The Microshift Project Podcast

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we get real about the moments that change everything. This isn’t about hype or quick fixes. It’s about perseverance, transformation, and the small shifts that move us from stuck to unstoppable.

Today’s episode is personal. I’m sitting down with my wife, Crystal Volinchak — co-founder of CNV Creative, an award-winning marketing strategist, and one of the most resilient people I k...

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we shine a light on the small, powerful shifts that change the course of our lives. Around here, it’s not about quick fixes. It’s about perseverance, resilience, and the everyday microshifts that build lasting transformation.

In this episode, I sit down with Irina Shehovsov — founder of Reclaim Your Life, transformational coach, and #1 International Best-Selling Author of The Gi...

Welcome back to The Microshift Project Podcast — where we explore the moments that change everything. Around here, it’s not about hype or quick fixes. It’s about perseverance, hard-earned wisdom, and the small shifts — the microshifts — that add up to transformation.

In this episode, I sit down with Jan Raeder, better known as The SelfCare Sensei. Jan is a wellbeing educator, speaker, and gold medal–winning karateka with a master’s ...

Some cycles run deep — loss, abuse, addiction, trauma. They pass from one generation to the next unless someone decides to break them.

In this episode, I share my most personal story yet. I grew up losing my mom young, living with abuse, and carrying anger I didn’t know how to process. Addiction consumed me, leading to homelessness, jail, and estrangement from everyone I loved. That was the cycle repeating — pain leading to destruct...

What does addiction recovery have in common with building a business? More than you might think.

In this episode, I trace the parallels between my journey through recovery and my path as an entrepreneur. Both start at rock bottom. Both demand relentless perseverance. And both are built through the same principles: structure, accountability, community, resilience, and the discipline to keep showing up when it would be easier to quit.

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What once nearly destroyed you can become the very thing that sets you apart.

In this episode, I talk about what I call The Addict’s Advantage. Addiction sharpened traits in me — resourcefulness, creativity under pressure, risk-taking, and an ability to hustle relentlessly. Left unchecked, those traits were destructive. But when redirected, they became the same strengths that fuel my work as an entrepreneur and leader today.

This con...

For years, I tried to force everything — outcomes, opportunities, even people. I thought if I pushed hard enough, I could control the timing of my life. But what I’ve learned is that real change doesn’t come from forcing it. It comes from the small, steady shifts that compound over time — what I call microshifts.

In this episode, I talk about what happens when you stop trying to bend life to your will and start trusting the process....

Everyone talks about the moment you decide to get clean. Few talk about what comes next.

Recovery isn’t a finish line — it’s the start of a whole new life you have to build from the ground up. After addiction, the real work begins: creating a new community when your old circles pull you back, forcing structure into days that used to be chaos, and facing the loneliness of rebuilding while family and friends expect instant results you...

There are moments in life that cut through all the noise—the ones where someone tells you the truth you’ve been avoiding. For me, that moment came at exactly midnight on Valentine’s Day, 2005, when I walked into the Rescue Mission at 21 years old. I was broke, homeless, and addicted, and Frank—the man on duty that night—looked me in the eye and asked a question that stopped me cold:

“What are you doing with your life that at 21 year...

Some stories never leave you. For me, one of those is Larry Sweeney.

Larry was a force of nature—charismatic, talented, and the kind of guy who lit up a room. We brought him into our wrestling company back in the mid-2000s, and even then, you could tell he had something special. But behind the energy and the showmanship, he was fighting battles most people never saw.

I wanted to save him because I saw so much of myself in him—his str...

Sometimes it takes someone else seeing greatness in you before you can see it yourself. For me, that person was Tony Lariccia.

Tony was a philanthropist, a businessman, and a Youngstown legend. But to me, he became something even more important — a mirror I couldn’t ignore. When others doubted me, Tony stopped in the middle of a conversation one day, turned to the room, and said, “Did you know Nicky used to be a drug addict? Be prou...

Every journey has a starting point. For me, it began in a place I never thought I’d be—rock bottom. This first episode is my story, told in full. The early losses, the bad decisions, the years I almost didn’t make it through… and the small, steady shifts that brought me back.

I’m sharing the experiences that shaped The Microshift Project—why perseverance matters more than quick wins, and how micro changes can create a life you’re pr...

Sometimes the people who change our lives aren’t the ones we’ve known for years. Sometimes, it’s someone we’ve just met — or barely know — who sees us in a moment when we can’t see ourselves.

In this episode, I share the story of a stranger who gave me hope at one of the lowest points in my life. It wasn’t a grand gesture. It wasn’t a motivational speech. It was a simple, human moment that reminded me I wasn’t invisible — and that I...

Not every turning point comes from someone close to you. Sometimes it’s an unexpected interaction that stays with you for decades.

In this episode, I share the story of a police officer I met during one of the lowest points in my life. I was braced for judgment, criticism, or indifference — but instead, I was met with respect. That moment didn’t erase the challenges I was facing, but it reminded me that I was still a person worth se...