it's really harming our mental health. And so, that would be my savvy sauce.   Casey Caston: (51:47 - 52:30)  Hmm. I love that, babe. It's kind of hard because we find so much alignment.    I mean, I would that's exactly what I would say, too. Um, I, you know, my focus in twenty, twenty-five has really been turned towards helping husbands. And there's a quote that Henry David Thoreau says that many men live lives of quiet desperation and they die with their songs still inside them.    And most guys are terrified of stopping and evaluating. And so, for me, creating space too. Listen, I do a 10, 10, 10 practice in the morning.   Meygan Caston: (52:30 - 52:32)  That's what I thought you were going to say.   Casey Caston: (52:32 - 52:32)  Yeah, yeah.   Meygan Caston: (52:32 - 52:36)  Well, I was like, I bet you he's going to talk about it because it's been life changing for you.   Casey Caston: (52:36 - 53:01)  Yeah. So, I spend 10 minutes of scripture reading. So, that's input.    Then I spend 10 minutes of quiet meditation where I'm sitting and I'm in a listening posture. And I mean, I think about everything from lasagna to the last wave I serve to. But there's intentionality about just opening myself like here I am.    I'm ready to be downloaded on like what you have for me today.   Meygan Caston: (53:01 - 53:02)  God be one with your thoughts.   Casey Caston: (53:03 - 53:18)  Yeah. And all sorts of things come up. And then I spent 10 minutes journaling.    And that process is just and that's like the output. Right. So, now I've got input.    I've been listening and now I get to write stuff out. And that's been a huge game changer for me.   Laura Dugger: (53:19 - 53:43)  Wow, I love both of those. You two are just refreshingly vulnerable and such an incredible mixture of intentional and lighthearted. And it has been so great just to sit under your teaching today.    So, thank you for sharing your story and for helping all of us. And thank you just for being my guests.   Meygan Caston: (53:43 - 53:45)  Oh, you're welcome. It was a pleasure to be here.   Casey Caston: (53:45 - 53:49)  Yes, you asked great questions that plumb the deep wells of Casey Meygan.   Laura Dugger: (53:52 - 57:35)  One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.

Every machine shop leader knows you can buy the best equipment, implement cutting-edge automation, and have bulletproof processes—but without the right team and culture, growth will stall. In this episode of MakingChips Machine Shop MBA, we talk with Matt Wardle, President of JD Machine, about how he transformed a small Utah shop into a 210-person powerhouse by prioritizing people and culture over everything else. Matt's story shows what happens when leadership takes workforce development seriously. From his early days as a 10-person shop owner watching competitors poach his talent, to becoming a two-time Top Shops winner recognized for HR and culture, Matt has built a system for attracting, training, and retaining the kind of people who make growth possible. We dive deep into JD Machine's unique approach to workforce development: Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship programs, high school counselor outreach, profit-sharing models, mentorship incentives, and cultural rituals like celebrating apprenticeship completions with a “Masters Jacket.” The result? A company that not only keeps top talent but grows its own leaders from within. If you've ever wondered how to build a resilient shop culture where employees feel invested, customers trust your team, and growth becomes sustainable, this conversation delivers the blueprint. Matt shows that “winning” in manufacturing isn't just about throughput or margins—it's about building people who build the business. Segments (0:58) Introducing Matt Wardle of JD Machine: from 10 employees to a 210-person operation (4:30) Early lessons in retention and the shift from poaching talent to building a pipeline (7:44) Why you should register and see us at AMT's MTForecast (11:41) Community outreach: hosting school counselors, sponsoring robotics, and changing perceptions (17:10) Open houses, virtual field trips, and branding your shop to future employees (15:00) Mentorship structure, incentives for trainers, and celebrating completions with the “Masters Jacket” (19:20) Tracking the right metrics: turnover, reviews, skill increases, and retention as KPIs (22:58) Apprenticeship program design: 8,000 hours, Department of Labor approval, and clear pay raises (27:57) Grow your top and bottom line with CliftonLarsonAllen (28:32) How small shops can scale their workforce systems over time (30:18) Building your own curriculum: Tooling U, NTMA U, Titans of CNC, and customizing courses (31:50) Encouraging on-the-job learning during machine cycle times (34:10) Mentorship structure and incentives for experienced machinists training apprentices (36:05) Recruiting under-18 students through legislative partnerships and state risk management (37:52) How NTMA chapters create collaboration and make SkillsUSA more impactful (39:35) Balancing competitive pay with margins and long-term stability (43:58) Profit-sharing and open-book management to drive engagement and retention (44:44) Lessons learned from losing good employees and being proactive about retention (49:55) Matt's closing thoughts: people who align with your core values become your greatest asset  (51:40) The countdown is on: See us at Top Shops 2025 in Charlotte, NC Resources mentioned on this episode JD Machine Connect with Matt on LinkedIn Why you should check out AMT's MTForecast Matt's episode on Machine Shop Mastery (all about culture) Grow your top and bottom line with CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) The countdown is on: See us at Top Shops 2025 in Charlotte, NC (code MAK20 for 20% off) Connect With MakingChips www.MakingChips.com On Facebook On LinkedIn On Instagram On Twitter On YouTube

Alex (ex-BMO investment banker turned founder) shares how Futr.network is flipping the ad/data model with AI agents that pay you for training them. We dig into why the Web2 barter economy (free services for your data) is collapsing, how zero-party data and a data supply chain can route value back to consumers and data contributors (think: mortgage brokers, lenders), and why agentic advertising will disrupt Google/Meta style targeting.Timestamps[00:00] “Time for a new data model” — agents that pay you for training data [00:01] Alex's path: BMO (M&A → FIG → Digital Assets), fund, stables, now AI agents [00:03] What's broken: Web2 barter system, cookies/pixels, hidden training sets [00:05] Futr.network: self-sovereign AI agent + incentives for data contributors [00:06] Mortgage example: underwriting pack → agent training → recurring royalties [00:09] Why prior “get paid for your data” failed; why now works (AI agents = $$) [00:15] KPIs: users, dollars on rails, brand demand for zero-party data[00:16] Beachhead: auto loans (optimize payments, save interest, set-and-forget) [00:18] Rails: bank links, credit/debit, embedded wallet, stablecoin payments [00:19] Next verticals: mortgages, student loans; beyond finance → life data [00:21] What most miss about AI: it ran Web2 behind the scenes for years [00:24] High-fidelity AI: no hallucinations when money moves; enterprise-grade stacks [00:28] AI × crypto: machine-speed decisions need machine-speed value settlement [00:30] Data supply chain (like music royalties) via blockchain micropayments [00:32] The disruption: agentic advertising eats digital ads in 3–5 years [00:33] The ask: brands & enterprises; network effects; just raised $5.1M; more to come [00:37] Beta access coming; train your agent, earn tokensConnecthttps://futrnetwork.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/thefutrcorporation/https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-mcdougall-290b0b39/DisclaimerNothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. Finally, it would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/

Episode web page: https://bit.ly/3K2NcZn ----------------------- Episode summary: In this episode of Insights Unlocked, Joe Chernov, a seasoned B2B marketing leader and Executive in Residence at Battery Ventures, joins host Johann Wrede to unpack the modern CMO's biggest trap—playing out of position. Joe shares the pivotal career moment that pulled him from traditional PR into the world of content marketing, and explores how today's marketing leaders can navigate the pressure to chase pipeline at the expense of long-term brand impact. From understanding your company's true expectations to balancing creativity with accountability, Joe offers hard-earned wisdom on what it really takes to succeed—and stay—in the CMO seat. He also dives into the role AI can play in strengthening personas, removing bias, and ultimately helping marketers become better strategic partners. If you're a marketing leader feeling the pressure to prove value through short-term metrics, this episode will help you rethink your role, and how to future-proof your impact. Memorable quote: “I did my best work when I wasn't afraid of getting fired.” – Joe Chernov What you'll learn in this episode: “Underpaid CROs”: Why many CMOs unknowingly mimic CROs, and how it's limiting their influence Pipeline vs. brand: The need to balance immediate performance metrics with long-term brand stewardship Maslow's hierarchy for marketers: Why predictable pipeline must come first—but can't be the end game AI's new role in marketing: How artificial intelligence can reshape persona development and uncover hidden customer insights The spirit of your role: Why aligning with the reason you were hired—not just your KPIs—matters for lasting impact The power of brand moments: A surprising sneaker story that connects influencer gifting to big revenue wins Resources & Links: Joe Chernov on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jchernov/) Johann Wrede on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannwrede/) Battery Ventures (https://www.battery.com/) Nathan Isaacs on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanisaacs/) Learn more about Insights Unlocked: https://www.usertesting.com/podcast

Send us a textIn this episode, Todd and Jen dive into the two pillars of salon growth: retention (keeping clients coming back) and acquisition (bringing in new ones). Too many salon owners focus on just one—but long-term success requires mastering both.You'll hear practical strategies, client experience tips, and marketing insights drawn straight from the Hello Hair Co. playbook, including how to create loyalty, inspire referrals, and consistently attract new faces without burning out.Key TakeawaysRetention and acquisition aren't either/or — both are essential for lasting salon growth.Consultations (and re-consultations) are the secret to keeping clients loyal.Hospitality and personalization turn good services into unforgettable experiences.Building staff confidence is a leader's job — and prevents overwhelm in new stylists.Smart marketing tools (Google Ads, SEO, automation, reviews, social media) keep new clients coming consistently.Focusing only on retention or only on acquisition will break your business model.Tracking the right KPIs (rebooking, client lifetime value, cost per new client, referrals) shows you what's really working.Episode Timestamps[00:00] – Intro & why Jen refused to kick things off[00:01:30] – Jen's opening take and quote of the week: Vidal Sassoon on why hairdressers are magical[00:03:00] – Todd's opening take, owner perspective: the happiness KPI[00:07:00] – Why retention matters: loyalty, consistency, referrals, and fun[00:11:00] – The consultation game changer: how to re-consult every visit[00:14:30] – Building relationships when your skills are still developing[00:15:00] – Hospitality Playbook: moving beyond snacks and water bottles[00:17:00] – Personalization & note-taking for unforgettable experiences[00:19:00] – Staff happiness and motivation = client happiness[00:21:00] – Helping “baby hair pros” build confidence without overwhelm[00:23:30] – Why acquisition matters: churn, plateaus, and growth[00:26:00] – Automated touchpoints: email & text marketing that works[00:28:30] – Google Ads, SEO, and why outsourcing marketing was a game-changer[00:33:00] – Social media strategy: faces > backs of heads[00:35:00] – Cross-promoting with local businesses & the power of reviews[00:37:00] – KPIs: client lifetime value, cost per client, rebooking, referrals[00:38:30] – Wrap-up + free Hospitality Playbook downloadResources & LinksSubscribe to the 321 Pro Push Newsletter: Real business lessons, strategies, and challenges delivered weekly.Listen to more episodes: the Hello Hair Pro podcastFollow us on Instagram: @hellohairproLinks and Stuff:Our Newsletter Mentoring InquiriesFind more of our things:InstagramHello Hair Pro Website

