x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

21 Hats Podcast

The 21 Hats Podcast presents an authentic weekly conversation with small business owners who are remarkably willing to share what’s working for them and what isn’t. Unlike many business podcasts, which tend to talk to highly successful entrepreneurs whose struggles are in the past, the 21 Hats Podcast features a rotating cast of business owners who are still very much in the trenches fighting the good fight. Every week, our regulars gather to talk about the kinds of important issues many owners

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

23:40

Dashboard: Are Your WFH-ers Really Working?

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/07/10

This week, Gene Marks tells Loren Feldman about what he calls the “TWATS,” which is shorthand for hybrid workers who choose to work in the office only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Gene doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that they’ve chosen to work from home on Mondays and Fridays. Plus: Gene also points to what he considers the Achilles heel of artificial intelligence and says that business owners should think twice about listening to the Supreme Court when it comes to discriminating

en

41:52

Why Do You Pay What You Pay?

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/07/04

This week, in episode 158, Paul Downs, Jay Goltz, and Sarah Segal talk about where the dust has settled after years of turmoil in the labor market. As you know all too well, we’ve been through COVID, supply-chain issues, inflation, labor shortages, the Great Resignation, minimum-wage hikes, new pay-transparency regulations, and countless rumors of recessions that have yet to come—all of which has had an impact on wages. And that’s why I decided to ask Paul, Jay, and Sarah where their thinking has

en

43:39

Embrace It. Leverage It. Or Die

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/27

This week, in episode 157, Liz Picarazzi, Sarah Segal, and Laura Zander wind up talking about artificial intelligence. They conclude that the time has come for business owners to take AI seriously. Laura says she’s already experimented with using ChatGPT to create lists, to write product descriptions, and to write a marketing plan for a new product. She even used ChatGPT to prepare a presentation for her staff about how to use ChatGPT. She did this in part to reassure them that they don’t have to

en

18:29

Dashboard: You Control Your Destiny

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/26

This week, Lou Mosca, who runs American Management Services, a consulting firm that helps businesses improve their performance, tells Loren Feldman why he doesn’t accept excuses from his clients. Whatever the economy or the labor market throws at them, Lou says, the owners control what happens within their own four walls. We also talk about why he always comes back to encouraging his clients to get in their cars and visit customers, why he thinks your best prospects just may be former customers,

en

39:19

Twelve Hours a Day, Six Days a Week

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/20

This week, in episode 156, we meet Jennifer Kerhin, the newest addition to the 21 Hats Podcast team. Jennifer’s business, SB Expos and Events, is an event-management business that survived the shut down in 2020 and has grown to more than $3 million a year in revenue. When COVID first hit, Jennifer tells Jay Goltz she really thought it would put her out of business; in the end, she says, it made her stronger. Even so, she is very much stuck working in her business, while looking for ways to extract

en

36:26

‘Being Isolated Is Just a Bad Idea’

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/13

This week, in episode 155, Hans Schrei and Shawn Busse talk about why they put their businesses through accelerators, and Paul Downs explains why he might have done the same thing if accelerators had existed back when he started his business—”although,” he says, “I was probably too dumb to realize the value of it.” Hans, who just completed a 13-week accelerator program with his partner, Luis, also tells us how Wunderkeks fared while he and Luis were in the program, what they got out of it, and why

en

22:37

Dashboard: Gene Marks on Florida’s New Immigration Law

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/12

Gene has a problem with it. He doesn’t think it goes far enough. That’s because he thinks it gives businesses with fewer than 25 employees an unfair advantage. Gene also warns that several “huge tax increases” are looming for small businesses -- but are they really tax increases? Plus: striking the right balance between salary and commission when paying sales people.

en

51:52

‘What Doesn’t Keep Me Up at Night?’

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/06

This week, for episode 154, we did something different. We recorded this session in Chicago at our very first 21 Hats in-person event. In May, some 20 impressive entrepreneurs from around the country, from different industries, with businesses of different sizes and stages, gathered to talk shop for three days. The last thing we did was to record this episode in which we gave the participants the opportunity to ask the podcast regulars anything they wanted. Those regulars included Jay Goltz, Sarah

en

22:22

Dashboard: Getting Past the Fear

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/06/05

This week, Ami Kassar tells Loren Feldman that in running MultiFunding, which helps businesses figure out their finance needs, he frequently meets business owners who know what they need to do but are reluctant to take that next step. One way to build your confidence, Ami says, is to make sure you really understand what drives your business model, which may require bringing in a fresh set of eyes, perhaps from a fractional CFO. Ami also talks about the current state of lending, his concerns about

en

84:35

Best Of: What It Takes to Build a Business

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/30

So, I decided to give the 21 Hats Podcast crew this week off. Between the Memorial Day holiday and our first 21 Hats in-person event the previous week in Chicago—attended by five of the podcast regulars—it seemed the right thing to do. It also seemed like a great opportunity to reprise one of our favorite all-time episodes. It’s not a used episode; it’s a certified pre-owned episode, or better yet, a greatest hits episode. We first published it in December of 2021, and it features highlights taken

en

46:06

Is PR Worth the Effort?

