Listen to “#850 The Final Radio Show: What has Changed In 17 Years of Small Business” on Spreaker.
On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…
This is the final show.
It is the last show after 17 years of The Small Business Radio Show. Over this period of time, I’ve done over 2500 interviews across so many different radio stations and podcast platforms.
Who was the best interview?
I have to be honest, there really wasn’t one. I listed every single year what some of my favorite interviews were, but my favorite ones always were the small business owners. The ones that shared a real, true piece of themselves that talked to the legitimately about their experience and just wasn’t here to sell a concept. The ones that lived it.
Who was the worst interview?
That’s easy. That’s Rudy Ruettiger of the movie, Rudy. Rudy canceled the first time, and the second time he came on angry. He was upset for whatever reason for his PR people booking him on my show. The interview only lasted 11 minutes. I said, Rudy, you know, you got to have a better relationship with your PR people because if you didn’t want to be on the show, you shouldn’t have really been on the show.
The people that were also the worst were many times academics or folks trying to sell some kind of infomercial kind of thing where I would ask them one question, and then they would go on to some kind of monologue for 5 or 7 minutes, going on and on and on, not realizing that this really was a dialogue.
After all these years, I want to thank all of our sponsors. We had so many of them from the largest of Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
Finally, I want to thank all the listeners for really tuning in every single week. There’s millions of you.
Why did I do this for all this time?
It’s really quite simple because I wanted to keep learning. I learned the most in my life, my career, from interviewing people and asking them simply, what did you think? What was your experience in whatever you went through? What can other people learn from it? It was really a privilege to interview all those people, and it was also a special to hear what you thought about what these folks were saying.
Everything in life has a beginning and an end.
This is the end of The Small Business Radio Show, it also is the beginning of a new podcast I will be doing called “The Exit Strategy”, where I’ll be talking to people who have sold their business. Look for the first episode featuring Keith Schacht that sold Mystery Science for a reportedly $140M. On this show its the good, the bad and the buyout. You can get notified of new episodes by signing up for my Substack.
We end this radio show series like we began it 17 years ago with Scott Jordan of Scottevest.
For over 20 years, Scottevest has designed great looking clothing with tons of innovative pockets and unique features. We have followed his incredible journey and now he reflects on his life as an entrepreneur and small business owner.
We talked about:
- You’ve built a company on the back of pockets—what does that say about how you see human behavior and consumer needs?
- Do you believe your brand resonates more with travelers or with control freaks—and is there a difference?
- How has your business changed in the last 17 years?
- What was the best of times?
- What was the worst of times? Have you ever regretted being so publicly outspoken—or has it always paid off in attention and sales?
- How have you managed to do it as a husband and wife team and stayed married?
- What’s the boldest move you haven’t made yet—but want to? What is one thing you wish you did differently?
- What is your exit strategy look like?
- What’s your favorite advice you give when approached by other entrepreneurs?
