Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast

In this episode of Business Brain, Dave and Shannon dive into a mix of tech, strategy, and entrepreneurship insights. They discuss the mental exhaustion of constant video calls, particularly the unnatural experience of seeing oneself too often on Zoom. They explore the idea that strategy is about choosing what not to do, referencing Steve Jobs’ approach at Apple and emphasizing the power of saying no to maintain focus and effectiveness. Shannon and Dave reflect on how early-stage entrepreneurs often say yes to everything out of necessity, but that maturing businesses must learn to prioritize. They transition into how ChatGPT helps overcome decision paralysis and speeds up problem-solving, from renaming podcasts to fixing irrigation issues. Shannon shares how ChatGPT accurately diagnosed a sprinkler issue in seconds—something that would’ve taken hours or days otherwise. Both hosts agree that ChatGPT has become significantly more reliable, especially for tech support, but still has limitations and occasional false promises (like pretending it can generate Canva links). Shannon introduces a new tool, typeset.com, for creating professional e-books and presentations. He used it with ChatGPT to develop a lead magnet for a client and found it valuable for enhancing visual content. They close by inviting listeners to share their favorite AI tools and reminding them to leave a review for a chance to win a MacBook. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #645 for Casual Friday, May 2nd, 2025 May 2nd: International Scurvy Awareness Day (also National Truffle Day?) 00:01:33 Watching ourselves on our own screens is distracting  00:05:35 Strategy is choosing what NOT to do Guy Kawasaki with Debbie Millman 00:09:37 SPONSOR: Insta360 X5 Camera. To bag a free invisible selfie stick worth US$24.99 with your X5 purchase, head to store.insta360.com and use the promo code “brain”, available for the first 30 purchases only. 00:11:27 Using ChatGPT to rename Mac Geek Gab From “Mac Geek Gab — Your Questions Answered, Tips Shared, Troubleshooting Assistance” to “Mac Geek Gab — Apple Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting” 00:13:25 Using ChatGPT for tech support can be great 00:17:00 But it also lies… 00:18:16 Typeset.com  00:20:25 Business Brain 645 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post Strategy is Choosing What Not to Do + FridAI – Business Brain 645 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

In this episode of Business Brain, Dave and Shannon discuss how traits associated with ADHD—like jumping between ideas, hyper-focus, and high risk tolerance—can actually serve as superpowers for entrepreneurs. They share personal experiences, acknowledge their unofficial ADHD diagnoses, and talk about learning to manage it through strategies like using ChatGPT, listening to music, or delegating tasks they’re not strong at, like accounting. Shannon emphasizes that ADHD traits such as creativity, rapid idea connection, and risk tolerance can fuel innovation and success. Dave stresses the importance of learning to live with oneself and leveraging hyper-focus intentionally. They also highlight the downside of imposter syndrome, arguing that true imposters don’t experience it—only the self-aware do. The show ends with a conversation about the power of quiet confidence in business, the downside of trying too hard or appearing desperate, and the value of letting results speak for themselves. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #644 for Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 April 30th: International Jazz Day 00:01:30 Shannon uses Insta360’s webcam 00:01:58 Leveraging your ADHD superpowers Hyperfocus Distractibility Reality Distortion (in a positive way) Pomodoro Method on Business Brain 00:13:27 SPONSOR: Insta360 X5 Camera. To bag a free invisible selfie stick worth US$24.99 with your X5 purchase, head to store.insta360.com and use the promo code “brain”, available for the first 30 purchases only. 00:15:16 The act of trying too hard is a sign of weakness The real imposters never experience the syndrome Quiet confidence vs. cockiness 00:19:33 Business Brain 644 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain   The post Leveraging your ADHD Superpower – Business Brain 644 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

In this episode of Business Brain, Dave Hamilton shares a story about a $36,000 IRS refund check he mailed to his bank, which never arrived. After frustrating interactions with Citibank and the IRS, he turned to ChatGPT for help. ChatGPT guided him to use the IRS Practitioner Priority Line and the Taxpayer Advocate Service, ultimately helping him start a trace on the missing check—something that could have taken months longer without AI’s assistance. Dave emphasizes how AI can dramatically improve efficiency and help with bureaucratic challenges. Shannon Jean then shares a concept called the “third door”—a strategy for building relationships with key people before you need them. He recounts how he used LinkedIn to connect with eBay and Poshmark executives, establishing trust over time. These early, genuine connections later opened doors to speaking opportunities and support when problems arose. He encourages listeners to build relationships early by offering value and engaging authentically, without immediately asking for favors. The episode also includes sponsor messages for Shopify and Insta360 and wraps with a call for listeners to connect on LinkedIn and share their own “third door” stories. The overarching message: use smart tools like AI and strategic relationship-building to live a more successful, charmed entrepreneurial life. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #643 for Casual Friday, April 25th, 2025 April 25th: International Financial Independence Awareness Day FridAI 00:01:07 ChatGPT Taught me How to Solve my Problem Calling the IRS 00:11:09 SPONSOR: Shopify – For anyone to sell anywhere, sign up for a one-dollar-per month trial period at Shopify.com/BusinessBrain and upgrade your selling today! 00:12:41 SPONSOR: Insta360 X5 Camera. To bag a free invisible selfie stick worth US$24.99 with your purchase, head to store.insta360.com and use the promo code “brain”, available for the first 30 purchases only. 00:14:11 Find the Third Door LinkedIn Rebecca Michals, eBay Director of Community on Business Brain 00:21:39 If You Want More, Do More 00:23:12 Business Brain 643 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post FridAI + The 3rd Door – Business Brain 643 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

In this episode of Business Brain, Shannon introduces a new concept called the 20-80 Rule, a twist on the traditional 80/20 principle. His version suggests that investing two years of hard work upfront—building systems, making mistakes, and laying a solid foundation—can result in eight years of sustained revenue and business growth. He emphasizes patience, long-term thinking, and warns against the illusion of quick success. Dave reinforces this idea with a story about launching Mac Observer in 1998, explaining how it took nearly two years to become sustainable, and highlighting the importance of building strong systems early to support future growth. The hosts also dive into the idea of “coopetition”—collaborating with competitors to create mutually beneficial opportunities. Dave shares how BackBeat Media was born after competitors asked for help with hosting and ad sales. Shannon echoes the sentiment, recalling how sharing large product deals early in his career led to reciprocal opportunities down the line. They criticize the scarcity mindset and the tendency of some business owners to guard information out of fear, arguing that execution and collaboration matter far more than secrecy. The episode closes with encouragement to share ideas, build in public, and seek partnerships instead of isolation. Listeners are invited to share their thoughts on the 20-80 Rule and coopetition at feedback@businessbrain.show. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #642 for Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025 April 23rd: National Email Day 00:01:21 The 20/80 Rule 00:09:39 SPONSOR: Shopify – For anyone to sell anywhere, sign up for a one-dollar-per month trial period at Shopify.com/BusinessBrain and upgrade your selling today! 00:11:08 SPONSOR: Insta360 X5 Camera. To bag a free invisible selfie stick worth US$24.99 with your purchase, head to store.insta360.com and use the promo code “brain”, available for the first 30 purchases only. 00:12:40 Prioritize Coopetition The pie is infinite! Apple SuperDrive 00:24:00 Business Brain 642 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post The 20/80 Opportunity – Business Brain 642 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

An AI update from the hosts of the Business Brain podcast. Two powerful prompts to keep you from being left behind and a prompt to analyze your blind spots. Join us! 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #641 for Casual Friday, April 18th, 2025 April 18th: Lineman Appreciation Day 00:02:34 America Turner-Use AI to help you learn to use AI “I work in [insert your field]. I’ve made a career as a [insert your job title]. How will AI disrupt my progress, and what skills will it replace?”, then… “What can I do in the next 6, 12, or 18 months to use AI to grow my career?” 00:05:49 AI Voice is Patient 00:08:39 SPONSOR: SelectQuote — Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at selectquote.com/businessbrain. 00:09:44 SPONSOR: Shopify – For anyone to sell anywhere, sign up for a one-dollar-per month trial period at Shopify.com/BusinessBrain and upgrade your selling today! 00:10:57 ChatGPT now lets you reference chat histories “Now that you can remember everything I’ve ever typed here, point out my top five blind spots.” Die With Zero 00:22:23 Business Brain 641 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post FridAI – Prompts and Blind Spots – Business Brain 641 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Colin Rutherford joins the Business Brain podcast to share his entrepreneurial journey. Starting as a Division I hockey player at Dartmouth, he launched Greenbox Storage, a summer storage service for college students. Despite balancing 30 hours a week of hockey and Ivy League academics, he learned critical time management skills and grew the business to 23 schools. He discusses the challenges of scaling too fast—tripling branches in a year led to losses at multiple locations, teaching him the importance of measured growth and profit focus. Colin also talks about going viral on X with a post that reached 62 million views, which helped him monetize and gain visibility. He emphasizes consistency, experimentation, and borrowing proven strategies from others as keys to growing on social media. He’s posted over 18,000 times and follows a strategy influenced by Justin Welsh’s content model. Colin now runs Greenbox Storage and Founder Brands, a digital marketing and personal branding agency helping entrepreneurs grow their online influence. He highlights the importance of building a great remote team and using tools like Google Workspace, Slack, and AI to manage content and operations. He credits his parents for instilling discipline and drive and leaves listeners with advice: start before you’re ready, learn by doing, and surround yourself with smart people to scale successfully. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #640 for Wednesday, April 16th, 2025 April 16th: Wear Pajamas To Work Day 00:01:31 Guest Co-host Collin Rutherford from Business Blitz Podcast Being monetized on X Recruited to play D1 Hockey at Dartmouth Started Greenbox Storage in Dartmouth 00:04:42 Time Management running a business while being a D1 athlete 00:07:14 Selling a portion of your business to bring on a partner 00:08:46 SPONSOR: SelectQuote — Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at selectquote.com/businessbrain. 00:09:51 SPONSOR: Shopify – For anyone to sell anywhere, sign up for a one-dollar-per month trial period at Shopify.com/BusinessBrain and upgrade your selling today! 00:11:04 Shannon’s best practices means… copying Collin! 00:11:54 Social media: post content that attracts the algorithm, then people will see your valuable content “I’m not that smart, guys.” Justin Welsh’s Content Flywheel on X When is it time to pivot and try something different? 00:14:49 It’s important to make mistakes 00:15:11 Grew from 6 branches to 18 branches in one year We didn’t have any understanding how to find good schools 00:16:41 Unpacking the mindset of success The never-ending pursuit of personal growth 00:20:08 Starting FounderBrands 00:21:17 Tools to use Google Workspace Slack 00:23:15 Have a great team To Scale a business, you have to put the right people in the right places 00:24:51 Business Brain 640 Outtro <https://businessbrain.show/> Follow Collin_Ruth89 on X Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post Collin Rutherford of Founder Brands – Business Brain 640 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Discover the transformative power of mindset and self-talk as the hosts reflect on the shift from regret to gratitude. Learn how positive language can enhance relationships and boost confidence in business. Dive into the exciting world of AI, specifically the new features of ChatGPT 4.0, showcasing its role as a creative collaborator. The discussion touches on the necessity of adapting to technological changes, spotlighting unique concepts like 'vibe coding' that simplify app development for everyone. Tune in for insights that inspire growth and innovation!

