Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled

INNOVATORS UNVEILED BUSINESS 15

Are you a business that serves other businesses? Attorneys, accountants, marketers, and HR pros can become the exclusive partner in their category with the Innovators Unveiled Business 15. Founding spots are limited. Learn more at innovatorsunveiled.com/partners or email [email protected].

What You'll Learn

- How a 2003 recession and shrinking paychecks pushed Phillip into business before he knew he was an entrepreneur

- Why he and his wife, Tracy, kept their salary flat for 12 or 13 years, even after the company reached multiple seven figures in revenue

- What changed when he stopped doing every job himself and learned to lead and delegate, starting with the billing

- How a failed first expansion, and the "autopsy" that followed, set up a five-city footprint and a private equity sale

- Why selling the company led to a hard season, and the counseling insight that changed how he sees money and gifts

Episode Highlights

02:01 Growing up in poverty and survival mode in Fort Mill, South Carolina

08:03 How running from hunger turned a job-site cleanup gig into a business

13:16 Why Phillip and Tracy kept their salary flat for 12 or 13 years

21:35 Surviving 2008 and hitting a breaking point as the company grew

25:28 The three-night hotel reset that changed how he led

37:04 The coach who pushed him to stop doing his own billing

49:32 Using DISC profiles to fix team communication

58:11 The identity crisis that followed the sale of his company

Meet the Guest

Phillip Lanier is the author of No College, No Problem: The Road to a Successful Business Starts with Grit, Not a Degree (Mission Driven Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster) and the founder of Core Business Essentials, where he coaches business leaders, and Your Money Essentials, a personal finance class built for people who come from where he came from. Starting in 2003, he built an erosion-control company around Charlotte, expanded it to five markets across the Carolinas, and sold it to a private equity firm in 2022.

Tools, Frameworks, and Strategies Mentioned

- The one-page HR manual: treat others the way you want to be treated

- Personal goal check-ins: asking team members about their one- to four-year personal goals and helping them get there

- DISC profile assessments, posted outside each office door so he could adjust how he communicated

- The expansion "autopsy": studying what failed before going back into a new market

- Hiring experts from the systems you struggle with, and bringing in a CFO at about $8 million in revenue

- The E-Myth and its coaching program, where Phillip hired his first business coach in 2008

- Failing Forward by John Maxwell and As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

- Learning from mentors including John Maxwell, Dave Ramsey, and Simon Sinek

- The waterfall rule: find someone ten steps ahead of you, or someone on their way back

Closing Insight

"Some of us are so used to surviving the famine that we don't know how to live in the blessing." (Phillip Lanier)

Phillip's story is the messy middle in full: building brick by brick, carrying responsibility for a team, and learning what wealth means after the sale closes. If you're building something of your own, take his first step this week. Block off half a day and spend it with someone ten steps ahead of you.

Guest Links

Get Phillip's book, No College, No Problem: https://amzn.to/3WyAPKL

Your Money Essentials: https://yourmoneyessentials.com/

Core Business Essentials: https://corebusinessessentials.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourMoneyEssentials1

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

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

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philliplanierofficial?lang=en

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yourmoneyessentials

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHxCjO9u6Sk

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

INNOVATORS UNVEILED BUSINESS 15
Are you a business that serves other businesses? Attorneys, accountants, marketers, and HR pros can become the exclusive partner in their category with the Innovators Unveiled Business 15. Founding spots are limited. Learn more at innovatorsunveiled.com/partners or email [email protected].

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- How a sudden job loss and a friend's newly bought warehouse became EZDC 3PL
- What a third-party logistics (3PL) company does, and when growing e-commerce brands outsource fulfillment
- What actually broke early on: a customer drought, an oversized client, and saying yes to the wrong fit
- Why Dave warns brands against choosing a 3PL on price alone
- How Dave launched Beyond Fulfillment Podcast in under 30 days, and why it started bringing in customers once he stopped self-promoting

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
03:05 - From teenage telemarketing jobs to two decades in medical and pharma sales
06:59 - How a sudden company closure and an empty warehouse led to EZDC 3PL
08:52 - The service gap Dave saw when brands told him their 3PLs had stopped responding
12:43 - Why some 3PLs turn away emerging brands, and why EZDC takes a closer look
17:28 - The customer drought after his first sale, and what his first trade show taught him
21:37 - The big client his team wasn't ready for, and the lessons it left behind
31:12 - The midnight call to a client in China that kept a long partnership intact
44:44 - What hundreds of founder conversations taught Dave about resilience

