Measure Success Podcast

Not every small business succeeds. In fact, most don't. But entrepreneurs should follow certain principles — and avoid common pitfalls — to give themselves the best chance. Our guest this week, Louis Foreman, is one of the best to teach us the ins and outs of entrepreneurship (he even started his first business when he was still in college).     Louis is the founder and Chief Executive of Enventys...

Big, scary, spiders. This is when you know you've hit rock-bottom: when you have no other place than to live in a basement full of them! For entrepreneurs, how they respond to that situation (and that location) is often the most important piece of their business journey.    And no one knows the peaks and valleys of the entrepreneurial journey quite like our latest guest. Steven Pemberton is an ent...

We all have habits that are our Kryptonite - just like the green, crystalline material that weakened Superman. And those habits prevent us from reaching our greatest potential.   Steve Tague discovered his Kryptonite, late in life — and it transformed his future.   We often think of endurance as something only elite athletes possess — but it's actually a mental skill we can all cultivate. And nobo...

So many business owners fall into the trap of focusing only on the end outcome: are sales up or down, did the product sell or not sell, are we profitable? But in reality, we should be focused on measuring the stepping stones along the way that they can control: sales leads collected, on time delivery, managing discretionary expenses, etc.    In this, business is much like sports. Focusing solely o...

The beginning of each year is an opportunity for rebirth and growth. And the process for making dramatic steps forward in your life or business is actually quite simple — it's just not easy. This episode will give you a roadmap for the difficult things you can do to improve as a leader, radically change your life, and make a bigger impact on your company. And that advice is coming from one of the...

We often think of a business only in terms of whether it "succeeded" or not. But some of the best ideas, companies, and concepts have all been built from a culture of setting giant "moonshot" goals — and frequent failures along the way.    Someone who knows all about the concept of "moonshot thinking" is our latest guest, Varun Puri. Varun is co-founder of Yoodli, an AI-powered speech coach. Varun...

Every business owner has heard the word "branding" — but do they actually know how to build an effective, memorable one? Most don't. And that lack of good branding is keeping great ideas, products, and services from reaching more customers.    But our guest this week is on a mission to help organizations build brands that people remember — and that their customers want to connect with. Isabelle Me...

So many problems within a workplace can be traced back to one issue: communication. Leaders who can master this skill are the ones who reach their goals, develop better teams, and steer their organizations towards greater success.    Our guest this week is one of the top experts in helping leaders become better communicators. Antoni Lacinai is an international keynote speaker and workplace communi...

What if most businesses have been going about their hiring, retention, and culture-building strategies all wrong? And how should today's organizations rethink the traditional processes that might not actually be helpful?    Our guest this week is someone reimagining many of those "traditional" way of doing things — and for the greater good. Gil Winch, Ph. D, is the founder of CY (Call Yachol), a u...

With all the recent talk about labor shortages and a chaotic job market, organizations worried about recruitment and retention aren't alone. But there is plenty you can do as a leader to ensure you attract the best of the best, grow your company sustainably with top talent, and retain the cream of the crop.   In this episode, host Carl J. Cox talks to Darrin Jahnel: he's the founder and CEO of Jah...

Even when companies are raking in 6- and 7-figure sales, too many business owners end up working so many hours, and paying themselves so little of the profits, that they actually make minimum wage (or lower). Our guest this week is an expert in helping entrepreneurs reverse the trend and actually pay themselves what they're worth.   Tuesday P. Brooks, MBA is a business owner, educator, and trusted...

In today's era—of inflation, a pandemic, war, and more—it can sometimes feel like market risk is at an all-time high. But the truth is, how we evaluate and navigate risk hasn't changed mathematically in hundreds of years. And our guest this week is an expert in risk management (no matter the external circumstances).    Alex Sidorenko is an experienced executive across strategic, investment, and op...

In business, some of the best leaders have ideas that others would consider "crazy." But those ideas are often the ones that push us the furthest. And no one knows more about pursuing lofty, wild goals, quite like our latest guest, Cameron Dorn.   Cameron Dorn is the Founder and CEO of The Suitcase of Courage, two-time Guinness world record holder, two-time national champion in triathlon, and beli...

One of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs set out on their own is for the freedom — and our latest guest is someone who's expertly melded what he likes to do in that free time, with his burgeoning business.   Max Benz is an outdoor adventure addict as well as a professional storyteller. He's created a business that combines those two passions, and people usually have a hard time telling if he is ha...

In this era of the "Great Resignation," and the rise of "quiet quitting," companies are more worried than ever about a disengaged, fluctuating workforce. But there are effective strategies organizations can use to build a loyal, engaged team. They just might not be the strategies you *think* will work.   Our guest this week is one of the global experts in building more effective teams: Dov Baron h...

Digital transformation is perhaps one of the most important strategic initiatives that brands will take on in this phase of the 21st century. But how do you ensure you're actually going to have a successful one that your employees buy into?    Our guest this week is an expert in guiding companies to those successful strategies. Howard Tiersky is a successful entrepreneur who has been named by IDG...

When it comes to scaling your business, readiness (for change, growth, action, etc.) is a must. Crystallizing what this readiness looks like—and how to build it—is the expertise our latest guest brings.   Esther Weinberg is a business growth accelerator that equips executives in high-growth industries to create big pivots, big impact, and big returns. She's also the Founder and Chief Leadership De...

From building his own furniture as a teenager because his first apartment had none, to founding one of the most popular sofa brands in the world, Edgar Blazona is no stranger to building a business successfully — on his own terms. And the lessons he's taken from that journey can be applied to any business, in any industry.  Edgar is a modernist American furniture designer and founder of DTC sofa b...

What if there was a way to increase your financial security, expand your access to capital, and retain control over your money in a way that stocks and 401(k)s don't always offer?  Our guest this week, Marc Beshears, is here to explain one option for financial planning and management that not many talk about: life insurance. Marc, a successful entrepreneur, is a leader in a variety of industries a...

After finishing the Bridge of the Gods half-marathon, I met Chad Lubinski for the first time. He was getting ready for the biggest challenge of this life, the Cascades 100 . This 100 miler has roughly 12,000 ft of gain and 12,500 ft. of loss. In this first meet, I had the audacity to challenge him if he could finish the race…he could be on the Measure Success Podcast. And this is where this episod...

"Build it, and they will come" might have been a memorable and heartwarming movie line. But it's not an effective business strategy. And the sooner that companies can exit that mindset—of just waiting for the phone to ring—the sooner they can start scaling their organization. But usually, for a team to make a whole-scale change like that, they need to see that transformation modeled in their leade...

The majority of entrepreneurs who try to build and grow a business will eventually fail. And too often throughout that process, they're barely making any money themselves either. But what if there was a system that could change that? That could help entrepreneurs ensure their own well-being, and put their businesses on the path to growth and success?  Our guest this week is Ron Saharyan, one of th...

Have you ever felt like growing your business is a little like climbing a mountain… with a backpack full of rocks? The truth is, it doesn't have to be that hard. And easier growth could be as simple as aligning your strategies with your timing. Pinpointing which stage your business is in can help you unlock insights specific to that stage—and help you sustain growth. Because even if you have the r...

Just like with human beings, businesses also must move from birth to adolescence to maturity.  But it can be easy to get stuck on the way to becoming a fully "mature" business, and it's important to avoid a few common pitfalls on your journey. Our guest this week is an expert on that evolution, as well as someone who has coached hundreds of business owners on moving past that "adolescent" phase. N...

Plenty of businesses measure their growth (or lack thereof) after the fact, via a profit and loss statement. But what if you could measure potential growth before it even happens? That actually is possible — with a high-level sales strategy, in which a company focuses on leading indicators like "quality" sales calls (not just calls).  Our guest this week has built his company using one of those st...