Cincinnati Business Podcast

About Cincinnati Business Podcast

Sharing hard-won tips and stories from talented business people in Cincinnati to help grow your business. Hosted and Sponsored by the Cincinnati Podcast Studio.

Publisher

Brian Erickson

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Dec 2024

Latest episode

8 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 39 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   8 Jul 2026

   Why Your $5 Cookie Might Be Losing You Money (feat. Gino DiGiovanni & Brian Erickson)

   Most business owners set their prices by copying whatever everyone else charges, then wonder why revenue never turns into profit. Gino DiGiovanni, a certified business advisor with the Hamilton County Small Business Development Center (SBDC), breaks down the five numbers that actually determine whether a business survives: startup costs, direct costs, sales volume, overhead, and retail price. Using a ten-cent cookie as the example, he shows how overhead can quietly turn a profitable-looking sale into a losing one without an owner ever noticing. The conversation gets specific fast: how a $100,000 loan changes what a business needs to sell each month, why averaging sales and expenses over a full year beats living paycheck to paycheck, and what to do when an owner realizes they don't want to manage people anymore but are already three years and several employees deep. Gino also explains how the SBDC's free spreadsheet forces owners to confront the exact line item where they're losing money -- something most business owners suspect but can never pin down on their own. Whether you're pricing your first cookie, valuing your time as a creative, or trying to sell a business you built over 20 years, this episode gives you the actual framework instead of the guesswork. Links and Resources: - Connect with Gino DiGiovanni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginodigiovanni/ ==================== Subscribe & Listen to more content here: Web: https://www.cincinnatibusinesspodcast.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGtiiP79wCZ2ALPztpr-7XWMl7uQUFRvB Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unconventional-leadership-podcast/id1378659047 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4O6tNE9H2cuWba5Ovnum8C ==================== Connect with Brian: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/u/bwerickson Instagram: instagram.com/cincybizpod/ TikTok: tiktok.com/@cincybizpod Facebook: facebook.com/people/Cincinnati-Business-Podcast/ Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/50kMVlyZokuoLwzE2fwAmt?si=pk87NyzsQJGY6iE7OKpzmQ ==================== Produced by the Cincinnati Podcast Studio Creating high-quality a DIY video podcast is complicated. Cincinnati Podcast Studio simplifies video podcast production so you can just show up and share your message, creating true fans while establishing your authority and building trust. Are you in the Greater Cincinnati area and interested in starting your own podcast? Book a Tour Today http://cincinnatipodcaststudio.com/ Learn more about the Cincinnati Podcast Studio: https://cincinnatipodcaststudio.com

2. 

   12 Jun 2026

   What If AI Is Already Writing Your Brand's Story? (feat. Brian McHale & Brian Erickson)

   Your brand is already showing up in AI search results — and you probably didn't write any of it. Brian McHale, CEO of Brandience, has watched brands lose control of their narrative to ChatGPT and Gemini not because they said the wrong thing, but because they said nothing specific enough. In this conversation, he explains why staying silent on a topic is no longer an option and what the first step in GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) actually looks like for a small-to-midsize Cincinnati business. McHale also pulls back the curtain on SMRT Study, Brandience's AI-powered synthetic research platform. Built on 18 months of qualitative research best practices, it simulates focus groups using trained AI respondents — giving clients directional insights without a traditional research budget. It isn't just prompting ChatGPT and hoping for the best. It's a marketer-led process with governance baked in at every stage. The thread running through all of it: AI forward, human first. McHale shares how Brandience integrated AI internally for 18 months before touching a client project, why they built an internal AI council, and what "governance" actually means in a creative agency. If you're a Cincinnati business owner wondering how to get your team on board with AI without blowing something up first, this episode gives you a real model to follow. Links and Resources: - Connect with Brian McHale: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmchale/ ==================== Subscribe & Listen to more content here: Web: https://www.cincinnatibusinesspodcast.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGtiiP79wCZ2ALPztpr-7XWMl7uQUFRvB Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unconventional-leadership-podcast/id1378659047 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4O6tNE9H2cuWba5Ovnum8C ==================== Connect with Brian: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/u/bwerickson Instagram: instagram.com/cincybizpod/ TikTok: tiktok.com/@cincybizpod Facebook: facebook.com/people/Cincinnati-Business-Podcast/ Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/50kMVlyZokuoLwzE2fwAmt?si=pk87NyzsQJGY6iE7OKpzmQ ==================== Produced by the Cincinnati Podcast Studio Creating high-quality a DIY video podcast is complicated. Cincinnati Podcast Studio simplifies video podcast production so you can just show up and share your message, creating true fans while establishing your authority and building trust. Are you in the Greater Cincinnati area and interested in starting your own podcast? Book a Tour Today http://cincinnatipodcaststudio.com/ Learn more about the Cincinnati Podcast Studio: https://cincinnatipodcaststudio.com === TAGS === Brian McHale, Brandience, Cincinnati marketing, AI in marketing, generative engine optimization, GEO vs SEO, brand strategy, AI governance, synthetic research, Smart Study, social media discovery, Cincinnati business, marketing agency Cincinnati, decision making marketing, AI forward human first

3. 

   26 May 2026

   Why He Walked Away From $14 Million to Protect User Data

   Every investor wanted the same thing from John Cavanaugh's student networking platform — sell ads, harvest the data, print money. When he said no, they told him he wasn't fit to run the company. He walked away from $14 million in buyout offers and shut it down rather than hand vulnerable college students' mental health data to the highest bidder. That decision became the foundation for everything he's building now. John is the Executive Director and Privacy Evangelist at The Plunk Foundation — a Cincinnati-based nonprofit that started by helping underfunded organizations build real data privacy programs and is now building open-source tools to help social service agencies coordinate without putting the people they serve at risk. Domestic violence survivors, human trafficking victims, people hiding from abusers — these are the people who pay the highest price when privacy fails. And right now, most nonprofits have no idea how exposed they are. The conversation goes deep on why the US is a decade behind Europe on data rights, how investors think about your users' data (it's not the way you'd hope), how fuzzy logic and explainable AI might be the answer to the black-box AI accountability problem, and what entrepreneurs need to do right now to stop collecting data they don't need. If your business touches customer data — and every business does — this episode will change how you think about it. Links and Resources: - Connect with John Cavanaugh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/privacy-evangelist/ ==================== Subscribe & Listen to more content here: Web: https://www.cincinnatibusinesspodcast.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGtiiP79wCZ2ALPztpr-7XWMl7uQUFRvB Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unconventional-leadership-podcast/id1378659047 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4O6tNE9H2cuWba5Ovnum8C ==================== Connect with Brian: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/u/bwerickson Instagram: instagram.com/cincybizpod/ TikTok: tiktok.com/@cincybizpod Facebook: facebook.com/people/Cincinnati-Business-Podcast/ Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/50kMVlyZokuoLwzE2fwAmt?si=pk87NyzsQJGY6iE7OKpzmQ ==================== Produced by the Cincinnati Podcast Studio Creating high-quality a DIY video podcast is complicated. Cincinnati Podcast Studio simplifies video podcast production so you can just show up and share your message, creating true fans while establishing your authority and building trust. Are you in the Greater Cincinnati area and interested in starting your own podcast? Book a Tour Today http://cincinnatipodcaststudio.com/ Learn more about the Cincinnati Podcast Studio: https://cincinnatipodcaststudio.com === TAGS === data privacy, digital privacy rights, nonprofit technology, Plunk Foundation, Cincinnati entrepreneur, startup ethics, data brokers, GDPR, data minimization, explainable AI, fuzzy logic, investor pressure, social services technology, privacy evangelist, John Cavanaugh

Inside a recent episode

Is Networking Broken? How Introverts Win at Connection (feat. Amy P. Vaughan & Brian Erickson)

Published 2 Oct 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I don't feel safe in these environments So I can't imagine what she would feel if you are not Quite like if you're not able bodied or if you're hard of hearing and you're in a noisy loud every networking event has a live band And I'm like why aren't we're here to talk like that would be like coming into a podcast studio and blaring like Let's bring a live band here and play while we're talking and try to make that meaningful conversations It's just it's very when you start to think about it. It's so Not logical And then you can't unsee it. Yeah, that's the problem. Yeah, you can't unsee it So We started this conversation with you saying Most of the jobs in the world are never posted. […]

Who has been a guest on Cincinnati Business Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dana Dunmyer
• Tobias Brauer
• Sean O’Shaughnessy
• Amy P Vaughan
• Kyle Carter

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

265,569

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 56 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

48

Social presence

91

YouTube

82

Engagement

32