Entrepreneurship & Business Growth Episodes

About the Guest: Raymond Lee is the founder of CareerMinds, a virtual outplacement and leadership development company he started in 2008. After years of building the business, Raymond went through a deep season of self-reflection in late 2021 that reshaped how he saw leadership, identity, and growth. He later sold CareerMinds and stepped into a new chapter with even greater clarity around impact, authenticity, and helping people find work that truly aligns with who they are. He’s also the host o...

About the guest: Dr. Alexa D’Agostino is a “doctor of marketing” and founder/operator who’s built and scaled multiple businesses. She’s known for blending sharp performance marketing thinking with operational reality, systems, metrics, team structure, and the mindset required to scale without breaking. She also runs an invite-only mastermind built around proximity to high-level operators and coaches. About the episode: Most leaders say they want growth, more revenue, more clients, more recogniti...

About the Guest: Sardor Umrdinov is a serial entrepreneur, founder, and ecosystem builder who went from growing up in Uzbekistan without basic resources — including a refrigerator — to running one of the largest appliance repair companies in the U.S., plus a rapidly scaling multi-business ecosystem. Sardor’s story is defined by relentless curiosity, extreme accountability, and a willingness to enter every new room before he feels ready. He’s a master of creating scalable structures, building int...

About the Guest: Anya Cheng is the Founder and CEO of Taelor, a leading men's clothing subscription service that provides personal styling and curated rentals, powered by AI. A Girls in Tech 40 Under 40 honoree, she previously led eCommerce and digital innovation teams at Meta, eBay, Target, and McDonald's. Taelor’s mission is to help people dress up to achieve their goals, whether it's for a job interview, date night, or big presentation, because looking good shouldn’t be a barrier to succes...

Too many leaders hit a wall trading time for money, playing it safe, or letting fear hold them back. Aaron Golub, legally blind, former D1 athlete, NFL free agent, and now speaker-turned-SaaS founder, didn’t let obstacles stop him. In this episode, you’ll learn how adaptability, trust, and self-awareness helped him move from keynote stages to co-founding Precision Search, a SaaS business with his sister. About the Guest: Aaron is the first legally blind Division I athlete to play football, a for...

👤 About the Guest: Julio Melara is a seasoned CEO, publisher, entrepreneur, and author with a deep passion for personal development and leadership. With a track record of transforming adversity into opportunity, Julio brings decades of experience in business, publishing, and motivational speaking. He’s the publisher of Business Report and the author of several impactful books, including It Only Takes Everything You’ve Got . Julio lives what he teaches, and in this episode, he shares why being gr...

👤 About the Guest: Philippe Bouissou is a seasoned entrepreneur, growth expert, and former Apple executive who worked directly with Steve Jobs. With a PhD in physics and over 35 years of experience across 23 boards, Philippe is the founder of Blue Dots Partners and author of the critically acclaimed book Aligning the Dots. He specializes in helping businesses unlock their full growth potential through a unique, data-driven framework he calls the A4 Precision Alignment methodology. 🎧 About the...

Chris Hood, a keynote speaker and expert in merging customer success with digital strategy, shares insights on the importance of customer-centric cultures and the power of storytelling. He emphasizes the need to break through assumptions and change mindsets to prioritize customer needs. Hood discusses the seven-stage framework outlined in his book, Customer Transformation, and highlights the significance of building a customer-focused culture throughout the organization. He also emphasizes the r...

Steve Mellor sits down with special guest Steven Pivnik in this compelling episode of Career Competitor. Together, they explore a myriad of profound insights that can transform the way you approach your career and personal growth journey. Specifically, listeners can expect insights around the importance of Embracing Your Uniqueness, Value Is King, and Turning Unfinished Business into Fuel. Steven Pivnik is an international keynote speaker, bestselling author, business advisor, and serial entrepr...

In this compelling episode of Career Competitor, host Steve Mellor sits down with Markus Kaulius, the co-founder of PLAYABIGGERGAME.com, to delve into the intricate dynamics of personal and professional growth. Markus is a lifelong entrepreneur who has risen to the heights of creating a 9-figure health supplement company and today is creating a community to help high achievers find fulfillment beyond career success. As the founder of Play a Bigger Game, Markus wanted to create a place for like-m...

Any competitor wanting to keep up with the competition must embrace the need for taking ownership of your journey. Liam Patterson joins the show to tell us about both his own story and the story of the company he co-founded and is the CEO of today - Bidnamic . Liam's story is one of a working class mindset that fueled a curiosity towards opportunity and a willingness towards hard work. This tail of an entrepreneur is one that relates to all walks of life as you will learn about what it takes to ...

Life is filled with short sprint after short sprint as we go from one item on our to-do list to the next. Growing a business is no different and can require greater planning, response times, and communication in order to capitalize on potential opportunities and growth. But the end goal in both life and business is that of fulfillment. Our career competitor for this episode is Simon Severino, the CEO and founder to his consulting firm Strategy Sprints and the author of the book Strategy Sprints....

