In this concise "6 questions in 7 minutes" interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Josh Bien (also referred to as Josh Bean), a self‑described "professional lack of focus" who runs multiple ventures: co‑hosting the Unstuck Institute podcast for solopreneurs, composing music for film and TV, operating a small local IT service, and managing a nonprofit. Josh emphasizes that the best part of his work across all industries is serving customers and helping them win. He recommends a fictional Chapter 7 titled "Control What You Can Control and Let Go of What You Need to Let Go of," echoing a stress‑relief principle about focusing energy on controllable factors. He introduces the concept of "goalkeeping" – regularly reviewing goals (daily slices of a journal) to stay accountable, and offers a free Lifebook tool via unstuck.institute/lifebook. Josh refers a potential future guest, J.Q., a Hollywood special‑effects makeup artist, highlighting freelancers as business people. He recounts his first career as a theater lighting and set designer/technical director, noting the importance of avoiding stagnation. The episode closes with contact information: LinkedIn (Josh Bean), the Unstuck Institute website (unstuck.institute), and Instagram (@unstuck.institute).
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
My name is Josh Bean. I like to say I have a professional lack of focus because I have a lot of different businesses. Just a quick, real quick list. I'm the co-host of the Unstuck Institute podcast where we help solopreneurs and budding entrepreneurs. And I write music for film and TV. I fix computers for— I have a small IT company locally. And that's Roughly it. I have a nonprofit on the side too, and whatever else is shiny and I want to try next is always on the boilerplate.
You are a busy man, Josh.
Thank you, sir.
So question number 2, this might be a little bit challenging to pick which. Aha. What's the best thing about working in your industry?
I'll tell you what, I can combine them all. The best part about working in all the industries and being in business in general is serving people and helping them win. You know, we're talking about having us win in life and business, but if I can help the customer win in their life and their whatever their projects are with all the things I do, that's what I love the most.
I love it, and I can hear that passion in your voice. It's great. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Uh, it's gonna be, uh, it's gonna be chapter 7 because I like the number, and the chapter, uh title is going to be Control What You Can Control and Let Go of What You Need to Let Go of.
I love that because that actually was one of the stress relief tips I published a while ago because we focus so much on what we can't control and that takes up all this energy that we could focus on where we can affect change and what we can control. Is that where, where you're coming from as well?
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, everyone spends too much time worrying on the outcomes of things that are beyond our control. And that takes a toll on our ability and our capacity. So the more you can just let it go, as Elsa would say in Frozen, the better you're going to be served, I think, in your life.
Love it. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
I think a lot of people out there will tell you all about goal setting, and I won't bore you with that. But what I would love everyone to hear is goalkeeping. Remember to review your goals often because that's the way you remember what you set. You know, if you have like a New Year's resolution, you start out, you're like, I'm gonna do this this year, and by February you've forgotten about it, let alone aren't doing it, right? So to be in a position where you're just reviewing your goals often so that you can actually stick to them and achieve them.
I love that. And do you have, for what works for you, how often that you look at your goals to make sure that you're still on track?
Yeah, sure. So I look at at least a piece of my goals daily. I have a morning routine that includes journaling and meditation and blah, blah, blah. But part of that routine is to look at a page of this journal I have that has my goals written out. And I don't look at like all the goals every day because that would take way too long. But I do like, at least a slice. And in during the course of a week, I've reviewed pretty much everything and I start over again. And, you know, shameless plug, if you don't mind, we at the Unstuck Institute made exactly what I use, and, and we're giving it away for free. So if any of your listeners want to see more in depth what I'm talking about, they can go to unstuck.institute/lifebook and get it absolutely free.
Great. I'll include that, that URL in the, in the comments here so that people can get to that very easily.
Cool.
Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
You know, I have a good friend who I've known since 4th grade. Her name is J.Q. and she is a special effects makeup artist in Hollywood. She's super awesome and she gets, she gets the mindset of being a freelancer and how a freelancer is a business person, even though a lot of freelancers don't consider themselves business people. So I think she'd have some great insight and probably some fun stories from Hollywood too.
Oh, I think so. I look forward to interviewing her. Thank you for that referral.
Yeah.
And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
Well, if I could skirt the question, because my first job was at Hollywood Video, which is kind of boring, blah blah blah, everyone remembers video rental places. I want to talk about my first career before I started any of my businesses and started doing stuff. I was a theater lighting and set designer and technical director. So I spent time, you know, making the sets and the lights and running crews and doing the whole thing. And it was a whole lot of fun. I do not regret it one little bit, but I got to a point where I reached a ceiling on what I could do locally. I'm in Albuquerque and I had to either like move to a big place like New York to challenge myself or find something new to do. And that's why I switched into like always finding something new to do. Like I said, my professional lack of focus. But, you know, I just, I think from that I learned don't stay stagnant. If I stay stagnant, I'll be, I'll get grumpy and I don't want to be grumpy.
No, nobody wants that. I can't imagine you grumpy and I can appreciate you went to a different career so that you stayed cheery and upbeat like you are. So, and I really appreciate you being on the show, Josh. So how could people find you?
They can find— I personally have a LinkedIn profile, Josh Bean. And of course, Unstuck Institute has a podcast wherever fine podcasts are downloaded. Just search Unstuck Institute. Our website is unstuck.institute, no dot com. And we have an Instagram that we're active on, @unstuck.institute.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
