Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

Ever wonder how a niche hobby can explode into a category-defining brand with a cult-like following? Tim Seward, the founder and creative force behind ONYX Motors, joins us to share exactly how he did it. Starting as a lifelong tinkerer customizing gas mopeds, Tim leveraged his industrial design background and a breakout Indiegogo campaign to launch a brand that blends raw performance with timeless style. This episode is a masterclass in product validation, community building, and the power of authentic passion. For any entrepreneur looking to build not just customers, but true fans, Tim’s journey provides a powerful and actionable roadmap.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
Crowdfunding Mastery: Learn the insider tactics Tim used to launch a multi-million dollar Indiegogo campaign, including the one meeting that made all the difference.
Building a Die-Hard Community: Discover the "Joshua Tree Mansion" strategy for turning your first 10 customers into evangelists who build your brand for you.
The Power of Public Validation: Hear how Tim knew he had a winning product when strangers literally stopped him in the street to ask, "Where can I buy that?"
Designing for Longevity: Understand why creating a customizable, "open-source" product that isn't disposable builds incredible brand loyalty and a thriving secondary market.
From Hobby to Enterprise: Get the blueprint for turning a personal passion project into a scalable manufacturing operation.
The Networking Long Game: Learn why maintaining relationships is crucial and how a connection from a decade ago can become your single biggest "lucky break."
📝 About Tim Seward 
Tim Seward is the founder and creative heartbeat of ONYX Motors. A lifelong tinkerer and moped enthusiast with a background in industrial design, he has created products for massive brands like Sonos, Intel, and Nike. Tim combined his passion for two-wheeled vehicles with his expertise in consumer electronics to create ONYX, revolutionizing the electric bike space. His unique perspective blends cyberpunk grit with California swagger, focusing on building not just a product, but a powerful community and culture around it.
🎯 Tim’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs 
"I just followed what I really love to do... if you're having fun working, then it's not really work."
📢 Memorable Quotes
"When you buy an ONYX, you're actually joining more of a community of people." – Tim Seward
"The community is more of the halo aspect of our brand." – Tim Seward
"Had I not kept that relationship... that opportunity would have never been there." – Tim Seward
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit ONYX Motors’ website
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
Follow ONYX Motors on LinkedIn
Follow ONYX Motors on Facebook

In this game-changing episode, we sit down with Jill Axline, Ph.D., the co-founder and CEO of Mavera, to explore the next frontier of artificial intelligence in business. Jill demystifies how her company is moving beyond basic language models to model human cognition and emotion, giving businesses a terrifyingly accurate predictive edge. This isn't just about faster answers; it's about understanding the why behind customer decisions, market shifts, and competitive movements. For any entrepreneur tired of making decisions based on guesswork, this conversation is a masterclass in using AI as a strategic collaborator to validate ideas, challenge assumptions, and uncover opportunities you never knew existed. Jill’s journey from studying behavioral science to leading a cutting-edge AI startup provides a powerful roadmap for how to merge human insight with technological power to build a truly intelligent business.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🤖 How to go beyond basic AI prompts by using systems that model cognition and emotion to truly understand and predict what your customers will do next.
📈 The power of "speed with receipts" – why demanding evidence, confidence scores, and hallucination risk from your AI is non-negotiable for making sound business decisions.
📊 How to turn your company's "qualitative" information (like meeting transcripts and customer calls) into a mountain of quantitative, actionable data.
🧠 Why an "adversarial AI" can be your secret weapon, poking holes in your strategy and forcing you to build a more resilient and defensible business model.
🚀 How startups can leverage specialized AI to level the playing field, consolidate data, and make enterprise-level decisions with agility and speed.
💡 A new framework for market segmentation that is dynamic and responsive to real-time events, rather than a static PDF that sits on a shelf.
📝 About Jill Axline 
Jill Axline, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of Mavera, where she builds generative systems that give companies instant, scalable insight into people and markets. With a fascinating background that began in design and behavioral science, she holds a PhD where she studied empathy and cognitive perspective taking. Before co-founding Mavera, Jill honed her skills at Morningstar, building their market insights team from the ground up. Her unique expertise lies at the intersection of human insight and intelligent systems, making her a leading voice on how businesses can harness AI not just for efficiency, but for deeper understanding and smarter growth.
🎯 Jill’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs 
"Maintain your skepticism... but also have an open mind and don't be dismissive of things before you've really given them a shot... always be learning."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“I just don't think decisions should get ahead of evidence. And I think we've really built that into the system.” – Jill Axline
“I think of it more as an augmentation and a way to progress thinking that might be stuck in inertia circles, because I think a lot of times we kind of rinse and repeat the same things we've always done.” – Jill Axline
“Yes, you get something faster. But where did it come from? Show me how it was sourced... I kind of call it like speed with receipts.” – Jill Axline
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit Mavera’s website
Connect with Jill on LinkedIn
Follow Mavera on LinkedIn

