Videos
Rent to Own Explained: Charles Smitherman of APRO | Bliss
Rent to own explained by the person who represents the industry in Washington. Watch Charles Smitherman, CEO of the Association of Professional Rental Organizations, take Stephen Sakach and Mike Liwski through how the lease-purchase model actually works, why it keeps getting confused with credit products it has nothing in common with, and what an industry serving people in tight moments owes them in return.
The clearest way in is the correction Charles has been making since 1980: thi…
Video - The Four Foundations Every ETF Issuer Should Define
An ETF issuer can have strong investment capabilities, experienced teams, and compelling products—and still struggle to explain what the organization stands for.
When purpose, mission, vision, and brand are treated as interchangeable language, leadership may end up with polished statements that provide little help when it is time to evaluate a new product, guide marketing, or make a difficult strategic decision.
In The Four Foundations Every ETF Issuer Should Define, Michael …
Video - Mike Davis on Kindness and Accountability in Leadership
“I think many times, kindness just pours gas on execution.” Neighborly CEO Mike Davis explains why kindness and accountability aren’t opposites, they’re the same leadership move.
Mike walks through the franchise agreement clause that ties Net Promoter Score to keeping a location, why he calls the inside of a customer’s home a “sacred place,” and the low-cost habit he calls “emotionally rehiring” people, a handwritten note, an early Friday, a quick thank-you.
Watch above, then…
Video - Empathy at Neighborly Scale with Mike Davis
Empathy is not a soft idea in business. It is a leadership capability that shapes trust, service, culture, and performance.
In this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we welcome Mike Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Neighborly, the world’s largest home services company. Neighborly includes more than 30 brands and 5,500 franchises, collectively serving more than 14 million customers through the repair, maintenance, and enhancement of homes and businesses.
Mike brings deep…
Nelson Montini on the Close Rate Cliff: Why Speed to Lead Wins
“We had what could be coined as a close rate cliff.” Nelson Montini, Brand Manager at Top Rail Fence, breaks down the week his team almost blamed a sales team for a problem that was actually about speed to lead.
Nelson walks through how a network with record lead volume and record revenue still had close rates quietly falling, and how customer reviews, not the sales scorecard, pointed to the real fix: getting to the customer faster cut the close-rate gap by roughly 20 points.
Video: Generational Travel Trailer Design with Tim Elinski
Watch Tim Elinski, Founder and Fabricator of Pin Drop Travel Trailers, break down what generational travel trailer design actually looks like on the shop floor in Miami, Arizona.
Tim explains how a steel chassis injected with two inches of closed-cell foam creates what he calls a "super insulated ice chest," why Pin Drop's patent-pending Eco-Cool Ventilation System exists to eliminate the roof-mounted vents that cause leaks on most RVs, and why he calls himself "a…
Video - From Headlines to Flows: Building an ETF Growth Engine
The ETF market rewards timing - but timing only creates a moment.
An issuer still has to turn that moment into understanding, sales conversations, platform access, follow-up, and durable trust.
In From Headlines to Flows: Building an ETF Growth Engine, Mike Liwski speaks with Paul Marino, Chief Revenue Officer of Themes ETFs, about the commercial system behind ETF adoption.
Paul brings a rare combination of journalism, PR and media knowledge, sales leadership, RIA dis…
Video: Storytelling for Organizational Change—Ben Green
Watch Ben Green, Lead Consultant at The Storytellers (part of Accenture), break down storytelling for organizational change — the practical, six-chapter framework his team uses to turn a transformation strategy into something people actually believe and act on.
In this conversation, Ben explains why most change efforts stall at "communication" instead of connection, and why empathy — not more slides — is what closes that gap. He walks through the six chapters step by step: …
Video - Emotional Intelligence for Durable Growth with Brad Poulos
Business growth is not only about strategy, capital, or ambition. It is also about emotional intelligence: knowing when to push, when to pause, when to listen, and when to make hard decisions with clarity.
In this episode of The Bliss Business Podcast, we welcome Brad Poulos, small business professor, entrepreneur, advisor, and author of The Small Business Operator’s Manual and Most Problems Solve Themselves. Brad brings more than 30 years of experience building, scaling, fixing, and…
Video: Curiosity Over Criticism with Rebecca Throop
Watch Rebecca Throop, Director of Marketing at Merchants Fleet, break down "curiosity over criticism," the operating premise she uses on her own team and across departments to build real alignment.
Rebecca explains how a simple shift, asking people to walk through their point of view instead of defending how something's always been done, opens the door to honest dialogue. She also shares the story of leading marketing and fundraising for a New Hampshire mental health c…
Video: Clear Marketing for Technical Products—Josh Porter
Watch the full conversation: fractional CMO Josh Porter joins The Bliss Business Podcast to unpack clear marketing for technical products — why brilliant AI and developer tools so often lose buyers the moment the story gets murky.
In this video, Josh argues that clarity is an emotional-intelligence skill, not just a marketing one. He explains why technically strong teams default to feature lists — “they don't care how big your context window is… they just care that it does” — an…
Video - The Reddit Playbook for ETF Issuers
What makes Reddit beautiful for ETF marketing can also make it uncomfortable.
People ask direct questions. They compare experiences. They challenge vague claims. And they use language that may be very different from the language inside an issuer’s marketing deck.
In The Reddit Playbook for ETF Issuers, Haley Anderson joins Mike Liwski for her second appearance on The B.L.I.S.S. ETF Marketing Podcast: Going Beyond the Ticker.
They discuss:
• How to identify target a…
Video: Radical Candor in Leadership with Brad Poulos
Watch Brad Poulos, small business professor and author of Most Problems Solve Themselves, unpack radical candor in leadership: telling people the truth, kindly, even when it's uncomfortable.
Brad shares the real story behind it: early in his career, he asked a star employee to review him as a manager. The employee hesitated three times before finally telling him the truth: "you're an effing tyrant." Brad calls those four words life-changing, and explains how facin…
Video - Marketing With Purpose Kit: The Truth Behind Purpose-Led Brands
When a new registration platform crashed Sportball's sales in January 2025, marketing leader Laura Peever didn't reach for a campaign. She reached for her team.
In this Marketing With Purpose Kit conversation, Laura, Head of Marketing at Sportball, explains why a purpose-led brand can't manufacture trust overnight, and why the real test of purpose happens under pressure, not in a mission statement.
Laura walks through the crisis response that pulled her team ba…
Video - The Distance Between a Great Product and Real Adoption
A great ETF product can still be a long way from real adoption.
The portfolio may be differentiated. The process may be disciplined. The team may have deep conviction.
But the market still has to understand the portfolio role, repeat the story, access the fund, clear due diligence, and feel confident enough to recommend it.
In the next episode of The B.L.I.S.S. ETF Marketing Podcast: Going Beyond the Ticker, Mike Liwski speaks with Bill Davis, Managing Partner and Por…
Video - Paws, Trust, and Franchise Growth with Nicole Peel
Letting a stranger into your home to care for your pet takes real trust, and Nicole Peel has spent decades building the systems that earn it.
Nicole, Founder and CEO of Pawsitively Spoiled, walks through exactly how her pet sitting franchise protects that trust at scale: $2 million in insurance per location, background-checked dog walkers, and a scheduling app that timestamps every visit down to the minute.
She also shares the moment she knew a new hire wasn't the right …
Video: When to Hire a Fractional CMO
In this special Marketing With Purpose Monologue Edition, Tullio Siragusa breaks down what a fractional CMO actually does, and what the role should never become.
A fractional CMO isn't a cheaper full-time hire or a consultant who disappears after a strategy deck. Tullio explains the five ways the right leader creates value: clarity, alignment, accountability, capability, and transition, and the signals that tell you your company has outgrown founder-led marketing.
🎙️ Hos…
Video - Greener Lawns, Stronger Businesses with Kelly Giard
A solar panel on a truck roof doesn't sound like a franchise growth strategy, until you hear how Kelly Giard used it to build one.
Kelly, Founder and CEO of Clean Air Lawn Care, explains how his father, a retired electrical engineer, helped turn a standard service truck into a mobile solar generator, extending the workday and cutting emissions at the same time.
He also breaks down Clean Air's "18-er" program, an 18-month path that awards technicians a fran…
Video - The ETF Attention Gap: When Ads Work but Presence Doesn’t
In ETF marketing, a healthy CTR can hide a bigger problem: your ads may work when they appear, but your fund may still not be present enough in the market to earn belief.
In this episode of The B.L.I.S.S. ETF Marketing Podcast: Going Beyond the Ticker, Mike Liwski welcomes Fred Navas back for a practical paid-media diagnostic conversation. Together, they unpack how ETF issuers can tell whether the real issue is message, budget, targeting, landing page, channel sequencing, or measurem…
Video: Family-Owned Vacation Rentals with Tom Goodwin
Mountain Laurel Chalets has been family-owned since 1972, back when reservations were booked by mail and marketing meant pencil sketches of the homes. Tom Goodwin, the company's second-generation Steward and CEO, explains why the company still measures success in trust and repeat guests, not just occupancy.
Watch Tom walk through what changes when a vacation rental company treats homes as relationships instead of inventory: a 59 percent repeat booking rate, employees who stay 20…
Video: Category Design and Positioning with Bruce Cleveland
Bruce Cleveland returns to The Bliss Business Podcast to unpack category design and positioning, two of the five tenets in his new book, Market Engineering: Because Markets Don't Build Themselves.
Watch Bruce explain why markets are inherited but categories are designed, why a strong category name compels competitors to join (and why that's actually validation), and why he tells clients to write their positioning "in crayon."
📅 Thursday, July 2, 2026
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Video - Building Community, Trust, and Impact Through Conscious Leadership with Kim Bode
What happens when a CEO stops hiding a hard stretch from her team? Kim Bode, CEO and Founder of 8THIRTYFOUR, walks through the moment vulnerability in leadership changed how she runs her company.
"I was working from home a lot... I was almost like I was avoiding them," Kim says of a difficult period in the business. When she finally told her team the truth, their response surprised her: "We want you here, regardless of how you're feeling or the mood you might be i…
Video - Marketing With Purpose Kit: Turning Marketing Into a Revenue Engine
"Alignment" is Michelle Hubner's favorite word, and she means it three ways: within her marketing team, across departments, and with franchise owners. Director of Marketing at Ideal Siding, Michelle breaks down how cross-team marketing alignment turns twenty scattered priorities into the three or four that actually move revenue.
She also shares the story of a sale her team thought was closed, until the homeowner's husband called back to say his wife had a differen…
Video - ETF Marketing That Turns Complex Funds Into Clear Investor Stories
ETF marketing leaders are facing a harder problem than many people realize.
The category is growing. The shelf is expanding. Active, thematic, commodity, alternatives, and specialized strategies are giving investors and advisors more choice than ever.
But more choice also means more confusion.
In this episode of The B.L.I.S.S. ETF Marketing Podcast: Going Beyond the Ticker, Mike Liwski sits down with Catherine Weigel, Managing Partner, ETF Marketing at Sprott Inc., to…