Your Business Growth Podcast

He gained 4,000 paying customers. Then hundreds demanded their money back—and Stripe temporarily shut down his payment processing.

What looked like a breakthrough for Dmitry Dragilev's SaaS startup almost destroyed the company.

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews Dmitry Dragilev, founder of JustReachOut, about his 4x exits, the promotion that nearly ended his business—and the shift that led to a near-million-dollar exit.

Dmitry had built a PR software platform that helped entrepreneurs connect with journalists. An AppSumo partnership brought thousands of new customers and an immediate surge in revenue.
But many buyers expected lifetime access.

When renewal charges started appearing a year later, hundreds of customers disputed their payments. Stripe temporarily suspended processing, the team stopped shipping new features, and Dmitry spent months managing refunds and customer complaints.

The solution wasn't another software feature.

Dmitry discovered that many customers weren't using the platform because they didn't know how to pitch journalists. They needed someone to help them do the work.

He introduced PR coaching and white-glove services, helping the business reach $50,000 in monthly revenue, lower churn from approximately 30% to 7–10%, and eventually sell for just under $1 million.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ The AppSumo deal that attracted 4,000 customers
✔️ Why lifetime-deal expectations caused a chargeback crisis
✔️ How Stripe's payment suspension threatened the business
✔️ The hidden costs of rapid SaaS customer growth
✔️ Why customers weren't using the product they purchased
✔️ Adding premium services to a software business
✔️ How monthly revenue stabilized around $50,000
✔️ Reducing customer churn from 30% to 7–10%
✔️ What buyers look for when acquiring a business
✔️ Building and selling four companies
✔️ Using established marketplaces to acquire customers
✔️ Creating businesses around a three-hour workday

Dmitry also explains why he thinks about potential acquirers before launching a business, why he prefers bootstrapping, and how delegating operations helps him spend more time with his family.

If you're building a SaaS startup, struggling with customer retention, or thinking about selling your business, this conversation offers practical lessons on pricing, cash flow, customer needs, and building a company buyers want.

👉 Connect with Dmitry Dragilev:
• Website: https://criminallyprolific.com/
• Dmitry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitrydragilev/

📘 Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, Your Business Growth Playbook (https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/)

Chapters:
00:00 Deal Gone Wrong
01:21 From Polls to Google
02:28 Newsjacking for Traffic
05:38 Growth Without Revenue
06:43 Building JustReachOut
08:52 Bootstrapped SaaS Surge
10:41 AppSumo Lifetime Trap
20:05 Renewals and Chargebacks
25:09 Surviving Stripe Shutdown
28:21 Support Chaos and Recovery
30:56 SaaS Plateau Reality Check
32:17 PR Coaching to White Glove
33:59 Balancing SaaS and Services
36:04 Three Hour Workday Ops
39:15 Equity Partner Pitfalls
44:08 Services Boost Exit Value
46:38 Lean Build to Sell Playbook
48:59 New Ventures Distribution Hacks
52:19 Fixing Broken Business Models
54:36 Rapid Fire and Wrap Up

Keywords: Dmitry Dragilev, JustReachOut, SaaS business, SaaS startup, SaaS growth, business exit, selling a business, million dollar exit, AppSumo, AppSumo lifetime deal, Stripe chargebacks, payment processing, startup failure, business turnaround, SaaS churn, customer retention, recurring revenue, bootstrapped startup, business model pivot, white glove services, three hour workday, Jeremy Shapiro, Your Business Growth Podcast

#podcast #SaaS #Entrepreneurship #businessexit

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What if the person holding your company back is you?

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro sits down with Derek Fredrickson, Founder & CEO of The COO Solution, to break down how Derek built a seven-figure business in its first full year—while discovering that his own strengths were creating a new growth ceiling.

Derek spent years as an operator, including a Wall Street career and helping grow his wife’s business beyond seven figures. He knew how to build systems, manage teams, create accountability, and turn ideas into execution.

Then he launched his own company and fell into the same trap he warns clients about.

Derek was getting pulled into operations and delivery while resisting founder-led sales. He even considered hiring a salesperson early—until his mentors told him he hadn’t earned the right to delegate it yet.

