THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered

Marshall Stern
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  • Entrepreneurship

The Stern Truth: Business Unfiltered is the no-BS podcast for overwhelmed small business owners & entrepreneurs who are tired of the noise, the hype, and the so-called “experts” telling them how to grow their business. Hosted by Marshall Stern, a seasoned business owner and coach with over 35 years of experience, this podcast cuts through the confusion to bring you real, practical advice that actually works. If you feel stuck, exhausted, and like you’re doing it all alone—this is for you. Each episode delivers honest conversations, actionable strategies, and straight talk about what it really takes to grow and lead a thriving business. No fluff. No gimmicks. Just The Stern Truth you need to move forward with confidence. It's time to stop spinning your wheels and start leading your business like the unstoppable force you are.

  1. Ep. 84 The Stern Truth: Re-Release - How To Keep Momentum in Your Business During the Summer

    19h ago

    Ep. 84 The Stern Truth: Re-Release - How To Keep Momentum in Your Business During the Summer

    This is a first for me! I have a re-release from last year, episode 16. The thought behind re-releasing is to give an important reminder of keeping momentum up during a busy time like summer. I reinforce that summer isn’t stalling your business. In fact, it can be more of a time for you to work ON your business. If you’re intentional, if you plan, you can build it. From leadership development to new systems or batch learning, get creative. I’ll give you some strategies in this episode to maintain your growth in the summer. Take advantage of the downtime to play around before the September rush. Whether your summer looks like time off or it’s your busy time of year (if that’s the case, you probably already have a great rhythm), plan. Plan for the busy, or plan for the lull. We live in seasons, and so does our business. Keep building that momentum this summer along with other focused business owners – join the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle: https://marshallstern.net/page/ontrepreneur-inner-circle Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    22 min
  2. Ep. 83 The Stern Truth: Fall Back in Love with Your Why (& Your Business) With Stephanie Gross

    Jun 9

    Ep. 83 The Stern Truth: Fall Back in Love with Your Why (& Your Business) With Stephanie Gross

    Bumby Wool is a custom merino wool manufacturer located in Red Deer, Alberta. As the owner, Stephanie Gross proudly shares within the first three minutes that she’s had two employees for around 16 years. That says a lot about her leadership skills! Stephanie’s roots come from selling Girl Guide cookies, working the Dairy Queen drive-through, eventually starting her own business. And Stephanie has been through a lot in her 18 years of business. COVID, moving to a commercial space, tariffs, so many ups and downs, just like any business. She felt like nothing was working in her business. She started attending the Catalyst Club (shoutout to Kelly Kennedy!) along with myself and other business owners then went deeper -  Stephanie looked into what she was doing in her business and why she was doing it, and began making incredible changes and meeting big goals.  When Stephanie mentions that quitting is not an option for her, I bring up how it may be just the wrong path that we’re on. Your gut can lead you down a wrong path but you can’t let fear stand in your way.  We also touch on your “why,” a common theme here on the Stern Truth. Most owners forget the reason they started their businesses, but we always need to dig deeper than “more money” or “more freedom.” Your business “why” has to align with your personal “why,” because it’s pretty obvious when they don’t.  Stephanie’s got some great golden nuggets to share throughout this episode, and one I really liked was to know your gut instincts. Really hone in on it. Once you recognize what your gut is telling you, you can put your ego aside and fill the gaps. Connect with Stephanie here: Email: letscreate@bumbywool.com  YouTube: youtube.com/@bumbywool8197 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/steph-gross-bumbywool/  Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    39 min
  3. The Stern Truth on What's Holding Your Business Back

    Jun 2

    The Stern Truth on What's Holding Your Business Back

    Back in November, when I was planning my 2026, I set a personal theme for the year: become comfortable being uncomfortable. If something felt a little scary, a little outside my comfort zone, I committed to doing it anyway. One particular area I wanted to grow was in-person speaking. I do this all the time on Zoom, on my podcast, in my own house to my family, but getting in front of live groups took intentional effort. I’m happy to say that, recently, I had the privilege of speaking at a business owner networking event in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The room was filled with entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey. My talk was on the Stern Truth on Growth, what’s really holding your business back, and how to fix it. I introduced the ONtrepreneur Method and walked through five key shifts that will change everything in your business. The feedback I received in the week that followed was overwhelmingly positive, and it lit a fire under me. So, I am bringing that workshop online. On June 11th at 11AM PDT, I’m hosting a live, interactive Zoom workshop called “The Stern Truth on What’s Really Holding Your Business Back.” I’ll be asking questions, looking for feedback, and working through these five shifts together with you.   Becoming comfortable being uncomfortable is something every entrepreneur needs to work on. That discomfort is usually where the growth is. Register for the June 11th workshop. If you can’t make the live, we’ll send out a replay. Grab a spot for The Stern Truth on What’s Really Holding Your Business Back here: https://marshallstern.net/landing/what-s-really-holding-your-business-back- And if you want to connect with other business owners in the meantime, join us for our monthly Connect and Collaborate Zoom on June 18th at 11AM PDT: https://marshallstern.net/landing/connect-collaborate-2026 Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    8 min
  4. Ep. 81 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday With Chad and Ambri

    May 28

    Ep. 81 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday With Chad and Ambri

    On today’s Business Therapy Thursday episode, I sit down with Ambri and Chad, co-owners of Vallee Sausage in Chilliwack, BC. Vallee Sausage is a butcher shop, sausage production facility, and European deli that their community absolutely loves. Ambri and Chad purchased Vallee Sausage from its previous owner, who ran everything himself alongside one long-time employee. But they never had any SOPs in place. When that employee left, sales dropped and stress went up. Chad and Ambri were left holding the reins of a business with no documented systems, no standard operating procedures, and a whole lot of personal history between them. We get into the difference between perfectionism and having high standards in this episode. Ambri talks about how she runs a tight ship and wants things done right; Chad says he would rather have things done fast. And the two of them clash over something as simple as how bacon is packaged in the display case. We also dig into the very real challenge of running a business when a personal relationship has broken down. I commend both of them for even getting to this point, because the emotional weight of a previous relationship while trying to keep a business alive is no small thing. A big takeaway from this session is the importance of clearly defined roles and responsibilities. We wrap up with a set of action steps for them to do, like building out SOPs starting with health and safety (this is a butcher shop, after all), defining partner roles and responsibilities, and looking at better systems for custom orders. Vallee Sausage fills a real need in the Chilliwack community, and Ambri and Chad clearly believe in what they've built. As Amber learned, and so deftly shared with us, failure is not a bad thing, because business is always moving forward. Lucky for Vallee Sausage, it’s moving forward with two of them. Interested in joining the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle? Join me and other business owners who are working towards real growth in this incredible community: https://marshallstern.net/page/ontrepreneur-inner-circle If you want to be a guest on a future Business Therapy Thursday session, reach out to me at marshall@marshallstern.net and we'll see if it's a fit. Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    45 min
  5. Ep. 80 The Stern Truth: Energize Your Business With Yulia Yumalova

    May 26

    Ep. 80 The Stern Truth: Energize Your Business With Yulia Yumalova

    In this episode, I sit down with Yulia Yumalova, a flexibility and movement coach with 14 years of experience. Yulia, who has built a fully location-independent business, has run studios in Bali, delivered workshops around the world, and now teaches completely online. Her journey is a great example of what entrepreneurial freedom looks like when you build your business around your life. What I love about this conversation is how Yulia connects physical health directly to business performance. She talks about how small business owners are grinding away at their desks, draining their energy on the wrong activities, and wondering why they feel burnt out. Yulia experienced this herself when she had her own studio and a growing team. One of the golden nuggets she shares in this episode is something I am absolutely stealing for myself: if it is not in your calendar, it does not exist. Yulia time-blocks everything, including a dedicated window she calls her "anger block,” which, wow, how inventive! Setting aside time to be angry is a golden nugget if I’ve ever heard one. Yulia also walks us through a desk-friendly movement routine you can do during a call or between tasks. The connection between how you hold your body physically and how you show up mentally in your business is real, and Yulia breaks it down in an easy-to-understand way. Her final golden nugget is to stay curious, something I live by as well. Keep asking questions, keep exploring, and never assume you have it all figured out. Send the word FLEXIBILITY to Yulia through LinkedIn or Instagram, and she will send you more about her pillars of flexibility. Website: https://balibodyclub.my.canva.site/cv-website LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yulia-yumalova-a04283168 IG: @bali.body Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    42 min
  6. Ep. 79 The Stern Truth: Navigating Entrepreneurial ADHD With Hannah Cummins

