In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross dives deep into the real cost of high performance and ambition. From managing two companies and global speaking engagements to parenting with intention, Ross offers a transparent look at his life and how he approaches productivity, sacrifice, and sustainability — not through the lens of balance, but through integration. If you're someone who's chasing big things and wondering how to keep going without losing yourself, this episode is packed with insights and frameworks to help you build for the long game.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. The Myth of Balance

- High achievement rarely comes from comfort or balance.

- Growth is messy, intense, and requires sacrifice.

- Striving for a 1% outcome means choosing priorities with intention, not perfection.

2. Living With Intention, Not Guilt

- Balance isn't about doing everything — it’s about choosing what matters most.

- “Every yes is a no to something else.” Choose your “yes” intentionally.

3. Say No Strategically

- Practical example: saying no to ad-hoc calls or meetings without clear agendas.

- Use your calendar to reflect your life priorities — from anniversaries to golf sessions.

4. Mindset Shifts That Scale

- Shift mindset from scarcity ("I don’t have time") to gratitude ("I get to do this").

- Burnout often stems from expecting trade-offs without acknowledging purpose.

Resources & Tools:

🔗 Garmin Watch

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross explores the journey from content creator to respected industry leader. He breaks down what it really takes to shift from getting attention online to earning recognition and influence in your niche. If you're focused on building long-term authority, leading important conversations, and creating real impact with your online presence, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Build Depth, Not Just Reach - Authority is built with repetition, storytelling, and action—not virality.

- Creators get likes, leaders drive action.

- Leadership = influence, invitations, and impact.

2. Show, Don’t Just Tell

- Depth is more powerful than width: Own one niche instead of dabbling in many.

- Importance of specialization—become a 1%-er in your niche.

3. Create Signature (Evergreen) Assets- Build evergreen content—that’s share-worthy even when you're offline.

- Influence grows when people see you apply what you preach

- Move beyond short-form content that disappears in the scroll.

- Recommended formats: podcasts, books, blogs, keynote decks.

4. Consistency Is the Currency of Trust

- Trust comes through delivering value, not asking for attention.

- Consistency > Inspiration.

5. Connect With Other Leaders

- Influence multiplies with strong associations.

- Want to build influence? Start by playing a long game, not chasing trends. 

- True influence = outcomes, not impressions.

- Vulnerability & authenticity build trust.

- Don’t only create content—create conversations.

- Commit deeper. Go further. Build impact.

Resources & Tools:

🔗Create Once, Distribute Forever

🔗Foundation Marketing

🔗Distribution.ai

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross sits down with Brayden Young, co-founder & CEO of Slash Experts and original co-founder of Sendoso, to break down what it takes to cut through the noise in B2B sales and marketing. Brayden reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, the evolution of go-to-market strategies for 2025 and beyond, and how AI is reshaping the landscape for marketers, founders, and sales teams. They dive into personal philosophies, balancing family with drive, using strategic gifting as a growth lever, and how connecting customers with prospects is transforming the sales cycle. If you're in the trenches of building or scaling a company, this episode is packed with invaluable lessons.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Human conversations > traditional sales decks: Connecting real customers with prospects accelerates trust and conversions.

2. Strategic gifting is about thoughtful timing, not splashy spend. Think: handwritten notes, trigger-based outreach, and lifecycle communications.

3. Reviews are great, but community-driven insights and live interactions are the future of software buying.

4. AI is shifting go-to-market: fewer people, more productivity. Understanding how to use AI is now table stakes.

5. Success is relative: It’s not just revenue — it’s freedom, fulfillment, and building something that lasts

6. Brayden’s Personal Frameworks

- “Don’t build in a silo” — Always validate with customers before building product.

- “Three People Rule” — The only people he calls for big advice: wife, mom, co-founder.

- “Suck It Up or Go for a Walk” — His motivational speeches with his wife.

- First-time employee comp tip: Pick a high milestone and negotiate for equity or secondaries if you hit it.

Resources & Tools:

🔗 Slash Experts

🔗 Sendoso

🔗 ClickUp

🔗 Punch Financial

🔗 Quickbooks 

🔗 Get Parallel

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross dives into the powerful implications of OpenAI's newly released ChatGPT-5. Far beyond a minor update, this version represents a paradigm shift in AI capabilities, from extended context retention to creating fully functional applications with a single prompt. The discussion centers around the disruptive impact of GPT-5 on knowledge work, the rising bar for professional performance, and how leveraging AI tools is becoming the new baseline for productivity and innovation. The host also shares insights into deploying AI tools within organizations and offers practical advice on how to prepare for a rapidly changing future.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. What ChatGPT-5 Can Do

- GPT-5 is not just faster or smarter—it fundamentally transforms human-AI collaboration.

- Capable of complex reasoning, task execution, and creating entire games from a single input prompt.

