Your Business Growth Podcast

Welcome, fellow business owner, to Your Business Growth Podcast, the companion show to Jeremy Shapiro's book Your Business Growth Playbook, dedicated to helping you break through those frustrating plateaus and get back to scaling your business!If you’re an established entrepreneur who’s seen success but now feels like more hustle just isn’t working anymore, or if your expenses keep getting higher but revenue isn’t keeping up, then you’re in the right place.Our goal is to uncover the tactical and strategic methods that help businesses like yours increase not just revenue, but also profits.

Your Business Growth Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 39 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Your Business Growth Podcast, a business show with 39 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #37

  The 97% Retention Secret with Isaac Justesen

  Sep 1, 202645 minS2

  What if the biggest thing holding your business back was your belief that clients needed YOU? In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews Isaac Justesen, founder of PatientPartners, about how he broke through a $30,000-per-month revenue plateau, doubled his agency’s revenue, and pushed client retention into the 97% range. 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

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  Episode #36

  Growth Becomes a Cage with Peter Boolkah

  Aug 25, 202648 minS2

  What happens when you finally build the seven-figure business you wanted—but realize the entire thing still depends on you? In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews Peter Boolkah, entrepreneur, business coach, speaker, and author of Your Business Sucks, about escaping founder dependence and building companies designed to create freedom rather than consume every available hour. 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

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  Episode #35

  Your Team is the Problem with David Feinman

  Aug 18, 202650 minS2

  What happens when your 40-person company stops growing—and you realize more sales won't fix it? In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews David Feinman, co-founder of Viral Idea Marketing, about the radical company reset that helped transform a plateaued, money-losing agency into a far stronger business serving major global brands. 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

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  Episode #34

  Sell It Before Your Build It with Mike Wiston

  Aug 11, 202659 minS2

  What happens when the client responsible for more than 80% of your revenue disappears almost overnight? In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews Mike Wiston, co-founder of MowMedia, about how a devastating revenue collapse helped shape the sales and product philosophy that eventually turned MowPod into the largest dedicated podcast marketing company in the US, Canada, and UK. 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

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  Episode #33

  Stop Overthinking Business with Rael Bricker

  Aug 4, 202643 minS2

  What would you do if you built a successful consulting business—and then watched your revenue disappear almost overnight? In this episode of Your Business Growth Podcast, Jeremy Shapiro interviews entrepreneur, author, and professional speaker Rael Bricker about the series of high-stakes decisions that took him from losing a major consulting contract to building an education company with thousands of students and eventually acquiring nine companies in just 18 months. 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 Subscribe today to get notified of new episodes, interviews, and shorts when they drop!

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