Authority in the Wild

1d ago

Lewis Howes' Producer: You're Copying Big Podcasts Wrong. Do This and Your Show Will Grow w/ Chris Jordanw/ Chris Jordan

Most podcasters fail because they copy the wrong strategies.Learn why your podcasting mistakes are holding you back and how to fix them. Chris Jordan, former key member of the Lewis Howes Podcast team, joins me to break down the most common podcasting mistakes. Many creators spend their time trying to replicate the exact blueprint of top-performing shows, only to find that it does not work for their specific situation. This conversation centers on why you need to stop chasing trends and start focusing on your unique podcast audience. We look at the gap between what works for massive shows and what actually moves the needle when you are building a podcast from the ground up. If you feel like your show is stuck despite following all the standard podcast growth strategies, this perspective might be the reset you need, together with actionable insights on how to get the most out of yours. Most podcasters fail because they copy the wrong strategies. Learn why your podcasting mistakes are holding you back.Chris Jordan, a key member of the Lewis Howes Podcast team, joins us to break down the most common podcasting mistakes. Many creators spend their time trying to replicate the exact blueprint of top-performing shows, only to find that it does not work for their specific situation. This conversation centers on why you need to stop chasing trends and start focusing on your unique podcast audience. We look at the gap between what works for massive shows and what actually moves the needle when you are building a podcast from the ground up. If you feel like your show is stuck despite following all the standard podcast growth strategies, this perspective might be the reset you need. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:14) The Biggest Mistake Podcasters Make (09:57) Turning a podcast into a media company (17:58) Where podcast growth actually happens (23:04) What makes people click an episode (28:53) Do title formulas wear out (34:00) How closely you can copy a title (40:29) The first 30 seconds problem (46:24) Growing when nobody knows you (52:46) The old episode that came back 🟪 About the Guest Chris Jordan is a top podcast & content strategist, who has worked behind many top personal brands and thought leaders like Lewis Howes, Daymond John, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, Sinead Bovell and more. 🟪 Connect with Chris Jordan - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imchrisjordan/ 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Sep 29

Why Your Business Is Stuck (And the Fix Nobody Sells) w/ Jermane Cheathem

Jermane Cheathem has spent more than 20 years in commercial equipment finance and his referral partners made him over $50 million in closed deals. He's the only guest that appeared on this podcast 3 times. And for a good reason. I always learn something new from him and I bet you will too. At his peak he made 300 cold calls a day. Today he works the same four hours and makes none of them, and one coffee at a Starbucks turned into $6.4 million in deals. So I asked him what all that activity was protecting him from, why founders keep buying tactics that make things worse and what a box of chocolates in Dubai has to do with any of it. Then I put my own business on the table. Two offers, revenue split down the middle and a client description I was sure was specific enough. In about seven minutes he showed me I had been describing the wrong person and who I should have been talking to instead. I told him I would make the call the same day. If you keep adding funnels, ads, and tools to a business that still feels stuck, this episode gives you a perspective that might change the way you do business forever. Enjoy! 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) The Fix That Makes Things Worse (06:04) What 300 Calls a Day Was Hiding (11:16) Same Four Hours, Different Game (15:10) The $6.4M Coffee (21:29) Who Else Needs Your Client to Win? (27:47) The $30 Chocolate (36:24) The Deal He Found Playing Basketball (41:00) My Business on the Table (44:35) The Only Person I Should Be Talking To (49:07) Before You Buy Another Tactic 🟪 About the Guest Jermane Cheathem has spent more than twenty years in commercial equipment finance. He runs Creators Learn, where he trains equipment finance brokers to build businesses on referral partners instead of cold outreach, and his site credits those partners with more than fifty million dollars in closed deals. He is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. He left corporate employment in 2016 and built his finance company from scratch, with no capital and no employees. 🟪 Connect with Jermane Cheathem - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jermane-cheathem/ - Website: https://creatorslearn.com/ - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jermanecheathem 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Sep 22

What Even Is a GTM Engineer (And Why Startups Pay $260K) w/ Florian Kaspar

In January 2026, Florian Kaspar was setting up Clay and other go-to-market tools inside someone else's startup. By September he had taken his years in recruiting and bet them on a single job title: GTM engineer. He now runs Pipebuilders, a headhunting business that places only that role, and he hosts the Pipebuilders podcast, where he interviews the people who do the work. Florian sits between founders who want AI inside their sales and the small group of people who can build it, so he sees the job offers, the salaries, and the hires that fall apart. I came in as the skeptic, because to me GTM engineer sounded like a fancy title. So I asked him what these people do all day, what they really earn, how much pipeline one person can create, and what it costs a founder to hire the wrong one. He also told me who should never hire one, and why a job post and a CV are the wrong tools to find the right one. If you still do every sale yourself and your next move is to hire a salesperson, this episode gives you a different way to look at that decision before you sign anyone. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) One Bet on a Brand-New Job Title (04:56) The Unexpected Backgrounds That Win (10:12) When You Shouldn't Hire One (17:23) The 40% Accurate Job Post (23:52) Watching Them Think, Live (29:59) Goodbye CVs? (37:36) Why 80% Write Back (45:03) Agency, Fractional, or In-House? (47:05) What It Really Costs (55:04) Try This Before You Hire 🟪 About the Guest Florian Kaspar after leaving his HR career to become a GTM Engineer, he decided to double back and bring GTM Engineering into recruitment. Today he runs his own recruitment agency focused connecting companies with GTM Engineers. 🟪 Connect with Florian Kaspar LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-kaspar1Pipebuilders podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/033DXdkcG2wHA4PdhVUgfg 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Sep 15

