Author credibility beats vanity metrics—and hospitality beats hacks. In this conversation, Megumi Calver explains how she helps nonfiction authors and speakers use books as credibility engines, why she built Merobebe to champion women winemakers, and the narrow moments when paid ads are worth it—after audience and offer are dialed.

You’ll learn:

• The difference between “bestseller” clout and durable credibility
• How to grow a thriving community without relying on paid ads
• Wine-world lessons for marketers: language, labels, and transparency
• A pragmatic framework for ads when budgets are tight
• Why genuine hospitality outperforms dashboards

Connect with Megumi

• Merobebe: https://www.merobebe.com/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megumicalver/

• Email: [email protected]

Work with Adam

👉 Book your 20-min Exploration Call: https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

Unpacking real. Ditching noise. Subscribe and share with a founder who values trust over tricks.

What if you could build a thriving global business — without spending a dime on ads?

In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, Utsav Nagori, Founder of DynaPro Global, shares how he grew a VA agency serving clients across the U.S. entirely through trust, relationships, and ridiculous consistency.

From his first few clients to managing a full remote team, Utsav walks through what it really takes to scale when you don’t have funding, investors, or ad budgets — just belief and execution.

🎯 Highlights from the conversation:

• How one referral snowballed into a global client base
• Why “every client is a story” beats every marketing funnel
• The underestimated power of showing up every day online
• Building systems that replace burnout with balance
• Turning early mistakes into your most effective marketing

💬 As Utsav puts it:

This one’s about grit, values, and what happens when founders stop chasing shortcuts and start playing the long game.

🔗 Connect with Utsav:

LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/utsav-nagori/

Website → https://dynaproglobal.com/

Email → [email protected]

🎧 Subscribe to Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising? wherever you listen — and if this episode hit home, share it with someone who needs to hear that you can scale without selling your soul.

#IsAnythingReal #PaidAdvertising #VAAgency #Entrepreneurship #BootstrappedGrowth #EnergyOS #ScaleSmarter #Leadership

Tired of chasing clicks and conversions that don’t convert?

In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, host Adam W. Barney sits down with Jared Tang, Founder & CEO of Gaggle Social, to talk about breaking the cycle of ad dependency and building brands that grow on real connection, not rented reach.

💡 What We Cover:

• Escaping the paid-media hamster wheel
• How organic storytelling compounds faster than spend
• The LinkedIn content loops that actually drive sales
• Why most founders confuse activity with attention
• Building authentic demand vs algorithm dopamine

🎧 This one’s for founders, marketers, and growth leaders ready to detox from “more ads = more growth” thinking.

🔗 Guest Links

🌐 Gaggle Social: https://gagglesocial.com/

📧 [email protected]

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredtangalejandro/

⚡ About the Host

🎙 Adam W. Barney — Author, Strategist & Energy Coach helping leaders install their EnergyOS to scale sustainably.

👉 Book a clarity call → https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

What happens when you stop chasing vanity metrics and start running ABM the way it’s meant to be — personal, measurable, and scrappy?

In this episode, Mason Cosby, CEO & Founder of Scrappy ABM, joins Adam W. Barney to unpack how small, focused teams are generating enterprise-level outcomes with smarter, more human strategies.

🔥 Topics we dig into:

• Why ABM has been misunderstood (and how to fix it)
• How to build real alignment between sales and marketing
• What “Scrappy” actually means in a post-AI world
• Turning connection into pipeline — without buying attention

🎙 Hosted by Adam W. Barney — author, strategist, and founder of Scale Smarter. No fluff. No funnels. Just what’s real.

🔗 Mason Cosby – Founder & CEO, Scrappy ABM

🌐 Website: https://scrappyabm.com

📧 Email: [email protected]

⚡ Ready to install your Energy-Driven Leadership OS?

Book your 20-minute exploration → https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min

It's time for another Exclusive Drop you don't want to miss!

Leadership isn’t forged at the summit: it’s forged in the storm.

In this powerful conversation, Chuck Garcia, Columbia University professor, author, and founder of Climb Leadership, joins host Adam W. Barney to unpack what it really means to climb with resilience, emotional intelligence, and purpose .

Mountains and boardrooms share the same truth: the climb tests your patience, your team, and your character. Chuck Garcia shares the three rules he learned on Kilimanjaro that every leader needs to adopt: set a goal (and adjust it), take one step at a time, and never go it alone  .

🔹 What you’ll learn

• Why “getting home safely” matters more than “reaching the summit.” Leadership is a long climb, not a photo finish.  
• The career lesson from Wall Street that proved EQ > IQ when it comes to promotions  .
• How stoicism and self-control under pressure separate average leaders from legends  .
• Why communication is the #1 leadership skill schools don’t teach  .
• The CTR Factor — credibility, trust, respect — and how to build it in every interaction  .

🌍 About Chuck Garcia

CEO of Climb Leadership International, Columbia University professor, mountaineer, and TEDx speaker. Author of A Climb to the Top and The Moment That Defines Your Life. Connect at chuckgarcia.com.

