From Bankruptcy to Clarity: Hard Lessons in Business ⏐Hunter Durham

Hunter Durham went from managing a $9M/quarter Facebook ads book of business to buying furniture and shipping companies, raising outside capital, filing bankruptcy, and starting over, all before 32. In this conversation, Hunter and Kurtis pull back the curtain on what really happens when ambition outpaces structure: customer concentration, broken capital stacks, identity crises, and the slow grind of rebuilding. The thread running through all of it? Accountability, or the lack of it.

Kurtis shares what's been behind the inconsistent episode schedule — including a business partner split and a major shift in Bison CFO's service model — and announces that the podcast is rebranding from Through the Storm to the SMB Finance OS Podcast. The new format pairs with the SMB Finance OS newsletter and will feature weekly solo episodes, topical deep-dives, and continued interview episodes under the Through the Storm series.

Brandon built Aspire CRE, a commercial real estate brokerage and property management company. From two people to 45 in just over three years. In this conversation, he gets honest about what growth actually feels like from the inside: the stress of hiring ahead of revenue, a surprise cancer diagnosis in the middle of it all, and why the wins rarely feel like wins in real time. Kurtis and Brandon dig into the financial decisions behind scaling a commission-based business, the discipline of building reserves before you need them, and how Brandon is using content and media to build a flywheel that legacy CRE firms can't replicate.

Gabe Pluguez started a fitness business at 19 with a simple goal: freedom. What he got instead was two failed business partnerships, a revenue collapse, and a forced rebuild, twice.This isn't a story about avoiding partnerships. It's about what happens when you skip the hard questions, overlook misalignment, and let urgency override clarity.Gabe walks through both splits, what caused them, what he missed, and what changed the second time around. He also shares how a crisis forced him to separate identity from outcome, rethink faith under pressure, and rebuild with a clearer sense of mission.If you're in a partnership or considering one, this conversation will save you time, money, and heartache.

Business failure isn't always about making the wrong moves, sometimes it's about not making any moves at all. Kurtis and Travis break down a real client engagement that didn't work out, exposing the structural issues, team dysfunction, and owner disconnection that killed what could've been a viable business. This isn't theory, it's a transparent look at what happens when cashflow bleeds, AR piles up, and no one takes ownership of the fundamentals.

Clifton Sellers, CEO of Legacy Builder, shares his journey from zero to a $3M run-rate agency in five years. The conversation covers the brutal realities of agency growth including losing half his clients in six weeks, working 16-hour days, and the faith that kept him moving forward. Clifton breaks down the difference between growing and scaling, the professionalization moment that changed everything, and why most agencies fail at retention before they even onboard a client.

Nahuel Hilal built Iris Tattoo from a $7,000 side hustle in Buenos Aires to a multi-million dollar operation across three countries without ever doing a tattoo himself. Then a $400,000 buildout turned into a $1.2 million nightmare, revenue dropped 25%, and he nearly lost everything.This is the story of how he and his wife fought back, firing the architects mid-project, managing permits themselves, and opening a second U.S. location while Miami burned. No business degree. No construction experience. Just urgency, grit, and a refusal to turn back.

Ryan Ray joins Kurtis Hanni to share his journey through one of the worst storms a business can face: selling a family oil and gas surveying company during the catastrophic March 2020 price collapse and COVID-19 shutdown. Ryan walked into March 2020 with international deals lined up, a diversified strategy in place, and a business that finally didn't require him day-to-day. Within two weeks, every lever he'd built was gone—China deals canceled, oil prices cratering to sub-$10, and projects being pulled left and right. What followed was a masterclass in clarity under pressure: knowing when to shut down, how to use PPP strategically, and ultimately how to exit to his own team. Ryan breaks down the emotional weight of laying off employees, the practicality of owner dependency as the ultimate business lever, and why understanding "the game you're playing" is more valuable than any 10-year plan.

In this conversation, Kurtis Hanni and Travis Woods discuss the Business Model Canvas, a strategic tool used to understand and optimize business operations. They explore the roles of a fractional CFO, the importance of identifying customer segments, crafting a unique value proposition, and the various channels for reaching customers. The discussion also covers building strong customer relationships, monetizing value through revenue streams, and the significance of key resources, activities, and partnerships. Finally, they emphasize the need to understand cost structures and the overall integration of the Business Model Canvas for business success.

In this conversation, Kurtis Hanni and Brad Smith discuss the evolution of Brad's business, Automation Links, focusing on marketing automation and the challenges faced during a significant transition from freelancers to an in-house team. They delve into the financial struggles caused by chargebacks from clients in high-risk industries, the lessons learned from these experiences, and the importance of vetting clients and having solid contracts. The discussion also covers the future of marketing with innovations like ChatGPT ads and the strategies for overcoming adversity in business.