In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Steve Perkins, founder and CEO of Greenhouse Culture. Steve shares a formative childhood story about turning an abandoned drainage ditch into a snowboard half‑pipe, illustrating his early realization that hidden potential can be uncovered and built into something valuable. He explains Greenhouse Culture’s mission: helping people discover and live in their "sweet spot" by recognizing that the answer to purpose already exists within them, much like a seed in a greenhouse. Steve emphasizes the 80/20 principle—spending the majority of time on strengths and passions—to achieve exponential impact, and advises younger selves to communicate their vision openly. When asked about happiness, he cites a personal formula of "impact and intimacy," encouraging a life lived for a story larger than oneself. He recommends Greg McKeown’s Essentialism as a guiding book, highlighting the power of focusing on the single most important thing. Steve also shares a favorite Napoleon Hill quote about cherishing dreams as blueprints for achievement, tying it back to his half‑pipe story. The episode concludes with information on how listeners can connect with Steve via greenhouseculture.co and LinkedIn.
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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 makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Steve Perkins with us. He is the founder and CEO of Greenhouse Culture, where he helps people clarify and live their sweet spot. So welcome to the show, man.
Cool. Hey, yeah, thanks for having me, Tyler.
Of course, man, grateful to have you here. Culture's been a big topic lately in my life, so I'm really excited to dive into this with you. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, I love that question. You know, something that happened for me was, it kind of took years to realize I was an entrepreneur. I, growing up, I was in a suburban neighborhood And you can picture, it's kind of like the street was a bit of a downhill, and at the bottom of the hill, there was this big, almost football-size field, football field-sized ditch. It was surrounded by a fence. It was basically this drainage ditch for, I don't know, flooding, or if there's too much rain. This big kind of overgrown, you know, 20-foot deep ditch surrounded by a fence. You know, as kids, we're like riding our bikes past it all the time and no one even notices this thing, right? It's just a useless piece of land. And I always looked at this thing and thought, man, that would be a killer snowboard halfpipe. So, you know, me and some of my friends were into snowboarding and all I could think about— this is in Michigan, by the way. So this is a, you know, this is a realistic option. I'm looking at this thing for, I don't even know how long, at least months, going, man, that would be a killer halfpipe. And I'm watching X Games and the idea is getting more and more. And so I kind of spent the summer recruiting friends, giving them shovels, and we're sweating and bleeding to build this snowboard halfpipe out of this drainage ditch. And people gave me so much flack, like, man, this is crazy. And I'm like, just hang with me. You know, I had the vision for it. And sure enough, winter comes around, we get a snow day, it dumps 2 feet of snow overnight. And everyone who was making fun of me wants to show up and use the halfpipe. I'm looking at this like a business opportunity, you know, whatever it was, 7th grade. And, um, and so I'm trying to charge people to come into this property. It's not even mine, but, um, you know, the point there is, You asked a story with a valuable message. I look back on that now all the time and I think, you know, maybe it's a little cheesy, but I saw the potential in that kind of useless piece of land. And I just, now in what I do with my business and my career, I just see that so often that people have so much potential to be something really great and really awesome and really impactful, but they don't see it in themselves and they don't believe it in themselves. And so I just like to encourage people that, you know, there's— you have potential to be and do really big things, and it's inside you. So you just gotta kind of do the work to draw it out and build it out.
