Bite-Size Episode Show Notes

In this bite-size episode of The Inner Entrepreneur, Paul sits down with wealth strategist and author Garrett Gunderson to explore the idea of “sacred cows” in money — the widely accepted financial beliefs that rarely get questioned, yet quietly shape how people save, invest, and think about wealth. Garrett shares the unlikely origin of his work: a grassroots study group built on one simple principle — question everything, and don’t try to be right, just try to find out what’s right. That mindset led him to challenge conventional retirement planning, hidden fees, and the myths embedded in systems like pensions and 401(k)s.

The conversation moves beyond financial products into mindset, identity, and value creation. Garrett explains why the wealthy don’t see money as a zero-sum game, why playing not to lose keeps people stuck, and why investing in skills, relationships, and financial intelligence compounds far more powerfully than chasing returns alone. He also reflects on personal loss, burnout, and how stepping back to realign with family and purpose ultimately gave rise to his bestselling book and long-term.

About the Guest

Garrett Gunderson is a wealth strategist, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. He is best known for challenging conventional financial advice and helping entrepreneurs and high-income professionals build wealth through value creation, financial intelligence, and personal alignment. Garrett is the author of Killing Sacred Cows, What Would the Rockefellers Do?, and The Algebra of Wealth, and has advised thousands of business owners on building wealth that supports a meaningful life.

About the Host

Paul Ryan is the host of The Inner Entrepreneur Podcast, where he explores the inner world behind entrepreneurial success — purpose, mindset, wellbeing, and the deeper questions that surface as businesses and careers evolve.

Work With Paul

To learn more about Paul’s mentoring, programs, and frameworks — including The Life Code and The One-Hour CEO — visit:pauljryan.net

Why Success Breaks Entrepreneurs and What to Do About It – Sherry Walling #151

Episode Summary

In this episode, Paul sits down with clinical psychologist and entrepreneur Dr. Sherry Walling to explore what really happens after the big business exit. They discuss why a financial windfall often triggers an identity crisis, how over-identifying with your company fuels loneliness and burnout, and why presence—not provision—is what our families truly want from us. Sherry also shares simple practices for emotional steadiness, including journaling, free-writing, and gratitude, along with her personal journey through grief, MDMA-assisted therapy, and ayahuasca. From stress habituation to heart-centred leadership and plant medicine, this conversation digs into what it means to stay human while building big things.

Key discussion points:

• Why exits often trigger depression, disillusionment, and relationship strain
• How fusing identity with your business sets you up for an existential crash
• The loneliness that comes with extreme success or high achievement
• Why many entrepreneurs unconsciously delegate the family to their partner
• Burnout as a repetitive-strain injury of the mind
• Habituation: how chronic stress becomes invisible
• Journaling, Morning Pages, and seeing yourself on paper
• The neuroscience behind gratitude and why it matters
• Building a company without martyrdom or 70-hour weeks
• The role of humility in leadership and delegation
• Sherry’s clinical work with trauma and the promise of MDMA-assisted therapy
• Her personal story of grief and how plant medicine supported her healing
• What ayahuasca actually is—and why it feels like medicine, not recreation

About the Guest — Dr. Sherry Walling

Dr. Sherry Walling is a clinical psychologist, author, and founder of ZenFounder, where she supports entrepreneurs through burnout, emotional resilience, trauma, and life transitions. She is also the author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Sht Together*, Exit Strategy (co-authored with her husband Rob Walling), and Touching Two Worlds, and integrates creative movement and aerial arts into her work. Learn more at zenfounder.com and touchingtwoworlds.com.

About the host:

Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, 8 figure business owner, mentor, podcaster and creator of the 1-Hour CEO and Life Code Program. As a CEO, Paul has a depth of 'real life' experience of what it takes to be successful in business and life.

Connect with the host:

Pauljryan.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-ryan-9a98774/

In this bite-size episode, Damion Lupo dismantles one of the most dangerous myths in entrepreneurship: that failure is something to be avoided. Drawing on decades of experience across more than 70 businesses — including losing everything and starting again — Damion reframes failure as the tuition fee for wisdom. He explains why most businesses don’t survive, not because of bad ideas, but because of a lack of real commitment. There is no “trying” in entrepreneurship — only deciding, persevering, and learning fast. Those who succeed are not luckier or smarter; they are more resilient, more decisive, and willing to move before everything feels certain.

Damion also explores the deeper evolution required to build lasting wealth and freedom. He argues that true financial security isn’t about accidentally reaching a number, but about becoming the person capable of recreating it. From knowing when to persevere versus when to quit, to understanding why environment, mentorship, and vision shape outcomes more than tactics, this conversation is a masterclass in long-term thinking. It’s a powerful reminder that almost nothing in business is fatal — and that growth comes from action, not waiting for perfect conditions.

Links to full episode:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/599FJBEVZyGGbhAazhSqD6?si=GsbLxGN0Rja0GVkqdR-8wA

https://youtu.be/N0r-qol9MU4?si=Gija1CEUNzE2c71s

About the Guest Damion Lupo is an entrepreneur, investor, and financial educator who has founded and operated over 70 companies. After experiencing both extreme success and complete financial collapse, including a period of homelessness, Damion rebuilt with a deep focus on resilience, decision-making, and sustainable wealth creation. He is the creator of the Turnkey Retirement framework and is known for helping entrepreneurs think differently about money, risk, and long-term freedom.

About the Host Paul Ryan is the host of The Inner Entrepreneur Podcast, where he explores the inner world behind entrepreneurial success — mindset, resilience, purpose, and personal growth. Through candid conversations with founders, investors, and thought leaders, Paul helps entrepreneurs build businesses that support a meaningful, well-lived life. Learn more at pauljryan.net.

In this episode, Paul explores the real truth about procrastination with Professor Fuschia Sirois — one of the world’s leading researchers in the field. Far from being a time-management issue or a character flaw, procrastination is revealed as a behavior rooted in emotional regulation. Professor Sirois explains how delaying tasks may offer temporary relief, yet creates long-term stress, undermines confidence, and quietly damages both our health and performance.

Together they examine how avoidance reshapes our nervous system, drives anxiety, and increases the mental load we carry each day. They discuss why self-criticism makes procrastination worse, why high achievers often hide it behind productivity, and how early emotional patterns carry into adulthood. What emerges is a deeper understanding of procrastination as a well-being problem — one that drains potential and prevents people from becoming who they know they could be.

This conversation invites you to look beneath the surface: What are you really avoiding — and what is the emotional cost of delaying it?

Professor Fuschia Sirois is an expert in social and health psychology whose research on procrastination, emotion regulation, and wellbeing spans more than 20 years. She is the author of Procrastination: What It Is, Why It’s a Problem, and What You Can Do About It.

Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, CEO, mentor, and host of The Inner Entrepreneur. As the creator of The One-Hour CEO and The Life Code, Paul works with elite entrepreneurs trapped in their businesses, helping them break free and design lives they really want.

To explore Paul’s coaching, The Life Code, or programmes such as The One-Hour CEO, visit pauljryan.net.

In this bite-sized episode I chat with Laura Tynan –The Witch of Wall Street – to explore the powerful intersection of wealth creation and personal transformation.

We dive into:

• Why financial empowerment requires both strategy and mindset.
• The “ostrich effect” – why most people avoid looking at their finances.
• Simple steps to take control of your money (even if you’ve been ignoring it).
• How fear, scarcity, and inherited money stories silently sabotage wealth.
• Why wealthy people often still feel poor — and how to heal self-worth.
• The science and practice of intentional creation (beyond “woo-woo” manifestation).
• How to pass on a healthy money mindset to the next generation.
• The power of persistence, focus, and belief in creating long-term success.

This is a grounded, practical, and inspiring conversation about building not just wealth in your bank account — but richness in your life.

About Laura Tynan

Laura Tynan, known as The Witch of Wall Street, is a former finance professional turned entrepreneur who helps people, especially women, break free from money blocks and build true financial independence.

Links & Resources

• Connect with Laura: lauratynan.com
• Follow Laura on Instagram: @lauratynanofficial

Links to Full episode:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VZ2xwXN6J7hY63mjVpvqN?si=k-CYUtxeSymxsA9zDfleGg

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VZ2xwXN6J7hY63mjVpvqN?si=k-CYUtxeSymxsA9zDfleGg

About the host:

Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, 8 figure business owner, mentor, podcaster and creator of the 1-Hour CEO and Life Code Program. As a CEO, Paul has a depth of 'real life' experience of what it takes to be successful in business and life.

Connect with the host:

Pauljryan.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-ryan-9a98774/

About Jerry Colona: Jerry is a coach, writer, and speaker who focuses on leadership, business, and the practice of radical self-inquiry. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Reboot.io, a company born from the rallying cry that work does not have to destroy us. Work can be the way in which we achieve our fullest self. In this deeply reflective conversation, Jerry Colonna — former VC, author of Reboot and Reunion, and one of the world’s most respected CEO coaches — explores the inner journey every entrepreneur must eventually face.

What begins as a discussion about his now-famous out-of-office message becomes a profound exploration of peace, equanimity, grief, identity, and the universal human impulse to return to our true selves. Jerry shares how the high-flying identity of “Prince of New York” once overshadowed the quieter, truer part of him — the poet, the contemplative, the man seeking wholeness rather than achievement.

Through stories of depression, breakdown, meditation, ancestors, and impermanence, he illustrates how inner turbulence and outer success often coexist — and why the real work is learning to return, again and again, to what matters.

https://www.reboot.io/about/coaches

About the Host:

Paul Ryan Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, mentor, and host of The Inner Entrepreneur. As the creator of The One-Hour CEO and The Life Code, Paul helps business owners design lives of fulfilment, clarity, and balance. His work blends entrepreneurship, personal growth, and purpose.

Work With Paul:

If you're ready to build a business and life that’s aligned, intentional, and deeply fulfilling, explore The Life Code and The One-Hour CEO — coaching and tools for high-performing entrepreneurs.

Connect with the host: www.pauljryan.net https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-ryan-9a98774/

In this Bite-Size episode, Paul explores the powerful turning point in Seamus Fox’s life — growing up in Derry during the conflict, navigating poverty, and drifting into destructive paths before a near-fatal car crash forced him to confront who he was becoming. Waking in a blood-stained flat after a night in a cell became the moment that pushed him back toward what had always grounded him: sport. From bodybuilding to personal training to building multiple thriving fitness businesses, Seamus uncovered the deeper thread running through his life — mindset, purpose, and human behaviour.

About the Guest

Seamus Fox is a mindset and human-behaviour coach with over 20 years of experience. His journey began in the fitness industry, where he built multiple successful businesses while helping people unlock their potential.

About the Host – Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan is an entrepreneur, CEO, mentor, and host of The Inner Entrepreneur. As the creator of The One-Hour CEO and The Life Code, Paul works with elite entrepreneurs trapped in their businesses, helping them break free and design lives they really want.

Links to full episode:

https://youtu.be/kycQR0eWojc?si=iLguOMNDNgcLiplc

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oEf2MwIokR3MsPkUmhcO6?si=E5hr-POVT2y3oouD_NGM8w

In this conversation, I sit down with high-performance coach Enda McNulty to explore what it really means to perform under pressure – not just on the pitch in front of 80,000 people, but in the boardroom, in a hospital corridor, or at your kitchen table having a hard conversation with someone you love. Enda shares the story of walking into the 2002 All-Ireland semi-final with his confidence “in his socks” and how tools like meditation, breathwork, affirmations and what he calls incantations helped him shift from panic to presence. We talk about the “inner game” of entrepreneurs – how daily rituals, mental toughness, gratitude and purpose compound over time so that, when life blindsides you (like flying to Houston to say goodbye to a dying cousin), you have something solid to lean on.

We also go deep into what peak performance means for “ordinary” lives: the teacher who quietly shapes thousands of kids, the local leader who regenerates a community, the parent who shows up with presence for their family. Enda challenges the idea of scaling for the sake of scaling and instead makes the case for scaling impact, not ego – defining your own scorecard for success and building a life and business around what you truly care about. Along the way we touch on mentors, meditation, finding your tribe, the unseen impact of great teachers, and why passion and purpose matter far more than revenue charts if you actually want to sustain high performance over a lifetime.

About Enda McNulty

Enda McNulty has over 35 years of experience coaching elite performance in sports, business.

https://mcnultyperformance.com/

Work With Paul

Explore The Life Code and The One-Hour CEO — frameworks and mentoring for designing a successful life with purpose, alignment, and humanity.

www.pauljryan.net