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In this episode I sat down with Kristian Mtetwa, a wealth advisor who leads Synergy Private, a multifamily office serving athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and executives. We start by busting the biggest myth about the rich: they aren’t hoarding money, they’re obsessed with adding value because that’s the only way to keep it. Kristian explains what a family office actually does, why giving anyone power of attorney over your money is a massive liability, and the numbers ($10M liquid net worth or $1M in annual income) where it starts to make sense. We dig into ambition vs. envy, why you focus to get wealthy but diversify to stay wealthy, how to avoid shiny object syndrome, and why liquidity matters more than most people think. I also share my own hard lessons from 2024, what I learned in my mastermind about using lines of credit instead of long-term loans, and how I use whole life insurance like a personal bank. If you want to build wealth that actually lasts, with long obedience in a specific direction and aggressive patience, this one’s for you. Guest Bio Raised in the suburbs of Nashville, Kristian is a Zimbabwean immigrant to the US and a nationally recognized wealth advisor specializing in advising the ultra-affluent. He entered financial services at age 18 before earning a Certificate in Financial Markets from Yale and becoming an Accredited Investment Fiduciary. He has held leadership positions at several financial institutions and now leads a Black-owned multifamily office with clients across the country. That firm is Synergy Private, a boutique wealth advisory firm operating as a multifamily office that offers bespoke financial guidance for ultra-affluent individuals and their families, available by invitation only. He was named 49 Financial’s Advisor of the Year for 2022 after nearly tripling his personal client roster. He is also a speaker on career development, entrepreneurship, and financial planning, and has been featured in Financial Planning, ThinkAdvisor, WealthManagement.com, and Yahoo Finance. Kristian Mtetwa +5 Connect With Kristian Website: https://kristianmtetwa.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristianmtetwa Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/192zZu3Ywq/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: @kristianmtetwa About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your operator strengths might be the very thing holding you back. Gary Vaynerchuk shares a hard financial realization. Gary Vaynerchuk is known for spotting internet trends years before they happen. But even with that foresight, he faced a brutal reality in 2026. Sometimes, the skills that get you to a certain level of business growth are the exact same habits that prevent you from scaling further. --- In this episode, I sat down with my GOAT, Gary Vaynerchuk, and he did not hold back. Gary broke down his entire empire, from VaynerX and VeeFriends to Vayner Sports and his new TV production company, and explained why he refuses to follow the "just focus on one business" advice so many of us preach. He opened up about building Wine Library into a $50 million business for his dad, walking away at 34 with nothing, and growing VaynerX to roughly $400 million in revenue without a single outside dollar to start. We got tactical on where attention is right now, including TikTok Live, Substack, Facebook, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight, and why he calls this the era of "interest media." Then we went deep: why being a great operator is his biggest vulnerability, why he has no one he goes to for advice, how he runs his companies like a family business, and whether Gary Vee is actually happy. This one is packed with real advice you can use today. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everyone wants to talk about AI, but my guest this week would rather talk about people. Heather Simpson spent years in real estate building brokerages and personal brands for agents before making a hard pivot to build something for women entrepreneurs specifically. Today she runs Her Connection Hub, a coworking and community space in the Pacific Northwest, and she is expanding into Northern California. We got into why she thinks too many people are outsourcing their thinking, the gap she saw between hustle culture and the "make a million from the beach" crowd, and what actually separates the women who win from the ones who stall out. We also had a real conversation about sacrifice, about what it costs a mother to go after something bigger, and about how she is adapting a physical business in a challenging 2026 economy. Heather uses AI for systems, never for her voice, and honestly I think that is where the smart operators are landing. If you are a builder who feels wired for more, this one is for you. About Heather: Heather Simpson is a business strategist, community builder, and the founder of Her Connection Hub, a female-focused coworking community in Bellingham, Washington. Simpson began offering monthly Connection Breakfasts in 2018, and they proved to be the catalyst for something much bigger. The events resonated deeply with attendees, who then voiced their desire for a physical coworking space, and so Simpson turned that dream into a reality with Her Connection Hub, which opened to the public in 2021. Before building for entrepreneurs, Heather spent years in real estate helping agents