After a near-fatal car accident, Alan came face to face with his own mortality—and it lit a fire that transformed his entire life. From abandonment issues to financial struggles, he turned his pain into purpose, building Next Level University, a top-ranked personal development podcast and thriving coaching business.

In this episode, Alan and I dive into:

How tragedy sparked his obsession with personal development

Why entrepreneurs and small business owners must master compounding habits to succeed

The mindset shift that took him from six figures in corporate to helping thousands of people reach their full potential

Why environment is everything—and how to create one that pulls you forward instead of dragging you back

The #1 meta-habit Alan swears by that keeps him and his clients growing every single day

This conversation is raw, real, and full of lessons that every entrepreneur needs to hear. If you’re chasing success but feel like something’s missing, Alan’s story will hit home.

👉 Connect with Alan directly on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook (he personally answers his DMs). Just search Alan Lazaros and you’ll find him. You can also check out Next Level University wherever you get your podcasts.

If you found value in this episode, please rate, review, and share the show. That’s how we reach more entrepreneurs and small business owners who are hungry to grow into the best versions of themselves.

Follow me on social media or visit padensquires.com for more tips, resources, and behind-the-scenes content.

👉 Ready to find out if you’re overpaying taxes? Take our free tax assessment at squirestaxplanning.com. From there, you can also book a free discovery call with our team and see what it looks like to have a true tax planner in your corner.

It's our 100th EPISODE! Today we are talking about six lessons every Entrepreneur needs to hear after interviewing 100 entrepreneurs.

After sitting down with over a hundred risk-takers, game-changers, and trailblazers, I’ve pulled together my top six lessons that will completely shift the way you think about business.

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner looking for real business tips that go beyond the Instagram fluff, this one’s for you.

In this milestone episode of Behind Their Success, I’m pulling back the curtain on the most powerful takeaways from our first 100 episodes—things I wish I knew when I was just starting out. We’re talking:

1️⃣ Think Bigger Than You Think is Possible – stop capping your dreams at your current abilities.

2️⃣ Build Systems, Not Just Skill – the real secret to scaling.

3️⃣ Purpose Over Profits – why alignment fuels longevity.

4️⃣ Become a Decision Maker, Not Just a Doer – escape the daily grind.

5️⃣ Embrace Continuous Learning & Humility – stay coachable to stay ahead.

6️⃣ Say Yes Early, Say No Later – the art of focus as you grow.

Whether you’re grinding from your living room or running a multi-million-dollar company, these lessons apply. And trust me—they’ve been tested by the best in the business.

💡 CALL TO ACTION:

If you’re tired of overpaying taxes and want a CPA who actually helps you strategically keep more of your money, head over to SquiresTaxPlanning.com. Take our free assessment, find out if you’re overpaying, and let’s put some money back in your pocket—legally and ethically.

📲 Follow me on Instagram @PadenSquires for more entrepreneur insights, small business tips, and behind-the-scenes of running a business.

🎧 Listen now and let’s make your next 100 moves count.

Ever feel like your small business or personal growth journey is one step forward, two steps back? Or maybe you’re stuck in that loop of self-doubt, playing small, and waiting for “someday” to arrive. Today’s episode will change that.

I’m sitting down with Martin Salama — certified life coach, entrepreneur, strategist, and creator of the Warrior’s Life Code. Martin went from losing everything in 2008 to building an abundant life and helping entrepreneurs crush their scarcity mindset. He’s sharing powerful personal development tips, mindset tools, and real stories that will help you go from worrier to warrior.

We dig into:

The difference between self-consciousness vs. self-awareness and why it’s the key to lasting confidence.

Martin’s “Stop–Think–Respond” method to rewire your reactions and lead with strength.

How small business owners can pivot faster than the big guys and use it as their competitive advantage.

Simple mindset tips to overcome scarcity thinking and start operating from abundance.

Why gratitude is the fastest way to shift your day and your results.

If you’ve been craving practical tools to level up your mindset and your business, this one’s a goldmine.

Where to find Martin:

👉 connectwithmartin.com – Book a conversation, grab his book Worrier to Warrior, and check out his coaching programs.

👉 YouTube – Search Martin Salama for his short, powerful mindset videos.

If you found value in this episode, please rate, review, and share it. Let’s help more entrepreneurs get healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Follow me, Paden Squires:

🌐 padensquires.com

📱 Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn – @PadenSquires

Tired of Overpaying in Taxes?

Most entrepreneurs don’t have a tax planner—they have a tax preparer. That means they’re missing out on strategies that could save them thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands). We work alongside small business owners and high-income earners to legally and proactively cut your tax bill.

We guarantee we’ll find multiple tax savings strategies your current preparer hasn’t told you about.

📅 Book your free strategy call today: padensquires.com

Everybody wants the big wins—but nobody talks about the boring part. The slow, unsexy grind. The daily reps. The posts nobody sees. The podcast episodes that only get 12 downloads. But that’s where the magic happens. That’s compounding—and it’s everything.

In this episode, I sit down with Portland startup, Rick Turoczy, and we dive into how showing up consistently in business, in relationships, and in content leads to explosive long-term growth.

Rick shares what it really takes to build strong entrepreneurial communities, how failure is just data, and why putting yourself out there—even when it’s rough—is the only way to break through.

Whether you’re a solo founder, small business owner, or just getting into personal development, this one hits deep. Rick drops straight wisdom on mindset, vulnerability, and why playing the long game—brick by brick—is what actually works.

What You’ll Learn:

Why community is a non-negotiable for entrepreneurs

The myth of the “overnight success” and what really goes down

How failure is just your First Attempt In Learning (F.A.I.L.)

Why personal development must precede business growth

How to start putting yourself out there—even if you suck at first

Connect with Rick:

Check out Rick’s work and writing on the Silicon Florist blog and learn more about the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE). You’ll see exactly how he's shaping the future of entrepreneurship in the PNW.

👉 https://www.siliconflorist.com

🙌 Connect with Paden:

If you want high-level tax strategy that keeps more money in your pocket and helps scale your business:

📍 squirestaxplanning.com

🎯 Take the free tax savings assessment

📞 Book your free tax discovery call

Follow Paden on social for tips on entrepreneurship, money, and mindset:

📱 Instagram + LinkedIn: @PadenSquires

🌐 padensquires.com

In this episode, we dive deep into what it really takes to go from corporate structure to the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. If you've ever thought, “I don't know if I can run my own business,” Vicky Brown's journey proves that you absolutely can—with the right mindset, support, and continuous learning.

This episode is full of practical gold for entrepreneurs—especially those transitioning from a corporate career or still trying to do everything themselves. We talk mindset shifts, sales struggles, building teams, delegating (yes, finally letting go), and why HR isn’t just about paperwork—it's about people.

What You’ll Learn:

How Vicky accidentally became an entrepreneur (and why she originally said “absolutely not!”)

The surprising overlap between opera performance and business strategy

What most new business owners miss when leaving corporate life

Why delegation isn’t just helpful—it’s necessary

How to stop being the bottleneck in your business growth

Tips for hiring, interviewing, and building an aligned team

How to access your best ideas (hint: it’s not in front of your laptop)

Keypoints:

entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, business growth, HR for entrepreneurs, hiring tips, delegation in business, Vicky Brown, entrepreneurship mindset, building a leadership team, transitioning from corporate to business owner

🙌 Connect with Vicky Brown:

🎁 Get her free gift + connect directly at: vickybrownhr.com/podcastgift

🚀 Want to Pay Less in Taxes?

If you're an entrepreneur or high-income earner tired of just having a “tax preparer” instead of a tax planner — head over to squirestaxplanning.com to take our free assessment and book your discovery call. We’re here to make sure you're not overpaying Uncle Sam, legally and ethically.

🧠 Stay Connected:

👉 Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and all the places: @PadenSquires

🌐 More tips and resources at: padensquires.com

🎙️ And don’t forget — rate, review, and share the podcast! Let’s help create more healthy, wealthy, and wise entrepreneurs.

Are you building your business to sell—or just to survive?

In today’s episode of Behind Their Success, I sit down with the powerhouse himself, Sal Tirabassi—a seasoned fractional CFO, private equity investor, and the guy behind CFO Pro + Analytics. With over $400 million raised and decades of experience helping high-growth companies, Sal breaks down what most entrepreneurs get wrong about preparing for an exit—and how to fix it before you leave millions on the table.

Whether you're a small business owner with an eye on retirement or you're dreaming of your first big exit, this one’s for you.

💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✅ Why clean, explainable financials are the foundation of every great business exit strategy

✅ How mom-and-pop shops can level up and avoid leaving value behind

✅ The real ROI of professionalizing your finance function before you sell

✅ What investors really want to see during due diligence

✅ The biggest mindset shift founders need when seeking capital

✅ The power of 13-week cash flow modeling for clarity and confidence

✅ Real-world strategies to turn chaos into systems—and dollars

📌 SEO Highlights:

We go deep on:

Small business exit strategies that actually increase valuation

How to sell a business without scaring off investors

Business exit planning tips that lead to real equity value

What "due diligence readiness" really means (hint: it’s not QuickBooks and hope)

🔧 Tools & Tactical Takeaways:

Sal gives tactical advice on:

Building a sellable business with equity value in mind

Implementing automation and fractional CFO services for lean growth

Using AI tools (like note takers and SOP generators) to scale like a pro

Dealing with cash flow crunches and investor skepticism with strategy, not stress

🚀 Connect with Sal Tirabassi:

🌐 Website: cfoproanalytics.com

🔗 LinkedIn: Just search Sal Tirabassi

🧮 Free Tools: Check out the equity dilution and CAC calculators on the website

🔥 Ready to stop overpaying taxes?

I help entrepreneurs and high-income earners legally and ethically reduce their tax bills—guaranteed.

Head over to squirestaxplanning.com to take our free assessment and see how much you might be leaving on the table.

🙌 If You Found Value…

Please rate, review, and share the podcast. That’s the best way to help us grow and continue serving healthy, wealthy, and wise entrepreneurs like you.

You can follow me on social media or head to padensquires.com for more tools, thoughts, and behind-the-scenes content.

Today I sit down with Shark Tank Winner, Tracey Noonan and co-founder of Wicked Good Cupcakes whose simple advice could save you years of mistakes.

Tracey Noonan launched Wicked Good Cupcakes — a business she launched with her daughter from their kitchen and turned into a multimillion-dollar empire. That’s right, no college degrees, no culinary training, just grit, a jar, and a whole lot of belief.

We talk about how she turned a hobby into a Shark Tank success, what it's really like behind the scenes with Kevin O’Leary, and the shocking TSA moment that made national headlines (yes — cupcakes were deemed a national security threat!).

This episode is packed with gold for entrepreneurs who feel like they’re “too old,” under qualified, or just unsure how to start. If you’re in the thick of the struggle or sitting on the edge of a dream, Tracey’s story will absolutely light a fire under you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

The real deal behind the Shark Tank handshake — and why only 10% of them go through

How a TSA agent and a cupcake jar created unexpected viral marketing

Why Tracey said “yes” to Kevin O’Leary's royalty deal (and how it paid off big)

The key mindset shift every aspiring entrepreneur needs to make

What to do if you're stuck, overwhelmed, or think you're "too old" to start

The simple advice Tracey gives that could save you years of mistakes

The power of testing your idea before you scale

Why commodity businesses often win — and how you can still innovate inside a crowded market

🛠️ Resources Mentioned:

Tracey’s Online Course: TheCupcakeAnalogy.com — designed to help entrepreneurs avoid common mistakes and build a solid foundation

Nonprofit: Build.org — mentoring high school entrepreneurs across the U.S.

📣 Where to Find Tracey:

🌐 Website & Course: TheCupcakeAnalogy.com

📧 Email: [email protected]

💬 Available for: Mentorship, Coaching, Speaking

🎯 SEO Keywords:

Shark Tank, Wicked Good Cupcakes, Shark Tank Winners, Tracey Noonan, Cupcake in a Jar, Kevin O’Leary Shark Tank Deal, Entrepreneur Mindset, How to Start a Business, Women Entrepreneurs, From Hobby to Business

🧠 Want to Build Wealth Like a Shark Tank Winner? Start With Your Taxes.

Let’s be real — growing a business is hard enough. Overpaying taxes just makes it worse. If you're an entrepreneur or high-income earner and you're still relying on a basic tax preparer, you're likely leaving thousands on the table every single year.

At Squires Tax Planning, we help business owners legally and ethically reduce their tax burden through proactive strategy — not just filing forms. We've saved our clients hundreds of thousands using techniques most accountants never mention.

👉 Think you might be overpaying?

Take our free assessment at SquiresTaxPlanning.com

Book a free discovery call to find out what your current tax pro isn't telling you.

Let your money work harder — not just your hustle.

Today I sit down with Jeremy Jenson — founder & CEO of Encore Search Partners — to talk about how to scale your business by building systems, hiring the right people, and becoming a real-deal leader who stops being the bottleneck in their own company.

Jeremy went from launching a scrappy lead-gen firm to running the largest executive search firm in Houston. He shares exactly how he made the leap, what scaling really looks like behind the scenes, and the mindset shifts founders must embrace to level up. No fluff, just the real playbook from a founder who's been there.

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

How Jeremy scaled from $250K in revenue to $15M+ by shifting his business model and investing in the right people

Why many founders stall out — and how to break free from being the only person making decisions

The power of hiring a COO and implementing EOS to unlock growth

How to hire and compensate A-players — and why your old comp models are holding you back

Building a business around systems (not people) to protect scalability and long-term value

Jeremy’s take on AI, offshoring, and the future of professional services — and how to stay ahead of it

The mindset shift from being the smartest person in the room to being the leader who attracts the smartest people

Scaling tips for entrepreneurs feeling stuck around the $1M revenue mark

🚀 Perfect For:

Entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners who are looking for tactical advice on how to scale their business, hire effectively, build systems, and shift from operator to CEO.

🔗 Connect with Jeremy Jenson:

🔹 LinkedIn: Jeremy Jenson (look for the 🐐 in the name!)

🔹 Instagram: @jeremyjenson — behind-the-scenes, leadership gems, and a little bit of life

🔹 Encore Search Partners: encoresearch.com

📣 Call to Action:

Enjoyed the episode? Don’t forget to rate, review, and share it with another entrepreneur who’s ready to scale their business. It’s how we spread the word and help more people build a business that works without them.

You can also follow me (Paden Squires) at:

🌐 padensquires.com

📲 Instagram & LinkedIn @padensquires

💼 For tax strategy and planning: squirestaxplanning.com

In this episode of Behind Their Success: Advice For Entrepreneurs, I sit down with Ken Gee, the founder of KRI Partners, to explore the lucrative world of multifamily real estate investing. Ken shares his journey from a CPA working long hours to a successful real estate investor with over two billion in transactions. We dive into the motivations that led him to make the leap, including the desire for more family time and control over his career. Ken also debunks common misconceptions about entering the multifamily market and emphasizes the importance of understanding the business thoroughly. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting out, Ken's insights offer valuable guidance on building wealth through multifamily real estate. Join us for an engaging discussion on taking calculated risks and making informed decisions in this competitive industry.

Ever feel like your brain’s running a thousand tabs at once—but none of them are actually helping you move forward?

You're not alone. In this episode, we dig into how stillness, flow, and a bit of strategic brain-dumping can be the ultimate performance hack for entrepreneurs and high achievers who are stuck in their own mental clutter.

I sat down with Reuven Shelef—executive coach, organizational whisperer, and founder of Out of the Box Consulting—to unpack how to get clarity, simplify complexity, and build a life that’s not just productive… but powerful.

This episode isn’t about theory—it’s packed with real, practical tools from a guy who's coached Fortune 500 execs and built systems that fuse engineering, military, and deep spiritual wisdom into one methodology for transformation. Whether you’re a hard-charging entrepreneur or a leader trying to bring more clarity into the chaos—this one’s for you.

🎯 What We Cover:

Why most problems are mental clutter—and how to start untangling complexity

How entrepreneurs can use “brain dumps” to create clarity and momentum

What flow state really is, and how to access it without sitting cross-legged for 30 minutes

The surprising meditation practice that got Reuven started

Tools for high achievers who “can’t sit still” but desperately need stillness

Using the body to hack the mind (hot springs, saunas, and float tanks included)

Aligning personal life and business—because there’s no real separation

How to fix the cross-functional chaos that kills startups and big orgs alike

📌 Connect with Reuven:

🌐 Website: ReuvenShelef.com

📅 Book a free call: MeetReuven.com

⚡️ Call to Action:

If you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or just a hard charger trying to bring more clarity, alignment, and flow into your life—do yourself a favor: listen to this episode.

Then hit pause, grab a notebook, and do nothing for 15 minutes. See what happens.

🧠 Ready to build a business and a life that actually works together?

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a fellow high achiever who needs to hear it.

Want to save thousands in taxes while building the business of your dreams?

👀 Take the free assessment at squirestaxplanning.com