Writer and activities director Josh Urban believes in the transformative power of starting small to achieve big creative goals. "The idea is harnessing the power of short form projects," Urban explains, noting that "if you start with a little bit you segment your improvement you put it out to get a quick turnaround time." Rather than diving into massive undertakings like novels, Urban advocates for building creative muscles through shorter works: "if I can spend 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there and I can write an article I can write an essay and write a poem then you can put those together so it takes away that excuse for not starting." His approach proved successful when he authored "Cities on a Hill," a collection documenting life in nursing homes during COVID lockdowns, after a resident told him in a dream "we wrote a book and we sold a million copies." Urban's philosophy extends beyond writing to any creative or business endeavor: "if you see a problem and you can use your particular talents and skills to solve it that's a good path to pursue." Through his blog, published three times weekly, and his community work, Urban demonstrates how consistent short-form content can build meaningful connections and create lasting impact. Ready to transform your creative process?

Visit joshurban.com to discover more insights on turning small projects into significant achievements.

Thank you to Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea in downtown Roanoke, Virginia for lighting us record in your coffee shop!

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Harvard graduate and Goldman Sachs alum Injil Muhammad Jr. is revolutionizing how Gen Z professionals navigate early career challenges through his company Budtle. After experiencing firsthand the disconnect between academic preparation and workplace reality, Muhammad recognized that "there's so many aspects that just have nothing to do with your academic preparation or expertise because it's just a different environment." His solution addresses three critical soft skills often overlooked in traditional education: self-advocacy ("You have to actually advocate for yourself and make sure that you have the visibility"), strategic networking, and time management. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z entered the workforce during unprecedented times—experiencing remote work as the norm rather than a perk, and facing AI automation of traditional entry-level tasks. Muhammad's framework distinguishes between coaches (peers 2-4 years ahead), mentors (advisory relationships), and sponsors (advocates who "speak for you when you're not in the room"), providing a systematic approach to professional relationship building. For Gen Z professionals struggling with workplace transition or companies looking to better engage their junior talent, Muhammad's active LinkedIn presence offers valuable insights five times per week, and comprehensive resources are available at buddleplatform.com.dearbusinesscoachpodcast.com/subscribe

Allen Evitts, a seasoned project manager with nearly three decades in technology, recently shared insights from his extensive career spanning telecommunications, business analysis, and education on the Dear Business Coach podcast. "I'm a project manager have been a project manager for nearly 30 years in technology," Evitts explained, describing his journey from theater production to corporate project management. His unique background includes working on groundbreaking projects like the original iPhone launch, which he revealed "was originally launched by AT&T... we called it Project Bob."

Drawing parallels between his early theater work and project management, Evitts noted that "when you're producing directing theater live theater it's very close to the same skill set as a project manager because you have a concrete deliverable that you're trying to accomplish you have a time frame and a deadline." Now transitioning into education and instruction, Evitts emphasizes a fundamental principle for project professionals: "every day when I get up... as a project manager trying to get things done you look at it as you know am I organizing more... or is it communicate... or is it leadership." His philosophy centers on embracing the process rather than just focusing on outcomes, stating "you have to find the small victories along the way and if you're trying to do something you really do have to enjoy getting up in the morning and doing the work." With a book in development focusing on his "organization communication leadership kind of triad," Evitts encourages interested professionals to connect with him, saying "if you reach out and say that you saw me here um I will definitely take your call and call you back and or text you back."

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Scott Jacobson of Onward Equity has transformed his approach to real estate investing by discovering the power of passive investment strategies. "I discovered that I could essentially hire someone else to do all the work and still get almost the same financial returns," explains Jacobson, who evolved from managing individual rental properties to leading commercial real estate syndications. Through his experience, he realized that traditional real estate ownership often becomes "almost like another job," but passive investing allows investors to diversify away from the day-to-day management while remaining in real estate as an investment class. "I really feel like an educated investor is the best type of investor," Jacobson notes, emphasizing his commitment to transparency by providing monthly newsletters and quarterly financial updates to keep investors informed about their investment performance. His philosophy centers on the belief that "most people don't even know that this kind of opportunity exists" in alternative asset classes beyond traditional stocks and bonds. To learn more about passive real estate investment opportunities, visit onward-equity.com and download Jacobson's free ebook "The Top 10 Reasons to Be a Passive Real Estate Investor" by entering your email when the popup appears on the website.

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Email subscribers, look for the article on Scott Jacobson's episode in the next Dear Business Coach Podcast Magazine release!

