While editing an episode of Leader Generation, I heard something that stopped me mid-cut.

The guest — Mariano Bosaz, VP of Global Consumer Strategy at Coca-Cola and author of The Digital Mindset — had dreamed of becoming an ambassador for a country. Official title, formal post, the works. It didn't happen. (Turns out without a family diplomat connection, they just send you somewhere terrible when you're old to make photocopies.)

But what did happen? Eighteen years at Coca-Cola, three continents, 92 countries, building bridges between people, technology, and culture.

He became an ambassador. Just not the one he'd imagined.

That got me thinking about my own story. My son Austin asked me what I wanted to be when I was young — like, little-kid young. I told him the truth: a teacher and a children's author.

Neither happened the way I'd pictured it at 12, 15, or 22.

But I taught volunteer art literacy at my kids' elementary school for 12 years. I teach clients every day how to show up authentically and stop hiding behind corporate-speak. I host workshops. I've been in teacher mode longer than most credentialed teachers I know.

And my book, Dino Manners, came out in 2009. I've finished others. There's a binder of short stories written for our kids sitting in our house right now.

I did both things. I just didn't recognize them because they didn't arrive in the packaging I expected.

In this short episode, I want to push back on the idea that unrealized dreams are failed dreams. They're rarely that literal. They're pointing at something — a drive, a value, a way of moving through the world.

Those don't expire.

Give it a listen. Then maybe pass it along to someone who needs to look at their dreams from a different angle — at any age.

Links mentioned in this episode:

https://marianobosaz.com/

https://tenloradio.com/e/ep161-digital-mindset-the-bridge-leaders-need-for-the-ai-era/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianobosaz/

https://binkypatrol.org

https://dinomanners.com

Susan Finch sits down with Laura Patterson, President and Co-Founder at VisionEdge Marketing. They explore why businesses chase shiny new tools instead of maximizing what already works, the real cost of remote work on mentorship and professional development, and how strategic restraint might be the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.

Laura brings decades of experience helping companies achieve measurable business outcomes through marketing, while Susan brings her perspective from working with business-focused podcasts and small- to mid-size companies. Together, they challenge the assumption that more tools, more content, and more technology automatically equals better results.

The conversation moves from the "random acts of marketing" that plague so many businesses to the critical importance of in-person mentorship for young professionals. Laura shares insights from her 20-year intern program, while both hosts discuss how the shift to remote work has created a mentorship crisis that's hurting the next generation's ability to navigate difficult conversations and workplace dynamics.

Whether you're drowning in marketing tools, struggling to find clarity in your strategy, or wondering how to bring up the next generation of professionals, this episode offers a refreshing dose of reality and actionable wisdom.

Laura Patterson is President and co-founder of VisionEdge Marketing, a growth strategy firm she launched in 1999. A globally recognized expert in customer-centric growth and Marketing Performance Management, Laura has worked with over 300 companies to replace disconnected acts with deliberate, measurable strategies rooted in creating business and customer value. Her career began at Motorola and grew through leadership roles in marketing operations, product and strategic marketing, and customer marketing and loyalty. She is the author of multiple books, including the award-winning Fast-Track Your Business: A Customer-Centric Approach to Accelerate Market Growth, and holds a patent for Accelance®, a SaaS platform that connects activities directly to business outcomes. Laura hosts the "What's Your Edge" podcast and has mentored over 50 marketing interns over 20 years. A LinkedIn Influencer and frequent keynote speaker, she has won over a dozen thought leadership awards. Connect with Laura at visionedgemarketing.com.

After getting flooded with AI-generated guest pitch emails, Susan and Lany decided to remind everyone what Rooted in Revenue is really about. It's not just about making money. Everything you do impacts your revenue: your sleep patterns, your workspace, your team, even that specific spot on your couch where you always fall asleep. The podcast is about how to keep money from draining out of your business through inefficiency, procrastination, and all those hidden time thieves you don't even notice.

Neither Susan nor Lany went to college. They learned to run businesses by working in businesses, making mistakes, and course-correcting. The education system doesn't teach you who to hire first, when to buy the domain, or that you probably don't need a 40-page business plan. Real business transformation takes 9-12 months, not 30 days, because you need space to think, innovate, and rediscover the joy you'd forgotten about. Time is your real currency, and everything is rooted in revenue.

• 00:45 - Why they started Rooted in Revenue several years ago
• 01:45 - Everything impacts your revenue: systems, processes, efficiency
• 02:30 - You're an athlete in your business: how is the athlete performing?
• 03:30 - The education system doesn't teach you how to run a business
• 07:15 - Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and their limitations
• 08:15 - The problem with business plan obsession
• 11:45 - The biggest deficit: time, not money
• 13:15 - The trap of creating vs. implementing with AI tools
• 13:45 - The Love-Hate-Delegate framework
• 17:30 - Using spreadsheets with formulas to track tasks
• 23:30 - Nine to twelve month process vs. 30-day overwhelm
• 24:30 - The plan is never the plan: it's a concept
• 25:45 - Rediscovering joy and forgotten talents
• 26:30 - Cheryl Walsh's Laguna's underwater mermaid photography metaphor
• 27:30 - What you say vs. what the team says vs. what consultants find
• 28:00 - Bringing back the original spark
• 28:15 - Lany's six-week Chaos Cleanse Facebook group
• 29:00 - Reviewing old course materials for new insights
• 29:30 - Keeping materials in a "Stuff I Learned" folder to revisit and search