How I Built My Small Business

🎄 Ever thought about running a Christmas light business? This is your behind-the-scenes masterclass.

In this special episode, a podcast listener flips the mic and interviews the host, Anne McGinty, about how she started a seasonal Christmas lighting business.

The listener comes prepared with thoughtful, detailed questions about every step of starting and scaling a holiday lighting operation.

If you're considering a side hustle, ...

Chris Smith is the co-founder and co-owner of Sonoma Pizza Co., an artisan pizzeria in Forestville, California, which he launched in 2022 with his wife, Eda Atasoy. 

After three decades in San Francisco’s nightlife and hospitality world… running spots like The Pawn Shop, Monarch, The Great Northern, and even the record label Om Records… Chris shifted his focus from nightlife to culinary craft.

He trained with renowned pizzaiolo Tony ...

Israa Nasir is a New York City–based psychotherapist, writer, and the founder of WellGuide, a digital community dedicated to mental health awareness. 

With a master’s in counseling and advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral and Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, she’s dedicated her career to mental health.

Israa has built a community of over 350,000 followers with her evidence-based approach to mental health and productivity. Sh...

Johnny Rickard calls in from Raglan, New Zealand, where he has built a full-time martial arts dojo on his family’s ancestral land.

Johnny was a dedicated schoolteacher for 15 years when life circumstances gave him a nudge (or perhaps a calling) to change paths.

With over 30 years of experience in martial arts and personal training, Johnny is the founder of THE REFINERY, a community space that’s far more than a training ground. It’s a...

Dr. Sarah Daccarett is a board-certified physician, hormone specialist, and founder and CEO of Inner Balance, a personalized hormone therapy platform that just closed a significant investment round and is scaling quickly.

Today’s episode is all about menopause (perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause) and the physical, emotional, and hormonal shifts that come with it. We talk about common symptoms, how they’re often dismissed o...

Today’s guest is Jason Graystone, a professional investor, trader, entrepreneur, and founder of the Tiers of Freedom program. He’s the author of Always Free, shares generous education on financial freedom, wealth building, investing, trading, and creating passive income YouTube, and creates financial empowerment content on his own podcast.

I’ve been self-taught in forex trading for a while now, reading books, doing my own research, ...

Today’s guest is Elizabeth Husserl, a financial advisor, registered investment advisor representative, and the co-founder of Peak360 Wealth Management, a boutique wealth planning firm based here in the Bay Area.

Elizabeth has this rare and fascinating blend of expertise: she holds a degree in economics from Tulane and a master’s in East-West psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she’s also served as an ...

Today, I’m excited to bring back a guest whose first episode was one of the most listened to of Season 1 and in May this year, it topped the charts again as the most streamed episode on Spotify.

Loren Vandegrift is a partner at Business Exits and has brokered over $500 million worth of business sales in just the past five years. He’s also no stranger to the founder journey himself... he previously built and led a couple of tech stra...

Today’s guest is Lauren Vermette, founder and CEO of Franchisee Insight.

Lauren has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between franchisees and franchisors, offering a unique perspective on the franchise industry.

She truly understands the challenges and rewards that come with franchise ownership, having successfully built and sold multiple units in her own portfolio.

Now, Lauren’s mission is to guide aspiring entrepreneurs throu...

I met John Clapham or "JC" in Raglan, New Zealand last year when I walked into his shop hoping they weren’t yet closing and said while huffing from my brisk walk, “What time do you close?” 

He responded with a smile, “depends on whose asking…LOL." 

And from there, we ended up chatting for about half an hour.

I left thinking, I want to hear more of this guy’s story.

JC didn’t go to college and worked his way up from taggi...

What began as a tribute to my dad has unexpectedly become part of my healing journey, transforming from purely business and entrepreneurship to learning through storytelling. 

How I Built My Small Business recently won a 2025 Communicator Award of Excellence as an educational series, validating the creative endeavor of hosting, editing, and producing this show.

• Season One focused on business creation and growth while Seas...

Today’s guest is Dave Pope, a friend of mine from college who spent 14 years in sales in the Northeast before making a bold move and buying Kaytech, Inc., a surface preparation company based in Greenville, South Carolina. 

At the time, he had no prior experience as a business owner.

In this episode, Dave shares what it’s really like before, during and after acquiring a small business with stories from his first year as an owner-opera...

Today’s guest is Samantha Rose, an Emmy award-winning television writer and three-time New York Times Bestselling ghostwriter.

She’s the founder of Yellow Sky Media, a literary development company that collaborates with celebrities, experts, and industry leaders to bring their powerful stories to life.

Recently, Samantha stepped into the spotlight with her own memoir, Giving Up The Ghost, a poignant exploration of the grief and unans...

Today’s guest is Glenn Harrold, a meditation guide whose relax and sleep well recordings have personally helped me get much needed rest at times when I’m tired but wired.

Glenn is an international best selling self-help author and one of the world’s most successful hypnotherapists. His guided meditations and mindfulness audio titles have been streamed over forty million times.

And, his CD title, Complete Relaxation, is the only gold ...

As the daughter of immigrants, I’ve often turned to my own parents’ story for inspiration, a belief that we’re all capable of achieving anything we truly believe in, and a reminder that taking risks is often the key to making meaningful leaps in life.

Today, I’m joined by Neri Karra Sillaman, who shares her extraordinary journey, from fleeing her home country as a refugee to building a global, multi-million dollar luxury brand, and ...

Today’s episode is not so much about starting a business, but a glimpse into the neuroscience of influence and the power of Neurolinguistic Programming.

 My guest is Dr. Josh Davis, PhD in psychology and neuroscience from Columbia University. He’s the international bestselling author of Two Awesome Hours and an upcoming title The Difference that Makes the Difference.

Josh is the founder of the Science-Based Leadership Institute, a so...

Jennifer Tsay is the co-founder and CEO of Shoott - with two Ts, a fast-growing company making professional photography more accessible for clients and a reliable supplemental income for photographers.

In just seven years, Shoott has grown from $800K to over $9 million in revenue, achieving operational profitability and expanding services to over sixty cities across the US.

"Jen" shares her journey in a very candidly and au...

Today we have Lloyd Rooney sharing his journey - from leaving the traditional schooling system at 12 due to dyslexia, learning how he learned best, to bartending in the UK and now owner-operating multiple restaurants in New Zealand, employing over 135 people.

Lloyed is a co-founder of The Jetson Group, a collection of distinctive restaurants in New Zealand:

The Quay, No. 8, Loco, and The Cove Cafe.

I had the chance to meet Lloyd and M...