Getting Work To Work

Sometimes I get the impression from social media that running a business is easy, but nothing could be further from the truth: entrepreneurship is hard work. Today’s guest shines a light on the realities of business and how we can use tools, technologies, and success squads to stay focused on what matters to us in uncertain times. Laura Zavelson is a business strategist who has taken everything she’s learned in 25 years as a founder, entrepreneurship professor, and business consultant and created a framework that helps you intentionally design your business to go where you want to go. We dive into our conversation talking about our mutual membership in Generation X—the generation between boomers and millennials—and her love for how we organize information. Laura also shares deep insights about how technology can assist strategy, the two types of entrepreneurship, the importance of building a business on the foundation of money, meaning, and flexibility, and how you can change your business as you evolve and grow. Show Links Laura Zavelson Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte Goodnotes Kindle Scribe reMarkable What are AI agents? | IBM Midjourney prompt for episode art: connecting abstract topics in a mind map abstract –ar 16:9 –v 6.1

Earlier this week, I was writing a newsletter about how irrelevance comes for us all. I was looking at The Future of Jobs Report 2025 from the World Economic Forum, which reports in-depth not only about jobs, but also the core skills necessary for today’s working environment and into the future. In the middle of the list of core skills in 2025 was dependability and attention to detail and near the bottom was reading, writing and mathematics. While they may be core skills today, they are shifting in a negative direction over the next five years. This got me thinking about our expectations, not just as creative entrepreneurs, but workers, in general: We have no time to be wrong; failure isn’t an option. Humans are error-prone, AI will be quick and correct. Show Links Irrelevance Comes For Us All by Chris Martin World Economic Forum – The Future of Jobs Report 2025 Real Genius (1985) Anthropic Photo by Max Böhme on Unsplash

Today on the show for the 22nd time and to celebrate our 7th anniversary with copper and wool is the Australian filmmaker, gough. He is the purveyor of jokes and awkward pauses, appropriately inappropriate mockumentaries about any topic he chooses (nothing is sacred and no one is safe), and the comedic genius behind BeernutsProductions.com. Gough just released his latest film, A Day in the Life of a Personal Trainer, and he shares several behind-the-scenes stories about it. We dive into why he chose to remake the film with a new script and as much of the old cast as possible. Take notes, because he also shares how to make the chunkiest smoothy possible; you probably won’t want to drink it. Most importantly, he gives a lesson in how to behave when filming at actual businesses. Previously on Getting Work To Work: “Catching Up” with gough (GWTW155) The Official Beernuts Productions Category Show Links Beernuts Productions A Day in the Life of a Personal Trainer Episode 9 – The Jasmine Stinks Interview Local Heroes Jimmy Green and his Adventures in the Magic Forest Reluctant Hero’s – Horse Race Commentators Liam Gallagher – Be Still (Official Audio) Amy Shark – I Said Hi (Official Video) Amy Shark Andy Dick Ilia Chidzey The Muppet Show: Veterinarian’s Hospital – Behemoth The Happytime Murders (2018) Brian Henson Psych (2006–2014) Chortle Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan Sinners (2025) The Studio (2025–) Ron Howard Mythic Quest (2020–2025) Black Bag (2025) The Amateur (2025) The Bourne Identity (2002) The Bourne Supremacy (2004) The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)