Outlier's Edge Podcast with Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong
Outlier's Edge Podcast is a live coaching podcast where we come together in conversation to work through the challenges and apply the gifts of being a unique tribe of high-performing, high-impact entrepreneurs, changemakers, and leaders who choose to play a bigger game of impact, influence, and income than we've ever play before.
What's an Outlier?
An Outlier is a high-performing, high-impact leader who often is:
One of the Only: Thrive in systems/environments that were not designed to have someone like them succeed,
One of the First: Thrive doing things no one else has ever done or dares to even try
One of a Kind: Thrive on their unconventional and independent terms regardless of what others around them are doing
THIS IS A PODCAST FOR PEOPLE WHO:
- aren't afraid of "playing small", but are scared of "thinking medium".
- Are exploring new frontiers in society or their field
- Are at the top of their field or business against typical odds and expectations from others like them,
- Are taking an independent and unconventional approach outside of the status-quo
- know that their mindsets, limiting beliefs, and other internal struggles are actually shared with other leaders who stand for a new vision of the future and change the world for those they lead
HOW EACH PODCAST CONVERSATION IS GOING DOWN
*Part 1- Your Journey*
Features the unique stories of a different trailblazing leader as we explore the *inner* journey they went on as they were creating the outer results we all got to see.
*Part 2 - Your Edge*
Since this group of people are already out on the edge, traditional information doesn’t always serve them. They need new insights and perspectives, and the best way I know how to do that is through coaching.
Each guest will have the option to play on their edge and get coaching around a challenge or a possibility they are working towards.
I'm playing on my edge here as well. I have typically reserved coaching for my high-performing, high-impact clients as closed door sessions.
It keeps my clients safe, and it keeps me safe.
*But safe doesn't change the world.*
Join us as we choose to be both safe AND brave by showcasing the impact coaching has to help us achieve belonging, possibility, and inclusion.
Time to play at a higher level!
*** Bonus since you made it this far ***
Here's a special gift to support you for 14 days in navigating what lies beyond YOUR edge as a high-impact, high-performing leader
https://outliersedge.com/oeguestpass
What's an Outlier?
An Outlier is a high-performing, high-impact leader who often is:
One of the Only: Thrive in systems/environments that were not designed to have someone like them succeed,
One of the First: Thrive doing things no one else has ever done or dares to even try
One of a Kind: Thrive on their unconventional and independent terms regardless of what others around them are doing
THIS IS A PODCAST FOR PEOPLE WHO:
- aren't afraid of "playing small", but are scared of "thinking medium".
- Are exploring new frontiers in society or their field
- Are at the top of their field or business against typical odds and expectations from others like them,
- Are taking an independent and unconventional approach outside of the status-quo
- know that their mindsets, limiting beliefs, and other internal struggles are actually shared with other leaders who stand for a new vision of the future and change the world for those they lead
HOW EACH PODCAST CONVERSATION IS GOING DOWN
*Part 1- Your Journey*
Features the unique stories of a different trailblazing leader as we explore the *inner* journey they went on as they were creating the outer results we all got to see.
*Part 2 - Your Edge*
Since this group of people are already out on the edge, traditional information doesn’t always serve them. They need new insights and perspectives, and the best way I know how to do that is through coaching.
Each guest will have the option to play on their edge and get coaching around a challenge or a possibility they are working towards.
I'm playing on my edge here as well. I have typically reserved coaching for my high-performing, high-impact clients as closed door sessions.
It keeps my clients safe, and it keeps me safe.
*But safe doesn't change the world.*
Join us as we choose to be both safe AND brave by showcasing the impact coaching has to help us achieve belonging, possibility, and inclusion.
Time to play at a higher level!
*** Bonus since you made it this far ***
Here's a special gift to support you for 14 days in navigating what lies beyond YOUR edge as a high-impact, high-performing leader
https://outliersedge.com/oeguestpass
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 20, 2026 • 49min
Coaching the Father of the AI Assistant to Get More People Reading and Living His Book | Kevin Surace | Ep 1099
"You start with joy, and that's how you get success, not the other way around." - Kevin SuraceJoin Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Kevin Surace for a live coaching conversation. Kevin is known as the father of the AI virtual assistant, the person who created the predecessors to Siri and Alexa, and he holds 95 worldwide patents, runs mostly AI companies and gives about 40 keynotes a year. His book The Joy Success Cycle, with a foreword by Goldie Hawn, came out September 1, and he's going for a million lives impacted.You'll walk away with: - The one-complaint-a-day rule, and why you control your own positive quotient - Why AI isn't taking the joy from your work, it's taking the joyless work - How to engineer reach by trying what nobody else has doneTimestamps:00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live 00:35 - Father of the AI Virtual Assistant 02:00 - Curiosity as the Throughline 04:29 - Always Inventing 09:54 - Seeing What Others Don't 12:55 - Great Companies Without Patents 14:38 - The Joy Success Cycle 22:29 - AI Takes the Joyless Work 24:53 - Joy Brings the Success 28:09 - What Takes You Out of Joy 33:32 - From Thousands to a Million Lives 35:00 - Where Haven't You Been Curious? 36:07 - Patent a New Way to Reach a Million People 41:21 - Engineering Something to Go Viral 45:33 - Breaking Out of the Team's Formula 47:46 - Why Even Tiger Woods Has a CoachEnter Kevin Surace's World: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | X | YouTube | Website | WebsiteContinue into Outlier’s Edge World: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Youtube | Website | Guild Community
Oct 19, 2026 • 50min
Coaching a Three-Time Founder to Lift Sales Above the Bro Culture | Nicholas Loise | Ep 1098
"Are you a problem looking for a solution, or a solution looking for a problem?" - Nicholas Loise
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Nicholas Loise for a live coaching conversation. Nick has been a salesperson his entire life, and Sales Performance Team, his third company, grew out of his time at Dan Kennedy's company to help entrepreneurs find, train and onboard the right salespeople on a proven, repeatable sales process. His passion is raising the professionalism of the sales game, and in this conversation he sets out to rise above the race to the bottom with a business clients choose for the process, the system and the team.
You'll walk away with:
- Why 'no one can do it like me' usually means you never set them up to win
- How money flows to problems, and what that changes about the way you sell
- What you'd fix first if you bought your own business tomorrow
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:56 - Three Companies In
02:05 - From Natural Salesperson to Sales System
03:38 - Who Can Do It Like Me?
07:40 - Bringing In a Sales Team
11:45 - Money Flows to Problems
17:26 - Flowcharting the Sales Process
26:00 - How the Business Becomes More Than Nick
28:11 - Letting Someone Else Be the Front Person
31:09 - What Keeps You Doing This?
32:35 - Nowhere Near the Bottom
35:12 - The Business You'd Want to Buy
37:46 - The Work He'd Choose to Keep
41:18 - Nick's Biggest Insight
42:50 - What Would We Have Missed?
44:24 - Rising Above the Race to the Bottom
Enter Nicholas Loise's World:
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Oct 19, 2026 • 45min
Coaching a Two-Book Author and HR Leader to Show Women Everywhere They Can Do It Too | Maxine Johnson | Ep 1097
"It's not about how loud you are. It's about how impactful you are, and how influential you are." - Maxine Johnson
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Maxine Johnson for a live coaching conversation. Maxine is an HR manager and consultant, a coach, a speaker, a pastor of some 15 years, the author of two books, Helping a Sister and Wife Boss, and she just became president of Miss Corporate America, representing the state of Delaware. In her rebirth as an entrepreneur, she's scaling the vision with a partner who believes in it, so she can encourage and inspire even more women to say, you can do it too.
You'll walk away with:
- Why asking for help is a skill you can practice
- What leading with power looks like when it isn't about being loud
- How to hire for the vision you're creating, not the tasks you don't want
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:43 - The Rebirth of an Entrepreneur
02:54 - Only What Aligns With the Mission
04:17 - Managing Your Energy
09:15 - What She Sees in Women Leaders
11:34 - Asking for Help Is a Skill
15:25 - Leading With Power
21:04 - Confidence in What You Offer
22:38 - Courage in Action
25:42 - The Freedom to Want More
29:02 - Where Else Do You Need Help?
31:48 - Lessons From the First Go Around
36:28 - Hiring for the Vision, Not the Tasks
40:46 - Pulling Her Into Her Future
43:25 - Maxine's Biggest Insight
Enter Maxine Johnson's World:
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Oct 18, 2026 • 38min
Coaching a Pioneering Female Firefighter Turned Best-Selling Author to Ignite a Movement | Carla White | Ep 1096
"Stop having intense fear today, and start having immense fun today." - Carla White
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Carla White for a live coaching conversation. Carla was one of the first female emergency services firefighters, and today she's a best-selling author, the creator of the Reignite Your Spark retreat for high-achieving women and the star of her own one-woman show. She's here to ignite a movement of successful women ready for more fulfillment, more freedom and more fun, and to bring that message to a more global community.
You'll walk away with:
- Why the question of what you want, for you, can't wait for life to force it
- How choosing fun over fear changes what you're willing to put into the world
- The difference between being well known and being known well
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:47 - Ignite Fun to Play a Bigger Game
03:18 - A Movement of Successful Women
06:54 - What Do You Want, for You?
14:43 - Putting Her Life's Work Out There
16:38 - The Carla White Distinction
20:07 - A Conversation for the Heart and Soul
21:32 - Rooms Full of People Laughing
27:14 - Fun on Top of Feelings
28:56 - We Teach What We Most Need to Learn
31:08 - The Freedom of Feeling It All
33:42 - Well Known or Known Well
35:45 - Joy as a State of Being
36:52 - Carla's Biggest Insight
Enter Carla White's World:
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Oct 18, 2026 • 36min
Coaching a Fortune 100-Trained Cash Flow Expert to Help 100 Million Small Businesses | David Safeer | Ep 1095
"I like to say, think cash, not accounting." - David Safeer
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and David Safeer for a live coaching conversation. David architects cash-first operating systems for small businesses and teaches others to do the same, with a career that runs from a Fortune 100 company to running a profit and loss at a publicly held company. His mission is helping 100 million small businesses by 2030, and in this conversation he turns his own method into a plan to reach 100,000 people in the next year.
You'll walk away with:
- Why a growing business can run out of cash while it looks profitable
- How the method you teach your clients can be the one that gets you to your biggest goal
- Why playing for 10x can be easier than playing for 2x
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:49 - Cash-First Operating Systems
02:56 - Free Cash Flow Is the Real Number
04:14 - Finding the Root Cause
06:05 - Why He Stopped Being a Generalist
09:08 - The Symptom After a Growth Spurt
13:17 - A Mission of 100 Million Businesses
17:43 - What Cash Flow Teaches About Impact Flow
23:40 - Exponential Math
27:26 - Where the Big Number Feels Clear
28:08 - Ten Times Faster
32:08 - Reaching 100,000 People Directly
33:51 - One Person Who Touches Ten More
Enter David Safeer's World:
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Oct 17, 2026 • 28min
Coaching an SEO Pro Who Traded His Own Podcast for 300 Guest Spots to Grow His Agency | Brandon Leibowitz | Ep 1094
"So sticking with the fundamentals is going to get you more visibility." - Brandon Leibowitz
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Brandon Leibowitz for a live coaching conversation. Brandon has been ranking websites since 2007, from director of SEO at advertising agencies to building his own agency, SEO Optimizers, and he's been a guest on about 300 podcasts. His book The Power of Guest Podcasting just came out, and he's ready to make it more than just a book: an engine that grows his agency.
You'll walk away with:
- Why AI search still runs on the same fundamentals as traditional SEO
- How third-party mentions and guest appearances build the trust that ranks you
- How to tell whether a new opportunity feeds your main thing or pulls you away from it
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:42 - Ranking Websites Since 2007
02:45 - AI Search Still Runs on the Fundamentals
04:39 - The SEO Detective
06:43 - Why Your Pages Need More Text
09:19 - Why Guest Podcasting Builds Backlinks
10:30 - The Power of Guest Podcasting
12:16 - Marketing a Book for the First Time
15:02 - SEO Optimizers or Something New?
17:39 - The Seed of Something Different
18:54 - Does It Light You Up?
20:22 - Why Are You Booking People at All?
22:57 - Why He Wrote the Book
24:16 - A Book That Brings the Right Inquiries
26:35 - Brandon's Biggest Insight
Enter Brandon Leibowitz's World:
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Oct 17, 2026 • 36min
Coaching a Celebrity Trainer Who Bypassed Every Gatekeeper to Help Even More People | Vinnie Tortorich | Ep 1093
"If you want to be extraordinary, you have to do extraordinary things." - Vinnie Tortorich
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Vinnie Tortorich for a live coaching conversation. Vinnie grew up on a bayou in southern Louisiana, became a celebrity trainer in Hollywood without knowing a soul, and created a book, a documentary seen by millions around the world, the Fitness Confidential podcast, now coming up on 3,000 shows, and his own vitamin and coffee companies. He started one thing to help people, now he's helping even more people, and when anyone asks when he'll retire, his answer is never.
You'll walk away with:
- Why choosing for the long game at 18 still pays off decades later
- How the safest advice around you can be built for someone else's game
- What your failure quotient says about the game you're ready to play
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:50 - From the Bayou to a Football Scholarship
02:08 - The Best College Over the Best Football School
04:00 - Making a Name on Local TV for Free
07:22 - The Pension Everyone Wanted for Him
10:03 - Arriving in Hollywood Without a Friend
12:20 - Vinnie's Special Advantage
15:30 - If You Want to Be Extraordinary
16:34 - Never Settle
20:07 - The Freedom to Bypass Every Gatekeeper
22:48 - Why He Kept Coaching
28:43 - The Point One Percent Difference
29:30 - His Failure Quotient
32:49 - Thirty Years From Now
33:44 - When Are You Going to Retire?
