Shows
Famous Interviews with Joe DiminoEntrepreneur William Holsten on Startup Mistakes, Innovation & Smart GrowthWelcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Entrepreneur, Corporate Innovator, Author, Speaker, and Workshop Leader William Holsten. William is a business mistake prevention specialist and mentor who helps entrepreneurs and small business owners avoid the costly, preventable blunders that derail long-term success.
After inventing and launching his own small business — and making more than a few “uh-ohs” along the way — William spent nearly four decades leading innovation inside a global corporation. He now applies those lessons to help startups, founders, and business leaders see mistakes differently: n...
2026-02-0328 min
Beyond Fulfillment PodcastFrom Painful Mistakes to Profitable Pivots: William Holsten’s Story of ReinventionIn this episode, Dave sits down with William Holsten, famously known as the Business Mistake Prevention Specialist, to share a refreshingly honest conversation about the unpredictable journey of entrepreneurship. William draws from his decades at Bayer Consumer Health and his real-world experience of taking a backyard carnival game from a napkin sketch to national product—mistakes, setbacks, and all.Listen in as he details how a failed dunk tank rental and a clever water balloon invention led him and his family straight into the realities of start-up life—facing costly blunders, customer complaints, and ultimately, product redesign. You’...
2026-01-2733 min
Business Growth TrailblazersHow to Avoid Preventable Business Mistakes With William HolstenWelcome to the Business Growth Trailblazers Podcast! In today’s episode, we’re talking about avoiding preventable mistakes in your business that slow your growth.William Holsten helps entrepreneurs and small business owners avoid costly mistakes before they derail success. Growing up in Mineola, New York, he learned early that work and results go hand in hand. After earning a B.S. in Communications and an MBA in International Business from St. John’s University, he began his career in New York as a copywriter and account executive, developing clear, persuasive messaging that he still...
2026-01-0816 min
Adrienne Barker Speaks: No Prep NeededWilliam Holsten: How to ‘Uh-Oh Proof’ Your BusinessWhen you’re building a business, the most expensive problems are often the ones you never saw coming. In this episode, Business Mistake Prevention Specialist William Holsten shares how a carnival game side hustle turned into a patented product, a $2M revenue run… and a painful $2.3M lesson. From broken dunk-tank alternatives to distraction, fatigue, and burnout, William shows entrepreneurs how to spot their personal risk patterns—and “uh-oh proof” their business before costly mistakes derail success.In this conversation, William Holsten walks through his 38-year career in corporate marketing and innovation—and the family side business that taught...
2025-12-1950 min
Aro Benaiah ShowLessons from the Shop Floor: Goof-Proofing Your Hands-On Business for Real SuccessOn this episode of The Aro Benaiah Show, we sit down with William Holsten, a trades-focused innovator whose journey spans corporate boardrooms, hands-on service work, and inventing backyard games that now sell worldwide. With nearly 40 years of experience, William brings raw, real, battle-tested wisdom every tradesperson needs.We talk honestly about the common pitfalls new business owners face launching products too early, overlooking customer needs, ignoring long-term durability, and failing to build the right systems. William shares how he turned early blunders into breakthroughs, the tools he uses to spot blind spots, and why...
2025-12-0736 min
The SellthatSaaS Podcast31: You're Losing Deals in Discovery (Here's Why)On this episode of SellThatSaaS, host Will Padilla sits down with discovery & sales conversation expert Jonny Holsten (Bridge Selling) to fix the part of your process that’s quietly killing your deals: your discovery call. We unpack why most reps stop 2–3 questions too early, how to ask “why now?” without sounding pushy, the six categories every winning sales conversation hits, and how to stop advancing bad-fit inbound leads that clog your pipeline. We get into outbound vs inbound strategy, how to qualify with integrity, what to do when a prospect “has no timeline,” and why pain + timing matter more than any fan...
