The Value Creators Podcast Episode #68. Bliss, Love, Empathy, and Business: Human-Centered Marketing with Stephen Sakach

/0 Comments/in /by

Listen to the episode here:

How do you design a company—and an AI—that leads with empathy?

In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with Stephen Sakach, founder and CEO of The Zero Company and creator of aiCMO, an AI-powered marketing platform built to scale human connection. Stephen shares his journey through digital media, consciousness studies, and systems design to develop a framework where love, purpose, and empathy drive business performance.

He calls it BLISS—Build Love Into Scalable Systems.

Key insights include:

  • How empathy can become the foundation for scalable marketing systems
  • Why companies must audit their operations through the lens of purpose
  • What it takes to align AI development with emotional intelligence and ethical goals

This is a visionary, practical conversation for anyone building the future—consciously.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Learn more about Zero Company Performance Marketing

Learn more about aiCMO.io

Connect with Stephen Sakach on LinkedIn

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Empathy Is a Business Skill, Not Just a Trait

  • Empathy can be taught, practiced, and systematized.
  • It’s essential for customer connection and employee satisfaction.
  • It’s the foundation for authentic, resonant marketing.

2. Purpose Must Be Lived, Not Posted

  • A purpose statement on a wall is meaningless without alignment.
  • Companies should audit all systems and decisions through their stated purpose.
  • Real purpose inspires internal motivation and external advocacy.

3. Emotional Connection Drives Lifetime Value

  • Customers emotionally connected to a brand are 300% more valuable.
  • Emotional resonance leads to referrals, reviews, and loyalty.
  • Purposeful storytelling creates deeper brand relationships.

4. Empathy Can—and Should—Scale

  • Sakach’s BLISS model embeds love into systems, not just culture.
  • Businesses can design processes that prompt consistent compassion.
  • Empathy isn’t random—it can be engineered into experience.

5. Marketing AI Needs Empathic Guardrails

  • AI without humanistic intention optimizes only for profit.
  • Guardrails like purpose and values steer AI toward constructive outcomes.
  • aiCMO prompts businesses to consider people, not just metrics.

6. Data and Emotion Are Not Mutually Exclusive

  • Empathetic insights can be reflected in metrics like retention or sentiment.
  • Tools like aiCMO help identify “empathy signals” across customer journeys.
  • Qualitative outcomes can be modeled and scaled with care.

7. The Entrepreneur as Empath

  • Entrepreneurs create value by understanding felt needs.
  • Emotional intelligence is essential to discovering and delivering value.
  • Internal entrepreneurship thrives in self-managed, purpose-led cultures.

8. Self-Management Unlocks Innovation

  • Zero Company is structured as networked pods with independent decision-making panels.
  • Employees take ownership and pursue passion within structure.
  • This autonomy fosters creativity and accountability at scale.

9. Conscious Culture Attracts Conscious Talent

  • Younger generations seek purpose-driven work, even at lower pay.
  • Companies that embody empathy have a strategic advantage in hiring.
  • Culture grounded in values is magnetic and sustainable.

10. AI Must Reflect Human Values

  • Training AI on empathy-centric data reshapes outputs.
  • Tools like aiCMO evaluate customer emotion at every journey stage.
  • Experience design must optimize for positive emotional outcomes.

11. ROI Meets ROL—Return on Love

  • Empathy improves retention, reduces churn, and builds advocacy.
  • Trust, gratitude, and surprise-and-delight are measurable business assets.
  • Marketing that feels good performs better over time.

12. The Shift Toward Conscious Business Is Inevitable

  • Systems will evolve toward purpose and emotional intelligence.
  • Businesses that resist empathy will lose relevance and talent.
  • The future belongs to companies who build with love.

The Value Creators Podcast Episode #67. Useful Robots Are Here: Automation, Ethics, and Entrepreneurial Innovation with Marianela Nanninga

/0 Comments/in /by

Listen to the episode here:

The robots are here. Are they useful? Are they ethical?

In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with Marianela Nanninga, CEO of ToDo Robotics. Marianela shares her journey from global tech sales to building one of the most innovative commercial robotics ventures in the U.S. Focused on usefulness over hype, she explains how robots are transforming hospitality, healthcare, and food service by performing real work—with real ROI.

From AI-driven cleaners in 24/7 casinos to chip-delivering restaurant bots, this episode explores the entrepreneurial mindset, systems integration, and human-centered design needed to lead in the robotics revolution.

