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PODCAST

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered

The Stern Truth: Business Unfiltered is the no-BS podcast for overwhelmed small business owners & entrepreneurs who are tired of the noise, the hype, and the so-called “experts” telling them how to grow their business. Hosted by Marshall Stern, a seasoned business owner and coach with over 35 years of experience, this podcast cuts through the confusion to bring you real, practical advice that actually works.If you feel stuck, exhausted, and like you’re doing it all alone—this is for you. Each

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

43:07

Ep. 73 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/04/23

It’s another Business Therapy Thursday, and this one might hit home for anyone who has ever second-guessed their pricing. I sit down with Earl Thomas, host of the VOICE POWER podcast, and we have an honest and energizing deep dive into pricing confidence. Earl has been podcasting for six seasons, reaching listeners across countless countries and cities. But he came to me with the challenge of feeling confident when it comes time to name his price. He and I go over the three things...

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45:18

Ep. 72 The Stern Truth: The Missing E in STRAT GY...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/04/21

Daria Ionescu knows strategy. She actually started off her career with in-house marketing. A little bit of branding, digital marketing, and some social media. What she found was missing in all of this was the real strategy behind it, so she started her own company. Now, her strategy consulting business, Lume Strategy, takes people from Point A to Point B to hit their target audience. Even though she’s been in business for less than a year, one Stern Truth Daria learned is how introspective en...

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46:07

Ep. 71 The Stern Truth: What is Your MORE With Denise...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/04/14

Denise Frenette is all about the “more.” She’s not specifically about having more things and having more nice dinners (which she admits she does love). The "more" that Denise is talking about is the balance between running a business and having what you truly want in life. She even wrote a book on it, aptly titled "MORE". An entrepreneur several times over, Denise never felt like she fit into the typical “9-5” corporate box. She talks a lot in this episode about grit and determination. As Den...

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43:22

Ep. 70 The Stern Truth: How Resilience and Teamwork...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/04/07

Business ownership is a spectrum. A business owner and an entrepreneur are not the same. I drop these golden nuggets, and more, on Stephanie Lehr’s new podcast, The Stephanie Lehr Show (which is episode 70 of The Stern Truth.) Stephanie is a relationship coach. In starting her new podcast, I had the honour of being her first guest. She and I get into a variety of topics. We even discuss how, during my leadership coach training, I really wasn’t leading at home and how it took me some time to r...

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35:51

Ep. 69 The Stern Truth: The Oi's of Business &...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/03/31

Kim Long is my guest on this episode of the Stern Truth. As a registered psychologist in Alberta with a teaching background, Kim was inspired by her family of helpers to get into the field of psychology, despite some “oi’s” along the way, Covid being a big one. Through our conversation, I tell him how post-secondary experience teaches business but it doesn't teach entrepreneurship - things like cash flow, ROI, or COGS are more on-the-job lessons. Leadership was a big factor for Kim whe...

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37:55

Ep. 68 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/03/26

We’re back with another Business Therapy Thursday, and this one is extra special. David Wallace, owner of Around the Block Butcher & Market in Ottawa, was first featured on Episode 23. We talked about his incredible entrepreneurial journey through the pandemic. Now, a year later, David is back, and this time, we go deeper. Around the Block just celebrated 13 years in business, and David has built something truly special with his wife and business partner, Chantelle. He came into this epis...

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43:35

Ep. 67 The Stern Truth: The Power of Being in Flow...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/03/24

Melodie Dewsbury is a passionate entrepreneur and founder of The Paper Fox Collective, a marketing agency in Mission, B.C. Her journey took her from entrepreneur to corporate life to teaching and back to entrepreneurship. This time around, she’s got clarity, confidence, and a whole lot of momentum. Melodie shares how she reinvented herself after stepping back from her first business and spending years in corporate roles that just didn’t fit. When the mismatch started showing up physically, sh...

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16:05

Ep. 66 The Stern Truth: Year of the Horse and Your...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/03/17

2026 is the year of the horse, so, of course, I have to revisit my story about going to a horseback riding ranch. The story in this episode might sound familiar, but believe me, it’s important, so it bears repeating. I was in a beautiful open field with around 25 other people. I wanted my horse to go faster, so I tried to smack the reins, ignoring the signs that told me this horse didn’t want to go fast. Well, one smack did it, and the horse went so fast that I narrowly missed a tree branch.&...

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42:07

Ep. 65 The Stern Truth: When and How to Grow Your...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/03/10

Tedi Bezna is the proud owner of an all-woman marketing agency. Searchlight Digital specializes in SEO, Google Ads, website content, anything to get you searched. She’s had Searchlight for eight years and counting and is still growing. Like many of our guests, Tedi was raised by entrepreneurs. That feeling of doing something for herself inspired her from a young age—she even sold plums from her backyard tree as one of her first business ventures. A self-professed lover of the “nerdy” stuff, T...

