21st Century Entrepreneurship

Bogdan Micov is a former CEO who led 700 people in Dubai before a stroke at 32 forced him to confront what he calls “how stress affects us” and how much of his success was built on pressure rather than wellbeing. We spoke about his shift from operating on cortisol to operating from calm, and the method he later developed to help high performers do the same.His approach is built on a simple chain: thinking creates emotion, emotion shapes behavior, and behavior determines results. As he puts it, “you are incapable of experiencing the world outside of you directly… only your own thinking about it.” Instead of adding more tools or motivation, he focuses on subtraction—removing the emotional and cognitive templates that keep people stuck. He explains that most recurring issues trace back to early, unconscious decisions and emotional “templates” created in childhood, and that change comes from deleting those patterns at the root, not endlessly reframing them. “You don’t need more courage, you need less fear,” he says, describing how he guides clients through releasing fear, anger, sadness, guilt, and other core states before addressing beliefs.Micov’s proprietary process, blending modalities from NLP to cognitive science, aims to rewire the original emotional imprint so that “the nervous system becomes a blank slate.” He emphasizes that meaningful change doesn’t require years of processing: “interrupt the strategy, make one small tweak, and the train goes in a different direction.” Once the emotional glue dissolves, limiting beliefs can be replaced in minutes, not months, and people often feel as if they finally “remember who they were before conditioning.”For listeners, this conversation offers a grounded, experience-based roadmap for shifting performance, motivation, and identity by working on the real source code rather than the symptoms.Key takeawaysBehavior follows emotion, and emotion follows thinking patterns.Changing meaning-making can shift emotional states rapidly.Early emotional “templates” drive adult fear, stress, and self-sabotage.Removing negative emotions dissolves resistance to change.Limiting beliefs begin as childhood decisions, not fixed traits.Identity shifts often come from subtraction, not adding new skills.

Srikar Yeruva is an engineer-turned-serial entrepreneur, and we spoke about why he believes healthcare transformation starts with respecting the problem—not throwing technology at it. After years building technical companies, exiting one to Bain Capital and selling another in smart contracts, he realized “technology doesn’t sell—solutions do.” That shift pulled him into the heart of U.S. health systems, where he learned firsthand how hospitals operate, why workflows break, and why efficiency has become a survival issue.His approach centers on a simple sequence: digitize the entire workflow, analyze what the new data reveals, then optimize using AI only when it’s actually needed. As he put it, “AI without PI is not going to work out,” because applying algorithms without practical intelligence usually makes things worse. He described gaps that create real harm—blood shortages, lost tumor samples, misused biomedical assets—and how digitizing from “A to Z” exposes the hidden friction that drains time, money, and patient safety.Yeruva also shared clear advice for young builders: “Respect the problem first,” talk to people who’ve tried solving it before, and be patient enough to understand the pain points before designing anything. Bootstrapping taught him that every dollar and every hour matters, but it also taught him the value of outside validation and surrounding yourself with people “smarter and wiser” than you.Listeners will walk away with a grounded, practical view of how real innovation in healthcare happens—and why understanding the problem beats chasing the newest technology.Key takeawaysDigitize workflows fully before analyzing or optimizing with AI.Practical intelligence is required; AI alone will fail.Identify workflow gaps causing waste, errors, or lost samples.Respect the problem first and study failed attempts.Bootstrapping builds discipline; outside money validates products.Efficiency gains free resources for patient care, not overhead.

Melissa Faith Hart is a public-safety innovator with 20 years of experience, and we spoke about how personal survival, technology, and community systems shaped her mission. She began her career at Xerox helping police departments modernize, eventually co-building the first criminal e-discovery system in Colorado. As she put it, she always asked, “how can I make the system better… so that we can help victims?”A major turning point came after a brain surgery and a domestic-violence crisis that forced her to “face my death” and rebuild her sense of safety from the inside out. She describes the journey as rediscovering the “whole-brain” self—“the math behind the music”—that fuels her ability to innovate. That integration of creativity and logic led her to design accessible, mobile safety tools grounded in a simple belief: “people deserve safety… it’s a primal right.”Her approach is practical: individuals can access support for $5.99 per month, governments can adopt a full workflow from emergency response to courts, and nonprofits can receive victim-support access at no cost. She emphasizes patience and emotional regulation in leadership—“I don’t have to respond in this moment…I could even wait”—as essential to solving complex problems sustainably.Listeners gain a concrete view into how personal adversity, disciplined routines, and integrated thinking can transform public safety in everyday life.Key takeawaysSafety is a universal human need requiring accessible tools.Personal trauma shaped her mission to modernize public safety.Whole-brain integration fuels her innovation approach.Governments and citizens need shared systems for safety.Victims and nonprofits receive free access to support.Leaders can pause before responding to solve problems better.

