The Everywhere Small Business Podcast

What happens when you're great at what you do, but suddenly realize you have to learn an entirely new skill: running a business?

Jessica Aubin started her speech-language pathology practice as a solo practitioner, renting space just two half-days a week. 

Sixteen years later, she's built a growing organization with a team of specialists, administrative staff, and dedicated marketing and community outreach resources. She also acquired a second local business along the way.

On this episode, Jessica shares the lessons, missteps, and personal growth that helped her build a more sophisticated, sustainable business. 

We talk about why word-of-mouth eventually stops being enough, why marketing should be an investment rather than an expense, and how better organization and delegation help business owners break through growth barriers.

Jessica also explains why understanding your customers is far more important than simply telling them what you sell, and why the ability to learn from setbacks may be one of the most valuable entrepreneurial skills of all.

Her central lesson? You have to grow as a person to grow your business.

• The transition from practitioner to business owner: Why being excellent at your craft doesn't automatically prepare you to run a company.
• Learn from the face plants: How Jessica developed the resilience to handle difficult clients, unexpected expenses, and other business setbacks without losing her cool.
• Why word-of-mouth eventually hits a wall: How growing beyond a solo practice requires a more sophisticated, consistent approach to marketing and public relations.
• Treat marketing as an investment: Why cutting marketing when business slows down can make the problem worse, and why continued investment helps support future growth.
• Keep learning: Why Jessica credits continuous education, specialized training, and a growth mindset with helping her navigate challenges and build a stronger business.

Chapter Markers

02:18 — The Moment You Realize You're a Business Owner
03:19 — Why Being Great at Your Craft Isn't Enough
04:20 — The Business Skills Nobody Teaches You
07:20 — How Entrepreneurship Changes You Personally
08:45 — Learning to Handle Setbacks Without Falling Apart
11:34 — The Hidden Costs of Hiring Employees
13:49 — Face Plant City: The Reality of Running a Business
16:17 — The Organizational Changes That Made Growth Possible
17:25 — Why Marketing Deserves a Dedicated Team
20:22 — The Growth Cycle: Marketing, Hiring, and Expansion
27:24 — Learning to Delegate and Let Go
31:34 — Why Growing a Business Requires Constant Reinvention
32:44 — When Word-of-Mouth Stops Driving Growth
33:41— Marketing's Real Job: Generate More Opportunities
34:10  — Combining Direct Mail and Digital Marketing
40:24 — Targeted Marketing and Reaching the Right People
41:25 — Why Cutting Marketing During a Crisis Can Backfire
42:41   — Marketing as an Investment in Future Growth
44:36   — Jessica's Biggest Success Factor: Continuous Learning
46:13   — How Experience Builds Entrepreneurial Confidence
47:24   — Finding the Right Systems to Run Your Business
49:38  — Advice for Breaking Through the Next Growth Barrier
55:24  — Finding a Business Growth Framework That Works
57:17— Business Is a Journey, Not a Destination
58:00 — Grow Yourself to Grow Your Business

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]

What if the secret to better sales isn't convincing someone to buy…but instead giving them the confidence to follow through on a decision they've already started making?

Dan Thompson, Executive Vice President of Plus One Company BPO, has spent nearly two decades studying the psychology of sales conversations, customer behavior, and what makes people convert. 

His company manages thousands of agents across the U.S. and Ecuador, giving Dan a unique perspective on what happens between the moment a customer responds to marketing and the moment they actually become a customer. 

In this episode, Chris and Dan dig into why sales isn't about reading a script—it's about using a framework to build trust, uncover the customer's problem, and give them confidence in their decision. 

They also explore how Plus One tests and continually engineers its sales methodology, why AI should eliminate friction rather than simply replace people, how customer communication is evolving from phone calls to text and even emojis, and how to build a large team around a simple, repeatable structure. 

And Dan shares a philosophy that applies far beyond call centers:

“Don't fall in love with your idea. Fall in love with solving your customer's problem.” 

What You'll Learn

1. Why great salespeople don't “sell” as much as they build confidence
Customers often arrive having already decided they want something. The salesperson's job is to build trust, understand their needs, and reinforce that they are making the right decision. 

2. Why a sales script should be used, but not read
Dan explains how Plus One turns its methodology into a repeatable framework while still giving individual agents room to use their own personalities and strengths. 

3. How to turn your sales operation into a laboratory
With thousands of calls, businesses have the opportunity to test one variable, measure the result, and continually improve their approach. 

4. How customer communication is changing
From phone calls to digital communication and even emoji-driven conversations, Dan explains how businesses need to meet customers wherever they are—and remove friction from the buying journey. 

5. How mastery gives people confidence
Dan's “master converter” concept shows how experience, repetition, and a consistent methodology can turn good salespeople into exceptional ones. 

The Chapters

00:52 Why Plus One Started by Solving a Problem

02:37 What Sales Really Means

04:08 Why Customers Talk Themselves Out of Buying

06:29 A Script Is a Tool, Not Something You Read

07:09 Turning Sales Into a Science

10:38 How Consumer Behavior Has Changed

16:49 From Phone Calls to Text & Emojis

18:24 Why AI Should Eliminate Friction

20:57 The Power of Peer Influence & Reviews

24:18 How Master Converters Double Conversion

25:15 Creating Sales Muscle Memory

27:41 Turning Sales Conversations Into a Formula

29:20 Letting Personality Drive Performance

31:34 Building Confidence Through Mastery

32:45 How Sales Skills Can Change a Life

36:54 Lessons From 19 Years in Business

37:39 Don't Fall in Love With Your Idea

38:51 Your Customer Is the Business

39:33 Grow Yourself, Grow Your Company

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]

What happens when a family of entrepreneurs takes decades of sales, marketing, and business experience and turns it into a technology company serving thousands of small businesses?

