Class of Business

Wisdom
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Business
  • Updated Daily

Class of Business is the show for anyone who wants to understand how modern business really works—without the jargon, the fluff, or the boring lectures. Each episode breaks down real strategies, real stories, and real challenges from founders, creators, and builders who are figuring it out in the real world. If you’re building a business, growing a brand, or trying to turn your ideas into something that pays the bills, this is your weekly masterclass. Straight talk. Sharp insights. Zero intimidation. Come learn the lessons nobody teaches but everyone needs.

  1. 2d ago

    How Radical Transparency Wins in Luxury Jewelry Business—Troy Perkins | Ep 25

    If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like behind the scenes in the world of estate jewelry, this conversation is for you. Troy Perkins, founder of Platinum 1911, shares how he went from no industry knowledge to building a seven-figure operation handling high-value assets. You’ll pick up how trust and transparency work in a business fueled by reputation, the misconceptions around jewelry as investment, how to handle inherited assets, and the hard truths about starting a capital-intensive business. We also get into systemizing something as subjective as appraisals and why hard work still beats any shortcut. Tune in for grounded advice and stories that might make you look twice at your next jewelry purchase. Connect With Troy PerkinsWebsite: https://www.platinum1911.com/Instagram: https://instagram.com/platinum.1911 If Class of Business speaks to you, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, leaving a review helps more people discover the conversations shared here. Your support truly means a lot.There's more to every story than what you hear on the episode. Join the Class of Business newsletter to receive thoughtful takeaways, episode extras, and personal notes that don't make it into the show. It's a quiet way to stay sharp between listens. Sign up here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Chapters00:00 What It Takes To Build A Business00:23 Meet Troy Perkins—Estate Jewelry Expert01:21 From Personal Trainer To Jewelry Sales02:30 Getting A Mentor And Entering Estate Jewelry03:34 Building Trust In A High-Stakes Industry05:09 The Truth About Jewelry As Investment06:43 Why Tangible Assets Still Matter08:33 Gold, Poverty, And Wealth-Building Myths09:47 Making Subjective Appraisals Systematic10:37 Navigating Misinformation In Jewelry12:00 Common Mistakes Selling And Buying Jewelry13:29 Lessons From The British Crown Jewels14:09 First Steps With Inherited Jewelry15:02 Reducing Estate Taxes On Valuables16:25 How Third-Party Labs Build Trust18:16 Scaling Without Sacrificing Ethics19:12 Going Solo—Leaving A Safe Paycheck20:23 Founders In Trust-Sensitive Industries21:07 The Realities Of The Jewelry Business22:15 Advice To New Entrepreneurs22:43 Use Technology To Solve Real Needs23:30 Where To Find Troy And Platinum 1911

  2. 3d ago

    How Publicity Really Builds a Business—Jill Lublin | Ep 24

    If you’ve ever wondered how to get your name out there without emptying your wallet on advertising, you’re in the right place. This episode features Jill Lublin, a renowned publicity expert and bestselling author who’s helped thousands boost their visibility and credibility. You’ll pick up a simple messaging framework, learn the clear difference between publicity and advertising, and hear hands-on tips for tracking results and getting started—even if you only have 30 minutes a week. We also get into how to position yourself as an expert and the underrated habits that lead to more real opportunities. Tune in to rethink what it takes to truly get noticed and grow your business. Connect With Jill LublinWebsite: https://jilllublin.com/start If Class of Business speaks to you, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, leaving a review helps more people discover the conversations shared here. Your support truly means a lot.There's more to every story than what you hear on the episode. Join the Class of Business newsletter to receive thoughtful takeaways, episode extras, and personal notes that don't make it into the show. It's a quiet way to stay sharp between listens. Sign up here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Chapters00:00 Breaking Down Real-World Publicity01:06 What Is PR Today?01:42 Biggest Publicity Misconceptions02:37 When to Start with Media03:17 Messaging That Moves the Market04:00 The “Problem Today” Formula04:23 Sample Business Message05:15 Soundbite Messaging in Practice05:31 Impact, Influence, and the “Heard of You” Effect06:13 Who’s Actually an Expert?07:20 Positioning Yourself as a Thought Leader07:49 Frameworks to Get Noticed08:18 Most Overlooked Networking Habit08:38 Conversation-Ready Messaging09:05 Can Publicity Actually Be Free?10:05 Publicity vs Advertising11:29 Practical Publicity Systems12:15 Measuring ROI on Publicity13:10 Publicity That Turns into Sales14:03 Tracking Media Results14:47 Thirty-Minute Publicity Habits15:28 Fast Action Steps for Getting Known15:38 Next Steps with Jill16:56 Wrapping Up and Takeaways

