C-Suite Secrets

Heather Parsons
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

C-Suite Secrets is the go-to podcast for entrepreneurs ready to scale smarter and lead stronger. Hosted by Heather Parsons—Fractional CFO, business strategist, and real estate investor—each episode features candid conversations with high-performing founders and C-suite executives. Get real-world strategies on cash flow, operations, leadership, and growth from experts who’ve been in the trenches. It’s not just theory—it’s the secrets behind sustainable success.

  1. 5d ago ·  Video

    AI, Personalization, and the Future of Customer Relationships with Renee Miller

    What happens when businesses become so focused on automation, data, and customer acquisition that they forget the importance of human connection? In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, Heather Parsons talks with Renee Miller, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Miller Group Marketing, about building brands and businesses that people remember. Renee shares how she built her agency by doing things differently and why she believes challenger brands can compete by finding their own path rather than trying to imitate larger companies. The conversation explores the role of AI, personalization, and customer experience in today's businesses. Renee explains why adding a customer's first name to an email isn't true personalization and how businesses can use customer data to create experiences that actually feel relevant and personal. They also discuss why companies often spend more effort acquiring new customers than taking care of the ones they already have, and how simple acts of appreciation can strengthen loyalty and retention. Renee also shares why businesses need to listen more closely to both customers and employees, give their teams room to make decisions, and create relationships built on trust. Finally, Renee offers a lesson she wishes she had learned earlier in her entrepreneurial journey: you don't have to do everything yourself. Knowing when to ask for help and step away from the business is part of building a sustainable life as an entrepreneur. Bio:   Renee Miller, President/Creative Director   Renee founded The Miller Group in 1990 when women didn’t do that sort of thing. (Today, less than 5% of all agencies are owned by women.) Her goal was to provide innovative and powerful solutions for gaining market share and connecting clients with consumers.  Over the years, she has attracted hundreds of clients in various industries including home products and services, nonprofit, CPG, museums, financial services, retail and sustainability.      Recognized as one of Los Angeles’ leading creative directors, Renee has won nearly every major creative award including One Show, Communication Arts (CA), Best of the West, ADDY, Graphis, and N.Y. Art Directors Club.  She has judged Communication Arts advertising annual and has presented at several prestigious awards shows. Yet her primary passion is building clients’ business and becoming an integral part of their team.   Clients have recognized this commitment with accolades beyond her expectation. The County of Los Angeles presented her with an award for the agency’s work on the West Nile virus campaign. The Miller Group stretched a $200,000 budget to nearly $2 million through partnerships with media companies, government and healthcare agencies, sponsors like SC Johnson, and national retailers 7-Eleven, Rite Aid, Costco and dozens of others.  Most important, The Miller Group educated 13 million people about West Nile and prevented an epidemic in Southern California.     She was recognized by Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries for her efforts to place ex-gang members in advertising and entertainment jobs following the LA Riots.       Renee has been nominated for the “Women Making a Difference” awards sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Journal and has been named one of the top women-owned businesses in L.A for nearly 10 consecutive years. The Miller Group has also been recognized as one of the 100 fastest growing companies in Los Angeles.     Renee has been featured in Adweek, Brandweek, Ad Age, Entrepreneur, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Marketing Sherpa and dozens of other publications around the country and has spoken to dozens of groups around the country, as well as guest lectured at UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and The Ohio State University.    To connect with our guest, click on the links below:   https://www.millergroup.com/ My LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/themillergroup/ The Miller Group LinkedIN:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-miller-group-advertising-inc-/ The Miller Group Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/themillergroupmarketing/   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  2. Sep 22 ·  Video

