The Microshift Project Podcast

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we talk about the moments that change everything. Around here, it’s not about hype or overnight success. It’s about perseverance — and the microshifts that move us from stuck to unstoppable.

Today’s guest, Mark Dolan, is the founder of Time Tested Mastery: Life Lessons Sell — a coach, communicator, and teacher whose work blends decades of experience in leadership, real estate, and personal development. His message is simple but powerful: mastery isn’t found in shortcuts — it’s built through daily, deliberate practice.

In this conversation, Mark opens up about the pain and perseverance that shaped his path — from overcoming childhood trauma and addiction to building a life centered on discipline, purpose, and teaching others to do the same.

🎧 In this episode, we cover:

• The defining challenge: how trauma and addiction became the forge for Mark’s lifelong pursuit of mastery.
• Perseverance in action: what it means to get back up — again and again — when life keeps knocking you down.
• Microshifts that matter: how a “90 Minutes to Mastery” routine rewired Mark’s mindset, focus, and discipline.
• Lessons in leadership: why real growth begins with leading yourself before leading others.
• The myth of easy success: what people get wrong about real estate, entrepreneurship, and life — and why doing the deep work is the only real shortcut.
• Living with purpose: how consistency, routine, and self-discipline continue to shape Mark’s success today.

This episode is a reminder that success isn’t built in breakthroughs — it’s built in the boring moments that stack up over time.

📍 Connect with Mark Dolan:

Website → TimeTestedMastery.com

Podcast → Time Tested Mastery: Life Lessons Sell

🎙 Listen & Subscribe:

If this conversation resonates with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Remember — transformation doesn’t come from massive overhauls. It comes from microshifts — those small, human moments that change everything.

#TheMicroshiftProject #MarkDolan #TimeTestedMastery #Microshift #Resilience #Perseverance #Mindset #Leadership #PersonalGrowth #Discipline #Consistency #OvercomingAdversity #Transformation #SelfDevelopment

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we get real about the moments that change everything. This isn’t about hype or quick fixes. It’s about perseverance, transformation, and the small shifts that move us from stuck to unstoppable.

Today’s episode is personal. I’m sitting down with my wife, Crystal Volinchak — co-founder of CNV Creative, an award-winning marketing strategist, and one of the most resilient people I know. Together, we built a business from scratch after life threw us every curve it could — and through it all, Crystal has been the heartbeat of perseverance behind the scenes.

Her story goes far beyond marketing or entrepreneurship. It’s about survival, leadership, and redefining strength. From overcoming trauma to building a company while raising a family, Crystal’s journey shows that growth doesn’t always come from the big wins — it comes from the quiet decisions to keep going, one microshift at a time.

🎧 In this episode, we talk about:

• The woman behind the CMO title — who Crystal is beyond her work.
• The defining moments that shaped her resilience, including surviving sexual assault and turning silence into purpose.
• The pivotal setback that led to CNV Creative’s founding — when her hybrid work agreement was revoked days before returning from maternity leave.
• The leadership microshift that changed everything — firing a client who disrespected her team, even when the business couldn’t afford to lose revenue.
• Her philosophy on leadership — rooted in empathy, integrity, and accountability.
• Why marketing isn’t about noise — it’s about clarity and connection.
• Motherhood, entrepreneurship, and grace under pressure — how she stays grounded when life gets heavy.
• The final takeaway: You can rebuild your life — and your business — one shift at a time.

Crystal’s story reminds us that perseverance doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, it whispers — keep going.

📍 Connect with Crystal:

Website → cnvcmo.com

Instagram → @cmocrystal

🎙 Listen & Subscribe:
If this conversation resonates with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. The biggest transformations rarely come from giant leaps — they come from microshifts. Small, honest moments that change your trajectory.

 #TheMicroshiftProject #Microshift #Perseverance #Resilience #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #CNVCreative #CrystalVolinchak #WomenInBusiness #Founders #OvercomingAdversity #TraumaToTriumph #EmpathyInLeadership #OneShiftAway

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we shine a light on the small, powerful shifts that change the course of our lives. Around here, it’s not about quick fixes. It’s about perseverance, resilience, and the everyday microshifts that build lasting transformation.

In this episode, I sit down with Irina Shehovsov — founder of Reclaim Your Life, transformational coach, and #1 International Best-Selling Author of The Gift Inside. She’s also the host of Single Parent Success Stories and Reclaim Your Life with Irina, and runs the Happiness Academy YouTube channel. Her mission: to empower women to heal, believe in themselves, and create joyful, purpose-driven lives.

Together, we explore:

• Owning your story: the moment Irina realized “No one is coming to rescue me” — and chose to take responsibility for her future.
• Perseverance in practice: rebuilding life after heartbreak and the courage to not give up.
• Microshifts that matter: from morning routines and gratitude to forgiveness, language learning, and singing — the small habits that rewired her life.
• Breaking misconceptions: why you’re not broken after a toxic relationship — just buried — and how to uncover your worth.
• Finding strength at rock bottom: Irina’s rarely shared story of unworthiness and how she built a new foundation.
• Staying grounded: the practices — nature, meditation, gratitude, and music — that anchor her in hard seasons.
• Guiding principles: the wisdom of The Slight Edge, the power of generating happiness like an electric plant, and the mantra “If It’s To Be, It’s Up To Me.”
• The ultimate takeaway: your past doesn’t define your future — you have the power to reclaim happiness and create a life you love.

