Hello and welcome to RadEO a podcast by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs. It is hosted by Ross Drakes. In this podcast, we share the stories of EO entrepreneurs, their personal stories, some insight into their entrepreneurial journey and the lessons from how they think about their business today.
#74 James Perly | The thing that broke you can become the thing you sell
James Perly built a $5-million government advisory firm, watched a policy change wipe out 95% of his revenue overnight, survived a physical breakdown he almost didn’t come back from, and spent 35 years doing the kind of personal work most entrepreneurs find reasons to avoid.
In this episode, he talks about what he learned going through all of it: why the tools that heal you are the same tools that upgrade you, and what he would say to the 22-year-old version of himself standing at the edge of everything falling apart.
Key takeaways:
The negative voice isn’t permanent and it’s not yours
The breakdown is a door, not just a story
Growing too fast can kill you as surely as failing
Mental infrastructure supports everything else
Belief is a business tool
More about James Perly
James Perly is a Canadian entrepreneur with 25 years of experience advising founders and executives. He contributed to the business book Scaling Up and was the earliest mentor to Jayson Gaignard, founder of MastermindTalks. He trained at MIT and West Point, ran the government consulting firm Perly Consulting for over two decades, and now coaches highly successful founders on how to actually live well. He’s based in Muskoka, Ontario.
Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesperly/
Company website: https://www.perlyconsulting.com/
14 Aug 2026
#73 Manuel Astruc, MD | When did you stop having fun?
When did the work stop being fun? You’re still showing up, still delivering, still telling everyone you're fine, while something underneath has already gone. Ross sits down with Dr Manuel (Manny) Astruc, a board-certified psychiatrist, EO member, and the founder of Your Next Act, to talk about what burnout actually looks like before it looks like burnout. Manny has lived this. He crashed in 2008, at the end of a decade of twelve-hour days, in the month after his twin sister died of brain cancer. What he found on the other side changed how he thinks about performance and recovery.
Ross and Manny spend the episode inside that gap: the distance between where you are and where you're capable of being.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Fun is the first thing burnout takes, and the last thing you notice is gone.
2. The “I'm fine entrepreneur” is not okay. They're just not broken yet.
3. Scrolling, drinking, or binge-watching isn’t recovery. Recovery is active and it's small.
4. Burnout steals your ability to see options. The tunnel vision is a symptom.
5. Three questions track where you are: energy, curiosity, patience. Check them weekly.
More about Manuel Astruc, MD
Dr Manuel Astruc is a board-certified general adult psychiatrist with over 50,000 hours of clinical experience. He is the founder of Your Next Act, a coaching practice for entrepreneurs navigating burnout, and an EO Albany Capital Region member and Accelerator graduate. He is the author of Happiness Rules and a provider of TMS therapy for treatment-resistant depression.
LINKS
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelastruc)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/manuelastrucmd/)
Website (https://manuelastrucmd.com)
30 Jul 2026
#72 Talie Smith | The edge is inside
Host Ross Drake interviews Talie Smith, CEO of Smith & Connors, about her Design Therapy methodology for uncovering internal business misalignments and the personal growth required for entrepreneurial success.
Who has been a guest on RadEO
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Talie Smith
Don Hache
Dan Grech
Catherine Hover
Morné Smit
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
2,027
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
74
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
32
Contact RadEO
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about RadEO
Who hosts RadEO?
Ross Drakes host the show. Published by Entrepreneurs Organization South Africa.
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