How retired Air Force veteran Lisa Ducharme is helping veterans turn decades of military training, leadership, and resilience into an advantage in entrepreneurship.

Leaving the military doesn't mean leaving behind the skills that made you successful there. For Lisa Ducharme, the bigger challenge is helping veterans recognize just how valuable those skills can be in the business world.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Lisa Ducharme, retired Air Force veteran, business strategist, author, and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Veterans Chamber of Commerce. After serving more than 20 years in the Air Force, Lisa experienced firsthand the challenges of transitioning into civilian employment before eventually finding her way into entrepreneurship and veteran business advocacy.

Lisa shares the story of her military career, including how a decision originally made with her sister led to more than two decades in the Air Force. Her work in casualty affairs placed her in the middle of several major events, including the Khobar Towers bombing and 9/11, where her previous training allowed her to step into the casualty response at the Pentagon.

She also explains why transitioning out of the military can be so difficult. Veterans spend years learning leadership, problem solving, discipline, and how to accomplish a mission, yet Lisa believes the transition process often focuses too heavily on turning them into employees instead of helping them recognize how those abilities can translate into leadership and entrepreneurship.

Lisa's own entrepreneurial journey wasn't planned. After being laid off and exploring everything from hospitality to 3D animation and photo art, a veteran representative suggested she start a business. That idea eventually brought her deeper into the veteran entrepreneurship community and ultimately led to the creation of the Massachusetts Veterans Chamber of Commerce.

The conversation also explores one of Lisa's biggest lessons for entrepreneurs: you have to be willing to pivot. She discusses why businesses need to test their ideas, prove that a concept is viable, build the right foundation, and recognize when something simply isn't working.

Finally, Lisa shares her approach to practical AI for small businesses. Rather than chasing every new platform, she encourages business owners to use a small number of tools that solve real problems. More importantly, she explains why technology should never eliminate the human relationships that make a business memorable.

For veterans considering entrepreneurship, business owners navigating change, or anyone trying to figure out how AI fits into their company without losing the human side of business, this conversation offers a look at how leadership, adaptability, resources, and relationships can shape the next stage of a career.

Massachusetts Veterans Chamber of Commerce: https://www.massvcc.org/

Lisa Ducharme: https://lisaducharme.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaducharme/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaducharme2020/

Andy Fankhauser shares how lessons from banking, business risk, and resilience inspired a new approach to helping local entrepreneurs grow.

For many small business owners, the opportunities that could help them grow are often the same opportunities they can't afford to access.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Andy Fankhauser, founder of Aqua Luxury Consulting and Micro Expo My City, to discuss two sides of entrepreneurship that are often overlooked: protecting what you've already built and creating affordable opportunities to grow what comes next. Drawing from a career largely spent in banking, Andy shares how experiences during COVID changed his perspective on business preparedness and eventually inspired him to help entrepreneurs build stronger foundations.

Andy shares how graduating with a dual business degree in 2008 immediately challenged the career path he had envisioned. He entered the workforce during a major economic downturn and ultimately spent much of his career in banking, where he gained a firsthand look at the financial realities facing individuals, families, and business owners.

Those lessons became especially powerful during COVID. While working as a banker, Andy met grieving family members whose loved ones had built successful businesses but hadn't adequately prepared for what would happen if they were suddenly gone. Families that had depended on those businesses for their income could find themselves unable to access company funds or continue operating the business they knew very little about. Those experiences became part of the inspiration behind Andy's consulting work and his focus on helping owners prepare for risks before a crisis occurs.

The conversation then turns to Micro Expo My City, Andy's effort to rethink the traditional business expo for smaller, local entrepreneurs. Instead of requiring businesses to travel to major convention centers and spend thousands of dollars on booths, hotels, travel, and staffing, Andy wants to bring the expo directly into local communities.

His philosophy centers on two ideas: accessibility and affordability.