Brandon Williams is a lawyer, entrepreneur, and business executive with over twenty years of experience bridging law, business, and entertainment across the globe. We spoke about how he turned persistence and practical judgment into the foundation for billion-dollar deals and international success stories.After representing Fortune 10 companies and global icons, Williams learned that growth begins with grit: “Everything starts small. Learn to build. It’s going to be hard.” His journey took an unexpected turn when a client called and said, “I want to do television in Africa,” and hung up. Six months later, Williams had built a team from scratch, secured funding and networks, and produced the number one television show in both Johannesburg and Accra. That process—building something global out of nothing—became the essence of his approach.From his years as a partner at a major firm to running major media ventures, Williams emphasizes that persistence beats prestige. “It isn’t about money. It isn’t about your experience. If you have a passion for what you do, everyone will come around to support.” His blend of legal rigor and entrepreneurial creativity shows how consistency, relationships, and belief can turn ideas into lasting enterprises.Listeners will leave with a clear sense of how to build global credibility, start small, and stay unshakably persistent—no matter how big the vision seems.Key takeawaysBuild from scratch by focusing on persistence, not resources.Treat every client as a partner in long-term growth.Use legal structure as a foundation for entrepreneurial creativity.Transform one opportunity into many through relationships and follow-through.Global success starts with saying yes before you know how.Passion attracts support more reliably than credentials or funding.

Adam Cerra is a high-ticket sales expert who has closed more than $30 million in offers for coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs. We spoke about how he teaches people to “sell without selling” — a process he calls inverse closing, where persuasion is replaced by empathy and guided conversation.As Adam puts it, “You’re not convincing anyone to buy anything. You’re getting your prospect to sell themselves for the offer.” His approach hinges on emotional intelligence — the ability to feel what the prospect feels — and on asking well-crafted questions that uncover the real voids, fears, and desires driving a decision. Instead of pitching, he trains entrepreneurs to listen deeply and lead with presence.In his work, he blends control with compassion: “Always be closing” meets “sales as a service.” Through his academy and agency, Adam helps others practice this method live — recording calls, reviewing tone and timing, and developing the confidence to turn authentic dialogue into high-value results. One student, a therapist once charging $200 an hour, closed her first $7,777 offer just weeks after applying his process.Listeners will walk away understanding how selling becomes effortless when it becomes human — and how emotional intelligence remains the edge AI can’t replace.Key takeawaysSelling starts with empathy, not persuasion.Let prospects “confess” their problems through guided questions.Use three core questions to bypass logic and access emotion.Emotional intelligence is what keeps sales human in the AI age.Combine control and care — authority without pressure.Record and review real calls to refine your tone and flow.

Dwan Bent-Twyford is one of America’s most recognized real estate investors and educators, known for turning a $75 setback into a multimillion-dollar career. We spoke about how losing her home and car as a single mother became the catalyst for a 35-year journey and over 2,000 completed property deals.Her approach begins with empathy, not transactions. “People before profits,” she said, describing how she focuses on homeowners in distress—those facing foreclosure, divorce, or loss—rather than chasing market trends. Dwan teaches students to “stop thinking about the deal and think about the person,” offering free options first, such as loan modifications or short sales, to build trust and long-term opportunity.She warns newcomers against “shiny object syndrome” and stresses finding mentors whose “moral compass aligns with yours.” For beginners, she suggests wholesaling—“the path of least resistance”—as the simplest way to earn while learning. Financial freedom, she reminds us, “is not just about money—it’s about being able to take time for your family.”This episode offers a grounded, no-fluff look at building lasting wealth by leading with compassion and practical action.Key takeawaysStart by helping people in distress—profits follow purpose.Ignore market panic; focus on real human circumstances.Offer free solutions first to build credibility and trust.Avoid “shiny object” shortcuts and learn proven basics.Align your values with your mentor’s moral compass.Begin with wholesaling for quick wins and lower risk.

John Frost is the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing at Doane University with nearly 20 years in higher education across community colleges and private and public universities. We spoke about what it truly means to change lives through learning—and why education is not just for the gifted but for anyone curious enough to start.Frost believes that “what we do is what politicians, kings and queens promise to do—we change lives each and every day.” His approach goes beyond academics: it’s about helping students connect their personal dreams to real-world impact. From undergraduate to graduate programs and the Open Learning Academy, Frost emphasizes fundamentals, hands-on experience, and early exposure. “We don’t wait until senior year—we start career planning in freshman year,” he says, ensuring that students learn to apply knowledge through internships and community engagement.He challenges every prospective student with four questions: What is this worth? How will you do it? Are you willing to be a hero? Can you say yes every day? For Frost, success depends on understanding your why. “If you understand your why, then you can figure out the can,” he explains—a mindset that transforms education into both a personal and social mission.This episode offers a grounded reminder that education is not about status—it’s about commitment, courage, and the willingness to keep saying yes when it’s easier to say no.Key takeawaysEducation changes lives by connecting personal dreams with real-world action.Curiosity matters more than academic or athletic talent.Start internships and career planning as early as freshman year.Ask yourself four questions: worth, how, hero, yes.Understanding your “why” helps you persist when things get hard.Higher education is for everyone willing to commit and stay curious.

