The Fifth Quarter Show

Bilal Hanjra
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What do the world’s most successful founders do when the pressure is at its peak? They win in the Fifth Quarter. 🏟️ In a world of loud "hustle culture," The Fifth Quarter focuses on the quiet moves, deep minds, and game-changing conversations that actually move the needle. Hosted by Bilal Hanjra, this show goes beyond the surface to reveal the grit, soul, and strategy required to scale a business in today’s landscape. Whether you are navigating the journey from $1M to $10M or building for the long haul, we bring you the blueprints of intentional operators who thrive when the stakes are highest. Just the moves that matter.

  1. 2d ago

    $900M+ in Institutional Capital, Family Business & Legacy

    Nick Sansone is a Principal at Sansone Group, a St. Louis based commercial real estate firm that has completed joint ventures with more than 18 institutional capital partners representing over $900 million in committed equity. But the part of his story I found most interesting wasn’t the size of the business. It was the responsibility that came with inheriting it. Nick grew up watching his father build the company through hard work, humility and relationships. He worked manual labor jobs, picked up trash at shopping centers, sat through zoning meetings, and eventually came to understand one of his father’s core beliefs: there’s nothing wrong with walking into an opportunity. What matters is what you do with it. In this episode, we get into: Why inheriting an opportunity doesn’t remove the responsibility to earn your place Growing up inside a family business and watching his father build from the ground up Why Nick originally wanted to “do his own thing” and how pride shaped that thinking “Leave your ego at the door” and why family businesses fall apart when emotion takes over Why no deal or financial success is worth damaging family harmony His grandfather’s belief that “family love is immortality” Why Nick and his brothers don’t keep score on who contributes more to each deal How to prevent entitlement when passing a business to the next generation Why the culture and value system of a company has to survive the founder The five core values behind Sansone Group: teamwork, creativity, faith, professionalism and hard work Why their boardroom table is round by design How institutional investors decide whether they can trust a real estate sponsor Why Sansone Group talks openly about what could go wrong in a deal before selling the upside Why alignment matters more than treating institutional capital like an endless source of money Moving from retail into industrial as e-commerce changed consumer behaviour How the company spotted the opportunity in data centers years before it became obvious Why timing major market shifts still involves humility, luck and the ability to pivot How faith changed Nick’s priorities and his definition of success Why some of the greatest lessons in life can only come through hardship What legacy really means when you strip away the money, deals and family name Nick is unusually honest about the advantages he inherited, the pressure that comes with carrying a family name, and the difference between protecting someone else’s legacy and building your own. We go deep on family, faith, institutional trust, long-term thinking, humility and what it means to leave people better than you found them. Move with clarity. Build with soul.

  2. Oct 14

    I’m Begging You to Learn This Before You Try to Sell Anything

    Jason Fladlien has helped generate more than $250 million in webinar sales. It took him 19 years to distill his approach to persuasion into three words: remove, improve, approve. Start by removing what stops people from acting. Before he became a marketer, he was a rapper at seven and a monk at 20. He started learning business to get his music off the ground. The business became his purpose. In this episode, we get into: - "Remove, improve, approve" and why removing a limitation can matter more than adding another capability - Why a money objection can really be a fear of losing status - When the third-best strategy is the right one to teach first - Staying on a webinar after the slides ended, with 54 people still asking questions - The confidence trap: needing experience to feel confident, but waiting for confidence before getting experience - The "law of utility" and why even procrastination can serve you - Panic attacks at ten, his mother's imprisonment, and the prayer and meditation that helped him at 20 - Why actively searching for your purpose already puts you in purpose - $9.8 million in affiliate sales in eight days, and why he wants his clients to beat his record - How success with email and product launches kept him attached to an old playbook - Publishing 540 pieces of content a day without monetizing them, despite still disliking social media - "Play less games but play them better" and the team behind content that looks effortless - Why making his writing five percent better is a useful job for AI - Using AI to develop less experienced copywriters and fix repeated mistakes - Why his AI clone project became a creative challenge, not just an editing job - "I've turned down more money than I've made" and the standard he applies before selling a product Jason gets raw about growing up in a chaotic home, the habits that made him successful but later held him back, and learning to be a beginner again. We go deep on understanding people without judging them, building an advantage for your customers, and finding work you can believe in beyond the money. Move with clarity. Build with soul.