Episode: 00284 Released on September 15, 2025 Description: In this episode of Analyst Talk with Jason Elder, Jason catches up with Dawn Reeby to dive into the world of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their role in professionalizing crime analysis. Dawn explains how KPIs can help analysts move beyond “bean counting” and instead measure meaningful impact, build strong infrastructures, and define what success truly looks like in law enforcement analysis. From creating portfolios and roadmaps to streamlining workflows and crafting clear elevator speeches, Dawn shares practical ways analysts can document their value, enhance productivity, and transform data into actionable intelligence. We also take a moment to congratulate Dale Harris on receiving the IACA Lifetime Achievement Award for his pioneering contributions to the field.

Send us a textFrom 20 to 250: What Happens When Self-Storage Management Grows Too Fast? Peter Smyth returns to the Self Storage Podcast to share his explosive journey, from managing 20 facilities to nearly 250 in just one year. He outlines the challenges of hypergrowth, from client churn and employee scalability to building systems that can handle everything from rural RV lots to urban mega-facilities. Peter and Scott talk hiring for skill versus experience, the role of AI and custom-built software in operational efficiency, and why white-label management is becoming the go-to for storage owners who want control without compromise.  WHAT TO LISTEN FOR1:10 From 20 to 250: The Rocketship Year5:53 Hiring for Talent, Not Just Experience10:24 Scaling Services for Every Size Operator14:10 KPIs, OKRs, and the Software Shift21:07 Managing a Startup and a Young Family Leave a positive rating for this podcast with one click GUEST: Peter Smyth, White Label StorageWebsite | Email | LinkedIn CONNECT WITH USWebsite | You Tube | Facebook | X | LinkedIn | Instagram Follow so you never miss a NEW episode! Leave us an honest rating and review on Apple or Spotify.

What does it take to turn a good organization into a championship-level team? In this solo episode, Coach Trent M. Clark—3x MLB World Series Coach, serial entrepreneur, and leadership expert—dives deep into the Bloom Growth Operating System and how it helps leaders build high-performing, winning organizations. Trent shares the eight critical factors every business needs to master to achieve long-term success:

Restaurant owners and managers: want more profitable menus and a stronger culture? In this episode, the crew digs into a simple, powerful idea—moving frontline ideas from the break room to the boardroom. Anthony shares how a young dishwasher created a signature chicken-tender sauce (thanks to a happy smoked paprika mistake) that became a hit with guests. We also spotlight fryer safety, dirty oil's hidden costs, and how better oil management lifts food quality, reduces risk, and saves money. Brought to you by Halcyon Eco a device that helps clean fryer oil, clean the fryer, and improve BOH safety and consistency. Key Topics & Takeaways Break Room → Boardroom: Practical ways to capture frontline ideas without losing leadership control. From Ego to Outcome: Why operator wisdom should filter team ideas—not block them. Signature Sauce Story: How empowering a dishwasher produced a better sauce than the chef expected—no edits needed. The Power of “Beautiful Mistakes”: An accidental switch to smoked paprika created deeper flavor and brand-worthy differentiation. Structured Ideation That Works: Breakout groups, best-known-way (BKW) mindset, and leader-as-facilitator—not bulldozer. Handling “Bad” Ideas With EQ: Keep people intact while you refine or redirect suggestions. Oil Quality = Food Quality: The real costs of dirty fryer oil—from safety hazards to guest experience and higher spend. Fryer Safety Reality Check: The fryer is the single most dangerous piece of kitchen equipment; treat it like it. Halcyon Eco Spotlight: How automated oil care can improve food quality, reduce risk, and save on labor and oil. Culture & Retention: Involving staff in menu decisions builds loyalty, pride, and performance. Memorable Quotes (Pull Quotes) “Use your wisdom as a filter, not a gate, for frontline ideas.” “A beautiful mistake turned a good sauce into a great one.” “The fryer is your kitchen workhorse, and the most dangerous piece of equipment.” “Inclusivity turns employees into stakeholders.” Action Steps for Operators Create an idea pipeline (quarterly breakouts by station; leader facilitates, team presents). Adopt a Best Known Way (BKW) mindset—document the current best, stay open to better. Pilot staff ideas on one item/week; measure guest feedback and ticket time impact. Audit fryer safety weekly; assign ownership; fix ignition/thermostat issues immediately. Track oil quality KPIs (color/TPM, change frequency, food color/texture, guest comps/returns). Resources Mentioned Halcyon Eco – for oil filtration, fryer cleaning, and BOH safety improvements. Unreasonable Hospitality - Will Guidara – culture and guest-experience playbook. Ego Is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday

At EUVC Summit 2025, one speaker opened with an unexpected challenge:“Let's stop munching grass like a herd of sheep—and start looking toward the horizon.”What followed was a deeply tactical session on how VCs and founders can recruit, test, and develop top-tier talent, with lessons drawn from—of all places—English football and cybersecurity unicorns.Will Maunder-Taylor shared the story of Leicester City FC, one of the most improbable sporting triumphs of modern times.In 2008, they were relegated to the UK's third divisionIn 2010, bought by new ownersIn 2011, hired Steve Walsh as head of recruitmentBy 2016, against 5,000-to-1 odds, they won the Premier LeagueHow? By focusing on:Mindset over CVData over brandTeam chemistry over big-name signingsThey built an entire team for £25M—less than what a competitor paid for one player.“They believed in talent and mindset over character. And they trained accordingly.”Once founders have the confidence to hire ambitiously, the next question becomes: How?The speaker offered a practical framework:Be brutally honest in interviews – Share real concerns and observe how candidates respond. Can they absorb and reflect?Create structured feedback loops – Let people improve in real time, not post-mortem.Test behavior, not polish – Past brand names don't predict future startup grit.Build in weekly accountability – The only difference in the top-performing teams? They check in—regularly, honestly, and constructively.“If you're a VC or board member and you're not instilling weekly accountability in your portfolio, you're missing the biggest lever.”Will Maunder-Taylor called on VCs to get tactical—not just strategic:Ask founders how they're hiringWho's mentoring the team?What KPIs exist for internal talent development?How is feedback being delivered?Because talent isn't just about who you hire—it's how you coach, test, and level them up.Let's give founders the confidence to stop hiring like sheep—and start winning like Leicester.Accountability, mindset, and trust in the process win out over pedigree, every time.From Pub Pitches to Premier League: The Leicester City BlueprintWhat This Means for FoundersVC's Role: Push for Accountability, Not Just Hiring

Most GTM teamstoday are missing targets because they're simply measuring the wrong things. In this episode, Carolyn and Amber unpack why attribution is a mirage (it only shows the lucky 2% that become opportunities) and why the MQL hamster wheel keeps smart teams stuck optimizing a tiny slice of reality. We dig into the pre-pipeline “factory floor,” show how to expose the messy middle, and explain why “more volume” isn't a strategy—it's a cash leak.You'll hear concrete ways to replace vanity conversion stats with a causal view of attempts → connects → meetings → opps → DQs (with reasons), what to do about pipeline shock when you tighten scoring, and why pipeline needs a single owner (hint: not “marketing-sourced”). We also talk about modular change vs. big-bang transformations, and where attribution actually belongs (as seasoning, not the main ingredient), dig into where attribution actually belongs in GTM measurement (spoiler: it's seasoning, not the protein), and explain why modular change beats waiting for a full-scale transformation.What You'll Learn:Attribution ≠ answers: It validates the 2-5% that convert and hides the waste in the 98%.Kill the MQL hamster wheel: Measure the journey, not just MQL→SQL%.Instrument the factory floor: Person-level steps that predict pipeline (and the drop-offs to fix).Volume lies: “Do more dials” is a 2012 play—engineer repeatable patterns instead.Pipeline shock is healthy: Fewer junk opps → higher win rate and better CAC.One owner for pipeline: Align Sales + Marketing on quality pipeline, not credit.When to use attribution: After you fix data hygiene and pre-pipeline tracking.If your dashboards keep telling you to “get more leads” or “add more dials,” you're staring at the pipeline mirage. Break free from the hamster wheel, shine a light on the messy middle, and finally see what's really driving, or draining, your revenue.This episode is powered by Passetto, a GTM advisory and software company with a solution that eliminates the Pipeline Black Box™, the critical data hidden inside every GTM engine where leaders are flying blind when it matters most.

