In the 98th episode of Simply Business, we sit down with Scott Noonan , President at Spear AI Analytics, for a powerful conversation about ownership, resilience, and the leadership advantage hidden inside your personal story.

Too often, leaders carry silent narratives past setbacks, failures, missed opportunities that quietly shape their decisions. But what if those same experiences are the foundation of your authority?

In this episode, we explore:

Why owning your story changes how you lead

How adversity can become your competitive advantage

The discipline of self-awareness in business

Moving from blame to responsibility

Leading authentically in uncertain times

This conversation is raw, practical, and deeply relevant for anyone building a business or leading a team.

If you’re ready to stop being shaped by your past and start using it as fuel this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now, subscribe, and share with a leader who needs to hear this.

In the 97th episode of Simply Business, we explore what it really takes to lead effectively in complex environments without becoming overwhelmed or overcomplicating the journey.

Our guest shares practical insights on how clarity, personal responsibility, and disciplined thinking drive sustainable growth in business and leadership. Instead of chasing complexity, we dive into the power of simplifying decisions, focusing on what truly matters, and building consistent habits that compound over time.

Key themes include:

Why simplicity is a competitive advantage

How leaders create clarity that drives performance

The role of ownership in personal and business growth

Why consistency outperforms intensity

How identity shapes leadership impact

If you're building a business, leading a team, or striving to become a more grounded and effective leader, this conversation will challenge and inspire you.

🎧 Listen now and discover how simplifying your leadership can amplify your results.

Don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode with someone who values clarity over chaos.

In the 96th episode of Simply Business, host John Jennings sits down with Neil Young, President of Two Ladders, to explore what it really means to build a business that lasts.

Eleven years in, Two Ladders still feels like a startup and that’s no accident. Neil shares how the company evolved from a traditional marketing agency into a business focused on uncovering the operational truths that marketing spend often reveals.

This conversation dives into the dangers of chasing growth without fixing internal processes, the power of simplicity in leadership, and why understanding your starting point is critical to making smart decisions as you scale.

If you’re a business owner or leader trying to grow without losing focus, this episode delivers practical insight and grounded wisdom.

👉 Listen in, subscribe, and join the conversation.

In the 95th episode of Simply Business, host John Jennings sits down with Dan Ratterman, Co-Founder and CEO of Shady Rays, to unpack how a simple idea turned into a powerful brand.

Dan shares the founding story behind Shady Rays identifying a gap in the market where sunglasses were either overpriced or disposable, and choosing to build something better by focusing on real customer behavior.

This conversation explores what it means to build a business that listens first, keeps things simple, and grows through trust rather than noise. Dan’s insights are a reminder that strong businesses aren’t built by chasing trends they’re built by solving everyday problems well.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, leader, or business owner, this episode will challenge you to rethink how simplicity, empathy, and consistency can become your greatest competitive advantages.

🎧 Tune in, subscribe, and discover how doing less better can drive more impact.

In the 94th episode of Simply Business, host John Jennings sits down with Eric Lowe, Co-Founder and CEO of Aptiva Health, to explore how one company is redesigning healthcare around people not systems.

Eric shares the story of how Aptiva grew from a single practice in Lexington, Kentucky, into a multi-location, multi-specialty healthcare group. Their model brings orthopedic, MSK, concussion care, rehab, and mental wellness under one roof, so patients don’t have to wait months or bounce between four different specialists to get real help.

You’ll hear how Eric’s background in revenue cycle management and contracts shaped his view of what’s broken in healthcare and how that led to a radically more convenient, transparent experience for patients. From integrated mental health for concussion patients to up-front pricing and the upcoming Aptiva Health Learning Hub, Eric explains how they’re trying to remove friction at every step of the patient journey.

The conversation also dives into leadership and life outside the clinic. Eric talks about coaching youth football, using AI and automation as a force multiplier for his team, and why he sees work as part of a single, purpose-driven life not something separate from it. He also previews his upcoming book, Be the Broker, and unpacks the idea of “relational currency” as a key to long-term success.

If you’re a healthcare leader, entrepreneur, or anyone interested in building businesses that actually serve people better, this episode is for you.