  3. Aug 28

    The Fifth Quarter Show Podcast Matt Smith Full Episode

    Matt Smith is the founder of Snooze Mattress & Wellness, a sleep shop franchise he started in Pueblo, Colorado in 2019 and has since taken across the United States and into Ireland. He spent 26 years in the mattress industry and close to 20 in franchising. But the hardest part was not selling beds. It was learning that scaling Snooze meant entering the people business. At 19, Matt was stabbed an inch from his spine. His grandmother came to the hospital, stood in the doorway, shook her head and left without saying a word. He calls it the best thing that ever happened to him. Years later, he missed his two-year-old son’s first soccer goal and left the company he loved within three months. Today, he leaves the office at five while still three months behind. Because business will never stop. Your family will not wait. In this episode, we get into: - Why the mattress industry has barely changed since the 1980s - Being stabbed at 19 and the silent moment that changed his life - The mother who gave away her money, then turned a power cut into ghost stories - Why Matt believes positivity is a muscle - The daily routine behind his energy: ice baths, meditation, breathing and reflection - Losing more franchises than they gained during Snooze’s first year - “You showed that you suck at this,” and why he kept going - Leaving the mattress business for the people business without realizing it - The three non-negotiables: good human, grit and coachable - Why caring too much can become an operating liability - Using 30, 60 and 90-day data to remove emotion from difficult decisions - Why the person who helps build a $10 million company may not be right for the next stage - “I don’t need another Matt Smith in the room,” and why he hires for his weaknesses - Why opening 50 stores himself would require $60 million - What prospective franchise owners should examine before investing - Why billionaires are not necessarily happy - Missing his son’s first goal and leaving his former company within three months - “If you’re going to lose one, let the businesses go. You’ll build another one. But your family, you can’t build another one of those.” Matt gets raw about growing up without his father, the divorce rate he witnessed while building his career, and feeling like he is failing at business and family at the same time. We go deep on building systems when you are not a systems person, hiring people capable of reaching the next stage, running a franchise you would actually want to own, and protecting what matters when the work will never be finished. Move with clarity. Build with soul.

  4. Aug 24

    The Real Price of $700 Million in Sales

    Stefan Georgi has built multiple eight-figure companies across supplements, marketing and customer acquisition, including Copy Accelerator and Get Thin MD, which is bootstrapped and on track to do $50 million in three years. He has sold two companies. He started as a freelance copywriter and has since helped thousands of freelancers go independent. He has also sat across a conference table from nine California district attorneys with printouts of his own sales copy laid out in front of them, and had over $4 million frozen overnight by a merchant processor who told him he spent a million a month on lawyers and would smash him in court if he wanted to fight it. Half that money was not his. He owed it to vendors. His first child was born the same week. He chose not to fight, spun up new brands, and routed every dollar of profit to the vendors until all of them were paid back. In this episode, we get into: - Holy Land Health hit a million dollars in year one while losing money the whole time, and the developer relationship that ate six months and $100,000 without a working prototype - Build versus buy, and why he still starts out of the box and customises later even with vibe coding available - Expansion and contraction: dream the billion dollar version, then work backwards to step one and get comfortable with an uncertain future - The roulette model for direct to consumer, and why infinite money can make almost any product work but the opportunity cost will still kill you - Leaving Coachella to break up a fight between two team members, then going quiet on Slack and learning his team reached the same call 80 percent of the time - One conversation at his first mastermind turned into an affiliate relationship worth many millions - Nine district attorneys, a Ziploc bag of supplements, and a refund campaign that drew about $7,000 in actual requests - Green Relief at $300,000 a day, a frozen $4 million, and "have a blast, but I'll smash you" - Why he believes there are no real crises in business, and why he expects to end up a billionaire without missing little league Stefan gets raw about the breakup he still cannot explain, telling a woman he had no time for a relationship when she lived in another city and asked nothing of him. He is honest about drinking more than he should have, about being depressed while the business was not working, and about the fact that he has not yet built the company that outlasts him. We go deep on why nothing fazes him, how to let go of a business without abdicating it, what nine district attorneys actually want, and why he believes the only real answer to being wronged for millions is to go and make more. Move with clarity. Build with soul. Timestamps: Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:54 A million dollars in year one, and losing money the whole time 00:02:49 The developer who said the CRM was trash 00:06:22 Build versus buy, and the rule he uses now 00:11:12 Expansion and contraction, then back to step one 00:15:07 The roulette model for direct to consumer 00:19:38 Leaving Coachella to break up a fight in a hallway 00:21:13 One mastermind conversation, many millions in affiliate revenue 00:31:37 Nine attorneys, one lawyer, and a Ziploc bag of supplements 00:35:46 "Have a blast, but I'll smash you" 00:42:06 There are no crises in business 00:50:52 Billionaire without missing little league

