James Jackson is President and Co-Owner of D. Luminous Productions, a Philadelphia-area film production company specializing in brand films, documentaries, narratives and commercials.

In this Small Business Spotlight conversation, Curtis May and James go beyond cameras and production to explore what it takes to turn a creative talent into a sustainable business.

James explains why effective video starts with understanding the message before turning on the camera, why authenticity and connection matter more than simply producing beautiful footage, and some of the mistakes business owners make when creating their own content.

They also get into the business behind the art: pricing creative services, accounting for equipment, software, insurance and operating expenses, knowing when to say no, building a team, and creating a company that can eventually operate without the founder being involved in every project.

James also shares his perspective on AI-generated video and why he believes human connection and authentic storytelling remain an important competitive advantage.

In this episode:

• Turning a creative talent into a business

• Storytelling versus simply producing video

• The biggest video mistake small businesses make

• Why audio matters more than most entrepreneurs realize

• Pricing creative services based on value

• Hidden costs creative entrepreneurs often overlook

• Artist versus CEO thinking

• AI video versus authentic human storytelling

• Building a production company that can scale beyond its founder

• James's vision for D. Luminous Productions

LinkedIn doesn't have to become another full-time job.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May talks with LinkedIn strategist Ryan Harbinson about using LinkedIn for business development not just posting content or sending sales pitches.

Ryan explains how business owners can build relationships, improve visibility, turn networking into conversations, and create a simple daily LinkedIn routine that actually supports business growth.

00:00 – Using LinkedIn for Business Development
02:00 – Sales vs. Business Development
04:30 – Ryan's LinkedIn Journey
09:00 – The 3 Networking Groups to Join
12:00 – What Business Owners Get Wrong on LinkedIn
14:00 – The 15-Minute Daily LinkedIn Routine
16:00 – Cleaning Up Your Connections
20:00 – Turning Connections Into Conversations
23:00 – Following Up After Networking Events
27:00 – The Minimum Effective Content Strategy
30:00 – Using Native Video on LinkedIn
33:00 – Visibility vs. Positioning
35:00 – Finding Strategic Groups and Prospects
38:00 – Who Ryan Helps
41:00 – How to Start Conversations Without Selling
44:00 – Relationships First, Sales Second

Subscribe to The Practical Wealth Show for conversations on business development, financial freedom, entrepreneurship, wealth building, and strategic relationships.

What's the difference between making a lot of money and actually building wealth?

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May talks with Fernando Angelucci, CEO of Self Storage Syndicated, about moving from transactional income to asset ownership, passive cash flow, and financial freedom.

Fernando shares how he transitioned from engineering and residential real estate into self-storage and explains how investors should think about cash flow, leverage, taxes, liquidity, risk, syndications, and sponsor due diligence.

00:00 – Making Money vs. Building Wealth
01:44 – Fernando's Real Estate Journey
03:07 – Why High Earners Still Struggle to Build Wealth
04:41 – What Financial Freedom Really Means
07:31 – Fernando's $97K Credit Card Story
10:50 – Why Self-Storage
14:04 – Returns, Risk and Resilience
21:45 – Financial Foundation Before Investing
23:18 – How to Vet a Syndicator
24:54 – Tax Advantages of Real Estate
30:35 – Turning Income Into Assets
34:28 – Rules of Investing
37:32 – What $250M in Assets Really Means
40:18 – Active Investing vs. Mailbox Money
43:25 – Fernando's Definition of Wealth
44:55 – Who Fernando Wants to Connect With

Subscribe to The Practical Wealth Show for conversations on Infinite Banking, cash flow, real estate, financial freedom, business ownership, and multigenerational wealth.

What separates someone who owns a business from someone who has simply created another job?

Marie Rose learned that distinction by building Rosebud Studios from eight offices into a multi-location business-development operation serving dozens of entrepreneurs.

In this episode of the Small Business Spotlight, Curtis May sits down with Marie to unpack what happened behind the growth.

Marie explains how she transitioned from government employment into entrepreneurship, experimented with several businesses, discovered the event-space model and ultimately identified a larger opportunity: creating physical and virtual environments where small businesses could operate, learn, build relationships and gain access to resources.

But the conversation isn't simply about Rosebud.

Curtis and Marie explore what entrepreneurs must change as their companies grow.

• Marie's unexpected journey into entrepreneurship

• How she landed her first event space through cold calling

• Why following customer demand led to Rosebud's expansion

• Going from eight offices to multiple locations

• Why Marie stopped describing Rosebud as merely a coworking space

• Turning a hustle into a legitimate business

• Why entrepreneurs must get comfortable being uncomfortable

• The importance of getting into bigger rooms

• Moving from entrepreneur to CEO

• Working on the business instead of constantly in it

• Why Marie listens to roughly a book a week

• Building a company capable of operating without you

• How Marie evaluates whether she's ready to expand

• Why she recently paused an expansion even after announcing it

• Using occupancy, revenue and other numbers to guide decisions

• Why a successful business isn't automatically personal wealth

• Creating automated and scalable income streams

• Thinking about succession and exit strategy

• Building community and strategic relationships

• Marie's vision for Rosebud Studios

• Her desire to speak and facilitate more business workshops

One of the strongest lessons from Marie's story:

Growth doesn't always mean doing more. Sometimes becoming a better CEO means knowing when not to expand.

Most people think getting into trucking means buying a truck, finding loads and driving.

Johnique Taylor—the "Queen of Trucking"—says that's one of the biggest misconceptions about the industry.

With 28 years of experience across trucking, logistics, supply chain, driving, dispatching, training and entrepreneurship, Johnique explains why many new trucking businesses fail, why buying equipment shouldn't necessarily be your first move, and how entrepreneurs can create multiple streams of income within the trucking ecosystem.

Curtis and Johnique discuss the difference between owning a truck and building a trucking business, controlling overhead, maintaining access to capital, surviving changing freight markets, and creating additional revenue from assets already inside your business.

Johnique also shares how she turned trucks into mobile advertising platforms and why collaboration with professionals outside the trucking industry creates additional opportunities for trucking entrepreneurs.

This episode isn't only about trucking.

It's about the fundamental difference between creating another job for yourself and building a business capable of producing income, capital and long-term wealth.

• Why new trucking entrepreneurs struggle

• Owning a truck vs. owning a trucking business

• How to enter trucking without immediately buying equipment

• Dispatching and logistics opportunities

• Why excessive overhead can destroy a new trucking company

• Building multiple streams of income inside one industry

• Business credit, liquidity and financial resilience

• Turning trucks into mobile advertising assets

• Finding hidden revenue opportunities inside your business

• Networking and strategic collaboration

• Lessons from Johnique's military background

• Women in trucking

• Building a business designed for longevity rather than quick money

• Website: https://solidrocksolutionsgroup.com
• Email: johniquetaylor@yahoo.com
• Phone: 404-960-1766
• Brand: The Real Queen of Trucking

How does land development actually create wealth and how do you protect yourself from losing your capital along the way?

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May sits down with real estate developer and HBG Capital founder Brandon Cobb to unpack the economics of land development, capital preservation and building long-term wealth.

Brandon's journey began after unexpectedly losing his medical-device sales job. After several failed entrepreneurial attempts, he entered real estate, eventually growing from house flipping into construction, capital raising and residential land development.

But the journey wasn't without expensive lessons.

Brandon shares how one land-development mistake resulted in a seven-figure loss and the rules he follows today because of it.

Curtis and Brandon discuss:

• Land development and entitlement

• How developers force appreciation

• Capital preservation

• Return of capital vs. return on capital

• Real estate due diligence

• Evaluating an investment sponsor/operator

• Multiple exit strategies

• Passive vs. active real estate investing

• Building assets from business income

• Lifestyle design

• Financial freedom

• Using wealth to create meaningful experiences

Brandon also explains why investors should understand what would have to happen for an investment merely to break even before getting excited about projected returns.

This conversation isn't just about making money.

It's about protecting capital, creating assets and ultimately using wealth to create greater control over your life.

In this episode of The Practical Wealth Show, Curtis May talks with David Johnson, founder of Vervent and author of Figure It the F Out, about leadership, business ownership, decision-making, crisis response, and what it really means to own the outcome.

David's story is not typical. He dropped out of high school at 16, worked construction and mechanic jobs, then rebuilt his path through community college, Berkeley, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, entrepreneurship, acquisitions, and eventually leadership at Vervent.

The heart of the conversation is David's belief that leaders must face reality. He explains that it is easy to build a story around the numbers you want to believe, but real leadership requires data that "punches you in the face" so you can see what is actually happening.

Curtis and David also discuss why businesses and households need more than optimism. They need liquidity, capacity, optionality, and the ability to perform when conditions change. David compares this to how Vervent prepares for crisis situations by building capability and capacity before the problem arrives.

• David Johnson's story from high-school dropout to CEO

• Why entrepreneurship can feel like a "life sentence"

• The Full Throttle Outcomes model

• Facing reality before reality forces you to

• Why most management advice is overcomplicated

• How to build a business that can handle crisis

• Comfort with discomfort

• Strategic optionality

• Why organizations fail before they fail financially

• Culture as an early warning system

• Private credit and the changing financial system

• Why leadership requires ownership, not blame

Real leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about facing reality, building capacity, staying flexible, and owning the outcome when things get difficult.

If you are a business owner, entrepreneur, advisor, executive, or someone trying to build a more resilient life and business, this episode will challenge you to stop avoiding reality and start building the capacity to handle it.

Learn more about Practical Wealth: https://practicalwealth.net/FreedomSession

Connect with David Johnson: https://www.vervent.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjohnson9/

InvestFest brought thousands of people together to talk about ownership, entrepreneurship, taxes, and investing.

Curtis welcomes that energy, then adds the missing piece: a strategy works better when it sits inside a complete financial operating system.
Using the Personal Economic Model, Curtis explains why the "risk tank" should not receive all the attention.

Before chasing returns, families and business owners must decide where cash flows, deliberately create surplus, build accessible reserves, protect against major risks, and stop avoidable wealth transfers caused by high-cost debt and poor tax planning.
The goal is not to avoid investing.

The goal is to become a stronger investor with capital, knowledge, control, and staying power. Curtis closes by outlining the Money for Life order of operations and previewing future episodes on productive assets, constructive debt, and investment evaluation.

What You Will Learn
-Why investing is important but usually should not be treated as step one.
-How cash flow control creates the surplus needed to build capital.
-Why liquidity should be safe, accessible, and available when life changes.
-How debt and taxes can quietly transfer wealth away from your household.
-Why protection is the moat around the wealth you are building.
-The difference between productive cash flow and "statement wealth."
-How knowledge and control can reduce investment risk.
-The Money for Life cycle: Earn It, Bank It, Borrow It, Spend It, Repay It, Repeat.

Key Takeaway
CURTIS'S THESIS Investing is not an isolated tactic. It is step four inside a system that first controls cash flow, builds liquidity, manages debt, and protects the household or business.

Calls to Action

Debt to Capital: Download the guide and learn how to turn debt payments into a capital-building strategy.Financial GPS: Request a conversation to identify the leaks, risks, and opportunities inside your personal economy.

Subscribe: Follow The Practical Wealth Show for the next episode on evaluating productive assets.