In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Bernadette Burke, President of Brella Productions, an event optimization agency that helps organizations maximize return on event (ROE) through strategic audience experiences. Bernadette shares what she's learning from rereading Brain Rules by John Medina about neuroscience and communication, and why the research on learning styles isn't holding up the way people think. The conversation explores Brella's transformation three years ago from a generalist communication company doing video, graphics, and app development to specializing exclusively in live event experiences. They discuss why most organizations fail to think through return on event beyond just wanting people to have a good time, how Bernadette asks strategic questions about downstream effects that often catch clients off guard, and the importance of finding quantifiable indicators even for squishy goals. Bernadette explains her philosophy on event design covering every stage from pre-event gamification to post-event memory triggers that keep energy going for months. They dive into Brella's efforts to bring focus after decades of entrepreneurial chaos, how they navigated inflection points at 10, 25, 50, and nearly 100 employees, and the importance of responding to team discomfort with curiosity instead of defensiveness.

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Andrew Morgans, CEO of Marknology and founder of EcomPulse.Ai, who also hosts the Business Therapy podcast. Andrew opens up about navigating a difficult 2025 for his 11-year-old agency, dealing with rising costs, client churn, and macro challenges like tariffs and inflation. The conversation explores why Andrew brought in a fractional CFO and the difference between that role vs. a bookkeeper vs. an accountant. Andrew shares his journey from growing up in Africa to accidentally becoming an entrepreneur, how his sisters joined him in year three and remain with the 28-person team today, and why the transition to 10 employees was monumental because it required developing communication skills that didn't come naturally. They dive into Andrew's philosophy of running on habit, and setting attainable goals that build momentum. The episode covers the challenge of attribution in modern e-commerce where customers see ads on TikTok but buy on Amazon, why blended returns across channels matter more than isolated metrics, and how Andrew lost the Startup Hustle podcast when his mentor's company sold but is now launching the Business Therapy podcast on his own terms.

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Chris Purcell, founder of Nexus Brand Group, who brings experience as a business analyst at Target, vendor manager at Amazon, and global director of e-commerce at Renfro before starting his own full-service e-commerce agency 10 years ago. Chris shares insider perspectives on how Amazon actually works. The conversation explores how third-party data companies estimate Amazon's revenue using public signals like bestseller rankings, why Black Friday saw revenue up 9% but units down 1%, and what that reveals about consumer confidence and pricing pressures. Chris explains Nexus Brand Group's approach to providing full-service support across marketplaces, retail dot coms, and pure play online retailers, including the uncommon step of offering inventory forecasting models to help clients avoid stockouts or excess inventory. They discuss the challenges of scaling from solo founder to a 27-person team managing $750 million in ordered revenue, the difficult transition from operator to manager to leader, and why Chris had to learn patience and allow team members to fail so they could develop.

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Bobbie Carlton, founder of Innovation Women, Innovation Nights, and Carlton PR & Marketing. Bobbie runs a unique business structure where her entire team works for Carlton PR & Marketing and treats her other ventures as clients, with Innovation Women being her largest and "dream job" client. The conversation explores how Bobbie built Innovation Women, a speaker platform connecting underrepresented voices with conference organizers. They discuss the challenge of building a double-sided marketplace, how Bobbie solved the chicken-and-egg problem by collecting calls for speakers to attract more speakers who then referred event organizers back to the platform, and why she crowdfunded 200 speaker profiles before the platform even existed. Bobbie shares her vision of reaching 10,000 speakers explains the five Cs of public speaking: competence, confidence, connections, credibility, and compensation. They dive into why live events and in-person connections will become more crucial as AI makes it harder to distinguish what's real online, the underutilized power of events as a marketing channel, and how Innovation Nights became the primary source of client referrals for her PR agency. Bobbie reflects on the importance of standard operating procedures when transitioning from managing individual contributors to leading leaders, and hiring people better than yourself.

In this episode of the HabitStack Podcast, host Scott Ward interviews Brad Solomon, co-founder of SC Digital. Brad shares what he's learning from rereading Perry Marshall's "80/20 Sales and Marketing" and "Cashvertising," plus his unexpected fascination with Howard Stern's interview techniques, specifically how preparation, storytelling, and compliments help break down barriers in conversations. The discussion explores Brad's evolution from believing he was the only one who could deliver quality work to building a team of leaders at SC Digital who not only match his abilities but exceed them. After a recent accident gave him fresh perspective, Brad has doubled down on what matters most: empowering his team, focusing on gratitude, and delivering speed with exceptional client care. They dive into Brad's transition from managing individual contributors to leading leaders, why he's shifting from one-on-one meetings to open office hours where the entire team can learn together, and his philosophy that the best part of leadership is taking ownership because when everything is your fault, you have the power to fix it. Brad explains why he hires people better than himself, gives them autonomy to make decisions, and creates an environment so good they don't want to leave.