In this episode of Business Brain, Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean kick things off with a humorous nod to International ASMR Day before diving into key business tips. Dave shares insights from the Podcast Movement Evolutions conference, emphasizing the importance of identifying where your industry engages online—like how the podcast ad industry is active on LinkedIn. By interacting there for just 30 minutes a day, he significantly boosted connections and created new business opportunities. They also stress the value of joining conversations without immediately pitching—just genuinely engaging first. Tools like Seamless.ai are recommended for finding email contacts when LinkedIn messages don’t get responses. Another pro tip: pass on credit card fees (3%) to customers in B2B settings. Dave reports zero pushback when doing so and shares how credit card reward points made such fees worth paying in his own car purchase experience. The show wraps with a powerful conversation about imposter syndrome. Shannon recounts chatting with a billionaire who admired Shannon’s freedom-focused “lifestyle business.” This conversation reminded both hosts (and listeners) that success is subjective—wealth isn’t just about money but also about time, freedom, and joy. The key takeaway: compare yourself only to your past self, not others. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #638 for Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 00:01:17 April 9th: International ASMR Day 00:02:04 LinkedIn…Find where your industry is! Seamless.ai 00:08:57 Tip: Add 3% for all credit card transactions. 00:12:22 SPONSOR: Rogue Amoeba Software makes some of the best Mac Audio software on the planet, and we couldn’t produce BB this way without it! Just visit MacAudio.com/Brain and use code BRAIN to save 20% on anything they make. Download free trials, then buy online to receive the discounted price. 00:13:37 BB Review Mar 9 2025 00:14:48 Pro Tip: Share your story with a billionaire and then listen and watch. 00:19:46 Imposter Syndrome 00:21:29 Business Brain 638 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post The Billionaire Perspective – Business Brain 638 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Dave and Shannon discuss the “consulting trap”—the cycle where coaches or consultants trade time for money and get hooked on the immediate gratification of helping people, like feeling like Superman. Dave shares his own experience getting stuck in it and warns that it’s not scalable. Shannon agrees, saying he’s early in his coaching business and is already feeling the limits of one-on-one work. He’s working on solving this by automating, hiring help, building curriculum, creating group programs, and selling digital products. He started by offering free coaching to test the waters and quickly saw demand. They talk about how rewarding it is emotionally but emphasize the need to systematize the business to avoid burnout and maximize impact without tying everything to hours worked. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #637 for Casual Friday, April 4th, 2025 April 4th: National Walk to Work Day 00:01:20 The Consulting Trap 00:06:15 Productize Your Knowledge 00:07:40 Build Curriculum Gumroad 00:12:06 Beware the Superman Effect 00:14:13 Start…and Learn! But beware the Superman effect 00:19:03 Business Brain 637 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain   The post The Consultant Trap – Business Brain 637 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean open the episode with a light chat about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Dave then shares insights from attending South by Southwest (SXSW), focusing on a documentary called Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror. Initially intending to cover it for his music podcast, Dave realizes the documentary offers a deeper business lesson. The film covers how Rocky Horror started as a stage musical in London, became popular, moved to L.A., and was eventually turned into a low-budget movie. It initially flopped, but the creators noticed college students were the ones staying to watch. Instead of giving up, they pivoted to midnight showings and built an audience, which turned it into the longest-running movie ever. The main business takeaway: own your content. Richard O’Brien, who wrote and starred in the musical, was advised not to sell the rights. That ownership turned into a valuable long-term annuity, with the Rocky Horror franchise eventually earning an estimated $500 million through box office, merchandise, licensing, and more. They end by emphasizing that audiences create cults—not producers—and reiterate the importance of retaining ownership of your creations. Shannon also teases a story about a billionaire conversation for a future episode. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs’ Podcast #636 for Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025 00:01:00 April 2nd: National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day 00:03:43 Review Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (from SXSW) 00:17:06 John Fogerty @ SXSW 00:18:33 Business Brain 636 Outtro Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post Own Your Content – Business Brain 636 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.