This conversation is about more than recovery or resilience. It’s about claiming your agency, rewriting your story, and choosing to thrive.

📌 Connect with Irina Shehovsov:

Website → irinashehovsov.com

Instagram → @re.claimyourlife

Podcasts → Single Parent Success Stories & Reclaim Your Life with Irina
Book → The Gift Inside

🎙 Listen & Subscribe:
If this conversation spoke to you, hit subscribe and share it with someone who needs it. Remember: your past doesn’t get the final say. The microshifts you make today can change your tomorrow.

#TheMicroshiftProject #Microshift #Resilience #Perseverance #ReclaimYourLife #IrinaShehovsov #HealingJourney #PersonalGrowth #Transformation #LifeAfterToxicRelationships #MindsetShift #OvercomingAdversity #SelfCare #OneShiftAway

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we explore the moments that change everything. Around here, it’s not about hype or quick fixes. It’s about perseverance, hard-earned wisdom, and the small shifts — the microshifts — that add up to transformation.

In this episode, I sit down with Jan Raeder, better known as The SelfCare Sensei. Jan is a wellbeing educator, speaker, and gold medal–winning karateka with a master’s degree in wellbeing education. She blends karate wisdom with positive psychology to help people stress less, grow more, and live with purpose. She’s also the author of Strive for M.O.R.E., where she guides readers to embrace Meaning, Optimism and Emotions, Relationships, and Engagement.

Together, we cover:

• The making of The SelfCare Sensei: how Jan built a life as a speaker, author, and educator.
• Redefining strength: what autoimmune diagnoses, injuries, and aging taught her about self-care and resilience.
• Karate & perseverance: lessons from training for the National AAU Karate tournaments that apply far beyond the dojo.
• Microshifts in action: gratitude practices, meditation, and daily training — why the smallest shifts can carry the most power.
• Breaking misconceptions: why martial arts isn’t about fighting — and what it really gives you.
• The weight of mental illness: how seeing loved ones struggle shaped her compassion and purpose.
• Staying grounded: perspective that someone always has it worse, and that everything will eventually work out.
• Guiding principles: living as if everything is a miracle, and teaching others to see life that way.
• Final takeaway: resilience isn’t about bouncing back — it’s about rebuilding forward, one small step at a time.

This conversation is about more than karate or self-care. It’s about what happens when perseverance meets perspective, and how choosing to rebuild forward can change everything.

📌 Connect with Jan Raeder:

 Website → selfcaresensei.com

Instagram → @selfcaresenseijraeder

LinkedIn → Jan Raeder

🎙 Listen & Subscribe:
If this conversation spoke to you, hit subscribe and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Every microshift matters — sometimes the smallest spark is what lights the way forward.

 #TheMicroshiftProject #Microshift #Resilience #Perseverance #SelfCareSensei #Wellbeing #MentalHealthAwareness #PositivePsychology #KarateWisdom #PersonalGrowth #MindsetShift #LifeLessons #Transformation #InspirationPodcast

Some cycles run deep — loss, abuse, addiction, trauma. They pass from one generation to the next unless someone decides to break them.

In this episode, I share my most personal story yet. I grew up losing my mom young, living with abuse, and carrying anger I didn’t know how to process. Addiction consumed me, leading to homelessness, jail, and estrangement from everyone I loved. That was the cycle repeating — pain leading to destruction, destruction leading back to pain.

The turning point came at the Rescue Mission and through mentors who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. For the first time, I realized I didn’t just want to survive. I wanted the cycle to stop with me.

Becoming a father made that decision real. Every day, I feel the weight of raising a son while carrying scars from my own past. It’s a fight — not to hide who I was, but to make sure he never has to live it.

This conversation isn’t just about addiction or parenting. It’s about refusing to hand down pain — whether that’s anger, neglect, or self-doubt. Breaking the cycle means drawing a line and saying, “It ends here.”

Because your past doesn’t disappear, but it doesn’t get to decide your future — or your children’s.

And remember: keep fucking going.

#BreakingTheCycle #Perseverance #KeepGoing #Resilience #OvercomingAdversity #Fatherhood #Transformation #AuthenticLeadership #Microshifts #Inspiration #TraumaRecovery #GenerationalChange

What does addiction recovery have in common with building a business? More than you might think.

In this episode, I trace the parallels between my journey through recovery and my path as an entrepreneur. Both start at rock bottom. Both demand relentless perseverance. And both are built through the same principles: structure, accountability, community, resilience, and the discipline to keep showing up when it would be easier to quit.

