21st Century Entrepreneurship

Van Tucker is VP of Technology Partnerships at Harbor Lockers and has been building digital platforms since middle school. We spoke about how entrepreneurs can turn everyday challenges into scalable business models by launching lean pilots, validating with customers, and adapting quickly.As he put it, “How do you take your idea and get in the field fast?” For Van, that meant starting small—five lockers in his hometown—to test use cases. From bread distribution to bag storage at nightclubs, “some of the most traction people are getting is these non-traditional use cases.” By listening to customers and embracing early feedback, he turned experiments into sustainable solutions.Van stressed that growth is rarely instant. “Everything takes a little bit longer than you expect,” he noted, urging founders to favor organic expansion over jet-fuel growth. He also highlighted the importance of hiring lean, starting with contractors, and defining core values to guide both team and customer relationships.This conversation shows how to build products that last—by solving real problems, testing quickly, and compounding small wins into lasting impact.Key takeawaysLaunch early pilots to validate ideas with real customer feedback.Use non-traditional use cases to discover hidden revenue opportunities.Keep teams lean with contractors before hiring full staff.Define core values to align hires, contractors, and customers.Grow organically to avoid unsustainable “jet-fuel” scaling.Treat business building as compounding—small wins accumulate over time.

Larry Kriesmer is a veteran advisor who grew up in Saudi Arabia, later watching his father lose nearly everything to a Ponzi scheme. We spoke about how those early experiences shaped his mission: to build investment strategies that protect families from devastating losses while still capturing long-term equity growth.His turning point came during the tech crash, when panicked clients asked, “How much worse can it get?” and he realized he couldn’t answer honestly. That frustration led to developing a structural approach he calls synthequity—anchoring 80–90% of portfolios in Treasuries while using options on the S&P 500 to cap losses at a pre-set level. As he explains, “If 90% of the portfolio is in Treasuries, my loss limit is 10%.”The method is simple in concept but powerful in practice: define the maximum downstroke, let investors choose their risk budget, and still participate in market upside. “It’s not the money we lose that crushes us—it’s the time we can’t get back,” Larry says. By keeping drawdowns survivable, he believes investors avoid the paralyzing fear that drives bad decisions like selling at the bottom and missing recoveries.This conversation delivers a practical framework for anyone seeking to protect wealth without sacrificing growth: a disciplined, math-based system built from hard-earned lessons and personal loss.Key takeawaysLosses over 30% often take years to recover—limit exposure early.Anchoring 80–90% of a portfolio in Treasuries builds confidence.Options on the S&P 500 cap downside while keeping upside open.Define the maximum loss (“risk budget”) before investing, not after.Time lost in recovery matters more than temporary capital loss.Avoid “hope and prayer” diversification that fails during crises.

Dr. Nicholas E. Michels is a financial planner and author, and we spoke about how childhood adversity shaped his lifelong mission to help families master money and life. He recalled the moment his parents’ divorce “wrecked my childhood” and how his mother working three jobs drove him to study money so “you never have to worry again.”Michels explained how his early success as one of the youngest partners in his firm taught him that wealth without alignment leads to conflict. “On the outside we were successful, but inwardly stressed,” he said, describing repeated money fights with his wife until they created a shared vision statement. He outlined practical steps—mentorship, identifying four daily key activities, and later focusing on unique abilities—that allowed him to 10x his business while reducing stress.Today, his work blends financial expertise, faith, and teaching. He speaks in schools, telling kids, “Money is going to influence your life… doing nothing is still a choice.” All proceeds from his book fund his nonprofit to spark early money education. Listeners will hear not only strategies for building wealth but also how to build confidence, joy, and security for themselves and their families.Key takeawaysCreate a vision statement with your spouse to align money and life goalsIdentify four daily key activities and repeat them consistentlySeek mentors and copy proven processes before scaling your own pathFocus only on unique abilities and delegate the rest to 10x resultsTeach kids one simple money skill early to spark lifelong confidenceWealth without alignment can cause stress—success requires shared purpose

