In This Episode:

We sit down with Steve Eror—skydiver, AI troublemaker, and the guy who'll absolutely call out your nap pod culture for what it is: overhyped and overdue for extinction. Steve walks us through his wild career pivot from Wall Street's soul-sucking grind (hello, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley) to the frontlines of AI at Signals, where he's busy helping companies hire "cloud employees" instead of more warm bodies. Along the way, we get the unvarnished truth about what it's really like to swap financial jargon for code, why automation isn't your enemy (unless you're mediocre), and how building a digital army of agents might just be the ticket to working less and living more. Oh, and did I mention he jumps out of planes for fun?

What We Cover:

• The not-so-glamorous story of leaving a "good" job that was anything but good

• How to build and manage AI "cloud employees" that do the grunt work while you focus on… well, anything else

• The myth (and reality) of Jobmageddon: why the robots aren't coming for your job unless you're already replaceable

• Why skydiving is the ultimate flow state—and way, way safer than arguing with your compliance department

• Behind the scenes of Chad, the AI bro-sales rep you never wanted (but can't look away from)

Guest Bio:

Steve Eror is a tech executive and all-around AI troublemaker. He's got a resume that runs from Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley (where he survived the soul-sucking world of finance) to leadership at InsideSales, Avanti, Zant, and Forethought. These days, he's helping run the show at Signals, building the AI-powered "cloud employees" that will probably automate the boring parts of your job before you even finish reading this sentence. Steve's career is a tour through finance, sales, and AI, with a knack for building tools that get actual results—plus, the man jumps out of airplanes for fun (74 times and counting), so you know he's not just here for the safe bets.

Enjoy!

This episode was brought to you by Wrench.ai

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Steve:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenerorjr/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getsignals

X: https://x.com/getsignalsai

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realsteveeror/

Follow the Pod: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@burnthemappodcast Twitter/X: https://x.com/BurnTheMapPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/burnthemappodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@burnthemappodcast BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/burnthemappodcast.bsky.social

Selected Links From This Episode

• Signals: https://getsignals.ai/

• Wrench.ai: https://wrench.ai/

People and Organizations Mentioned in this Episode

• Steve Eror

• Dan Baird

• Signals

• Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley

• InsideSales, Avanti, Zant, Forethought

• Wrench.ai

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• 00:08 — Why beanbags aren't just beanbags: Lessons from Lovesac

• 04:15 — Argumentation, decision-making, and why everyone thinks they don't argue (spoiler: they do)

• 12:24 — Quitting finance, waking up to tech, and learning what an API is (the hard way)

• 18:23 — AI, job-mageddon, and why real talent doesn't sweat the robots

• 26:04 — Trolling with AI: Building Chad, the world's worst sales bro

• 29:32 — Skydiving, ADD, and finding zen at 10,000 feet

• 38:21 — Moose encounters, Yellowstone survival, and Darwinism at its finest

• 41:49 — Where to find Steve (and why he's not hard to track down)

"Limitations? Please. The only thing that matters now is the idea—because with today's AI, you can create anything. The rest is just noise." —Luka Tisler

In This Episode: We sit down with Luka Tisler, the Slovenian mastermind who treats AI video tools like his personal playground. Luka's journey is a whirlwind of reinvention—from post-production purist to VFX wizard to motion graphics innovator to, well, teaching the rest of us how to keep up. He went from wrangling cameras to breaking generative models, turning every "hobby" into a full-blown career, and building Lighthouse Academy so others could stop floundering and start creating.

What do you get when you mix relentless curiosity, a little Balkan stubbornness, and a refusal to follow creative trends? Apparently, a one-man AI creative studio who's as busy as he is unbothered by the old rules.