For me, recovery was about more than getting clean — it was about learning how to live. Entrepreneurship was about more than making money — it was about learning how to lead. And the truth is, the lessons I lived in recovery are the exact same ones that help leaders scale businesses today.

This show is about the comeback story. About taking what broke you, rebuilding step by step, and turning it into momentum. If you’ve ever faced a rock bottom — in life or in business — this conversation will challenge you to see it not as an ending, but as a foundation.

Because perseverance doesn’t just rebuild a life. It builds revenue, leadership, and legacy.

 #Perseverance #RockBottomToRevenue #RecoveryJourney #EntrepreneurMindset #Leadership #Resilience #OvercomingAdversity #KeepGoing #Transformation #AuthenticLeadership #Microshifts #Inspiration

What once nearly destroyed you can become the very thing that sets you apart.

In this episode, I talk about what I call The Addict’s Advantage. Addiction sharpened traits in me — resourcefulness, creativity under pressure, risk-taking, and an ability to hustle relentlessly. Left unchecked, those traits were destructive. But when redirected, they became the same strengths that fuel my work as an entrepreneur and leader today.

This conversation isn’t about glorifying addiction — it’s about flipping the script. The very skills that once dragged you down can, with discipline and direction, become the foundation of your success. The edge you thought would kill you might be the edge that helps you win.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your darkest seasons left you broken or better equipped, this episode is for you. Because the truth is, perseverance means not just surviving what almost ended you — but learning how to use it to build something stronger.

 #Perseverance #AddictsAdvantage #KeepGoing #Resilience #Transformation #Authenticity #EntrepreneurMindset #OvercomingAdversity #HustleWithPurpose #LeadershipJourney #Microshifts #Inspiration

For years, I tried to force everything — outcomes, opportunities, even people. I thought if I pushed hard enough, I could control the timing of my life. But what I’ve learned is that real change doesn’t come from forcing it. It comes from the small, steady shifts that compound over time — what I call microshifts.

In this episode, I talk about what happens when you stop trying to bend life to your will and start trusting the process. For me, forcing only led to frustration, setbacks, and wasted energy. But when I leaned into microshifts — the daily, deliberate choices that move you forward — things began to fall into place naturally.

This conversation is about perseverance without pressure. It’s about doing the work, then letting go of the need to control every detail. Because when you stop forcing and start trusting, momentum builds in ways you never could have planned.

If you’ve been grinding, pushing, or stressing because things aren’t happening fast enough — this episode is for you.

 #Perseverance #Microshifts #KeepGoing #Resilience #MindsetShift #PersonalGrowth #Authenticity #Transformation #LeadershipJourney #TrustTheProcess #Inspiration #OvercomingAdversity

Everyone talks about the moment you decide to get clean. Few talk about what comes next.

Recovery isn’t a finish line — it’s the start of a whole new life you have to build from the ground up. After addiction, the real work begins: creating a new community when your old circles pull you back, forcing structure into days that used to be chaos, and facing the loneliness of rebuilding while family and friends expect instant results you can’t deliver.

In this episode, I talk about what it’s really like after addiction — the unglamorous, daily grind of recovery. The awkwardness of walking into a room of strangers trying to piece their lives back together. The discipline it takes to show up when you’ve never had structure before. The frustration of loved ones not understanding why transformation doesn’t happen overnight.

But here’s the truth: this is where perseverance is forged. Not in the big decision to quit, but in the small, relentless choices you make every single day afterward. If you’ve ever wondered what recovery really feels like — or if you’re supporting someone going through it — this episode pulls back the curtain.

Because recovery isn’t just about staying clean. It’s about learning how to live.

#Perseverance #RecoveryJourney #LifeAfterAddiction #KeepGoing #Resilience #Microshifts #OvercomingAdversity #Authenticity #MentalHealthAwareness #Inspiration #PersonalGrowth #NewBeginnings

Sometimes it takes someone else seeing greatness in you before you can see it yourself. For me, that person was Tony Lariccia.

Tony was a philanthropist, a businessman, and a Youngstown legend. But to me, he became something even more important — a mirror I couldn’t ignore. When others doubted me, Tony stopped in the middle of a conversation one day, turned to the room, and said, “Did you know Nicky used to be a drug addict? Be proud of that. Most people will never have done what you’ve done.”

That moment broke me open. For years, I had been running from my past, burying it under shame. But Tony reframed it. He showed me that perseverance wasn’t just about surviving — it was about owning the scars, turning them into proof of strength, and using them to build a better future.

In this episode, I share how Tony’s belief in me helped me finally figure it out — that my story wasn’t a burden, it was a gift. His words still challenge me today: stop hiding, stop waiting, stop moving the goalposts. Own your story. Use it to impact others.

This conversation is about the power of one voice to shift a life, and what it means to finally accept who you are — not in spite of the hard parts, but because of them.

#Perseverance #Transformation #AuthenticLeadership #KeepGoing #Resilience #Microshifts #OwnYourStory #Inspiration #OvercomingAdversity #LeadershipJourney #RealTalk #PersonalGrowth