Micro Expo My City is designed around smaller events featuring roughly 50 to 70 vendors, with workshops, demonstrations, seminars, networking, and opportunities for businesses to connect directly with their local communities. Andy explains that the entry-level vendor option starts at $150 using a "bring your own booth" approach, dramatically lowering the barrier for entrepreneurs who might otherwise never consider exhibiting at a traditional trade show.

For Andy, that accessibility is especially important for the entrepreneur building something on the side, the recent graduate struggling with the job market, the longtime corporate employee suddenly facing a layoff, or the local business owner who simply doesn't have five figures available to gamble on an expo with an uncertain return.

Rather than asking people to travel to the expo, Andy's goal is to bring the expo to the people.

He discusses working with cities throughout Southern California and exploring venues such as local colleges and community college parking lots to keep operating expenses lower. The long-term vision isn't a single annual event either. Andy wants Micro Expo My City to move between communities regularly, giving local businesses recurring opportunities to increase visibility, meet potential customers, generate leads, and develop relationships.

The episode closes with a deeper conversation about entrepreneurship, faith, perseverance, and what happens when life refuses to follow the plan.

Andy shares the "Story of Perhaps," a reminder that something that appears disastrous today may ultimately lead somewhere unexpected tomorrow. Whether it's graduating during a recession, navigating COVID, losing a job, experiencing financial setbacks, or watching a carefully constructed plan fall apart, Andy believes those are the moments when grit, resilience, and perseverance matter most.

For entrepreneurs building something without unlimited resources, this episode is a reminder that opportunity doesn't always need to be bigger to be better. Sometimes growth starts by making the right opportunities more affordable, more accessible, and closer to home.

🌐 Micro Expo My City: http://www.microexpomycity.com/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/microexpomycity/

💼 Aqua Luxury Consulting: Andy also discusses his consulting company in the episode, which focuses on helping business owners strengthen their financial foundations and prepare for risks they may not see coming.

Scientist and health equity leader Dr. Eugene Manley Jr. explains how neurodivergence, life experience, and workplace systems can cause talented people to be misunderstood instead of empowered.

What happens when someone has the talent to succeed, but doesn't fit the expectations of the system around them?

For Dr. Eugene Manley Jr., that question is deeply personal. Growing up in inner-city Detroit as a first-generation scholar with undiagnosed ADHD, Eugene often felt like an outsider. He eventually earned degrees spanning mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and molecular and cell biology while building a career in biomedical research, health equity, and cancer advocacy.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Eugene, scientist, speaker, author, and founder of the SCHEQ Foundation, to explore how those experiences shaped his understanding of perseverance, leadership, neurodivergence, and the ways organizations can unintentionally lose talented people.

Eugene shares how becoming a caregiver at a young age forced him to take on responsibilities most children never experience. Caring for family members while navigating school taught him about empathy, perseverance, and a lesson he still carries today: what someone shows on the outside may not reflect what they are going through internally.

He also opens up about growing up with undiagnosed ADHD and receiving a diagnosis at 27. Looking back, the diagnosis helped explain why he processed situations differently, recognized patterns others might miss, and often struggled with environments that expected everyone to communicate, behave, and work in the same way.

The conversation then turns toward the workplace. Eugene argues that companies can lose high-performing employees not because those people lack ability, but because their differences are misread. Someone who continually identifies problems in a process, for example, may initially be valued for their energy and insight but later viewed as difficult when those observations challenge the status quo.

Eugene shares practical ideas for building environments where different types of employees can perform at their best. That includes understanding that people may need different communication styles, providing clear written instructions when appropriate, applying expectations consistently, and examining whether the values leadership promotes actually match employees' experiences inside the organization.

He also discusses his book, Too Much and Not Enough: Neurodivergence, Race, and Broken Systems, which he describes as part memoir, part leadership guide, and part systems critique. The book explores what it means to repeatedly feel like you don't fit the expected mold while also challenging organizations to consider how many high-performing people they may be overlooking.

