The Expert Method
byIan Gatzke
BusinessEntrepreneurshipEducation
The Expert Method is a podcast for people who turn knowledge into transformation. Hosted by Ian Gatzke, the show features thoughtful conversations with experts, authors, coaches, consultants, and thought leaders about how they think, teach, build, and create results.Each episode goes beneath surface-level advice to uncover the methods, beliefs, hard-earned lessons, and execution realities behind work that actually helps people change, grow, and follow through. The show is designed for experts and knowledge-based founders who care about building offers, programs, and ideas that create real outcomes — not just more information.
Episodes(40 episodes)
Why You Keep Falling Back Into Old Patterns (and How to Make Change Stick)
You can know exactly what pattern is holding you back and still keep repeating it.People pleasing. Overthinking. Second-guessing yourself. Imposter syndrome. Reactive habits you recognize in the moment—or immediately afterward—but somehow keep falling back into anyway.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Carlene Marie to explore why awareness is only the beginning of change, and what it actually takes to repattern the beliefs and reactions that no longer serve you.Carlene explains how many of our automatic responses were formed earlier in life as ways to f...
Published: Sep 24, 2026Duration: 42m 29s
How to Live With Purpose in a Confusing World
In a world filled with competing ideas about success, meaning, identity, and what we should do with our lives, it’s easy to feel like you’re moving without actually knowing where you’re going.In this episode, Ian sits down with Larry O’Nan to explore a more fundamental question: What is your life actually for?Larry shares how his own search for meaning led him from theater and identity confusion into a life shaped by faith, stewardship, intentionality, and service. The conversation explores what it means to see yourself as a ste...
Published: Sep 22, 2026Duration: 56m 26s
Why Success Feels So Hard
Why does success so often feel like a constant fight?In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Roberta Ravella to challenge one of the most deeply ingrained beliefs in entrepreneurship: that meaningful success has to come through struggle, long hours, sacrifice, and pushing past yourself.Roberta shares how building businesses through force and self-abandonment eventually led her to question the way she was working altogether. They explore what it actually means to listen to yourself, how to tell the difference between temporary resistance and something you genuinely do...
Published: Sep 19, 2026Duration: 46m 7s
Why You Know What to Do and Still Don’t Do It
You know what you need to do.You’ve set the goal. You understand the strategy. You may even have a clear plan for getting there.So why do you still struggle to take action?In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with licensed therapist, coach, author, and host of Unblocked, Jessica Smarro, to unpack what actually happens between knowing what to do and following through.Jessica explains why inaction is often less about discipline or information and more about wh...
Published: Sep 17, 2026Duration: 56m 44s
How to Become a Leader People Actually Want to Follow
A title can put you in charge. It can’t make people trust you — and it definitely can’t make them want to follow you.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Mark Andrew, author of Leading Through the Heat, to break down what leadership looks like when the stakes are real. Drawing on his experience in the fire service, Mark explains why the best leaders earn trust long before they receive the title — through competence, ownership, consistency, and the way they treat the people around them.They exp...
Published: Sep 15, 2026Duration: 42m 39s
Why Full Restaurants Still Lose Money
A full dining room doesn’t necessarily mean a profitable restaurant.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Jim Taylor of Benchmark Sixty to unpack the economics behind restaurant profitability—and why some operators can be busy every night and still struggle to make the model work.Jim explains why restaurant owners have to think of themselves as running a business that happens to serve food, rather than a passion project that happens to be a business. They explore how labor, operating hours, pricing, menu complexity, cust...
Published: Sep 12, 2026Duration: 34m 34s
How to Get Your Business Recommended by AI
AI is becoming a new layer of discovery. People are no longer just searching Google for businesses to hire — they’re asking tools like ChatGPT who they should work with.So what makes AI recommend one business over another?In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Wes Towers of Uplift 360 to explore what businesses can do to become more visible, trustworthy, and recommendable in an AI-driven world.Wes breaks down why specificity matters, how consistent messaging helps both people and AI understand what...
Published: Sep 10, 2026Duration: 40m 38s
How to Start When You Don’t Know What to Do
What do you do when you know you need to move forward—but you have no idea what the right next step is?In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Mitesh Jani to explore what Mitesh calls the power of reckless beginnings: the idea that clarity rarely comes before action. More often, the first step simply needs to create enough momentum for the second one to become visible.They unpack why we put so much pressure on making the “right” first decision, how overplanning can ke...
Published: Sep 8, 2026Duration: 49m 52s
Why Great Books Fail to Find Readers
A great book can still fail if it never reaches the right reader.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with author, ghostwriter, and publisher Lana McAra to unpack why quality alone is not enough to make a book successful. Lana has written and ghostwritten more than 50 books with over one million copies sold, and her experience has shown her that one of the biggest factors in a book’s success is clarity around exactly who it is for.They explore why authors should start thinking about their au...
Published: Sep 5, 2026Duration: 41m 52s
Learning More Won’t Make You Better
Most people don’t have an information problem. They have an execution problem.You can read more books, listen to more podcasts, buy another course, or use AI to generate another plan—but none of it matters if you never put what you learn into practice.In this episode, Ian sits down with Damon Lembi, author of The Learn It All Leader, to explore what actually turns learning into growth. They unpack why confidence comes after the reps, how to move through imposter syndrome, why failure is often just feedback, and what...
Published: Sep 3, 2026Duration: 45m 40s
What Keeps You From Changing?
Most of us know at least one thing we want to change. The harder part is actually changing it.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Karin Velická to explore why understanding what needs to change often isn’t enough—and how our nervous system, emotions, and attachment to what feels familiar can keep us stuck in patterns we consciously want to leave behind.Karin breaks down why lasting change often starts with smaller steps than we expect, how building consistency can create trust in ourselves, and what...
Published: Sep 1, 2026Duration: 51m 40s
Why Experts Should Still Write Books in the Age of AI
AI can answer almost any question in seconds. So why should an expert still spend months writing a book?In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with ghostwriter and editor Danielle Hutchinson to explore what makes a business book worth reading—and why the human element may matter more, not less, in the age of AI.They break down how experts can choose the right idea for a book, why the strongest business books are built around real questions and stories, and how lived experience creates a level of tr...
Published: Aug 29, 2026Duration: 34m 50s
The Founder Trap: Why Your Business Depends Too Much on You
Most founders start out as the person doing everything.That may be necessary in the beginning. But eventually, the same involvement that helped build the business can become the thing holding it back.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Ari Meisel to explore what it actually means to become a replaceable founder—and why building a real business requires learning to separate your identity from being the person every decision, task, and process depends on.Ari breaks down why founders often become bo...
Published: Aug 27, 2026Duration: 39m 53s
Stop Presenting. Start Transforming Your Audience.
Most experts assume the hardest part of public speaking is knowing what to say. Peter George argues that’s exactly where many presentations go wrong.Peter is a public speaking coach, author of The Captivating Public Speaker, and host of a podcast focused on helping professionals become more effective communicators. In this episode of The Expert Method, we break down what separates a presentation that simply delivers information from one that actually transforms an audience.Peter explains why great speaking starts with understanding who is in the room, how to research what an...
Published: Aug 25, 2026Duration: 47m 54s
How To Lead People Effectively: Understand Them First
In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Jay Jacobson to explore what effective leadership actually looks like when pressure rises, emotions escalate, and there is no clear playbook to follow.Drawing on 45 years in funeral service, Jay shares lessons from moments of real crisis—including his experience responding after the United Flight 232 disaster in Sioux City—and explains why strong leadership begins long before the crisis itself. At the center of his approach is a simple idea: you cannot lead people effectively if you do not first understand them.<p...
Published: Aug 22, 2026Duration: 39m 59s
Choose Your Emotions to Shape Your Life
Doug Earl Johnston joins The Expert Method to explore a deceptively simple idea: emotions are not just things that happen to us. They are part of the system we use to navigate life — and with greater awareness, we can become more intentional about which emotions shape our actions.Doug is the author of Choosing Emotions, a book built from years of research into 272 emotions and thousands of quotes from thinkers across history. In this conversation, we unpack why emotions are foundational to reason, how naming an emotion can help create distance from it, and what it ac...
Published: Aug 20, 2026Duration: 1h 0m 13s
Why Great Experts Still Get Overlooked
You can have years of experience, strong client results, and valuable expertise—and still get overlooked if people don’t understand what you actually do.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian Gatzke sits down with Ange Dove to unpack what keeps experienced experts invisible and what it takes to communicate your value clearly.Ange shares her own progression from avoiding self-promotion and refusing to get on video to building confidence through repetition, letting go of perfectionism, and shifting her focus from herself to the people she serves.<p...
Published: Aug 18, 2026Duration: 42m 56s
The Difference Between Being Interested and Being Committed
What’s the difference between wanting your life to change and actually being committed to changing it?In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Chris Natzke to explore why capable people can know what they want, understand what they need to do next, and still struggle to follow through.The conversation explores the difference between being interested and being committed, why your calendar often reveals what you truly value, how small actions build momentum, and why motivation and willpower alone usually aren’t enough.Th...
Published: Aug 15, 2026Duration: 49m 22s
Why Strategy Alone Won’t Change Your Life
Most people set goals by focusing almost entirely on strategy: what they need to do, what steps to follow, and what outcome they want.But Ryan Fahey argues that strategy is only one part of the equation.In this conversation, Ryan breaks down his three-part framework of State, Story, and Strategy and explains why the way you feel, the story you tell yourself, and the systems you build around your life all shape whether you actually follow through.We also explore how to identify your...
Published: Aug 13, 2026Duration: 39m 37s
How to Tell the Difference Between Fear and Intuition
Fear and intuition can point you toward the exact same decision—but they come from very different places.In this episode of The Expert Method, Ian sits down with Lynda Leonce to unpack how to recognize the difference between fear-based thinking and the deeper internal signal that comes from living in alignment with yourself.They talk about why fear often feels convincing, how conditioning and expectations can pull us away from what actually feels meaningful, and why reconnecting with intuition may be less about finding yourself and more about unlearning what has been layered on to...
Published: Aug 11, 2026Duration: 38m 33s