The Inspired Stories Podcast

Anthony Codispoti
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Anthony Codispoti has started, built, and sold a variety of successful businesses, including a 7-figure wholesale business (successful exit), a 7-figure consumer business (exited to private equity), a SaaS business (successful exit), and fiscally advantaged benefits. As an innovator and pioneer, he has been awarded patents, earned best seller badges, and gained scores of battle scars. In this show, we gain inspiration from the successes achieved and challenges overcome by today's business leaders.

  1. 5h ago

    Skip Harless Spent His First Year at Grand Geneva Wondering Why He Ever Said Yes

    Skip Harless, Managing Director of Grand Geneva Resort and Spa, graduated with a fine arts degree from Texas Tech, took a personality test, and walked into every hotel in Dallas until one of them hired him. Thirty-five years later, he runs a 1,300-acre resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin that started as a Playboy club, earned the number one spot in the 2025 Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards, and has posted three back-to-back record years — after a first year that nearly broke him. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: How a fine arts degree and a personality test called What Color Is Your Parachute launched a 35-year hotel career Lesson one at a 1,600-room Hyatt during the air traffic controllers strike: lean into your team, not away from them The GM who taught Skip the art of details — and what a daily 5 PM transformation at a Colorado ski resort looked like Walking into Grand Geneva in 2022 to a property slammed with post-COVID demand and nowhere near enough staff Building a 170-bed associate housing facility from scratch as a recruiting tool for international interns Why the middle manager is the most overlooked level in hospitality — and the 30-minute lunch training sessions that changed everything The executive team fight that almost derailed the strategic planning session and became the turning point for three record years Managing 16 direct reports and 1,200 peak-season employees across 1,300 acres — and the scheduling system that keeps him connected The glamping ridge overlooking the entire property that could open as soon as next summer Why luxury guest expectations post-COVID are higher, not lower, despite everything that happened to service quality 🌟 Skip’s Key Mentors: His First Hyatt GM (Dallas Fort Worth Airport): Put him in a management development program with no experience and gave him the foundation he still builds on The Detail-Obsessed Hyatt GM He Worked With Twice: Opened a luxury ski resort from the ground up with Skip and taught him how to curate every sensory detail of a guest experience His Wife: The long-distance sounding board who held him together by phone from another state through the hardest year of his career The Jade Point Consultant: Guided a 16-person executive team through a two-and-a-half-day strategic planning session that turned a big fight into alignment and launched three record years 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what it looks like to question every decision you’ve ever made and then find your footing anyway, why the fight that almost fractured an executive team became its greatest strength, and how a fine arts student from Texas Tech became one of the most decorated resort managers in the country. 🔗 Connect with Skip Harless: Website: grandgeneva.com 📤 Transcript Available: Skip Harless Spent His First Year at Grand Geneva Wondering Why He Ever Said Yes 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

  2. 2d ago

    Johnny Berguson Trained a Trick Horse, Borrowed $500, and Built a Company That Serves 250,000 Churches

    Johnny Berguson, founder and president of Kingdom Inc., started with a $500 borrowed investment, a trick horse he trained without a bridle, and a cassette tape course rooted in biblical principles. What followed was one of the most unusual origin stories in business — an accidental ad placement that generated 5,000 orders overnight, a faith-driven pivot into church audiovisual supply, and 40-plus years of growth that landed Kingdom on the Inc. 500 list twice and served a quarter million ministries worldwide. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: Training an Arabian horse without a bridle at age 13 and performing at rodeos and the 700 Club Proverbs verse that gave Johnny permission to start the horse training cassette course Free book strategy that converted curiosity into sales from day one Backwards ad placement that accidentally launched the blank cassette tape business overnight COD fulfillment model and the bank loan that made 5,000 orders possible Transition from horse training tapes to church AV supplier and proprietary product lines Customer service as the core competitive advantage: 320-mile delivery to fix a $20 mistake Twenty years of debilitating panic attacks and the neurological diagnosis that finally resolved them Faith as the daily operating framework for every business decision Patent-pending product in development aimed at spreading the gospel nationwide 🌟 Johnny’s Key Mentors: Juanita Berguson (Wife and Business Manager): Co-founder in everything but title; manages operations and helped build Kingdom across every era of the business College Professor: Planted the seed that Johnny might one day use his horse to spread the gospel Episcopal Priest and Psychologist: The only professional who recognized Johnny’s panic attacks had a physical root and referred him to the right doctor Bible and Prayer: Johnny’s stated framework for every major decision in business and life 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what it looks like to build a company entirely around your values, why customer service is a spiritual practice, and how a misprint on a card deck ad accidentally launched one of the largest church AV suppliers in North America. 🔗 Connect with Johnny Berguson: Website: kingdom.com Email: johnny.berguson@kingdom.com 📤 Transcript Available:Johnny Berguson Trained a Trick Horse, Borrowed $500, and Built a Company That Serves 250,000 Churches 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