Nick South knows the answer.

Nick is part of the family behind Sotellus, a company that provides reputation management, marketing automation, and AI services to more than 8,000 small businesses across 33 countries. 

What started with his father’s sales career and his brothers’ experience in the Yellow Pages and website industries eventually evolved into a family-run software company with roughly 30 employees.

But the most interesting part of Nick's story isn't just the growth. It's how they grew.

Nick explains why Sotellus focuses on relationships instead of transactions, why his sales team is trained to educate rather than pressure prospects, how the company has built a powerful referral and affiliate network, and why knowing your numbers can be the difference between running a business and running an expensive hobby.

He also shares lessons on hiring, company culture, managing salespeople, learning from people who've already done what you want to do, and the importance of staying consistent even when the results aren't immediate.

In This Episode, Chris and Nick Talk About:

• Growing a family business into a technology company serving 8,000+ small businesses
• How Nick's father, a legendary salesperson, influenced his approach to business and sales
• The evolution from websites and content marketing into SoTelUs
• Why relationships beat transactions in small-business sales
• Building a company culture where employees are treated like family
• Why Nick hires for both ability and cultural fit
• Teaching salespeople to educate instead of using high-pressure closing tactics
• How transparency around pricing builds trust with small-business owners
• Building growth through affiliate and referral relationships
• Why marketing should be viewed as a scalability tool—not simply a survival tool
• The philosophy behind “Who, Not How”
• Why small-business owners need to know their conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, and lifetime value
• The difference between running a business and running an “expensive hobby”
• Managing the emotional ups and downs of a sales team
• Why consistency today creates opportunities months from now
• How long-term relationships can eventually turn into major opportunities

Key Takeaways

1. Sell by educating, not pressuring.

Nick's approach to sales is remarkably simple: first determine whether the product is actually right for the prospect. If it isn't, don't sell it.

If it is, the job becomes understanding the customer's goals and showing how the solution can help achieve them.

2. Relationships are a long-term growth strategy.

SoTelUs has built a significant portion of its growth through affiliates, referrals, partners, and existing customers.

Nick tells a great story about maintaining a relationship with an affiliate who went an entire year without producing a sale—only to eventually bring in a major franchise opportunity.

The lesson: not every relationship pays off immediately.

3. Know your numbers.

Nick's advice for business owners is direct: know your conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and the economics behind your marketing.

If you don't know the numbers, you may be operating more like a hobby than a business.

4. Find the “who.”

Nick strongly believes in learning from people who have already accomplished what you're trying to accomplish.

Instead of spending years figuring everything out yourself, find someone who has already solved the problem and learn from them.

5. Consistency compounds.

Nick's closing advice may be the biggest lesson of the episode:

What you do today affects you six months from now.

Marketing, sales, relationship-building, networking, and follow-up don't always produce an immediate result. But stopping because the payoff isn't immediate can prevent the future result from ever happening.

Chapter Markers

00:52 — The family business origin story
 02:13 — From Yellow Pages to websites and software
 03:39 — Building the first website and content marketing businesses
 04:46 — Why video reviews became the opportunity
 05:26 — From a family of four to a 30-person company
 06:18 — Growing up in a family business
 09:06 — Learning sales from Dad
 10:37 — Building a relationship-based company
 11:09 — Growing the team without losing the culture
 16:20 — Sales as education and problem-solving
 18:25 — Giving small businesses the power of big companies
 19:59 — Thousands of sales reps taught Nick what customers value
 21:27 — Building a culture of continuous education
 22:43 — Why employees are treated like family
 26:20 — Building growth through relationships and affiliates
 27:49 — Why marketing shouldn't just be about survival
 28:16 — The long game of affiliate relationships
 29:33 — The power of referral-based growth
 30:50 — “Who, Not How”
 32:50 — Find people who have already done it
 34:54 — The value of mentorship and paying it forward
 36:05 — Nick's biggest business aha: Know your numbers
 39:11 — Family, business and conflict resolution
 41:39 — Building young salespeople from the ground up
 43:02 — Managing the emotional side of sales
 44:33 — Mental fortitude and the sales numbers game
 46:35 — Nick's advice for young business owners
 47:03 — What you do today affects six months from now
 48:10 — Final thoughts

The Big Lesson

Nick's final advice is worth remembering:

“What you do today affects you six months from now.”

For a small-business owner, that means today's sales calls, today's marketing, today's networking, today's follow-ups, and today's relationships are all contributing to the business you'll have months from now.

Stay consistent. Keep building relationships. Know your numbers. And trust the process.

Nick South is part of the family behind SoTelUs, a technology company providing reputation management, marketing automation, AI, and related services to small businesses. SoTelUs serves more than 8,000 small businesses across 33 countries.

Nick leads sales and works closely with the company's client success organization. His experience spans sales, business development, team leadership, affiliate relationships, and growing a family-owned technology company.

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]

What do you do when your business is struggling, and you're not sure what to try next?

For marketing powerhouse Jay Schwedelson, the answer has been surprisingly simple: keep showing up, keep testing, and be yourself.

Jay shares how he grew up in a family direct-mail business, built an agency combining direct mail, email and digital marketing, nearly lost the business during COVID—and then completely changed his approach to marketing by becoming more authentic and visible.

