Midway Business Podcast
by Midway Business Podcast
The Midway Business Podcast helps small and midsize businesses win their battles—against a shifting marketplace, rising costs, and everyday chaos. Hosted by Butch Zemar, CEO of Elite Benefits of America, each episode shares practical, no-fluff conversations with entrepreneurs and industry experts—from adapting to market shifts to decoding the often-confusing world of health insurance (without the usual boring jargon).
Episodes
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Leadership: Are You Solving Problems or Just Managing Them?
Are you making REAL business progress, or just getting better at managing the same problems? In this episode of the Midway Business Podcast, host Butch Zemar, Founder and CEO of Elite Benefits of America, challenges how leaders approach everyday business problems and the decisions that follow.…
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Leadership Lessons from the Discovery of the Titanic
In this episode of the Midway Business Podcast, host Butch Zemar shares the fascinating story of how the U.S. Navy's search for two missing submarines eventually led to one of history's most famous discoveries, the Titanic. The story raises an important question for business leaders: Are you...
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Better Questions. Better Leadership. Better Decisions.
Business leaders are dealing with plenty of change right now, from AI and technology to rising costs and the constant pressure to make better decisions with limited time. In this episode, co host Jimmy DiMambro turns the microphone around on Butch Zemar, Founder and CEO of Elite Benefits of…
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Leadership Should Not Mean Doing Everything Yourself
As a company grows, it’s easy for the leader to become the person everyone depends on. In this episode, guest Eric Dingler, Team Leadership Coach and author of "Hire to Grow: Make Your Next Hire Pay for Themself in 30 Days," talks about how owners can build a team that thinks for itself, makes...
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What Leadership Needs to Know About Employee Benefits Renewals
Healthcare may be one of a company’s largest expenses, but Robert Slayton, healthcare strategist, bestselling author, and Vice President of Elite Benefits of America, believes leaders should view it as more than another annual bill. The conversation looks at how better visibility into costs,...
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Leadership Decisions That Shape Business Performance
Growing a business has a way of exposing the systems, leadership decisions, and people problems that were easy to ignore when the company was smaller. Deanne Palin, Founder and CEO of OnPoint Business Solutions, is an expert in helping companies grow and transform by improving leadership, HR, and...
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The Leadership Problem Behind Rising Benefits Costs
This episode challenges C-Suite leaders to consider whether one of the company’s largest expenses, employee benefits, is actually being managed. Healthcare often receives far less financial oversight, accountability, and strategic attention than payroll and taxes. The conversation looks at what…
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The 1% Decision That Can Change Profitability
Per Sjofors, bestselling author of “The Price Whisperer: A Holistic Approach to Pricing Power” and founder of Sjofors & Partners, challenges leaders to reconsider one of the most powerful numbers on the financial statement: PRICE. While executives routinely scrutinize costs and sales volume,...
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The Power of Letting Go
Leadership is not always about taking MORE control. Sometimes the harder move is giving some of it away. This episode explores ownership, accountability, trust, and what can happen when leaders give people the authority to think, act, and contribute instead of waiting for instructions. . .…
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When Leadership and Culture Fall Out of Sync
Dr. Lola Adeyemo, Founder and CEO of EQI Mindset, explores why leadership, culture, and employee engagement are more connected to business performance than many executives realize. Culture does not become strategy simply because it made the leadership PPT slide deck. What employees actually...
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When Leadership Feels Like Too Much
Every leader eventually reaches a day when quitting sounds less like failure and more like a very reasonable agenda item. In this episode, Butch Zemar shares lessons from more than 20 years in business, major industry disruption, acquisitions, and the difficult seasons that test whether a leader...
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The Cost of Staying Comfortable
Businesses rarely stop growing because opportunity disappears. More often, leaders reach the edge of what feels comfortable and discover that the square peg simply will not fit into the round hole. In this episode, Butch Zemar examines how leaders respond when old methods, rising costs, and...
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Are Your KPIs Creating Clarity or Noise?
Business leaders are surrounded by data, meetings, and enough KPIs to make almost any dashboard look important. Jon Morris, Founder and CEO of Fiscal Advocate, explains why greater clarity often begins by narrowing the focus to the financial measures that reveal whether a company is truly moving...
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What Makes a Leader Worth Following?
Leadership gets complicated when pressure rises, answers are unclear, and everyone is watching the person in charge. Jim Carlough, leadership coach, healthcare technology sales leader, and author of "The Six Pillars of Effective Leadership," explores what separates a trusted leader from someone…
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Shortcuts Build Problems. Standards Build Companies.
This episode explores a question every executive eventually faces. Do you build a business on shortcuts or on standards? Drawing from military leadership, business ownership, and real client experiences, Butch Zemar reveals why the decisions nobody sees often shape a company's future. Every…
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Rethinking a Major Business Expense
Employee benefits continue to rank among the largest business expenses, yet many employers still find themselves asking the same questions every renewal season. In this episode, Butch Zemar, Founder of Elite Benefits of America, shares how more than two decades in the industry have shaped his...
