The Branding Laboratory

Deevo Tindall
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Are you a CEO, entrepreneur, or solopreneur with a drive to build a distinctive brand that resonates with your audience? Are you an industry influencer who understands the importance of authenticity and compelling storytelling in shaping your digital footprint? The Business Branding Laboratory is the podcast for you! Every episode of The Branding Laboratory offers a blend of theory and practice, making complex branding strategies accessible and actionable. We delve into the essence of innovative leadership—unpacking how successful leaders integrate their personal values with their professional objectives to create compelling, authentic brands. Our discussions center around the vital role of creativity in leadership and the transformative power of genuine human connections. Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at https://thebrandstoryteller.com/podcast-applyhere/

  1. Aug 12

    She Got Sober Right Before Covid and Built a Business Out of It

    Christina Kimbrough got sober on February 6th, 2020, weeks before the world shut down. What could have been a devastating coincidence turned into the best possible timing, and what started as a small meetup with a friend eventually grew into Free Life, Hampton Roads' first fully nonalcoholic mobile bar and a community built entirely around the idea that connection does not require a drink in your hand. In this conversation on The Brand Lab, Christina and Deevo go deep on what alcohol was actually doing for her before she quit, how military spouse culture shaped her drinking, why sober does not mean boring, and the much larger conversation underneath all of it: why an entire generation is lonelier than any generation studied before it, and what that has to do with digital convenience, the death of third spaces, and social skills nobody was ever taught to maintain. What You'll Learn: How military spouse culture and undiagnosed ADHD shaped Christina's relationship with alcohol, and what getting sober right before Covid actually looked like.How a casual meetup with one friend grew to 500 people in five months, and became a fully bootstrapped nonalcoholic mobile bar business.Why Christina's tagline, deep connections without alcohol, is really about community first and sobriety second.The concept of micro tears in the social fabric, and how Uber, DoorDash, and digital convenience have quietly eroded the muscle of relying on other people.Why sensitivity and the need to feel seen became the engine behind Christina's entire business, and how that shows up in her Staying in the Room workshop.The real difference between conscious listening and waiting for your turn to talk, and why most conversations fail before they even start. About Christina Kimbrough: Christina Kimbrough is the founder and CEO of Free Life, a social enterprise based in Hampton Roads, Virginia, reimagining how people gather through elevated, alcohol-free experiences. She is six years sober and openly shares her journey through addiction, mental health, and recovery to help break stigma and reduce isolation. She leads workshops including Storytelling That Sells and Staying in the Room, and has spoken at Brown University and Tidewater Community College. She is an active-duty military spouse based in Hampton Roads, Virginia. 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Cold open: how a small idea grew into something big 01:19 — Welcome to The Brand Lab 02:12 — Introducing Christina Kimbrough and Free Life 06:55 — The military spouse culture and how her drinking began 08:54 — Childhood, faith, and why alcohol was never present growing up 10:23 — What alcohol actually did for her: loneliness, undiagnosed ADHD, and trauma 12:03 — Getting sober February 6th, 2020, weeks before Covid 14:02 — We are all enough as we are: unpacking the core belief 16:06 — How Free Life started: a meetup that grew to 500 people 17:12 — The nonalcoholic mobile bar: from pitch competition to real business 20:04 — The stigma of loneliness, and why we are living in one of the loneliest periods on record 25:52 — The theory on women, the workforce, and the changing shape of the family 32:36 — The overconsumption of technology and the digital convenience economy 36:27 — Feeling unseen as a child, and how that became the engine behind Free Life 44:04 — Staying in the room: teaching people how to actually listen 48:53 — The membership debate: why Christina keeps some events free 50:39 — Closing thoughts and where to find Christina Connect with Christina Kimbrough: http://www.freelifellc.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinagraw/ http://www.instagram.com/ckimbrough1 About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Our host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    She Got Sober Right Before Covid and Built a Business Out of It

  2. Aug 5

    Your Values Are Not What You Say. They Are What You Repeat.