We talk about why consistency beats perfection, why small businesses shouldn't expect every marketing dollar to have a straight line back to revenue, the power of human content, why the owner of a small business may need to become the brand's biggest megaphone, and the $30-a-week marketing tactic Jay believes small businesses are overlooking.

And, of course, we get into Jay's bestselling book, Stupider People Have Done It, and the advice from his grandfather that inspired it all.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why consistency can beat sophistication in marketing
• How COVID forced Jay to stop trying to play the industry's game and start being himself
• Why human, behind-the-scenes content can make your business more relatable
• Why the first version of almost anything you do is probably going to be bad—and why that's OK
• How to think about the 95:5 marketing reality and staying visible before customers are ready to buy
• Why marketing attribution isn't always as clean as “I spent $1, I made $X”
• Why small-business owners may need to become the megaphone for their own business
• Jay's micro-boosting strategy for putting a small amount of paid media behind social content
• Why regret can be worse than failure
• How Jay's grandfather inspired the title and philosophy behind Stupider People Have Done It

⏱️ EPISODE TIMESTAMPS

01:11 — From Internet Advertising to Direct Mail & Digital
03:04 — The COVID Crisis That Changed Everything
03:58 — Growing Up in a Family Direct Mail Business
07:05 — The Entrepreneurial Mindset: “Just Friggin’ Try It”
09:51 — Jay’s Early Hiring Mistakes & Learning by Doing
13:16 — When the Business Grows With You
14:43 — Why Being Yourself Changed Jay’s Business
17:44 — Being Human Is the Secret Sauce
21:23 — The Marketing North Star: Consistency
24:44 — Why You Have to Keep Showing Up
25:14 — The 95:5 Reality & Why Consistency Wins
26:32 — The Problem With Marketing Attribution
29:14 — The Story Behind “Stupider People Have Done It”
34:16 — Why Small Businesses Need a Human Face
35:16 — Make Yourself the Megaphone
42:35 — Why Now Is a Great Time to Start a Small Business
44:37 — The Reality of Stress, Anxiety & Entrepreneurship
46:17 — Jay’s $30-a-Week “Micro-Boosting” Strategy
48:47 — What’s Next: AI, Events & More Content
49:37 — The Future of Direct Mail & Small Business Marketing
52:30 — Marketing Is an Investment, Not an Expense
54:01 — “I Can. I Will.”

💬 THE BIG IDEAS

1. Consistency Beats Perfection

This may be the biggest takeaway of the entire episode.

Jay says he isn't the smartest person in the room. His answer to that problem wasn't to become smarter than everyone else—it was to become more consistent than everyone else.

He talks about continuing to post, email, podcast and create content even when he's wondering whether any particular activity is generating revenue.

“Consistency will beat out smartness every day of the week."

2. Stop Trying to Sound Like Everyone Else

He realized that he had spent years trying to communicate, present and market himself the way everyone else in his industry did. Then he started experimenting with simply being himself.

The content that felt most natural to him performed better—and that became a turning point in his business.

His lesson:

Your personality can be a competitive advantage.

3. Human Is the New Differentiator

Jay argues that businesses have an opportunity to show the humans behind the brand through lo-fi, behind-the-scenes content: manufacturing, service calls, day-to-day operations, conversations and the things that make the business real.

For a small business, this is particularly powerful because customers aren't necessarily choosing you because you're the biggest.

They're choosing you because they know you, trust you and like the experience of dealing with you.

📬 THE MARKETING LESSON: STAY VISIBLE

If 95% of folks aren't ready to buy now, it means you need to stay visible until the moment someone is ready.

He uses direct mail as an example: a postcard may arrive today, sit on a desk, and do nothing. Then another arrives later. Eventually, the customer needs the service—and suddenly the company they've been seeing repeatedly is the company they remember.

Consistency is how you win.

And Jay makes another important point: not every marketing interaction will have a perfectly measurable attribution trail.

A customer may see a social post, receive an email, get a postcard, hear about you from a friend, visit your website and then contact you. Trying to assign the entire purchase to one marketing activity can cause businesses to abandon channels that are contributing to the overall result.

📖 THE STORY BEHIND STUPIDER PEOPLE HAVE DONE IT

Early in Jay's career, he was struggling. He didn't think he was capable of building a successful business.

His grandfather came into his office, saw Jay sitting there with his head in his hands, and gave him some unforgettable advice:

“Stupider people than you have been able to do it.”

Instead of discouraging him, Jay found it incredibly motivating.

His grandfather had another message, too:

The phone isn't going to ring by itself.

You've got to pick it up and do something.

That became the philosophy behind Jay's book—a combination of motivation, life lessons, marketing tactics and humor. Jay says the book has generated more than $130,000 in donations to the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

💡 THE BIG BUSINESS LESSON

Don't confuse “I can't see the result yet” with “it's not working.”

That's the thread running through so much of Jay's story.

He didn't know his first Internet advertising company would become an agency.

He didn't know the virtual conference he launched during COVID would become a media business.

He didn't know his more authentic social content would change the trajectory of his business.

He didn't know which individual marketing activity would produce the next client.

He kept trying.

He kept showing up.

He kept marketing.

And he kept becoming better at being Jay.

That's a pretty damn good lesson for a small-business owner.

👤 ABOUT JAY SCHWEDELSON

Jay Schwedelson is a marketing entrepreneur, agency owner, media entrepreneur and advocate for small businesses.