Listen in to learn:

How Aptiva Health is rethinking the entire patient journey

Why integrating mental health into injury care changes outcomes

Where AI and automation can truly help (without replacing humans)

How to think about work, purpose, and life as one integrated whole

Why “relational currency” might be the most important asset you build

Tune in, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who cares about fixing healthcare or building a business that genuinely puts people first.

What if powering an intelligent building was as simple as running speaker wire?

In the 93rd episode of Simply Business, host John Jennings sits down with Matt Laherty of Cinch IoT, a company building a two-wire, low-voltage intelligent building platform that powers and connects lighting, sensors, air quality monitoring, people counting, and more — all over a simple, safe cable.

Matt shares his unconventional path from a history degree and tech recruiting, to Cisco, where he worked on service provider routing and became one of the early leaders behind Power over Ethernet and Cisco’s digital ceiling initiatives. That journey ultimately led him to ask a big question: If all these networks end up in buildings, why are we still using complicated, high-voltage infrastructure to power them?

Together, John and Matt dig into:

How Cinch IoT uses a low-voltage, two-wire platform to dramatically simplify smart building design and installation.

Why simplicity, safety, and lower total cost beat “cool but complicated” when it comes to real-world adoption.

The realities of building and scaling hardware: designing boards, managing supply chains, and preparing for big orders.

Go-to-market lessons for selling disruptive tech into a traditional electrical and construction ecosystem.

New applications like continuous thermal monitoring in data centers, and why overheating and power cycling are such big risks.

In the 92nd episode of Simply Business, host John Jennings sits down with Sheri Darby, President of Walker Mechanical, to unpack what it really takes to step into the top seat, turn around a struggling business, and lead in a male-dominated industry.

Sheri shares how she moved from CFO to President inside an employee-owned (ESOP) mechanical contracting firm and why she walked into the boardroom during a rough patch and said, “I think I can fix this.” From there, she takes us through the reality of rebuilding: stabilizing the company, reshaping bidding practices, and resetting a culture that sometimes cared more about “beating the competition” than making money.

You’ll hear:

How ESOPs work as an exit strategy and as a way to create long-term ownership for employees

Why Sheri believes great leaders don’t have to live in the technical details but must trust the experts on their team

The tough mindset shift from “we’ll win the job at any cost” to “we only win the jobs that build a healthy business”

What it’s like to be one of the only women in the room in construction and mechanical contracting and how Sheri earned a seat on her industry’s board

How transparency, financial clarity, and honest conversations helped Walker Mechanical get “right-sided” and profitable again

What’s next for Walker: acquisitions, geographic expansion, and building a pipeline of young talent

If you’re a business owner, leader, or aspiring executive especially in construction, trades, or any project-based business this conversation is a practical masterclass in leadership, courage, and simplicity.

What happens when you stop treating patients as isolated individuals and start caring for entire families in their homes, especially those on Medicaid?

In the 91st episode of Simply Business, John Jennings sits down with Mike Meador, Chief Financial Officer of Nest Health, a home-based primary care company serving lower-income families in Louisiana and Arizona. Mike shares how Nest Health is building a whole-family, preventive-care model designed to reduce ER visits, improve outcomes, and create real value for Medicaid plans and the people they serve.

Mike unpacks the realities behind the buzzwords of “value-based care” and explains why Medicaid is both incredibly complex and full of opportunity. He walks through how Nest Health chooses where to launch next balancing payer partnerships, geography, population density, and operational constraints while resisting the temptation to “serve everybody” and instead staying laser-focused on the families they can help most.

You’ll also hear how Nest Health runs as an early-stage, venture-backed company with a leadership team spread across the country, and how Mike’s own journey from teaching math, to Medicare Advantage analytics, to in-home care ultimately led him to Nest Health’s simple but powerful idea: care for whole families, not just individuals.

If you’re interested in healthcare, leadership, or what it really takes to build a mission-driven business in a broken system, this conversation is for you.

👉 Listen now on your favorite podcast platform, and be sure to follow Simply Business for more real-world conversations with leaders building meaningful companies.