MEET THE GUEST
Dave Gulas is co-founder of EZDC 3PL, a warehousing, fulfillment, and logistics company serving growing e-commerce brands, and host of Beyond Fulfillment Podcast. Before EZDC 3PL, he spent more than 20 years in sales across the medical and pharmaceutical industries, including executive and purchasing roles.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS, OR STRATEGIES MENTIONED
- Warehouse management system (WMS): the software Dave calls a game changer once they found the right fit
- EDI for big-box retail and Shopify integration for e-commerce orders
- "What's the number?": a results-first sales story Dave attributes to Jim Rohn
- Team-based client vetting: bringing operations experts into decisions on which customers fit
- Systemizing with an outside industry consultant and recruiters for higher-level talent
- Start messy: begin, build momentum, and optimize as you go

CLOSING INSIGHT
"Don't be afraid to start messy. You don't have to have all the answers, but you're never going to figure things out if you don't get moving." - Dave Gulas

Innovators Unveiled shares the mindset, methods, and lessons learned from founders, makers, and leaders, with no fluff or fake hype. Start your own innovation journey and follow the show for more.

GUEST LINKS
Website: https://ezdc3pl.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegulas/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondFulfillmentPodcast
Podcast: https://beyondfulfillmentpodcast.com

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QBsvjVQ1S4g

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

INNOVATORS UNVEILED BUSINESS 15
Are you a business that serves other businesses? Attorneys, accountants, marketers, and HR pros can become the exclusive partner in their category with the Innovators Unveiled Business 15. Founding spots are limited. Learn more at innovatorsunveiled.com/partners or email [email protected].

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- What actually broke before SEO worked, from Amazon books to e-commerce and content sites
- How getting fired after two months shaped the way Benas works with clients today
- Why retainer-based offers can pull freelancers out of the feast and famine cycle
- How referrals built his client list of keynote speakers and authors (Benas says 80 to 90 percent of his current clients came through referrals)
- What visibility infrastructure means and why Benas says your website, social channels, YouTube, and newsletter should work as one system

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
02:46 – Why Benas planned on Apple and Google before freelancing found him
05:58 – Fired after two months as an SEO manager, and the decision that followed
08:39 – Amazon books, e-commerce, and content sites: what failed before SEO
19:05 – The years-long shift from freelancer to business owner
22:33 – How freelancers get out of the feast and famine cycle
28:16 – How referrals built a client list of keynote speakers and authors
33:29 – The outreach mistake that taught him to always ask first
41:37 – What visibility infrastructure means for founders in the age of AI search

MEET THE GUEST
Benas Leonavicius is the founder of Avium, a personal branding and visibility agency that helps experts, speakers, authors, and founders become easier to find online through SEO and AI search. He began writing SEO articles for pocket money as a university student, freelanced full time after a short stint as an agency SEO manager, and spent years working directly with clients before publicly launching Avium.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS, AND STRATEGIES MENTIONED
- Visibility infrastructure: Benas's approach to connecting a website, social channels, YouTube, and newsletter so each platform supports the others in search and AI tools
- Voice profile: documenting how a client talks, thinks, and communicates so published content sounds like them
- Retainer-based offers: aiming for three to five ongoing monthly clients at roughly 5 to 10 hours each
- Systemized delivery: Benas keeps sales and client communication, and his team delivers the work through workflows he designs
- Referral-first networking: talking to people every day on LinkedIn and asking for introductions
- Buffer: a cross-posting tool; Benas says tailoring content to each platform usually performs better than posting the same thing everywhere

CLOSING INSIGHT
Benas spent years seeing himself as a freelancer before he gave himself permission to build an agency his own way. As he put it, "I understood that I can actually build an agency the way I want the agency to be built." His story is a reminder that resilience often shows up as steady decisions made one at a time. Follow Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled for more real stories from builders, doers, and everyday innovators.

