The Profit Minds Podcast w/ Steven Kirch

Hosted by Steven Kirch

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161

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Nov 2026

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What Makes YOUnique? Welcome to The Profit Minds Podcast with Dr. Steven Kirch. Dr. Kirch is the creator of theProfit Minds(TM) Growth System, a unique blend of profit growth, productivity acceleration, and business process for scale. In each episode of The Profit Minds, Dr. Kirch interviews entrepreneurs and small business owners from around the world with a unique story to tell.

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November 11, 2026Episode 16325 min

How to Niche Down Your Business and Only Need 6 New Clients a Year | Ep. 163

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟭𝟲𝟯 If you added up your 12 smallest clients, would they even equal your top 6?That one question is how to niche down your business without guessing. Ethan Giffin asked it about his own agency after 20 years, and the answer was no. A third of his company was busy serving clients who were too small or no longer a fit, and his team was selling about 15 different services to keep them all happy.So he niched down. Ethan is the Founder and CEO of The B2B eCommerce Agency (formerly Groove Commerce), and today his team does one thing for one kind of customer: private buyer portals for manufacturers and distributors. They say no more often than they say yes. They only need 6 new clients a year. And they win those clients by giving away almost everything they know for free."We just don't want to win every deal that comes to us." Ethan GiffinIn this episode, Ethan gives Dr. Kirch the full playbook: how to tell if you are being commoditized, how to audit your client list, why saying no makes you better for your best clients, and how he uses AI to turn a spoken brain dump into a plan his team can run with. If you feel stretched across too many clients and too many services, this one is for you.The simple client audit that showed Ethan a third of his company was wasted effort. Why his bottom 12 clients combined were worth less than his top 6. How he went from needing up to 20 new clients a year to needing only 6. The one question that tells you whether your business is being commoditized. Why his agency now says no more often than it says yes. Why $200 million companies still take orders by text message and spreadsheet. What a phone order really costs to process, $50 to $70, compared with about $5 online. Why giving away your "secret sauce" builds trust in the age of AI. How Ethan uses AI dictation to turn scattered ideas into clear plans for his team. How to get a free signed copy of Ethan's book mailed to you.

November 4, 2026Episode 16220 min

Three Companies Control 60% of the World's Data. And Yours Is Sitting There Unencrypted.

🎙️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟭𝟲𝟮 Right now, your data is sitting in the cloud as a single unencrypted file in a single location, readable by the platform, readable by your ISP, and wide open to any hacker who gets in. Three companies, AWS, Google, and Microsoft, control 60 to 70% of the world's data. They made three promises when the cloud era started: unlimited scale, true security, and lower costs. Only one of those promises has been kept. And with AI now multiplying the speed, scale, and sophistication of attacks, the exposure is not theoretical anymore. Murphy John is the Chief Growth Officer of StorX Network, a decentralized cloud storage platform that encrypts your data at the source, breaks it into fragments, and distributes those fragments across 2,000+ nodes in physically different locations worldwide. Not even StorX can see what you store. The key stays with you, always. In this episode, Murphy walks Dr. Kirch through exactly how decentralized storage works, why the risk has become 10 times more serious in the last year alone, and what every individual, business, and high net worth person should do right now to protect their data.💡 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑: Why your data on AWS, Google, and Microsoft is stored unencrypted in a single file in a single location. How three hyperscalers came to control 60-70% of the world's data, and the promises they have not kept. The three things you should do right now to protect your data even if you never use StorX. How StorX encrypts at source, fragments the data, and distributes it across 2,000+ nodes worldwide. Why not even StorX itself can see what you store, and what that actually means for privacy. How AI has made data exposure 10 times more dangerous in the past year, 100 agents vs. one hacker. Why ransomware can destroy a company that stores data with traditional hyperscalers. How health records, financial data, and competitive business information are being weaponized. Why Cambridge Analytica was just the beginning, and what AI-powered pattern recognition means for your personal data

October 28, 2026Episode 16132 min

Stop Treating AI Like an Answer Machine | Dan Winter Ep. 161

What if AI's greatest value isn't replacing people, but helping them do more of what they do best? Dan Winter, leadership and executive team coach and principal at Altus Growth Partners, joins Dr. Steven Kirch to explore how leaders can use AI to improve team performance, strengthen decision-making, and help people navigate a rapidly changing workplace. Dan shares why organizations need to address employee fears before implementing AI, how uncontrolled experimentation can create unnecessary risks and costs, and why treating AI like an answer machine misses its deeper potential. The conversation explores practical applications, from practicing interviews and preparing for difficult conversations to anticipating what different decision-makers care about. They also discuss how AI can help people identify blind spots, work through unfamiliar challenges, and focus more of their time on their strengths. If you're a business owner, executive, manager, or professional trying to understand how AI can support people rather than simply automate tasks, this episode offers a practical perspective on AI, leadership, and stronger teams. Dan is offering listeners a sample chapter from Growing Groups into Teams . Request yours by emailing dwinter@altusgrowth.com .

October 21, 2026Episode 16035 min

Why Certainty Closes More Than Any Sales Script | Esther Stewart Ep. 160

🎙️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟭𝟲𝟬 Esther Stewart had a full pipeline. Her marketing was working. Qualified prospects were getting on the call. And almost every single one of them said no.She knew the offer was good. She had spent nearly a decade at Morgan Stanley coaching executives in high-ticket client acquisition and scaling a book of business that worked with ultra-high-net-worth clients and celebrities. She left corporate, invested over $300,000 mastering online high-ticket sales, and still -- the nos kept coming.Two shifts changed everything. In this episode, Esther breaks down exactly what those shifts were, why conviction matters more than any sales tactic, and what it really takes to close $15,000 to $50,000 offers in a saturated market.If you are searching for how to sell high-ticket offers with confidence, why your sales calls are not converting, or how to present a complex offer without overwhelming your prospect, this episode gives you the full picture.

October 14, 2026Episode 15925 min

Servant Leadership Is Not Soft - It Is Your Most Underused Profit Strategy | Scott Doggett

Most executives hear "servant leadership" and think one word: fluff. Scott Doggett has heard that word his entire career. And every single time, he comes back with the same question: if engagement in this country has been stuck at 31% for years, and you have spent billions of dollars trying to fix it, how is your current approach working for you?Scott is the founder of the National Academy of Leadership Development, author of Priceless! See People Differently. Lead People Better, and spent 30 years at the top levels of hospitality leadership at Marriott Vacation Club, Hyatt Regency, and Holiday Inn Club Vacations. After two unexpected layoffs, the second from World Vision USA due to DOGE-related funding cuts, he came out the other side with a clarity he had been building toward his entire career. He had experienced servant leadership at scale. He had watched it produce near-zero turnover and extraordinary engagement. And he decided to take that model to the world.In this episode, Dr. Steven Kirch sits down with Scott to walk through the whole picture. They cover what servant leadership actually looks like in practice. Not warm and fuzzy, but specific and behavioral. They talk about the AI revolution and why it is returning the one resource leaders have always said they lacked: time. They cover the 31% engagement problem, why culture is not the town hall but thousands of daily interactions, and Scott's Ebenezer Scrooge workshop that takes leaders through their past, present, and future to change how they see the people they lead.Dr. Kirch also shares the story of closing an Intel factory with 800 people and how caring for those people dropped turnover from the mid-teens to under 5% for 18 months straight.This is the episode for any leader who has ever thought that taking care of people and driving results were somehow in competition. They are not. They are the same thing.

October 7, 2026Episode 15828 min

Your Revenue Problem Might Actually Be a People Problem — Ryan Englin Explains

Your revenue problem might not be a marketing problem.Ryan Englin spent years helping businesses generate more leads and retain more customers before he discovered the real issue. It was not revenue. It was people. Today, as founder and CEO of Core Matters and host of the Titans of the Trades podcast, he has built an entire system around one insight: engaged employees drive profit, and most small business owners are not doing what it takes to build a team that stays engaged.In this episode, Dr. Steven Kirch sits down with Ryan to walk through the full picture. They cover what it actually means to become the employer of choice in your local area, why most employee referral programs fail because employees are not equipped to recruit, and the concept that stops every business owner cold: people quit twice. They quit once in their heart, and they quit when they tell you — and between those two moments, the average US job search takes 10 weeks. That means for two and a half months, you have been paying full salary for someone whose head is already gone. Ryan also breaks down the eNPS and why the score without the follow-up question is completely useless, how to build a talent pipeline the same way you would build a sales pipeline, what an Applicant Tracking System does and why small businesses are ignoring the most powerful hiring tool available to them, and why AI should screen candidates but a human must always do the interview. This is the episode for any business owner who has ever said, "I just cannot find good people" and has not yet looked at whether the problem is the market or the company.

September 30, 2026Episode 15729 min

Stop Chasing the Hottest Franchise — A 30-Year Expert Explains What Actually Matters | Ep. 157

Everyone wants to know what the hottest franchise is right now. That is the wrong question — and asking it is exactly how people end up locked into a business that drains them instead of building them. The right question is whether franchising is right for you at all, and if it is, which system fits the way you think, work, and lead. Most people never ask it that way. Jeff Shafritz has spent 30 years helping them figure it out.Jeff Shafritz is the founder of Franchise Guidance. He started his career on the franchisor side at The Athlete's Foot, handling franchise development for the Americas for 9 years. He then became a franchise owner himself, running a fitness franchise for 5 years before profitably exiting. For the past 20-plus years he has worked as a franchise advisor and matchmaker — helping corporate executives, downsized professionals, and existing business owners find franchises that fit them. He has been on every side of franchising and his message is clear: fit beats hype every single time. In this episode, Dr. Steven Kirch and Jeff Shafritz break down exactly what it takes to discover whether franchising is right for you and how to investigate one properly before you sign anything.💡 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫:- Why "what's the hottest franchise?" is the most dangerous question you can ask- The 90-minute fit assessment Jeff runs with every candidate before recommending anything- Why franchising is not right for everyone — and the signs that tell you which side you are on- How AI displacement is driving a massive wave of corporate executives toward franchising- Why AI cannot paint your house, clean your gutters, or run your fitness studio — and what that means for franchise investors- The difference between manager-run and owner-operated franchises and how to know which fits your life- Why you are buying the system, not the product and what happens when people get that wrong- The exact corporate skills that transfer directly into franchise ownership (and the ones that can hurt you)- How to validate a franchise opportunity by talking to existing franchisees before you buy- Why Jeff's services cost you nothing and how franchise fees are regulated by the FTC- How to use Jeff's free franchise readiness survey and quiz to find out where you stand right now

September 23, 2026Episode 15635 min

Your AI Content Could Get You Sued — A Top Entertainment Lawyer Explains What Changed | Ep. 156

⚠️ 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑: The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a qualified attorney for your specific situation. 🎙️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟭𝟱𝟲 The Supreme Court ruled on AI copyright on March 2, 2026. Most business owners still do not know it happened. The ruling settled one of the biggest legal questions in AI: only humans can hold copyright. That means the AI content you are creating right now — the blogs, the social posts, the marketing materials — may have no legal protection at all. And the legal landmines buried inside your AI tools go much further than just copyright.Nadia Davari is an entertainment and tech lawyer based in Los Angeles with over 25 years of experience navigating the intersection of technology, creativity, and the law. A native Angeleno, she earned her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her law degree from USC. From Napster disrupting music, through the Netflix streaming pivot, to the guild strikes that shaped California's AI legislation — Nadia has been on the front lines of every major tech disruption in entertainment law. She is back on The Profit Minds Podcast to break down the legal landscape every business owner using AI needs to understand right now. If you are searching for what the Supreme Court AI copyright ruling means for your business, what a prompt audit trail is, or how to use AI tools without creating legal exposure — this episode gives you the complete picture.💡 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫: - What the Supreme Court's Thaler v. Perlmutter ruling (March 2, 2026) actually means for your business - What a "prompt audit trail" is and why it is now appearing in commercial contracts - The new copyright battleground: how much human input is enough to claim protection? - Why lawyers lose attorney-client privilege the moment they upload client data to AI - What the NYT vs. OpenAI lawsuit proved in discovery: LLMs memorize verbatim training data - Why prompting AI "in the style of Drake, Nike, or Picasso" is a trademark liability - The Takedown Act: signed May 2025, now in full criminal enforcement as of May 19, 2026 - HIPAA considerations every medical professional using AI must know - Why the EU is ahead of the US on AI content marking requirements - How to choose clean AI tools and mitigate your legal risk right now - Why AI is "the most agreeable assistant you ever had" and why that is the danger This is the conversation every business owner using AI needs to have — before a lawsuit forces it. #AIcopyright #AIlegal #ArtificialIntelligence #BusinessLaw #EntertainmentLaw #AIrisk #PromptAuditTrail #TakedownAct #ProfitMindsPodcast #DrStevenKirch #NadiaDavari #AIbusiness #CopyrightLaw2026 #TechLaw #BusinessPodcast