    Bobby Humes spent ten years as an Army combat veteran, then went on to serve as Chief HR Officer for the City of Seattle, before founding BH Consultancy to help executives, senior leaders, and public sector teams build cultures where people can actually contribute. This conversation on The Brand Lab covers what misalignment looks like in a leader long before anyone names it, why executive presence is a commodity that lives in someone else's mind and not just your own, and the specific mechanics of turning aspirational values into behaviors that actually hold up under pressure. Bobby and Deevo trade metaphors for an hour, from double Dutch to roller coasters to Braveheart, but underneath the color is a genuinely rigorous framework for diagnosing bad leadership, confronting toxic political alliances inside organizations, and understanding why self-awareness without action is just a more sophisticated excuse. What You'll Learn: What a misaligned leader actually looks like, and why it so often goes undiagnosed until burnout is already underway.The double Dutch metaphor for leadership: knowing when to walk in front, when to walk behind, and how to read that tension in real time.Three patterns of bad leadership Bobby has witnessed directly: the pet peeve collector, the traffic light who bottlenecks every decision, and the leader who cannot make a hard call.How to translate aspirational values into measurable behaviors, performance targets, and actual resource allocation instead of a poster on a wall.Bobby's method for confronting toxic political alliances and misplaced people inside an organization, using inquiry instead of accusation.Why self-awareness without action is a crutch, and what a real kitchen cabinet of 5 to 7 truth-tellers actually looks like. About Bobby Humes: Bobby Humes is an executive coach, leadership strategist, and founder of BH Consultancy, based in Tacoma, Washington. He served ten years in the United States Army as a combat veteran before leading human resources at the organizational level, including a term as Chief HR Officer for the City of Seattle. He holds a master's degree in human resource management and an executive coaching certification from the Hudson Institute of Coaching. His upcoming book, The Table, explores trust-centered leadership and what it actually takes to build cultures where people can contribute and belong. 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Welcome to The Brand Lab and introducing episode 102 02:18 — Introducing Bobby Humes 03:52 — The public sector as a place of innovation, not red tape 06:24 — What a misaligned leader actually looks like 08:27 — From jerk sergeant to leading from behind: a learned behavior 09:43 — The double Dutch metaphor: when to lead from front, when from behind 12:07 — Leadership as a roller coaster 12:45 — Three patterns of bad leadership: pet peeves, traffic lights, and indecision 15:56 — Deevo's executive bathroom story 20:28 — Translating aspirational values into measurable culture 24:02 — Values are revealed by repetition, not intention 26:15 — Getting full culture buy-in: message it 77 times, 77 ways 28:01 — Confronting rogue operators and political dissidence inside organizations 32:19 — The DEI misconception, and the difference between DEI and affirmative action 36:25 — Toxic political alliances and the wrong people in the wrong positions 41:04 — The hug, heart, or hand model for delivering feedback 46:11 — Self-awareness as a crutch vs. self-awareness as action 46:54 — The kitchen cabinet: 5 to 7 people who tell you what you need to hear 48:05 — Never arrived vs. you are already here: the debate 51:07 — Closing thoughts and where to find Bobby Connect with Bobby Humes: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachbobby Website: https://www.bhconsultants.co/ About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    Your Values Are Not What You Say. They Are What You Repeat.