Patrick Wood is a 30-year entrepreneur in finance and capital markets across Canada and the U.S., now leading an early-stage public company redefining how digital asset treasuries hedge risk. We spoke about what it really takes to endure the entrepreneurial grind — and why expecting failure can become your most powerful advantage.“Always plan on failure first,” Patrick says. “Expect it’s going to fail — then move, pivot, and adjust.” That mindset has guided his own journey, from stockbroker to CEO, through multiple pivots that turned potential collapses into breakthroughs. When his firm’s initial product for credit markets stalled, he leveraged the same structure to serve crypto treasuries — a small shift that unlocked major traction. “We accepted the fact it was looking like a failure and needed to act,” he reflects.Patrick explains that few founders win on their first try, or even their fourth. What matters is readiness — anticipating how to adapt when things break. “If it was easy to do what we do, everyone would be doing it,” he says. For him, entrepreneurship remains a strange but irresistible pursuit of freedom, responsibility, and self-governance.Listeners will come away with a pragmatic view of resilience — how to build flexibility, protect investors, and make smarter strategic pivots when the wind shifts.Key takeawaysExpect failure as part of the entrepreneurial process, not an exception.Build your plan two steps ahead — always know your pivot options.Leverage what already works instead of starting from scratch.Accept when something’s failing early to minimize damage.Freedom and self-direction outweigh comfort for true entrepreneurs.Collaboration with the right advisors accelerates smarter decisions.

Gail Kasper is an author, professional speaker, and performance coach who has spent over 15 years training entrepreneurs and executives—from solo founders to leaders in multi-billion-dollar companies—on leadership, customer service, and sales. We spoke about how few CEOs (only 15%) have ever been formally trained in sales, and why that missing skill often determines whether a business scales or stalls.Her approach centers on what she calls the Systematic Attitude Development Technique—a method to “get logical in the face of emotion.” As she put it, “When we get knocked down or face conflict, we go into emotion versus logic.” By planning ahead, setting priorities, and seeking help when stuck, entrepreneurs can shift from reaction to deliberate action. Gail outlines four core steps: make a daily list, prioritize the top three high-impact tasks, execute them, and ask for help when needed.She shares vivid stories, from a woman who escaped a car trunk by focusing on logic to her own moment of resilience the night before a major speech when her husband left. “If I stay in bed, I lose money, my client loses out—but I also let myself down,” she recalls. For Gail, logical follow-through isn’t cold—it’s confidence in motion.This conversation is a masterclass in staying rational under pressure, refining your sales message, and turning persistence into tangible progress—one logical step at a time.Key takeawaysOnly 15% of CEOs have formal sales training—yet it’s a critical growth skill.Use the Systematic Attitude Development Technique to stay logical under stress.Make a daily list, then focus on your top three high-impact actions.Ask for help—mentors and podcasts can break emotional deadlock.Strengthen your “power statement” to clearly express your unique value.“Check the fear box” weekly by doing one uncomfortable, growth-driven action.

Christopher Hossfeld is a 27-year U.S. Army veteran and leadership educator who translates battlefield decision-making into modern business strategy. We spoke about how lessons from military history can sharpen leaders’ thinking, reduce bias, and strengthen organizations. “Investing in your people is the best way of spending your limited resources,” he explains—because leadership, at its core, is about leaving something that transcends business.Through his Barrel Strength Leadership framework, Hossfeld helps leaders identify blind spots, challenge cognitive bias, and apply situational awareness to real-world problems. Using examples from Gettysburg to corporate boardrooms, he shows how “the military trains people not just for the job they have, but the job they’ll have next.” He teaches leaders to balance physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual “fuel tanks,” recognizing that stress in battle may mirror a year’s pressure in business.Rejecting classroom monotony, Hossfeld favors immersive experiences that create emotional connection and measurable ROI—returning 60 to 90 days later to assess what changed. His mission is simple: when leaders invest in their people, those people repay that investment many times over.Key takeawaysInvest in people as the most effective long-term organizational strategy.Translate battlefield decision-making into frameworks for business resilience.Identify and counteract cognitive bias before it shapes key decisions.Strengthen leadership by balancing physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy.Replace passive learning with emotionally engaging, action-driven experiences.Reassess leadership ROI through honest feedback 60–90 days after implementation.