Intentional Success with Tom Stimson cover art

All Episodes

Intentional Success with Tom Stimson — 269 episodes

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Title
1

The Weekly Planning Meeting

2

Monday Morning Drive: Why Nobody Wants to Work for You

3

The High Priority Questions to Ask Before Ever Writing a Proposal

4

Monday Morning Drive: Your Warehouse Is Lying to You

5

Slow Down So You Can Save Time

6

Monday Morning Drive: Scalability Fixes More Than You Think

7

Remaking the Technical Production Model

8

Monday Morning Drive: Your Pricing Isn't as Honest as You Think

9

How to Spot a Great Freelancer

10

Monday Morning Drive: Marketing Won't Dig You Out of a Hole

11

Please Don't Make Any More Rules

12

Monday Morning Drive: Make Your CRM the Single Source of Truth

13

3 Self-Owns That Perpetuate Overstaffing

14

Monday Morning Drive: Do You Know What the Rest of This Year Looks Like?

15

Windfalls Are Good, Bad, and Often Ugly

16

Monday Morning Drive: The Best Marketing Happens on Your Turf

17

This Is The Trend You Can't Ignore

18

Monday Morning Drive: If You're Still Quoting Line Items, You're Losing Money

19

It's Time to Ditch the Manpower and Level Up the Brainpower

20

Monday Morning Drive: 3 Trends That Will Shape AV in 2026

21

10 Words You Should've Stopped Using By Now

22

Monday Morning Drive: A Growing Economy Won't Save Your Business

23

How Customer Retention Is Sinking Well-Meaning Businesses

24

Monday Morning Drive: How Planning Evolved (And Why It Still Works)

25

There's a Reason You Can't Hire Better People

26

Monday Morning Drive: The Real Reason You're Always Feast or Famine

27

The Warehouse Makeover That Will Make You Cringe With Delight

28

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Prepping Shows a Week Early

29

Not Everything Is Fixable

30

Monday Morning Drive: Why You Don't Know Your End-of-Year Numbers

31

This Is What's Freaking Out Your Sales Team Today

32

Monday Morning Drive: Why You Keep Running Out of People

33

Don't Expect This From Marketing

34

Monday Morning Drive: Five Rules That Shaved Two Hours Off Every Load-In

35

10 Things to Do With CRM That Won't Aggravate Your Sales Team

36

Monday Morning Drive: The Language of Self-Destruction

37

This Is How 2026 Will Wreck You

38

Monday Morning Drive: Your Best Customer Doesn't Deserve a Discount

39

The Road Goes on Forever

40

Monday Morning Drive: Customers vs. Clients: The Difference and Why It Matters

41

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Letting Clients Control Your Projects

42

What Is Your Dead Fish?

43

Monday Morning Drive: The Proposal Template Buyers Actually Read

44

5 Things You Need to Try in 2026

45

Monday Morning Drive: Your Sales Team Is Speaking the Wrong Language

46

Insights From 2025

47

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Culling Your Email List

48

How to Dramatically Reduce Your Labor Costs

49

Monday Morning Drive: Your Best People Should Never Touch Equipment

50

The Evolution Of Planning

51

Monday Morning Drive: Your Financial Analysis Is 20 Years Out of Date

52

How to Forecast Revenue

53

Monday Morning Drive: Management Accounting Your Bookkeeper Won't Teach You

54

Warehouse Fundamentals

55

Monday Morning Drive: Your Revenue Problem Is Emotional

56

How to Catch Up on Your Prep for Next Year's Budget

57

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Saying "It's All About Relationships"

58

Never Run Out Of Great People Again

59

Monday Morning Drive: Three Changes to Make Before You Scale

60

Life Lessons From Stagehand School

61

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Showing Clients Your Math

62

The Words We Use Affect Our Value

63

Monday Morning Drive: Why Your Software Stack Is Killing Your Profit

64

Revenue Optimization for a Diverse Clientele

65

Monday Morning Drive: Why Small Talk Kills Your Discovery Calls

66

Never Treat a Client Like a Customer

67

Monday Morning Drive: Fix Your Seasonality With Better Accounting

68

How to Win the Battle for Control In Project Selling

69

Monday Morning Drive: Your Business Is Worth More as a Fixer-Upper

70

A Proposal That Someone Might Actually Read

71

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Renting Gear and Start Making Money