The conversation ultimately returns to the idea of grit itself. Perseverance can help people survive difficult circumstances, but Eugene argues that constantly having to fight through unnecessary barriers isn't the goal. Sometimes growth means identifying what can be changed, removing unnecessary stress, and recognizing when staying in a difficult environment is no longer the right answer.

For business owners, leaders, managers, and anyone who has ever felt misunderstood in the workplace, this episode offers a different perspective on talent, leadership, resilience, and what it takes to build environments where people have the opportunity to do their best work.

🔬 SCHEQ Foundation: https://scheq.org/

💼 LinkedIn: Search for Eugene Manley Jr.

📖 Book: Too Much and Not Enough: Neurodivergence, Race, and Broken Systems

Commercial real estate leader and marathon runner Heather Ewing shares how discipline, resilience, relationships, and continuous improvement shape long-term success.

Success in commercial real estate rarely happens overnight. Deals can take months or even years, unexpected obstacles can derail progress, and there are no guarantees that all the work you put in will result in a closing.

For Heather Ewing, founder and CEO of Abstract Commercial Real Estate, that process has a lot in common with running a marathon.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Heather to discuss her journey into commercial real estate, the experiences that changed the direction of her life, and how the mindset she uses to train for marathons carries directly into business. With more than 16 years in real estate and over $150 million in commercial real estate transactions discussed in the episode, Heather shares what she's learned about discipline, relationships, navigating uncertainty, and continuing to improve.

Heather's path into commercial real estate wasn't a straight line. After spending 11 years in operations, a life-altering car accident caused her to begin asking bigger questions about who she was, what she wanted from life, and what she was ultimately working toward. She pursued several entrepreneurial ventures before entering real estate in 2010, moving into commercial real estate in 2015, and eventually founding Abstract Commercial Real Estate.

A major theme throughout the conversation is the connection between marathon training and building a successful career. Heather explains why motivation alone isn't enough. Whether she's preparing for a race or working through a commercial deal, she relies on structure, discipline, systems, and a strong reason for pursuing the goal in the first place.

That mindset becomes especially important when things don't go according to plan. Commercial real estate deals can face delayed approvals, difficult negotiations, changing circumstances, and months of uncertainty. Heather compares those obstacles to setbacks during marathon training: you may need to adjust the plan, but you continue doing everything within your control to keep moving forward.

Heather also shares practical advice for anyone considering a career in commercial real estate. She recommends speaking with multiple brokerage firms, identifying the asset class you want to specialize in, finding experienced professionals to learn from, understanding the firm's training structure, and being realistic about how long it may take before the career begins producing meaningful income.

But technical knowledge is only part of the equation.

Heather believes commercial real estate ultimately comes down to relationships and numbers. Building those relationships requires authenticity, consistently showing up, and finding ways to provide value without immediately expecting something in return.

The conversation ultimately returns to Heather's broader philosophy of continuous growth. Rather than comparing herself to everyone around her, she focuses on becoming better than the person she was before. After every marathon or commercial real estate deal, she looks back at what worked, what didn't, and how she can become 1% better the next time.

For entrepreneurs, real estate professionals, and anyone pursuing a difficult long-term goal, this episode is a reminder that success isn't built through motivation alone. It's built by developing the discipline to keep moving forward, learning from setbacks, becoming comfortable with uncertainty, and consistently putting in the work.

🌐 Abstract Commercial Real Estate: https://www.abstractcommercialrealestate.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathermewing/

Lane Kawaoka shares how he went from civil engineer to real estate investor and why building wealth starts with consistently buying income-producing assets.

Building wealth doesn't have to be complicated, but it does require moving beyond simply earning a paycheck and saving money.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Lane Kawaoka, a former civil engineer who has helped acquire more than $2 billion in real estate and built a large community around passive investing. Lane shares how renting out his first home opened his eyes to the potential of real estate and eventually led him away from the traditional path of working a W-2 job, contributing to a 401(k), and waiting decades to build wealth.