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Bill Stathopoulos, author of Cold Email Secrets and CEO of SalesCaptain. Bill shares what he's learning from Measure What Matters about implementing OKRs to align his growing team, and The Greatest Salesman in the World, which teaches him about confidence and approaching business with a sense of faith that all will be well. The conversation explores Bill's journey from studying computer science to working at a growth marketing agency, eventually interviewing marketing legends like Scott Galloway and Arianna Huffington for massive conferences. Bill explains what growth marketing actually was and why it emerged from Silicon Valley startups needing scrappy experimentation in the early 2010s. They dive into why most founders fail at cold email, the three key components of outbound success (targeting, messaging, and deliverability), and why the offer is usually the problem. Bill explains why commoditized services struggle unless they get ultra-specific about industries and problems, the importance of answering "why me" and "why now," and how cold email's bidirectional feedback helps founders iterate to message-market fit faster than any other channel.

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Brian Swan, co-founder with his wife Rhonda of the Unstoppable Branding Agency. Brian shares his unconventional journey from robotics engineer selling actuators to SpaceX to becoming a branding and PR expert. After his wife Rhonda left pharmaceutical sales to pursue affiliate marketing and generate significant income, Brian left his engineering career in 2004. When they lost everything in the 2008 financial crisis, they pivoted to branding themselves as "the Unstoppable Family" while traveling the world. The conversation explores how Brian and Rhonda now help seven-figure to nine-figure founders get media exposure and credibility through PR on platforms like Forbes, USA Today, and the New York Stock Exchange. They dive into Brian's immersion in the tokenization and DeFi space, how fractional ownership through blockchain is reshaping asset ownership, and why Brian emphasizes that everyone has a story worth telling. The episode covers their company evolution from 50 employees during COVID to a lean team of 10, the importance of culture and values, and how they hire from trusted communities. Brian shares his morning routine, his participation in the Wake Up Warrior men's group, and how his father's death from AIDS at his coming-of-age shaped his philosophy of living fully now rather than deferring life until retirement.

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Brett Farmiloe, founder of Featured.com, a platform connecting journalists with vetted experts. Brett also recently acquired and revived HARO, an email newsletter serving the same purpose. They discuss the best practices for expert contributions: be helpful, authentic, relevant, and on time. Timing often matters more than perfect credentials when journalists face tight deadlines. The conversation explores Brett's journey through multiple startups, imposter syndrome that persists after success, and how talking to customers is the antidote to discouragement. They dive into Featured's exciting inflection point: having achieved product-market fit for earned media, Brett is now exploring how to leverage the expert network for new opportunities like disrupting survey incentives and providing fresh human knowledge for training AI models. Brett shares his approach to the Eisenhower Matrix for balancing urgent versus important work, his strategy of taking 15-minute walks to recalibrate every four hours, and the "baby fainting goat" mentality of moving fast despite potential pitfalls.

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Randy Herbertson, president of The Visual Brand (TVB), a branding studio based in Westport, Connecticut. Randy shares his journey from building his first agency to 40 people in New York City, selling it to a media company (which he warns against), and leaving after six miserable months when the promised synergies turned into constant trouble. He explains the key lessons from starting his second studio: ditching the three-hour NYC commute, avoiding web development he couldn't manage, and staying intentionally smaller at 20 people to remain hands-on with creative work. The conversation explores Randy's decision to turn down multiple acquisition offers despite tempting numbers, the critical importance of having a supportive life partner during pivots, and why he believes twists and turns lead to good places if you maintain a positive attitude. They discuss right-sizing teams to balance capacity without burnout, the challenge of letting go of toxic employees too late, and why daily standups transformed team organization. Randy reveals TVB's two specialties that set them apart: motion communications (2D/3D animation that's still a human practice despite AI) and packaging design (a surprisingly specialized field where most agencies fail at execution). He also shares why Studio feels more creative than Agency, and how maintaining work-life boundaries like clearing emails before leaving keeps Monday mornings exciting rather than dreaded. 

Scott Ward, host of the HabitStack Podcast, interviews Chris Rodriguez, CEO of iExcel, a digital marketing agency based in the greater DC/Virginia area. Chris shares his unconventional journey from earning a music degree at the University of Virginia and spending 10 years in the music industry to becoming a "30-year-old rookie in tech." They discuss why Chris intentionally avoids niching down despite conventional wisdom about riches in niches, finding passion in solving diverse marketing puzzles across verticals rather than specializing. The conversation explores the unique psychology of B2B SaaS marketing. Chris explains how iExcel has grown entirely through founder-led sales and referrals, the challenge of maintaining intimacy while scaling, and his approach to hiring people. They also discuss the tension between hustle culture and modern work expectations, why perfection is the enemy of good enough, the baseball batting average approach to hiring, and how hyper-detailed SOPs and call recording with AI summaries have transformed iExcel's operations.