The Bizgnus Podcast

•  The secret to a thriving team and culture lies in one skill •  “Ask more questions. That’s a leadership behavior”    (Total Recorded Time is 23:13)    Think your staff is really into their jobs, ready to help push the organization to new heights?  Think again.   Nearly 1 in 5 workers say their workplaces are unbearably toxic, according to the American Psychological Association’s just-released ...

•  Bruce Weinstein explains how he now thrives after financial ruin •  “My main story is about perseverance”   (Total Recorded Time is 21:10)    Persistence could be Bruce Weinstein’s middle name. He describes himself as “a survivor, a grinder, a finder and a minder.”  The words point to his two lives, first as a financial advisor who had a successful 30-year career during which he built “a $100 m...

•  Roger Pearson uses his experiences to help other business owners •  “Running a business … is really the most gratifying path to happiness”   (Total Recorded Time is 16:00)    Roger Pearson studied to become a teacher. But that didn’t quite result in a career in a classroom.  Instead, he has been teaching small business owners ways to improve bottom lines and their lives.   “The important thing...

•  Kay Oliver says humans are still the best writers • “Having complete control over your story … is very pleasing to me”   (Total Recorded Time is 14:29)    Looking forward to a career as a writer, perhaps scripting a TV series of blockbuster movie?   Ummm.  What about those robots that are getting better and better at writing?  Or those Hollywood labor problems that are seeing writers on picket...

•  It can make your company future ready •  “To be future ready and out-perform requires you to take a different approach”   (Total Recorded Time is 14:35)  How’s your organization’s “tech equity?”  Business and technology advisor Michael Fillios says medium and even small businesses must go on offense with thoughtful and innovative solutions to future-proof themselves — especially with investment...

•  Longtime activist targets lies that undermine democracy •  “I feel very worried.  I feel very worried.”    (Total Recorded Time is 23:34)    In 1971, Frances Moore Lappe wrote a book that transformed the way many relate to food called “Diet for a Small Planet.”   Now, more than half a century and more than a dozen books later, Ms. Lappe is the force behind the movement called “living democracy....

•  Still long hours, but they are her hours •  “I decided to ‘produce’ my own life for a change”  (Total Recorded Time is 13:52)    “He (or she) left to spend more time with their family” is a sentence that often brings an all-knowing “r-i-i-i-ght” from those who do not know the real story. But in the case of Shannon Russell, it’s true.     Ms. Russell pivoted from a career as a producer for a maj...

•  What she said when Bill Gates’ wealth rang •  “I failed my way to success”   (Total Recorded Time is 15:22)    A single mother in an adopted country and in debt to the depth of $135,000, Beate Chelette plowed through what she describes as a decade of mistakes to transform her passion for photography into a global business and to finally emerge successful and with a bit of Bill Gates’ fortune in...

•  Unveiling the core traits that define us •  “People and AI will almost become indistinguishable”  (Total Recorded Time is 20:02)    Steve Bates, a former reporter and editor with the Washington Post as well as other newspapers, has been writing science fiction short stories for more than a decade. Now in his new novel, “Castle of Sand,” (Sunstone Press, July 2023) he grapples with perhaps the m...

•  Entrepreneur says to be audacious •  “My belief is you need to step out”   (Total Recorded Time is 20:52)    What makes a superstar in business?  What makes most just muddle along, never touching the top,?  Roy Osing has an idea.  Or as he might put it, an audacious idea.   The veteran entrepreneur outlines his thoughts in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.   “My belief is you need to step out...

•  Getting fired was just a bump in his road to success •  “Revenue is turning in the right direction”   (Total Recorded Time is 23:30)     Jerry Fu is not your ordinary pharmacist.  He has transformed his career in pharmacy into a career as a conflict resolution coach who helps Asian American leaders.   It’s just about opposite from where he started.  Mr. Fu says he was so reluctant to deal with...

•  Kevin Palmieri left a six-figure job to take on podcasting fulltime •  “I didn’t expect to be where we are today”   (Total recorded time is 25:24)    Next Level University has no bookstore, classrooms, or even an animal mascot.  It’s a daily podcast that has attracted a following of more than 750,000 listeners.    “I've helped grow the podcast into a multi six-figure business,” says co-foun...