He is the founder of Outcome Media, a demand-generation agency working across B2B, consumer and nonprofit marketing, and has built a media business around large-scale virtual events covering marketing, email, direct mail, AI and more.

Jay grew up around his family's direct-mail business and eventually combined Internet advertising, email and direct mail into an agency that grew to approximately 100 employees. During COVID, he began building a much larger personal presence through social media and virtual events, creating an entirely new dimension of his business.

He is also the author of Stupider People Have Done It, a book inspired by his grandfather's advice during a difficult point in Jay's entrepreneurial journey.

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]

What happens when a six-figure job disappears, the bills keep coming, and you have to figure out what to do next?

For Scott Carson, getting laid off in the early 2000s became the beginning of an entrepreneurial journey that eventually turned him into “The Note Guy” — a real estate investor, educator, podcaster, and entrepreneur who has spent 20 years buying distressed mortgage debt and teaching others how to do the same. 

In this episode of the Everywhere Small Business Podcast, Scott shares the story behind his business, the financial hardship that shaped his approach to helping struggling homeowners, and how an unexpected demand for education turned into another major business opportunity.

But this conversation is really about much more than real estate.

Scott and Chris dig into marketing, consistency, entrepreneurship, overcoming setbacks, learning new skills, and why taking action is often more important than having everything figured out.

Scott also shares one of the biggest lessons he's learned over 20 years in business:

“Delivered is better than perfected.” 

And when Chris asks Scott what advice he'd give a small-business owner trying to break through to the next level, his answer is simple:

“Market. Then market some more, and outsource it.” 

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• How getting laid off became the catalyst for Scott's entrepreneurial journey 
• How Scott transitioned from banking and mortgage origination into distressed-note investing 
• Why his personal experience with financial hardship changed how he approached borrowers 
• How teaching became an unexpected source of lead generation and revenue 
• Why “delivered is better than perfected” is such an important marketing philosophy 
• How consistent content helped Scott build his reputation as “The Note Guy” 
• Why following up — again and again — is critical to generating business 
• How Scott uses email, LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts and direct mail to stay in front of his audience 
• Why showing people the real work behind a business can be powerful marketing 
• Why being coachable may be one of the most important entrepreneurial skills 
• Scott's #1 piece of advice for small-business owners trying to reach their next revenue milestone 

Episode Highlights & Timestamps

00:36 Meet Scott “The Note Guy” Carson

02:14 From Banker to Real Estate Investor

06:18 Getting Laid Off — and Learning How to Survive

08:38 Turning Education Into a Lead-Generation Engine

13:45 Why Every Business Starts With Deal Flow

15:01 Marketing Lesson: Delivered Is Better Than Perfected

18:47 Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up

21:40 Scott's Marketing Machine: Email, Social, YouTube & Direct Mail

25:26 Inside a Real-World Note Investment

31:57 AI, Job Disruption & Why You Have to Keep Learning

36:21 Taking Action, Being Coachable & Creating Your Own Opportunity

45:22 The Power of Showing Up

47:44 Scott's #1 Piece of Advice: Market More & Outsource It

🥎 Scott's “Softball-Sized Pearls”

This episode has several lines that could make great social clips or quote graphics.

“Delivered is better than perfected.”

Scott explains that waiting for the perfect marketing piece, video, podcast or campaign can mean somebody else gets into the market first. Get it out, learn from it, improve it, and keep going. 

“Everything starts with the deal.”

Scott explains that making money is only part of the equation. Entrepreneurs have to learn how to find deal flow and develop the marketing skills necessary to create opportunities. 

“You gotta be coachable.”

Scott argues that regardless of age or experience, entrepreneurs have to remain willing to learn, adapt and develop new skills. 

“Show up.”

One of Scott's biggest lessons came from simply staying at a conference during a blizzard when other speakers left. Instead of going home, Scott taught additional sessions — ultimately generating roughly $500,000 in coaching and class sales, by his recollection. 

“Market. Go marketing more and outsource it.”

Scott's answer when asked what a small-business owner should do to break through to the next revenue level: increase marketing, delegate it, and give it enough time to work. 

The Big Business Lesson

There's a fascinating marketing lesson buried inside Scott's story.

He didn't start out thinking:

“I'm going to build an education business.”

He was investing in distressed mortgage debt.

But people kept asking him:

“Do you have a class?”

So Scott listened.

That demand revealed an opportunity sitting right next to his existing business. He began teaching people how to invest in notes — and those students became another source of relationships, opportunities and deal flow. 

That's a powerful lesson for any small-business owner:

Your customers may tell you what your next business opportunity is — if you're paying attention.

About Scott “The Note Guy” Carson

Scott Carson is a real estate investor, educator and entrepreneur known nationally as “The Note Guy.” For approximately 20 years, he has specialized in buying and investing in distressed mortgage debt, working with homeowners and developing strategies around distressed notes.

He also built an education platform teaching other investors how to enter the note-investing business. His marketing strategy has included consistent email, social media, YouTube, podcasting and direct mail. 

Connect With Scott

Scott “The Note Guy” Carson
Real Estate Investor • Educator • Entrepreneur

https://www.facebook.com/1scottcarson
https://twitter.com/1scottcarson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/1scottcarson
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4wtruvVdVPfp35F2CI95nQ
https://www.instagram.com/1scottcarson/

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]

Episode Overview

What do you do when the marketing channel you've built your career around starts changing—and a completely new opportunity appears?

For Mary Ann Bautista, the answer was to follow the opportunity...one on YouTube.

And then, what started as an experiment became a specialty.

Today, Mary Ann is the co-founder of TurboRank, a niche agency focused exclusively on the organic growth and optimization of YouTube channels—helping businesses capture existing demand through YouTube, Google, and increasingly, AI citations.

But this episode isn't just about YouTube.

It's about knowing when your business has outgrown its original model, and then having the courage to build what comes next.

We discuss her unconventional path into entrepreneurship:

• The life event that pushed her to leave corporate America
• Building a business while raising two children
• Discovering YouTube before most businesses understood its potential
• The strategic power of niching down
• Why the skills that helped you build your first business may not be the skills you need to build your next one.

They also explore a challenge every growing business eventually faces: How do you replace yourself?

For Mary Ann, that's the next chapter—building the systems, processes, team, and leadership structure that will allow TurboRank to scale beyond her personal involvement.

What You'll Learn

• Why she left the corporate world and launched her own agency
• Why getting into an emerging channel early can create a significant competitive advantage
• Why niching down can help businesses escape crowded, highly competitive markets
• Why entrepreneurs need to continually develop new skills as their businesses evolve
• Why SOPs, playbooks, and operational duplication become critical as a business scales
• The difference between working in the business and working on the business
• How personal growth and professional growth become intertwined over a long career

The Big Takeaway

Mary Ann Bautista's story is a powerful example of how businesses evolve when entrepreneurs are willing to evolve with them.

Her career began in traditional media. She learned direct mail, circulation, radio, and television. Then an unexpected client opportunity introduced her to YouTube in 2006—long before most businesses understood what the platform could become.

The lesson isn't simply to "get on YouTube."

It's to pay attention to where the market is going, recognize when you've found something special, and be willing to change the business around the opportunity.

And once you've proven that the model works, there's another challenge waiting:

Can you build an organization that works without you?

For Mary Ann, that's the work she's doing now. She's moving from being the person who figures everything out to becoming the executive who builds the systems, people, processes, and infrastructure that allow the company to scale.

Because the skills that got you here may not be the skills that get you where you're going.

The next level of your business may require a new version of you…it’s about entrepreneurial evolution.

Episode Highlights & Timestamps

03:27 — The Decision to Go Out on Her Own
Mary Ann launches Bautista Direct Marketing, initially building the agency around radio and the skills she had developed throughout her career.

03:35 — The Client That Changed Everything
A major client in a difficult-to-advertise category asks Mary Ann what else they can do to generate growth. The answer leads her to experiment with a brand-new platform: YouTube.

04:03 — Getting Into YouTube in 2006
Mary Ann and her team begin experimenting with YouTube—and discover an opportunity that most marketers weren't paying attention to yet.

05:04 — The Unplanned Leap Into Entrepreneurship
Mary Ann admits she didn't have a master plan when she left corporate America. A difficult professional fit, the birth of her first child, and years of experience collided to create the moment when she decided to go out on her own.

07:07 — "I Was Terrified"
Mary Ann describes the overwhelming reality of starting a business while caring for an infant with colic, selling a house, and leaving her job—all within roughly two months.

07:36 — When the Phone Just Kept Ringing
Her original plan was to freelance for six months and then find another job. Instead, clients kept calling. Before she knew it, the temporary experiment had become a real business.

08:41 — The First Hire
Pregnancy with her second child makes it clear that Mary Ann needs help. Her first employee becomes an assistant radio buyer supporting the growing agency.

09:59 — The Gradual Pivot to YouTube
Rather than making one dramatic change, Mary Ann's agency gradually moves toward YouTube as the results become impossible to ignore.

14:02 — No Master Plan Required
Mary Ann says the transition wasn't driven by a business book or elaborate strategy. The opportunity simply revealed itself through experience.

14:31 — What Got You Here Won't Get You There
One of the episode's central lessons: the knowledge and skills that built your current business may not be enough to take it to the next level.

16:46 — The Next Challenge: Replace Yourself
Mary Ann identifies the most important thing she needs to accomplish: building a business that can operate and scale without requiring her involvement every day.

17:21 — Building Role Duplication & Systems for a Distributed Team
Chris and Mary Ann discuss the importance of duplicating responsibilities and creating layers, SOPs, and playbooks everyone can follow so that a business isn't dependent on one person.

21:35 — Strong Operations Increase Business Value
Mary Ann explains why documented processes and strong infrastructure don't just make a company easier to run—they can also make it significantly more valuable if the owner eventually wants to sell or transition the business.

24:39 — Working ON the Business
Instead of simply serving clients, Mary Ann's daily focus has shifted toward building the organization itself.

24:52 — "What Are You Going to Do Today to Push This Business Forward?"
Mary Ann describes the question at the top of her daily to-do list—and why working on the business requires an entirely different mindset.

25:47 — Experience Can Be a Double-Edged Sword
Chris and Mary Ann explore how experience can help entrepreneurs move forward while also creating blind spots when the business enters a new stage.

28:39 — It's Harder to Learn New Skills Later
Mary Ann talks candidly about the challenge of retraining yourself and adapting to a more competitive marketplace with more choices for consumers and businesses.

29:36 — Personal Growth Changes Leadership
Mary Ann discusses becoming more compassionate, more forgiving, and more understanding toward employees and clients while still knowing when to be demanding.

31:52 — A New Chapter Instead of Retirement
Rather than simply slowing down, Mary Ann sees herself becoming more engaged with her next stage of life and business.

