Vroom Vroom Veer with Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith
  • 4.9 (81)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Weekly

A personal transformation podcast aimed mainly at GenX’rs who are burned out from the revved-up mindset that has driven them to where they are—both professionally and personally—and are searching for more fulfilling, authentic and meaningful ways to move forward. The show’s format is set up as lively conversations, storytelling and sharing of advice between host, Jeff Smith and his various guests—all of whom have had a unique and distinct experience of metaphorically shifting from “vrooming” to “veering” in how they’ve approached certain aspects of their lives. 

  1. Oct 26

    Oscar Trimboli – Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words (BOV)

    Oscar Trimboli is the author of Deep Listening: Impact beyond words, The 125/400 Rule: The Art and Science of Listening and Breakthroughs: How to confront your assumptions. Working with boards and executive teams, Oscar has experienced first-hand the transformational impact leaders can have when they listen beyond the words. Oscar Trimboli Vroom Vroom Veer Stories What is the 125/400 Rule?  How can we use this rule to listen better? Talk about how there is an Art and Science to listening What is Deep Listening?  Can we learn some techniques? What is the difference between a good listener and a great listener? How can you listen to what is unsaid?  How do we get all of the words out? What do you mean when you say "Everyone sees in color, but then listen in Black and White"? What was it like growing in Sydney Australia with Immigrant parents from Italy? Oscar Trimboli Connections Website Oscar's Book  Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words

  2. Oct 19

    Ashleigh Marie – Leaving the Cult of Achievement, Reiki, and Rewriting Your Reality’s Prompts

    Ashleigh Marie, a former neuroscientist and corporate ML leader turned transformational life coach, joins Jeff to talk burnout, the default mode network, Reiki, and how beliefs shape reality. Find her at tranquility-summit.com.

  3. Oct 12

    Carissa Karban: Lean Into the Swerve – Veering, Letting Go

    Carissa Karban, co-founder of Astrapuffs, shares her path from Cisco engineer to AI game builder, with a sabbatical, burnout, and hard lessons along the way, and why leaning into life's swerves beats trying to control them.

  4. Oct 5

    Bunni Ambrosia – From Skipping School to 700,000 Safe Miles (Out of Spite, Mostly)

    Bunni Ambrosia, author, coach, and trucker, shares her path from skipping school to earning her CDL in four weeks, her late ADHD and autism diagnoses, and her new AI book, The Frog in the Machine. Spite plays a starring role.

  5. Sep 28

    Mark Daoust – Reckless Honesty

    Mark Daoust is the founder of Quiet Light Brokerage, an online consultancy which helps owners of online businesses plan a financially successful exit from their businesses. He is the father of 7 kids. Between business and family, his life has ample veer and vroom. From Mark's Website "In 2007, a year after having sold his first online business, a friend asked Mark if he would be willing to help him sell his web hosting company. During the previous year, Mark was evaluating whether or not to start a consultancy firm to assist owners of profitable websites who wanted to divest of their websites. With the call from this friend, Quiet Light was officially born. Mark retained his friend’s business, put the listing out to market, and within two months had found a buyer at a price that was higher than average web hosting companies were fetching in the marketplace. Since that first business in 2007, Mark has personally helped dozens of small business owners and entrepreneurs and has also expanded Quiet Light to the team it has today. In building out a team of advisors to help other small business owners, Mark has always emphasized the importance of honesty, working in the client’s best interest (even if that means not working in his own best interest), and thorough preparation of all listings before they are brought to market. Before Quiet Light Brokerage, Mark founded an online publication and grew it’s subscriber base to 220,000 members. Mark has been a presenter at top conferences and seminars as well as a guest author for numerous publications." Mark Daoust Vroom Veer Stories Not your typical entrepreneur kid in high school; he was NOT the kid selling candy out of his locker; fun fact spent 5-years in high school w/o getting held backWanted to study the classics and philosophy in college; his parents steered him toward a business degreeFell into a job in a web-hosting company; was tagged as one of three college students to open a new branch; took the job with the goal of getting firedHis first business started making money right away; until his credit card merchant account provider dropped himStarted a content based business that actually gained some sustainable tractionSold his 2nd business for all the wrong reasons; ego, hubris, boredom--but learned a lot about selling a businessQuietlight was started when one of his former clients and now a friend called him to help him sell his businessRadical/Reckless honestly is about telling the truth to clients even when it means the company won't make money from that truth Mark Daoust Connections Website

  6. Sep 21

    Gregg Swanson Warrior Mind Coach (BOV)

    Gregg is a Professional and Certified Mental Strength Coach and Personal Fitness Trainer. He owns Warrior Mind Coaching and Training along with Warrior Fitness Coaching and Training. His high quality, high content programs are thoroughly researched and delivered in a unique, energetic and powerful straightforward manner. Vrooming in corporate Sales Pre 2000, Gregg was making great money in corporate sale in the telcom business. He sales region include California and Hawaii Then around 2000 the telcom bubble burst, telcoms stopped buying infrastructure and Gregg was out of a job. His veer awakening unfolded over the next five years following being "downsized" from his job. He and his fiancé decided to "downsize" their lifestyle which included moving from California to Bend, Oregon. Gregg then vroomed back into corporate telcom sales living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area of California That vroom lasted about three years and Gregg was downsized again Veer into Coaching Gregg started working with the idea of turning his "passion" into a business The problem was that he had multiple passions and he had to figure out which passion he authentically enjoyed sharing with others Most of his passions he were just for him...he enjoy doing them, but not sharing them. His big A-HA moment was when he discovered that he really enjoyed coaching people. Almost Veered off a mountain Gregg tells the story of surviving an avalanche during a mountain climbing trip. He described a new sort of inner peace and gratitude for being alive. This inner peace helped Gregg see that so much of the little things in life that hold us back just don't matter. We discuss building structures in our life to help us cultivate this inner peace. Mystery School Learning the secrets of the universe through transformation experiences. 10 day retreat in Joshua Tree including a practice in native american shamanism. Dance and movement 5 rhythms dance shamanic trance dance ecstatic dance Links Warrior Mind Coaching

  7. Sep 14

    Verca Partikova: Kung Fu, PhD, and Life as a Traveling Fighter

    Veronika (Verca) Partikova is a kung fu and self-development (online) coach, World Champion, professional MMA fighter, speaker, and academic researcher.Driven by her passion for Kung Fu, she relocated alone to Hong Kong, where she lived for eight years. During that time, she earned a Ph.D. in Sports Psychology, taught coaching at a university, and shared her knowledge of kung fu with both locals and international students.In 2022, she moved to Thailand to pursue MMA training and turned professional at the age of 36. Alongside her fighting career, she remains an active academic researcher, presenting at international conferences and publishing papers on the connection between psychology and martial arts.She currently coaches kung fu online through her Kung Fu Scholars program, which blends traditional martial arts with modern training methods, including mobility, strength conditioning, and psychological tools. The program has attracted students from more than 15 countries across four continents. Veronika (Verca) Partikova Vroom Vroom Veer Show Summary This week's guest is Vercha Partykova of Kung Fu Academic (kungfuacademic.com), joining the show jet-lagged after a trip from a summer visiting family in the Czech Republic back to her home base in Phuket, Thailand. Verca teaches Hung Ga Kung Fu and self-development skills online, holds a PhD in sports psychology from Hong Kong, fights professionally in MMA and Muay Thai, and publishes academic research on the psychology of martial arts. It's a rare combination — as Jeff puts it, she's got "the whole package," Buckaroo Banzai style. Verca grew up in what was then Czechoslovakia (now Czechia), starting martial arts as a kid with karate and judo during an era when access to kung fu training was scarce behind the Iron Curtain — students traded bootleg VHS tapes and magazines just to catch a glimpse of the art. She wasn't drawn to fighting out of fear or trauma, the narrative often pinned on fighters; she loved it purely as a discipline, the way a "peaceful warrior" would. The conversation traces her winding path: a half-year exchange in Hong Kong that left her hungry for deeper training, a grueling stretch teaching English in a windowless tutorial center to earn her way back, and two years living in what amounted to a bed with walls around it — cockroaches included. She eventually formalized her training under her Sifu, Wong Sifu, through a traditional "baai si" ceremony (a kneeling, tea-and-red-envelope oath that bonds student to teacher for life), completed her PhD, and taught sports coaching at a Hong Kong university before COVID pushed her to sell everything and relocate to Thailand within a month to pursue MMA full time. She and Jeff dig into the difference between martial arts as "dance" (forms without real fighting experience) versus martial arts tested in live combat — and why she felt she needed real fight experience to responsibly coach others, even online. Roughly a third to half of her current students are ex-military, drawn to traditional styles after already having plenty of real-world combat experience. Verca also breaks down her coaching framework, the "Warrior Scholar," built on four pillars: practice (kung fu technique), body (health and longevity), mind (focus and emotional health), and direction (goals and daily habits). The back half of the episode turns personal, with Jeff and Verca comparing notes on sleep, meditation routines, and the "woo-woo" reputation of gratitude practices — Verca's take is that they're less about positivity and more about grounding yourself in process over outcome. Topics Covered Growing up doing martial arts in a closed-off, post-communist Czechoslovakia The move to Hong Kong, a rough early apartment, and the "baai si" master-student ceremony Earning a PhD in sports psychology while training and teaching The shift from academia into marketing, then into full-time online kung fu coaching Relocating to Thailand for MMA training during COVID Her professional MMA (1-2) and Muay Thai (4-1) fight records Traditional martial arts vs. combat-tested fighting ("dancing" vs. the real thing) Coaching ex-military students in traditional styles The "Warrior Scholar" framework: practice, body, mind, direction Sleep habits, meditation, and grounding practices for anxiety Connect with Verca Autumn mini-cohort (foundation course): September 21 – October 4 Website: kungfuacademic.com Search: Kung Fu Academic / Kung Fu Scholars Facebook: Kung Fu Academic Instagram: @VirtraKungFuAcademic YouTube: Kung Fu Academic

