Episode 79:Most people think franchising is aboutfast growth. Joe Tagliente knows it’s about control, ownership, and playing the long game.

In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Joe Tagliente, second-generation Burger King franchisee, hotel developer, real estate investor, and advisor, to unpack what it really takes to build lasting wealth across decades — not hype cycles.

Joe shares the full story of growing a multi-unit Burger King operation, launching and scaling a hotel brand fromscratch, navigating massive leverage, family partnerships, real estate entitlement battles, and ultimately exiting operations while keeping the assets.

This isn’t theory.
It’s lived experience through multiple economic cycles.

In this conversation, Joe breaks down:
• How his father built a Burger King empire by owning the real estate
• Why most franchisees misunderstand risk, leverage, and scale
• The real margins behind fast-food and hotel businesses
• How to pivot from operator to landlord without losing control
• Why negative leverage destroys long-term wealth
• What today’s investors get wrong about cap rates and IRRs
• How legacy brands like Burger King compare to McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A
• Why “shopping in your own closet” is often the smartest real estate move

This episode is slow-burn wisdom.
No shortcuts.
No hype.
Just decades of hard-earned lessons about business, franchising, and real estate done the right way.

If you care about ownership, durability, and building something that lasts, this conversation is required listening.

Connect with Joe Tagliente
LinkedIn: Joe Tagliente

Episode 78:

Austin Medlin isn’t “a sales guy.” He’s a high-ticket closer who’s taken 7,000+ sales calls, personally collected $9M+ in cash, and claims his frameworks have helped generate $100M+ in coaching sales.

In this episode, Bo DePaoli sits down with Austin to break down what actually closes deals in the high-ticket coaching world (fitness, career, business coaching, and beyond), and why mostpeople blame leads when the real problem is their sales skill.

Austin shares:

●     The exact mindset behind elite objection handling

●     Why most sales reps sound “smart”… but kill the deal

●     What a “good” close rate should be (and why 15% is a red flag)

●     How coaches are doing $1M–$5M/month (and what their teams look like)

●     The “demonstration marketing” strategy he uses instead of paid ads

●     Why coaching is a monster cash-flow business… but a weak “exit” business

●     The real difference between building wealth vs chasing flex culture

If you sell anything high-ticket coaching, services, or even brick-and-mortar, this episode is basically a free sales audit.

Connect with Austin Medlin:
Instagram: @theaustinmedlin

Episode 77:

In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Ed Coan, widely regarded as the greatest powerlifter of all time.

Ed dominated the sport for decades, setting records that still stand and redefining what long-term excellence looks like. But this conversation goes far beyond numbers on a platform.

Ed breaks down how mastery is built, not just in powerlifting, but in business, health, and life through discipline, patience, and an uncompromising focus on fundamentals.

This is a wide-ranging, grounded conversation that explores:

●      Why most success comes from simple fundamentals done well

●      How training principles translate directly to business and life

●      The importance of planning, setup, and consistency

●      Why shortcuts eventually break people

●      Learning your own strengths instead of copying others

●      Longevity, recovery, and staying healthy after elite performance

●      What really separates great performers from everyone else

This episode isn’t about hype, motivation, or nostalgia.
It’s about process, personal responsibility, and doing the work long enough for it to matter.

Connect with Ed Coan!

Instagram: @eddycoan

Episode 76:

In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Mary Beth O’Connor, former federal administrative law judge, author of From Junkie to Judge, and nationally recognized advocate for addiction recovery and trauma-informed care.

Mary Beth’s life was shaped early by severe childhood trauma, which led to decades of substance use and addiction. She did not get sober until her early 30s — and even then, recovery required rebuilding her mental health, relationships, and career step by step. Years later, she was appointed to the federal bench.

This conversation is thoughtful, direct, and grounded in experience. It explores:

●     How childhood trauma fuels addiction

●     Why addiction is a medical issue, not a moral failure

●     What recovery actually looks like beyond slogans

●     Why many rehab models fall short

●     The importance of individualized treatment

●     How stigma and criminalization make recovery harder

This episode isn’t about glorifying hardship or selling inspiration.
It’s about understanding addiction, recovery, and responsibility with honesty and clarity.

Connect with Mary Beth O’Connor!

Website: junkietojudge.com
X / Twitter: @Marybetho_
LinkedIn: Mary Beth O’Connor

Episode 75:

In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Mark Walker, CEO of Nue, a SaaS monetization and billing platform used by fast-growing software companies, including teams selling to enterprise customers. Mark has spent years inside scaling SaaS businesses, watching what actually changes as companies grow beyond the startup phase. This conversation breaks down why growth adds complexity, even when revenue is going up.

They talk through:

● What changes after product-market fit

● Why big customers create new demands

● How billing, contracts, and systems quietly get harder

● Where founders underestimate operational complexity

● Why growth exposes gaps you didn’t know existed

This episode isn’t about hacks or growth tactics. It’s about understanding what growth really brings, so you’re not surprised by it.

Connect with Mark!

LinkedIn: Mark WalkerWebsite: nue.io

Episode 74: In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Tom Sauer, Navy EOD veteran, former special operations officer, and founder of Miramar Health, a veteran-focused mental health and addiction treatment company.

