Midway Business Podcast

Butch Zemar chats with John Andrade, who went from teenage Nextel hustler to selling an online car platform (pre-Carvana) to banking—and somehow lived to tell the tale.

His takeaways? Failures are tuition, visibility beats inboxes, and “No Soliciting” signs are just suggestions.

John also makes the case that advisory boards aren’t just for Fortune 500s—they’re for anyone trying not to blow up their business plan. Through his “Go Fo...

In this episode of the Midway Business Podcast, Butch Zemar talks with Lindy Hoyt, Founder of People Ambassadors, about why keeping employees engaged sometimes feels harder than keeping your New Year’s resolution past January.

Lindy shares how most companies confuse “butts in seats” with engagement—and then wonder why turnover looks like a revolving door. Her take: retention requires intention. Don’t drag people back to the office ...

Host Butch Zemar sits down with Bill Clayton of Transworld Systems, the fixed-fee collection service ($10 an account) even the Girl Scouts would use. Founded in 1970 by doctors tired of losing profits to percentage-based agencies, Transworld recovers overdue accounts without torching customer relationships—a “patient who pays stays” kind of philosophy.

Bill dishes on why most businesses wait too long to act (once it’s six months ov...

In this episode, Butch Zemar chats with Virginia McGann of Integrated Back Office Solutions, who turns financial chaos into clear business roadmaps. She’s seen it all—QuickBooks files built during Super Bowl commercials, negative bank balances that somehow still cash checks, and owners calling “money in the account” a profit margin. It’s part detective work, part intervention, and entirely about helping business owners stop guessin...

Host Butch Zemar chats with Michael Kupchak—accountant, educator, fraud examiner, and youth sports coach—about a career path that runs from small family business to teaching at the University of Chicago. Michael shares how blending accounting with information sciences put him in the sweet spot for AI’s rise—not to replace humans, but to kill repetitive work so you can focus on the good stuff (like lunch).

He warns that in fraud, th...

Host Butch Zemar sits down with Jamal Wolf, who went from being Circuit City’s #1 computer salesperson (back when selling a desktop was like selling a car) to running two companies—Chicago Smart Business Solutions and Chicago Smart Realty Solutions. His career detour wasn’t exactly voluntary; after corporate commission “restructuring” (aka, “we’re changing how you get paid, so you make less”) and the 2008 job market disaster, Jamal...

In this episode, Butch Zemar chats with tech attorney Lisa Gavin, who’s navigated everything from fintech to ransomware settlements (yes, that’s a thing). Lisa lays out what happens when a hacker locks down your data and demands crypto—hint: there’s no Liam Neeson, just consultants billing by the hour and your cyber insurer asking if you’ve “read the policy.”

She introduces tabletop drills—live-action cr...

In this episode, Butch Zemar chats with benefits vet Gary Blaum, who’s spent decades in the TPA and PBM trenches. Spoiler: PBMs were cooking the books, and Gary brought spreadsheets to the gunfight. After years of chasing down shady contracts, he found something better—Vitable—a fixed-cost primary care model that sends nurse practitioners to your employees’ homes. Yep, house calls are back, and no, it’s not 1942.

Employees love the...

🎙️ In this episode of the Midway Business Podcast, Butch Zemar dives into the unglamorous truth about why people give up too early — and no, it’s not just because Netflix released another season of something shiny. From childhood dreams of becoming an astronaut (thanks for nothing, Navy recruiter) to navigating the chaotic galaxy known as health insurance, Butch shares battle-tested stories about how success isn’t a straight line ...

In this episode of the Zemar Podcast, Butch Zemar takes us on a wild ride from outdated Navy aircraft to outdated employer health plans — because apparently, both refuse to die quietly. Using a broken FLIR pod as a metaphor (and no, not the kind of pod you cry in after seeing your renewal increase), Butch breaks down why starting from scratch isn't such a bad thing — whether it's rewiring aircraft or rebuilding your benefits strate...

In this episode, Butch Zemar delves headfirst into the bureaucratic complexities that hinder small and mid-sized businesses when it comes to managing employee benefits. He explores why some companies act like deer in headlights when faced with cost-saving opportunities — usually because emotions are driving the bus while logic is locked in the trunk. Butch calls out the common bottleneck culprit: the business owner.

Spoiler alert —...

Let’s be honest—setting goals is easy. Achieving them? That’s where CFOs start twitching and HR hides under their desks.

In this episode, we get a masterclass in corporate reality checks. Think you're overworked? Imagine trying to hit business goals while your benefits plan is hemorrhaging money like a rookie finance intern let loose in Excel.

Butch Zemar breaks down the art of not giving up too early—unless, of course, you enjoy 5...

This episode dives into the all-too-familiar boardroom ritual: reviewing the company's health plan with furrowed brows, followed by the annual shrug and “let’s just raise the deductible again.” Butch Zemar calls out this Groundhog Day behavior with a fresh prescription—less déjà vu, more innovation. Drawing inspiration from Big Hero 6 (because who says insurance can’t be animated?), he challenges businesses to think differently.

Br...

In this episode, we lace up the skates, tape our sticks (badly), and take a hard-checking look at how beer league hockey can teach business professionals more than a dozen leadership seminars and a thousand "synergy" emails ever could. What starts as a midlife crisis on ice turns into a full-on MBA in grit, leverage, and learning not to chase the puck—or the next shiny business trend.

Between getting yelled at by semi-retired goali...

This episode takes a bold stand for a concept often left behind after the annual ethics training: integrity. From a 19th-century shipwreck survivor refusing to sell out his story to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, we explore how standing up for what’s right has always been uncomfortable, unpopular—and often unprofitable. Naturally, that brings us to today’s healthcare industry, where "ethical pricing" is apparently a mythi...

In this episode, we tackle everyone’s favorite workplace fantasy: achieving long-term goals without sacrificing lunch breaks, sanity, or the sacred Slack meme thread. From health insurance horror stories to motivational gym metaphors, it’s a brutally honest look at why your benefits plan (and your personal growth strategy) tend to fall apart around Q2. The solution? Stop treating progress like a New Year’s resolution and start buil...

Ah, health insurance: the annual corporate Hunger Games where employers try to look generous, employees pretend to understand their benefits, and everyone ends up Googling “What is coinsurance?” at 2 a.m. This episode dives into the heart of every HR manager's favorite nightmare—managing costs while offering benefits that don’t cause immediate mutiny in the break room. From the post-WWII days of “Hey, free coverage!” to today’s 14%...

This episode hits the sweet spot between locker room grit and boardroom buzzwords. From high school guard rotations to youth hockey chaos, it’s a deep dive into how sports build skills that every executive LinkedIn post pretends they were born with: mindset, grit, team synergy, and an unshakable ability to take a hit and spin it into a Q3 growth opportunity. The lesson? Whether you're breaking into the zone or the market, you’d bet...

Welcome to the wild intersection of strategic parenting and small-business leadership, where bedtime negotiations require more finesse than a boardroom merger, and every family meal feels like an offsite with zero catering budget. In this episode, we explore what happens when you attempt to scale a family of four high-energy hockey-playing boys while maintaining operational efficiency, emotional bandwidth, and a hockey tournament t...