Brian Scudamore was a high school dropout. Waiting at a McDonald’s drive-through, he spotted a ratty old pickup with “Junk Hauling” spray-painted on the side. “I could do that,” Brian told himself.

Driven by an insatiable curiosity and inspired to do things bigger and better, Brian bought a beat-up old truck and launched what today is the $600 million global industry giant, 1-800-Got-Junk, which dominates the junk removal business.

Brian is the founder and CEO of Vancouver-based 02E Brands — 

Ordinary 2 Exceptional — which offers innovative home services franchises, including 1-800-Got Junk, Wow 1 Day Painting, and Shack Shine.

This week, Brian shares practical insights from his latest bestselling book, BYOB: Business Your Own Business, Be Your Own Boss. The book debuted at #2 on The Wall Street Journal’s bestsellers list.

BYOB is a follow-up to Brian’s popular 2018 book, WTF! [Willing to Fail]: How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success. Both BYOB and WTF were written with Roy H. Williams, founder of Roy H. Williams Marketing and co-founder of Wizard Academy.

Brian is a fervent believer in the power of thinking BIG. Listen in as he explains why everyone has it within their means to achieve their dreams.

“If Brian can succeed, so can you,” says host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart. “And that’s not rubbish.”

Photo: Brian Scudamore, O2E Brands
Posted: May 23, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 44:12

One of the most popular characters in Charles M. Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip is Linus Van Pelt, Charlie Brown’s best friend. Linus displays great wisdom even as he clings to his always-present blue security blanket.

Dr. Victoria Grady, an organization expert with decades of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, sees similarities between Linus and the type of “attachment behavior” that often stalls the progress of companies trying to successfully transform in the digital age.

Do you or your colleagues have a mental “blankie” that is holding you back? 

Dr. Grady, co-author of Stuck: How to Win at Work By Understanding Loss, joins host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart to explain  how to identify your attachment behaviors and offers insights on how to get people to “un-stick” and embrace and adopt change.

Photo: Dr. Victoria M. Grady, PIvotPoint
Posted: May 16, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time:  45:20

Tim Redmond, CEO of Redmond Growth Consulting, has spent more than 35 years mentoring plumbers, electricians, landscapers, remodelers, and other small bricks-and-mortar business owners on ways to dramatically improve their performance. Tim relies on an unusual framework for his growth principles: The Bible.

While Tim’s clients come from all religions and denominations, he looks to teachings in the New Testament, in particular, to steer his innovative coaching process.

The Divine inspiration, Tim tells host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart, has led many of his clients to report heavenly improvements in their performance and profits.

Photo: Tim Redmond, Redmond Growth Consulting
Posted: May 2, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 42:11

Ken Lindner is a professional development maestro, having helped choreograph the careers of thousands of individuals from all walks of life. Among the many professionals he’s helped guide are leading broadcast personalities, including Lester Holt, Deborah Norville, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Leeza Gibbons, and Matt Lauer.

Ken’s approach to careers — and life in general - is simple: Make better choices, and achieve better results.

The founder of Positive Life Choice Psychology, Ken is the author of six books, including Aspire Higher: How to Find the Love, Positivity, and Purpose to Elevate Your Life and The World! and Career Choreography: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Finding the Right Job and Achieving Huge Success and Happiness. 

This week, Ken shares with host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart the concrete steps anyone can take to make more intelligent decisions — in life and career — and reap the bountiful benefits.

Photo: Ken Lindner, Positive Life Choice Psychology
Posted: April 25, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 50:16

Stephen Kreider Yoder and his wife, Karen, had been married for 42 years when last summer — at a combined age of 127 — the two successfully rode a tandem bike 3,819 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The 12-week adventure taught the couple a multitude of lessons about teamsmanship, resilience, planning (and spontaneity), the hospitality of strangers, the beauty of nature, and the addictive satisfaction of checking items off of their bucket list.

This week Stephen, a journalist who has worked for The Wall Street Journal since 1983, and Karen, a retired professor and K-5 teacher, invite Monday Morning Radio listeners to ride along as they recount the inspiring story of their journey.

Photo: Karen and Stephen Kreider Yoder
Posted: April 18, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 46:55

Two of the country’s top experts on leadership — men who write bestselling books and get paid the big bucks to mentor top executives — confess that managing others doesn’t have to be complicated.

