On this episode of The Real Bottom Line, I sit down with Justin Goodbread, serial entrepreneur, value coach, and author of Your Baby’s Ugly. He’s started and sold seven companies and now helps business owners build scalable businesses that buyers actually want.

We dig into what makes a business attractive to a buyer, how to mentally prepare for a sale, and why your exit should start long before you want out.

We talk about:

• Why grit isn’t enough – and what you need instead
• The three types of readiness: business, financial, and mental
• Why coasting into retirement could cost you millions
• How selling your business could unlock a new kind of impact
• What happens when your identity is tied too tightly to your business

Justin shares hard-won lessons from the trenches – and how a coach helped him shift from technician to true business owner.

Links & Resources:

• Justin Goodbread: Relentless Value Coaching
• Wendy Brookhouse: Black Star Wealth

What would your life after business look like? Let's talk about it.

Guest: M. Shannon Hernandez, Messaging & Marketing Strategist and Founder of Joyful Business Revolution™

Episode Summary: Feeling drained by social media? Struggling to see real business results from all your posts? You’re not alone. In this episode, I sit down with M. Shannon Hernandez to talk about a more sustainable, joyful approach to marketing—one that doesn’t leave you glued to an algorithm.

Shannon is the Founder of Joyful Business Revolution™, where she helps business owners create organic marketing strategies that align with their values and bring in revenue. With over 25 years in curriculum design and work featured on CBS, ABC, FOX, and NBC, Shannon knows how to craft messaging that connects and converts.

We dive into:

• Why relying solely on social media is a mistake for most business owners
• The power of email marketing and why it should be your primary sales driver
• How to simplify your marketing while increasing your results
• The one-platform-plus-email strategy that keeps your marketing effective and joyful
• How to build true community in your business (hint: it’s not just online)

Quotes from the Episode:

• “One platform that brings you so much joy plus email marketing that drives revenue. That is the perfect blend.” – M. Shannon Hernandez
• “Publishing more content, yelling louder, or dancing on TikTok won’t fix your marketing if your messaging isn’t landing.” – M. Shannon Hernandez
• “If they can’t hear you, you can’t help them.” – M. Shannon Hernandez

Connect with Shannon: Website: www.joyfulbusinessrevolution.com
LinkedIn: M. Shannon Hernandez

Resources & Links:

• Grab Shannon’s free resource: 65 Story Ideas for Better Email Marketing → joyfulbusinessrevolution.com/65storyideas
• Learn more about The Real Bottom Line Podcast: therealbottomline.ca
• Join us for our Renew & Recharge Retreat: Exploring the Flavors, Culture, and Creativity of Mexico in September 2025: https://bit.ly/4c53OYK

  Our Tuscan Retreat is May 2-8, 2026. We don’t quite have the registration page ready yet, but if you are interested in more info, please email us.

Enjoyed this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us bring more valuable conversations to business owners like you.

What’s your biggest takeaway from this episode? Let’s continue the conversation—connect with me on LinkedIn and share your thoughts!

Your business has a story—are you telling it in a way that connects, engages, and drives sales?

In this episode of The Real Bottom Line, Wendy Brookhouse sits down with Andrea Sampson, storytelling expert and CEO of Talk Boutique, to break down the art and science of storytelling in business. Whether you're pitching investors, marketing to customers, or leading a team, a compelling story can make all the difference.

Andrea shares insights from her career in advertising, branding, and coaching TEDx speakers—revealing how entrepreneurs can transform dry facts into powerful narratives that inspire action.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

✅ The Power of Storytelling in Business – Why storytelling is more than just marketing; it’s a business essential.

✅ What Makes a Story Effective? – The key elements every great story must have.

✅ How to Find Your Brand’s Core Story – A step-by-step approach to defining your what, how, and why to craft a powerful brand message.

✅ How Storytelling Helps You Sell – How to position your product or service so that customers see themselves in your story.

✅ The Common Storytelling Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make – And how to avoid them.

✅ Lessons from TEDx – What working with TEDx speakers taught Andrea about crafting short, high-impact stories.

✅ AI & Storytelling – How artificial intelligence can help refine your brand story (but why it should never replace human connection).

Why This Matters:

If you don’t control your brand’s story, your customers will create their own. A strong, well-crafted narrative builds trust, engages your audience, and helps your business stand out in a crowded market.

Want to sharpen your storytelling skills? Download Andrea’s Storytelling Toolkit at blackstarwealth.com/storytelling-toolkit.

🎧 Tune in now and start telling a story that sells!

Welcome to The Real Bottom Line with Wendy Brookhouse. In this episode, Wendy sits down with April Roberts, a high-performance coach for female entrepreneurs, to explore her incredible journey from practising law to building and selling a successful financial planning business.

What You’ll Learn:

• How April transitioned careers and built her financial planning firm from the ground up.
• Insights into selling a business while maintaining client and team trust.
• The power of intentional planning and the "CEO Calendar" for scaling success.
• Why rest, energy management, and personal growth are critical for entrepreneurs.
• How April helps business owners unlock their full potential as a high-performance coach.

Memorable Moments:

• April’s candid stories about life’s curveballs and finding new paths.
• Lessons in transitioning a family business while safeguarding its legacy.
• Practical tips on leveraging time and energy for greater productivity.

Resources and Links:

• Connect with April at Vixen Gathering.
• Join Wendy's Business Value Amplifier Program: https://www.businessvalueamplifier.com/
• For financial strategies, visit Black Star Wealth.

Tune in for actionable insights and inspiring stories!

What makes a story truly unforgettable? It’s the humanity and emotions behind it. In this episode of The Real Bottom Line, I chat with Crystal Adair-Benning, a prolific ghostwriter and storytelling expert, about why the most impactful content comes from real, human experiences.

Crystal opens up about her journey, from ghostwriting her first New York Times bestseller at just 14 to redefining her career during COVID. We dive into:

• Why human-written stories resonate more deeply than AI-generated content.
• How emotion and authenticity create connections that drive business success.
• The shift from event planning to becoming a full-time storyteller and creative coach.
• The power of storytelling as a marketing tool for entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

Crystal also shares her belief that emotion is the currency of the future and offers insights into how writers and business owners can stand out by focusing on their unique human experiences.

Key Takeaways:

• Authenticity Wins: Stories told with empathy and authenticity connect with audiences at a level AI cannot replicate.
• Marketing with Heart: Using your story as a marketing tool isn’t just effective—it’s transformative for your audience.
• Human Creativity Matters: Creativity isn’t unlocked; it’s already within you. Sometimes, you just need the right guide to find it.

Connect with Crystal:

• Website: www.writewordmagic.com
• Instagram: @writewordmagic

Resources Mentioned:

• Crystal’s Freebie: Bestselling Blueprint (available on her website)

Real Bottom Line: Emotions are the ultimate currency. When you tap into the heart of your story, you unlock the power to connect, inspire, and drive impact.

In this episode of The Real Bottom Line, I sit down with Christine Tolton, CEO of Red Cat Marketing, as she celebrates 20 years in business. Christine shares her journey from corporate to entrepreneurship, the lessons she’s learned, and her top marketing insights for 2025. Discover how to adapt to changing trends, harness creativity, and build a business that thrives.

Success is rarely a straight line—it’s more like a bowl of spaghetti! In this episode of The Real Bottom Line, I chat with Jackie Dinsmore, a lawyer-turned-serial entrepreneur and investor, about her unconventional journey. Jackie shares how she built two successful businesses, navigated high-stakes exits, and disrupted the legal industry with her innovative approach at Caravel Law.

We dive into the highs, the challenges, and the lessons learned, covering everything from cash flow struggles in retail to the art of negotiating business sales. Plus, Jackie offers invaluable advice for entrepreneurs on staying resilient, surrounding yourself with the right team, and knowing when to pivot or push through.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to grow, sell, or reinvent a business, this episode is packed with actionable insights and candid stories you won’t want to miss!

Topics Covered:

• Jackie’s entrepreneurial journey from handbags to kids’ apparel
• The challenges of retail cash flow and inventory management
• Lessons from selling businesses and working with buyers
• Disrupting the legal industry with Caravel Law
• Practical advice for entrepreneurs on navigating the messy path to success

Subscribe for more insights from entrepreneurs who’ve been there, done that, and are ready to share the real bottom line!

📌 Links Mentioned:

• Connect with Jackie Dinsmore: Caravel Law Website

Join us for the Bottleneck to Breakthrough 5-Day Challenge, designed specifically for ambitious and growth-oriented business owners who are feeling overwhelmed and hitting revenue plateaus. In just 60 minutes a day, over the course of 5 days, we will provide you with the blueprint to go from bottleneck to breakthrough by reframing your relationship with time. This challenge will help you break through revenue plateaus, spend more time in your zone of genius, and build a more valuable business – even if you feel like you've tried everything and are time-starved.

Join the Bottleneck to Breakthrough 5-Day Challenge. Here's what you'll learn each day:

Day 1: Design Your Ideal Day

• Explore what your ideal day looks like as an entrepreneur and how to allocate your time based on entrepreneurial time rules

Day 2: Unlock Your Genius

• Shed tasks outside your zone of genius and focus on activities that energize and fulfill you

Day 3: Master Letting Go

• Analyze tasks and activities, determine their fit in your zone of genius, and understand the cost of holding onto them

Day 4: Leverage Your Time Blueprint

• Build a step-by-step process to shed undesired or time-consuming activities, explore delegation in a new way, and escape business jail

Day 5: Build Momentum

• Learn how to execute your ideal day by chunking down activities, overcoming forces of perfection, procrastination, fear, and ego, and amplifying growth drivers for your business.

Register at https://bottlenecktobreakthrough.com/

In this special edition of The Real Bottom Line, we’re diving deep into the world of live events and how they’ve evolved since the pandemic. Wendy sits down with three incredible guests—Menna Riley, founder of Leading Ladies Networking, Tyler Hayden, a renowned keynote speaker and author, and Ravi Tangri, a facilitator and expert in soul engineering—to explore how live events can boost your business, the shifts in event structuring, and why connection remains key in the post-pandemic world.

Our guests share their personal stories of how they had to pivot during COVID, from taking in-person events online to blending virtual and live experiences. The group also discusses the upcoming Turning Tides Conference and why this event is a game-changer for entrepreneurs looking to learn, grow, and connect in new ways. This is an episode packed with actionable insights, expert advice, and a unique look at the future of live events.

Key Takeaways:

• Pivoting in a Pandemic: Menna, Tyler, and Ravi share how they transitioned from live to virtual events, and how those changes have stuck around in hybrid formats.
• The Importance of Connection: The pandemic showed us what we missed about in-person interaction. Live events help foster that connection, but they now require a more engaging, interactive format.
• Engagement is Everything: Ravi discusses how to engage your audience, whether in-person or online, with techniques like open space and World Cafés that keep people connected and involved.
• Turning Tides Conference: The upcoming conference for entrepreneurs in Nova Scotia offers a unique "unconference" format where attendees will get personalized advice from experts and walk away with an actionable plan for their business.

Memorable Quotes:

• Menna Riley: “Consistency, consistency, consistency—you have to keep doing it or you’ll lose it.”
• Tyler Hayden: “We’ve been missing a place to come and connect... We want to help create that for Nova Scotia long term.”
• Ravi Tangri: “I realized the blocks I was putting in my own way... and found suddenly I could do 95% of what I did in person with the same engagement online.”

Special Offer:
Listeners of The Real Bottom Line can get an exclusive discount for the upcoming Turning Tides Conference. Tune in for details and learn how to attend this unique event designed for entrepreneurs.

Resources Mentioned:

• Menna Riley’s Leading Ladies Networking: https://mennariley.com/
• Tyler Hayden’s Team Building School: https://www.tylerhayden.com/
• Ravi Tangri’s Soul Engineering: https://speakerscanada.com/keynote-speaker/ravi-tangri/
• Turning Tides Conference: https://www.turningtidesconference.ca

Connect with Us:

• Website: blackstarwealth.com
• Facebook: Black Star Wealth
• LinkedIn: Wendy Brookhouse
• Instagram: @BlackStarWealth