72

Selling Is the Art of Translation

73

Monday Morning Drive: What Makes a Show "Big"? (The Answer Will Surprise You)

74

Your Sales Funnel Is an Engine, Marketing Is the Fuel

75

Monday Morning Drive: People Management: The 90-Day Plan That Works

76

There's No Money in Doing Shows, Here's How to Fix That

77

Monday Morning Drive: Discovery Calls: When and How to Use Your Sales Secret Weapon

78

What Your Numbers Tell Me and Why

79

Monday Morning Drive: Why Your Ideal Customer Makes or Breaks Profitability

80

Numbers Don't Lie, But Did You Ask Them Any Questions?

81

Monday Morning Drive: A Recession Is Likely. Prepare Your Business Now.

82

Your Irrational Relationship With Revenue

83

Monday Morning Drive: Are You Ready for the Next Economic Challenge?

84

How to Control the Narrative

85

Monday Morning Drive: Why Project Managers Hurt Your Profit

86

Don't Attempt to Scale Chaos

87

Monday Morning Drive: What Do Owners Really Want? 5 Keys to Satisfaction

88

You Can't Negotiate What You Can't Calculate

89

Monday Morning Drive: The 10 Levels of AV Excellence: Find Your Place and Climb Higher

90

The Single Source of Truth in Your Project-Based Business

91

Monday Morning Drive: Does Your Business Have a Soul, or Just a Look?

92

How to Prepare For Your First Discovery Call

93

Monday Morning Drive: Embrace Your Role in Sales (It's Not a Dirty Word)

94

How to Fall in Love With Your P&L

95

Monday Morning Drive: Marketing Your AV Business Isn't Complicated

96

The Fixer Upper Business

97

Monday Morning Drive: "We're Too Busy" Is a Leadership Problem, Not a Staffing Issue

98

The Easy Way In

99

Monday Morning Drive: The 10 Hidden Tests in Every RFP

100

How Big Is Small?

101

Monday Morning Drive: The 3 Buyer Types That Control Your Sales Success

102

How to Hire Keepers

103

Monday Morning Drive: Proposal Power: How to Set Baselines That Clients Accept

104

How to Make Your Discovery Call a Mutually Beneficial Introduction

105

Monday Morning Drive: Your Sales Process Is Broken: Here's the Three-Call Fix

106

Your Ideal Customer Is a Result, Not a Choice

107

Monday Morning Drive: Your Clients Know You Should Charge More — So Do It

108

5 Things You Could Do Right Now and Why

109

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Wasting Your Time on Bad RFPs

110

I'm Not Panicking, You're Panicking

111

Monday Morning Drive: The Warehouse Operations Handbook Every AV Company Needs

112

How to Turn Value Add Into Added Value

113

Monday Morning Drive: Interview Questions That Reveal True Salespeople

114

What Do Owners Want For Their Businesses?

115

Monday Morning Drive: The Smart Way to Punch Above Your Weight Class

116

Who Is Better Than You?

117

Monday Morning Drive: Marketing: The New Minimum for Live Event Companies

118

What Does Finished Look Like To You?

119

Monday Morning Drive: Your Business Grew Up — Did Your Spending Habits?

120

All the Things You Won't Learn at Jumpstart

121

Monday Morning Drive: Exit Strategy: Start Planning Before It's Too Late

122

Why Doesn't Anyone Want to Be in Sales Anymore?

123

Monday Morning Drive: Fix Your Overhead, Fix Your Business

124

The 3 Marketing Best Practices Every AV Company Needs

125

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Fighting Venue Exclusivity — Do This Instead

126

Why Your Team Is Too Busy

127

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Pricing Like a Rental Company

128

Is This a Test?