I agree, man. Thank you for sharing that. That's an awesome story. The next one I have for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Hmm, yeah. Well, I guess kind of building off that story is I find in my work that a lot of people, especially entrepreneurial people or people who really want to kind of have a greater purpose or impact, they're waiting around to kind of figure out what they're meant to do. And they're kind of just waiting for it to come to them or, you know, for some opportunity to come up. It's like, what am I really meant for or kind of wired for? And what I've found and really built this company around now is that that answer is already in you. And, you know, it's kind of where our name comes from, Greenhouse. It's like a seed, like the potential is already there, the answer is already right in front of your nose. You just have to kind of get intentional to like clarify it and draw it out and really put some structure around it. So, you know, I think that's the most game-changing thing I've seen for people is realizing you don't have to kind of wait around, you can actually figure this thing out and kind of come up with a career and a business that you love and gives you, you know, just lights you up and you can make a really big impact through it.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Well, you know, Tyler, I would probably say it's kind of the 80/20 rule thing. If you can spend 80% of your time or more really operating in that sweet spot, that is your strengths, your passions, your wiring, then you can just have exponentially more impact. And I think we get stuck because of all the to-dos and we think we got to do it all. But, you know, the reality is the things you're naturally good at and love, you're going to be able to knock out of the park if you focus more energy on it. And those things that you aren't so great at, don't really like doing, you're never going to be great at them anyway. And you may work and work at it, but, you know, putting that same energy into the things you're naturally wired for is going to have such a bigger impact.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Uh, man, I would just— so many things. I would tell myself I would tell myself to let more people know, just tell more people in my life what I really want, where I'm headed. Because I think I always kept that inside, those true desires and true passions. And so everyone else has a different agenda for you. And I've just found, you know, people want to help you get to where you want to go. And I would have started telling people earlier, you know, just tell more people in my life.
And kind of going a little bit down a different path, but in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Spanish. Yeah, you love dropping that bomb, right?
I do. I do. That's funny you say that. I do like that.
I like it.
I love it.
Right in the middle. Well, okay, so, you know, it's not an easy question. I'm not going to pretend it's easy, but I think if you kind of can work towards living in a story that's much bigger than just yourself, then that brings a lot of happiness. And, you know, not like I do this all the time. I struggle with this, and that's maybe why I'm saying it is when I'm just focused on myself, kind of your world shrinks. But, you know, living and working in a story much bigger. I heard a quote this morning from a business friend who said, I don't know where it came from, but we're made for impact and intimacy. And I thought, man, that's so cool because If you're kind of focusing on what you're doing and who you're becoming, the relationships and the impact you're making, that seems like a great formula to live by.
Yeah, it does. I like that, man. That's why I asked the question. That's good. Impact and intimacy, double I. Okay.
Well, you're the one collecting all the wisdom now. I got to start asking that question too.
Yeah. Dude, awesome answer. The next one I have for you is, what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Oh, okay. So this rotates for me every month. I've always got my top 5 list going for clients, but lately it's been Essentialism and I've circled back to it. It's by Greg McKeown and it's all about like, I think his tagline is do less but better. Right? Do— if you can do the one most important thing and really focus a lot of energy on that, then it's going to have exponentially greater results. And so I actually tried this out the first time I read the book. I experimented with it. I had the most positive momentum and feedback in my career I've ever had when I did that. And I just think more than ever, we're pulled in so many directions. I don't know how many listeners think about this, but it's actually very easy to start living everyone else's life for you but your own. I did that for a long time. I think it's just a natural thing that happens unless you really get intentional and think intentionally about it. Essentialism, love that book. It's all about focusing on your top thing and getting greater results and fulfillment from that.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Well, uh, so Napoleon Hill said, cherish your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. Um, and you know, not trying to go too deep here, but I just love that because I think like the, like the halfpipe story, right? I mean, those were my dreams, and for so long I just I was like, well, you can't really do that for work. That can't be my career. And, you know, now I'm like helping people, you know, it's like I saw the potential in that plot of land to become a halfpipe. And now I'm helping people do that, like live into their potential. And, you know, that's my job. I'm like, okay, yeah, you gotta not forget your dreams and really give them some credit.
Yeah, man, dude. And that was awesome how that halfpipe came back. That was full circle, man.
Boom.
And dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
Oh, sure. Yeah. So greenhouseculture.co, C-O. And we have some great tools and ideas there for how you can find and live in your sweet spot. A lot of people trying to figure out what's next in their career or launch a business. So greenhouseculture.co, or I'm really active on LinkedIn as well. Steve Perkins on LinkedIn.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for jumping on.
Thanks so much, Tyler. Love the show.
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