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Can you really change how you lead, or are you stuck with the way you are wired? Marcia Ruben is an executive coach, organizational consultant, leadership professor emerita, and author of The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead. She joins Rich Hoffmann and John St.Pierre to explain what neuroscience says about leadership behavior, and why capable leaders so often get stuck in habits that no longer serve them. Marcia explains that you can't change your biology, but you can change your behavior and your thoughts. She covers a practical path for changing a habit, why the brain's threat response can turn an email into a crisis, and why advice gets rejected while powerful questions work. After the interview, Rich and John unpack the takeaways and land on a simple idea: you don't want to flip a switch, you want to slide and be situational. What you'll walk away with: how to rewire a habit by finding the belief behind it, why a pause changes your response when your brain senses a threat, how to give clear feedback to people who take it very differently, why asking permission and powerful questions beats giving advice, and how to think about change as a slider instead of a light switch. Connect with Marcia on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciarubenphd/ Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Do you promote and pay people so they will step up, or do you promote the ones who are already stepping up? If you are an entrepreneur or leader trying to grow a team of independent thinkers instead of employees who only do what is in their job description, this conversation is for you. John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann tackle the chicken-or-egg question behind every raise and promotion, and share a clear way to decide. They explain why the best leaders take on responsibility before the raise, and why a strong company expectation is that current compensation already includes doing more than the role requires, as preparation for the next responsibility. You will hear the difference between an employee mentality and an intrapreneur mentality, why tit-for-tat behavior can spread across a culture, and two personal stories of earning bigger roles by proactively owning extra work. They also get into incentive plans and why compensation plans shape behavior. What you will walk away with: how to make doing more than the role requires part of your pay philosophy, how to prepare someone for their next role by giving them the next responsibility now, how to spot the "that's not my job" mindset before it spreads, and why bonuses should be tied to actions your people can actually control. Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Your CRM probably doesn't suck because of the software. It sucks because of the messy data, undocumented processes, and constant change around it. In EP 320, John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann talk with Christopher Smith, President and Founder of Empellor CRM, author of CRM Shouldn't Suck, and host of Sales Lead Dog. After two decades of rescuing CRMs, Chris explains what he checks first, how to run a simple self audit on your own CRM, why every spreadsheet is a risk to your business, how to strip out the complexity nobody uses, and how AI can take over the grunt work while making clean data more important than ever. If your team avoids the CRM or your data cannot be trusted, this conversation gives you practical next steps you can start on this week. Get Chris's free book at crmshouldntsuck.com and find every episode at entrepreneursunited.us/links.

Charlie Chase on Tough Feedback, Trust, Partners vs Maximizers, and Leading Through Uncertainty This episode is for entrepreneurs and leaders who want to build a high performing culture without getting distracted by noise, ego, or short term profit grabs. John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann sit down with Charlie Chase, Chair of the International Franchise Association, CEO of FirstService Brands, and co-founder of CertaPro Painters, to unpack what separates leaders who "crush it" from those who coast. What you'll walk away with: Why tough feedback works only inside trust based relationships. The leadership basics Charlie sees consistently: people, persistence, and alignment. How great leaders prepare, practice, and learn to read the room. Why "profit maximizers" and personal maximizers are not partner worthy, and why sustainability matters more than squeezing the sponge. How to stay focused amid political friction, tariffs, social media distraction, and AI hype. What Charlie wants his transition and legacy to be: leave the enterprise whole so it does not slow down. The mentors who shaped him: Greg Clark for discipline and values, Jay Henick for partner mindset, and Paul Wolner for organizational thinking. Why charitable work builds perspective and leadership skill by immersing you with different people and problems. Want to hear Charlie in person? He is our keynote speaker at the Entrepreneurs United Empowerment Experience (EUEE) in Puerto Rico this November. Click the link below and grab one of the last few spots to meet him in person! Connect with Charlie on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliechase/ Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/ Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

When the math says one thing and your life says another, which one do you follow? Hosts John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann take on a decision every entrepreneur and leader faces: when to follow the wealth calculator and when to make the lifestyle decision. Inspired by the book Die with Zero by Bill Perkins, John explains why the idea keeps coming up in his conversations with entrepreneurs and leaders. This is not a book review. Rich shares personal stories about his dad, his family, and the value of planning first and living well along the way. Together they explore what it looks like to weigh lifestyle against income, promotions, and the timing of a business sale. What you'll walk away with: A simple lifestyle test to run alongside the wealth calculator, why buying experiences and giving while you're alive can matter more than another line on a balance sheet, why over-saving has a cost, how to plan with a financial planner first so a lifestyle decision is a confident one, and how to live below your means without living so far below them that you stop enjoying the journey. Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn: John St.Pierre at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstpierre/ and Rich Hoffmann at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoffmann-rich/ Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