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Elite Business Architect Annie Harmon brings three decades of C-level experience to help coaches and CEOs build profitable, scalable businesses through her unique "aligned performance business blueprint." Drawing from her extensive IT management background, Annie explains, "I'm a really good process person from the IT department that I had my background in, so I was able to develop processes that are easy to follow and repeatable and help the customer gain new clients." Her approach goes beyond typical business coaching by focusing on the human element: "The whole idea behind the call is to build trust and build the relationship so you spend quite a bit of time right up front building that relationship with a potential customer so that you can gain trust and ease their mind through the conversation." After retiring from a 35-year IT career, Annie discovered that traditional coaching courses "left holes in the processes," prompting her to create her comprehensive system that takes clients "from branding all the way through to the sales conversation so that they feel confident and are able to enroll clients easily." Her methodology emphasizes sustainable growth through strategic time management, as she shares: "I use a six-week block for all my work and break goals down into six-week blocks, and that's the way I teach it to my clients so that they can get more accomplished in a year." Ready to transform your business with proven processes?

Visit Annie at anniesharmon.com to book your consultation and access free resources including her business launch guide and hidden talent assessment – because as Annie believes, "you can't accomplish everything that you need to accomplish in your life without setting up some kind of goal and some kind of vision and breaking it down into bite-sized pieces."

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Bonus Episode

From Live Audio with Elizabeth

Producer's Notes Session

Dear Business Coach podcast host Elizabeth Walker opened up about her ongoing struggle with writer's block, offering fellow content creators and podcasters a vulnerable glimpse into the creative challenges that even seasoned hosts face. Drawing from her recent comedy coaching sessions with guest speaker Clayton Fletcher, Walker explored the fundamental differences between speaking and writing, revealing how her comfort with verbal storytelling doesn't always translate to putting pen to paper—or fingers to keyboard. Her personal journey through therapy-recommended journaling, digital voice recording, and the preparation for a potential standup comedy debut in New York City this fall illustrates a universal truth for many podcasters and speakers: sometimes our greatest strengths in one medium can become unexpected obstacles in another. Walker's willingness to share her own creative blocks, complete with a workplace story involving a toupee-wearing manager that she's still refining for comedic timing, demonstrates that the path from spoken word to written content isn't always linear, and that embracing alternative methods—like using transcription tools to capture spoken stories—can unlock new creative possibilities for those who think better out loud than on paper.

Francin

# Mental Health as a Business Advantage: Why Smart Entrepreneurs Are Prioritizing Employee Well-Being

In a compelling conversation on the Dear Business Coach Podcast, mental health advocate and entrepreneur Francine Binns shared how she transformed her franchise business by putting employee well-being first—and saw remarkable results. "Business includes people. Your staff are people, and your customers, your clients are people, and you cannot remove that aspect from business," Binns explained, emphasizing that caring for people emotionally and mentally directly impacts profitability. Drawing from her psychology background and business experience in Jamaica, she revealed her competitive edge: creating space for staff to decompress during work hours. "If you have a business where people do not feel psychologically safe, then you, as the entity, you're missing out on the potential of this person," she noted. Her approach proved successful as customers specifically chose her location for the exceptional experience her well-supported team provided. Binns advocates for what she calls "smart work" over just hard work, using a powerful car engine analogy: "Our brain is our engine, and you cannot ignore what is going on there... if you were checking the water level in your engine, you wouldn't know it overheated." Now co-hosting the Balance in Bloom podcast, available on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon, Binns continues championing the integration of mental health awareness in business settings. To learn more about creating psychologically safe workplaces and hear more transformative stories, connect with Francine Binns on LinkedIn and subscribe to Balance in Bloom, releasing new episodes every two weeks.

In an era where AI and automation are reshaping industries, Liam O'Neill, Managing Director of BPMD, advocates for a fundamental shift in how businesses approach process improvement. "A company being able to understand what it does and then improve it, it's not a nice to have capability. It's absolutely essential," O'Neill explains, emphasizing that traditional consulting models often create unhealthy dependencies. His philosophy centers on empowering organizations from within: "What we try to do is set up an internal process excellence team. That's a team internally who can almost act as their own consultants. We don't want them to rely on us long-term." This approach recognizes that sustainable transformation requires more than external expertise—it demands respect for existing institutional knowledge while building capacity for continuous improvement. As O'Neill notes from his experience with complex industries like offshore oil drilling, "There's some things that really do need a human touch," and successful transformation means "taking what they're doing, finding how we can do that a little bit better" rather than imposing generic solutions. For businesses of all sizes navigating today's rapidly changing landscape, O'Neill's message is clear: "The ability to adapt the way you work isn't something that's optional. It's something that's really critical."

Connect with Liam O'Neill: Follow him on LinkedIn where he shares weekly videos and content covering "intricacies of the process excellence space from process modeling to process mining" with "tips and tricks that I hope are useful" for making your business "as excellent as is possible." As O'Neill puts it, LinkedIn is "absolutely the best place to find me."

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