A competitor that appreciates building a career by figuring things out as she goes joins the show. Founder of Soledier Socks, Elle Rueger joins us to tell us all about how she has been able to build a competitive business while serving a cause at the same time. Love what the show is all about and what you have heard in this episode? Be sure to rate the show and reach out to Steve Mellor at Steve@careercompetitor.com to book a free coaching consultation today. Elle Rueger is a businesswoman that ...

On this episode we welcome a competitor of the sports and self-empowerment world in that of coach Eric Stefanski. Having built a career as a collegiate swim coach, Eric grew tired of applying a band aid to the same problems with his athletes and made a career shift to do something about it. Interested in enhancing your career through coaching? Be sure to email Steve Mellor at Steve@careercompetitor.com to request your free 30 minute competitive consultation today! Eric shares his strategies to d...

Jack Karavich, Founder of Tigeraire joins the show to discuss his journey of having ideas, seeing many fail, but bringing a unique one to life. It only takes one, and this Career Competitor understands what it means to take a punch and get back up and keep fighting. Interested in enhancing your performance through coaching? Be sure to email Steve Mellor at Steve@careercompetitor.com to request your free 30 minute consultation today! Within our discussion we get to the core of the entrepreneurial...

We have the pleasure of welcoming in a woman who has lived and succeeded one entire career, only to decide that she has now found her truest calling in life! Former NCAA DI Women's Basketball Coach, Willette White joins us to tell us about her transition from a 36-year coaching career into starting her own company, Next Step with Passion & Purpose. Transition is big theme within this episode as Willette shares with us what she first experienced as collegiate coach watching young adults go throug...

We welcome Darrian Mikell, the CEO of Qualifi which is a company that is truly revolutionizing the hiring process by eliminating the bottleneck issue of candidates by enabling the fastest phone interviews in the world! An entrepreneur and athlete at heart, Darrian has found a way to take lessons from his experiences with team sports (Basketball) and individual sports (Track) and evolve into a leading professional within his industry. Darrian provides insight into the history of both his career a...

We welcome in the multi-talented Brandon Chubb to the show to hear all about his story of earning any and every opportunity he ever experienced in life up to this point, while gaining insight into the humility required to admit you need to better yourself in order to further enhance opportunities at your disposal. Raised in a household where football reigned and seeing his journey going down a similar path, Brandon put himself out there for the college football world to see in order to get his P...

On this episode we welcome in the founders of TAGALONG, Nick Karwoski and Scott Del Vecchio who herald from careers in pro triathlon and rowing, respectively. They have spent most of the past couple years creating an exciting platform to aid those pursuing sports like running, cycling, and swimming to connect with pro’s that can coach them up to reach new highs. These guys understand competing on levels within their sports and now in the world of tech and startups that makes them ideal guests fo...

On this episode we are joined by former Baseball player, turned entrepreneur and owner of an extremely unique franchise – the Savannah Banana’s Baseball Team – Jesse Cole who delivers a blast of energy that just about any of us can benefit from. With his own brand of customer service, bullet proof approach to handling adversity, and immense ability to get people working together, Jesse is a competitor in every sense of the word as he challenges himself and everyone around him daily to bring thei...

We welcome in one of the top 10 surfers of the 20th century, successful businessman, and professional speaker, Shaun Tomson to the show who today is inspiring people the world over the establish purpose within their life using “the code”. This episode provides insight for just about everyone from current athletes trying to handle competition better, to established career men & women that need that added direction within their lives. The person that Shaun is today was built within the sport of su...

So happy to be bringing on a friend and former teammate of mine to the show today, Kal Jhugroo who over the past decade has built himself an ever-growing and already very successful record label and agency in Underground Artists. This episode will certainly make you more enthusiastic to go and work for a career or opportunity that you may have always wanted to pursue but not found the necessary courage to take the initial step. Underground Artists (underground-artists.com) has evolved from a mus...

On this episode we welcome in Mike Brcic, Founder of the company Way-finders and former owner and founder of the company Sacred Rides. An entrepreneur with 2.5 decades of success to show for it, Mike is an example of what it means to put value on a customer’s experience above everything else thanks to his commitment to human connection. This interview opens our eyes to the pursuit of peak human connection and the ways Mike has been able to be the catalyst for this by providing services that prom...

This episode is a special extended edition that not only brings to light some lessons courtesy of the Founder of Black Girls Surf, Rhonda Harper, but also provides an opportunity to educate you on some important black history. There has understandably been an enormous representation of support for change throughout our communities in the wake of the death of George Floyd earlier in 2020, and we are using this episode as an opportunity to keep the focus on the need for change. Rhonda’s story is o...