  3. 2d ago

    The Dough Rests 72 Hours: Daniel Karen Cohen on Why Mr. O1 Pizza Is Built Differently

    Daniel Karen Cohen, CEO of AKA Restaurant Holding LLC, got his start when McDonald’s came to Venezuela in 1985 and recruited from universities because part-time work didn’t exist in the country. He became a general manager before he finished his degree, went to Hamburger University twice, joined Andres Garcia’s group to help build Wendy’s across Venezuela, grew 50 restaurants in 48 months, won a US residency lottery, moved to Miami in 2008, and eventually found an artisanal pizza brand that rests its dough for 72 hours — and has 4.9 stars across 30 locations. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: How McDonald’s introduced part-time work to Venezuela in 1985 and changed who could enter the workforce Being promoted to general manager before finishing his university degree and what Hamburger University taught him that school couldn’t Joining Andres Garcia’s group at 25 to lead a 20-restaurant pizza concept and learning what happens when you push change too fast Choosing Wendy’s over a McDonald’s franchisee offer by doing a two-chair exercise with his mother Growing 50 Wendy’s locations in 48 months and what he’d do differently now Moving to Miami in 2008 after winning the US residency lottery and starting over in a country where he had to relearn how to do business Converting Latin food concepts to Francisca Chicken during COVID and using the analysis to find Mr. O1 Why manager partners outperform managers by three to five degrees — and how the equity structure works The divorce, the Kabbalah study, and the remarriage — and what three years apart taught him about appreciation Two sons now working in the business, one of whom just opened his first Mr. O1 location in Sarasota 🌟 Daniel’s Key Mentors: Lorenzo Bustillos (McDonald’s Venezuela Owner): His first reference for what it means to lead with people — a man who inspired everyone around him to be extraordinary Andres Garcia (Business Partner): The entrepreneur who saw Daniel’s talent at 21, called him back for Wendy’s, and has been his partner across every major chapter since His Mother: Put two chairs back to back and asked him questions from both seats when he couldn’t choose between McDonald’s and Wendy’s — that conversation changed his life His Wife: A Kabbalistic astrologer and teacher who found the spiritual path first and brought Daniel along — and who came back after three years apart 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what culture actually looks like inside a restaurant with 2,500 employees, why slowing down growth is sometimes the fastest way to build something that lasts, and how a man who opened McDonald’s in Venezuela as a university student ended up building a franchise around 72-hour dough and Italian-imported flour. 🔗 Connect with Daniel Karen Cohen: Email: kac@aka03.com Website: mistero1.comSocial Media: @danielkarencohen, @mistero1pizza 📤 Transcript Available: The Dough Rests 72 Hours: Daniel Karen Cohen on Why Mr. O1 Pizza Is Built Differently📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

  4. 3d ago

    Kory Cutler is Doubling Down on Old-school Family Values to Scale Axis Hospitality in a Modern World

