When the thing you built becomes your identity, losing it can feel like losing yourself.

Anthony Trucks spent 13 years turning himself into an NFL player. Then football disappeared, and the identity underneath it nearly collapsed too.

His business struggled. His marriage fell apart. He lost his health, his status, and nearly himself.

In this conversation, Anthony and I unpack the invisible machinery of identity: why we confuse ourselves with our titles, why responsibility restores agency, and why information alone does not create change.

Anthony explains dark work, the unseen and often uncelebrated work that rewires who you are when nobody is watching.

We also explore:

• The identity gap that appears when a career or chapter ends
• Why you were never the fruit, you were always the tree
• How helplessness can become the darkest lie you believe
• Why acting out of character can create a new identity
• The connection between self-respect and self-love
• Why action creates clarity and motion changes emotion
• How to stop identifying with outcomes
• The difference between shadow work and dark work
• How to intentionally build the person you need to become

This is not a clean reinvention story.

It is the truth about what can happen when the identity that built you starts breaking you.

Learn more about Anthony:

darkwork.com anthonytrucks.com

Content warning: This episode includes a candid discussion of suicidal ideation and suicide. Some listeners may find this material distressing. Please listen with care.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. In the United States, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to connect with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Support is free, confidential, and available 24/7.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. Outside the United States, contact your local emergency services or crisis support line.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health care.

Most founders start a business to create freedom. Then they build one that cannot function without them.

I started this conversation with a question I have had to ask myself:

Why do so many founders say they want to scale, then build a company that cannot function without them?

Cameron Herold knows the cost of that contradiction.

At 34, his health, marriage, family life, and business were all under extraordinary pressure. He thought he was handling it. Then a stress assessment came back at 435.

Cameron says a score of 250 represented a 90% chance of a heart attack.

His entire identity had become the business.

In this conversation, we explore what Cameron changed after that moment and how founders can build companies that support their lives instead of consuming them.

We discuss delegation, executive assistants, second-in-command leadership, personal Vivid Visions, unique ability, coaching, failure, gratitude, and why Cameron's own team told him they liked it when he went away.

Cameron Herold is an entrepreneur, author, former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, and founder of the COO Alliance.

Learn more: www.cooalliance.com

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

Most people aren't stuck because they don't know what to do. They're stuck because doing it requires them to confront the truth. Nick Anderson knows what it means to move through the thing you never thought you could survive.

At 10 years old, Nick lost his father to suicide. Years later, his wife was struck by a car while they were taking a walk and did not survive. Nick was left to raise two young boys while battling grief, depression, and a body that had reached 305 pounds.

He eventually looked in the mirror and made a decision:

"I can't live this life."

"I've got to stay alive for my kids."

That decision began a transformation that changed his health, identity, relationships, leadership, and career. Today, Nick is the CEO and co-owner of OneAccord, where he helps companies develop stronger leaders, build executable strategies, navigate difficult personnel decisions, and create businesses that can thrive without being completely dependent on their owners.

In this conversation, we get into:

• The stories we tell ourselves about other people and our own lives
• Why the only way out is through
• What actually makes someone a leader
• The difference between strategy and a collection of tactics
• Why your strategy must evolve as your company evolves
• Outgrowing people who helped build the business
• How to approach conversations most leaders avoid
• The biggest threat to the value of an owner-led company
• Building something meaningful for the people you love

You probably already know the conversation, decision, or change you've been avoiding. The question is how much longer you're willing to let it keep you stuck.

Connect with Nick Anderson and OneAccord:

https://oneaccord.co

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickdanderson/

The fears you recognize may not be the ones controlling you. Executive leadership coach and author Hortense le Gentil joins Josh Zolin to uncover the hidden beliefs, inherited expectations, and "mind traps" quietly shaping how we lead and live.

Hortense explains why perfectionism can become a trap, how fear of failure disguises itself as ambition, and why having more success, money, or power rarely silences the internal battle. She also shares the process leaders can use to trace these beliefs back to their source, challenge the voices behind them, and begin writing their own story.

In this episode:

• Why great leaders make space for others
• The hidden anxiety that comes with leadership
• How perfectionism becomes a mind trap
• Why success can disconnect leaders from themselves
• How to identify fears you did not know you had
• The difference between introspection and self-awareness
• Why honest feedback is essential for growth
• How to face fear without allowing it to take control
• What it means to move from a "hero leader" to a human leader

Hortense le Gentil is an executive leadership coach, speaker, and author of The Unlocked Leader: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World.

Learn more about Hortense: https://www.hortenselegentil.com/

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

At 42, Brad Leavitt had a stroke that changed the way he thinks about time, pressure, family, and leadership. In this episode, he and Josh talk about the wake-up call that forced him to rebuild his life with more intention.

Brad Leavitt is the founder of AFT Construction and host of The Brad Leavitt Podcast. In this episode of Everything They Don't Tell You, Brad joins Josh Zolin for a raw conversation about leadership, pressure, health, family, burnout, and what it really means to rebuild your life after a wake-up call.

At 42, Brad had a severe stroke. He recovered, but the experience changed how he thinks about time, presence, health, and the way he shows up as a father, husband, business owner, and leader.

Brad and Josh also talk about the realities of leading in a high-pressure business, why communication matters so much, how leaders can protect their teams from burnout, what happens when you keep the wrong people too long, and why building a business should not cost you the life you were building it for.

This conversation is for founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders who are carrying more than people see.

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Guest

Brad Leavitt

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleavitt/

www.aftconstruction.com

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

Rachel Medina built a seven-figure business after 40, after divorce, and after unimaginable loss. This conversation is about grief, faith, hustle, stewardship, and what success can never replace.

Rachel Medina is an entrepreneur, podcast host, TEDx speaker, and mentor to women everywhere.

In this episode, Rachel joins Josh Zolin for a raw conversation about rebuilding life and business after loss. She shares how she built a seven-figure business from less than $500, why sales mattered more than perfection, how hustle became both a tool and a trap, and how losing her son reshaped her definition of success.

They also talk about faith, grief, men's mental health, stewardship, women in business, and the hard truth that the business you build has to support the life you actually want.

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Guest: Rachel Medina

Rachel Unpacked Podcast

rachelmedina.com

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

Dr. Eben Alexander was a neurosurgeon who believed the brain created consciousness. Then a seven-day coma changed everything he thought he knew about death, identity, and why we are here.

In this episode of Everything They Don't Tell You, Josh Zolin sits down with Dr. Eben Alexander, neurosurgeon and author of Proof of Heaven, to explore one of the most profound questions we can ask: what happens when this life ends?

Dr. Alexander shares the story of the sudden bacterial illness that put him into a seven-day coma, the medical uncertainty surrounding his survival, and the near-death experience that challenged his understanding of the brain, consciousness, memory, and spirituality.

Josh also brings the conversation back to leadership, ambition, ego, and control. For high performers and business leaders, this episode asks a deeper question: what are you really building, and what are you allowing fear to drive?

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

Blake Erickson made serious money young. He experienced retirement at 26. Then he realized something most entrepreneurs never want to admit: Success can feel empty when you're playing the wrong game.

In this episode of Everything They Don't Tell You, Josh Zolin sits down with Blake Erickson, New York Times bestselling author and founder of scaling.com, for a raw conversation about focus, ego, purpose, leadership, and what it actually takes to scale a business without losing yourself in the process.

Blake breaks down the core ideas behind The Science of Scaling, including frame, floor, and focus, why impossible goals force better thinking, why most founders become the bottleneck, and why scaling is often more about subtraction than addition.

This episode gets into the tactics of building a better business, but it also goes deeper into the identity work behind leadership. Because growth is not just about revenue. It's about becoming the person capable of carrying what you say you want.

In this episode:

• Why Blake sold everything and went all in on one mission
• How diluted focus creates diluted results
• Why ego is often the real founder bottleneck
• The difference between tactics and principles
• Why impossible goals can create better strategy
• How your floor becomes your culture
• Why success without purpose can feel like failure
• How to attract better people, even in a labor shortage
• Why scaling requires subtraction, not more complexity

Guest: Blake Erickson

Connect: blakeerickson.com

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

What if the biggest thing holding your business back is you?

In this episode of Everything They Don't Tell You, Josh Zolin sits down with Charles Gaudet to talk about the founder trap, predictable growth, leverage, systems, and what it really takes to build a business that can run without you.

Charles breaks down why hard work alone is not enough, why word of mouth and referrals eventually hit a ceiling, and how founders can start moving from chaos to consistency. They also get into recurring revenue, team ownership, leadership identity, and the uncomfortable truth that many founders are not always the best long-term CEO for the company they created.

This is a conversation for business owners who want growth, but do not want to lose themselves in the process.

Guest: Charles Gaudet

Connect with Charles: https://charlesgaudet.com/

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook

Morgan Haynes is the CEO of Tribal Health, a national healthcare organization focused on bringing advanced care models to underserved rural and Indigenous communities.

In this episode of Everything They Don't Tell You, Morgan joins Josh Zolin for a raw conversation about leadership, identity, alignment, and what feminine leadership really means.

This is not a conversation about gender.

It is about the traits leaders are often taught to suppress: empathy, intuition, vulnerability, softness, and emotional honesty. Morgan breaks down why those traits can become powerful tools when paired with candor, accountability, and mission-driven execution.

Josh and Morgan also talk about the exhaustion of misalignment, why burnout is not always about hours worked, how leaders hide behind kindness, and why the most compassionate thing you can do is often the most direct.

If you are a founder, CEO, manager, or leader trying to scale without losing yourself, this is for you.

In this episode:

• What feminine leadership really means
• Why softness is not weakness
• The balance between empathy and candor
• Why misalignment creates exhaustion
• How intuition shows up in business decisions
• Why mission-driven companies must protect their people
• The difference between kindness and politeness
• What Morgan refuses to give up as Tribal Health grows

Guest: Morgan Haynes

Company: Tribal Health (https://tribalhealth.com/) Subscribe for more episodes!

Most business owners think they have a money problem. Claudio Gambin says the real problem is usually structure, strategy, and the owner becoming the bottleneck.

In this episode of Everything They Don't Tell You, Josh Zolin sits down with Claudio Gambin of GFG Solutions to talk about the truth behind money, taxes, growth, risk, and legacy for business owners.

Claudio breaks down why so much financial advice misses the mark for entrepreneurs, how business owners can think differently about reinvesting in themselves, and why tax strategy should be tied directly to growth and freedom.

They also get into the six-month vacation test, building a business to sell even if you never plan to sell it, the difference between being rich and being wealthy, and why everything compounds: money, time, relationships, decisions, and mistakes.

This episode is for entrepreneurs, founders, operators, and blue-collar business owners who want more than revenue. They want time, clarity, freedom, and a business that can survive without them being the center of everything.

Disclaimer: This conversation is for educational purposes only and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Talk with your own CPA, attorney, or financial professional before making decisions.

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► Download Your 90 Day ROI Playbook — A value packed free guide created by Josh Zolin that teaches you how to Multiply Your Profits with the Skills No One Trains https://bitnw.academy/roiplaybook