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39:56

Ep. 64 The Stern Truth: Clarity Breeds Confidence as...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/03/03

There are a lot of business coaches, podcasters, mentors, and entrepreneurs out there. Michael Morrison has done all of it. Michael is a business coach, business loan officer, and podcaster from Oklahoma. His main goal is to get business owners unstuck when they reach a point that they just can’t grow anymore on their own. I saw so many similarities between his story and mine – starting businesses, exiting, and coaching, all around a similar timeline. He and I also have similar thoughts on wh...

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39:14

Ep. 63 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/02/26

It’s another Business Therapy Thursday. This is a story so many small business owners will recognize. I sit down with Steve Hayek, a home inspector in year seven of his business, and he is still doing almost everything himself. He’s got real growth happening for his company, All Branch Inspections, along with a solid reputation, and referrals coming in organically. But like so many entrepreneurs I work with, he’s stuck in a 90/10 split - 90% working IN the business, barely 10% working O...

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12:40

Ep. 62 The Stern Truth: Close More Sales By Doing This

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/02/24

You’ve already seen the title. This episode is a DOOZY, I promise you. We always default back to spending, spending, spending on marketing. Facebook Ads, Google Ads, money on your storefront or your interior. But there’s a huge gap that stops you from closing sales. That’s the failure to connect with your prospects. Are you connecting with your customers? Let’s even take a step back from that - are you connecting with your team? Are they just a number? I share a story of goi...

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36:46

Ep. 61 The Stern Truth: From Click to Close: Why...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/02/17

As a Fractional CMO, Meghan helps clients make their marketing roadmaps on a part-time basis. She connects the dots between their CRMs, qualified leads, social media, and email marketing. From click to close, Meghan is there. She started out as an entrepreneur in her 20s. She bought a franchise, sold it all across Canada, and learned about business along the way. She’s also had retail stores, has put on conferences, and has worked with consumer-packaged goods. As busy as she was, she ev...

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39:21

Ep. 60 The Stern Truth: How Business Development Can...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/02/10

Kelly Kennedy started his company, Capital Business Development, five years ago, and he hasn’t stopped since. As an expert in business development, he has the itch to talk about it—like so many of us podcasters, he started his own, the Business Development Podcast. What is business development, though? Kelly says that it strategically brings in new revenue to your business by first focusing on the right opportunities. As he explains, it’s not the same as sales, which includes closing. It’s th...

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12:21

Ep. 59 The Stern Truth: How to Really Build and Grow...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/02/03

I’ve seen business owners throwing a lot of money at their marketing. But when prospects come to their door, their systems aren’t there. The experience doesn’t measure up to what was advertised. So how can we wow our customers SO much that they come back over and over again? The people and systems that create the experience hold so much weight. If you’re pushing out marketing without the processes or customer service, you’re throwing your money away. Not only that, your revenue just won’t inc...

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46:04

Ep. 58 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/01/29

Send us a text It’s been a while since our last Business Therapy Thursday session, but we’re back. Our guest on this episode is Hanan Alameh, who’s looking for guidance on where to take her business next and the steps to do it. Hanan has a luxury charcuterie board business she runs in Ottawa called Pretty Eats by Hanan. And she knows exactly where she wants to go—by the spring of 2028, she wants to have her own location, a café, while still catering. I kick off our conversation by reminding H...

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46:21

Ep. 57 The Stern Truth: Where is Your Hidden Revenue...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/01/27

Send us a text I sit down with Doug C. Brown of CEO Sales Strategies in this episode. He and I talk about how to increase your revenue and increase the growth trajectory of your business. He first started his business journey when he was a kid working with his dad. That turned into working for a company owned by Tony Robbins. During his time there, Doug was able to do something amazing – look at the numbers, see where money was hiding, and free it up to make the company grow from $9 million-$...

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41:32

Ep. 56 The Stern Truth: The Power of Failing Forward...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/01/20

Send us a text Audree McIvor went from running a cannabis store to owning a counselling clinic. And this isn’t her first time around the business block - this is her third business, so she has a lot of golden nuggets to share. She’s quite comfortable with being active, moving from industry to industry (maybe it’s the mom in her). Audree even works part-time at another clinic to make sure she’s growing and learning to make her practice even better. One business mantra that she understands well...

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12:01

Ep. 55 The Stern Truth: Improving Your Results With...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/01/13

Send us a text What’s next for the new year? You’re probably thinking that every January. I have a suggestion for you that so many business owners don’t utilize. Would you like to improve your results this year? (You probably do.) Do you have times when you feel lonely in your business and you’re doing everything yourself? (I bet you are. I know I’ve felt that.) My suggestion is to have an inner circle. Not a circle of friends or family, but a group of trusted advisors, confidante...

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43:15

Ep 54: Two Styles. One Mission. Unstoppable Growth...

THE STERN TRUTH: Business Unfiltered ·

2026/01/06

Send us a text In this unique episode, I sit down with a dynamic duo, Alison and David Setton, who are not just business partners but life partners as well. For over 10 years, I've watched both of them navigate their entrepreneurial journeys, and now they've joined forces in financial services with an ambitious vision to build an agency of 100 associates. Alison shares her move from engineering to financial services. Admittedly, she said she wasn’t naturally entrepreneurial. Eventually,...

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71 results

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