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This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who follow their gut and want to know when it's instinct and when it's just bias. Your gut isn't magic; it's pattern recognition built from years of experience. But it can also quietly turn your research into a case for a decision you've already made, and that feels exactly like due diligence. Tune in if you're ready to follow your gut on the what and do the work to validate everything else. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who catch themselves comparing their year two to someone else's year thirteen. Comparison shows up whether you feel behind or ahead, and the people who look effortlessly ahead of you are usually hiding just as much as you are. My fix isn't to stop comparing, it's a four-word mantra that lets you feel someone else's win without losing your own. Tune in if you're ready to trade comparison for a mantra that assumes your time is still coming. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who need to believe a setback is making room for something better. I don't hold onto this belief because I'm an optimist; I hold onto it because I know how hard I work to make it true. That's the difference between empty positivity and a mantra that actually moves you forward. When a client leaves or a goal falls through, I ask myself one question: what would better actually look like? Then I go build it. Tune in if you're ready to turn your next setback into an assignment instead of a tragedy. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is about why you have to ask for what you want—because if you don't, the answer is already no. I've used this one mantra to waive college classes, fund my MBA and negotiate raises. Tune in if you're ready to stop hoping and start asking for exactly what you want. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who are scared that niching down means shrinking their business. Going narrow feels like it should shrink your market, until you realize staying a generalist is the bigger risk. My guest Chris Widmayer of Penrod slowed his own company's growth for three years by betting on a single vertical, and that bet is exactly what turned his consultancy into one of the top five healthcare partners in the entire Salesforce ecosystem. Tune in if you're sitting on the fence about going narrow and you want to hear what it actually costs and what it actually gives back. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for anyone struggling to connect with the right audience—and struggling to grow their business as a result. We're revisiting one of our most requested episodes: my case for why an ideal customer profile isn't optional, and why saying no to the wrong-fit clients is what actually let us grow. Tune in if you're ready to get selective about who you work with, even when it feels counterintuitive. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for marketers and business leaders who think a strong strategy is enough to make marketing work. I’m chatting with Sarah Bielejeski, our Key Account Director at Accelity, who keeps every stakeholder aligned and the friction low; and Sierra Davis, our Marketing Account Manager, who builds the processes that carry a project from kickoff all the way through to results. We talk about why senior stakeholders who all think they know marketing can quietly stall a plan, how a client that hasn't aligned internally will hand you five different definitions of success, and why reporting only the wins instead of the misses is the fastest way to lose a client's trust. Tune in if your agency or your team keeps delivering work but you're still not sure it's moving the business forward, and you want to know how to fix that. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who just spent the summer filling their pipeline and are about to say yes to whatever comes out of it. Not every deal deserves a yes; bad revenue costs more than no revenue at all, and it rarely shows up on the P&L until it's already eating your team's time and energy. Tune in if you're ready to stop chasing every dollar and start being selective about which ones you actually take. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

Making a strategy is the easy part. Making it work is where things get messy. In this episode, I'm joined by two people who see that gap every day with our clients at Accelity: Steph Gambino, our Account Director who manages complexity and keeps strategy moving, and Kelley Rogers, our Senior Copywriter who translates that strategy into messaging people actually respond to. We talk about why a strategy that feels solid in one meeting can unravel the moment more stakeholders get involved, how to spot a brand strategy that's built on copying competitors instead of finding its own voice, and why "surprise feedback" late in a project usually means someone was left out of the room too long. Tune in if your strategy looks great on paper but keeps falling apart in execution, and you want to know how to fix that. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for agency owners who've been told AI is coming for their business next. AI changes everything for agencies, full stop. But it doesn't do the work clients actually hire an agency for. Tune in if you're ready to find the line where AI's usefulness ends and your judgment becomes the entire product. ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders building inside industries that move slowly, even when everyone agrees they need to change. My guest is David McFarland, founder and CEO of Coterie Insurance, who has spent seven years modernizing insurance from the inside instead of building around it. Coterie has scaled to over $200 million in premium, more than 100,000 small business policies and a recent equity investment from Allianz. David shares what it took to self-fund Coterie's early days after an investor backed out the night before he moved his family to start it. We talk about delusional optimism and why David believes tenacity, not talent, separates founders who make it. He gets honest about fundraising, including a less than 1% investor success rate and why he'd rather have the right investors than the highest valuation. We also discuss why individual accountability, not committee consensus, lets a company move fast in a slow-moving industry. Tune in if you're ready to stop waiting for permission and start building the tenacity to change your industry from the inside. About David McFarlandDavid McFarland is the Founder and CEO of Coterie Insurance, a P&C insurance MGA focused on bringing speed, simplicity, and service to the small business insurance market. A Fellow in the Casualty Actuarial Society, he works across the org to drive profitable growth, strengthen loss performance, expand product offerings, and build durable carrier and reinsurance partnerships, all while aggressively leveraging AI and automation to create a highly expense-efficient operating model. David lives in Wisconsin with his wife and six children. Follow David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmcfarland23/ About Coterie InsuranceCoterie Insurance (Coterie) is a tech-enabled, data-powered managing general agent (MGA) providing commercial property and casualty (P&C) coverages for small business (SMB) owners in all 50 states. Coterie’s technology enables a rapid, transparent, accurate, quote-to-bind process that results in opportunities for agents and the right coverage for small businesses, on-demand. Check out Coterie: https://coterieinsurance.com/ If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.Episode 219. Bob Gaydos, CEO of Pendella — winning over change-resistant industries with AI-driven insurance underwriting: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/bob-gaydosEpisode 235. Alex Chompff — how founders (especially underrepresented ones) get in front of angel investors: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/alex-chompffEpisode 311. Dilip Rao, CEO of Sharebite — leading through crisis with responsibility over ego: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/dilip-rao ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who assume August is a throwaway month because everyone's out of office. Today we're talking about the difference between resting on purpose and coasting by accident, and why the two get confused every summer. This isn't a hustle-culture take; it's the opposite, and it’s a distinction I've come back to all year. I share the story of a dead Q4 we had a few years back and how tracing it back showed the real problem started in July, not October, because the pipeline that feeds Q4 always begins two to three months earlier. I get into why service businesses need to manage for even capacity across months and not just total revenue, and why the quiet months are exactly when the biggest pipeline pushes should happen instead of the loudest ones. I also share why I've started counter-scheduling my own time off, taking my breaks when everyone else is working and working when everyone else is out. (Side note, it's one of the most practical ways I've found to stress-test whether a business actually runs without you.) Tune in if you're ready to stop treating August like a dead month and start treating it like a head start. If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.Episode 248. It's not time to slow down: generating business at the end of the year – https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/generating-business-at-the-end-of-the-yearEpisode 287. Are you taking a break, or running away? 6 tips for building a life you love – https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/taking-a-break-vs-running-awayEpisode 218. Marketing & sales strategies to fill your pipeline in Q1 – https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/marketing-sales-strategies-for-q1 ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who are trying to evolve the business without losing the reason they started it. My guest is Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a company built around one core mission: eliminating the idea of waste. Tom and I talk about how TerraCycle has evolved over 25 years while keeping that mission at the center. He shares how the company started by selling worm compost fertilizer in used soda bottles, why that model eventually had to change and how the team realized the bigger opportunity was solving the problem itself, not just the product they were selling. We also get into why pivoting has such a negative reputation, and how founders can think about it differently. Tom explains how treating failure as “tuition” helps his team turn ideas that don’t work into learning instead of wasted effort. One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation: the only thing that should be sacred is the mission. Products, systems and models have to stay open to change, because the thing that got you here may not be the thing that gets you to the next stage. Tune in if you’re building through change and want to get better at knowing what to hold onto and what to let evolve. About Tom SzakyTom Szaky is the Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, an international leader in innovative sustainability solutions that creates and operates first-of-their-kind platforms in recycling, recycled materials and reuse. Across 18 countries, TerraCycle is on a mission to rethink waste and develop practical solutions for today’s complex waste challenges. The company engages an expansive multi-stakeholder community through a wide range of accessible programs, from Fortune 500 companies to schools and individuals. Website: https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/ LinkedIn – Tom Szaky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomszaky/ LinkedIn – TerraCycle: https://www.linkedin.com/company/terracycle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TerraCycle Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerraCycle/ If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.Episode 200. Learning what’s on the other side of failure w/ serial entrepreneur Chris Harder — Turning failure into learning: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/chris-harderEpisode 171. Evaluating new business ideas, making the leap & handling change w/ Marcus