develop their brands and helping launch brokerages. She is also the founder of She Leads Me, a company devoted to supporting women on their individual journeys in their lives, careers, and businesses. She hosts the podcast Shatter This, a show for leaders, founders, and builders who are done outsourcing their thinking and ready to create what actually lasts. Her first book, Shattering Glass, is coming soon. Connect with Heather Simpson: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weshatterglass/ Website: https://shatteringglass.com Her Connection Hub: http://herconnectionhub.com Her Connection Hub Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herconnectionhub/ Shatter This Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shatter-this-with-heather-simpson/id1866931224 Heather's book, Shattering Glass, is coming soon. Stay updated at https://shatteringglass.com About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AI is all anyone can talk about right now, but most of us are just getting started with it while the giants have been building it for two decades. In this episode I sat down with Sneha Shah, CEO and co-founder of Hazel AI, who spent nearly 20 years at Amazon and Google as the engineer behind the scenes. She was on the team that built Amazon same-day delivery and scaled it to ten countries, then went to Google as a founding engineer on Cloud Spanner, the global database that powers companies like Deutsche Bank and Nintendo, before building Vertex AI and scaling it into Gemini Enterprise. We broke down how AI actually gets built (yes, it is real people writing real code), why Amazon delivery has always been a losing model, why AWS is where the money is, and the difference between knowledge and wisdom in an LLM. Then we got into Hazel AI, the engine she is building underneath the biggest tech consulting firms on the planet, and the honest conversation everyone is avoiding: which jobs AI is going to take, which ones it is going to create, and why the opportunity has never been bigger for the people willing to get uncomfortable and level up. If you want to hear where AI is going from someone who has actually been in the trenches instead of another influencer guessing, this one is for you. About Guest: Sneha Shah is the CEO and co-founder of Hazel AI, an Autonomous AI Modernization OS that powers global system integrators as they take Global 2000 enterprises from cloud native to AI native. Before founding Hazel, Sneha spent nearly two decades building at the largest scale on the planet. She started her career at Amazon straight out of Carnegie Mellon University, where she was part of the team that built same-day delivery and scaled it across ten countries. She then spent almost a decade at Google Cloud as a founding engineer on Cloud Spanner, the globally distributed database used by companies like Deutsche Bank and Nintendo, growing the team from four to hundreds and the product to over 100 million in scale. She went on to build Vertex AI, Google's flagship AI platform, and scale it into Gemini Enterprise. Hazel AI now works with five of the top ten global system integrators and serves over $10 billion in business across retail, manufacturing, and agriculture. Sneha is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Guest Links and Socials: Website: https://www.gethazel.dev Platform sign-up: https://gethazel.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snehashah/ Contact: [email protected] About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode I sit down with Kevin C. Roy, CEO of GreenBanana SEO, who's spent the last 15 years mastering search engine optimization and is now at the forefront of how AI is completely rewriting the rules of how businesses get found online. Kevin walks me through his wild entrepreneurial journey, from getting laid off and going door to door offering free websites, to bringing on a 50/50 business partner that nearly sank everything, to surviving a lawsuit from a sales partner who tried to put him out of business entirely. We get real about why most business partnerships fail and what he'd do differently. Then we dig into the meat of what his agency does today: how AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude decide who to cite, why building your author authority and connecting it to your content is now more important than keyword stuffing, and the exact three-block content format businesses need to use to get found by AI instead of just Google. If you run a business and you're not thinking about how customers are finding you through AI search right now, this conversation is your wake-up call. Guest Bio & Social Links Kevin C. Roy is the Founder and CEO of GreenBanana SEO, an Inc. 5000 (3x) digital marketing and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) agency based in Beverly, Massachusetts, that he's built over more than 15 years into a pay-for-performance SEO and AI search visibility firm. He's a frequent podcast guest, author, and media commentator on SEO, AI search, and AEO/GEO, with commentary and work featured in Adweek, SiliconANGLE, Inc., Boston 25 News, and Techstrong TV. Website: greenbananaseo.com LinkedIn (personal): linkedin.com/in/kevincharlesroy LinkedIn (company): linkedin.com/company/greenbanana-seo Instagram: instagram.com/greenbananaseo X/Twitter: twitter.com/greenbananaseo Facebook: facebook.com/GreenBananaSEO YouTube: youtube.com/@GreenBananaSEO About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, I sit down with Christina Deering, energy and intuition coach and host of the You Unlimited podcast, to talk about something I think about constantly: how the energy you bring to your business matters just as much as the strategy. Christina walks us through the difference between wishing for something and actually being aligned with it, why so many business owners build something they don't even want and end up wanting to burn it down, and how to use your body to tell whether you're in the right lane. She opens up about going through four back-to-back miscarriages while simultaneously doubling her business, and how healing that grief actually expanded her capacity to hold a bigger vision for her life and work. We get into practical tools like the "alter ego" exercise, "trusting the crickets" through the messy middle, and her five-minute energy reset for staying grounded when everything outside of you feels out of control. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right but still stuck, or like your business is exploding while your personal life is falling apart, this conversation gives you real, practical ways to work through it. About Christina: Christina Deering is a Shaman, Business Intuitive, Keynote Speaker and creator of the Calibration Keys Methodology. She helps visionary entrepreneurs become the known expert in their industry, expand their income and impact and have the time of their lives doing it. Her insights have been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Psychology Today, ABC and FOX, and she’s the host of the top 5% podcast You Unlimited. Join Calibration Keys: http://christinadeering.com/keys 5 Minute Energy Reset: https://christinadeering.com/reset Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamchristinadeering/ Podcast (You Unlimited): available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts Website: https://christinadeering.com/ About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, I sit down with Austin Armstrong, bestselling author of Virality! and founder of Syllaby, to nerd out on everything happening in AI and content right now. We get into how fast AI video and image generation is moving, why it's getting harder to know what's even real online anymore, and what that means for creators and business owners. Austin breaks down his thesis of being a business owner who creates content instead of a content creator chasing views, how to use keyword research tools to find exactly what your audience is searching for, why faceless content is exploding as a way to build a brand without ever being on camera, and how he personally uses AI as a thinking partner trained on his own voice and expertise. We also compare the major AI models out there, talk about how to actually start using AI strategically if you're feeling overwhelmed, and he shares what he's building next with Bullhouse Ventures. If you're trying to build a personal brand or grow your business with content and you feel like you're drowning in options, this episode gives you a real starting point. About Austin: Austin Armstrong is the bestselling author of Virality!, a two-time seven-figure entrepreneur, and a keynote speaker on AI and social media marketing. He's the CEO and co-founder of Syllaby, an AI-powered platform that helps creators and business owners write, generate, and publish video content in minutes, and Managing Partner at Bullhouse Ventures, a startup incubator and coworking space based in Durham, North Carolina. Austin has published over 12,000 videos across social platforms, earning billions of views and millions of followers, and is also co-founder of the AI Marketing World conference. Social Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinarmstrong90/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/socialtypro X (Twitter): https://x.com/SocialtyPro YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@socialtypro Website: https://syllaby.io About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof  LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, I sit down with Ilhiana Rojas, who climbed the corporate ladder to become a senior Fortune 500 executive in just 12 years — often the only woman, and the youngest, in the boardroom. But somewhere along the way, chasing the version of success she thought she was supposed to have, she lost herself so completely that she burned out and fell into deep depression. We talk about what it actually looks like to reconnect with who you are after you've lost your voice, why building the right circles of people around you is one of the most important things you can do for your growth, and why 90% of women deal with imposter syndrome at some point. Ilhiana breaks down her framework for finding the confidence to speak up, owning your own narrative before someone else writes it for you, and why she's now spent her career helping unheard voices — especially women and Latinas — get heard. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right but still not getting where you want to be, this episode is for you. About Ilhiana Rojas: Ilhiana Rojas Saldana is a Human Potential & Culture Expert, Executive & Leadership Coach, DEIB Consultant, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. After more than 20 years of global executive experience across top Fortune 500 companies in Mexico and the U.S., she left the corporate world to found BeLIVE Coaching & Consulting, where she helps leaders and teams reconnect with their voice, purpose, and authentic leadership style. She's a Certified Professional Coach (ICF), holds a Diversity & Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University, and is an advocate for advancing women and Hispanics in leadership. Ilhiana is based in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters. Social Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilhiana-rojas7/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belivecoaching/ Website: https://www.ilhianarojas.com/ Website: https://www.belivecoach.com/ About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Want help turning your story into a book? Book a free call with Chandler's team to map out your book: selfpublishing.com/justin I sat down with my friend Chandler Bolt, who built self-publishing.com into an 8-figure company (north of $80 million in sales) by his early thirties, and we got into exactly how he did it. We talked about the mindset that separated him from guys like me in our twenties, why he scaled almost entirely without social media by leaning into SEO, content, and business development partnerships instead, and the "thank you card challenge" and guerrilla marketing tactics that got his first webinars off the ground with zero budget. Chandler broke down the real profit bridge from seven figures to eight, why hiring to your weaknesses eventually stops working, and his "win the day" philosophy for pushing through the brutal stretches every founder hits. We also got into why he thinks a book is the single most powerful lever for a personal brand, and yes, the story of betting Jay Shetty $10K on a pickleball game to get a podcast spot. If you're building anything right now, this one is packed with tactics you can use today. Chandler Bolt is the Founder and CEO of selfpublishing.com (formerly Self-Publishing School), which he built after dropping out of college to over $80 million in sales. He's a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and the author of multiple bestselling books, most recently Published. Over the past decade, his company has helped publish more than 7,000 books and works with clients ranging from first-time authors to names like Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, and Pace Morby. Chandler also hosts the 7 Figure Principles Podcast and the Self Publishing School Podcast, and is based in Austin, Texas. Social Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chandler.bolt Website / booking link: https://selfpublishing.com/justin About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, I sit down with Tiffany Ward, founder and CEO of Human Creative, the company behind Certified Human Content, a service that live-monitors the entire writing and creative process to prove a piece of work was made without generative AI. We get into just how much of what we read today (emails, resumes, social captions, even "motivational" posts) is quietly AI-generated, and why that's eroding trust across education, journalism, hiring, and the creator economy. I share my own story of getting caught plagiarizing my senior year at UCLA, long before AI existed, and we talk about how much easier, and more damaging, that shortcut is today. Tiffany walks me through how schools, publications, and businesses are using her platform instead of unreliable after-the-fact AI detectors, including a wild example of her own company using it to hire a junior developer. We close out talking about where "proof of human" goes next, from graphic design to physical craftsmanship. About Tiffany: Tiffany Ward is Co-Founder and CEO of Human Creative, a company dedicated to certifying original human content in the age of AI. She received her M.A.B.S. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2018 and authored a successful fictional trilogy under a pen name. She lives in Morgantown, WV with her husband and children. Guest Social Links Website: https://humancreative.org X (Twitter): https://x.com/HumanCreativeUS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/human-creative-llc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humancreativeus/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj40OeNmELVc7bJUVJcH3eA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578869820261 Email: [email protected] Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Book a free 15-minute consultation at manifesttherapy.com. Nathaniel Cilley is a licensed mental health counselor, psychedelic therapist, and manifestation coach based in New York City, and he's joining our School.kol.com community to help entrepreneurs work through fear and mental roadblocks. In this episode we cover: What Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is and how it differs from CBT Why entrepreneurs get stuck in fear of failure and fear of judgment The lies we tell ourselves to avoid taking action How identity, not circumstance, drives most of our limiting beliefs Psychedelic therapy, neuroplasticity, and the healing potential of altered states Doctor Hawkins' scale of consciousness and moving from scarcity to abundance The DCA (Direct Chief Aim) method for reprogramming your subconscious Why the old version of you has to "die" for the new one to emerge If this episode resonated, share it with two friends who need to hear it. About Nathaniel: Nathaniel Cilley is a licensed mental health counselor based in New York City, a psychedelic therapist, and a manifestation coach. He specializes in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), helping clients work through anxiety, phobias, and fear of failure by challenging the beliefs behind them. His work now blends traditional psychotherapy with consciousness work, psychedelic integration, and manifestation coaching to help people reprogram limiting identities and align with what they actually want in life. Connect with Nathaniel: Website: manifesttherapy.com Instagram: @manifest_therapy YouTube: @manifest_therapy About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof  LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FREE RESOURCE FROM BRAD SUGARS DM Brad on Instagram @BradleySugars the word "PLAYBOOK" and he'll send you his free business playbook on how to succeed in business. --- In this episode, I sit down with Brad Sugars — the Founder and Chairman of ActionCOACH, the world's #1 business coaching firm with over 1,000 offices in 85 countries — to break down exactly what separates the entrepreneurs who scale from the ones who stay stuck. Brad calls out what he sees as the biggest epidemic in business right now: wimpy goals. We dig into the three stages of business growth (0 to $1M, $1M to $10M, $10M to $100M), why the skills that get you to your first million will actually hold you back from your next ten, and why most business owners have built themselves a job with overheads instead of a real business. Brad also gets honest about his own failures — from team members who liked his money more than he did, to reinvesting $4M right before COVID hit — and shares the mindset shifts that let him operate his companies in just one hour a week. We also get into work-life harmony, the epidemic of loneliness among male entrepreneurs, and why Brad believes the most expensive advice in the world is free advice from a poor person. GUEST BIO Brad Sugars is the Founder, Chairman, and President of ActionCOACH — the world's #1 business coaching firm with more than 1,000 offices in 85 countries. Internationally recognized as one of the most influential entrepreneurs alive, Brad is a bestselling author, sought-after keynote speaker, and has been called the Godfather of Business Coaching for over 30 years. He started his entrepreneurial journey at age 7 and founded ActionCOACH in Brisbane, Australia in 1993 — when business coaching as a profession barely existed. He has since become the CEO of 9+ companies and helped hundreds of thousands of business owners across the globe scale, systematize, and ultimately exit their businesses. Brad lives in Las Vegas with his wife Lauren and their five children. GUEST SOCIAL LINKS Instagram: @BradSugars Facebook: Brad Sugars ActionCOACH X (Twitter): @BradSugars LinkedIn: Brad Sugars YouTube: Brad Sugars ActionCOACH Website: actioncoach.com About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get your free copy of Allison's book 'Scale or Fail' - https://pinnacleglobalnetwork.com/dna In this episode I sit down with Allison Maslan, founder and CEO of Pinnacle Global Network and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Scale or Fail, who has personally built ten companies and helped her team mentor over 150,000 founders. We talk about why the business owner is so often the thing standing in the way of their own growth, and Allison walks me through her five phases of scaling, from the seeker all the way through what she calls the ringleader phase, the chaotic circus stage where most businesses get stuck for years. We get into how to build a team of what she calls scale multipliers instead of people who just complete tasks, why tracking your return on employee matters as much as any other business metric, and how her own burnout and health scare early in her career led her to build a completely different way of running a business. We also dig into her morning vision crafting practice and how she uses alignment to make faster, clearer decisions as a CEO. If you've ever felt like your business can't run without you, this conversation will change how you think about that. Main Topics Covered Why the founder is often the biggest bottleneck to growth The five phases of scaling a business Building a team of scale multipliers instead of task-doers Tracking return on employee (ROE) How to let go of control without losing quality Vision crafting and morning routines for clarity Using alignment to guide business decisions Why investing in mentors and masterminds speeds up growth About Allison: Allison Maslan is the founder and CEO of Pinnacle Global Network, a global business mentoring company that has helped more than 150,000 founders scale their companies from seven to nine figures. She has built ten successful companies from the ground up starting at age 19, with past clients including Ben & Jerry's, Supercuts, and Charlotte Russe. Allison is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Scale or Fail, endorsed by Daymond John and Barbara Corcoran, and has been featured in Forbes, Success, Fortune, and Entrepreneur Magazine. She was named one of Forbes' Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs to Watch. Website: https://pinnacleglobalnetwork.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonmaslan About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof  LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are you ready to stop treating your startup like a side project and start building a scalable business? In this episode, Dr. Michael Burcham shares the hard-earned wisdom of a veteran who has transitioned from a physical therapist to a multi-million dollar private equity investor. We dive deep into the mindset shifts required to go from a day job to a full-time founder, the critical importance of customer discovery, and why most investors won't touch your project until you have skin in the game. Michael breaks down the common mistakes technical founders make and how to navigate the emotional rollercoaster of anxiety and frustration that comes with the territory. You will learn how to differentiate your brand in a noisy market, the power of personal touches in networking, and how to align your vision with what investors are actually looking for. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why most early-stage businesses are still just “projects” ● The biggest mistake founders make before launching ● Why investors care about paying customers more than perfect decks ● How to build awareness without wasting money ● Why failure is part of the entrepreneur DNA ● How to avoid chasing every opportunity ● Why your network can become your biggest growth engine ● How anxiety, insecurity, and frustration show up in business ● What investors see that founders often miss ● Why selling your company can trigger an identity crisis About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The Science of Flipping podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby About Michael Burcham Dr. Michael Burcham is an investor, author, business strategist, and private equity operator who has spent decades building, scaling, and advising high-growth companies. After starting his career in healthcare, he went on to build and grow multiple companies before transitioning into venture capital and private equity, where he now helps founders navigate growth, fundraising, leadership, and long-term business strategy. He is also the author of multiple books focused on startups, scaling, failure, and investor relationships. Connect with Dr. Michael Burcham: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michaelburcham Instagram: instagram.com/dr.michaelburcham  Website: www.michaelburcham.com Chapters 0:00 Intro and meeting Dr. Michael Burcham 3:15 The journey from physical therapy to private equity 6:30 Why relationships and local ecosystems matter 9:45 The biggest misconception for early stage founders 13:10 Diversifying your offerings and solving customer pain 16:20 The framework for launching a successful venture 19:40 Building awareness and the sales pipeline 23:05 How to differentiate your brand in a noisy market 26:30 The power of handwritten notes and networking 30:00 Projects vs businesses and getting investor attention 33:50 Learning from failure and the importance of grit 37:20 Managing the seven deadly emotions of entrepreneurship 41:00 Identity shifts and the new book Blood Sweat and Equity 44:49 Final thoughts and where to find Michael #entrepreneurship #startupgrowth #venturecapital #businessstrategy #entrepreneurmindset Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get Mauricio's book 'Tackling Toxicity' on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/08uHkZag In this episode I sit down with Mauricio Velasquez, a worldwide conflict resolution and emotional intelligence consultant who has trained in over seventy five countries, from Guantanamo Bay to the White House to professional sports organizations like the MLS. We get into why most people are conflict averse and what happens when you ignore toxic behavior instead of addressing it. Mauricio breaks down the difference between reacting and responding, how to spot your own triggers before they take over, and the exact language he teaches leaders to use when someone is coming in hot. We talk through real stories from his thirty year career, from coaching a CEO who nearly destroyed his company's culture in fifteen seconds to a moment in the stands at his daughter's basketball game where he chose to stand up instead of stay silent. This conversation is about moving from bystander to upstander, in your business, your family, and your life. Main Topics Covered Why most people avoid conflict instead of resolving it The difference between reacting and responding How to identify your own emotional triggers What to say when someone is coming in hot Moving from bystander to upstander Holding leaders and toxic employees accountable Building psychological safety for honest feedback Standing up for others in the moment About Mauricio: Mauricio Velasquez is the founder and president of Diversity Training Group and the author of Tackling Toxicity: A Skill-Based Guide to Addressing Toxicity. Over his thirty year career, he has worked as a management consultant, workplace investigator, executive coach, trainer, and expert witness specializing in bias, prejudice, and hate, training more than one million employees, managers, and executives. He has worked in nearly every U.S. state and traveled to more than seventy five countries, coaching organizations ranging from the White House and Guantanamo Bay to Native American tribes, law enforcement agencies, and professional sports organizations like the MLS. Mauricio holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia and an MBA in Human Resource Management from George Washington University. Connect with Mauricio: Website: https://www.diversitydtg.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauricio-velasquez-mba/ About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.