Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

Ever feel like you’re being priced out of the market by enterprise-level giants with bottomless ad budgets? This episode is your playbook for leveling the playing field. Constantin Cornita, an engineer who found his calling in marketing, reveals how small businesses can use Google Ads to not just compete, but win in their local markets. He dismantles the myth that Google Ads is only for big spenders, showing how a technical, data-driven approach focused on revenue—not vanity metrics—can generate massive returns. This episode is packed with tactical advice on leveraging localization, understanding user intent, and optimizing the entire customer journey from click to cash, proving that the smartest, not the richest, wins the advertising game.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
How to make Google Ads profitable, not expensive, by focusing on revenue generation instead of vanity metrics like clicks and impressions.
The secret to outranking giant competitors by leveraging hyper-local keywords, ad copy, and landing pages to achieve a higher Quality Score.
Why understanding cultural differences in user behavior (e.g., online booking vs. phone calls) is critical for converting leads across different markets.
A breakdown of keyword strategies, including broad, phrase, exact, and negative keywords, to ensure you’re only attracting customers with high buying intent.
How to use AI not just for ad creation, but to analyze sales calls and provide actionable feedback to your team, plugging revenue leaks in your sales process.
The critical importance of conversion tracking and why running ads without it is like flying blind and wasting your marketing budget.
📝 About Constantin Cornita
Constantin Cornita is a marketing expert with the mind of an engineer. Hailing from Moldova, an under-the-radar IT hub, he merged his technical background with his passion for marketing by mastering the data-driven world of Google Ads. He honed his skills helping a pioneer in the equipment rental industry expand across Europe, learning firsthand how user behavior and marketing strategies must adapt to different cultures. Now, with his agency Activesales, Constantin brings his technical, revenue-first approach to the US market, building systems that bridge the gap between ad data and real business results.
🎯 Constantin’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Call your front desk. Call your company, pick up the phone, call them, pretend you are a customer and see how they respond to you."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“If you spend a thousand dollars on Google Ads and it generates you double, triple, or five times that amount of money, it’s not expensive anymore. If you spend even a hundred dollars and it generates you nothing, then it’s expensive.” – Constantin Cornita
“We see a lot of agencies focusing on traffic. When you see those reports that say, ‘last month we generated you 2,000 clicks’... what? Your rental company, you don't sell clicks. Google sells clicks. You sell your rental equipment.” – Constantin Cornita
“The ones that are rejecting AI, they are losing it.” – Constantin Cornita
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit Activesales’ website
Connect with Constantin on LinkedIn
Follow Activesales on LinkedIn

Tired of feeling disconnected from your remote team? In this episode, we sit down with Phillip Wyness, founder of Remote Flo, who flips the script on conventional remote work wisdom. Phillip reveals why focusing on your tech stack is a critical mistake and why the real key to scaling lies in the often-overlooked human elements: wellness, communication rituals, and genuine team happiness. For entrepreneurs struggling with high turnover, low morale, or the challenges of building a cohesive culture across time zones, this episode is a goldmine. Phillip draws on his 6+ years of personal remote work experience to provide a playbook for building resilient, productive, and loyal teams that not only perform but thrive.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 How to shift from managing tasks to leading a truly cohesive and connected remote team.
🧠 Why prioritizing employee happiness and wellness isn't a "soft skill" but a direct driver of productivity and retention.
💰 Creative, low-cost strategies for building team rituals that foster genuine connection, even across continents.
🛡️ The often-overlooked cybersecurity essentials (like VPNs) that every remote founder needs to implement to protect their business.
🗺️ How to navigate cultural differences and build an inclusive environment for a global team.
burnout-proof your business by setting clear boundaries for both yourself and your team.
🗣️ Simple feedback loops you can create to monitor team morale and address issues before they lead to turnover.
📝 About Phillip Wyness
Phillip Wyness is the founder of Remote Flo, a consultancy dedicated to helping product-focused founders build high-performing and resilient remote teams. With over six years of experience working remotely himself while living in Prague, Phillip combines his marketing and sales background with a deep understanding of the human dynamics that make or break a remote company. He specializes in creating custom playbooks that improve communication, wellness, and retention, enabling startups to scale profitably without sacrificing their team's strength and morale.
🎯 Phillip’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Consider yourself, because you're your best asset."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“A lot of [founders] are missing the knowledge with how to manage the team properly... they're focused on the tech stack, they're focused just on maximizing results, but also maximizing results also includes keeping the team well and happy.” – Phillip Wyness
“It's all these small investments, doesn't have to be much, but it can keep all your employees happy and you're just going to be having a great team.” – Phillip Wyness
"I was really violating a lot of those boundaries for myself… I realized this can't continue and I was burning out." – Phillip Wyness
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit Remote Flo’s website
Connect with Phillip on LinkedIn
Follow Remote Flo on LinkedIn