Murphy, co-founder and CEO of The Five Percent — Knowing when to make the next move: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/marcus-murphyEpisode 57. The importance of process—Building processes that evolve with the business: — Simpler growth, smarter execution: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/the-importance-of-process ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders realizing reinvention means becoming the version of themselves their business needs next. A few episodes ago, I talked about the long middle of entrepreneurship and how staying in that phase is about more than endurance. It’s about figuring out how to keep growing inside the company you already created. This episode is the other half of that conversation. Because as your business grows, your role has to change with it. I talk about the difference between proactively reinventing your role and being forced into it because the company has already outgrown how you operate. I also get into what reinvention is and what it isn’t, including why stepping back too fast can create just as many problems as holding on too long. Reinvention doesn’t mean checking out of the business. It means becoming more intentional about where you’re involved, where your team is ready to own more and where your involvement creates the most leverage. The biggest shift is learning to tell the difference between being needed and being comfortable. If you’re still in every problem, every decision and every client conversation because that’s what feels familiar, your role may already be expired. The goal isn’t to become uninvolved. It’s to become correctly involved. Tune in if you’re ready to redesign your role so you and your company can keep growing. If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.Episode 318. The long middle of entrepreneurship — Growing inside the company you built: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/the-long-middle-of-entrepreneurshipEpisode 308. Who you need to be at each stage of building a business — Leadership evolves as your company grows: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/who-you-need-to-be-at-each-stage-of-building-a-businessEpisode 320. Behind on everything (but not panicking) — Leading through seasons of change: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/behind-on-everything-but-not-panicking ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com

This episode of The Art of Entrepreneurship is for founders who are building ambitious companies while thinking about what their kids are learning from the way they work. My guest is Timothy Rexius, entrepreneur, speaker and business owner who is building multiple companies while raising six kids. Timothy and I talk about the overlap between entrepreneurship and parenting, and why those identities are not as separate as we sometimes pretend they are. He shares how his kids and family have become part of the businesses over time, what it looks like to build with legacy in mind and why he and his wife keep their kids involved in conversations about the companies, money and the bigger picture behind the work. We also get into the difference between leading at work and leading at home. Timothy talks about the sense of urgency that can work in business, why that same approach does not always translate to family and how he thinks about giving his kids context around ambition, success, pressure and the grind they see modeled every day. One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation: your kids do not just inherit what you build, they inherit how they watched you build it. Timothy’s perspective is a reminder that if your family sees the work, they also need to understand the purpose, the tradeoffs and the values behind it. Tune in if you’re building something ambitious and want to be more intentional about the example your kids are watching. About Timothy RexiusTim Rexius is a personality that checks all of the above: entrepreneur, speaker, business owner, husband and dad in a family of eight. Alongside his beautiful, determined wife, Tim is the CEO and President of Rexius Nutrition, Co-Owner of Iron Heaven Gyms Inc., and President and Founder of VHI Nutraceuticals and the OPP Omaha Protein Popcorn Company. His work spans fitness, nutrition, consumer products, business coaching and keynote speaking, with family deeply woven into the way he builds. And if you think it stops there, it doesn’t. There is still so much more in the works. Website – Iron Heaven Gyms Inc.: https://ironheavenomaha.com/ Website – Rexius Nutrition: https://www.rexiusnutrition.com/ Website – Omaha Protein Popcorn: https://www.omahaproteinpopcorn.com/ LinkedIn – Timothy Rexius: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-rexius-2968422b/ LinkedIn – Omaha Protein Popcorn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/omaha-protein-popcorn/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/marcman55 If you like this episode, here are some others you'll enjoy.Episode 187. Q&A: questions we get as a two-entrepreneur household starring my husband, Ryan Calton — Building a business when work and family overlap: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/two-entrepreneur-householdEpisode 31. Some mother you are — Parenting while chasing your own dreams: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/some-mother-you-areEpisode 210. Create the professional and personal life you want now w/ Nat Berman, Co-Founder of Brand Built — Build the life you actually want: https://www.jackiehermes.com/podcast/nat-berman ✨ This podcast is produced in partnership with Accelity, a full-service marketing agency for bold people growing bold companies. If you're ready to level up your B2B marketing, check us out. → accelitymarketing.com  🎧 Catch up on past episodes, submit topic ideas, and learn more jackiehermes.com/podcast ⭐ Love what you hear? Please leave a 5-star rating on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts to help more entrepreneurs find the show. 📲 Let’s connect! LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejackiehermes/ Instagram: @thejackiehermes TikTok: @jackie.hermes Website: jackiehermes.com