Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM
  • 5.0 (34)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Are you ready to take your personal brand and business development to the next level? Then you won't want to miss the exciting new podcast dedicated to helping you tell your story in the most compelling way possible. Join me as I guide you through the process of building a magnetic personal brand, creating valuable relationships, and mastering the art of networking. With my expert tips and practical strategies, you'll be well on your way to 5-star success in both your professional and personal life. Don't wait - start building your 5-STAR BRAND TODAY!

  1. 21h ago

    Jerome Hutchinson on Turning Black Excellence Into Economic Opportunity

    Send us Fan Mail Excellence can win applause and still lose the opportunity. That’s the tension we dig into with Jerome “Hutch” Hutchinson, founder and CEO of ICABA World Network and the visionary behind Black Professionals Month. We’re unpacking a simple but uncomfortable reality for high-achieving professionals and entrepreneurs: your work has to be understood, trusted, and connected to the right people before it turns into access, deals, leadership roles, and long-term wealth. We talk through the strategy behind Black Professionals Month and why it exists as more than recognition. Hutch shares the three forces that shaped the platform: the need for deeper collaboration among Black professionals, the reality of a truly global marketplace powered by technology, and the requirement to build at scale. From there, we get concrete about what “relationship capital” looks like in real life, how personal branding supports business development, and why the best networks create value year-round, not just at a single event. You’ll also hear how BPM Honors spotlights Global Black Luminaries in a way that compounds impact, including a Global Black Excellence Journal designed to preserve stories, insights, and practical lessons. We break down what meaningful corporate partnership should be, how leadership and wealth creation show up across the 31-day programming, and what it will take to build a bigger economic engine for the next generation. If you care about networking that actually leads to opportunity, Black excellence, leadership development, and wealth-building strategy, hit play, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    Jerome Hutchinson on Turning Black Excellence Into Economic Opportunity

  2. Sep 19

    The 12-Touch Advantage: How to Stay Top of Mind Without Being Annoying with John J. McLaughlin

    Send us Fan Mail Your best prospects are not saying “no.” Most of the time, they’re saying “not yet,” and the gap between now and their buying window is where deals quietly die. I sit down with John McLaughlin, CEO of 12touches.com, to talk about a simple way to stay top of mind without becoming a nuisance: send consistent, curated industry value that makes you useful even when nobody is ready to buy.  John shares how he built a newsletter engine that curates hundreds of enterprise IT articles each week, organizes them into clean topic buckets, and uses real audience click behavior to surface the most relevant stories. We get specific about why “built-in substantiation” matters for B2B sales and thought leadership, how separating vendor content from vendor-neutral coverage protects trust, and why a newsletter that stops after two issues can hurt you more than help you.  We also break down LinkedIn newsletters as a free distribution channel that behaves like email, stays opt-in, and becomes searchable on LinkedIn and Google. Then we zoom out into what the tech community is worried about right now: phishing and stolen credentials, AI agents probing systems, quantum computing implications for encryption, plus the very real infrastructure strain behind AI such as high-performance storage, GPUs, rack density, power, cooling, and water use in data centers.  If you want a practical personal branding and social selling play that compounds over time, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a sales pro who’s tired of “just checking in,” and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    The 12-Touch Advantage: How to Stay Top of Mind Without Being Annoying with John J. McLaughlin

  3. Sep 13

    It Was Never the Team. It Was the TV Money with Will Williams

    Send us Fan Mail If “being yourself” sounds like bad business advice, Will Williams has the receipts. We talk about what it really takes to build wealth while staying authentic and why authenticity can be a competitive advantage instead of a liability. Will shares how he learned resilience early by selling door to door, treating every “no” as data, not a verdict, and building the kind of confidence that lasts longer than any pep talk. We also get into the deeper side of personal branding and authentic leadership. Will breaks down how language and word choice can hit the subconscious, why people hide behind job titles, and what changed for him after a major spiritual awakening. One of the sharpest threads is identity: when someone asks “who are you,” can you answer without reaching for status, a role, or a résumé? Then the business stories get wild. Will explains how he acquired a sports team for free, flipped it with sponsorships, and discovered that TV access is often the real revenue engine behind sports ownership. He walks through how advertising, tape delay, and sponsor strategy can turn “losing” teams into profitable media properties, plus how that experience naturally expanded into consulting. We close with a lottery wire transfer story, his LinkedIn strategy for reaching the power base, and a final reminder that luck shows up more often when preparation is already in place.  Subscribe, share this with someone building in silence, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway: where could authenticity create more leverage for you right now? Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    It Was Never the Team. It Was the TV Money with Will Williams