September 16, 2026Episode 15524 min

This Law Firm Was Sending Every Client to a Competitor - Data Fixed It | Ep. 155

🎙️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟭𝟱𝟱 A law firm noticed their new client calls had fallen off the table. Nobody knew why. After digging into the data, they discovered their own online intake form had a broken flowchart that automatically disqualified every single prospect and referred them to a competitor. They only found out when the competitor called to personally thank them for all the recent referrals. This is what happens when a law firm is flying blind without the right data systems in place. And it is happening inside more law practices than anyone wants to admit.John Scott is a partner at Anders specializing in profit-focused accounting for law firms. He has spent his entire career working alongside attorneys, watched one entrepreneurial lawyer scale his practice from St. Louis to 44 states and the UK by paying obsessive attention to data, and has spent 17 years helping law firms build the financial visibility they need to grow, scale and course-correct before it is too late. His message is direct. Most law firms are driving by looking in the rearview mirror. Your P&L tells you what happened last quarter. Your data tells you where you are going next week.If you are searching for how to scale a law firm with data, how to identify your law firm revenue drivers, or how to build forward-looking financial systems for your practice, this episode gives you the complete blueprint.💡 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫:- How one law firm was sending every new client to a competitor without knowing it - Why most law firms are flying blind and what the data system looks like that fixes it - How to scale a law firm with data - the exact framework John has used for 30+ years - How one attorney scaled from 1 city to 44 states by paying obsessive attention to data - Why your P&L is a rearview mirror and what forward-looking accounting actually looks like - The 13-week rolling forecast that tells you exactly where your firm is heading right now - Why the average attorney converts less than 30% of their working hours into collected revenue - How to identify the revenue drivers that actually move the needle in a law practice - Why law school never taught you how to run a business and what to do about it - How AI can build sophisticated financial dashboards and budgets for your firm in minutes - How to use data to course-correct fast instead of waiting until it is too late⚠️ 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑: The information in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.

September 9, 2026Episode 15431 min

AI Is Replacing Managers Who Give Answers - Here Is What Survives | Michael Neuendorff | Ep. 154

🎙️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟭𝟱𝟰 Gartner predicts that 20% of organizations will use AI to eliminate over 50% of current middle management positions by end of 2026. Amazon cut 14,000 corporate roles in 2025 citing AI efficiency. Wall Street banks plan to eliminate 200,000 roles in the next three to five years. And the reason AI is coming for middle management first is simple. Roughly 60% of a typical middle manager's week is spent on reporting, coordinating, reviewing and translating. And that is exactly what AI does best. But here is what AI cannot do. AI cannot ask a team member what challenge is coming up next month that makes them nervous. AI cannot sit with someone through their vulnerability and help them find their own answer. AI cannot develop people. And that is precisely why leaders who learn to coach their teams are not just surviving in 2026 - they are becoming indispensable. Michael Neuendorff has spent his career helping leaders make exactly this shift. He started his coaching business during the 2008 recession, learned that good businesses are forged in tough times, and has spent the years since building Bay Area Executive Coach into one of the most trusted leadership coaching practices in the country. His message to every manager worried about AI is direct. Stop giving answers. Start asking better questions. Because how leaders can survive AI by learning to coach is not a theory - it is the defining leadership skill of 2026. 💡 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫: - Why AI is replacing managers who give answers and exactly what type of leader survives - How leaders can survive AI by learning to coach their teams instead of directing them - The 3 biggest barriers to becoming a coaching leader and how to overcome each one - Why AI and the coaching approach work together synergistically - not against each other - The difference between a regular 1-on-1 and a coaching 1-on-1 - and why it changes everything - Why Dr. Steven says the direct report should always own the agenda in a 1-on-1 - The skills-knowledge gap vs the confidence gap - when to coach and when to just tell - Why "coaching is agency" - the 3 words that define every great coaching conversation - How becoming a coaching leader makes you a better parent, spouse and friend too - The IKEA directions story - how AI helps you build skills you lack the confidence to use - Why your greatest growth always comes from your greatest mistakes 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒, 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 & 𝐄𝐗𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒: Michael Neuendorff is the president and founder of Bay Area Executive Coach. He left his corporate job in 2008, purchased a coaching franchise and built his practice from scratch during the worst recession in modern history. He has since created over 300 YouTube videos dedicated to helping leaders develop coaching skills, and has trained leaders across industries to become the kind of manager their teams never want to leave.