How Anyone Can Learn the Skill of Humor (Even Engineers) w/ Andrew Tarvin

Being funny is a skill, and Andrew Tarvin has the data showing most of us never practice it. He studied computer science and engineering, managed projects at Procter & Gamble, and joined his first improv group only because his best friend needed someone organized enough to run the meetings. He was terrible at it. Today he runs Humor That Works, has trained 250+ organizations and his TEDx talk on the skill of humor has passed 16 million views. Somewhere between those two points is a method, and this episode walks through it. I opened this one with a confession. I have a physics and computer science background, I tinker with tech all day, and I truly cannot remember the last time I made someone laugh. So I asked Drew to treat me as the test case. In this conversation, we get into: The eight separate skills hiding inside "being funny", and why you probably already have at least two of themThe one habit Andrew's own assessment shows only 30% of people keep, and what it changes about how you see your dayThe three reasons a joke breaks trust at work, and why the joke itself is rarely the problemWhy AI is the worst possible audience for your humor, and the one job it is actually good for Andrew's Humor Intelligence model treats humor as eight competencies you can measure, practice, and point at real problems, instead of a personality trait you were born with or without. If you have ever been told you are not funny or you stay quiet in meetings because a bad joke feels riskier than silence, this episode gives you a place to start this week. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Two Nerds and The Theory of Funny (01:21) The Hidden Payoff of Being Funny (06:42) The Eight Competencies of Humor (10:32) Engineering a Laugh (14:53) The Two-Part Practice (19:54) Funny Without Telling Jokes (23:07) Where Humor Goes Wrong (30:41) Forms of Humor (34:54) How to Not Break Trust with Humor (41:06) Where to Practice Humor (46:35) AI and Humor (50:58) Action Point 🟪 About the Guest Andrew Tarvin works with top organizations–including IBM, NASA, and the UN–to solve human challenges with humor solutions. A best-selling author, Andrew has been featured on Dry Bar Comedy, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC, and was named a ‘Visionary Alum’ by the P&G Alumni Network. His TEDx talk on the skill of humor is one of the Top 50 most viewed TEDx talks on YouTube with 15+ million views (only half of which were from his mom). He has delivered programs in all 50 US states, 36 countries, on 1 planet (Earth). He loves chocolate and singing the Hokey Pokey with his 4 year old daughter (because that's what it's all about). 🟪 Connect with Andrew Tarvin Humor Intelligence Assessment: https://insights.humorthatworks.com/assessmentHumor That Works: https://www.humorthatworks.comHumor Intelligence coaching app https://studio.com/apps/humor/intelligencePersonal Website: https://drewtarvin.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/drewtarvinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theandrewtarvinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theandrewtarvin 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Sep 8

What Hiding a Weakness Actually Costs You w/ Lauren Pires

Lauren Pires was born with a rare neuromuscular condition that leaves her with roughly 33 percent of the physical strength of an average person. She hid it for more than 30 years, and during those years she built an 11-year career in event production at one of the largest music festivals in Canada, a job made of long days on your feet. At 32 she stood on a stage and spoke about it in public for the first time, at North America's largest inspirational speaking competition. She came second, then second again in the finals, and today she speaks to companies about invisible disability, resilience, and belonging. I live with an autoimmune condition, so this conversation got personal fast. We compare the excuses we both used to get out of a hike, how much of your day hiding something actually eats, and the question everyone with something to hide eventually faces: who do you tell first, and what happens after that. If you are living with something people cannot see, or you are ambitious and your body keeps saying no, this episode shows you what keeping it hidden is costing you and what she found on the other side. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) When Ambition Meets a Body That Says No (04:42) The Secret She Kept for 30 Years (10:18) What Hiding Actually Costs You (14:15) The Energy You Get Back (17:04) A Tiny Ritual Called the Daily Yay (21:54) The Upside Nobody Talks About (26:59) Walking Away After 11 Years (30:56) Afraid of Being Seen Differently? (35:49) The Room She Loves to Speak In (41:53) The Line That Rewired Her Brain 🟪 About the Guest Lauren Pires is an invisible disability speaker from Canada who talks about resilience, joy, and belonging. Born with Central Core Disease, a rare neuromuscular condition, she concealed it for over 30 years while working in event production, public relations, and hiring at a nonprofit behind one of the largest South Asian festivals in Canada. She first spoke about her disability in public in 2022 and went on to become the runner-up inspirational speaker of the year at Speaker Slam. She now speaks to corporate disability employee resource groups and conferences, delivered a TEDxMississauga talk in 2026, and is the creator of the Daily Yay, a practice of noticing one good thing every day. 🟪 Connect with Lauren Pires Website: https://www.laurensaysyay.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurensaysyayLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensaysyayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@laurensaysyayTEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWVUgHY3ibM 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Sep 1

How to Built $1M/Month SaaS Business with Zero Original Ideas w/ Tibo Maker (Thibault LOUIS-LUCAS)

Thibault (Tibo) Louis-Lucas burned 500,000 euros of VC money and spent four years on ideas that never generated revenue. Then he rebuilt from zero, sold Tweet Hunter and Taplio to Lempire for $8 million, and now runs a bootstrapped SaaS products portfolio that makes over $1 million per month.Not one of those products started as an original idea. Every single one entered a market that was already crowded and won anyway.In this episode he shares his entrepreneurial journey while walking us through his full playbook in order: how he picks what to buildhow he validates it before it eats a year of your lifehow a copied product beats the companies it copiedhow he priceshow he turns strangers into his sales force. Halfway through, I pitch him a product I have not announced anywhere and let him take it apart on air.If you are sitting on an idea and cannot tell whether it deserves another year or a fresh start, this episode shows you how he makes that call.🟪 Timestamps (00:00) From Burning VC Money to an $8M Exit (03:54) Ship Until Something Works (05:55) How to Choose What To Build (08:47) Your Weird Workflow Might Be a Product (15:01) 10x Better at Exactly One Thing (19:40) Gabe Pitches His Secret Project (24:51) The $15K Bet That Became His Best Product (29:08) The Audience Myth, Debunked (35:34) How to Run Multiple Products in the Same Time (37:30) Pricing That Filters Your Customers (41:07) Turning Strangers Into a Sales Force (43:22) How to Improve Your Product Based on Feedback (47:35) How to Get Started to Build as a Non-technical🟪 About the Guest Thibault Louis-Lucas, known online as Tibo Maker, is a French SaaS founder and product builder. After two failed startups and a stretch as CTO of a fast-growing scale-up, he co-founded Tweet Hunter and Taplio and sold both to Lempire. He now runs a bootstrapped portfolio that includes Revid and Outrank, built for small founders who want more sales and more traffic, and documents his builds, wins, and failures publicly on X.🟪 Connect with Tibo Website: https://tmaker.ioX/Twitter: https://x.com/tibo_makerRevid: https://revid.aiOutrank: https://outrank.so 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Aug 25