Lane shares how growing up in a frugal household shaped his relationship with money and why saving aggressively became second nature. After graduating, paying off his student loans, and saving $80,000, he purchased a home in Seattle while working for BNSF Railway. Because his engineering job kept him traveling, he decided to rent the property out and quickly began seeing the benefits of rental real estate through cash flow, mortgage paydown, tax advantages, and growing equity.

That first property eventually became the beginning of a much larger investing journey. Lane explains how he continued working as an engineer while accumulating rental properties on the side, reaching 11 properties by 2015 before building a community, moving into larger apartment deals, and eventually leaving his engineering career in 2018. He emphasizes that his path wasn't a get-rich-quick strategy and says it took him nearly a decade to reach a $1 million net worth.

The conversation also dives into what passive investors should understand before putting money into a deal. Lane explains why investors need to look beyond projected returns and understand the assumptions behind an underwriting model, including reversion cap rates, rent growth, and operating expenses. Even seemingly small changes in assumptions can dramatically change the returns presented on a spreadsheet, making education and due diligence critical.

Lane and Levi also explore the advantages of scaling from single-family rentals into larger multifamily properties. Lane discusses how economies of scale can support dedicated property managers and maintenance staff, why clustering properties can improve operations, and how his own investment strategy evolved from smaller Class C properties into larger deals and development.

Throughout the episode, Lane emphasizes the importance of learning through action. While podcasts, books, and courses can provide the foundation, he believes much of investing is learned by actually participating in deals and surrounding yourself with a community of experienced investors. His own early investments weren't always ones he would make today, but those experiences helped him develop the knowledge to evaluate better opportunities.

Whether you're building your first $100,000, working toward a $1 million net worth, or exploring larger passive investments, this episode offers a practical look at using income-producing assets, education, due diligence, and time to build long-term wealth.

📖 The Wealth Elevator: Available on Amazon

🌐 The Wealth Elevator: https://thewealthelevator.com/

Social psychologist Dr. Andre Walton explains why creativity is one of the most powerful tools for overcoming burnout and becoming a better leader.

Burnout isn't simply feeling tired after a busy week. According to Dr. Andre Walton, it's a serious condition that can fundamentally change how we think, lead, and perform. The good news? Recovery may begin by changing the way we use our minds.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Dr. Andre Walton, TEDx speaker, social psychologist, bestselling author, and founder of Plan for Change and The Burnout Foundation. Drawing from his own experience building businesses, overcoming severe burnout, and spending decades researching creativity, leadership, and human performance, Dr. Walton shares why creative thinking is one of the most overlooked tools for improving resilience, innovation, and overall well-being.

Dr. Walton shares his entrepreneurial journey, from inventing products used by world-renowned musicians and developing medical imaging technology to moving from the United Kingdom to the United States to expand his business despite widespread skepticism. While the business experienced rapid growth, a series of personal and professional challenges ultimately led him into severe burnout, an experience that completely changed the direction of his career.

The conversation explores how earning a Ph.D. in social psychology led Dr. Walton to study creativity within organizations and eventually discover the powerful relationship between creative thinking, emotional intelligence, resilience, and burnout recovery. Rather than viewing creativity as something reserved for artists, he explains why it is a fundamental human ability that helps people see the bigger picture, solve complex problems, and adapt to change.

Dr. Walton also explains how creative thinking can help people break free from the negative thought patterns associated with burnout. Through real client examples, he shares how reconnecting with creative activities can establish healthier mental habits, improve emotional well-being, and provide practical tools for navigating high-pressure careers.

The discussion also turns to artificial intelligence and leadership. While Dr. Walton believes AI has tremendous potential to improve innovation and productivity, he cautions against what he calls "cognitive surrender"—allowing technology to make decisions for us instead of using it as a tool to strengthen our own thinking. He explains why maintaining curiosity, independent thought, and creativity will become even more valuable as AI continues to evolve.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, business owner, or someone simply feeling overwhelmed by the demands of work, this episode offers practical insights into preventing burnout, improving decision-making, and unlocking the creative thinking that drives both personal and professional growth.

