An AI Entrepreneur Explains the Difference Between Being a Builder Versus a Sustainer

Disrupting Hospitality: How To Run Successful Restaurants and Music Venues

Robert Gomez is the Owner of Beat Kitchen, a popular Chicago live music venue and restaurant known for its blend of food, drinks, and nightly performances. With over 30 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, he has operated other venues in the Chicago area, including Subterranean, Underbar, and Bar Sol. Beat Kitchen has expanded to three locations, including two on Navy Pier. In this episode… Restaurants and live music venues can be hubs of creativity, community, and culture, but they require more than just a passion for food or music to sustain. From staffing challenges to balancing multiple revenue streams, running a hospitality business demands strategy, resilience, and adaptability. How can owners navigate these complexities while staying true to their vision? Veteran Chicago restaurateur and multi-concept venue owner Robert Gomez has built thriving businesses in this demanding industry. He emphasizes starting from the ground up, observing operations before launching a business, and cultivating resilience when managing people and events. Robert also highlights the importance of leveraging equity, understanding market trends, and maintaining flexibility to adapt to changing customer behaviors. In this episode of Growth + Exit, Heather Bennett sits down with Robert Gomez, Owner of Beat Kitchen, to discuss building a resilient hospitality business. Robert talks about navigating early operational challenges, shares strategies for booking and promoting live music, and discusses hiring and developing staff to handle diverse, high-pressure environments.

How To Be Outrageously Successful in Business From a Master Vistage Chair

Mikki Williams, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, is an international speaker, storyteller, author, and executive speech coach. She holds both the Certified Speaking Professional designation and the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame honor, a combination held by fewer than 1% of professional speakers worldwide. Recognized by Meetings & Conventions magazine as one of the country's favorite speakers, Mikki is also an award-winning Vistage speaker and Chair. Known for her "Be Outrageous" philosophy, she helps leaders and audiences communicate with authenticity, humor, and impact. In this episode… Building a business means learning when to push forward, when to adapt, and when to let go. The most successful leaders don't just rely on strategy; they develop the self-awareness to trust their instincts, create meaningful relationships, and stay open to reinvention. How can entrepreneurs build that kind of resilience while continuing to grow? Professional speaker and executive coach Mikki Williams says they do it by embracing change, staying authentic, and listening deeply before making decisions. She encourages leaders to be decisive, build accountability into their teams, create rituals that strengthen connection, and listen to mentors while trusting their own instincts. Growth comes from pairing confidence with curiosity and structure with humanity. In this episode of Growth + Exit, Heather Bennett chats with Mikki Williams, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, about reinventing yourself in business. Mikki discusses embracing risk and change, coaching CEOs through Vistage, and becoming a viral digital content creator at 82.

Turning Customer Feedback Into Startup Growth

Catherine Connelly is the Founder and Fractional Head of Marketing at Connelly Ventures, LLC, a marketing advisory firm that helps entrepreneurs and growing teams build scalable, practical marketing strategies. As an entrepreneur, marketing leader, speaker, and author, she co-founded myYearbook as a teenager and helped grow it into The Meet Group, a NASDAQ-listed social dating and livestreaming company. During her time at The Meet Group, Catherine led brand strategy and marketing through mergers, acquisitions, and rebrands before the company was acquired for $500 million in 2020. In this episode… Building and exiting a company takes focus, adaptability, and the ability to keep listening when the market shifts. For founders navigating growth, fundraising, leadership, and exit decisions, how can you stay grounded while making choices with incomplete information? Catherine Connelly's answer, drawn from her experience as an entrepreneur and startup leader, is to stay close to the people you serve and keep your decision-making anchored to a clear goal. She emphasizes listening to customers, translating feedback into informed product decisions, and resisting the urge to chase every new trend or tool before gaining strategic clarity. Catherine also encourages founders to ask for help, learn from others who are a few steps ahead, and build small habits that create momentum and resilience. In this episode of Growth + Exit, Susan Kearney sits down with Catherine Connelly, Founder and Fractional Head of Marketing at Connelly Ventures, LLC, to discuss building, scaling, and exiting a community platform. Catherine shares how she used customer feedback to shape product strategy, scaled after reaching one million users, and navigated the stress of a $500 million exit.

An AI Entrepreneur Explains the Difference Between Being a Builder Versus a Sustainer

Kathleen Perley is the Founder and CEO of AdaIR, an AI intelligence platform for capital market communication. She is a linguist-turned-entrepreneur and an AI thought leader focused on making advanced technology practical for business leaders. Before AdaIR, Kathleen founded DemystifAI, an AI consulting and education firm, and DECODE, a healthcare digital transformation agency that grew to $17 million in annual revenue before being acquired. She is also a Professor and AI Advisor at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business, where she teaches AI strategy, generative AI applications, and implementation. In this episode… Scaling a business often requires founders to balance momentum with discipline. The same instincts that help a company grow can eventually create complexity, risk, or dependency if they're not paired with structure. How can entrepreneurs build, scale, and prepare for an exit without losing sight of what makes the business valuable? Kathleen Perley's answer is to know when to shift from merely building your business to intentional leadership. As an entrepreneur and AI advisor, she emphasizes the importance of narrowing your niche, creating repeatable operating systems, and surrounding yourself with partners, investors, and advisors who expand your thinking. Kathleen also recommends transferring a portion of your profits into personal investments, protecting cash flow, and planning early for tax and exit implications. Sustainable growth depends on focus, structure, and the willingness to ask for help before the pressure hits. In this episode of Growth + Exit, Heather Bennett sits down with Kathleen Perley, Co-founder and CEO of AdaIR, to discuss building, scaling, and exiting a company. Kathleen shares how she founded DECODE, what she learned from hiring and leadership, and why EOS, cash planning, and the right advisors are crucial before a sale.

Growing and Selling a Wholesale Business

Rob Stepen is a Certified Business Performance Advisor at Insperity, a leading human resources and business performance solutions company. With decades of experience as a business owner, he helps organizations improve efficiency, accelerate growth, and drive revenue. Outside of Insperity, Rob serves on nonprofit and academic advisory boards and supports initiatives that foster entrepreneurship and local engagement. In this episode… Business growth often introduces new challenges: hiring the right people, navigating expansion opportunities, and adapting to unexpected market shifts. So how can leaders make informed decisions at each stage without losing momentum? According to seasoned operator and strategic advisor Rob Stepen, it starts with understanding that every stage of growth demands intentional choices. He stresses building a people-first organization by hiring adaptable, customer-focused individuals and addressing misalignment quickly when people are in roles that aren't the right fit. Rob also recommends aligning acquisitions and partnerships with long-term strategy rather than short-term gains, while staying focused on what you can control. Disciplined decision-making and strong team alignment sustain growth over time. In this episode of Growth + Exit, Heather Bennett talks with Rob Stepen, Certified Business Performance Advisor at Insperity, about scaling and exiting a business. Rob explains how to hire and structure teams during rapid growth, evaluate acquisitions and mergers strategically, and navigate the challenges and lessons learned from selling a company.