The Entrepreneur DNA - Justin Colby, Bleav

Latest Episodes:

How the Rich Actually Stay Rich (Family Office Secrets) | Kristian Mtetwa Oct 13, 2026

Show notes

In this episode I sat down with Kristian Mtetwa, a wealth advisor who leads Synergy Private, a multifamily office serving athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and executives. We start by busting the biggest myth about the rich: they aren’t hoarding money, they’re obsessed with adding value because that’s the only way to keep it. Kristian explains what a family office actually does, why giving anyone power of attorney over your money is a massive liability, and the numbers ($10M liquid net worth or $1M in annual income) where it starts to make sense. We dig into ambition vs. envy, why you focus to get wealthy but diversify to stay wealthy, how to avoid shiny object syndrome, and why liquidity matters more than most people think. I also share my own hard lessons from 2024, what I learned in my mastermind about using lines of credit instead of long-term loans, and how I use whole life insurance like a personal bank. If you want to build wealth that actually lasts, with long obedience in a specific direction and aggressive patience, this one’s for you.

Guest Bio

Raised in the suburbs of Nashville, Kristian is a Zimbabwean immigrant to the US and a nationally recognized wealth advisor specializing in advising the ultra-affluent. He entered financial services at age 18 before earning a Certificate in Financial Markets from Yale and becoming an Accredited Investment Fiduciary. He has held leadership positions at several financial institutions and now leads a Black-owned multifamily office with clients across the country. That firm is Synergy Private, a boutique wealth advisory firm operating as a multifamily office that offers bespoke financial guidance for ultra-affluent individuals and their families, available by invitation only. He was named 49 Financial’s Advisor of the Year for 2022 after nearly tripling his personal client roster. He is also a speaker on career development, entrepreneurship, and financial planning, and has been featured in Financial Planning, ThinkAdvisor, WealthManagement.com, and Yahoo Finance. Kristian Mtetwa +5

Connect With Kristian

Website: https://kristianmtetwa.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristianmtetwa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/192zZu3Ywq/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Instagram: @kristianmtetwa

About Justin:

Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence.

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Being a Great Operator Is My Biggest Vulnerability | Gary Vaynerchuk Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

Your operator strengths might be the very thing holding you back. Gary Vaynerchuk shares a hard financial realization.

Gary Vaynerchuk is known for spotting internet trends years before they happen. But even with that foresight, he faced a brutal reality in 2026. Sometimes, the skills that get you to a certain level of business growth are the exact same habits that prevent you from scaling further.

---

In this episode, I sat down with my GOAT, Gary Vaynerchuk, and he did not hold back. Gary broke down his entire empire, from VaynerX and VeeFriends to Vayner Sports and his new TV production company, and explained why he refuses to follow the "just focus on one business" advice so many of us preach. He opened up about building Wine Library into a $50 million business for his dad, walking away at 34 with nothing, and growing VaynerX to roughly $400 million in revenue without a single outside dollar to start. We got tactical on where attention is right now, including TikTok Live, Substack, Facebook, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight, and why he calls this the era of "interest media." Then we went deep: why being a great operator is his biggest vulnerability, why he has no one he goes to for advice, how he runs his companies like a family business, and whether Gary Vee is actually happy. This one is packed with real advice you can use today.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why the Smartest Entrepreneurs Are Choosing Community Over AI | Heather Simpson Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

Everyone wants to talk about AI, but my guest this week would rather talk about people. Heather Simpson spent years in real estate building brokerages and personal brands for agents before making a hard pivot to build something for women entrepreneurs specifically. Today she runs Her Connection Hub, a coworking and community space in the Pacific Northwest, and she is expanding into Northern California. We got into why she thinks too many people are outsourcing their thinking, the gap she saw between hustle culture and the "make a million from the beach" crowd, and what actually separates the women who win from the ones who stall out. We also had a real conversation about sacrifice, about what it costs a mother to go after something bigger, and about how she is adapting a physical business in a challenging 2026 economy. Heather uses AI for systems, never for her voice, and honestly I think that is where the smart operators are landing. If you are a builder who feels wired for more, this one is for you.