Tom has jumped out of planes, defused bombs, and operated at the highest levels of the military and he says none of it prepared him for entrepreneurship.

This conversation cuts through the fantasy of “being your own boss” and exposes what actually breaks founders:
sleeping on an air mattress in your office, begging for capital, sweating payroll, and realizing that financial courage is harder than physical courage.

They break down:

●    Why business broke him harder than combat

●     The mental toll of payroll and responsibility

●     Why most operators fail at entrepreneurship

●     How SBA 7(a) loans really work

●     Buying boring businesses instead of chasing ideas

●     Childhood trauma as the root of addiction and depression

●     Why shortcuts (including psychedelics) don’t work without integration

●     The silent cost of leadership nobody prepares you for

This episode isn’t motivational.
It’s a reality check for anyone who thinks business is easier than a job.

Connect with Tom!

X / Twitter: @ThomasBSauer
Website: miramarhealth.com

Episode 73:

In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Joe Zentmyer, a serial entrepreneur who built First Ascent Climbing from the ground up and scaled it to 7 massive locations in Chicago—before COVID flipped thebusiness world upside down. Joe breaks down the real economics behind climbing gyms (and why some new gyms now cost $20M+), how scaling from one location to many forces you to build systems fast, and why franchising soundssmart but often fails in niche fitness models.

Then the conversation goes where mostentrepreneurs won’t go:

layoffs, entitlement, minimum wage pressure, insurance rules, and the brutal reality that costs rise faster than customers will tolerate.

They also unpack what’s happening inIllinois—taxes, regulation, post-COVID population shifts—and why brick-and-mortar can still win… but only if you build a real moat.

You’ll learn:

●     Why climbing gyms can cost $3M…or $20M+ to build

●     The real challenge of scaling from 1 location to 7

●     Why franchising climbing gyms rarely works

●     How COVID exposed the weak spots in brick-and-mortar

●     Why minimum wage + insurance rules create unintended damage

●     The “price cliff” problem that kills gyms and retail

●     How to build a retail moat against Amazon

Connect with Joe!

 Linkedin: Joe Zentmyer

Website: https://www.snaggletoothgoby.com/

Episode 72:Most new investors don’t struggle because they lack intelligence. They struggle because investing was never designed to feel accessible or clear.In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Med Yacoub, the marketing leader behind Tradesk, a mobile-first brokerage built for people who feel intimidated, overwhelmed, or unsure where to begin in today’s fast-moving markets.Med breaks down why so many beginners feel stuck from the start:They’re encouraged to time the market.They’re pressured to pick winners.They’re overwhelmed by volatility, alerts, noise, and conflicting advice.Instead of confidence, they get anxiety.In this conversation, Med shares on why volatility, noise, and poor structure cause new investors to struggle, and how clearer tools, education, and long-term thinking can help people participate more confidently in the markets.Connect with Med!Tradesk.CoEmail: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Episode 71:In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Dr. Ian Hardy, founder of Proven Performance Physical Therapy, the guy who got Bo back on the mats in four months after surgeons predicted a full year. Dr. Hardy exposes the truth behind modern rehab:
MRIs miss injuries, icing slows healing, and insurance-based PT is built on volume, not results. He breaks down what actually heals tissue, how early movement accelerates recovery, and why so many athletes (and parents) follow protocols that delay healing instead of speeding it up.

You’ll learn:

●      Why MRIs frequently miss real injuries

●      Why icing delays the healing process

●      How early movement accelerates recovery safely

●      The flaw in insurance-based PT clinics

●      Why back pain is exploding in sedentary adults

●      The peptides that speed up tissue repair

Whether you're injured, training hard, or raising young athletes, this episode cuts through outdated rehab advice andgives you the blueprint to heal smarter — and faster.

Connect with Dr. Hardy:

Instagram: @dr.ianhardy @provenperformancept_

Website: provenperformancept.com

Episode 70:

In this episode of Raw & Relentless, Bo DePaoli sits down with Eugene Gershman, a real estate developer with a model most people have never seen before: he develops properties without buying the land. Instead, he partners directly with landowners, handling feasibility, financing, permitting, team assembly, and construction management, while taking the last position in the payout stack

.Eugene breaks down the reality behind development that most owners and investors never hear: the risks, the timelines, the land-use traps, and why builders and GCs often sit in direct conflict with the owner’s interests. He also explains why he targets a 2X equity multiple instead of chasing IRR projections that fall apart under real-world timelines.

You’ll learn:

● How Eugene partners with landowners without acquiring the dirt

● Why the developer getting paid last protects the deal● The truth about permitting timelines (12–18 months) and real construction cycles

● CM vs GC: who actually works for YOU

● Why land-use code—not building code—is the real battleground

● How he derisks deals by avoiding over-leveraged capital stacks

● Why most people underestimate development—and why others think it’s rocket science

Whether you own land, invest in real estate, or want the unfiltered version of what development really takes, this conversation is a blueprint for safer partnerships, stronger deals, and smarter execution.

Connect with Eugene!

LinkedIn: Eugene Gershman

Instagram: eg_developer