Today's show answers the #1 question in Facebook roofing groups. Everyone has an opinion about CRMs, but who can you trust? Join Dave Sullivan, John DeLaurier, and their guest, Scott Tebay, as they tackle the big question: “What's the best CRM for roofers?”Scott Tebay is the owner/operator of Rainstoppers Roofing, and he's been in the construction industry for almost 20 years. Scott is committed to providing 5-star service to every customer by being professional, responsive, and courteous at every step of the roofing process. Scott hosts the Small Town Roofer Podcast and lives with his wife and two young sons in Marietta, Ohio. What you'll hear in this episode:Understand the WHY of a CRM in light of your entire sales processThe best question to ask: “What problems do I have that I need to solve with a piece of software?”What is a CRM—and why do I need one?What is most important in a CRM?The key that is missing in most CRMs is the communication tool that builds the know, like, and trust factor.Scott's perspective on eliminating company phones for his employeesAccountability for every single team member through a CRMJohn's perspective on the advantages of ProLine regarding speed to lead, customized proposals, and 5-star reviewsAutomated follow-ups let the customer know that you want to work with them. Automations work!Your CRM can help track your KPIs.Scott's take on how a CRM performs a sales manager role for his companyResources:Connect with Scott Tebay: Website, Email, and the Small Town Roofer PodcastResources:Free Strategy CallWant to grow a more profitable roofing business? Book a free strategy call with Dave here → davesullivan.as.me/free-strategy-callFree ResourceDownload your FREE 1-Page Business Plan for Roofing Contractors → theroofershow.com/planWatch on YouTubeSubscribe for weekly tips and full episodes → @DaveSullivanRooferShowTrusted & Vetted SponsorsRuby Receptionists – US-based professionals who answer your phones live, leave a great first impression, and tee up the sale. Get $150 off your first month → theroofercoach.com/ruby.ProLine – Automate your follow-up and close more jobs with text, email, and CRM integration. Try it FREE + save 50% off your first month with code DAVE50 → useproline.com.SMA Support – Roofing-specific virtual assistants who know the business. Free up your time by outsourcing admin, marketing, and customer service tasks → smasupport.us.

In this episode, Bradley Hamner breaks down one of the most crucial frameworks for business growth: the three-step process of simplifying, systematizing, and then scaling your business operations. This isn't just another catchy business phrase—it's a proven methodology that prevents the common pitfalls of premature scaling.The Core Framework: Make It Simple → Make It a System → ScaleThis sequential approach prevents businesses from scaling complexity instead of scaling simplicity, avoiding burnout and inefficiency.Upcoming Event: The Quarterly Q3 - Q4 PlanningDon't forget to register for Bradley's quarterly planning event for small business owners! Join him on Tuesday, September 23rd from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Central Time to reflect on Q3 and plan for a fantastic Q4. Register at https://www.blueprintos.com/assets.Thanks to our sponsors...BlueprintOS equips business owners to design and install an operating system that runs like clockwork. Through BlueprintOS, you will grow and develop your leadership, clarify your culture and business game plan, align your operations with your KPIs, develop a team of A-Players, and execute your playbooks. Register to join us at an upcoming WebClass when you visit www.blueprintos.com!Coach P found great success as an insurance agent and agency owner. He leads a large, stable team of professionals who are at the top of their game year after year. Now he shares the systems, processes, delegation, and specialization he developed along the way. Gain access to weekly training calls and mentoring at www.coachpconsulting.com. Be sure to mention the Above The Business Podcast when you get in touch.Club Capital is the ultimate partner for financial management and marketing services, designed specifically for insurance agencies, fitness franchises, and youth soccer organizations. As the nation's largest accounting and financial advisory firm for insurance agencies, Club Capital proudly serves over 1,000 agency locations across the country—and we're just getting started. With Club Capital, you get more than just services; you get a dedicated account manager backed by a team of specialists committed to your success. From monthly accounting and tax preparation to CFO services and innovative digital marketing, we've got you covered. Ready to experience the transformative power of Club Capital? Schedule your free demo today at club.capital and see the difference firsthand. Make sure you mention you heard about us on the Above The Business podcast to get 50% off your one time onboarding fee!Autopilot Recruiting helps small business owners solve their staffing challenges by taking the stress out of hiring. Their dedicated recruiters work on your behalf every single business day - optimizing your applicant tracking system, posting job listings, and sourcing candidates through social media and local communities. With their continuous, hands-off recruiting approach, you can save time, reduce hiring costs, and receive pre-screened candidates, all without paying any hiring fees or commissions. More money & more freedom: that's what Autopilot Recruiting help business owners achieve. Visit https://www.autopilotrecruiting.com/ and don't forget to mention you heard about us on the Above The Business podcast.Direct Clicks is built is by business owners, for business owners. They specialize in custom marketing solutions that deliver real results. From paid search campaigns to SEO and social media management, they provide the comprehensive digital marketing your business needs to grow. Here's an exclusive offer for Above The Business listeners: Visit directclicksinc.com/abovethebusiness for a FREE marketing campaign audit. They'll assess your website, social media, SEO, content, and paid advertising, then provide actionable recommendations. Plus, when you choose to partner with them, they'll waive all setup...

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Kiera is all about key performance indicators in this episode, and why they're important. When framing KPIs as the vitals of your practice, it makes a lot more sense! Some of Kiera's favorite KPIs are … Production (net, not gross) Collection (at least 98%) How many new patients you're getting Average diagnosis Acceptance rate Overhead There are a lot more indicators she talks about in this episode, so whether you're a beginner with KPIs or elite status, there's something you can learn. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:05) Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, pillar, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you.   Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A-Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team Podcast.   Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And you guys, how's your day today? You guys loving it? Are you crushing it? I hope you are, wherever you are. I am actually sitting in my bedroom. I ⁓ rarely ever podcast here, because usually my husband's home. But tonight, I have some friends over there in the front room, and I definitely needed to get some podcasts done. Sissy was asking me, I just love having team members that are great at what they do. And I hope you guys take time to acknowledge the team members that make you great. The team members that are   just awesome at what they do. guys, Sissy keeps me so on the ball and I love her for it. Shelby does, Tiffany does, Brittany, Dana, Kylie, they are just an incredible bunch of people. And guys, if you ever get the opportunity to meet any of them, you are one lucky person. So I hope you're having a great day. I hope you're loving it. So podcasting today from the bedroom. I hope the audio is great. I hope you're loving it. Sun's just going down and today I just wanted to dive into a topic that I think is really awesome and it's KPIs.   So what the heck is a KPI? A KPI is Key Performance Indicator. I'll be completely honest. You guys, know I'm like authentic Kiera Dent. People when they call me and they chat with us, like interested in working with us, the number one thing I get told is, Kiera, you sound just like you do on the podcast. And I'm like, this is really great because it is me.   I don't shake it up, I don't change it. The only thing I do differently is I talk in a microphone so my voice sounds a little bit like smoother, if you will, on the podcast than in real life. But beyond that, same cadence, same tones. This is Kiera real life. So you guys know I am always, I try really hard to just be authentic Kiera. So if you ever come meet me in person, you peel back the Wizard of Oz current, I would be the exact same person as I am on the podcast as I am in real life. So when I first started as an office manager,   I did not know what a KPI was. I did not know why they were important. I didn't know that I should be tracking these things. I literally had no idea. So guys, if you're in my boat, hey, welcome, welcome to the CureDent No KPI Boat. If you know what they are, welcome, welcome to the Elite Boat. And if you are using them, welcome to the Rockstar Amazing Boat. Let's make you even better. So KPIs, I call them, the way I describe a KPI is they are the vitals of your practice.   So just like when you go to the doctor and they take your blood pressure, your temperature, they listen to your heart rate, all those things, those are the vitals. They take your weight. ⁓ I just went to the doctor the other day and it's super cool, like, right? You sit on the chair and they say they'll take your weight. And it was funny, the gal asked me, she said, do you wanna know your weight today? I was like, wow, thank you. Like, thank you for not making me have a bad day if I don't want to or thank you for giving me the opportunity. It just made me giggle.   But bottom line is the vitals, we go to the doctor and they take those vitals first because if any of those are out of alignment, that's the first sign that we have trouble. So that's what I think of with KPIs in a practice. These are the core pieces that are going to show you, is your practice healthy or is it not healthy? So yes, it's tracking and there's lots of different KPIs you can track. That's why it's called a key performance indicator. I am a firm believer that you should be able to change these up.   I think there are certain things that you should be tracking consistently. But I also think as human beings, we get stagnant and bored. So give yourself a decent amount of time to track and then shake it up. That way you're growing constantly and we don't get bored with KPIs. So for me, some of my favorite KPIs, this is a question every consultant who comes to Dental A team to work with us, we ask them, what is your favorite KPI to measure? One, I'm checking to see if they know what a KPI is. Guys, I probably would have flunked the consulting test if I would have come on.   We're a more elite company, guys. I have to keep these consultants on their top notch. They can't be lower than us now. So I ask what your favorite KPI is to track and why. Most of the time I get production and collection. Production is a great KPI to track. It's something, and again, be careful on production. Make sure you're tracking it on net, not gross. A lot of people wanna tell me that they have.   These huge successful practices, but guess what guys, if you can't collect it, don't even tell me that number. I don't care. It does not impress me because guess what? That high gross number feeds your ego. Your net number feeds your family. So I don't care about it. So report that number in net. Next up is your collection percentage. I want to know how you're collecting. So if you're a $1 million practice and you're only collecting 700,000, that's stressful. That means you're at a 70 % collection rate. I am aiming for a 98 % collection rate. Now,   There are lots of other KPIs and I will say there are some great softwares out there. Practice by numbers, dental intel, divergent. Those are my top three favorites. I'd probably put them in the order of dental intel, divergent, practice by numbers. I think all three of them are great. I love them all for different reasons. The reason I'm pro-ing for dental intel is because they just merged with Medento and guess what? They are kicking it. So I love that. I love what they do and I love Medento as a company. So any company with Medento, that's going to be my favorite company right now. But bottom line is a lot of these track KPIs.   What I found that gets tricky and what a lot of offices do is we often track too many things that we don't actually move the needle on anything. I'm guilty of this. So in our company, was having Cissy track how many Instagram followers we were getting every single week. At first, I thought it was a great marketing metric. I thought it was great to see how our marketing was doing. Guess what? It was actually just feeding my ego. So guys, if you want to feed my ego, please just go follow us on Instagram. I would love it. Get your friends, get your family, get your siblings, get your kids. I don't care who.   You can boost that number just to feed my ego. At the end of the day, do the Instagram followers actually matter? No, they don't. They don't move our company forward. What matters, just like you guys, how many new patients we're getting. So don't actually care about social media followers. Yes, it's a fun number to track, but what I care is how many new patients are we getting? Then after that, I actually care about if I'm going to the elite boat or to our rock star boat on how many new patients you're getting. Do you know how much each patient's value is?   Do you also know what our average diagnosis is on each patient? And do we know what our acceptance rate is on each patient? If you don't know that and you're already tracking some of these numbers, that might be a fun zone for you to go to, to be 2.0 or 3.0 of KPI tracking. If you're just starting out, don't go there. Let's just get you tracking new patients and where they're coming from. Bottom line is these are the vitals. So first steps first, I want you with your KPIs to make sure that you have the vitals of your practice. Production, collection, new patients.   case acceptance, reappointment percentages. Those are like your main shebangs that are really gonna tell you where you're going. If you wanna add in your overhead, I also love that because that's gonna pull in the business side of it to make sure that we're actually profitable as a business and we're not just running around trying to serve, but not even being profitable as a practice. We need our practice to be profitable. Otherwise we can't serve more in our community. Those are my main things I love to focus on. So if you're just starting out, start tracking those.   I prefer you track them at a minimum every week at best. I actually like these ones to be tracked on your morning huddle. It's great. Everybody has it, have it on a whiteboard. Everybody can see it. That is the vital heartbeat of your practice. I would love you to do it. Just like on my Apple watch, I'm watching the rings on my Apple watch. That's honestly the only thing on my watch face guys, because it'd be really fun. But I decided I don't want to get distracted by other things. I need to master these items before I move on.   So that's why I love it to be front and center. Get these KPIs front and center. Get a whiteboard, guys, they're real cheap. Put it up, track these items. Production, we talked about it. Net, not gross. Collections, we wanna make sure we're collecting at least 98 % if not higher. And then I want you to know how many new patients you're getting out of goal, what your case acceptance is. A healthy practice, if we're talking dollar for dollar, I'd like you to be anywhere from 35 to 65%. Now there's a wide range on that because I actually, if you don't...   diagnose a lot of ortho and you're not diagnosing a lot of implants in larger cases, your dollar for dollar should be way up higher. If you're diagnosing these huge treatment plans constantly, you actually should be hanging out lower because we're presenting so much treatment that I'm okay with a lower case acceptance. If we're one for one, meaning one thing accepted off of our treatment plan, no matter how large it is, I want you actually to be sitting at at least a 90 % case acceptance. If you're not, we got to talk.   That's right, you and me, we're going to have a date, we're going to chat. We need to get that case acceptance up because what we're doing is we're dis-serving our patients. We're not helping them find a way to get this treatment done. You as a treatment coordinator, your job is to be a solution creator with the patient. So do your job, find the solution, get those patients accepted. That way we can help them have healthy mouths and a better life, right? That's what it's all about. Hey, Dental A Team listeners, how was your 2021? Have you reflected back? Where did you really win?   Where did you really not win? If 2021 was a year of years, congratulations. I am celebrating with you and I would love to invite you to take it to the next level. If 2021 wasn't quite your year, hey, it's all right. I'm there for you. And I would love to invite you to make 2022 the year for you. That's right, guys. If you're ready to take massive action, if you're ready to take your practice and your team to the next level, increase your profitability. Yeah, guys, through an easy way.   Get your entire team aligned and you're ready to just have your life be different. That's right. Team development, top to bottom system development, top to bottom, changing and shifting your culture, improving your team morale. If that sounds like what you're interested in guys, I'd love to invite you to join us in our Dental A Team platinum group. It's the exclusive group where we physically fly to your practice. We give you insider tips. We share with you. have a quarterly newsletter that goes to that shares all the updates we're coming up with and we share it with our platinum group.   We'd love to have you and I would like to invite you because guys remember you're always one decision away from a completely different life. So reach out guys. I'd love to chat with you. I'd love to see if you're a great platinum client or what works best for you. Email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and I can't wait to welcome you as our newest platinum client. Take massive action. This is your year. Let's make sure 2022 is your year. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Can't wait to welcome you. So those are my main KPIs that I love to track.   Once you get those dialed in and you're consistent on those and you know, then we're going to start diving into even more data. I want to know how well our hygiene department's doing. They should be producing at least three times their pay. So if I'm a hygienist making $10 an hour, wouldn't that be a dream guys? Welcome to 2022. Hygienist $10 an hour. Yeah, right. You guys are like a hundred and a billion dollars an hour. Like it's crazy how much hygienists are at right now, but let's say for the sake of this podcast, it's $10 an hour. Okay. I should be producing at least   $30 per hour as a healthy hygienist. That's on a PPO. If I'm fee for service, I like you producing at least four times your pay. So if I'm in a fee for service practice, I'm producing $40 an hour, okay? So that would be another great KPI to track. You can also break it down per department. So we might have our doctors. Great KPI to track on our doctors is what are they producing per hour? Most doctors should be producing at least $500 per hour at a minimum, okay?   So if we're working in an eight hour day, that's a $4,000 day per doctor, again on net, not gross. So that's a great metric to put in there. What are our doctors producing per hour? What's our doctor case acceptance? What's our doctor diagnosis? Great KPIs for you to start tracking. If we move on to our hygiene department, you can track fluoride, you can track perio. Perio is a great set to track. We can track ⁓ how many night guards they're doing. We can track how many orthostarts they're doing.   Great KPIs to track, again, if you're in the elite rockstar status. ⁓ Dental assistants, I like to track how many same day conversions you get. Also, how many times you leave the room is a great KPI to track. Also, how many Google reviews do dental assistants get? Those are all really, really great ones that you can do. For front office, scheduling. How often are we scheduling our hygiene and doctors to goal?   So I usually like between 80 and 90 % that they're scheduled to go. Schedulers can be how many openings they have in hygiene. It can also be how many new patients you're scheduling. For our treatment coordinators, case acceptance, right? We want to make sure that we're getting those cases up there. For office managers, what's our collection percentage that can also go to our billers? Billers, I love you to be tracking your AR. Also outstanding claims. ⁓ How long it's taking us to get our claims paid. It's a fan-freaking-tastic KPI to be tracking.   because we want to be paid quicker. Guess what? If I'm tracking that, I can see, are we not sending our claims clean and are we having errors? Could we fix that? Could we enter data better so we don't have these issues happening? Could also track how long our patients are waiting in the waiting room. If we're working on VIP new patient experience. As I just listed, there are a myriad of KPIs you could do. What happens is we often try to track too many things that were actually focused on nothing. So I suggest you usually have at least one primary KPI per   person in the practice. It's their primary. That's the one that no matter what, they're going to hit that. And we make sure it moves our needle forward. So what's going to move our doctors forward? What's going to move our hygienist forward? It's going to move our dental assistants, our scheduler, our biller, our office manager. What is the one thing if we could only focus on one thing, what's going to move each of those people forward the most and move our practice forward the most? Focus on that. Master that. Set a goal of what you should be hitting and report either weekly or daily.   on those. I'll be honest, if you report it daily, just like working out daily, you will probably see greater results than if you do it weekly or just monthly. So I also have with KPIs that you should really, really, really, really be ramping those up and making sure you're reporting consistently and that people know the goals. If we miss it, let's find out why. What's going on? Let's diagnose the problem. Let's find out what can we do to improve that. Again, I want you to think of these as vitals. KPIs are vitals of a practice.   If you don't track these, if you don't check them, you will die. Okay? If you think about it that way, well, instantly I'm like, maybe I don't need to track that. Maybe I don't need to focus on that. If you're already tracking it and you're breathing imperfect, guess what? What happened to the doctor? They start checking other things. They run blood tests on us and they check a thousand different things in that. Okay? So there are lots of KPIs you can do, but I would say keep it simple. Do the kiss method. Keep your KPIs simple. Then add to it. Maybe each quarter we add something.   Maybe each month we add something. It's also fun if you have your team help create these KPIs with you. What do they think is going to the practice board? What did they get excited about? Maybe they want to make social media posts. Maybe they care about how many followers we actually have. Maybe you guys want to do that. Maybe they do it on how many new patients they can get. I just had an office, super fun. The team decided that they were going to try and get more family members scheduled. So on average, this practice was averaging about 35 new patients. Guess what?   Guess what? Just by focusing on asking for referrals from patients and getting more family members scheduled, they use the phrase, what other family members can we get scheduled for you today? They have increased their new patients with no marketing to 50 new patients a month. Is that not rad? That's because they focus on a vital that the practice needed to do. They focus on where they were weak and they're able to move their practice forward. So guys, I would encourage each of you.   Look at these KPIs, get them set. If you don't have a regular KPI tracking, let's start there. If you do, I want to bump it up. Are those KPIs being reported weekly by all team members? And does the doctor and office manager review this? I will tell you at our company, Shelby, she's a rock star. Our whole team reports on a Google drive. We call our leadership scorecard. Those are where our KPIs hang out. Every person has a number that they're tracking. We review these, we make sure that they're the vitals of our company and they're moving us forward.   Every person reports on this every single Friday. We have a reminder that goes out, so everybody fills it in. Shelby then makes sure it comes over to me. I then with Shelby review this leadership scorecard. Then on our leadership team, we look at this every single month and make sure that those are vitals. And then we look to see where are we weak? What do we need to move forward? This is how you start to track. Also, if you want to stamp out and do more practices and you want to have more growth, having a leadership scorecard where you track these KPIs consistently.   allows you to then be able to manage and oversee multiple locations because everybody's tracking. And at a second, you can glance at this and you'll be able to know where your practice is weak and where it's strong and where you need to dive in and give it massive help. So guys, I strongly encourage you, if you're not doing it, do it. If you're doing it already, where can you ramp it up? If you're already ramping it up, get your team members involved and ask them where they want to take it to the next level. KPIs are magic. They're vitals. Also, if you're in that top, top tier,   Maybe I challenge you and say, where could you simplify? Are you overtracking? Sometimes when I look at dental intel, I'm like, holy guac. That's a lot of items you're tracking. How do they know where to focus? I think about the book, Essentialism. If you haven't read it, I would strongly encourage you to do it. If we're focused on too many things, we actually don't make a lot of progress anywhere. We make minimal progress. If we're focused on one thing, we kill it. We knock it out of the park. We dominate it. So I challenge each of you, look at those KPIs. Could you simplify them if you're already doing them?   What are the main drivers of the practice? Keep it to three per department is my recommendation. Make sure that what we're truly focused on is actually going to move you guys forward. If you need help getting those KPIs set up, if that's something you want to start doing, we make sure our practices are all tracking. Our offices have vitals. We look at them. We actually call it their vital scorecard. Truth. That's really what we call it. So if you guys want to help with this, if you'd love somebody to help hold you accountable, email me. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'd love to help you out.   nothing else guys, go get these KPIs in place and know that you guys are in control of this. You can see your practice at a glance. You can know if you're healthy or not just at a glance, just like the doctor does when we go in for our medical doctors. So guys, try it out. I'd love to hear it. I'd love to hear your successes. Post your KPI scorecards and tag us. We'd love to see it. Share. If you guys want to, you can start to get on our Facebook group, Donuts with Dana. She's literally going around and she's pulling these ideas and she's sharing and she's answering questions.   So join her, she's on Facebook Live every Friday, Donuts with Dana. So hop on over there if you have questions getting this set up, she's there, she'll help answer questions. And as always guys, just take action, do it. Don't be afraid of KPIs, they're very easy. And if we can help you, email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I'd love to share it with you guys. If you need a sample, email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast. And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team Podcast.   Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.  

