Are you planning to sell your business someday but have no idea what it is actually worth or whether it is ready?

Jessica Fialkovich has been inside more than 2,000 business exits across 75 industries. She is the author of Exit Factor: Increased Value and Profits for Your Business and the founder of a 52-location exit planning franchise. She also sold her own company before it was ready, paid too much in taxes, and handed it to the wrong buyer. The business failed two years later and every employee lost their job. That experience is the foundation of everything she now teaches.

In this episode, Jessica walks through what actually drives business value, the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing to exit, and what to do differently starting today.

What you'll walk away with:

Why business value is based on a weighted average of three to five years, not one great year. The 85-point qualitative checklist that determines where your business sits in the valuation range for your industry. How asset sale taxes actually work and why most sellers are completely blindsided. Why vetting a single buyer is the most expensive exit mistake and what a real buyer process looks like. The one thing to do today and the one commitment that will protect your exit no matter when it happens.

Connect with Jessica Fialkovich on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicafialkovich/

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

https://entrepreneursunited.us/links

What is the difference between water that is just hot and water that produces real power? One degree.

Sam Parker, author of the bestselling book 212 the extra degree, joins John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann to talk about the concept that has shaped how thousands of leaders build teams, set culture, and show up every single day. Over a million copies sold, and Sam recently brought the rights back and revised the book entirely. In this conversation he shares not just the metaphor but the full leadership framework he has built around it over 20 years.

In this episode, Sam breaks down what a 212 culture actually looks like in practice, why most leaders unknowingly undercut their own teams, and the four-part model he has refined for leaders who want to build something worth staying for.

What you'll walk away with: the two boxes framework and what every leader leaves behind. Four leadership principles every founder needs to hear: act as you want your team to act, talk with them often, help them grow, and change things when needed. Why leading by control destroys team trust faster than anything else. What a 212 culture actually feels like, and why it is not a never-ending grind. And the selfless leadership mindset that changes everything when you finally get your ego out of the way.

Download Sam's free book sample of 212 The Extra Degree at https://212spark.com

Connect with Sam Parker on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/samparker212/

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links.

Do you actually know why your best people leave?

Most leaders think they do. Most are wrong. Rich Hoffmann was asked recently if he thinks people leave companies. His answer stopped the conversation cold: they don’t leave companies. They lose hope. Hope in the career path, in the culture, in the relationship with the person they report to. And once that hope is gone, no raise brings it back.

In this episode, John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann dig into the real drivers of retention and what leaders consistently get wrong before someone walks out the door.

What you’ll walk away with: The top 3 predictors of turnover and why all three are fixable if you catch them early. Why the shift from manager to leader to mentor is the retention strategy most leaders skip. How TSP recognition changes the culture of an entire organization. Why getting in the field to observe your people doing the work is one of the most underused leadership tools available. And why helping a struggling long-tenured employee win beats cutting them every time.

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

https://entrepreneursunited.us/links

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work.

What if the greatest disruption in the history of marketing is not coming for your job but for your customer?

Mark Schaefer is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and a top marketing strategist. In this episode he discusses his book Audacious and explains why competence alone now makes people and businesses vulnerable and ignorable in an AI-driven world. He walks through how ChatGPT's launch sparked an existential moment for him, and then lays out a clear path for entrepreneurs to out-human AI through disruptive storytelling, human connection, and emotional resonance.

Mark argues that the best defense any entrepreneur has against AI is a strong personal brand built on trust, and that small businesses are structurally positioned to win in ways large companies cannot replicate because you cannot delegate vulnerability to an advertising agency. He also breaks down his four-step personal brand framework and describes what it takes to build an audience that evolves from social followers to engaged subscribers to a loyal brand community.

What you will walk away with: Why competence alone now makes you ignorable and what to build instead. How to out-human AI through disruptive storytelling and emotional resonance. Mark's four-step personal brand framework and how to finish the sentence "only I." How to build an actionable audience that grows from followers to subscribers to brand community. Why small businesses have a structural advantage large companies simply cannot replicate.

Visit businessesgrow.com for Mark's free weekly ideas, blog posts, and resources.

Connect with Mark Schaefer on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwschaefer/

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week.

Are your marketing dollars quietly disappearing with nothing to show for it?

Most entrepreneurs aren't losing because of bad strategy. They're losing because of confusion they can't see. Brand strategist Charlie Sells calls it "random acts of marketing" and after 15 years helping businesses untangle complexity, he's seen it destroy brands that had every reason to succeed.

In this episode, Charlie breaks down the real cost of unclear direction, why most marketing audits miss the point, and the exact 7-step framework he uses to bring clarity to any business in 30 days.

What you'll walk away with:

• The 3 phrases that reveal a clarity problem in your business and why most owners never catch them.
• A 1-hour marketing audit you can run this week to cut waste and find what's actually working.
• Why AI is a tool and not a cure, and what to do before you touch it.
• The 7 Cs framework: Curiosity, Context, Competitiveness, Consistency, Conciseness, Clarity, and Creativity.
• How problem-first positioning wins more customers than any tagline ever will.

Take Charlie's free Clarity and Alignment Self-Assessment at clearovereverything.com.

Connect with Charlie Sells on LinkedIn

Hosted by John St. Pierre and Rich Hoffmann, Entrepreneurs United is built for founders and leaders who want straight talk on building businesses that actually work. New episodes every week. https://entrepreneursunited.us/links/

What if you could only work one hour a day? In this episode, Ari Meisel, founder of Less Doing, shares the mindset and systems that helped him rethink productivity, build a more replaceable role as a founder, and create dramatically more output without doing everything himself.

After a Crohn’s disease diagnosis forced him to conserve energy, Ari began asking a better question: What actually needs to be done, and what truly needs to be done by me? That question led to his OAO framework: Optimize, Automate, Outsource.

Ari breaks down how entrepreneurs can stop being the chef, cook, and bottle washer in their own business by building real systems, not just relying on hustle. He shares how to create an effective idea-capture pipeline, why async communication can give founders back control of their time, and how he built an AI chief of staff to handle everything from scheduling and social media to budgeting, disputes, and follow-up tasks.

John and Rich also unpack what it really means to measure productivity, where AI can create leverage without adding complexity, and how founders can start reclaiming hours right away.

If you want to work less, achieve more, and build a business that does not depend on you for every decision, this episode is for you.

Learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/productivity-coach-entrepreneur/

10 Macro Sales Moves to Double Your Revenue in the Next 2 Years

If you’re an entrepreneur who wants aggressive growth in 2026 and beyond, this episode is for you.

Too many business owners say they want to grow… but they’re relying on hope instead of strategy. In this conversation, we break down 10 practical sales moves that can help you grow your business 50%–100% over the next two years.

We talk about getting back to the fundamentals that actually drive revenue:tapping into your network, asking for warm introductions, re-engaging past customers, knowing your numbers, and doubling down on marketing channels that are already working.

We also cover how to align your entire team around growth with incentives, how partnerships and independent contractors can expand your reach, and why strengthening your delivery systems gives your sales team the confidence to sell bigger.

The big idea:If you want to double your business, you don’t just need new strategies—you need 10x the right activity.

In this episode:

• How to activate your network for new opportunities

• Why grassroots sales tactics still outperform digital noise• The importance of knowing your KPIs and conversion metrics

• How to generate more revenue from past customers

• Why incentives and culture drive growth

• How partnerships can help you scale faster

If you’re building a business right now, you’ve probably felt it, marketing is shifting fast.

In this episode, serial entrepreneur and author Gary Nealon joins us to break down what AI, GPTs, and changing search behavior really mean for small businesses. We talk about why traditional SEO is no longer enough, how brands can show up inside AI-generated answers, and why platforms like Reddit are becoming a powerful trust layer for buyers.

Gary also shares his concept of “downtasking”, a simple but powerful framework for assigning dollar values to your daily tasks so you can stop doing low-value work and focus on what actually scales. From leveraging virtual assistants to building custom GPTs inside your company, this conversation is packed with practical ideas founders can use immediately.

We also dive into: • Why so many businesses plateau around $750K–$1M in revenue • The danger of falling in love with your product instead of your customer • Why failing fast beats waiting for perfect • How data can reveal who your real buyer actually is

If you feel stretched thin, stuck in the weeds, or unsure how AI fits into your growth strategy, this episode will challenge your thinking in the best way.

Listen in and ask yourself: What should I stop doing this week?