The Dwayne Kerrigan Podcast

When Brian Scudamore wanted to franchise 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, about a dozen franchise experts told him it couldn't be done. Years later, with the company close to bankruptcy, he removed his COO against the advice of everyone in the business. In both cases, asking the right questions, and finding the right people, is what got him through. In this episode: How the experts' Nos became the franchise model...

In 1994, five years into running his junk removal business, Brian Scudamore called all 11 employees into a morning meeting, apologized for letting them down, and fired every one of them. He went from five trucks to one. What he built next started with a single page describing a future nobody else could see yet. In this episode: Why Brian's grandparents' San Francisco surplus store was robbed only...

Seventeen years ago, four strangers decided to build something almost no one commits to: a mastermind group that outlasts the businesses, marriages, and identities its members walk in with. In Part 2, Dwayne sits back down with three of the four, Curt Cronin, Michael Grandjean, and Sam Hazledine (missing Keiron McCammon)to unpack what actually kept the group alive that long, and what it cost them...

Seventeen years, six men, and one rule: no advice allowed. On this panel, three members of Dwayne Kerrigan's mastermind group, the "Honey Badgers", pull back the curtain on the framework that's carried them through startups, exits, burnout, and grief, and explain why the group that changes them most is the one that refuses to tell them what to do. In this episode: Curt Cronin breaks down "dynamic...

FlyGuys CEO Joe Stough returns for Part 2 of this conversation on scaling technology companies through operational excellence, culture, and AI. Joe breaks down the four-element operational excellence management system he built plus the cultural foundation of the golden rule and iron sharpens iron and explains how the company's AI data infrastructure platform now serves seven industries through one...

Joe Stough built a piece of software that ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips ran their worldwide safety operations on and he says none of it would have worked without a psychological framework he almost let disappear along with the mentor who created it. In this episode, he traces the throughline of intentional culture across three very different companies. In this episode: How Joe's early expe...

At 500 knots each, two F-16s point straight at each other with less than a second to react, one of them upside down. That's the moment Michelle "Mace" Curran walks Dwayne through in Part 2 of this conversation, and it's just the entry point into a masterclass on what she calls "the space between": the pause between feeling fear and deciding what to do with it. In this episode: The near head-on col...

She's the second woman in history to fly lead solo for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and she still describes her early years in a fighter squadron as "classic imposter syndrome." Michelle "Mace" Curran spent years running from failure before she realized what was actually driving her forward, and in this conversation with Dwayne Kerrigan, she pulls back the curtain on the debrief culture that re...

On this episode, Dwayne sits down with Keiron McCammon, host of Spark of Trust podcast, to unpack why that show exists in the first place. It starts with a wrong answer: Keiron went looking for what broke in 2022, blamed social media, and found something underneath it. Trust didn't collapse all at once, it broke in three acts over six decades: first our communities, then our institutions, then our...

Canada's top female entrepreneur two years running, flying between magazine covers and global stages and privately rocking on the floor with the door locked. Kelsey Kitsch, former CEO of Mind Cure and author of Success Hangover , sits down with Dwayne to unpack the ego that built her empire, the psychedelic experience that dismantled it, and what she found once the striving finally stopped. Conten...

Kelsey Kitsch was Canada's number one female entrepreneur two years in a row. She was on the cover of magazines, speaking at global economic forums, and building multimillion-dollar companies. She was also sitting on the floor of her locked office, in the darkest period of her life, wondering why none of it felt like anything. In Part 1 of this conversation, she and Dwayne explore what happens whe...

Kate Bradley Chernis spent over a decade figuring out how to use sound to make strangers feel like friends. At Sirius/XM, she was building 200-layer audio files for 30-second commercials. Next, she was infusing radio theory into a generative AI platform before most people knew what generative AI was. Now at Backline EQ, she's using the same instinct, that sound tells you things a transcript never...

What happens when the business you built becomes too dependent on you to keep growing? Mark Bradley, Founder and Chairman of LeanScaper and author of the newly released The Landscaper’s Operating System: Build a Landscape Company That Runs Without You , joins Dwayne Kerrigan for Part Two of a conversation about one of the most important transitions an entrepreneur can make: moving from being the p...