Dominic Forth is the CEO of Thought Leaders America, and we spoke about turning personal stories into trust and impact that extend far beyond likes and clicks. With decades in media, he consulted over 40 TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, researching not just what audiences chose but “the why behind it.” That background now informs how he helps entrepreneurs and thought leaders amplify their message.His method centers on aligning purpose with energy and guiding people to share authentic, sometimes uncomfortable stories. As he put it, “Attention is fleeting, but trust is priceless.” One client in real estate initially focused on numbers, but his true turning point came from a rafting accident where he nearly drowned. Dominic encouraged him to tell that story because “not everyone has near-death experiences, but they do have crossroads in life.” That shift transformed how audiences connected with him.Practically, Dominic outlines frameworks: leading with statistics to hook attention, weaving in personal narrative for emotional resonance, and ending with clear calls to action. He warns against poor preparation, weak tech, or unfocused messaging when showing up on podcasts. His personal “why” comes from his family and community—“my goal is to make the world a better place”—and he applies that mission to causes from healthcare to education.Listeners will learn how to craft stories that build credibility, win trust, and inspire action.Key takeawaysLead with statistics before personal story to hook and retain attention.Avoid weak calls to action and poor tech when podcasting.Share vulnerable stories that resonate at life crossroads.Replace likes and clicks with strategies that build lasting trust.Align your story with purpose and audience impact.Use a framework to guide audiences smoothly through your message.

Blackburn & Johnson is the duo behind Rich From Anywhere, and we spoke about turning ad spend into revenue by fixing strategy, creative, and follow-up—not just products. They started as music artists, learned online marketing to fund the dream, built a multi–six-figure agency, and now coach entrepreneurs on paid acquisition.Their turning point came after wasting $5,000 on ads with zero sales, hiring a mentor, and getting a sale in seven hours—proof that “it’s not about time, it’s about strategy.” As they put it, “We did 209,000 in sales in the next seven months” once they changed the approach. The core method is their Core 4: Offer (make it irresistible), Creative (stop-the-scroll hooks), Destination (conversion-ready landing page), and Systems (automated follow-up and fulfillment).Practically, they insist on running desktop Ads Manager over phone boosts (the App Store adds 30% on in-app purchases), installing the Facebook Pixel, and collecting names, phone numbers, and emails on an optimized landing page—because “data equals dollars.” They argue many “seasonal” businesses just have weak lead engines; paid traffic validates offers quickly while organic takes time.You’ll get a concrete playbook to capture leads, validate offers fast, and scale.Key takeawaysInstall Facebook Pixel and track website actions for data.Capture names, phone numbers, and emails on optimized landing pages.Use Ads Manager on desktop; avoid phone boosts and 30% App Store fees.Validate offers fast with paid traffic; don't wait on organic.Apply Core 4: Offer, Creative, Destination, Systems for conversions.Seek a coach to correct strategy; results can appear within hours.

Robert Howard is a former auto-sales pro who spent 20 years grinding “from what they call can to can’t,” and we spoke about how he bought back his time by learning real-estate wholesaling, turning a $25k first deal into steady monthly volume—and more time with his family. He explains wholesaling in plain English (find a motivated seller, match a buyer, and assign the contract—“some people… call it paper profits”), but he’s transparent about the real costs: “you’re going to have to invest… your time.” Robert shares how a tough schedule (5–7 a.m. prospecting, lunch-break calls in the car, 10–13 Sunday appointments with his daughter) led to momentum, and how mentorship—not $40–50k of courses—unlocked his first results: “That’s not how you do business,” a fellow wholesaler told him, then showed him the right way.The turning point came when he realized, “If I can build it for somebody else, I definitely can build it for myself… I owe it to me to at least try.” Deal flow grew from one a month to 3, 5, then 8–10, making it possible to replace his six-figure income. Today, the metric that matters most is time: “that time for me is the new currency.” Robert outlines beginner-friendly paths (Zillow leads, courthouse/abatement lists, talking to agents) and practical tools (e.g., Propstream, low-cost skip tracing) while setting a clear expectation: “spend at least 10 hours a week on this.” For listeners who want a head start, he offers a free cold-call script and an intro guide via epicwholeselling.com.Key takeawaysWhat wholesaling actually is (and isn’t), plus a simple numbers example and why assignments create “paper profits.”How to stack consistent action around a full-time job (early mornings, lunch breaks, Sunday sprints).Why mentorship and ethical deals beat “course collecting” (“That’s not how you do business.”).Realistic pacing: first deal at ~$25k; typical spreads around ~$10k; what it takes to scale to 8–10 deals/month.The north star: replacing income to buy back the one resource that matters—“time… is the new currency.”In short, if you’re asking how to create more time without another back-breaking hustle, Robert’s playbook shows a disciplined, ethical path into wholesaling—and a mindset that turns hours into freedom.

