Deri Llewellyn-Davies, Strategist & Board Advisor, Founder of Freedom Founders, and creator of the Ultra States methodology, says peak performance is a state problem, not a motivation problem — and accessing flow state in your first two hours delivers 500% productivity gains. Having guided over 330 boards and leadership teams, he breaks down the five performance states — flow, focus, peak, recovery, and connect — and shows how to choose them deliberately instead of letting your phone choose for you.

This episode answers:

• Why is peak performance a state problem rather than a motivation problem?
• How does checking your phone before getting out of bed hijack your neurochemistry?
• What does flow state in the first two hours of the day actually deliver?
• How do you reset your nervous system with 90 seconds of breathwork before a sales call?
• What does the Maslach Burnout Inventory say really causes burnout?
• How do you find a purpose strong enough to underpin every performance state?

Connect with Deri Llewellyn-Davies on LinkedIn to access the Ultra States book, scorecards, and masterclass — currently free.

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Chris Maduri, Retirement Planning Specialist at Vibrant Retirement, brings nearly 20 years of experience guiding individuals and high-performing professionals through one of life’s most significant transitions. Having started his career just before the 2008 financial crisis, Chris developed a practical, resilience-focused approach that pairs rigorous financial structure with deep personal clarity. In this Expert Insight Interview, he joins John Golden to explore why retirement planning fails when it focuses only on the numbers — and how the most fulfilling retirements are designed from both sides of the ledger.

Chris argues that most pre-retirees over-invest in accumulation and under-invest in purpose, leaving them retiring from a career but not to anything meaningful. He walks through what he calls the Retirement Red Zone — the five years before and after retirement — and explains why a market shock during this stretch can raise the risk of failure by roughly 40%. The conversation closes with practical guidance on long-term care, legacy planning, and replicating the working paycheck.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why retiring TO something matters more than retiring FROM something
• The Retirement Red Zone and why the 10-year window decides everything
• The five red flags that quietly derail retirement
• How predictable income beats chasing returns
• Smart use of annuities, pensions, and Social Security to replicate the paycheck
• Long-term care, life insurance, and legacy planning done early

Ready to design a retirement that lasts? Visit vibrantretirement.com to book a free consultation with Chris.

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Brad Farris, founder of Anchor Advisors and a 20-year executive leadership coach, joins Sales POP! to unpack the wall most agency and consulting founders hit between $1M and $2M — and the specific moves that take a service firm into the profitable $3M to $5M range. Brad has worked side-by-side with hundreds of owners and has seen the same patterns repeat: the hustle that built the business eventually caps it, the founder becomes the bottleneck, and the path forward demands changes the owner often resists. In this conversation with John Golden, Brad lays out the mindset, hiring, pricing, and positioning shifts that separate firms that stall from firms that scale.

Topics covered:

• Why founders become the ceiling on their own businesses
• The “doing vs. being” shift every growing-firm CEO has to make
• Raising prices by 20–50% — and the marketing shift that follows
• Hiring specialists instead of cloning yourself
• Narrowing your service offerings to unlock real margin
• Setting culture deliberately as the team grows

Ready to scale past your own ceiling? Visit anchoradvisors.com to learn more about working with Brad.

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Michael Hofer is a CFO, transformational executive, and founder of ByMichaelHofer with more than 30 mergers and acquisitions executed across multiple industries and continents. In this episode, he joins John Golden to reveal what separates deals that create lasting value from the ones that collapse during integration — and how AI is now changing the game for finance teams everywhere.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why most companies evaluate too few M&A targets and jump at the wrong deals
• How cultural competency determines cross-border acquisition success
• The integration mistake that destroys what made the target company valuable
• How AI reduces financial forecasting time by 50% and improves accuracy by 15–20%
• Using AI for contract review, due diligence, and monthly closing — and why human review still matters
• How the CFO role is evolving as AI supercharges finance teams at every level

Whether you lead deals, run a finance function, or simply want to understand where global M&A and AI adoption are heading, Michael Hofer’s insights will change how you think about both. Connect with Michael and explore his work at bymichaelhofer.com.