About Heather:

Heather Simpson is a business strategist, community builder, and the founder of Her Connection Hub, a female-focused coworking community in Bellingham, Washington. Simpson began offering monthly Connection Breakfasts in 2018, and they proved to be the catalyst for something much bigger. The events resonated deeply with attendees, who then voiced their desire for a physical coworking space, and so Simpson turned that dream into a reality with Her Connection Hub, which opened to the public in 2021. Before building for entrepreneurs, Heather spent years in real estate helping agents develop their brands and helping launch brokerages. She is also the founder of She Leads Me, a company devoted to supporting women on their individual journeys in their lives, careers, and businesses. She hosts the podcast Shatter This, a show for leaders, founders, and builders who are done outsourcing their thinking and ready to create what actually lasts. Her first book, Shattering Glass, is coming soon.

Connect with Heather Simpson:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weshatterglass/ Website: https://shatteringglass.com Her Connection Hub: http://herconnectionhub.com Her Connection Hub Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herconnectionhub/ Shatter This Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shatter-this-with-heather-simpson/id1866931224

Heather's book, Shattering Glass, is coming soon. Stay updated at https://shatteringglass.com

About Justin:

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Woman Behind Gemini: How AI Is Actually Built and Who It Will Replace | Sneha Shah Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

AI is all anyone can talk about right now, but most of us are just getting started with it while the giants have been building it for two decades. In this episode I sat down with Sneha Shah, CEO and co-founder of Hazel AI, who spent nearly 20 years at Amazon and Google as the engineer behind the scenes. She was on the team that built Amazon same-day delivery and scaled it to ten countries, then went to Google as a founding engineer on Cloud Spanner, the global database that powers companies like Deutsche Bank and Nintendo, before building Vertex AI and scaling it into Gemini Enterprise. We broke down how AI actually gets built (yes, it is real people writing real code), why Amazon delivery has always been a losing model, why AWS is where the money is, and the difference between knowledge and wisdom in an LLM. Then we got into Hazel AI, the engine she is building underneath the biggest tech consulting firms on the planet, and the honest conversation everyone is avoiding: which jobs AI is going to take, which ones it is going to create, and why the opportunity has never been bigger for the people willing to get uncomfortable and level up. If you want to hear where AI is going from someone who has actually been in the trenches instead of another influencer guessing, this one is for you.

About Guest:

Sneha Shah is the CEO and co-founder of Hazel AI, an Autonomous AI Modernization OS that powers global system integrators as they take Global 2000 enterprises from cloud native to AI native. Before founding Hazel, Sneha spent nearly two decades building at the largest scale on the planet. She started her career at Amazon straight out of Carnegie Mellon University, where she was part of the team that built same-day delivery and scaled it across ten countries. She then spent almost a decade at Google Cloud as a founding engineer on Cloud Spanner, the globally distributed database used by companies like Deutsche Bank and Nintendo, growing the team from four to hundreds and the product to over 100 million in scale. She went on to build Vertex AI, Google's flagship AI platform, and scale it into Gemini Enterprise. Hazel AI now works with five of the top ten global system integrators and serves over $10 billion in business across retail, manufacturing, and agriculture. Sneha is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Guest Links and Socials:

Website: https://www.gethazel.dev
Platform sign-up: https://gethazel.ai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snehashah/
Contact: sneha@gethazel.ai

About Justin:

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The New Era of Search: AI, SEO, and What You Need to Know | Kevin Roy Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

In this episode I sit down with Kevin C. Roy, CEO of GreenBanana SEO, who's spent the last 15 years mastering search engine optimization and is now at the forefront of how AI is completely rewriting the rules of how businesses get found online. Kevin walks me through his wild entrepreneurial journey, from getting laid off and going door to door offering free websites, to bringing on a 50/50 business partner that nearly sank everything, to surviving a lawsuit from a sales partner who tried to put him out of business entirely. We get real about why most business partnerships fail and what he'd do differently. Then we dig into the meat of what his agency does today: how AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude decide who to cite, why building your author authority and connecting it to your content is now more important than keyword stuffing, and the exact three-block content format businesses need to use to get found by AI instead of just Google. If you run a business and you're not thinking about how customers are finding you through AI search right now, this conversation is your wake-up call.

