Podcasts about naperville

Today, we are pleased to share an audio essay written and read by Matthew Harmon entitled "Why It Matters That Jesus Was and Still Is Human" Dane Ortlund serves as senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of 'Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers' from Crossway. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Read the essay here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete this survey for a free audiobook by Kevin DeYoung!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave us a review, which helps us spread the word about the show!

Drew Powers is the Founder of Powers Financial Group, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. He specializes in advanced insurance and investment strategies for doctors. Drew is 100% independent, he doesn't work with any investment or insurance company, which means he's able to give unbiased advice that is most beneficial for his clients. Drew started his career in 2001 as a Market Maker on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where he managed trading portfolios comprising hundreds of equity- and equity-index option listings. In 2008, he transitioned to the role of Financial Advisor and Investment Advisor Representative, where he helped clients develop individual financial strategies. At Powers Financial Group, Drew leverages his stock and options trading expertise with his financial advising experience to help clients increase and protect their wealth. Drew lives in Naperville with his wife and their two children. He is an avid downhill skier, active in youth sports, a proud "Rooster" within the Naperville Jaycees, and is passionate about CrossFit and the Paleo/Primal Lifestyle.

What happens after you've survived something that could have defined the rest of your life?Today's guest, Cindy Benezra, is a USA Today bestselling author, speaker, trauma recovery advocate, and author of Under the Orange Blossoms. Cindy is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her father.But this conversation isn't about the details of what happened to Cindy. It's about what came next.Cindy and I talk about what healing actually looks like in everyday life, learning to trust yourself again, breaking generational cycles, reclaiming your voice, and shifting the question from "What happened to me?" to "What's next?"We also talk about Cindy's beautiful concept of "Freckles of Light"—the small, ordinary moments of hope and goodness that remind us healing doesn't always happen through one massive breakthrough. Sometimes it happens quietly, little by little.In this episode, we talk about:Moving from a past-defined identity toward what's nextWhat it means to become your own healerCindy's "Freckles of Light" and finding hope in ordinary momentsBreaking intergenerational cyclesReclaiming your voice and learning to trust yourselfThe role of storytelling and vulnerability in healingWhy community and connection matterFinding hope when you're still carrying something from your pastWhether you've experienced trauma yourself or you're simply carrying something from your past that has shaped who you are today, this conversation is a reminder that what happened to you can be part of your story without getting to write the rest of it.Connect with Cindy:Learn more about Cindy, Under the Orange Blossoms, and her work at CindyTalks.Connect with Her Village offline:If you're local to the Naperville area, Her Village is about getting out from behind the screens and building real-life connection, too. Join us for upcoming coffee dates, nights out, book gatherings, and other opportunities to meet women in your local community.Find details and upcoming gatherings by following along on Instagram or signing up for our email list.And if this episode made you think of someone in your own village, send it her way. Sometimes being part of someone's village is as simple as saying, "I heard this, and I thought of you."Support the show__________________________________________________________________________________Her Village is more than a podcast—it's a space for real connection, honest conversations, and meaningful friendships in the places we live.If you want to go deeper and stay connected beyond the podcast, you can join us here: joinhervillage.co

A husband-and-wife team bought a senior moving company right before COVID and grew it from 6 jobs a month to 420 projects a year with zero paid marketing.Michael and Tammy Bilek, co-owners of Honoring Aging, Inc., share how they survived a pandemic in an industry serving seniors, grew by showing up with cookies instead of AI funnels, and built a business that runs without them.00:00:00 Introduction00:05:40Q: Should you buy an existing business or start from scratch?A: Michael Bilek and Tammy Bilek decided buying made more sense because Tammy had 13 years of knowledge that would have been lost starting over.00:14:21Q: How do you keep a business alive when COVID threatens your clients?A: Michael Bilek and Tammy Bilek partnered with communities and refused to shut down because seniors still needed to move.00:29:05Q: Does showing up in person work better than AI lead generation?A: Tammy Bilek explains that showing up with cookies and asking about clients generates more business than any automated system.00:49:44Q: How do you build a business that runs without you?A: Tammy Bilek describes the moment she felt caught up for the first time, realizing the team could operate without her.00:59:01Q: Is it okay if your business never makes you super rich?A: Michael Bilek shares that losing a friend at 52 reinforced that living well matters more than wealth.Subscribe and share this with a founder who needs a reminder that relationships beat algorithms.

Every Coffee Fest we sit down with presenters and speakers to talk about their field of expertise and learn from their experience in coffee. This time we had a wonderful time talking with three professionals at Coffee Fest Chicago!  We start with Lan Ho, Founder of Fat Miilk Vietnamese coffee bar in Chicago! Lan Ho is the founder and CEO of Fat Miilk, a Chicago-based Vietnamese coffee company redefining the role of Robusta in modern coffee. Through a platform spanning direct sourcing, roasting, retail cafés, and consumer packaged goods, she is building a brand that connects origin to everyday ritual. With a background in pharmacy, Lan brings a systems-driven mindset to an industry often led by tradition. She left a six-figure healthcare career to pursue entrepreneurship and has since been featured on CNBC and appeared on Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars. Fat Miilk opened its first Chicago storefront in 2024, with a second location in Naperville set to open this summer. Deeply interested in consumer psychology, Lan approaches coffee through the lens of lifestyle, how people drink, feel, and connect through daily habits. She is a leading voice in advancing Robusta's place in the global coffee conversation.   Links: https://fatmiilk.com/ http://instagram.com/fatmiilk/   Next we are talking about approachable and joyful coffee training and eduction with Miranda Haney of Barista Friend!  Miranda Haney is a coffee educator and consultant based in Austin, TX. She is the founder of Barista Friend, a mobile barista training service for home and professional baristas.  Hailing from a long line of teachers, Miranda is especially passionate about delivering information in a way that's engaging and easy to understand. She's a permanent fixture at the local latte art competitions, a two-time U.S. Barista Championships national competitor, runner-up in the 2024 Barista League, Denver, and currently serves as vice president of the Austin Coffee Collective. Most recently, she was a 2025 Coffee Sustainability Fellow with The Chain Collaborative.   Links: https://www.instagram.com/baristafriend/ https://baristafriend.substack.com/   Finally we talk with Asia Vo of Loba Pastry and Coffee  Asia Vo is a Chicago-based artist devoted to curating intentional food and beverage experiences. In her present role as the Beverage Director of Loba Pastry, Vo honors craftsmanship through her continual pursuit of authentic creation and curiosity.   Links: https://www.lobapastry.com/ https://www.instagram.com/asia__vo/     Go check out Coffee Fest Trade Shows Today!  www.coffeefest.com    

Content creation changed my life. It also nearly broke me. This is the truth about 6 years of building in public.For the first time in 115 episodes, I sat in the guest chair. Barbara Wichman flips the script and pulls out everything I don't usually talk about. The LinkedIn crash. The identity crisis. The moment I realized nobody was watching as closely as I thought.00:00:00 Introduction00:10:25Q: What happens when you build your entire business on one platform?A: Alex Sheridan went from millions of impressions weekly on LinkedIn to tens of thousands, crashing his lead pipeline overnight.00:16:50Q: Does it matter how you deliver your message or just what you say?A: Alex Sheridan ran a LinkedIn experiment proving video with edutainment doubled the performance of text.00:22:44Q: What is the biggest content marketing mistake founders make?A: Alex Sheridan says being too safe is the top mistake. If everyone agrees with your content, you are not moving anybody.00:28:35Q: How do you overcome the fear of putting yourself out there?A: Alex Sheridan shares a line that stuck with him: when you remember your purpose, you will forget your fears.00:39:34Q: What is the most important skill for entrepreneurs?A: Alex Sheridan calls focus a superpower. Freedom to do anything is both the greatest asset and challenge.00:45:00Q: Does anyone actually care what you post online?A: Alex Sheridan reveals the mattress-on-the-floor moment that taught him nobody cares at the bottom or the top.Subscribe and share this with a founder who needs to hear it.

​In November 2020, the DuPage County State's Attorney says Rosa Lagrone suspected her boyfriend Darnell Manns was dating another woman, so she shot Manns in their Naperville home. ​Lagrone then did a Facebook live video chat with the alleged other woman while Manns was seen on the floor in a pool of blood. Manns died a few days later. In February 2026, a jury found Lagrone guilty of First Degree Murder, and on August 5th, a judge sentenced Lagrone to 38 years in prison.

​In November 2020, the DuPage County State's Attorney says Rosa Lagrone suspected her boyfriend Darnell Manns was dating another woman, so she shot Manns in their Naperville home. ​Lagrone then did a Facebook live video chat with the alleged other woman while Manns was seen on the floor in a pool of blood. Manns died a few days later. In February 2026, a jury found Lagrone guilty of First Degree Murder, and on August 5th, a judge sentenced Lagrone to 38 years in prison.

​In November 2020, the DuPage County State's Attorney says Rosa Lagrone suspected her boyfriend Darnell Manns was dating another woman, so she shot Manns in their Naperville home. ​Lagrone then did a Facebook live video chat with the alleged other woman while Manns was seen on the floor in a pool of blood. Manns died a few days later. In February 2026, a jury found Lagrone guilty of First Degree Murder, and on August 5th, a judge sentenced Lagrone to 38 years in prison.

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As summer winds down and back-to-school season approaches, it's easy to look back and wonder...Did I do enough?Did we make enough memories?Did my kids have the summer they deserved?Did I somehow miss the mark?If you've been carrying those thoughts, this episode is for you.In today's solo episode, Jacqueline shares an honest reflection on the pressure moms often put on themselves during the summer—from trying to create magical memories to balancing work, childcare, businesses, and everything in between.Whether you're a working mom, a stay-at-home mom, or somewhere in the middle, this conversation is a reminder that your worth isn't measured by Pinterest-worthy adventures or perfectly planned summers.Your kids don't need a perfect summer.They need you.In this episode, we'll talk about:Why moms feel so much pressure to "win" summerThe comparison trap of social mediaWhy working moms and stay-at-home moms are both carrying invisible loadsHow to redefine what a "successful" summer really looks likeWhy back-to-school can be a fresh start for moms, tooHow creating community for yourself is just as important as creating memories for your kidsIf this conversation encouraged you, I'd love for you to share it with another woman who may need to hear these words today.✨ Learn more about Her Village or join our email community at joinhervillage.co

Tony Ianessa built BIG Construction to $100 million in revenue by year three. Then his own ego nearly destroyed everything he built. In this episode he shares the journey from a basement office to one of Chicago's Top 50 fastest growing companies, and what construction can teach every industry about relationships.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:04:52Q: When should you leave your job to start a business?A: Tony Ianessa's mentor told him to start his own business. Rick later passed from cancer, but that conversation was the shove Tony needed at 29.00:12:54Q: How do you survive when revenue drops 60%?A: Tony Ianessa says COVID wiped out 60% of revenue. His sole priority: don't run out of cash.00:24:27Q: What is the biggest challenge going from founder to CEO?A: Tony Ianessa identifies his own ego. He wore the grind as a badge of honor, but it was the reason the company plateaued.00:28:11Q: How do you scale without being the bottleneck?A: Tony Ianessa says 6 to 10 people at 50% of his capacity makes the company "astronomically more successful" than him alone.00:49:21Q: How do you grow to $100M without salespeople?A: Tony Ianessa says BIG Construction has never had salespeople. They exist for the relationship, not the project.01:00:04Q: Does construction have a workforce problem?A: Tony Ianessa argues it has a marketing problem, not a workforce problem.Subscribe for real conversations with founders building businesses that run without them.

In this episode, Mark talks with Aaron Mueller about his experiences with modeling instruction. They talk about getting students to think like scientists, questioning one another, and using both inductive and deductive reasoning. They talk about the connection between NGSS and modeling instruction and about some of Aaron's tips for new teachers and book recommendations. Guest Aaron Mueller Aaron Mueller is a 7th grade Science Teacher in Naperville, Illinois. He has been teaching for 26 years and began Modeling in 2012-13. Through his career, he has taught middle and high school science. Aaron has experience with modeling workshops in Biology, Mechanics, and Middle School. Highlights [5:19] Aaron: "So students that are, ELL to having a 504 IEP, gifted even, their sets of languages are so different. However, modeling can bring them together really easily through observation, inferencing, gathering evidence, explaining the evidence, drawing." [17:10] Aaron: "I feel like a way to describe NGSS is like that framework or backbone and modeling to me is that key to turn it on and let it go." Resources Download Transcript Ep 83 Transcript Links [Book] Science Blind by Andrew Shtulman [Book] Science in the City by Bryan A. Brown [Book] Ambitious Science Teaching by Jessica Jane Thompson, Mark Windschitl, and Melissa Braaten [Book] Questions, Claims, and Evidence: The Important Place of Argument in Children's Science Writing [Video] Dr. Brian Hand - Science Writing Heuristic

In this episode of Car Con Carne, James VanOsdol catches up with Ian from Chicago post-rock/metal instrumental powerhouses Coyote Man. Parked outside Noon Whistle Brewery in Naperville where a record and comic book show was coincidentally (?) happening, they dive into the band's long-awaited new album, Prosthetic Memories. What's In This Episode: Breaking the Instrumental Rule: Discover the story behind "Faith in a Burning Room," the album's closing track featuring vocals (yes, vocals) from guest singer Chris. 5 Years in the Making: How Prosthetic Memories evolved over five years, blending heavy riffs, psychedelic soundscapes, and even 20-year-old unused ideas. Production: Bringing in producer Dan Klein to help sequence a seamless, cinematic "Pink Floyd-style" album experience. Finally on Vinyl: Why releasing this album on physical vinyl through Smashed Plastic makes this milestone release so special for the band. Catch Coyote Man Live! Album Release Show: August 21st at Liar's Club in Chicago Album Streaming: Available everywhere starting August 14th Car Con Carne is proudly brought to you by Exploding House Printing.  

Ashley Anderson was a hospital dietitian with four jobs and a side hustle. Then 2020 happened, she got laid off, and she built something from scratch that would change how founders think about their health.In this episode, Ashley Anderson, registered dietitian and founder of Move Fully Nourished, breaks down why entrepreneurs invest everything into their business and almost nothing into their health, plus the brain-gut science behind why your thoughts can make you sick.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:52Q: How did Ashley Anderson go from hospital dietitian to building her own wellness business?A: Ashley Anderson was furloughed in 2020 and turned that moment into an opportunity to build Move Fully Nourished from scratch.00:09:08Q: Why are most entrepreneurs not prioritizing their health?A: Ashley Anderson says it comes down to vulnerability. High performers are willing, but the deeper self-examination real health change requires feels more threatening than any business problem.00:13:16Q: Why do founders rank health first but treat it like an afterthought?A: Ashley Anderson explains we've all been conditioned since school to equate rest with weakness, and that conditioning carries directly into how founders run their businesses.00:17:57Q: What happens when a founder pushes too hard for too long?A: Ashley Anderson shares her own dark cave moment — waking up before dawn, full client load, relationship with her daughter falling apart. She almost missed her daughter's childhood because of the drive to succeed.00:33:08Q: How much do your thoughts actually affect your physical health?A: Ashley Anderson explains that 90% of serotonin is made in the gut, and repetitive negative thought patterns trigger the same fight-or-flight response as real physical danger.Subscribe for real conversations with founders turning their businesses into assets, not jobs.