How to Turn a Personality First Approach to Content Creation into Clients w/ Magali De Reu

Personal branding changed: expertise is now table stakes, and people buy who you are before they check what you do. Personal brand strategist Magali De Reu breaks down the personality first content system she used to rebuild from zero on LinkedIn, land a Netflix client seven days after one post, and turn content into discovery calls and paying clients. After walking away from a startup that owed her close to 100,000 euro, Magali rebuilt her business on LinkedIn with nothing but her own voice. In this episode she teaches the full system: the three personality signals (scars and stripes, stance, style), the swappable test that tells you in ten seconds whether your content is generic, how much of yourself to share without trauma dumping, the open questions that pull out the stories buyers actually respond to, why content templates become a cage, and how writing about moments instead of topics makes content creation easier and more relatable. If you are a consultant, coach, solopreneur or founder trying to get clients from LinkedIn and stand out with your personal brand, this conversation gives you the diagnosis and the starting point for tonight. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Seven Days Later, a Netflix Client. (01:09) The Red Flag That Changed Everything (02:58) Why LinkedIn?! (04:32) What Everyone Gets Wrong About Personality First Content (09:56) How Much of Yourself Should You Share? (13:45) How to Get Client from LinkedIn (16:32) The Questions That Unlock People (21:16) A Safe Space and a Safety Blanket (29:08) The Pigeon That Outperformed the Experts (30:49) Why Templates Become a Cage (35:44) What to Do Now To Start Your Content Journey 🟪 About the Guest Magali De Reu is a personal brand strategist based in Antwerp, Belgium, who works with consultants, speakers and senior experts on positioning around personality rather than competing on expertise. She is a TEDx speaker and the author of two Dutch books on neurodivergence, "Aut of the box" and "Allemaal Autcasts", and she spent years as a technology writer and talk show host before building the practice she runs today. Her work rests on a single argument: in a market where knowledge has become a commodity, the part of you that cannot be copied is the part that gets you hired. 🟪 Connect with Magali De Reu The Obvious Yes Challenge: https://www.theobviousy.es/fll-challengeWebsite: https://magalidereu.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magalidereuInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/magalidereu 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Aug 18

How to Grow Your Personal Brand as a Solo Founder (Gary Vee & Hormozi's Brand Strategist) w/ Caleb Ralston

How to grow your personal brand when you have no content team, no budget and 20 minutes to learn it. Caleb Ralston was an integral part of the team that helped grow Gary Vee's TikTok from 300,000 to over 3.5 million followers in 3 months and helped take Alex and Leila Hormozi from about 1 million to over 11 million followers. Then he left, started his own firm Ralston Select and put a six-hour personal branding course on YouTube for free. In this episode of Authority in the Wild he compresses that course into the steps a solo founder cannot skip. We cover: - Student or expert: the first question every personal brand has to answer honestly - The Brand Journey Framework, the 4 questions to answer before you post anything - Why the selfish goal behind your personal brand is the one that funds the altruistic one - The Charlie Munger inversion for finding what you need to be known for - Picking a content cadence that survives running a business (Caleb started with one video a month) - What the Gary Vee documentation model looks like in 2026 - Views versus conversions Timestamps (00:00) A 6-Hour Course in 20 Minutes (00:55) Where Every Personal Brand Starts (02:54) 4 Questions to Answer First (07:36) Is Personal Branding Selfish or Altruistic? (09:49) The Reputation That Opens Doors (13:14) How to Actually Know Your Audience (14:11) Finding Time When You Have None (17:36) Do Views Actually Matter? About Caleb Ralston Caleb Ralston is a personal brand strategist. He served as TikTok lead on Team GaryVee and was the first content hire for Alex and Leila Hormozi at Acquisition.com, where he built the in-house media team. He now runs Ralston, a consulting firm that builds personal brands optimized for trust rather than virality, and his full six-hour personal branding course is free on YouTube. Connect with Caleb Ralston Website: https://calebralston.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CalebRalston LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebralston Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calebralston Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/gabemarusca
Aug 11

How They Build a Personal Brand That Will SURVIVE AI Era w/ Katelyn Bourgoin

Posting good content stopped working the moment everyone could make it. Katelyn Bourgoin knows both sides of that shift: Forbes hyped her startup as the next LinkedIn for women entrepreneurs, it went bankrupt anyway, and she rebuilt from zero into a one-woman business built on a single ownable idea, buyer psychology, now read by more than 63,000 marketers. This episode is about the move that made the difference: becoming known for one idea instead of chasing visibility everywhere. In this conversation, we get into: - The real reason Justin Welsh owns the word "solopreneur" when someone else coined it years earlier - Why your most valuable idea feels too obvious for you to notice and how outsiders spot it in minutes - A live teardown where Katelyn runs her framework on my own idea in real time - The one-week assignment that surfaces the idea you could become known for If you are an expert whose reputation is smaller than your skill, this conversation shows what to build instead of another content calendar. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) The Personal Brand Gold Rush (05:40) How The Ownable Idea Came To Life (17:46) Confessions of an Overwhelmed Generalist (22:32) Why You Can't See Your Own Best Idea (26:24) The Want Everyone Shares (29:32) Five Questions Before the Big Idea (35:18) Why it's So Hard to Do It Alone? (41:45) The Messenger Effect (44:36) Your One-Week Assignment 🟪 About the Guest Katelyn Bourgoin is a 4x founder and the creator of Why We Buy, a buyer psychology newsletter read by more than 63,000 marketers. After her venture-backed startup Vendeve failed in 2017, she rebuilt as a solo business teaching marketers why people really buy. Today she runs UNIGNORABLE, where she helps experts distill their best thinking into one idea that makes them impossible to ignore. 🟪 Connect with Katelyn Bourgoin - Ownable Ideas: https://ownableideas.com - Why We Buy newsletter: https://learnwhywebuy.com - UNIGNORABLE: https://beunignorable.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katebour/ - X/Twitter: https://x.com/KateBour 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/ - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Aug 4