- Designed for more advanced applications, such as coding, diagnosing, designing, and more.

2. Real-World Use Cases & Case Studies

- Designers creating brand kits in seconds.

- Founders launch entire landing pages with GPT-5.

- Students using it for interview prep.

- Customer service automation through LLMs.

- Developers use it for QA and debugging.

3. The New Productivity Baseline

- Mediocrity is no longer sustainable in a world where AI delivers solid output instantly.

- Professionals Chatmust either augment with AI or risk becoming obsolete.

- Being an early adopter leads to significant competitive advantage.

4. AI Adoption Is No Longer Optional

- Skipping AI in 2025 likened to ignoring the internet in 2005.

- Skeptics are compared to beachgoers dismissing a tsunami as a "big wave."

- AI is poised to transform white-collar work more dramatically than social media or mobile tech.

Resources & Tools:

🔗ChatGPT

🔗Distribution.ai

🔗Fathom

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross dives deep into the truth about passive income and reveals the five proven strategies that actually work. From selling digital products to affiliate monetization and licensing your intellectual property, Ross breaks down what separates profitable systems from scammy shortcuts. Whether you're a creator, entrepreneur, or looking for side-hustle inspiration, this is your blueprint to sustainable online income, powered by intention, strategy, and distribution, not luck.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. What Actually Works: 5 Real Paths to Online Income

- Digital Products

- Affiliate Monetization with Evergreen Content

- SaaS Products & Memberships

- Content Licensing

- Investing in Income-Producing Assets

2. The Path Forward: How To Start Building Your Streams

- Solve a real problem - big or small

- Build a distribution system (landing pages, email, social automation)

- Start with a tiny minimum viable product (MVP)

- Validate with real buyers and feedback

3. Distribution Is Everything

- Don’t build in silence

- Promote your work relentlessly on platforms like X (Twitter), LinkedIn

Resources & Tools:

🔗 Gumroad

🔗 Podia

🔗 Kajabi

🔗 Etsy

🔗 Shopify Templates 

🔗 HubSpot

🔗 Distribution.ai

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross shares one deceptively simple yet life-changing principle: be the first to reach out. Whether you’re leading a team, navigating a personal relationship, seeking mentorship, building partnerships, or managing conflict, Ross demonstrates how initiating connection and communication can accelerate trust, progress, and performance.

Packed with real-life examples and actionable strategies, Ross discusses how taking the first step to connect helps address miscommunication, foster alignment, and strengthen relationships that are essential for both life and business success.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Why Being First to Reach Out Changes Everything

- The small act of going first can build trust, momentum, and connection.

- Many people wait due to fear, assumption, or the hope that someone else will act.

- Those who lead with action never wait for permission or perfect timing.

2. The Power of Action-Oriented Leadership

- Solid leaders act. They see a problem and address it rather than avoid it.

- Reach out for and give feedback proactively. It's contagious and builds a culture of communication.

3. Practical Applications

- Micro Check-Ins (Positive or Challenging Situations)

- Conflict Resolution: Reach First, React Less

- Mentorship Starts With Initiative

- Strategic Outreach for Partnerships

- Internal Communication as Leadership

4. Cultural Leadership Lessons

- Grandmother's Legacy: Consistent Outreach

- Creating a Culture of Trust and Problem Solving

- Build a High-Performance, Low-Ego Team

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down the keys to building an influential brand through content creation, distribution, and experimentation. This conversation covers everything from overcoming imposter syndrome and mastering content distribution to riding the AI wave and scaling your creative vision. Whether you're a content creator, small business owner, or digital marketer, this conversation delivers no-fluff, highly actionable strategies to amplify your reach and scale with focus.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Content is King, but Distribution is the Empire- Creating great content is only the beginning; distribution is where the magic happens.

- Most content fails not because it’s bad, but because nobody sees it.

- Creators must go beyond publishing: share content in forums, repurpose assets, email it, and push it across platforms.

2. Build Your Brand by Being Relentlessly Valuable

- Early wins come from proving value to just one or two clients and letting word of mouth do the rest.

- Niche down, provide specific, hyper-relevant advice, and soon you'll be the go-to expert for that audience.

- “Give value to the internet and the internet will give it back” is Ross's philosophy in a nutshell.

3 Experimentation is a Growth Engine- Ross’s mantra: Build, Ship, Learn, Decide.

- Every breakthrough he’s had, from fantasy football blogs to SaaS products, started with small experiments.

- As your business grows, so should the size (and risk) of your experiments.

4. Imposter Syndrome Will Kill Your Momentum

- You don’t need to be the best to start; you just need to be better than your clients at the thing you're offering.

- Most people fail because they talk themselves out of even trying.

- Ross urges creators to let go of self-doubt and lean into bold action.

