Most entrepreneurs think trust is built through better networking, stronger relationships, or getting people to like them.

Tom La Vecchia sees it differently.

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Tom La Vecchia, founder of X Factor Media and host of New Theory Podcast, for a direct conversation about consistency, reputation, relationships, fatherhood, and what it actually takes to build trust over time.

Tom shares why he believes consistency beats talent, why many relationships should start transactional before they become transformational, and why the fastest way to earn trust is still simple: do what you said you were going to do. He also talks about building businesses over the long term, learning from mistakes, creating space for family, and why being a good father has become one of the clearest measures of success in his life.

This conversation is about business, but it is also about how you show up when things go wrong, how reputation compounds through repeated behavior, and how ambition changes when family becomes the center of the game.

===============
Tom’s Links:
- Website: https://xfactormediagroup.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-lavecchia-mba-bbb4154b
- NJ Digest: https://thedigestonline.com/
- New Theory Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@NewTheoryMagazine

===============
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===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
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===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:37 Why People Bet on You
2:09 Consistency Beats Talent
4:01 Play the Long Game
5:40 Transactional vs. Transformational
6:10 Test the Relationship First
8:29 Don’t Pour From an Empty Cup
10:44 How Trust Is Built
12:52 Your Next Client Is in Front of You
15:55 Trust Shows Up When Things Break
16:46 Fatherhood Changed the Game
19:34 Work-Life Balance Isn’t Real
20:06 Earn With Intention
22:08 Family, Money, and Abundance
23:48 Faith and Self-Awareness
25:39 Stop Hiding Who You Are
27:46 Building Toward an Exit
30:15 Grow First, Monetize Later
32:18 Confidence Comes From Surviving
34:31 Celebrate the Wins
34:57 The Dinner That Matters Most
36:15 Be a Good Father
36:18 Episode Takeaway

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with St John Craner to unpack a simple but counterintuitive idea: the problem with sales is selling.

St John argues that the harder you push, the more buyers pull away. Instead of trying to force the close, he explains why great salespeople focus on helping people make good decisions, creating safety in the conversation, and asking better questions that open the real problem.

Throughout the conversation, he breaks down what it means to serve instead of sell, how to use non-assumptive language, why most objection handling is really a question problem, and how curiosity changes the entire sales dynamic.

Ian and St John also explore the deeper principles behind long-term sales success, including buyer psychology, lead generation, niche positioning, confidence, consistency, and why specialists win faster than generalists. This is a practical conversation for anyone who sells services, leads sales conversations, or wants to build trust without sounding like every other salesperson online.

===============
St John’s Links:
- Website: https://ruralsalessuccess.com/
- LinkedIn: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/stjohncraner
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/285326399207141/

===============
Download the Program Execution System Toolkit:
https://implementgpts.com/pestoolkit

===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
- Schedule Free Blueprinting Call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/implement-ai-blueprinting

===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:31 Stop Selling, Start Serving
2:03 The More You Sell, the Less You Sell
4:22 Selling Is Really About Deciding
5:20 Don’t Assume the Sale
6:09 Open Before You Close
7:27 Ask Better Opening Questions
8:13 Disarm the Buyer
10:17 Make the Buyer Feel Safe
11:46 Sell Slow to Sell Fast
14:05 Break the Buyer’s Pattern
17:51 Confidence Comes From Hard Things
18:29 Keep Promises to Yourself
20:35 Lead Flow Creates Confidence
22:39 More Leads, Less Desperation
25:21 Build Multiple Lead Channels
27:46 Your List Is Your Lifeline
28:28 Why Niching Down Wins
31:49 Specificity Sells
37:15 Prevent Objections Early
38:03 Objections Are Questions
39:30 Curiosity Is the Best Tone
41:22 Stop Selling, Be Consistent
41:39 Episode Takeaway

Most business owners do not lose sales because their offer is bad. They lose sales because people do not understand what they are saying.

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Chris Fenning, communication expert and author of The First Minute, to unpack why experts, founders, consultants, advisors, and subject matter specialists often struggle to explain what they do in a way that actually lands.

Chris explains why expert language creates invisible gaps in understanding, how jargon quietly causes confusion and hesitation, and why customers often make decisions based only on the information they understand — usually price.

They also break down how to communicate complex ideas without dumbing them down, how to connect your message to the outcomes your audience actually cares about, and why the first minute of communication sets up everything that follows.

===============
Chris’ Links:
- Website: https://chrisfenning.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-fenning/
- YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisfenningcommunication

===============
Download the Program Execution System Toolkit:
https://implementgpts.com/pestoolkit

===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
- Schedule Free Blueprinting Call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/implement-ai-blueprinting

===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:40 Why Experts Overexplain
2:36 Expertise Creates Blind Spots
3:26 The Hidden Cost of Jargon
6:08 Don’t Rely on Clarifying Questions
10:39 How to Recover When It’s Unclear
12:09 Find the Words That Confuse
14:02 Replace Expert Language
16:51 Use Common, Unambiguous Words
19:14 Explain the Outcome, Not the Mechanism
21:31 The Nine Outcome Buckets
24:31 Clarity Is Your Responsibility
26:15 Tie Ideas to What Matters
29:26 The Nine Outcomes Explained
31:16 Tailor the Message to the Listener
33:30 Clear Communication Takes Practice
35:14 Where This Skill Shows Up
37:39 Make Your Marketing About Them
40:32 Lead With the Impact
42:18 Credibility Comes After Relevance
45:02 The First Minute Framework
46:54 Practice One Thing at a Time
49:17 Use GPS to Structure the Message
50:01 Consider Their Point of View
50:49 Episode Takeaway

Customer service is not just a support function. It is one of the clearest places where a company either builds trust or breaks it.

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Tom Vander Well, who has listened to more than 100,000 customer calls over the last 30 years. Tom shares what those conversations have taught him about customer trust, service expectations, and the hidden business value inside real customer interactions.

They get into Tom’s “Holy Trinity of Customer Satisfaction”: resolving the issue, caring for the customer as a human being, and respecting their time. They also discuss how the iPhone, Amazon, and now AI have changed customer expectations, why great service depends on both human skill and better systems, and how customer complaints can reveal the operational problems leaders need to fix.

This conversation is for business owners, operators, and expert-led companies who want to stop treating customer service like a cost center and start seeing it as a trust-building asset.

===============
Tom’s Links:
- Website: https://tomvanderwell.com/
- Website: https://www.intelligentics.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-vander-well-intelligentics/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tomvwell
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tom.vander.well.2025

This Call May Be Monitored:
https://www.amazon.com/This-Call-May-Monitored-Eavesdropping/dp/B0GWCNTRW5

===============
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https://implementgpts.com/pestoolkit

===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
- Schedule Free Blueprinting Call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/implement-ai-blueprinting

===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:49 What Customers Actually Want
2:18 The Three Drivers of Trust
4:56 Why Speed Matters More Now
7:27 Penalty vs. Reward Variables
8:52 The Basics Don’t Differentiate
11:20 Small Moments Build Loyalty
15:59 Resolve the Problem First
18:52 Customer Service Reveals Systems
21:04 When Process Failures Surface
22:46 AI Raises the Stakes
25:01 Human Service Still Matters
27:32 Different Generations, Different Needs
28:26 Design Around the Customer
33:07 Turn Calls Into Business Insight
35:57 Listen for What Customers Need
38:02 Retention Is a Growth Lever
39:52 One Extra Month Changes the Math
42:52 Most Companies Don’t Define Service
46:11 Customer Service as an Advantage
48:28 The Amazon Effect in B2B
50:28 Be the Same Person Everywhere
51:54 Episode Takeaway

Most business owners think the goal of a book is to sell as many copies as possible.

Chandler Bolt sees it differently.

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Chandler Bolt, founder and CEO of selfpublishing.com, to unpack what experts, founders, coaches, and consultants usually misunderstand about writing a book for their business. Chandler explains why the best books are not written for everyone, how to reverse-engineer a book around the outcome you actually want, and why niching down often creates more growth than trying to appeal to a broad audience.

They also get into leverage, AI, systems, process, time protection, and what it really takes to build beyond yourself. Chandler shares how he thinks about scaling to eight figures, why process is what allows delegation and automation to work, and how business owners can identify the work they should stop doing, automate, or delegate.

This conversation is for experts who want their ideas to create more than content — they want those ideas to become assets, systems, and real business leverage.

===============
Chandler’s Links:
- Website: https://selfpublishing.com/ian
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandlerbolt
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chandler.bolt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chandler.bolt1/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChandlerBoltOfficial

===============
Download the Program Execution System Toolkit:
https://implementgpts.com/pestoolkit

===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
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===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:35 Build Leverage, Not Effort
1:44 What a Book Should Do
3:27 Niche for the Outcome
5:05 Broad Is Boring
6:51 Why Specificity Wins
10:20 Be Known for Something
13:32 The Four Types of Leverage
16:21 Using AI to Create Leverage
19:24 The Path to Eight Figures
22:56 Systems Set You Free
26:13 Stop, Automate, Delegate
30:23 Protect Your Highest-Value Time
36:45 Treat Time Like an Asset
41:47 Validate Demand With Money
44:59 Well Done Beats Well Said
45:50 Episode Takeaway

Why do so many coaching relationships create dependence instead of independence?

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke talks with Kim Ades, founder of Frame of Mind Coaching and creator of JournalEngine, about why accountability-based coaching often misses the deeper work. Kim challenges the idea that a coach’s main job is to hold clients accountable to goals. In her view, that approach can create dependence, increase shame when clients fall short, and keep both coach and client focused on behavior instead of the thinking underneath it.

The conversation goes into Kim’s coaching philosophy, including why real coaching starts with understanding a client’s stories, beliefs, emotional patterns, and internal operating system. Kim explains how journaling gives coaches the data they need to see what is actually happening beneath the surface, why she believes many coaches are “coaching blindfolded,” and how identifying a limiting belief can create a natural shift in behavior without relying on pressure, homework, or constant accountability.

Ian and Kim also explore the difference between coaching and consulting, why goals are often less important than the person pursuing them, and how “encapsulation” helps clients feel deeply understood before meaningful coaching can happen.

===============
Kim’s Links:
- Website: https://frameofmindcoaching.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimades
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachkimades/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.ades/
- X: https://x.com/kimades

Journal Engine:
https://journalengine.com/

What You Focus On Grows: Stories for your Frame of Mind
https://www.amazon.com/What-You-Focus-Grows-Stories/dp/1674884133

===============
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===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
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===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:23 What Coaching Is Really For
1:43 Why Accountability Can Backfire
4:25 Goals Don’t Create Fulfillment
6:41 Coaching the Person, Not the Goal
7:14 How Thinking Shapes Behavior
9:38 Journaling Reveals the Patterns
13:32 Find the Belief Under the Behavior
15:27 The Chatter Running Your Life
19:09 Use Stories to Access Beliefs
20:58 The Secretary of State Exercise
24:33 Journaling Exposes What Calls Miss
28:33 Why Coaches Need More Data
31:51 Coaching Without a Blindfold
34:47 What’s Really Behind the Behavior
39:34 Encapsulation Opens the Door
42:15 Make the Client Feel Understood
48:10 What You Focus On Grows
48:52 Episode Takeaway

What happens when a coaching company uses AI not to replace the coach, but to make the coaching process more accessible, consistent, and scalable?

In this conversation, Ian talks with Chloe Scott from Cultureful about their work building custom AI tools around Cultureful’s culture transformation methodology. Chloe shares why the team wanted to create a hybrid experience for clients, how the tools helped readers and clients better apply The Culture Fix process, and why AI can support execution without removing the human element that makes coaching valuable.

They also discuss how custom AI tools helped Cultureful organize internal knowledge, streamline client delivery, support coaches through complex analysis and recommendation-building, and make culture transformation more accessible for companies that may not be ready for a full-service engagement.

For coaches, consultants, authors, and expert-led founders, this episode is a practical look at how AI can turn a methodology into an execution system — one that helps more people apply the work, while keeping the expert’s judgment and human support at the center.

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Cultureful’s Links:
- Website: https://www.theculturefix.works/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloescott28
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_cultureful/

The Culture Fix® Book Series:
https://www.theculturefix.works/the-culture-fix-book-series

===============
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===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
- Download the Program Execution System Toolkit:
https://implementgpts.com/pestoolkit

===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:24 Why Cultureful Built AI Tools
1:35 Hybrid Coaching With AI
3:21 Turning a Book Into Action
4:41 Extend the Reader Journey
5:29 Overcoming AI Project Hesitation
6:32 Building as a Partnership
8:06 AI That Supports the Coach
9:43 Get More Coaching From Coaches
10:29 Help Clients Do the Work
12:19 Better Outputs, Better Results
14:06 Make Transformation Accessible
16:06 Organize the Business Internally
17:51 Don’t Fear AI Replacing You
19:11 Keep the Human Element
20:00 Scale Your Methodology
21:02 Impact at a Greater Scale
21:47 Episode Takeaway

Most founders say they want to sell their company one day. Far fewer are actually ready for what that requires.

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Steven Pivnik, author of Built to Finish, entrepreneur, endurance athlete, speaker, and founder advisor. Steven shares the story of building Binary Tree from a niche software company into a business with more than $40M in sales, 200 employees, and operations across 12 countries before eventually selling to one of its biggest competitors.

But the conversation does not stay on the highlight reel. Steven breaks down the period when he nearly lost the company after stepping away, discovering falsified financial statements, getting a call from the bank, and having to cut the team down from roughly 30 people to 8 just to survive. From there, he explains what that experience taught him about founder dependency, financial visibility, leadership teams, and the hard decisions required to build a company that can actually finish.

Ian and Steven also get into what makes a company exit-ready, why most founders have too much of their net worth tied up in an illiquid business, how buyers think about enterprise value, and why leveling up the leadership team is often the hardest part of preparing for an exit.

This episode is for founders, coaches, consultants, course creators, authors, and expert-led business owners who want to understand what it really takes to build something valuable, reduce founder dependency, and prepare for a future exit without waiting until it is too late.

===============
Steven’s Links:
- Website: https://stevenpivnik.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenpivnik
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenpivnik/
- X: https://x.com/stevenpivnik

BUILT TO FINISH: How to Go the Distance In Business and in Life: https://stevenpivnik.com/book/

===============
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===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
- Schedule Free Blueprinting Call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/implement-ai-blueprinting

===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:35 What It Means to Finish
3:34 Celebrate the Small Wins
5:17 Suffering Is Optional
7:35 Envision the Finish
9:04 Make the Goal Feel Real
13:01 Finding the Right Niche
19:15 The Mistake That Nearly Broke It
22:24 Trust Better Information
26:14 Rebuilding From the Brink
30:04 Assess Exit Readiness
33:23 Close the Value Gap
35:19 Reduce Founder Dependence
37:05 De-Risk Your Net Worth
38:37 Don’t Chase Shiny Objects
40:21 Build What People Will Buy
44:49 The Team Is the Hard Part
47:47 Dream Big, You Can Do It
48:03 Episode Takeaway

Most founders think their brand is the name, logo, colors, fonts, or visual identity.

But as Jared Harman explains in this conversation, the real brand is the feeling people associate with your business — the emotion, trust, recognition, and relationship that make someone choose you over every other option.

In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Jared Harman of One Group Agency to talk about what brand actually means, why founders often struggle to explain their own offer clearly, and how service businesses can differentiate through relationships, customer service, and expectation-setting.

They cover why entrepreneurs need to step outside their own perspective when launching something new, how to find the customer’s language, why “better quality” is rarely a strong enough differentiator, and what it takes to build trust with clients over time. Jared also shares how his agency thinks about proactive service, listening to clients, communicating expectations clearly, and using strong relationships as a real business advantage.

This conversation is especially useful for founders, service providers, agency owners, and expert-led businesses that want to build a brand people actually understand, trust, and want to stay connected to.

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Jared’s Links:
- Website: https://www.onegroupagency.ca/
- LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jaredharman
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaredharman/

===============
Download the Program Execution System Toolkit:
https://implementgpts.com/pestoolkit

===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
- Schedule Free Blueprinting Call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/implement-ai-blueprinting

===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:35 Brand Is More Than a Logo
1:31 Start With the Customer
4:49 Don’t Assume They Understand
5:52 What Brand Really Means
8:34 Find Your Differentiator
10:10 Specificity Makes Marketing Stronger
12:09 Tailor the Message When You Can
14:27 Innovation Through Positioning
17:08 Be Proactive for Clients
20:04 Relationships Are the Differentiator
24:39 Listen Before You Sell
27:17 Set Clear Expectations
30:19 Underpromise, Overdeliver
33:36 Appreciate Every Moment
34:35 Episode Takeaway

A book is not just a credibility marker anymore. For experts, authors, coaches, consultants, and knowledge-based founders, it can become one of the most useful authority assets in the business.

In this episode, Ian sits down with Dennis Langlais, founder of Codie Dog, former professional BMX athlete, podcaster, author, and AI builder, to talk about why books still carry so much authority, how podcasts create unexpected relationship leverage, and why AI is changing what experts can build around their ideas.

Dennis shares how writing a book changed the way people perceived him, why he sees books and podcasts as “cheating in marketing,” and how a book can become a rich source of context for AI-powered marketing, content, and business systems.

The conversation also gets into Dennis’s journey from extreme sports to podcasting, his experience being invited onto Grant Cardone’s show, the “burn the boat” mentality behind going all-in, and how AI is disrupting traditional websites, CRMs, marketing tools, and custom software.

This conversation is for experts who know they have valuable ideas, but want to turn those ideas into authority, leverage, relationships, and systems that can actually compound over time.

===============
Dennis’ Links:
- Website: https://codiedog.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/codiedoginteractive
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dennis.langlais.75/
- YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@codiedoginteractive

RankingMastery: The Cause Of Accomplishment
https://www.amazon.com/RankingMastery-Accomplishment-Dennis-John-Langlais/dp/B0CPCJ44HP

===============
Download the Program Execution System Toolkit:
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===============
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gatzke/
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===============
Highlights:
0:00 Episode Highlight
0:24 Authority Before the Meeting
1:30 Why Every Expert Needs a Book
5:30 Turn Your Story Into Marketing
8:24 The Cause of Accomplishment
11:20 Let Opportunities Find You
14:32 How Podcasting Opened Doors
19:27 Going All In on Podcasting
23:46 Follow the Opportunity
29:18 Everyone Has a Story to Tell
32:39 Authority Creates Leverage
36:56 Burn the Boat
38:37 AI Is Forcing Reinvention
43:41 Build AI Around Your Business
47:18 Train Your Brain for Unlimited
58:15 Be All In on What You Love
58:57 Episode Takeaway