Guest Bio & Social Links

Kevin C. Roy is the Founder and CEO of GreenBanana SEO, an Inc. 5000 (3x) digital marketing and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) agency based in Beverly, Massachusetts, that he's built over more than 15 years into a pay-for-performance SEO and AI search visibility firm. He's a frequent podcast guest, author, and media commentator on SEO, AI search, and AEO/GEO, with commentary and work featured in Adweek, SiliconANGLE, Inc., Boston 25 News, and Techstrong TV.

Website: greenbananaseo.com
LinkedIn (personal): linkedin.com/in/kevincharlesroy
LinkedIn (company): linkedin.com/company/greenbanana-seo
Instagram: instagram.com/greenbananaseo
X/Twitter: twitter.com/greenbananaseo
Facebook: facebook.com/GreenBananaSEO
YouTube: youtube.com/@GreenBananaSEO

About Justin:

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Messy Middle: How to Build a Business When Your Life Is Falling Apart | Christina Deering Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, I sit down with Christina Deering, energy and intuition coach and host of the You Unlimited podcast, to talk about something I think about constantly: how the energy you bring to your business matters just as much as the strategy. Christina walks us through the difference between wishing for something and actually being aligned with it, why so many business owners build something they don't even want and end up wanting to burn it down, and how to use your body to tell whether you're in the right lane. She opens up about going through four back-to-back miscarriages while simultaneously doubling her business, and how healing that grief actually expanded her capacity to hold a bigger vision for her life and work. We get into practical tools like the "alter ego" exercise, "trusting the crickets" through the messy middle, and her five-minute energy reset for staying grounded when everything outside of you feels out of control. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right but still stuck, or like your business is exploding while your personal life is falling apart, this conversation gives you real, practical ways to work through it.

About Christina:

Christina Deering is a Shaman, Business Intuitive, Keynote Speaker and creator of the Calibration Keys Methodology. She helps visionary entrepreneurs become the known expert in their industry, expand their income and impact and have the time of their lives doing it.

Her insights have been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Psychology Today, ABC and FOX, and she’s the host of the top 5% podcast You Unlimited.

Join Calibration Keys: http://christinadeering.com/keys

5 Minute Energy Reset: https://christinadeering.com/reset

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

Podcast (You Unlimited): available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Website: https://christinadeering.com/

About Justin:

Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience.

Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence.

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby

YouTube: Justin Colby

TikTok: @justincolbytsof

LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Content Creation | Austin Armstrong Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, I sit down with Austin Armstrong, bestselling author of Virality! and founder of Syllaby, to nerd out on everything happening in AI and content right now. We get into how fast AI video and image generation is moving, why it's getting harder to know what's even real online anymore, and what that means for creators and business owners. Austin breaks down his thesis of being a business owner who creates content instead of a content creator chasing views, how to use keyword research tools to find exactly what your audience is searching for, why faceless content is exploding as a way to build a brand without ever being on camera, and how he personally uses AI as a thinking partner trained on his own voice and expertise. We also compare the major AI models out there, talk about how to actually start using AI strategically if you're feeling overwhelmed, and he shares what he's building next with Bullhouse Ventures. If you're trying to build a personal brand or grow your business with content and you feel like you're drowning in options, this episode gives you a real starting point.

About Austin:

Austin Armstrong is the bestselling author of Virality!, a two-time seven-figure entrepreneur, and a keynote speaker on AI and social media marketing. He's the CEO and co-founder of Syllaby, an AI-powered platform that helps creators and business owners write, generate, and publish video content in minutes, and Managing Partner at Bullhouse Ventures, a startup incubator and coworking space based in Durham, North Carolina. Austin has published over 12,000 videos across social platforms, earning billions of views and millions of followers, and is also co-founder of the AI Marketing World conference.

Social Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinarmstrong90/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/socialtypro
X (Twitter): https://x.com/SocialtyPro
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@socialtypro
Website: https://syllaby.io

About Justin:

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How She Lost Her Voice Climbing the Corporate Ladder (And How She Got It Back) | Ilhiana Rojas Sep 04, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, I sit down with Ilhiana Rojas, who climbed the corporate ladder to become a senior Fortune 500 executive in just 12 years — often the only woman, and the youngest, in the boardroom. But somewhere along the way, chasing the version of success she thought she was supposed to have, she lost herself so completely that she burned out and fell into deep depression. We talk about what it actually looks like to reconnect with who you are after you've lost your voice, why building the right circles of people around you is one of the most important things you can do for your growth, and why 90% of women deal with imposter syndrome at some point. Ilhiana breaks down her framework for finding the confidence to speak up, owning your own narrative before someone else writes it for you, and why she's now spent her career helping unheard voices — especially women and Latinas — get heard. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right but still not getting where you want to be, this episode is for you.

