The Breakout Moment

Illumine8
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

The Breakout Moment is a sharp, 20-minute, case-study-driven podcast built for established B2B owners stuck in the “messy middle” — the stage where growth stalls, revenue plateaus, and systems start to strain. Each episode delivers practical, real-world strategies to help leaders push past ceilings and scale with intention. Hosted by Christina May, founder and CEO of Illumine8. ​ On this channel you will find: Real business case studies across marketing, sales, and RevOps Receipts that focus on the decisions and numbers behind growth “What You Can Steal” takeaways you can apply in your own business This is not startup hype or internet guru advice. The stories come from companies that look a lot like yours. Construction firms, manufacturers, distributors, and B2B service companies working through the challenges of growing from about $500k to several million in revenue.

  1. 4d ago

    TBM #27 | From Internships to Industry: Building the Future Workforce with Sarah Nichols

    The next generation of workers can't be trained overnight. And for industries facing the retirement of experienced employees, waiting until positions need to be filled may mean waiting too long. In this episode, Christina May talks with Sarah Nichols of Robert A. Aird Inc., a second-generation building-enclosure contractor, about the workforce challenges facing her industry and the importance of preparing for the future. With decades of knowledge and experience at risk of being lost, Sarah is focused on preserving that expertise while helping the next generation find its place in the industry. Sarah shares how early career exposure, hands-on experience, and internships can help young people discover opportunities they may never have considered. From welcoming high school students into the workplace to creating pathways for learning and development, her approach shows why businesses need to start building their future workforce before they have a hiring need. --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡  Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵  Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

  2. Sep 29

    TBM #26 | Say Yes, Then Figure It Out: The Entrepreneur’s Instinct

    The biggest opportunities in business don't always come with a plan. In this special compilation episode, Christina May revisits conversations with Tony Checchia, Mason Hale, Lacey Snyder, Brendan McCluskey, and Nick Molfino about the unexpected moments that shaped their entrepreneurial journeys. They share stories of finding a career they never planned for, turning a personal problem into a business, saying yes to a customer's unexpected request, starting a company without having all the resources in place, and building a business in just 32 days. From recognizing an opportunity hiding in plain sight to making a decision without knowing exactly how things will work out, these conversations reveal a common lesson: success isn't always about following the plan. It's about staying open to opportunity, trusting what you know, and being willing to take the next step.   --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen. Sponsored by:   🟡 Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵 Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

  3. Sep 22

    TBM #25 | Building a Team That Works: How Leaders Develop, Align, and Support Their People

    Building a strong team takes more than hiring the right people. In this special compilation episode, Christina May revisits conversations with Spencer Teel, Dondre Lawson, Jeff Schwartz, Denny Woolley, and Karen Barbour about what it takes to develop, align, and support people as a business grows. They share stories of changing the environment around a team, developing talent from within, making expectations visible, using healthy disagreement to make better decisions, and knowing when it is time to rebuild a team. From creating clearer paths for people to grow to recognizing when support has become enabling, these conversations reveal a common lesson: strong teams are built intentionally, and leadership means knowing what your people need to succeed. --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡  Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵  Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

  4. Sep 15

    TBM #24 | Bigger Doesn’t Mean Better: What Healthy Growth Actually Looks Like

    Growth is often measured by bigger numbers, but a growing business is not necessarily a stronger business. In this special compilation episode, Christina May revisits conversations with Mark Flavin, Spencer Teel, Lacey Snyder, Jeff Schwartz, and Shane Warren about what healthy growth looks like and what it takes to build a business that can handle it. They share stories of managing capacity, growing in a controlled way, expanding around customer needs, staying lean, and preparing for the challenges that come with scale. From making sure growth does not overwhelm people and operations to maintaining financial discipline when good years turn into bad ones, these conversations reveal a common lesson: healthy growth is about becoming stronger, not simply becoming bigger.   --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡  Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵  Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