    From People-Powered to System-Powered: How AI Multiplies Business Valuation

    In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, host Heather Parsons sits down with Ghazenfer Mansoor, software engineer, founder of Technology Rivers, and author of Beyond the Download, for a candid conversation on how AI and proprietary technology are reshaping the way businesses grow and how much they're worth. Ghazenfer shares the origin of Technology Rivers, founded in 2015 on a simple motto: build the right product the first time. Since then his team has delivered roughly 130 products for over 80 customers, with a growing focus on HIPAA-compliant health tech. He unpacks why so many software projects fail (unclear requirements and feature-chasing instead of solving one real problem first) and why every build needs a "conductor" to set priorities and sequence, much like a general contractor on a house. The discussion digs into vibe coding: where it genuinely accelerates development, where it quietly creates cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance risk, and how to know when it's time to bring in a real developer or solutions architect. Ghazenfer explains the hidden dangers of casually uploading sensitive data into AI tools, why RAG and proper data mapping matter, and why a Business Associate Agreement with zero-retention terms is non-negotiable in regulated industries. From a CFO's lens, Heather and Ghazenfer explore the money question: how to tell whether a $50K software build is a smart investment or an expensive toy, and why proprietary workflows (not off-the-shelf tools your competitors also use) are the real differentiator. Ghazenfer makes the case for moving from "people-powered growth" to "system-powered growth," showing how automation lets one person serve 50 customers instead of 15, lifting margins and dramatically increasing company valuation. He closes with hard-won advice for entrepreneurs: get a coach early, and read relentlessly.   To connect with our guest, click on the links below: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmansoor/ Ghazenfer.com  technologyrivers.com  Podcast: Lessons from the Leap  Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  3. Sep 15 ·  Video

    The Labor Cost Rule That Tells You If Your Business Is Profitable

    In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, Heather Parsons talks with fractional CFO Natalia Zacharin about her unorthodox road to entrepreneurship and the financial truths every business owner needs to hear. Natalia shares how she launched her bookkeeping business in 2019 with no experience and one LinkedIn client, and how starting over later in life gave her the grit to push through imposter syndrome and build a real company. Then she and Heather get into the numbers: why roughly 90 percent of the books she inherits contain errors, why the balance sheet is where everything falls apart, and why cheap bookkeeping ends up costing far more than it saves. They also cover the metrics every CEO should know cold, from the percentage of income report to keeping labor under 35 percent of gross revenue, plus why profit is fuel rather than greed. Natalia closes with a candid look at scaling, including the $500,000 she burned building a predictable sales machine and the hard lessons that came with it. Bio:   Natalia Zacharin is the Founder of Zacharin Consulting, an award-winning accounting firm and Inc. 5000 honoree. She partners with founders of service businesses generating between $1 million and $30 million in annual revenue. Natalia specializes in elite fractional CFO services and strategic financial planning. She brings unmatched perspective to her advisory work, having personally scaled her own firm from a solo operation born out of poverty to a $3 million powerhouse in just five years.   Her core philosophy is simple: profit does not equal cash, and more sales will never fix broken systems. Natalia empowers entrepreneurs to use their financials as a forward-facing GPS rather than a backward-looking historical report. By helping leaders identify silent cash leaks, optimize pricing models, and forecast decisions six months in advance, she turns chaotic growth into sustainable profitability. Her proven frameworks build resilient companies that operate independently and ultimately become highly sellable assets.   To connect with our guest, click on the links below: https://www.facebook.com/zacharinconsulting/ https://www.instagram.com/growyourbottomline/ www.linkedin.com/in/growyourbottomline https://www.youtube.com/@zacharinconsulting 🎁Free Resource for listeners:  https://zacharinconsulting.com/csuite/ TikTok: @zacharinconsulting X/Twitter:  nataliazacharin Website: https://www.zacharinconsulting.com/   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders    Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in   🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  4. Sep 8 ·  Video

