Business is Good with Chris Cooper

Most entrepreneurs are giving themselves the wrong advice. Not because they're lazy, and not because they haven't read enough business books — but because the business advice industry doesn't sort itself by phase. So they end up doing the right things at the wrong time: hiring a fractional COO when they need ten new clients, building complicated org charts when they still can't take a weekend off, choosing typography when they should be making sales calls.In this episode, Chris Cooper walks through the four phases every entrepreneur moves through — and most get stuck in: Founder, Farmer, Tinker, and Chief.It's a preview of his rewritten book Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Chief — originally published in 2018 as Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief. The first three phases are sharper. The fourth is completely reimagined.You'll learn:Why building a business is a triathlon, not a marathon — and why the stroke that wins the swim will crash you on the bikeThe primary goal, the primary trap, and the exit signal for each of the four phasesWhy "Thief" became "Chief" in the rewrite — and what it really takes to build a movement instead of a companyThe six parts of a real movement — and why your competitor is never your villainA five-minute audit you can run on yourself this week to figure out which phase you're actually inThere's also a twist in this episode — one the audience doesn't see coming. Stay until the end.Listen, subscribe, and share with the entrepreneur who needs to hear it.

Is AI your ally or your enemy? On this episode of Business is Good, Chris Cooper makes the case that the answer is entirely up to you.Chris opens with a story that didn't get nearly enough attention: Anthropic — the company behind the AI model Claude — recently developed a tool called Claude Mythos Preview that found thousands of security vulnerabilities in every major operating system and web browser. Some of those flaws had gone undetected for nearly three decades. Rather than releasing the technology publicly, Anthropic quietly shared it with about 50 of the world's most critical companies — Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, JPMorgan — through a program called Project Glasswing. The goal: fix the holes before bad actors find them. That's AI being used as a force for protection.Then Chris gets into why so many artists, writers, and editors are terrified — and why the recent collapse of a major book deal for horror novelist Mia Ballard is a story about deception, not technology. Her editor used AI without her knowledge, her publisher dropped her, and her career was left in ruins. The lesson isn't to avoid AI. The lesson is to own your process and be transparent about it.From there, Chris walks through exactly how he produces this podcast using AI: brain dumps into Claude, fact-checking that actually pushes back, plus audio editing, video clipping, social content, and graphics — saving roughly five hours per episode.The episode closes with a simple argument: AI bridges gaps. It removes the excuses. And curiosity is the only prerequisite.Topics: AI tools, small business productivity, content creation, Canadian entrepreneurship, technology adoptionConnect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Most Canadian entrepreneurs carry a quiet belief that a job would have been the safer choice. The data says otherwise.In this episode of Business Is Good, host Chris Cooper makes the case that owning a business in Canada right now is one of the most rational financial decisions a person can make. Not the bravest. The most rational.At 35, Chris seriously considered taking a job at a call center because it felt secure. That company is bankrupt. He isn't. That story frames an episode built entirely on verified Canadian data — and a clear-eyed argument for why "the safe path" is a myth that's costing Canadian business owners real money, real confidence, and real pride.You'll learn:Why job security is largely a feeling, not a fact — and what Statistics Canada's numbers actually show about who creates economic stability in this countryThe three things business ownership creates that employment never will: equity, tax tools available through your CCPC, and a multiplier effect on everyone around youWhy small businesses employ nearly half of Canada's private sector workforce and generated 38% of all new jobs in 2023 — making entrepreneurs the actual backbone of this economyWhy the owners who outperform aren't smarter or luckier — they just know their "why"This episode ends with three concrete actions and an introduction to the Mindset Myth Buster — a free worksheet that helps you identify the six specific beliefs holding your business back.Free download at businessisgood.com.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