  5. Sep 8

    TBM #23 | Beyond the Founder: Building a Business That Can Outlast You

    Some of the most important breakout moments happen when a business has to move beyond the person who built it. In this special compilation episode, Christina May revisits conversations with Tony Checchia, Spencer Teel, Nicole Elia, Aaron Shapiro, and Nick Molfino about succession, leadership, and what it takes to build a business that can continue without its founder. They share stories of creating a company with its own identity, giving people room to take ownership, developing a clear vision, handing off responsibilities, and preparing for unexpected changes in leadership. From gradually transferring responsibility to planning for the possibility that a founder may suddenly be unavailable, these conversations reveal a common lesson: building a lasting business means making sure the people, knowledge, and leadership needed to move it forward do not depend on one person.   --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡  Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵  Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

  6. Sep 1

    TBM #22 | Where Experience Meets Innovation with Denny Woolley

    Growth can create new opportunities, but it can also make a business more complicated than it needs to be. In this episode, Christina May sits down with Denny Woolley of Genesis AEC to talk about how the company has grown by building on what it already knows, listening to customers, and recognizing opportunities close to its core expertise. Denny shares how simplifying complex processes can help businesses move faster and control costs while still delivering what the customer needs. Christina and Denny also explore the role of healthy debate in finding better solutions, how Genesis draws on experience across thousands of projects, and why context and creativity remain important as businesses begin using AI in their work. At the heart of the conversation is a lesson that applies well beyond architecture, engineering, and construction: growth does not always require reinventing the business. Sometimes the next opportunity is already there in what you know, what your team can do, and what your customers need.   --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡 Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵 Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/ 🟢 Genesis AEC https://www.genesisaec.com/

  7. Aug 25

    TBM #21 | Failing Forward: The Mistakes Behind the Breakout Moments

    Some of the most important breakout moments start with something going wrong. In this special compilation episode, Christina May revisits conversations with Buddy Henley, Mason Hale, Terry Egley, Brett Snyder, Jeff Schwartz, and Aaron Shapiro about failure, mistakes, and the lessons that come from both. They share stories of plans that did not work, jobs lost, risks taken, mistakes owned, and the ways those experiences changed how they lead today. From learning what you can control to creating a culture where people feel safe admitting when something went wrong, these conversations reveal a common lesson: failure is not the opposite of progress. Sometimes, it is how you get there. --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡  Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵  Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

  8. Aug 18

    TBM #20 | Shane Warren on Resilience, Risk, and Building to Last

    In this episode, Christina May sits down with Shane Warren of Warren Builds Construction to talk about what happens when a business cycle turns against you. Shane shares how a major downturn left him carrying land, contracts, and financial obligations that took more than a decade to work through. He explains why facing difficult conversations directly, working out payment plans, and staying creative helped him keep moving forward. The experience also changed how he thinks about fixed expenses, cash on hand, and building a business that can adjust when conditions tighten. Christina and Shane dig into the balance between pessimistic, realistic, and optimistic thinking, and how scenario planning can help leaders prepare for what comes next. At the heart of the conversation is a lesson that applies far beyond construction: disciplined, consistent decisions can give a business more room to navigate hard seasons.   --------------------------------- ➕ Visit our Website: https://www.thebreakoutmoment.com/ ➕ Subscribe to The Breakout Moment Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreakoutMoment?sub_confirmation=1 ➕ Follow along on our Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Keep up with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebreakoutmoment/ ➕ Join us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/1bAtYvHmRz/?mibextid=wwXIfr   Hosted by Christina May. Produced by Stacey Holsinger. Edited by Marian Allen.   Sponsored by: 🟡  Illumine8 https://www.illumine8.com/ 🔵  Steel Toe Communications https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/

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Trailer

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

The Breakout Moment is a sharp, 20-minute, case-study-driven podcast built for established B2B owners stuck in the “messy middle” — the stage where growth stalls, revenue plateaus, and systems start to strain. Each episode delivers practical, real-world strategies to help leaders push past ceilings and scale with intention. Hosted by Christina May, founder and CEO of Illumine8. ​ On this channel you will find: Real business case studies across marketing, sales, and RevOps Receipts that focus on the decisions and numbers behind growth “What You Can Steal” takeaways you can apply in your own business This is not startup hype or internet guru advice. The stories come from companies that look a lot like yours. Construction firms, manufacturers, distributors, and B2B service companies working through the challenges of growing from about $500k to several million in revenue.

Information

  • Creator
    Illumine8
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Breakout Moment