Are we asking students the wrong question?What if the future of education is not about helping students decide what they want to become, but first helping them discover who they already are?In this episode of the Disrupt Education Podcast, Peter Hostrawser and Alli Dahl reflect on their powerful conversation with Betsy Wills, author of Your Hidden Genius, and explore why aptitude discovery may be one of the most overlooked opportunities in education today. Together, they challenge the traditional approach to career exploration, discuss why interests alone are not enough, and examine how understanding a student's natural strengths can unlock confidence, purpose, and long term success.The conversation connects classroom learning, career pathways, internships, work based learning, AI, and student identity through one central idea: students create their greatest value when they understand how they are naturally wired.Peter shares real stories from Naperville 203's Career Internship Program, including why some high school students are already creating more value than college interns, while Alli explores how simple exercises like the Mental Apple Test reveal that every learner experiences the world differently. Together, they challenge educators, parents, and school leaders to rethink how we define student success and why helping students know themselves should come before asking them to choose a career.This episode also launches the annual Disrupt Education Student Series, where you'll hear directly from remarkable young people who have discovered their strengths early and are already making meaningful contributions in college, business, entrepreneurship, and their communities. Their stories offer practical lessons for educators, families, and students looking to create more intentional pathways toward the future.Whether you're an educator, administrator, parent, employer, or simply passionate about preparing students for a rapidly changing world, this episode will challenge your thinking and leave you asking a different question:What if every student knew their hidden genius before they ever chose a pathway?If you enjoy conversations about education innovation, career readiness, internships, AI, student success, workforce development, and the future of learning, be sure to follow the Disrupt Education Podcast and join us each week as we continue disrupting education for the better.Powered by YouScience Brightpath.YouScience Brightpath, the next generation platform helping students make personalized decisions as they move from education to career. If you are serious about connecting students to real opportunities, head to youscience.com/disrupteducation-podcast. Request a demo and let them know you heard about YouScience right here.

The wait is almost over, and the 2026 Division III football season is kicking off with an absolute bang. On this episode of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast, we are breaking down our newly released Preseason Top 25 poll and looking ahead to a schedule that is already shaping up to be, well, we used the term “gobsmacking.” This edition of the D3football.com Podcast is sponsored by GameStrat, the most reliable & fastest in-game video replay system on the market. Find out more at GameStrat.com. For the very first time in the 23-year history of the poll, the season opens with a monumental clash between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country. It's an unprecedented Week 1 blockbuster that breaks the mold of the usual Mount Union, Whitewater, or Mary Hardin-Baylor early-season math. We dive into what this historic matchup, between North Central and Bethel, means for the landscape of D-III football, how the poll numbers set up the early schedule, and highlight the games you absolutely cannot miss. Plus, we are bringing you newsmakers directly from the sidelines to get you ready for the fall: Coach Brad Spencer and senior safety Brayden Garrigan from North Central join us. Spencer chats about the mindset in Naperville heading into 2026, how the coaching staff is managing the continued sky-high expectations, and the benefits of playing Bethel once again. We also get Garrigan’s perspective on his busy offseason and what it actually feels like in the North Central locker room in terms of bringing new starters and freshmen into the mix. Mary Hardin-Baylor head coach Larry Harmon drops in to discuss how the Cru are hoping to improve on offense in their second year since the return of offensive coordinator Steven Lee. While the quarterback situation is a little up in the air, we hear a little about the position, plus what UMHB needs to do to elevate the offense. We also talk about the Cru’s schedule, especially key games against Endicott and Rowan which are sure to help the NPI of the winner. Mentioned in the podcast: ATN Podcast 383, A new year awaits Plus we answer mailbag questions about the preseason Top 25, share our sleeper picks for the 2026 season, talk about how we go about making our preseason votes, and give a brief prediction for the game between No. 1 North Central and No. 2 Bethel. And … what of UW-River Falls? The Falcons lost key personnel to graduation, more to the transfer portal, and their head coach and offensive coordinator. We know, not everyone has heard. Patrick and Greg do not agree as to where UW-River Falls should be ranked in the preseason, but we’ll offer hope for where they might find success in 2026. That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation during the season, twice monthly in the offseason, about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007. Hit play, or subscribe to get this podcast on your mobile device. You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. You can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps: Apple Podcasts: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Podcast Addict: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast iHeart Radio: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Spotify: D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast Photos: Mathieu Starke, d3photography.com; Mary Hardin-Baylor athletics; Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

A 30-year family business. A second-generation founder. And a future that makes everything they built irrelevant.He took over from his father and saw the problem immediately: the industry that built this company is being automated out of existence. Dark warehouses in China already run with zero humans. AI is changing how buyers discover businesses.In this episode, Alex Sheridan sits down with Cliff Hardesty, President of Hardesty Technologies, to talk about 10Xing a family business, why a customer finding your company on ChatGPT changes everything, and what it really takes to rebuild a 30-year company for the AI era.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:13:37Q: Can customers discover your business through ChatGPT?A: Cliff Hardesty shares how a customer found Hardesty Technologies through ChatGPT, turning an AI conversation into a real business lead.00:17:12Q: What are dark warehouses and why should founders care?A: Cliff Hardesty describes fully automated warehouses in China with zero human workers and explains why this motivated a complete company rebrand.00:29:48Q: What does it take to 10x a family business without VC funding?A: Cliff Hardesty explains his strategy of assembling the right team, comparing it to building a sports franchise around a star quarterback.00:41:33Q: How can founders use AI tools to move faster without hiring specialists?A: Cliff Hardesty walks through using Claude for prompt engineering and Artlist for image generation, creating professional mockups in ten minutes.00:48:38Q: Will AI put businesses out of business or is it overhyped?A: Cliff Hardesty and Alex Sheridan agree there will only be two types of businesses — those that learn AI and those that disappear.Subscribe and share this with a founder who needs to hear this.

In this episode, Left Brain Wealth Management Founder & CIO Noland Langford and Director of Research Brian Dress sit down for their Q2 2026 Investment Committee debrief. On the surface it was a strong quarter, the S&P 500 was up 14.9%, but the conversation goes well beyond the scoreboard. Noland and Brian unpack where capital actually flowed, why the AI buildout is spreading past the chipmakers, and a form of hidden concentration that may be sitting inside a portfolio that looks perfectly diversified. Topics covered: • The Q2 scoreboard and the story it doesn't tell • Where money actually flowed this quarter, and what got left behind • Is AI in a bubble? A straight answer • The AI budget tradeoff: a CEO/CIO breakdown of hardware versus software spend • Beyond the chipmakers: where the next AI winners may emerge • Hidden concentration: how you can own hundreds of stocks in an index fund and still be under-diversified • Gold, silver, and Bitcoin: the safe haven stress test • Oil and the Iran question • SpaceX and the IPO pipeline • Research spotlight: Oracle • What the committee is watching heading into Q3 Resources mentioned: • Watch the full video: Left Brain Wealth Management YouTube channel • Already a Left Brain client? Bring your outside accounts, old 401(k)s, and company stock into the conversation. • Not yet a client? Book a free 30-minute call: https://tinyurl.com/Book30MinutesWithLeftBrain Left Brain Wealth Management, Naperville, IL, leftbrainwm.com, 630-517-9300 Chapter markers: 0:00 Cold Open: The AI Buildout 0:50 Welcome to the Left Brain Investment Committee 1:24 The Quarter That Was (Q2 Scoreboard) 4:54 Where Money Flowed in Q2 8:56 Is AI a Bubble? 10:58 The AI Budget Tradeoff (Hardware vs. Software Spend) 14:27 Beyond the Chipmakers: The Next AI Winners 20:31 Hidden Concentration: What Your Index Fund Isn't Telling You 27:44 Gold, Silver & Bitcoin: The Safe Haven Stress — Full Disclosure No Client or potential client should assume that any information presented or made available on or through this video should be construed as personalized financial planning or investment advice. Personalized financial planning and investment advice can only be rendered after engagement of the firm for services, execution of the required documentation, and receipt of required disclosures. The content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. The information in this material is not intended as tax or legal advice. It may not be used for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. Please consult legal or tax professionals for specific information regarding your individual situation. Additional information about Left Brain is available in its current disclosure documents, Form ADV, Form ADV Part 2A Brochure, and Client Relationship Summary (Form CRS), which are available online via the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/170348.

87% of business owners will never successfully exit their company. Nicole and Thano Emerick spend every day making sure their clients are not in that number.Alex Sheridan sits down with husband-and-wife team Nicole and Thano Emerick, Partner and President of Exit Factor of Western Chicagoland, to unpack why most businesses fail to sell.Founders learn why owner dependency caps valuation, why messy books scare off buyers, why revenue means nothing without profit, and why even a successful exit can leave a founder feeling lost.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:02:31Q: Why does owner dependency lower a business's sale value?A: Thano Emerick explains that when a business fully runs through its owner, buyers see it as high risk and untransferable.00:04:49Q: Why do successful exits often lead to regret?A: Thano Emerick cites a study showing 75% of owners who exit successfully still feel dissatisfaction after losing their sense of purpose.00:11:15Q: Why does profit matter more than revenue when selling a business?A: Nicole Emerick and Thano Emerick explain a business with no profit may not be sellable, popularizing the line revenue is vanity, profit is sanity.00:32:01Q: Do most business owners know what their company is worth?A: Nicole Emerick estimates 80% of an owner's net worth is tied up in their business, and most owners don't know what it is worth.00:40:16Q: Does an online presence affect what buyers will pay for a business?A: Nicole Emerick explains sellers with no online presence get discounted because buyers must spend years rebuilding the brand themselves.Subscribe and share this with a founder who needs it.

DuPage PADS, an organization that provides assistance to homeless people, will host a block party in downtown Naperville in early August.

DuPage PADS, an organization that provides assistance to homeless people, will host a block party in downtown Naperville in early August.

DuPage PADS, an organization that provides assistance to homeless people, will host a block party in downtown Naperville in early August.

