What would you do with more time back in your week? Matt Shepard of Shepard Consulting joins Kevin Dandino to discuss practical AI automation, reducing repetitive business tasks, and creating more room for life outside of work.

Matt shares how running construction and real estate businesses led him to build automation into his own operations. Now, he helps other small-business owners identify their biggest time drains and develop solutions around the way their businesses actually work.

The conversation explores starting with a manageable task, refining AI workflows, and building custom software when off-the-shelf tools don’t meet a business’s needs. Matt also explains his approach to working within a client’s budget and breaking larger projects into practical phases.

Beyond technology, Matt offers a valuable lesson for business owners: document your processes. Writing down the steps that currently live in your head can make training, delegation, automation, and an eventual business handoff easier to approach.

Whether you’re curious about AI or simply tired of spending your evenings catching up on administrative work, this conversation offers a grounded place to start.

• Getting started with AI: Identifying a simple, repetitive task to tackle first.
• Setting expectations: Matt’s employee-training analogy for giving AI clear instructions and refining results.
• Custom business software: A construction asset-tracking example built around a client’s specific needs.
• Budget-conscious implementation: Prioritizing useful improvements and building in phases.
• Documenting processes: Turning individual knowledge into repeatable business systems.
• Work-life balance: Making time for family and life beyond the business.

Explore Matt’s work and contact him through Shepard Consulting. Discuss the tasks consuming your time and what you’d like to improve.

Behind the Small Business is sponsored by Centennial State Insurance Agency. For personal or business insurance questions and a free quote, call 303-838-0554 or visit Centennial State Insurance Agency.

Proudly serving Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas & Utah. Follow Behind the Small Business for more conversations with business owners about their experiences, lessons, and the work behind their businesses.

Episode 50 — The Hamilton Collective with Spencer Hamilton

Spencer Hamilton traded a career in banking for real estate and built The Hamilton Collective, a community-first team serving Colorado's foothills from Golden and Morrison out to Conifer, Evergreen, Bailey, and Fairplay along the 285 corridor. In this episode, he and host Kevin Dandino talk about what it really takes to survive and grow in an industry where roughly 95% of new agents quit within five years.

Spencer shares his approach to treating real estate like a real business, the community-first marketing that fuels his referrals — coaching Conifer High School baseball, supporting local schools and the PTA, and helping turn Conifer Radio into a community-owned nonprofit — and why serving people first always comes back around.

The conversation also tackles a pressing issue for every mountain homeowner: wildfire risk and the shrinking homeowners insurance market in the foothills. Spencer explains why carriers are pulling back, why buyers now have to line up coverage before writing an offer, and why a knowledgeable local insurance relationship has become essential.

In this episode:

• From banking to building a foothills real estate team
• Why 95% of agents fail — and how to be in the 5%
• Community-first marketing that actually works
• The foothills wildfire insurance crisis explained
• The payoff of helping people move to the mountain lifestyle

Guest: Spencer Hamilton, The Hamilton Collective — thehamiltoncollectiveco.com

Behind the Small Business is presented by Centennial State Insurance Agency. For an auto, personal lines, or small business quote, call 303-838-0554 or visit www.CentennialStateIns.com. Proudly serving Colorado, Arizona and Nebraska.

Are you a small business owner? Come on the show and share your story — no cost, no strings. Reach out on any of our social channels.

Episode 49 — Brett Newman, Newman Sauna Co.: Turning a Garage Hobby Into a Custom Wellness Business

When AI wiped out the translation business Bret Newman had spent 15 years building, he didn't panic — he already had the next chapter waiting in his garage. In this episode, Bret, founder of Newman Sauna Co., joins Kevin to share how a DIY cold plunge he built to recover from ACL surgery turned into a thriving custom sauna and cold plunge studio in the Colorado foothills.

Bret walks through what makes his approach different: fully custom, offsite-built units that spare homeowners the mess of a construction zone, a guided design process that takes the fear out of "custom built," and a deliberately small, community-driven business model that runs almost entirely on word of mouth. He and Kevin dig into why saunas and cold plunges have exploded in popularity — the health benefits, the forced disconnect from screens, and the "third space" community aspect that Brett believes matters most.

Bret also gets honest about the harder side of the story: losing a business to AI, wrestling with imposter syndrome, and his cautious, side-hustle-first philosophy of taking chances. He shares where he wants to take the company next (think mobile saunas and community wellness spaces) and offers grounded advice for anyone sitting on a hobby they're afraid to bet on.

In this episode:

• How a post-surgery DIY cold plunge became a business
• Losing a 15-year translation career to AI — and pivoting fast
• Why "custom built" isn't as intimidating (or stressful) as people fear
• The offsite-build model that keeps the mess out of your backyard
• Sauna and cold plunge culture: health, performance, and community
• Staying small on purpose: word-of-mouth over scaling up
• What's next: commercial work, wellness spaces, and mobile saunas
• Advice for turning a hobby into a living

Find Bret & Newman Sauna Co.: on Instagram — search Newman Sauna Company and send a message to start the conversation.

Behind the Small Business is brought to you by Centennial State Insurance Agency — big-company products with a small-business human touch, for your personal and commercial insurance needs. Get a quote or come share your own small business story on the show: call 303-838-0554 or visit www.CentennialStateIns.com.

Are you a small business owner who'd like free publicity on the show? Reach out on any platform or call the office — no strings attached.