fter World War II, villagers on a Pacific island built bamboo replicas of military airstrips — and waited for the planes to come back. They still wait today. Historians call it a "cargo cult": a community so committed to repeating the rituals of success that they completely lose sight of what actually caused that success in the first place.This episode is about what happens when brands do the same thing.Using CrossFit as the central case study — and drawing on the timelines of Kodak, Blackberry, and Blockbuster — Chris Cooper maps out exactly how a thriving, innovative brand calcifies into a cult. The signs are predictable. The pattern is consistent. And the result is always the same: the company stops evolving while competitors do the science.You'll learn the five warning signs that a brand is heading toward cult status, what the "dark ages" look like inside a company, and why the most dangerous thing a business can do is confuse its method with its mission.This episode ends with the biggest test facing businesses right now: AI. The companies that are already testing, experimenting, and adapting will be the ones still standing. The ones waiting for things to go back to normal are building bamboo control towers.If you're a Canadian business owner who wants to grow — not just survive — this one's for you.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Most companies reward their best people by promoting them out of what they're actually good at. Your top salesperson becomes a sales manager. Your best developer becomes a team lead. And suddenly you're paying them more to do a job they weren't trained for — while they generate fewer results doing the job they were hired for.There's a better way. And it starts with understanding the difference between a coach and a mentor.In this episode, Chris Cooper breaks down the two-track system the best companies use to develop their people from the inside. Coaches help employees apply company standards and perform their jobs better — they're an investment in performance. Mentors help employees build careers and see the path forward — they're an investment in retention.You'll learn how to identify the right people for each role, how to teach them to transfer their skills effectively (because being great at something doesn't automatically make you great at teaching it), and how to run a 3-month test to measure whether your coaching program is generating a real return.Chris also covers how to connect your coaching program to the tools from last episode's company college — online courses, drip learning, gamification, and AI — so your college and your coaches work together instead of in parallel.Plus: two concrete examples of executive mentorship programs that reduced turnover, rebuilt leadership pipelines, and freed up CEOs to actually lead.If your best people are being wasted in the wrong roles — or quietly looking for the door — this episode is for you.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Canadian universities are in crisis — and not just because the government cut international student visas. Fourteen Ontario universities are running combined deficits of over $400 million. The University of Waterloo is staring down a $75 million shortfall. Laurentian already went bankrupt. And through all of it, the response from most institutions has been to ask the government for more money rather than examine how they got here.In this episode of BusinessIsGood, Chris Cooper makes the case that universities are businesses — whether they want to admit it or not — and they're failing at the basics.Chris breaks down four specific failures holding universities back. First, fiscal management: institutions that built their entire revenue model around a single funding source they couldn't control, then acted surprised when it disappeared. Second, curriculum relevance: graduates entering the workforce without knowing how to use AI, navigate the gig economy, or market themselves — because their professors were hired under an industrial model that no longer exists. Third, the social experience myth: the "campus life" pitch that peaked in 1985 and mostly vanished, leaving students who were put into groups but never actually taught how to work in them. Fourth, and most critically, the failure to teach people how to think — skipping logic, self-leadership, public speaking, and entrepreneurship in favour of increasingly abstract academic programming.The question universities need to answer honestly: what are they actually selling? And if it's critical thinking, real-world preparation, or how to manage oneself — most universities should put themselves through their own program first.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

After our last episode about teaching kids entrepreneurship, many parents realized they wanted to start something themselves. But most side hustle advice is terrible - scams, pyramid schemes, or ideas requiring massive followings.This episode cuts through the noise with six proven side hustles you can start this week with under $200 and 5-10 hours per week.**The Six Side Hustles:****Virtual Assistant Services** ($600-1,800/month) - Handle administrative tasks for small businesses remotely. Minimal startup, flexible hours.**Online Tutoring** ($480-1,600/month) - Teach what you know, whether academic subjects or professional skills. Parents are desperate for quality tutoring.**Pet Sitting & Dog Walking** ($400-1,200/month) - Canadians spent $10 billion on pets in 2023. Trusted local pet care is always in demand.**Freelance Content Writing** ($500-2,000/month) - Every business needs blogs, social media content, and newsletters but most owners hate writing.**Home Services** ($600-2,000/month) - Handyman work, cleaning, organizing. Simple services with constant demand.**Digital Products** ($100-500/month) - Create templates, guides, or courses once and sell them forever.Each side hustle includes: exactly what it is, why it works, startup costs, how to get your first client, time commitment, and realistic income expectations.No hype. No "quit your job in 90 days." Just practical ways real Canadians can create extra income while keeping their day jobs.