  3. 3d ago

    How Leaders Grow from Surviving to Thriving—Dr. Dorothy Martin Neville | Ep 23

    If you've ever wondered what truly changes when a founder needs to lead a bigger, more complex company, this conversation will give you a front-row seat. Dr. Dorothy Martin Neville brings a unique blend of science, psychotherapy, and executive coaching to unpack the internal shifts essential for leadership growth. You'll pick up practical ways to move from surviving to thriving as a leader, the common pitfalls that trip up founders, and how to build culture and teams as your business scales. We also get into why skill and identity are both critical, and why believing you can do everything alone quietly sabotages success. Plus, hear Dorothy's own journey from an orphanage to leading six organizations. Tune in for honest stories and insights you can actually use. Connect With Dr. Dorothy Martin NevilleWebsite: https://askdrdorothy.com/ If Class of Business speaks to you, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, leaving a review helps more people discover the conversations shared here. Your support truly means a lot.There's more to every story than what you hear on the episode. Join the Class of Business newsletter to receive thoughtful takeaways, episode extras, and personal notes that don't make it into the show. It's a quiet way to stay sharp between listens. Sign up here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Chapters00:00 The Journey That Shaped Dorothy00:45 Leadership From the Inside Out01:18 Why Leaders Must Evolve02:28 From Entrepreneur to Visionary03:26 When the Founder Doesn’t Grow04:32 Company Culture and Its Risks05:05 Lacking a Long-Term Vision05:56 Identity Versus Skill in Leadership07:00 Training Your Downline Well07:13 The Skills People Mistake for Leadership07:45 When to Hire a CEO08:40 Knowing Your Strengths—and Gaps09:30 The Power of Building the Right Team10:33 You Can’t Do Everything11:18 Survivor vs. Thriving Leadership11:48 Becoming a Servant Leader12:50 When and How to Let People Go13:08 If You’re Stuck, Ask This14:10 The Importance of Constant Vision15:07 Facing Unexpected Challenges15:41 Growth, Looking Back After a Year16:37 Lightning Round on Leadership17:28 Final Advice and Staying Connected17:53 Simple Actions After the Episode