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/23

This week, in episode 153, William Vanderbloemen says good public relations is absolutely worth the time and money. Paul Downs says PR hasn’t worked for him. At this point, he says, there are all kinds of ways he’d rather spend his time and money. Meanwhile, Sarah Segal, who owns a PR firm, offers some tips on how to approach and how to employ a firm effectively. Along the way, we discuss what’s expensive when it comes to PR and whether owners can just do it themselves. Plus: Paul explains how he

en

20:05

Dashboard: Are We Really Going to Ban TikTok?

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/22

This week, Gene Marks tells Loren Feldman that he thinks the ban signed by Montana's governor is a political stunt that could do real damage to businesses that have come to rely on the app. And yet, there seems to be momentum for similar bans in other states and even at the federal level. Plus: how to avoid ERTC fraud, why bankruptcies are skyrocketing, and should the business community be doing more to warn against risking default?

en

53:17

Marketing Workshop: I Didn’t Know It Was Going to Work

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/16

This week, Shawn Busse and Loren Feldman talk to John Garrett about his contrarian approach to newspapers, marketing, and competition. Garrett has built a Texas-based chain of print newspapers that has managed to outcompete established news organizations and digital platforms for both community engagement and local advertising. Not surprisingly, when he first took out a $39,000 credit card loan in 2005 and started telling people that his business model would feature a monthly print publication that

en

17:56

Dashboard: Yes, It’s Time to Worry about the Debt...

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/15

This week, Gene Marks tells Loren Feldman that businesses should be making contingency plans in case there’s a default, especially if they rely on government contracts. Be careful how you spend and how you stash your cash. Plus: Gene gloats a bit about the end of the age of the worker (and then has some second thoughts). He also says reports of the death of the metaverse are greatly exaggerated and that it wouldn’t be so terrible if the government loses the ability to regulate.

en

44:25

I’m Not a Real CEO

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/09

This week, in episode 152, Jay Goltz, Liz Picarazzi, and Sarah Segal talk about the inherent conflicts between being an entrepreneur and being a CEO—and the different skill-sets each role requires. Does it make sense for the same person to do both jobs? Is being CEO even a full-time job? And when does it make sense to replace yourself as CEO? Liz says she’s thought about it. Jay, not so much: “Could I have found somebody 10, 15, 20 years ago who was a better manager? Sure. But it just wasn't worth

en

17:42

Dashboard: Solving Monopolies, Immigration, Tipped...

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/08

This week, John Arensmeyer, CEO of the Small Business Majority advocacy group, and Loren Feldman talk about some of the most intractable problems confronting business owners. And John offers some reason for hope -- mostly, he says, because there’s a growing, bipartisan effort to level the playing field for smaller businesses. The debt ceiling, of course, is another matter.

en

50:23

Bonus Episode: Not Sold on ESOPs? There’s a New...

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/02

This week, two special guests who have built highly successful companies talk about what they ultimately plan to do with those companies. Ari Weinzweig is co-founder of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, a collection of mostly food-related companies that are an iconic part of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brad Herrmann is co-founder of Text-Em-All, a software firm based near Dallas that helps organizations deliver personalized, informational, and emergency messages by text and by phone. Both Zingerman’s

en

26:06

Dashboard: Where’s the Money?

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/05/01

This week, Gene Marks takes Loren Feldman through a case study of how easy it is even for profitable businesses to get caught in a cash crunch. The problem, Gene explains, is that business owners often have to pay taxes on earnings that have yet to reach the owners. Where does the money go? To inventory, to capital expenditures, to accounts receivable among other places. How can owners avoid the crunch? By staying on top of their finances.

en

41:39

When CEOs Behave Badly

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/04/25

This week, in episode 151, our conversation starts with Shawn Busse and Jay Goltz trying to understand why CEOs keep going viral for their misguided attempts to rally the troops. Shawn suspects CEO screeds have always existed—they just haven’t been recorded. He also thinks they tend to come more from public company CEOs who are beholden to shareholders. Jay thinks they’re just morons. “I really don't understand how someone could be smart enough to run a big company like that,” he says, “and be so

en

21:12

Dashboard: America’s Economy Is Better than Americans...

21 Hats Podcast ·

2023/04/24

Yes, demand is tapering, and a recession is looming, Gene Marks tells Loren Feldman, but this is a great economy and a great country and people should stop complaining! Plus: Gene explains how some business owners get the state to pay for their employee training, how restaurants are finally adopting technology, and how to make sure your employees aren’t stealing from you. One tip: if you think an employee is stealing from you, send the employee on vacation.

en

527 results

Similar Podcasts

TaxTalent.com The Golden Rule Podcast

Adam Golden

TaxTalent.com Podcast

Tony Santiago

Handelsblatt Crime - spannende Streitfälle der deutschen Wirtschaft

Ina Karabasz, Solveig Gode, Sönke Iwersen

Deffner und Zschäpitz – Der Wirtschafts-Talk von WELT

WELT

Black Box - La scatola nera della finanza

Guido Brera e Gian Luca Comandini -...