Glenn Harper
143 episodes listed below
Plain talk for entrepreneurs.
Empowering Entrepreneurs is a practical small-business show built around tax planning, advisory relationships, and entrepreneurial backstories. Glenn Harper and Julie Smith mix casual banter with guest conversations that trace how entrepreneurs and finance people learned to build on their own terms.
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Empowering Entrepreneurs treats entrepreneurship as something built in ordinary, sometimes uncomfortable decisions. The show has a clear small-business center: taxes, advisory relationships, planning, cash, client service, leadership, and the pressure of being responsible for the outcome. It is not slick. Glenn Harper and Julie Smith tend to open with casual back-and-forth about coffee, weather, illness, wardrobe, or the shared misery and comedy of tax season before the business point comes into focus. That informality gives the show its shape. Episodes about tax planning are especially concrete, separating an extension to file from an extension to pay, explaining why tax-season surprises create anxiety, and arguing for year-round conversations with an advisor instead of a frantic scramble. The show also spends real time on what kind of professional relationship an owner actually wants. Some business owners just need compliance. Others need a planner who can talk before the problem is due. The guest episodes bring that same practical curiosity to entrepreneurial paths. Maximos Lih's conversation reaches back through education, computer science, self-reliance, and the kind of environment where a person learns to figure things out under pressure. Tyler Davis talks about advisory work, fractional controller and CFO-style services, client concentration, and the discipline of doing what is best for a client even when revenue gets uncomfortable. Mike Milligan brings financial planning, client goals, tax thinking, and a resistance to being pushed around by large institutions. Mike Kelly brings leadership, personal discipline, influence, and the idea that success cannot be reduced to money alone. Marc L. Daniels brings scale, exits, owner-operator experience, and owner-investor thinking. The conversations are warm, sometimes teasing, and usually aimed at the decision behind the story. What happened? Why did it matter? What should an entrepreneur learn from it? The show suits owners who know they need better systems but still want advice delivered like a real conversation. It is most useful when money stress, tax anxiety, or growth decisions need plain language instead of glossy business theater.
Made for: Empowering Entrepreneurs is for small-business owners, founders, and advisor-minded professionals who want practical guidance on taxes, planning, client relationships, leadership, and growth. It especially fits people who prefer conversational business coaching over polished keynote-style advice.
What sets it apart: The show blends tax and advisory talk with entrepreneur-story interviews, so the advice stays tied to real business pressure. Its casual banter makes technical topics like extensions, projections, concentration risk, and exit planning feel approachable without pretending they are simple.
Join Glenn Harper and Julie Smith as they help you build your brand and gain confidence as an entrepreneur. Explore key topics like business growth, mentorship, and overcoming challenges. Their guests bring intriguing and entertaining clarity to help you increase your confidence in building your business (and enjoy your journey doing it). Drive your passion, grow your business, and empower your journey today!
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Glenn Harper and Julie Smith turn entrepreneurial biographies into candid accounts of setbacks, decisions, and the personal beliefs behind business growth.
Glenn Harper and Julie Smith make the entrepreneurial interview feel less like a victory lap than a patient reconstruction of how someone arrived at a decision.
Diaper money runs out; Glenn Harper and Julie Smith ask the question you'd be afraid to answer.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A plainspoken startup conversation that pairs growth advice with a Berkeley-shaped lesson in learning by doing.
The discussion tracks a founder and CEO of Embolden LLC as he talks through the hard part of the startup dream once it turns real: growth, hiring, goals, execution, and the question of an exit.
A practical founder interview about client fit, tax strategy, and earning trust.
Tyler Davis comes through as a founder who leans on practical experience to help clients get to the real issues in their businesses. Glenn Harper and Julie Smith keep the discussion steady, with attention on tax strategy, accounting, advisory work, and the tradeoff that can…
A survival story about pride, family strain, and the hard reset behind entrepreneurial drive.
David Stowers' story turns on a hard reset that strips life back to basics: home, cars, diapers, pride, and the question of what comes next. Glenn Harper and Julie Smith keep circling that turning point, and the episode lands because it stays close to the human side of…
A blunt, human interview about health, healing, and the habit of questioning what you are told.
Empowering Entrepreneurs traces a founder-style interview through a harder origin story, where a guest's turn toward health begins after getting poisoned while working as a pesticide sprayer.