Joshua Lauer is a marketing-intelligence consultant who helps teams clean, connect, and operationalize their data — and we spoke about GA4 done right, UTM discipline, data warehousing, brand metrics that actually mean something, and how bad assumptions (like mis-calculated LTV) ripple into pricing, deliverability, and trust. Joshua’s central warning is urgency: “It’s really important to get your analytics sorted out as soon as possible so you know exactly where you’re heading,” because if your tracking (or your assumptions) are off, you might scale the wrong thing faster.We unpack GA4’s event model — “with GA4… everything is an event” — and why you should enrich events with context (e.g., product review count and rating at view-time) to explain behavior, not just log it. Joshua shares a $50k cautionary tale — “These ads were set up with no UTM link tracking on them” — where the campaigns worked but attribution didn’t, turning real performance into “direct” traffic and hard lessons in governance.From there, we zoom out to ownership and longevity: “If we don’t own our data, we don’t own our data.” Piping GA4 into BigQuery, joining ad spend and downstream outcomes, and keeping history protects you from platform amnesia — and reveals cross-channel cause and effect (like the “newsletter trap” where aggressive capture boosts list size but hurts inbox placement). We also cover measuring brand signals on purpose (applause/amplification/conversation rates) and why, creatively, “you don’t always have to be in sell mode.” Instead of brittle hyper-personalization, Joshua argues for clear personas to reach the majority without losing relevance.Ultimately, the craft is pairing numerics with narrative: “The data… can tell you exactly what happened… but it doesn’t always tell you why.” Leaders bring the business context that turns dashboards into decisions.Key takeawaysInstrument the “why,” not just the “what.” Enrich GA4 events with meaningful parameters (e.g., review count/rating at product view).Make UTM discipline non-negotiable. Templates, pre-flight checks, and audits prevent “direct” from hiding paid impact.Own your history. Send GA4 to BigQuery and join with ad spend and customer data so platform changes don’t erase your past.Measure brand engagement, on purpose. Track applause/amplification/conversation rates and tailor posts to the behavior you want.Beware vanity growth. Aggressive email capture can tank deliverability; optimize the path, not just the signup count.Prefer personas over brittle hyper-personalization. Serve 3–5 clear archetypes to widen resonance.Context beats dashboards. Numbers show what happened; your business knowledge explains why — and what to do next.

Stacey Hylen is a veteran business coach and growth strategist (25+ years, formerly VP of Consulting with Tony Robbins), and we spoke about growing revenue while protecting your life—family time, freedom, and energy. Stacey traces the mission back to a personal loss—“giving entrepreneurs back to their family and adding a zero without a hustle”—and why regrets like “He had a lot of regret at the end of his life” pushed her to design results that don’t require burnout. We unpack her playbook for spotting roadblocks, strategic positioning—“This is what I call going from commodity to couture”—and how AI now compresses timelines: “What used to take us months to do before now we can do in an afternoon.” She details the “hidden profits” lens—“The average business owner that comes to one of my live events has found $85,000 of hidden profits in their business”—plus masterminds, VIP strategy days (Zoom or at her lake house), and why “until you decide, nothing happens.”What you’ll learnHow to grow by priority: fix the one constraint (positioning, sales process, or ops) blocking everything else.Position yourself as couture, not a commodity, to escape price wars and win bigger clients.Use AI to accelerate strategy, messaging, and implementation—work that took months can fit into a focused half-day.Find fast, low-cost wins via “hidden profits” before adding complexity or headcount.Design offers and delivery for retention and lifestyle, not annual reset—maximize impact and energy.Key takeawaysDecide first; momentum follows the decision.Map your “hidden profits” (quick, low-cost, easy wins) before new funnels.Elevate positioning to reach the right decision-makers without competing on price.Treat AI as an execution multiplier for lean teams.Build a business that serves your life—on purpose, by design.