Key insights include:

  • Why “Usseful Robotics” is about integration, not hype
  • How automation complements (not replaces) human work
  • What ethical deployment really means in practice

Whether you’re leading innovation, exploring automation, or rethinking operational strategy, this conversation is filled with insights for the future.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Learn more about ToDo Robotics

Connect with Marianela Nanninga on LinkedIn

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Robotics Must Be Useful to Create Value

  • ToDo Robotics focuses on function, not futuristic promises.
  • Robots must perform real, repetitive tasks—consistently and measurably.
  • Vaporware is eliminated through deep operational integration.

2. ROI Is Tangible and Immediate

  • In hospitality, robots often pay for themselves in 6–9 months.
  • In casinos, ROI can exceed 600% as a result of 24/7 usage.
  • Consistency in cleaning and data reporting boosts guest satisfaction.

3. Automation Doesn’t Replace—It Elevates

  • Robots handle repetitive tasks; humans focus on high-value areas.
  • Workers are retrained to operate, manage, and maintain robots.
  • Job turnover in cleaning is high—robots help stabilize labor demand.

4. Mapping and Deployment Are Precision Work

  • Each location is custom-mapped with sensors and LIDAR.
  • Robots adapt to environmental changes with alternate path logic.
  • Staff are trained not just to operate but to troubleshoot and manage.

5. Integration Is the New Frontier

  • The value isn’t just in navigation—it’s in API-level integration.
  • ToDo Robotics integrates with POS, table management, and logistics systems.
  • Robots can now host guests, guide them to tables, and sync with restaurant ops.

6. Customers Co-Create Innovation

  • Clients request new robot capabilities—customizations become R&D.
  • Use cases evolve from direct experience and frontline needs.
  • Co-creation is part of ToDo’s development process.

7. AI and Machine Learning Improve Daily

  • Commercial robots receive software updates every 2–3 months.
  • Each update improves sensors, behavior, and precision.
  • Robots learn from their environments to optimize over time.

8. The Tipping Point Is Near—but Not Here Yet

  • Customer adoption is growing, especially among younger users.
  • Robots are becoming normal in restaurants, casinos, and care centers.
  • But true mainstream integration is still in progress.

9. System Integration Is Entrepreneurial Craft

  • ToDo Robotics acts as a systems integrator, not just a seller.
  • Real value comes from combining hardware, software, and support.
  • Project management is essential to long-term success.

10. Ethical Deployment Matters

  • Robots should relieve humans from drudgery, not eliminate them.
  • Companies must define the ethical limits of automation.
  • Transparency, purpose, and human benefit are central values.

11. Robotics Creates New Career Paths

  • Housekeepers become robotics supervisors and troubleshooters.
  • ToDo Robotics partners with universities to train future operators.
  • Certifications will drive a new labor market segment.

12. Founder-Mode Companies Operate Differently

  • Marianela manages expectations while staying hands-on.
  • She adapts robots to operations—not the other way around.
  • Founders who get into the details on the ground create better value alignment.

The Value Creators Podcast Episode #66. Financing the Future: Private Debt, Capital Access, and Entrepreneurial Lending Innovation with Dave Kotter

/0 Comments/in /by

Listen to the episode here:

What does it take to unlock capital in a system full of red tape, landmines, and outdated institutions? In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings is joined by Dave Kotter, CEO of Integrity Capital and founder of the Hybrid Debt Fund. Dave pulls back the curtain on commercial real estate financing, innovative lending structures, and how technology—especially AI—is transforming capital flows.

From high-net-worth investors to B2B borrowers, Kotter explains why relationships are the key product, not interest rates. He shares how Integrity Capital designs financing that works for the future—faster, more flexible, and centered on the entrepreneur.

Key insights include:

  • How to unlock capital through advisory-based lending models
  • How debt innovation is reshaping the role of banks
  • How AI, alternative platforms, and decentralization are democratizing investment

Whether you’re raising funds, deploying capital, or building a financing venture, this is an essential guide to value creation in the modern financial ecosystem.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Learn more about Integrity Capital

Learn more about Hybrid Debt Fund

Connect with Dave Kotter on LinkedIn

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Capital Access Is a Value Creation Lever

  • Entrepreneurs seeking debt capital often default to banks without exploring better options.
  • Integrity Capital serves entrepreneurs as a centralized access point to those other smarter lending options.
  • This advisory lending service opens doors that would otherwise remain closed.

2. Simplicity Wins in a Complex World

  • Commercial real estate financing is filled with nuance and variation.
  • Kotter’s mission is to reduce friction through clarity and experience.
  • Strategic simplicity earns client trust and facilitates execution speed.

3. Value Creation Starts with Proactive Structuring

  • Most loans fail because risks weren’t properly anticipated upfront.
  • Kotter’s team identifies “landmines” before they explode.
  • Strategic foresight turns complexity into competitive advantage.

4. Valuation Is a Deal-Maker—or Breaker

  • Appraisal mismatches can kill a deal.
  • Integrity Capital works with clients to prepare valid valuation narratives.
  • Micro-market realities must guide macro-level assumptions.

5. Every Deal Is Personal and Hyper-Customized

  • There’s no “one-size-fits-all” in real estate lending.
  • Institutional wisdom—developed through experience—adds unseen value.
  • Success depends on seeing what others miss.

6. Hybrid Debt: The Best of Debt and Equity

  • The Hybrid Debt Fund offers higher leverage with equity-like upside.
  • Borrowers can avoid raising excess equity while keeping control.
  • Investors gain steady returns with participation in profits.

7. Relationships Are the Real Product

  • Deals succeed or fail based on people, not just terms.
  • Kotter emphasizes matching the right people to the right capital.
  • The role of facilitator is as much human as financial.

8. AI Is Transforming Underwriting and Efficiency

  • AI tools speed up due diligence and eliminate bottlenecks.
  • Kotter’s team built proprietary AI systems to rate deals in minutes.
  • Automation reduces overhead while improving response time.

9. Innovation in Financial Services Is Just Beginning

  • Antiquated processes like SBA lending are ripe for disruption.
  • Fintech is democratizing investment and removing gatekeepers.
  • Custom-built tools challenge legacy institutions to evolve or lose relevance.

10. Rolling Recession Demands Adaptive Strategy

  • Kotter sees today’s market as a “rolling recession,” not a binary one.
  • Cycles are inevitable—resilience comes from reflection and realignment.
  • Hard times are opportunities for relationship-building and innovation.

11. Democratization of Capital Is Accelerating

  • Access to alternative investments is no longer exclusive to elites.
  • Technology allows individuals to participate with as little as $25K.
  • Legacy institutions face existential pressure from agile upstarts.

12. Strategy Must Precede Technology

  • Tools like AI and CRMs must follow clear strategic intent.
  • Executives must define needs before adopting solutions.
  • Discernment—not shiny software—is the real competitive edge. The human factor remains the most important.

The Value Creators Podcast Episode #65. The Inner Excellence Of Entrepreneurial Leaders: Performance, Presence, and Purpose with Jim Murphy

/0 Comments/in /by

Listen to the episode here:

Entrepreneurial leaders are focused on value for others, especially customers and colleagues. They deliver through innovation, which is the implementation of a better future for those customers and colleagues. This outer-directed focus must start from a place of trust, clarity, and purpose. A place Jim Murphy calls Inner Excellence.

Jim Murphy is a high-performance coach and author of Inner Excellence. Drawing from his years coaching elite athletes, Jim shares the spiritual and mental tools that allow leaders to transcend fear, train presence, and perform with joy. This is a masterclass in leading from the inside out.

Key insights include:

  • Why your thoughts are not you—and how to gain freedom from them
  • How to surrender control to unlock courage and creativity
  • The business case for training your heart, not just your mind

Inner Excellence isn’t about perfection—it’s about joy. And it starts in the one place most of us avoid: within.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Learn more about Jim Murphy and Inner Excellence

Connect with Jim Murphy on LinkedIn

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Inner Excellence Begins with Identity

  • Most people chase results; few build the identity that sustains them.
  • Your greatest performance starts with knowing who you are.
  • Inner excellence focuses on service, not self.

2. You Are Not Your Thoughts

  • Negative thoughts don’t define you—they pass like weather.
  • Learning to separate from thoughts is key to emotional freedom.
  • Awareness creates distance; distance creates clarity.

3. The Ego Is Your Biggest Opponent

  • Ego clings to image, past failures, and fear of rejection.
  • True growth requires surrendering ego to embrace possibility.
  • The more selfless you become, the more fearless you get.

4. Presence Replaces Control

  • Fear lives in the future; presence dissolves it.
  • In the present moment, there’s no fear—only awareness.
  • Success flows from clear, non-judgmental focus.

5. Surrender Is Strength

  • Surrender isn’t giving up—it’s letting go of what limits you.
  • Let go of the “little lollipop” to gain the whole candy store.
  • Surrender clears space for trust, intuition, and energy.

6. Emotional Energy Drives Performance

  • You can’t control outcomes, but you can manage your energy.
  • Every thought and environment influences your internal state.
  • Choose thoughts, words, and inputs that align with truth.

7. Feedback Is Always a Gift

  • Everything is here to teach and help you—if you let it.
  • Inner Excellence reframes every experience as feedback for growth.
  • Daily goal: Learn and grow, no matter the outcome.

8. Practice Builds Self-Mastery

  • Focus is trained by how you speak, think, and breathe.
  • Tools like the “float-up technique” help reset perspective.
  • Repetition—not intensity—creates transformation.

9. Love, Wisdom, and Courage Are Core Pillars

  • Love leads to fearlessness.
  • Wisdom is the unobstructed view of possibility and truth.
  • Courage is the willingness to step into discomfort.

10. Let Go of the Past to Become Someone New

  • Transformation requires letting go of your story and self-image.
  • You can’t reach second base with a foot on first.
  • Growth demands facing what you’ve never wanted to face.

11. Leadership Is Relational Energy

  • The quality of your relationships defines the quality of your life.
  • Self-awareness fuels better communication and trust.
  • Relationship capital is entrepreneurial capital.

12. The Fullest Life Is One of Selfless Actualization

  • Zoe: the Greek concept of “absolute fullness of life.”
  • The path is not fame or control—it’s being fully alive.
  • That begins with surrender, presence, and service.

The Value Creators Podcast Episode #64. Customer Experience Is Everything: A Conversation with Vance Morris

/0 Comments/in /by

Listen to the episode here:

What makes a business truly stand out in the hyper-competitive challenge to create customer value? It’s not just the product—it’s the experience, and the system that generates and sustains it.

In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with Vance Morris, former Disney leader and expert in service system design, about why a customer experience system is the most strategic asset in business. From theme parks to high tech to carpet cleaning to consulting, Vance reveals how to create experience systems that delight customers, and drive lasting loyalty.

Key insights include:

  • Why systematization enables—not limits—exceptional service.
  • How systems harness personality, emotion, and consistency to create customer connection.
  • What it means to “plus” every interaction, and how to embed improvement into daily operations.

Whether you’re a small business owner or enterprise leader, this episode offers a masterclass in designing customer experiences that actually mean something—and work effectively.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with Vance Morris on LinkedIn

Learn more about Vance Morris

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Customer Experience Begins Where Product Ends

  • Good service is no longer a differentiator—it’s the minimum to compete.
  • Exceptional experiences elevate brands beyond commoditization.
  • Experience excellence means adding personality, care, and consistency.

2. Systematization Creates Freedom to Delight

  • Disney runs on SOPs—systems create consistency and free employees to “wow” guests.
  • When operational tasks become muscle memory, emotional service can flourish.
  • For entrepreneurs, strong systems create the freedom to step away.

3. Plussing: Continuous Improvement as a Discipline

  • Disney’s term “plussing” means always making things better—even small ones.
  • Experience design is iterative: each step can be “plussed” regularly.
  • Improvement ideas often come from frontline staff, not executives.

4. Experience Design Can—and Should—Be Intentional

  • Even packaging a book sale can be turned into a designed experience.
  • Vance created a “Vance in a box” experience to beat Amazon’s default convenience.
  • Thoughtful design creates brand moments customers remember.

5. Personalization Builds Loyalty

  • Customers forgive errors if there’s emotional connection.
  • Vance used stories, newsletters, and even his daughter’s ballet to connect.
  • People buy from people they feel they know.

6. Alarm Systems Prevent Customer Churn

  • Businesses need built-in alerts for declining engagement.
  • CRM systems should flag changes in behavior (e.g., less frequent visits).
  • Follow-up can recover at-risk customers before they leave.

7. Training Enables Consistency

  • SOPs must be practiced—not just handed out.
  • “Practice creates muscle memory, which creates freedom to serve.”
  • Great service requires clear systems, repetition, and buy-in.

8. Empowered Staff Improve the Experience

  • Frontline employees should be included in design and feedback loops.
  • Vance’s Disney story: how busboys improved table turnover with a tabletop organization idea.
  • Listening builds engagement and makes improvements real.

9. Let Personality Into the Process

  • Allowing staff to express themselves creates differentiation.
  • A phone greeting like “The agency that rocks” helps filter the right clients.
  • Great experiences reflect the values and style of the brand.

10. Human Touch Beats AI—Especially in Service

  • Live phone answering is a competitive advantage in an AI-dominated world.
  • Chatbots are efficient, but compassion and connection still matter.
  • The best businesses will blend tech with human warmth.

