The Inspired Stories Podcast

Anthony Codispoti has started, built, and sold a variety of successful businesses, including a 7-figure wholesale business (successful exit), a 7-figure consumer business (exited to private equity), a SaaS business (successful exit), and fiscally advantaged benefits. As an innovator and pioneer, he has been awarded patents, earned best seller badges, and gained scores of battle scars. In this show, we gain inspiration from the successes achieved and challenges overcome by today's business leaders.

The Inspired Stories Podcast is a education podcast hosted by Anthony Codispoti, with 534 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Anthony Codispoti hosts The Inspired Stories Podcast, a education show with 534 episodes published.

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  Episode #541

  Kory Cutler Walked Into His First Day at a Family Business With No Title, No Salary, and No Construction Experience

  Aug 17, 20261h 9m

  Kory Cutler, CEO of Axis Hospitality Construction, grew up in suburban Chicago after his parents divorced when he was five, cold-DM’d his way into a sales job at Cardinal Health, chased incentive trips across the country, and then walked away from a six-figure income to join a family business he knew nothing about — because his wife’s grandfather had built a post office in Columbus and started a construction company that was now three generations deep and ready for someone to take it national. He showed up with no title, no salary, and no construction experience, and tripled the company in three years. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: How a parents’ divorce at age five shaped a drive for stability that still fuels everything Kory does Cold-DM’ing Kevin Humphrey on LinkedIn in college as message number 104 and getting the one reply that opened the door to Cardinal Health What Randy Brown, Kory’s MBA mentor at Butler, showed him about what the CEO path at a public company actually looks like Walking into Axis with no plan, counting shower heads, and just trying to stay busy while learning the business Why Axis stopped hiring local subcontractors and built a national network of traveling crews instead How renovation work inside a live hotel is completely different from any other construction job and why that matters for who you hire Playing offense during COVID — calling hotel owners not to pitch, but to connect them with vendors who could actually help The chicken-and-egg problem of rapid growth: do you get the people first or the work first? The AI-plus-anti-AI philosophy: for every automation they adopt, they pair it with a handwritten note or a human touchpoint Naming their daughter Polly after Blair’s grandfather Paul, who started all of this from Brooklyn Kory’s Key Mentors: His Father: A relative stranger until travel baseball brought them together — then a best friend who talked to Kory about money, love, and career at an age when most kids don’t have those conversations Kevin Humphrey (Cardinal Health Rep, LinkedIn Cold DM): The one person out of 100-plus messages who replied, made a call, and opened the door to Kory’s entire sales career Jack Simmons and Cameron Brady (Cardinal Health Managers): The two bosses who turned Kory into the polished professional he became Randy Brown (CHRO, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; Butler MBA Mentor): The Yoda in a Cleveland Browns jersey who helped Kory realize the corporate path wasn’t for him and asked the questions that got him there himself Joel Kingsley (Father-in-Law, Axis Founder): Gave Kory more autonomy than he deserved early on and shaped every part of how he learned the business Don’t miss this conversation about what happens when you walk into a room knowing nothing and decide that’s an advantage, why giving away value during the worst possible time is the best sales strategy, and how a post office in Columbus built by a guy from Brooklyn turned into a national hospitality construction company three generations later. Connect with Kory Cutler: Website: Axishc.net Email: kory@Axishc.net Podcast: Partners in Progress (PIP) Website: Axishc.net Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kory-cutler-a0366534/ Transcript Available: Kory Cutler Walked Into His First Day at a Family Business With No Title, No Salary, and No Construction Experience Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

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  Episode #540

  The Grit Behind Wing Snob: Brian Shunia on Detroit, Dropouts, and Building Something Real

  Aug 15, 202658 min

  From High School Dropout to 70+ Franchise Locations: Brian Shunia’s Wing Snob Story Brian Shunia, co-founder and CEO of Wing Snob, built one of QSR’s fastest-growing wing brands starting from a shuttered 880-square-foot pizzeria in Lavonia, Michigan. What began as a single concept with a tiny menu and a $200 factory order has grown to 70+ open locations across multiple states, with hundreds more in the pipeline — driven by simplicity, culture, and relentless operations discipline. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: High school dropout to GED to first job at 14 as a barista Early career spanning restaurants, call centers, sales, and a marketing agency Front Page Deli: from $50 days to $5,000 days through canvassing and factory catering Lessons from scaling the deli too fast without the right systems Real estate pivot that led to meeting future Wing Snob co-founder Jack Maschini Choosing wings for simplicity: fast to prep, fast to execute, infinite flavor options Selling the first location to fund three more and prove the franchise model Snob Central: proprietary app centralizing training, auditing, ordering, and communication Supply chain strategy: staying east of the Mississippi while filling geographic gaps AI deployment: automated review response and AI phone lines across locations Brian’s Key Mentors: His Brother: got him into the restaurant industry after high school; taught early ops fundamentals Jack Maschini (Co-Founder): business school background and franchise expertise that complemented Brian’s ops instincts Dallas Powerhouses: senior operators and VPs of thousand-unit chains who shaped Brian’s leadership approach MUFC Network: fellow franchise entrepreneurs met over four-plus years of industry shows His Sister: pushed him to get his first job at 14 and instilled early work ethic Don’t miss this raw and energetic conversation about grit, franchising from scratch, and why simplicity might be the most underrated strategy in the restaurant business. Connect with Brian Shunia: Website: wingsnob.com Transcript Available: The Grit Behind Wing Snob: Brian Shunia on Detroit, Dropouts, and Building Something Real Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line Website: addbackbenefits.com

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  Episode #539

  Team Is Everything: Elle Piper on Volleyball, Buffet Lines, and Building Culture at Forty-Three Locations

  Aug 15, 20261h 9m

  Elle Piper, Senior Director of Operations at 7 Leaves Cafe, came up through buffet-style multi-unit operations at Soup Plantation, watched the brand serve 1,600 customers a day and then go dark overnight during the pandemic, spent six months unemployed before landing at a Vietnamese coffee and tea brand she’d never heard of, and spent the next four years building the operational infrastructure that helped take it from a family-run concept to 43 locations across California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: Growing up one of four sisters and how a six-person family system translated directly to a volleyball court and then to multi-unit operations What patience actually means when your four units are outperforming a nine-unit district in volume The anti-role model lesson that started at Panera and shaped how Elle leads today What it felt like to communicate the end of Soup Plantation to a team of people for whom it was the only job they had ever known Joining 7 Leaves six weeks into the pandemic and what the second wave on Christmas Day looked like Why every store manager at 7 Leaves used to think they were on their own — and the bi-weekly structure that changed that What a culture crash is and why it happens before a new location opens its doors How the menu changes depending on the community — and why Brazilian lemonade is on its fourth limited time offer run Using AI to build a coaching tool that teaches store managers how to have crucial conversations the Simon Sinek and Brené Brown way Aphantasia, and why Elle asks interview candidates what happens when she says spaghetti and meatballs Elle’s Key Mentors: John Haywood (CEO, Soup Plantation): Showed her what steady-state consistent leadership looks like at the top — not through direct interaction but through observation Simon Sinek (Author and Speaker): The mentor she’ll never meet whose work on collective commitment and purpose shapes how she leads every day Dr. Becky Kennedy (Parenting Expert): The framework that helped Elle break a cycle with her oldest son and teach herself to lead with curiosity instead of reaction Gabór Maté (Physician and Author): The lens through which she learned to give herself permission for the past and to stop blaming the adults who did their best Sunny (7 Leaves CEO): The person who hired her when she was almost out of hope and whose mission of being the change you wish to see became the operating system for everything she does Don’t miss this conversation about what it actually looks like to build culture inside a brand at 40-plus locations, why the store manager is the most important person in the company, and how a volleyball player from Southern California ended up as the operational backbone of one of the most interesting beverage brands growing in the country right now. Connect with Elle Piper: Website: 7leavescafe.com LinkedIn: Elle Piper, 7 Leaves Cafe Transcript Available: Team Is Everything: Elle Piper on Volleyball, Buffet Lines, and Building Culture at Forty-Three Locations Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

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  Episode #538

  Master these Skills to Maximize the Wealth Creation Event with John Ratliff of align5

  Aug 14, 20261h 5m

  ️ From a Two-Bedroom Apartment to a Five-Times Industry Average Exit: John Ratliff’s Blueprint for Building and Selling John Ratliff built Apple Tree Answers, a 24-hour telephone answering service, from a two-bedroom apartment in 1995 to 24 locations and 650 employees before selling it in 2012 at roughly five times the industry average multiple. Along the way he almost quit at 4 a.m. and yanked the plug from the wall. He got turnover from 110% down to 18% through a program that granted employee dreams. And he learned — by being on both sides of the table — exactly how buyers think and where leverage really lives in an acquisition. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: How accidental Class A office space became the foundation of a culture shift The Dream On program: granting 250 employee dreams across 2008–2012 and what it did to turnover The 4 a.m. moment John almost quit — and the wrong number that changed everything Seven of ten entrepreneurs struggle with clinical depression — and what the OODA loop has to do with getting through it The E-Myth visioning exercise that predicted his business six years out almost word for word Why the entrepreneur most emotionally tied to their business gets the worst exit multiple How an off-hand comment from a CFO instantly moved all the leverage in John’s favor Selling a $25M revenue company for $75M by finding two buyers who both had to have it Why industry-specialist investment bankers may actually work against the seller Holganics: 300% growth, Fast Company’s most innovative ag company, and a Super Bowl ad in the works John’s Key Mentors: Michael Gerber (E-Myth Author): Set John’s foundational belief that the business is separate from the entrepreneur — and should be built that way from day one Doug (Canadian Competitor at the Bar): Asked one innocent question about turnover that sent John on the journey that transformed his culture His 23-Year-Old Friend: Wrote a $12,000 check when John couldn’t make payroll — the act of generosity that now defines why John works Barrett Ersek (Holganics Founder): A 20-year relationship built on shared conviction that the hardest road is usually worth it Michael Singer (Untethered Soul Author): A book that produced a moment on a commercial flight John still describes as physically lifting a weight off him Don’t miss this conversation about what it actually takes to build a culture nobody else is willing to build, why buyers overshare when they have to have something, and how a wrong number at 4 a.m. might have saved a company. Connect with John Ratliff: Website: align5.com Transcript Available: Master these Skills to Maximize the Wealth Creation Event with John Ratliff of align5 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

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  Episode #537

  David Homan on Why Vulnerability Is Not a Weakness and Curiosity Is Not a Tactic

  Aug 13, 20261h 16m

  David Homan, founder and CEO of Orchestrated Connecting, was a classical composer with 225 works performed at Carnegie Hall when he found himself, at 26, running a multi-million dollar global arts nonprofit through a connection made at a Shabbat dinner. Then Bernie Madoff wiped out the endowment, a billionaire called to scream at him for losing money he never touched, and David had to rebuild an entire organization by throwing out everything he knew about fundraising and starting to simply ask people what they needed. ✨ Key Insights You’ll Learn: Growing up in Gainesville with a theater professor father who never connected the dots between his famous students and his son’s career in New York Meeting Vera Stern at a Shabbat dinner in 2003 and running AICF’s Carnegie Hall gala three weeks later What Jewish geography is and why it stopped working the moment the endowment disappeared The chain of introductions that ran from a Catholic friend in Ohio through Canada and Germany to a New York Times article to a $2.5 million gift from the Carnival Cruise Line family Why 85% of David’s fundraising work was making connections for people who were never asked for anything How Orchestrated Connecting works: 2,500 members across 47 countries, entry by recommendation only, and you have to ask for help to get in SOAR Connect: the relationship intelligence platform that tracks recency, frequency, and duration to surface who you actually trust The five principles of the USA Today bestseller Orchestrating Connection: curiosity, vulnerability, diversity, generosity, and gratitude What happened at a conference in March when David shared that it was his first public speaking event since losing his father The two years David spent writing letters to his father signed as Tim from the Best Western in Cherry Hill, New Jersey David’s Key Mentors: Doris (Adopted Jewish Grandmother, Florida): The lifelong family friend who introduced David to Abby, who introduced him to Vera Stern, who changed everything Vera Stern (Widow of Isaac Stern, AICF): Took David under her wing at that first Shabbat dinner and gave him his first real platform Bill Schwartz (AICF President): The second father figure who asked David to take over the entire organization at 26 Beth (Journalist Friend from Ohio): The Catholic friend with no connection to the arts who heard him out and started the chain that saved the foundation His Father, Sid Homan (Professor, Showman): Princeton and Harvard trained, 29 books, brilliant and gullible in equal measure — and the reason David gets on a stage the way he does Don’t miss this conversation about what it costs to rebuild something from nothing when everyone is blaming you for losing it, why asking for help is the most underused strategy in any room of powerful people, and the two years David spent writing letters to his father as Tim from the Best Western in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Connect with David Homan: Website: davidhoman.com Website: soarconnect.ai Transcript Available: David Homan on Why Vulnerability Is Not a Weakness and Curiosity Is Not a Tactic Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency — Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line. Website: addbackbenefits.com

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