805conversations

Claudia Weintraub is the Director of the River Oaks Academy Charter School in Westlake, CA. She speaks with host Mark Sylvester about personalized learning in the context of homeschooling and independent learning. This topic is deep and nuanced and the conversation helps understand the vital role this type of education plays in preparing young minds for the future. These students are going to form a strong part of the local work-force and will be of the temperament to be incredible employees.

The smartest kids in the world and how they got that way.

Topics included;

• Definition of Independent Learning

• The role of the family in supporting the student

• How she came about focusing her efforts in this area

• Building Parent competency

• How to determine if your family is ready for home-schooling

• Project-based learning

• The role of common core standards in homeschooling

• Here her argument that home-schooled students are more articulate, more polite, more well-rounded and more likely to give back in their community and why that’s true.

• Career Pathway programs

• College and Career readiness

• What the next five years look like for River Oaks

Links during the show

Connected Educators - http://connectededucators.org

NASA Educators Online Network - http://NEON.intronetworks.com

Jackie Burge, founder & CEO of Desk Yogi calls herself the Bossy. She is a wellness advocate and entrepreneur. She spoke with host Mark Sylvester about her startup, based in Ojai, California. She learned while working at Lynda.com that there was a need to provide online wellness in the form of 10-minute streaming Yoga classes that people could watch and not leave their desk.

"Sitting is the new smoking"

Her mission is to help people learn that health is a choice, one that’s easy to make including;

• You have to actually feel good at a basic level to be successful

• The story of how the company started, by filling a basic unmet need

• What it means to do whatever it takes with a startup

• Clever use of the Health Savings Accounts as an employee motivator

• How to make a 10-minute exercise break on your computer the best part of your work week

David Nour, of The Nour Group, is an advisor, speaker and author of the best-selling book, Relationship Economics. He talked with host Mark Sylvester about the strategic implications that drive how we should think about relationships.

"Are you willing to do the incredibly hard work to be world-class?"

David starts with a story and tells about how he used this technique with hundreds of post-it notes when he was assigned a new account and didn’t know anyone. His primary focus is professional relationships including these big ideas;

• Learning about the Favor Economy from the Bazaars of Iran where he grew up

• How the concepts of Reputational Capital, Professional • Network and Relationship Currency evolved into Relationship Economics.

• How few professionals understand the significance of relationships

• The Three Types of Relationships

• Functional

• Strategic

• Lifetime

• David’s 3 Touch Rule when approaching a new relationship

• Gratitude

• Reciprocity

• Pay it forward

•How David views the world of potential relationships;

• Givers

• Takers

• People looking for a job

• Why you should join a professional organization

• What can you learn? Who can you meet?

"Don't confuse vibration with forward motion."

Judy Mahan, the program director for the San Luis Obispo based HotHouse and the Small Business Development Corporation’s local office met with host Mark Sylvester to discuss the state of startups, working with Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the recent Tech Pitch competition. Areas covered included:

▪ How SLO Hothouse incorporates acceleration, incubation and co-working spaces into one environment

▪ The role of the business community, the University and the town in the success of the Hothouse

▪ What’s a Day In The Life of one of their companies like

▪ Best practices at running a facility like this

▪ Recap of the recent Tech Pitch competition and what it takes to be successful when you are pitching your company and idea

▪ How important is the company that places 2nd in these competitions

Links to sites from the show:

Cal Poly CIE: http://cie.calpoly.edu/

SLO Hothouse: http://www.slohothouse.com/

Small Business Development Corp, housed at Cal Poly: http://sbdc.calpoly.edu/

Mike Panesis, the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at California Lutheran University met with host Mark Sylvester to discuss the role of the Center in the Startup Ecosystem. Mike has been working with entrepreneurs for years now, having most recently been the Entrepreneurial Programs Manager at UCSB, working directly with the Technology Management Program (TMP). In this episode we covered enough topics to warrant a couple of shows, here’s what you can expect:

• Started the show with a discussion about Greek food and festivals

• How entrepreneurs learn from customers along the way and how ideas for companies most usually change

• The role of resilience in the founders emotional make up

• What you can learn from mentors, including Steve Blank and the Lean Launchpad approach

• How to think about social responsibility and your startup

• The difference between an Accelerator and an Incubator

• How to work with Mentors - how to select Mentors

• How the various startup efforts in the 805 work together

quotes

“You need to know what you don’t know" - Mike Panesis

“Not all that wander are lost - JR Tolkien

Links to sites and programs mentioned during the show:

Cal Lutheran Center for Entrepreneurship

web: http://www.callutheran.edu/entrepreneurship

twitter: @CalLutheranCE

instagram: @CalLutheranCE

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CalLutheranCE

St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church: http://www.saintdem.org

Ventura County Greek Festival: http://www.vcgreekfestival.org

SB Greek Festival: http://www.santabarbaragreekfestival.org

UCSB TMP: http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu

SLO HotHouse: http://www.slohothouse.com

Steve Blank: http://www.steveblank.com

Frank Robinson: http://www.syncdev.com

805 Startups: http://www.805startups.com

Salty Girl Seafood: http://www.saltygirlseafood.com/

twitter: @Salty_Girls

Capyx: http://www.capyx.com (founder taught himself to code)

twitter: @Capyx

JJ Resnick, the COO and co-founder of Moscow Copper Co and the Founder of Service Dog Registration, met with host Mark Sylvester to talk about the founding of Moscow Copper and how his grandmother, the inventor of the Moscow Mule, was the inspiration for this company. He also talks about his passion project for Service Dogs and Emotional Support Dogs. His story of meeting veteran Brad Fight and coming up with this idea that Post Traumatic Stress is NOT a disorder is very interesting. That’s where Drop the D (as a campaign rally cry) came from.

• Hear the origin story of the Moscow Mule and how it tied over to Mad Men

• Learn how a chance buying trip to China influenced his business plan for the Copper Company.

• The difference between a service animal and an emotional support animal

• Interesting skills that can be taught to dogs include ‘balance support’

• Did you know that dogs can be trained to support diabetics too?

• Some great quotes during the show

"Something older than me and I like that" - in reference to why the Moscow Mule is so popular as a cocktail

"Nothing like NO to get you to go" - where we find our motivation

More information about Moscow Copper Co. at http://MoscowCopper.com

More information about the Service Dog Registration at https://www.servicedogregistration.org/

More information about the Emotional Support Animal project at http://www.esaregistration.org/

Teri Thompson, marketing and social media strategist, author and adjunct professor, talked with host Mark Sylvester to discuss the state of social media, real-time marketing and what it's like being a professional in the role as a professor in the classroom.

A lot of ground was covered during this informative episode;

• Being an Adjunct Professor at California Lutheran University

• How social media is different with international audiences

• The role of social and Crisis Management

• Free tools to help manage your social strategy

• Why you want to have a We're Listening policy

• Managing Conversations

• Why there's been such a strong shift to social

• Being truthful with your audience

Teri is a frequent speaker and can be easily found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/terithompson1

Jacob Tell, the CEO and co-founder of Santa Barbara-based Marketing firm, Oniracom met with host Mark Sylvester to discuss the state of digital presence, a frequent topic of 805conversations.

A wide range of interesting concepts included;

• How Oniracom's name was designed

• Why email is the #1 way to connect to your audience•

• What's a Digital Therapist?

• Working with Socially Responsible Businesses

• How each engagement always starts with a conversation

• Brand Authenticity

• Their first client - Jack Johnson started as a filmmaker

• TigerHeros.com

• The 1% for the Planet project

• The role of millennials in the Business Giving Roundtable

Oniracom invites you to join them at one of their Solutions for Dreamers mixers held in the Lagoon District of Santa Barbara. You can sign up for an invitation on their newly designed website.

Sam Bachstein, Partner at HCVT - Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt, LLP, sponsors of 805connect, sat down for a conversation with host Mark Sylvester for an informative discussion about the role of an auditor in business. This episode provided insight about accounting services and was an interesting glimpse into an important aspect of running a business.

• Topics covered a wide range and included;

• The concept of Assurance

• Forensic accounting

• Looking at finances with a critical eye

• The importance of Policies and their benefit to the organization

• The unasked questions when a business interviews an accounting firm

• Preparing for your business exit - things to consider

• How the firm interviews new clients - what to watch for

HVCT just launched a new website that has a tremendous amount of resources for business owners. You can find them at http://hcvt.com

Todd Pringle, the General Manager and VP of Product at Stitcher (Deezer) sat down for a conversation with host Mark Sylvester for an enlightening talk that covered the role of Stitcher in the podcasting ecosystem.

Stitcher is second only to iTunes and is at the forefront of working to improve the user experience of enjoying podcasts. Several interesting points during the episode included;

• Technology of podcasting, how it's improving the user experience

• How Stitcher was the first to stream podcasts

• Helping people find and discover content

• How editorial and algorithmic approaches improve discovery

• The barriers to growth of the podcast industry

• What's the Holy Grail for the industry?

• Is Satellite Radio dead?

• Are we really at the ground floor of the Golden Age of Podcasting?