    May 21

    Ep. 79 The Stern Truth: Navigating Entrepreneurial ADHD With Hannah Cummins

    If you’ve ever found yourself jumping between tasks without finishing any of them, reorganizing your desk instead of doing the work, this episode is for you. My guest on this episode is Hannah Cummins, an ADHD micro-coach based out of Manchester, UK. The daily micro-coaching sessions are a quick but powerful four minutes with her clients. Four minutes—I know that sounds wild (and yes, I asked her about it.) As Hannah put it, if you reflect every day, you have better days. That container for daily self-reflection activates the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that gets dulled down by both ADHD and constant distractions. Getting on that day level, as she calls it, helps you spot patterns that either set you up for success or derail you. When it comes to accountability, one of Hannah’s golden nuggets is to find someone to hold up a mirror. Social accountability is so much more powerful than setting reminders for yourself. Whether that’s a coach, a mentor, or an accountability partner, having someone to reflect your patterns back at you makes all the difference. Hannah’s concept of knowing your “smoke alarm” – the behaviour that tells you you’re off track—is an incredibly practical takeaway. Distraction and procrastination almost always come from a lack of clarity or fear. Like Hannah says, fear shrinks in the light of consciousness. When you bring it to the surface, you can move through it. And, of course, Hannah left us with so many more golden nuggets, like leaving the all-or-nothing mindset behind, focusing on the 0.1% action you can take today. Driving all the way to the gym and sitting in the parking lot still counts for the 0.1%! Contact Hannah here: Website: https://www.expressocoaching.com/hch Email: hannah@expressocoaching.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hannah-cummins-2a078382/ Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    47 min
  7. Ep. 78 The Stern Truth: Stop Pitching Your Services and Do This Instead

    May 19

    Ep. 78 The Stern Truth: Stop Pitching Your Services and Do This Instead

    We’ve all seen it. We’ve all heard it. We’ve probably even all done it. That constant barrage of selling your services right off the bat.  My friends, we need to stop constantly pitching. Not to sound like an infomercial, but there is a better way. Let’s take the old way of selling - ABC, Always Be Closing. What if we tried a new ABC, Always Be Connecting? I go headfirst into an example of buying a timeshare in Whistler. The way that timeshare was first presented to me didn’t sound like a pitch; instead, the salesperson was genuinely interested in me, my wife, and what our future looked like.  I also go into why discovery calls shouldn’t immediately go into services. Why offer something to someone if you don’t know about them yet? As my mentor once said (and I often repeat), “Be interested, not interesting.” Ask people questions. Connect. Listen. It’s the best business strategy out there.  Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    12 min
  8. Ep. 77 The Stern Truth: The Power of Deeper Questions With Karli Grove

    May 12

    Ep. 77 The Stern Truth: The Power of Deeper Questions With Karli Grove

    Business can be deep, and Karli Grove is here to prove it.  For episode 77, I have Karli Grove of Kantency Consulting as my guest. Katency is a consulting firm that focuses on organizational change. As Karli puts it, 180 changes are hard, but they don’t have to be. Her advice is to find the source resistance in your business and change it. This can require reading between the lines (because not all resistance points are obvious) and even some negotiations.  I pose a loaded question to Karli during this episode: what do you think is missing in business? She comes back with a loaded answer too: empathy. Karli believes in the power of asking questions and truly getting curious to get to that “secret sauce.” Not everything has to be so black and white, and questions get deeper. Our conversation reminded me of something my own mentor said: “Be interested, not interesting.” Get interested in others. Be curious and ask those questions to get to know them on a deeper level.  Karli gets real with us and tells us how accountability as an entrepreneur is one of her biggest challenges. Giving herself her own consequences is something she admits was difficult for her. She says what helped her was setting up systems and gives an amazing example with how she reads 50 books every year, while travelling!  Her golden nugget is that body language is extremely important when it comes to communication. You’re only getting a certain amount of the context with text or voice memos - she gives some great statistics on the episode that are fascinating, so don’t miss out! Get in touch with Karli here: Website: kantency.com LinkedIn: @karligrove    Join the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle group. It’s a community of your peers that can help you break through your challenges. Get practical tools, accountability, honest dialogue, and more: https://marshallstern.net/page/ontrepreneur-inner-circle Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/ Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges. Get in touch in the comments or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

    37 min
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About

The Stern Truth: Business Unfiltered is the no-BS podcast for overwhelmed small business owners & entrepreneurs who are tired of the noise, the hype, and the so-called “experts” telling them how to grow their business. Hosted by Marshall Stern, a seasoned business owner and coach with over 35 years of experience, this podcast cuts through the confusion to bring you real, practical advice that actually works. If you feel stuck, exhausted, and like you’re doing it all alone—this is for you. Each episode delivers honest conversations, actionable strategies, and straight talk about what it really takes to grow and lead a thriving business. No fluff. No gimmicks. Just The Stern Truth you need to move forward with confidence. It's time to stop spinning your wheels and start leading your business like the unstoppable force you are.

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