  4. Sep 6

    Stop Applying. Start Positioning: Turn Your Experience Into Your Next Opportunity | Paul Larch

    Send us Fan Mail Your audience can smell “marketing” from a mile away, and AI is making that scent even stronger. From inbox emails to social feeds, the volume of automated content is training people to distrust anything that feels like it came from a machine. So how do you build brand trust, credibility, and real connection in an AI-shaped world without abandoning the speed and leverage AI can offer? We talk with branding veteran and author Paul Larch about a simple but powerful idea: people decide with the emotional “old brain” first, then the rational “new brain” shows up to justify the decision. That shift changes everything about messaging strategy. We get into why feature-first marketing fails, how cognitive biases and shortcuts shape buying behavior, and why manipulative tactics might grab attention but quietly destroy long-term credibility. From there, we move into practical tools you can use right away, including Paul’s brand value canvas approach that starts with features, then digs into pain points and deeper desires. We also explore storytelling, character-driven campaigns, and brand archetypes (think caregiver, rebel, creator, hero) as a way to stay consistent and authentic. Finally, we connect it back to HAI, human plus AI, and how to “teach” your AI your identity so it amplifies your voice instead of replacing it. If you want smarter AI marketing without losing authenticity, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest trust mistake you see brands making today. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    Stop Applying. Start Positioning: Turn Your Experience Into Your Next Opportunity | Paul Larch

  5. Aug 30

    One Class Changed His Future. Now He's Bringing It Home to Omaha

    Send us Fan Mail Your business does not need more hype about artificial intelligence. It needs a way to use AI marketing tools to drive real results without sounding like a robot. Grant McGaugh sits down with Dan of BizHack Academy and lead instructor Anita Larsen to unpack the true origin story behind their small business training movement, from an in-person Facebook ads course to a COVID-era scramble that forced a choice: shut down or serve. That decision sparked free webinars on crisis communications and digital marketing that ultimately helped more than 10,000 entrepreneurs and reshaped what BizHack became. We also dig into the moments that tested leadership and values, including how scholarships for minority-owned and women-owned businesses grew out of a commitment to show up when it mattered. Grant shares his own pivot from corporate healthcare IT into entrepreneurship, and why building a personal brand and repeatable marketing skills changed everything. Dan explains what it was really like to testify before a House subcommittee on small business about why AI literacy and training deserve public investment to protect Main Street and keep local economies from turning into nothing but franchises. Then we bring it to what’s happening now: Breakthrough 402 launching in Omaha, Nebraska. Anita lays out an action-oriented, eight-week program where business owners build and run a real campaign, learn foundational marketing principles, and apply AI ethically through automation, emerging search concepts, and tools that get work done faster while keeping the human voice in charge. If you want practical AI training for small business, smarter storytelling, and a community that pushes for outcomes, hit play, then subscribe, share this with an owner who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest AI marketing question. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    One Class Changed His Future. Now He's Bringing It Home to Omaha

