In this episode of Business Brain, Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean kick things off with a humorous nod to International ASMR Day before diving into key business tips. Dave shares insights from the Podcast Movement Evolutions conference, emphasizing the importance of identifying where your industry engages online—like how the podcast ad industry is active on LinkedIn. By interacting there for just 30 minutes a day, he significantly boosted connections and created new business opportunities.

They also stress the value of joining conversations without immediately pitching—just genuinely engaging first. Tools like Seamless.ai are recommended for finding email contacts when LinkedIn messages don’t get responses.

Another pro tip: pass on credit card fees (3%) to customers in B2B settings. Dave reports zero pushback when doing so and shares how credit card reward points made such fees worth paying in his own car purchase experience.

The show wraps with a powerful conversation about imposter syndrome. Shannon recounts chatting with a billionaire who admired Shannon’s freedom-focused “lifestyle business.” This conversation reminded both hosts (and listeners) that success is subjective—wealth isn’t just about money but also about time, freedom, and joy. The key takeaway: compare yourself only to your past self, not others.

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Dave and Shannon discuss the “consulting trap”—the cycle where coaches or consultants trade time for money and get hooked on the immediate gratification of helping people, like feeling like Superman. Dave shares his own experience getting stuck in it and warns that it’s not scalable. Shannon agrees, saying he’s early in his coaching business and is already feeling the limits of one-on-one work. He’s working on solving this by automating, hiring help, building curriculum, creating group programs, and selling digital products. He started by offering free coaching to test the waters and quickly saw demand. They talk about how rewarding it is emotionally but emphasize the need to systematize the business to avoid burnout and maximize impact without tying everything to hours worked.

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Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean open the episode with a light chat about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Dave then shares insights from attending South by Southwest (SXSW), focusing on a documentary called Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror. Initially intending to cover it for his music podcast, Dave realizes the documentary offers a deeper business lesson.

The film covers how Rocky Horror started as a stage musical in London, became popular, moved to L.A., and was eventually turned into a low-budget movie. It initially flopped, but the creators noticed college students were the ones staying to watch. Instead of giving up, they pivoted to midnight showings and built an audience, which turned it into the longest-running movie ever.

The main business takeaway: own your content. Richard O’Brien, who wrote and starred in the musical, was advised not to sell the rights. That ownership turned into a valuable long-term annuity, with the Rocky Horror franchise eventually earning an estimated $500 million through box office, merchandise, licensing, and more.

They end by emphasizing that audiences create cults—not producers—and reiterate the importance of retaining ownership of your creations. Shannon also teases a story about a billionaire conversation for a future episode.

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In this episode of Business Brain, hosts Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean celebrate National Hot Tub Day by discussing how hot tubs help them decompress and unplug. They transition into AI and automation, sharing practical Gmail tips—like using built-in templates for quick replies and the “+” email trick for tracking sign-ups and spam.

They discuss the benefits of small automations, like smart lighting and motion-activated garage lights, which save time and mental energy. Shannon emphasizes using tools like Calendly to automate appointments and streamline client interactions, even incorporating automated sequences for paid consulting calls. Dave encourages listeners to start automating simple tasks and scale up, using tools like ChatGPT for guidance.

They wrap up by urging listeners to think constantly about what they can automate to reclaim time and focus, promising more tips in future episodes and inviting feedback and automation ideas from their audience.

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Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean open episode 634 of the Business Brain podcast by sharing personal updates and diving into a frustrating customer service story from Shannon. He explains his negative experience with Bluehost, a company he used for domain management. After being hacked and receiving poor support with constant upselling, he moved his sites elsewhere but left domains with Bluehost, which later caused major DNS issues. Bluehost reset his DNS records after ending his hosting plan, leaving his business offline for days and requiring a tedious domain transfer process. Dave empathizes and recommends Cloudflare as a better DNS and registrar solution.

The conversation transitions into a key business principle: everyone is a customer — not just those who buy from you. They emphasize that employees, suppliers, vendors, attorneys, accountants, and delivery drivers should all be treated with the same attention and care as paying customers. Building good relationships and being kind leads to better service, loyalty, and faster support when needed. Shannon encourages business owners to show appreciation, stay in regular communication, and make positive impacts on everyone around them. They close by urging listeners to adopt this mindset and share their experiences.

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Business Brain episode 633 celebrates Twitter Day and discusses Blue Sky, a decentralized social network originally started as a project within Twitter by Jack Dorsey and now run by Jay Graber.

The show then moves to AI topics, emphasizing that people won’t be replaced by AI but by people who use AI. They discuss how AI has enhanced their workflow, especially with creating podcast images and using tools like Zoom’s AI summaries to generate meeting action items automatically. They also compare ChatGPT with Perplexity, noting Perplexity’s more detailed, direct answers.

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In this episode of Business Brain, Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean reflect on the unpredictable yet inspiring nature of South by Southwest and dive into two key business lessons: first, that customers today often expect to be disappointed — creating a powerful opportunity for businesses to stand out by exceeding expectations with clear communication, fast responses, and proactive service; and second, the surprising value of sabbaticals, where intentional, long-term breaks not only refresh individuals but also strengthen businesses by forcing better systems and planning.

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Business Brain Podcast Episode 631 explores AI applications in business and content creation. Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean discuss a listener’s idea to create a custom AI by uploading user manuals of all owned devices into ChatGPT, effectively turning it into a personal tech support assistant. They extend this concept to businesses, suggesting that customer service departments upload historical support tickets to train AI models, instantly improving response accuracy.

The conversation shifts to AI’s potential for content creators. Shannon considers uploading his entire written content library to an AI model for repurposing and reformatting. Dave envisions an AI tool that can be trained on personal email archives for more context-aware assistance, speculating that Google’s Gemini may soon provide such a feature.

Shannon introduces Google’s Notebook LM, an AI tool that converts written content into natural-sounding audio discussions. He explains how he uploaded a 250-page book, and the AI generated an 18-minute conversation summarizing its key points. This feature enables businesses to transform white papers, blog posts, and other text-based content into audio for easier consumption. They compare it to ChatGPT’s voice mode but highlight its passive listening benefits.

Dave shares an insight from using ChatGPT’s voice feature, emphasizing the value of delayed responses. Unlike human conversations, AI waits indefinitely, allowing users to think through responses without pressure. He notes how this improves interactions and creativity.

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The episode of Business Brain features Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean discussing productivity, mindset, and business strategies. They open with lighthearted Hitchcock-related jokes and discuss the unpredictable nature of the South by Southwest conference. The main discussion revolves around productivity methods, particularly the concept of a “reverse to-do list” or “to-did list,” where one focuses on what has been accomplished rather than what still needs to be done. Shannon shares his preference for using reminders instead of traditional to-do lists, explaining how he frames tasks as things he wants to do rather than has to do, which keeps him motivated.

They also discuss the power of storytelling in business and personal life, emphasizing that people are naturally interested in everyday experiences. Shannon recalls a successful newsletter he wrote that started with a humorous personal anecdote, demonstrating how relatable stories can engage audiences. Dave notes that while people often downplay their own experiences, they eagerly consume mundane details from others, as seen in social media.

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Business Brain Podcast Episode 629 discusses the role of AI in learning, business, and social media strategy. The hosts, Dave Hamilton and Shannon Jean, address an email from a listener who limits their child’s AI use to encourage independent problem-solving. They compare this to past educational resistance to calculators and emphasize the importance of using AI as an assistant rather than a crutch. Dave shares a personal story about how using an early word processor for a school assignment led to a confrontation with a teacher, illustrating how technology adoption meets resistance before becoming standard practice.

Shannon shares a real-world example of using AI for business strategy. A client sought help refining their sales messaging. Shannon used Grok, X’s AI tool, to analyze the company’s social media presence and compare it with the salesperson’s posts. The AI identified a disconnect in messaging and highlighted areas for improvement. This allowed Shannon to provide detailed, data-driven feedback that led to an “aha” moment for the client.

The conversation expands into how AI can analyze successful and unsuccessful social media accounts in the same industry, providing actionable insights on engagement strategies. They discuss Grok’s ability to compare accounts and generate step-by-step plans for growth. Dave acknowledges that AI excels at processing vast amounts of data and summarizing key insights faster than humans.

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