Whiskey Is for Closers

What happens when the guy who sells seeing things from a distance sits down with three people he's never recorded with before? You get this episode. James Hatfield runs the Ambassador program at LiveSwitch — a community of home-services founders using video to do business smarter than the giants.

He joins Craig, Steve, and Drew to talk about chickens in boxes (yes, really), what David-versus-Goliath actually looks like when David runs a moving company, and why "AI can't fix a pipe or move a couch."

Plus a whiskey he swears will reset our standards. Less tactics, more truth. Pour something good. Press play.

It's May. You wrote the plan in January. Five months in, the gap between what you said this year would be and what it's actually been is staring you in the face.

The pipeline is soft.

The numbers are off.

The team feels it.

And in your gut, you already know — something has to change.

The next move you make is the one that makes or breaks the rest of 2026. In this bonus episode, the three of us crack open the hardest conversation a founder ever has with themselves: how do you know when it's time to pivot? Why do most founders see it too late? And once you know — what actually has to change? Product, ICP, pricing, channel, story, or you?

We pull stories from Altezza's own pivots, the founders we've watched do it right (and very, very wrong), and the signals telling you to stop hoping and start moving. Pour one out for the plan that didn't work. We've got eight months left.

Every founder hits a stop on the journey where what got them here won't get them there. The skills are different. The conversations are different. The version of themselves they need to become is different. Piper Moore, executive coach and founder of PM Morning, has built her career sitting with leaders in exactly that moment. 

In this episode of Whiskey Is For Closers, Piper joins us with a Shirley Temple and extra cherries to talk about her own story — what made her finally hang her own shingle, what she had to unlearn, and the inner work most founders bury under a busier calendar. This is the conversation about the gap between who you were as a builder and who you're being asked to become as a leader. And the surprisingly small moves that close it.

What if you could assemble a crack team of industry titans – seasoned experts precisely where you need them, from cutting-edge technology and strategic marketing to high-impact sales and crucial operational support – all while orchestrating their efforts through a proven, rapid-scale system? 

AND what if this level of elite talent wasn't a distant dream requiring a fortune, but a tangible reality for the cost of a single employee? That's not a hypothetical; that's the powerful promise delivered by Growth Concierge. 

This episode of Whiskey is for Closers goes beyond the surface to unpack exactly how they make this unprecedented model work. We’re diving deep into an unfiltered conversation that reveals how founders can finally stop compromising and start leveraging truly elite resources. Prepare to discover how this approach not only drives exponential profit growth but also fortifies your business with essential stability, propelling you towards new, ambitious heights.

Most visionary leaders have the ideas. They have the hustle. What they don't have is clarity—because they're too busy drowning in their own stuff to see the real problem. Today we sit down with Ben Weaver from Breakers Consulting to talk about why the best sales strategy isn't about closing deals; it's about closing the gap between who you are and who you need to become. 

We dig into an origin story that started at 14, unpack what it means to build on rock instead of sand, and explore how spiritual maturity and personal wholeness become your unfair advantage in scaling. 

Plus, find out what we’re pouring today!

Hillary Spreizer didn't set out to build a staffing powerhouse—but 24+ years later, The Latitude Group is connecting top tech talent with companies nationwide. 

In this episode, we sit down with Hillary to talk about scaling a woman-owned recruiting firm, why honest compensation conversations are a closer's best friend, and what it really takes to build a team that sticks around. Plus, she shares the one thing founders often get wrong when it comes to hiring—and how to actually fix it. 

Grab a glass of wine and join us for a conversation about recruiting, retention, and what it means to build a business on genuine relationships.

You know that feeling when you're at a networking event and everyone's just trying to extract something from you? Clay Hicks felt it too. So he built the H7 Network to prove there's a better way. We're breaking down the framework behind H7's success, why trust comes before tactics, and how to build a network that doesn't make you feel like you need a shower afterward.

Clay shares how he built a thriving community of entrepreneurs and decision-makers—and why the secret sauce isn't what most people think. We're diving into the Connect, Serve, and Ask® methodology that's transformed how thousands of professionals network, the biggest mistakes founders make when trying to scale their networks, and why focusing on relationships instead of transactions changes everything. If you've ever felt uncomfortable "selling" your business or struggled to build genuine referral partnerships, this one's for you. Clay's got insights (and his favorite drink) ready to go

Let's be honest, most founders are out here wasting money on sales reps who aren't managed, processes that don't exist, and AI tools that just make bad outreach faster. It's a mess. And throwing more budget at it isn't fixing anything.

In this episode of Whiskey Is For Closers, we sit down with Sean O’Shaughnessey, founder of New Sales Expert, to talk about what's actually burning your cash—and what to do about it. Over bourbon, Sean breaks down how to fail gloriously at sales management, where AI belongs (and where it absolutely doesn't), and what it actually takes to turn your scrappy sales setup into something a buyer would pay real money for.

If you've ever bought a tool, hired a rep, or "implemented AI" and wondered why nothing got better, this episode is your intervention. Pour a glass, check your ego, and let's figure out where your money's actually going.

You've built something incredible. Now comes the hard part: making sure you're ready to let it go. Rich Hall helps business owners navigate one of life's most critical transitions—and it's rarely about maximizing dollars. It's about alignment: personal goals, financial security, and business sustainability all working together.

In this conversation, Rich breaks down the biggest mistakes founders make (many without realizing it), the cost of being unprepared, and the specific moves that separate "exits that work" from "exits that haunt you." We talk about founders who built themselves into irreplaceability traps, why your sales dependency might be your exit vulnerability, and what the most prepared founders are doing differently.

This one's essential listening for anyone who's ever dreamed of stepping away.

Most founders don't take the straight path—and Anne Candido & April Martini prove that's actually the point. In this episode of Whiskey Is For Closers, we're joined by the dynamic duo behind Forthright People, a brand strategy consultancy built on the radical idea that being direct actually works. Anne and April didn't follow the traditional founder playbook—they zigged when others zagged, and built something real along the way. This one's full of unfiltered wisdom from two women who've figured out how to grow without losing themselves in the process AND why staying forthright with clients is their ultimate competitive edge. Oh, and there's wine involved. Because whiskey isn't for everyone—but closing is. Grab your glass. This conversation gets real.