Inside the Speakeasy Podcast - Your Key to Hidden Strategies & Success Stories from Top Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Inside the Speakeasy—the entrepreneur podcast that hands you the keys to rooms most never get access to.
Hosted by Eric Berman, this show is for founders, startup builders, marketers, and empire-minded creators who are done with surface-level noise and ready to unlock the hidden strategies, pivotal success stories, and raw truths behind elite business growth.
This is your key to the real game—the unfiltered conversations happening behind closed doors, at mastermind retreats, in late-night deal rooms, and during the “what the hell do I do now?” breakdowns that never make it to LinkedIn.
You’ll hear from the scrappiest, boldest, most unreasonably driven entrepreneurs in the U.S.—the ones who are scaling to 7–8 figures, failing forward, innovating under pressure, and rewriting the rules of success while no one’s watching.
No recycled advice. No fake “10X hacks.” Just what’s actually working right now—from people actually doing it.
Because let’s be honest:
You’re doing well.
You’re sharp.
But deep down… you know you’re still playing small.
So stop chasing comfort.
You’re not here for safe.
You’re here to evolve.
This is Inside the Speakeasy.
And once you’re in…
You don’t go back.
Inside the Speakeasy Podcast - Your Key to Hidden Strategies & Success Stories from Top Entrepreneurs
How Real Relationships Win in an Algorithm-Driven World with Joshua B. Lee
What if the secret to standing out online… is just being more human? In this episode, Eric sits down with Joshua B. Lee—entrepreneur, author, and the founder of Standout Authority—to talk about the power of connection in a noisy, automated world.
From his early days running ads on MySpace to navigating the crash of 2008 and rebuilding everything from the ground up, Joshua gets real about the lessons that shaped him—not just as a marketer, but as a person. He opens up about the personal growth that came from major life shifts, including divorce, and how relationships (both personal and professional) helped him evolve.
This conversation dives deep into how LinkedIn became Joshua’s platform of choice, why personal branding matters more than ever, and what it really means to “humanize” your marketing. You’ll hear practical strategies for optimizing your LinkedIn profile, creating content that connects, and building a brand that actually feels like you.
We also explore what’s next in branding and marketing—and how Joshua’s helping others lead with authenticity in a world that often forgets the human on the other side of the screen.
Key Timestamps
[00:00:00] Welcome to Inside the Speakeasy Podcast
[00:03:28] The Myspace experience: lessons from the past
[00:07:18] The journey into digital marketing and entrepreneurship
[00:11:23] Navigating the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis
[00:15:22] Personal growth and the shift in mindset
[00:17:25] The impact of relationships on success
[00:28:39] The birth of Standout Authority
[00:30:04] The power of partnership in entrepreneurship
[00:31:07] Humanizing marketing: the shift from selling to connecting
[00:37:03] The importance of LinkedIn in modern business
[00:41:45] Building a strong LinkedIn profile
[00:43:54] Content creation best practices on LinkedIn
[00:48:30] Revolutionizing branding and marketing
Memorable Quotes:
“We all start off as entrepreneurs, you want to be able to grow to a business owner with an entrepreneurial mindset, that has a team, that you’re not wearing all the hats. But sometimes you have to understand too, you got to step back in, like in the long run, it all rolls back to you and that’s kind of what I had to take.” - Joshua B. Lee
“We’re always chasing these algorithms. LinkedIn algorithms. Facebook algorithms. They’re always changing. We’ve got to find the next trick and the next hack. And our essence, there’s one algorithm that doesn’t change, which is, the human algorithms.” - Joshua B. Lee
Connect with Joshua B. Lee
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuablee/
Connect with Eric Berman:
Website: https://speakeasymastermind.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakeasymastermind/
Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/speakeasymastermind/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericberman/
Produced by Evolved Podcasting: https://www.evolvedpodcasting.com