Bienvenidos a Camino al Open Call, una serie especial de Mentores en Línea junto a Walmart Puerto Rico, donde exploramos cómo emprendedores locales pueden llevar sus productos a las góndolas de la cadena de tiendas más grande de la isla.En este tercer episodio me siento con Jennifer Garland, Senior Director of Merchandising de Walmart Puerto Rico, sobre la importancia de los datos y cómo analizarlos puede marcar la diferencia entre crecer o estancarse en el mercado.Jennifer explica cómo la información y los números hablan por sí solos, cuáles son los KPIs que todo suplidor debe monitorear y cómo esta información puede ayudarte a negociar con más confianza y tomar mejores decisiones estratégicas.También hablamos del valor añadido que Walmart ofrece a los suplidores al compartir herramientas y métricas exclusivas que no solo fortalecen su posicionamiento en la góndola, sino que también pueden transformar la manera en que gestionan sus negocios en Puerto Rico y más allá.Si tienes un producto hecho en Puerto Rico y quieres verlo en las 18 tiendas de Walmart, recuerda que tienes hasta el 1 de octubre para someter tu solicitud en https://bit.ly/mentoresopencall

Do you ever wonder what it really takes to create a successful podcast? After 7 years of hosting Profit by Design, we have fine-tuned a system that makes podcasting doable AND impactful for our business. Today's conversation takes you behind the scenes to learn how we plan content that aligns with our business goals, what goes into the recording process, and how we repurpose each episode to save time and expand our reach. If you're thinking about starting a podcast to grow your business, this episode is your roadmap. Join Melissa Kay and Dr. Sabrina Starling to learn more! Profit by Design is a Tap the Potential Production. Show Highlights:First step on the journey: find a podcast editor (Good editing is key!)Our heart and passion for the Profit by Design podcast“What do I want to bring to the world to be of service?”Ideas for podcast contentKnow your business's sweet spot and your clients' avatar to drive your podcast content.The BEST way to decide if podcasting is for you is to be a guest on other podcasts.What works best for podcast content? The validity of your lived experiencesSystems are vital in the podcasting process!Three tools we use: a project management tool, Google folders, and a spreadsheetThink about the distribution platforms for your podcast.Our financial commitment in marketing dollars spent on Profit by DesignIdeas for repurposing podcast content with the help of AISimplifying our teaching and developing our thought leadership ● KPIs help validate our investment. ● Want to know more about using your marketing dollars efficiently? We can help identify the sweet spot of your business and the clients you should be serving. Book a call with us today!Resources:Join our upcoming Leadership Bootcamp to build a self-managing team of people who own their roles. Reserve your seat today! We begin on September 25! Join us!For more information about The Coach Approach or to join us in the next round, click the link! Don't wait! Download your Strategic Planning Guide and 2025 Tap the Potential Strategic Planner today!Want to know the best attracting and recruiting strategies for small businesses? We can help! Learn more about our How to Hire the Best course.Retain, grow, and deeply engage your A-players with the Dream Manager Program! The best way to create buy-in from your team members for your vision is to identify how your vision supports them in achieving their dreams. Enroll today!Become an employer of choice to attract the A-players you want on your team! We are now enrolling in the 'How to Hire the Best' course. Sign up today!Sign up for the free A-Player Development Plan/Mini-Course. Track your A-players' development and retain your A-players!Ready to take your life back from your business? Want more time for what matters most and more...

At the EUVC Summit 2025, the Firm of the Year award didn't go to a household name—or a partner of the presenter. It went to a firm that's quietly built one of the most impactful portfolios in European venture over the past decade:Credo Ventures – winner of this year's Firm of the Year Award.And the irony? They didn't see it coming.“I never really liked awards like this… but maybe I'm ready to reconsider.”Credo Ventures' rise hasn't always been center stage. Based in Central and Eastern Europe, they've long bet on founders and ecosystems that many in mainstream venture overlooked.But the results speak for themselves—category-defining companies, global expansion stories, and a consistent track record of backing ambitious founders early.“Maybe having such an award can be a new KPI for us—right next to DPI.”The Credo team kept the moment light, thanking not just their founders and LPs—but even the investors who didn't back them.“Thank you, Thomas, for not investing in us. Maybe that pushed us forward even more.”This self-awareness is part of what's made Credo so beloved in the ecosystem: no arrogance, no buzzwords—just clear conviction, strong founder relationships, and outcomes that speak louder than headlines.This award wasn't just about Credo—it was a signal to every fund building off the beaten path:That it's possible to build world-class performance from anywhereThat recognition follows consistencyAnd that humility and humor are strengths, not liabilities“The real credit goes to the founders we've backed. Their success is why we're here today.”Congratulations to Credo Ventures—EUVC Firm of the Year 2025.May DPI stay high, and KPIs stay fun.Building Beyond the SpotlightA Touch of Humility. A Lot of Performance.A Win for the Underdogs

The next generation of analytics is here. In this episode of The Data Chief, ThoughtSpot CEO Ketan Karkhanis explains why AI is the new BI, and the future of analytics is autonomous. Karkhanis shares his vision for the autonomous enterprise, where AI agents act on insights and automate workflows.  He also explains why a culture of trust and experimentation is crucial for unlocking AI's full potential. Don't miss this discussion on how to fundamentally rethink how organizations interact with data to drive better business outcomes and build an autonomous enterprise.Key Moments:AI is the New BI (08:35): Ketan explains that AI represents a “foundational rewiring” of the entire technology stack, a shift he calls Cloud 2.0. He predicts the BI market is on the verge of an “upgrade super cycle,” leaving legacy players behind.AI Becomes the Only UI (20:45): Ketan shares his vision that in the future, AI will become "the only UI you will need". He explains that ThoughtSpot's MCP host can bring together structured data, unstructured data, and world knowledge to provide better context for a user's question.Progress over Perfection (25:56): Leaders are reminded not to let “perfection be the enemy of progress.” For Ketan, a culture of trust and openness to experimentation is more important than having perfectly defined KPIs or flawless dashboards.Training Comes First (29:02): One of the biggest lessons learned was the importance of investing in people before chasing the promise of AI outcomes.  After rolling out mandatory generative AI training, new use cases began emerging organically from across the business—proof that education fuels innovation.Outcomes Over Tech (38:47): Despite mountains of legacy technology, many organizations remain starved for actionable insights. Ketan points to EasyJet as an example of getting it right: rather than focusing on systems and infrastructure, they designed their AI initiative around a tangible outcome—avoiding flight cancellations.The Rise of the Autonomous Enterprise (42:56): The next frontier is the autonomous enterprise, where AI agents don't just surface insights but also act on them. Ketan envisions a future where humans are freed from mundane tasks to focus on higher-value work like relationships and judgment calls.Key Quotes:"AI becomes the only UI you will need." - Ketan Karkhanis"It's not about AI. It's about ROI." - Ketan Karkhanis"This is no longer just about BI. This is about agents that are driving workflows in your organizations." - Ketan KarkhanisMentions:Go Boundaryless Product SpotlightThoughtSpot Agentic MCP Server Lex Fridman PodcastTeam of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham LincolnThe Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama CanalGuest Bio: Ketan Karkhanis is the CEO of ThoughtSpot. Prior to joining the company in September 2024, Ketan was the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sales Cloud at Salesforce. He returned to Salesforce in March 2022 after his time as the COO of Turvo, an emerging supply-chain collaboration platform. Before that, Ketan spent nearly a decade at Salesforce, where he led product areas in Sales, Service Cloud, Lightning Platform, and finally Analytics, wherein as the Senior Vice President & GM of Einstein Analytics, he pioneered incredible innovation, customer success, and business acceleration from launch to over $300M and a 30,000 strong user community. Prior to Salesforce, Ketan was at Cisco Systems where he led various technology initiatives and initiatives spanning Customer Advocacy, Cisco Certifications & eLearning. Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

In today's rapidly evolving sales landscape, the integration of product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth (SLG) strategies has become a crucial differentiator for successful companies. As the Chief Revenue Officer of Webflow, Adrian Rosenkranz shares invaluable insights on effectively blending these two approaches to create a unified go-to-market engine. This episode explores how Webflow has successfully combined PLG and SLG motions, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance customer experiences, streamline sales processes, and drive revenue growth. Adrian provides a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities presented by this hybrid approach, offering practical strategies for sales and marketing professionals looking to optimize their go-to-market strategies.                              Key Takeaways Understanding the distinctions between product-led and sales-led growth motions Leveraging AI to enhance relevancy and personalization in customer interactions Implementing AI-driven content refreshes to improve discoverability and SEO performance Utilizing AI for sales enablement, including personalized onboarding and coaching Adapting metrics and KPIs to evaluate the effectiveness of blended PLG and SLG strategies As we navigate this AI-driven sales landscape, it's clear that the companies who can effectively blend PLG and SLG strategies while leveraging AI will have a significant competitive advantage. It's an exciting time to be in sales, and I'm eager to see how these strategies evolve. Innovative AI Applications in Sales and Marketing Creating AI-generated onboarding podcasts for new hires Developing custom GPTs for sales reps to streamline prospecting and communication Implementing AI-powered customer support to resolve cases faster in PLG motions Utilizing AI for content optimization and real-time conversion rate improvements The Future of AI in Sales As AI continues to reshape the sales landscape, Adrian emphasizes the importance of maintaining authenticity and personalization. He introduces the concept of a "Go-to-Market AI Engineer" role, dedicated to reimagining sales workflows and processes through AI integration. This episode provides a wealth of actionable insights for sales leaders, marketers, and revenue operations professionals looking to harness the power of AI and create a more effective, blended approach to growth. Don't miss this opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and drive your organization's success in the AI-powered sales era. Key Moments 00:00:00 - Blending Product-Led and Sales-Led Growth Webflow successfully combines product-led and sales-led growth strategies. Few companies effectively blend these approaches into a single go-to-market engine. The key is solving for customer experience rather than separate teams, using AI to meet customers' needs faster and provide more relevant interactions across both motions.                                                       00:04:31 - AI's Impact on Marketing and Sales AI is automating relevancy in marketing and sales. Webflow uses AI to refresh content, optimize landing pages, and personalize outreach. They've built custom GPT models to assist SDRs and automate processes. AI enables faster, more personalized customer interactions across product-led and sales-led motions. 00:23:22 - Implementing AI in Go-to-Market Strategy Webflow hired a Go-to-Market AI Engineer to reimagine workflows. They use AI for sales enablement, coaching, and onboarding. The CRO created an AI-generated podcast to onboard the new CMO. AI helps scale knowledge sharing and provides faster feedback loops for sales reps.                                                                    00:39:15 - AI Impact on Metrics and Customer Experience                       Webflows CRO identifies the type of metrics they measure the sales team by and how they use AI to drive a better set of KPis that drive a better customer experience.            About Adrian Rosenkranz Adrian Rosenkranz is Chief Revenue Officer at Webflow, where he leads Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Partnerships and Revenue Operations. He is helping grow Webflow into the leading AI-powered visual development platform for ambitious brands. Before Webflow, Adrian was Chief Operating Officer of Tableau Americas at Salesforce, where he scaled a multi-billion dollar enterprise business. A firm believer in innovation with purpose, Adrian is helping Webflow harness AI to drive smarter growth and better customer experiences, from go-to-market systems that learn and adapt to tools that amplify what creative teams can build. His focus is on unlocking leverage, not just automation. Adrian also serves on the board of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and previously advised Harvard Business School's Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator. He earned his bachelor's degree from Stanford University, where he was a Division I football player. Follow Us On: ·         LinkedIn ·         Twitter ·         YouTube Channel ·         Instagram ·         Facebook Learn More About FlyMSG Features Like: ·         LinkedIn Auto Comment Generator ·         AI Social Media Post Generator ·         Auto Text Expander ·         AI Grammar Checker ·         AI Sales Roleplay and Coaching ·         Paragraph Rewrite with AI ·         Sales Prospecting Training for Individuals ·         FlyMSG Enterprise Sales Prospecting Training Program Install FlyMSG for Free: ·         As a Chrome Extension ·         As an Edge Extension    

Send us a textIn this episode we interview Luke Hayes, a digital marketing and SEO strategist who has led programs at AT&T, Walgreens, Sonepar USA, and Honeywell, and now consults for nonprofits, mid-sized firms, law firms, and campaigns. What you'll learn in this episode:How to choose the right AI: large vs. small language models, conceptual models, and action-oriented agents—plus when to mix them. A practical prompt-writing framework: define role, context, constraints, and success metrics to reduce noisy outputs. Persona building beyond job titles: map channels, moments, and tones across the customer journey to conserve budget and boost relevance. An SXO mindset: optimize for search experience (voice, purchase history, device, and behavior), not just keywords. A test-and-measure toolkit: combine Search Console with tools like Ahrefs/BrightEdge, Hotjar, AnswerThePublic, Surfer AI, and SpyFu to validate long-tail bets. Budget protection with clarity: align KPIs, define qualified leads, and set guardrails before spending on paid. 

Q4 is the graveyard for lazy marketing. Every year, business owners crank out more posts, flood their feeds, and wonder why nothing sticks. It's not about more volume. It's about strategy, intention, and execution. And if you miss that in Q4, you're already behind.In this episode, Stoy Hall and Kristina Hall rip apart the myths the “experts” keep pushing. We tackle why Q4 is the toughest quarter of the year, how ad spend spikes and engagement plummets, and why throwing AI-generated junk into the world is only adding to the noise. We dig into rage-bait culture, the obsession with daily posting, and the lie that you need to be everywhere at once.We go deeper than tactics. We talk about mindset. Why business owners chase trends instead of building stories that actually connect. Why stock photos and polished nonsense won't move the needle. Why you need KPIs that matter, not vanity metrics. And why, if you don't already have a Q4 plan, you better make one this week or risk starting next year scrambling.This is not another “social media hacks” episode. This is the no-bullshit breakdown of what's working, what's dead, and what you should be doing right now to cut through the chaos.If you're tired of wasting time chasing algorithms, if you're ready to hear the truth about how to actually use social to grow your business, this is your wake-up call.Listen now, then watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KeVp7aHgAnk Learn more at blackmammoth.comWelcome to the No BS Wealth Podcast with Stoy Hall, your candid guide to financial clarity. In our third year, we're spicing things up by enhancing community ties and bringing you straight, no-fluff financial insights. Connect with us on NoBSWealthPodcast.com, and follow Stoy on social media for the latest episodes and expert discussions. Tune in, join the conversation, and transform your financial journey with us—no BS!As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, Tiktok, LinkedinDISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.

Can you build a savage training culture, scale to seven figures, and regenerate rainforest - without burning out? Adrian and Chrissy from Earth To Body prove you can. In this unfiltered convo, we dig into how they turned a hardcore strength-and-conditioning community into a movement that funds rewilding in the Daintree -while tightening systems, team design and sales to hit a million-dollar run rate. Here's what we're covering: The origin story: from plant-based living to a “most savage” Melbourne training ground HYROX as the perfect plug-and-play test of real-world performance “Sustainability isn't soft”: why fitness and rewilding belong together The Daintree partnership, $40k raised so far, and the goal to revegetate a hectare Retreats & tours that lock members into the mission (Bali, reef & croc tours) From vibe mode to business mode: vision, clarity and looking at it daily The sales unlock: Sell-By-Chat reps that built genuine confidence Separation Sunday + Deep Work: simple systems that changed their week Knowing the numbers: capacity, cadence, KPIs and team ownership Letting go of control (for real): ego, delegation and building leaders … and a whole lot more Chapters: ⏳ [00:00] Meet Adrian & Chrissy + Why This Is An Unfiltered Chat ⏳ [01:06] Savage, Legit, Real-World Performance: What Earth To Body Stands For ⏳ [04:15] “Sustainability Isn't Soft” - The Planet-First DNA Behind the Name ⏳ [06:42] Daintree Partnership: Land Back, Rewilding & $40k Raised ⏳ [17:47] Before the Shift: Frustration, No Clear Vision, Ready for More ⏳ [22:07] The Sales Game-Changer: Why Sell-By-Chat Built Real Confidence ⏳ [28:04] Know Your Numbers: Capacity, Profit, Cadence & Team KPIs ⏳ [34:25] Burnout vs Vision: Why Clarity Stops You Hitting Rock Bottom ⏳ [36:36] Level 1 Advice: Plan Your Week, Time-Cap Tasks, Kill the Overwhelm ⏳ [41:31] Now vs Then: Team Design, Ownership & a Clear Path to Capacity Don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment below with your biggest takeaway. We read them all. Want to LEARN proven systems to grow your business without burnout? Go here: https://live.geronimoacademy.com/newsletter Connect with us: My website: https://thegeronimoacademy.com IG Geronimo: https://www.instagram.com/thegeronimoacademy IG Hey.Doza: https://www.instagram.com/hey.doza LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/andrewhandosa

Have a great point of view to add? Send us a text with your thoughts!Data first, AI everywhere.In this week's episode of The Tech Marketing Podcast Jon Busby and regular guest Seb Tyack, Managing Director, Twogether Channel Solutions to welcome Divya Rajagopalan, Senior Director, Alliances & Channel Digital Innovation & Transformation at ServiceNow.Divya's playbook starts with KPIs and adoption metrics, then layers generative, agentic AI into every PRM touchpoint. She tackles the industry's “overstimulate the partner with content” problem by using AI to summarize, personalize, and prompt next best actions. The result is a credible ROI story - time saved, usage up, revenue enabled and a clear path to an “easy button” partner experience.

✨ Jasmine Torres, Senior Manager, Community Growth + Partnerships at Milk Makeup☁️ Career journey from Sephora cashier to Milk Makeup senior manager☁️ How to break into beauty marketing without traditional experience☁️ Advice for building an authentic creator community☁️ Tools and KPIs used to measure influencer marketing success☁️ Mindset shifts to overcome imposter syndrome and stand outJoin the Sky Society Women in Marketing private LinkedIn group.Follow Sky Society on Instagram @skysociety.co and TikTok @skysociety.co

Family-First Wealth Through Franchising : Franchise Secrets with Erik Van Horn Franchising from the ranch.

DeDe Halfhill is the Founder and Principal Consultant at TAIOH Partners, a leadership consulting firm. As a retired US Air Force Colonel, keynote speaker, and advisor, she has over 25 years of leadership experience, including advising the Commander General in Iraq and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. DeDe has developed the Master the Unseen™ framework — the hidden and emotional dynamics shaping alignment, trust, and momentum in teams.  In this episode…  Leaders often believe that data, KPIs, and dashboards tell the whole story of their organization. Yet, beneath the numbers are unspoken emotions and hidden dynamics that drive or derail performance. When leaders avoid difficult conversations or overlook the emotional undercurrents within their teams, they risk making costly mistakes and missing opportunities. How can leaders confront these invisible forces and lead more effectively? Retired Air Force Colonel and leadership advisor DeDe Halfhill emphasizes the importance of curiosity, reframing negativity, and making team members feel seen and heard. Leaders can engage in coaching techniques to uncover the fear behind resistance, promote accountability, and recognize when their strengths and ideas can become liabilities. By addressing emotions directly and building trust outside of crisis moments, leaders can foster resilience and connection and boost performance. In today's episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, DeDe Halfhill, Founder and Principal Consultant at TAIOH Partners, joins William Harris to discuss uncovering the leadership blind spots that can derail performance. DeDe talks about reframing dissent as care, the identity crisis leaders often face after major transitions, and the importance of acknowledging humanity in the workplace.

Family-First Wealth Through Franchising : Franchise Secrets with Erik Van Horn Franchising from the ranch.

This episode explores the critical role of equipment reliability in chemical processing, focusing on three major incidents: Longford, BP Texas City and Buncefield. Trish highlights how faulty instrumentation, poor maintenance and overlooked management of change led to catastrophic failures, fatalities and environmental impacts. The discussion emphasizes safety-critical elements, maintenance KPIs and the importance of accurate instrumentation.

This is Part 8 of Steve Coughran's book Building Margin. Steve shows how to turn data into decisions—closing the visibility gap, shifting from lagging to leading indicators, and building a culture where estimating, field, and finance interpret the same KPIs. The focus: track free cash flow first, use a tight KPI set, and run “insight sprints” so action protects margin.LinkedIn | YouTube coltivar.com

In this episode of Your Big Next, I'm sharing with you what it's really looked like to weave my faith into the way I lead—not just in life, but in business. For a long time, I followed the traditional path... listening to the mentors, applying the strategies, doing all the things that “should” work. But it often left me feeling off. Misaligned. Like I was building something that looked right on paper—but didn't feel right in my spirit.Maybe you've felt that too.So today, I'm sharing the moments that challenged me to choose obedience over approval, discernment over default, and peace over performance. This isn't about burning it all down—it's about building differently. With God at the center. With integrity in your leadership. And with a definition of success that actually aligns with your calling.In this episode, I talk about:

In this special recast episode, host Bradley Hamney revisits one of his most memorable interviews from the Above The Business podcast archives. Originally recorded several years ago, this conversation with retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal remains as relevant and impactful as ever. This recast episode offers timeless wisdom from a legendary leader that's just as valuable today as when it was first recorded.Bradley admits this was "by far the most nervous I have ever been on a podcast" - and for good reason. General McChrystal literally reported to the President of the United States and is considered one of America's greatest military leaders. Despite Bradley's nerves, General McChrystal couldn't have been more kind and gracious throughout the interview.About General McChrystal:Retired four-star general Stanley A. McChrystal has lived a life associated with the deadly risks of combat. Called "one of America's greatest warriors" by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, he's a transformational leader who revolutionized modern warfare by leading a comprehensive counter-terrorism organization that fused intelligence and operations.Special Announcement:Don't forget to register for Bradley's quarterly planning event for small business owners! Join him on Tuesday, September 23rd from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Central Time to reflect on Q3 and plan for a fantastic Q4. Register at https://www.blueprintos.com/assets.Thanks to our sponsors...BlueprintOS equips business owners to design and install an operating system that runs like clockwork. Through BlueprintOS, you will grow and develop your leadership, clarify your culture and business game plan, align your operations with your KPIs, develop a team of A-Players, and execute your playbooks. Register to join us at an upcoming WebClass when you visit www.blueprintos.com!Coach P found great success as an insurance agent and agency owner. He leads a large, stable team of professionals who are at the top of their game year after year. Now he shares the systems, processes, delegation, and specialization he developed along the way. Gain access to weekly training calls and mentoring at www.coachpconsulting.com. Be sure to mention the Above The Business Podcast when you get in touch.Club Capital is the ultimate partner for financial management and marketing services, designed specifically for insurance agencies, fitness franchises, and youth soccer organizations. As the nation's largest accounting and financial advisory firm for insurance agencies, Club Capital proudly serves over 1,000 agency locations across the country—and we're just getting started. With Club Capital, you get more than just services; you get a dedicated account manager backed by a team of specialists committed to your success. From monthly accounting and tax preparation to CFO services and innovative digital marketing, we've got you covered. Ready to experience the transformative power of Club Capital? Schedule your free demo today at club.capital and see the difference firsthand. Make sure you mention you heard about us on the Above The Business podcast to get 50% off your one time onboarding fee!Autopilot Recruiting helps small business owners solve their staffing challenges by taking the stress out of hiring. Their dedicated recruiters work on your behalf every single business day - optimizing your applicant tracking system, posting job listings, and sourcing candidates through social media and local communities. With their continuous, hands-off recruiting approach, you can save time, reduce hiring costs, and receive pre-screened candidates, all without paying any hiring fees or commissions. More money & more freedom: that's what Autopilot Recruiting help business owners achieve. Visit https://www.autopilotrecruiting.com/ and don't forget to mention you heard about us on the Above The...

In this episode, we sit down with James Heller to explore his unexpected journey from physics to real estate wholesaling. James opens up about his early career in the semiconductor industry, how the pandemic shifted his path, and the role a close friend played in introducing him to the world of real estate in Boise. What began as cold calls and trial-and-error quickly turned into a career built on persistence and adaptability.We dive into the early challenges James faced without formal training, his first breakthrough deal in Longmont, and the lessons that reshaped his approach to valuing properties and closing deals. James shares how his leadership experience from the corporate world gave him an edge in team building, KPI tracking, and managing business operations remotely.He also unpacks his strategies for hiring, scaling with virtual assistants, and identifying bottlenecks in business growth. With a clear focus on the Colorado market, James reveals why staying local has been key to his success and how he plans to continue scaling through people and processes.From physics labs to phone calls, James's story is packed with insights on resilience, leadership, and the practical side of building a real estate business from scratch.Key Topics:-James Heller's transition from physics to wholesaling real estate-Early challenges and first deal in Longmont-Leadership skills and applying KPIs to business growth-Expanding the team with virtual assistants and new hires-Lessons from flipping and managing disposition strategies-Introduction of Acre Fi and future plans===

Send us a textIn this episode I'm joined by marketing strategist TanIa Fielding (Little Luxe Marketing), whose career spans Nova, 3AW, Fairfax Media, the Canberra Times and WIN. Between us we've lived through marketing before social, watched the rise of digital, and now blend both every day.We dig into what many businesses are missing right now: traditional media still delivers when you pair it with smart digital execution. Think radio activations that feed email lists, local print that drives QR scans, a wrapped vehicle that points to a landing page, and community events that generate real conversations.We also talk personal brand. It isn't new or gimmicky - radio announcers, TV presenters and real estate agents have built careers on it for decades. The lesson for the rest of us: people buy from people. You don't have to share your life story; you just need to decide what you want to be known for and show up consistently.What you'll hearWhy the foundations of marketing haven't changed - only the channels have.Real examples of traditional done well: radio street teams, local paper partnerships, mobile billboards, market stalls and community collabs.How to make traditional measurable with unique URLs, QR codes, dedicated landing pages and simple offer mechanics.Where personal brand fits for service providers and e-comm founders alike (and why real estate has been nailing it for years).How to set sensible KPIs for offline channels so you can compare apples with apples.Key takeawaysTraditional isn't old-school - it's underused. Your audience still listens to radio in the car, reads community media and turns up at local events. When you engineer a hand-off to digital (QR codes, vanity URLs, landing pages, email capture), your brand benefits twice: you get reach and you get data.Personal brand isn't about oversharing. It's about clarity. Decide the handful of themes you'll speak to, keep your tone human and consistent, and let repetition do the heavy lifting. As Tanya puts it, own your story and the right people will lean in.Actions you can take this monthPick one offline test that suits your audience: local radio live read, a community paper strip ad, a market stall, or a simple in-store collaboration (think colouring-in comp with a popular café or bakery).Make it trackable: a campaign-specific URL, QR code to a short landing page, or an offer code that's only shared via that execution.Define success up front: impressions or foot traffic for awareness; scans, site visits and sign-ups for response; sales for conversion.Start your personal brand cadence: choose three topics you want to be known for and post once a week using your own words and examples.DOWNLOAD MY CONTENT PLANNER - https://becchappell.com.au/content-planner/Instagram @bec_chappellLinkedIn – Bec Chappell If you're ready to work together, I'm ready to work with you and your team.How to work with me:1. Marketing foundations and strategy consultation 2. Marketing Coaching/ Whispering for you a marketing leader or your team who you want to develop into marketing leaders3. Book me as a speaker or advisor for your organisation4. Get me on your podcastThis podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative

Product strategy, OKRs, and KPIs are popular product management frameworks. But how can they be applied successfully together? What comes first, strategy, OKRs, or KPIs? Can OKRs describe or replace strategy? And what should you do when a senior stakeholder tells you what OKRs and KPIs to use? Listen to this episode to hear my answers.

Hakeem Adebiyi and Jason Bryll (Parable Associates) unpack how to turn scattered data into usable insight that speeds decisions, aligns KPIs across teams, and drives real ROI. We cover BI vs. stock EMR/CRM charts, culture and UAT champions, common mistakes, costs/tools for SMEs, and what AI will realistically change next.Still running on gut feel? Learn BI tactics that speed decisions and prove ROI—without a massive team.EMR charts aren't strategy. Build BI that aligns KPIs, fixes bottlenecks, and grows your practice. 

Is the hype around AI in marketing justified, or are we setting ourselves up for another "tech bubble" disappointment? Agility requires not only embracing new technologies like AI, but also a fundamental shift in mindset, processes, and even organizational structure. It demands a willingness to experiment, learn, and adapt quickly to the ever-changing marketing landscape. Today, we're going to talk about how AI is poised to revolutionize marketing, from personalization and customer engagement to the very structure of the SaaS market itself. To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Rafael “Rafa” Flores, Chief Product Officer at Treasure Data. About Rafael Flores As an accomplished technology executive and proud immigrant from Honduras, I specialize in scaling SaaS companies from startup to high-growth enterprises. My career is built on my family's deep-rooted principles: valuing education, treating others with equal respect regardless of background, and uplifting younger talent—because I was once that little boy with big dreams. Throughout my career, I have led transformative initiatives at some of the most recognized names in the technology landscape:Meltwater: Played a pivotal role in the company's successful IPO, showcasing expertise in product innovation and market readiness.Datanyze: Led strategic initiatives that culminated in a successful acquisition by ZoomInfo, enhancing data intelligence capabilities.ARM Holdings: Spearheaded innovation in Retail SDK and IoT solutions, advancing the company's technology ecosystem and driving new business opportunities. 6sense: Led all automation, data, and AI-products, fostering a culture of collaboration and inclusion, while delivering data-driven solutions that empower GTM team(s) to sell effectively.Treasure Data: Orchestrated a landmark $600M acquisition by ARM and secured record-breaking Customer Data Platform (CDP) funding. Today, I am back leading Treasure Data through a transformative era of intelligence and automation fit for scale, while returning to an organization that feels like home—rich with talent, poise, and a passion for progress. I am also a devoted father of three beautiful children and grateful for the unwavering support of my wife—a registered nurse who embodies strength and compassion. My core expertise lies in defining and executing product strategies, roadmaps, and key performance indicators (KPIs). I possess deep knowledge of CDPs, data management, privacy frameworks, and SaaS go-to-market (GTM) applications, scaling solutions for businesses ranging from agile SMBs to Global 2000 enterprises. Rafael Flores on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ref2019/ Resources Treasure Data: https://www.treasuredata.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Don't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

In this thought-provoking episode, Bradley Hemner tackles Alex Hormozi's controversial characterization of the $1-3 million revenue range as "the swamp" - a challenging middle ground for business owners. Rather than simply critiquing Hormozi's perspective, Bradley offers a compelling counter-narrative that reframes this stage as potentially the dream outcome for many entrepreneurs seeking a lifestyle business built on the "Four F's" framework.Bradley shares, "I think for many entrepreneurs, a two to three million dollar business that's generating 20 to 30 percent net profit is quite frankly the dream." For many entrepreneurs, a $2-3 million business generating 20-30% net profit ($400K-$900K annually) plus reasonable salary represents the dream outcome. This level provides:Private schools for children.Luxury cars and great vacations.Overall financial freedom.Work-life balance and meaningful work.While Hormozi sees the $1-3M range as a challenge to overcome, Bradley positions it as potentially a destination to embrace - a profitable, sustainable business that aligns with personal goals and desired lifestyle.Join Bradley for The Quarterly September 23rd, 2025...The Quarterly is a business planning workshop. We help business owners make plans for the next three months. Our goal is to help you go from doing all the work yourself to building a business that runs without you. Save your seat here: https://quarterly.blueprintos.comThanks to our sponsors...BlueprintOS equips business owners to design and install an operating system that runs like clockwork. Through BlueprintOS, you will grow and develop your leadership, clarify your culture and business game plan, align your operations with your KPIs, develop a team of A-Players, and execute your playbooks. Register to join us at an upcoming WebClass when you visit www.blueprintos.com!Coach P found great success as an insurance agent and agency owner. He leads a large, stable team of professionals who are at the top of their game year after year. Now he shares the systems, processes, delegation, and specialization he developed along the way. Gain access to weekly training calls and mentoring at www.coachpconsulting.com. Be sure to mention the Above The Business Podcast when you get in touch.Club Capital is the ultimate partner for financial management and marketing services, designed specifically for insurance agencies, fitness franchises, and youth soccer organizations. As the nation's largest accounting and financial advisory firm for insurance agencies, Club Capital proudly serves over 1,000 agency locations across the country—and we're just getting started. With Club Capital, you get more than just services; you get a dedicated account manager backed by a team of specialists committed to your success. From monthly accounting and tax preparation to CFO services and innovative digital marketing, we've got you covered. Ready to experience the transformative power of Club Capital? Schedule your free demo today at club.capital and see the difference firsthand. Make sure you mention you heard about us on the Above The Business podcast to get 50% off your one time onboarding fee!Autopilot Recruiting helps small business owners solve their staffing challenges by taking the stress out of hiring. Their dedicated recruiters work on your behalf every single business day - optimizing your applicant tracking system, posting job listings, and sourcing candidates through social media and local communities. With their continuous, hands-off recruiting approach, you can save time, reduce hiring costs, and receive pre-screened candidates, all without paying any hiring fees or commissions. More money & more freedom: that's what Autopilot Recruiting help business owners achieve. Visit https://www.autopilotrecruiting.com/ and don't forget to...

This week, we cover Google's latest courtroom headaches, the evolution of KPIs in gaming analytics, and the incoming Call of Duty live-action movie. We unpack Rec Room's layoffs, compare Roblox vs Rec Room head-to-head, and dig into Microsoft's IP bets from Perfect Dark to Halo. Plus, we debate Star Wars: The Old Republic, break down Roblox's latest monetization trends, and ask what the rise of real-money gaming in India means for the global market.00:00 Introduction and Hosts' Banter02:38 Upcoming Gaming News Highlights03:35 Cress's Personal Update05:39 Phil's Podcast Review07:16 Debate on Star Wars: The Old Republic10:32 Google's Legal News and Impact12:58 New KPIs in Gaming Analytics20:19 Call of Duty Live Action Movie Discussion29:15 Google Play's New Public Profiles31:15 Rec Room Layoffs and Analysis34:05 Capital Deployment and Venture Capital Concerns34:47 Roblox vs. Rec Room: A Comparison38:12 Perfect Dark and Microsoft's IP Strategy39:11 Halo and Hell Divers Collaboration44:29 Destiny Rising and the Mobile Shooter Market55:26 Roblox's Monetization and UGC Trends01:03:57 Real Money Gaming in India01:07:00 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

What happens when a former high school math teacher turned builder decides to stop flying by the seat of his pants, and actually runs his business on a real system? Nikki chats with Loren Wood of Loren Wood Builders, who shares the raw, before-and-after story of implementing EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)

In this episode of Grow Think Tank, host Gene Hammett talks with Nate Medoff, CEO of Quatrro Business Support Services, about the challenge of scaling without losing your culture. Quatrro Business Support Services No. 4197 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list. Medoff reveals how Quattro has grown through rapid expansion and acquisitions while staying true to its cultural values and retaining top talent. He discusses leveraging AI to enhance client services without losing personal connection, measuring culture with clear KPIs, and fostering innovation by creating a safe space to learn from failure. This conversation offers leaders practical strategies to scale successfully while preserving the culture that fuels long-term success.

Running a business is tough and scaling it without burning out is even tougher. In this episode of the Tactical Empire Podcast, Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider dive into the challenges most entrepreneurs face when trying to grow past seven figures. They discuss why many leaders still overlook the basics, how leadership mistakes stall growth, and the importance of setting clear expectations and KPIs. You will also hear why protecting your time as a CEO is essential and how to create a business that runs without you while still building freedom, wealth, and fulfillment. If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with your team, this conversation will give you the clarity and perspective you need to grow smarter, lead better, and scale faster. Connect with Shawn Rider and Jeff Smith across all platforms: Shawn Rider: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawn.rider.771 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawn_rider_/ Jeff Smith: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realjeffsmith/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/real-estate-investing-passive-income-wealth-lifestyle-engineer/ Explore Tactical Empire: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thetacticalempire?trk=public_post_feed-actor-name Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTacticalEmpire Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/thetacticalempire/ Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3Znvc1y Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3BN4nKh Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetacticalempirepodcast Website: https://www.thetacticalempire.com/

Databox is an easy-to-use Analytics Platform for growing businesses. We make it easy to centralize and view your entire company's marketing, sales, revenue, and product data in one place, so you always know how you're performing. Learn More About DataboxSubscribe to our newsletter for episode summaries, benchmark data, and moreIs LinkedIn really just a vanity channel? Brendan Hufford doesn't think so. In this episode of Move the Needle, Brendan – founder of Growth Sprints and SaaS growth advisor – shares how he uncovered a direct correlation between LinkedIn impressions and revenue.He breaks down how he ran the experiment, what tools he used, and why more GTM leaders should stop obsessing over perfect attribution and start looking for meaningful correlations across channels.What you'll learn in this episode:Why LinkedIn impressions can predict pipeline and revenueHow to think about correlation vs. causation in marketing metricsThe overlooked “marketing cycle” that outpaces your sales cycleWhy some traffic really is vanity — and how to know the differenceThe concept of “Content IP” and why it's powerful than pitching solutions

Imran ibn Mansur (formerly “Dawah Man”) sits down with Faisal to unpack the rebrand, the regrets, and the mission he's now chasing. He explains why he “killed” the Dawah Man persona, the context behind viral clips from the masjid, and what changed as he started working with 7–9 figure Muslim entrepreneurs. We get into his “Victory Code” (7 pillars for building anything that lasts), the danger of the tongue for creators, platform nuance (Snapchat, social media), leadership, and how to run Muslim projects with real data, KPIs, and vision. Imrān also addresses past tensions, why he took a video down, and what Righteous & Rich / The Cave actually do. What we cover: Why he “killed” Dāwah Man (brand, audience, leverage) Viral masjid clip: the full story and what he learned Regret, reconciliation, and removing a video From street da‘wah to serving CEOs & founders The “Victory Code” Building Muslim networks that move capital, talent, and impact Books shaping his thinking (Built to Last, Insanely Simple, Actions of the Heart)

Looking for a fractional CFO to help you regain control over your business finances? In this powerful conversation, Justin Boyd, founder of Cashflow Copilot, reveals actionable strategies that help business owners overcome financial chaos and drive sustainable profitability.This episode is essential for high-income professionals and entrepreneurs seeking clarity on:How to build a winning financial blueprintMastering cash flow strategy and financial forecastingIdentifying and improving gross profit margin and net incomeReal-world applications of the Profit First methodWhat most service providers get wrong with their pricing strategyNavigating seasonal downturns and preparing for economic uncertaintyIf you're a doctor, dentist, lawyer, or service business owner wondering why your revenue doesn't translate into actual profit — this episode answers that exact question. Justin's work as a fractional CFO goes beyond the numbers; he delivers financial clarity and becomes your strategic co-pilot, guiding you through the numbers, metrics, and margins that matter most.Justin breaks down key frameworks and tools that small businesses need to forecast future growth, make informed decisions, and get ahead of cash flow issues — all while keeping your pricing aligned with market demands and internal profitability needs.Get answers to these burning questions:Why is my business generating 7 figures but still not profitable?How do I calculate the right price strategy for my services?What financial KPIs should I track monthly?How can I avoid running out of cash during slow months?What makes Profit First more than just a buzzword?