We’ve all heard the cliché: “You need to work ON your business, not just IN it.” But what does that actually mean? It’s easy to get trapped in the day-to-day grind of client work, emails, and sales calls, feeling busy but not necessarily productive. This cycle creates a growth ceiling that keeps so many entrepreneurs stuck. In this Solo Sunday episode, Brian demystifies this classic advice and gives you a tangible, actionable framework to shift from being a busy operator to a strategic visionary. He breaks down the critical difference between tactics and strategy using a brilliant chess analogy and introduces his powerful 7-pillar OPERATE framework. This is your guide to carving out the strategic time your business desperately needs to scale.
✨ Why This Matters for You
Understanding how to work ON your business is the key to unlocking real growth:
It’s how you break free from the "Finisher's Trap," where you’re so busy fulfilling orders that you have no time to grow.
It gives you a clear roadmap for what to focus on, turning vague growth goals into specific, actionable projects.
It forces you to build the systems and processes that will allow you to scale beyond yourself and eventually hire a team.
It shifts your mindset from reacting to daily fires to proactively building the future of your company.
It's not a luxury for when you're "big enough"—it's the very thing you must do to get big enough.
📝 Key Takeaways
"In" vs. "On" the Business: Working in the business is doing the client work, the sales, and the admin—the tasks an employee would do. Working on the business is zooming out to focus on strategy, systems, and long-term growth—the work of an executive.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Tactics are knowing what to do when there's an obvious next step (like responding to a client email). Strategy is knowing what to do when there isn’t an obvious move—it's about charting the long-term course for growth.
The OPERATE Framework: Brian provides a 7-pillar system to guide your strategic thinking: Outreach, Pipeline, Execution, Retention, Automation, Telemetry, and Enablement. This is your checklist for working ON the business.
Create Time to Scale: You don't get to work on your business only after you have a team. You build a team and achieve scale because you prioritize working on your business from the start.
Manufacture Urgency: Unlike client deadlines, there’s no external urgency to work on your business. You have to create it for yourself by scheduling and committing to strategic thinking time.
🚀 Put It Into Action
This week, schedule your first "ON the Business" strategy session:
Block out 60-90 minutes in your calendar where you will not be disturbed. No emails, no client work.
Go through each of the 7 pillars of the OPERATE framework (Outreach, Pipeline, Execution, Retention, Automation, Telemetry, Enablement).
For each pillar, ask yourself: "On a scale of 1-10, how strong is this area of my business?" and "What is one thing I could do to improve it?"
Identify the single biggest opportunity for growth from your audit and make it a priority project for the next month.
🔗 Stay Connected
Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode of daily value.
Want to go deeper? Brian is offering to send you a FREE copy of his book, "OPERATE." Just email your address to [email protected]. Or, grab it instantly on Amazon!
Connect with Brian on Instagram @imetbrian
Share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur who is stuck in the weeds and needs a clear path forward.