You Can Burn Out Doing Work You Love w/ Paul Olteanu

What happens when the person behind a country's most listened to podcast steps away from it for a year? In this episode, I sit down with Paul Olteanu, Master Trainer, coach, and the voice of Mind Architect, Romania's most listened to educational podcast, to talk about what that success was quietly costing him and how he rebuilt his work around meaning. Paul shares how the show reached the peak of its popularity in its first year, why he stepped away from the microphone and public life for almost twelve months, what his body understood long before his mind accepted it, and what recovery required beyond time off. We also go inside the business: what happened to Mind Architect while its founder was away, and what he changed so his return would not repeat the same pattern.Whether you run a business built around your own name or you notice your sense of worth rising and falling with how much you produce, this conversation will change how you think about the way you work. 🟪 What we cover: - How outside success can hide exhaustion, even for someone who teaches how the mind works - "The less loved I felt, the more I worked": the link between performance and feeling loved - The moment Paul understood he had to pause - What recovery required that rest alone could not provide - How Mind Architect kept running for a year without its host - How much of a personal brand should ever depend on its founder - The structural changes that made Paul's return sustainable - ADN Vocational and building a career around meaning instead of necessity 🟪 Timestamps: (00:00) The Fast Rise of Mind Architect (02:16) The Heavy Cost of Riding the Wave (08:52) The Warning Signs of Burnout (14:30) When the Body Sends the Bill (19:04) Mistaking Appreciation for Love (25:33) Healthy Achievement vs. Filling the Void (32:08) A Year Away from the Microphone (36:25) Rebuilding After Burnout (45:42) What Changed in the Business (55:03) Practical Advice: Where to Start (58:48) Where to Find Paul and Mind Architect (01:00:05) The Role of Cultural Background 🟪 Connect with Paul Olteanu - Website: https://www.paulolteanu.ro - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulolteanu - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olteanu.paul - Mind Architect: https://mindarchitect.ro - ADN Vocational: https://www.adnvocational.ro 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jul 28

Running Out of Mental Runway Looks Exactly Like Burnout w/ Anastasija Lynch

Anastasija Lynch pushed back the moment this episode was pitched to her as a burnout conversation. She is an executive coach and co-host of Beyond the Noise who spent a good chunk of her career in technology before moving into coaching senior leaders, and her correction was specific: the people she works with are capable, successful, and perfectly able to power through almost anything, which is exactly why the real problem stays invisible. They have been carrying too much for too long with nowhere honest enough to think it through, and she says that is a different problem with a different fix.In this conversation, we get into: - The sentence leaders repeat for months before everything hits crisis - Why the people closest to you quietly keep you exactly where you are - What one protected hour a week actually does, and what it will not do - The leader who changed one work decision and watched his home life settleThis is a defense of that distinction, tested against the obvious objections: why someone smart enough to run a company cannot simply think their way out alone, why a journal or a long run is not the same thing, and how you would know the difference between a conversation that changed something and one that only felt good. If you are the person everyone turns to and you have not had room to think about your own decisions in months, this episode gives you language for what is actually happening.🟪 Timestamps (00:00) This Isn't Burnout (03:50) The Excuse Every Leader Repeats (06:14) When Everything Is on Fire (11:04) The Label and the Jar (14:59) Why Loved Ones Hold You Back (19:45) The Comfort Trap (24:42) One Hour That Changes Everything (29:41) The Morning Phone Ambush (35:12) What Actually Belongs to You (40:04) The Myth of Doing It Alone (48:54) How to Discover if You Run Out of Mental Runway🟪 About the Guest Anastasija Lynch, ACC, is an executive coach and co-host of Beyond the Noise, the podcast she makes with Khurshid Zaynutdinov for the leaders everyone turns to and who rarely get space to think for themselves. She spent a significant part of her career in technology before moving into coaching, and her work focuses on helping senior people think clearly again, lead with more confidence, and navigate high-pressure transitions without losing themselves in the process.🟪 Connect with Anastasija Lynch - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasija-lynch-coach/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anastasija_lynch/ - Website: https://anastasijalynch.com/ - Beyond the Noise Podcast: https://btnpod.com/ 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/ - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jul 21

How to Fix Your Sleep by Doing These Simple Things w/ Chester Maglo

The number your wrist shows you each morning is deciding how your day goes, and it is closer to a guess than a measurement. Chester Maglo spent years inside the sleep research and now runs a 90-day one-on-one sleep system for business owners who cannot rebuild their lives around a two-hour wind-down routine. The question driving this episode: if the score and the eight-hour target are both the wrong numbers, what actually decides how you feel by mid-morning? In this conversation, we get into: Why working harder at your sleep is the fastest way to break itThe accuracy problem inside wrist trackers, with the real percentagesWho should wear a tracker, who should take theirs off, and how to tell the differenceWhat the 3 AM wake up is signaling, and why it keeps happening in stressful weeksHow to actually fix your sleep Chester's approach starts with what you cut, not what you buy. If you run a business and your energy swings from one day to the next, this conversation lays out a realistic way to steady it without turning your evenings into a second job. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:17) Why Trying Harder Makes Sleep Worse (04:19) The Sleep Guru Problem (08:16) When the Score Lies to You (10:58) Who Should Actually Wear a Tracker (16:51) The One-Change Rule (22:06) The Truth About Night Wakings (27:57) The Disruptors You Don't Notice (31:56) Sleeping Anywhere Like Home (43:32) What Great Sleepers Do Differently 🟪 About the GuestChester Maglo is a sleep and performance coach known as The Somnoscientist. He works one-on-one with business owners across a 90-day system built to fix their sleep and get them performing at full capacity. His position is simple: sleep quality matters more than duration, and realistic changes to your environment outperform the extreme protocols that only work for people with nothing else on their calendar. 🟪 Connect with Chester Maglo Performance Quiz: https://thesomnoscientist.com/performance-quiz/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chester-maglo-1b1402387/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChestermagloInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/chestermaglo/ 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jul 14

