Built for Impact: Business, Balance, and the Abundance Mindset with Lauren Bencekovich
The Relentless Pursuit of Winning Podcast
Release Date: 09/16/2025
The Relentless Pursuit of Winning Podcast
đ„ Excerpt âEither I will win, I will learn, or I will transform.â ⥠TL;DR Frances Strickland joins me to explore value, pricing, clarity, and faith in business. She outlines how structure, leadership, and flow reveal the hidden leaks that keep founders from predictable profitability. We talk about defining an ideal customer, practicing value based pricing, and selling in a way that honors both the buyer and the work. Frances shares stories about financial pressure, reinvention during COVID, and spiritual nudges that shaped her offers and networking strategy. At its core, this...
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đ„ Excerpt âPeople change when the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of the change itself.â ⥠TL;DR John Gallagher left a secure corporate role at IBM to build a purpose-driven coaching practice rooted in faith, intentionality, and transformation. In this episode, we unpack his journey from executive leadership to entrepreneurship â exploring how feedback, surrender, and alignment with purpose shaped his lifeâs work. John and Rick discuss leading with integrity, building Kingdom impact through business, and finding harmony between faith, work, and personal growth....
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đ„ Excerpt When you give yourself the space to fully process and be present with all of it, every breakdown has the potential for a breakthrough.â ⥠TL;DR Dr. Camille Prestonâbusiness psychologist, author of Living Real, and founder of AIM Leadershipâjoins Rick Meekins to unpack what it means to lead and live authentically in the midst of compounded crises. From grief and burnout to self-love and leadership, Camille challenges the illusion of success and explores how embracing intensity, presence, and vulnerability can transform both leaders and organizations. đ Show Notes We live...
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đ„ Excerpt âReferrals arenât the icing on the cakeâin a lot of businesses, they are the cake.â ⥠TL;DR Bill Catesâbest-selling author, keynote speaker, and the renowned âreferral coachââjoins Rick Meekins to dissect the intersection of money, mindset, and business growth. From challenging the scarcity myth to reframing referrals as the foundation of sustainable revenue, this episode explores how founders can build wealth, relevance, and credibility through generosity and strategic relationship-building. đ Show Notes Iâve met plenty of founders who treat referrals as...
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đ„ Excerpt âAnything can be fixed financially. Anything. Sometimes itâs just within the companyâmaking small tweaks to how youâre charging, what youâre not charging for, where your moneyâs goingâand then laying it out so you have a plan.â â Lillia Sanders ⥠TL;DR Fractional CFO Lillia Sanders joins me to talk about rebuilding from the ground upâpersonally and financiallyâand what every founder needs to know to protect profits, make data-driven pricing decisions, and stop running blind. We dig into the discipline behind clean books, the courage to raise rates, the...
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đ„ Excerpt âYou have to assume the visionâbut donât take those assumptions as facts. Test them. Thatâs where you learn to fail fast.â ⥠TL;DR Author and product builder Kingsley Maunder joins me to dismantle the romance of âbig ideasâ and replace it with a system founders can actually use: start with the problem, define success and failure lines, ship the smallest thing that solves the biggest pain, and iterate on evidenceânot ego. We unpack bleeding-edge vs. table-stakes features, why messaging misses are data (not drama), and how to prioritize a roadmap with impact,...
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đ„ Excerpt What if the way you speakâor the identity you cling toâisnât the problem? Speech therapist and coach James Burden unpacks stuttering, ego, and the surprising power of letting go to actually win. ⥠TL;DR James Burdenâspeech therapist and founder of Stuttering Blueprintâjoins me to challenge the myths around stuttering, reframe it through a neurodivergence lens, and trace how a season of personal upheaval (divorce, burnout, a brain tumor) led him to a different definition of success: inner peace. We dig into radical self-acceptance, âwhite-knuckle fluency,â...
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đ„ Excerpt âIf I donât trust you, I wonât buy from you.â We go straight at the hard stuff: building trust at scale, using AI without losing the plot, and what happens when life redlinesâand then resets your purpose. ⥠TL;DR Sales enablement pioneer and keynote speaker Roderick Jefferson joins me to break down go-to-market enablement, why trust and empathy still close deals, and how to use AI as a productivity force multiplierâwithout outsourcing your judgment. We also get personal: his near-death stroke, the wake-up call that reordered his priorities from workâlife to...
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đ„ Excerpt âYou can chase adrenaline or you can build a life that matters. One keeps you entertained. The other keeps you proud.â đ Show Notes I donât often meet someone who literally ran toward war just to see what he was made of. John Graham didâand then spent the next few decades turning that raw hunger for danger into disciplined service and leadership. In this conversation, we trace his arc from Algerian border crossings and frontline diplomacy in Vietnam to a mid-storm bargain with God in the Gulf of Alaska, and ultimately to a life committed to peace, justice, and building...
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đ„ Excerpt âYouâre never going to feel confident enough until you just do it. Act firstâthe confidence follows.â ⥠TL;DR RN-turned-founder Lauren Bensakovich joins me to break down how she built a boutique healthcare recruiting firm on an abundance mindset, disciplined outreach, and zero-nonsense personalization. We get into masterminds, automation (used intelligently), coaching candidates with integrity, and how AI helpsâbut doesnât replaceâhigh-stakes recruiting đ Show Notes Abundance isnât a hashtag. Itâs a way of operating. In this episode, I sit down with Lauren...
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âYouâre never going to feel confident enough until you just do it. Act firstâthe confidence follows.â
⥠TL;DR
RN-turned-founder Lauren Bensakovich joins me to break down how she built a boutique healthcare recruiting firm on an abundance mindset, disciplined outreach, and zero-nonsense personalization. We get into masterminds, automation (used intelligently), coaching candidates with integrity, and how AI helpsâbut doesnât replaceâhigh-stakes recruiting
đ Show Notes
Abundance isnât a hashtag. Itâs a way of operating. In this episode, I sit down with Lauren BensakovichâFounder & Managing Director of Lauren Recruiting Groupâto unpack how she scaled a boutique firm placing hospital leaders across the U.S., starting in the chaos of 2020.
We talk about the real levers: getting your head right, investing in a mastermind early, using automation without sounding like a robot, and why personalization is the only way you stand out when buyers are numb to outreach. Lauren walks through her Sales Navigator + voice-note playbook, the âtwo to three touches then move onâ rule, and the long game of relationships over pitch-slaps.
We also get tactical on AI. Lauren shows how she uses tools like AI note-takers and custom prompts to build interview guides that actually prepare candidatesâwhile making the case for why AI isnât replacing executive-level recruiters any time soon. (Chipotleâs âAvocadoâ might hire cashiers; itâs not placing a hospital CEO.)
If youâre building a services firmâor leading any team where trust, speed, and discernment matterâthis conversation is a blueprint: mindset, mastery, and measured execution. And yes, do the thing. The confidence shows up after.
â Key Takeaways
- Abundance is an operating system: share playbooks, raise the bar, and business comes back tenfold.
- Personalization wins: automate for scale; earn trust with human voice notes, context, and restraint.
- Twoâthree touches, then release: persistence is good; pestering kills deals and reputation.
- Coach with integrity: sometimes the right move is telling a candidate âthis isnât your role.â
- AI is a force multiplier, not a replacement: use it for notes, prep, and draftsâkeep humans for judgment.
- Build your runway: sixâtwelve months of expenses or a 9-to-5/5-to-9 plan reduces desperate decisions.
- First placement fast: momentum compoundsâprioritize activity to land the first win quickly.
- Diversify income streams: recruiting + coaching + digital products (and in her case, real estate) = resilience.
đ€ Bio
Lauren Bensakovich is the Founder & Managing Director of Lauren Recruiting Group, a boutique firm specializing in placing healthcare leaders in hospitals nationwide. An RN by training with an MBA in Executive Leadership, she launched the firm in 2020 and has since become known for high-integrity search, candidate coaching, and practical use of AI to improve processâwithout losing the human touch.
đ Giveaway
Laurenâs âTell Me About Yourselfâ Worksheetâa three-step, plug-and-play guide to nail the most common interview opener and set the tone for the entire conversation.
How to get it: DM Lauren on LinkedIn and ask for the âTell Me About Yourself PDF.â
đ§ Chapters
00:00 Introduction & Laurenâs Journey into Recruiting â From RN to recruiter to founder.
03:45 Taking the Leap: Entrepreneurship, Mindset & Coaching â Why masterminds and mindset matter most.
09:14 Recruiting with Personalization vs. Automation â The Sales Navigator + voice-note strategy.
14:39 Abundance Mindset and Building Relationships â Give first, share knowledge, watch it return tenfold.
21:05 Successes, Challenges & Realities of Executive Recruiting â Wins, losses, and the lessons in between.
26:20 Authenticity, Coaching Candidates & Perseverance â Why honesty creates long-term trust.
31:52 Diversifying Income Streams & Starting a Recruiting Business â Real estate, coaching, and financial runways.
34:21 AIâs Role in Recruitment & The Future of Work â How to leverage tools without losing the human edge.