  5. May 16

    5th Quarter Podcast Steve Harward Full Episode

    Steve Harward is the founder and CEO of Prime Corporate Services, a company he built to over nine figures in annual revenue. No paid advertising. No aggressive sales tactics. No cold outreach. Just relationships. In 13 years, he's gone from a barely-made-it-through-high-school kid from a trailer park to running a business that fields 400–600 one-on-one sales appointments a day — built on a philosophy he calls "Win by Giving." He started the company with his mom and two brothers. They're still there. He got up at 5 AM in Utah to be here. In this episode, we get into: "Win by Giving" — the philosophy behind a nine-figure company built entirely on relationships, and where it actually came from (hint: it's a trailer park in Utah and a single mom) What Win by Giving looks like on a Tuesday morning inside Prime — and why it's not abstract, it's operational "Heart spark moments" — the listening technique behind every major partnership Steve has ever built Why most people stay transactional — and the "dark rabbit hole" that keeps them there The dark season: divorce, two little boys aged two and three, a mattress on the floor, mornings he didn't get out of bed The strategic decision that saved him: renting an apartment with a bedroom window that looked directly into Prime's parking lot "I ran my support email for seven years — all the way up to $27 million in annual revenue. It would ding at 2 AM and I'd respond within seconds." Starting a family business with his mom and two brothers — including the UFC fights that broke out in the office The mastermind unlock: a $40,000 investment, a room called War Room, goggles off — walked in with 7 partnerships, left with 14 "I'm working harder today than I've ever worked in the history of this business" — what momentum looks like at nine figures His go-kart interview test: "I got two go-karts in the parking lot. Want to race?" "I lost 6,000 contacts overnight" — and the unexpected beauty he found in it Building trust at scale: his "love bomber," anniversary meetings that make employees cry, and why fake is the one word that will never be used in a sentence about him Nolan at Legoland: a nine-year-old tracks down a kid in a wheelchair to give him his stuffed animal — and what Steve says when Bilal asks about legacy The Randy story: chartering a helicopter, flying to Sugar City, Idaho, filming a dying man's last words as a gift — and the picture he still looks at on his phone Steve gets raw about the divorce that nearly took him under, the "dark rabbit hole" of transactional business thinking, and why he believes the people who've made his dreams come true create an obligation — not a comfort. We go deep on what it costs to give at scale, how to listen so well you know what matters to someone before they've told you, and what a nine-figure relationship business actually looks like from the inside. Move with clarity. Build with soul.

  6. May 7

    How This Founder Made and Lost $1.2M By His 21st Birthday, Jeremy Newsome, RealLife Trading

    Jeremy Newsome is the founder of RealLife Trading, one of the largest trading education platforms in the world, teaching hundreds of thousands of people how to trade safely. At age seven, he watched Forrest Gump, sold blackberries door to door, saved $1,300, convinced his dad to match it, and bought Apple stock. That investment would be worth $40 million today. He turned $400K into $1.2M trading silver by age 20 — then lost it all on his 21st birthday. He's completed three Ironmans, co-hosts the Broke to Awoke podcast, and sits on the board of Aerial Recovery, the world's largest anti-human trafficking organization, which has saved over 8,500 children. In this episode, we get into: - How a seven-year-old watched Forrest Gump and saw a roadmap to financial freedom — "we don't have to worry about money no more" - The blackberry hustle: shirtless, no shoes, Georgia summer, $1,300 in Ziploc bags sold door to door - His dad's investing lesson that still holds: "If revenue is increasing, the stock price will go higher over time" - The $40 million mistake — selling Apple in 2000 and never reinvesting - Turning $400K of other people's money into $1.2M trading silver at age 20 - Buying silver at the highest price in human history with leveraged money — and losing $1.2M on his 21st birthday - "I didn't want to lose my dad's approval" — the spiritual root of why he held instead of cutting losses at $500K - "Financial freedom is second grade math repeated consistently" — 300 people x $167/month = $50K/month - Why triple partnerships never work — the math of two ganging up on one - "Don't give equity away" — the most expensive lesson entrepreneurs keep repeating - Paying $1,000/hour for a business coach when he was broke — and why it changed everything - "Money cannot buy a finish line" — why physical discipline is the key to trading discipline - 14,200 jump ropes in 14 hours straight — the migraine, the puke, and why he'd do it again - "The brokenness of any country is in direct proportion to the brokenness of its men" - Aerial Recovery: repurposing special forces veterans to save children from sex trafficking across 16 countries - 8,500+ children saved — the largest anti-human trafficking organization in the world - "There's no one else saving kids with their trading profits" — why he's playing a different game Jeremy gets raw about the father wound that caused his biggest financial loss, the business partner divorces that ripped out his heart, and why he believes most men are broken and settling. We go deep on the spirituality of money, why your happiness is a non-negotiable business strategy, and how he went from a kid who didn't want to worry about money to a man who uses trading profits to save children from trafficking. Move with clarity. Build with soul.