GUEST LINKS
Avium: https://avium.vip/
Benas's website: https://benasleo.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benasleo/
YouTube (where Benas documents his agency-building journey): https://www.youtube.com/@benasleo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benasleo/
Substack: https://benasleo.substack.com/

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TjCZ9q0vEkw

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

INNOVATORS UNVEILED BUSINESS 15
Are you a business that serves other businesses? Attorneys, accountants, marketers, HR pros — become the exclusive partner in your category with the Innovators Unveiled Business 15. Founding spots are limited. Learn more at innovatorsunveiled.com/partners or email [email protected]

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Why Chris says access to credit and finding reliable help were his first real obstacles, and what changed once his team hit double digits
- How delegating without follow-up created problems in the field and later in management, and the written-systems lesson he took from The E-Myth Revisited
- Why an hourly rate that made money at two crews was only breaking even at four, and how weekly forecasting and a break-even rate changed his approach
- How Chris decides whether a new venture is a true next step or shiny object syndrome, including his move into pool construction
- What social media leaves out of entrepreneurship, and why the real story rarely makes the highlight reel

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
02:08 - How a farm kid and motocross racer ended up mowing lawns out of necessity
08:59 - The $600 leaf blower that needed a co-signer, and the struggle to find help
14:44 - What 70 to 80 hour weeks cost him behind the scenes
24:13 - The loneliest moment: wondering how to make payroll at 9:30 at night
27:58 - Why delegating and then forgetting about it kept biting him
34:25 - How landscaping around pools led to acquiring a pool company
40:33 - The hourly rate mistake that turned profit into break-even
42:46 - What social media gets wrong about entrepreneurship

MEET THE GUEST
Chris McManus is the founder of GC Landscaping Inc., a landscaping and outdoor construction company based in Morganton, North Carolina. He started mowing lawns right out of high school, and he says the company has grown to a team of about 25 and now includes pool installation.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS, AND STRATEGIES MENTIONED
- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber: Chris's go-to book on why a business needs written systems as it adds people. Get the book: https://amzn.to/4yZUvVS
- Backstops for the backstops: follow-up, check-ins, and quality control so delegated work gets done right
- Trust but verify: how Chris leads a team of 25 instead of five guys in the field
- The 80 percent rule: find someone who can do the job 80 percent as well as you and let them do it, a principle Chris recalls from a book he read years ago
- Worst case, best case on paper: his 15-minute method for working through fear
- Break-even rate and weekly forecasting: the numbers Chris now tracks to keep pricing ahead of overhead
- Employee referral bonus: $500 when a referred hire stays three months

CLOSING INSIGHT
Chris shares advice someone once gave him that stuck: "Business doesn't really do anything but get harder as you get bigger. You're still having a lot of the same problems. The biggest difference is you're just a lot better at solving those problems."

If Chris's story hit home, start your own innovation journey with the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook linked below. Keep innovating, keep creating, and never stop unveiling the innovator in you.

GUEST LINKS
GC Landscaping Inc.: https://gclandscapinginc.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gclandscaping1/
Instagram (GC Landscaping): https://www.instagram.com/gclandscapinginc/
Instagram (Chris McManus): https://www.instagram.com/chrismcmanus151/

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qc1Qp07Xb9g

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

The Innovators Unveiled BUSINESS 15
Are you a business that serves other businesses? Attorneys, accountants, marketers, HR pros — become the exclusive partner in your category with the Innovators Unveiled Business 15. Founding spots are limited. Learn more at innovatorsunveiled.com/partners or email [email protected].

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- How a three-day flight delay in London led Mike into an industry he knew nothing about
- What it felt like the moment his boss rejected his idea and said one word: "fine"
- How a global ozone-layer regulation created the market opportunity Aqueous Technologies was built on
- Why a competitor's shift to "no clean flux" almost wiped out Konrad's company less than two years in
- The difference between working IN a business and working ON it, and why Konrad eventually stepped back from daily operations entirely

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
CHAPTERS
00:00 – Intro
3:05 – The missed flight in London that led to a career in electronics
12:36 – How the CFC/ozone ban created an opening in the market
14:25 – Building the first machine (and the closed-loop system that followed)
26:52 – The idea, the rejection, and the one word that started the company
30:14 – The lawsuit that followed three months after founding the company
32:17 – The "no clean flux" shift that nearly ended the company at year two
1:02:38 – The mentor's advice that flipped the marketing (specs to education)
1:22:31 – Learning to let go: stepping back and building a team he trusts
1:41:58 – Where to find Mike Konrad and his two podcasts