In fact, Ken Blanchard — who has sold more than 23 million copies of his books worldwide — and his colleague Randy Conley contend that outstanding leadership boils down to two common-sense ingredients: build trust with your employees and strive to serve others ahead of yourself.

Of course, even managers who are prepared to take simple steps to boost employee satisfaction and productivity can benefit from a “leadership manual.” This week, Blanchard and Conley join host Dean Rotbart to share practical ideas from their latest book, Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to Be a Servant Leader and Build Trust.

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Photos: Ken Blanchard (l) and Randy Conley, Simple Trusts of Leadership
Posted: April 11, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 44:20

The life and death of Tony Hsieh, the billionaire CEO of online shoe-seller Zappos, is a master class in visionary business leadership and a cautionary tale about how fame can mask profound problems.

Hsieh, who sold Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion, died in a mysterious shed fire in late November 2020 at age 46.

This week, two reporters for The Wall Street Journal — Kirsten Grind and Katherine Sayre — join host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart to share details from their newly published biography of the business legend, Happy at Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest o Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. 

Theirs is a riveting examination of an entrepreneur who was simultaneously great and deeply flawed.

Photos: Kirsten Grind (l) and Katherine Sayre, Happy at Any Cost
Posted: April 4, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:34

Kirsten and Katherine will be signing copies of their book and invite Monday Morning Radio listeners to stop by and pick up a copy.

Las Vegas: April 8, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Intuitive Forage Farmers Market, 300 N. Casino Center Blvd.

San Diego: April 13, 7:30 p.m. Warwick's Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave. La Jolla

Here is a harsh truth: Many entrepreneurs have no business running their own businesses.

In a no-holds-barred conversation with host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart, bestselling author Gino Wickman draws an impermeable line between those who have the right stuff to succeed in business and those who never will, no matter how hard they try.

Wickman is the creator of “The Entrepreneurial Operating System,” which more than 130,000 companies have relied on to improve their results. He knows the ingredients of success and failure.

Wickman’s most recent book, “Entrepreneurial Leap,” defines the attributes that entrepreneurs must possess to prosper, advises founders on ways to avoid common mistakes, and suggests alternatives for those not born to own and grow their own businesses. 

Do you have what it takes? Listen in and find out.

[Listeners to Monday Morning Radio can purchase a copy of Dean Rotbart’s newest book, September Twelfth: An American Comeback Story. Visit Gutenberg’s Store.]   

Photo: Gino Wickman, Entrepreneurial Leap
Posted: March 28, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 49:10

Ann Papayoti has plenty of reasons to be bitter. She lost an infant child, had another born with epilepsy, and was married to a belligerent and abusive husband.

But Ann chose to make peace with her past. Today, she is a successful self-help author and life coach who mentors others on how to overcome all manner of life setbacks.

What allows people to prevail over their difficulties is what Ann calls “shift” — embracing a better, life-affirming perspective. 

Ann is the co-author, along with Tracy Mac Donald, of The Gift of Shift: Discover the Key Within to Unlock Your Best Life.

In the book, Ann and Tracy share a collection of personal stories designed to inspire readers to look at life’s hardships from a fresh perspective.

The book aims to help each of us find peace within, create positive change, and embrace a new outlook on life.

This week Ann shares specific shift approaches to transform hardships into blessings.

Photo: Ann Papayoti, The Gift of Shift
Posted: March 21, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 38:55

Good PR has become everyone’s responsibility, regardless of your industry or job title. That is a core message shared by a distinguished panel of three experts on this week’s edition of Monday Morning Radio.

Leading the panel is Robert L. Dilenschneider, editor of the newly published fifth edition of The Public Relations Handbook, a must-read for communications practitioners and a valuable reference for executives who wisely recognize that public relations is integral to every activity and decision they make.

Dilenschneider is the founder of The Dilenschneider Group, which for more than three decades has been providing strategic advice and counsel to Fortune 500 companies and leading families and individuals around the world. 

“Public relations professionals must be prepared to deal with a staggering variety of people, issues, and subjects,” Dilenschneider writes. His book consists of seventeen chapters, each contributed by recognized PR specialists.

Two of the contributors — Jack Devine and Virginia A. Kamsky — join Dilenschneider and host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart on the panel.

Devine is a founding partner and president of The Arkin Group, specializing in international crisis management, strategic intelligence, investigative research, and business problem-solving. He previously spent 32 years with the CIA, having served - among other posts - as Acting Director of Operations.