    How to Build a Business That Doesn't Depend on You: Systems, AI & Exit Strategy

    What happens when your business gets busy enough that you stop marketing, stop documenting processes, and stop thinking about what happens next? Eventually, the pipeline slows down, the business becomes dependent on you, and you find yourself starting over. In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, Heather Parsons sits down with entrepreneur and media technology strategist Shelley Stansfield, who shares lessons from more than 37 years in business, beginning in political cable advertising and evolving into sophisticated media, data, and technology solutions. Shelley explains why working harder isn't necessarily the answer to growing a business and how entrepreneurs can build systems that create consistency, visibility, and long-term business value. Bio:   Shelley Stansfield: Small Business Champion   Part tech translator and part seasoned entrepreneur, Shelley Stansfield has spent nearly four decades making sure local businesses (large and small) don't stay the "best-kept secret" in their own backyards. Since starting in 1988, she’s lived the real-world founder’s life—weathering the "feast or famine" cycles and balancing the daily grit of doing the work with the constant need to find the next job.   Shelley is a firm believer that there is no high-tech future without a high-functioning present. As she puts it:   "While the rest of the world is staring at screens, home service pros are the people actually keeping the lights on, the water running, and the doors open. They are the foundation that makes everyone else's success possible."   As the Co-Founder of Centriply, Shelley has dedicated her career to leveling the playing field. She’s turned high-level ad tech into a simple, precision tool for harnessing the power of large scale media, giving everyone the same data-driven speed usually reserved for global giants. She joins us today for some "real talk" about the journey of scaling, the hard-earned wisdom of keeping clean books from day one, and how to build the systems that finally protect a founder’s time. Shelley is battle-tested, tech-forward, and forever: Unique. Resilient. Scrappy.  To connect with our guest, click on the links below: https://www.centriply.com/about-us/  https://www.youtube.com/@centriply www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-stansfield-003577285 https://www.linkedin.com/company/centriply MARKETING RESOURCES: https://blog.centriply.com/-tv-advertising-resources LOCAL GROCERY OR RETAIL CAMPAIGNS: https://app.hubspot.com/api/filemanager/api/v2/files/208406719843/signed-url-redirect?portalId=2082047 HEALTHCARE LOCATIONS: https://2082047.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2082047/case%20studies%20for%20follow%20up/Centriply%20HealthCampaign%202025.pdf MOVIE THEATERS AND EVENT LOCAITONS: https://2082047.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2082047/case%20studies%20for%20follow%20up/Centriply_Theatrical%20an%20VOD%202025.pdf DRIVING TOURISM: https://2082047.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2082047/case%20studies%20for%20follow%20up/Centriply.1page.%20Tourism_2025v2.pdf   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  5. Sep 1 ·  Video

    The Digital Revenue Gap: How Manufacturers Leave Millions on the Table

    In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, Heather Parsons sits down with Ethan Giffin, CEO and founder of B2B eCommerce Agency, for a candid conversation about what two decades of entrepreneurship actually teaches you. Ethan shares his journey from haggling over yard-sale nickels at eight years old to running an agency where projects now average half a million dollars, and unpacks the pivotal decision to niche down and serve mid-market manufacturers and distributors building digital revenue channels.   The conversation digs into why there's no profitable middle ground in business, and why you should aim to be either the cheapest at volume or the specialized top ten percent. Ethan explains how he intentionally took on half the projects to serve clients better, why he now begins every engagement with a paid three-week diagnostic workshop, and how his signature three-year system moves manufacturers from zero digital revenue to ten or twenty percent of total sales through private buyer portals. Heather and Ethan also explore the real cost of legacy inefficiency, from fifty-dollar call-in orders versus five-dollar online orders, to fax machines sitting next to IoT-retrofitted factory equipment. Ethan makes the case for transparency as a growth strategy, the importance of a repeatable signature process, and why unplugging and taking real vacations makes you more creative, not less. He closes with the lesson that mattered most: entrepreneurship is lonely, and finding your tribe changes everything. Bio:   Ethan Giffin founded his agency in 2007 with a broad mandate and a lot of ambition. Two decades later, he has done what most founders only talk about: picked a specific lane, built deep expertise in it, and turned that expertise into a consulting practice, a summit, and a book. As Founder and CEO of The B2B eCommerce Agency, he works with mid-market Manufacturers and distributors, and his book Closing the Digital Revenue Gap distills everything he learned the hard way.   Ethan has spent two decades making the hard calls most founders avoid: going narrow when the easier path was to stay broad and rebuilding when things stopped working. He also runs a second business most people never see coming. As DJ Opie, he has produced high-end nonprofit galas since the age of 16, with a full production operation that has run alongside his agency career for over thirty years   To connect with our guest, click on the links below: https://www.linkedin.com/company/b2becommerceagency/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethangiffin/ https://b2becommerceagency.com/ https://ethangiffin.com/ 🎁https://b2becommerceagency.com/free-consultation/   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders   Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  6. Aug 25 ·  Video

    Leads vs. Pipeline: The Only Marketing Metric You Should Judge with Tom Shapiro

    In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, Heather Parsons sits down with Tom Shapiro, CEO of Stratabeat, an organic growth agency serving B2B technology and software companies. Tom shares the through line that has driven every business he has grown, including taking one agency from twelve million to seventy-five million in annual revenue in five years: relentless focus on the customer instead of yourself. He explains why talking about your own technology and methodology kills sales, and why going deep on a narrow audience beats going broad every time. The conversation moves into where marketing is headed as AI reshapes search. Tom makes the case that Google is not dying but evolving, and that winning today means integrating traditional SEO with visibility inside the LLMs like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. He walks through the practical mechanics of getting cited by AI, from structuring content with clean headings and summaries to adding FAQs written in conversational language, and he separates the real value of Reddit from the hype. Tom also gets candid about how to vet a marketing agency, the metrics that actually matter versus the ones that only sound impressive, and how long organic marketing really takes to show results. He closes with the lesson he wishes he had learned sooner: delegate early, build SOPs, and stop being the bottleneck in your own business. Bio:   Tom Shapiro is CEO of Stratabeat, a B2B organic growth agency. Stratabeat’s services include SEO, GEO, content marketing, web design, analytics, and conversion optimization.    Through his career, Tom has developed marketing strategies for market leaders such as Intel, AT&T, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Genesys, Appfolio, and Freshworks. Passionate about the application of neuroscience and behavioral intelligence to marketing, Tom has been published on these topics in Chief Marketer, CMO.com, CNN.com, Fast Company, Forbes, HubSpot Blog, MarketingProfs, among others.   Previously, as Director of Digital Strategy at iProspect, he helped fuel annual revenue growth from $12 million to $75 million in five years.   Tom is the author of the books “Rethink Lead Generation” and “Rethink Your Marketing,” both available on Amazon.   To connect with our guest, click on the links below: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stratabeat-inc-/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomshapiro/ https://stratabeat.com/   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders   Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  7. Aug 18 ·  Video

    9 Traits of High Performing Companies That Drive Business Growth

    In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, Heather Parsons sits down with entrepreneur, branding strategist, and Circle S Studio founder Susan Quinn to explore what separates high-performing companies from businesses that simply stay busy. Susan shares lessons from more than four decades in business, including why entrepreneurs need to stop trying to do everything themselves, how the right people and mentors can accelerate growth, and why strong brands are built on guiding principles rather than just logos and colors. The conversation dives into the importance of core values, company culture, ideal client positioning, niching, data, quality, and strategic decision-making. Susan also explains why businesses often struggle with too many initiatives, unclear priorities, and a failure to address difficult conversations. She shares insights from her book Does Your Business Show Up and Stand Out?, including traits she has identified in high-performing companies, and offers a powerful reminder for entrepreneurs: start thinking about succession and your exit strategy much earlier than you think you need to. Bio:   Susan Quinn is the founder and CEO of circle S studio, a strategic branding, marketing, and consulting firm based in Richmond, Virginia. For more than four decades, she has helped Fortune 500 companies, national brands, regional organizations, and privately held businesses strengthen their brands, elevate employee and client experiences, and drive sustainable growth. She is the author of Does Your Business Show Up or Stand Out?, a certified executive coach, and host of the podcast Better Experiences by Design. Working closely with CEOs and leadership teams, Susan helps align strategy, culture, brand, and communication to create experiences that fuel long-term success. To connect with our guest, click on the links below: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanquinn01/ https://circlesstudio.com/ 🎁https://circlesstudio.com/does-your-business-show-up-or-stand-out/   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders   Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

