In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with Jake Tlapek, better known as The Wizard of Marketing.

Jake spent 13 years in the trenches of marketing, building a Chicago agency from an audience he grew from zero on TikTok, eventually reaching more than 110,000 followers. He went on to sell the agency and generate more than $100 million for his clients.

But Jake discovered that many businesses don’t necessarily need a better product.

They need better messaging — and, more importantly, the right sequence.

That insight became Eight Dominoes, Jake’s messaging framework built around eight strategic moves designed to take someone from stranger to customer.

We talk about building an audience from scratch, converting attention into revenue, the psychology of messaging, business growth, entrepreneurship, and what Jake learned from building and exiting companies of his own.

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, marketer, or creator trying to turn more attention into actual revenue, this conversation will give you a completely different way to think about marketing.

Connect with Jake on : https://www.jakethewizard.com/eight-dominoes

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with author, poet, and speaker Jeff Dalton for a deeply honest conversation about faith, healing, mental health, church hurt, and what it means to have a genuine relationship with Jesus.

Jeff shares his journey from depression and low self-esteem to finding Jesus as a teenager, followed by years of ministry, rejection, personal struggles, mental health challenges, financial loss, and eventually a long season of feeling disconnected from God.

But his story doesn’t end there.

After years away from church and barely talking to Jesus, Jeff returned to the Gospels and began rediscovering something he had almost forgotten: that Jesus doesn’t ask us to bring a perfect version of ourselves.

He wants the real us.

We discuss why Jeff believes you can’t heal what you don’t acknowledge, why Christians shouldn’t feel pressured to hide their emotional struggles, how church rejection can affect a person’s identity, and why honesty and vulnerability can be essential parts of spiritual growth.

Jeff also shares the story behind his book, Expressions of the Heart: Poems and Devotionals, and explains how poetry became a way to express the emotions he couldn’t always put into ordinary words.

This is a conversation for anyone who has ever felt rejected by religion, struggled with doubt or emotional pain, questioned their worth, or simply wanted a deeper and more authentic relationship with Jesus.

Connect with Jeff on : https://a.co/d/08VZox7l

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with entrepreneur Jordan Robinson, founder of Anxin, a technology platform designed to help families stay ahead of food-safety risks.

We discuss the frustrating gap between when a food recall is issued and when consumers actually find out about it.

Jordan explains how Anxin brings together grocery receipt scanning, household inventory, FDA recall information, restaurant inspection data, ingredient safety, and other household risk information into one platform.

We also explore the misinformation surrounding food recalls, the challenges of building a trusted consumer technology product, and what entrepreneurs can learn from identifying a broken system and creating a better solution.

If you’ve ever wondered why you hear about a food recall days after the product is already sitting in your kitchen, this conversation will give you a completely different perspective on the problem—and the technology trying to solve it.

Connect with Jordan on : https://pieceofmind.fyi/recalls

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with LinkedIn strategist and author Daniel Alfon, who has been using LinkedIn since February 2004.

Daniel has trained thousands of people on LinkedIn and believes the platform is one of the most powerful business tools available—yet one of the most misunderstood.

We discuss how entrepreneurs can use LinkedIn to generate leads, referrals, relationships, and revenue without relying on cold connecting, expensive advertising, premium subscriptions, or generic AI-generated content.

Daniel also shares how entrepreneurs over 40 can leverage their experience, expertise, and existing network to build business authentically.

If you’re an entrepreneur who wants LinkedIn to become a genuine business asset rather than another social media platform you feel pressured to post on, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Daniel on : https://www.danielalfon.com/store/personal-1-1-session/

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with former Army officer, combat veteran, West Point graduate, diplomat, corporate strategist, and author Christopher Rivers.

Chris’s extraordinary journey has taken him from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to West Point, Georgetown, U.S. diplomacy, corporate strategy, and eventually into politics, where he knocked on more than 9,000 doors listening directly to Americans about their hopes, frustrations, and challenges.

His book, You Shouldn’t Have to Kill to Get Ahead, explores the interconnected forces of wealth, power, and belonging—and asks what it would take to rebuild trust, opportunity, and a sense of possibility for more people.