Running length: 1:44:23

MEET THE GUEST
Mike Konrad founded Aqueous Technologies in 1992, an electronics assembly equipment manufacturer serving the industry for over three decades. He's also the host of two podcasts: Reliability Matters, a technical show for the electronics assembly industry with roughly 210 episodes and 86,000+ downloads, and The Reluctant Entrepreneur, where he interviews founders about the highs and lows of building a business. He's also the author of the book The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Anatomy of a Business Startup From Uncertainty to Unstoppable.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS & STRATEGIES MENTIONED
- Closed-loop cleaning systems (zero-drain, fully recycled filtration)
- Class 1 / Class 2 / Class 3 reliability standards used in electronics manufacturing
- The "first gear to overdrive" framework for scaling a founder's skill set as a business grows
- Hiring for culture over pure technical skill

CLOSING INSIGHT
"Don't let go of the core idea. Make pivots, two inches to the left, two inches to the right, take input, but don't let the naysayers win." Mike Konrad's story is a reminder that innovation does not always start with hype or applause. Sometimes it starts with a problem, a rejected idea, and the decision to build anyway.

7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/IRYTworkbook
Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/IRYTsubscribe
Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4wvXpl4
Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

GUEST LINKS
Mike Konrad: https://www.mikekonrad.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtkonrad/
Aqueous Technologies: https://www.aqueoustech.com/
Book — The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Anatomy of a Business Startup From Uncertainty to Unstoppable: https://amzn.to/3VjwYAB
The Reluctant Entrepreneur Podcast — YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thereluctantentrepreneur | Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-reluctant-entrepreneur-podcast/id1773575702 | Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5D2dzB43gI8s7ddVl4qeJ1
Reliability Matters Podcast — Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reliability-matters/id1441903531 | Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QiHEDJV5Kn6N6bZonriMq

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UFEYjHXRLg8

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases.

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- How Chris Gibson turned a broadcasting agent's rejection into a decades-long study of holistic skin health
- Why he calls his approach to business "redundant" after losing nearly everything in the Great Recession
- The real story behind self-publishing a bestselling book before Amazon even existed
- How he grew Chris Gibson Live from around 20 views to over a million subscribers without one viral breakout video
- What it takes to build trust with an audience in an industry full of big promises

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

01:09 – Meet Chris Gibson, skincare expert and the voice behind Chris Gibson Live
03:15 – The agent who told him his skin would end his TV career
11:26 – Discovering fasting, probiotics, and gut health
21:06 – How Acne Free in 3 Days became a self-published bestseller
27:50 – A viral TV break reaches millions across Canada, the UK, and Australia
31:56 – The death threat that followed
39:00 – Restarting a YouTube channel from zero in 2018
43:28 – From 50,000 to over a million subscribers
51:20 – What "redundancy" means after the Great Recession

MEET THE GUEST

Chris Gibson is a licensed esthetician, skincare formulator, holistic health coach, and bestselling author behind the YouTube channel Chris Gibson Live, where he has built an audience of over a million subscribers teaching skincare, anti-aging, and wellness rooted in his own 39-year journey with skin health.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS, OR STRATEGIES MENTIONED

- Fasting and elimination protocols to identify food sensitivities
- Probiotics and gut health as a foundation for skin health
- Clear Revolution Skincare, his formulated skincare line
- Replenish Mode, his supplement brand
- Building "redundancy" into a business (backup suppliers, lenders, lawyers, and banks) after the Great Recession

CLOSING INSIGHT

Chris's biggest lesson from thirty-nine years in this business: if something feels wrong at the start of a deal, a job, or a relationship, it does not get better with time. Learn to trust that read early and cut your losses before it costs you more.