Welcome back to Season 16 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. I'm Andrea Samadi, and this is where we bridge neuroscience, social and emotional learning, and human performance so we can create measurable improvements in our well-being, achievement, leadership, productivity, and results. In this episode 403 The Movement Loop: How Movement Activates the Brain for Learning, Adaptation & Performance we will cover: ✔ Why movement is the biological input that prepares the brain for learning, adaptation, and performance. ✔ How Dr. Chuck Hillman's groundbreaking neuroscience research explains what happens inside the brain during and immediately after exercise. ✔ Why even one bout of physical activity can improve attention, executive function, and learning readiness. ✔ How Paul Zientarski translated neuroscience into practice through Naperville Central High School's internationally recognized Zero Hour PE Program. ✔ The science behind brain activation, neuroplasticity, positive stress, and cognitive reserve. ✔ Why movement isn't a break from learning—it's preparation for learning. ✔ How teachers, coaches, parents, and workplace leaders can use movement to improve focus, decision-making, creativity, and performance. ✔ How to apply the Movement Loop in everyday life using practical strategies you can begin today. ✔ Why movement is the input, adaptation is the process, and performance is the result. If you're just joining us, Season 16 explores Phase 3 of the Brain's Operating System for Human Performance—the Movement Loop. This season asks one central question: How does movement change the brain, adaptation change the body, and together create measurable improvements in performance? If you'd like the full overview of the five-phase framework, I encourage you to start with Episode 402. In Episode 402[i], we introduced Phase 3 of the Brain's Operating System for Human Performance—where we introduced The Movement Loop. We discovered one powerful idea. Movement is the input. When you move, your body sends a powerful biological signal to the brain that says: "Prepare. Activate. Adapt." Adaptation is the process. With movement, repetition, and recovery, the brain and body strengthen, rewire, and become more efficient. Performance is the output. The changes become visible in everyday life—clearer thinking, better decisions, stronger health, and improved performance. Then the loop begins again. Today we're asking the next question. Why does movement come first? Not simply because exercise is good for our bodies. But because movement is one of the most powerful biological signals we can send to the brain. Before we can focus... Before we can learn... Before we can adapt... The brain must first be activated. That's why movement isn't the outcome. It's the beginning. When we first interviewed Dr. Chuck Hillman on Episode 123[ii], (back in April 2021) I wanted to understand how his neuroscience research inspired Paul Zientarski's revolutionary Zero Hour PE Program at Naperville Central High School. It was Naperville's extraordinary performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) that caught the eye of Dr. John Ratey. Naperville District 203 entered the international comparison as if it were its own "country" and ranked #1 in the world in science and #6 in the world in math. Those results made Dr. Ratey ask, "What are they doing differently?" That question ultimately led him to Naperville, (IL) where he discovered Zientarksi's Zero Hour PE initiative and made it the opening case study in  his book Spark. We will cover this story on our next episode Then years later, we revisited that conversation in Episode 397[iii] through the lens of motivation—exploring how movement increases engagement and helps us want to move more. But looking back through the lens of Phase 3, I realized I had been asking the wrong question. The bigger question isn't whether movement motivates us. The bigger question is: What happens inside the brain the moment we begin to move? That's the question we're answering today. And it's the reason movement sits at the beginning of the Brain's Operating System for Human Performance. Let's begin where every performance story begins... with movement. As we begin Phase 3, Dr. Chuck Hillman's research helps us understand why movement is the first step in the Movement Loop. In our interview, he mentioned that his lab has consistently demonstrated that even a single bout of physical activity can improve attention, cognition, and academic performance. But what fascinated me most wasn't simply that exercise works. It was why it works. Listen carefully as Dr. Hillman explains how movement acts as a positive biological stressor that prepares the brain for learning. EP 403 — Clip 1 Summary Movement is the First Signal As we begin Phase 3 of the Brain's Operating System, the first question is simple: Why does movement come first? Dr. Chuck Hillman has spent his career studying how physical activity changes the brain—from childhood through older adulthood. His research doesn't just focus on exercise, but on understanding how different life experiences shape brain health across the lifespan. One insight from our conversation completely changed how I think about movement. Dr. Hillman explained that even a single session of exercise can improve attention, cognition, and academic performance in children. His team is now studying why that happens, exploring how exercise acts as a positive stressor that activates biological pathways supporting brain function. But what struck me even more was why he chose to study children in the first place. Rather than waiting until someone reaches their 60s and begins experiencing cognitive decline, his goal is to help children build a stronger brain from the very beginning—to create what he calls a cognitive reserve that may protect brain health throughout life. That idea captures exactly what Phase 3 is all about. Movement isn't simply something we do to stay fit. It's one of the earliest investments we can make in the future health and performance of our brain. ______ This is the first piece of the Movement Loop. Movement isn't valuable because we eventually become fitter. This is what many of us used to think? I can't be alone in this…I used to move for fitness alone. Until I studied the brain…and learned that: It's valuable because it immediately changes the state of the brain. Before learning improves... Before memory improves... Before performance improves... The brain has to be activated. That's exactly what movement does. Key Takeaways from Dr. Hillman There are three ideas I'd like all of us to remember from this first clip. Movement is Information The Neuroscience Every movement you make sends information throughout your nervous system. As your muscles contract, they don't just move your body—they communicate with your brain. Your heart pumps faster, blood flow increases, oxygen and glucose are delivered more efficiently, and neurons begin communicating more actively. Movement also changes your brain's neurochemistry. Exercise increases the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which help regulate attention, motivation, mood, and learning. At the same time, it stimulates the production of growth factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which supports neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to form and strengthen new neural connections. That's why I like to think of movement as sending a message to the brain: "Wake up. Pay attention. Get ready to learn." Movement isn't simply burning calories. It's providing your brain with the biological conditions it needs to perform at its best. Stress Isn't Always Harmful The Neuroscience When we hear the word stress, we usually think of chronic stress—too much cortisol, too little recovery, and the negative effects that follow. But the brain actually needs short, manageable challenges to become stronger. Exercise is an example of what's often called eustress, or positive stress. When you exercise, your body briefly increases stress hormones like cortisol and activates your sympathetic nervous system. At the same time, it stimulates beneficial signaling molecules and growth factors that help the brain adapt. Dr. Hillman's research explores how these temporary changes—including biomarkers like cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase—may help explain why even a single bout of exercise improves attention and cognition. The important point is that the stress is temporary. When it's followed by recovery, your brain and body adapt. Without recovery, stress becomes harmful. With recovery, stress becomes the signal that drives growth. That's why adaptation sits in the middle of the Movement Loop. The challenge isn't the goal. The adaptation is. Activation Comes Before Performance The Neuroscience One of the biggest misconceptions about learning is that we can simply decide to pay attention. The brain doesn't work that way. Before the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for focus, planning, decision-making, and executive function—can perform well, it must first be activated. Movement helps create that activation. Exercise increases cerebral blood flow, raises arousal to an optimal level, and improves communication across large-scale brain networks involved in attention and cognitive control. Think of it like warming up an orchestra before a concert. Before the musicians can perform together, they first need to tune their instruments. Movement helps the brain tune itself. That's why research consistently shows improvements in attention and executive function immediately after moderate physical activity. Performance doesn't begin when you sit down to work. Performance begins the moment you prepare your brain. That's why movement sits at the beginning of the Movement Loop. One final thought Movement isn't magic. It changes the brain because it changes the brain's biology. It increases blood flow. It changes neurochemistry. It activates neural networks. It stimulates neuroplasticity. And when those changes are repeated over time—and supported by recovery—they become adaptation. That's why movement is the input. Adaptation is the process. Performance is the result. TIPS to IMPLEMENT So what can we do with this research? Here are three simple ways to put the Movement Loop into practice this week. ✅ 1. Move with purpose. Before asking your brain to perform... Prepare it. Take a 10–20 minute walk. Ride your bike. Do a short workout. Climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Don't think of movement as taking time away from your work. Think of it as the first step toward doing your best work. I always park my car at the back of the parking lot, not afraid add bits of movement into the day. ✅ 2. Prepare the brain before expecting learning. Whether you're a parent... A teacher... A coach... Or a leader... Create opportunities to move before asking people to think. Movement isn't a reward after learning. It's preparation before learning. I discovered this one early on with this podcast. I can't focus on this topic, without moving first. ✅ 3. Start measuring brain performance—not just physical performance. The next time you move, don't just ask: "How many calories did I burn?" Ask: Did I think more clearly today? Did I focus more easily? Did I feel more energized? Did I recover better tonight? Am I becoming more resilient? Those are the real returns on your investment. Movement for me, is at the root of each of these questions. If I lacked movement (and sometimes I can't fit it in) I'll notice it show up in one of these questions, and know how important it is to get it back on track. Final Reflection Remember... Movement is the input. It's what we do. Every step you take sends a message to your brain: "Prepare. Activate. Adapt." The more consistently you send that signal, the more opportunities your brain and body have to change. Over time, those changes become visible. You think more clearly. You learn more effectively. You recover more efficiently. You perform at a higher level. But here's the part I find most fascinating. When I look at the Movement Loop... I don't stop at Performance. I look at the final circle. Confidence. Because confidence is what keeps the loop alive. I'll be the first to say I can't always do this. Something gets in the way. It's not always easy to move. Some days we're busy. Some days we're tired. Some days we simply don't feel like it. But every time you complete the loop, you collect another piece of evidence. "I showed up." "I felt better afterward." "I handled that challenge differently." "I'm becoming stronger than I was yesterday." Those moments become evidence. Evidence builds confidence. And confidence makes it easier to begin again tomorrow. That's how lasting change happens. Not through one workout. Not through one perfect week. But by repeating the loop. Again. And again. And again. Because every movement today is an investment in the person you're becoming tomorrow. Movement is the input. Adaptation is the process. Performance is the result. And confidence is what inspires us to begin again. Clip 2 Summary Brain Activation Creates Readiness to Learn Paul Zientarski explains how Naperville Central High School achieved remarkable academic results through its Zero Hour PE Program and the use of heart rate monitoring. His work around getting students to move was inspired by Dr. Hillman's research. In this clip, Paul Zientarski describes how Dr. Chuck Hillman's research transformed physical education from something schools did for physical health into something they could use to improve learning itself. The research that ignited him showed that after just 20 minutes of walking, students demonstrated measurable increases in brain activation and performed better on cognitive tasks. For Paul, this wasn't simply evidence that exercise works. It explained why movement belongs at the beginning of the school day. Movement wasn't taking time away from learning. It was preparing the brain to learn. Looking at this through the lens of the Movement Loop, we can now see what was happening biologically. Movement activated the brain. An activated brain was better able to pay attention. Better attention improved learning. Repeated learning created adaptation. And over time, those adaptations translated into stronger academic and life performance. That's why movement is the first step in Phase 3. Key Takeaways ✔ 1. Brain activation is the bridge between movement and performance. Movement doesn't improve learning—or performance—directly. It first changes the brain into a state that's ready to focus, solve problems, make decisions, and learn. Whether you're in a classroom, on the athletic field, or leading a team at work, performance begins with brain activation. ✔ 2. Readiness comes before instruction/teaching/learning. One of Paul Zientarski's greatest insights was that not every student needed more movement. Sometimes they needed more recovery. By monitoring students' heart rates, he learned to recognize when a student was physiologically ready to learn and when the brain and body needed time to recover. That's a lesson for all of us. Teachers can observe energy before beginning a lesson. Coaches can balance challenge with recovery. Leaders can recognize when their teams need a reset before asking for peak performance. The question isn't simply, "What am I teaching?" It's, "Are people ready to learn?" ✔ 3. Small actions create lasting adaptation. One walk. One movement break. One active lesson. One walking meeting. None of these seem significant on their own. But repeated consistently, they become the biological signals that drive adaptation. Small actions, repeated often, create lasting change. ✔ 4. Performance begins long before the moment that matters. A student's success doesn't begin when they open the exam. An athlete's success doesn't begin when the whistle blows. A leader's success doesn't begin when the meeting starts. Performance begins much earlier— when we prepare the brain to perform. ✔ 5. Movement isn't a break from work. It's preparation for better work. Whether you're teaching a lesson... Coaching a team... Leading a meeting... Or solving a complex problem... Movement should be viewed as part of the performance process—not time taken away from it. Tips to Implement Prepare the brain before expecting performance. Before teaching... Before coaching... Before presenting... Before solving difficult problems... Ask one question: "Is the brain ready to perform?" Sometimes the best way to improve performance is to begin with five to ten minutes of purposeful movement. Build movement into the rhythm of the day. Instead of viewing movement as a separate activity, make it part of how you work and learn. Teachers can begin lessons with movement. Coaches can use dynamic warm-ups with a cognitive focus. Leaders can replace one seated meeting each week with a walking meeting. Movement becomes the signal that says, "It's time to focus." Balance challenge with recovery. Paul didn't simply encourage students to move more. He also recognized when they needed recovery. High performance isn't created by constant effort. It's created by alternating challenge with recovery. That's true in classrooms. It's true in sports. And it's true in the workplace. Think beyond fitness. Don't ask, "How do I fit exercise into my day?" Instead ask, "How can movement improve everything I do afterward?" That one shift changes movement from another task on your calendar... into the first step toward better thinking, better learning, better leadership, and better performance. Closing Reflection Every time we move... We send a message to the brain. "Prepare. Activate. Adapt." That's why movement isn't just something we do for our bodies. It's one of the most practical performance tools available to teachers, coaches, leaders, parents, and anyone who wants to think more clearly, learn more effectively, and perform at a higher level. Because in the end... Movement is the input. (What we do.) Adaptation is the process. (How the brain and body change.) Performance is the result. (What we're capable of becoming.) Paul Zientarski didn't change physical education at Naperville HS. He changed the purpose of physical education. Instead of asking, "How do we build fitter students?" he helped us ask, "How do we build brains that are ready to learn?" EP 403 Review and Conclusion As we review and close out this episode, I'd like to leave you with one final thought. When we first interviewed Dr. Chuck Hillman, I was fascinated by what exercise did for the brain. When we interviewed Paul Zientarski, I was inspired by how he translated that research into a school that changed lives. But looking back through the lens of Phase 3, I realize they were teaching us something even bigger. They were teaching us where human performance begins. Not with talent. Not with intelligence. Not with motivation. It begins with a biological signal. Movement. Every step you take... Every walk... Every workout... Every hike... Every time you choose to move... You're telling your brain: "Prepare. Activate. Adapt." That's the first instruction your brain receives. From there, everything else becomes possible. Movement activates the brain. An activated brain pays attention. Attention makes learning possible. Learning creates adaptation. Adaptation improves performance. And performance builds confidence. Confidence is what inspires us to move again tomorrow. That's the Movement Loop. A Personal Journey This season has become personal for me. For years, I interviewed experts and shared their research. Over the past year, I began testing these ideas (their research) in my own life. Not to become a better athlete. Not to chase perfect numbers on my wearable device (as much as I would like to have them). But to see whether the neuroscience actually showed up in everyday life. It did. The more consistently I moved... The more consistently I recovered... The more my brain and body adapted. My recovery improved. My resting heart rate dropped. My hikes became easier. My thinking became clearer. Those weren't isolated improvements. They were evidence that the Movement Loop was working. And with every small improvement... my confidence grew. Not because someone told me I was improving. Because I could see it. I could measure it. I could feel it. That confidence became more than the result of movement. It became something I began carrying into other areas of my life. Into my work. Into my relationships. Into the challenges I was willing to take on. And that's when I realized something... Confidence doesn't end the Movement Loop. It becomes the beginning of another part of the Brain's Operating System. But... that's a conversation for another episode.   Your challenge for the week So before our next episode, I'd like to leave you with a simple challenge. Don't focus on changing your life overnight. Just begin the loop. Tomorrow morning... Before work... Before studying... Before an important conversation... Move. Even if it's just for ten or twenty minutes. Then ask yourself one question: How did that movement prepare my brain today? Start paying attention. Notice your focus. Notice your energy. Notice how you think. Because once you begin looking for the changes... You'll start seeing them everywhere. Write down what you notice…because if you don't write things down, you won't remember that the change occurred.   Looking ahead In our next episode, we'll continue exploring Phase 3 with one of the pioneers in this field, Dr. John Ratey, author of Spark. If Dr. Hillman showed us that movement activates the brain... Dr. Ratey helps us understand why exercise has been called "Miracle-Gro for the brain" and how movement literally changes the brain's ability to learn, adapt, and grow. We'll continue building the Movement Loop... one step at a time.   Until next time... Remember... Movement is the input. It's what we do. Adaptation is the process. It's how the brain and body change. Performance is the result. It's the measurable improvement we experience in our thinking, learning, health, leadership, and daily lives. And perhaps most importantly... Confidence is what keeps the loop alive. Because every step you take today is building the brain you'll depend on tomorrow. By the end of this season, my hope is that we don't just understand the neuroscience of human performance—we put it into practice. That we begin moving with purpose. That we notice how our brain and body respond. That we embrace adaptation as part of the process. And that we experience measurable improvements in our thinking, learning, health, leadership, and everyday performance.   I'm Andrea Samadi, and this has been the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. I'll see you next time.   EP 403: How did movement prepare my brain today? EP 404: How did today's movement help my brain learn? EP 405: How did recovery help my brain adapt? EP 406: How did attention improve my performance? EP 407: How will I keep the loop going?   RESOURCES:   Full interview Dr. Chuck Hillman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ip5s2iDFLE&list=PLb5Z3cA_mnKhiYc5glhacO9k9WTrSgjzW&index=88   Full interview Paul Zientarski https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHYNEhxkxfE   Paul Zientarski's clip https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DmtkP_licdA   REFERENCES:   [i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 402 “Phase 3 Intro: How Movement Builds the Brain https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/movement-loop-how-everyday-action-rewires-your-brain-and-boosts-performance/   [ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 123 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/northeastern-university-professor-chuck-hillman-phd-on-the-impact-of-exercise-on-the-brain-and-learning/   [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 397 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/move-to-learn-how-movement-activates-the-brain-and-fuels-motivation/                                

Sam Gao built an AI COO that commands 12 agents running his business around the clock — and it started because he almost lost everything to a broken sales process.Alex Sheridan sits down with Sam Gao, founder of CoCode, to break down how AI agents actually work inside a real business, why AI amplifies chaos just as easily as it amplifies good systems, and what founders need to do right now before they build anything with agents.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:08:31Q: What is an AI COO and how does it run a business?A: Sam Gao built an AI COO orchestrator commanding 12 sub agents across lead generation, service delivery, and payment pipelines running 24 hours a day.00:13:12Q: Can AI agents actually generate leads automatically?A: Sam Gao has agents crawling bidding sites for four hours every night. By morning, his sales team has a ready list of opportunities to follow up on.00:19:18Q: What happens when you use AI without solid processes?A: Sam Gao warns that AI amplifies good processes but also amplifies chaos. Every company must document workflows before deploying agents or the automation makes problems worse faster.00:46:40Q: Will AI reduce the number of small businesses?A: Sam Gao believes big corporations will own AI capabilities and absorb startup features, reducing opportunities for smaller companies over time.00:49:44Q: What type of business will survive AI disruption?A: Sam Gao says proprietary knowledge and genuine human relationships are the two assets AI cannot replace. Depth and trust become the real differentiators.Subscribe and share this with a founder who needs it.

Every founder hits a revenue ceiling. Michael Grudecki says it's rarely a market problem. It's a skill set missing inside your own company.Alex Sheridan sits down with Michael Grudecki, co-founder of the Fractional Executive Network, on why growth stalls, why founders can't see their own blind spots, and why he vowed to never put business ahead of what actually matters.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:00:00Q: What is the revenue ceiling every founder hits?A: Michael Grudecki explains that growth stalls at $500K, $5M, or $50M when the business lacks the executive skill set needed for the next level.00:09:50Q: What keeps founders trapped in their own business?A: Michael Grudecki built his first company around himself. No days off, clients who refused anyone else. He shares what to do differently from day one.00:12:51Q: Why do business owners stay the bottleneck of their own company?A: Michael Grudecki says it comes down to fear. Nobody wants to hear their baby is ugly, so the flaws stay unaddressed.00:18:54Q: How should founders approach long-term planning and vision?A: Michael Grudecki goes to the last chapter first. Lifestyle business, sellable asset, or family succession — every plan flows backward from that answer.00:26:39Q: What is the difference between a fractional executive and a consultant?A: Michael Grudecki explains a consultant hands you a plan and walks away, while a fractional executive stays tied to your KPIs and OKRs.Subscribe to Founder Talk and share this with a founder who needs it.

Alex Sheridan sits down with Erik Davison, founder and CEO of DBV Solutions, to discuss the real cost of scaling a consulting firm. Erik shares how he tripled revenue through multi-year deals, why he delegates what he does best, and the Accenture lesson that changed how he thinks about cash flow.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:53Q: How do you triple revenue after 20 years?A: Erik Davison secured multi-year implementation contracts with larger clients, replicating one engagement across several more.00:04:33Q: Do founders still worry about payroll after 20 years?A: Erik Davison still has sleepless nights with 35 employees. He pays employees first and maintains reserves because clients do not always pay on time.00:07:40Q: How long can a firm survive without new sales?A: An Accenture managing partner told Erik Davison the answer was 90 days. That taught him to never stop business development.00:34:49Q: Should you delegate what you hate or what you do best?A: Erik Davison argues delegate what you do best because quality is easy to verify. This forces growth by tackling uncomfortable tasks.00:47:35Q: Will AI replace service businesses?A: Erik Davison cites a Gartner study showing AI's real risk is eroding leadership development. Middle managers never learn through mistakes if AI provides all answers.Subscribe to Founder Talk and share this with a founder who needs it

She watched $600/hour consultants deliver terrible work for years. Then she quit corporate and built a better firm in 12 months.Rachel Losser left corporate in July 2024 to start Losser Consulting Solutions. In under a year she scaled to six employees and 10-20 consultants, almost entirely on referrals. She replaced 150-page decks with 3-slide proposals and partnered with Chris Voss on a book called Lead With Empathy.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:02:16Q: What made Rachel Losser start her own consulting firm?A: She watched $600/hour consultants deliver terrible work and decided she could do it better00:06:35Q: How did replacing 150-page decks with 3 slides change her consulting business?A: She threw out the playbook and clients loved the clarity00:10:28Q: What is the simplest marketing strategy for a service business?A: Good work gets you more good work and fulfillment must be pristine00:19:00Q: Can AI replace consulting?A: For AI to take her job a client would have to accurately describe what they want00:31:35Q: How should founders think about work-life balance?A: Think in seasons not days with non-negotiables like dinner with your spouse every night00:49:58Q: What negotiation technique from Chris Voss changed everything?A: No-based questions remove mental load and make people more comfortable agreeingIf you have ever paid too much for bad consulting or wondered whether AI is coming for your service business, this is the episode.

