The Skills That Built Your Business May Be Killing Its Growth | Mike Konrad

🚨 DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. The results discussed have not been independently vetted, and any claims made by the guest have not been verified. The views expressed by the guest do not necessarily reflect those of the host or this show. — To book a PREMIUM spot on the Podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/_paylink/AZpgR_7f⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/_paylink/AZpgR_7f Book a 1-on-1 coaching call: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/booking-calendar/introductory-session⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/booking-calendar/introductory-session Subscribe to our email list: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://financial-freedom-podcast-with-dr-loo.kit.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://financial-freedom-podcast-with-dr-loo.kit.com/ — Entrepreneur skillset scaling may be the missing piece when your business stops growing—and Mike Konrad explains why the skills that helped you become successful can eventually become the very skills holding your company back. 🚀 If you're searching for how to scale a business, how to escape the founder bottleneck, or which business growth strategies actually help you move beyond a plateau, this conversation provides a different way to diagnose the problem. After more than three decades as an entrepreneur, Mike has experienced the transition from garage startup to building a company serving customers across six continents. Along the way, he discovered something critical: 👉 Starting and scaling require different versions of the founder. The confidence, risk tolerance, speed, ego, and even naivety that can help you launch a company aren't necessarily the leadership skills required to scale one. Mike compares entrepreneurship to driving a manual transmission. First gear gets you moving quickly—but eventually you have to shift. Trying to build the next stage of your company using your "first gear" skillset can turn the founder into the company's biggest constraint. That's why this conversation goes beyond generic business growth strategies. Mike explains the startup vs scaling business transition and why an entrepreneur mindset shift becomes necessary as your company grows. This episode is designed to help you think through those questions. You'll also hear how Mike abandoned aggressive traditional advertising for education-based marketing—teaching customers instead of constantly selling to them—and why that change helped drive sales. Finally, Mike shares what decades of entrepreneurship taught him about failure, risk and fear-based decision-making, including the question he uses when fear starts influencing an important business decision: ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Sponsor Introduction 00:10 – Why the Skills That Built Your Business Can Hold It Back 01:05 – Meet Mike Konrad: 34 Years of Entrepreneurship 01:45 – Building Mission-Critical Manufacturing Equipment 03:05 – Why Mike Became "The Reluctant Entrepreneur" 04:30 – Turning an Idea Into a Garage Startup 05:15 – Sponsor Midroll 05:50 – The Skills Required to Start vs. Scale a Business 06:30 – When a Founder's Strengths Become Weaknesses 07:00 – Mike's "Shift Gears" Framework for Growth 07:40 – Why Founders Become the Bottleneck 08:00 – Why Traditional Marketing Stopped Working 08:50 – Education-Based Marketing & Selling Through Teaching 09:35 – What Failure Teaches Entrepreneurs 10:20 – Making Business Decisions Without Fear 11:05 – Where to Find Mike Konrad 11:25 – Outro: Growth vs. Leverage 12:29 – End Financial Freedom for Physicians, Copyright 2026

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Football has a play for just about everything. You can go deep, keep it on the ground, or draw up something nobody sees coming. And whether you want to run a flea flicker or the tush push, you need a plan to fit your unique situation. That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Now that's a solid game plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.

• 1:00Speaker 02

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Whether it's hot yoga, over 100 degree weather, or too much sun. Gator Light, with a specialized blend of five electrolytes, was scientifically designed to help move fluids into the body faster for rapid rehydration. Shop now at retailers nationwide. Gator Light hydrates faster than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 1:29Speaker 03

  When everything feels nonstop, movement becomes the pause. So give Lululemon this holiday season. Smooth seamless running gear builds momentum through every mile.

• 1:41Speaker 03

  Comfortable workout styles clear the way for locked in focus. And dynamic stretch expands presence through every pose.

• 1:53Speaker 03

  Give the feeling. Shop in store and on lululemon.com.

• 1:58Speaker 04

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining the club this season? Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just 120 bucks a year can save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit sam'sclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 2:19Speaker 05

  Annual plan only, auto renews, T and C apply. Estimate based on average combined Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus savings among members of both for one plus year versus non member or club member pricing/fees. Excludes membership fees. See Walmart Plus terms and Sam's Club terms for more info.

