The Business Development Podcast

Take Inspired Action

In Episode 305 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy breaks down why most ideas never make it into the world — not because they are bad, but because people wait too long to act. Drawing from his own experience launching businesses, programs, communities, and podcasts in under three months, Kelly explains the concept of inspired action: acting while clarity, energy, and excitement are present instead of waiting for confidence, certainty, or fear to disappear. He challenges the belief that clarity comes before action and makes the case that clarity is created through movement.The episode explores the two fears that quietly kill momentum — fear of failure and fear of success — and explains why overwhelm, not fear, is usually the real blocker. Kelly walks listeners through a simple, practical framework for taking inspired action one step at a time, using real examples from his latest project I Used to Work There. The message is clear and timely for January: confidence is built through proof, momentum silences fear, and the fastest way to bring ideas to life is to take the next obvious step today.Key Takeaways: 1. Most ideas fail not because they are bad but because people wait too long to act on them.2. Confidence does not come before action it is built through action and proof.3. Clarity is not something you find by thinking it is created by doing.4. Inspired action means moving while energy and excitement are present before fear can negotiate you out of it.5. Fear of failure and fear of success lead to the same outcome hesitation and hesitation kills momentum.6. Overwhelm is usually the real blocker not fear and it comes from trying to see the whole picture at once.7. You do not need to eat the whole elephant you only need to take the next obvious step.8. Small immediate actions compound quickly and turn ideas into reality faster than overplanning ever will.9. Momentum silences fear and motion creates confidence far more effectively than motivation.10. Every step taken becomes proof and the more proof you build the quieter imposter syndrome becomes.Don’t forget to follow The Business Development Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so you never miss an episode. If you’re enjoying the show, leaving a rating or sharing it with someone who would get value from it makes a huge difference and helps the podcast reach more leaders and entrepreneurs around the world.2026 Title Sponsor 🔥The Business Development Podcast is proudly sponsored by Hypervac Technologies and Hyperfab 🚛Together, Hypervac and Hyperfab represent North America’s leaders in vac truck manufacturing and industrial fabrication. Their continued support helps make this show possible week after week. Learn more at www.hypervac.comJoin The Catalyst Club The Catalyst Club is a private leadership community for founders, business developers, and next generation leaders who want real momentum built through consistency, accountability, and honest conversation. This is a room where leaders support leaders, show up as humans, and keep moving forward together week after week.Inside The Catalyst Club, listeners get to spend time with Kelly Kennedy and a global group of leaders through 4 to 5 live events every month, plus access to Catalyst GPT 2.0, built from over 300 episodes of The Business Development Podcast and Kelly’s coaching programs. If you are ready to stop restarting and start building momentum that lasts, join now at www.kellykennedyofficial.comMentioned in this episode:Hyperfab Midroll

Start the New Year Using Your Strengths with Ryan Crittenden

In Episode 304 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy sits down with Ryan Crittenden, a strength-based coach, Army veteran, and founder of XL Coaching and Development, to kick off the new year with a powerful reframe on growth, leadership, and self-belief. Ryan breaks down why coaching is not about fixing what’s wrong, but about drawing out what’s already there, helping people understand and use their natural strengths instead of fighting against them. Through stories from his military service and his transition into leadership coaching, Ryan explains how belonging, clarity, and self-awareness are often the missing pieces for leaders who feel stuck, burned out, or out of control.This conversation is especially timely for anyone heading into a new year feeling pressure to reinvent themselves or overhaul their entire life or business. Kelly and Ryan explore how real growth starts with one small step, not massive overcorrection, and how understanding your strengths can unlock better decision-making, stronger leadership, healthier relationships, and more sustainable success. Whether you’re a founder, sales leader, entrepreneur, or emerging professional, this episode offers a grounded, practical way to reset your mindset and build the year ahead around who you actually are, not who you think you’re supposed to be.Key Takeaways:1. Coaching works best when it draws out what is already inside you instead of trying to fix you.2. Great leaders create belonging in simple moments and those moments can change everything for someone.3. When life feels out of control the first move is not a massive overhaul it is one small step toward clarity.4. You do not need someone to fix you you often need someone to listen so you can think clearly again.5. Strengths based development starts with what is right with you and turns that into repeatable performance.6. CliftonStrengths reveals natural talent patterns and your job is to build them into real strengths through awareness and action.7. Knowing who you are not is just as valuable as knowing what you are good at because it helps you partner build systems or delegate.8. Most people perform better when they feel part of creating the solution so keep asking better questions instead of forcing answers.9. Big goals can overwhelm you into doing nothing so shrink the focus to the next step and let momentum do the rest.10. When teams share a common language for strengths and energy they collaborate faster trust more and stop misreading each other.2026 Title Sponsor 🔥The Business Development Podcast is proudly sponsored by Hypervac Technologies and Hyperfab 🚛Together, Hypervac and Hyperfab represent North America’s leaders in vac truck manufacturing and industrial fabrication. Their continued support helps make this show possible week after week. Learn more at www.hypervac.comJoin The Catalyst ClubThe Catalyst Club is a private leadership community for founders, business developers, and next generation leaders who want real momentum built through consistency, accountability, and honest conversation. This is a room where leaders support leaders, show up as humans, and keep moving forward together week after week.Inside The Catalyst Club, listeners get to spend time with Kelly Kennedy and a global group of leaders through 4 to 5 live events every month, plus access to Catalyst GPT 2.0, built from over 300 episodes of The Business Development Podcast and Kelly’s coaching programs. If you are ready to stop restarting and start building momentum that lasts, join now at www.kellykennedyofficial.comRyan’s CoachingXL Coaching and Development – strengths-based leadership coaching, team development, and 1-on-1 coaching with Ryan Crittenden (founder):👉 https://www.xlcoaching.net/Ryan’s BookBecoming the Compass: A Leadership Fable for Emerging Leaders — leadership fable by Ryan Crittenden, Ph.D., blending storytelling with transformational leadership principles:👉 https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Compass-Leadership-Emerging-follow/dp/B0F9N4L6FH Mentioned in this episode:Hyperfab Midroll

