Small Business Stories

Loralyn Mears, PhD
  • 4.8 (20)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Daily

Welcome to Small Business Stories, the podcast where we celebrate the real-life journeys of small business owners. We dig into inspiring tales of triumphs, challenges, and the tough lessons we learned along the way. Each episode is packed with relatable anecdotes and practical tips that you can use to fuel your own entrepreneurial dreams. Whether you're just starting out or looking to grow your business, you'll find motivation and insight in every story. Tune in and get ready to be inspired by the heart and hustle of small business owners just like you! We say it like it is - no filters. Being an SMB owner isn't easy, but we're compelled to do it.

  1. 2d ago

    Why AI Is Making Your Marketing Easier But Not Better with Gee Ranasinha

    S6:E71 AI has raised the floor. But has it raised the ceiling? Gee Ranasinha doesn't think so. AI has democratized content production, giving small businesses access to capabilities once reserved for larger organizations. But Gee argues that we're simultaneously creating what he calls a greater "preponderance of mediocrity" meaning more acceptable content, more quickly, from more companies, increasingly saying similar things. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories for a thoughtful (and occasionally provocative) conversation about what marketing actually is, why businesses confuse marketing with promotion, and why understanding human behavior matters more than simply mastering the latest tools. Gee brings behavioral science into the discussion because people don't make buying decisions through purely rational analysis. Context, emotion, unconscious biases and mental shortcuts all affect how messages are interpreted. And that's where Dr. LL sees an important connection to misinterpretation risk. Businesses communicate what they intend to say. Customers respond to what they actually understand. Those aren't necessarily the same thing. 👤 Guest Gee Ranasinha Founder & CEO, KEXINO Global marketing strategist working primarily with B2B small and midsized businesses and startups ⚠️ Core Problems Mistaking promotional activity for marketing strategy Optimizing output rather than outcomes Using AI to manufacture more undifferentiated content Assuming business owners understand buyers because they once were buyers Allowing disconnected customer touchpoints to communicate inconsistent signals 🥡 Practical Takeaways Effectiveness asks whether something worked. Efficiency asks how cheaply or quickly you produced it. You are not your target market. Talk to your best customers; they can reveal why people actually choose you. Technology changes marketing tactics. Human psychological and emotional drivers change far more slowly. Creativity and distinctiveness become more valuable as inexpensive content proliferates. Customers experience one organization, regardless of which department created each interaction. Trust makes virtually everything that follows easier. ⏱️ Timestamps 04:40 AI, content democratization and the rise of mediocrity 07:24 Why buyers don't make decisions the way they think they do 13:28 Your pricing, delivery van and phone manner are all marketing 17:38 Efficiency versus effectiveness 22:11 The simplest customer research strategy 28:40 Gee's provocative argument against "authenticity" 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Entrepreneurs, founders, B2B leaders and marketers who suspect that doing more marketing isn't necessarily creating more business. At STEERus, the adjacent problem is misinterpretation risk. Gee approaches the issue through marketing effectiveness and behavioral science; we examine what happens when the total digital signal a business produces fails to create an accurate understanding of what that business is, why it matters and when it should be recommended. Invisibility is the outcome. Understanding is the issue. Subscribe and share Small Business Stories for grounded conversations with entrepreneurs and experts willing to challenge conventional business thinking. ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast #digitalmarketing

