UNDERESTIMATED: The Small Business Advantage Podcast

Editor Barbara Scofidio brings 30+ years of media expertise...and the real-world experience of owning four retail stores...to this candid conversation. She and Shawna break down exactly how small business owners can earn free press: building genuine relationships with editors, creating newsworthy events, using LinkedIn, pursuing awards, and pitching articles that actually get picked up. Plus, what to do when negative coverage hits....

Have you ever done a collaboration with another small business to drive business to both of you? In this episode, Shawna Suckow takes it a giant step forward -- talking about weird, unusual collaborations that stop scrolls, earn free media coverage, and build community. From taxidermy and cheese to donuts and beer (and bikes and beer, and dogs and beer) to kids and mortgages, crafts and car washes, death and coffee, and more. No bi...

If you feel like you're drowning in AI tools, you're not alone. In this episode of Underestimated: The Small Business Advantage Podcast, Shawna Suckow cuts through the noise and shares the only five AI tools small business owners actually need. No tech overwhelm. No complicated setups. Just practical tools that save time, sharpen decision-making, and help you move faster.You'll learn how to build your own AI board of...

If your marketing feels scattered, that's because it probably is. Josh Anderson, founder of MKTG Reboot and fractional CMO to growing businesses, walks Shawna through the exact framework he uses to bring clarity to chaotic marketing operations. From cutting 25-30% of what most businesses are doing (because it isn't working) to building the one messaging document that gets your whole team speaking the same language... this...

You've posted. You've waited. And all you got back were crickets. If your social media is a list of features and benefits, that's exactly the problem ... and Shawna breaks it down in this solo episode. Science is clear: facts don't stick. Stories do. Emotion makes things memorable, and memorable makes you money. Shawna walks through the exact formula for turning any boring feature into a story that stops the scr...

Every small business owner knows the feeling: too many things on the list, all of them screaming urgent, none of them obviously most important. Clarity expert Debbie Peterson joins Shawna to break down why overwhelm is a choice problem, not a time problem. Debbie shares her Clarity Compass framework, starting with the single most powerful question you can ask yourself, plus her Do It/Delete It/Delegate It tool for weeks when everyt...

Social media feels overwhelming for a reason. You’re trying to be everywhere — LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok — all while running a business. For small business owners with limited time and resources, that approach isn’t sustainable, and it’s quietly hurting your results. In this episode of Underestimated, Shawna Suckow explains why competing everywhere like large brands is the wrong strategy and how narrowing your ...

Your customers are not the same as they were five years ago. They’re more skeptical. More informed. More impatient. And far less tolerant of corporate-sounding marketing. In this episode of Underestimated, Shawna Suckow breaks down what has actually changed in buyer behavior — and what small business marketing must do differently to stay relevant. This is not just mindset; It’s tactics. You’ll learn 1) How to market to a more skept...

Small businesses have been told for decades that they need to “act big” to compete. Bigger systems. Bigger messaging. Bigger presence. But that advice is quietly draining energy, resources, and the very advantage small businesses have today. In this first episode of Underestimated, Shawna Suckow breaks down why pretending to be bigger than you are is slowing growth — and why owning your size is now a competitive edge. You’ll learn ...

You didn’t start your business to become the overworked employee of your own company. Yet somehow you’re the CEO, head of marketing, operations, HR, and customer service—all before lunch. In this trailer episode of Underestimated, buyer behavior expert Shawna Suckow explains why small businesses don’t lose because they’re small—they lose when they try to act big. In a low-trust economy, small is no longer a liability. It’s leverage...