129

Monday Morning Drive: Your Incentive Programs Are Sabotaging Growth

130

10 Things You Can Do for Your Customer That Cost Absolutely Nothing

131

Monday Morning Drive: Your "Slow Season" Is a Sales Problem

132

How Customer Buying Styles Have Changed How You Sell

133

Monday Morning Drive: The 1980s Decision That Still Hurts Live Event Companies

134

You Are Using Proposals Incorrectly

135

Monday Morning Drive: Quality Over Quantity: The Case for Selective Business Growth

136

Don't Close Every Deal, But Always Do This

137

Monday Morning Drive: Process Documentation Reimagined: Hire Smart, Define Success, and Scale Faster

138

How to Eliminate a Key Pricing Variable in 2025

139

Monday Morning Drive: Why Finding the Right People Should Be Easier Than Ever

140

Your Ideal Customer Should Not Be a Fool

141

Monday Morning Drive: The Updated Pricing Model for Former Rental Companies

142

Monday Morning Drive: Why I Can't Support Your Old Model

143

Monday Morning Drive: An Unexpected Scalability Hack: Fly First Class

144

The Scalable Approach to Managing Demand

145

Monday Morning Drive: What Does the Buyer's Journey Look Like in 2025?

146

Your Most Profitable Employees Never Go on Shows

147

Monday Morning Drive: 4 Things to Try in 2025

148

The Jumpstart Method to Become Consistently Profitable

149

Monday Morning Drive: Value Only Manifests in Honest Relationships

150

PIA Customers and What to Do About Them

151

Monday Morning Drive: The Importance of Honesty in Sales Conversations

152

Local or National?

153

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Overcomplicating Marketing: Your Core Checklist

154

Stop Operationalizing Your Sales Process

155

Monday Morning Drive: Words That Devalue Your Business: A Lexicon Overhaul for the Live Events Industry

156

Your Most Valuable Asset

157

Monday Morning Drive: Words That Devalue Your Business: A Lexicon Overhaul for the Live Events Industry

158

Top 5 Obstacles to Growth and How to Tame Them

159

Monday Morning Drive: How to Get Out of Rental Mindset

160

What Would Tom Do?

161

Monday Morning Drive: Why Does Everyone Struggle to Scrub an Order? (It's Easier Than You Think)

162

The Race to the Bottom

163

Monday Morning Drive: The Danger of Details: Why Overengineered Processes Aren't Serving Your Business

164

The Tainted Story of Value

165

Monday Morning Drive: How to Teach Management to Review Business Metrics

166

Behind the Scenes in Change Management

167

Monday Morning Drive: The "Start Fresh" Approach: 3 Steps to a More Balanced Business

168

How to Interview for Sales Roles

169

Monday Morning Drive: There's No Such Thing as the "Ideal" Freelancer

170

Stay In Your Lane Or Not

171

Monday Morning Drive: Systems and Kits Get an Upgrade

172

The Art of Putting the Right Energy in the Right Place at the Right Time

173

Monday Morning Drive: What I Learned From the Exit Strategy Workshop

174

Punching Above Your Weight

175

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Playing the Blame Game and Create Success

176

How to Dial Down the Noise

177

Monday Morning Drive: What Your Controller Needs to Understand About Job Cost

178

An Oldtimer's Views on Exit Strategy

179

Monday Morning Drive: Burn Your Org Chart. Here's What to Do Instead.

180

Getting Stuck and What to Do About It

181

Monday Morning Drive: Why We Need to Flip Our Quoting Process Upside Down

182

Rental Pricing Isn't the Problem

183

Monday Morning Drive: What Should Be on Your Financial Dashboard?

184

The Art and Science of Napkin Quoting

185

Monday Morning Drive: How to Disconnect for Better Engagement

186

Silos Are Where Cooperation Goes to Die

187

Monday Morning Drive: The Hidden Truth About Scaling (That No One Wants to Talk About)

188

The Myth of Sweat Equity

189

Monday Morning Drive: Sales Metrics That Matter

190

Stop Settling for Too Little Profit

191

Monday Morning Drive: How to Convert Price Shoppers Into Value Buyers

192

Monday Morning Drive: Can You Have a Well-Oiled Machine Without Replacing Parts?

193

The Final Battle Between Sales and Operations

194

Monday Morning Drive: Don't Apologize for Making a Profit

195

Doing Battle With Imposter Syndrome

196

Monday Morning Drive: Why Balance Isn't Just "Outsourcing"

197

The Roles You Need for Intentional Selling

198

Monday Morning Drive: Advice My Best Clients Are Eating Up

199

#45: There Is No Substitute for Experience

200

Monday Morning Drive: What Is Your Parking Lot for Prospects?

201

The Death of Negotiation

202

Monday Morning Drive: How to Avoid Scalability Creep

203

I Would Never Join a Club That Would Have Me as a Member

204

Monday Morning Drive: Too Much Process Undermines Accountability. Do This Instead.