  3. Jul 29

    He Went from West Point to Burnout to Building a Business That Finally Fit

    Blaz Marolt spent his career being the person who could see the system behind everything: West Point, Army Ranger School, manufacturing plants, regional operations across eight countries, and the chief of staff seat inside a company that grew from six to seven figures. Then in 2023, a new boss put his entire team on a performance improvement plan to force higher output, 80% of the team quit, and Blaz ended up on six months of sick leave, unable to function. This conversation on The Brand Lab includes a moment you do not usually get to see on a podcast: Deevo stops Blaz mid-pitch and coaches him, live, through refining his own positioning as a fractional COO. From there, the conversation moves into the identity crisis that followed his burnout, why everyone around him insisted he would make a great coach when it was the wrong fit entirely, and the full-body alignment he finally found once he stopped listening to what he was good at and started listening to what he actually wanted. What You'll Learn: Why Blaz rejects the term coach entirely, and how his positioning as a fractional COO for coaches and consultants got sharper in real time during this conversation.What happened in 2023 when a new boss put an entire high-performing team on a performance improvement plan, and why 80% of them quit.The difference between being good at something and being aligned with it, and why Blaz spent a year building a coaching business he never actually wanted.How childhood trauma shaped Blaz’s relationship with structure, and why the military became the first stable system he ever experienced.The Jungian principle that until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.Why Blaz decided his legacy is talking openly about mental health, and what changed in his relationships once he stopped maintaining friendships that no longer fit. About Blaz Marolt: Blaz Marolt is a West Point graduate and US Army Ranger School alum who spent five years in the Slovenian military before transitioning into manufacturing operations, IT consulting, and regional operations leadership across eight countries. He later served as chief of staff for a coaching company that grew from six to seven figures. He now works as a fractional COO and operations strategist, helping coaches and consultants streamline their back-end operations so they can stay in their zone of genius. He is based in Slovenia. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Cold open: were you always this way, or was it learned 00:39 — Welcome to The Brand Lab 01:11 — Introducing Blaz Marolt and his background 05:07 — From Slovenia to West Point: how an international cadet gets there 12:32 — The career arc: manufacturing, IT consulting, food delivery, coaching company 13:28 — Blaz's 30-second pitch, and Deevo stops him mid-sentence 19:27 — Refining the positioning live: from do everything to a clear zone of genius 20:17 — Childhood trauma, instability, and why the military became home 26:46 — Vision vs. strategy: the macro and the micro 38:06 — The burnout: 2023, the new boss, and the performance improvement plan 41:20 — Six months on sick leave and the road back 45:09 — 2024 into 2025: the identity crisis and the retreat inward 48:14 — The full-body alignment moment: choosing fractional COO over coaching 49:25 — Who is Blaz: working to live instead of living to work 50:45 — His legacy: talking openly about mental health 52:08 — How his community shifted once he stopped forcing misaligned relationships 54:57 — What working with Blaz actually looks like: audit, fit, and walking away 1:00:18 — The outcome: lower costs, more clients, an optimized customer journey 1:01:21 — Closing thoughts and where to find Blaz Connect with Blaz Marolt: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blazmarolt/ About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    He Went from West Point to Burnout to Building a Business That Finally Fit

  4. Jul 22

    She Controlled the Story for 33 Years. Cancer Changed That

    For 33 years, Charlene Wheeless was the person companies called when everything was on fire. She ran global communications for businesses worth up to $40 billion, walked more than a dozen mergers to the other side, and rebuilt brands until the market paid a premium to believe in them. She controlled the story for everyone else. Then she was diagnosed with two different cancers within six months of each other, and her body wrote a story she could not spin. This is episode 100 of The Brand Lab, and it is dedicated to anyone who has been asking the hard questions but has not yet taken the time to listen to the answer. Charlene is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and cancer survivor. Her framework, choice not chance, was forged at 12 years old and did not fully take hold until three decades later, in the middle of a cancer treatment that forced her to ask who she actually was underneath a lifetime of performance. What You'll Learn: 1: The moment at 12 years old that Charlene taught people would define her if she did not define herself first, and why that lesson took 40 years to fully learn. 2: Why she believes the emotional death that comes from losing your identity can be more disorienting than the physical death cancer threatens. 3: The difference between being a culture fit and being a culture contributor, and why chasing the former cost her more than she realized. 4: Why she believes some of the most insecure people in the world are sitting at the top of the corporate ladder. 5: The distinction between being a trailblazer and being a rebel, and why the difference matters more than it sounds. 6: What she regrets most about how she showed her daughters strength during treatment, and what she would do differently. About Charlene Wheeless: Charlene Wheeless spent 33 years in corporate communications, running global communications strategy for businesses worth up to $40 billion and guiding more than a dozen mergers through to completion. After surviving two cancers diagnosed within six months of each other, she left corporate to become a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. Her framework, choice not chance, now guides C-suite leaders and executives who are ready to stop running their lives on default. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Cold open: the epiphany that came with cancer 00:35 — Welcome to The Brand Lab 01:07 — Introducing Charlene Wheeless and episode 100 02:40 — Choice over chance: the system born from crisis 06:01 — Charlene introduces her work: coaching C-suite leaders 07:15 — It is not that you ran out of energy, it is what the energy was spent on 08:02 — The question Charlene asks every client before they climb the next rung 10:32 — Can authenticity coexist with financial greatness? 12:38 — Culture fit vs. culture contributor 12:56 — The epiphany: two cancers in six months 16:09 — I don't have it in me anymore: the nervous breakdown moment 17:03 — The mental aspect of cancer nobody talks about 23:04 — Why does it take pain to wake us up? 24:32 — Age 12: the cheerleading tryout that started everything 26:14 — Her first moment of choice, not chance 30:19 — Charlene today vs. Charlene at her corporate peak 38:33 — Branding yourself after 33 years of building other people's brands 43:24 — Trailblazer vs. rebel: the distinction that matters 44:42 — What it feels like to be the only Black woman in the room 58:11 — Why men are in crisis too: a conversation on masculine and feminine energy 1:11:23 — Hot Seat Round: regrets, billionaire disease, and her 30-year-old self 1:20:39 — Closing thoughts and where to find Charlene Connect with Charlene Wheeless: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenewheeless/ Website: https://charlenewheeless.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charwheeless/ About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    She Controlled the Story for 33 Years. Cancer Changed That

  5. Jul 15

    Why Creativity Without Structure Never Makes It to the World

    A widget is a widget. That is how Latif Hamilton describes the fundamentals of building a business, whether you are selling faux fur coats or bags of chips. But underneath that simple line is a much deeper argument about the tension between creativity and operations, and why most founders eventually lean too hard into one side and wonder why nothing is working. Latif is the founder of Spirithoods, a lifestyle brand he built over 15 years into a company doing more than $50 million in revenue, with appearances on Shark Tank and CNBC along the way. He is now also running The Growth Operative, a consultancy helping other founders navigate the same tension he spent over a decade learning to manage. In this conversation on The Brand Lab, Latif and Deevo go deep on the infinity loop between creativity and structure, the spiritual dimension of entrepreneurship, and the six-year autoimmune journey that forced Latif to unlearn the hustle patterns that had gotten him this far in the first place. What You'll Learn: 1: The infinity loop framework: why too much slack between creativity and operations causes disruption, and too much tension breaks the whole system. 2: Why the fundamentals of building any product-based business are the same, whether you are selling faux fur coats, chairs, or bags of chips. 3: How to build a perpetual feedback loop, both internally between your own creative and operational modes, and externally with your customers. 4: Why saying we instead of I reduces ego and completely changes how you see your own company. 5: The six-year autoimmune condition that forced Latif to unlearn the hammer-to-everything mentality that built his first $50 million. 6: Why entrepreneurship is spiritual work, and what attachment theory has to do with how you run a business. About Latif Hamilton: Latif Hamilton is a creative entrepreneur and the founder of Spirithoods, a lifestyle brand he built over 15 years into a company generating more than $50 million in revenue, with appearances on Shark Tank and CNBC. He is also the founder of The Growth Operative, a consultancy helping brands across fashion, e-commerce, and general consumer categories navigate the balance between creative vision and operational structure. He writes on Substack under his own name, covering the psychology of entrepreneurship and practical business fundamentals. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Cold open and pre-show conversation 06:00 — Welcome to The Brand Lab and introducing Latif Hamilton 10:00 — Latif's 30-second elevator pitch: Spirithoods and The Growth Operative 13:00 — A widget is a widget: the inherent qualities of every business build 15:00 — The infinity loop: the tension between creativity and operations 17:00 — Why the least expensive campaigns often perform the best 18:00 — The photography kit analogy: simplification over accumulation 19:00 — Where the balance actually was at Spirithoods: partners, exits, and hard lessons 22:00 — Why you need an opposing perspective, not just a like-minded one 25:00 — Entrepreneurship as a spiritual journey and the necessity of listening 27:00 — Getting in the trenches: festivals, celebrities, and understanding your real customer 31:00 — The perpetual feedback loop: internal and external 36:00 — The creative client who fears systems, and how structure actually protects creativity 40:00 — Aiming your creativity: structure as a compass, not a cage 44:00 — The godmother's wisdom: a human being can get used to anything 45:00 — Identity, attachment theory, and why Latif changed his own name 52:00 — The rollercoaster of entrepreneurship and learning to step off it 55:00 — The six-year autoimmune journey and unlearning the hammer 58:00 — Cycles, seasons, and why the down years are not the enemy 1:01:00 — Alignment, flowing like water, and why business school never teaches this 1:02:00 — De-dollarization, recession signals, and where Latif sees the economy heading 1:04:00 — Market share opportunity: what happens when your biggest competitor goes bankrupt 1:07:00 — Hot Seat Round: results vs. being right, structure vs. creativity, and more 1:09:00 — Closing thoughts and where to find Latif Connect with Latif Hamilton: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latifhamilton/ Website: spirithoods.com About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    Why Creativity Without Structure Never Makes It to the World

  6. Jul 8

    Why Your Net Worth Is Actually Your Network | Jaclyn Strominger

    Most people think success comes from working harder. Jaclyn Strominger has spent years working with CEOs and founders who prove otherwise. Success, in her framework, is not the result of grinding through more hours. It is the result of persistent alignment: small, consistent, daily actions pointed at a vision that is actually clear. Jaclyn is the founder of Leap to Your Success, where she works with entrepreneurs and professionals on clarity, leadership, and the practical execution most people skip past on their way to the next strategy session. In this conversation on The Brand Lab, she and Deevo dig into relationship capital, the daily habits that actually move a business forward, why most people lie to themselves about what they are avoiding, and the personal insecurities Jaclyn had to work through before she could build the deep relationships her entire framework now depends on. What You'll Learn: 1: Why unstoppable success is never random, and what daily consistent actions focused on a clear direction actually look like in practice. 2: The MMA method, measure, monitor, adjust, borrowed directly from direct marketing and applied to personal and business growth. 3: Relationship capital: why your net worth can be defined by your network, and how to build relationships that are not transactional. 4: The LEAP framework, Leverage, Energy, Action, Performance, and how Jaclyn uses it to help clients find the specific levers that are limiting their growth. 5: Why Jaclyn was once terrified to build deep relationships, and the specific, uncomfortable daily practice that got her past it. 6: Why people lie to themselves about fear, discomfort, and the actions they are avoiding, and how to actually catch yourself doing it. About Jaclyn Strominger: Jaclyn Strominger is the founder of Leap to Your Success, a certified professional coach and master practitioner in energy leadership. She works with entrepreneurs, CEOs, and professionals on clarity, leadership, and execution, helping them move from stuck and overthinking into focused momentum. Her background spans consumer marketing, magazine publishing, direct sales, and recruiting before she transitioned into coaching. She is based in the United States and is active on LinkedIn. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Cold open: success is not about working harder 01:00 — Welcome to The Brand Lab and introducing Jaclyn Strominger 03:00 — Meeting in Tampa: workshops, mastermind rooms, and why smaller rooms build bigger impact 09:00 — 30 seconds or less: who Jaclyn is and what she does 10:00 — Unstoppable success is not random: daily consistent actions and the 90-day sprint 11:00 — The MMA method: measure, monitor, adjust, borrowed from direct marketing 12:00 — Success equals persistent alignment: what clients are actually missing 14:00 — Jaclyn's journey: magazine publishing, direct sales, recruiting, and becoming a coach 17:00 — Why we can't see ourselves clearly, and why everyone needs a coach 19:00 — AI, doctors, and adapting to new tools without losing the human element 22:00 — Strategy vs. daily habits: which one actually drives growth 23:00 — Relationship capital: why your net worth is defined by your network 27:00 — Why people lie to themselves about fear and discomfort 29:00 — What clarity actually means: the life wheel, top five values, and the vision behind the vision 32:00 — Finding your levers: what they are and how to activate them 37:00 — The LEAP framework: Leverage, Energy, Action, Performance 40:00 — Who Jaclyn is deep down: overcoming insecurities about deep relationships 45:00 — The Dale Carnegie course and the daily discomfort practice that changed everything 47:00 — Jaclyn's ideal client: the plateau, the hamster wheel, and forgetting your own vision 50:00 — What actually changes for clients: altering the trajectory 51:00 — Hot Seat Round: results vs. being right, clarity vs. momentum, control vs. trust 52:00 — Closing thoughts and where to find Jaclyn Connect with Jaclyn Strominger: Website: https://leaptoyoursuccess.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstrominger/ About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week.Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    Why Your Net Worth Is Actually Your Network | Jaclyn Strominger

  7. Jul 1

    Why Your Best Clients Are the Ones Nobody Else Wants to Train

    Anthony Moreno built his personal training business around a simple and unflattering label: the undesirables. The aging population. The people with chronic illness, old injuries, and no interest in the gym culture that was built for someone half their age. While every other trainer chased the young, the fit, and the photogenic, Anthony chased the overlooked. And in doing so, he built one of the most loyal, financially stable client bases in his market. In this conversation on The Brand Lab, Anthony and Deevo go deep on the philosophy underneath the business: why personal training is really about buying a friend, why the fitness industry is built around the wrong demographic, what it actually takes to step into entrepreneurship for real, and how Anthony is now transitioning from gym owner to personal brand and consultant for trainers who want to build businesses around people rather than metrics. What You'll Learn: 1: Why Anthony calls his clients the undesirables, and why that demographic has more loyalty, more money, and more longevity than the clients every other trainer is chasing. 2: The friendship theory of personal training: why the emotional and psychological component of fitness is 90% of the work, and what that means for how you run sessions. 3: The get slapped in the mouth test for entrepreneurship, and why Anthony thinks most people want to be an entrepreneur in theory but have never actually tasted the blood. 4: How Anthony went from British Army and Air Force to personal trainer to gym owner, and the specific moment he realized he was making money for everyone but himself. 5: Why find your why is only half the equation, and what comes before it that most people skip entirely. 6: What Anthony is building next: a personal brand and consulting platform that teaches trainers how to build businesses around people, not egos. About Anthony Moreno: Anthony Moreno is the founder of Boutique Personal Training and operator of the Fusion House, a boutique fitness facility in Westchester, New York. He served four years in the British Army Reserve and four years in the US Air Force as a firefighter before building a career in fitness. His clientele skews 50-plus, with a 2000 square foot facility designed for openness, safety, and the kind of culture where everybody knows your name. He is currently transitioning into a personal brand and coaching platform for fitness professionals. He also has a book in progress and businesses in apparel and vending. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Cold open: personal training is really about buying a friend 01:00 — How do you build bigger without losing what made it work 03:30 — Introducing Anthony Moreno and his approach to the undesirables 06:00 — Why Anthony chose the aging and injured population nobody else wanted 08:00 — The business case: who actually has the money, the time, and the longevity 09:00 — Why boutique personal training still says boutique instead of 50-plus 12:00 — What the gym looks like: open floor plan, no intimidation, Cheers culture 15:00 — The inflection point: from gym owner and trainer to owner only 17:00 — Apparel, vending, coaching: Anthony's other businesses 18:00 — British Army, Air Force firefighter, and the two-choice moment coming to the US 20:00 — How Anthony made the leap without going cold turkey 21:00 — Advice to any entrepreneur: get slapped in the mouth first 23:00 — Why instead of find your why, find out what you are willing to keep doing anyway 26:00 — Henry, Julie, and the Christmas party moment that changed everything 30:00 — Why the fitness industry ignores the elderly and what that costs everyone 31:00 — Personal training is buying a friend: the emotional truth behind the business 36:00 — Validation, visibility, and why most aging clients just need to be seen 40:00 — Advice to trainers who are struggling right now 44:00 — What Anthony is building next: from gym to personal brand and consulting 47:00 — What Anthony wants to be known for in two years: author first 49:00 — The market shift: what 50 looks like now vs the Golden Girls era 54:00 — Final thoughts and where to find Anthony Connect with Anthony Moreno: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthonymorenocoaching/ Website: https://www.boutiquepersonaltraining.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-moreno-707a288b/ About The Brand Lab: The Brand Lab is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    Why Your Best Clients Are the Ones Nobody Else Wants to Train

  8. Jun 24

    Your Nervous System Is the Ceiling on Your Business Growth | Doug Bertram

    Most founders treat stress as something to endure. Doug Bertram treats it as the primary mechanism through which the body and the business grow. The question is never whether to take on stress. The question is whether you are integrating it in real time or letting it accumulate until something breaks. Doug is the founder of Structural Elements®, a company building a national franchise network of orthopedic wellness centers focused on preventative orthopedics and movement-based therapy. He has been working with the body for 32 years. He attended a Buddhist college, studied Chinese medicine, has run Ironmans and 100-mile races, and is simultaneously working on three books. In this conversation on The Brand Lab, he applies everything he knows about the nervous system to the specific challenges of building a company: the bottleneck problem, the threat versus non-threat misdiagnosis, and why your growth potential is limited by exactly one thing. What You'll Learn: 1: Why the body is constantly asking one primary question, and how the answer to that question determines whether you are building capacity or breaking down. 2: The difference between calibrated stress and accumulated stress, and what that distinction means for founders who treat grinding as a virtue. 3: Somatic literacy: what it is, why most people have never developed it, and how it becomes the foundation for every other performance practice. 4: The Extreme Center: Doug's framework for real-time integration as a strategy, and why the middle path is a strategy of avoidance that fails in today's world. 5: Why your nervous system is the actual ceiling on your company's growth, and what distributing load looks like in practice before you hit the bottleneck. 6: The story of Harvey Sweetland Lewis III, a schoolteacher who ran close to 500 miles straight, and what his body demonstrates about how little we have actually tested our own capacity. About Doug Bertram: Doug Bertram is the founder and CEO of Structural Elements®, a national franchise network of orthopaedic wellness centers built around preventative orthopaedics, movement-based therapy, and nervous system regulation. He has 32 years of hands-on clinical experience, a background in Chinese medicine and Eastern philosophy, and a book project called Living at the Extreme Center currently in development. He is based in the United States and can be reached directly at https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-bertram-3bb35312/ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Cold open: stress is how the body forces adaptation 01:30 — Welcome to The Brand Lab and introducing Doug Bertram 03:00 — What is Structural Elements and why preventative orthopedics matters 05:00 — Somatic literacy: what it is and why most people have never developed it 07:00 — The autonomic nervous system: sympathetic vs. parasympathetic explained 09:00 — The body's primary question: am I safe? 11:00 — How posture and alignment affect nervous system regulation 13:00 — Establishing a baseline: Doug's 12-year-old daughter and the alignment test 15:00 — Connective tissue, stress, and what happens when you stay in sympathetic too long 17:00 — Calibrated stress vs. accumulated stress for entrepreneurs 19:00 — Your nervous system is the ceiling on your company growth 20:00 — The Extreme Center: real-time integration as a business strategy 22:00 — Wu Wei, the middle path, and why avoidance fails in modern life 24:00 — The skiing analogy: absorbing force vs. fighting it 25:00 — Doug's origin story: broken wrist at 14, physical therapy, 32 years at the table 26:00 — What happened when Doug became a CEO: stress accumulated despite the expertise 28:00 — Modeling a healthy lifestyle as the face of a wellness brand 30:00 — Deevo's daughter and misinterpreting threat: practical tools for triage 32:00 — How to stop projecting a story that is not true 34:00 — The breath as the always-available intervention 35:00 — The Structural Elements franchise model and solving access to quality care 39:00 — Undercapitalised and scrappy: what limited capital forces you to learn 42:00 — The challenges of building a new model in a traditional industry 45:00 — The longevity conversation and why orthopedics belongs at the center of it 48:00 — Harvey Sweetland Lewis III: 500 miles straight and what the body is actually capable of 50:00 — Closing thoughts: we have not even scratched the surface of our capacity Connect with Doug Bertram: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-bertram-3bb35312/ Website: https://structuralelements.com/ About The Branding Laboratory: The Branding Laboratory is a thinking room for founders and leaders who are building something real. Host Deevo explores the intersection of identity, positioning, and strategy with people who have already done the work and are still doing it. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation worth having.

    Your Nervous System Is the Ceiling on Your Business Growth | Doug Bertram
See All (103)

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Are you a CEO, entrepreneur, or solopreneur with a drive to build a distinctive brand that resonates with your audience? Are you an industry influencer who understands the importance of authenticity and compelling storytelling in shaping your digital footprint? The Business Branding Laboratory is the podcast for you! Every episode of The Branding Laboratory offers a blend of theory and practice, making complex branding strategies accessible and actionable. We delve into the essence of innovative leadership—unpacking how successful leaders integrate their personal values with their professional objectives to create compelling, authentic brands. Our discussions center around the vital role of creativity in leadership and the transformative power of genuine human connections. Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at https://thebrandstoryteller.com/podcast-applyhere/

Information

  • Creator
    Deevo Tindall
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    103
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Deevo Tindall
  • Show Website
    The Branding Laboratory