Three friends graduated high school together. Same opportunities, same starting point. Fifteen years later, one makes $85,000 working overtime (exhausted), one makes $115,000 through specialization (better income, still trapped by time), and one makes $105,000 total with $30,000 coming from assets that earn while she sleeps.The difference isn't intelligence or work ethic. It's leverage.Most Canadians are stuck trading time for money. Statistics Canada reports that over 30% of workers have taken on side gigs just to survive. We work more hours for the same money because we don't understand the three fundamental paths to earning more.Path One: Work more hours (1X leverage, hard ceiling). Path Two: Increase your skills through education and specialization (3X leverage, higher income but still time-dependent). Path Three: Buy assets that work for you (infinite leverage, no ceiling).This episode combines Naval Ravikant's principles on leverage with Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad framework—but for regular people, not just entrepreneurs. You don't need to own a business. You can start with $50.Learn how to calculate your "Freedom Number," open your first investment account, and begin building wealth through Canadian index funds, real estate, and digital assets. Discover why only 3% of Canadians achieve financial independence, and how you can join them.Golden Hour Challenge: Create your Personal Leverage Map and take your first concrete step toward Path Three income.Stop renting out your time. Start buying assets.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck every day. Mark Zuckerberg wears gray t-shirts. Tim Cook wakes up at 4 AM and follows the exact same routine. Warren Buffett protects his calendar so fiercely that Bill Gates wrote admiringly about it.These aren't quirks. They're systems designed to reduce decision fatigue and conserve mental energy for decisions that actually matter.In this episode, I walk you through a proven framework to identify your Daily Non-Negotiables—the 3-4 specific actions that, if you did them without fail, would make success unavoidable.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:Why the most successful CEOs follow strict daily routines (and it's not what you think)The three-part framework: Vision → Priorities → Non-NegotiablesHow to turn vague goals into specific, measurable daily actionsReal examples of strong vs. weak Daily Non-NegotiablesWhy 40% of your life is already on autopilot (and how to make that work for you)How to build a backup plan so your habits actually stickTHE FRAMEWORK:Part 1: VISION - Who are you becoming? Identify the version of yourself one year from now at your absolute best.Part 2: PRIORITIES - What three areas create the most leverage? Focus on the growth areas that move you toward your vision.Part 3: NON-NEGOTIABLES - What's one specific daily action for each priority? Build habits that are specific, measurable, brief, repeatable, and valuable.THIS IS A GUIDED EXERCISE:I walk you through each step with pauses for you to think and write. By the end of this episode, you'll have your three Daily Non-Negotiables identified and ready to implement.YOUR GOLDEN HOUR:Protect your Daily Non-Negotiables. Block the time. Set up tracking. Build the system. Small actions, repeated consistently, compound into massive transformation.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Steve Jobs' wardrobe simplification strategyMark Zuckerberg's decision-reduction approachTim Cook's 4 AM routineWarren Buffett's time protectionJack Dorsey's themed daysDuke University research on habitual behaviorThe average person's 35,000 daily decisionsWhether you're running a $100K business or building toward $1M, this framework will help you engineer success through consistent daily action.This is BusinessIsGood—practical business growth strategies for Canadian entrepreneurs who are ready to move beyond survival mode and build businesses that thrive.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Starting January 5th, 2026, tens of thousands of Ontario government employees return to the office full-time, with Alberta following in February. Major banks and corporations are rolling out similar mandates across Canada. But are we solving the real problem?Canada's productivity crisis is undeniable. Our GDP per capita has fallen to 75% of the US level (down from 90% in 2010), and we're second only to Italy in G7 productivity decline. Business productivity dropped 1% in Q2 2025—the sharpest decline since 2022.The instinct is to blame remote work. But the data tells a different story: 77% of remote workers report being more productive at home, yet 85% of leaders don't trust it. The real issue? Most managers never learned to manage without proximity, and most employees never developed the self-management skills remote work requires.For decades, managers relied on presence as a proxy for productivity. Remote work exposed this weakness. Meanwhile, 61% of remote workers say they need more training, but only 70% receive it. The result: some thrive remotely while others work 65% more hours and burn out.The solution isn't about choosing remote versus office—it's about intentional skill-building. Managers need to learn outcome-based management. Employees need time management and boundary-setting skills. Organizations need to design work models deliberately.This week's Golden Hour challenge: If you're a manager, define what "good" actually looks like for one person's role. If you're an employee, track where one full workday actually goes. If you're an owner, identify your biggest productivity drain.The businesses that build these skills will dominate. The ones arguing about chairs won't.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Two hundred years ago, jobs lasted generations. Your grandfather kept the same job for 40 years. Today? You'll change jobs at least 12 times in your working life—and you're unlikely to be doing what you're doing now in just five years.The job cycle has collapsed from multi-generational stability to something almost unpredictable, and AI is accelerating this change beyond anything we've seen before. But here's the truth most people miss: AI isn't taking your job. Your outdated skills are.In this episode, we break down what employees need to do to stay relevant and how employers can manage workforce transitions without destroying their teams. You'll hear real examples from companies getting it right—Citibank trained 175,000 employees, Amazon invested $1.2 billion, and PwC created gamified learning that attracts 9,000 participants monthly.Workers now need new skills every decade, not every generation. Self-education isn't optional anymore. Companies that figure out how to retrain their people will dominate their industries. Those that don't will lose their best talent.The pace of change isn't slowing down. This episode gives you the playbook for navigating it—one Golden Hour at a time.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/

You're losing the talent war—not because you're a bad employer, but because the game is rigged against you.Government standardizes pay across wildly different cost-of-living markets. Big corporations offer pensions and benefits you can't touch. Your salary dollar is worth less before you even start competing.So how do you keep great people when you can't match the offer down the street?Stop trying to win on salary. Your employees don't actually want more money—they want fewer problems. Money just happens to solve problems.In this episode, discover how a Toronto Maple Leafs GM facing a 43% tax disadvantage turned his structural weakness into a competitive advantage. Then learn the five-problem framework small businesses use to retain talent without breaking the bank:• Time Theft – Save them hours with on-site services and strategic partnerships• Food Friction – Solve meal planning and grocery stress cheaper than raises• Family Burden – Real examples like free staff housing and vacation property rotation• Health & Wellness Gaps – Group-rate access to trainers, RMTs, and financial planners• Development Stagnation – Create visible growth paths that keep people engagedYou'll also learn the five critical rules that make this work (including the tax structure mistake that turns perks into taxable income), and why foosball tables and branded swag are "perk theater" that won't retain anyone.Golden Hour Action: Survey your team with one question—"What costs you the most time or money outside work?"—then build your competing offer from their actual problems.The salary game is rigged. But the problem-solving game? That's one you can win.Connect with Chris Cooper:Website - https://businessisgood.com/