What We Cover:

• How AI has nuked creative limitations (and why your dumbest idea is your only real asset now)

• The messy, noisy process behind AI image and video creation—yes, even when the results have six fingers

• Why curation is the new creation, and batch-processing your way to greatness (or at least a good espresso)

• The agony and ecstasy of client "education" when nobody wants to leave their comfort zone

• The birth of Lighthouse Academy and why Luka would rather build something from scratch than explain things twice

• Where to find the world's top AI nerds (Spoiler: Discord, Reddit, and definitely not Facebook)

Guest Bio: Luka Tisler is a Slovenian video virtuoso and co-founder of Lighthouse Academy, known for his deep dives into motion graphics, VFX, and AI-powered animation. Since 2008, Luka's career has spanned from old-school production sets to the wild frontiers of generative AI. He's an unapologetic experimenter, a breaker of tools, and the kind of guy who turns every hobby into a profession—whether the rest of us can keep up or not.

Enjoy! This show was brought to you by Wrench.ai

Follow Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbaird/ X: https://x.com/mrdanbaird

Follow Luka:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luka-tisler/

Follow the Pod: YouTubeTwitter/X InstagramTikTok BlueSky

Selected Links From This Episode:

• Lighthouse Academy

• Luka's LinkedIn

• Tools: Midjourney, Weavy, ComfyUI

People and Organizations Mentioned:

• Dave Clark (AI film legend)

• Billy Bowman (AI creative rockstar)

• Kevin the Kid, Metapuppet, Perz, Phil, Kijai, Seb (AI superheroes)

• Lighthouse Academy

Show Notes & Timestamps:

• 00:04 — Luka's journey: From Slovenian VFX to AI wild child

• 02:09 — How video creation is being flipped on its head (and why your ideas matter more than your tools)

• 05:43 — The latest in AI video: Broken tools, creative breakthroughs, and why "good enough" is never enough

• 08:15 — Client education: Herding cats, fighting for sanity, and not letting the comfort zone kill your creativity

• 14:15 — Curation is the new creation (yes, you still have to do the work)

• 17:37 — Building Lighthouse Academy: Zero to one, the joy of teaching, and why community is everything

• 21:17 — Where the real AI nerds hang out (spoiler: it's not Instagram)

• 24:15 — The hardest part? Clients who want 2010 results in 2024

• 28:09 — Who to watch in AI creativity, and why the best don't always come from film school

"Don't spend $25,000 building a studio before you've recorded your first episode. Please. Use your laptop, a good mic, and just get started." —Anika Jackson

We talk to Anika Jackson about what it actually takes to go from "hey, let's start a podcast!" to running a slick, sustainable media machine. She walked through her own scrappy journey—launching Brand Amplified out of her PR agency, turning a side hustle into a business, and learning (sometimes the hard way) that you don't need a $25,000 studio to get started. What you do need: consistency, a clear sense of why you're doing it, and a willingness to put in the reps, even if your first few episodes are a little rough around the edges..

• How to launch, grow, and monetize a podcast without burning a pile of cash.
• The real story behind turning a hobby into a business—spoiler: it's not glamorous, but it is possible.
• Why most podcasters quit too soon, and how to avoid rookie mistakes.
• The hidden cost of "doing it all yourself"—and why AI is your new best friend.
• How Anika's DIY approach landed her speaking gigs, teaching gigs, and more guest requests than she can handle (seriously, 100+ waitlist).

Enjoy the episode. This show is brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Anika Jackson is a communications maestro with 25+ years in the PR and media trenches. She's the Executive Director at the ICL Foundation, co-produces USC's MediaScape series, and is the host of Your Brand Amplified®—a top 1.5% podcast where she cracks open the world of branding, entrepreneurship, and the business of being heard. When she's not turning chaos into content, you'll find her teaching grad students at USC, judging the Webby Awards, or wrangling AI tools into service for indie podcasters everywhere.

• LinkedIn
• X (Twitter)

Follow Anika:

• LinkedIn

• Instagram

• Your Brand Amplified Instagram

Follow the Pod:

• YouTube

• X (Twitter)

• Instagram

• TikTok

• BlueSky

• Your Brand Amplified® Podcast

• Anika Jackson on LinkedIn

• Your Brand Amplified® on Apple Podcasts

• Pretty Powerful Podcast feat. Anika Jackson

• Maestrix.ai (Brand development and podcast strategy tool)

• Ziotag (Accessibility and content tagging for podcasts)

• Simplified (AI-driven content creation and scheduling)

• Podgagement (Podcast analytics and ranking)

• ListenNotes (Podcast charts, keywords, and competitors)

• Anika Jackson (Guest)

• Dan Baird (Host)

• ICL Foundation

• ICL Academy (online middle and high school)

• University of Southern California (USC)

• Full Capacity Marketing (Anika's PR agency)

• Maestrix.ai (Guillaume Demortier, Founder)

• Ziotag

• Simplified

• Podgagement

• ListenNotes

• Webby Awards

• 00:00 — Why most podcasters quit before they get traction (and how Anika didn't)

• 03:00 — Turning a hobby podcast into a business you can actually monetize

• 06:00 — Building a content backlog: 10 interviews a week, 100+ guests in the queue

• 08:00 — Why AI tools are a podcaster's best friend (and which ones actually work)

• 10:00 — Making your podcast accessible (for real, not just for compliance)

• 13:00 — Metrics, downloads, and the lies you tell yourself (and your sponsors)

• 16:00 — The future of podcasting: AI clones, digital personas, and what's still very, very human

• 22:00 — Small teams, big impact: How AI is killing middle management and opening up new business models

• 28:00 — Why every business, big or small, needs an AI-literate workforce

• 34:00 — Anika's top 3 tips for launching a podcast (hint: don't overthink it)

• 36:00 — Where to find Anika and why LinkedIn is still king

"Every human is entitled to utter syllables and words and think thoughts and commune with their own highest power. That is… certainly an inalienable right."

—Bridger Lee Jensen

In This Episode: We sit down with Bridger Lee Jensen, founder of the world's first federally protected psilocybin religion, Singularism. Bridger takes us on a trip (pun intended) through the wild ride of founding a new movement—in Provo, Utah, of all places—facing down the SWAT team, and coming out the other side with his mushrooms (and his freedom) intact.

Bridger's story is a cocktail of therapy, philosophy, legal warfare, and a healthy disrespect for the way "it's always been done." He's a therapist, a reluctant founder, and, apparently, the only guy who's ever had the government give his stash back—by court order.

• Why suffering might be good for you (and why you should teach your kid to get their ass kicked)
• The mechanics of starting a federally recognized religion (hint: you'll need more than a vision board)
• Psychedelics, therapy, and the myth of "fixing" yourself
• How to survive a SWAT raid with your dignity and your sense of humor
• The accidental legal precedent that could change religion in America

Enjoy the episode. This show is brought to you by Wrench.ai.

Bridger Lee Jensen is the founder of Singularism, the first psilocybin-based religion in the U.S. to win federal protection—by way of a legal brawl in the heart of Mormon country. He's a therapist, philosophical troublemaker, and possibly the only person to have his mushrooms returned by court order. Bridger's mission? Use psychedelics, not as escape, but as a tool to strip away the BS and find real meaning.

• LinkedIn
• X (Twitter)

• YouTube
• X (Twitter)
• Instagram
• TikTok
• BlueSky

Follow Bridger:

• LinkedIn

• Singularism.org
• Wrench.ai

• Bridger Lee Jensen
• Dan Baird
• The City of Provo
• Singularism
• Wrench.ai

00:04 — Welcome, Bridger: Why start a religion in Provo, Utah? 06:15 — Is suffering actually good for you? 11:45 — Psychedelics, consciousness, and what therapy gets wrong 25:55 — The SWAT raid, the mushrooms, and how not to panic 34:41 — The legal fight: redefining religion in America 1:13:10 — Government gives the mushrooms back (seriously) 1:22:08 — Why Bridger won't quit, no matter how weird it gets 1:32:09 — How to get involved, support, or just watch the circus