GUEST LINKS

Chris Gibson Live (YouTube): https://youtube.com/chrisgibsonlive
Website: https://www.chrisgibsonlive.com
Community: https://chrisgibsonlive.com/community
Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/chrisgibsonfriends
Instagram (Skin So Fabulous): https://www.instagram.com/skin_so_fabulous
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisGibsonFriends
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJ7MWRAq
Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/thechrisgibson1
Shop Chris Gibson's Skincare Books: https://amzn.to/3VbUn77
Clear Revolution Skincare: https://clearrevolutionskincare.com
Replenish Mode: https://replenishmode.com

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rE7r6SpTgWQ

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

What You'll Learn
- Why the biggest bottleneck in most companies is the owner, not the market or the team
- How handoff documentation lets you automate a process without losing control of it
- The one part of outreach Neal says should never be fully automated
- What Neal looks for before deciding a client is ready for AI and automation
- Why Neal moved his pricing model from hourly billing to a flat monthly retainer

Episode Highlights
0:56 – Meet Neal McLeod: from CTK Trucking to CTK Industries
1:54 – Starting an online store at age 12
11:15 – Bootstrapping CTK Trucking from the ground up
19:00 – The moment manual systems became the bottleneck
25:03 – You are the only limitation to your business
32:22 – What business owners get wrong about AI and automation
41:34 – The one thing Neal says you should never automate
45:37 – Why Neal rebuilt his pricing around a flat rate model

Meet the Guest
Neal McLeod is the founder of CTK Industries, where he helps business owners implement AI and automation systems without losing their personal connection to clients. He also built CTK Trucking, a logistics company he started in 2015 and still holds a stake in today.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned
Zapier and Claude Code as automation and AI entry points, Neal's handoff-documentation practice, his flat-rate team-retainer pricing model, and his 70/30 outreach-to-service framework for business growth.

Closing Insight
Neal's closing thought: the real difference between businesses that grow and businesses that stall isn't how hard the owner works. It's whether they can see themselves as servants to their clients first, and build the systems that let that service scale.

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mNG1-tmD7y4

Connect with Neal McLeod: https://linkedin.com/in/nealjmcleod
CTK Industries: https://ctkindustries.com

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why running a licensed apparel business taught her more about intellectual property than business school ever could

- The real difference between a design patent and a utility patent, and why that difference nearly cost her everything

- What it felt like the moment she believed a corporation had copied her product

- Why she now treats NDAs, patents, and instinct as three separate layers of protection, not one

- Her advice to women and minority founders on turning being underestimated into leverage

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

00:00 – Welcome to Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled

02:44 – From history major to political fundraiser: Amanda's origin story

09:09 – Launching Alma Mater and breaking into licensed collegiate apparel

18:11 – The idea behind JoJo Cups: solving a real problem for parents

30:12 – Design patent vs utility patent: the legal lesson she learned the hard way

39:37 – The moment Amanda discovered a copycat product in the market

50:27 – NDAs, patents, and the limits of paper protection

1:04:43 – Her advice to women and minority founders

MEET THE GUEST

Amanda Sima is an entrepreneur and inventor based in Colorado. She founded Alma Mater, a licensed collegiate apparel company built around Ohio State University spirit wear, and later designed and patented JoJo Cups, a spill-resistant lid for kids. Amanda is currently in ongoing litigation over the JoJo Cups design and now hosts the podcast Brain on Loan.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS, AND STRATEGIES MENTIONED

- The distinction between a design patent and a utility patent, and why it matters for founders

- NDAs as an early-stage protection tool, and their real limits

- Sourcing manufacturing overseas through smaller factories rather than large ones

CLOSING INSIGHT

Amanda's story is a reminder that protecting what you build takes more than a good idea. It takes patents, paperwork, and trusting your gut when something feels off.

GUEST LINKS

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brain.on.loan/

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

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

Website: https://brainonloan.com/

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VrMreRHqHd4

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why "ideas are cheap" and the real dividing line is opportunity vs idea, not the idea itself

- The index card technique for testing whether people actually want your product before you build it

- What a "VC soft no" really means, and how it sounds identical to genuine interest

- Why Andrew wrote The Entrepreneur's Odyssey as a novel instead of a how-to guide, to capture what founders actually feel

- What separates founders who survive a downturn from the ones who burn out

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

0:59 – Two grandfathers, no mentorship, and choosing entrepreneurship anyway

7:41 – The VC's office was in the Twin Towers, and so was the term sheet

8:45 – Going more than a year without salary

9:50 – "Ideas are cheap": what Andrew got wrong before he understood the market

20:00 – Three ways founders react to hard feedback, and which one investors trust

33:42 – Angel, accelerator, or VC fund: what actually changes when you sit on the other side