Kamsky, who divides her time between New York and Beijing, is the founder of Kamsky Associates, Inc., a strategic advisory firm whose client base includes preeminent companies worldwide. During the Obama Administration, she was appointed a member of the US Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel, providing independent advice and recommendations.

“The best thing anybody reading this book can do right now is come away and say, ‘Life has changed and if I’m going to keep up with it and be successful, I better change too,’” Dilenschneider says. “The book offers the ways people should adapt to the changing environment.”

Released in February 2022 by Matt Holt Books, The Public Relations Handbook is available from Amazon in hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook editions.

Photos (Clockwise from upper left):   Host Dean Rotbart, Contributor Virginia A. Kamsky, Editor Robert L. Dilenschneider, and Contributor Jack Devine
Posted: March 14, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 55:37

Last week, due to a technical glitch at the service that hosts Monday Morning Radio, some listeners heard half of one podcast while others listened to a completely different episode.

So this week, we are offering a double-header. In center stage is David Hailey, founder of Countifi. This cutting-edge concern uses a combination of computer vision and artificial intelligence to help companies in the airline industry, healthcare, construction, and higher education gain better control of their supply chain management.

Whether or not you need better supply chain management, David’s experience identifying a problem and building a business to address it is a tale to inspire every owner and entrepreneur.

Host Dean Rotbart’s other guest, Anton Suddia, is an expert on augmented reality who has fled his home in Kharkiv, Ukraine, with his wife and two young children. In a chilling conversation from his hiding place in Western Ukraine, Anton shared with Dean his very personal and compelling story of how his life has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th.To stream or download Dean’s conversation with Anton, click here.

Top Photo: David Hailey, Countifi
Bottom Photo: Anton Suddia, IT Craft
Posted: March 6, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 38:01

This week, a special edition of Monday Morning Radio features a conversation with Anton Suddia, a Ukraine-based expert on augmented reality.

Recorded Sunday, February 27th, Anton shares his very personal and compelling story of how his life has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine four days earlier.

Anton previously appeared on this podcast in September 2016, discussing the global effort to bring Augmented Reality to Main Street businesses.

A father of two young children, Anton and his wife fled Kharkiv, where his company — IT Craft — is headquartered and spoke with host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart from a comparatively safe location in the western region of Ukraine.

Hearing Anton brings home the tragedy of what’s happening in Ukraine and how it has disrupted everyday life and commerce.

Anton’s future is up in the air. He doesn’t know if his company will still exist by the time listeners hear this week’s podcast. He doesn’t know if he’ll still have a job or paycheck in the days and weeks ahead. And, most critically, he doesn’t know whether he’ll be forced to flee again and, if so, where he can go.  

Originally, this week’s guest was scheduled to be David Hailey, founder of Countifi and an expert on using computer vision and inventory control to improve supply chain management. Instead, our conversation with David will be featured on next week’s episode.

Top Photo: Anton Suddia, IT Craft
Bottom Photo:  David Hailey, Countifi
Posted: February 28, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:13

There is only so much room at the top of the corporate ladder. What can owners and CEOs do to retain and incentivize good employees when no more executive slots are available?

According to Julie Winkle Giulioni, a human resources expert and bestselling author, there are excellent alternatives to promotions. Besides, many employees no longer want all the drama and responsibilities that come with upper-management jobs.

Julie’s new book, Promotions Are So Yesterday, won’t be out until next month. But host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart persuaded Julie to share some of her best employee enticements on this week’s podcast.

[Are you an author or would-be author? Pub-Site.com is the best do-it-yourself platform for building your author’s website. Take advantage of Pub Site’s free 14-day, no-obligation trial.]

Photo: Julie Winkle Giulioni, Promotions Are So Yesterday
Posted: February 21, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:05

To sell his first book, Man Interrupted, James Bailey — a sufferer of severe obsessive-compulsive behavior who was living out of his car at the time — staked out bookstores and celebrity haunts in Malibu, Santa Monica, and other well-to-do Southern California towns. 

When he spotted stars, he unashamedly pressed them to buy his book or at the very least accept a free copy.

Bob Dylan bought one. So did James Woods. Simon Cowell promised to buy the book. And Mel Brooks was so impressed with James that the Academy Award-winning writer of The Producers wrote a cover blurb for James’s newest book, The Diary of a Manic OCD Bookseller.

“I never back off,” James tells host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart. Indeed, James has sold thousands of his books, one at a time, and this week he explains how anyone can adapt his methods to help them achieve their goals.