32:10 — Building Toward Freedom
Mary Ann talks about her husband's retirement, their travel plans, and her goal of creating enough organizational independence to give herself greater flexibility.

34:58 — "Having Nothing That I'm Growing... Scares Me"
Mary Ann explains why she doesn't envision completely detaching from business. Growth, contribution, and having something to build remain important parts of her identity.

35:29 — When Your Business Becomes Part of Your Identity
Mary Ann openly discusses how deeply her professional career is tied to her identity—and how entrepreneurship amplified that connection.

36:22 — Why Entrepreneurship Changed Her Work Ethic
Mary Ann explains that while she was always a dedicated employee, owning her own business 

40:02 — Why TurboRank Isn't "Bautista"
Mary Ann explains why she intentionally chose a brand name for her new company that isn't tied to her personal identity.

41:29 — The Next Chapter for TurboRank
Chris closes the conversation by reflecting on Mary Ann's evolution from entrepreneur and agency owner to executive building the infrastructure for a scalable organization.

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Episode Overview

How do you know that your hard work and very humble beginnings would lead to a $5 million business? Well...you don't. 

For Brian Fullerton, it started at age 10, cutting lawns in a humble trailer park with a borrowed opportunity, a desire to make some money, and no idea where the journey would eventually lead.

More than 20 years later, Brian has transformed Brian’s Lawn Maintenance from a one-man operation into a growing regional landscape and snow business—with a $5 million target, multiple crews, leadership layers, and an education platform designed to help other blue-collar entrepreneurs grow their own businesses.

But Brian's story isn't really about mowing grass.

It's about growing yourself before you can grow your business.

In this episode, we talk about the moment Brian realized that his business had to become more than a side hustle, the pressure of supporting a growing family, his accidental journey into YouTube, the importance of mentors and community, building career roadmaps for employees, and why entrepreneurs should figure out the life they want to live first—and then work the math backward.

Most importantly, Brian shares the personal "why" behind his relentless drive: becoming the husband, father, leader, and entrepreneur he wanted to be—and creating an example his children could follow.

What You'll Learn

• When Brian decided to "grow up" and turn his side hustle into a real company
• The connection between personal growth and business growth
• How Brian accidentally built a massive YouTube following by simply documenting his journey
• Why entrepreneurs shouldn't try to figure everything out alone
• How mentors can provide the belief you don't yet have in yourself
• Why hiring someone is a responsibility—not simply filling an open position
• How creating career roadmaps can help attract and retain great employees
• Why blue-collar businesses have an enormous opportunity in the coming decades
• How to determine the lifestyle you want and work backward to build the business that supports it
• Why belief—not hope—is essential to long-term success
• The importance of persistence, failure, and refusing to quit

·       The Big Takeaway

·       Brian Fullerton's story is a reminder that business growth and personal growth are inseparable.

·       The business doesn't magically become bigger because you want more revenue. You have to become the person capable of leading the bigger business.

·       And sometimes the first step isn't figuring out what business you want to build.

·       It's figuring out what life you want to live—and then working backward to build it.

·       As Brian puts it, if he can go from a kid growing up in a trailer park to building a successful blue-collar business, there's a lot more opportunity available to today's entrepreneurs than they may realize.

·       You don't have to know everything. You don't have to do it alone. But eventually, you have to believe you can do it—and then get to work.

·       I think this episode has a particularly strong "personal transformation → business transformation" arc, so I’d lean into that in the website description and promotional clips rather than positioning it simply as a landscape-business success story. The transcript strongly supports that framing.

Episode Highlights & Timestamps

00:54 — From a Trailer Park to Cutting Grass at Age 10
Brian shares his childhood, growing up with a single mom and two siblings, and how mowing neighborhood lawns became his first taste of entrepreneurship.

03:48 — The Baywatch Moment
While working for another Brian sees two young guys cutting grass across the street and realizes: "One of us is an idiot, and it's not them." That moment changes everything.

12:48 — The 700-Square-Foot Apartment Wake-Up Call
Brian talks candidly about being married, broke, living in a 700-square-foot apartment, and realizing he needed to either get a real job or make something of the business.

15:19 — Owning a Job vs. Owning a Business
Brian explains the difference between simply owning a business and actually building a business—and why he had to grow personally before he could grow the company.

17:00 — The Accidental YouTube Channel
Brian's wife receives a camera as a Christmas gift. She doesn't use it, so Brian borrows it to review a lawn mower. That first video gets two views. Eventually, those two views become hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

20:27 — When Your Business Becomes Your Personal Brand
Chris and Brian discuss how documenting the business created a second path: educating other entrepreneurs while continuing to build Brian's own company.

26:05 — The Importance of Mentors
Brian shares how mentors changed the way he viewed business and why there really isn't such a thing as a completely "self-made" entrepreneur.

28:45 — You Don't Have to Figure It Out Alone
Brian talks about the importance of community, curiosity, asking questions, and learning from other entrepreneurs.

32:50 — The Education Gap in Small Business
Why so many small businesses struggle unnecessarily—and how better education around pricing, finances, leadership, and scaling can change the trajectory of a company.

33:48 — Become Someone People Want to Know
Brian explains how an introvert learned that relationships were essential to his future—and why he had to intentionally become better at communicating and connecting with people.

36:12 — Finding the "Who" Behind the "Why"
Brian gets personal about his wife, his children, and the motivation behind his decision to become a better entrepreneur and a better man.

39:14 — Borrow Someone Else's Belief
Brian explains why coaches and mentors are so powerful: sometimes you need to borrow someone else's belief in you until you develop your own.