He needed more conversations. More knowledge of his ideal client. More firsthand experience hearing objections and understanding what buyers actually wanted.

That realization changed how he approached growth.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ Derek’s transition from Wall Street to entrepreneurship
✔️ Building a seven-figure business in its first full year
✔️ Why being great at operations became a founder bottleneck
✔️ Moving from operator to CEO
✔️ Building a bench of 15 fractional executives
✔️ Why Derek initially hated selling
✔️ Reframing sales from persuasion to problem-solving
✔️ Why founders may delegate sales too soon
✔️ Simplifying marketing to one offer and one primary funnel
✔️ Why 3–4 qualified leads can beat 30–40 weak leads
✔️ Showing pricing before the sales conversation
✔️ Improving an existing funnel instead of chasing new tactics
✔️ Why “you can scale simplicity—you can’t scale complexity”
✔️ Using systems, automation, and AI to reduce founder dependency
✔️ Building a business around the life you actually want

Derek also explains “your Paris”—his way of defining the freedom your business is supposed to create. For Derek and his family, that meant moving from Connecticut to Paris for what was supposed to be one year. A decade later, they’re still there.

👉 Connect with Derek Fredrickson:
• The COO Solution: https://thecoosolution.com/
• Derek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekfredrickson/

📘 Hosted by Jeremy B. Shapiro, Author, Your Business Growth Playbook ( https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ )

Chapters:
00:00 Simplify to Scale
00:30 Meet Derek Fredrickson
01:31 Wall Street to Operator Mindset
03:12 Joining the Wife’s Business
05:54 Finding the COO Zone
10:12 Entrepreneurial Freedom Paris Move
15:26 Building a Fractional COO Firm
19:21 Early Growth Delivery Evolution
22:56 Bottleneck and Sales Resistance
26:10 Bench Over Founder
28:06 Energetic Resistance to Sales
28:52 Warm Leads No Selling
29:16 Sales Call Anxiety
30:30 Conversation First Sales
31:46 Embrace Founder Sales
34:26 Build For Scale Systems
38:10 One Offer One Funnel
39:51 Quality Lead Filtering
41:35 PPC Hiring And Metrics
45:10 Prequalify Before Calls
47:39 No Downsell Stay Focused
49:05 Delegate Sales Later
50:55 Rapid Fire Books Mentor
54:32 Recap And Where To Find

Keywords: Derek Fredrickson, The COO Solution, Jeremy Shapiro, fractional COO, fractional executive, founder bottleneck, founder led sales, seven figure business, business growth, CEO mindset, business operations, delegation, marketing funnel, lead generation, sales strategy, business systems, entrepreneurship, operational leadership, business scaling

#podcast #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #FounderLedSales #FractionalCOO #Leadership #businessstrategy

Want to be a guest on Your Business Growth Podcast? Send Jeremy Shapiro a message on PodMatch, here: https://podmatch.com/hostdetail/your_business_growth_podcast

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with founders and entrepreneurs sharing the decisions, systems, and lessons behind building stronger businesses.

What if your biggest success is actually your greatest vulnerability? In this Season 2 wrap-up episode of the Your Business Growth Podcast, host Jeremy Shapiro breaks down the exact strategies used by Season 2's guests to break through revenue plateaus, escape the hustle trap, and build scalable, predictable businesses.

🔥 KEY HIGHLIGHTS & STRATEGIES IN THIS EPISODE:

• Surviving Sudden Revenue Collapse: How Peter Boolkah rebuilt after losing 80% of his revenue in the GFC, Jon Morris turned a 40% client loss into a $40M agency by taking salary haircuts and hiring top sales talent, and Mike Wiston bounced back when Morning Brew paused spending overnight.

• Radical Niche Specialization: How Maria Gallucci built a $30M real estate business serving the Deaf community and Isaac Justesen achieved 97%+ client retention in physical therapy marketing through radical transparency.

• Decoupling Time from Income: How Joel Miller grew agency revenue for 18 years with zero employees and a strict 5pm shutdown, and David Feinman productized video post-production into modular customization buckets.