  6. Aug 22

    Who Owns the Decision? The Hidden Risk of Agentic AI with Allen Westley

    Send us Fan Mail The moment AI stops being a chatbot and starts taking actions, the real question changes from “Is it smart?” to “Who owns the decision?” That’s where this conversation with Allen Wesley goes fast and deep. Allen is a cybersecurity executive and educator working at the intersection of AI, national security, cognitive security, and human judgment. Together, we break down why agentic AI makes accountability harder, not easier, especially when automation moves faster than organizations can assign authority. We talk through the real-world mechanics of cognitive overload and cognitive offloading at work, including how AI can accidentally create more noise by producing polished, lengthy outputs that bury the actual ask. Allen shares a simple but powerful framework for getting better results: give the system a role, clear instructions, and a knowledge base that adds context so the output fits the human-to-human decision you’re actually trying to make. From there, we get into the security realities of agents that are goal-driven and “creative” in ways you didn’t plan for. We unpack permission drift, social engineering risks where an agent convinces a user to do what it cannot, and why “human intent is not a control boundary.” Allen explains what governance has to exist outside the model: policy as code, agentic role mapping, monitoring at machine speed, and tiered risk so critical functions never become a rubber-stamped approval chain. If you care about AI governance, cybersecurity, CMMC pressures on small businesses, and keeping humans meaningfully accountable, this one is for you. For more information about Allen Westley follow him at  Cyber Explorer URL: https://www.cybersec1118.com. Subscribe for more conversations on leadership and technology, share this with a friend building with AI, and leave a review with your biggest question about decision authority in the age of agents. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    Who Owns the Decision? The Hidden Risk of Agentic AI with Allen Westley

  7. Aug 16

    AI Is About to Expose How Your Company Really Works with David Dean

    Send us Fan Mail AI isn’t just a faster tool, and it isn’t only a threat to job security. The real shockwave is what AI can reveal about how work actually gets done, especially the unwritten rules, side conversations, and invisible decisions that never make it into process docs. We talk with technologist, author, and speaker David Dean about the future of work in an AI-driven world through a practical lens he calls business AI realism. David explains why AI acts like a mirror inside organizations, creating organizational self-awareness by connecting to everyday systems like email, chat, meeting transcripts, and document collaboration. He calls the inbox a behavioral record, a place where the written contract of official policy collides with the unwritten contract that actually moves work forward. Once you can see that hidden layer, you can finally understand why approvals drag, where bottlenecks really live, and what behaviors are quietly shaping outcomes. That kind of visibility can also create tension. We unpack why leaders may feel uncomfortable when patterns become measurable, how “insight vs surveillance” becomes a real governance question, and why AI strategy is as much about behavior and intent as it is about technology. We also get personal about what makes humans valuable, from lived experience to lived consequence, and how the best AI story is using these tools to give people breathing room to think, decide, and lead. If you’re navigating AI at work as a leader or an individual contributor, this conversation will help you ask better questions and make smarter choices. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with your take: is AI making work more honest, or just more exposed? Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    AI Is About to Expose How Your Company Really Works with David Dean

  8. Aug 11

    Start With the Problem, Not the Tool with Navin Mirania

    Send us Fan Mail AI automation is everywhere right now, but most of what people see online is the easy part: a slick demo, a chatbot, a promise that one person can suddenly do the work of five. We get real about what happens after the hype, when you try to put agentic AI into production and it has to run every day on real data, real customers, and real consequences. Grant McGaugh sits down with Navin, a longtime IT and workflow automation builder who helps small business owners design reliable AI agents, configure tools, and connect messy systems into clean business process automation. We unpack why the biggest challenge is not “which AI tool should I buy” but “what problem am I solving.” From financial reporting workflows to e-commerce operations, we show how to map the steps, define the inputs and outputs, and build an AI roadmap that actually improves speed, communication, scale, memory, and pattern recognition inside your company. We also dig into AI governance and validation, because probabilistic AI outputs still need domain expertise, especially when accuracy matters. Then we shift into what is changing in marketing and discovery: SEO is no longer the only game in town. With Artificial Engine Optimization (AEO), people ask AI for answers, and businesses need to understand how they show up and how to audit what these systems return. If you want AI to save time without creating new chaos, this is the playbook to start with. Subscribe, share this with a founder who is overwhelmed by AI tools, and leave a review with the workflow you want to automate next. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com . And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/ See you next time on Follow The Brand!

    Start With the Problem, Not the Tool with Navin Mirania
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About

Are you ready to take your personal brand and business development to the next level? Then you won't want to miss the exciting new podcast dedicated to helping you tell your story in the most compelling way possible. Join me as I guide you through the process of building a magnetic personal brand, creating valuable relationships, and mastering the art of networking. With my expert tips and practical strategies, you'll be well on your way to 5-star success in both your professional and personal life. Don't wait - start building your 5-STAR BRAND TODAY!

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