We discuss leadership, resilience, economic mobility, belonging, the American Dream, power, civic responsibility, and why success shouldn’t require people to sacrifice their humanity just to get ahead.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many hardworking people feel stuck despite doing everything they’re told to do, this conversation will challenge how you think about success—and what it means to build a better future.

Connect with Christopher on : https://www.chrisrivers.com/changemakers

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with therapist, trauma recovery expert, transformational coach, and Heal Thrive Dream founder Karen Robinson, LCSW.

With more than two decades of clinical experience, Karen has dedicated her career to helping trauma survivors heal, rebuild their confidence, and create lives filled with greater hope, purpose, and possibility.

We discuss the difference between surviving and thriving, how trauma can affect identity and relationships, rebuilding self-worth, overcoming shame, developing resilience, and why hope can be such an important part of the healing journey.

Karen also shares practical insights for anyone who feels stuck in survival mode and wants to begin creating a healthier and more purposeful future.

If you’ve experienced trauma, supported someone who has, or simply want to better understand resilience and the human capacity to heal, this conversation offers a compassionate and practical perspective.

Connect with Karen on : https://healthrivedream.com/hope-tool

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with health and lifestyle coach Brian Parana, who has spent more than two decades helping busy, high-performing men over 40 improve their fitness, nutrition, energy, and overall health.

Brian has coached thousands of clients, owned two CrossFit gyms, and worked with elite athletes, but today his focus is helping successful men build sustainable health systems that fit demanding careers, travel, marriage, and family life.

We discuss fat loss after 40, strength training, protein-first nutrition, metabolic health, recovery, discipline, consistency, and why health should be viewed as a leadership strategy.

Brian also explains why successful men often know exactly what they should be doing—but struggle to consistently do it—and how simple systems can help them stop starting over.

If you’re an entrepreneur, executive, business owner, or driven dad who wants more energy, better health, and a body that supports the life you’re building, this conversation offers practical strategies you can start applying immediately.

Connect with Brian on : https://thecalltorise.com/

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with business coach and Marine Corps veteran Brad Koch (Cook).

With more than 32 years of business experience, Brad has learned through successes, setbacks, education, training, and personal mentorship what it takes to build a business that actually works for its owner.

We discuss business growth, profitability, leadership, compounding incremental changes, delegation, and why so many entrepreneurs accidentally create businesses that control their lives instead of giving them freedom.

Brad also shares practical lessons for business owners at virtually every stage and explains how small, strategic improvements can compound into significant results.

If you’ve ever wondered how to build a business that gives you more control over your time, money, and future, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Brad on : https://call.4sightcoach.com/15min

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with writer, father, EHS professional, and author Eli Brackenbury.

After years marked by divorce, grief, striving, and spiritual dryness, Eli experienced an unexpected spiritual awakening at fifty that changed how he understood faith, identity, purpose, and his own life.

We discuss his journey through healing and renewed faith, the challenges many men face in midlife, spiritual transformation, mental health, identity, and what it means to rediscover purpose later in life.

Eli also shares why his book Finding God at 50 was written for people who may be searching for God, returning to faith, questioning what they believe, or simply wondering whether their best chapter is still ahead.

This is an honest conversation about faith without the clichés—and about what can happen when we become willing to ask the questions we’ve been avoiding.

Connect with Eli on : https://www.elibrackenbury.com/

In this episode of 9-5 Exit Plan, I sit down with Georges Hanna, founder of Smart Income Lifestyle and creator of the Certainty Install™ framework.

After losing everything in 2013, Georges rebuilt his life from zero and discovered that lasting transformation required more than business tactics—it required confronting the thinking, identity, discipline, and decision-making patterns underneath them.

Today, Georges helps business owners solve what he calls “Execution Drift”—the gap between what they decide should happen and what actually gets done without their constant involvement.

We discuss business independence, leadership, control, systems, AI, mindset, and why so many entrepreneurs accidentally build businesses that depend on them for everything.

If your business feels like it can’t function unless you’re personally involved, this conversation will give you a new way to understand the problem—and a practical direction for solving it.

Connect with Georges on : https://smartincomelifestyle.com/welcome