The Bizgnus Podcast

•. David Sauers’ ah-ha moment was in a portable toilet •. “My story touches on … the lessons learned from creating a niche brand” It’s every parent’s worry: At a festival with your very young children when one of them announces they need the bathroom.  Yet the only toilets to be seen are those smelly, wobbly, fiberglass, one-person-if-you’r-skinny portable outhouses.  David Sauers had that moment...

•. John Chan helps avoid digital campaign pitfalls  •. “Fundamentally, marketing is sales at scale” (Total Recorded Time is 11:18) Owners and operators of small businesses who are thinking of digital ad campaigns, ought to check first with experts. That’s what John Chan does — helping businesses market via platforms like YouTu8be and Meta. Mr. Chan joins us for this Bizgnus Interview to explain ho...

•. Serial entrepreneur Peter Wasmer shoulders the hassle •. “A revolutionary business process automation platform” (Total Recorded Time is 23:13) Scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, payments, and just plain old customer communication — it can almost drown the pool guy — unless. That’s where Peter Wasmer, a serial entrepreneur, spotted a unique niche — automating so much of the non-pool stuff. Peter W...

•. Sue Pats says going it alone has many rewards •. “I am passionate about sharing knowledge” (Total Recorded Time is 21:00) Woody Allen  could have been speaking for many solopreneurs when he said, “Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it's all over much too soon.” Freelancers, contractors, consultants, temps — all one-man-bands of one type or another — add up.  In the U.S....

• The drawer of Rolexes no longer cut it • “This feeling of being alive transforms you” (TRT is 10:32) When a drawer of Rolex watches doesn’t make you feel whole, something ought to be done. And Mo Issa says he did it by making small changes to rediscover himself, embrace simplicity, and focus on a sense of deep fulfillment. What were those steps and why does he think they can help others? Mo Issa...

* Angela Fowler helps businesses tap that market Plus tips for grilling tri-tip (Total Recorded Time is 16:49_ Like thousands upon thousands of Californians, Angela Fowler loves to cook the beef known as tri-tip on her backyard barbecue. “I love getting out there and barbequing,” she says. “People don’t realize that a blind person can do that.” Ms. Fowler is a blind accessibility consultant who sa...

•. Fixing the entry-level jobs turnover problem •. “The results have been amazing” (Total recorded time is 19:48) HONESDALE, Pa. — When Michael Neal set up his optometry practice in rural Pennsylvania, he was focused on his patients even as a problem was growing out of sight. The problem is one that many small businesses of all types face: employee turnover, especially in entry-level jobs. Finally...

  •. It’s not only battlefield bravery •. “Embrace discomfort and try to be brave” (Total Recorded Time is 12:34) Jill Schulman - a former Marine Corps officer and expert in positive psychology — says there’s a science to bravery. And it’s not just bravery on a remote battlefield but can be the bravery to leave a safe and comfortable job for the toil and uncertainty of striking out on your own in...

•. Many leaders overlook a basic part of the foundation (Total Recorded Time is 19:11) For some leaders, arriving at work leaves them feeling that something’s a bit off.  Could it be the culture? And not something that’s been growing for months in the break room’s fridge. But more like the essence of the organization. According to our guest, many leaders just don’t know if their organization’s cul...

•How to break the blockages to success •Eight stories to ponder (Total Recorded Time is 16:16)    NEW YORK CITY -- It’s called “faction” and entrepreneur and author Bob Kaplan uses the writing style that combines fiction with facts for a new approach to leading and evolving.    Change is hard, Mr. Kaplan notes. The challenge is to get whatever is blocking change out of the way, first by identifyin...

• Wisdom boils down to eight things • “Is wisdom life’s goal?” What is wisdom? Is is common?  Or rare? Through interviews with 60 wise individuals across North America, Dr. Laura Gabayan says she has uncovered eight essential elements that define wisdom. Ms. Gabayan outlines her research in this episode of Bizgnus Interviews. Ms. Gabayan has distilled the interviews into a book that she calls “Com...

Maybe it’s time to re-think your relationship  “I found myself burnt out, frustrated” (TRT is 11:00)  Everyone knows the old saying that “money cannot buy happiness.”  But what about having fun with your money? Financial wellbeing coach Erin Gray helps people come to terms with where they are financially.   In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Ms. Gray says she’s teaching others, especially wome...