2025-11-1950 min
AIBiZCan you goof-proof your business and turn “uh-oh” into “aha”? with William HolstenOn AIBiz, we unpack tactical mistake-prevention for founders and SMBs. William Holsten. Business Mistake Prevention Specialist and author of “Uh-Oh! How to Avoid Unintentional Blunders That Derail Entrepreneurial Success”. lays out a practical operating system to de-risk decisions. validate assumptions. and keep cash flow and execution aligned. From MVP validation to checklists and post-mortems. we cover how to spot red flags early. leverage AI for pre-mortems. and build a culture that learns fast without burning cash.
About the guest :
William Holsten is a former global innovation leader at Bayer turned small-business owner. mentor at SCOR...
2025-11-1624 minAIBiZCan you goof-proof your business and turn “uh-oh” into “aha”? with William HolstenOn AIBiz, we unpack tactical mistake-prevention for founders and SMBs. William Holsten. Business Mistake Prevention Specialist and author of “Uh-Oh! How to Avoid Unintentional Blunders That Derail Entrepreneurial Success”. lays out a practical operating system to de-risk decisions. validate assumptions. and keep cash flow and execution aligned. From MVP validation to checklists and post-mortems. we cover how to spot red flags early. leverage AI for pre-mortems. and build a culture that learns fast without burning cash.
About the guest :
William Holsten is a former global innovation leader at Bayer turned small-business owner. mentor at SCOR...
2025-11-1624 min
The Dead Pixels Society podcastMistake-Proof Your Small Business, with William HolstenHave an idea or tip? Send us a text!Ever notice how a new boss “fixes” a process that wasn’t broken—and six months later everyone is quietly doing it the old way again? That loop is costly for small businesses, and we sought a more effective approach. William Holsten, a business mistake prevention specialist, author, and former brand leader, will unpack why errors repeat and how to prevent them with simple, durable habits.Holsten starts with the real first step after a leadership change: get out of the office and into your cus...
2025-10-0228 min
Freedom Entrepreneur Podcast | Online Business Tips, Business System Strategy, Marketing Training, Entrepreneur MindsetThe $10,000 Mistake Checklist: How to Prevent Business Blunders Before They Cost YouWhat if you could predict and prevent the costly mistakes that sink most businesses before they happen? In this episode, I sit down with William Holsten, a Business Mistake Prevention Specialist who's on a mission to help entrepreneurs avoid the expensive blunders that derail success.Bill shares his own entrepreneurial journey – including the painful "uh-oh moment" when multiple customers called to complain about his invention after launch. He'd spent nearly $100,000 producing 100 units of a carnival game without proper testing, and the pieces were literally falling apart. The mistake nearly destroyed his business, but the lessons he learned tr...
2025-09-2932 min
Behind Their Success: Advice For Entrepreneurs102: How to Avoid a $10,000 Mistake in Your BusinessAvoiding mistakes is priceless. If you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or high achiever chasing personal development and growth, this conversation is going to hit home.
I sat down with William Holsten—a seasoned entrepreneur, inventor, bestselling author, and the “Business Mistake Prevention Specialist.” With nearly 40 years in global marketing and innovation plus his own entrepreneurial ventures (including a patented carnival game that’s still around today), William has seen it all—the wins, the setbacks, and the costly mistakes.
We dive into:
The biggest preventable mistakes entrepreneurs make and how to spot them early
How to “goof proof” your business wi...
2025-08-2536 min
Think Business with TylerThe $94,000 SBA Loan That Didn’t Go as Planned - William HolstenWilliam Holsten went from corporate marketer to carnival game inventor—then turned failure into a business-saving framework that’s helping founders avoid costly mistakes.
What started as a fun idea to support a charity carnival became Pitch Burst, a hit water balloon game that gained national attention. But behind the scenes, poor materials, refund requests, and engineering missteps nearly tanked the business.
Rather than quit, William went back to the drawing board—and created a smarter way to build and scale. He turned hard-won lessons into a repeatable system: one that’s now captured in his book...
2025-06-3046 min
Simply Be Found HuddleHow to Avoid Business Mistakes That Cost You EverythingIn this Simply Be Found Huddle, we sit down with William Holsten — retired innovation expert, small business mentor, and author of Uh Oh: Avoid Unintentional Blunders That Derail Entrepreneurial Success. William shares decades of experience from corporate leadership, personal side-hustle lessons, and mentorship with SCORE to show you how to avoid costly errors and goofproof your business.🔑 Key Takeaways:— Why “Uh Oh” moments happen to every entrepreneur— How to anticipate failure and build better systems— The “Look in the Mirror” method to uncover your blind spots— How to test ideas BEFORE you inve...
2025-06-1748 min
The Thoughtful Entrepreneur2213 - How to Turn Your Business Blunders into Laughs and Lessons with William HolstenGoof-Proofing Your Business: In-Depth Strategies to Avoid Entrepreneurial BlundersIn this episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur, host Josh Elledge speaks with William Holsten, author of UH-OH! Avoid Unintentional Blunders That Derail Entrepreneurial Success and Goof-Proof Your Business. William brings decades of innovation leadership and entrepreneurial experience to the table, helping founders avoid the kinds of costly mistakes that derail even the most promising ventures. This episode is packed with actionable strategies that help entrepreneurs build self-awareness, minimize risk, and create resilient systems that catch problems before they happen.Build Systems That Prevent Mistakes Before They...
2025-06-1720 min
Freedom Nation PodcastWilliam Holsten’s Burnout, Heart Surgery & Reinvention: The Power of Mental Health in BusinessMost entrepreneurs wait until something goes wrong before thinking about systems, customer retention, or business automation. And when those problems hit, they cost time, money, and momentum. William Holston learned this the hard way—from carnival-style side hustles that flopped to nearly losing a deal because of a wrong phone number. But instead of giving up, he turned each mistake into a lesson, eventually creating tools like the “Uh-Oh Checklist” to help entrepreneurs catch the gaps before they cost them.In this episode, William walks us through the common business traps he sees over and over—from skipping...
2025-05-2826 min
nuBeginning: Inspiration for you!The 10 Tools to Stop Business Mistakes Before They Start | William Holsten"UH-OH!" moments can derail your business—unless you know how to handle them.In this eye-opening interview, William Holsten—inventor, entrepreneur, and author of UH-OH! Avoid Unintentional Blunders that Derail Entrepreneurial Success—shares powerful insights into why mistakes happen and how to prevent them.🔍 Drawing from his journey with WhirlWhims LLC, William offers practical tools and candid wisdom to help you blunder-proof your business. Whether you're launching your first product or scaling your company, this conversation is your roadmap for smarter, safer decisions.Questions William Is Always Ready To...
2025-05-2751 min
Harmonious at LunchThis Week's Strategy Mix: Branding, Sales, & SurvivalReady for a power-packed distillation of this week's business wisdom? 🚀Host Brandon Gano brings together key ideas from fascinating conversations covering a spectrum of entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities.From crafting an authentic brand voice to escaping the founder sales trap, preventing costly mistakes, and managing your most vital resource – your energy.Let's recap the actionable strategies shared by this week's guests!🗣️✨First up, we revisited authentic branding with Hersh Rephun.Remember the importance of developing fluency in your brand language, moving beyond stiff...
2025-05-0216 min
Harmonious at LunchAvoid COSTLY Growth Mistakes with PROVEN Business StrategiesEver made a business mistake that made you cringe (or maybe cost you dearly)? 🤦♀️ You're definitely not alone! Research shows a staggering 95% of entrepreneurs admit to making "dumb mistakes." These aren't just minor slip-ups; these "Uh-Oh!" moments can be embarrassing, expensive, or even tragic for your business.This episode isn't about dwelling on past errors – it's about preventing future ones. 🛠️Meet William (Bill) Holsten, author of "UH-OH!", who learned about mistakes the hard way (ask him about his carnival game venture!) and now shares practical tools to help you avoid them. He translates proven techniques from corporate i...
2025-04-3019 min
Founders Podcast8 Startup Mistakes You’re Probably Making Without Realising8 out of 10 startups fail—but what if most of those failures were avoidable? Imagine having a toolkit that not only shows you where things go wrong but also teaches you how to “goof-proof” your business before disaster strikes.Today’s guest has made—and survived—his fair share of entrepreneurial blunders. From navigating the rollercoaster of launching WhirlWhims LLC to mentoring small business owners on how not to self-sabotage, he’s distilled his wisdom into a powerful new book, UH-OH!He’s an inventor, entrepreneur, and the self-proclaimed “Uh-Oh! Navigator”… Please welcome William Holsten to the Founders Podcast.
2025-04-1542 min
Frugalpreneur: Building a Business on a Bootstrapped BudgetTaking Your Business from “Uh Oh” to “Ah Ha” (with William Holsten)In this podcast, we engage in a profound discourse with William Holsten, an accomplished inventor and entrepreneur, who elucidates the pivotal lessons encapsulated in his book, "Uh Oh: Avoid Unintentional Blunders That Derail Entrepreneurial Success and Goof-Proof Your Business." The central tenet of our conversation revolves around the concept of "uh oh moments," instances when entrepreneurs encounter unforeseen setbacks that can be both humbling and costly. Holston shares his personal journey, detailing the trials he faced while developing innovative carnival games, which serve as illustrative examples of the blunders that can arise in the entrepreneurial landscape. He provides invaluable...
2025-04-0433 min
Direct or DetourWilliam Holsten: From Corporate Innovation to Carnival Failures—and the Lessons That Sparked “Uh-Oh!”What happens when a seasoned corporate innovator launches a side business—and it fails hard? In this episode of Direct Or Detour, author and entrepreneur William Holsten unpacks the highs and “Uh-Oh!” moments of his unconventional journey. From leading global innovation workshops to inventing backyard carnival games, William’s path is filled with creativity, risk, and resilience. He shares how a business misstep nearly derailed everything—and how it inspired his new book, UH-OH! Avoid Unintentional Blunders that Derail Entrepreneurial Success. Discover 10 powerful tools he now uses to help entrepreneurs goof-proof their businesses and turn setbacks into stepping stones.🎙 Gue...
2025-03-2631 min
Rebel WomenBeauty queens, women's libbers and the communistsIn 1970, Women’s Liberation activists targeted the Miss World contest, propelling the movement on to the global stage. Among them was Jo Robinson, originally from Blackpool, now living in East London. This is her story of that infamous night. Yet that night was also famous for crowning the first ever black beauty queen. Since the 1950s, political radical, Claudia Jones had been using beauty pageants in the fight against racism.So what are beauty pageants – a cattle market or a way to empower black women?If you enjoy this podcast, plea...
2021-12-1537 min
Holly-J's PodcastThe DJ Lounge - Collaborative Mixtape - 1st Edition July 2019Here's a huge collaborative mix ... containing 10 x 10 minute mixes by different artists with all different genres ranging from RNB, Party, House to Minimal & finally PsyTrance. Enjoy!!! ....||| Samus Jay - Start > 9.55 || 1 - Blueface feat. Cardi B & YG - Thotiana | 2 - Post Malone - Wow. | 3 - Chris Brown feat. Nicki Minaj & G-Eazy - Wobble Up | 4 - YG feat. Tyga & Jon Z - Go Loko | 5- Joe feat. Mystikal - Stutter | 6 - Eminem-The Real Slim Shady | 7 - French Montana feat. Blueface & Lil Tjay - Slide | 8 - Marshmello feat. Tyga & Chris Brown - Light It Up | 9 - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber...
2019-07-251h 46