    Kory Cutler, CEO of Axis Hospitality Construction, grew up in suburban Chicago after his parents divorced when he was five, cold-DM’d his way into a sales job at Cardinal Health, chased incentive trips across the country, and then walked away from a six-figure income to join a family business he knew nothing about — because his wife’s grandfather had built a post office in Columbus and started a construction company that was now three generations deep and ready for someone to take it national. He showed up with no title, no salary, and no construction experience, and tripled the company in three years. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: How a parents’ divorce at age five shaped a drive for stability that still fuels everything Kory does Cold-DM’ing Kevin Humphrey on LinkedIn in college as message number 104 and getting the one reply that opened the door to Cardinal Health What Randy Brown, Kory’s MBA mentor at Butler, showed him about what the CEO path at a public company actually looks like Walking into Axis with no plan, counting shower heads, and just trying to stay busy while learning the business Why Axis stopped hiring local subcontractors and built a national network of traveling crews instead How renovation work inside a live hotel is completely different from any other construction job and why that matters for who you hire Playing offense during COVID — calling hotel owners not to pitch, but to connect them with vendors who could actually help The chicken-and-egg problem of rapid growth: do you get the people first or the work first? The AI-plus-anti-AI philosophy: for every automation they adopt, they pair it with a handwritten note or a human touchpoint Naming their daughter Polly after Blair’s grandfather Paul, who started all of this from Brooklyn 🌟 Kory’s Key Mentors: His Father: A relative stranger until travel baseball brought them together — then a best friend who talked to Kory about money, love, and career at an age when most kids don’t have those conversations Kevin Humphrey (Cardinal Health Rep, LinkedIn Cold DM): The one person out of 100-plus messages who replied, made a call, and opened the door to Kory’s entire sales career Jack Simmons and Cameron Brady (Cardinal Health Managers): The two bosses who turned Kory into the polished professional he became Randy Brown (CHRO, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; Butler MBA Mentor): The Yoda in a Cleveland Browns jersey who helped Kory realize the corporate path wasn’t for him and asked the questions that got him there himself Joel Kingsley (Father-in-Law, Axis Founder): Gave Kory more autonomy than he deserved early on and shaped every part of how he learned the business 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what happens when you walk into a room knowing nothing and decide that’s an advantage, why giving away value during the worst possible time is the best sales strategy, and how a post office in Columbus built by a guy from Brooklyn turned into a national hospitality construction company three generations later. 🔗 Connect with Kory Cutler: Website: Axishc.net Email: kory@Axishc.net Podcast: Partners in Progress (PIP) Website: Axishc.net Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kory-cutler-a0366534/ 📤 Transcript Available: Kory Cutler Walked Into His First Day at a Family Business With No Title, No Salary, and No Construction Experience 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

  5. 5d ago

    The Grit Behind Wing Snob: Brian Shunia on Detroit, Dropouts, and Building Something Real

    🎧 From High School Dropout to 70+ Franchise Locations: Brian Shunia’s Wing Snob Story Brian Shunia, co-founder and CEO of Wing Snob, built one of QSR’s fastest-growing wing brands starting from a shuttered 880-square-foot pizzeria in Lavonia, Michigan. What began as a single concept with a tiny menu and a $200 factory order has grown to 70+ open locations across multiple states, with hundreds more in the pipeline — driven by simplicity, culture, and relentless operations discipline. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: High school dropout to GED to first job at 14 as a barista Early career spanning restaurants, call centers, sales, and a marketing agency Front Page Deli: from $50 days to $5,000 days through canvassing and factory catering Lessons from scaling the deli too fast without the right systems Real estate pivot that led to meeting future Wing Snob co-founder Jack Maschini Choosing wings for simplicity: fast to prep, fast to execute, infinite flavor options Selling the first location to fund three more and prove the franchise model Snob Central: proprietary app centralizing training, auditing, ordering, and communication Supply chain strategy: staying east of the Mississippi while filling geographic gaps AI deployment: automated review response and AI phone lines across locations 🌟 Brian’s Key Mentors: His Brother: got him into the restaurant industry after high school; taught early ops fundamentals Jack Maschini (Co-Founder): business school background and franchise expertise that complemented Brian’s ops instincts Dallas Powerhouses: senior operators and VPs of thousand-unit chains who shaped Brian’s leadership approach MUFC Network: fellow franchise entrepreneurs met over four-plus years of industry shows His Sister: pushed him to get his first job at 14 and instilled early work ethic 👉 Don’t miss this raw and energetic conversation about grit, franchising from scratch, and why simplicity might be the most underrated strategy in the restaurant business. 🔗 Connect with Brian Shunia: Website: wingsnob.com 📤 Transcript Available: The Grit Behind Wing Snob: Brian Shunia on Detroit, Dropouts, and Building Something Real 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line Website: addbackbenefits.com