11. Service Recovery Must Account for Total Cost

  • Fixing a mistake means accounting for all customer costs (time, money, stress).
  • Offering a free repair isn’t enough—make it whole with extras (e.g., loaners, dinners).
  • Recovery is an opportunity to build deeper trust.

12. Implementation Is the Only Way to Profit

  • “You won’t profit unless you implement”—Vance’s core mantra.
  • Pick one idea and act on it; then build momentum.
  • Knowledge without implementation is just entertainment.

The Value Creators Podcast Episode #63. Systems Thinking in Action: Building Community-Of-Passion Based Businesses with Joe Zentmyer

/0 Comments/in /by

Listen to the episode here:

How do you build a retail business around passion—and scale it successfully? What does it mean to think in systems, not just solve problems?

In this episode of the Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with serial entrepreneur Joe Zentmyer, founder of Snaggletooth Goby and builder of thriving passion communities—from indoor climbing gyms to tropical fish hobbyists and service ventures. Joe shares how he applies systems thinking, relationship-building, and detail-obsessive iteration to create businesses that endure and expand.

Key insights include:

  • Why systems—not checklists—create scalability and resilience.
  • How community, location, and hospitality converge to generate value.
  • The importance of building teams that thrive in uncertainty and complexity.

This is a hands-on masterclass in entrepreneurial systems design, filled with hard-earned lessons for anyone seeking to grow a values-driven, experience-based business.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with Joe Zentmyer on LinkedIn

Learn more about Snaggletooth Goby

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule:

1. Systems Thinking Is the Entrepreneur’s Superpower

  • Many founders jump from problem to problem without ever building a system.
  • Systems allow entrepreneurs to step back and let their business run, and not be consumed by it.
  • Joe Zentmyer emphasizes: “If there’s no process, the same problems will keep resurfacing.”

2. A Business Is a Puzzle—And Entrepreneurs Must Love Solving It

  • Joe sees his ventures as complex puzzles with interlocking systems.
  • He thrives on balancing operations, team dynamics, and creative problem solving.
  • Obsession with the system can be productive—if balanced with personal clarity.

3. From Vision to Replication: Systems Enable Scale

  • Each new climbing gym was hard, but systems made replication possible.
  • Over time, Joe built a system for teams to independently manage real estate, construction, launch, and operations.
  • Institutional knowledge—like climbing wall design and layout—became internal IP.

4. Community Is the Core of Passion-Based Businesses

  • Joe builds businesses around passionate identity: “I’m a climber,” “I’m an aquarist.”
  • Authenticity matters—customers want to be around others who feel it.
  • The best engagement comes from shared language, hospitality, and consistency.

5. Location Is Strategy

  • For niche businesses, there’s no McDonald’s-style data formula.
  • Objective factors like foot traffic combine with gut-level assessments like safety, vibe, and accessibility.
  • Joe chose sites near transit to lower costs and serve the community better.

6. Trust-Based Partnerships Enable Growth

  • Success depends on trusted relationships: real estate, contractors, investors.
  • Joe spent years assembling a reliable team across disciplines.
  • Being known for follow-through and fairness makes systems more robust.

7. Creative Problem-Solvers Are Essential

  • Early-stage ventures require improvisation and initiative, not rigid process followers.
  • Hiring for adaptability and curiosity is key during expansion and chaos.
  • “You can’t automate creative problem solving,” says Joe.

8. Marketing Passion Brands Requires Empathy and Simplicity

  • Deep experts often alienate newcomers with insider jargon.
  • Joe partners with generalist marketing firms to maintain accessibility.
  • Marketing must serve both the hardcore enthusiast and the curious beginner.

9. Experience Creates Loyalty

  • Whether climbing or aquarium care, the in-store experience is key.
  • Events, workshops, and personalized advice bind people to the brand.
  • Customers remember how they felt—and that memory drives retention.

10. Recurring Revenue Is the Engine

  • Joe looks for business models with built-in subscriptions or services.
  • Climbing gyms rely on memberships; aquariums offer in-home services.
  • This structure stabilizes cash flow and deepens engagement.

11. Systems Must Integrate with External Environments

  • Joe’s strategy adapts to zoning laws, transit incentives, and macroeconomic trends.
  • In Chicago, locating near transit hubs reduced parking costs and aligned with city planning.
  • Entrepreneurs must plug into broader institutional systems intelligently.

12. The Founder Needs a System, Too

  • Joe carves out time weekly for reading, writing, and system-level reflection.
  • He warns against being consumed by the business’s internal systems at the cost of personal well-being.
  • Sustainable entrepreneurship requires a personal system for focus and renewal.