THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered

Marshall Stern
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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. 69 The Stern Truth: The Oi's of Business & Leadership With Kim Long

    1D AGO

    Ep. 69 The Stern Truth: The Oi's of Business & Leadership With Kim Long

    Kim Long is my guest on this episode of the Stern Truth. As a registered psychologist in Alberta with a teaching background, Kim was inspired by her family of helpers to get into the field of psychology, despite some “oi’s” along the way, Covid being a big one. Through our conversation, I tell him how post-secondary experience teaches business but it doesn't teach entrepreneurship - things like cash flow, ROI, or COGS are more on-the-job lessons.   Leadership was a big factor for Kim when starting her practice. Nurturing her team while keeping her professional standards, combatting leader loneliness, and consistent learning have allowed Kim to build her team. Imposter syndrome (yes, it’s everywhere) comes up in our conversation, another of Kim’s “oi’s”. She digs deep and gets to the root of leadership. One of her golden nuggets is that leadership is all about building the capacity of your team so they can grow and shine.   Let me tell you, my friends, it doesn’t get easier. Imposter syndrome can be a lifelong feeling. And guess what? More people have it than you think. Ask yourself, is what I believe true? If you look at the old you vs. the new, 2.0 you, what were your action steps to get there?  Another terrific golden nugget that Kim gave was one I love - if you’re worrying about your leadership, you’re probably a better leader than you realize.  The Stern Truth of being a leader? Just keep going, keep showing up, and take time to reflect on your own growth.   Get in touch with Kim here: Website: www.dochaspsych.com IG: instagram.com/dochaspsych Facebook: facebook.com/DochasPsych YouTube: youtube.com/@DochasPsych LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/dochas-psych If you’re feeling the “oi’s” of business, lonely, or isolated, and want those like-minded business people, check out our ONtrepreneur Inner Circle. Be my guest and see what the community looks like: 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

    36 min
  2. Ep. 68 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with David Wallace

    6D AGO

    Ep. 68 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with David Wallace

    We’re back with another Business Therapy Thursday, and this one is extra special. David Wallace, owner of Around the Block Butcher & Market in Ottawa, was first featured on Episode 23. We talked about his incredible entrepreneurial journey through the pandemic. Now, a year later, David is back, and this time, we go deeper. Around the Block just celebrated 13 years in business, and David has built something truly special with his wife and business partner, Chantelle. He came into this episode with a lot on his mind—where to direct resources, how to lead more effectively, and how to break the tunnel vision from being deep in the day-to-day grind. David describes success as having the right systems, the right team, and the freedom to take two full weeks off and actually enjoy it. He and Chantel took their first week off in years back in January, and it went fine. So, what’s stopping them from doing more of that? David also opened up about the challenge of that last 10%. He’s a self-described 90-percenter, great at getting things almost done, but the follow-through is where the wins live. We tackled the concept of “CEO Day," a dedicated block day each week where David can step away from the counter, close the office door, and work ON the business instead of IN it. Not for clients, not for staff, not for urgent orders. Just David, his vision, and the clarity to grow his business. The Stern Truth of this episode is that “later” is not a strategy. Things don’t slow down, so you need to specifically create the time and space. As a business owner, YOU have to be the one to make the change. 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

    38 min
  3. Ep. 67 The Stern Truth: The Power of Being in Flow and Alignment with Melodie Dewsbury

    MAR 24

    Ep. 67 The Stern Truth: The Power of Being in Flow and Alignment with Melodie Dewsbury

    Melodie Dewsbury is a passionate entrepreneur and founder of The Paper Fox Collective, a marketing agency in Mission, B.C. Her journey took her from entrepreneur to corporate life to teaching and back to entrepreneurship. This time around, she’s got clarity, confidence, and a whole lot of momentum. Melodie shares how she reinvented herself after stepping back from her first business and spending years in corporate roles that just didn’t fit. When the mismatch started showing up physically, she knew it was time to listen to that gut feeling. We get into the difference between fear and intuition and why that distinction matters for big business decisions. Melodie’s golden nugget on this? Is this a limiting belief, or is everything in my being telling me this isn’t right for me?  We also talk about community, something Melodie has always been passionate about creating. From running knitting clubs in her first year of teaching to building an online community of 2,000 female entrepreneurs, she just gets people together. And as I always say, being around other entrepreneurs who truly get it makes all the difference.  On the marketing side, Melodie drops a golden nugget every founder needs to hear: you don’t need to be on every platform. Pick the spaces where you can show up consistently and authentically. If dancing on TikTok isn’t you, don’t do it. Melodie’s episode itself is a golden nugget. So if you take anything from this episode, take it from Melodie that sometimes stepping back is exactly what you need to step forward with more power. Connect with Melodie here: www.thepaperfoxcollective.com Instagram: @thepaperfoxcollective LinkedIn: @melodie-dewsbury Facebook: @melodydewsbury  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

    44 min
  4. Ep. 66 The Stern Truth: Year of the Horse and Your Business Success

    MAR 17

    Ep. 66 The Stern Truth: Year of the Horse and Your Business Success

    2026 is the year of the horse, so, of course, I have to revisit my story about going to a horseback riding ranch. The story in this episode might sound familiar, but believe me, it’s important, so it bears repeating. I was in a beautiful open field with around 25 other people. I wanted my horse to go faster, so I tried to smack the reins, ignoring the signs that told me this horse didn’t want to go fast. Well, one smack did it, and the horse went so fast that I narrowly missed a tree branch.  The instructor came up after asking how I was, and I said okay. They said I could ride on the back of their horse the rest of that day. To that, I said, nope, I am getting back on that horse. And I did. Looking back, I shouldn’t have ignored the signs that were right in front of me. He gave me the over-the-shoulder looks and was slowing down, but I was burying my head in the sand. I was dead-set on leading that horse. Never overlook the signs that are there, no matter what part of life we’re talking about. Think about your finances. We have no idea what our numbers look like, yet we wonder why we don’t make payroll. We ignore those past due invoices, but that doesn’t get us any closer to our goals. Take a few minutes to think about where you are in your entrepreneurial journey - financially, with your team, with your customers, with the economy. What feels wrong? Are there signs that you need to change something? You might think you’re leading a horse, but sometimes, they lead you, and that's when you need to make a change. If you’re a small business owner who’s running on the hamster wheel, feeling isolated, and watching great ideas collect dust, I invite you to the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle. Join other driven entrepreneurs and me and get mentorship, coaching, accountability, and encouragement to make growth happen: https://marshallstern.net/landing/innercircle 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

    16 min
  5. Ep. 65 The Stern Truth: When and How to Grow Your Team with Tedi Bezna

    MAR 10

    Ep. 65 The Stern Truth: When and How to Grow Your Team with Tedi Bezna

    Tedi Bezna is the proud owner of an all-woman marketing agency. Searchlight Digital specializes in SEO, Google Ads, website content, anything to get you searched. She’s had Searchlight for eight years and counting and is still growing. Like many of our guests, Tedi was raised by entrepreneurs. That feeling of doing something for herself inspired her from a young age—she even sold plums from her backyard tree as one of her first business ventures. A self-professed lover of the “nerdy” stuff, Tedi gravitated towards spreadsheets and numbers and eventually went into SEO. Tedi says it’s an amazing marriage of the numbers, the data, and the storytelling that creates something that connects with people. Tedi also saw some downsides of working for someone else, which led her to start her own business (who hasn’t been there, right?). She was inspired by reading Dan Martell’s “Buy Back Your Time,” which inspired her to hire an admin assistant. As a business owner who wants to scale, you need to get a team behind you, and you need to let go. Her team is something Tedi expresses a lot of gratitude for. Because she took risks and hired capable people that she trusts, that was exactly how she was able to make Searchlight Digital successful. One of her most potent golden nuggets was the many ways she stays connected to other business owners, from Masterminds to a Slack group to just talking with her entrepreneur father. Tedi says it’s interesting to see the commonalities, as well as the areas of focus, that people from different businesses deal with. The list of golden nuggets in this episode is almost endless. Hire strategically. Have a financial buffer available. SOPs set people up to succeed. Hire a bookkeeper, an accountant, a CFO, someone to handle the finances. You never outgrow personal growth. Seriously, I’m missing some, so go listen to the episode. Connect with Tedi here: Website - www.searchlightmarketing.ca Instagram - @searchlightdigital Dan Martell’s “Buy Back Your Time” - https://www.buybackyourtime.com/ 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. 64 The Stern Truth: Clarity Breeds Confidence as a Business Owner with Michael Morrison

    MAR 3

    Ep. 64 The Stern Truth: Clarity Breeds Confidence as a Business Owner with Michael Morrison

    There are a lot of business coaches, podcasters, mentors, and entrepreneurs out there. Michael Morrison has done all of it. Michael is a business coach, business loan officer, and podcaster from Oklahoma. His main goal is to get business owners unstuck when they reach a point that they just can’t grow anymore on their own. I saw so many similarities between his story and mine – starting businesses, exiting, and coaching, all around a similar timeline. He and I also have similar thoughts on what business owners need most of all, and that is clarity. His background is harrowing and an example of overcoming great adversity. Michael never let that stop him from growing into a culture-driven business owner. Initially, it was a business coach who encouraged Michael to get into coaching. He saw the potential in him, which Michael took and ran with. Now, he coaches small business owners about how to grow, how to operate, the pitfalls, and the opportunities they come across. One incredibly simple but effective golden nugget he left in this episode was to write things down. If it's something that you're going to do, again, time and time again, writing it down makes it easy to create that repeatable process. Michael also advises not to follow the trends in business. Spend the time learning the basics. Once you have those down, pick up the phone and go get clients. Hire professionals who know what you don’t know. Wise advice from a man who has done it all.  Get in touch with Michael here: Website: https://www.michaeldmorrison.com LinkedIn: @/michaeldmorrisonokc YouTube: @michaeldmorrisonokc Facebook: @businessownershipsimplified Instagram: @businessownershipsimplified 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

    40 min
  7. Ep. 63 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with Steve Hayek

    FEB 26

    Ep. 63 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with Steve Hayek

    It’s another Business Therapy Thursday. This is a story so many small business owners will recognize. I sit down with Steve Hayek, a home inspector in year seven of his business, and he is still doing almost everything himself.  He’s got real growth happening for his company, All Branch Inspections, along with a solid reputation, and referrals coming in organically. But like so many entrepreneurs I work with, he’s stuck in a 90/10 split - 90% working IN the business, barely 10% working ON it. Steve tells how the marketing, business development, and all the repetitive conversations are his biggest drains when it comes to his day-to-day. It comes with the territory of growing a client base. Walking him through the Energy Audit, we find that his systems and automations need to get out of his head and into his business. We dug into exactly what’s been sitting on Steve’s to-do list, things like a proper client intro email, follow-up templates for buyers' and sellers' agents, and a buyer and seller checklist. He already knows what needs to go in them. Steve just needs to block the time and treat those tasks just the same as client work.  We also talked about a hidden revenue opportunity that most solo business owners completely overlook. Simply put, it’s reaching out to clients or prospects after your initial meeting. A simple, repeatable process that just needs to be built once. Steve already knew what needed to be done. Sometimes we just need an accountability partner, and that’s exactly what Business Therapy Thursdays are for. If you’re a small business owner who’s running on the hamster wheel, feeling isolated, and watching great ideas collect dust, I invite you to the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle. A small group of driven entrepreneurs who get real mentorship, coaching, accountability, and encouragement to make growth happen. Find out more here: https://marshallstern.net/landing/innercircle 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
  8. Ep. 62 The Stern Truth: Close More Sales By Doing This

    FEB 24

    Ep. 62 The Stern Truth: Close More Sales By Doing This

    You’ve already seen the title. This episode is a DOOZY, I promise you.  We always default back to spending, spending, spending on marketing. Facebook Ads, Google Ads, money on your storefront or your interior. But there’s a huge gap that stops you from closing sales.  That’s the failure to connect with your prospects.  Are you connecting with your customers? Let’s even take a step back from that - are you connecting with your team? Are they just a number? I share a story of going to a Nissan dealership with my friend, looking to purchase a Pathfinder, and immediately being ignored. No greeting. The staff was hanging out, smoking, not paying any attention to us, and we left. A classic example of a business that really doesn’t want to take your money. A great book that I recommend is “Everyone Communicates Few Connect” by my mentor, John Maxwell. He says that connection is what makes you feel heard, comfortable, and understood. For me, the price of that Pathfinder didn’t matter, but the connection wasn’t there. I wasn’t heard, let alone seen. I was uncomfortable, and I definitely wasn’t understood. So I walked. Part of connecting is listening. It’s being interested and not interesting. Be curious and connect with your people, be it your clients, your team, or your inner circle. If you’re looking for your own inner circle with mentorship, coaching, accountability, and encouragement to step up your game and achieve your goals, the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle might be for you. Check out more here: https://marshallstern.net/landing/innercircle 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

    13 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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