40:20 — "I Don't Want My Kids to See Me Quit"
Brian shares one of the most powerful motivations behind his work: he wants his children to be able to look back at his life and learn what perseverance looks like.

50:03 — Turning an $18/Hour Employee Into a $70K Career
Brian talks about the satisfaction of creating opportunities for employees and building careers within the company.

51:01 — Stay Small and Keep It All—or Build Something Bigger?
Brian challenges the "stay small, keep it all" philosophy and explains why growing the business can create more opportunities for everyone involved.

52:16 — Twenty Years to Become an "Overnight Success"
Why entrepreneurs often quit too early—and how today's younger entrepreneurs can potentially compress the learning curve by learning from those who came before them.

58:32 — It Comes Down to Belief
Brian explains the difference between hope, faith, and belief—and why eventually you have to believe that you can change your circumstances.

59:02 — "My Mom and Dad Trusted Me to Fund My Own Future"
Brian shares his unconventional definition of being a "trust fund kid" and explains why waiting for an easy button isn't a strategy for building character.

59:59 — Success Is Going From Failure to Failure Without Losing Enthusiasm
Brian closes with his philosophy on resilience, persistence, and continuing to get back up after getting knocked down.

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

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What happens when a 17-year-old decides that college, the military, or a traditional job aren't the only paths after high school?

Andrew Clegg started his entrepreneurial journey with a car-detailing business while still in high school. He eventually discovered soft washing, launched Sweetwater Softwash in Monroe, Georgia, and began building a business around a simple philosophy: take care of your customers, do the basics exceptionally well, and build relationships that last.

Now 21, Andrew has grown the company to two paid-for trucks, multiple employees, a growing customer base, and hundreds of five-star reviews. He shares what he's learned about hiring, managing a seasonal business, finding the right customers, building recurring revenue, using direct mail, learning from mentors, and resisting the temptation to grow too quickly.

Andrew also talks candidly about some of the expensive lessons he's learned along the way—including a $5,000 paint mistake and a $30,000 diesel engine failure—and why having your equipment paid for has given him peace of mind.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, discipline, customer service, faith, family, and the courage to bet on yourself.

Key Moments Include:

• How Andrew discovered entrepreneurship at just 17 years old
• How focusing on the basics—answering the phone, responding quickly, showing up, and taking care of customers—helped accelerate his growth
• How Andrew manages the challenges of running a highly seasonal business
• Why hiring employees was one of the most intimidating steps in his growth
• Why direct mail became a major component of his marketing strategy
• Why he believes entrepreneurs should avoid unnecessary debt and keep their equipment paid for
• How two major business mistakes taught him valuable lessons about risk
• Why you shouldn't wait for the "perfect" time to start a business
• How he is preparing to balance business ownership, marriage, and becoming a father

From discovering an entrepreneurial spirit to believing in himself, finding mentors and asking the right questions, this episode has it all.

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]

What happens when the career you trained for becomes the foundation for something you never expected to build?

Stephanie Betters is the founder and CEO of Left Main REI, a software platform built for real estate investors, and the co-founder of Better Path Homes, a real estate investment company she started with her husband.

But her entrepreneurial journey didn't begin with a business degree or a startup plan.

It started with a nursing career, a young family, a full-time job, and a decision to buy and renovate a foreclosed house.

Over the past 15+ years, Stephanie has gone from nurse practitioner to real estate investor to software entrepreneur — solving one problem after another along the way. 

And one of the biggest lessons she's learned is that the constraints you face may actually be what force you to build the systems, teams, and discipline necessary to succeed. For her, to phrase Ryan Holiday, "The Obstacle Is The Way."

In this episode of the Everywhere Small Business Podcast, we talk about entrepreneurship as a long game — and why resilience, consistency, relationships, and simply paying attention can matter more than having the perfect plan.

In This Episode

• How Stephanie and her husband got started investing in real estate as a side-hustle and an idea
• Why having a full-time job and three young children forced Stephanie to build systems instead of trying to do everything herself
• How a real estate marketing problem ultimately led to the creation of Left Main REI
• Why Stephanie believes “the obstacle is the way”
• The role Stoicism has played in developing resilience, patience, and entrepreneurial stamina
• Why small, consistent actions compound into meaningful business results
• How Stephanie's experience as a nurse shaped the way she thinks about leadership, problem-solving, customers, and software
• The transition from entrepreneur to CEO — and what changes when a company grows to 40+ employees
• Why business leaders need to get into different rooms and surround themselves with people who are ahead of them
• The unique challenge of being a solo founder and carrying the emotional weight of a growing company
• How she and her husband have learned to support each other while running separate businesses
• Why every small business is, in some way, a family business
• The importance of paying attention to the people, problems, and ideas around you
• How mentors, advisors, books, podcasts, and other business leaders can provide the “crumbs” that eventually build something bigger

Key Takeaway

Your constraints don't necessarily hold you back. Sometimes they're exactly what force you to become the entrepreneur you need to be.

Stephanie's story is a great reminder that entrepreneurship rarely follows a straight line. 

The skills you develop in one chapter of your life may become exactly what you need in the next — and the problem you're trying to solve today may ultimately lead you somewhere you never expected to go.

As Stephanie puts it, entrepreneurship is about the long game: keep moving, stay resilient, learn from what happens, and get a little better tomorrow.

About Stephanie Betters

Stephanie Betters is the founder and CEO of Left Main REI, a software platform designed for real estate investors. She is also the co-founder of Better Path Homes, a real estate investment company she runs with her husband.

