
The En Factor Podcast features conversations with entrepreneurs who have started, stumbled and succeeded.
Episodes

18 minutes ago
18 minutes ago
1 hr 2 min
Today’s episode of The En Factor comes to you live from host Dr. Rebecca White’s classroom at The University of Tampa’s campus where Bill Place, founder of Ace Golf, joins the En Factor in front of a graduate student audience to share his entrepreneurial journey. Bill grew up in an entrepreneurial family, where he saw his father operate as a business owner including starting multiple Pizza Hut franchises, sparking Bill’s deep interest and wish to start his own business one day.
Bill’s criteria for a business area to get started in was rooted in the value of real estate, being a cash business, and finding something with a good growth trajectory. To combine these three wishes, Bill turned to the golfing world and started with buying areas of land, building out successful driving ranges and businesses to support them, and eventually exiting to turn the thriving land into a profit. Bill also moved on to full golf courses after seeing lots of success in the driving range world, and talks about how he focused on revenue streams that previously failing courses weren’t focusing on to be successful.
Tune in and join us for this special live episode of The En Factor, as you won’t want to miss a moment of Dr. White and Bill exploring topics including how Bill recognized his golf opportunity as an entrepreneur, the growing pains and challenges of expanding as Bill acquired more land for more courses and ranges, and how Bill’s business survived the COVID-19 pandemic as an outlier.
Key Words - Real Estate, Opportunity Recognition
Connect with Bill on LinkedIn, here:
linkedin.com/in/william-place-560a5a5
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Explore Dr. White’s new Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

Oct 8, 2026
Oct 8, 2026
1 hr 5 sec
In this episode of The En Factor, we are excited to welcome franchise consultant Scott Jones, who is the founder and CEO of Franchise Guide Group. Scott grew up around entrepreneurship from a young age, as he watched his father build out his own business while growing up, and still recalls his entrepreneurship class being his favorite course that he ever took in college. His professional career began in sales, although owning his own business was something that was always on his mind, and he eventually made the leap into entrepreneurship over twenty years ago, with his first business being an athletic scouting service-based company.
Scott now leads Franchise Guide Group, where he mainly works with individuals that are interested in being business owners and believe that becoming a franchisee could be an effective way to transition into entrepreneurship. Scott helps these aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as current entrepreneurs looking to diversify, understand themselves and their goals for what they want to get out of being franchise owners. He also helps them find suitable solutions for achieving their objectives, whether it be financial, quality of life, or some other goal they want to reach by getting involved in a franchise.
Tune in and join us for this super insightful conversation packed with information and advice about franchising and business in general, as Scott used to be a franchisor and a franchisee, so he has plenty of experience with all of the different sides and perspectives that are involved in franchising. You won’t want to miss a moment of Scott and host Dr. Rebecca White diving into topics of conversation including Scott’s journey and transition into entrepreneurship, clearing up common misunderstandings about the franchising world, and the importance of components like leadership and team building that go into operating your own successful franchise.
Key Words - Franchise, Opportunity Recognition
Connect with Scott and learn more about his consulting business, Franchise Guide Group, at this special link for En Factor listeners, here:
https://connect.franchiseguidegroup.com/efp
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Explore Dr. White’s new Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

Sep 10, 2026
Sep 10, 2026
36 min
Welcome back to The En Factor for a new episode as we are very excited to be joined by Phoenix Hafen, who is the Partnerships Manager for the organization UI Charitable. Phoenix planned to start a career as a financial advisor coming out of college and found UI Charitable as a solid stepping stone for gaining relevant, industry-related experience to grow his career. Over four years later, Phoenix still finds himself working for UI Charitable after discovering his passion for philanthropy and giving back to the community while still doing work that is relevant to his education and the career that he is building for himself.
UI Charitable operates similarly to a financial advisory practice, collaborating with entrepreneurs, financial advisors, and nonprofit organizations to achieve the optimal balance of wealth management and philanthropy for these entrepreneurs to increase and manage their charitable giving in a healthy fashion. From assisting with the set up of donor advised funds, to helping business owners find the perfect nonprofit, industry, or even location match for where they want to donate, Phoenix’s organization blends this process seamlessly so that these entrepreneurs can build out their legacy while giving back to the communities that they want to impact in a financially healthy way.
If you’re an entrepreneur wanting to make a philanthropic impact out there in the world or even a nonprofit owner looking for donors that can bolster the impact you’re striving to achieve, this conversation with Phoenix and host Dr. Rebecca White is definitely worth the listen. Tune in and join us as the two explore topics of discussion including managing your charitable planning and optimizing your philanthropic resources, when to even start thinking about philanthropy for your business in the most tax friendly ways possible, as well as funding advice for nonprofit organizations and how they can appeal to their ideal donors.
Key Words - Philanthropy, Finance
Learn more about UI Charitable at their website, below:
Connect with Phoenix on LinkedIn, below:

Aug 13, 2026
Aug 13, 2026
55 min
In this episode of The En Factor Podcast, we are thrilled to be joined by serial entrepreneur Terry James, who is currently Founder and CEO of the Offleash’d social app, as well as Nibble and Wag, LLC. Terry joins host Dr. Rebecca White with vast business experience to share as he left a stable and successful career in wealth management to become an entrepreneur. His turning point stemmed from the global pandemic at the beginning of the decade when he came to the realization that there was an epidemic of loneliness in our world, with everyone sitting behind their screens. Human connection has changed significantly since the pandemic, and Terry had a simple goal of bringing people together and build a community through a clever commonality: pets.
As a result, Offleash’d was launched by Terry and his team to bring humans and their pets together through holistic and authentic interactions. The app has been a huge success and continues to experience growth nationwide, as pet parents can be found building themselves and their pet each a profile to connect with other pets and owners in 42 different states. All from simply filling in a gap that nobody had addressed yet: connecting humans through leveraging their deep affection for their pets and the humanization of their pets.
Terry’s newer brand, Nibble and Wag, was also created from a gap in the pet industry that had not truly been focused on and filled yet. Nibble and Wag is Terry’s dog food brand that is healthy, yet affordable, targeted mainly for younger pet parents that want to provide their dog healthy food but are struggling to afford the purchase of premium dog food. Another specific gap in the pet industry that nobody truly paid to attention to and targeted, but Terry didn’t launch this brand to compete with other dog food brands. He simply wanted to provide younger owners with the opportunity to feed their dogs healthy food without breaking their banks.
Join us for this incredibly insightful conversation with Terry and Dr. White, as they explore and cover various key moments from Terry’s entrepreneurial journey including how he identified and capitalized on these opportunities in the pet industry, the value of building a cohesive team through a shared vision, and how Terry plans to continue leading and reshaping the pet industry in the future.
Key Words - Pets, Opportunity Recognition
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Connect with Terry and join the Offleash’d community by downloading Offleash’d from your device’s app store, or visit their website, here:
Connect and learn more about Terry’s newer dog food brand, Nibble and Wag, at their website, here:
Explore Dr. White’s new Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

Jul 9, 2026
Jul 9, 2026
56 min
In this newest episode of The En Factor, we are very excited to welcome a recent graduate from the entrepreneurship program at The University of Tampa and Founder & CEO of Dirty Bastard Laundry Co., Maximus Mattuchio. You could say Maximus was born an entrepreneur, as side hustles and finding creative ways to make money have always been a part of his life since constantly operating lemonade stands at six years old, to hosting his own podcast and consistently posting on social media before he even arrived at UTampa.
From his experiences at the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center over his collegiate years to traveling across the country creating content with Jake Paul creating content for Paul’s men’s hygiene brand, W, Maximus recently launched his own venture, Dirty Bastard Laundry Co., just over one week ago where he has already has received positive public interest in his product. Maximus is eager and ready to make his mark on the masculine CPG space with his cologne infused laundry sheets, hoping to follow in the footsteps of successful men’s hygiene brands like Dr. Squatch and Dollar Shave Club.
You won’t want to miss out on this energizing and insightful conversation as Maximus joins the show to chat reflect with Dr. Rebecca White on his journey to Dirty Bastard and his plans and goals for the future with his product just recently launching. Join us for a deep dive into discussions including the bold branding identity he is leveraging and committing to in order to gain traction and interest from his target market, and how the increasing availability and advancements of AI helped him throughout his product development process.
Key Words - Brand Building, Target Market
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Connect with Maximus to learn more about his venture, Dirty Bastard Laundry Co., here:
Connect with Maximus and Dirty Bastard on Instagram below:
Business Account: @getdirtybastard
Personal Account: @maxtooch
Explore Dr. White’s new Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

Jun 11, 2026
Jun 11, 2026
39 min
On this episode of The En Factor, we are excited to welcome franchise consultant, founder, and CEO of Peak Franchising, Chris Hilgers. Chris grew up around family businesses much of his early life where he gained firsthand experiences of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and dedication it took to become successful as a business owner. Beginning his professional career in sales, Chris learned a lot about communicating and building relationships with others before he went on to leave the corporate world and start Peak Franchising.
Through Peak Franchising, Chris serves others a franchise coach to partner high quality people with the perfect fit of a franchise for them to own and lead. Chris’s extensive background and knowledge of the franchising world, as well as people skills, make this episode a super valuable one with advice on identifying high quality people whether it be hiring employees or partnering with another entrepreneur.
Join us and tune into this insight-packed episode with Chris and host Dr. Rebecca White as they explore and dive deep into subject matter including how Chris can help aspiring business owners find the perfect franchise opportunity, as well as what to look out for when researching prospective franchises and reading through franchise agreements.
Key Words - Franchise, Consulting
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here: https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Connect with Chris to learn more about Peak Franchising, as well as his Franchise Investigation Readiness Survey and Franchise Model Fit Quiz, at Peak Franchising’s website, here:
Explore Dr. White’s new Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

May 18, 2026
May 18, 2026
50 min
In this newest episode of The En Factor, we are thrilled to be joined by the founder of Interview Valet, Tom Schwab. Have you ever wanted to be a guest on a podcast so you can share a story or an idea? Then this is the perfect episode for you. As a Navy veteran and engineer by training, Tom has helped over 1,500 business owners, leaders, and companies amplify their stories and marketing messages through a more unique approach than the typical marketing agency nowadays. Interview Valet identifies and partners these leaders with targeted podcasts where their story will be heard by the ideal clients that already listen to the existing podcast. Tom’s business is grounded in the belief of taking pain away from business owners and thought leaders, and does so through a technical strategy using AI, as well as a personal strategy through communication and understanding the problem that they are targeting to solve.
If you’ve ever also thought about starting your own podcast, Tom and Interview Valet could assist with you in your hosting startup process as well. Using a similar approach for pairing podcast guests with targeted interviews, Interview Valet also helps aspiring podcast creators get featured on targeted podcasts where the aspiring host can gain experience and practice with the podcast environment and communicating their ideas.
This conversation with Tom is packed with valuable advice and best practices for the podcasting space, and you won’t want to miss a moment. Join Tom and host Dr. Rebecca White as the two explore the growth and evolution of podcasting, especially since AI has come into play, how Tom identified and acted upon different opportunities by listening to others, and the rapidly growing importance of repurposing content.
Key Words - Podcasting, Artificial Intelligence
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Connect with Tom to learn more about his business, Interview Valet, and his book “Podcast Guest Profits: How to Grow Your Business”, at Interview Valet’s custom webpage for En Factor Listeners, here:
https://interviewvalet.com/enfactor/
Explore Dr. White’s brand new Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/see-do-repeat/
Key Words - Podcasting, Artificial Intelligence

Apr 9, 2026
Apr 9, 2026
38 min
In this newest of The En Factor, we welcome entrepreneur, author, and mental coach at the University of Austin’s Texas’ athletic department, John Mitchell. John is the CEO of Think It Be It, who developed a life-changing 12 minute daily technique that brought him life-changing success and has brought countless others success in their lives.
John’s ultimate secret to success is inspired by his passion for understanding Napoleon Hill’s book, “Think and Grow Rich”, to the fullest. After being an entrepreneur for 20 years, John found himself at the age of 50 not as successful as he wanted to be should be, although finding lots of success and making lots of money throughout the multiple ventures he owned. After reading “Think and Grow Rich” countless times looking for the true secret to becoming successful in money, relationships, and life in general, he ultimately discovered the secret. John’s secret to success is rooted deep in visualization and goal setting while incorporating repetition that gives you true clarity of your life, and how to intentionally live it to its fullest potential.
John’s conversation on The En Factor with Dr. Rebecca White is one that can completely change anybody’s outlook on life and what it means to be find success, build clarity in your goals and life, and live a life with true intention and meaning each and every day. Tune in and join us for this exciting and insightful conversation and learn about John’s secret to a successful life, what he learned from “Think and Grow Rich”, and how he is helping other practice what he learned through his book and Think It Be It.
Key Words - Success Mindset, Goal Setting
Explore this episode, and many other conversations with entrepreneurs on The En Factor Podcast, here: https://drrebeccawhite.com/podcasts/en-factor
Connect with John for a free video on his secret to success, and more about his book, here:
Explore Dr. White’s Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab and Download Her EI Goals Worksheet, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

Mar 13, 2026
Mar 13, 2026
55 min
In this episode of The En Factor, we are thrilled to be joined by Jason Kramer, who is the Founder of Cultivize. From a young age, Jason had a strong passion for art and building things and although he was completing his education at Syracuse University, he was still unsure of the path he wanted to take professionally. After earning his degree, Jason went on to begin a career in graphic design and advertising, but when the company he was working for downsized their team, the idea of starting his own business grew more and more as he was also freelancing at the time. Fast forward after gaining over 20 years of experience in the marketing and business development, Jason is leading Cultivize to new heights by helping established businesses overcome growing pains and other business and marketing problems to effectively scale and grow.
Jason has seen the marketing world evolve countless times through all of his experience, and Cultivize is continuing to lead that evolution through their consulting services for marketing and business development. The company provides their clients, which is versatile client base, the technology and systems to fully optimize CRMs in order for these client companies’ sales and marketing teams to fully maximize their time, and work smarter, not harder. By providing such a service and technology system like Cultivize is able to, Jason and his team seamlessly blend technology, marketing, and art in order to address their clients’ needs and provide long term, sustainable solutions to keep them moving forward.
Tune in and join Jason and Dr. Rebecca White as they dive deep into a plethora of engaging topics including Jason’s background and journey to marketing, consulting, and ultimately starting Cultivize, the absolute need for effective and efficient CRM systems for companies that want to evolve and expand, and the role that technology and AI have played in evolving the marketing world and creative industry.
Key Words - Marketing, CRM
Connect and learn more about Jason and his business, Cultivize, here:
https://cultivize.com/learnmore/
Explore Dr. White’s Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab and Download Her EI Goals Worksheet, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:

Feb 12, 2026
Feb 12, 2026
53 min
In this episode of the En Factor, we welcome the CEO and co-founder of Agorapulse, Emeric Ernoult. Emeric grew up spending time in the United States and Africa before moving to France, where his family is from, to go to school to become a lawyer. Experiencing lots of success early on in his law career had Emeric wanting more for himself, but he was still too young to be able to become a partner and advance his law career further. Wanting control over his own destiny, Emeric transitioned into entrepreneurship and built out Agorapulse into a pioneer of social media management, with the simple goal of making anyone comfortable with utilizing social media for their business.
Emeric brings to this conversation vast international and business experiences that offer lots of perspective and insight to building a multinational business, and how valuable traveling and immersing yourself in different cultures can enhance your personal, professional, and business development. Tune in and join Emeric and Dr. Rebecca White as they explore and reflect on topics of conversation including the evolution of social media management and how Agorapulse simplifies the array of complexities that come with social media and content strategy, as well as what it takes to build a product and business that is valuable and can be scaled to operate without the owner. You won’t want to miss out on this spectacular episode!
Key Words - Social Media, Scaling Companies
Check out Emeric’s business, Agorapulse, here:
Connect with Emeric on LinkedIn, here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ernoult/
Explore Dr. White’s Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) Lab and Download Her EI Goals Worksheet, here:
https://drrebeccawhite.com/entrepreneurial-intelligence-lab/
Check out Dr. White’s book, “See, Do, Repeat”, and more from her website, here:
