The Long Game with Mitch Long

What Chris Ryan learned from elite sports, entrepreneurship, and helping busy people stay consistent. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Chris Ryan about athletics, business, family, and the path that took him from Division 1 track to entrepreneurship in finance, restoration, and fitness. Chris shares how injuries changed his direction early, how he built and sold a business i...

How Casey Mahoney turned a racing background, IT skills, and a niche idea into a business people can actually experience. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Casey Mahoney about Victory Sim Experience, the racing sim center he built in Hickory, NC. Casey shares how he got into racing early, worked around NASCAR, and later found a way to combine that background with technology a...

What growing up around big family meals taught Tom Cook about food, hospitality, and building something local. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Tom from Tutti’s Italian Market and Deli in Concord, NC about family, food, teaching, and the path that led him into the restaurant business. Tom shares how growing up in a New York Italian family shaped the way he thinks about meals...

What a Green Beret turned Blackhawk pilot turned financial planner learned about risk, family, and starting over. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Nick O’Kelly about military life, aviation, family, and the road that led him into financial planning. Nick shares how he went from struggling in college to becoming a Green Beret, then a Blackhawk pilot, before eventually startin...

What 19 years on pit road taught Chip Goode about pressure, family, and building a second career. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Chip Goode about sports, NASCAR, family, and how he made the jump from pit road into insurance. It starts with football and the NFL Draft, but the bigger story is about work, timing, and knowing when it is time to build something new. Chip shares...

What strong leaders do, why follow-up still wins, and how insurance is changing fast without losing the human part. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long talks with Slade Lewis about how he got into insurance, the turns his career took along the way, and how he ended up in a leadership role at Pinnacle. They also get into sales, management, technology, and what has changed in the business o...

Welcome to First & Long — a father-son football conversation between Mitch and Adam Long. Steelers fans, NFL obsessives, and yes, they've already argued about this. In this episode, Mitch and Adam talk about the NFL Draft, the Steelers, the Bills, and a couple of Pittsburgh trip stories that did not exactly go to plan. They also get into quarterbacks, roster building, fan frustration, and why...

What 50 years in insurance teaches about relationships, change, and why the basics still matter. In this episode of The Long Game, Mitch Long sits down with Wes Connor to talk about how he got into insurance, what kept him in it, and what 50 years in the business has taught him. They get into family business, remote selling, hiring challenges, commercial and personal lines, and why life insurance...

Why stories beat pitches, why showing up still matters, and what this series is about. Eric Kasimov sits down with Mitch Long to kick off The Long Game. Mitch has been in the insurance business for over 30 years. He started with a pager and a roll of quarters. He built his book by showing up every Tuesday until people just started handing him the business. Now he's here to have conversations with...