The Truth About Momentum and How It’s Really Built

Every January starts with fresh goals and big intentions, and then life hits, momentum fades, and by February most people are restarting again. In this New Year’s Eve episode, Kelly breaks down what momentum actually is, why it matters, and how to build it in a way that lasts, not with hype or burnout, but with consistent weekly actions that compound over time. He reframes momentum as simple forward motion, the stacking of small and significant wins, and shows how consistency is what creates the “overnight success” people think is luck.Kelly then delivers a practical momentum playbook you can apply immediately: write 15 to 20 goals by hand, create an early win by finishing one task you have been avoiding, and make the Move the Needle list a weekly non negotiable. He challenges work life balance in favor of work life coherence and lays out the habits that keep momentum alive, consistency over intensity, repeatable weekly processes, fewer priorities, tracking small wins, launching early, protecting your calendar, and staying in motion while others pause, so when the year truly starts for everyone else, you are already moving.Key Takeaways: 1. Momentum is not motivation or luck, it is simple forward motion created by consistently completing the right tasks week after week. 2. Small wins matter more than big bursts of effort because progress compounds when you keep stacking completion over time. 3. Consistency will always outperform intensity because extreme effort is temporary but repeatable action builds lasting results. 4. Writing goals down by hand dramatically increases follow through and forces clarity on what actually matters. 5. Momentum accelerates when you create early wins by finishing something you have been putting off. 6. Weekly focus beats daily chaos when you commit to a Move the Needle list and prioritize only the highest impact actions. 7. Processes create momentum while random tasks drain it, because rhythm removes decision fatigue. 8. Reducing priorities increases results since momentum dies when everything feels urgent. 9. Tracking progress builds belief, and belief fuels momentum even when results are still forming. 10. The people who win long term keep moving when others pause, downshifting if needed but never fully stopping. 2026 Title Sponsor 🔥The Business Development Podcast is proudly sponsored by Hypervac Technologies and Hyperfab 🚛Together, Hypervac and Hyperfab represent North America’s leaders in vac truck manufacturing and industrial fabrication. Their continued support helps make this show possible week after week. Learn more at www.hypervac.comJoin The Catalyst ClubThe Catalyst Club is a private leadership community for founders, business developers, and next generation leaders who want real momentum built through consistency, accountability, and honest conversation. This is a room where leaders support leaders, show up as humans, and keep moving forward together week after week.Inside The Catalyst Club, listeners get to spend time with Kelly Kennedy and a global group of leaders through 4 to 5 live events every month, plus access to Catalyst GPT 2.0, built from over 300 episodes of The Business Development Podcast and Kelly’s coaching programs. If you are ready to stop restarting and start building momentum that lasts, join now at www.kellykennedyofficial.comMentioned in this episode:Hyperfab Midroll