•. Here are tips for small businesses •. “Boy are you exposed”   Why haven’t you enlisted artificial intelligence in your marketing efforts?   Las Vegas marketing master Mitch Carson has been at the tip of the spear when it comes to AI and marketing.   In this episode of Bizgnus Interviews, he offers examples from his experience of marketing in the 21st Century with AI.   But the first hurdle he h...

•  Nonprofit takes mentoring to a new, international level •  “Most of us are mentoring all the time, we just don’t realize it” (Total Recorded Time is 17:42) When an organization’s leaders give informal but special attention to those with potential but less experience, it’s often called mentoring.   But can something so informal be organized?  Yes, says Deborah Heiser, who leads just such an orga...

• Supply chain expert Art Koch offers tips to be prepared • “We have to do a lot more education and training” (Total Recorded Time is 16:15) Assuming President-elect Donald Trump succeeds in imposing massive tariffs on goods imported from other countries, some manufacturing may move back to the U.S., or at least closer to the nation, says Art Koch, an expert in supply chain management. But don’t l...

•  AI shows the need for leadership •  “Some people are truly afraid of it” (Total Recorded Time is 18:00)    Edgar Allan Poe missed out on artificial intelligence, dying in 1849.  Had he written his poem “The Raven” nowadays, it might have gone like this: “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. “’Tis some AI,” I mut...

•  Dan Handel explains the kinship that exists between forests and spatial design •  “We have a good chance of actually being in a better place”  (Total Recorded Time is 20:00)    HAIFA, Israel --  They stand there for 50, 100, even 500 years until felled by chainsaw, fire, disease or storm.  These are the trees of our forests, which cover fully one-third of the land of the United States.   And wh...

•  Brian Brady is creating a multi-part detective series •  “As a native San Franciscan, I enjoy writing about my favorite city”  Remember Nash Bridges? How about the Continental Op?  Sam Spade? Or, surely, Dirty Harry.  All were — or are — fictional detectives working the crime beats of San Francisco. They were created by authors who set new standards for the genre, including Dashiell Hammett who...

•  A “life of thrive” is possible instead •  “We facilitate learning pocket-sized techniques”   (Total Recorded Time is 14:51)    Feeling stressed out at work or at home. Or both?  Sara Thornhill hears you.   As a rape survivor who is divorced twice and having come out of the closet later in life, Ms. Thornhill says she understands the upheaval that’s possible through big life changes.    But flip...

• Why the business owner might be the biggest problem • How to get out of the way of success   (Total Recorded Time is 21:00)    HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Bradley Hamner says he’s seen it again and again – entrepreneurs who’ve built their companies into firms generating a six-figure top line, but which seem stuck, unable to grow much larger.   A serial entrepreneur and founder of the BlueprintOS program,...

•  Steep growth and no profits is a myth, says consultant  •  It's not explosive growth that makes a business    Who won that race between the rabbit and the tortoise?  Everyone knows the answer, of course, and consultant Manny Skevofilax suggests a business strategy that the tortoise might endorse:  Don’t sacrifice profits for growth.  To ensure the health of the business, go for steady growth an...

•  Michael Greenberg has been with AI since its early days •  Avoiding wasting money   (Total Recorded Time is 17:00)     Artificial intelligence is the buzz word in business these days. But how do business leaders know if it’s critical to their firm’s success – or just the buzzing about what’s hot?  And how much time and money ought to be devoted to AI?  Michael Greenberg is one who should know. ...

•  A veteran coach offers tips and what to avoid •  Can you actually love your business – and your life?    Consultants and coaches run into a lot of stuff over a career, much of it never to be spoken of.  In a career that has taken her across Canada and the United States, Laura Watson, founder of Venture Coaching International,  may well have heard it all.  She joins us for this Bizgnus Interview...

•  AI might help – up to a point •  “There will not be a replacement for a human being”   (Total Recorded Time is 20:12)    ENGLEWOOD, N.J.  – The foundation of any business is the customer. But customer relations – that interaction between a business and those who give it money – can be challenging.  So can artificial intelligence help?  One of the world’s authorities on customer experience and s...

•  Does religion have any business in business? •  “It really comes down to ethics”   (Total Recorded Time is 15:00)  Artificial intelligence, also called AI, “lacks consciousness, self-awareness, emotions, and subjective experiences, which are fundamental aspects of religious belief. AI cannot genuinely ‘believe’ or ‘practice’ religion in the way humans do,” says ChatGPT when asked to write about...