  6. 5d ago

    Team Is Everything: Elle Piper on Volleyball, Buffet Lines, and Building Culture at Forty-Three Locations

    Elle Piper, Senior Director of Operations at 7 Leaves Cafe, came up through buffet-style multi-unit operations at Soup Plantation, watched the brand serve 1,600 customers a day and then go dark overnight during the pandemic, spent six months unemployed before landing at a Vietnamese coffee and tea brand she’d never heard of, and spent the next four years building the operational infrastructure that helped take it from a family-run concept to 43 locations across California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: Growing up one of four sisters and how a six-person family system translated directly to a volleyball court and then to multi-unit operations What patience actually means when your four units are outperforming a nine-unit district in volume The anti-role model lesson that started at Panera and shaped how Elle leads today What it felt like to communicate the end of Soup Plantation to a team of people for whom it was the only job they had ever known Joining 7 Leaves six weeks into the pandemic and what the second wave on Christmas Day looked like Why every store manager at 7 Leaves used to think they were on their own — and the bi-weekly structure that changed that What a culture crash is and why it happens before a new location opens its doors How the menu changes depending on the community — and why Brazilian lemonade is on its fourth limited time offer run Using AI to build a coaching tool that teaches store managers how to have crucial conversations the Simon Sinek and Brené Brown way Aphantasia, and why Elle asks interview candidates what happens when she says spaghetti and meatballs 🌟 Elle’s Key Mentors: John Haywood (CEO, Soup Plantation): Showed her what steady-state consistent leadership looks like at the top — not through direct interaction but through observation Simon Sinek (Author and Speaker): The mentor she’ll never meet whose work on collective commitment and purpose shapes how she leads every day Dr. Becky Kennedy (Parenting Expert): The framework that helped Elle break a cycle with her oldest son and teach herself to lead with curiosity instead of reaction Gabór Maté (Physician and Author): The lens through which she learned to give herself permission for the past and to stop blaming the adults who did their best Sunny (7 Leaves CEO): The person who hired her when she was almost out of hope and whose mission of being the change you wish to see became the operating system for everything she does 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what it actually looks like to build culture inside a brand at 40-plus locations, why the store manager is the most important person in the company, and how a volleyball player from Southern California ended up as the operational backbone of one of the most interesting beverage brands growing in the country right now. 🔗 Connect with Elle Piper: Website: 7leavescafe.com LinkedIn: Elle Piper, 7 Leaves Cafe 📤 Transcript Available: Team Is Everything: Elle Piper on Volleyball, Buffet Lines, and Building Culture at Forty-Three Locations 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

  7. 6d ago

    Master these Skills to Maximize the Wealth Creation Event with John Ratliff of align5

    🎙️ From a Two-Bedroom Apartment to a Five-Times Industry Average Exit: John Ratliff’s Blueprint for Building and Selling John Ratliff built Apple Tree Answers, a 24-hour telephone answering service, from a two-bedroom apartment in 1995 to 24 locations and 650 employees before selling it in 2012 at roughly five times the industry average multiple. Along the way he almost quit at 4 a.m. and yanked the plug from the wall. He got turnover from 110% down to 18% through a program that granted employee dreams. And he learned — by being on both sides of the table — exactly how buyers think and where leverage really lives in an acquisition. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: How accidental Class A office space became the foundation of a culture shift The Dream On program: granting 250 employee dreams across 2008–2012 and what it did to turnover The 4 a.m. moment John almost quit — and the wrong number that changed everything Seven of ten entrepreneurs struggle with clinical depression — and what the OODA loop has to do with getting through it The E-Myth visioning exercise that predicted his business six years out almost word for word Why the entrepreneur most emotionally tied to their business gets the worst exit multiple How an off-hand comment from a CFO instantly moved all the leverage in John’s favor Selling a $25M revenue company for $75M by finding two buyers who both had to have it Why industry-specialist investment bankers may actually work against the seller Holganics: 300% growth, Fast Company’s most innovative ag company, and a Super Bowl ad in the works 🌟 John’s Key Mentors: Michael Gerber (E-Myth Author): Set John’s foundational belief that the business is separate from the entrepreneur — and should be built that way from day one Doug (Canadian Competitor at the Bar): Asked one innocent question about turnover that sent John on the journey that transformed his culture His 23-Year-Old Friend: Wrote a $12,000 check when John couldn’t make payroll — the act of generosity that now defines why John works Barrett Ersek (Holganics Founder): A 20-year relationship built on shared conviction that the hardest road is usually worth it Michael Singer (Untethered Soul Author): A book that produced a moment on a commercial flight John still describes as physically lifting a weight off him 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what it actually takes to build a culture nobody else is willing to build, why buyers overshare when they have to have something, and how a wrong number at 4 a.m. might have saved a company. 🔗 Connect with John Ratliff: Website: align5.com 📎 Transcript Available: Master these Skills to Maximize the Wealth Creation Event with John Ratliff of align5 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📎 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