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What Eight Years Behind Home Plate Taught a CEO
Every business owner wants better results, but few stop long enough to ask whether the real advantage comes from smarter decisions instead of working harder. In this conversation, Jack Oujo, Financial Advisor, Author of “Too Smart to Be an Umpire”, and Founder of Oujo Wealth Strategies, shares…
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The Hard Truth About Scaling a Business Faster
This episode challenges one of the biggest myths in business that there is a faster, easier path to success. Through stories from running a 50 mile ultramarathon and building a growing company, the conversation explores why so many leaders spend years chasing shortcuts that quietly cost them more...
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Lead Better, Think Smarter, Grow Faster
Tori DaCosta, Founder of Journey Stone LLC and author of “No Name Bastard: How Our Lives Teach Us What We Can Control, Manage, and Influence”, joins Midway Business Podcast for a conversation that every business leader eventually needs to have. Growth is not always limited by strategy or market...
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Growing Your Business Starts With Letting Go
Every leader says they need more time, yet somehow the calendar keeps winning. This episode explores why growth often stalls long before revenue does, and why the real bottleneck may not be your workload at all. If your desk has become the company headquarters for every decision, this…
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Success Begins Where Most People Give Up
Every business runs into obstacles. The difference is that some leaders see resistance as a stop sign while others treat it like another item on Monday's agenda. From sales and entrepreneurship to leadership and even dealing with insurance claims, this conversation explores why so many people...
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Leading With Purpose When Pressure Is Rising
This episode of the Midway Business Podcast features Keith Lewis, Founder of VeraSpark and author of, “Sparking Your Inner Leader.” Drawing from an unusual journey that includes time as both Willie the Wildcat and Benny the Bull, Keith shares leadership insights shaped by decades of coaching...
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Are You Winning the Wrong Game?
Most leaders spend years chasing growth, hitting targets, and building successful companies, only to realize they are winning the game but not necessarily enjoying it. In this episode, Thomas Edwards Jr., Business and Life Coach and author of The One Up Effect: Gamify Your Life to Win and Have…
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Trust, Transparency, and the Future of Leadership
When things are going well, leadership is easy to talk about. The real lessons show up when pressure rises and decisions carry lasting consequences. Guest Jay Jacobson shares lessons from decades of leadership, mentorship, and helping people navigate difficult situations. Drawing from the...
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The Mindset Shift That Changes Team Performance
This episode of the Midway Business Podcast features Josh Lifrak, author of Win Today: Six Steps to Mental Resilience, Peak Performance, and a Thriving Life, sharing front line insights from working with elite athletes and business leaders. He also takes listeners inside the mindset shifts that...
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Why Leaders Keep Getting Burned at Renewal Season
This episode takes a hard look at why so many companies treat one of their largest expenses alongside payroll and taxes like an afterthought until renewal season shows up with another painful surprise. It challenges the idea that healthcare costs are “just the market” and why leadership and...
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Why Great Strategy Still Fails in Execution
Most leaders think growth comes from better strategy, but this episode with Zack Zebrowski from Microsoft shows where things actually start breaking down. When roles blur, communication slips, and teams get stretched too thin, even strong ideas lose momentum. The conversation pulls back the…
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Better Leadership Inside Creates Better Service Outside
Every leader says they trust their team until something goes sideways and suddenly everyone is back in the weeds. In this episode, John Eby from Toledo Integrated Systems joins the conversation to dig into the gap between what leaders say and how they actually operate when pressure shows up. The...
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You Are Not Stuck, Your Patterns Are
Every company says they want better performance, but most are just running cleaner versions of the same habits that got them stuck in the first place. Good habits can build momentum, but they can also box you in when the business outgrows them. Bad habits are easier to spot, but just as easy to...
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The Hidden Breakdown Behind Rising Benefits Costs
Most companies think their employee benefits problems start when the costs show up. They don’t. They start months earlier when NOBODY owns the process, decisions get pushed off, and everyone assumes they will deal with it later. Then suddenly it is crunch time, options shrink, and leadership is...
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Why Hard Working Teams Still Fall Behind
Most companies are not struggling because of the market, they are struggling because they confuse effort with progress. This conversation challenges how businesses drift into chaos as they grow, where teams stay busy, decisions get fragmented, and leaders unknowingly create the very bottlenecks...
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More Meetings, More Messages, Same Problems
Most companies think they have communication problems, but what they really have is a system problem wearing a communication costume. This conversation digs into how information gets buried under meetings, messages, and assumptions while teams stay busy trying to fix things that should not have...
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Refueling Productivity to Start Moving the Needle Again
Many professionals spend entire days working hard only to discover the revenue needle has barely moved. This episode takes a closer look at the difference between real productivity and the kind of activity that simply makes the calendar look impressive while progress quietly waits for permission…
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Revenue Is Growing. So Why Does the Business Still Feel Stuck?
Running and trying to grow a company can feel like success from the outside, but on the inside, chaos controls the day. In this episode of the Midway Business Podcast, Forrest Derr with Derr Consulting shares insights from nearly three decades working alongside founders who built strong companies...
