Wealthy and Well-Known Podcast

What can you give before someone becomes a customer?

Rory and AJ Vaden discuss generosity as a business strategy and a daily practice. Rory shares why teaching people what you know can build trust. AJ offers a way to examine your own giving through money, time, and information, including the form she has found hardest to give.

Listen for a practical conversation about sharing your expertise, building relationships, and noticing what the person in front of you actually needs.

Tyler Dickerhoof spent years responding to difficult moments by putting his head down and pushing harder. As he began to examine that pattern, he saw its effect on the people around him.

Tyler joins Rory Vaden to discuss The Things We Hide and the four ways he says insecurity can appear in leadership: intensity, insensitivity, inactivity, and isolation. They talk about recognizing those responses, acknowledging them honestly, and asking others to help you see what you may be missing.

Tyler also shares how he built his coaching and speaking work gradually, beginning with a book club and making room for the family life he wanted along the way.

Read Tyler's book: https://www.tylerdickerhoof.com/book

What would it take for your business to thrive after you step away?

Rory and AJ Vaden discuss the choices founders make when they want to build something lasting. Beginning with a visit from their sons, they explore who might carry a company forward, how to prepare future leaders, and why the purpose guiding a business has to be understood beyond the founder.

AJ shares how she communicated a new vision to their team. Rory explains the people, processes, and products a business needs to operate without its founders. Together, they consider what a sale or succession can mean for the company and the people whose lives are tied to it.

A job posting tells candidates what they'll do. Your reputation gives them a sense of who they'll do it with.

Rory and AJ Vaden discuss how leaders can use their personal brands to attract the right people and build a team that stays. AJ shares what strong candidates ask during interviews, why she has become more visible in Nashville while hiring locally, and how she writes recruitment letters that explain the vision behind an open role.

They also explore honest job expectations, fair compensation, and ways a smaller company can create opportunities that appeal to talented people.

Learn more at FreeBrandCall.com.

Maggie Berghoff built her company around the life she wanted to live. What began as a one-on-one health coaching practice grew into a multi-seven-figure business that now helps health professionals build companies of their own.

In this conversation, Maggie joins Rory Vaden to explain how she created a high-ticket offer before she had a large audience, why she eventually focused the company around one audience, and how repeating the same proven launch helped her grow without constantly reinventing her marketing.

They also discuss the shift from organic content to paid advertising, Maggie's decision to invest as much as $180,000 during a launch, and the simple way a new entrepreneur can begin serving people today.

Learn more about Maggie: https://maggieberghoff.com/

Before a producer books you for television, they may have to convince an entire team that you're the right person for the segment. What can they find that helps them make that case?

Rory Vaden sits down with Jamie Maglietta, an Emmy-nominated producer and media strategist with experience at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, to unpack how experts earn media opportunities. They discuss what makes a pitch relevant, why articles and podcast interviews help establish credibility, and how to build relationships with journalists before you have something to promote.

Jamie also explains how preparing your message helps you respond naturally on camera—even when a segment gets shorter or the conversation takes an unexpected turn.

Get Jamie's Camera Ready Checklist: https://www.oncamready.com/

Your personal brand affects more than leads and followers when you're the person leading the company.

In this episode, Rory and AJ Vaden talk about how a CEO's reputation influences recruiting, culture, vision, and the way people understand the organization itself.

AJ also shares the four responsibilities she is prioritizing in her own role as CEO of Brand Builders Group and why storytelling has become one of them.

If you lead a company and have wondered whether building your personal brand is worth the time, this conversation gives you a much broader way to think about the return.

If you're doing everything yourself because hiring feels too expensive, Rory and AJ Vaden want you to reconsider what "expensive" actually means.

In this episode, they unpack the real cost of holding onto work too long, Rory's 30X Rule for delegation, and how fear and perfectionism keep entrepreneurs from building the capacity they need to grow.

They also discuss underperformance, hiring for skill versus culture, when to start with contractors, and the four distinct skill sets behind a strong personal brand marketing team.

If you're good at a lot of things, choosing one audience or specialty can feel like you're closing doors.

But the broader your business becomes, the harder it can be for someone to understand exactly why they should choose you.

In this episode, Rory and AJ Vaden talk about why niching down makes you easier to find, remember, refer, and buy from. They also unpack why specialists can command a premium, what AI means for generalists, and how to choose a lane when you have several things you could genuinely do well.

For years, Jim Kwik believed he had a "broken brain."

That story eventually led him on a search to understand how the brain learns, remembers, focuses, and changes. Today, he is one of the world's leading experts on accelerated learning.

In this conversation, Jim and Rory talk about the experiences that shaped his mission, the danger of letting our limitations become part of our identity, and why learning how to learn may be one of the most important skills we can develop.

They also get into AI, cognitive offloading, morning routines, and Jim's belief that the rise of artificial intelligence may actually make our humanity more valuable.

Most people think improving sales means learning better closing techniques.

Rory and AJ Vaden believe the foundation comes earlier: building a reputation people trust.

In this episode, they discuss how marketing and sales work together, why relationships accelerate revenue, and why the best sales conversations are built around helping people make the right decision. They also share their approach to ethical selling and why your customer experience may be your most powerful marketing strategy.

People want to know who is behind the business.

In this episode, Rory and AJ explain why founder visibility can create a level of familiarity and trust that a logo alone cannot. They talk about the fear of judgment that keeps many accomplished entrepreneurs off camera and why focusing on service can change the way you think about putting yourself out there.