🎙 About the Show

Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising? cuts through the noise with conversations on leadership, marketing, and the human energy that powers them. Hosted by Adam W. Barney — Energy Coach & Author of Make Your Own Glass Half Full.

🔌 Work with Adam W. Barney

Install the Energy-Driven Leadership OS in 90 days and reclaim your clarity and capacity. Book an exploration call → calendly.com/adamwbarney/explorationplugin-20min.

In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, host Adam W. Barney sits down with Alex Steele, Founder & CEO of Opal, to unpack how agencies can unlock growth by rethinking how they bank.

💡 Alex shares the story of building Opal — the fintech platform redefining how ad agencies and creators manage cash flow and credit.

From partnering with Visa to solving the agency payment bottleneck, this conversation gets real about money, momentum, and the systems that fuel scale.

We cover:

🏦 Why traditional banks don’t understand agency business models

💳 How Opal is modernizing cash flow for ad-driven companies

🚀 Why scaling starts with better financial systems — not just better ads

🧩 How to build tools and partnerships that grow with you

🎙 Host: Adam W. Barney

💼 Guest: Alex Steele, Founder of Opal | [email protected]

🔥 Fix your foundation. Scale smarter.

Subscribe for more episodes of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising? — where we unpack what’s real in marketing, growth, and leadership.

In a world where ads fight for attention and algorithms dictate visibility, one thing still cuts through the noise: storytelling.

In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I sit down with MK McGowan, Founder of MK McGowan Studios, to explore how narrative isn’t just marketing — it’s the difference between being ignored and being unforgettable.

We dive into:

✨ Why narrative intelligence matters more than vanity metrics

✨ How to tell stories that scale across platforms and audiences

✨ The art of shaping messages that connect with both logic and emotion

✨ Where AI fits in — and where it never will — when it comes to authentic storytelling

MK has built a career around helping leaders and brands clarify their voice and amplify their message in ways that build trust, impact, and long-term influence. This conversation is a masterclass for anyone trying to rise above the noise and lead with narrative power.

📌 Learn more about MK: https://www.mkmcgowanstudios.com/

📌 Connect with MK: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkmcgowan/

🎧 Find all episodes of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising? by searching your favorite podcast app.

AI in sales and marketing isn’t about replacing people: it’s about amplifying them.

In this episode of Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?, I sit down with Joe Apfelbaum, Founder of evyAI and CEO of Ajax Union, to unpack what it really takes to scale authentic relationships in the age of AI.

Joe shares his journey from building 100+ websites a year, to scaling Ajax Union into one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., to creating evyAI...now powering 20,000+ users across 37 countries. Along the way, we dig into:

• 🚀 Why authenticity (not automation) is the real differentiator in AI
• 🧠 How evyAI helps turn LinkedIn into a revenue channel without turning you into a robot
• 🌍 Building a global SaaS product from scratch (and why it almost broke him)
• 🤝 The future of community-driven growth, leadership, and personal branding

💬 Want to see evyAI in action? Text DEMO to 973-841-8868 and get firsthand access.

🔗 Connect with Joe:

• LinkedIn: Joe Apfelbaum
• evyAI: app.evyai.com
• Ajax Union: ajaxunion.com

✨ Catch every episode here: Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?

Most companies pour money into marketing without connecting it to revenue. Jason Kramer, Founder & CEO of Cultivize, shows how to turn CRM, lead scoring, and simple attribution into hard ROI...and why many campaigns should be trimmed, not scaled.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How a 25-year roofing company cut ~$50k in wasted ad spend by tracking every channel (QRs, call prompts, landing pages) and tying it back to sales activity.
• “Hand raisers,” lead scoring, and seeing buying signals in real time (opens, site visits, video views).
• Why most teams fail CRM roll-outs, and the fast path to a functional build in 4–6 weeks.
• How agencies white-label CRM services to protect LTV, conversion, and retention.

Connect with Jason

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonleighkramer/
• Cultivize: https://cultivize.com/

Subscribe and find more episodes: https://isanythingrealinpaidadvertising.adamwbarney.com/

Most entrepreneurs feel the pressure to run ads before they’ve built a foundation. Abu Kamara, Co-Founder of Green Zone Solutions, took a different path. In just 18 months, he built a consulting business around sustainability, logistics, and operational performance - all through relationships, referrals, and trust, not ad spend.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Green Zone went from wide-net consulting to honing in on manufacturing and distribution niches.
• Why referrals and word-of-mouth still outpace cold ads in today’s noisy market.
• The systems Abu is putting in place to make referrals predictable and scalable.
• The biggest misconceptions about “slow growth” and what it really takes to build traction.

💡 For any founder wondering if they have to pour cash into ads right away, this conversation will reset your mindset.

👉 Connect with Abu:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abubakarrkamara

Green Zone Solutions: gzsolutions.co

🎧 Explore all episodes: Is Anything Real in Paid Advertising?