    Why AI Is Making Your Marketing Easier But Not Better with Gee Ranasinha

  2. 2d ago ·  Bonus

    You Might Also Like: The Oprah Podcast

    Introducing The Correspondent: The Story Behind the Unexpected Bestseller Everyone is Reading from The Oprah Podcast. Follow the show: The Oprah Podcast BUY THE BOOK! The Correspondent by Virginia Evans https://amzn.to/4xasavH Oprah sits down with Virginia Evans, author of the story readers can’t stop talking about: The Correspondent. Selling over two million copies and translated into over 35 languages it’s the book that has captured readers. Although it's her first published novel, it's the eighth book Virginia's written and one she never intended anyone else to read. When The Correspondent debuted it sold fewer than 8,000 copies. However, readers who discovered it fell in love and began recommending the novel to others, turning this book into a word-of-mouth phenomenon and a New York Times bestseller. Virginia shares the remarkable story behind the book she never expected to publish. Listeners will discover why Sybil Van Antwerp—a complex, prolific letter writer in her seventies—has resonated so deeply with readers of all ages. Oprah also speaks with readers around the country who have questions for Virginia. 00:00:00 - Welcome Virginia Evans, author of ‘The Correspondent’  00:04:00 - Her 20 year journey to getting published 00:07:10 - Questioning if she would ever publish  00:08:46 - How she wrote the book  00:12:00 - How the main character came to Virginia  00:14:55 - Oprah's favorite passage  00:16:16 - What letter writing allows us to say  00:19:50 - What we learn from other letters 00:25:30 - Does a letter need a reply?  00:30:00 - Loneliness  00:34:20 - Writing what you’re afraid of 00:39:40 - What she wants listeners to do  Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast:  https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

    You Might Also Like: The Oprah Podcast

  3. 5d ago

    How to Stop Trying to Be Everything to Everyone with Christine Blosdale

    S6:E70 Stop Trying to Be Everything to Everyone with Christine Blosdale You can be extraordinarily talented and still make yourself almost impossible to hire. Christine Blosdale sees it constantly: entrepreneurs with multiple skills, multiple offers, multiple audiences and multiple platforms trying desperately not to leave any opportunity on the table. The result? People don't know what to hire them for. So she helps them define their personal brand. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories as Dr. LL talks with Christine Blosdale, The Expert Authority Coach™, about simplifying your message, establishing authority, choosing the right visibility channels, using podcasting strategically—and remaining unmistakably human in a marketplace increasingly filled with AI-generated communication to build your personal brand. Christine spent 20 years in broadcast journalism before becoming an early adopter of podcasting more than a decade ago. That experience gives her a particularly useful perspective on something many entrepreneurs misunderstand: you need to become known for something. If people don't understand what you do, they can't confidently choose you - which is exactly what STEERus studies and helps our clients with. And today that same clarity matters to AI systems. When your website, content, offers and appearances continually describe you differently, machines receive the same conflicting evidence humans do. 👤 Guest Christine Blosdale The Expert Authority Coach™ Broadcaster, podcaster, bestselling author and coach helping overwhelmed women in business get seen, trusted and paid for what they already know. She builds your personal brand. ⚠️ Core Problems Multi-talented entrepreneurs communicating everything they can do Visibility activity without a clear positioning foundation Generic AI-generated communication weakening trust Podcast guests treating interviews like sales pitches Creating content once and failing to harvest its long-term authority value   🧠 The Bigger Pattern Dr. LL Sees Christine approaches this from the perspective of expert authority: simplify what you offer so people know why they should choose you. Dr. LL sees a related but different problem across businesses: when companies communicate too many competing signals, customers—and increasingly AI systems—can misinterpret what the business actually represents. The issue isn't simply being seen. It's being understood correctly once you're seen.   🥡 Practical Takeaways One clear message doesn't diminish your capabilities. It gives people somewhere to enter. Don't choose every marketing channel; choose the ones suited to your strengths. Make booking, understanding and paying you easy. Repurpose your accumulated expertise instead of continually starting from zero. Don't pretend you've listened, researched or personalized something when AI did it for you. Being unmistakably yourself is increasingly a competitive advantage. ⏱️ Timestamps 03:07 Podcast host or podcast guest? 09:13 The AI-generated pitch Christine immediately deletes 13:29 Why podcast guests should actually promote their appearances 17:21 The overwhelmed entrepreneur problem 20:08 Too many choices = no choice 24:23 Building a message you can say in your sleep 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Experts, coaches, consultants, authors, speakers, multi-passionate entrepreneurs and anyone whose business has become harder to explain as their expertise has grown. At STEERus, we see this repeatedly as misinterpretation risk: the entrepreneur keeps adding evidence of capability while unintentionally reducing clarity about what the business should be known for. Invisibility becomes the outcome not because there isn't enough information but because there are too many competing signals to form a clear understanding. Subscribe and share Small Business Stories for grounded conversations about building businesses people can understand, trust and choose. ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast

    How to Stop Trying to Be Everything to Everyone with Christine Blosdale

  4. 6d ago

    Why Good Products Fail After Launch with Lon Riley

    S6:E69 When a Better Product Isn't Enough with Lon Riley This is stronger for streaming than a generic "Lessons from a Product Launch." It captures the central contradiction of his experience and makes Lon's hard-earned lesson the authority proposition. "Everybody loves your idea until it's time to separate them from their cash." That line from Lon Riley could probably hang above the desk of every product developer. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories for an unusually candid look at what happens after the launch plan meets reality. Lon Riley and his team launched Catalyst Printers in January 2025 into a market dominated by established competitors. They had industry expertise, customer research and what they believed was a compelling proposition: address customers' frustrations with existing technology and deliver better performance at a competitive price. Then they learned something important. Customers weren't evaluating the decision the same way they were. If buyers don't trust your company, proving that your product has better features doesn't necessarily resolve the concern. And if the signals you're emphasizing don't correspond to the criteria buyers are actually using to make decisions, genuine value can become misinterpreted. 👤 Guest Lon Riley Founder, DPI Laboratory & Catalyst Printers Engineer, manufacturer and product-development entrepreneur ⚠️ Core Problems Underestimating incumbent brand power Confusing expressed customer interest with purchasing behavior Selling features when buyers are evaluating switching risk Maintaining focus while adapting a young company Carrying the emotional responsibility of decisions that affect employees 🥡 Practical Takeaways "Better" only matters if buyers understand why it matters to them. Ask existing customers what would make them switch—not simply what features they want. Brand power is ultimately a form of trust. Repeated market feedback deserves examination, not defensiveness. Don't wait for perfect; launch when you're ready to deliver and continue learning. Making a mistake isn't the real failure. Repeating it after you've recognized it is. ⏱️ Timestamps 01:46 What actually happened after launch 06:16 Action, uncertainty and iteration #31 10:31 Underestimating brand power 15:26 Research versus actual buying behavior 22:48 The pricing decision Lon still thinks about 26:03 When founders misread market signals 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Product founders, manufacturers, technology entrepreneurs, engineers moving into business leadership, and anyone whose market response hasn't matched what the research predicted. At STEERus, this is precisely where misinterpretation risk becomes consequential. A business can possess real value while emphasizing signals that aren't aligned with how buyers—or increasingly AI systems—categorize, evaluate and understand that value. Invisibility is the outcome; understanding is the problem. Subscribe and share Small Business Stories for candid conversations about what entrepreneurship actually looks like after the plan meets reality.   ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast #launch #marketing #sales

    Why Good Products Fail After Launch with Lon Riley

  5. Aug 13

    How to Build Confidence When You're Afraid to Put Yourself Out There with Patty Aubery

    S6:E68 Sometimes you meet someone whose work you've known for years and then discover that the story behind the success is even better than you expected. This was one of those conversations. Dr. LL openly admits to a little fangirling (okay - a lot - I cannot even tell you what an honor and privilege it was to have her on my show!) as she welcomes Patty Aubery, longtime business partner of Jack Canfield and former President of Chicken Soup for the Soul. But what follows isn't a highlight reel. Patty talks about confidence, fear, collaboration, success, publishing, speaking, the extraordinary growth of Chicken Soup for the Soul and the surprising truth that while she was helping build an international phenomenon, she was also a self-described "professional hider." She turned down enormous speaking opportunities. She stayed behind the scenes doing what she already knew she was good at. Until her mother, while in hospice, told her: "Promise me that you won't be invisible. I didn't raise a daughter to be invisible." Three months later, Patty gave her first workshop. If people don't know what you know, what you've accomplished, or what you can contribute, they cannot recognize your value. And today, the same problem extends to AI systems: authority that isn't expressed clearly and consistently becomes authority that can be misunderstood or never recognized at all. 👤 Guest Patty Aubery Former President of Chicken Soup for the Soul Longtime business partner of Jack Canfield Author, speaker, transformational coach & founder of Permission Granted ⚠️ Core Problems Waiting to feel confident before stepping forward Remaining behind someone else's success despite your own contribution Confusing visibility opportunities with meaningful positioning Paying for exposure without knowing whether the audience is right Treating collaboration as competition 🥡 Practical Takeaways Confidence follows action. Take the risk, survive it, repeat. Anything new feels awkward until it doesn't. Learn your craft before trying to amplify it. Connect the dots among your book, speaking, message and audience. There is enough room for other people to succeed beside you. Don't wait for someone else to give you permission to be seen. ⏱️ Timestamps 01:33 Consistency, adaptability and what successful people actually do 06:15 "Confidence is surviving risks" 12:44 What Patty learned about success from the inside 17:13 How speaking helped build Chicken Soup for the Soul 30:23 The promise to her mother that changed Patty's life 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Entrepreneurs, women leaders, authors, speakers, coaches, experts, and anyone who has ever quietly wondered whether they're really ready to step forward. At STEERus, we study what happens when genuine value becomes misinterpreted or invisible. Patty's story is a beautiful human example of something I've now seen repeatedly: sometimes the market isn't overlooking our expertise. We haven't given it enough evidence to see us yet. Subscribe and share Small Business Stories for more honest conversations with people who've lived the lessons they teach. ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #leadership #personaldevelopment #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast #chickensoupforthesoul

    How to Build Confidence When You're Afraid to Put Yourself Out There with Patty Aubery

  6. Aug 11

    How Bad Credit Can Limit Your Business Funding Options with Daniel McDavid

    S6:E67 The worst time to discover you have a credit problem may be when your business desperately needs money. An unexpected expense hits. Cash flow tightens. Payroll is coming. Suddenly, the entrepreneur isn't shopping for the best financing; he or she is searching for any financing. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories as Dr. LL talks with Daniel McDavid, founder of Move Mountains Credit Repair, about credit, business funding, unexpected expenses, financial habits, and what happens when entrepreneurs wait too long to prepare. Daniel introduces the idea of "phantom expenses" which are the unplanned costs that can suddenly destabilize an otherwise functioning business. They also explore different funding structures, the disproportionate impact negative credit events can have, and why repairing someone's credit without changing their financial behavior isn't a lasting solution. If people don't trust a credit-repair company, promises of quick fixes can actually deepen skepticism. Daniel's approach is refreshingly simple: tell people the truth, including what they don't want to hear. 👤 Guest Daniel McDavid Founder, Move Mountains Credit Repair Credit repair, financial education, and business funding preparation ⚠️ Core Problems Businesses failing to prepare for unexpected expenses Seeking financing after financial distress has already begun Confusing a credit score with the entire credit profile Expecting a repair service to substitute for behavioral change 🥡 Practical Takeaways Financial readiness should begin before a crisis. Credit history can influence which financing options become available. Understand the repayment structure—not merely the amount you're offered. Repair and rebuilding are different parts of the process. Credibility is strengthened by realistic expectations rather than extraordinary promises. ⏱️ Timestamps 01:27 What are "phantom expenses"? 03:12 Three approaches to business funding 11:48 Why good people can end up with bad credit 19:13 Repairing credit versus changing behavior 23:10 The trust problem in credit repair 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Entrepreneurs, founders, self-employed professionals, and small business owners who want to understand the relationship between personal credit, business financing, and financial preparedness. At STEERus, we see a parallel across many parts of business: problems that remain invisible during good times suddenly become defining signals during stressful ones. Financial preparedness is another reminder that what the market eventually sees often begins with decisions made long before anyone was looking. Subscribe and share Small Business Stories for grounded conversations about the realities behind entrepreneurship. ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast #financing

    How Bad Credit Can Limit Your Business Funding Options with Daniel McDavid

  7. Aug 8

    How to Scale Your Business Without Growing Too Fast with Bryan Clayton

    S6:E66 The Real Story About Scaling & Selling a Business with Bryan Clayton Bryan has actually done the thing entrepreneurs dream about: built a traditional business to $10M, sold it, then built again in an entirely different arena.  Nobody wants to buy your basket of problems. That's Bryan Clayton's wonderfully direct description of one of entrepreneurship's great misconceptions: owners often start thinking about selling when they're exhausted, margins are squeezed, employees are unhappy, and they desperately want out. By then, the business may be least attractive to a buyer. Queue up this episode of Small Business Stories for a refreshingly unglamorous conversation about what building, selling, failing, learning, and scaling actually look like. Dr. LL talks with Bryan Clayton, co-founder and CEO of GreenPal. Bryan started mowing lawns in high school, eventually grew his landscaping company to roughly $10 million in annual revenue, sold it to a national company, and then made the improbable leap from blue-collar operator to tech founder. If people don't trust the experience you're delivering, adding more customers doesn't solve the problem. And in an AI-driven marketplace, inconsistent experiences create inconsistent signals. Scaling those signals can increase misinterpretation rather than visibility. ⚠️ Core Problems Waiting until burnout to prepare a company for sale Mistaking fast growth for healthy growth Believing entrepreneurship produces overnight—or passive—success 🥡 Practical Takeaways Build with the end in mind, even if selling isn't currently the plan. Fix the customer experience before pouring fuel onto growth. Your operating experience can become an enormous competitive advantage. Don't confuse investor expectations with customer needs. Failure only becomes valuable when it changes what you do next. ⏱️ Timestamps 01:30 Lawn care operator → technology founder 05:38 The reality of selling a $10M business 15:21 Building trust through data and AI 20:55 What entrepreneurs should actually learn from failure 25:48 Why GreenPal chose customers over investors 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Founders building toward scale, entrepreneurs considering an eventual exit, blue-collar business owners, bootstrapped startups, and anyone tired of entrepreneurship being presented as an overnight-success story. At STEERus, we see the same principle from another direction: scale magnifies the signal already there. If the market misunderstands your value at 100 customers, reaching 10,000 customers doesn't necessarily correct the misinterpretation—it can amplify it. Subscribe and share Small Business Stories for more grounded conversations about what entrepreneurship actually looks like. ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast #businessgrowth

    How to Scale Your Business Without Growing Too Fast with Bryan Clayton

  8. Aug 5

    Why Entrepreneurs Struggle to Get Approved for a Mortgage with David Ostrowsky

    S6:E65 Buying a home as an entrepreneur often feels like playing by a different set of rules. In this episode, Dr. LL speaks with mortgage specialist David Ostrowsky about what self-employed professionals need to understand in today's housing market. Together they discuss lending, affordability, market psychology, interest rates, and why perception frequently outweighs reality. If people make financial decisions based solely on headlines, they often overlook opportunities that still make mathematical sense. The challenge isn't simply access to financing; it's separating market noise from personal reality. 👤 Guest David Ostrowsky Loan Originator, CrossCountry Mortgage Helping entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals navigate mortgage financing with confidence. ⚠️ Core Problems Mortgage approval for entrepreneurs Housing decisions driven by fear Misunderstanding current market conditions 🥡 Practical Takeaways Understand how lenders evaluate entrepreneurial income. Separate media narratives from your individual financial situation. Let data guide major financial decisions. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Self-employed lending 02:20 Market realities 04:00 Ignoring the headlines 15:10 Mortgage strategies 31:40 Advice for business owners 🔖 Who This Episode Is For Entrepreneurs, founders, freelancers, real estate professionals, and self-employed buyers. At STEERus, we continue to see that the quality of a decision depends on the quality of the information behind it. When fear replaces clarity, businesses—and people—often misinterpret opportunities that are still very much within reach. Subscribe and share if conversations like these help you make better business decisions.   ✅ Subscribe for weekly conversations on entrepreneurship 🔁 Share this episode with someone who needs to be heard Follow STEERus on social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrLLSmallBusiness Instagram: https://instagram.com/steerus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steerus Twitter: https://x.com/steerus_io   #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #podcast #loan #mortgage

    Why Entrepreneurs Struggle to Get Approved for a Mortgage with David Ostrowsky
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4.8
out of 5
20 Ratings

About

Welcome to Small Business Stories, the podcast where we celebrate the real-life journeys of small business owners. We dig into inspiring tales of triumphs, challenges, and the tough lessons we learned along the way. Each episode is packed with relatable anecdotes and practical tips that you can use to fuel your own entrepreneurial dreams. Whether you're just starting out or looking to grow your business, you'll find motivation and insight in every story. Tune in and get ready to be inspired by the heart and hustle of small business owners just like you! We say it like it is - no filters. Being an SMB owner isn't easy, but we're compelled to do it.

Information

  • Creator
    Loralyn Mears, PhD
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    200
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © (C) STEERus 2026
  • Show Website
    Small Business Stories