Today marks officially 1 year without alcohol in my life. This episode talks about the ups, the downs and everything in between of what it's like when you take the leap and stop drinking yourself.

My guest and friend, Joao, runs a white-label agency with over 80 people, but this episode is the real, unglamorous story of how he got there. He opens up about hitting rock bottom, losing a $200k/month business, going broke, and moving back home.

He credits his comeback not to genius, but to his greatest skill: pure persistence. This is a raw look at what it really takes to scale, from the mindset needed to survive failure to the systems required to manage a massive team.

Connect with Joao:

• https://www.instagram.com/jowau/

I was honored to be the first guest on my friend Kyle's new podcast, where he asked me for my definition of the "dream life." My answer might surprise you, it has less to do with success and more to do with discipline and self-respect.

We get into the real stories, including losing everything twice by 21, and what it actually takes to build a life you're proud of. If you're ready for a new definition of winning, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Kyle:

• https://www.instagram.com/kylecopson/

My friend Valentina has a simple philosophy: life's greatest pressures are what turn you from a piece of carbon into a diamond. In this incredibly powerful conversation, she shares how she applies that "Diamond Mindset" to everything she does.

We talk about her journey traveling through 10 countries, the lessons she learned from getting out of her comfort zone , and how she found the strength to own her story and reframe her deepest traumas into a source of power. This is a masterclass in resilience and turning hardship into your greatest advantage.

I've always been "team organic," but this conversation with Jonathan, founder of Scaling Lean, made me think. He built a business that made hundreds of thousands of dollars off the 2021 TikTok boom but found the organic grind unsustainable.

Now, he focuses on a "lean" model using paid ads to create predictable, automated growth. In this episode, we debate the pros and cons of both worlds and explore when it's time to add a paid strategy to your organic engine. This is a must-listen for any founder navigating the complexities of scale.

Connect with Jonathan:

• https://www.instagram.com/jonathan_ploransky

For most people, a three-year bicycle journey from Alaska to Argentina would be the accomplishment of a lifetime. For my friend Matt Cacioppo, it was just the warm-up.

He's back on the podcast for round two to talk about his next expedition: a Guinness World-First attempt to kayak the entire 1500km length of Colombia's Magdalena River.

We dive into the “suffer fest” this new challenge entails and the powerful story of how a single breathwork session helped him release years of emotional weight from his travels. This is a conversation about what drives someone to constantly redefine what's possible.

Connect with Matt:

• https://www.instagram.com/mattcacioppo/

Six months ago, I met my friend and client Allen Butts when I had just 900 followers. He recently turned the mic on me during our first mastermind event to talk about how we got here.

We dive into the power of congruence, my “North Star” for building this brand, and why I believe "faking it till you make it" is a losing game. If you want to hear the real philosophy behind building a movement, this is it.

I sat down with Devin Butler to hear the story of how he built the biggest entrepreneur community in Arizona, and it all started with a simple Instagram search. New to the city and looking for connections, he typed "Arizona Entrepreneurs" into Instagram, found nothing, and claimed the handle himself.

That one small action grew into a thriving community that now connects hundreds of business owners. Devin's journey is a powerful reminder that you don't always need a grand plan to start something special, you just need to solve your own problem.

Connect with Devin:

• https://www.instagram.com/devinraybutler/
• https://www.instagram.com/arizonaentrepreneurs/
• https://www.skool.com/aze

Most creators fail one simple test: would a stranger with zero context follow you? If your growth has stalled, it’s because you’re making content for people who already know you.

In this episode, I break down the playbook to pass that test: a Top-of-Funnel (TOF) content strategy designed to attract new eyeballs. I'm sharing the exact approach we're using to take this client's account to 10k followers with just a few days of filming, and how you can apply it to your own page. If your growth has stalled, this is the fix.

This episode is a raw debrief of our first-ever Brand Sharks Content Summit, recorded in an Uber in Brazil less than 24 hours after the event wrapped.

We dive into what went right, the logistical lessons we learned, and the story behind the high-stakes offer that nearly everyone accepted. This is an inside look at what it takes to run a new kind of event and a recap of a major milestone for our team.