In this episode of the Full Battery Media Podcast, I sit down with Devon Thomas, who helps business owners fire their ad agencies and learn how to run their own ads. 

What I loved about this conversation is how honest Devon was about why so many businesses spend money on marketing but still do not get customers. It usually is not because the business is bad. It is because the message is unclear, generic, or too focused on the company instead of the customer. We talked about Google Ads, small business marketing, content creation, customer psychology, websites that fail to convert, and why simple content with a strong message can outperform fancy production. Devon also shared how he started with almost no budget, learned through trial and error, and built his skill by treating advertising like a muscle. 

This episode is a reminder that great marketing is not about bragging louder. It is about understanding what people care about and communicating it clearly.

What is one part of your marketing that might be clear to you, but confusing to your customer?

In this episode of the Full Battery Media Podcast, I sat down with Olivia Allen, founder and CEO of Village Financial Services, to talk about something that changed the trajectory of her entire business - showing up on LinkedIn without a perfect plan and just starting.

Olivia built a 45-client firm by sharing what she knew about Schwab operations openly and consistently, without gatekeeping, without a content calendar, and without waiting until everything was polished. 

We got into why leading with education beats selling every time, how she identified the specific type of post that converted followers into actual clients, and what she did to keep showing up even when running a business with a newborn at home made everything harder. 

What's been stopping you from posting online about your work?

I sat down with YouTube strategist Majied LaFleur to uncover what actually makes content go viral and why millions of views rarely happen by accident. Majied shares his journey from working as an engineer on Broadway productions to developing ideas for major creators, including his time as an ideation strategist with MrBeast. We break down the research, experimentation, failed videos, and strategic decisions viewers never see behind a viral hit.

Majied explains why creators must master three essential elements: clickability, watchability, and replayability. We also discuss why highly edited videos can still fail, how AI-generated content is creating audience fatigue, and why human interaction, personality, and community are becoming more valuable than perfect production. Majied reveals how he helped generate more than 30 million views for his wife’s social platforms by repeating what audiences already loved instead of constantly reinventing the content. His biggest lesson is simple: start creating, study the data, adapt quickly, and confidently double down on what works.

Are you focused on getting one viral video, or are you building a strategy that can keep people coming back?

I sat down with Evan Shapiro, the man the internet calls the media cartographer, and this conversation completely reframed how I think about building an audience right now. 

Evan has spent years mapping the entire media universe, and he was sounding the alarm on traditional television's collapse long before Hollywood wanted to admit it was happening. 

We get into why big media basically handed itself the noose, why YouTube quietly became the number one channel on actual television sets, and why chasing reach and followers is a losing strategy compared to what Evan calls the affinity economy.

 He breaks down how creators like Curry Barker and Kane Parsons are outperforming legacy Hollywood studios with a tiny fraction of the audience, and why nine people who genuinely love what you make matter more than nine thousand who barely notice you exist. 

If you only had 50 true fans right now, what's the first thing you'd build for them?

I sat down with Bryan Jepson, a retired emergency medicine physician turned certified financial planner.

Bryan spent a long career in emergency medicine before making one of the boldest pivots I’ve heard of: going back to school for a master’s in finance, becoming a CFP professional, and building an entirely new career centered on helping physicians and special needs families navigate their financial lives.

But what we really got into was the psychology of major life transitions: the identity shift, the anxiety, the fear of stepping into the unknown, and why people coming from high-impact careers can struggle even when they are financially prepared to stop.

Bryan also hosts The Second Shift Podcast, where he explores what it truly means to redesign your life after a high-impact career. 

What’s one identity you’ve had to let go of to grow into who you are today?

In this episode, I sit down with Bob Gower, founder of Splendid Torch, to talk about AI adoption, company culture, creativity, and why the future of work is not just about better technology. 

Bob brings a really unique perspective because he looks at AI through the lens of human systems, organizational design, philosophy, and adaptability. We get into why so many companies are using AI the wrong way, how fear and bad communication can create “shadow AI” inside teams, and why the businesses that win with AI may be the ones that build trust, experimentation, and better culture first. We also talk about creativity, writing, music, photography, craftsmanship, and how AI can either flatten human expression or help unlock new ways to tell better stories. 

This conversation is really about what happens when technology changes faster than people can emotionally process, and how we can still keep humanity at the center of it.

What do you think matters more in the AI era: better tools, better culture, or better human judgment?

I sat down with Josh Passler, founder of Finart, a web and brand studio built exclusively for financial advisors, and this conversation genuinely shifted how I think about online presence and brand strategy. He's an advisor who learned design, and that distinction changes everything about how he builds for his clients.

We got into why so many advisor websites look identical, why beautiful design without clear positioning is just expensive decoration, and why your homepage functions more like a bouncer than a brochure. 

Josh also broke down his "cover your logo" test, the real reason mimicry kills your brand, and why ugly websites with precise messaging will always outperform stunning sites with fuzzy strategy.

What's one thing about your brand that you think truly sets you apart, and have you ever actually said it out loud to a potential client?

In this episode of the Full Battery Media Podcast, I sat down with Trinity Nguyen, CMO at UserGems, to talk about AI, marketing, storytelling, and why being human matters more than ever. Trinity works every day in the world of AI for go-to-market, outbound sales, and ABM, but what I loved most about this conversation was how much we kept coming back to authenticity, lived experience, and real human connection.

We talked about how AI can help businesses cut through data, prioritize leads, and produce content faster, but also how easy it is for brands to start sounding exactly the same. Trinity shared a powerful idea that taste is “lived experience plus judgment,” and that hit home for me because the moments people connect with most are rarely the polished ones. They are the real ones.

This conversation is about using AI without losing the human story behind your brand.

As AI content becomes more common, do you think people will trust polished content or real, messy, human stories more?

I sat down with Laura Garfield, co-founder of Idea Decanter, a remote video marketing company serving financial advisors, and honestly this one was a conversation I didn't want to end. 

Laura spent the first decade of her career in TV news, from a one-woman-band station in rural Nebraska all the way up through CBS and CNN, before pivoting into video marketing over a glass of Pinot Noir with her best friend in 2014. The origin story alone is worth tuning in for.

What stuck with me most was the data from their State of Advisor Video Report. The biggest barrier to creating video content isn't cost - it's time at 56%, followed by tech knowledge at 52%. We went deep on why consistency will always beat perfection, why the phone already in your pocket is genuinely enough to start, and how one financial advisor turned 46 emails into 6 new clients simply by showing up with authentic, personal content on a regular basis.

What would it mean for your business if the right person had been watching your videos all year without you even knowing it?

In this episode of the Full Battery Media Podcast, I sat down with Will Steiner - financial planner, former startup marketer, and one of the sharpest thinkers on content creation I've had on the show. 

Will breaks down why the best storytelling always comes down to intention and obstacle, why you should never create content for a niche but always for one specific person, and how the triple Venn diagram of education, expertise, and entertainment separates good creators from great ones.

We also got into the business side of content: the difference between chasing impressions and actually generating revenue, why your job is never to create demand but to capture it, and how to move people from social media into a place you actually own, like an email list.

 If you've been posting consistently and wondering why none of it is converting into real dollars for your business, this conversation is going to completely reframe how you think about your content strategy.

What's one thing you've been creating content about that genuinely fires you up, and have you ever stopped to ask if it's actually moving people closer to buying from you?