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Ted Prodromou

Join 60,000+ seasoned professionals who are done with the corporate world. Epic Encore is an almost daily newsletter with inspirational stories from leading experts. Your Epic Encore is about turning your lifetime experiences into the cornerstone of the rest of your life. It represents your audacious leap into entrepreneurship, fueled by the wisdom and tenacity you've garnered in your successful career. This isn't about playing catch-up in business and building a 7-figure business. It's about forging a unique path, using your distinct perspective, seasoned judgment, and invaluable insights that can only come from years of life experience.

Featured Post

The real cause of your anger and fear (it’s not what you think)

Last week, I caught myself snapping at my wife over something trivial, a misplaced glass. I felt embarrassed and said to myself, “This isn’t me!” But Chapter 24 of Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots explained exactly what was going on and offered a path out of it. Dr. Rao reveals that anger and fear aren’t triggered by what’s happening around us. They come from resistance to our present moment. When life doesn’t match our expectations, we tense up, tighten our identity, and react, rather than...

I’ve lived through three career arcs so far and each one followed the same pattern: Master a skill. Become the expert. Then watch the world move on. In the 1980s, I was an award-winning field engineer in Silicon Valley. Back then, fixing computers meant using voltmeters and oscilloscopes. Real diagnostic work. You had to know what you were doing. But by the end of the decade? It was all board swapping. Technical mastery wasn’t needed anymore. So I pivoted. In the ’90s, I became a network...

What if everything you believe about yourself… isn’t actually you? That’s the bold premise Dr. Srikumar Rao opens with in Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots, our July Mastermind Book Club pick. This book is different. It’s not just another mindset or productivity manual. Rao challenges us to zoom out from the daily noise in our heads, the self-talk, the labels, the roles we play and see through to something deeper. If you’ve ever felt a quiet sense of “something’s off” If you’ve hit success...

Grilled food and beer await a meal.

I spent this weekend watching The Bear season four, and it reminded me of something my grandfather would never have imagined when he arrived from Greece in the 1920s. Picture this: A young Greek immigrant with nothing but determination, deciding to open a restaurant in America. Did he know anything about running one? Not a clue. But what else would a Greek do? What made our family restaurant different wasn't just the food. It was the philosophy. Every morning we baked fresh bread, made pies...

I’ve done a lot of personal and professional growth work over the years. I was a massive consumer of personal development programs from Nightingale Conant. At one point, my wife Ellen asked me "Aren't you fixed yet?" Nothing from Nightingale Conant has rewired me like Zenith Mind OS. Before this, I was still running on patterns that held me back: overpreparing, overthinking, playing small. Now? I’m aware when those habits show up and I have the tools to move through them. I’m more aligned....

As I continue through Rich Schefren’s Zenith Mind OS, I realize this hasn’t just been a course. It’s been a complete rewiring of how I think, work, and live. This journey didn’t end when the modules did. The biggest breakthroughs came after the course. Now I see the old habits when they try to sneak back in: The urge to over-prepare instead of speaking The subtle ways I play small to stay safe The patterns that once protected me but now hold me back And for the first time, I’m not beating...

Quick reminder: today’s Mastermind Book Club call is on! We’re diving into The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Getting Your Sh*t Together by John Carlton. No sugar-coating. No motivational fluff. Just real talk about business, mindset, and that cluttered desk we’re all pretending doesn’t exist. One of my favorite lines from the book: “You don’t need more time. You need fewer excuses.” (Yeah, that one hit me too.) 🕓 Thursday June 5th at 11:30 PST/2:30 EST 📍Join us live See you there. Bring your notes,...

Last month, you got to meet John Carlton on our call with Bond Halbert. If you missed the call, watch the replay at www.mastermindbook.club. John is one of today’s top copywriters and is known for his no BS approach to life. Back in the day, John had a desk so cluttered it looked like a crime scene. We’re talking unopened mail, IRS notices, scribbled ideas on napkins, and a coffee cup with something growing in it. He called it the Desk from Hell. But here’s the kicker. That desk was more than...

One of the things we noticed in Greece was people were not addicted to their phones. When you met someone, they were genuinely interested in getting to know you. They were friendly. They were excited to meet you. They were curious. They engaged in real conversation with us even though English is not their native language. Their head wasn't buried in their phone while they were talking with you. 100% of their attention was focused on you. Sure, everyone had a cell phone. People used their...

Ellen and I just got back from two weeks in Greece where we consumed our fair share of gyros, baklava and ouzo. I have to admit I thought I was going to Greece for the views… But I ended up getting a history lesson, a family reckoning, and a quiet reset all in one. What surprised me most? I forgot that everything in Greece was built to honor the gods in mythology. Everything from crumbled ruins to giant stone temples is dedicated to Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo… Not just monuments. These...