In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews LinkedIn coach Grant Hedges. Grant shares a personal turning‑point story about living in a messy Richmond apartment, heavy drinking, and starting a "one push‑up challenge"—doing a single push‑up each morning—to spark broader productivity and habit change. He recommends a 5‑minute gratitude journal as a complementary morning habit. Grant then delivers his core LinkedIn expertise: (1) aggressively build a network by adding anyone you know or admire and reaching out via direct messages; (2) consistently document your professional life and generate content (photos, updates, conference highlights) to shape a personal brand. His broader business advice stresses being genuine and likable rather than following a cold formula. He advises his younger self to confront awkward situations head‑on, arguing that risk‑taking creates exceptional experiences. On happiness, he says self‑knowledge—understanding strengths and flaws—allows contentment and continuous improvement. The most impactful book he cites is Fuck Feelings by Michael Bennett, whose central lesson mirrors his push‑up story: incremental steps and honest acknowledgment of weaknesses drive lasting change. His favorite quote, from weightlifter Jerzy Grigorich, is "Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life," underscoring the value of deliberate, tough decisions. The episode closes with Grant directing listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/en/granthedges) and Instagram.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hey, hombre! ¡Hey, hombre!
All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. Today I have Grant Hedges with us, and as a LinkedIn coach, his goal is to give people the advice they need to have an exceptional LinkedIn profile and learn how to network over LinkedIn. So welcome to the show, man.
Hey, Tyler, thanks for having me.
Of course, pumped to have you here. We'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Grant, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, for me, it's an experience I had a couple years back. I was working in Richmond, Virginia, and I'd gotten there, I was working a job I hated and really wasn't taking good care of myself. I was drinking heavy, and I remember I, I woke up one morning and I slept on a mattress on the floor. I woke up on this mattress on this concrete floor surrounded by beer cans, empty beer cans. I knew that I had to make some sort of change in my life. I knew this is not how I wanted to live. I knew I didn't want to be depressed, unproductive, really unsuccessful. I decided I had to challenge myself right there. To change, but I didn't really know how. Change is hard, as we all know, and so I decided to change through working out. I did what I now call the one push-up challenge. Every morning, I would get out of bed, I would do one push-up because I knew that that's the one thing I could do, and that no matter how terrible the rest of the day was, no matter how unproductive or lazy I was, that I had accomplished that one thing. The lesson I learned there is that that was a catalyst for change in productivity in the rest of my life. The message there is do something. Do the tiniest thing. Do anything you can to help break yourself out of negative destructive habits and propel yourself towards a more positive productive life.
Thank you for sharing that with us, and I totally agree. One thing that really helps me in the mornings, I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's this 5-minute journal. Basically, you just jot down what you're grateful for in the morning and then some other things. Just that practice of just being like, "Okay, I can put 5 minutes into journaling," propels you into being like, "Ah, I can do 10 minutes." Exactly.
I can have a productive morning and a productive afternoon. It's huge.
Exactly. The next one I have for you, man, I'm excited for your answer on this is, what is the most valuable piece of information that we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I got two here. The two biggest things I see people not doing and that I would tell people to do is first, take that first step and actively build a network. I have so many people I know who are wonderful, talented, marketable people who only have, you know, 200, 100, or less than 100 connections on LinkedIn. So first, take the step and add everyone you know in your field. Add anyone you could be interested in. Reach out in direct messages. Build that network. The second piece of advice I have really to having a successful LinkedIn is to document everything you do and just generate content. If you're At a conference, just snap a photo with some people there, put it up there with some sort of message about it, keep people updated on your career and your life, and start to build your own personal brand and tell your story.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice, or not necessarily industry-specific?
I think overall business advice is to learn how to be genuine and likable, because being likable is difficult, And I think too many people think that it's a formula, when in reality, if you view it like a formula, you're gonna come off as cold and sterile. But take the time to figure out how to be yourself and be the best, most likable, most genuine version of yourself.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say fearlessly tackle the awkward situations. Young me was a very shy individual. I was afraid of anything that was outside of my comfort zone. I was afraid of unfamiliar situations. I was quite frankly terrified of doing anything or asking any question that might be awkward. And the reality is that life is awkward. And if we don't take those risks that could lead us to potentially awkward situations, we'll never have exceptional experiences.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I think the key to that is taking the time to know yourself for two reasons. First, if you know yourself, you can learn to be happy with and happy as the person you are now. The other thing about knowing yourself is that if you know yourself, you know your flaws and you can improve and shape yourself into the person you wanna be. And I think being happy with who you are and constantly improving you are, are keys to happiness.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So my, really one of the most impactful books I've ever read, I thought to think a little bit about this, 'cause I read a lot, I read a lot of literature and poetry and whatnot. And I was thinking about ideas that really impacted me. One of the books that has a big one, and I apologize for the profanity, but it's the title of the book. It's called Fuck Feelings. It's written by Michael Bennett, a psychologist, psychiatrist rather. And the big message I got from that book I alluded to earlier in answering your first question is that change starts with taking incremental steps and growing to be a better person has to start with acknowledging that you've got areas of weakness that are huge. And instead of trying to change that all at once, you have to say, all right, I have to start with the smallest increment and then begin to grow that way.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote was a guy named Jerzy Grigorich. Tim Ferriss quoted him on a podcast I listened to. This guy was an immigrant and a world champion weightlifter. And he said, in talking about life, he said, "Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life." And to me, if that's not a sobering reminder for us to just avoid complacency and make hard choices, I really don't know what is.
I love it, man. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place? I think I already know the answer. Where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
The best place for me is LinkedIn. Just go to my handle is linkedin.com/en/granthedges or just search Grant Hedges. If that is not your preferred platform, you can keep up with me on Instagram. And really, those are the two places I'm most active online.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for joining us. We appreciate it.
Yes, thanks again for having me, Tyler. Take care.
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