From American Idol Elimination to Creating a Prime Video Show w/ Michelle Delamor

Forty million people watched Michelle Delamor get eliminated from American Idol. What happened next changed the direction of her li In this episode, I sit down with Michelle Delamor, co-founder of Sonic Gods Studios and creator of 60 Day Hustle, to talk about public rejection, reinvention, and what it takes to build your own stage. Michelle shares why she disappeared for three months after American Idol, how messages from young women led her to create No Girl Left Behind, how COVID erased years of work, and why the company behind American Idol is now helping take her own competition show global. Whether you're building a company, reconsidering your path, or feeling trapped inside someone else's vision, this conversation will help you think more clearly about identity, effort, and ownership. 🟪 What We Cover - The promise that pushed Michelle into American Idol - What elimination felt like in front of millions - Why she turned off her phone for three months - Realizing she was a builder, not only an artist - Creating No Girl Left Behind - Losing a million-person tour plan when COVID hit - Building Sonic Gods Studios and 60 Day Hustle - The full-circle partnership with Fremantle - Hustle, burnout, recovery, and sustainable effort - When to join someone else's vision and when to build your own stage 🟪 About Michelle Delamor Michelle Delamor is a transformational speaker, entrepreneur, and former American Idol finalist who uses entertainment as a vehicle for impact. As the founder of No Girl Left Behind and co-founder of Sonic Gods Studios, she creates powerful platforms that inspire confidence, purpose, and action. Through live experiences and media like 60 Day Hustle, Michelle empowers individuals to step into their potential and build lives aligned with their vision. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:39) A Promise That Changed Everything (04:18) 40 Million People Watching (09:29) The Song Choice That Backfired (13:03) Three Months of Silence (16:17) The Messages She Couldn't Ignore (20:44) Losing It All Overnight (24:48) The Amazon Pime Show (29:13) Too Big, Too Soon? (32:40) Inside the Arena (41:46) The Truth About Hustle 🟪 Connect with Michelle Delamor - Website: https://www.sonicgods.media/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-delamor-2a74a2125/ 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jul 7

What get You Hired in AI Startups in 2026 w/ Henry Jia

Every internship said no, so Henry Jia stopped applying and built something instead. The platform he ended up engineering later booked him onto this very show. He got there with a business degree and six months of teaching himself to build, and today he is the founding engineer at PodPitch, the AI platform behind roughly 5% of podcast guest bookings worldwide. In this conversation, we get into: What his startup reads first on a resume, and why the school name never matters How the customer support team ended up fixing the platform's code themselves Why he argues most AI work needs a far cheaper model, against his own team's advice What five background agents did to his laptop in the middle of this recording Most AI career advice comes from people watching from the outside. Henry is inside the hiring, the building, and the tooling at once. If you are deciding what to learn next, or what to stop paying for, start here. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Meet Haoxiang (Henry) Jia (02:24) Rejected from every internship (04:47) Why the school on your resume stopped mattering (09:03) The one skill that gets juniors hired now (12:00) Six months that beat four years of college (16:25) When the support team started shipping code (21:45) The 200 million token confession (25:30) The cheap AI model he trusts for real work (29:21) Five agents crashed his laptop, live on air (31:19) Inside PodPitch that booked him on this show (38:49) Why podcasts stick when short video doesn't 🟪 About the Guest Henry Jia (Haoxiang Jia) is the founding engineer at PodPitch, an AI podcast booking platform at $4M ARR whose clients include Beehiiv, MyFitnessPal, and Penguin Random House. He earned a Master of Business Analytics from Fordham, taught himself to build outside the curriculum after a run of internship rejections, and shipped GPTInterviewer (261 GitHub stars) before joining PodPitch as its first engineer. He builds tools for other builders and argues that the credential barrier to writing software has quietly collapsed. 🟪 Connect with Henry Jia Website: https://jiatastic.comGitHub: https://github.com/jiatasticLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haoxiang-jiaX/Twitter: https://x.com/jiatastic520GPTInterviewer: https://github.com/jiatastic/GPTInterviewerdemo.dev: https://github.com/jiatastic/demo.devPodPitch: https://podpitch.com/ 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jun 30

How to Build a 7-Figure Business without Amazon, Investors, or Influencers w/ Kate Assaraf

Kate Assaraf built DIP into a seven-figure haircare brand with forty thousand dollars from her kitchen table, with no Amazon, no investors, and no paid influencers. Her case is that the standard playbook most founders are handed is a trap, and the money you supposedly leave on the table by skipping Amazon is money you keep circulating with your own customers and retailers instead. I brought her the strongest objections any founder would raise, and she answered every one of them with receipts. 🟪 Important Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:00) The Table Everyone Says You're Crazy to Leave (06:28) The Factory That Almost Didn't Happen (10:55) Scaling Without a Single Investor (15:36) One Tiny Store, One Staggering Number (21:51) The Ugly Secret Behind Everyday Products (26:20) When a Competitor Came After Her (30:43) Who Wakes Up and Does This? (36:22) What Convenience Is Quietly Costing Us (40:29) The One Word That Changes Everything (43:17) Why Founders Really Keep Going 🟪 About Kate Founder and CEO of DIP, a sustainability-forward haircare company making salon-quality shampoo and conditioner bars. 7-figure brand built with $40K personal savings, no Amazon, no VC, no influencers. 800+ small independent retailers. Oprah Daily's #1 Pick for Curly Hair. NJ Family's 2024 Mompreneur of the Year. 🟪 Connect with Kate Assaraf - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dipalready - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-assaraf-b25a741a7 - Press Kit: https://dipalready.com/a/press-kit 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jun 23

4 Simple Habits that Bring Burn Out People Back to Life w/ Martin Lesperance

The people who are quietly checking out at work usually hide it well. They still show up. Something has just gone quiet. Martin Lesperance is a keynote speaker who delivers around 100 talks a year in more than 20 countries; his audiences started calling him the Simon Sinek of Quebec. In this conversation we get into: Why so many people have "quietly quit" & burning outThe four simple habits that pull a person, and a team, back to lifeWhy your real purpose was never the numbersAnd much more. This is less a talk about engagement than a story about choosing your attitude when you have every reason not to. If you have built something that works but does not feel like freedom, or you manage people who have gone quiet, you will leave with four things you can use today. 🟪 Important Time Stamps (00:00) Intro (00:43) What you'll learn today (02:14) Why engagement is at all time low (07:05) Starving for human connection (09:23) How the Inspire Framework came to life (18:20) Secret #1 (31:00) Secret #2 (44:12) Secret #3 (48:34) Secret #4 (53:39) The call that came the night before my biggest talk (58:52) How to connect with Martin 🟪 About the Guest Martin Lespérance is a bilingual (English and French) keynote speaker based in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. He delivers 80-100 keynotes a year across more than twenty countries. He started his career as a high school science teacher, then became a national trainer at Bayer and Director of Training and Development at Essilor before going full-time as a speaker. He won Inspirational Speaker of the Year at Speaker Slam and is the author of Inspire (available in English and French). Audiences call him the Simon Sinek of Quebec. 🟪 Connect with Martin Lespérance - Website: https://www.martinlesperance.co - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-lesperance-0355263/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinlesperance.ca - Book Inspire (EN & FR): https://www.martinlesperance.co/book 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jun 16

Why Good Marketing Pisses Off 80% of People? w/ Ada Wardzala

The most polished marketing is the marketing nobody remembers. Ada Wardzala started in the call center of the company that publishes Harvard Business Review in Poland and was directing its marketing by age 23. Today she runs SUUR, a B2B agency where clients wait for her availability. In this conversation, we get into: - Why 80% of your effort belongs on the part most teams treat as an afterthought - How three women in Utah turned Stanley's worst-selling product into a $750 million business - What a reader should get from your content that they could never get from ChatGPT - The trap that makes expensive events produce names but no clients Ada does not talk in marketing theory. Every claim comes with a client story, a number, or a scar. If you create content, run campaigns, or pay someone who does, you will leave knowing exactly where your effort is leaking. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:34) The Marketing Nobody Remembers (05:19) The Real Way to Win People Over (10:46) Why Saying "No" Wins (16:28) Know Them Better Than They Know Themselves (21:41) Built to Go Viral (27:12) Why "Write Me a Viral Post" Always Fails (33:08) Play Every Card in Your Deck (37:57) Brand Building vs. Cold Hard Revenue (44:25) What AI Can Never Fake (49:08) The Voices Telling You to Quit 🟪 About Adrianna Adrianna Wardzała is the founder and CEO of SUUR Marketing, a B2B marketing agency in Warsaw. At 23, she became the youngest-ever Marketing Director at ICAN Institute (publisher of Harvard Business Review Poland), where she also launched MIT Sloan Management Review Poland. After 7 years at ICAN and a year in tech at 10Clouds, she founded SUUR in 2021. She hosts the podcast Surowo o marketingu (31+ episodes) and writes a biweekly newsletter on B2B marketing. 🟪 Connect with Adrianna Wardzała - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriannawardzala - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adriannawardzala - Agency: https://www.suur.pl - Personal: https://adriannawardzala.pl - Podcast: Surowo o marketingu (Spotify/Apple) 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jun 9

How to Actually Implement Innovation (Not Just Generate Ideas) w/ Vaughan Broderick

Vaughan Broderick has worked on more than 300 innovation projects and trained over 350 leaders across 20 industries. In all of it, he kept seeing the same thing: good ideas dying before they ever reached the people they were meant for. Not because the ideas were weak. Because of the part of innovation almost nobody teaches. In this conversation, Vaughan breaks down why organizations jump to solutions before they understand the real problem, the four forces that quietly kill ideas after everyone says yes, and why what looks like resistance is usually something else entirely. We also get into the question everyone is asking right now: where does AI actually help you innovate, and where does it just help you fail faster? This is Vaughan's second appearance on Authority in the Wild. Episode 35 aired back in 2023. Since then he has co-authored "Innovation in Action" with Dr. Christian Walsh that you can order it now to unlock exclusive bonuses: https://innovationinactionbook.com The book is built on the DUCTRI framework refined over a decade and 300-plus projects. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (04:30) How to Know If Your Idea Is Actually Useful (09:17) What People Always Overcomplicate About Change (14:27) The Barrier Leaders Secretly Underestimate (18:36) What 'DUCTRI' Really Stands For (22:57) Where AI Helps Innovation — And Where It Fails (28:31) The One Thing AI Can Never Replace (33:11) Where the Best Ideas Actually Come From (37:05) From Idea to Action: The Real Steps (43:47) The Belief He's Now Letting Go Of 🟪 Connect with Vaughan Broderick - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughanbroderick - Website: https://vaughanbroderick.com - Innovation in Action Book: https://a.co/d/0gSsAIwf 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Jun 2

She Almost Died. Then She Fixed Gluten-Free Food. w/ Carolyn Haeler

Carolyn Haeler spent nine months losing her hair, going gray, and wasting away before anyone figured out what was wrong. Then she bit into a gluten-free cookie that was barely edible, and decided to fix it herself. Carolyn is the founder and CEO of Mightylicious Gluten Free, nationally distributed across 43 states, available at Whole Foods, Walmart, Costco, and 2,600+ specialty stores. She was also the first female LGBTQ+ founder to raise $5 million on Republic.co In this conversation, we get into: Why every gluten-free product on the shelf tastes the way it does (and what the industry keeps getting wrong)How she taught herself the food science in a tiny apartment with a 24-inch ovenWhy she chose crowdfunding over VC, and what that decision actually costsWhat CPG distribution really looks like when you are not a two-bros startup with venture backingThis is a story about obsession, recoverable risk, and what it means to build something that matters to the people who need it most. For founders, operators, and anyone who has wondered why "good enough" keeps winning. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:44) When Your Body Turns Against You (04:53) Gluten it's in Almost Everything! (09:34) One Bad Cookie. One Big Decision. (13:25) The Hidden Reason Gluten-Free Tastes Wrong (17:22) The Ingredient Nobody Else Was Using (20:24) Why She Skipped the VCs (23:05) The Moment Everything Unlocked (39:36) You Don't Need a Master Plan to Start (44:27) What's Next and What She'd Never Do Again 🟪 Connect with Carolyn Haeler Website: https://mightylicious.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mightyliciiousfoodsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpotz/🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
May 27

How to Write a Keynote on One Page that Influence People to Think Differently w/ Brian Miller

In 2026, the smartest person in the room is losing. Not to better ideas. To better packaging. Brian Miller built a 3.7M-view TEDx talk using a framework that fits on one page. He spent twenty years figuring out why brilliant people fail on stage, and it has nothing to do with charisma, voice, or slides. In this conversation, we get into: Why asking "what do I want to say?" is the question that kills most talks before they startWhat every audience is silently deciding in the first 60 seconds (and how most speakers fail it)The counterintuitive move that makes people beg for your solutionWhy changing someone's mind requires changing their thinking before you offer anythingBrian is a former professional magician turned speaker coach. His clients speak at TED-style stages in rooms where failure is not an option. 🟪 About Brian Brian Kenneth Miller is a former professional magician turned speaker coach. His TEDx talk "How to Magically Connect with Anyone" has done over 3.7 million views. He's the founder of Conquer the Red Dot, a coaching firm that prepares experts and leaders for TED-style stages, and the principal consultant at Clarity Up Consulting. He's the author of Three New People and the new book The One-Page Keynote: How to Design a Speech That Always Works, No Charisma Required. He also co-founded The SpeakerPath with Francisco Mahfuz. 🟪 Connect with Brian Miller - The One-Page Keynote Book: https://a.co/d/08tE3hmA - Clarity Up: https://www.clarityupconsulting.com - Conquer the Red Dot: https://conquerthereddot.com - The SpeakerPath: https://thespeakerpath.com - Personal website: https://www.brianmillerspeaks.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmillerspeaks - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brianmillerspeaks - TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cV8yfgNyI 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
May 19

Your Life Looks Perfect. You Feel Nothing. Here's Why. w/ Dr. Margaret Rutherford

The founder who seems fine is often the one who needs this most. I sit down with Dr. Margaret Rutherford, clinical psychologist, author, and TEDx speaker, to walk through Perfectly Hidden Depression, the form of depression that doesn't look like depression at all. It hides behind high performance, emotional control, and the identity of being someone who handles things. And it's disproportionately common among entrepreneurs and founders who have turned perfectionism into a management style. The through-line of the conversation is the framework shared by Dr. Margaret's new workbook that came to life after 30 years of clinical practice? 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:01) What is the Perfectly Hidden Depression (04:25) Perfectionism as a Prison (09:45) The 10 Telltale Signs of PHD (16:58) When PHD Traits Become Dangerous (22:12 )The Cost of Loneliness (30:33) From Awareness to Change (33:38) The Compartmentalization Exercise (39:59) Beyond Awareness to Cha 🟪 About Dr. Margaret Rutherford Dr. Margaret Rutherford is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience. She is the author of Perfectly Hidden Depression (November 2019), Perfectly Hidden Depression Workbook (April 2026) the host of the Self-Work Podcast that has over 5 million downloads. Her TEDx talk on emotional transparency has surpassed two million views. She works with high-functioning individuals who carry depression beneath a surface of apparent success. 🟪 Connect with Dr. Margaret Rutherford - PDH Workbook: https://a.co/d/021PCO99 - PHD Book: https://a.co/d/05pmllEo - Website: https://drmargaretrutherford.com - Self-Work Podcast: https://drmargaretrutherford.com/selfwork/ - TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXZ5Bo5lafA - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmargaretrutherford - LinkedIn: https://www.facebook.com/DrMargaretRutherford - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drmargaretrutherford 🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca - Website: https://www.gabemarusca.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemarusca - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca - X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemarusca - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemarusca - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
May 12

From $200K to $2M in 5 Months Growth Playbook: We talked Startups, Research, Positioning and Client Acquisition w/ Andrej Persolja

Andrej Persolja built a product with a 4.9-star rating and real clinical proof it worked. He launched in one market and it took off. He then launched to the US and nothing happened. No customers. No conversions. Four years and tens of thousands in ad spend with almost nothing to show for it. He eventually figured out why. Then he ran a structured test. One thing changed. Revenue went up 200%. His cost to acquire a customer dropped by more than half. He left the startup and built a consulting practice around what he learned. He then went on to take another company from $200K to $2M in annual revenue in five months. And in this episode we cover the startup growth playbook, From research to market positioning to client acquisition. This conversation covers: what he learned about why products stop sellinghow he identifies growth levers most teams misswhat customer research actually looks like when it worksand what he did when things were at their worstEnjoy! 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:48) Building his First Startup (05:02) Positioning is Killing Great Products (12:41) What Makes a Product Valuable (16:45) How to Get Your Customers (22:43) The Growth Playbook (26:22) Growth Tests And KPIs (29:28) AI Workflows & Life Design (38:26) Systems, Life and Opportunities (43:09) Connect with Andrej 🟪 About the Guest Andrej Persolja is a positioning strategist and growth marketer from Slovenia who has worked with 100+ tech companies, from early-stage startups to 50M EUR revenue companies. He co-founded 2 startups, including a dyslexic learning app where he discovered the power of positioning after lowering CAC by 52% and doubling growth. He now runs We Fix Boring, helping B2B SaaS companies communicate their value through strategic repositioning. A 2023 YTILI Fellow (U.S. Department of State), NextMBA alumnus (under Philip Kotler and Seth Godin), and keynote speaker at Startup Disrupt, Andrej lives at the crossroads of logic and psychology. 🟪 Connect with Andrej Persolja Website: https://apersolja.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV5Evx39NVsWc1z8ofGBY9gLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apersolja/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/apersoljaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/apersolja/Newsletter: https://apersolja.com/the-best-positioned-newsletter-in-marketing/Nail Your Positioning: https://nailyourpositioning.com/We Fix Boring: https://www.founderat.com/andrej-persolja/🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemaruscaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemaruscaX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
May 5

Why High Performers Burn Out (Harvard Research Explained) w/ Erika Coleman

This is not a "do less" conversation. Erika Coleman built a million-dollar company, lost her mother, and then collapsed on her couch the day she finally finished her to-do list. Then she went to Harvard to figure out what went wrong. In this conversation, we get into: - Why effort is not the same as achievement, and how that confusion creates burnout - The Olympian who won gold by stepping back, and the one who shattered her leg by giving everything - Why your nervous system treats you as the enemy when you push too hard - The Harvard research that proves doing good things can hurt you Erika calls herself a recovering overachiever, and she has built a methodology she calls "even achieving" for people who refuse to stop reaching but want to stop breaking. If you are stuck in the loop of working harder, getting more efficient, and somehow ending up with more on your plate, this episode names what is happening to you and what to do instead. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:52) It's possible to succeed without sarcifice? (07:14) Momentum Myth (11:36) Do Less Misconception (14:33) Intentional Excellence (19:08) Fear Brain Chemistry (21:54) Pace Like Pro Athletes (26:09) Stop Working to Depletion (31:03) Renegotiate After Overdoing (36:11) Be Your Own Champion (42:42) Small Actions Big Dreams (48:17) Ask for Help to Win (50:18) Harvard Lesson 🟪 About the Guest Erika is a speaker, consultant and recovering overachiever. She believes most successful people are getting accomplishment wrong. Erika founded a million-dollar virtual training company that serviced some of the top organizations in the world. Her curiosity about stress, motivation, and well-being led her to a master's degree in industrial-organizational psychology from Harvard University. Erika imagines a world where no one needs to choose between achieving their goals and building a life worth living. 🟪 Connect with Erika Coleman TEDx Talk: https://erikastedtalk.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-coleman-1591b435/The Even-Achieving™️ Team Assessment: https://balanceyourteam.com/🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Apr 28

Why Solo Founders Earn More Than $1M Agency Owners w/ Scott Proposki

Scott Proposki spent 28 years photographing the White House, National Geographic shoots, and celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and Robin Williams. Then COVID hit, and a 28-year career disappeared in 24 hours. In this conversation we get into: What actually happens when your identity dies overnightWhy $1 million in sales paid him less than $200K soloThe 3 words from Bill Belichick that restarted his careerWhy AI is not the death of photography (or any creative business)This is not a "how I bounced back in 30 days" story. Scott went silent for three years before he could even start rebuilding. That detail matters. If you have ever felt trapped by the business you built, watched your industry shift overnight, or wondered whether scaling is actually worth it, this one is for you. 🟪 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:35) Pandemic Shockwave (04:08) Letting Go to Rebuild (11:08) Coaching Room Mic Drop (16:13) Finding Vision Again (22:03) Basement Entrepreneur Mindset (28:30) Celebrity Shoots and Daily Emails (37:02) When Money Runs Out (42:56) Connect with Scott Proposki 🟪 About the Guest Before the pandemic, Scott Proposki spent 27 years behind the camera as an event photographer for National Geographic, The White House, HBO, Microsoft, and celebrities like Robin Williams and Miley Cyrus. He built a seven-figure photography business with 52 team members and over $25M in lifetime sales. Then he lost it all when the world shut down in 2020. Three years of depression, rebuilding, and rediscovering his identity followed. His book Camera Focus became the roadmap that helped him rebuild. Today, Scott teaches photographers how to build unshakeable businesses through the Camera Focus Method. 🟪 Connect with Scott Proposki The Focus Daily Email: https://scottproposki.comCamera Focus Book: https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Focus-Photography-Teaches-Business/dp/1947341553LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottproposki/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottproposki/🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca
Apr 21

Coaching Google Execs & Interviewing Every Ex w/ Miriam Katz

Miriam Katz coaches executives at Google or Deloitte on public speaking. She also hosts Ex Appeal, a podcast where she interviews every person she's ever been romantic with. In this conversation, we get into: Why the real fear behind speaking has nothing to do with being polished How improv exercises expose defense mechanisms we've carried since childhood What interviewing her exes taught her about herself Why she believes the stories we tell about ourselves are the biggest obstacle to growth This is not a typical communication episode. Miriam brings the same radical honesty she demands from clients, and the conversation goes places neither of us expected. If you've ever held back from saying what you really mean, this is the one. 🟪 Important Moments: (00:00) Trailer (01:02) Why Speaking Feels So Scary (10:08) Can Comedy Actually Make You Braver? (15:59) The Perfectionism Trap (and the Accent Myth) (21:13) Interviewing Your Exes On a Podcast (27:28) What Years of Dating Really Taught Her (36:44) Where Vulnerability Meets Strategy (40:57) Who Needs a Speaking Coach (Hint: Maybe You) 🟪 About the Guest Miriam Katz is a public speaking coach and the host of the “Ex Appeal” podcast, for which she is interviewing every person she’s ever been romantic with on any level. As a coach, she works a lot with humor as a way to loosen up her clients and allow their natural charisma to emerge. Katz also works as a journalist and ghostwriter, and performs as an actor and improviser. Yes she is busy. 🟪 Connect with Miriam Katz Free 20 minute mini class / exploratory coaching session: https://calendly.com/miriamkatz/new-meeting-2 Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ex-appeal-podcast/id1815156860 Podcast website: https://www.exappealpodcast.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theexappealpodcast/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-katz-b53ba828b/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@exappeal YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@exappeal🟪 Connect with Gabe Marusca Website: https://www.gabemarusca.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gabemaruscaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabemarusca/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabemarusca/X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabemaruscaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabemaruscaTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabemarusca

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