What if the real problem with your workday isn't that you're not working hard enough; it's that you never stop? John Briggs is the CEO of Incite Tax and the author of Take Breaks, Work Better, and he joins John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann to make the case that rest isn't a luxury; it's a requirement backed by science. Studies show the average worker is only productive 2 hours 50 minutes of an 8 hour shift, and the brain simply cannot stay focused without real recovery in between. In this conversation, they cover the science of focus and distractibility, the difference between a break that resets your brain and one that just keeps it loaded, where AI fits into a healthier workday, and John's 3.3 Rule, working in focused blocks of up to three hours followed by a 30% recovery period. What you'll walk away with is the two studies behind why your workday is shorter than you think, how to build your own break schedule, what makes a break actually restorative, how to measure your team's impact instead of their hours, and why AI should buy you back time for the people you love instead of just more work. John also shares how measuring impact instead of hours grew his own firm's profitability 492% in three years. Get John's book, Take Breaks, Work Better, at https://therealjohnbriggs.com Connect with John Briggs on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/therealjohnbriggs Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

What if the biggest limit on your business is how you see yourself? David Meltzer is the chairman of the Napoleon Hill Institute, an entrepreneur, author, and former CEO of Leigh Steinberg Sports and Entertainment. He built 33 properties, a golf course, and a ski mountain, then lost more than $100 million and rebuilt his life around a very different definition of success. In this episode, David joins John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann to talk about the lesson that cost him a fortune, why he believes you will never overachieve your own self-image, and his mission to empower over a billion people to be happy. Then John and Rich unpack what it means for the founders and leaders listening. What you'll walk away with: Why your self-image sets the ceiling on what you can build, what the ego demands when things get uncertain and the question that helps you catch it, why receiving help is equal to giving, why repetition and honesty separate the consistent from the busy, and how to protect your energy by staying upset for minutes and moments, not hours. Get a free signed copy of David's book. Email [email protected] and he pays for the book and the shipping. Connect with David Meltzer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/davidmeltzer/ or email [email protected] Hosted by John St.Pierre & Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Isolation is the real cost of entrepreneurship, and most founders never say it out loud. John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann sit down for a host-only episode to break down the top reasons entrepreneurs need to be at the Entrepreneurs United Empowerment Experience 2026, happening this November in Puerto Rico. From the hands-on AI and technology workshop to a measurable $40K ROI, this episode covers exactly what happens when you take an elite group of entrepreneurs offsite for a retreat-style event, and why the relationships built there outlast the weekend. What you'll walk away with: why EUEE is intentionally capped at 50 to 60 entrepreneurs instead of hundreds, what the hands-on AI and technology workshop actually covers, why past attendees report an average ROI of around $40K, how the relationships built at EUEE work like a personal advisory board you never had to hire, and everything you need to know about the location, the Riomar Resort in Puerto Rico, November 2nd through the 4th, no passport required. Hosted by John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/ About Entrepreneurs United Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

You can hit every number and still feel trapped. Why? Ryan Tansom is the founder of Independence by Design, where he helps business owners get rewarded for the value they create instead of trapped by it. He rebuilt his family's copier and IT business from a 940,000 dollar loss to an eight figure sale by age 27, then spent 60 days in the buyer's office with no idea who he was without the company. In this episode, Ryan breaks down what he calls the Owner-Operator Trap, the pattern where growing a business makes its owner more needed, not less. He and the hosts unpack why time, cash flow, and wealth can never all be maximized at once, why most owner-operators are excellent at running their business and dangerously behind on understanding its valuation, and the five-year ownership goal almost nobody has actually written down. What you'll walk away with: the two roles hiding inside every business, Owner and Operator, and why confusing them keeps you stuck, why you can never maximize time, cash flow, and wealth all at once, the one action to take in the next 24 hours to start building your own ownership goal, why most owners hear advice like this and change nothing, and John St. Pierre's own 55 million dollar lesson on the difference between ambition and ownership math. Download Ryan's free IBD Ownership Assessment at https://www.independencebydesign.io Connect with Ryan Tansom on LinkedIn. Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

What if the goal you're not setting is exactly what's keeping your business stuck? Blake Erickson is the founder of Scaling.com, a New York Times best-selling author, and a TEDx speaker on The Secret to Achieving Impossible Goals. He's advised over 500 companies and took his own company from $0 to $10 million in annual recurring revenue in eight months. In this episode, Blake breaks down why optimizing for incremental growth guarantees stagnation, and walks through his Frame, Floor, Focus framework for setting a goal big enough to force real change. He and John St. Pierre also dig into the tension between ambition and carelessness, drawing on John's own experience scaling a company to 55 million dollars and losing it. What you'll walk away with: why a 10 percent growth goal is the fastest way to stay exactly where you are, the Frame, Floor, Focus framework for setting and reaching a 10X goal, how one Scaling.com member took a popcorn company from 250 stores to 26,000 with a single partnership, the 20 dollars versus 1 million dollar exercise that clears out bad decisions, and a simple homework assignment you can run tonight to expose what's holding your business back. Download Blake's free audiobook, The Science of Scaling, at scaling.com/freedownload Connect with Blake Erickson on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/blake-erickson-756b54168 Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Caring about people is a key, and in this episode, John St.Pierre and Rich Hoffmann just riff on what that actually looks like. They share the small, specific habits they actually use: DoorDash deliveries for someone having a rough day, handwritten cards (one a week adds up to 52 a year), TSP feedback, truthful, specific, positive, instead of a vague compliment, and time-delayed texts that follow up on what someone told you mattered to them. They also introduce the happiness equation, expectations minus reality equals your level of happiness, and close with the idea that grounds all of it: self-care is not selfish.

Do you need better salespeople, or a better system? Morné Smit is the founder and CEO of Emerse Sales. Before that, he took a commercial construction company from $18 million to $180 million in five years, without outside funding or a single acquisition. He now helps businesses build the same kind of predictable, repeatable revenue engine. In this episode, Morné walks John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann through the McDonald's Principle: build extraordinary systems so that even ordinary people can win, then go hire the best talent you can afford. He breaks a sales organization into six parts, explains why C players are the most dangerous hires in any business, and shares the exact weekly formula his clients use to build real sales mastery. What you'll walk away with: the McDonald's Principle and how it took one company from $18 million to $180 million in five years, the six part sales ecosystem of leadership, management, talent, enablement, integration, and culture, why C players quietly block scalability, the 45 minute weekly formula behind what Morné calls role practice, not role play, and why the customer experience is your marketing. Explore Morné's masterclasses at mornesmit.com Connect with Morné Smit on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/morné-smit-sales-guru/ or by email at [email protected] Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Is your bank quietly saying no to the growth capital your business needs? Trevor Barran has started over a dozen companies, worked in venture capital and investment banking, and began his career in small business lending. Today he's the CEO of FNCR, a platform that connects growing businesses to financing that's increasingly hard to find, especially in the $1 million to $30 million range. In this episode, Trevor and host John St. Pierre break down how to protect your equity, why banks have been quietly pulling back from small business lending since the financial crisis, and the financing no man's land that hits right after your business starts winning. What you'll walk away with: Why the equity trade should be evaluated as whose time you're buying and not just dollars raised. The real cost of capital across bank debt, private credit, and merchant cash advance. Why go to the bank is decreasingly a real option, and why it's not personal when they say no. How FNCR matches businesses to the right lender across seven dimensions and a network of about 2,000 lenders. How to think about leverage as a competitive edge instead of a risk to avoid. Start Trevor's free 10-minute funding application (no fees, no commitment, no credit impact) at my.fncr.com Connect with Trevor Barran on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/trevorbarran or email [email protected] Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Would you let your kid fail on purpose? John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann dig into a book called Raising an Entrepreneur and its 10 rules for parenting future founders, then talk through which ones actually hold up in real life. From a hockey injury that taught a bigger lesson than the scoreboard to an 11 year old selling car washes and protein balls door to door, they get into why letting kids lose, embracing adversity, and supporting even the smallest passion matters more than protecting them from failure. They also question whether straight A's help at all, why a non-parent mentor might matter more than either of them expected, and flip the whole conversation around to ask what these same rules mean for raising intrapreneurs inside a business. What you'll walk away with: why letting your kids lose is one of the most important things you can do for them, why supporting a passion matters more than whether it becomes a real business, why straight A's and traditional schooling might not nurture entrepreneurial thinking, why kids respond better to a mentor who isn't their parent, and how these same parenting principles apply to leading intrapreneurs at work. Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links About Entrepreneurs United Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

What if 98% of people are just winging life, and don't even know it? We don't do book episodes often on Entrepreneurs United, but Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People earned one. We brought back returning guest John Mitchell, founder of the Center for Advanced Leadership of Self at the University of Texas at Austin, to go through the book habit by habit with hosts John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann. In this episode, the three of them talk about which habits actually shaped how they lead, why most people are proactive in theory but not in practice, and propose the eighth habit they think Covey left out of the original book. What you'll walk away with: why John Mitchell says 98% of people are winging life instead of living it on purpose, Rich Hoffmann's data backed case for why listening beats talking when it comes to real influence, John St. Pierre's take on Covey's big rocks story and why it still beats every modern productivity hack, the space between stimulus and response and why that pause is the real secret to self-control, and the eighth habit John Mitchell thinks Covey left out: learning to control your subconscious autopilot. If it's been a while since you've read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, this episode is your reminder to pick it back up. Connect with John Mitchell Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/