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Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Written by: Draw In Customers Business Coach James Kademan
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 The business podcast designed for entrepreneurs and small business owners to be inspired by, listen to, enjoy and take some action from.© Copyright Authentic Business Adventures Podcast, via Draw In Customers Business Coaching. All rights reserved. Careers Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales Personal Success
Episodes
  • Timeclock Software

    Timeclock Software
    Jan 24 2026
    Dean Mathews - On the Clock On Watching Your Numbers: "They just realized that their sister in law who's been working for them for 10 years has been adding 10 hours onto every pay run for the last 10 years." Dean Mathews, CEO of On The Clock, shares his journey as an entrepreneur and the evolution of his timekeeping software. He emphasizes the importance of building a people-centric culture, the challenges of managing hybrid teams, and the significance of customer service in differentiating his business in a crowded market. Dean also discusses the future of On The Clock, including plans to integrate HR solutions and enhance their payroll services. Visit Dean at: https://ontheclock.com Podcast Overview: 00:00 Introduction to On the Clock and Dean Mathews 02:55 The Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur 05:56 Transitioning Technology: Moving to Modern Solutions 08:48 Building a People-Centric Culture 11:59 Career Advancement in Small Teams 14:55 Understanding Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) 17:48 The Importance of Culture in Modern Workplaces 20:57 Navigating Hybrid Work Environments 23:53 Fostering Team Interactions and Communication 26:58 Management Style and Learning from Experience 29:51 Insights from 'Scaling' by Claire Hughes Johnson 31:18 Effective Communication and Team Dynamics 33:01 Navigating a Crowded Market 35:58 Customer Service Excellence 41:06 The Importance of Payroll Solutions 46:48 Common Mistakes in Timekeeping and Payroll 51:46 Proactive Business Management Sponsors: Live Video chat with our customers here with LiveSwitch: https://join.liveswitch.com/gfj3m6hnmguz Some videos have been recorded with Riverside: https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaign=campaign_5&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=rewardful&via=james-kademan Podcast Transcription: Dean Mathews [00:00:00]: Tracking payroll, all of those things are very complicated things to do. One of the most common mistakes we see people do is they try to do it themselves, like with a spreadsheet. If your business grows and you end up, you know, like Most businesses do, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 people, and you're still trying to use spreadsheets and not use a system that ends up in a really bad place. You don't have audit logs for traffic, you know, for, for, for history. You don't have compliance, you know, you don't have transparency a lot of times. So you lac of these modern features where, you know, you choose a system like us and like everything's right here in your phone. That's probably the biggest mistake is they're either choosing the wrong system, not choosing a system at all, or they're trying to like, leverage a spreadsheet or a word doc or a Google Doc to run their business. And that, that never turns out well. James Kademan [00:00:54]: You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link found@drawincustomers.com we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls On Call, Extraordinary Answering Service as well as the Bold Business book. And today we're welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Dean Matthews from On the Clock. So, Dean, how is it going today? Dean Mathews [00:01:21]: It is going wonderful, James. Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to chat with you. James Kademan [00:01:26]: Yeah, you know, I'm excited to talk to you for a few reasons. One, you've been in business seemingly forever, so that's. Dean Mathews [00:01:33]: Yeah. James Kademan [00:01:34]: And the other is you seem to be pretty people centric, which is great, and I'm gonna dare say rare. And on top of that, you run a service, the timekeeping system, I guess that we. My gosh, when I was looking for a timekeeping system forever ago, it was bizarre to me how few options I found that actually could do all of the things. Dean Mathews [00:01:59]: Yeah. James Kademan [00:01:59]: And I'm like, I'm not asking for a rocket ship to the moon or anything. I'm just literally asking to keep track of employees hours. That's all I want. Dean Mathews [00:02:06]: Yeah. James Kademan [00:02:07]: So how about you? Let's just start from the very beginning, right back at the dawn of time. Dean Mathews [00:02:11]: Dawn of time. James Kademan [00:02:12]: When did you get started with? On the clock? Dean Mathews [00:02:14]: Yeah. So I'll give you the quick rundown. So I'm kind of a, I guess you call it a quote unquote, serial entrepreneur, if you will. Quite A few startups, businesses, side projects, passion projects throughout the years. But with on the Clock back In like the mid 2000 era, I had several projects, passion projects going on. On the Clock was one of them. I'm always looking for problems that I can solve. So this is the kitchen story or the kitchen table story. Dean Mathews [00:02:49]: This was late 2003 ish. So like 20 some years ago now, sitting at the kitchen table, looking ...
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    55 mins
  • Be a Podcast Guest

    Be a Podcast Guest
    Jan 20 2026
    Tom Schwab - Interview Valet On Standing Out: "What's amazing now is AI is indexing all of these. So if you just say, I'm a coach, it's saying, well, do I recommend James or the other million people that identify as a coach?." Podcasts are everywhere these days. They are the current neato thing to be a guest on, a host of and a listener to. But how do you become a guest on podcasts? Should you be a podcast guest? What podcast has the best audience? What do you do after you have been a guest? Tom Schwab is the founder of Interview Valet, a white glove podcast guest placement service. Tom explains the ins and outs of podcasts and the value that being on the right podcast can bring to you and your business. Listen as Tom explains the value of podcasts and how to grow your brand by being a guest on them Enjoy! Visit Tom at: https://interviewvalet.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/interview_valet/ Podcast Overview: 00:00 Podcast Evolution and Accessibility 07:33 Building Relationships in Marketplace Growth 11:28 "Specificity in Digital Marketing Strategy" 20:37 "Accountability for Server Content" 26:20 "Curiosity and Caution in Interviews" 27:43 "Podcasting Tips for Professionals" 36:49 "Feedback That Changed Everything" 43:06 "Maximizing Engagement Through Feedback" 45:37 "Podcast Guesting Gone Wrong" 53:53 "Scaling Through Systems and Collaboration" 56:48 "Building Trust in Client Pitches" Sponsors: Live Video chat with our customers here with LiveSwitch: https://join.liveswitch.com/gfj3m6hnmguz Some videos have been recorded with Riverside: https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaign=campaign_5&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=rewardful&via=james-kademan Podcast Transcription:
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Why a Virtual CFO May Be Just What You Need

    Why a Virtual CFO May Be Just What You Need
    Jan 9 2026
    Jody Grunden - Anders CPA On Working Together: "It's only going to help everybody if we can all learn how to get better and faster." Every business owner needs to watch their money. You watch it come in, go out and hopefully end up with some leftover to make sure you are doing more than just moving money. But not every business is large enough to justify a full-time chief financial officer. Which leads to a conundrum, how do you get the talented person to help you with the financial end of your business when you don't have enough financial paperwork for them to poke at full time? Jody Grunden saw this need years ago and has built a virtual CFO business that he then sold to Anders CPA. Jody discusses what a virtual CFO can do and why it is important. Listen as Jody details how the use of a virtual CFO has helped grow many business. Plus he details the value of standing out. In his case, with a Hawaiian shirt. Enjoy! Visit Jody at: https://anderscpa.com/ Podcast Overview: 00:00 "Virtual Beginnings and Success" 03:57 "Next Year Finally Paid Off" 06:50 "Interactive Pricing Strategy Breakdown" 11:40 "Finding Success Beyond Accounting" 12:40 "Pivoting Amid Layoffs and Guilt" 18:45 "Educating for Success, Not Selling" 19:42 "Productizing Services with Subscriptions" 24:58 "Dynamic Forecasting Explained" 26:33 Truck Repair Business Insights 31:20 "Flexible Client Collaboration Process" 35:07 "Building Connections and Growth" 38:29 "Rethinking Strategy for Success" 42:01 "Thought Leadership Eased Hiring" 44:26 "Expanding Connections Beyond Remote Teams" 47:32 "Scaling Processes for Sustainability" Sponsors: Live Video chat with our customers here with LiveSwitch: https://join.liveswitch.com/gfj3m6hnmguz Some videos have been recorded with Riverside: https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaign=campaign_5&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=rewardful&via=james-kademan Podcast Transcription: Jody Grundon [00:00:00]: I realized real quick that, you know, hey, I wasn't an accountant, I was an entrepreneur and I just didn't realize it. I didn't enjoy accounting and I still don't today. I don't enjoy accounting, but I love the entrepreneur part of it and growing a business and seeing how successful I can get that business and then even more so helping other people be successful running their business, which is, which is even a bigger joy. James Kademan [00:00:27]: You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link found@drawincustomers.com we are locally interwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls On Call Extraordinary Answering Service as well as the Bold Business Book and Live Switch. Today we are welcoming slash preparing to learn from Jody Grundon of Anders cpa. Which I feel like this is right about the time to start talking taxes. Jody, is that safe to say? Jody Grundon [00:01:00]: I. I guess so. But man, you don't ask me to ask tax questions, that's for sure. James Kademan [00:01:04]: No, so let's just break it down. What is Andrew cpa? Jody Grundon [00:01:09]: Yeah, so Andrew cpa. They're, they're a, one of the largest CPA firms in the nation. They're pretty large. They do a lot of different things, audit, tax. But the, the special that I run is on in what we call the Client Advisory Service Group, which is virtual CFO services. So that's something that, that I founded way back when. It was about 20 some years ago. A lot of CPA firms now you use that type of a service. Jody Grundon [00:01:31]: I actually founded it back, you know, 20 plus years ago. So it's been a great ride. Before it was, before it was even a thing. Yeah, it was one of those, one of those things that there was something called outsourced CFO or outsourced CPA service, which was outsourcing it to a foreign country type of thing. And I'm like, well, that's not what I meant. So I'm trying to figure out how, what can I call it? And I, and so I did. I got the big, the thesaurus, if you remember one of those things. I got one of those things out. Jody Grundon [00:01:55]: I'm like, what could I, what could I name this thing? I thought virtual sounds kind of cool. And, and then my partner's like, well, no one will think you're real. And I'm like, ah, they will. It'll catch on. And back then we had the yellow pages and so we, we did the yellow page Thing didn't really get a whole lot of traction. And then we decided, hey, we're going to go this, do this on the Internet. And so when we did on the Internet, it was kind of cool because nobody else was doing it. So it was one of those things that we are right away number one in the rankings. Jody Grundon [00:02:21]: No, yeah, we. James Kademan [00:02:22]: Back 20 years ago, man, that's. Jody Grundon [00:02:24]: Yeah, yeah. And we have, we, we. We haven't gone far from that. So we're still number one in the rankings today, which...
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    51 mins
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