Ever feel like you’re on a zig-zag path with no clear destination? This episode with Jim Tarpo will make you realize that’s your greatest strength. Jim shares his incredible journey from a high-stakes electrical engineering job at GE to becoming a freelance programmer, a backlit art gallery owner, and the inventor of a consumer product, Grippy Bands. This episode is a masterclass in heeding the "entrepreneurial nudges" that pull you toward your true calling, even when it makes no logical sense. For any wantrepreneur feeling stuck or believing their path has to be linear, Jim’s story is the permission you need to embrace curiosity, work through confusion, and build businesses that truly light you up.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
How to recognize and act on the "goosebump moments" that signal a major career shift is needed.
The essential mindset required to work through doubt and confusion for extended periods while building your vision.
Why your unique perspective is your biggest competitive advantage (and why only YOU can see certain opportunities).
How to transform an everyday observation—like a light fixture or a rubber band—into a viable business concept.
The power of saying "yes" to an uncertain opportunity and having the courage to figure out the details later.
Actionable advice for pivoting from a technical, service-based career into a creative, product-based business.
How to reframe getting laid off from a job as the ultimate launchpad for your entrepreneurial freedom.
📝 About Jim Tarpo 
Jim Tarpo is a lifelong engineer, inventor, and creative entrepreneur who has spent four decades turning curiosity into successful businesses. After starting his career as an electrical engineer at General Electric, he forged his own path as a freelance test engineer. In a classic entrepreneurial pivot, he took a hard left turn into the art world, founding Fluorescent Gallery to create stunning backlit architectural art. His creative journey continued into fine art photography and most recently, the invention of a clever consumer product called Grippy Bands. Jim’s story is a powerful testament to the magic that happens when you follow your intuition and aren't afraid to build the plane as you fly it.
🎯 Jim’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs 
"There are things that only you see and only you are good at... If you're looking at something and you think it should be a certain way, trust yourself."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“When I hung up the phone, I really could not come up with a reason to say no... it went from a maybe, it went from a no to a maybe to a hell yes, I am out of here.” – Jim Tarpo
“I was willing to work in a state of doubt and confusion for a long period of time, because I knew, I knew that it was going to pay off.” – Jim Tarpo
“I look up at the moon and I'm like, this is freedom. I said, I need this all the time... This is the meaning of being self-employed, being an entrepreneur.” – Jim Tarpo
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit Fluorescent Gallery’s website
Visit Jim Tarpo Photography’s website
Visit Grippy-Bands’ website
Connect with Jim on LinkedIn