•  Pete Wasmer just wanted a burned-out pool light fixed •  “Nobody else has a mobile app that the customers can use to have what I call an ‘Uber-like’ experience” (Total Recorded Time is 21:00)   When a light burns out in your swimming pool, replacing it is usually a job for the pool guy.  When you can reach him.   Veteran businessman Pete Wasmer was faced with that problem.  And while he eventua...

•  Serial entrepreneur offers tips from his own experience •  “As business owners, there’s more to it than just your business”   (Total Recorded Time is 24:30)    From selling shoes to running a company that renovates bathrooms to helping other small business operators actually enjoy ownership, Pete Mohr has been an owner or advisor to a myriad of small businesses.     These days he says he's...

•  A happy and engaged workforce is the backbone of organizational success •  “Life is too short to live stuck in a rut”   (Total Recorded Time is 17:41)    How do you get to be a popular leadership coach?   Here’s one way: “I was a failed pre-med student,” says Jerry Dugan, who has developed a career and business of coaching executives to become more effective leaders.  In two decades of offering...

•  Since 9/11, four times as many in the military die by suicide than in combat • “The more veterans I talk to these days are ashamed of their military service”   (Total Recorded Time is 29:22)    Active-duty military know they could be asked to put their lives on the line in times of armed conflict.   But to see a steady loss of life during peacetime because of suicide – that’s a problem a former...

•  Dai Manuel sees AI as the future of coaching •  “The world’s most robust health AI coach”   (Total Recorded Time is 19:43)   What do you do after you’ve run a successful major retailer?   How about being a life coach?   Dai Manuel, author of the book “Whole Life Fitness Manifesto,” (Life Tree, 2016), says he began his quest for physical and financial fitness as a teenager.   And now he’s making...

•  What has Nicky Billou learned? •  “I’m in the people business”   (Total Recorded Time is 24:00)    Nicky Billou says he has interviewed more than 300 of the world's top thought leaders including Jack Canfield, John Maxwell, and Marie Forleo.  So what does one learn about life, love and perhaps business after listening to so many experts?  In this edition of Bizgnus Interviews, Mr. Billou te...

•  Cathy Nesbitt runs the quietest farm in North America •  “I set about to do this without any business savvy”   (Total Recorded Time is 23:55)    Farming is actually pretty noisy:  the bleating of sheep, mooing of cows, oinking of pigs and so on. Even an apple orchard can be loud what with birds singing in those trees.  But Cathy Nesbitt is a quiet farmer, perhaps the quietest of all, despite ha...

•  “American Idol” finalist Christina Cewe is now writing children’s books •  “I made a decision to follow my heart”  (Total Recorded Time is 11:37)    Anyone who reaches the finals of the television program “American Idol” can atterst to the years of practice and disappointments that had to be overcome. Christina Cewe did it, becoming an American Idol Top Ten Finalist and a recording artist, trav...

•  Remember SEO?  It never left and now may be more important than ever •  “And they’re not looking for you”   (Total Recorded Time is 26:26)   Remember SEO?  The letters stand for search engine optimization.  And even in these days of the frothing over artificial intelligence, good, ol’ SEO – when done right – can boost a business like a rocket, says Lorraine Ball, an Indianapolis-based marketing...

•  Five branding tips for small businesses •  “When you build a brand, think of building it one customer at a time”   (Total Recorded Time is 19:38)    When you think of branding, what comes to mind?  And what about your brand?  We are flooded with brands jamming every communications channel we use.  And that makes connecting with customers frustrating at best.  Branding guru Kim Rozdeba says bran...

•  Ken Paskins offers some solutions and something for free •  “We have a special for your listeners in May”  (Total Recorded Time is 21:43)    (Just want to hear the offer? Fast-forward to about the 19-minute mark.)   Like most business leaders, it’s likely you have tried to find a better balance between your business and your life outside of the business – if any,   Ken Paskins says he has an an...

•  Entrepreneur and author has a toolkit to fix that •  “These skills are learnable”   (Total Recorded Time is 18:14)  So you’ve spent four to six years in college getting your degree.  But while it may have opened a door or two to entry-level jobs, now you realize it is not the ticket to career success that you thought.  Enter Mark Herschberg, an entrepreneur and author of the book, “The Career T...

•  Instead of pushing for a sale, try this technique •  “When I am ‘selling,’ I am really listening and putting myself in that person’s position”   (Total Recorded Time is 14:17)  The answer to long-term sales success is not the “always be closing” system but rather finding the real needs of a customer and addressing those concerns, contends sales consultant Darleen Priday.   She teaches empatheti...