205

#42: Scalable Lessons I Hope You Didn't Miss

206

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Closing the Deal (Just Get to the Next Step)

207

The Race to the Bottom Is Still a Race

208

Monday Morning Drive: Scalable Job Titles: The Key to a Working Org Chart

209

How to Write a Strategically Important Blog

210

Monday Morning Drive: Balance Is Not a Radical Idea, Just Overdue

211

The Last Nail in the Coffin of Rental Pricing

212

Monday Morning Drive: Redefine Success in Sales

213

Diagnosing Your Business Pains

214

Monday Morning Drive: Exclusivity Agreements — Stop Complaining and Start Educating

215

How to Make the Best Deal

216

Monday Morning Drive: How Scalable Companies Address Shortcomings With ALE

217

Incentives That Will Backfire — Horribly

218

Monday Morning Drive: ALE: Leadership Without the Group Hug

219

Monday Morning Drive: Never Say "Markup"

220

The First Time I Used the Word "Scalability"

221

Monday Morning Drive: Pivoting Your Business Is a Core Competency

222

Adapt, Evolve, Succeed! Outsmart Industry Trends to Secure Your Success

223

Monday Morning Drive: Stop Telling People How "Unique" You Are

224

UNseason Your Business: How to Fix the Gaps in Your Sales Calendar

225

Monday Morning Drive: History Is the Best Teacher... Especially in Live Event Production

226

The Genesis of Rental Management Software

227

Monday Morning Drive: How to Answer a Request for Detailed Line Item Pricing

228

Help Me Write My Next Book

229

Monday Morning Drive: The Roadmap to Balance

230

5 Tips to Tune Up Your Sales Engine

231

Monday Morning Drive: Meet Your Prospect Where They Are

232

Tipping Points in the Live Event Industry That Still Matter Today

233

Monday Morning Drive: Budget vs. Price vs. Cost — Which Battle Are You Fighting?

234

Monday Morning Drive: Naked Proposals: An Updated Approach to Event Quoting

235

From Selling to Serving: Transforming the Buyer's Journey with Ciara Feely

236

Monday Morning Drive: Why Job Planning Is Easier in a Scalability Model

237

Why I Hate Process Documentation

238

Monday Morning Drive: How to Approach Acquisition of Non-Scalable Businesses

239

Beyond the Ledger: 5 Things the Numbers Don't Tell You

240

Monday Morning Drive: How Do You Know When Your Client Is Gaslighting You?

241

Caveat Emptor: How to Take on Venue Exclusivity Agreements

242

Monday Morning Drive: Problems You'll Face if You Don't Prioritize Check-In

243

Why 2023 Is the Best Year You Won't Remember

244

The One Word You Never Want to Use in Your Business

245

Monday Morning Drive: 3 Things You Can Do Now That You're Scalable

246

Building a Million-Dollar Team Is Easier Than You Think

247

Monday Morning Drive: Scalability Isn't Just for Large Companies

248

Monday Morning Drive: How Far Behind the Curve Am I?

249

Plot Your Course to Success with Strategic Roadmapping

250

Behind the Curtain: Inside Entertainment and Corporate Events with Todd Spencer

251

5 Things You Need to Complete Before 2024

252

Keys to Scalable Success: Insights from Chris Stein

253

How to Find Talented People with Gabe Solomon

254

Pricing Is an Unnecessary Distraction

255

The Evolution of Live Events: A Conversation with Angela Alea

256

Tech Trends and Timeless Tips with Bob Huskey

257

Iceberg Selling with Karl Becker

258

The Bare Minimum You Need to Do in Marketing

259

Your Team Needs to Be Twice as Good

260

Outsourcing Gets a Bad Rap

261

Is Digital Marketing Still Relevant?

262

Commit to the Pivot — Welcome to Scalability

263

Your Team Should Be Making More Mistakes

264

Rethinking Your Organizational Chart

265

The Business of Busyness: Decoding Good Busy vs. Bad Busy in the Event Production Industry

266

Creative Agency Update With Bill Bunkers

267

What the Pandemic Re-Taught Us About Making Money

268

Our Hang-Ups Have Been Holding Us Back

269

What We've Learned in 40 Years of AV