What does it take to build a business that is profitable, principled, and strong enough to scale? Mark Bradley, Founder and Chairman of LeanScaper and author of the newly released The Landscaper’s Operating System: Build a Landscape Company That Runs Without You , joins Dwayne Kerrigan for Part One of a wide-ranging conversation on the decisions, disciplines, and operating principles that helped s...

This episode is a re-release and features Phil M. Jones, a successful entrepreneur and speaker, who brings to light the significance of mastering pivotal conversational moments in sales and customer service for business success. Join us as we delve into strategies for overcoming and preventing customer objections, understanding decision-making processes, and enhancing customer journeys in diverse...

Andrew Pancholi doesn't hedge his calls. In Part 2 of his conversation with Dwayne Kerrigan, the cycles analyst behind Market Timing Report lays out exactly where he thinks gold and oil are headed next — the kind of specific, put-your-name-on-it targets most analysts avoid — plus the one year already circled on his calendar for the next real market correction, and why the pullbacks along the way a...

In January 1981, American hostages were released from Iran within hours of Reagan's inauguration. Forty-five years later — to within 30 hours — Andrew Pancholi told his subscribers an Iran conflict was about to begin. He was right. This is not luck. It’s mathematics — and in this conversation with Dwayne Kerrigan, Andrew breaks down exactly how cycle analysis works, what it's telling us about real...

Most business owners think getting a call from private equity is the finish line. Brian Will says that's exactly when you're most at risk. In Part 2, Brian delivers the frameworks that took him three exits and decades of hard lessons to build — from the five keys to success (which are also the five keys to failure) to what private equity firms will do to your earn-out if you're not paying attentio...

Brian Will has owned 10 companies across five industries, made three exits worth over $500 million, and written four books — including two Wall Street Journal bestsellers. None of it was handed to him and the odds were very much against him. In this conversation with Dwayne Kerrigan, Brian unpacks the frameworks behind his success: the personal filter, the success ladder, and the $80 million decis...

Sean Barry 's team used to spend six months building a feature. Now they build it in two to three weeks. In Part 2, Sean and Dwayne move from the AI transformation inside LeanScaper to the bigger picture: what the software industry looks like in twelve months, why autonomous cars and AI adoption are fundamentally different problems, and what it actually means to participate in this change rather t...

In January, 95% of the code Sean Barry's team wrote was written by hand. Six months later, that number is 2%. Sean isn't predicting what AI will do to your industry — he's living it, building it, and losing sleep over it. In this conversation with Dwayne Kerrigan, Sean Barry - the Chief Product Officer of LeanScaper - shares what the AI transformation actually looks like from the inside: the grief...

Most people treat sleep like something that happens to them. Dr. Michael Breus, aka The Sleep Doctor, treats it like a system — one that can be built, optimized, and recovered no matter how badly you've abused it. In Part 2, Dwayne and Dr. Breus move from theory into full practice: the single morning habit that regulates your entire sleep schedule, the truth about supplements and peptides, and why...

You've been told to get eight hours of sleep your whole life. Dr. Michael Breus — The Sleep Doctor — says that's not only wrong, it may be making things worse. In this conversation with Dwayne Kerrigan, one of the world's foremost sleep specialists breaks down the science of when to sleep, when to drink caffeine, when to workout, and why most people's sleep problems aren't about how much they slee...

Nobody jumps out of bed wanting to do a bad job. So why does the day fall apart by lunch? In this episode, Dwayne Kerrigan breaks down the actual mechanics of high-performance productivity — not the philosophy, not the mindset pep talk, but the specific rituals, systems, and daily habits that determine whether your week produces results or just burns time. In this episode: The Time Management Matr...

Kyle Scheele went from 17 TikTok followers to a million in 25 hours — not because he had a strategy, but because he finally stopped waiting for the right time and posted the video. In Part 2, he and Dwayne walk through the five things every idea needs to make it into the world, why AI is a sycophancy machine that will confidently tell you exactly what you want to hear, and why creativity is a team...