Think your small business is too insignificant to be a target for cyberattacks? Think again. In this eye-opening episode, cybersecurity expert and co-founder of Attainable Security, Martin Hiriart, reveals why small and medium-sized businesses are now the primary targets for hackers. Martin breaks down the critical, often-overlooked connection between everyday IT practices and a rock-solid cybersecurity posture. This episode is a must-listen for any entrepreneur who wants to move fast without leaving their business vulnerable. You'll learn how to implement proactive security measures that protect your company, your customers, and your reputation without slowing down your growth.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 Why "I'm too small to be a target" is a dangerous myth that could bankrupt your business in 2026.
🔒 How to find the perfect balance on the "convenience vs. security" spectrum to protect your assets without crippling productivity.
💻 The modern security strategies (like Single Sign-On and conditional access) that make managing a remote team easier and safer than ever.
🤖 The right way to use AI and "vibe coding" for rapid prototyping without exposing sensitive customer data.
📈 How a holistic IT strategy becomes a business enabler, giving you the confidence to focus on growth instead of tech threats.
🤝 What to look for in an IT partner who acts as a strategic advisor, not just a helpdesk.
🔑 Simple, foundational habits for onboarding and offboarding team members that instantly harden your company's security.
📝 About Martin Hiriart 
Martin Hiriart is a seasoned cybersecurity and IT professional and the co-founder of Attainable Security. With a rich background spanning helpdesk support to high-level cloud and identity management, Martin saw a critical gap in the market: small and medium-sized businesses lacked access to enterprise-grade security programs. He and his co-founder created Attainable Security to provide holistic, high-quality IT and cybersecurity strategies, allowing entrepreneurs to build their vision on a secure and efficient foundation.
🎯 Martin’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs 
"Find those people and those relationships in your life that are partnerships... just knowing that you have that person or the set of people that you can trust to just, hey, let's work on this together and work towards this shared goal is huge."
📢 Memorable Quotes
"The more secure you get, the less convenient things become... It's really about helping [businesses] understand where they land on that slider." – Martin Hiriart
"I feel like vibe coding is in that same spot as early 3D printing. It's great for prototyping... But I think it still needs to be paired with a competent professional." – Martin Hiriart
"How can we be just as secure working from the office as we are working from a Starbucks? That's kind of at a high level what the trying to leverage and set teams up for remote work is all about." – Martin Hiriart
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit Attainable Security’s website
Connect with Martin on LinkedIn
Connect with Sam on LinkedIn
Follow Attainable Security on LinkedIn

Are you an expert in your field but struggle to communicate your true value to clients, investors, or your team? In this episode, former health insurance executive turned consultant Mandy Geyer breaks down the art and science of influential communication. She reveals why even the most brilliant experts fail to get buy-in and provides a clear roadmap to translate complex data and ideas into compelling stories that drive action. For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur who feels their message gets lost in translation, this episode is a masterclass in building confidence, connecting with your audience on their terms, and simplifying your value proposition to accelerate growth and impact.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
The Audience-First Framework: Discover why you must stop telling your story and start focusing on what your audience truly cares about to grab their attention instantly.
The Power of Simplicity: Learn how to apply the Einstein principle of "making it simple" to your pitches and presentations, ensuring your message is heard, understood, and acted upon.
From Data to Decisions: Uncover strategies to transform dense data and technical details into a clear, concise narrative that leads directly to the "yes."
Building Unshakeable Confidence: Get practical, low-stakes techniques to practice your public speaking, eliminate filler words, and present with authority in any situation.
The "Less Is More" Slide Deck Strategy: Find out why your slides are only there to support you, not replace you, and how to create visuals that enhance your message instead of overwhelming it.
Leveraging AI for Better Communication: Learn how to use AI as a tool to refine your messaging, get feedback, and tailor your communication for different audiences without losing your authentic voice.
📝 About Mandy Geyer
Mandy Geyer is the founder of Integral Edge Consulting and a former health insurance executive with nearly 20 years of experience leading actuarial teams. After seeing countless brilliant, technical experts struggle to convey their value, she made it her mission to bridge the gap between data and influence. Today, Mandy works at the intersection of data, storytelling, and persuasion, helping technical leaders, analysts, and health tech companies communicate with clarity and confidence to get buy-in faster and drive meaningful results.
🎯 Mandy’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Make sure you're taking time and space every day to be alone."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“They tend to think about their story and not their audience's story. I really try and encourage people to put yourself in your audience's shoes. And what do they care about?” – Mandy Geyer
“You are the presentation, not your slide deck or the images that you're projecting. Those are there to support your message, but you're the one presenting.” – Mandy Geyer
“When in doubt, define the term, define the acronym. It's not that you're dumbing anything down… it's making sure that you're all on the same page.” – Mandy Geyer
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit Integral Edge Consulting’s website
Visit Farm Table Health’s website
Connect with Mandy on LinkedIn
Follow Integral Edge Consulting on LinkedIn