{"podcast":{"title":"21 Hats Podcast","slug":"21-hats-podcast-502638","podcast_index_feed_id":502638,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/4439758/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/21-hats-podcast","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/27e8ec21209a6c9a99a0f0963132b13e.jpg","author":"21 Hats","episode_count":568,"summary":"The 21 Hats Podcast presents an authentic weekly conversation with small business owners who are remarkably willing to share what’s working for them and what isn’t. Unlike many business podcasts, which tend to talk to highly successful entrepreneurs whose struggles are in the past, the 21 Hats Podcast features a rotating cast of business owners who are still very much in the trenches fighting the good fight. Every week, our regulars gather to talk about the kinds of important issues many owners won’t even discuss behind closed doors: whether their businesses are as profitable as they should be, whether they are willing to give up some control to an investor in order to grow faster, why they had to lay off employees, how they wound up with way too much inventory, why they don’t have a succession plan, and even why they are concerned about their own mental health. Visit 21hats.com to hear all of our podcast episodes, read episode transcripts, and learn more. The show is produced by Jess Thoubboron, founder of Blank Word.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-18T20:17:08.095147+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638"},"episode":{"title":"Dashboard: Is Staying Small Selfish?","slug":"dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish","published_at":"2026-08-21T09:06:29+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish--74230079","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74230079/dashboard_is_staying_small_selfish.mp3","summary":"I met Lamar Tyler, founder of Traffic Sales & Profit , a couple of years ago at a Zone of Genius conference, where I interviewed him on the main stage. It quickly became clear that Lamar, who helps business owners grow, had a lot of smart, practical advice to offer, and I’ve been following him ever since. He recently posted something on LinkedIn that stopped me: “Staying small as a Black business owner is selfish.” Lamar, obviously, was speaking primarily to Black entrepreneurs, but his challenge applies more broadly. His argument is that owners who have the ability to build larger companies—and create more jobs, wealth, and opportunity—should not use “protecting their peace” or “staying lean” as an excuse to remain comfortable.I understand and appreciate what Lamar is trying to accomplish. But “selfish” is a heavy word. Isn’t an owner entitled to say, “I built this business to create a good life for myself and my family. Isn’t that enough?” Entrepreneurship is already hard. Most businesses fail. How much more risk should we encourage owners to take—and how much responsibility should they be expected to carry? That’s where Lamar and I begin this week’s Dashboard conversation. The episode is brought to you by Grasshopper Bank .","meta_description":"I met Lamar Tyler, founder of Traffic Sales & Profit , a couple of years ago at a Zone of Genius conference, where I interviewed him on the main stage…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2261,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/21-hats-podcast-502638/episodes/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/dashboard-is-staying-small-selfish.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}