5. AI is a Game Changer, Use it or Fall Behind

- Ross actively uses tools like ChatGPT, ElevenLabs, and Descript to speed up workflows, enhance creativity, and save time.

- While AI brings ethical challenges (like deepfakes), its potential for creators is enormous, from scriptwriting to content remixing.

- Strategic use of AI will become a competitive advantage in the coming years.

Resources & Tools:

🔗 Foundation Marketing

🔗 Distribution.ai

🔗 Ross' Book: Create Once, Distribute Forever

🔗ElevenLabs

🔗 Descript

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross tackles a crucial and timely topic: how marketers can not only survive but thrive during economic downturns. When budgets are slashed and expectations remain sky-high, too many marketers retreat. But as Ross argues, downturns are hidden opportunities for bold, creative, and strategic professionals. You’ll learn why your mindset matters, which marketing mistakes to avoid in a crisis, and most importantly, what you can do right now with limited resources to build brand equity, generate demand, and outmaneuver your competition.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Mindset Wins the Long Game

- The best marketers stay calm and ruthlessly prioritize value.

- Budget constraints can clarify what really drives results.

- Insight: Constraints don’t kill creativity—they sharpen it.

2. The Three Biggest Mistakes Marketers Make in a Downturn

- ❌ Cutting brand investment entirely.

- ❌ Over-investing in high-cost, low-yield paid channels.

- ❌ Playing it safe and copying competitors.

3. Proven Tactics for Marketing with Zero Budget

- Repurpose your top-performing historical content.

- Example reuse: LinkedIn carousels, Reddit posts, YouTube Shorts. 

4. Earn Trust When Paid Clicks Are Too Expensive

- Invest in podcast appearances, guest posts, and owned content.

- Use first-party proprietary or curated data to support thought leadership.

5. Double Down on Your Current Customers

- Strengthen relationships via community, VIP content, and proactive help.

- Empower your customers to become brand advocates.

- Insight: Word of mouth cannot be budget-cut.

6. Embrace Evergreen Content

- Create assets that compound over time vs. quick hits.

- Focus on material that drives long-term ROI.

7. Collaborate for Free Distribution

- Build co-branded content and share audiences with aligned partners.

- Example: Ross shares a story about early Snapchat takeovers (“Snap Swaps”).

Resources & Tools:

🔗 Distribution.ai

🔗 Foundation Marketing 

🔗 HubSpot

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross breaks down the powerful concept of leverage, the secret behind how high-performers achieve 10x results without working 10x harder. Ross introduces the four core types of leverage (People, Capital, Code, and Content) and provides actionable insights, mindset shifts, and examples on how to use them to reclaim your time, scale your impact, and accelerate growth. Whether you're an entrepreneur, creator, marketer, or employer, this episode offers a practical framework to help you work smarter and more effectively.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Leverage Through People

- Delegation is key, but do it like a founder, not a manager.

- Transfer ownership, not just tasks.

- Empower teams by sharing outcomes and allowing room for creativity.

- Ask yourself: What $5/hour work are you holding onto that’s blocking your $1,000/hour work?

2. Leverage Through Code

- Automation and modern software replace manual workflows.

- Today, you don’t need a dev team to build tools—AI can generate scripts and automation for you.

- Built internal apps and CRMs with no/low code tools.

- Automate tasks through scheduling, reporting, and workflows.

3. Leverage Through Capital

- Every dollar should buy back time or create compounding value.

- Use capital to invest, buy access, or convert traffic into sales.

- Examples:

4. Leverage Through Content

- Content builds trust while you sleep.

- It is a scalable, reusable asset—blog posts, podcasts, guides, videos.

- "Create once, distribute forever" is the mantra.

- Your content is always working—even when you’re not.

Resources & Tools:

🔗Create Once, Distribute Forever

🔗ChatGPT

🔗Upwork

🔗Fiverr

🔗N8N - Workflow Automation

🔗HubSpot

🔗Lovable

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In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross unpacks the silent bottlenecks that are stalling high-potential B2B companies, regardless of their size or success. Drawing from years of experience working with startups to publicly traded enterprises, Ross highlights the most overlooked internal barriers to growth and, more importantly, how to eliminate them.

You’ll walk away with actionable advice and frameworks to optimize your messaging, sales cycle, onboarding flow, content strategy, and team alignment, all aimed at transforming friction into momentum.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Common B2B Bottlenecks

- Misaligned Messaging

- Bloated Revenue Process

- Weak Onboarding & Lack of Quick Wins

- Lack of Content Distribution

2. Ross’s 3-Step Audit Framework

- IMPACT – What’s costing us the most right now?

- URGENCY – What needs to be fixed immediately?

- EASE – What's a quick win we could implement this week?

Resources & Tools:

🔗 Create Once, Distribute Forever by Ross Simmonds

🔗 Distribution.ai

🔗 HubSpot

🔗 Loom

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