Monica Cox is the founder of Finding Fertility and a coach who turned an eight-year fertility struggle—and a late-in-life caregiving pause—into a mission. We spoke about rethinking hustle, honoring seasons of life, and building a business that serves your body, family, and long-term joy.Monica’s story challenges the “boss babe” grind and the instant-success myth. After stepping back from her business to care for her father and two young sons, she asked the question too many entrepreneurs avoid: what am I really doing this for? That pause changed everything—how she shows up, how she uses AI, and how she protects the “cellular health” that fuels sustainable performance. As she puts it, “AI has absolutely changed the game,” but it’s leverage, not a license to burn out. You still need boundaries, recovery, and what she calls “radical honesty with grace.”Her core ideas land with pragmatic bite: “You got to do the work. You got to show up,” but also “Your nervous system is the blueprint.” Monica explains why clearing emotions isn’t enough—you also have to rewire patterns in the mundane: notice the old loop and choose differently, again and again. Her mantra for interrupting unhelpful habits? “We don’t live there anymore.” And beneath the strategy sits a simple north star: “The basis is joy.”You’ll hear how fertility and entrepreneurship mirror each other, why chasing worth through sales creates fragile businesses, and how to pair AI + human support without recreating hustle in prettier packaging. Expect candid moments (“The math isn’t mathing”) and empowering reframes (“I was never infertile… I was solving issues”), plus a reminder many high-flyers hide: “Most of life is failures.” The work is showing up anyway.Key takeawaysFrequency > frenzy: Success compounds when your actions match your nervous system capacity. Protect sleep, food, movement—your “cellular health.” “I promise you, your body will hit a wall.”Leverage wisely: Use AI and assistants to remove toil, not to triple your workload. Output ≠ worth.Pattern interrupts in the mundane: Catch the loop, choose differently, repeat—“We don’t live there anymore.”Meaningful metrics: Joy, presence, and recovery are performance variables, not luxuries. “The basis is joy.”Identity, not hustle: Build from aligned beliefs; stop outsourcing worth to sales spikes.Energy + execution: “We are both energetic beings, but we’re playing a physical game”—pair inner work with consistent, concrete action.Monica’s closing invitation: “You are the controller of your reality.” Get curious, set a kinder pace, and build in a way your future self can actually live with.

Joshua Sizemore is a brand builder and operator who’s taken ideas from scrappy to scale across retail, beverages, e-commerce, and franchising, and we spoke about how to balance personal authenticity with hard market signals, why DTC-first matters for new products, and building solutions to your own problems—from beverage pivots to diabetic-safe snacks and a vetted surrogacy platform.From a 900-person town in Kentucky to leading roles in national retail, Josh shares the lessons behind relaunching a heritage soda into “10, 000 stores in two months,” grinding daily at a premium water plant, scaling an Amazon-for-CBD marketplace later sold to Snoop & Martha’s group, a presidency inside a large franchise system, and growing powdered kombucha from zero to nine figures—before returning to consumer goods with a new, patent-backed snack formulated not to spike blood sugar. Along the way he breaks down how to test market fit, why margins now trump vanity revenue, and the mindset rituals (hello, 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. gym sessions) that keep founders level through the roller coaster.The focus of our conversation is FeastFast — the functional snack brand Josh is leading today. With a patented formula and delivery method, their mini cookies don’t spike blood sugar or insulin, don’t break a fast or ketosis, and are designed to be especially safe for people with diabetes or prediabetes. Launched just weeks ago with a direct-to-consumer strategy (website + TikTok Shop) and Amazon coming in September, the brand currently offers four cookie flavors in 3oz bags (18 mini cookies, 6 per serving), with cereals and crackers already in development. The ambition is clear: to become the world’s most trusted and delicious everyday snack for anyone choosing a consistent, sustainable lifestyle over quick-fix diets — a practical tool for daily routines without the stress of sugar spikes.What we discussedAuthenticity vs. audience reality: put your values into the brand, but don’t confuse your personal habits with the market’s behavior (his early SKU mix miss is a case study).A practical launch path: prototype → brutal feedback → DTC for 2–3 months to own customer data → then expand to platforms like Amazon.Margin as the compass: why profitability discipline now beats growth-at-all-costs, and how packaging, shipping, and pricing flow from that.Operator reps: what he learned bottling water daily, running franchise P&Ls, and handing growth to the right mentors at the right time.Building from lived pain: a diabetic-friendly snack (with a delivery method they say won’t spike blood glucose) and a new tech startup to match intended parents with super-vetted surrogates after a personal setback.Founder stamina: simple rituals to buffer the highs and lows so you can keep shipping.