  4. 4d ago

    How Relationship-Driven Leverage Builds Business Freedom—Jaben Makings | Ep 22

    If you’ve ever wondered why building your own business sometimes just feels like owning a very busy job, you’re not alone. Real estate investor Jaben Makings joins to share how he flipped the traditional wholesale model, prioritizing partnerships and systems over just chasing paychecks. You’ll pick up the difference between income and true leverage, how to build a team without losing your sanity, and simple ways to tell if you’re stuck in the grind. We also get into the power of accountability and why taking action beats overthinking. Plus, some practical automation insights for any founder. Tune in for real talk on making your work work for you. Connect With Jaben MakingsWebsite: https://onnixinvestments.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/jaben.makings If Class of Business speaks to you, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, leaving a review helps more people discover the conversations shared here. Your support truly means a lot. There's more to every story than what you hear on the episode. Join the Class of Business newsletter to receive thoughtful takeaways, episode extras, and personal notes that don't make it into the show. It's a quiet way to stay sharp between listens. Sign up here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Chapters 00:00 Building Beyond a Job00:39 Escaping the High-Paying Trap01:07 Income Versus Leverage02:01 The Moment Money Isn’t Freedom02:12 Hiring for Real Freedom02:56 Management and Milestones03:18 Breaking Down Real Estate Wholesaling03:29 Rethinking Acquisitions and Dispositions04:06 Partnering With Agents, Not Owners04:51 The Power of Business Focus05:35 Why Relationships Scale Better Than Ads05:58 Building a Systematic Foundation06:31 Agents as Deal-Multipliers07:19 Knowing When You’re Stuck07:30 Most People Quit Too Soon08:26 Pushing Through Business Roadblocks09:12 Early Leverage Before a Team09:27 First Hires and Early Lessons09:57 Setting Standards and Accountability10:40 Hard Conversations, Better Results11:13 Leadership Mistakes and Fixes12:21 Building Leverage This Year12:48 Why Taking Action Wins13:51 Beyond Team—Leveraging Systems14:50 Management as High-Leverage Work15:19 AI and Automation in Hiring16:31 Upgrading Leverage for the Future16:58 Advice for Hesitant Founders17:57 Three Paths With Big Goals19:06 How to Connect With Jaben19:43 Your Takeaway Challenge

  5. Jul 13

    How AI Can Turn Missed Calls Into Paying Customers—Laurent Cohen | Ep 21

    How much revenue could your business be losing every time nobody answers the phone? In this episode, I sit down with Laurent Cohen, founder and CTO of Getoblic, a voice-first AI platform helping local businesses answer customer questions, book appointments, and capture opportunities automatically. Laurent has more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience across Europe and the United States. He has built e-commerce businesses, worked extensively in SEO and conversion optimization, and now focuses on practical voice AI applications for local businesses. Laurent believes voice will become one of the primary ways customers interact with businesses online. Instead of waiting for an email response, completing a form, or navigating a complicated website, customers will increasingly expect immediate, conversational answers. We discuss why missed calls are an underestimated revenue leak, particularly for businesses such as salons, clinics, repair companies, restaurants, and other appointment-based service providers. Connect With Laurent Cohen Website: https://getoblic.com/ Search for your business on Getoblic to explore its listing and test a voice AI agent. Join the Class of Business Newsletter Get practical business ideas, behind-the-scenes lessons, and useful strategies you can apply to your own business. Join here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Timestamp Chapters 00:00 Welcome to Class of Business 00:21 Introducing Laurent Cohen 00:59 Lessons from building online businesses since 2002 01:08 Why there is always another opportunity 02:16 How SEO shaped Laurent’s approach to AI 03:07 Creating useful AI-supported content 04:36 How voice AI may improve website engagement 05:39 Why missed calls are an underestimated revenue leak 06:54 How voice AI recognizes and responds to emotions 08:16 Building trust through automated conversations 08:38 Join the Class of Business newsletter 09:14 What missing ten calls a week could cost a business 10:00 Calculating the time and revenue lost answering calls 11:11 Serving customers after closing time 12:15 Does an AI receptionist replace employees? 13:15 The simplest way for a local business to test AI 14:08 Creating and testing a free voice AI agent 15:19 Adding voice AI to phone lines and websites 15:45 How quickly voice AI technology is advancing 16:08 Why AI startups should work with larger technology companies 17:23 How local businesses may operate differently in five years 18:40 Rapid-fire questions 19:00 Voice-first experiences and the future of websites 19:04 Automation versus delegation 19:09 Growth hacking versus long-term brand building 19:17 The most overrated belief about AI 19:34 One AI tool every business owner should understand 20:07 Where to test Getoblic 20:50 Final takeaway and newsletter invitation