43:52 – The VC soft no, and why it sounds exactly like real interest

48:44 – The index card test: validating an idea for the cost of a pack of index cards and a cup of coffee

MEET THE GUEST

Andrew Ackerman is a Johns Hopkins University graduate and former Managing Director of Dreamit Ventures' New York office, a leading startup accelerator. A serial entrepreneur turned early-stage investor, he built his first startup through the dot-com collapse and the aftermath of 9/11, then moved to the other side of the table as an angel investor, accelerator lead, and VC. He is the author of The Entrepreneur's Odyssey, a novel about the startup journey.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS & STRATEGIES MENTIONED

- The index card app test — sketching an app on index cards and walking a stranger through it before writing code

- The "VC soft no" — how investors decline without saying no directly

- "Missionaries, not mercenaries" — Andrew's read on which founders keep going when things get hard

- Opportunity vs idea — the strategic distinction Andrew says most first-time founders miss

CLOSING INSIGHT

Real success, Andrew says, isn't the size of the outcome. It's building something you love and being able to make a living doing it.

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Huq_3jzPN3U?si=Z0caydi4BlKllLal

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Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/IRYTworkbook

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/IRYTsubscribe

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4wvXpl4

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases.

GUEST LINKS

Book: The Entrepreneur's Odyssey: A Novel Guide to Startup Success — https://amzn.to/4gdwaFG

Website: https://www.andrewbackerman.com/

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

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

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why customers reject technology built for technology's sake, and what they are actually paying for

- How Arthur separates a good decision from no decision at all, and why refining a call over time beats defending it

- The difference between micro-status and micromanagement, and how it reshaped the way he leads engineers

- What letting 50 people go taught him about resilience, and how most of those roles came back three months later

- How PanTerra uses a crawl, walk, run approach so new AI ships with guardrails already in place

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

00:00 – The pressure before the breakthrough

01:13 – Meet Arthur Chang, President and CEO of PanTerra Networks

05:42 – "Go build your own office": the first day at Wyse Technology

10:35 – Facing a glass ceiling on the way to the C-suite

12:28 – From doing to nurturing: micro-status, not micromanagement

14:29 – Letting 50 people go, then hiring most of them back

18:43 – How to make great decisions and refine them over time

29:35 – Encourage passion, discourage emotion

51:26 – Crawl, walk, run: shipping AI with guardrails

1:02:00 – The legacy he hopes to leave

MEET THE GUEST

Arthur Chang is President and CEO of PanTerra Networks, a San Jose based provider of cloud business communications and contact center software. He began his career in applied research at Bell Laboratories, then moved to Wyse Technology, the terminal manufacturer founded by Bernard and Grace Tse, and has spent the decades since in engineering leadership and CEO roles across telecom, storage, and SaaS. PanTerra says he previously led Cradle Technologies and SoloPoint Communications.

TOOLS, FRAMEWORKS, AND STRATEGIES MENTIONED

- The three philosophies: make great decisions by making good decisions and refining them over time; encourage micro-status and discourage micromanagement; encourage passion and discourage emotion

- Crawl, walk, run: staging new technology so customers are never handed more than they asked for

- Luna, PanTerra's AI call handling product, which routes by contextual analysis and transfers to a human receptionist when it detects frustration

- Streams.AI, PanTerra's all-in-one business communications platform

- Basic research versus applied research as a lens for deciding what to build

- Hiring people smart enough to take your job

CLOSING INSIGHT

Arthur's answer to nearly every hard question came back to the same idea: "You make great decisions by making good decisions and refining them over time." Longevity in his story is not luck. It is a willingness to keep taking input long after the decision has already been made.

Ready to turn what you heard into something you can act on? Start your own innovation journey this week.

GUEST LINKS

Arthur Chang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-chang-aa7489/

PanTerra Networks: https://www.panterranetworks.com/

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hwfWujwsV1Y

Subscribe to our newsletter, The Trailblazer's Journal: https://newsletter.innovatorsunveiled.com

Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube

Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook

Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW

Keep the entrepreneurial drive going by listening to our soundtrack, Ideas in Motion, featuring the show's theme song, Momentum Unveiled: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/inglesidereviews/ideas-in-motion-the-ingleside-reviews--innovators-unveiled-soundtrack

As an Amazon Associate, Ingleside Reviews LLC earns from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast

📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected]

✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you!