In this episode of the Business Blast Podcast, host Tyler Wagner interviews Renee Grossman, a Colorado mountain‑based entrepreneur. Renee shares her personal journey overcoming ADHD, dyslexia, and a learning disability to earn two university degrees—business marketing and fine art—illustrating a core message of perseverance. She discusses her expertise in sales, emphasizing that relationship building is the key differentiator in any market and that successful sellers must think ahead, offering long‑term solutions that anticipate future customer needs. Renee advises younger entrepreneurs to be kind to themselves, to explore varied roles, and to maintain a balanced life, recounting her own shift from a demanding Fortune 500 job to a schedule that includes art, concerts, and personal well‑being. She highlights the influence of the Tao Te Ching (referred to as the Tao Chi) on her business philosophy, citing the quote “Simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures,” and explains how these principles guide her approach to sales and relationships. Finally, she provides her online contact points—LinkedIn under her full name and her website/chromesignage.com—inviting listeners to connect.
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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.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Renee Grossman with us. She's an entrepreneur in the mountains of Colorado, so welcome to the show, Renee.
Hello.
Thanks for joining us, and we'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Renee, is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So this one was, this is a little tough for me because, you know, I've been through a lot and I've been all over, but I'm going to say the most valuable and underlying message is just don't give up. So when I was in high school and middle school, I was diagnosed with ADHD, learning disability, and dyslexia, and I did very poorly in school, and I never thought I would make it to upper-level education. My parents actually sat down and I was able to get into a university. And not only was I able to graduate with, you know, above a 3.0, but I actually graduated with 2 degrees. One was a business marketing degree and one was a fine art degree. And that's something just to kind of show people, you know, there's a lot of ways around things in life that you think will hold you back, but they don't.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So in my industry right now, it's mostly sales. Everyone sells a similar product or they're trying to enter the market selling something similar. The key to sales and the key to getting out there and getting known and being different in whatever vertical you're selling in is that relationship aspect. If you're able to build relationships with the people who ultimately could use and benefit your product, that's a gold mine. A lot of people in sales don't realize that and they think it's tough and they can't do it. And ultimately it's in your people skills and it's how you build those relationships and that foundation.
And what's your best piece of, it might tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
The industry is always evolving. So when you enter, it's a separate industry. I've been in sales in 4 or 5 different markets, you need to kind of think ahead. You need to sit down, you need to be up to date on literature in that, in that industry, and you also need to kind of expect what's going to happen before it happens. So currently selling, I sell software, but we have the ability to integrate new applications in our software based on those consumer needs. So I always tell them when I'm selling them the product, Listen, this is going to solve your issue today, but we're also going to solve your issues for next year and the year after that if something comes up. So you want to sell them a long-term solution, not just a, you know, this is going to help you and fix it right now.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Don't be too hard on yourself. So, you know, I remember when I was in high school and I worked at Panera and I cleaned dishes. And I had— I swept the floor, I cleaned tables, and I got fired from that job. Needless to say, I couldn't tell you today I'd be where I was if I didn't keep pushing. You know, a lot of people say it, but you might not be good at one thing, but you could be a lot better at something else. So don't always throw your eggs in one basket and kind of see what is good for you and what fits and always keep trying and working harder.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
A life balance. So I was in a position where I was working for a Fortune 500 company, 65, you know, hours a week. I loved my job. But then I realized I had to make some sacrifices. Because if you don't have a balanced life, ultimately, you're going to spend the rest of your life either working too hard or working too little. So you need to make sure you're social, you keep up to date with the things that you enjoy. I'm an artist, so I create art. I make time in my week to go to concerts because that makes me happy. And I make sure I'm working the amount of hours I need to be successful as well.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So there are a lot of really great books. One of my favorite authors is Miranda July. But I think in regards to business, I was given by a friend this little handheld book. It's the Tao Chi, or by Lao Tzu. It's Chinese. It's connected to like Buddhism, but it's just a small book of little excerpts that kind of go towards life and how you should face life and face different aspects of life. And you can always go to it and I can always go to it and kind of read based on what I'm going through, just, you know, a little bit and see what I'm lacking or what I need to kind of look into more.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
So from that book specifically, one great quote is, "Simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." So a lot of people in the business world, they will forget about one of these aspects. You know, one of the key things in business you learn is keep it simple. When you overcomplicate things and you start to overcomplicate your life and your job, you have to be patient because not everyone's going to be working at the same pace that you're working at. And you need to be compassionate because when you show compassion for others, that helps tie into relationship building. And that's a key aspect in sales.
Yes, thank you so much for coming on, Renee. The last question I have for you before we let you get back to those mountains in Colorado is where's the best place for people to find you online?
So if you guys are online on LinkedIn, you can find me. It's gonna be my first and last name on LinkedIn. And also I have a Facebook page or chromesignage.com. You can message me on there as well. I really appreciate it today, Tyler. Hopefully this helps some people out.
Awesome. It definitely will. And thank you again for coming on.
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