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Built to Run Without You or Not Built at All
Most companies say they want growth. What they often build is day-to-day exhaustion. This Midway Business Podcast explores why discipline beats heroics and why busting your hump without structure eventually hits a wall. High performance environments in your personal life or at work rely on...
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From Calendar Chaos to Predictable Results
Building a company that truly scales requires more than long hours and a packed calendar. Many founders stay stuck in the center of every decision, mistake activity for progress, and without realizing it, create bottlenecks that slow the very growth they are chasing. If your company feels busy…
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Built to Scale or Built to Survive?
This episode opens with a blunt question most executive teams avoid: Are you actually busting your hump, or just operating at a level that feels intense but only produces average results? It challenges the illusion that being busy equals progress and explores why effort without real purpose and...
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Why Some Teams Move Smoothly While Others Sprint
This episode pulls leaders out of the weeds and into the bigger picture about how real organizations actually function when pressure hits. High stakes environments that quietly expose why most businesses struggle not because people are incapable, but because roles get blurred, systems lag or…
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Why Adaptation Drives Momentum
Most executives know change is constant, yet many businesses still operate in the rear view mirror, avoiding the inevitable. This episode explores how organizations quietly fall behind by clinging to familiar tools and processes out of habit long after the marketplace has moved on. It shows how...
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Leading Without Surprises
Most leaders would never send their team into a high risk situation without training and a plan yet that is exactly how many businesses operate day-to-day. This episode helps leaders step out of autopilot and make deliberate decisions instead of rolling the dice. When things become uncomfortable…
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Why Broadcasting Matters More Than Ever
This episode pulls the iron curtain back on how modern broadcasting quietly became one of the most misunderstood tools in an executive toolbox. What once felt like it was run by the Wizard of Oz and massive budgets is now sitting right in front of you, yet many leaders are still thinking about it...
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The Leadership Bottleneck No One Sees
Most leaders say their biggest issue is their people. Hiring issues. Engagement issues. Execution issues. The funny thing is the longer you talk about it, the more that answer starts to fall apart. Growth stalls. Meetings multiply like rabbits. Decisions slow down. And somehow the same problems...
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Break the Routine Before It Breaks You
This episode of the Midway Business Podcast takes leaders on a fast moving tour through creativity, innovation, and the surprising ways progress actually happens. From military history to real life business moments, Butch reminds us that playing it safe rarely wins the day. His message encourages...
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Mistakes Happen, Excuses Shouldn’t
In business, mistakes are not the enemy. Failing to learn from them is. The best companies treat every setback like data, not drama. Winning organizations review their missteps, refine their process, and keep moving forward while everyone else is still arguing about what went wrong. It is less...
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How Not to Run Out of Air in Business
The episode is a tour through panic, plateaus, and progress, told with scuba tanks, Top Gun flybys, and a pile of Q4 paperwork. Butch shows how leaders get into trouble when they rely on youth, luck, or last minute heroics instead of systems. The lesson lands fast. change is not a motivational...
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Garbage In, Garbage Out: Why Your Results Keep Stinking
This episode of the Midway Business Podcast explores how pressure, input, and output affect everything in business, from sales and cash flow to leadership and decision making. Butch Zemar breaks down how small adjustments in what you put in can drastically change what comes out. Think of it as a...
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Rinse, Repeat, Regret: The Cost of Doing Nothing Different
This episode takes a hilarious look at the strange things we tolerate — from stale popcorn at the hockey rink to outdated business habits that drain profits. Butch uses stories from parenting, the Navy, and the workplace to expose how easily we fall into “that’s just how it’s always been”…
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Stop Wearing 15 Hats: The Smarter Way SMBs Are Scaling
SMBs don’t start companies to moonlight as HR, payroll, and compliance departments — but growth loves to hand you that extra hat. In this Midway Business Podcast, Butch sits down with Dave Wills (BBSI) to unpack how modern Professional Employer Organizations help businesses scale without losing...
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Stop Chasing Whales Before You Own a Boat
Sales slowdowns, shrinking margins, and that “what’s actually happening with our pipeline?” feeling — if that sounds familiar, this Midway Business Podcast episode’s for you. Butch sits down with Howard Fisher, a fractional sales leader and recovering attorney, to unpack why so many founder-led…
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Still Waiting to Try AI? Your Competitors Thank You.
Feeling like your marketing plan is stuck in 2015? In this Midway Business Podcast episode, Jordan Green, founder of Momentum AI, joins to talk about how small and midsize businesses can stop losing leads, start automating smarter, and actually keep up with today’s lightning-fast buyers. From...
About this show
The Midway Business Podcast helps small and midsize businesses win their battles—against a shifting marketplace, rising costs, and everyday chaos. Hosted by Butch Zemar, CEO of Elite Benefits of America, each episode shares practical, no-fluff conversations with entrepreneurs and industry experts—from adapting to market shifts to decoding the often-confusing world of health insurance (without the usual boring jargon).
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Midway Business Podcast
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