AJ also shares an idea that changed the way she thinks about her own role as a founder: becoming the "Chief Storytelling Officer" of the company.

You'll also hear practical advice for getting comfortable on camera, deciding what to talk about, using your own story as a starting point, and making the experience feel more like a conversation with a real person.

A full content calendar can keep you busy without bringing you any closer to a customer.

Rory and AJ Vaden explain the difference between managing the mechanics of content and building a strategy around the person you are uniquely equipped to serve. They also discuss why viral content and converting content require different approaches, how to identify the questions your audience needs answered, and why consistent content still fails when the message is disconnected from the customer.

If your content is not producing results, it may be time to revisit who it is actually for.

What keeps an entrepreneur motivated after the money, recognition, and early goals have already been achieved?

Rory sits down with Dan Sullivan, co-founder of Strategic Coach, to talk about the mindset and decisions that have kept him growing after more than 50 years in business.

Dan explains why successful people often feel behind, how measuring backward changes your experience of progress, and why entrepreneurs should spend more time working inside their unique ability.

They also discuss Who Not How, hiring people who create an immediate impact, using money to buy back time, and the role AI can play in simplifying a business.

Dan also shares why he refuses to consider retirement at 82 and why entrepreneurs may need to rethink the deadlines they attach to their biggest goals.

Burnout can be difficult to recognize when you are still performing.

You may be getting the work done, hitting goals, and showing up for everyone around you while your body and mind are quietly telling you that something is wrong.

In this episode, Rory and AJ talk about what burnout looked like in their own life and marriage. AJ shares how years of sleeplessness, anxiety, physical pain, frustration, and overcommitment led to one of the lowest seasons of her life. She also explains the small warning signs she can now recognize much earlier.

The conversation goes beyond workload. Rory and AJ explore why burnout often comes from misalignment: working for the wrong reasons, forcing yourself into roles that do not fit your strengths, or building a personal brand around what you think you should be doing instead of the message you actually feel called to share.

They also discuss dread, physical warning signs, spiritual health, exercise, delegation, and the work you should consider outsourcing first.

This episode is for high achievers who are tired of trying to work their way out of exhaustion and are ready to look more honestly at what may be underneath it.

What happens when the business you once loved becomes the thing you are trying to survive?

In this episode, Rory and AJ talk about why fun is not just a nice bonus for entrepreneurs. It can be part of the strategy that helps you stay in the game.

They explore the tension between hard work and rest, ambition and contentment, productivity and joy. They also talk about why so many founders burn out, why money should not be the only scoreboard, and why the work you choose matters more than most people admit.

Rory shares how Timothy Keller's Every Good Endeavor changed the way he thinks about work, purpose, and God's design for rest. AJ shares how comparison, overcommitment, and the pressure to keep up can pull people into a kind of hustle they were never meant to sustain.

You'll also hear practical ways they protect fun and rest in their own life, including Sabbath, date nights, family experiences, physical activity, and daily moments that bring joy back into the rhythm of work.

If you are building a business, leading a team, or realizing that your work no longer feels fun, this episode will help you rethink what it means to build something that lasts.

Rory and AJ are using this episode as a personal year-end review, but for listeners, it works just as well as a midyear check-in.

In this conversation, they look back on the last 12 months and share what they learned, what they are leaving behind, and what they are taking forward. The lessons are candid and practical: leadership mistakes, sales process changes, retention challenges, team development, and the hard reality that many business problems start with the person leading the business.

Rory shares what surprised him about the Wealthy and Well-Known book launch, why live webinars became a renewed focus, and how violating a core sales principle hurt the business. AJ shares what she learned about reactive leadership, putting people into roles before they are ready, and why a good leader does not say yes to every idea their team has.

They also answer a community question about preparing for an important presentation and share one of the simplest ways to make a speech stronger before you ever start writing it.

If you are reflecting on your year, your leadership, your team, or your next season of growth, this episode will help you ask better questions and take more ownership of what comes next.

If you have ever thought about building a membership, coaching program, or recurring revenue offer, this conversation will help you see the model more clearly.

Rory sits down with Stu McLaren, one of the leading voices in memberships and online communities, to talk about what actually makes recurring revenue work. Stu shares why getting members is only one part of the business, and why the real leverage often comes from onboarding people well, helping them experience progress, and giving them a reason to stay.

You'll hear why closed-door launches can create more momentum than always-open memberships, how deadlines help people move from "I'll save this for later" into action, and why list-building events can become one of the strongest ways to grow before a launch.

Stu also breaks down why the first seven days matter so much for retention. If people feel confused, disconnected, or overwhelmed right after they join, they are already at risk of leaving. But when you help them get clear, connect with the community, and experience a quick win, the entire relationship changes.

This episode is especially useful for experts, coaches, creators, and mission-driven entrepreneurs who want to build a business people do not just buy once, but continue to trust over time.

10X Is Easier Than 2X: Dr. Benjamin Hardy on the Science of Scaling

AI can make content creation faster, but it can also make your message easier to ignore if you let it replace your own thinking.

In this episode, Rory and AJ talk honestly about where they use AI, where they draw the line, and why those boundaries matter for anyone building a personal brand. They explain how AI can help with research, content organization, titles, hooks, thumbnails, CTAs, and outlines without becoming the source of your thought leadership.

You'll also hear their take on AI avatars, voice cloning, disclosure, and the trust risk of letting your audience believe something is you when it is not. If you are trying to use AI well without sounding copied, hollow, or generic, this conversation will help you protect the part of your message that only you can create.