• Unconventional Growth Hacks:
✔️ David Feinman's 2-month severance "opt-out" offer that reset company culture.
✔️ Steve Barton's $5 Maine wholesale permit loophole and 3-tier pricing strategy.
✔️ Rael Bricker's overnight 5,000-poster campaign and reverse-listing 9 acquisitions.
✔️ Joe Rockey's Wall Street-backed $50M nonprofit funding model.
✔️ Aaron Jensen's 8-figure agency exit using "popcorn pricing" and red-yellow-green KPI guardrails.
✔️ Mike Wiston's free MowPod charts lead magnet and Crunchbase lead sourcing strategy.

📚 TOP BOOKS & LEAD SOURCES:
Discover the most recommended books across the season—including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The E-Myth Revisited, and The Goal—and top lead sources like Crunchbase and strategic referral networks.

🔔 SUBSCRIBE FOR SEASON 3!
Don't miss an episode—subscribe now and leave us a rating and review to support the show! 👉 ⁨@YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook⁩

#BusinessGrowth #ScalingUp #Entrepreneurship #YourBusinessGrowthPodcast #PodcastWrapUp

Chapters:
00:00 The Vulnerability of Success
01:09 Surviving Revenue Collapse
03:03 Radical Specialization for Growth
04:28 Decoupling Time from Income
06:17 Unconventional Solutions to Business Challenges
08:24 Actionable Tactics for Immediate Implementation
09:50 Books That Shape Business Minds
10:48 Finding New Clients
11:34 Critical Business Advice
13:02 A Wild Business Exit Story

Episodes covered in Season 2:
https://youtu.be/yGaxrCKXj6k
https://youtu.be/YVt7G_IMRuU
https://youtu.be/4b5Jp5LEGsE
https://youtu.be/2J7F3dTQ-lQ
https://youtu.be/Mn_2NzAFfBY
https://youtu.be/XOGdUEKx4Fg
https://youtu.be/tzz_lzuqNto
https://youtu.be/sK7AX9eGQMM
https://youtu.be/8ATIDW1Iko0
https://youtu.be/z5U9V6HiQzw
https://youtu.be/sVxmNezrZM8
https://youtu.be/iQocFdwGSkY

Want to be a guest on Your Business Growth Podcast? Send Jeremy Shapiro a message on PodMatch, here: https://podmatch.com/hostdetail/your_business_growth_podcast

🔔 Subscribe today to get notified of new episodes, interviews, and shorts when they drop! ⁨@YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook⁩

What if firing your highest-paying clients could actually make your business stronger?

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews Jerad Hill about how he went from running a six-person agency with a large physical office and demanding anchor clients to building a leaner, more profitable business with recurring revenue and far more control over his time.

Jerad got started in entrepreneurship with ~$4,000 and a small skateboard shop. When local sales weren’t enough, he taught himself web development, moved the store online, and eventually turned those skills into a full-time digital agency.

Years later, what looked like success from the outside became increasingly difficult to manage.

Jerad was still involved in quality control, client strategy, project management, and training his team. Some of his highest-paying clients demanded the most attention, creating major revenue concentration risk.

So he changed direction.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ Going from retail entrepreneur to agency owner
✔️ Scaling from solopreneur to a six-person team
✔️ Why employees sometimes create more work instead of less
✔️ Walking away from high-paying clients
✔️ Reducing overhead and improving profitability
✔️ Moving from 70% project work toward recurring revenue
✔️ Creating monthly services clients continue to value
✔️ Cutting services that no longer fit the business
✔️ Building an audience through YouTube and online education
✔️ The downside of building an audience on a platform you don’t control
✔️ Turning course students into an owned email audience
✔️ Why content would be Jerad’s top lead source if starting again
✔️ What he would do differently when building his next team

Jerad also explains why business growth doesn’t have to mean more employees, more overhead, and more complexity—and why the right size business is different for every founder.