  8. Aug 13

    David Homan on Why Vulnerability Is Not a Weakness and Curiosity Is Not a Tactic

    David Homan, founder and CEO of Orchestrated Connecting, was a classical composer with 225 works performed at Carnegie Hall when he found himself, at 26, running a multi-million dollar global arts nonprofit through a connection made at a Shabbat dinner. Then Bernie Madoff wiped out the endowment, a billionaire called to scream at him for losing money he never touched, and David had to rebuild an entire organization by throwing out everything he knew about fundraising and starting to simply ask people what they needed. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: Growing up in Gainesville with a theater professor father who never connected the dots between his famous students and his son’s career in New York Meeting Vera Stern at a Shabbat dinner in 2003 and running AICF’s Carnegie Hall gala three weeks later What Jewish geography is and why it stopped working the moment the endowment disappeared The chain of introductions that ran from a Catholic friend in Ohio through Canada and Germany to a New York Times article to a $2.5 million gift from the Carnival Cruise Line family Why 85% of David’s fundraising work was making connections for people who were never asked for anything How Orchestrated Connecting works: 2,500 members across 47 countries, entry by recommendation only, and you have to ask for help to get in SOAR Connect: the relationship intelligence platform that tracks recency, frequency, and duration to surface who you actually trust The five principles of the USA Today bestseller Orchestrating Connection: curiosity, vulnerability, diversity, generosity, and gratitude What happened at a conference in March when David shared that it was his first public speaking event since losing his father The two years David spent writing letters to his father signed as Tim from the Best Western in Cherry Hill, New Jersey 🌟 David’s Key Mentors: Doris (Adopted Jewish Grandmother, Florida): The lifelong family friend who introduced David to Abby, who introduced him to Vera Stern, who changed everything Vera Stern (Widow of Isaac Stern, AICF): Took David under her wing at that first Shabbat dinner and gave him his first real platform Bill Schwartz (AICF President): The second father figure who asked David to take over the entire organization at 26 Beth (Journalist Friend from Ohio): The Catholic friend with no connection to the arts who heard him out and started the chain that saved the foundation His Father, Sid Homan (Professor, Showman): Princeton and Harvard trained, 29 books, brilliant and gullible in equal measure — and the reason David gets on a stage the way he does 👉 Don’t miss this conversation about what it costs to rebuild something from nothing when everyone is blaming you for losing it, why asking for help is the most underused strategy in any room of powerful people, and the two years David spent writing letters to his father as Tim from the Best Western in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. 🔗 Connect with David Homan: Website: davidhoman.com Website: soarconnect.ai 📤 Transcript Available: David Homan on Why Vulnerability Is Not a Weakness and Curiosity Is Not a Tactic 📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast 🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast 📤 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

See All (537)

5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Anthony Codispoti has started, built, and sold a variety of successful businesses, including a 7-figure wholesale business (successful exit), a 7-figure consumer business (exited to private equity), a SaaS business (successful exit), and fiscally advantaged benefits. As an innovator and pioneer, he has been awarded patents, earned best seller badges, and gained scores of battle scars. In this show, we gain inspiration from the successes achieved and challenges overcome by today's business leaders.

Information

  • Creator
    Anthony Codispoti
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    537
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Anthony Codispoti
  • Show Website
    The Inspired Stories Podcast

You Might Also Like