Are you drowning in admin work and repetitive tasks that keep you from focusing on what truly matters? In this episode, we sit down with Mark Inge, a former mechanical engineer turned founder of SmartWork Automation, who reveals how to reclaim dozens of hours a week by leveraging the power of AI and automation. Mark breaks down the critical difference between AI and automation and explains why finding the real problem in your business is the key to unlocking massive growth. This episode is a masterclass for any entrepreneur feeling overwhelmed, showing you how to streamline your operations, enhance your client experience, and get back to the high-value work that actually moves the needle.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
How to diagnose the "hidden bottlenecks" in your business that create downstream chaos and stunt your growth.
The "manufacturing assembly line" framework for mapping your business processes to instantly identify areas ripe for automation.
Why starting with a problem-first approach, not a solution-first one, is crucial for getting real value from AI and automation.
How to use AI to enhance the human touch in your client onboarding, creating a magical experience that sets you apart.
The key difference between AI and automation, and how to strategically combine them to build a powerful, efficient operational system.
Why the businesses that experiment with and implement AI in the next year will gain a massive competitive advantage.
📝 About Mark Inge 
Mark Inge is the founder of SmartWork Automation, a company dedicated to helping small business owners eliminate repetitive tasks and reclaim their time. With a background as a mechanical engineer and process optimization consultant, Mark brings a unique, systematic approach to solving business inefficiencies. He moved from optimizing physical manufacturing lines to optimizing digital business workflows, driven by his own experience with overwhelm in the corporate world. His expertise lies in identifying the "upstream problems" that most entrepreneurs miss, allowing him to build custom systems that create real, tangible results.
🎯 Mark’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs 
"In the next year, we will see so much value added in my opinion to the businesses that leverage this technology correctly. And I think those businesses are going to be pulling ahead of the pack."
📢 Memorable Quotes 
“Automation doesn't have to remove the humanity from the things that you do. It can really allow you to work on that even more by taking away the areas of the tasks that you do that don't add a lot of value.” – Mark Inge
“If we can solve a problem that either saves you money or boosts your energy, you're going to be so much better off.” – Mark Inge
“A lot of the entrepreneurs that I know, they have a little bit of a challenge with authority. I want to do it the way that I want to do it.” – Mark Inge
🔗 Links & Resources
Visit SmartWork Automation’s website
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Follow SmartWork Automation on LinkedIn

Do you find yourself constantly asking for advice, watching YouTube videos, or reading books, hoping to find the “right” answer before you take action? This Solo Sunday episode is a wake-up call for every entrepreneur stuck in analysis paralysis. Brian unpacks the critical difference between being an advice collector and a true experimenter. He shares personal stories—from achieving a 15% email reply rate to building a top-ranked podcast—by breaking all the conventional "rules." This isn't just another motivational talk; it's a practical guide to shifting your mindset from seeking permission to creating your own data-driven path to success.
✨ Why This Matters for You
Adopting an experimenter’s mindset is the key to unlocking real, sustainable growth:
It frees you from the fear of being wrong and the pressure to find the "perfect" strategy before you start.
It empowers you to take action and create momentum, because clarity comes from doing, not just thinking.
It helps you build a business that is uniquely yours, based on what actually works for your industry, your audience, and you.
It turns every "failure" into a valuable lesson that gets you one step closer to your next breakthrough.
It puts you in the driver’s seat, allowing you to innovate and build evidence for what truly moves the needle in your business.
📝 Key Takeaways
Experiment > Advise. Stop waiting for the right answer from others. The most valuable insights will come from your own tests and experiments.
Answers Expire. The strategies and tactics that worked for someone else yesterday—or even for you last year—are not guaranteed to work today. The game is always changing.
Embrace Being Wrong. True experimenters expect to be wrong. Like Thomas Edison, they see every failed attempt not as a failure, but as discovering another way that doesn't work.
Create Your Own Clarity. As Jeff Bezos said, you only need about 70% of the information you wish you had to make a decision. The other 30% comes from taking action and seeing what happens.
Your Path Is Unique. No one has been on your exact journey. Stop trying to follow someone else's map and start charting your own course.
Your Only Benchmark Is You. Instead of asking "What's a good reply rate?" ask "How can I improve my current reply rate?" The goal is constant improvement, not hitting an arbitrary external metric.
🚀 Put It Into Action
This week, commit to being an experimenter:
Identify one area in your business where you’ve been stuck collecting advice or waiting for the "perfect" plan (e.g., marketing copy, sales outreach, content strategy).
Ask yourself: What is one small, low-risk experiment I can run this week to get real data?
Launch the experiment without attachment to the outcome. The goal isn’t to be right; the goal is to learn.
🔗 Stay Connected
Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode
Connect with Brian on Instagram @imetbrian
Share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to stop planning and start doing.