👉 Connect with Jerad Hill:
• https://jeradhill.com
• https://youtube.com/@jeradhill
• https://substack.jeradhill.com

📘 Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, Your Business Growth Playbook (https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/)

Chapters:
00:00 Anchor Client Risk
01:23 From Skate Shop to Web
05:32 Scaling the Agency Team
07:25 Overhead and Quality Control
13:51 Retainers for Stability
17:34 Letting Go of Big Clients
20:21 Downsizing and Refocusing
23:45 Cutting Services to Specialize
27:08 Courses and Udemy Breakthrough
32:30 Owning Your Audience Platform
36:52 Recurring Revenue Model Wins
42:24 Advice for Agency Owners
45:48 Mentors and Humility Lessons
48:48 Rapid Fire Takeaways
53:46 Wrap Up and Where to Connect

Jerad Hill, Jeremy Shapiro, agency growth, recurring revenue, web design agency, digital marketing agency, entrepreneurship, business growth, agency profitability, founder bottleneck, content marketing, YouTube marketing, online courses, Udemy, solopreneur, business systems, client concentration, recurring income, business podcast

#BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #podcast

Want to be a guest on Your Business Growth Podcast? Send Jeremy Shapiro a message on PodMatch, here: https://podmatch.com/hostdetail/your_business_growth_podcast

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, and business leaders sharing real lessons on growth, leadership, and building sustainable companies. @YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook

Why compete on price when you can create offers competitors can’t compare? Jeremy Shapiro interviews Joe Rockey, founder of Elite Business Cruises, on pivoting from crowded sales training into premium business experiences and building a new nonprofit funding model. Hear practical steps for designing high-value experiences, pricing for premium markets, and creating alternative revenue for social impact.

What if the answer to a business plateau wasn’t selling harder—but creating something competitors couldn’t easily compare?

In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews Joe Rockey, founder of Elite Business Cruises, about how he moved from crowded sales training into premium business experiences and eventually built a new model for nonprofit funding.

Joe’s sales training company was competing against thousands of coaches, consultants, online programs, and free content. Prospects kept comparing prices, even when his service was different.

His answer was to change the buying experience entirely.

Joe combined training with premium cruises, moving from a few hundred dollars per month to five-figure engagements while giving clients an experience that was far harder to compare with traditional training programs.

That same thinking eventually led him to another problem: nonprofits constantly rebuilding their fundraising totals every year.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ Escaping commodity pricing
✔️ Turning training into a premium experience
✔️ Why specialization creates pricing power
✔️ The financial cycle many nonprofits face
✔️ Building revenue beyond grants and donations
✔️ Strengthening nonprofit and donor relationships
✔️ Creating new revenue through premium events
✔️ Pairing event revenue with financial structures
✔️ How Joe identifies business opportunities others accept as normal
✔️ Why pricing should reflect client value, not production cost
✔️ Knowing when to keep pushing versus changing direction

Joe also shares the two relationships he uses to judge businesses: the relationship with customers and the relationship with employees—and why weakness in either eventually limits growth.

👉 Connect with Joe Rockey and Elite Business Cruises:
• Elite Business Cruises: https://elitebusinesscruises.com/
• Joe Rockey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joerockey/

📘 Hosted by Jeremy B. Shapiro, Author of Your Business Growth Playbook ( https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ )

Chapters
00:00 Nonprofit Funding Trap
01:00 Meet Joe Rockey
01:30 Two Relationship Rules
02:46 Sales Training Red Ocean
04:32 Cruise Offer Breakthrough
06:54 Niches and Real Estate
12:24 Industry of One Formula
15:22 Nonprofit Hamster Wheel
18:01 Auburn Aha Moment
20:37 Events Plus Wall Street
23:23 Why Focus on Nonprofits
24:47 Regulations and Overhead
29:28 Winning Skeptics
32:10 Guarantees and Capital
35:59 Scaling to Billions
39:11 Plateau Pivot Advice
41:39 KPIs and Pricing Logic
42:43 Rapid Fire and Wrap
45:30 Final Subscribe Outro

Joe Rockey, Elite Business Cruises, Jeremy Shapiro, nonprofit fundraising, nonprofit funding strategy, business growth, premium pricing, sales training, business cruises, donor engagement, fundraising events, entrepreneurship, business strategy, value based pricing, nonprofit revenue, business model, niche marketing

#BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Nonprofit #Fundraising #businessstrategy #Podcast

Want to be a guest on Your Business Growth Podcast? Send Jeremy Shapiro a message on PodMatch, here: https://podmatch.com/hostdetail/your_business_growth_podcast

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, and business leaders sharing real lessons on growth, leadership, and building sustainable companies. ⁨@YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook⁩

Jeremy Shapiro interviews Isaac Justesen, founder of PatientPartners, on breaking a $30,000/mo revenue plateau, doubling his agency’s revenue, and achieving 97% client retention. We examine the belief that 'clients needed YOU,' the shifts Isaac made, and practical takeaways founders can use to scale revenue and improve client retention. Ideal for agency owners focused on predictable growth and retention.