  7. Apr 2

    Elk Ridge CEO, Lame Kinikini: The Creative Finance Playbook That Built a $75M Portfolio

    Lame Kinikini is the founder and CEO of Elk Ridge Investments, an alternative investment firm managing over $75 million across real estate, short-term rentals, creative finance, and asset-backed lending. He's closed more than 200 creative finance deals, built Elk Ridge into an eight-figure company in under five years, and now mentors over 100 students through his Fearless Investors community. But he didn't start with money — he started knocking doors. In this episode, we get into: - From $40K summers to six-figure seasons — how door-to-door sales at Vivint built the mental fortitude behind everything - "Tell me I can't" — the Michael Jordan quote on his wall and the mindset that let him close his first creative deal with zero experience - 50 properties in 5 months — the hockey stick that started with one bad deal he still holds today - Why his first creative finance deal lost him money — and why he calls it tuition, not failure - The 2023 crash: 48% supply influx, rates through the roof, burning cash month to month — and the pivot that saved everything - Creative finance as the cheat code — how a blended 4% rate across his portfolio made him profitable when everyone else was drowning - $1.4 million in quantifiable losses — and the unquantifiable cost of depression, firing people, and sleepless nights - "I've never been a depressed person" — the Thanksgiving he woke up and regretted it, and why he'll never dismiss mental health again - The wrong partner who almost derailed everything — and the right one who helped them pass last year's numbers by midsummer - "The cheapest you'll ever get great talent is today" — why tripling payroll doubled revenue - His dad's line: "When you don't give when you have nothing, you'll never give when you have everything" - Date nights as competitive advantage — why Tuesday and Thursday with his wife is his most dangerous business habit - "Money increases your capacity to serve" — the spiritual operating system behind the portfolio - Why enough stopped being about material things and became about legacy that never runs out Lame gets raw about hitting rock bottom in 2023, the depression he never thought he'd experience, and the business partner betrayal that almost broke him. We go deep on creative finance mechanics, why your spouse is your greatest business asset, and the moment he realized wealth was never about the portfolio — it was about how many people he could serve. Follow Lame: @lame.kinikini Move with clarity. Build with soul.

  8. Mar 19

    "Once You Do This, You Become Unstoppable": Jess Mah, 9-Figure Founder & Venture Studio CEO

    Jess Mah built a six-figure business in middle school, dropped out of high school at 15, and at 19 became one of the youngest women accepted into Y Combinator. On paper, she was a Silicon Valley prodigy — Forbes and Inc 30 Under 30, venture-backed, scaling fast. But in 2012, the bank balance was heading toward zero, the product wasn't working, and she fired her team just to survive. She rebuilt inDinero into a hundreds-of-employees company at a nine-figure valuation, stepped out of the CEO seat on her own terms, and now runs a venture studio building companies across AI, fintech, and bioelectrical therapies targeting cancer. She's also the youngest graduate of the Harvard President's Program. In this episode, we get into: - Forbes 30 Under 30 while burning cash — the gap between perception and reality in 2012 "- I was bottom quartile intelligence, but the most creative and hardest working" — leaning into what you're actually good at - The Steve Blank advice that changed everything: people don't buy tools, they buy outcomes - Firing friends — why she's done it dozens of times across multiple companies and how she structures it differently now - "Even Fortune 50 CEOs tell me they should have fired that person a year earlier" — why no one outgrows this mistake - Stepping out of the CEO seat during COVID — and why she didn't lose her identity doing it - EMDR therapy as an entrepreneur's secret weapon — "You would be unstoppable" - Building from desire vs. brute force — how her approach to starting companies has fundamentally changed - The apprentice model: what she would have done if she couldn't start a company — work for Richard Branson for free - Why short-term relationships are like day trading stocks — you don't get compounding returns - Twice-a-week check-ins with every team member for the first 30 days — her highest-leverage use of time - Playing the long game: the people who look wrong on paper but work with you for 25 years Jess gets raw about the loneliness of being a kid programmer before coding was cool, the weight of public accolades when your company is dying, and the psychological game that separates builders who last from those who don't. We go deep on inner game — meditation, somatic therapy, EMDR — and why she believes 50% of entrepreneurship is working on yourself. She makes a compelling case that the founders who win aren't the smartest, they're the ones who build environments where everyone around them gets to create something awesome. Follow Jess: @jessmahofficial Move with clarity. Build with soul.

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About

What do the world’s most successful founders do when the pressure is at its peak? They win in the Fifth Quarter. 🏟️ In a world of loud "hustle culture," The Fifth Quarter focuses on the quiet moves, deep minds, and game-changing conversations that actually move the needle. Hosted by Bilal Hanjra, this show goes beyond the surface to reveal the grit, soul, and strategy required to scale a business in today’s landscape. Whether you are navigating the journey from $1M to $10M or building for the long haul, we bring you the blueprints of intentional operators who thrive when the stakes are highest. Just the moves that matter.

Information

  • Creator
    Bilal Hanjra
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit