Scaling Up, Not Giving Up

Description: In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , I sit down with Roger Martin — serial entrepreneur, franchise founder, and CEO of RockBox Fitness and beem® Light Sauna. Roger has led teams of over 500, built national brands, and trained thousands in sales, leadership, and communication. But this conversation isn’t about hype — it’s about reality . We talk about the difference between r...

Eric Malka took a $12,000 investment and turned it into a global brand. Then came the financial crisis, burnout, and one of the biggest lessons of his life. In this episode, I sit down with Eric Malka – serial entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of The Art of Shaving – to unpack the unfiltered reality of building a premium brand, scaling with purpose, and navigating chaos when things don't go t...

Feedback Loops, Burnout, and the Five Things Every Business Needs to Scale What do all successful businesses get right when they scale? According to leadership performance coach Aaron Trahan, there are five essentials — and missing just one can throw everything off. In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Aaron shares the exact framework he uses with founders and leadership teams to scale s...

📘 Guest: Jeremy B. Shapiro — Serial Entrepreneur, Mastermind Facilitator, and Author of Your Business Growth Playbook 🧠 Episode Summary: What happens when the business you built starts to feel like a trap? This week, I’m joined by Jeremy B. Shapiro — a seasoned serial entrepreneur who’s spent over two decades helping business owners escape burnout, scale sustainably, and finally step out of the...

In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , I’m joined by Adam Torres — co-founder of Mission Matters and host of over 6,000 podcast interviews. Adam shares how he went from reluctant first-time podcaster to building a global media business that now produces more than 2,000 interviews a year — all without external investment. 🔥 We discuss: Why Adam recorded his first 1,500 episodes off-camera...

🎧 Scaling Smart: How to Grow Without Going Broke with Cash Flow Mike Episode Summary What if your business is growing... but your bank balance is shrinking? In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Richard sits down with Mike Milan — aka Cash Flow Mike — to unpack one of the most misunderstood aspects of scaling: cash flow . Mike has built 14 companies, taught over 25,000 business owners, a...

Eric Malka took a $12,000 investment and turned it into a global brand. Then came the financial crisis, burnout, and one of the biggest lessons of his life. In this episode, I sit down with Eric Malka – serial entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of The Art of Shaving – to unpack the unfiltered reality of building a premium brand, scaling with purpose, and navigating chaos when things don't go t...

What if your business didn’t need to get bigger to be better? What if scaling didn’t mean selling out — or burning out? In this episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Hayes , a business architect and exit strategist who helps small and mid-sized business owners design growth around who they are — not just what the market says they should be. We dig into the unexpected side of exit planning, including: W...

What if your business didn’t need to get bigger to be better? What if scaling didn’t mean selling out — or burning out? In this episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Hayes , a business architect and exit strategist who helps small and mid-sized business owners design growth around who they are — not just what the market says they should be. We dig into the unexpected side of exit planning, including: W...

What if scaling success didn’t mean scaling stress? In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , I’m joined by Rachael Edmondson-Clarke – executive coach, leadership psychologist, and former corporate leader who learned the cost of overperformance the hard way. Rachael shares the moment her body said “no more” – collapsing before a board meeting – and how it became the wake-up call that transfor...

🎧 Episode Title: Scaling Intentionally: Startup, Growth, Balance, Empire? 📌 Episode Summary:In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , I’m joined by Dave Sobel – tech entrepreneur, podcaster, and founder of MSP Radio. Dave has scaled businesses, gone through acquisition and IPO, and now runs a lean media company focused on helping IT service providers navigate growth. We dive deep into the i...

You’ve heard it before: “Our people are our greatest asset.” But if that’s true, why don’t they show up on the balance sheet? In this episode, I’m joined by Dave Bookbinder — business valuation expert, best-selling author, and host of Behind the Numbers . Dave is on a mission to shift how we think about business value — and prove that culture, empathy, and leadership are more than “soft stuff.” Th...

In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Richard Lee sits down with John Makarewicz — an entrepreneur who scaled Mark Spain Real Estate to over 650 people and led it through a nine-figure private equity exit. Now the Managing Partner at Ferris Capital Partners, John has raised over $40M in his first year, focused on acquiring and transforming multifamily properties. But this conversation isn...

In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Richard Lee sits down with John Makarewicz — an entrepreneur who scaled Mark Spain Real Estate to over 650 people and led it through a nine-figure private equity exit. Now the Managing Partner at Ferris Capital Partners, John has raised over $40M in his first year, focused on acquiring and transforming multifamily properties. But this conversation isn...

🎙️ Resilience Over Perfection with Gary Parsons What happens when success on paper doesn’t match how you feel inside? In this powerful episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Richard Lee sits down with Gary Parsons — founder, board advisor, and host of Leaders in Disguise — to talk about the emotional reality of growing a business and what it takes to walk away when the cost becomes too high. Gary...

Gabriel Jarrosson has invested over $40M in more than 100 Y Combinator startups. But before becoming a VC, he was a founder — scaling seven companies (some to exit) and bootstrapping to $1M ARR with zero employees. In this episode, Gabriel joins Richard Lee to talk about what founders really need to know before raising capital. It’s a candid, practical conversation that cuts through the hype aroun...

Gabriel Jarrosson has invested over $40M in more than 100 Y Combinator startups. But before becoming a VC, he was a founder — scaling seven companies (some to exit) and bootstrapping to $1M ARR with zero employees. In this episode, Gabriel joins Richard Lee to talk about what founders really need to know before raising capital. It’s a candid, practical conversation that cuts through the hype aroun...

In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Richard Lee sits down with seasoned entrepreneur and business coach Pete Mohr to talk about the real journey from being stuck in the day-to-day to building a business that works for you — not the other way around. Pete shares 30+ years of lessons scaling businesses , including: Bootstrapping his first franchise from $20k in savings to successful exit...

In this episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , Richard Lee sits down with seasoned entrepreneur and business coach Pete Mohr to talk about the real journey from being stuck in the day-to-day to building a business that works for you — not the other way around. Pete shares 30+ years of lessons scaling businesses , including: Bootstrapping his first franchise from $20k in savings to successful exit...

In this very first episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , I’m joined by Rich Williams – a former CMO who walked away from a high-paying global role (while his wife was seven months pregnant) to start again with just a paintbrush, a gut instinct, and a business idea he couldn’t shake. Today, Rich leads a group of companies focused on changing the lives of young people across education, care, and tr...

In this very first episode of Scaling Up, Not Giving Up , I’m joined by Rich Williams – a former CMO who walked away from a high-paying global role (while his wife was seven months pregnant) to start again with just a paintbrush, a gut instinct, and a business idea he couldn’t shake. Today, Rich leads a group of companies focused on changing the lives of young people across education, care, and tr...

Welcome to "Scaling Up, Not Giving Up" —the podcast that goes beyond the glossy success stories to reveal the real, raw challenges of growing a business without external investment. Hosted by Richard Lee , an entrepreneur who scaled his company by 650% in a quarter , this podcast offers an unfiltered look at the realities of scaling sustainably, navigating setbacks, and building resilien...