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Lane Kawaoka is a former engineer turned full-time real estate investor and fund manager who oversees a portfolio exceeding $2.1 billion. He achieved real estate millionaire status by age 31, left corporate life by 35, and has since syndicated more than $250 million in private equity while distributing over $450 million to investors. In this episode, Lane walks through the five-floor Wealth Elevator framework he developed from lived experience — a clear, stage-by-stage roadmap for accredited investors who want to stop depending on traditional retirement accounts and start building real passive wealth.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why the 401(k) gives accredited investors “sloppy seconds” compared to primary-access deal structures
• The five floors of the Wealth Elevator — from debt and rental properties through syndications, private funds, and financial freedom
• How to evaluate syndication sponsors and avoid the operators who market better than they perform
• The 70-20-10 investor education framework and why 70% of learning happens by doing
• Advanced tax strategies, including cost segregation, real estate depreciation, and oil and gas deductions
• The accredited investor banking trifecta: alternative investments, tax reduction, and overfunded life insurance

Ready to find out which floor you’re on? Visit Lane at thewealthelevator.com to access his book, resources, and investor community.

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Gregory Kovsky is the President and CEO of International Business Associates (IBA), the Pacific Northwest’s oldest and largest business brokerage firm. With 32 years of M&A experience and more than 300 business sales facilitated, Gregory is one of the most seasoned intermediaries in the country. In this episode, he walks business owners through everything they need to know before putting their company on the market — from defining exit objectives to structuring a deal that protects their employees, customers, and legacy.

Topics covered in this episode:

• How to define your exit objectives before you engage a broker or test the market
• Why clean financials are the single most important factor in achieving maximum valuation
• The most common mistakes family business owners make that kill deals before they close
• How deal structures work — including seller notes, earn-outs, escrow holdbacks, and retained equity
• Why realistic timelines (6–12 months to sell, plus a transition period of up to 3 years) matter for planning
• How to build a winning transaction team: M&A intermediary, attorney, CPA, and wealth advisor

Whether you’re planning your exit now or years from now, this conversation will sharpen your thinking. Visit ibainc.com to book a free consultation with Gregory’s team.

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Mark Myers is the founder of Tax Wise Partners, a former Marine Corps sergeant, and a tax saving architect who has helped 500+ high-income earners and business owners permanently cut their annual tax bills by 30–60%. In this episode, Mark reveals why roughly 90% of businesses overpay taxes every year — and exactly what to do about it.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why compliance-focused CPAs leave significant tax savings on the table
• How to treat your tax liability as a profit center, not a fixed cost
• Solar investments that generate $1.50 in tax savings for every dollar spent
• Charitable donation strategies that cost less than the deduction they produce
• How to structure a business sale to legally eliminate or defer capital gains
• Why working with a strategic tax partner benefits — not threatens — your existing CPA

If you are ready to stop bracing for impact at tax time and start planning offensively, visit taxwisepartners.com to book a free consultation with Mark and his team.

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The AI Accountant: How Sai Dhanak Is Replacing the Billable Hour

Sai Dhanak is the CEO and co-founder of Deduction, a two-time startup exit veteran with four patents spanning cybersecurity, IoT, and service design. In this episode, Sai explains how a structural crisis in the US accounting industry — with 55% of CPAs approaching retirement — became the foundation for a new kind of AI-powered tax service that partners human CPAs with AI agents to file IRS-ready returns at a flat annual price.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why selling AI tools to accountants is the wrong answer to the CPA shortage
• How Deduction’s email-based, human-in-the-loop model earns client trust
• The pivot from direct-to-consumer to acquiring the retiring CPAs’ book of business
• Why every service industry built on billable hours is facing disruption
• The “inaction trap” — and how contrarian action opens unexpected doors
• How Deduction onboarded over 1,200 clients in its first six weeks

Sai’s journey from London startup founder to two-exit US company builder is a masterclass in asking the right question before building the solution. Visit deduction.com to learn more or email taylor@deduction.com to get started.

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