Isaac had built a growing healthcare marketing agency, but there was a problem: he was doing everything.

Sales. Client meetings. Account management. Fulfillment. Operations.
Isaac believed clients were paying for access to him personally. That belief made stepping away from client relationships difficult—and eventually made him the bottleneck.

The turning point came when he hired an account manager and spent roughly three months gradually transferring client relationships. Suddenly, Isaac had large blocks of time available to focus on sales, marketing, and growing the company.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ How founders accidentally become growth bottlenecks
✔️ Why Isaac waited too long to make his first major hire
✔️ How he transferred client relationships without damaging trust
✔️ Why retention may matter more than new revenue
✔️ Growing retention from the 80% range to roughly 97–98%
✔️ How radical transparency creates longer client relationships
✔️ Why referral partnerships beat cold outreach for PatientPartners
✔️ How specialization builds trust during sales conversations
✔️ Using upsells to solve more client problems
✔️ The leading and lagging KPIs Isaac tracks
✔️ Why founders should never stop marketing during growth periods
✔️ What Isaac would do differently if he started again

One of Isaac’s biggest lessons is simple: hiring someone to take over client management didn’t weaken the client experience. It gave him the time required to build the company while his team created stronger systems for communication, retention, and account growth.

👉 Learn more about Isaac Justesen and PatientPartners:
• Free PatientPartners Audit: https://patientpartners.co/audit/
• Isaac Justesen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaac-justesen/
• PatientPartners on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patientpartners.co/
• Isaac Justesen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IsaacPhysioMarketing

📘 Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, Your Business Growth Playbook (https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/)

Chapters
00:00 Retention Over Revenue
00:20 Meet Isaac Hustesen
01:08 Origin Story in PT
02:12 Patient Empathy Lens
03:57 Early Agency Scrappiness
08:04 Founder Bottleneck Realization
09:13 First Key Hire Account Manager
12:49 Time Audit and Ops Focus
15:11 Cold Outreach to Community
17:18 Upsells That Serve Clients
19:35 Radical Transparency Retention
22:19 Training Values and Trust
23:37 Warm Leads Sales Process
25:35 Sharing Results Publicly
28:35 Vision Niche and Metrics
34:48 Advice on Hiring Sooner
39:49 KPIs Leading Indicators
42:04 Rapid Fire and Wrap Up

Isaac Justesen, PatientPartners, Jeremy Shapiro, marketing agency growth, healthcare marketing, physical therapy marketing, agency scaling, client retention, founder bottleneck, delegation, account manager, recurring revenue, referral marketing, lead generation, business growth, entrepreneurship, agency owner, business systems, customer retention, service business

#Entrepreneurship #MarketingAgency #HealthcareMarketing #podcast

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, and business leaders sharing real lessons on growth, leadership, and building sustainable companies. ⁨@YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook⁩

Why does a seven-figure business still depend on its founder? Peter Boolkah (author, Your Business Sucks) joins Jeremy Shapiro to explain how to escape founder dependence and design companies that create freedom—not consume it. Learn practical ways to identify founder-dependent bottlenecks, shift leadership and operations, and transition revenue models so your business runs without you.

Peter started his entrepreneurial journey working 80-hour weeks. He handled sales, marketing, delivery, accounts, HR, and practically everything else required to keep the company moving.
Eventually, he reached seven figures.

But there was a problem: Peter remained the major fee earner.

His team handled everything around him so he could keep coaching, speaking, and generating revenue. Financially, the model worked. Personally, it began taking a serious toll.

Then the global financial crisis hit and ~80% of Peter’s business disappeared.