Enter Vinnie Tortorich's World:
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Oct 16, 2026 • 42min
Coaching a 32-Year Bay Area Technologist to Grow Your Tech Makeover to 100,000 Listeners | Frank Bravo | Ep 1092
"Technology should be a tool. It should not be in the way of getting something done." - Frank Bravo
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Frank Bravo for a live coaching conversation. Frank is a technologist through and through who spent 32 years in technology in the San Francisco Bay Area, and on his podcast, Your Tech Makeover, he takes really complex things and boils them down for people who are way too busy to learn the newest things. His goal is more people hearing the message and getting helped by it, with a show that reaches 100,000 listeners.
You'll walk away with:
- Why listening to how a question is asked tells you the level to answer at
- What the platforms you depend on are actually built to do
- Why more reach may not be the move that grows your show
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
00:59 - A Technologist Through and Through
02:23 - A Generalist in a Specialist's World
04:36 - Someone Reflected His Gift Back
06:58 - Listening to the Question
09:58 - Who Is Ready to Hear It?
14:55 - What Would Make a World of Difference
17:06 - The Edge of His Comfort Zone
18:24 - What If This Was Simple?
22:40 - The Gatekeepers
23:19 - What Is the Platform Built For?
27:23 - A Crowded Field
33:27 - How Can You Bend the Technology?
34:11 - A Different Way In
40:14 - The Seeds of Something
Enter Frank Bravo's World:
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Oct 16, 2026 • 50min
Coaching a DJ Who Moved Crowds in Languages He Didn't Speak to Help Leaders Scale With AI | Tony Winyard | Ep 1091
"If you strap it on your back and you're directing it, then it can take you to amazing heights that you would never be able to get on your own." - Tony Winyard
Join Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Tony Winyard for a live coaching conversation. Tony was an international DJ for decades, has lived in 14 countries, worked on radio for many years and hosted about 300 podcasts, and he now trains everyone from school leavers to senior leadership to use AI effectively. His next game is the leaders who see the bigger possibilities and want AI to take them to a whole different stratosphere.
You'll walk away with:
- Why AI works like a jetpack, and why everything depends on who's steering
- How to make imposter syndrome count instead of letting it stop you
- How running the 80/20 on the people you already serve shows you where to invest
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live
01:03 - Fourteen Countries and Decades of DJing
02:52 - Directing the AI Jetpack
04:28 - Crazy About Music
06:59 - Finding the Party Popper
10:20 - The Leadership Experience He Already Has
12:38 - Imposter Syndrome on a Spectrum
13:00 - Make It Count
18:16 - What Would Make a World of Difference
21:26 - Seeing How It All Comes Together
26:58 - Riding the Next Wave
31:04 - What's the Level Above That?
37:59 - Where His Time Goes Now
39:57 - All In on Leaders
40:49 - The Leaders Who Light Him Up
44:58 - Leaders Who Want to Grow
47:49 - Tony's Biggest Insight
48:24 - An 80/20 Invitation
Enter Tony Winyard's World:
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Oct 15, 2026 • 43min
Coaching a Coast-to-Coast Newspaper Journalist to Write the Memoirs of Canada's Athletes | Lea Storry | Ep 1090
"It's the emotions the story pulled out of you." - Lea StorryJoin Niiamah (@niiamahashong) and Lea Storry for a live coaching conversation. Lea came up through newspaper journalism, coast to coast to coast, and now writes people's memoirs, taking them from the first interview through writing, editing and publishing. She shoots for the top, and she's ready to bring her writing game to Canada's hockey players, athletes and the people making a difference.You'll walk away with: - Why a great story runs on emotion, not on epic events - What your body tells you when you turn up the dial on what you ask for - How to see whose value you're really doubting when you hold backTimestamps:00:00 - Welcome to Outlier's Edge Live 00:44 - From Newspaper Reporter to Memoirist 02:54 - It's the Emotion, Not the Events 05:24 - The Stories We Avoid Telling 09:05 - It Is Your Story 12:13 - Are You Done With It? 12:48 - The Power of Owning Your Story 16:21 - Memoir or Autobiography? 20:35 - What Would Make a World of Difference 21:30 - Where Does Your Heart Start to Race? 26:12 - What Does It Say About Them? 28:10 - Something Deeper Than Tactics 31:34 - Taking It Up a Few Levels 34:02 - You Can't Tell Every Single Story 37:34 - The People She Wants to Write For 41:11 - A New Destination in MindEnter Lea Storry's World: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X | WebsiteContinue into Outlier’s Edge World: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Youtube | Website | Guild Community