A former nurse practitioner, Stephanie has built her entrepreneurial career around real estate investing, systems, technology, leadership, and solving problems. Left Main REI launched in 2020 and has grown to more than 40 employees.

Stephanie is passionate about entrepreneurship, systems, leadership, personal growth, and the long-term journey of building a business.

Connect With Stephanie

Learn more about Stephanie and her work at Left Main REI and Better Path Homes.

Listen to More Episodes

The Everywhere Small Business Podcast brings insights, stories, and practical advice from the people building and growing small businesses every day.

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

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When Jaclyn Sugg stepped into her family’s dental practice after her father passed away, she never expected to become a business owner.

Her father had built Wheatland Dental Care over 50 years, beginning when he was just 32 years old. Jaclyn had stepped away from her own career temporarily to help her family, thinking she’d be back at her old job within a week or two.

Five years later, she’s still running the business—and has discovered that running a small business can change you just as much as you change the business.

In this episode, Jaclyn shares the lessons she’s learned about consistency, leadership, vulnerability, building a strong leadership team, understanding your strengths, and knowing when to let other people handle the things you aren’t good at.

She also explains how training for—and completing—a 100-mile race taught her one of the most important lessons she’s brought back to the business: consistency pays off.

And yes, she reveals why her unlikely business inspiration is Kevin McCallister from Home Alone. For reals! :)

In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Taking over a family business you never expected to run
• Carrying on a 50-year family legacy
• The difference between learning about business and actually living it
• How running a business exposes your weaknesses—and reveals your strengths
• Why consistency can be more powerful than dramatic change
• Building a leadership team around complementary strengths
• Why leadership alignment is critical when managing a larger team
• Creating a culture of openness and honesty
• How vulnerability can actually make a leader stronger
• Why leaders need other people—and why leadership doesn’t have to be lonely
• Using business frameworks like Traction and Rocket Fuel
• Knowing what your business does best—and what it should outsource
• Why simplifying the business can create more focus
• And the surprising leadership lesson Jaclyn learned from Kevin McCallister

Key Takeaways

“The business works on you more than you work on it.”

Jaclyn describes this as one of the most important lessons she’s learned as a business owner. Running a business has exposed areas where she needed to grow while also helping her discover strengths she didn’t fully recognize.

Consistency beats intensity.

When Jaclyn was overwhelmed by the state of the business, she decided to train for a 100-mile race. Her goal wasn’t to become fast—it was simply to be consistent. She went from struggling to run a single mile in January to completing 100 miles in October.

That experience reinforced a lesson she now applies to business: doing the same boring thing consistently can create extraordinary progress.

Leaders need to need.

Leadership can be isolating, particularly when leaders feel like they have to carry every burden themselves. Jaclyn has found that building a leadership team she can trust—and being willing to openly share challenges with them—has made her a better leader and made work more enjoyable.

Know your strengths—and build around them.

Jaclyn recognizes herself as a visionary and creative problem-solver who can generate dozens of ideas in a morning. Her office manager is almost the exact opposite: highly operational, experienced in dentistry, and focused on the day-to-day.

Rather than trying to become the same kind of leader, they’ve built a structure that allows each person to focus on what they do best.

Focus on what you do best.

As Wheatland Dental continues to grow, Jaclyn is looking for ways to outsource functions that distract from the practice’s core mission so the team can concentrate on providing exceptional clinical care and customer service.

Memorable Moments

“The business works on you more than you work on it.”

“If you do the same boring thing every day for like a year, you will make a lot of progress.”

“Leaders need to need.”

“Leadership can be isolating, but it can also be isolating because I think leaders have a tendency to not let other people in.”

“This is my home, and I have to defend it.”

About Jaclyn Sugg

Jaclyn Sugg is the owner and leader of Wheatland Dental Care, a family dental practice founded by her father in 1972. After stepping away from her career to help her family following her parents’ health challenges, Jaclyn unexpectedly found herself carrying on the business her father had built over five decades.

With a background in finance and organizational leadership, Jaclyn brings both formal education and firsthand experience to the challenges of running a small business. Today, she leads a team of approximately 30 people and is focused on building a strong culture, developing her leadership team, and continuing the legacy of Wheatland Dental Care.

Books Mentioned

Rocket Fuel — Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters

A framework for understanding the complementary roles of visionary and integrator leaders within an organization.

Traction — Gino Wickman

An operating framework designed to help businesses establish structure, accountability, alignment, core values, goals, and effective meeting rhythms.

The Everywhere Small Business Takeaway

• You don't have to be the person who knows everything.
• You don't have to be the person who has every answer.
• And you don't have to become good at everything your business requires.

The best leaders understand what they're good at, recognize where they need help, surround themselves with people who complement their strengths, and create an environment where everyone can contribute.

And sometimes, the biggest business breakthrough doesn't come from doing something dramatically different.

Sometimes it comes from doing the right things consistently.

Need Help Growing Your Business?

PostcardMania helps small businesses grow through education, marketing, and technology.

From direct mail to digital marketing and integrated campaigns, learn how we can help you reach more customers.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com

Looking for more Marketing Education?

PostcardMania has ongoing webinars to help you really learn about marketing - no fluff, just real, practical help so you can better understand how to best grow through marketing that actually works.

Visit: https://www.postcardmania.com/webinars/

Let's Connect!

Have a small business story, lesson, or experience you'd like to share? Be a guest on our show!

Email: [email protected]