Episode 37: Connecting the Dots to Scale — Business Development with Lauren Silverstein

Summary

How do you turn a unique talent or passion into a scalable, revenue-generating business model? In this episode of CEO Sisters Road Trip, hosts Liz Szporn and Sarah Trueman sit down with business developer, educator, and founder Lauren Silverstein. Lauren shares her lifetime fascination with the "world of work" and breaks down how she builds thriving commercial and community-based ventures like Rising Kitchens and Rising Founders. From creating hyper-local marketplaces to using data-backed feedback loops instead of "good intentions," Lauren gives small business owners a masterclass in modern business development.

Key Topics

• The High School Internship Mindset: Why hands-on exploration prevents costly career and business pivots later on.
• Bridging Supply and Demand: How Lauren built Rising Kitchens by connecting local culinary talent with corporate and private catering demand.
• The 3 Core Ingredients of Any Venture: Balancing Sales, Community, and Education to avoid burn-out or running a pure non-profit network.
• The "Success Equation": Why you must start with end goals and outcomes before building marketing strategies or daily tactics.
• Ikigai in Entrepreneurship: Finding the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what pays.
• Hyper-Local Founder Circles: Overcoming founder isolation through structured, collaborative Masterminds.

Action Items & Takeaways

1. Reverse Engineer Your Goals: Write out your target outcome first, define your success metric second, and design your strategy last.
2. Audit Your 3 Pillars: Ensure your business is actively balancing Sales (revenue), Community (connection), and Education (learning/doing).
3. Use the "Whiteboard Method": Maintain a 2-sided board dividing current-month deliverables from long-term strategic dreams.
4. Treat Evaluation as Practice, Not Punishment: View performance feedback and data like a sports film session or theater rehearsal.

Chapters

• 00:00 – Welcome & Introductions
• 01:21 – Gen X Mindsets & Early Business Ventures (Aerobics in the Basement!)
• 03:26 – The Power of Early Business Exploration & High School Internships
• 06:49 – Where Supply Meets Demand: Building a Marketplace Business Model
• 09:36 – Inside Rising Kitchens: Community + Sales Acceleration
• 12:02 – Why Niche Models Work Across Any Industry
• 15:00 – The 3 Pillars of Venture Success: Sales, Community & Education
• 17:03 – How Lauren Allocates Time & Keeps Hyper-Local Founders Connected
• 21:22 – Finding Your "Ikigai" (Reason for Being) as a Business Owner
• 24:09 – Boundary Management, Whiteboards, and Compassionate Scheduling
• 28:45 – Are Good Intentions Enough? Measuring Real Business Impact
• 33:10 – The Success Equation & Reverse-Engineering Growth
• 36:26 – Lauren’s Top Book & Podcast Recommendations
• 40:47 – How to Connect with Lauren & Final Sister CEO Thoughts

Resources & Guest Links

• Website: www.risingkitchens.com
• LinkedIn: Lauren Silverstein
• Instagram: @risingkitchens
• Partner Kitchen Mentioned: Garden State Kitchen (Orange, NJ)
• Recommended Books:
  • Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution by Uri Levine
  • Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz
  • The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman
• Recommended Podcasts: Small Business, Big Money, Powerhouse Women, The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs
  
  
  

Keywords: Business Development, Marketplaces, Small Business Growth, Hyper-Local Entrepreneurship, Female Founders, Rising Kitchens, Success Equation, Ikigai, Business Metrics, CEO Sisters Road Trip

Want to learn more about what working with Liz looks like? Head to Your Business Matters to schedule a Discovery call with her

Ep. 35: Experience vs. Expertise: Why You Don’t Need Kids to Be a Parenting Coach with Kate Garzón

Summary

In this episode, Kate Garzón, a parent educator and founder of Guided Parenting Support, shares her unique approach to parenting coaching, emphasizing the importance of understanding child development and building strong relationships. Liz and Sarah explore how her expertise helps parents and organizations create positive impacts that last.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Kate Garzón and Guided Parenting Support

06:00 Kate's background and journey into parenting coaching

12:01 The difference between experience and expertise

20:04 The journey of building a scalable parenting support business

29:59 How understanding child development improves parenting

39:58 Proactive strategies for behavior management

Key Topics

-The difference between experience and expertise in parenting support

-How child development stages inform parenting strategies

-The importance of relationship building and proactive skills

-Scaling parenting support from one-on-one to organizational level

-The impact of parental support on workplace productivity

-Kate's journey from teacher to parent coach during COVID

-The value of understanding neurodivergent children

-How to communicate the value of parenting support to organizations

-The long-term benefits of proactive parenting education

-Kate's approach to coaching and parent education

Sound Bites

"Words matter in parenting and support"

"Relationship building and skill development are the core"

"Children are capable of more than we often realize"

Guest Name

Kate Garzón

Guided Parenting Support - GPS® : www.guidedparentingsupport.com

Instagram: @guidedparentingsupport;

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-garz%C3%B3n-m-ed-00184215b/,

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guidedparentingsupport

Keywords

parenting, child development, coaching, education, work-life balance, organizational impact, parenting strategies, neurodivergent children, professional development, family support

Want to learn more about what working with Liz looks like? Head to Your Business Matters to schedule a Discovery call with her

Summary

In Episode 34 of The CEO Sisters Road Trip, Sarah and Liz dive into why shifting your behavioral patterns and systems matters far more than pushing through burnout or trying to solve every business challenge by working harder. Drawing insights from top business and habit books—including The Gap and the Gain, Atomic Habits, The Coaching Habit, and Profit First—they discuss how to escape constant self-criticism, define your own baseline of success, and build sustainable momentum.

Key topics

• Measuring Backward: Overcoming "the gap" between your current standing and an idealized goal by reflecting on past progress.
• System Design vs. Goals: Establishing small daily habits and clear structures to prevent burnout and power daily execution.
• Identity and Language: Shifting self-talk from "trying to quit/do something" to solid "I am" identity statements.
• Overcoming Overwhelm: Recognizing that feeling "stuck" is usually just overwhelm, and resolving it by identifying the single priority for the day.
• The 4 Buckets of Business Growth: Diagnosing bottlenecks across People, Process, Pricing, and Positioning.

Action items & Take aways

• Always Measure Backward (AMB): Build confidence by actively tracking how far you have come rather than measuring against an ever-shifting ideal.
• Design Systems, Not Just Goals: Break down large 90-day targets into manageable, daily micro-actions.
• Monotask over Multitask: Ask yourself each morning: "What is the ONE thing I can complete today to move my business forward?"
• Adopt an "I Am" Identity: Speak about your role and business with ownership (e.g., "I am a business owner" rather than "I am trying to run a business").

Chapters

• 00:16 – Introduction to the CEO Sisters Road Trip
• 00:59 – The Importance of Reading and Learning
• 04:32 – Mindset vs. Grindset: The Power of Measurement
• 07:22 – The Gap and the Gain: Measuring Progress
• 13:17 – Identity and Behavior in Business
• 16:53 – Balancing Creativity and Business
• 19:26 – Shifting Behavioral Patterns for Success
• 22:36 – Overcoming Overwhelm and Prioritization
• 26:50 – The Power of Accountability in Business
• 28:50 – Redefining Identity for Growth
• 31:08 – Understanding the Process Behind Stuckness

Resources

• The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Links

• Your Business Matters
• Sarah Jane Pottery

Keywords

Mindset, Grindset, Business Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Atomic Habits, The Gap and the Gain, Profit First, Overwhelm, Prioritization, Systems, Business Growth

Want to learn more about what working with Liz looks like? Head to Your Business Matters to schedule a Discovery call with her