Good Shift

Joe Rotondo (founder of SmearCase) left a corporate job to create frozen cottage cheese (Froco). Stay with me, Joe moves with intention and has a huge amount of wisdom to share for career shifters or early-stage founders. Joe has shifted from exercise science to sustainable denim to bagels to corporate and now to disrupting the ice cream aisle.

This one's about betting on yourself, knowing when to quit versus persevere, and building a business around your life instead of the other way round.

Key quotes
"Your past career isn't a life sentence, it's just market research for your future."

"You don't build confidence by shouting affirmations in the mirror. You build confidence by having receipts of things that you've done."

"The safest bet you can make is on yourself."

📚 Books mentioned
Atomic Habits — James Clear
Awaken the Giant Within — Tony Robbins
Extreme Ownership — Jocko Willink
Alex Hormozi (referenced for the "confidence = receipts" idea)

If you're saying to yourself, "I'll do it when the timing is better " then dive in. 
Megan Black and Eliana Field-Marsham are childhood friends turned co-founders of Sonni, a next-generation mineral sunscreen brand they launched 11 months ago. Before that: Estée Lauder, McKinsey, Little Spoon, and two MBAs between them.
We get into:
what it actually feels like to leave a job you love;
how a solo founder became a co-founding partnership;
the consideration of the female biological clock and career paths; and
why "not now" quietly becomes "not ever" if you let it.
Listen in to the reality of building something from the ground up — in real time.
Find Sonni at https://sonniskin.com/ and @sonniskin on Instagram.

Debs Brocklesby was a performance analyst for the New Zealand Olympic Cycling team — a specialised, high-achieving role she'd built her identity around. She's now the founder of Stoked NZ, a multi-million dollar towlie company that started from her garage.
In this episode, we get into:
What it feels like to be stuck in a job that looks great on paper
How Debs let go of who she was professionally and started over
Limiting beliefs — and why they don't disappear when things start working
Rebuilding after your original career dreams are dashed
How to press forward in the face of adversity
How she built Stoked NZ from her spare room with no money, no business background, and no plan B
What it means to build something genuinely purposeful — not just profitable
Debs resource recs:

Start With Why — Simon Sinek (book)
Chapter One — Daniel Flynn, founder of Thank You Social Enterprise (book — the one that's horizontal instead of vertical)
A vision board — and the practice of writing a letter to yourself as if your goals have already happened (a practice she learned from her psychology mentor)
If you're stuck on a career ladder you've climbed and can't quite see how to get off it, give this a listen.

This is the most-requested topic I've had on the show!
Most people think building wealth means starting a business from scratch or climbing a ladder for thirty years. There's a third path that often flies under the radar. 
My guest Brandon Lipman has bought 12+ businesses across various fields and now coaches others to do the same, even if they've never run a business before. He started out in finance at a bank, realised at 25 his future there was capped, left, and along the way discovered he was already doing what investment bankers get paid millions for: acquiring businesses.
In this conversation, we get into:
What ETA (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) actually is, and why it's more accessible than you think
Why buying a business is often smarter than starting one
The #1 mistake first-time buyers make 
How long it actually takes to find and buy the right business
How to finance a deal when you don't have the cash yourself — and how to find an investor who'll back you
What to do in your first months as a new owner (and what not to do)
How to build the self-belief muscle you need before you buy
Whether you're thinking about your first move, don't know how to fund it, or just want to learn how smart people build wealth differently — Brandon's here to meet you where you are.
🔗 Resources mentioned in this episode:
Brandon's free online course on how to buy a business — Link here
Follow Brandon for bite-sized tips on IG - Instagram 
Ep 22 of Good Shift with Adam Stewart (Compound Wealth) — Adam introduced me to Brandon and his episode on compounding wealth is the perfect companion listen to this one.
If this episode made you think differently about your next move, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And if you're not subscribed yet — hit follow so you don't miss what's coming.
Find me on Instagram @goodshiftpodcast and let me know who you want to hear from next.

Nikki Creasy spent nine years working her way from intern to account director at a PR agency. Then Covid, a restructure and a personal itch she couldn't ignore led her to launch Peachy Lip Co.
In this episode: how Nikki transitioned from employee to contractor to freelancer to founder, what it actually cost to get a cosmetics brand off the ground, the marketing tactics that grew her community to 30K+ on Instagram, navigating cash flow as a first-time founder, gift-with-purchase and product swap strategies, cutting underperforming product lines to survive, and why founder-led content is non-negotiable for e-commerce brands.
Mentioned in this episode: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight | Find a founder you admire and listen to every podcast they've been on — that was Nikki's playbook.
Find Peachy Lip Co: @peachylipco_ on Instagram | peachy-lipco.com