Peter had to rebuild—and rethink what he wanted his business to become.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ Why more revenue doesn't automatically create more freedom
✔️ How founders accidentally create their own high-paying jobs
✔️ The systems Peter learned during his early career at McDonald’s
✔️ Why employees need processes, roles, and clear expectations
✔️ The seven-figure plateau that pushed Peter toward burnout
✔️ Losing approximately 80% of the business during the financial crisis
✔️ Rebuilding through LinkedIn, email marketing, and a stronger pipeline
✔️ Moving from smaller businesses toward mid-market clients
✔️ Why Peter shifted toward value-based pricing
✔️ Charging according to business impact instead of hours worked
✔️ How Peter removed lower-value work from his own schedule
✔️ Training employees to think and make decisions without him
✔️ Why he invested £100,000 per year in personal development for 12 years
✔️ Turning coaching expertise into scalable training products
✔️ Building a publishing company and creating licensable IP
✔️ Why businesses that don't depend on their founders can be more saleable
✔️ Investing business profits into new companies and property
✔️ Why Peter is interested in emerging European markets
✔️ The KPIs he watches across his companies

Peter also explains why founders should think seriously about what happens if they suddenly become unable to work.

A company completely dependent on its owner can disappear quickly when that person is removed from day-to-day operations. Building the right team, systems, leadership structure, and revenue model can turn the company into an asset rather than another demanding job.

👉 Connect with Peter Boolkah:
• Peter Boolkah's book: https://shop.boolkah.com/product/your-business-sucks/
• Peter Boolkah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boolkah/
• Peter Boolkah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pboolkah
• Peter Boolkah on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Boolkah

📘 Hosted by Jeremy B. Shapiro, Author of Your Business Growth Playbook ( https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ )

Chapters:
00:00 Founder Burnout Reality
00:57 Systems From Franchises
02:56 SOPs And Hiring Clarity
05:46 Grinding To Seven Figures
07:13 Seven Figure Burnout Trap
09:29 Raising Fees And Diversifying
11:13 GFC Revenue Collapse
12:54 Marketing Funnel Rebuild
14:44 Mid Market Shift Scaling Up
17:36 Value Based Tiered Pricing
20:11 Delegation Team Training
22:44 Frameworks And Learning Culture
24:16 Value Driven Economy
25:28 Self Development Investment
27:06 Building Founder Free Businesses
30:40 Emerging Markets Portfolio
32:40 High Ticket Profit Leverage
35:07 Founder Risk Reality Check
37:35 Escape the Hamster Wheel
40:09 Mentors Metrics and Rapid Fire
42:33 Books and Right Timing
47:07 Wrap Up and Where to Find

🔔 Subscribe today to get notified of new episodes, interviews, and shorts when they drop! @YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook

Jeremy Shapiro interviews David Feinman (co‑founder, Viral Idea Marketing) about a radical company reset for a 40‑person, plateaued agency. Learn how team issues and organizational structure were addressed to move a money‑losing firm into a far stronger business serving major global brands. Key topics: agency turnaround, team reset, scaling after plateau, and operational shifts leaders can apply.

David started the company with a $100 investment and a single customer willing to pay three months upfront. From there, Viral Idea Marketing grew from traditional video production into a productized post-production company working with major organizations including eBay and Johnson & Johnson.

But eventually, growth stalled.

The company had around 40 employees, shared accountability had created confusion, generalists were reaching their limits, and more sales activity wasn't solving the underlying problem.

David and his leadership team introduced “Viral Ideas 2.0.”

Every employee would have one defined role. The company would operate around KPIs, quality checks, documented expectations, and a much stronger culture.

Then David gave the entire company a choice: Stay and commit to the new model—or take two months of pay and walk away.

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ Why a revenue plateau can actually be a people and structure problem
✔️ The shift from generalists to specialists as a company grows
✔️ Why David offered his entire team two months of pay to quit
✔️ How defined roles, KPIs, and quality checks changed the company
✔️ Building company values that actually influence hiring and management
✔️ How leaders handle great early employees who no longer fit
✔️ Moving from small-business customers toward enterprise clients
✔️ Creating custom client experiences with standardized systems behind them
✔️ Why over-customization can destroy margins and operations
✔️ Using AI to increase management and production capacity
✔️ How Viral Ideas created an AI-powered company knowledge system
✔️ Why David tried another acquisition after losing $250K on his first attempt
✔️ How the next acquisition helped increase sales by roughly 125%
✔️ Integrating two teams and cultures after an acquisition
✔️ Building profitable upsells around existing infrastructure
✔️ The daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly KPIs David watches

David also shares lessons on:
✔️ Productizing creative services
✔️ Building culture around employee goals and dreams
✔️ Making difficult personnel decisions with empathy
✔️ Enterprise pricing and positioning
✔️ Customer satisfaction and early warning signals
✔️ Cash collection and accounts receivable
✔️ Using failure as information for the next attempt
✔️ Why specialization becomes increasingly valuable as a business grows

👉 Learn more about David Feinman and Viral Idea Marketing:
• Viral Ideas: https://viralideamarketing.com/
• David Feinman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidfeinman
• David Feinman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-feinman-7a069255/
• David Feinman on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BWs2md8AS/?mibextid=wwXIfr"

🎙️ Hosted by: Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, Your Business Growth Playbook ( https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ )

David Feinman, Jeremy Shapiro, Viral Ideas, agency growth, business growth, scaling an agency, company culture, growth plateau, video production, video editing, productized services, business acquisitions, enterprise clients, KPIs, business systems, AI in business, entrepreneurship, leadership, customer satisfaction, business strategy

#BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #AgencyGrowth #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #Podcast

🔔 Subscribe today to get notified of new episodes, interviews, and shorts when they drop! @YourBusinessGrowthPlaybook

When a client that provided >80% of revenue disappears overnight, how do you rebuild? Jeremy Shapiro interviews Mike Wiston, co‑founder of MowMedia, about the revenue collapse that reshaped their sales and product philosophy, the 'sell before you build' approach, and podcast marketing tactics that supported MowMedia's growth as a dedicated podcast marketing company. Actionable takeaways: validating offers early, pricing to win, and aligning product with real buyer needs.

MowMedia initially built its business around newsletter growth.

Then Morning Brew came along.

A roughly $20,000 test quickly turned into six-figure spending and gave Mike and his team the validation they needed to know they had a real business.

There was just one problem: Morning Brew represented more than 80% of their revenue.

When the company was acquired and its spending stopped, that revenue disappeared almost overnight.

Mike and his team had employees to pay, a significant burn rate, and no easy replacement for their biggest customer.

Instead of allowing the setback to end the company, they rebuilt how they approached growth.

Mike shares how:
✔️ Morning Brew became the client that validated MowMedia
✔️ More than 80% of company revenue disappeared after the acquisition
✔️ Landing The Hustle helped replace the lost business
✔️ MowMedia became a sales-first organization
✔️ Constant pipeline development reduced dependence on individual clients
✔️ Apple's iOS changes disrupted the newsletter growth business
✔️ Podcasting became the company's next major opportunity
✔️ MowMedia eventually generated more than 90% of its revenue from podcasting
✔️ The company became the largest dedicated podcast marketing firm in the US, Canada, and UK
In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ Why every company needs an unfair advantage
✔️ Selling results instead of clicks and impressions
✔️ The danger of customer concentration
✔️ Why sales activity shouldn't stop when business is booming
✔️ What happens when a market's primary KPI suddenly stops working
✔️ How MowMedia moved from newsletters into podcast marketing
✔️ The sell-first, build-second philosophy
✔️ Testing demand before investing in a product
✔️ Using existing customers to validate new ideas
✔️ Testing pricing during product development
✔️ Why founders sometimes need to abandon good ideas
✔️ Taking emotion out of product decisions
✔️ Understanding customers by experiencing their problems yourself
✔️ Building communities without treating every member as a sales opportunity

Mike also shares lessons on:
✔️ Launching Friday Night Karaoke to experience podcasting firsthand
✔️ Growing its Facebook community to more than 50,000 members
✔️ Why MowPod's first major podcast product failed
✔️ Killing a product instead of continuing to pour money into it
✔️ The gaming company that became an expensive lesson in emotional decision-making
✔️ Turning MowPod Charts into a completely free podcast resource
✔️ Using free products for long-term brand awareness
✔️ Finding the hidden KPIs clients don't always verbalize
✔️ Why growth without a meaningful business outcome doesn't matter
✔️ Creating relationships where the customer and service provider both win

👉 Connect with Mike Wiston:
· MowPod: https://mowpod.com/
· MowPod Charts: https://charts.mowpod.com/
· Mike Wiston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewiston/
· Mike Wiston on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sobimike/

📘 Hosted by Jeremy B. Shapiro, Author, Your Business Growth Playbook ( https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ )

Mike Wiston, MowPod, MowMedia, Jeremy Shapiro, podcast marketing, podcast growth, Morning Brew, The Hustle, newsletter growth, business growth, entrepreneurship, sell first build second, product validation, customer acquisition, sales strategy, business pivot, podcast advertising, podcast promotion, MowPod Charts, founder lessons, business strategy

#PodcastMarketing #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Sales #PodcastGrowth #Podcast

Jeremy Shapiro interviews entrepreneur Rael Bricker on consulting business recovery after losing a major contract. Hear the exact decisions and pivots that rebuilt revenue and led to launching an education company. Learn 3 tactical takeaways: prioritize high-value clients, restructure offers to recurring education revenue, and use decisive product-market pivots to recover cash flow. Practical steps for consultants facing sudden revenue loss.

Rael's entrepreneurial career began with confidence, ambition, and two young MBA graduates convinced they could build a consulting firm.

They landed a major contract and delivered results.

Then an international consulting firm entered the picture, advised their client to eliminate other consultants, and Rael's business suddenly lost its primary source of revenue.

That setback forced a completely different direction.

Rael and his partner entered education with just 20 students. Through aggressive guerrilla marketing, strong timing, and a growing demand for education in South Africa, that small operation eventually grew to approximately 4,000 students.

Then another event changed everything.

After an armed man entered the business carrying an AK-47 and threatened Rael and his students, Rael decided it was time to find an exit.

What followed was an extraordinary period of expansion.

Rael shares how:
✔️ A major consulting loss created an entirely new business opportunity
✔️ 20 students eventually became approximately 4,000
✔️ A massive physical guerrilla marketing campaign drove student acquisition
✔️ One frightening incident forced him to rethink his future
✔️ A reverse listing provided an alternative path to the public market
✔️ Nine companies were acquired in approximately 18 months
✔️ Acquisitions expanded the company from diploma education into degrees and private schooling
✔️ The company's share price moved from approximately 90 cents to 14 rand during the expansion

In this episode, we discuss:
✔️ What to do when a major client disappears
✔️ Why self-belief has to be backed by customer value
✔️ Finding opportunity when outside events disrupt your plans
✔️ How guerrilla marketing helped build an education company
✔️ Growing from one location into multiple campuses
✔️ How a reverse listing works
✔️ Building an acquisition strategy around products and customer groups
✔️ The dangers of acquiring companies without enough attention to culture
✔️ Why 27 spreadsheets may be 26 too many
✔️ Acting before every detail is perfect
✔️ Changing direction without abandoning your larger mission
✔️ The KPIs Rael uses to manage his financial services business

Rael also shares lessons on:
✔️ The 2013 health scare that changed his priorities
✔️ Selling approximately $1 billion in mortgages from the stage
✔️ Turning decades of business experience into professional speaking
✔️ Writing and publishing Dive In
✔️ Using a book as a business calling card
✔️ Why Radical Candor shaped his approach to leadership
✔️ Finding mentors who challenge how you think

👉 Connect with Rael Bricker:
• Rael Bricker's website: https://raelbricker.com/
• Rael Bricker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rael-bricker
• Rael Bricker on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rael.bricker
• Rael Bricker on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raelbricker

📘 Hosted by Jeremy B. Shapiro, Host and Author, Your Business Growth Playbook ( https://yourbusinessgrowthplaybook.com/ )

Chapters:
00:00 Office Gun Threat
01:02 Podcast Setup
01:19 MBA Confidence Origins
03:00 Landing Eskom Contract
06:54 Client Loss Pivot
09:58 Campus Startup Hustle
11:56 Guerrilla Marketing Boom
16:25 Activism And AK47
20:28 Reverse Listing Exit
22:25 Acquisition Rollup Strategy
27:04 Share Price Surge
28:44 Beating Analysis Paralysis
31:30 2013 Health Wakeup
35:01 Writing Dive In
37:40 KPIs And Rapid Fire
41:37 Final Recap And Links

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