Photo: James Bailey, The Diary of a Manic OCD Bookseller
Posted: February 14, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:28

Douglas Holmes is a veteran investment banker who sees massive potential in telemedicine.

His latest venture is DermatologistOnCall features a network of board-certified dermatologists who provide telemedicine services in all 50 states, and can even offer an in-home melanoma test.

The secret of DermatologistOnCall’s success, Douglas tells award-winning author and journalist Dean Rotbart, is the advanced technology that is the foundation of the service.

Douglas shares insights that could revolutionize how you reach and serve your customers, whether or not you work in healthcare.

Photo: Douglas Holmes, DermatologistOnCall
Posted: February 7, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 45:11

A California entrepreneur, Melissa Joseph, has combined her love poetry and her life-long habit of writing personal Thank You notes to launch a new business, Lotus Cards: Notecards with Heart.

The cards offer mix-and-match whimsical original poetic sentiments — each composed by Melissa — with a variety of unique, stylistic cover art. With Valentine's Day only two weeks off, Melissa’s cards make for highly original greetings.

Host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart says that Melissa, a former English teacher, is special for a couple of reasons: One - she’s a senior citizen unafraid to venture into a new business, and Two - she’s donating all proceeds from the sale of her cards to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
If Melissa Joseph can do it,
So can you.

Photo: Melissa Joseph and Lotus — Lotus Cards: Notecards with Heart
Posted: January 31, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 32:36

This week, in Part Two of host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart’s conversation with business historian Gary Hoover, the two turn their attention to women and minorities who overcame long odds to build or lead successful companies.

They’ll also reveal the failures and rebounds of some great American companies and share the story of one executive whose business failed, and afterward, he went home to his parents’ house and locked himself in the bedroom for a month. True story.

Gary is the executive director of the American Business History Center and the author of Bedtime Business Stories: Short Sagas of Business Creation, Success, and Failure. A serial entrepreneur, one company Hoover founded was acquired by Barnes & Noble, while another was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet.

Gary’s  specialty is looking back at the great industries, businesses, and business leaders of bygone days and reminding all of us of what made them great and how we can apply their insights today.

Photo: Gary Hoover, American Business History Center
Posted: January 24, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 33:08

Back in November, when General Electric announced its plan to break itself into three different companies, host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart invited business historian Gary Hoover to share the lessons of GE’s fall from grace.

Hoover is the executive director of the American Business History Center and the author of Bedtime Business Stories: Short Sagas of Business Creation, Success, and Failure. A serial entrepreneur, one company Hoover founded was acquired by Barnes & Noble, while another was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet.

This week, in part one of a two-part conversation, Rotbart and Hoover take a deep dive into an array of legendary American businesses and CEOs and what they can teach today’s business owners and leaders.

Photo: Gary Hoover, American Business History Center
Posted: November 22, 2021
Monday Morning Run Time: 38:42

Host Dean Rotbart is being mysterious about his guests this week on Monday Morning Radio. All he’ll say is that their names are Peter Desberg and Jeffrey Davis and between the two of them, their clients have included Apple, Dell Computers, Boeing, Toyota, and Honda.

Peter and Jeffrey have a "how-to" business book coming out next month that the authors promise will have entertaining, actionable advice for all owners and entrepreneurs, regardless of the nature of their businesses.

The two authors think that after hearing what they have to say, many listeners will want to buy their book. If you do, you can pre-order it here.

But as Dean points out, it’s totally up to listeners to decide if Peter and Jeffrey acquit themselves admirably.

Photos: Peter Desberg (l) and Jeffrey Davis, Authors
Posted: January 10, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 44:45

If Clay Stafford were to put all of his titles on a single business card, it would be one mammoth ID.

Clay is, among other things, an award-winning author — having sold nearly four million copies of his books, a poet, a screenwriter and playwright, film and television producer, director, showrunner, actor, educator, reviewer, and public speaker.

Oh yes, he is also the founder of The Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference - now in its 16th year - that has become the premier forum for all genres incorporating mystery, thriller, or suspense content.

This week, Clay shares with host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart how and why he does so many creative things and what we can learn from his successful approach to artistry. 

Photo: Clay Stafford, Killer Nashville
Posted: January 3, 2022
Monday Morning Run Time: 49:53

[Grab your copy of Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, featuring stories by Clay Stafford, Anne Perry, Jeffery Deaver, Mary Burton, and others.]