Why You Can’t Outwork Burnout Anymore with Maureen Codispodi

Episode 302 is a grounded and necessary conversation about the unseen cost of entrepreneurship. After nearly 200 interviews with founders, leaders, and high performers, a clear pattern has emerged: burnout, health scares, and identity collapse are no longer edge cases, they’re becoming normal. This episode explores how the current culture of nonstop pressure and hustle is quietly breaking people, and why so many entrepreneurs feel unable to slow down even when the warning signs are impossible to ignore.In this episode, Kelly sits down with Maureen Codispodi to talk honestly about burnout, mental health, and what sustainable success actually looks like. The conversation challenges the idea that pushing harder is always the answer, unpacking how to recognize limits, rebuild balance, and redefine ambition in a way that protects both the business and the person behind it. This episode is for anyone who wants to keep building without sacrificing their health, relationships, or sense of self along the way.Key Takeaways:1. Burnout is not a personal failure, it’s often a predictable outcome of building without boundaries.2. If your body is sending signals you can’t ignore, that’s not inconvenience, it’s information.3. Hustle culture makes overwork feel normal, but normal doesn’t mean healthy or sustainable.4. The cost of success should never be your health, your family, or your sense of self.5. Your business can grow faster than your capacity, and that gap is where burnout begins.6. Rest is not a reward you earn after the work is done, it’s a requirement to keep doing the work well.7. If you can’t slow down without feeling guilty, that’s a warning sign that needs attention.8. You need systems that protect you, not just strategies that push you.9. Real resilience isn’t enduring more, it’s learning when to pause, adjust, and ask for support.10. Sustainable entrepreneurship is built on consistency over intensity, and long game thinking over short term adrenaline.Links referenced in this episode:helpclinic.caIf Episode 302 hit you in the chest, it’s because you can feel it too. This isn’t just another episode, it’s a signal that something needs to change. Episode 300 marked the start of the next phase, and 2026 is our year. The Catalyst Club exists for that exact moment when you stop waiting for the “right time” and decide to build anyway, in the in between moments, with real life happening all around you. This is the room for founders, business developers, and next generation leaders who want real connection, real support, and real momentum in the year they finally make the leap.Inside Catalyst Club there’s no hierarchy, no posturing, and no competition for power. It’s leaders supporting leaders, showing up as humans, leaving ego at the door, and actually talking about what’s real. The community is fully virtual and active daily, bringing together perspectives from around the world that you simply can’t get in a local only box. If you’re ready to step into the new era we’re talking about and stop circling the runway in 2026, you’re welcome here.Join us at: www.kellykennedyofficial.com/thecatalystclubThe Business Development Podcast is proudly supported by our 2026 Title Sponsor partners.🚛 Hypervac Technologies is North America’s leading vac truck manufacturer, trusted by contractors across the continent for performance, safety, and innovation. Learn more at www.hypervac.com.🏗️ Hyperfab is a leader in custom fabrication and industrial manufacturing, supporting critical infrastructure and industrial projects across North America.Their partnership helps make it possible to continue delivering high-value, experience-driven business development conversations throughout 2026.Mentioned in this episode:Hyperfab Midroll

Turn Chaos Into Control With Colin Harms

Episode 301 kicks off the 300s with Colin Harms and opens with a milestone announcement, HyperVac Technologies and HyperFab are the official Title Sponsors of The Business Development Podcast for 2026. Kelly and Colin reflect on the relationship that started through the podcast, why community and consistency matter, and what it takes to keep raising the standard as an independent Canadian show that is competing on a global stage.From there, the conversation gets real about building through pressure as a Canadian business and making the shift from reacting to taking control. Colin shares how they intentionally diversified by building HyperFab long before the tariffs, moving from 100 percent subcontracted manufacturing to bringing fabrication fully in house so they could control timelines, quality, and execution. They break down why that decision sets them up to win in 2026, and how HyperFab is positioned to become a major player as the next chapter of growth takes off.Key Takeaways:1. One bold reach out can change everything, because the right relationships often start with a simple “I felt the urge to message you.”2. Consistency builds momentum, especially when you create something every week that you genuinely look forward to and plan your life around.3. Reinvest in what’s already producing fruit, because sowing into solid ground is how you multiply results instead of starting from zero every time.4. Relationships beat transactions, and loyalty comes from actually caring, not just “closing the deal.”5. Community is a force multiplier, because it gives you a safe space to vent, learn, and borrow perspective when you’re carrying it alone.6. The mindset shift that changes everything is moving from “why is this happening to us?” to “what can we do about it?”7. In hard seasons, don’t bury your head or quit early, keep peeling layers, making calls, and finding a way even when people say it won’t work.8. Success leaves clues, so study what’s already working, learn from competitors, and copy great systems without ego.9. You can forecast all you want, but you still won’t fully know what’s next, so the real advantage is staying adaptable and willing to pivot fast.10. Long term winners take control of the fundamentals, bring key capabilities in-house, hire the right people, and build the confidence to say “we can do this.”Ready to make 2026 your year?The Catalyst Club is a private community for founders, business owners, and leaders who are serious about growth, accountability, and real conversations that move the needle. If you want to be surrounded by people who think bigger, take action, and build with intention, you belong here.We’re 75 members and growing fast, and the first 100 will be recognized as the Founding 100. Join us here: www.kellykennedyofficial.com/thecatalystclubThe Business Development Podcast is proudly sponsored by HyperVac Technologies 🚛 North America’s leading Vac Truck manufacturer and the team behind HyperFab. Huge thank you to Colin Harms and the entire HyperVac team for choosing to be our official Title Sponsor for 2026. Your support helps us take this show to the next level and continue delivering world class business development lessons to listeners worldwide.Learn more about HyperVac Technologies: www.hypervac.comMentioned in this episode:Hyperfab Midroll