  8. Aug 11 ·  Video

    Praying for Referrals Is Not a Marketing Plan: Building Real Growth Systems

    In this episode of C-Suite Secrets, host Heather Parsons sits down with Tom Mirabella, founder of Wingman, a full service marketing agency he has grown over seventeen years from a solo operation into a team of twenty five serving hundreds of small businesses. Tom shares the mindset shifts that carried him out of corporate America and into building a company now expanding through franchising. The conversation digs into what it really means to be wired for entrepreneurship, from treating every setback as a stepping stone to getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Tom opens up about the early hustle of wearing every hat in the business and the pivotal decision to hire people smarter than him at the things he dreaded, including bringing on a chief operating officer who transformed how the back office runs. Heather and Tom explore the leadership philosophy behind giving your team the power to make decisions and have their calls backed, why becoming the bottleneck stalls growth, and how a one three five framework helps employees map their goals across work and life. They also get into the marketing and financial realities that trip up so many founders, including the danger of treating referrals as a strategy, the importance of a real business plan and pro forma, and why lifestyle creep can quietly starve a business. Whether you are just starting out or scaling a growing team, this episode delivers practical wisdom on delegation, financial discipline, and building a business designed to outlast the daily grind. Bio:   Tom Mirabella is the founder and CEO of Wingman, a full-service marketing company he started at his kitchen table in 2009. Wingman has grown into a team of more than 20 employees, eight locations, and a developing franchise, Wingman Franchise. Tom is passionate about helping small businesses grow, building a strong company culture, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs, and giving back through the Wingman Foundation.   To connect with our guest, click on the links below: Website: https://wingmanplanning.com/ Tom FB: https://www.facebook.com/tmirabella1/ Tom IG: https://www.instagram.com/wingman_tom Tom LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommirabella/ Tom TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wingman_tom?_r=1&_t=ZP-97oGfDX4J15   Wingman FB: https://www.facebook.com/wingmanplanning/ Wingman IG: https://www.instagram.com/wingmanplanningllc?igsh=MTYwbjc3ODhxZ2Rhdg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr Wingman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wingman-planning/?viewAsMember=true Wingman TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wingmanplanning?_r=1&_t=ZP-97oGfQGT2nX Wingman YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wingmanplanning Wingman Franchise IG: https://www.instagram.com/wingmanfranchise Wingman Franchise FB: https://www.facebook.com/wingmanfranchise/ Wingman Franchise LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wingman-franchise/?viewAsMember=true   Connect with me:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/   Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders   Ready to finally understand your numbers & access the capital you need to grow?  Join me in OneRoom:  https://oneroomhq.com/boardroom-opt-in 🎁Get your free checklist to Turn Your Business Success into Lasting Wealth  https://info.thesummitcfo.com/investment-readiness-checklist

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About

C-Suite Secrets is the go-to podcast for entrepreneurs ready to scale smarter and lead stronger. Hosted by Heather Parsons—Fractional CFO, business strategist, and real estate investor—each episode features candid conversations with high-performing founders and C-suite executives. Get real-world strategies on cash flow, operations, leadership, and growth from experts who’ve been in the trenches. It’s not just theory—it’s the secrets behind sustainable success.

Information

  • Creator
    Heather Parsons
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    73
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    C-Suite Secrets