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for your weekly Dose of DX. I'm Bill, AJ8B.Registration is now open for W9DXCC 2026, with admission prices staying the same. The 73rd convention will take place September 11–12 at the Marriott in Naperville, Illinois, featuring Friday DX and contesting sessions, Saturday speakers, exhibits, QSL card checking, and an evening reception and banquet. More details and the developing program are available on the convention website.The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, just drop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.comHere are some operations in the near future.9N- Nepal - DL4XT is planning an October DXpedition to Nepal, operating under the callsign 9N7XT. The operation will cover multiple HF bands with a mix ofvoice, digital, and CW activity. He will be active on SSB, CW and FT8 on 160, 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10M. For antennas he'll be using 10–20m 1/4-wave vertical with radials; 40m delta loop; 80/160m EFHW. QSOs will beuploaded at least once daily on Club Log. QSL via QRZ.com, LoTW, anddirect via OQRS on Club Log.{Marathon Alert} BY – China - During the 2026 IARU HF World Championship, which is July 11 and 12, members of the Chinese Radio Amateurs Club will be operating HQ stations B8HQ and B9HQ from ITU Zone 43 and giving out the CRAC multiplier.{Marathon Alert} HS – Thailand - Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) will compete in the IARU HF World Championship on July 11–12, using the E2HQ callsign from Muak Lek District in Saraburi Province, about 150 km north of Bangkok. A team of operators will participate, and RAST will also hold a meeting at the contest location during the weekend.VP5 - Turks and Caicos Islands - G0VJG will be active from North Caicos (NA-002), July 17–30, operating VP5G from a beach location for 14 days. Nobby will use an inverted V and HF9V, a 6-element 6M Yagi, and a Juma PA 1000 amplifier. During the IOTA Contest he will operate single op. Activity will include SSB, CW, and FT4/FT8. QSL via M0OXO.Here are operations that are currently ongoing.{Marathon Alert} JT – Mongolia - The QO-100 Club says that R9LR, Vlad, QO-100 DX Club #362, is QRV from Mongolia, callsign JT0LR, on CW, SSB and the FT modes. He is attempting to activate different grids every day.{Marathon Alert} JD1/O – Ogasawara – Kou, JP1IHD, will again be on from Chichijima, as JD1BQP, until July 11. He will upload the log to LoTW and Club Log, or you may QSL direct to his home QTH in Japan.{Marathon Alert} SV – Greece - VK2IR, Tommy, continues on Paros Island, Greece, EU-067 until August 1. He says he is in “vacation mode,” all bands 80-6, with his Greek callsign, SV0XBF/8.{Marathon Alert} 8R – Guyana - 8R1TM, operated by PY1SAD, Aldir, is QRV from Guyana until July 26. The operation is planned across 160 meters through 6 meters, including CW, SSB, digital modes, and satellite activity. On weekdays his expected activity from 23:00 UTC to 03:00 UTC on 6–160 meters using CW, SSB, digital modes, and satellites. And during weekends he will have Full-time activity planned on 6–160 meters using CW, SSB, digital modes, and satellite operation.This week, the DX Mentor Podcast features a discussion with John, K9EL. John will give up all the details of how he became a member of the 3000-point club in the ARRL Challenge. We learned quite a bit listening to John. Check it out and let me know what you think.If you have questions or need information, just drop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.comUntil next week, this is Bill, AJ8B saying 73 and thanks to my XYL Karen for her love and support. I Hope to hear you in the pileups! Have a great DX week!

Travel baseball can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, and the real bill is bigger than the checks you are writing. Here is what you are actually paying for.   MLB agent Matt Hannaford adds up the real cost of travel baseball so you can stop overpaying and start spending on what actually develops your son. Subscribe for the insider playbook on recruiting, the transfer portal, and the MLB Draft.   WHAT YOU'LL LEARN The full cost of travel baseball that most families never add up Why spending more does not mean your son is developing more When a roster spot you are paying for is no longer worth it The cost that has nothing to do with money: your relationship with your son How to capture the benefit of travel baseball at the lowest possible cost   Matt Hannaford answers three real questions from travel baseball parents, and every one of them comes back to cost. First, the obvious bill: entry fees, program dues, flights, rental cars, hotels, and food. Matt is direct that travel baseball is a completely different animal than Little League, and that the financial buy-in is real before you talk about anything else.   Then comes the cost most families never see coming. Parents spend all of this money chasing exposure early, and end up in the hole 20, 40, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, only to reach 16 and wonder why their son still is not being recruited. Matt explains the order that protects your wallet: development first, then competition, then exposure, because August 1 of junior year is the first time a Division I program can even contact you. You can go to almost no events, focus on development, and your son is still not behind. He points to Steph Curry, who developed his game and went to Davidson, and Evan Longoria, who went from junior college to Long Beach State to the third overall pick.   When Jim from Naperville asks whether he is just paying $3,000 to develop the starters, Matt gives you the two questions to ask a coach before you write the check, and the respectful meeting to have when the program stops adding value. And the deepest cost is not money at all. When Tom from Louisville asks whether travel ball is development or status, Matt gets honest about the ranking system and the value of failure, citing the start to Austin Riley's career. Former big leaguer Danny Espinosa shares what a real win looks like: your son saying, it's okay, I love you. Related topics include college recruiting, scholarships, the transfer portal, NIL, and rec ball versus travel ball.   TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - The Real Cost of Travel Baseball 1:40 - The Costs Nobody Adds Up 4:41 - The Benefit at the Lowest Cost 16:25 - Spending Big and Still Not Recruited 22:06 - Paying $3,000 to Sit the Bench 28:47 - The Cost That Isn't Money 31:26 - Why Rankings Cost You Focus   ABOUT THE MVA PODCAST Matt Hannaford is an MLB agent who gives you the insider playbook on college recruiting, the transfer portal, and MLB Draft decisions. The Most Valuable Agent Podcast helps parents and players navigate the system with confidence.   Have a question for a future episode? Email matt@mostvaluableagent.com   Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@mostvaluableagent MVA Website: https://www.aligndsports.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mfhannaford/    #MVAPodcast #TravelBaseball #CollegeBaseball #MLBDraft #YouthSports  

People are turning clutter into cash through yard - garage - and estate sales as they downsize - move - or simply get organized. Lisa Stover, Expert in Senior Transitions and Owner - Presto Real Estate and Services in Naperville joins Rob Hart on the WBBM Noon Business Hour with the details...

Lenny Feil, Designated Managing Broker and Owner at Century 21 Harthside Realtors, joins Jon Hansen for the Front Porch Report. Lenny talks about what suburbs are the absolute best when downsizing and highlights neighborhoods like Tinley Park and Aurora for ranches, and Palatine and Naperville for condos. For more information, visit lennyfeil.com or call 708-870-0514.

Your 401k is not going to make you rich. A wealth advisor to $50M+ families just said it on camera.Jeremy Boynton manages ultra-high-net-worth families. He survived two 100-year market crashes back to back, pivoted to alternative investments by learning from a Chicago family office, and today runs Laureate Wealth Management and Pure Crypto, where his first crypto fund is up 6X since 2018.In this Founder Talk episode, Alex and Jeremy go deep on how the ultra-wealthy actually invest, why most founders are playing the wrong game with their money, and which alternative vehicles generate returns most people never see.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:04:12Q: Why are crypto and AI creating an unprecedented moment right now?A: Jeremy Boynton says two once-in-a-generation technological revolutions are happening simultaneously00:14:07Q: How is a crypto project replacing AT&T right now?A: Jeremy Boynton explains how Helium built a global telecom network with $250 hotspots00:17:10Q: Should founders diversify or go all in?A: You do not become Bill Gates by diversifying. You diversify AFTER you become Bill Gates00:30:15Q: Why does a wealth advisor say your 401k will not make you rich?A: Jeremy Boynton says real wealth comes from doing something you love, not saving in a 401k00:31:43Q: What wake-up call does every founder need about wealth and life?A: Jeremy Boynton tells the story of a client who saved his whole life and died before his Europe trip00:51:25Q: How does permanent capital private equity generate 40% annual yields?A: Buy blue collar businesses at 3.5-4x EBITDA, hold forever, eat the cash flowsIf you are a founder still treating your investments as an afterthought, this is the wake-up call.

Brian Dress and Noland Langford walk through everything executives need to know about their equity comp packages, from the basics of RSUs, stock options, and ESPP, to vest day tax implications, the job change trap, and what building a real equity compensation plan actually looks like. In this episode: • The three types of equity comp and what makes each different • What vest day actually means (and why it matters more than a calendar reminder) • The tax withholding gap and other hidden costs • Expensive mistakes executives make around vesting • The job change trap: options expiration windows and negotiating equity you're leaving behind • Underwater options: how to think about them • What a real equity comp plan looks like, and how to start building one Chapters: 00:00 Cold Open 00:56 Introductions 01:40 The Three Types of Equity Comp 03:53 What Actually Happens on Vest Day 06:00 Expensive Mistakes Around Vesting 09:06 Hidden Costs: The Withholding Gap and Concentrated Stock 13:49 Stock Options: What Executives Need to Know 16:11 The Job Change Trap 17:30 Underwater Options 18:53 What a Real Equity Comp Plan Looks Like 22:09 Closing Thoughts Links mentioned: • Book a free 30-minute consultation: https://tinyurl.com/Book30MinutesWithLeftBrain • Free guide, Executive Guide to Managing Company Stock: Download the Executive Guide • Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vWWGAbpPvDU Left Brain Wealth Management is an independent wealth management firm based in Naperville, Illinois, specializing in financial planning for corporate executives. Full Disclosure: No Client or potential client should assume that any information presented or made available on or through this video should be construed as personalized financial planning or investment advice. Personalized financial planning and investment advice can only be rendered after engagement of the firm for services, execution of the required documentation, and receipt of required disclosures. The content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. The information in this material is not intended as tax or legal advice. It may not be used for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. Please consult legal or tax professionals for specific information regarding your individual situation. Additional information about Left Brain is available in its current disclosure documents, Form ADV, Form ADV Part 2A Brochure, and Client Relationship Summary (Form CRS), which are available online via the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/170348.

94% of business problems are process, not people. But most founders blame people first.Rick Lochner has spent 18 years coaching leaders on how to get out of their own way. He is a West Point graduate who managed a $1.5 billion business unit at Sprint overseeing 640 people across 19 states. He has coached executives on six continents. He has seen firsthand why talented founders stay stuck and why businesses that should scale are not.In this episode of Founder Talk, Alex sits down with Rick for a conversation about the mindset shifts and leadership fundamentals that separate founders who scale from those stuck in the day-to-day. Rick reveals why the number one mistake is feeling like you need all the answers, how to shift from doer to leader, and why coaching your team is an investment while jumping in is a spend.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:02:20Q: Why did Salesforce regret replacing employees with AI?A: Rick Lochner calls it "unintended consequences." Salesforce laid off 4,000 for AI and now faces trust issues00:12:42Q: Why is leading yourself the first step to leading others?A: Rick Lochner says "if you can't lead you, you have no right to lead others."00:23:11Q: What is the number one leadership mistake founders make?A: Feeling like you need all the answers. The shift: "I am now successful through others."00:28:38Q: What is the difference between investing time and spending time?A: Jumping in yourself is spending time. Coaching your team is investing time with compounding value.00:31:40Q: What percentage of business problems are process versus people?A: According to the Deming Institute, 94%. Look at the system first, not the person.00:54:51Q: How do you create a vision and mission that inspires your team?A: Rick Lochner crafts a vision live and explains the triad: strategy, mission, vision.If leadership feels harder than it should, this episode shows you why.

She had a six-pack, a thriving ER career, and did everything right on the surface. Then she was diagnosed with cancer. The cause was not genetics. It was the lifestyle pattern most founders follow every day.Dr. Jennifer Ron is an ER physician turned Integrative Cancer Care specialist and cancer survivor. She breaks down which founder habits accelerate aging and the protocols that reset your health fast.00:00:00 Introduction00:02:05Q: What are the habits that founders have right now that are accelerating their aging?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron shares her story of being a fit ER doctor diagnosed with cancer. The four pillars: nutrition, exercise, stress management, and sleep.00:05:48Q: Did your lifestyle cause the cancer?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron says it was 100% stress and sleep deprivation, averaging four to six hours per night during shift work.00:08:18Q: How much of cancer is actually genetic versus lifestyle?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron explains genetics cause only 5-10% of cancers. The other 90% are epigenetic lifestyle factors founders can control.00:13:28Q: What do you say to the busy founder who thinks they don't have time for health?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron says founders are models for their team and recommends morning routines, meal prep, and hard time boundaries.00:22:18Q: Which is worse for you — sugar, alcohol, or processed foods?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron says ultra-processed foods are the absolute worst and should be cut first, even before sugar and alcohol.00:29:30Q: How does intermittent fasting work and what does it do?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron explains the 16:8 window, metabolic flexibility, and how fasting promotes gut health and immune function.00:37:10Q: Are oncologists teaching patients about nutrition and lifestyle?A: Dr. Jennifer Ron says most oncologists lack bandwidth. Integrative care fills the gap alongside conventional treatment.Subscribe to Founder Talk so you never miss an episode.

What happens when you mix a relaxed evening of bourbon tasting with a candid look at dental practice finances? You get an eye-opening reality check that completely changes how doctors view their financial future.In this episode of The Millionaire Dentist, we recap our recent live event right here in Carmel, Indiana. We break down how an evening that started as a social dinner quickly transitioned into a deep, introspective discussion about taxes, overhead, and insurance adjustments.In this episode, we share insights on:The Room Goes Quiet: Why initially social, talkative dentists suddenly become quiet and introspective when they recognize the massive gap between their current numbers and their true financial potential.The "Excellent" Illusion: How successful practice owners realize they have actually accepted mediocrity from their current advisory relationships.Retiring at 49 with One Practice: Powerful real-world testimonials, including a dentist who retired at 49 and a former Indiana Dental Association president, proving that mastering your financial systems, not owning multiple chaotic locations, is the true key to an early retirement.Making the Successful More Successful: Why Four Quadrants Advisory exclusively partners with already successful dentists to optimize their wealth.Taking the Show on the Road: A look at how our low-risk, refundable reservation model is lowering barriers for doctors as we expand these live events nationwide to markets like Orlando, Minnesota, Naperville, Columbus, and Cincinnati.If you've ever wondered what goes on at a Four Quadrants event, or why attendees routinely tell us they wish they had found this information a decade earlier, this recap is your sneak peek behind the curtain.Upcoming Tour Dates: Go to our EVENTS page for infoFacebook: Four Quadrants AdvisoryInstagram: @fourquadrantsadvisoryLinkedIn: Four Quadrants Advisory

You built a business worth millions. Now you are getting married. Do you know what your spouse is legally entitled to if it does not work out? Most founders have no idea.Chris Lunardini is a Partner at Spyros Davis LLC (Spydav Law), specializing in business law, family law, and estate planning.00:00:00 Introduction00:01:22 Scaling a law firm to 20 employees and finding the right hires00:05:27 Why responding after hours sets a precedent clients will expect forever00:08:40 The delegation revelation that changed everything00:16:09 Should a business owner get a prenup? Chris Lunardini says yes and explains why00:19:34 How to frame a prenup as a business decision and isolate just the business00:21:43 Why prenups fail in court: unsigned copies and last-minute timing00:24:25 Estate planning basics: wills vs trusts and why trusts give more control00:26:55 Bringing on an equity partner: trial periods, contracts, and exit terms00:33:05 The most valuable skill in any profession: simplifying complex things00:37:12 AI in law: courts sanctioning attorneys for AI-generated briefs with hallucinated citationsSubscribe to Founder Talk so you never miss an episode.

Most founders have no idea the financial infrastructure they depend on is about to fundamentally change. And the ones who understand why are already positioning for it.Zach Lindquist is the Founder of Pure Crypto, a crypto hedge fund operating for over eight years. He breaks down what blockchain means for business owners, why stablecoins will eliminate processing fees, and why Bitcoin might be the purest hedge against dollar devaluation.00:00:00 Introduction00:01:35Q: What is crypto and blockchain at the most basic level?A: Zach Lindquist explains that blockchain facilitates transactions between two people without a third party, and Bitcoin was the first proof of peer-to-peer digital payments.00:06:40Q: How does blockchain help business owners?A: Zach Lindquist says stablecoins can eliminate 3.5% processing fees and will be integrated in bank accounts within a year or two.00:20:20Q: How do smart contracts work?A: Zach Lindquist explains smart contracts are self-executing conditional transactions in code, and platforms like Ethereum and Solana function like app stores for financial applications.00:29:21Q: Why is Bitcoin worth anything?A: Zach Lindquist says buying Bitcoin is a bet that the dollar will devalue over time, calling it one of the purest ways to speculate on dollar destruction.00:37:55Q: Where should founders start investing in crypto?A: Zach Lindquist recommends index investing through products like the Bitwise Crypto Index and warns that buying tokens on a friend's tip is not an investment thesis.00:48:15Q: What are Pure Crypto's plans?A: Zach Lindquist says the firm is raising its fourth fund and remains focused on finding the most disruptive ideas from seed-stage to liquid markets.Subscribe to Founder Talk so you don't miss what's next.Connect with Zach Lindquist:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-lindquist-124635b5/Website: https://www.pure-crypto.com/The Founders Brief2,500+ founders read this newsletter every week to build businesses that run and grow even when they step away. The Founders Briefing delivers real strategies and tactics from the best Founder Talk conversations, behind the scenes access, and the insights that never made the final cut. Sign up here: https://podcastbuilders.activehosted.com/f/3If you are a B2B company that wants to build your own in-house content team instead of outsourcing your content to a marketing agency, we may be a fit for you! Everything you see in our podcast and content is a result of a scrappy, nimble, internal content team along with an AI-powered content systems and process. Check out pricing and services here: https://impaxs.comIf you want to start a podcast that helps you win clients and become the go-to brand in your industry, Podcast Builders can help! https://podcastbuilders.com/Podcast Builders is a podcast production and strategy company based in St. Charles, Illinois that helps founder-led B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. The company provides podcast strategy, studio production, editing, and distribution services for businesses across the western Chicago suburbs including St Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Elgin, and more.Head to our website to stream every episode on your favorite platform, join the Founder Talk community, and submit questions for future guests — all in one place: https://foundertalkpodcast.com/#FounderTalk #EntrepreneurPodcast #StartupPodcast

ATOS Convention CDs (ATOS Sales) ATOS 2026 Rochester Convention Details Start Name Artist Album Year Comments Vanessa Brett Valliant ATOS 2025 Milwaukee 2025 3-14 Wurlitzer, Riverside Theatre, Milwaukee, WI; 2025-07-24 3:56 When I Fall In Love Ben Forsthoffer ATOS 2025 Milwaukee Highlights 2 2025 3-14 Barton, Capitol Theatre (Overture Center), Madison, WI; 2025-07-24 8:36 Satyr Dance Richard Hills ATOS 2025 Milwaukee 2025 3-15 Wurlitzer, Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee, WI; 2025-07-25 11:25 Part Of Your World (The Little Mermaid) Aaron Hawthorne ATOS 2023 Chicago 2023 3-10 Wurlitzer, Tivoli Theatre, Downers Grove, IL; YTOE concert July 4, 2023 16:42 Every Day I Have The Blues Zach Frame ATOS 2023 Chicago Highlights 2 2023 3-30 Wurlitzer, Organ Piper Pizza, Milwaukee, WI; console from Seneca Theatre, Buffalo, NY; concert 2023-07-07 22:20 After The Cake Walk Tedde Gibson ATOS 2023 Chicago Highlights 1 2023 4-50 Paramount with Oriental Theatre console, Sheraton Hotel Ballroom, Naperville, IL; concert and silent movie (Captain January) 2023-07-05 24:52 Fanfare (Purvis) Jelani Eddington ATOS 2022 San Diego Highlights 1 2022 4-73 Austin, Opus 453, Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 28:55 Invierno Porteño Ryoki Yamaguchi ATOS 2022 San Diego Highlights 2 2022 4-24 Wurlitzer, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Spring Valley, CA (San Diego Chapter organ) 35:19 The Parrot (On The Fortune Teller's Hat) Dave Wickerham ATOS 2022 San Diego 2022 4-26 Robert Morton, Balboa Theatre, San Diego, CA 40:21 I Only Have Eyes For You Jerry Nagano ATOS 2019 Rochester Highlights 1 2019 4-23 Wurlitzer, Auditorium Theatre, Rochester, NY; Concert July 1, 2019 44:26 Idaho David Peckham ATOS 2019 Rochester Highlights 2 2019 4-32 Marr & Colton Hybrid, Clemens Performing Arts Center, Elmira, NY; Concert July 3, 2019 47:09 Somewhere In Time Nathan Avakian ATOS 2019 Rochester Highlights 1 2019 3-16 Wurlitzer, Riviera Theatre, North Tonawanda, NY; Originally a 3-11; Concert July 2, 2019 50:09 Wake Up And Live Chris Elliott ATOS 2018 Pasadena Highlights 2 2018 4-31 Wurlitzer, Founders' Church, Los Angeles, CA; concert July 3, 2018 54:05 The Boy Next Door Mark Herman ATOS 2018 Pasadena Highlights 2 2018 3-19 Wurlitzer, Bandrika Studios, Tarzana, CA; Formerly Fox Studios 58:57 The Liberty Bell Justin LaVoie ATOS 2018 Pasadena 2018 4-26 Wurlitzer, Vic Lopez Auditorium, High School, Whittier, CA; concert July 2, 2018

Most founders don't know where they're bleeding cash every month. Neither did some of the most successful business owners Hunter Scott has worked with.Welcome to the 100th episode of Founder Talk! Hunter Scott is a CPA and Partner at Strata Cloud Accountants. In this conversation, he breaks down the top financial mistakes founders make, shares stories of hidden margin killers, and explains why your tax bill might be the best KPI you have.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:22Q: What are the top three financial mistakes business owners make?A: Hunter Scott says most founders barely track their numbers, make gut-based decisions without forward-looking views, and hold onto the illusion they can do it all themselves.00:06:09Q: What is a good profit margin for a B2B service company?A: Hunter Scott says 60% or above, and recommends digging into utilization metrics to find where the gaps are.00:15:05Q: What drove the firm to nearly double in revenue last year?A: Hunter Scott says working with a sales coach and making three to six phone calls a day to build real relationships were the biggest drivers.00:21:36Q: What is an example of a hidden financial problem most founders miss?A: Hunter Scott shares how a restaurant's margin was dropping because the cost of limes went up, resulting in a 10,000-plus monthly impact once fixed.00:28:16Q: Should founders avoid paying more taxes?A: Hunter Scott says the best KPI is how much you pay in taxes because it means the business is growing, and resisting growth to minimize taxes is one of the most expensive mistakes.00:40:08Q: How do you build a lifestyle business that still grows?A: Hunter Scott says you have to stop being scared of the loss of money that comes with delegating, and refuse to make any decision based off fear.Subscribe to Founder Talk so you don't miss what's next.Connect with Hunter Scott:Email: hunter@stratacloudaccountants.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-scott-cpa/Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strata-cloud/The Founders Brief2,500+ founders read this newsletter every week to build businesses that run and grow even when they step away. The Founders Briefing delivers real strategies and tactics from the best Founder Talk conversations, behind the scenes access, and the insights that never made the final cut. Sign up here: https://podcastbuilders.activehosted.com/f/3 If you are a B2B company that wants to build your own in-house content team instead of outsourcing your content to a marketing agency, we may be a fit for you! Everything you see in our podcast and content is a result of a scrappy, nimble, internal content team along with an AI-powered content systems and process. Check out pricing and services here: https://impaxs.comIf you want to start a podcast that helps you win clients and become the go-to brand in your industry, Podcast Builders can help! https://podcastbuilders.com/Podcast Builders is a podcast production and strategy company based in St. Charles, Illinois that helps founder-led B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. The company provides podcast strategy, studio production, editing, and distribution services for businesses across the western Chicago suburbs including St Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Elgin, and more.Head to our website to stream every episode on your favorite platform, join the Founder Talk community, and submit questions for future guests—all in one place: https://foundertalkpodcast.com/#FounderTalk #EntrepreneurPodcast #StartupPodcast

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Ted Coniaris, lead pastor of Community Christian Church in the greater Chicagoland area. After an intentional and extended succession process with founding pastor Dave Ferguson, Ted has stepped into the lead role during a pivotal season for the church. In this conversation, he shares what it looks like to lead through transition, clarify vision, and build a disciple-making ecosystem for the future. A transition built on trust and clarity. // Ted describes a multi-year succession process that included months of private conversations, an 18-month apprenticeship, and a highly visible transition with full support from church leadership. One of the most unique elements was launching a new vision before the transition was complete. While unconventional, this approach created immediate alignment and buy-in across the church. Because the process was prayerful, transparent, and unified, the congregation experienced less anxiety than expected, resulting in what Ted describes as a surprising sense of peace and readiness for what's next. Renovating, not rebuilding. // Ted uses the language of “renovation” to describe the church's next chapter. Community Christian Church has a rich 37-year history of helping people find their way back to God, especially those far from faith. Rather than starting from scratch, Ted is focused on building on that foundation while addressing a critical gap: what happens after people come to faith? This has led to a renewed focus on creating a clear and intentional disciple-making ecosystem. A bold, layered vision for the future. // Ted outlines a four-part vision that builds sequentially: every heart on fire, every person a pastor, every child and student equipped, and every neighborhood a thriving church. This framework begins with spiritual passion—not just participation—emphasizing that people today are searching for something deeper than casual faith. From there, the vision moves toward activating every believer in ministry, taking seriously the priesthood of all believers. The end result is a multiplying movement of disciples impacting communities at scale. Rethinking discipleship through Growth Track. // To support this vision, the church is developing a clear pathway called Growth Track, built around three movements: Alpha, Disciple, and Pastor. The goal is not just information or assimilation, but transformation and activation. Ted emphasizes helping every person identify their calling, answering the question, “Who am I called to reach?” This reframes discipleship from passive participation to active mission. Ancient practices for modern renewal. // One of the more surprising shifts has been a return to ancient spiritual disciplines. Through rhythms like “Ignite Week”—a church-wide season of prayer, fasting, and reflection—Ted is seeing increased spiritual intensity across all age groups. These rhythms create deeper roots than one-time events, shaping both individual lives and the overall culture of the church. A multiplying model through microchurches. // In addition to strengthening internal discipleship, Community Christian is expanding outward through a rapidly growing microchurch movement. With hundreds of microchurches already launched globally, the model focuses on simple, scalable principles: low control, high support, and strong coaching relationships. Rather than centralizing growth in large gatherings, this approach empowers everyday people to lead and reach others in their own contexts—creating the potential for exponential impact. The leader's soul is the strategy. // Ted closes with a powerful reminder: the most important strategy a leader has is their own spiritual health. Passion for God, integrity, and relational support are foundational. Ministry is difficult, but leaders who tend their own spiritual lives and refuse isolation will be better equipped to lead others effectively. To learn more about Community Christian Church, visit communitychristian.org. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Your church is doing really well right now, and your leadership team is looking for solutions to keep momentum going! It could be time to start a new location. Maybe you have hesitated in the past few years, but you know it's time to step out in faith again and launch that next location. Portable Church has assembled a bundle of resources to help you leverage your growing momentum into a new location by sending a part of your congregation back to their neighborhood on Mission. This bundle of resources will give you a step-by-step plan to launch that new or next location, and a 5 minute readiness tool that will help you know your church is ready to do it! Click here to watch the free webinar “Launch a New Location in 150 Days or Less” and grab the bundle of resources for your church! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Super excited to have you listening in today. GI gotta be totally honest. I asked this person to come on today to have a bit of an update conversation from a conversation we had out just over a year ago. I’m really excited for this because it’s kind of fun to follow along with this story. And this is an area that really is, applies to all of our churches and I want all of us to lean in. And so pay attention, whether you’re cutting your grass or whatever you’re doing for the next 30 minutes, it’s going to be a great conversation.Rich Birch — We’ve got Ted Coniaris with us. He is the lead pastor at a fantastic church, a multi-site church in the greater Chicagoland area called Community Christian. They have, if I’m counting correctly, seven physical locations, as well as micro churches that meet in homes throughout the week and online space, plus community freedom locations, which meet in correctional facilities across the region as well. Ted, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Ted Coniaris — Thanks, Rich. Really glad to be here. Great to see you again. We get to cross paths a few times a year, so it’s always great to connect. Appreciate the time.Rich Birch — I appreciate you you taking time to come on and and connect. Friends that are listening in, just kind of bringing you up to speed. We’ll link to the previous episode if you want to go back and and check that. But the last time we talked, you were apprenticing as the lead pastor at Community Christian under Dave Ferguson. And I think that was a year ago. And you you know there’s all the steps. I think you were step three, step four, somewhere in there. Ted Coniaris — Yeah.Rich Birch — And there was this handoff on the horizon. And now we’re on the other side of that. And so that’s part of why I wanted to get you on. Here we are a year later. Let’s talk about those things. You’re still there. So that’s a good thing.Ted Coniaris — I mean, as far as you know, this could be a fake backdrop. Who knows?Rich Birch — Yeah, true this is the… Yeah, so you know what? You were…Ted Coniaris — No, it is true.Rich Birch — It takes a lot of time. Talk to us through, you know, what’s happened since then. Talk us about that transition. Kind of bring us up to speed.Ted Coniaris — Absolutely. So as you said, we went through an 18 month apprenticeship, but before that we had about six, eight, probably eight months of conversations just Dave and I, before we went above ground with elders and everything else, maybe even a little longer than that. So it was quite a long process walking through our apprenticeship process as a church and really wanting to do that at the highest level, just like we do at every level of leadership as a church. Ted Coniaris — So that was an amazing process. Dave is an incredible leader and even better man and somebody that it was a great privilege to spend more and more time with him. He and Sue—his wife—Melissa and I spending time with them, and then John and and Lisa, his brother and his wife. We spent a lot of time together, so it was great. And then since then, May, they’re still around. They’re still a part of our church. Dave is now the CEO of Exponential, spending full time doing that.Ted Coniaris — And John is leading something called the Chicago Collective, which is a network of churches, networks of churches throughout Chicagoland, working to plant more churches, which we desperately need in Chicago area. So if you’re listening, you’re like, man, I’m thinking about planning a church in Chicago. Please reach out to me. I would love to help you do that. We desperately need more more churches here.Ted Coniaris — So since then, it’s been great. Honestly, there’s been so much change, so many things going on, but it’s truly, truly been really, really good. I think I’m tired in the right ways. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — I’m probably also tired in some of the wrong ways too… Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — …but it’s been a great it’s been a great transition.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. You know, when we you were on last time, you were talking about really stewarding the mission of the future, while also chasing new vision, which is, is at that phase kind of easy to say, you’re like, okay, we’re looking forward to the future. Now you’re in the seat. And it’s like, you got to keep doing that. Now that you’re sitting there.,you know, what’s become clearer for you as you’ve thought about the next chapter and, and, you know, as you think about the future, what are, cause there may be some questions you’re wrestling with as you’re thinking, you know, up over to the horizon. Yeah. What are the things that are, are, are bubbling in your brain on that front?Ted Coniaris — Yeah, great question. I mean, so much has become more clear. But one of the great gifts that I felt like the Lord gave us as a church in this transition on the very front end was a real clarity and unity around our new vision as a church. It’s not so typical to launch a new vision for the church before the transition has even occurred. And I wouldn’t recommend that in other situations, but it just, the way that it went with us, this just felt like what the Lord was leading us to do.Ted Coniaris — So we actually actually launched the new vision for the church while Dave was still the lead pastor. And he stood right there beside me and in full support with our elders and everyone else. And so it was actually unique in that way. But that’s just really been confirmed. Honestly, that’s been one of the biggest things that I am grateful for through this process is just the Lord’s gift of clarity on the front end and just giving me ah real clear direction to run. Ted Coniaris — And I would say too, that there’s a big difference between a transition that’s been prayed over for years. Rich Birch — That’s good. Right, right.Ted Coniaris — It just lands differently than a transition.That’s just like been negotiated in some back room somewhere. You know, it’s like this…Rich Birch — Right. Right. Right. Yeah.Ted Coniaris — This has been prayed through and put above ground and has been a really healthy, visible process that I think resulted in the church just being wide open, saying, yeah, this feels right. This feels good. And we’re in. And so almost it’s like a a sense of exhale that I’ve been experiencing, which has surprised me…Rich Birch — Oh, that’s good.Ted Coniaris — …in the church.Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — I thought there would be more anxiety in the transition. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — But there’s really been like a quiet permission-giving that’s happened.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s good.Ted Coniaris — Almost like, you know, just the family knew the transition was healthy so they could just sort of relax into it and say, okay, what’s next?Rich Birch — Right. Right.Ted Coniaris — And in hindsight, what felt a little crazy of launching the vision now feels like if we hadn’t have done that, we would have missed a real amazing opportunity because people were really bought in right from the get-go, which has been great.Rich Birch — Well, and what, yeah, that’s great. And in hindsight, being able to look back at that moment and saying like, no, like, yeah, maybe not the kind of thing that you write in a book and say, that’s the way to do it. But it’s like, we did that. And there’s in hindsight, man, amazing to have kind of both of your endorsements on the future direction. And like, Hey, we’re excited to be going in this direction. There was a mutual support there that ended up accelerating pointing things to the future. That’s incredible. That’s great.Ted Coniaris — Yeah.Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — And so now it’s really…Go ahead. Sorry.Rich Birch — No, you go ahead. You go. Go ahead.Ted Coniaris — Okay. Yeah. Now it’s in the season where it’s how do we take that vision, that sort of north star for the future and building on their 37-year history as a church that’s been so rich and good in and move in this new direction, but also be aligned with our past.Ted Coniaris — You know, it’s not about tradition, but it is about, you know, God has been doing a unique and wonderful thing here that we want to continue in, but also kind of build on what’s next. So I felt like as a church, one of our great strengths as community, and this is really a reflection of Dave and John, is we’re a community where everyone is welcome. Like that that’s without a doubt. Anybody and everybody can walk through these doors and probably tens of thousands of people have over these last 37 years, and found their way back to God. It’s incredible. Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s amazing.Ted Coniaris — I mean, when it comes to that zero to one, those people finding the Lord from a really hard spot, man, God has just used this church in such miraculous and amazing ways for so long. And we want to keep that. Like we love that about this place and just think it’s an amazing amazing strength of this community. But now we want to answer sort of the next question, which is now what? So everyone’s welcome.Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — Now what? Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — And so we want to build on that path towards what’s in the future. And the way we’re talking about it here is sort of renovating our disciple-making ecosystem, which is a big mouthful. But you know it’s renovating, and it’s a certainly a lot of you know jargon, but bear with me for a second.Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — You know, we’re renovating because we’re not starting from scratch.Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — We’ve got a great house, a great church.Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — Things are great. It’s time for a renovation. And what we’re renovating is a very clear, focused outcome, which is disciple-making. And I think that’s an area where we have not been as strong over the years. It’s like that first part of the journey. And we have a lot of evangelists here and we’re passionate. We want to keep that. But we also want to answer that that: now what? That disciple-making ecosystem. And it’s an ecosystem because not any one thing, this program doesn’t make you a disciple-making church. Rich Birch — Right, right. Ted Coniaris — Or just a good teacher doesn’t make you a disciple-making church. It’s all of these things kind of together create an environment and a path for that to happen. And so we’re just renovating all of those things with the vision, teaching, creating new rhythms as a church, and also creating a, for the first time for us at least, a clear disciple making process, which we’re we’re calling it Growth Track.Ted Coniaris — And a lot of churches use that term. But just trying to say, okay, our vision is to see every person step into their God-given calling to be a pastor. If every person is a pastor, it’s like, what if we actually took the priesthood of believers seriously? Right? And how would that change our disciple-making process if that was the end result? Rich Birch — That’s cool.Ted Coniaris — Right? I think a lot of times we can slip into being really like our disciple-making becomes more about assimilation. Or more about collecting a certain level of information or knowledge or even practice.Rich Birch — Yep. Yep.Ted Coniaris — But we’re trying to have a different output. We want to see people finding their way back to God, which has always been the core of our mission, and then released as pastors in the world and equipped to do that. Ted Coniaris — And so what’s our process for taking someone from a seeker to a pastor. We really didn’t have that. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — And so we’re in the process right now of just building all of that out, aligning all of our teams and creating just a clear answer to that, that “now what” question.Rich Birch — Yeah, love that. And, you know, that makes sense for a church of of this age. You know, people have changed, you know, what we used to call seekers or the people that were arriving, they’re different. It’s like the most obvious thing to say, but people are different today than they were 37 years ago when this ball got rolling. Rich Birch — And and what what are some of those early changes that you’ve made to renovate? What are some of those things that that do look a little bit different or are are, you know, kind of pointing in a new direction? Where where what are you learning on that that front?Ted Coniaris — Well, obviously the first one is the new vision, and I’ll just share that really, really quickly.Rich Birch — Yep.Ted Coniaris — But it’s, and they all build on each other. That’s really the the key for us. And while this is unique to Community Christian Church, it’s not a vision that’s unique to Community Christian Church. Like, I think this is really like a biblical thing, but it starts with every heart on fire.Ted Coniaris — And it talks about, when you ask the question about what’s different, I think one of the things that’s really different, people aren’t looking just for a place to blend in the background and be like, oh, this is cool.Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — You’re cool Jesus followers. I’m cool. We can be cool together. This is cool. That is, that is… Rich Birch — That’s amazing. I love it. Ted Coniaris — That is not what the next generation is looking for. Rich Birch — No.Ted Coniaris — They are looking for fire.Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — They are looking for passion. And rightfully so. Rightfully so. Thank God for that. Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — And so we want to lean into it. We don’t want to be a place where everybody’s buddies with Jesus. We want to create a place where people are consumed by him. Rich Birch — That’s good. Ted Coniaris — Just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus talked about, you know, we’re not our hearts beating or burning within us when they talk with Jesus along the road. That’s that’s the kind of community we want to be, a consumed community. And that’s the starting place for everything else. Everything else. And that’s not just emotionalism. It’s a passion for. It’s it’s a a focus on. Ted Coniaris — The second part, which builds on that, it’s not even worth going to the second part if you don’t do the first thing. The second part is every person a pastor, right? Because if you start with every person a pastor, but the heart’s not on fire, there’s not a passion and a consuming focus, you know, what kind of pastors are you raising, right?Rich Birch — Right, right.Ted Coniaris — It’s not the kind that the world needs. And so it’s every heart fire, then every person a pastor just really taking seriously the priesthood of all believers. I’m not the pastor, you know. You all are the pastors. I function as a pastor in this context, but you function as a pastor in whatever context God has placed you.Ted Coniaris — And if we could do those two things, if we can have every heart and fire and every person released into their God-given calling as a pastor, then maybe we could accomplish the third thing, which is every child and student equipped. Rich Birch — Wow. Yep.Ted Coniaris — Because that’s going to take all hands on deck. What our kids, what my kids, I have 16, 14, and 10-year-old, all boys. So please pray for us. But what what my boys are facing today, it’s like the challenges I faced have been weaponized and placed in the hands of every single kid. And yet our student and youth ministry, our kids and and student ministry, looks almost identical to what it did look like 37 years ago. Why is that? I mean, there’s different strategies, practice in those sort things.Rich Birch — That doesn’t make sense. Yeah.Ted Coniaris — But if you look at like the form even of itself, we’re like, it kind of looks the same. It looks sort of like the youth group I went to as a kid. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — And I think we need to be doing a lot more and investing more in the next generation in in relational deep ways. But it can’t happen without every heart and fire and every person being a pastor. And if we can do that, every heart of fire, every person pastor, every child and student equipped, then we can accomplish the Great Commission, right? Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — And that’s really the last part of the vision, which is every neighborhood a thriving church. Because the way you change the world is by having you know a community of Christ followers, place where Jesus is King, we’re on mission together within arm’s reach of every person on the planet.Ted Coniaris — You know that’s, that’s the plan. And so that’s what we’re targeting and going after. So that’s different. And so for us to do those things, there’s things we’re trying to change and layer in behind that. Really renovating our teaching ministry. We’re kind of going old school. We’re going back through like long series, books of the Bible, just walking through scripture, teaching people the Bible, just like the disciples on that road to Emmaus. You know, that was when Jesus opened the scriptures to them. It’s lit this fire inside of them.Ted Coniaris — I think that’s even more necessary. 37 years ago, basically a Christian culture-ish. Rich Birch — Yep.Ted Coniaris — Today, not so much. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — So nobody’s walking through the doors with like this biblical knowledge. They’re walking through the doors with nothing.Rich Birch — That’s so true, yeah.Ted Coniaris — And so, you know, we need to do that. So we’re doing that, creating rhythms in our calendar years. A lot more I could say about that. Spiritual disciplines communally, not just as individuals, feels maybe like a little spin on liturgical calendars of old. Rich Birch — Yep. Ted Coniaris — We’re embracing some of that in a new way for us.Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — And then this this Growth Track is a big part of that. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — And then there’s there’s more beyond that, but that’s just a few of the things.Rich Birch — Dude, I love it. I love I love the how those four layer on. I love the focus. I think it totally just feels right on with where you know culture’s at. Could you unpack a little bit of what you’re doing with Growth Track? What does that look like, that particular tactic in the… You know I think the idea of every person a pastor is a very compelling, that’s like a lean-in, “what did you just say?” kind of thing. Ted Coniaris — Yeah.Rich Birch — And then but what are you, you know, help us, help us understand, you know, a little bit of that, what you’re doing with Growth Track to kind of point towards that.Ted Coniaris — You mean like the mechanics of it or like just the overall strategy?Rich Birch — Yeah. How’s it work? What are you teaching there? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What, yeah, what’s, what is it?Ted Coniaris — Well, it’s all…Rich Birch — How’s it work?Ted Coniaris — Yeah, we’re getting ready to to launch it all this fall. Rich Birch — Great. Ted Coniaris — And yeah, we’re really excited about it. But essentially, it’s it’s three steps. “One. Life. Go.” is kind of how we talk about the Growth Track. And the first step is tried and true. It’s Alpha. Rich Birch — Yep. Ted Coniaris — I think Alpha is probably the single greatest tool available… Rich Birch — Sure. Sure. Ted Coniaris — …to help you know my friends and neighbors and family find their way back to God. I I love Alpha. I’m running an Alpha right now at an office with a buddy and his partners, all the partners of his business.Rich Birch — Yep. Ted Coniaris — We’re doing Alpha together over lunch. It’s amazing.Rich Birch — Love it.Ted Coniaris — So Alpha is step one.Ted Coniaris — Step two, we call disciple because disciple is both a noun and a verb. It’s who you are and it’s what you do. And so it’s, you know, we’ve used Rooted in the past as a church and Rooted is fantastic. We love Rooted. It’s been helpful to for us. But we felt like there were ways in which we wanted to adjust that to our context a little bit more… Rich Birch — Sure. Ted Coniaris — …and also have an opportunity for people to make a commitment to the church. We don’t do membership, but we do ask people to commit to belonging here. And honestly, I think that’s a big missing step in the overall discipleship of a lot of like churches like ours. Because if you don’t have a commitment, and there’s just kind of growth that happens in your life that only can happen in a committed relationship. And it’s not about you committing to me. It’s really about us committing to each other. And when we do that, it opens the door to a different layer and level of transformation in your own life.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that.Ted Coniaris — And committing to that unity on the front end is is really important. And so we want to do that. We also do several other things a part of that, but that’s kind of a general idea. Ted Coniaris — And then the third step is pastor. That’s the goal. That’s where we’re going.Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — It’s also a noun and a verb, right? Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah. Cool.Ted Coniaris — It’s who you are and it’s what you do. Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — And this is designed to do that. So we took some learnings actually from Brian Sanders, and he has something called the Calling Lab. He does the Tampa Underground down in Florida.Ted Coniaris — He’s done some great work on that.Ted Coniaris — And it’s essentially a similar process of triangulating your true sense of calling. We want everybody in our church to be able to say, I exist to help blank find their way back to God. Rich Birch — That’s cool.Ted Coniaris — Like, who are you called to reach?Rich Birch — That’s cool.Ted Coniaris — Because what’s a starting ground for someone to be a pastor? You know, like, is it education? Is it more this, more that? Well, I think the journey of learning and growing and honing your gifting, it has to start with the calling. And I think there are so many people who just, they don’t know how to finish that sentence. Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — Even if it is your kids or your neighbors or your coworkers, have you really done the work? Have you invested to say, no, these are the people, like names and faces that I’m called to reach. And then I’m released into that context as a pastor. So when I show up to work, I want to show up. I’m the pastor of BMO Harris Bank today because that’s where I work and I’m a teller there.Rich Birch — Right. Yeah.Ted Coniaris — you know I’m the pastor of You know, my neighborhood and in Downers Grove, in my part, my north, you know, little west quadrant there. That’s what I want to show up. That’s what I want our whole church showing up as. Thousands and thousands of pastors released into every arena of life. And so a lot of churches have Growth Track, or something like it. We’re really trying to say, okay, what’s what is the unique thing that that we’re feeling Lord’s calling us to produce here? And that’s it. And so we’ve designed these steps to work together to produce that that thing in us.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s very cool.Ted Coniaris —Hope that’s helpful.Rich Birch — I love that. Oh, it’s super helpful. I love I love what you’re doing there. And that’s thanks for taking the time to unpack that. Rich Birch — Pivoting in a slightly different direction, we were together at Exponential at Dave’s event. And well, it’s not Dave’s event. I understand that. At the Exponential conference. And we were at a breakfast together. And you mentioned about some just kind of in passing some stuff that was going on at the church that was and part of it was some of this around spiritual vitality, you’re seeing that increase.Rich Birch — I’m assuming that some of these, you know, pieces of these puzzles coming together. But then you also talked about the kind of growth of your microchurch, you know, planting movement that’s connected to Community. Could you unpack that a little bit more? Tell us a little bit about, you know, that that, how does that fit into the whole story that God’s writing here?Ted Coniaris — Yeah, I think the spiritual vitality, I’ll start there. The way we talk about it a lot is it just feels like everywhere you go, the spiritual temperature is just increasing. In kids, in students, in adults, our small groups, in our services, it’s just across the board. There’s just like an increased heat or passion around our faith.Ted Coniaris — I think a part of that is is truthfully in a season of transition, there’s always an opportunity to be open to something new. And we’ve been trying to really place our focus on, well, what’s the new thing? Like, how what is the condition of your heart? Are you on fire, truly on fire? I think putting that question, that vision in front of us as a church has been refining – that in and of itself. Ted Coniaris — But we’ve also just seen, I mean, there’s so much I could speak to on this, but one of the things I’m just really excited about is what’s happening with our students right now. We talk a lot about students being the leaders of tomorrow’s church, but I’ll tell you here, they’re the leader of today’s church. Rich Birch — So true. Ted Coniaris — I mean, they are setting a tone with passion and a desire.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s very true.Ted Coniaris — Like we do our services. I’m at the Yellow Box location, right? It’s our Naperville church here. And teaching here on Sunday. And there’ll be a group of students that will just come and sit on the ground in front of the stage… Rich Birch — Right. Right. Ted Coniaris — …have their Bibles open with their notebook, taking notes. And then during worship, it’s like they’re in the pit of a concert. You know, they’re at the stage, hands up.Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, it’s true.Ted Coniaris — And you’ve got a room full of thousands of adults watching this and they’re leading us. Nobody asked them to do it. Nobody told them to do that.Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — So I think some of it, I point to that. Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool.Ted Coniaris — Others other parts of it is we’ve really kind of pushed our chips into the middle on some of the ancient stuff instead of new trendy stuff… Rich Birch — Yeah. Ted Coniaris — …specifically prayer and fasting.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s cool. Tell me more about that. I’d love to hear about that.Ted Coniaris — So yeah, earlier I talked about, you know, we’re embracing the calendar rhythms as a church.Rich Birch — Yep.Ted Coniaris — I really believe that, you know, rhythms are so much more powerful than events because, you know, an event is just a drop in the ocean. But if you can build some rhythms, you could actually build some roots. Rich Birch — That’s cool.Ted Coniaris — And, you know, our most valuable resources, our people, and our most valuable real estate is our calendar. And so we’ve said, you know, three times a year as sort of the calendar turns and that’s sort of the rhythm of our community. There’s sort of three seasons, there’s winter, there’s fall and there’s spring/summer. So to launch those seasons, we do what we now call an Ignite Week where we ask the whole church to commit to a full week of prayer and fasting. Rich Birch — Wow. Very cool.Ted Coniaris — And then we have intentional programming in that week to do like a full spiritual reset to say, okay, God, what are you saying to me right now? For the individual, we have like prayer and fasting guides to help guide people through that experience. For the groups, we do these discipleship conversations where we want everybody in each group to say, okay, what is God saying to me right now? And what am I doing to say yes to him?Ted Coniaris — And then for our locations, we take a break from all of our regular series stuff and we do Hearts on Fire Sunday. And we just say, okay, God, what are you doing here? What are you doing today? What are you doing right now? And it feels very different than our regular Sundays. Ted Coniaris — And then for the church as a whole, all of our locations together, we do what we call our Ignite Gathering on Saturday morning. It’s actually coming up this Saturday. And we just gather the whole church together. And what’s happened in these Ignite Gatherings is really exciting. It feels like a a catalyst for the rest of the church. Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — It’s like the church we’re going to be a year from now, we get to see in that room on Saturday morning. Rich Birch — That’s very cool.Ted Coniaris — And ah after a week of prayer and fasting, gathering the church together to worship, to break the fast together in communion, it’s it’s powerful. Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — I mean, it is powerful. The environment of that space is so different There’s such a hunger for the Lord and honestly, a true actual physical hunger after all that fasting.Rich Birch — Yes. Yes.Ted Coniaris — But it’s it’s it’s really changing the whole, as I said earlier, this ecosystem of our church. so those are some of the real important you know pieces of that ecosystem. Rich Birch — Oh, I love that. Yeah, I love that. And and um it isn’t isn’t it interesting? So we’re seeing lots of that kind of things or echoes of that across the country where, you know, there’s a there’s been a shift that, you know, we’ll probably understand better five years from now. We’ll look back and we’ll put all the pieces together and understand what God’s doing. But it does appear like, you know, the Spirit’s on the move. They say, what is that? Aslan’s on the move, right? Something is shifting in people. And you know, we’re trying to keep pick keep pick up keep up with it and do what we can to continue to steward what’s here.Rich Birch — And my experience with, you know, our our churches would have similar backgrounds, similar history. You know, we’re a heart for people who don’t, and your church has a heart for people who who don’t follow Jesus. You know, we’re trying to create a space for those folks. But though my experience has been those people are different today than they were 20 years ago. That people are coming much more, it’s like they’re farther along in the process. They’re they’re much more engaged than than um than they have been in the past. And so they’re willing to jump into the deep end of the pool on some of this stuff, maybe even more quickly than our long-term people… Ted Coniaris — Yeah, I think that’s true. Rich Birch — …because of whatever God’s doing in in their life. That’s that’s, yeah, that’s really interesting. That’s a cool thing to, you know, to be a part of, to hear you know a part of that. What about on the microchurch side? What’s happening there?Ted Coniaris — Yeah.Rich Birch — What is that? Yeah, what’s that? What’s happening with that?Ted Coniaris — So during COVID, we just sort of began dipping our toe in the water of starting microchurches under this belief that the macrochurch movement, even megachurch, doesn’t need to be at odds or in conflict with the house church and microchurch movement. Rich Birch — Yep.Ted Coniaris — Like, is there way for us to just see that as one thing instead of competing things, reaching all different kinds of people? And so we’ve just kind of dipped our toe in that. And here we are a few years later. Took us few years kind of figure out what we wanted to do. Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — We’ve been doing it for about three years now. We have you know somewhere around, i was just texted the guy for the today number because it’s growing so fast, somewhere around 350 microchurches all around the world.Rich Birch — Wow.Ted Coniaris — And it’s it’s a simple, simple, simple strategy where you’re just basically saying anybody in the world, anybody on planet Earth, feeling called the planet Earth or maybe you already have and you don’t know what to do with it. Rich Birch — Right.Ted Coniaris — And what’s interesting is that there are, I don’t know how many people, but there are a lot of people on this Earth. And a lot of people are asking that exact question and they just need someone who’s going to say, we can help you. We can help you.Rich Birch — Interesting.Ted Coniaris — We want to help you do that. We want to coach you, train you, and then set you up with a cohort of others doing the same thing to help you do it in a sustainable fashion. It’s it’s very low investment. It’s very low control, but it’s super high results.Rich Birch — Yeah. Huh.Ted Coniaris — And so it’s it’s sort of a little mind shift because a lot of times we want to have everything controlled. We want to have everybody’s theology statement. We want to have all this stuff. We want to know it’s going to be successful. We want to da-da-da-da-da. It’s like we’re not doing any of that. We obviously do teach some theology, but what we do is just keep like, what are what are these sort of ecclesiological minimums?Rich Birch — Yeah.Ted Coniaris — And how can we just center on those things… Rich Birch — Yeah. Ted Coniaris — …and launch as many people as possible and see what the Lord does? And he’s been doing some remarkable things. And I think you know our world has a giant need. We need to see millions of people find their way back to God. And a lot of us have strategies where the wild success is if we had thousands of people come and find their way back to God over decades.Ted Coniaris — This this is a strategy that could reach millions. Like I think we legitimately can see a network of these and people down the chain will have no idea kind of where it came from and they don’t need to. But I legitimately think in 10 years time, we could easily reach a million people and have a a church of a million people, but not in the traditional sense.Rich Birch — Right. Ted Coniaris — But through this.Rich Birch — Yeah. Well, I love that because, man that’s a great vision to cast. Because you can’t build enough or a big enough yellow box for all of even Chicagoland, right?Rich Birch — Like that’s just not going to, you know, you can’t.Ted Coniaris — Oh, yeah. No.Rich Birch — And and that is a, you know, it’s a just a resource intensive, you know, that’s been my life’s work. I've spent a lot of time on that. it’s not I’m not downing that, friends. Save your cards and letters. I still think that’s a piece of the puzzle. Ted Coniaris — I agree.Rich Birch — But how do we, is there a way for us to, work together to find solutions? How what how does the, I appreciate the, know, we’re not trying to be high control. We’re trying to, you know, we’re not you know we’re trying to really foster something that’s already in happening. We’re going to we’re going to get behind it, do what we can to support it. And we’re not going to try to over control. But I’m going to ask the control question. How do you, what is the kind of level of interaction that you’re, you’re finding is kind of the appropriate, it’s the, you know, not too little, not too much. Where have you found that’s like, hey, this, this is the kind of good sweet spot that that we have found so far with these, you know, 350, you know, microchurches.Ted Coniaris — Are you asking like, what’s the relational rhythm or…Rich Birch — Yeah. What is, yeah. What is the connection? What’s the relational rhythm between, or even connection between community and those 350? Like, are they, how are they, how do they relate to you and your team, your people, your volunteers, and then vice versa? What does that, you know, how does that, what’s that look like? What’s the connection there?Ted Coniaris — Yeah, it’s it’s purely coaching, training and ongoing support.Rich Birch — Yep.Ted Coniaris — And we also make it clear there’s no financial arrangement – them to us or us to them.Rich Birch — Yep.Ted Coniaris — And what we find is that just keeps the relationship very clean.Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s good.Ted Coniaris — We’re here to coach, support, train, launch, walk alongside.Ted Coniaris — It’s a relational currency. Rich Birch — Yeah. Ted Coniaris — And it’s an expertise currency and a material and resource are the currencies. And so that’s really what we’re doing so when it comes to you know what is the relational controls or how do you keep tabs or you know, whatever might be behind the question for us it’s more about that thriving coaching relationship… Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Yeah. Ted Coniaris — …and that this is a journey and you know if somebody is unwilling or unable to connect, I mean, they just go do their own thing. Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah.Ted Coniaris — And we’re not going to try to stop them. Rich Birch — No. Yeah.Ted Coniaris — You know, we want to be dancing with the people who want to dance. We’re not you know spending our time or energy on that. And so it’s really that that coaching system and network. That’s the key in scaling that coaching system and network is how you reach a million people.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s great. That’s a huge vision. I love that. That’s that’s super inspiring. Rich Birch — Well, Ted, this has been a great check-in and lots of good stuff. Just want to encourage you in your leadership at Community. Appreciate what you’re doing there. Thanks for letting us kind of pull back the curtain a little bit and and get a sense in there. Any kind of final words you’d have for leaders that are listening in today? You know, we’ve covered a lot of ground, but anything you know you’d you’d want to kind of remind us just as we close off today’s conversation.Ted Coniaris — Yeah. And you know, the thing that’s just sort of striking me in the moment is just to encourage the pastors who are listening in particular to, to really remember that, that the strategy is your soul. And your own passion and hunger and thirst for the Lord and your integrity and walking that out, that is the key strategy. That is the most important thing. And you can’t do that alone.Ted Coniaris — You know, a lot of times talk about leadership being lonely. I kind of have a different view. I think loneliness is a choice. And I think you can choose not to be lonely. And so I know there are people who feel discouraged and that discouragement leads to isolation and that isolation feels like loneliness and it just becomes this downward spiral. There are different choices you can make to change the direction of that.Ted Coniaris — I know a lot of people are are struggling. The ministry is hard. It’s really hard. But I think that if you can really focus on your passion, your fire, tending your flame with the Lord, it will make the work of ministry lighter. It will make the successes and failures less impactful on you. And to find to find some people who can you can really be vulnerable with, who are sharing the same kind of load that you carry, that would be if I could just say one thing to a group of, you know, 5,000 pastors, that’s probably the thing I would just say right now.Rich Birch — That’s so good.Rich Birch — So good. Well, Ted, I appreciate you coming on today. Where do we want to send people if they want to track with you or with the church? Where do we want to send them online?Ted Coniaris — Communitychristian.org, church website, probably the best place. You can find us on socials and stuff like that. I don’t really do social stuff. It’s not my thing.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah.Ted Coniaris — But you could go to the church. You can find all that. So it’s Community Christian Church in the Chicago area, and you’ll find everything.Rich Birch — That’s great. Thanks so much, Ted. Appreciate being here today, sir.Ted Coniaris — Thank you, Rich. Appreciate you too.

