Lazy Leverage

Jon and Peter dive into one of those ideas that sounds crazy at first but might actually be brilliant: buying luxury vacation properties as a business expense that doubles as a killer member benefit. Jon's been noodling on this concept for months, and it's finally survived his brutal idea-filtering process (which involves annoying everyone from his CFO to random Twitter buddies until the bad ideas die off).

Here's the pitch: Sagan ...

Jon sits down with Wes Gay, a StoryBrand certified consultant who's been living and breathing the framework for almost a decade. He’s here to break down why most business messaging falls flat (and how to fix it).

The conversation dives deep into the seven-part StoryBrand framework, which treats your customer as the hero of their own story while positioning your business as the guide. Wes walks through each step: hero (your customer...

Jon sits down with Brian Wilson, a retired Marine Corps Major who now heads Sagan's Knowledge and Automation group, to break down why most business owners are terrible at implementing AI and automation (and it's not for the reasons you might think).

Right off the bat, Brian gives us a reality check: most people creating content about AI and automation have never actually turned wrenches in a real business. They're content experts, ...

Jon and Peter tackle one of the most stressful parts of running a business that nobody talks about: getting sued. Or threatened with lawsuits. Or dealing with angry lawyers sending nasty letters demanding ridiculous amounts of money.

It happens to almost every business owner, but nobody shares war stories because of shame, legal settlements with gag clauses, and the general awkwardness of admitting you're in legal hot water. Jon an...

Peter unpacks what he learned from taking a full month off (his fourth annual sabbatical) including what worked, what didn’t, and how stepping back clarified his relationship with work, team leadership, and systems.

Spoiler: nothing broke. The business ran just fine. And that’s the point.

Jon and Peter dive into how structured time off isn’t just a luxury - it’s a leadership test. It exposes whether your team and systems are truly ...

Hiring a VA is easy. Turning them into a leader? That’s where most founders stall out. Jon and Binsi unpack how to stop recycling task-doers and start developing talent, explaining why reframing roles is the first step toward long-term leverage.

Jon breaks down the difference between delegation and development, while Binsi - Sagan’s newly minted managing director - shares firsthand what it looks like to grow from an assistant role ...

Jon and Peter explore a deceptively simple but powerful concept: architecting how work gets done. Inspired by Profit Coach and shaped through years of trial and error, it’s more than systems and tools - it’s about intentionally designing workflows that enable scale, accountability, and freedom.

They start by defining what “done” looks like, then dive into tools like swimlane diagrams, task maps, and online forms - essential for hir...

While a ton of business owners today are chasing the next AI hack or automation craze, Jon and Peter return to a foundational truth: leverage isn’t a tactic - it’s a philosophy.

Today they’re talking about “Matt’s Hierarchy of Leverage,” a napkin-sketch turned mental model that redefines how small business owners should think about time, talent, and tools. Rather than obsessing over AI for AI’s sake, they explore leverage as a quie...

In a time where brands everywhere churn out content for clout, Jon and Peter make the case that there is power in focusing on niche over noise.

They talk about the difference between running a media business—one dependent on clicks, views, and CPMs—and running a business powered by media. The latter isn’t chasing virality. It’s using content to build trust at scale, with the right audience. A single engaged viewer—one potential cus...

In an age obsessed with scale, speed, and leverage, it’s easy to forget that the best long-term advantage might come from doing the exact opposite.

Call it the "Low Leverage Advantage."

When you're early in your career—or launching something new—there’s a strong case for diving into the work yourself. Not delegating. Not automating. Just doing. Need to onboard a new sales team? Write the first 20 cold DMs yourself. Building a new o...

Most small business owners think leadership is instinctual—something you figure out once you’re “in charge”. But if your managers act like friends, choke on tough conversations, or drown their teams in bureaucracy—you've got a leadership gap that’s preventing you from taking your company to the next level..

Today, Jon and Peter break down ...

Most business owners don’t think they have a “culture problem.” But if your team misses deadlines, seems afraid to speak up, or quits without notice—you’ve got one.

This isn’t a vibes issue. It’s a systemic one. Today Jon sits down with Sagan’s Head of Product, Binsi Das, to break down the hidden culture traps that derail global teams.

Google quietly dropped an AI tool that could replace half your tech stack.

Its name? NotebookLM.

Think ChatGPT, but with deep integration into your documents and a smarter memory. You can feed it PDFs, YouTube transcripts, Google Docs, or even random web pages. From there, it becomes like a supercharged research assistant that not only remembers what you’ve uploaded but cites it like a pro.

Sure, there are a couple of downsides: as...

AI isn’t here to replace your team—it’s here to give them time back. Join Jon and Peter as they explore how the right interfaces and integrations can supercharge productivity across your org!

Jon kicks things off by sharing his vision: every new client should get a completely customized front end tailored to their needs—think “cars, not faster horses.”

He and Peter riff on the challenge of AI adoption at the ground level—how time-s...

Imagine having a fully-functional website or landing page created in seconds, simply by transcribing your thoughts, turning it into a prompt, then hitting Enter.

Oh, and you don’t have to spend a cent to make it happen.

Now stop imagining. Enter Lovable, your “superhuman AI full stack engineer”. 

Today, Jon gives us a brief, yet life-changing overview of Lovable as he helps Peter build a custom CRM in real time. 

Jon walks us throu...

Ever wonder what happens when an entrepreneur stops trying to do everything and finds the right vehicle? Brandon Parker was juggling multiple businesses when he met Jon two years ago. Now he's running a team of 40+ and crushing it with Landy Leads. In this conversation, they break down exactly HOW that transformation happened. You'll learn why constraint-based thinking is the key to ra...

From Northern Ireland to navigating a PE buyback, Cathryn Lavery brings her raw, unfiltered take on building businesses in 2025. Join Jon as they geek out over AI tools, debate the death of the traditional EA role, and reveal why 'smart, hungry, coachable' beats experience every time. Plus, learn why your $85k/year US marketer might be in trouble (and what to do about it). Pure value, ...

 What happens when you tell your entire executive team that all their projects are cancelled? Jon Matzner did exactly that, and the results were shocking. In this episode, Jon and Peter Lohmann dive deep into the art of extreme focus, why most businesses are working on the wrong things, and how to identify what actually moves the needle. Plus: fascinating insights on the Toyota Way, why some fires need to burn, and the infamous jaz...