• 2:29Speaker 06

  I'm proud to announce that today's episode is brought to you by Gelt, which you'll hear about later on in the episode and in the show notes.

• 2:38Speaker 06

  What if the varied traits that helped you start your business are the exact ones holding you back from scaling it? Most entrepreneurs never see it coming. In the beginning, confidence, willingness to take risks, ability to move fast without overthinking gets you off the ground. You don't know what you don't know. That's your superpower. But then something changes. The business grows, complexity increases. Suddenly, the same instincts that once fueled your success start working against you. Growth slows. No matter how hard you push, you've hit a ceiling. Today's conversation is about that moment. Because according to Mike Conrad, a founder who's been in business for over three decades, most companies don't fail because the market is too competitive or the product isn't good enough. They fail because the founder never evolves.

• 3:21Speaker 06

  In this episode, we're breaking down the shift from starting to scaling. While your current skillset might be your biggest bottleneck, how to recognize when it's time to shift gears before your business stalls out completely. If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or like what used to work just isn't working anymore? This episode is going to change the way you think about growth. So let's get into it. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Financial Freedom Podcast. Mike Konrad, the reluctant entrepreneur. We're going to be talking about his story. He founded Aquius Technologies Equipment Manufacturing. His podcast, we're going to talk about the skills required to start versus scale business, all of his lessons and journey along the way. Mike, welcome.

• 4:06Speaker 07

  Thanks, Chris. It's good to be here.

• 4:08Speaker 06

  Briefly introduce yourself and we'll dive into the questions.

• 4:11Speaker 07

  Mike Konrad, I started a business in the electronics industry, manufacturing equipment industry 34 years ago. Despite my best efforts, I haven't managed to kill the business yet. It was quite a journey.

• 4:24Speaker 06

  What exactly does your company do? Who does it help serve? What is your client avatar?

• 4:29Speaker 07

  We build equipment that's used in the manufacturing of circuit assemblies, circuit boards. You're staring into a camera right now. That camera is filled with circuit assemblies. Our industry builds those. We are one cog in that wheel. We're part of the manufacturing process. To assemble a circuit board, it has to go through numerous processes. We're one of those processes. The equipment that we build is not absolutely required as part of the manufacturing process. It's a value added process. Our equipment takes the customer's circuit assembly, makes it more reliable. Our customers tend to be high reliability, failure is not an option type customer. Military defense, aerospace, medical, high rel telecommunications,

• 5:15Speaker 07

  things that if they fail, people die, or there are expensive consequences. They are our primary customer base. Although we do a fair amount of consumer business as well. Most of our customers are manufacturers of extremely high reliability, mission critical products.

• 5:32Speaker 06

  To continue the narrative, I found interesting with your background. You call yourself a reluctant entrepreneur. What is the story behind that title? And how does it reflect your journey with Aquius Technologies?

• 5:45Speaker 07

  I used to work for another equipment manufacturer before. I worked for an equipment manufacturer in the same space. Not exactly the same type of equipment, but in the same manufacturing space. There was a very specific issue in our industry where a particular chemical that was widely used in our industry was being banned by the world. Originally by 11 countries that signed a treaty to ban it. And then eventually by all UN member nation countries. They provided a 10 year phase out of that chemical. So we had a 10 year runway to come up with another chemical or a process that would not use that type of chemical. My employer at the time was not doing financially great. They were selling equipment that was very quickly becoming obsolete.

• 6:30Speaker 07

  Things changed rapidly in the electronics industry, as you can imagine. In fact, they probably changed since you and I started talking a few minutes ago. I had an idea to embrace this ban that was approaching with a different technology that would perform the same function without relying on that offending chemical soon to be banned. They weren't interested in that idea. That's all I could think about. I woke up in the morning thinking about this idea. Went to bed at night thinking about this idea. I was definitely obsessed over it. Long story short, I couldn't get them interested in doing it long term. So like a mature 32 year old, which I was at that time, decided I'll throw a little tantrum. I will go home, complain to anyone who will listen, including my wife, how unfair life is. This is a great idea and no one wants it.