🌐 Plan for Change: https://plan4change.org/

🔥 The Burnout Foundation: https://theburnoutfoundation.co/

🎙️ Creativation Show: https://creativationshow.com/

MIT graduate, Harvard MBA, and startup veteran Stever Robbins shares what it really takes to build successful companies, think creatively, and lead with purpose.

What does it take to build companies from the ground up and become the person others rely on for leadership, innovation, and strategic thinking?

In this episode of the Grit to Growth Podcast, Levi Te Slaa sits down with Stever Robbins, an MIT computer science graduate, Harvard MBA, executive coach, entrepreneur, and business strategist who has spent decades helping startups launch, scale, and navigate growth. Having been part of multiple startup teams, redesigned portions of Harvard Business School's leadership curriculum, and coached executives around the world, Stever brings a unique perspective on entrepreneurship and leadership.

The conversation begins with Stever's unconventional upbringing in a traveling hippie commune and how leaving home at just 15 years old led him into the startup world. That unexpected path ultimately took him to MIT, Harvard Business School, and a career helping organizations turn ideas into thriving businesses.

Levi and Stever discuss the realities of entrepreneurship, why many founders overcomplicate the startup process, and how solving real customer problems matters far more than chasing venture capital. Stever explains why some of the best businesses begin by serving a handful of customers exceptionally well before ever seeking outside investment.

The discussion also explores leadership development, overcoming blind spots, and why relationships and reputation often become an entrepreneur's greatest competitive advantage. Drawing from decades of coaching executives and building companies, Stever shares practical lessons on creative thinking, decision making, and staying adaptable in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Whether you're launching your first startup, leading an established business, or simply looking to think more creatively about solving problems, this episode offers practical insights from someone who has spent a lifetime building companies and helping leaders grow.

🌐 Website: https://www.steverrobbins.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steverrobbins/

Lucy Kovalova-Woods shares how intentional leadership, strategic philanthropy, and community partnerships can create lasting impact.

Building a successful business is one thing. Using that success to strengthen communities and create opportunities for others is something entirely different.

In this episode, Levi sits down with Lucy Kovalova-Woods, entrepreneur, business strategist, and founder of WKG Strategy and the WKG Foundation, to discuss how purpose-driven leadership can transform both organizations and the communities they serve. Through her work helping businesses grow while investing in meaningful causes, Lucy shares why long-term success is built on relationships, service, and intentional action.

Lucy shares the journey that led her to build WKG Strategy and explains how helping organizations clarify their vision, strengthen their operations, and execute strategically allows them to create a greater impact beyond the bottom line.

The conversation explores the importance of servant leadership and why successful leaders focus on empowering others rather than simply directing them. Lucy explains how creating strong teams, fostering trust, and investing in people produces better results than chasing short-term wins.

Levi and Lucy also discuss the mission behind the WKG Foundation and why businesses have a unique opportunity to create positive change in their communities. From supporting nonprofits to building meaningful partnerships, Lucy shares how philanthropy becomes even more powerful when it's approached with strategy and intentionality.

Throughout the episode, Lucy emphasizes that sustainable success isn't measured solely by financial growth. Instead, it's reflected in the lives impacted, the relationships built, and the legacy leaders leave behind. Whether you're growing a company, launching a nonprofit initiative, or looking to make a greater difference through your work, her perspective offers practical guidance on leading with purpose.

If you're an entrepreneur, executive, nonprofit leader, or someone looking to build a business that creates lasting impact, this conversation offers valuable insights into combining strategy with service to achieve meaningful, long-term success.

🌐 WKG Strategy: https://wkgstrategy.com/

💙 WKG Foundation: https://wkgfoundation.com/