  8. Sep 7

    Eric Zimmer (BOV) – The One you Feed

    Eric Zimmer (BOV) is an inspiration to me.  Listening to his podcast is like free therapy that I didn't even know I needed...so for sure "best of" material.  This conversation goes to the darker places of life, but manages to walk back up the stairs into more light-hearted chat as well.  You might need some tissues, but  you will be laughing along the way. Eric has built companies for 15 years, and work in technology longer.  He led major software programs for Fortune 20 companies and he started his own Solar Energy company.   The most cool project Eric is rocking now is The One You Feed podcast, named "Best of iTunes" in 2014. Eric Zimmer (BOV) Vroom Vroom Veer Stories Eric pointed out that increasing the frequency of moving from Vroom to Veer...like daily is a worthy goal. In Eric Zimmer's experience, that longer the Vroom Vroom period, the more dramatic the VEER can become. The Tim Ferriss podcast Episode #2 included a chat about a martial artist who likes to win in "transition" between moves and holds. Eric Zimmer (BOV) Addiction to getting Sober 24 years old homeless, living in a van sleeping on a couch in the back of the van that he picked up out of a dumpster This went on for about 7 years of drinking and drugging. Eric was too numb and was seeking highs from drugs and drinking. Downward spiral of getting high, and feeling bad...trying to get sober. He was dying and headed for jail. One day he was arrested, lost his job, and his van and he didn't have anywhere else to go. So he checked in to re-hab... The treatment center suggested that he should do the 28-day treatment program...1st he said no... Later he changed his mind because he had a moment of clarity and knew he would die if he went back out into the world. The problem was his strategy of dealing with life. Eric Zimmer (BOV) Depression and Feeling bad Eric was thinkin "I don't like the way I feel, I want to feel different" and using drugs to feel different. Realizing that having a mood or feeling bad is ok and it's not an emergency. When in reactive, addicted mode, there is a feeling of panic when one feels bad..one feels compelled to take some action, be that a cigarette, sex, tv, food, drugs, beer what have you. Eric learned that emotions are not emergencies. If we are not so afraid of emotions we can just let them be. From Pema Chodron's book "getting unstuck" , "Shenpa" is like triggered into fight or flight mode. Some awareness will help you steer back to a better state. Did that detox Stick? Yes, but after a relapse.  He went and got high...then he went back to 28-day treatment. One day at a time, is the commitment in recovery. Book called "The tools" A concept of "exoneration"  The idea that the day will come where I have done what I needed to do and life will be easy moving forward.  Sort of wishing for a life without sadness or problems, but that will never be. He will have problems but we don't need to struggle so much. It's our resistance to problems that cause most of the pain and struggle. All the Rage Episode of One you feed talking with Michael Galinsky about the work of Dr. John Sarno Job to layoff He got a job at compuserve in customer service He got promoted into corporate training. AOL bought compuserve and Eric got laid off. Invested severance pay into some IT training and he got into internet start ups. This pattern of employment ending abruptly continued to the point where Eric started to welcome the changes. What happened in the Dark Hallway between Door? You act your way into right action Emotions can't be directly controlled. Thoughts and behavior can be directly controlled, emotions can only be influenced not directly controlled. He learned to keep going and have faith. Failing back into Addiction Eric took a trip on Hedonistic Treadmill and started drifting away from recovery after his 1st wife left him. He convinced himself that he could handle drinking. Over several years, he became a functional alcoholic. Then finally he went back to AA and stay sober for 8 years. Eric Zimmer (BOV) Links The one you feed podcast Subscribes, Ratings, Reviews = LOVE! :D

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About

A personal transformation podcast aimed mainly at GenX’rs who are burned out from the revved-up mindset that has driven them to where they are—both professionally and personally—and are searching for more fulfilling, authentic and meaningful ways to move forward. The show’s format is set up as lively conversations, storytelling and sharing of advice between host, Jeff Smith and his various guests—all of whom have had a unique and distinct experience of metaphorically shifting from “vrooming” to “veering” in how they’ve approached certain aspects of their lives. 

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