A clear look at money as pressure, not just numbers.
This episode treats money less like a scoreboard and more like a pressure test for what people think they deserve. It lands best when it stays on the gap between earning and feeling okay, and when it keeps coming back to the plain fact that basic needs come first.
Rob Walling on bootstrapped SaaS growth, plateaus, and exits — with founders who lived them.
Abbey Ashley's playbook for turning your job skills into a virtual assistant business.
SaaS operators on scaling, pricing and AI, metrics included.
Alex Blumberg interviews guests like Megan Phelps-Roper and Shane McAnally about failure and reinvention.
Dave Behar tells Glenn Harper and Julie Smith that beach volleyball had millions of athletes but no leading lifestyle brand.
On Empowering Entrepreneurs, Glenn Harper and Julie Smith explain why bookkeeping is the foundation of small-business financial decisions.
At Empowering Entrepreneurs, Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview Kurt Nelson, founder of the Lantern Group and co-founder of Behavior Grooves.
The guest likes the deep end.
This episode explains why CPAs often don't return calls during tax season, contrasting compliance-focused accountants with advisory-focused ones who communicate year-round.
This episode discusses how entrepreneurs can reduce tax season stress through proactive financial planning with a CPA.
This episode explains what a tax extension means, clarifying that it only extends the filing deadline but not the payment deadline, and advises entrepreneurs to estimate and pay what they owe to avoid penalties.
The episode opens with tax-season banter.
An interview with financial planner Mike Milligan about tax strategies and financial planning for entrepreneurs.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur and financial planner Mike Kelly about leadership, influence, and personal development for business owners.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview Mark Daniels, the billion-dollar coach, about scaling businesses and planning profitable exits.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith discuss why entrepreneurs often drag out goals over 52 weeks instead of 12, exploring fears of failure and success.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith discuss the impact of the 'big, beautiful bill' (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) on entrepreneurs, focusing on permanent tax rates and the qualified business income deduction.
Glenn Harper and Julie Smith talk with David Stowers about the entrepreneurial road that brought him to where he is now.
Glenn Harper and Julie Smith open with their familiar easy back-and-forth before bringing on a guest for a conversation that starts with his background and moves into health.
Glenn Harper and Julie Smith sit down with the guest for a conversation about the emotional side of money.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview Tom Schwab about podcast marketing strategies to help entrepreneurs grow their business.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Neil Rogers about his journey and expertise in promotional marketing and business growth.
This episode features an interview with Kelli Risse, who discusses her new book 'Mindset Mastery' about overcoming burnout and redefining success for entrepreneurs.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview John Graham Harper, founder of LumaFlex, about his entrepreneurial journey in wellness tech and overcoming challenges.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith introduce their podcast about entrepreneurship and interview Julie Banas, a revenue enthusiast, on building a business.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith introduce the podcast and interview Rob Brown, an accounting influencer, about his entrepreneurial journey and building a reputation.
This episode interviews entrepreneur Steve Gelley about his journey in building, scaling, and exiting multiple companies while emphasizing risk management, team delegation, and achieving successful business exits.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Jim Shields about his journey and insights on blending business with family.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Amara Jenoble about her journey building Home and Haven Company and Everwood Cabins.
This episode features an interview with entrepreneur Mark Sheff about his coaching and illustration businesses, focusing on discovering and fulfilling purpose in the entrepreneurial journey.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Olga Hurtado about her journey helping small business owners achieve the American dream.
This episode interviews Michael Lobsher, founder of Producers Wealth, about alternative wealth strategies beyond traditional mutual funds and ETFs for entrepreneurs.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Danny Bader about his journey in real estate investing, providing insights and inspiration for building a business.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Kyle Morris about his journey and insights for building a business.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Matt Ruttenberg about his journey in retirement plan services and providing value to clients.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith introduce their podcast about entrepreneurship and interview attorney Ashley George about her journey and book 'Unhappy Achiever'.
This episode interviews Kareem Kafouri, an expert in logistics and supply chain, discussing his entrepreneurial journey and multilingual business skills.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Scott Blazer about his journey in B2B SaaS and real estate, focusing on leadership and execution.
Hosts Glenn Harper and Julie Smith interview entrepreneur Leslie Alvarez about her journey and insights for building a successful business.