• 7:14Speaker 07

  My wife said to me, was it a good idea, Mike? I'm like, it's a great idea. She says, why don't you just do it yourself? I decided I'm going to do this myself. Converted my garage into a studio, built a proof of concept prototype, did a bunch of testing. We came to the conclusion that this could be a viable product. Decided to give my notice, left the company and started Aquius Technologies, a company that I've owned for the last 34 years. But started out of my garage, eventually worked its way up. We sell on six continents. We're successful now. The journey was absolutely wild.

• 7:45Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Football has a play for just about everything. You can go deep, keep it on the ground, or draw up something nobody sees coming. And whether you want to run a flea flicker or the tush push, you need a plan to fit your unique situation. That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Now that's a solid game plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 8:14Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.

• 8:44Speaker 02

  Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors, great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

• 9:13Speaker 03

  When everything feels nonstop, movement becomes the pause. So give Lululemon this holiday season. Smooth seamless running gear builds momentum through every mile.

• 9:25Speaker 03

  Targeted support adds steadiness to every pulse and hold.

• 9:31Speaker 03

  And dynamic stretch expands presence through every pose.

• 9:37Speaker 03

  Give the feeling. Shop in store and on lululemon.com.

• 9:43Speaker 04

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining? Club this season, Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just 120 bucks a year can save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit sam'sclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 10:04Speaker 05

  Annual plan only, auto renews, T and C apply. Estimate based on average combined Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus savings among members of both for one plus year versus non-member or club member pricing slash fees. Excludes membership fees. See Walmart Plus terms and Sam's Club terms for more info.

• 10:14Speaker 06

  A quick question. Are you paying more in taxes than you should? Most high earning physicians overpay by tens of thousands because their CPA only looks backwards, not forward. Gelt is different. Dedicated CPAs powered by AI that work year round, not just at filing time. Tax strategy and proactive planning for practice owners, investors and physicians with complex financial lives. Built specifically for professionals who want to keep more of what they earn. To find out more, check out jointgelt.com. That's jointgelt.com. Links are in the show notes below.

• 10:45Speaker 07

  When I started the business, I needed two skill sets. Good technical acumen and business sense. I did not have any business sense. I was aware of that. I got the tech side down, arguably is the hardest one to acquire. How hard could business be? That was an overstatement. I made every mistake any entrepreneur could make. The skills that allowed me to start a company were the exact same skills that were going to ruin my company if I don't change my game. I brought to the table my skills, attributes, as far as business was concerned. Passion, ignorance, arrogance, naivety, ego, poor assessment of risk. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 80% fail by year 15. Horrible odds. I didn't know I was ignorant.

• 11:28Speaker 07

  My ego told me these things I brought to the table were perfect ingredients to start my business. I don't recommend, but that worked for me. The business started growing rapidly. What got us from A to B, my magic wand. Ego, my naivety, the china shop mentality, that's going to get me from B to C. One day, the rules changed. We're now at a different level, new rules. I needed to develop the appropriate skill set for that scale of you adapts. Have you ever driven a manual transmission car? If you're in first gear, the traits, the skills you have are first gear skill. You start your car when the light turns green. You go from zero to 20 miles an hour pretty quickly. That's all you can do in first gear. You shift to second gear. That'll take you so far. You shift to third, fourth, fifth.

• 12:14Speaker 07

  The same with skill sets in business. My arrogance, ego, naivety, bravado got me off the line. I've taken my first gear traits as far as I can. Time to shift new skill sets for second gear. At some point, the business needed more than my skills could provide. I had to learn for the next scale. A lot of businesses fail, not because business is risky, but because the founders fail to scale themselves. Their skill sets fall behind at the rate the business needs to be scaled. 80% of businesses fail because 100% of the founders make the same mistakes. They fail to shift to the appropriate skill set needed at that stage of business growth.

• 12:57Speaker 06

  In terms of marketing, you talk about, or three decades in business, marketing has changed. You go from abandoning conventional marketing strategies for value added marketing approaches and expand on that idea for the audience.

• 13:12Speaker 07

  For years, we were outrageous, obnoxious advertisers. My business started four years before the internet was available. We got our start running print ads in magazines, if you can imagine those days. When the internet came, we started advertising digital banner ads online. Our ads were ferocious. They were pretty close, not quite verbatim, but pretty close to we are the best, everyone else sucks. We would go to trade shows, get a booth, put magicians in the booth, video games, surfboards and waterfalls. It was obnoxiously bad. Looking back, it was a lot of fun. Then certain skill sets stopped working. Our advertising stopped working.

• 13:55Speaker 07

  We stopped and replaced it with conscious marketing, education based marketing. I'm going to teach. I started speaking at technical conferences, writing technical papers, hosting webinars, producing live workshops, writing books, booklets on the subject. Eventually, a podcast called Reliability Matters. It's a geeky podcast. Sales exploded without trying to sell. I discovered that the best way to sell is stop talking about our product. No one cares. People have a, we have a solution. We talk about their problem. We identify, train, educate. Educated people make educated choices. We believe our company is an educated choice. We have not turned back ever since.

• 14:36Speaker 06

  Looking back, what are some of the biggest risks you took early on? How did they shape the trajectory? How does failure factor into where you are today?

• 14:45Speaker 07

  I hate failure. I love failure. Both are true. Every stupid mistake I made was a learning experience, a change agent to something greater. I try not to fail. If I fail, it's not empty. There's more value in failure than success. You learn from failure. Success, you don't know if you're lucky or because you're skilled. When I fail, I know what caused that. I avoid that. I learn more from it. I enjoy success more than failure. I'm grateful for all my failures. In terms of fear, we make a lot of fear based decisions when we were a much younger business. I don't criticize any founder making fear based decisions. Business is scary. You've got everything on the line.

• 15:29Speaker 07

  You've leveraged a lot of risk when you're an entrepreneur. Understand there's a lot of fear based decisions. One thing we had to learn was to take fear off the table. What would we do if it wasn't scary? Then do this. That's the right decision. Once you know the right decision, even though it's scary, if you can admit, commit that's the right decision, you manifest the solution to the fear. It works every time. Every fear based decision I made to avoid what scared me made things worse, which is even scarier than had my original fear manifested itself.

• 15:59Speaker 06

  What a fantastic way to end the conversation. How can people connect with you and reach out to you?

• 16:05Speaker 07

  The two most common places are LinkedIn, Mike Konrad. My personal web, mikeconrad.com has links to all the other playgrounds I play in.

• 16:13Speaker 06

  Thanks so much for coming on and I really enjoyed talking with you.

• 16:17Speaker 07

  Same here. Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the invite. Good job.

• 16:21Speaker 06

  Let's zoom out. If you're a physician, founder, or high income professional, and you feel like you're working harder every year, but not structurally freer, you're not alone. The mistake is an effort. It's architecture. This show exists to help you convert expertise into scalable leverage faster and with fewer expensive missteps. Here's the diagnostic I mentioned before. If your income requires your constant presence, if your capital isn't compounding outside your profession, if your highest value talent is doing low value tasks, you don't have a growth problem, you have a leverage design problem. And if you want to fix it with clarity instead of guesswork, I offer a limited number of one-on-one leverage strategy sessions each month.

• 17:06Speaker 06

  We audit your income model, capital deployment, authority positioning, and structural bottlenecks, and design your highest return move. If you're serious about compressing years into months, the link to apply is below.

• 17:28Speaker 04

  This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Football has a play for just about everything. You can go deep, keep it on the ground, or draw up something nobody sees coming. And whether you want to run a flea flicker or the tush push, you need a plan to fit your unique situation. That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Now that's a solid game plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 17:56Speaker 03

  When everything feels nonstop, movement becomes the pause. So give Lululemon this holiday season. Smooth, seamless running gear builds momentum through every mile.

• 18:09Speaker 03

  Comfortable workout styles clear the way for locked in focus. And dynamic stretch expands presence through every pose.

• 18:21Speaker 03

  Give the feeling. Shop in store and on lululemon.com.

• 18:26Speaker 04

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining the club this season? Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just 120 bucks a year can save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit sam'sclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 18:47Speaker 05

  Annual plan only, auto renews, T and C apply. Estimate based on average combined Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus savings among members of both for one plus year versus non-member or club member pricing slash fees. Excludes membership fees. See Walmart Plus terms and Sam's Club terms for more info. Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food, plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger, fresh for everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.