Dave McCann and Blaine Fowler welcomed Cougar Nation to the June 1 edition of Y's Guys, opening with BYU football schedule news, the buzz around Kevin Young being mentioned in connection with the Chicago Bulls, and growing excitement for BYU's first remote show: Redmond Night with Y's Guys on June 15 at the Redmond Heritage Farm Store in Orem.The first guest was BYU cornerbacks coach Lewis Walker, who talked about returning to his home state, joining Kalani Sitake's staff, and coaching one of BYU football's strongest position groups. Walker discussed his relationship with Sitake, his transition from Utah ties to wearing BYU blue, and the talent in the cornerback room, including Evan Johnson, Trey Alexander, Jonathan Kabeya, Jayven Williams, Cannon DeVries, Jordyn Criss, Kevin Doe, and Matthias Leach. He also praised Bear Bachmeier's growth, humility, and ability to read defenses.The Redmond Re-Lyte Athlete of the Week was Jane Hedengren, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in both the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters after a remarkable performance at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Dave and Blaine highlighted her 10,000-meter win over Pamela Kosgei, her facility record, and her chance to compete for national titles in Eugene.Derek Miller, president of the BYU Alumni Association Board and president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance, joined the show to talk about BYU's worldwide alumni network. He discussed the power of BYU sports as a “megaphone” for the university, the impact of tailgates and Cougs Care service projects, and the broader mission of connecting alumni through service, education, and shared BYU values.The show also promoted the Ephraim Hope Mission golf tournament and online auction, including items such as an AJ Dybantsa signed basketball, a Richie Saunders signed jersey, and the chance to golf with Dave and Blaine. The proceeds support educational opportunities for children in Uganda.The BYU Super Fan segment featured Russ Paulus from Naperville, Illinois, who shared his conversion story, his early BYU memories, his love for BYU football, and memories from the 1980 Miracle Bowl, the 1984 national championship season, and classic games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. He also talked about why BYU means so much to fans who live far outside Utah.The show closed with BYU campus notes, NCAA track and field updates, BYU golf news, a reminder about CougarTribe, “On This Day” history, and a Brigham Young quote in honor of his birthday.Timestamps (approximate):00:04:30 — Opening, Kevin Young NBA rumors, and BYU football buzz00:15:51 — BYU football schedule, kickoff times, and Notre Dame discussion00:22:45 — BYU named a Big 12 favorite; Kalani Sitake national recognition00:26:10 — Lewis Walker joins Y's Guys00:37:40 — BYU's cornerbacks, defensive depth, and Bear Bachmeier outlook00:51:06 — Five Questions with Lewis Walker00:57:17 — Jane Hedengren named Re-Lyte Athlete of the Week01:01:06 — Derek Miller on BYU alumni, Cougar Nation, and service projects01:26:06 — Five Questions with Derek Miller01:34:27 — BYU basketball, AJ Dybantsa, golf, and track updates01:40:49 — Ephraim Hope Mission auction and golf tournament01:44:02 — BYU Super Fan Russ Paulus shares his Cougar story02:01:56 — Five Questions with Russ Paulus02:09:34 — CougarTribe, This Day in History, Brigham Young quote, and show wrap-up#YsGuys #BYUFootball #GoCougs #BYUSports #BYUBasketball #BYUTrack #CougarNation #LewisWalker #KalaniSitake #JaneHedengren #AJDybantsa #RedmondReLyte #BYUAlumni #CougarTribe #LDS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 15, Episode 397 revisits research and real-world practice showing movement is more than fitness: it activates the brain, boosts attention, enhances learning, and sustains motivation. Dr. Chuck Hillman's studies reveal how even short bouts of exercise light up brain activity, while Paul Zientarski's Naperville program demonstrates how heart-rate monitoring and purposeful movement improve readiness, recovery, and academic performance. In EP 397: Movement, Motivation, and Brain Activation with Dr. Chuck Hillman and Paul Zientarski, we explore why movement may be one of the most powerful tools we have for improving brain function, learning, motivation, and performance. In this episode, we cover: ✅ Why most children are not meeting the recommended daily physical activity guidelines and what we can do to change that. ✅ How exposing children to a variety of activities helps them discover movement they enjoy—and are more likely to continue throughout their lives. ✅ Why there is no perfect exercise program, and why the best exercise is the one you'll consistently do. ✅ How enjoyment, reward, and dopamine reinforce healthy habits and keep the Motivation Loop repeating. ✅ What Naperville Central High School learned from heart rate monitoring and how recovery impacts performance. ✅ Why peak performance requires both effort and recovery. ✅ How exercise changes the brain, improving attention, learning, memory, and cognitive performance. ✅ The groundbreaking research behind Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain and how it changed the way educators think about learning. ✅ Why movement is not a break from learning—but one of the most effective ways to prepare the brain for learning. ✅ How movement fits into our Phase 2 Motivation Loop, helping transform motivation into action and sustaining long-term performance. The biggest takeaway? Movement isn't just exercise. It's activation. It's preparation. It's performance. When we move our bodies, we activate the brain systems responsible for attention, learning, motivation, and success. The episode highlights practical takeaways: expose children to varied enjoyable activities, prioritize consistency over intensity, use movement as cognitive preparation, and track recovery to protect motivation. Movement becomes a bridge between motivation and sustained performance—improving focus today and long-term brain health tomorrow. Welcome back to Season 15 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. I'm Andrea Samadi, and on this podcast, we bridge the science behind social and emotional learning, emotional intelligence, and practical neuroscience so we can create measurable improvements in well-being, achievement, productivity, and results. Movement, Motivation, and Brain Activation with Dr. Chuck Hillman and Paul Zientarski This week, we continue our journey through Phase 2: Neurochemistry and Motivation, where we've been exploring one central question: What drives sustained effort and forward movement? So far, we've learned that motivation begins with belief and meaning from Bob Proctor[i], is shaped by our thought patterns with Dr. Caroline Leaf,[ii] strengthened through attention and reward with Dr. John Medina[iii], and powered by the brain's dopamine-based motivation system through Dr. Anna Lembke's[iv] work. But today, we arrive at a fascinating question: What happens when we actually move? Because motivation isn't just something that happens in the mind. The brain was designed to work in partnership with the body. And according to our review of today's two guests, one of the most powerful ways to activate attention, learning, memory, and motivation is through movement itself. This week we're revisiting insights from two pioneers whose work helped transform our understanding of movement and learning. First, Dr. Chuck Hillman, one of the world's leading researchers on exercise and brain function, whose groundbreaking research has shown how physical activity improves attention, executive function, learning, memory, and academic performance from EP 123[v] back in April 2021. Next, we will review Paul Zientarski, the former Physical Education Coordinator and football coach at Naperville Central High School, (In Illinois) whose work with the school's innovative Zero Hour PE Program helped put Naperville on the map for extraordinary academic achievement. Alongside his colleagues at Naperville, Paul demonstrated that exercise wasn't simply improving fitness—it was preparing students' brains to learn. Together, Dr. Hillman provides the science, while Paul Zientarski helps to demonstrate what that science looks like in the real world. Their combined work shows us that movement is far more than a physical activity. It is a powerful tool for activating the brain, enhancing learning, improving focus, and supporting the motivation needed for sustained performance. In other words, movement is the bridge between motivation and sustaining our performance. Let's dive in with Dr. Chuck Hillman and discover the science behind The Power of Movement and Brain Activation. CLIP 1: Getting Kids Moving for Life Summary In this clip, Dr. Chuck Hillman highlights a growing concern: the vast majority of children are not meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines. Current recommendations suggest that children should engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day, including aerobic exercise and activities that strengthen bones and muscles. Dr. Hillman explains that the challenge isn't simply knowing the guidelines—it's finding ways to engage children in movement when many adults aren't meeting the recommendations themselves. This is why childhood is such an important time to expose young people to a wide variety of physical activities, helping them discover forms of movement they enjoy and can continue throughout their lives. Key Takeaways ✔ Most children are not getting enough physical activity. Many young people fall short of the recommended 60 minutes of daily movement needed for optimal physical and cognitive development. ✔ Movement supports both brain and body health. Exercise is not just about fitness—it supports attention, learning, memory, emotional regulation, and overall well-being. ✔ Children need exposure to different activities. Not every child will enjoy the same sport or activity. The goal is to help them discover movement they genuinely enjoy. ✔ Parents and adults model behavior. Children are more likely to be active when the adults around them value and participate in physical activity. ✔ Early habits can last a lifetime. The activities children enjoy today often become the healthy habits they carry into adulthood. Tips to Implement Expose Children to Variety

Ryan Quinn acquired a 30-year-old construction company after the owner said he was either closing the doors or selling. Ryan and his wife Nancy survived year one, and are now rebuilding the business into something new.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:11:55Q: Have construction prices come down since COVID?A: Ryan Quinn says prices have not dropped in six years and owners who waited are still waiting because costs have stabilized at the higher level.00:16:27Q: Why do business owners hide their budget from contractors?A: Ryan Quinn says hiding your budget is an old school tactic that hurts your own project because it prevents realistic guidance.00:27:10Q: What does building a new commercial building actually look like?A: Ryan Quinn describes the journey from a cocktail napkin sketch to a 200-page document to a finished building.00:29:35Q: What is the future of the skilled trades?A: Ryan Quinn says not every kid needs college and the trades are seeing a resurgence as stigma fades and the retiring workforce creates opportunity.00:37:33Q: What is it like to acquire a business someone else built over 30 years?A: Ryan Quinn shares how it happened organically through trust and why an existing foundation made more sense than starting from scratch.00:41:11Q: What is the one piece of advice for new business owners?A: Ryan Quinn says listen more because he and Nancy missed signals early on that could have helped them navigate faster.Subscribe to Founder Talk so you don't miss what's next.Connect with Ryan Quinn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-quinn-a44517106/Website: https://qdbi.net/The Founders Brief2,500+ founders read this newsletter every week to build businesses that run and grow even when they step away. The Founders Briefing delivers real strategies and tactics from the best Founder Talk conversations, behind the scenes access, and the insights that never made the final cut. Sign up here: https://podcastbuilders.activehosted.com/f/3 If you are a B2B company that wants to build your own in-house content team instead of outsourcing your content to a marketing agency, we may be a fit for you! Everything you see in our podcast and content is a result of a scrappy, nimble, internal content team along with an AI-powered content systems and process. Check out pricing and services here: https://impaxs.comIf you want to start a podcast that helps you win clients and become the go-to brand in your industry, Podcast Builders can help! https://podcastbuilders.com/Podcast Builders is a podcast production and strategy company based in St. Charles, Illinois that helps founder-led B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. The company provides podcast strategy, studio production, editing, and distribution services for businesses across the western Chicago suburbs including St Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Elgin, and more.Head to our website to stream every episode on your favorite platform, join the Founder Talk community, and submit questions for future guests—all in one place: https://foundertalkpodcast.com/#FounderTalk #EntrepreneurPodcast #FounderPodcast

The NFL and never-ending Bears passion has stirred up more debate on a new stadium for the Monsters of the Midway. In this episode, Lissa Druss is joined by radio host, community advocate, referee, and coach Amy Jacobson. Many questions are on the table about the Bears tolerance for taxes, the crisis of community safety, and what kinds of leaders Chicago needs most.   Plus, Amy takes Lissa's personal pop quiz to stir the pot a bit more.   This week's Crisis Cast Hero is Naperville's Rima Ziuraitis.

What happens when thousands of makers, sewists, quilters, embroiderers, and creators gather under one roof for a brand-new event? In this episode of Sew & So, we take you directly to the inaugural Fiber & Fabric Craft Festival in Rosemont, Illinois, where creativity, community, and inspiration are everywhere you turn. From the organizers who brought the show to life, to exhibitors sharing their passion, to attendees discovering new techniques, tools, and friendships, this episode is a behind-the-scenes and on-the-floor look at one of the crafting industry's newest events. Join us as we meet the people shaping the future of sewing, quilting, cosplay, embroidery, and fiber arts — and discover why experiences like this continue to matter so deeply to makers everywhere.   (1:16) Join us for the grand opening of the inaugural Fiber & Fabric Show (2:10) Meet Jessica Boweek – the show's director and learn how this event came to be (4:10) Jessica explains how her team put this show together – it's amazing what it all takes! (6:28) How does the show team build the sense of community into the event? (7:43) What trends is Jessica seeing in shows like this? (9:29) Meet Suzie, Judy and Terry – visitors to the sow hand hear their first impressions (10:54) Join us as we visit with the ladies of Linda Z's. Linda Z, and her daughters Terry and Debbie (12:10) Teresa from the Fabric Center in Morris, IL – a first-time exhibitor – explains why it's important for them to be at this show. (13:33) Deidre and Erin from So Modern talk about their wares (14:10) Meet Gail from BERNINA of Naperville and learn what trends she's seeing this year. (15:20) Next, we catch up with Melanie Jasmin, a past guest on this podcast (16:28) Meet Annie Driscol – cosplayer extraordinaire!  (17:36) Let's talk with Jeannie from Quilters' Quest and hear what attendees are looking for. (18:50) Visit the Content Creator's booth and meet Kyle who will take us for a tour (20:27) Meet Darrin Stern the President and General Manager of the show team and learn the behind the scenes working of h&h and this show. (27:13) Darren talks about the challenges of producing this show. (29:51) What does Darrin think are the biggest opportunities in this crafting space? (31:52)Meet a group of people who are attending the show and learn why they chose to do so. Here are Lynn, Sandy, Cathy, Jan and Judy! (32:45) Let's stop at Hudson Sewing and talk with Amanda! And by the way, ask her about karaoke!  (34:01) Let's chat with Tania Norris and Joe Vechiarelli. Tania of Disney's Haunted Mansion Purple Wallpaper and Joe of Dancing With the Start and French European. Both past guests on Sew & So. (38:22) Chris from Simply Classis talks about her up and coming crafts (39:25) Robin from Robin Ruth designs talks about her quilt rulers and the techniques to use them. (40:26) Maddy from the Badd Ass quilters talks about her organization and what they do. (41:29) Let's review with Jessica and Darrin learning about special experiences they've had and how their superior customer service is the norm. Join us at this event in 2027 – April 30 – May 2 in Rosemont, IL Be sure to subscribe to, review and rate this podcast on your favorite platform…and visit our website sewandsopodcast.com for more information about today's and all of our Guests.

A dentist who stopped drilling and started building. How a clinician turned CEO quadrupled revenue, scaled to multi-location, and built a team that runs without him.Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj walked into a 4-year-old broken dental practice and quadrupled the revenue in 12 months. He shares how listening to customers, scaling without scaling chaos, hiring with personality tests, and choosing between being the engineer or the orchestrator changed everything.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:03:55Q: What is the biggest bottleneck stopping most businesses from growing?A: Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj explains that founders are often the bottleneck, making assumptions about what customers want instead of listening to them.00:13:16Q: What is the easiest way to stand out from competitors?A: Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj says the bar is shockingly low. Run on time, answer the phones, and walk customers through the process.00:22:55Q: What happens when you scale a business with broken systems?A: Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj warns that you can scale your mistakes and chaos just as easily as you scale your success.00:29:35Q: What is the best interview strategy for hiring great people?A: Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj uses the 80/20 rule: ask 20% of the questions and shut up 80% of the time so candidates reveal who they really are.00:34:40Q: How does tolerating underperformance destroy company culture?A: Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj says when you tolerate missed goals, you allow it. The second time, it becomes a habit your A players notice.00:52:36Q: Should founders stay in their craft or step back to lead?A: Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj says you must decide: be the engineer or the orchestrator of engineers. Trying both keeps you stuck.Subscribe to Founder Talk so you don't miss what's next.Connect with Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-abhishek-nagaraj-10a4a88b/ Website: https://www.areodental.com/ The Founders BriefA weekly email where we break down the best Founder Talk conversations into tactics you can use immediately to grow your business and improve your life. You'll get behind-the-scenes access, a chance to submit questions for upcoming guests, and access to the insights that don't make the final cut! https://podcastbuilders.activehosted.com/f/3If you are a B2B company that wants to build your own in-house content team instead of outsourcing your content to a marketing agency, we may be a fit for you! Everything you see in our podcast and content is a result of a scrappy, nimble, internal content team along with an AI-powered content systems and process. Check out pricing and services here: https://impaxs.comIf you want to start a podcast that helps you win clients and become the go-to brand in your industry, Podcast Builders can help! https://podcastbuilders.com/Podcast Builders is a podcast production and strategy company based in St. Charles, Illinois that helps founder-led B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. The company provides podcast strategy, studio production, editing, and distribution services for businesses across the western Chicago suburbs including St Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Elgin, and more.Head to our website to stream every episode on your favorite platform, join the Founder Talk community, and submit questions for future guests—all in one place: https://foundertalkpodcast.com/#FounderTalk #EntrepreneurPodcast #StartupPodcast

On today's episode we are joined by Barstool's newest talent hire Connor Burns. We get into his background life growing up in Naperville, to him being hired at Barstool, potentially being a Disney adult and more.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/thedogwalk

Brick Lombardi cracks open the vault. Four tracks. Four moods. One very bad night for a Bears fan in Naperville, Illinois. The episode opens on the dance floor with GO PACK GO — an electro-pop, crunk-influenced banger built for the club and dedicated to the women who bleed green and gold. Standards are green and gold. If you don't know that, Brick does. From there, the energy shifts hard into PRESSURE — a cinematic, Queen-interpolated meditation on pass protection collapse and the particular dread of watching Jordan Love disappear into a rush. Heavy. Restrained. Honest. SUPERSTITIOUS brings the groove — a Stevie Wonder-influenced funk anthem for every Packer fan who's never spoken their ritual out loud. Same chair. Same hoodie. Same socks. The commentator jinx as a theological crisis. You know the system. You never talk about the system. Brick talks about the system. The episode closes with LET 'EM CRY — a Southern rock ballad. Organ, acoustic guitar, and a Bears fan alone at a bar in Naperville. Fourth and one. Caleb threw it low. Keisean Nixon took it from there. The song sounds like sympathy. It is not sympathy. Subscribe, rate, and review to keep the Tundra FM signal alive. Go Pack Go. #TundraFM #BrickLombardi #GoPackGo #GreenBayPackers #PackNation #NFLMusic #PackerNation #JordanLove #ChicagoBears #GoPackGo This episode is brought to you by PrizePicks! Use code PACKDADDY to get started with America's #1 fantasy sports app. https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/PACKDADDY To advertise on this podcast please email: ad-sales@libsyn.com Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/packernetpodcast Help keep the show growing and check out everything I'm building across the Packers and NFL world: Support: Patreon: www.patreon.com/pack_daddy Venmo: @Packernetpodcast CashApp: $packpod Website: https://nfldraftgrades.com/ My Board: https://nfldraftgrades.com/board/83a18c42-7a0b-4590-8d1b-453e49840d02