  6. Jul 13

    The Business Knowledge Every Entrepreneur Actually Needs—John Cousins | Ep 20

    Do entrepreneurs really need an expensive business degree to build and grow a successful company? In this episode, I sit down with John Cousins, entrepreneur, investor, professor, and bestselling author of more than 60 books, including Corporate Finance ASAP. John is the founder of MBA ASAP, a global business education platform that has served more than 30,000 students across over 160 countries. His training has also been used by teams at companies including Apple, Adidas, PayPal, Lyft, Pinterest, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen. Before becoming an educator, John spent 15 years as a public-company CEO and CFO, took two companies public, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School. But after spending approximately $400,000 between tuition and lost income to complete his MBA, John began questioning whether practical business knowledge needed to be so expensive, complicated, and inaccessible. In this conversation, John breaks business down to its essential components Connect With John Cousins Website: https://mba-asap.com Search MBA ASAP to find John’s courses, books, videos, and other business education resources. Join the Class of Business Newsletter Get practical business ideas, behind-the-scenes lessons, and useful strategies you can apply to your own business. Join here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Timestamp Chapters 00:00 Welcome to Class of Business00:24 Introducing John Cousins01:35 Business education versus business reality02:00 The true cost of earning an elite MBA03:02 The simple foundation of every business04:01 Finding product-market fit and building profitably05:00 What running public companies taught John05:42 Why traditional business textbooks often create confusion06:45 Making practical business knowledge accessible07:40 What entrepreneurs are really paying for with an MBA08:09 How prestigious degrees act as career signals09:28 Why the value of an MBA changes for entrepreneurs10:26 Using affordable education to test your interest in business11:35 Has higher education become a luxury product?12:21 Democratizing business knowledge around the world13:12 Join the Class of Business newsletter13:44 Financial mental models every founder should understand14:36 Why accounting is the language of business15:31 The three essential financial statements16:17 The difference between accounting and finance17:20 Understanding present value and net present value18:28 Using financial models to make objective decisions19:33 Where beginners should start learning finance20:40 Why business jargon creates unnecessary intimidation21:28 Applying business thinking to everyday life21:43 Where to find John and MBA ASAP22:30 Final thoughts from John22:54 Apply one lesson and join the newsletter

  7. Jul 13

    How to Simplify Your Business and Increase Revenue—Kanika Vasudeva | Ep 19

    Most service providers respond to slow growth by adding more—more offers, more content, more marketing, and more work. But what happens when doing more is the very thing keeping your business stuck? In this episode, I sit down with Kanika Vasudeva, a business coach and former corporate project leader who spent more than 16 years managing complex, multimillion-dollar initiatives at organizations including BHP, PwC, and ING. Kanika’s work involved walking into complicated situations, identifying what was slowing progress down, and creating systems that made growth easier and more sustainable. Today, she applies those same skills to service-based businesses. Kanika explains why many businesses do not need more leads, offers, or team members. Instead, they need to improve what is already happening inside the business—from their positioning and sales conversations to their offers, client journey, and internal processes. We discuss how service providers become trapped in an operator mindset, why effort can only scale a business so far, and what must change for a founder to step into a true leadership role. You’ll also learn how to identify unnecessary tasks, create repeatable processes, give your team greater ownership, and build a business that can continue operating without requiring your attention every minute. This conversation is for service providers who are working hard, generating some revenue, but still feel overwhelmed, overextended, or stuck at the same level. Connect With Kanika Vasudeva Website: https://artoflifecenter.com LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube: Kanika Energy Coach Join the Class of Business Newsletter Get practical business ideas, behind-the-scenes lessons, and useful strategies you can apply to your own business. Join here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Timestamp Chapters 00:00 Why doing more may be keeping your business stuck00:31 Introducing Kanika Vasudeva01:28 Simplifying multimillion-dollar corporate projects02:40 Why organizations become unnecessarily complicated03:36 Improving what already works instead of adding more04:22 How better conversions increase revenue without more leads05:02 The clogged-straw business analogy05:45 What is happening inside struggling service businesses06:46 Moving from an operator mindset to leadership07:08 Standardizing offers, onboarding and delivery08:15 The client who believed she needed more marketing09:00 How fear weakens your ideal-client boundaries10:17 Letting go of the wrong clients10:53 Building clear positioning around one industry11:30 Attracting better inbound leads12:14 How specialization helped triple her revenue12:54 Join the Class of Business newsletter13:23 Kanika’s business-simplification framework13:52 Evaluating clients, offers and the founder’s time14:33 Simplifying the structure of the business15:13 Standardizing services and saving the team time15:52 Creating better customer experiences17:19 What a simplified business looks like18:22 Why founders struggle to mentally switch off19:01 Getting hours back without stopping business growth20:27 Can a founder with a small team stop being the operator?21:20 The first step toward a leadership mindset22:02 Questions to uncover what is blocking growth22:18 Understanding your ideal client deeply23:32 Building the business around the ideal-client journey24:23 Ruthlessly removing unnecessary work25:41 Where to connect with Kanika26:27 Kanika’s final message for service providers26:53 Final takeaway and newsletter invitation

  8. Jul 13

    How to Grow Your Business Without Losing Yourself—Valérie Demont | Ep 18

    What happens when the business you created for freedom slowly becomes another prison? In this episode, I sit down with Valérie Demont, conscious business mentor, creator of the FLUIDE process, and author of Being Is the New Doing: The 6-Step Soul-Led Path to an Aligned Life and Business After experiencing two burnouts before the age of 30, Valérie began questioning the traditional formula for success: work harder, achieve more, and keep proving yourself. She had the career, income, and external signs of success—but internally, she was exhausted, anxious, and disconnected from her life. Valérie explains why hard work can become an expensive illusion, how entrepreneurs unknowingly recreate the jobs they were trying to escape, and why success means very little when you no longer have the time or energy to enjoy it. We also explore the idea of inner governance: making business decisions from clarity, intuition, and alignment rather than fear, urgency, or external pressure. Valérie shares practical ways founders can recognize when their ambition is being driven by fear, manage their energy more intentionally, and create a business that supports their life instead of consuming it. This conversation is for entrepreneurs who appear successful on the outside but feel tired, trapped, or disconnected behind the scenes. Connect With Valérie Demont Website: https://valeriedemont.ch/en/ Book and resources: https://beingisthenewdoing.com Join the Class of Business Newsletter Discover practical, realistic business ideas and lessons from entrepreneurs who are building businesses that actually work. Join here: https://classofbusiness.com/join Timestamp Chapters 00:00 When business success starts feeling like a prison 01:04 Introducing Valérie Demont 02:10 The warning signs she ignored before burnout 03:43 Working long hours, anxiety, and constant pressure 05:30 Recovering from burnout—and repeating the same pattern 06:24 Looking successful while struggling internally 08:44 Choosing love, life, and a different way of working 10:33 Why hard work can become an expensive illusion 11:55 How entrepreneurs become trapped inside their businesses 13:09 Success, survival mode, and professional exhaustion 15:38 What inner governance means in business 16:42 Making decisions from clarity instead of pressure 17:34 Join the Class of Business newsletter 17:59 Is your ambition aligned or driven by fear? 20:10 Completing difficult tasks without forcing yourself 21:13 Managing your energy alongside your to-do list 23:01 A lighter moment in the conversation 23:41 The first shift exhausted founders can make this week 24:25 Being Is the New Doing and the FLUIDE process 26:02 Final thoughts and where to connect with Valérie

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About

Class of Business is the show for anyone who wants to understand how modern business really works—without the jargon, the fluff, or the boring lectures. Each episode breaks down real strategies, real stories, and real challenges from founders, creators, and builders who are figuring it out in the real world. If you’re building a business, growing a brand, or trying to turn your ideas into something that pays the bills, this is your weekly masterclass. Straight talk. Sharp insights. Zero intimidation. Come learn the lessons nobody teaches but everyone needs.

Information

  • Creator
    Wisdom
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Wisdom
  • Show Website
    Class of Business