About Ilhiana Rojas:

Ilhiana Rojas Saldana is a Human Potential & Culture Expert, Executive & Leadership Coach, DEIB Consultant, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. After more than 20 years of global executive experience across top Fortune 500 companies in Mexico and the U.S., she left the corporate world to found BeLIVE Coaching & Consulting, where she helps leaders and teams reconnect with their voice, purpose, and authentic leadership style. She's a Certified Professional Coach (ICF), holds a Diversity & Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University, and is an advocate for advancing women and Hispanics in leadership. Ilhiana is based in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters.

Social Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilhiana-rojas7/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belivecoaching/
Website: https://www.ilhianarojas.com/
Website: https://www.belivecoach.com/

About Justin:

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why This 33-Year-Old Built an $80M Business Without Social Media | Chandler Bolt Aug 28, 2026

Show notes

Want help turning your story into a book? Book a free call with Chandler's team to map out your book: selfpublishing.com/justin

I sat down with my friend Chandler Bolt, who built self-publishing.com into an 8-figure company (north of $80 million in sales) by his early thirties, and we got into exactly how he did it. We talked about the mindset that separated him from guys like me in our twenties, why he scaled almost entirely without social media by leaning into SEO, content, and business development partnerships instead, and the "thank you card challenge" and guerrilla marketing tactics that got his first webinars off the ground with zero budget. Chandler broke down the real profit bridge from seven figures to eight, why hiring to your weaknesses eventually stops working, and his "win the day" philosophy for pushing through the brutal stretches every founder hits. We also got into why he thinks a book is the single most powerful lever for a personal brand, and yes, the story of betting Jay Shetty $10K on a pickleball game to get a podcast spot. If you're building anything right now, this one is packed with tactics you can use today.

Chandler Bolt is the Founder and CEO of selfpublishing.com (formerly Self-Publishing School), which he built after dropping out of college to over $80 million in sales. He's a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and the author of multiple bestselling books, most recently Published. Over the past decade, his company has helped publish more than 7,000 books and works with clients ranging from first-time authors to names like Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, and Pace Morby. Chandler also hosts the 7 Figure Principles Podcast and the Self Publishing School Podcast, and is based in Austin, Texas.

Social Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chandler.bolt Website / booking link: https://selfpublishing.com/justin

About Justin:

Connect with Justin:

Instagram: @thejustincolby
YouTube: Justin Colby
TikTok: @justincolbytsof
LinkedIn: Justin Colby

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How Do You Prove You're Not Using AI? This Founder Solved It | Tiffany Ward Aug 25, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, I sit down with Tiffany Ward, founder and CEO of Human Creative, the company behind Certified Human Content, a service that live-monitors the entire writing and creative process to prove a piece of work was made without generative AI. We get into just how much of what we read today (emails, resumes, social captions, even "motivational" posts) is quietly AI-generated, and why that's eroding trust across education, journalism, hiring, and the creator economy. I share my own story of getting caught plagiarizing my senior year at UCLA, long before AI existed, and we talk about how much easier, and more damaging, that shortcut is today. Tiffany walks me through how schools, publications, and businesses are using her platform instead of unreliable after-the-fact AI detectors, including a wild example of her own company using it to hire a junior developer. We close out talking about where "proof of human" goes next, from graphic design to physical craftsmanship.

About Tiffany:

Tiffany Ward is Co-Founder and CEO of Human Creative, a company dedicated to certifying original human content in the age of AI. She received her M.A.B.S. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2018 and authored a successful fictional trilogy under a pen name. She lives in Morgantown, WV with her husband and children.

Guest Social Links

Website: https://humancreative.org

X (Twitter): https://x.com/HumanCreativeUS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/human-creative-llc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humancreativeus/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj40OeNmELVc7bJUVJcH3eA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578869820261

Email: tiffany@humancreative.org

Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence.

Connect with Justin: