Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Rhonda Noordyk - Women’s Financial Wellness Center

Divorce is tough.  Not only do you have the emotional challenge of realizing that your soulmate doesn't fit the bill anymore, but you have some logistics to navigate.  A lot of those have to do with money.  whether it is dividing assets or just finding what assets each partner has, it can be bewildering and frustrating.  Add in some professionals that you hire that may or may not be working in your best interest and you have a recipe for a grandiose feeling of overwhelm with seemingly no one to turn to.

That is where Rhonda Noordyk and her team at the Women’s Financial Wellness Center comes in.  Rhonda has taken on the behemoth task of helping women going through a divorce get organized and get done what needs to get done.  She does this in such a way as to help her clients and keep them sane, as they get the help they need to navigate the shark filled waters of divorce.

Rhonda started as a financial planner and evolved into creating a business that offers so much more for women.  Business is so good, take that as a good thing or not, that she has multiplied her business over the last year.

Listen as Rhonda explains what she has done to help her clients, to grow her business and to keep an eye on the future.

Enjoy!

Visit Rhonda at: https://www.wfwcdivorce.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:08]

You have found

Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:10]

the business program that brings you

the struggle

[00:00:12]

stories and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:16]

We are locally underwritten by the Bank

of Sun Prairie and of course,

[00:00:20]

past episodes

of the Authentic Business Adventures

[00:00:22]

program can be found on the podcast

link at DrawInCustomers.com.

[00:00:27]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:29]

author, speaker and helpful coach to small

business owners across the country.

[00:00:33]

Today, we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:35]

to learn from Rhonda Noordyk, the CEO

of the Women's Financial Wellness Center.

[00:00:40]

Rhonda, how are you doing today?

[00:00:42]

Hey, I am great, James.

How are you?

[00:00:45]

I'm doing very well.

I'm excited.

[00:00:47]

Yes, me too.

[00:00:48]

I guess I'm in the process of writing this

[00:00:50]

book on financial stuff, and I bet that,

you know, probably way more about it.

[00:00:58]

Well, you know, it's

[00:01:00]

it's my focus is really for women

that are going through divorce.

[00:01:04]

And so that's really where

our niche and specialty lies.

[00:01:07]

Yeah.

Can you first.

[00:01:11]

I guess there's so many

things going through my head.

[00:01:13]

One, how did you come across this niche

and get into this niche?

[00:01:17]

Yeah, so well,

so I started in the financial industry

[00:01:21]

back in 2002 and knew very early

on that I wanted to work with women.

[00:01:25]

Mm hmm.

Partly because I wanted to help them.

[00:01:29]

And and I was seeing the results

of helping them. Right?

[00:01:33]

I mean, I started in the industry when I

was twenty eight years old and I'm like,

[00:01:36]

OK, we could fill a room full of women

that wanted to learn about finances.

[00:01:40]

And women decades older than me were

[00:01:41]

listening to what I had

to share with them.

[00:01:43]

And I'm like, this is really cool.

[00:01:45]

So clearly there's a need right for and a

desire for them to learn about finances.

[00:01:51]

So fast forward, I spent 12 years

in the financial industry and really

[00:01:59]

continue to grow that niche.

[00:02:02]

And I think a lot of times my male

[00:02:05]

colleagues were like, we don't generally

get what you're doing in there.

[00:02:08]

Like you've got wine and you're laughing

[00:02:11]

and are we really doing

anything productive?

[00:02:15]

But we were.

And so long story short,

[00:02:18]

during that same period of time,

I was also teaching in higher education

[00:02:22]

and really had a passion

for education and empowering women.

[00:02:25]

So in 2014,

I decided to leave the financial industry

[00:02:29]

and open the Women's

Financial Wellness Center.

[00:02:32]

So a lot of times people think

that we do financial planning.

[00:02:35]

We don't.

[00:02:36]

I build on that knowledge that I have

from being in the financial industry.

[00:02:40]

But what we're doing is coaching.

[00:02:42]

So helping with the mindset around money.

[00:02:44]

Education, so teaching

concepts and and strategies.

[00:02:48]

And then the consulting piece is really

[00:02:50]

where we're doing the deep dive analysis

of the numbers and things like that.

[00:02:54]

So the business model is

[00:02:57]

very empowering to women so that as they

go through the divorce process,

[00:03:02]

they're not only going through a divorce

process, but we're using it as

[00:03:05]

an opportunity to teach them

some really important things.

[00:03:07]

So when they get on the other side of it,

you know, they feel empowered.

[00:03:11]

Interesting. So the way that I understand

your business, is it more or less a one

[00:03:17]

and done kind of thing? Or people staying

with you after they get divorced? Or

[00:03:22]

are you just essentially

educating them and then

[00:03:26]

fly free bird?

[00:03:27]

Yeah,

[00:03:28]

well, so what happens is I always say it

depends on where we come in in the movie.

[00:03:32]

Right.

Because if we come in the beginning,

[00:03:34]

we are with women until they get

through the divorce process.

[00:03:39]

So if they if they're contemplating

[00:03:40]

but haven't filed,

will help them with that,

[00:03:43]

will help them interview attorneys,

will help them put together a budget,

[00:03:47]

will help them organize

and gather all their documents.

[00:03:50]

So while our emphasis is financial,

we're actually also holistically kind

[00:03:54]

of project managing the divorce process

as part of our services as well.

[00:03:59]

If we come in in the middle,

[00:04:00]

we get a lay of the land of who the

characters are and what the plot is.

[00:04:05]

It's an excellent analogy.

[00:04:07]

I love that.

That's awesome.

[00:04:09]

And then sometimes we come in.

[00:04:10]

It's like almost the credits are starting

[00:04:12]

to run, like we come on in the eleventh

hour and we're like, oh my gosh.

[00:04:15]

Like, we got to, you know,

we've got to make sure some stuff's

[00:04:17]

buttoned up here before you

officially make it final.

[00:04:20]

But no matter where we come in,

[00:04:21]

whether it's in the before

the middle or toward the end,

[00:04:25]

we always then do a session after, which we

call the divorce wrap up strategy session.

[00:04:31]

And what we do is we take all the things

[00:04:33]

that are in the marital settlement

agreement and we map on a timeline so

[00:04:37]

that women know what else they need to be

working at, what activities they still

[00:04:40]

need to do, what things

need to get wrapped up.

[00:04:42]

And it is at that point,

[00:04:43]

then we'll make those introductions

to other professionals that they may need,

[00:04:47]

such as estate planning attorneys or

financial advisors, things like that.

[00:04:52]

OK. So we do that final wrap up to kind

of pass the baton to that next team.

[00:04:58]

You know, that then can

take it from there.

[00:04:59]

So our average length of time that we're

working with a client is about a year.

[00:05:04]

And then once it's over,

[00:05:06]

we do the wrap up and then we move on to,

you know, start that process over again.

[00:05:10]

So it's a really I don't know,

[00:05:13]

it's a really sacred time of when we get

to spend time with these women that we see

[00:05:18]

them in their darkest, deepest,

most challenging situations.

[00:05:23]

And then we get to see them at the end

[00:05:24]

where they're starting to kind of come

out of it and they're really starting to

[00:05:28]

be a little more confident.

And then years later.

[00:05:31]

Right, we see them somewhere

or see them on social media.

[00:05:34]

And it's like, oh,

my gosh, this is awesome.

[00:05:38]

And so it's I had a client who was

[00:05:41]

divorced, wrapped up in July, and she's

a very, very, like, talented artist.

[00:05:48]

And she I had her create

some gifts for my team.

[00:05:52]

And so I went over to her house

here locally to pick them up.

[00:05:55]

And she's like, oh, come on in.

[00:05:57]

So I got to see her new condo

[00:05:59]

and she's like, ready to go look like she

was making mimosas or whatever for us.

[00:06:05]

So she's like, oh, the lights go.

[00:06:06]

And I'm like running around her house,

[00:06:08]

you know, turning on all

the lights and checking out her.

[00:06:10]

They said it was like,

[00:06:12]

I don't always get to see that side of it,

you know, once the stuff is over.

[00:06:17]

And so I left there like pretty emotional,

like, this is awesome.

[00:06:21]

She's doing really well.

[00:06:22]

She's she's redecorated

and this new beautiful place,

[00:06:28]

you know, she was hosting brunch the next

day, so she had all of, you know, her.

[00:06:33]

It was just really, you know, so she

had all of her decorations up for that.

[00:06:36]

And it was just nice to see full circle,

[00:06:38]

like they get to the other side

and they're going to be OK.

[00:06:42]

It's just hard, right?

[00:06:44]

Yeah,...

Noelle Stary - Mainstreet Moxie, 20 Lemons, The Co-Working Space

As entrepreneurs, we have a lot going on.  I have not met an entrepreneur that doesn't have dozens of new ideas floating around their head.

The interesting thing with my guest, Noelle Stary, is that she has implemented a lot of those ideas.  She wrote and published a book, Mainstreet Moxie, started a co-working space and created a business development company, 20Lemons.  Talking to Noelle is fascinating and makes you wonder what you did with your day.

In a good way.

Listen as Noelle tells us her business story and how she has shifted gears, hit multiple gears and once and just plain accomplished a lot.  You will be impressed.

Enjoy!

Visit Noelle at: https://20lemons.com, https://www.amazon.com/Main-Street-Moxie-Surviving-Marketplace-ebook/dp/B08MWP2VXG, https://northbrunswick.coworkinginjersey.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:06]

All right, you have found

Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:08]

the business program that brings you

the struggles,

[00:00:10]

stories and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land coming

[00:00:14]

to you from a Calls On Call studios

underwritten by Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:19]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

author, speaker, speaker,

[00:00:22]

and helpful coach to small business

owners across the country.

[00:00:25]

Sometimes I can't talk in the microphone.

[00:00:26]

What are you going to do? Today

[00:00:28]

we are welcoming/preparing to learn

[00:00:30]

from Noelle Stary author and founder

of 20 Lemons and the Coworking Space.

[00:00:36]

Noelle, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great.

[00:00:38]

Thanks so much for having me.

[00:00:40]

Thanks for being on the show here.

[00:00:41]

I'm excited because you are an author,

which is super cool,

[00:00:45]

but you also actually started businesses,

which means that you're essentially giving

[00:00:50]

business advice and you have

experienced owning a business.

[00:00:54]

Yes. I see

[00:00:56]

and meet a lot of people that are going

to coach people in business and either

[00:01:00]

don't or have never or both

actually started a business.

[00:01:05]

So this is cool to actually meet

someone that has experience.

[00:01:08]

Yeah.

Boots on the ground kind of thing.

[00:01:10]

Yeah, I think I think a lot

about business is getting dirty.

[00:01:15]

Absolutely.

[00:01:16]

And, you know,

[00:01:19]

like when I think about like business

and thinking about having a little bit

[00:01:23]

of grit, I kind of, you know,

I always tell my clients for marketing.

[00:01:29]

I always tell them, hey, I like to,

like, roll my sleeves up and get dirty.

[00:01:32]

And like, you know, I'm not just going

to deliver brochures to your space.

[00:01:36]

I want to actually, like know

like who are they going to.

[00:01:39]

Did you tell them what

they're going to do with it?

[00:01:41]

What are you going

to say to the customers?

[00:01:42]

And I try to really pull

it all the way through.

[00:01:45]

Mm hmm.

[00:01:47]

Because I think you've got to get

[00:01:50]

dirty with your business and get to know

[00:01:52]

all the bits and pieces that you can

really make it work. Oh, you have to.

[00:01:56]

Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

[00:01:58]

There's so much going on that

[00:02:00]

I guess the coaches that you hear about or

see them pushing their wares kind

[00:02:06]

of thing, I feel like it's almost

a snake oil thing.

[00:02:10]

Like they're they're selling

hope based on pushing fear.

[00:02:14]

Yeah.

Kind of thing.

[00:02:15]

It's not.

And people that actually have a business

[00:02:18]

we can say like, hey man, it's cool,

you're going to get a little messy.

[00:02:23]

Yeah, well, that's part

of the fun to a point.

[00:02:26]

Yeah.

So how long ago did you start

[00:02:29]

20 Lemons?

[00:02:30]

So my marketing company

started about 11 years ago.

[00:02:34]

Oh wow nice.

[00:02:35]

So I started my first business

during the Great Recession.

[00:02:39]

Sure.

This time to start one.

[00:02:40]

Right.

[00:02:41]

Best time to start one.

I was working for a

[00:02:47]

a design agency at the time and I

just kind of was of the opinion that.

[00:02:56]

You know, I kind of saw the writing

[00:02:58]

on the wall like stuff is kind of coming

to a halt all over the country and someone

[00:03:02]

said you should go and look

to work for big business.

[00:03:05]

And I thought to myself,

are you watching the news?

[00:03:09]

And I just really felt like.

[00:03:12]

The piece that I love the most about small

business or micro business is you don't

[00:03:17]

need success all over the world, you

just need success in your own community.

[00:03:22]

And when you're talking about micro

[00:03:24]

successes, they don't need

massive amounts of audience.

[00:03:28]

And so I felt like I rather

just try to bet on myself.

[00:03:33]

And that's when I decided to start

my marketing company. Nice.

[00:03:36]

So were you working for a graphic design

company before or what kind of?

[00:03:40]

So, yep.

So I was working for a

[00:03:45]

it was they did graphics and they did

[00:03:48]

stuff like tons of branding work,

tons of website design, apparel,

[00:03:56]

tons of stuff.

They worked.

[00:03:59]

it was out of

[00:04:00]

the company was called Titonic and it

was a company up in Newark, New Jersey.

[00:04:05]

So they did a lot of work during the time

[00:04:07]

that Cory Booker was

actually mayor up there.

[00:04:09]

Oh, funny.

Kind of really interesting times.

[00:04:12]

Yeah.

Yeah, interesting.

[00:04:14]

So you what was the triggering moment

for you deciding to leave their.

[00:04:23]

So around that time, I you know,

I remember it kind of being like

[00:04:27]

September, October, you know,

Obama was coming into office around

[00:04:33]

that time and I just like every day

the news would come out and it would be

[00:04:39]

like this market tumbled or these

guys are looking for a bailout.

[00:04:44]

And I just kind of really felt like.

[00:04:50]

I heard this really great quote someone

[00:04:52]

had talked about and they said,

you know, you've got two choices in life.

[00:04:56]

You can either be a part of someone else's

plan or someone can be a part of yours.

[00:05:00]

Sure, he's like, there's only two options.

[00:05:02]

And I just thought to myself, I'd rather

try to, like, make my own path

[00:05:09]

and get people to support what I was

trying to do than just

[00:05:13]

try to hitch on to someone else

and and hope for the best at the time.

[00:05:18]

Was the business you were

working for doing OK?

[00:05:21]

They were doing OK.

[00:05:22]

They were doing OK.

[00:05:23]

They did start to lose business,

which I don't think was atypical.

[00:05:27]

I mean, they worked for they

did a lot of work for mauls.

[00:05:31]

They did work for non-profits.

[00:05:33]

They did work for Cory Booker.

[00:05:34]

And all of those places were doing OK.

[00:05:41]

But like I said, even with them as a small

business, I knew, like in my mind,

[00:05:47]

having to or I already had worked for a

another small business prior to that.

[00:05:53]

And I just thought to myself.

[00:05:56]

I feel like what it really takes to be

[00:05:58]

good in business is being able to be

agile and make change as fast.

[00:06:02]

And as I saw what was happening

in the economy, I thought to myself,

[00:06:07]

if I was the guys that owned this

business, I would start laying people off.

[00:06:10]

And so at that point,

[00:06:14]

I kind of knew, you know,

that was my trigger moment.

[00:06:17]

I think that was my moment was I thought

to myself, I can wait here and see if,

[00:06:23]

like, the ax is going to, like,

cut down on me.

[00:06:26]

I could wait to see

what's going to happen,

[00:06:29]

but I rather just kind of go on my own.

[00:06:32]

And when I really started trying to make

some decisions for what I wanted to do.

[00:06:38]

Nice, nice.

[00:06:39]

No, it's a very smart move.

[00:06:40]

Instead of waiting and seeing,

[00:06:42]

which is a very common reaction,

let's just see how this plays out.

[00:06:47]

Yeah, it's very common.

[00:06:48]

It's interesting because that time

I started my first business in 2006

[00:06:54]

and 2008, 2009,

when a lot of bigger companies were

[00:06:57]

pulling their marketing,

that meant that smaller companies like me

[00:07:00]

could actually afford to have radio

ads and TV ads and stuff like that.

[00:07:05]

It's kind of an interesting.

[00:07:08]

Interesting dynamic, I guess we're before

just couldn't it was out of the cards.

[00:07:14]

Well, and isn't it funny because, like,

we were just talking two seconds ago,

[00:07:18]

like micro businesses aren't as influenced

by what's going on in the economy.

[00:07:23]

Right.

And so it's it's just like

[00:07:26]

the determination of who do

I want my audience to be?

[00:07:31]

You know, the the book that I just put out

talks to this point of

[00:07:39]

who's your audience?

[00:07:41]

And and really what it's talking about is

[00:07:47]

the audience that I might have

always had before the pandemic.

[00:07:50]

Nothing has really totally changed.

[00:07:53]

But because of outside environmental

[00:07:54]

influences,

maybe my audience has changed today.

[00:07:58]

So like, for example,

...

Arjun Sen - ZenMango

Marketing is a tough game.  The platforms are always changing, the initial costs can be mind-boggling and the whole market is filled with promises that no one marketer can really keep.

Enter ZenMango founder Arjun Sen.  You see, Arjun works on six main principles, mostly centered around how you and your business make your audience feel.  Nothing brings about motion, like emotion.

Listen as Arjun details his secrets to marketing success, including his experience working for some big players, like Papa John's and Chipotle.  Also note that his big life change was when he decided to stop being a workaholic and became a dad first, business pro second.  The man has his priorities in order.

Enjoy!

Visit Arjun at: https://www.zenmango.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:08]

You have found Authentic Business

[00:00:10]

Adventures, the business program that brings

you the struggles,

[00:00:12]

stories and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:16]

Past episodes of the Authentic Business

Adventures Program can be found on

[00:00:20]

the podcast link and DrawInCustomers.com

[00:00:23]

We are locally

underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:26]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:28]

author, speaker and helpful coach to small

business owners across the country.

[00:00:31]

Today we are welcoming/preparing

[00:00:33]

to learn from Arjun Sen,

the founder and CEO of ZenMango.

[00:00:38]

Arjun, how are you doing today?

[00:00:39]

I'm doing great and truly

a pleasure to be on your podcast.

[00:00:43]

And the two words I really like,

[00:00:45]

especially I like authentic,

but more important, I like that adventure.

[00:00:48]

So to me, life has to be an adventure.

[00:00:51]

And that's the spirit,

[00:00:52]

because what I heard about your podcast,

that one word really put me on the spot.

[00:00:57]

That is the name of the game.

[00:00:58]

And I would love to say that I can take

[00:01:00]

credit for that, but I can't. Actually way

back when when I first started this thing,

[00:01:06]

I had another guy that was with me and we

would well, the plan was that we would

[00:01:10]

both interview guests and just have

a few different perspectives.

[00:01:17]

He flaked.

[00:01:18]

So he left us with a good name, though.

So that's good.

[00:01:21]

That's super good.

And I'm glad you continued the journey.

[00:01:24]

So. You know, it's so much fun.

[00:01:26]

You get to meet cool people like you.

[00:01:28]

And I learn I've learned a ton of stuff,

tons of little tidbits.

[00:01:33]

I've learned about some great books

that I would have never known existed.

[00:01:36]

I learned about businesses.

[00:01:38]

I mean, even with

ZenMango what you have going on,

[00:01:41]

I would have never known that that was

a thing or that what you do is a thing.

[00:01:47]

So it's a learning experience as much

[00:01:49]

for me as for my listeners,

at least I hope for my listeners.

[00:01:53]

Absolutely it is.

Yeah.

[00:01:55]

So tell us then, ZenMango,

what is ZenMango?

[00:01:59]

Let's start there.

[00:02:00]

So ZenMango.

[00:02:02]

You know, it started

when I was in the corporate world.

[00:02:05]

I was running marketing

and operations for Papa John's.

[00:02:09]

And day after 9/11,

[00:02:10]

I realized I was failing in the biggest

job of life, which is being a dad.

[00:02:16]

My daughter was eight.

[00:02:18]

And, you know, you and I both have 24

[00:02:19]

hours in a day, which means we need a lot

of discipline on how we use the time.

[00:02:24]

And I was just putting all the hours

in my work life to move ahead.

[00:02:30]

And then I realized I was

a corporate corporate workaholic.

[00:02:35]

I feel let me do one thing right.

[00:02:37]

So I quit and consulting started as

[00:02:40]

what can I do from home

to be a dad? Like those days,

[00:02:44]

if you asked me to do anything,

[00:02:46]

I would have done it. Like

my first project was doing

[00:02:50]

some sales graphs

[00:02:53]

for a burrito chain

who happened to be Chipotle.

[00:02:56]

OK, can you do but can you do sales graphs?

[00:03:01]

Oh yeah absolutely.

[00:03:02]

And I remember those twelve hundred

[00:03:03]

dollars was the best twelve

hundred dollars ever.

[00:03:06]

So that's the way that ZenMango evolved.

[00:03:09]

So today, the core of ZenMango is

that we are all in the feeling business

[00:03:14]

and you and I are feeling human beings

like human beings have feelings.

[00:03:18]

And that's the part where I think

[00:03:20]

for a second is the reason I got excited

about the podcast was

[00:03:23]

you spent time talking to me before you

took me through your passion and vision.

[00:03:29]

And I came here

[00:03:31]

excited to talk to this amazing human

being who takes time out of day

[00:03:36]

not to create more value for himself,

but value for the rest of us.

[00:03:42]

OK.

And that, to me, made me feel good.

[00:03:46]

So to me, I really think it's all about

the feelings because

[00:03:50]

in India there's this amazing song where I

come from in the city of West Bengal,

[00:03:54]

where it says that if you paraphrase if

you write your name on a piece of paper,

[00:03:58]

you know, it will tear

the writing on a rocket will fade.

[00:04:01]

But if you put it on the heart,

it stays forever.

[00:04:04]

And that's the reason I really think

[00:04:05]

in limited budget,

everything is all about feelings.

[00:04:08]

And we live by eight words.

[00:04:14]

Be human.

[00:04:16]

All right. Think human.

[00:04:17]

All right. That makes you feel human

and then act human.

[00:04:22]

All right.

[00:04:23]

And that's what matters,

because you don't have to be perfect,

[00:04:25]

because we are all human beings,

human beings, our imperfections that make

[00:04:29]

it because my daughter reminds me that

my left and right eye don't match.

[00:04:32]

I'm like, wow, I'm not even

[00:04:35]

biologically symmetric.

[00:04:36]

So we are different.

[00:04:37]

And I really think being

human is so important.

[00:04:40]

So tell me, so the common

denominator there is human.

[00:04:44]

Mm hmm.

So can you go through those individually?

[00:04:48]

Let's talk about be human.

Right.

[00:04:50]

That's the essentially making mistakes

and learning from them, is that right?

[00:04:54]

Yeah.

And I think that's the part where we just

[00:04:57]

really need to understand and put each

other in each other's situations.

[00:05:02]

I'll give a very simple example was

[00:05:04]

I was traveling to Phoenix and next

morning I had a flight at 6:00 a.m..

[00:05:11]

So I booked myself at a hotel close

[00:05:13]

to the airport and I just had one rule,

Arjun, 3:30,

[00:05:17]

get yourself out of bed and in the shower.

If I could do that

[00:05:20]

rest is auto pilot.

Sure.

[00:05:23]

So I did that, but once I got myself

[00:05:26]

in the shower, I realized there was a

little sticker on top of the shower knob.

[00:05:34]

Which says turn the knob left and the lever

[00:05:36]

right,

and I realized that at 3:30 that if I need

[00:05:40]

instructions to turn a shower on,

this is no ordinary shower, I try it.

[00:05:46]

And after five minutes I gave up.

[00:05:48]

I call the front desk and the kiddo

who was there was brilliant.

[00:05:52]

And she said, you know,

I'll just pull it hard.

[00:05:54]

It won't break it and then turn

it right and see what happened.

[00:05:56]

Then it worked.

[00:05:59]

So when I finally got to the airport,

I was sitting on the plane, I realized,

[00:06:03]

let's say you are the boss,

I work for you.

[00:06:06]

You and I both know there's a problem.

[00:06:08]

You, Sergeant, fix it out.

[00:06:10]

It goes and finds.

[00:06:14]

water-Resistant sticker,

that's not easy to find.

[00:06:18]

And I put it out there.

[00:06:20]

But I never stayed in the hotel to

[00:06:23]

see what happens at 4:00 a.m.,

3:00 a.m. in the morning

[00:06:28]

if I cannot make a shower work,

I felt stupid, right?

[00:06:33]

So the customer experience is just

like to me, think for a second.

[00:06:36]

When was the last time you and I love

[00:06:38]

to go back to a business which makes

us feel not good, a little stupid.

[00:06:43]

And I just felt that's the part where we

come and put yourself in the other

[00:06:46]

person's positions is very important

because that is the core to start with.

[00:06:53]

Fair, very fair, yeah, that's

it's interesting how often I run

[00:06:58]

into business owners

that have never actually gone through

[00:07:02]

the journey that a customer would go

through with their product or service.

[00:07:08]

They just they never even thought about it

[00:07:10]

or and they never I shouldn't say

that they didn't think about it.

[00:07:14]

I'm sure that they have thought about it,

but they thought about it through their

[00:07:17]

eyes, not necessarily

agreeing consumer or someone that's not

[00:07:23]

not aware of how things work.

[00:07:25]

And my most amazing boss played host

[00:07:28]

who just retired as chairman of Panaro

when I was working at Papa John's.

[00:07:33]

He always told me that every week I would

[00:07:35]

I need you to leave the office

and be a customer to our brand.

[00:07:39]

And be a customer to two to three

[00:07:40]

competitive brands

...

Heather Ewing - Abstract Commercial Real Estate

Recently commercial real estate took a hit.  As you know, people have been working from home in various capacities for the better part of 2020.  Many businesses, mine included, are finding that an office may not be needed.

That does not mean that commercial real estate is dead.  In fact, it is very much alive.  It just shifted a bit.

This is the perfect time for Heather Ewing to start her commercial real estate brokerage.  You see, Heather has a TON of experience in commercial real estate in the Madison, Wisconsin area.  She knows what is going up, what is coming down and what is getting built out.  Having someone like her on your side when it comes to finding the right place for your business is a huge benefit.

Listen as Heather explains how and why she started Abstract Commercial Real Estate in 2020 as well as why it was a great move.

Enjoy!

Visit Heather at https://www.abstractcommercialrealestate.com

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:06]

What is up, you have found Authentic Business

Adventures,

[00:00:08]

the business program that brings you

the struggles

[00:00:10]

stories and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:15]

We are coming to you

[00:00:16]

from the Calls On Call studios

underwritten by Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:19]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:21]

author, speaker and helpful coach

to small businesses across the country.

[00:00:24]

And I'm excited because it's commercial real

estate time,

[00:00:28]

It's time. I have Heather Ewing, the owner

of Abstract Commercial Real Estate.

[00:00:32]

Heather, how are you doing today?

[00:00:33]

Great, thanks for having me

[00:00:34]

James. I'm excited.

I am, too.

[00:00:36]

It's always it's fun to share about retail

[00:00:39]

and commercial real estate is

definitely on fire right now.

[00:00:42]

Oh, my gosh.

We've got a lot of great topics to cover.

[00:00:45]

Yeah.

[00:00:46]

So first, let's just start out with

what is Abstract Commercial Real Estate.

[00:00:50]

Let's start there and then we can move on.

Definitely.

[00:00:52]

So it's the firm that I founded and I

opened it earlier this year, May of 2020.

[00:00:58]

Congrats.

Thank you.

[00:00:59]

Thank you.

Definitely an interesting time to start.

[00:01:01]

Did you say May of 2020?

I did.

[00:01:03]

So this will blow over.

[00:01:07]

Yeah, hopefully covid blows over.

Yeah.

[00:01:09]

But the reason I started it,

[00:01:12]

it was really to come at it from a unique

vantage point of wanting to offer services

[00:01:19]

in the commercial retail sector

in a unique manner.

[00:01:22]

So we're a boutique retail firm, OK,

servicing owners, developers and tenants.

[00:01:28]

So it's really niched and then

[00:01:30]

additionally is focusing

in on the mixed use properties.

[00:01:34]

OK, and that's where, again,

[00:01:36]

working with owners and developers,

offering insights so that they can lease

[00:01:41]

their retail space at grade more

quickly, easily to better tenants.

[00:01:45]

Sure.

[00:01:46]

And really hit the numbers

that they desire.

[00:01:49]

All right.

[00:01:50]

So

what made you start your own thing versus

[00:01:54]

just working for... You were

a broker before, right?

[00:01:57]

Right.

I was for over five years.

[00:02:00]

And the reason for that was really

having your own firm.

[00:02:05]

You're able to call the shots

[00:02:07]

and to really offer a certain level

and caliber of service that you desire.

[00:02:10]

OK, and so with that,

I decided to start my own.

[00:02:14]

And with that, then

you'll notice that my focus is pulling

[00:02:18]

in a lot of the new video and technology

and really making a brand.

[00:02:24]

It's all right.

[00:02:25]

And so those are different elements

[00:02:27]

that I'm integrating

and will share with people.

[00:02:30]

And it's really providing additional level

and layer of service, something different.

[00:02:35]

And in retail, it's very customized.

[00:02:38]

OK, so I can pinpoint that,

[00:02:39]

including drone video footage and other

units to just make a precise package

[00:02:45]

for them and something that's

going to elevate them.

[00:02:48]

All right.

That's cool.

[00:02:49]

Definitely.

[00:02:50]

Is it tough to get in that realm to get

to start your own commercial real estate

[00:02:54]

business? Well commercial is

definitely a breed of its own.

[00:02:57]

OK.

You know, when you look at residential

[00:03:00]

versus commercial,

two very different types of areas.

[00:03:04]

People either love residential

or they love commercial.

[00:03:06]

It's a water and oil combination.

All right.

[00:03:09]

It's what I say.

[00:03:11]

So I had the good fortune of several

years ago looking into it.

[00:03:16]

I was interested in it and ended

up working in the retail sector.

[00:03:21]

And it's very creative.

[00:03:22]

I'm a very creative person.

[00:03:24]

And you work with passionate

people, right?

[00:03:26]

They're inspired.

They're passionate.

[00:03:28]

Sure.

Some are newer to the arena.

[00:03:30]

Others are seasoned,

regional or maybe national.

[00:03:34]

All right.

[00:03:34]

Retailers and in it, it's just a very

creative it's definitely an area of risk.

[00:03:40]

And there's also big rewards.

Sure.

[00:03:43]

So the deal structures are longer.

[00:03:46]

There's a lot of cold calling,

prospecting, building relationships.

[00:03:50]

And the nice thing is,

[00:03:51]

as you get established, of course,

all of that is much easier.

[00:03:55]

Right becuase now people are looking for you.

Exactly.

[00:03:57]

And so you've become known,

you service a special niche.

[00:04:01]

And I think that's something that's

really helped me as being very niched.

[00:04:05]

Nice.

OK, and so retail and new mixed use

[00:04:08]

development is what people

know and come to me for.

[00:04:12]

So it's just a fun area.

[00:04:14]

And at times it just feels like I always

[00:04:16]

have to pinch myself

because I love what I do.

[00:04:19]

Sure.

And I love helping people.

[00:04:21]

And with that, you know,

it wasn't always that way.

[00:04:25]

I was in the operations arena,

OK, many years ago.

[00:04:28]

All right.

About eleven years.

[00:04:30]

OK, so I was in capacity,

planning and running production lines

[00:04:35]

overseas negotiations for toolings,

electronics, motherboards.

[00:04:40]

Right.

Completely different arena.

[00:04:41]

Yeah, way different.

[00:04:43]

Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:44]

So the record skipped.

Yeah.

[00:04:46]

And I found myself of, you know,

what do I really want to do in life.

[00:04:51]

Of course, you don't hear

about commercial real estate.

[00:04:54]

No.

[00:04:55]

It's one of those unique areas

where if I only knew about that.

[00:04:59]

Twenty-three

years ago, right?

[00:05:02]

Right, exactly.

[00:05:03]

But as you would want to say, fate,

destiny, interest,

[00:05:07]

whatever tapped me on the shoulder and as I

got into it, I just fell in love with it.

[00:05:13]

OK, it's challenging.

[00:05:15]

Yeah, it's rewarding.

It's unique.

[00:05:17]

It's very creative in how you

structure deals in the site selection.

[00:05:23]

Having been born and raised in the Madison

area, I've been here forty six years.

[00:05:29]

That knowledge is invaluable.

Right.

[00:05:31]

So I remember before the Beltline was put

[00:05:34]

in, before Westtown was

there and it was field.

[00:05:38]

Wow.

You know, so you just know all these

[00:05:40]

different areas, including the suburbs

and things of that nature and how it all

[00:05:45]

fits together

and the nuances of neighborhoods.

[00:05:50]

So you have demographics and all

of these various numbers.

[00:05:54]

But then there's also just the mentality

right now feel and a vibe what they

[00:05:58]

typically purchase, what they typically

do, where they typically will.

[00:06:01]

And that's the psychotropics.

Right.

[00:06:03]

So you compile all that together.

Right.

[00:06:06]

And I'm a firm believer you use numbers,

[00:06:08]

but you also have a gut hunch

and it's paring all that together.

[00:06:13]

That has really allowed me

to excel in that arena.

[00:06:17]

All right.

And

[00:06:20]

I've always loved shopping, James.

[00:06:24]

I'm a professional shopper.

Sure.

[00:06:25]

OK.

[00:06:26]

And so from being a young

little girl, I loved that.

[00:06:30]

And now I joke that I just

shop at a much grander scale.

[00:06:34]

Shopping for real estate.

Right.

[00:06:35]

It's for real estate and the retailers.

All right.

[00:06:38]

So I bring new retailers

into the market as well.

[00:06:41]

All right.

[00:06:41]

To provide new amenities, new offerings

and to really enrich people's lives.

[00:06:48]

Yeah.

So my tagline is it's beyond retail.

[00:06:52]

It's living fully.

[00:06:54]

Oh, right.

Right.

[00:06:56]

So I see commercial real estate,

[00:06:59]

especially retail,

as bringing beauty to people's lives

[00:07:04]

through these doors,

through the new offerings.

[00:07:07]

People get to maybe try new menus, meals,

drinks, experiences,

[00:07:14]

maybe it's different clothing,

maybe it's different decor for your home.

[00:07:18]

Right.

Right.

[00:07:19]

Maybe it's a new fitness boutique.

Right.

[00:07:21]

...

Chad Burmeister - ScaleX.ai

As business owners, we always have growth on our mind.  How do we build our business to the next level?  And, of course, the level after that?  The answer is basically marketing, in all of its forms.  Advertising, referrals, content, reaching out, following-up, etc.  Basically just doing all that you can to bring awareness that you exist to the people that may need your product or service.

But how do you market your business when you have so many other things to do?

Chad Burmeister started ScaleX.ai to solve that problem.  Geared towards B2B businesses, ScaleX.ai uses the power of LinkedIn along with artificial intelligence to build your awareness for you.  It does so bringing a personal touch with your profile.

Listen as Chad explains his business story and how he has helped many companies grow without taking much of the business owner's precious time.

Enjoy!

Visit Chad at ScaleX.ai

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:07]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:09]

the business program that brings you

the struggle

[00:00:11]

stories and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:15]

We are coming to you remotely.

[00:00:17]

We got Chad over in Denver.

Is that right, Chad?

[00:00:20]

That's right.

[00:00:21]

I'm in Golden, Colorado, at the moment

in Colorado, starting to snow.

[00:00:25]

Nice.

And I'm outside of Madison, Wisconsin,

[00:00:28]

where we are hoping that it doesn't snow,

but it's inevitable, I guess.

[00:00:32]

Chad Burmeister is the CEO

[00:00:34]

of ScaleX.ai as well as

the co-founder of SalesClass.ai.

[00:00:38]

Chad, how are you doing today?

[00:00:41]

I'm doing fabulous.

[00:00:42]

It's,

you know, just just post election season.

[00:00:46]

It seems like pre so

we'll see what happens there.

[00:00:49]

But yeah, business is good,

family is good.

[00:00:53]

And I just in fact started this workout.

[00:00:55]

I don't know if you've heard about this.

[00:00:57]

Seventy five hard.

[00:00:59]

It's more of a mental toughness

application and workout. Two workouts a day.

[00:01:04]

All right.

Forty five minutes each.

[00:01:06]

Seventy five days in a row now.

[00:01:10]

And by the way, there is no alcohol.

[00:01:12]

There's no, you have to drink

a gallon of water a day.

[00:01:16]

Read ten pages in a book, OK?

[00:01:18]

And probably three or four other things.

[00:01:20]

So I'm on day 22, so I feel really good.

Nice.

[00:01:25]

And is it mental alone or mental

and physical or something?

[00:01:29]

Well, it's mental and physical.

[00:01:30]

The forty five minute workouts can

kind of be what you want them to be.

[00:01:33]

So I have the peloton app so I'll do

[00:01:37]

stretching and workout and then I'll do

a run in the afternoon or vice versa.

[00:01:43]

Wow.

And one of them has to be outdoors.

[00:01:44]

So with, with some snow coming down today,

[00:01:47]

I'm thinking it might be 20

degrees before you know it.

[00:01:51]

You know, I run all year long

[00:01:53]

because I have a dog in my rules is that

a tired dog is a good dog.

[00:01:58]

So we got to run in the snow.

[00:02:00]

I mean, twenty five below.

[00:02:03]

I've been out there not very long,

[00:02:05]

but to the point that your

eyebrows are icing up.

[00:02:08]

Yeah.

Yeah.

[00:02:09]

See, that's what I remember.

[00:02:10]

I was born in Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:02:12]

So when we come back to see

my relatives in Milwaukee or Madison.

[00:02:17]

Yeah, I always remember that when your

[00:02:20]

nose hairs freeze, that's the difference

between Colorado and Wisconsin.

[00:02:25]

I have this friend that's always asking

why do we live where our face can hurt.

[00:02:31]

Why do we live here.

[00:02:32]

Yeah, but it toughens you up for the times

that you go to other places.

[00:02:36]

That's that's fair.

That's fair.

[00:02:38]

Yeah.

[00:02:38]

And it's fifty degrees

and we're in shorts.

[00:02:42]

Awesome.

[00:02:43]

Don't you tell us about ScaleX.ai

[00:02:45]

This is an intriguing thing

you got going on here.

[00:02:48]

Yeah.

[00:02:48]

So we started in fact I look

at it like the Dell model, right.

[00:02:54]

They sell inventory before they build it.

[00:02:56]

And so my tip from trial and error over

[00:03:01]

the years is, you know,

before you leave your day job,

[00:03:05]

figure out what the market will bear

[00:03:07]

and what what the market

would would be interested in.

[00:03:10]

So I had a business partner, I say,

in past tense because I ended up buying

[00:03:14]

him out after after I joined

the business full time.

[00:03:18]

Nice.

But, you know, we

[00:03:20]

crafted a number of different offerings

from twenty five thousand to forty

[00:03:25]

thousand dollars within the first quarter,

which was Q4 of 2017.

[00:03:31]

We sold three hundred and thirty seven

[00:03:33]

thousand dollars worth

of product and services.

[00:03:36]

Wow.

[00:03:37]

So at that point I knew I like

to call it the dog would hunt.

[00:03:42]

Right.

We knew the dog would hunt

[00:03:44]

at that quarter and I thought, OK,

now I can afford to take the level of risk

[00:03:49]

to leave the day job

and go build a business.

[00:03:53]

Sure.

[00:03:53]

You did that in the first

quarter of your existence.

[00:03:56]

Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:58]

By year two we did nine hundred thousand.

[00:04:00]

Year three we did at one

point two million.

[00:04:04]

This is now the fourth year and we should

[00:04:08]

finish around two million

to two point five million

[00:04:14]

off of a one point two from last year.

[00:04:16]

So it's definitely scaling.

Yeah.

[00:04:18]

The ball, the snowball is rolling

down the mountain, as they say.

[00:04:22]

Sure.

Very cool.

[00:04:23]

So what is ScaleX?

[00:04:26]

It's a pipeline as a service

is what we think of it.

[00:04:28]

It's the highest level.

[00:04:30]

And what that means is that there's

kind of three aspects to it.

[00:04:34]

I look at it is 3D.

[00:04:35]

So data, digital and dials.

Right.

[00:04:39]

You first have to get data.

[00:04:41]

Good gas in the tank is

what I think of it as.

[00:04:44]

So do they have a valid phone number,

[00:04:47]

ideally mobile phone number in today's

world because most people work at home.

[00:04:51]

So mobile number is important.

[00:04:53]

A LinkedIn URL is key.

[00:04:55]

And does the person

still work there today?

[00:04:58]

And so there's.

[00:04:59]

A lot of change over the last six to eight

[00:05:01]

months,

so you have to get a data source and we

[00:05:04]

have to right there,

the two best providers,

[00:05:06]

rather than you going and writing a check

for twenty five to forty thousand dollars,

[00:05:11]

you can buy data from scale

as needed basis.

[00:05:16]

All right.

[00:05:17]

So it's kind of a nice

way to subscribe to data.

[00:05:20]

Then when we look at digital,

there's kind of three components.

[00:05:23]

There's email outreach,

[00:05:26]

which has become the hardest way

to do customer prospecting outreach.

[00:05:30]

It's the least performing channel in most

cases and can be one of the highest.

[00:05:35]

But in most cases,

[00:05:37]

from an outbound perspective, you know,

think about a call, the email.

[00:05:40]

How many times are going to reply?

[00:05:43]

Very few men know if there's a video

[00:05:45]

embedded and it has your LinkedIn profile

and then a picture of me in the corner

[00:05:50]

that you can tell them about to say

something to you, you are going to click

[00:05:54]

that because you're like,

what's this guy talking about?

[00:05:57]

So we figured out a way to put video

[00:05:59]

embeds into the email at scale so that you

can get a very high performing open rate

[00:06:06]

and reply rate

nine emails for social second.

[00:06:10]

And when it comes to social,

we're seeing the kind of performance

[00:06:14]

that you used to see an email,

eight to 12 percent reply rates.

[00:06:19]

Wow.

It's amazing.

[00:06:20]

So as long as you have a product

or service that's not,

[00:06:26]

you know, obsolete or something,

[00:06:29]

if typewriter repair or something

like the iPhone one and we're all

[00:06:34]

11 and 12,

you know, you've got to make sure

[00:06:38]

that the market's ready

for what it is you're selling.

[00:06:40]

But

[00:06:41]

for example, we're reaching out

to podcast hosts right now at scale.

[00:06:46]

And when you do that through LinkedIn,

we're getting a 50 percent.

[00:06:50]

Yes.

I'd like to have you on my podcast.

[00:06:53]

So we are here.

We are right.

[00:06:56]

I mean, that's that's the value and beauty

of leveraging technology to help you find

[00:07:03]

podcast hosts and get

on podcast at scale than I was.

[00:07:07]

I landed on Fox News and Newsmax

the day of the election.

[00:07:13]

Wow.

That's right.

[00:07:15]

I was the very last interview before

the election coverage started on Newsmax.

[00:07:19]

When you going to

[00:07:21]

get that?

Wow.

[00:07:23]

It's crazy, right? That's awesome.

[00:07:25]

So so data digital is email social.

[00:07:29]

And the third leg of the stool

for the digital outreach is paid ads.

[00:07:33]

So most companies might go to a Facebook

[00:07:35]

or a LinkedIn and spend two to three

grand a month and optimize one channel.

[00:07:39]

...

Sarah Mullins - A La Crate Rentals

The in-person celebration world has changed a bit in the last few months.  Actually, it pretty much dried up.  That has not stopped Sarah Mullins, the founder of A La Crate Rentals from adapting, improvising and improving her boutique event rental company.

Sarah's business essentially stocks, curates and hunts down items to be used to decorate and bring life to spaces that celebrations are held.  Typically serving weddings and corporate parties, Sarah has brought wonderful character to all manner of parties.

Listen as Sarah explains the process she went through to start, run and grow her business.  She also details the systems she has to take care of all of the little details.  This was a fascinating interview with a serial entrepreneur that has a lot more to share as her business adapts and grows.

Enjoy!

Visit Sarah here: https://alacraterentals.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:06]

You have found Authentic Business

Adventures, the business program that brings you

[00:00:09]

the struggle

stories and triumphant successes

[00:00:12]

of business owners across the land.

Coming to you remotely but closely,

[00:00:16]

I'm in Sun Prairie just

outside of Madison.

[00:00:18]

And Sarah, you are in Madison, I think.

[00:00:22]

Yeah, I'm in Monona.

Awesome.

[00:00:24]

And you just a stone's throw away.

[00:00:28]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:30]

author, speaker, and helpful coach to

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:33]

And I am excited to learn from

Sarah Mullins, the founder of A La Crate Rentals.

[00:00:39]

How are you doing today?

[00:00:40]

I'm doing great, thank you.

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:43]

Well, thanks for being on.

[00:00:44]

So why don't you tell us let's just start.

[00:00:46]

What is A La Crate Rentals?

Yes.

[00:00:49]

So we're a boutique event rental company.

All right.

[00:00:53]

So we service the two hundred

and fifty mile radius.

[00:00:55]

Wow.

Yeah.

[00:00:57]

All right.

[00:00:57]

And we're about, I'd say 60 percent

weddings and then 40 percent corporate.

[00:01:05]

So think of any get together

[00:01:07]

pre-covid when you need

[00:01:10]

more tables and chairs, backdrops, bars,

furniture, and decor.

[00:01:15]

All right.

Our niche is that the pieces we carry are

[00:01:18]

really either one of a kind pieces

that are found,

[00:01:21]

vintage items we've repurposed

or locally handcrafted and made products.

[00:01:27]

So we're working with local makers to build tables,

[00:01:29]

build benches, find mid century modern

sofas, have them reupholstered.

[00:01:35]

All right.

So a very boutique side of rentals.

[00:01:40]

So how long have you been around?

[00:01:42]

Will be nine years.

[00:01:44]

Nine years in a few weeks.

[00:01:46]

Holy cow.

[00:01:48]

Congrats. That's awesome.

Thanks.

[00:01:50]

That is.

[00:01:51]

I think that's right.

[00:01:53]

Yeah.

[00:01:56]

So what made you start this? Because this

[00:02:00]

had to be a huge undertaking,

just something with inventory,

[00:02:03]

storage, awareness, marketing,

insert issues here, right?

[00:02:08]

Yeah, I always say that I'm kind

[00:02:10]

of a serial preneur or I've always

known that I wanted to have a business.

[00:02:14]

I never knew quite what.

[00:02:16]

And so

[00:02:17]

this was the first business that we found

[00:02:21]

the need through our own

personal experience.

[00:02:23]

So we got married and we found

[00:02:25]

that my husband and I found rentals

at the time were,

[00:02:28]

you know, produced in other countries,

maybe weren't the quality or had

[00:02:33]

the character that we would have hoped.

Both being art majors,

[00:02:36]

we look to move for pieces with stories

[00:02:39]

themselves that kind of express

who we are as individuals.

[00:02:43]

All right.

And we got married and found

[00:02:46]

that that just wasn't something

that existed and one of the best pieces

[00:02:49]

of advice that I ever received

as a curious entrepreneur.

[00:02:54]

A young sponge at times was to move

to an area, find a need and fill it.

[00:03:00]

And so this happened with our wedding

[00:03:02]

and we kind of looked at each other and we

ended up making a lot of our inventory.

[00:03:06]

We ended up selling a lot of it

[00:03:08]

on Craigslist afterwards, meeting

a lot of couples in a similar boat.

[00:03:11]

Nice.

[00:03:12]

It is just like this

shouldn't be this hard.

[00:03:14]

This should be fun. Right?

Yeah.

[00:03:17]

Celebration.

Right.

[00:03:18]

Best day of your life.

Exactly.

[00:03:20]

Yeah.

We didn't have family around and you know,

[00:03:23]

you don't need

I don't know when you're looking for like

[00:03:26]

ten, ten of something you can find two. I always

compare it to like shopping at TJ Maxx.

[00:03:31]

Sure.

[00:03:32]

You know, if you go in there looking

for something, you won't find it.

[00:03:34]

But right.

[00:03:36]

If you go in just shopping,

you'll find a ton of things.

[00:03:39]

So, OK, so you found this need.

Yeah.

[00:03:43]

You said, all right, let's do this.

[00:03:45]

So you just quit an existing job or close

[00:03:48]

up a different business or

what were you doing before?

[00:03:50]

Let's see.

So I was working in the ad world

[00:03:52]

in Minneapolis prior and we

had just moved to Madison.

[00:03:56]

My husband was working for the university,

[00:03:57]

the extension,

and I was doing multiple jobs.

[00:04:01]

I had kind of promised myself I wouldn't

go back to the corporate world.

[00:04:05]

All right.

And so I, nothing wrong with it.

[00:04:08]

It was just more of a

challenge for myself.

[00:04:10]

Sure.

[00:04:10]

If I had I was doing framing,

I was doing window displays.

[00:04:16]

I was doing freelance work.

[00:04:18]

I was also working for the county

and doing some interesting odds and ends jobs

[00:04:21]

that kind of came together

to make a full time salary.

[00:04:24]

Sure.

[00:04:25]

And so this was kind

of a new thing to try.

[00:04:27]

And we like to throw

spaghetti on the wall.

[00:04:29]

And so we found a little garage

near our house that we rented.

[00:04:34]

All right.

And so we wanted it away from the house.

[00:04:36]

And so we just started we we got the lease

[00:04:40]

for the space, which was a garage

before we had a name for the business we

[00:04:44]

started collecting before we

had a name for the business.

[00:04:46]

All right.

[00:04:47]

We just kind of went about it like

you would any creative project.

[00:04:51]

Like you got to get the wheel spinning

in and see what happens.

[00:04:54]

Right, start somewhere.

[00:04:55]

Yeah, it was a low investment

and we weren't the types.

[00:04:58]

We did do a business plan.

I worked.

[00:05:00]

Score and took some classes and things,

[00:05:03]

but we really just kind

of started this journey.

[00:05:07]

Yeah. Was this your first

business that you ever started?

[00:05:10]

No, I've done freelance before.

[00:05:12]

It was my first storefront.

[00:05:14]

OK, so prior to that,

I had businesses out of our home.

[00:05:18]

I did freelance graphic design and

the window display design.

[00:05:22]

I started like a pants company

with friends like pants company.

[00:05:26]

Yes.

Fun story.

[00:05:28]

Like pants.

[00:05:29]

Yeah.

[00:05:31]

Make your own or you got

to tell me about that quick.

[00:05:33]

Yeah, it's pretty good.

[00:05:35]

So it was a buddy was in Minneapolis.

Her name is Tara.

[00:05:37]

My name's Sarah.

[00:05:38]

I had spent some time in Sri Lanka

and when I came back,

[00:05:42]

I have these great pants and they're

kind of like the wrap pants WRP.

[00:05:48]

OK, so you kind of put them on like a big

[00:05:50]

adult diaper, like wrap the front

to the back up the back to the front.

[00:05:55]

Anyway, they're a great fit

and they're very flattering.

[00:05:58]

And so they were going to be Torosaurus.

[00:06:00]

She was going to design one half.

[00:06:02]

I design the other

[00:06:03]

and you can take with the front look

like what the back looked like.

[00:06:06]

We had different snaps, enclosures.

[00:06:09]

They were very fun to wear with PJ pants.

[00:06:11]

Yeah.

[00:06:13]

So does this get off the ground?

[00:06:15]

No, we had prototypes and

[00:06:18]

we got to the point that we started

getting into branding and Tara and I were

[00:06:23]

good buddies and we kind

of realized it wasn't a good idea.

[00:06:26]

How come?

[00:06:29]

I think she didn't love the pants.

[00:06:31]

Neither of us really loved them.

[00:06:32]

At the end of the day, I think they were

[00:06:34]

more successful when they were just

one solid fabric or pretty wild.

[00:06:39]

Got you.

OK, but it was just fun.

[00:06:42]

And then you're like, what are we doing?

[00:06:44]

I want I think a lot of business

owners run into that.

[00:06:46]

You kind of just keep

trying different things.

[00:06:49]

But what was interesting was that idea

[00:06:51]

started from just a fun idea

and not necessarily a need.

[00:06:54]

So maybe what we found out quickly is,

[00:06:56]

you know, it's fun makeup, you pair pants,

but there was necessarily need for it.

[00:07:00]

Are there still some of those

pants just hanging around?

[00:07:03]

Yeah, customers real customers are

...

Marianne Gariti - Moving Forward Senior Move Managers

Imagine that your mom or dad are ill.  They are pretty old and have lived a good life, but is is time for them to go into an assisted living facility.  They have a house full of memories and stuff that needs to be cleaned, prepared and sold.  They also have piles of stuff that needs to be gone through and sold, donated, taken home by you, recycled or tossed.  This is a huge undertaking and many people do not know where to start.

Enter Marianne and her team at Moving Forward.  You see, Marianne saw the confusion surrounding the children of seniors that were often states away and trying to help their parent move from a house into a home.  All the while they have their own family, job and obligations.

So the crew at Moving Forward takes care of everything, and I mean everything.  They even set up the new space with pictures, furniture and just the right touches to make it feel like a welcoming place to the senior.

The care they take is so amazing that they have a 5.0 review rating on Google!  Read some of those stories to learn about all that Moving Forward does.  It is simply incredible.

Listen to Marianne's entrepreneurial story and the story of her success helping move seniors and turning a chaotic and often frustrating situation into a caring and transitional experience.

Enjoy!

Visit Marianne here: https://movingforwardwisconsin.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:05]

You have found Authentic Business

[00:00:06]

Adventures, the business program that brings

you the struggle

[00:00:08]

stories and triumphant successes

of business owners across the land.

[00:00:13]

And today I am excited to chat

with Marianne Gariti,

[00:00:17]

owner of Moving Forward Senior Move Managers

here in Madison, Wisconsin.

[00:00:21]

Is that right?

Yes.

[00:00:23]

You guys do southern Wisconsin? We stay

[00:00:25]

mostly in Dane County, but we can

go around the whole state.

[00:00:28]

All right.

[00:00:28]

I just had the craziest Wisconsin

accent there didn't I? Wisconsin.

[00:00:33]

So I've known you.

[00:00:37]

Let's call it 15 ish years.

It's been a while.

[00:00:39]

It has been a while.

[00:00:40]

So you've been an entrepreneur

for a long time?

[00:00:42]

Yes.

All right.

[00:00:43]

So let's start in the way beginning.

[00:00:46]

What did you do right before

you started a business?

[00:00:50]

Well, probably we've probably owned

[00:00:51]

my husband and I, have owned

I think three businesses.

[00:00:53]

Before we owned a medical practice,

he was a physician.

[00:00:57]

So he owned a medical practice. Ok. And then

we owned storage units for a while.

[00:01:01]

I didn't know that.

Yes, we did.

[00:01:02]

We lived in Indiana, so we had the medical

practice and storage units, OK?

[00:01:06]

And then we moved and we

sold those two companies.

[00:01:09]

And then from there we bought a, we had an

[00:01:13]

ink and toner store, which,

you know well, over on University Avenue.

[00:01:16]

And so owning that store

for about six years.

[00:01:19]

And we started doing some

electronic recycling.

[00:01:21]

So I started getting into the recycling

side of things and helping people

[00:01:26]

dispose of things correctly.

[00:01:28]

And then we sold that company.

[00:01:29]

And then I just was looking

for a new adventure.

[00:01:32]

And I heard about this industry that I'm

in now, the senior move stuff.

[00:01:35]

Yes.

So I want to pause for a second.

[00:01:37]

Just ask you about storage units.

Yeah.

[00:01:40]

Were those good?

Was it profitable?

[00:01:41]

We loved them.

[00:01:42]

And I think, you know,

it's kind of right now we actually where

[00:01:44]

our office is located, we would like

to add some storage units, too,

[00:01:49]

because although we try to encourage

[00:01:51]

people not to save things

and just to downsize and be done with them.

[00:01:55]

There are situations where family

[00:01:57]

needs to come into town and look at things

or it is just a short period of time.

[00:02:00]

Oh, so it would make sense for us to still

[00:02:02]

own some storage units so still in our

in our plethora of things we enjoy.

[00:02:07]

So we may own them again someday soon

[00:02:09]

because that was kind of the golden

ticket, I don't know, maybe a decade ago.

[00:02:13]

They're pretty big still.

[00:02:14]

It's still a huge growing industry.

[00:02:16]

So we went to a conference

once about them, actually.

[00:02:18]

Yeah.

[00:02:18]

It's really an interesting

industry, that's for sure.

[00:02:20]

Alright.

I see them popping up everywhere there.

[00:02:23]

And my rule has always

been people have junk.

[00:02:26]

So whether they store it or not they just and again,

[00:02:28]

I'm definitely would prefer I'm

kind of against it overall.

[00:02:32]

I just think that people just put things

[00:02:33]

in there and they closed the door

and you forget about them.

[00:02:35]

So I and I really am very

big into just doing a short term.

[00:02:40]

idea like just to get you over a hurdle

[00:02:41]

like three months is OK, but thirty

years is not, type of thing.

[00:02:45]

So that's so funny.

[00:02:46]

If you have for thirty years in a storage

room, it's probably not that important.

[00:02:49]

We had when we were in Indiana,

[00:02:50]

we had a customer in there who honestly,

we never even met him.

[00:02:53]

He had three, ten by twenty units

and he had only owned them.

[00:02:57]

If there's somebody owned the storage unit

before us he was one of their first renters.

[00:03:01]

So literally he was there like

twenty years, just the same.

[00:03:05]

Yeah, it's pretty.

It's pretty amazing.

[00:03:07]

He come and go.

Come and go but.

[00:03:08]

Sure.

Yeah.

[00:03:10]

Weird.

Yeah.

[00:03:12]

I don't even want to ask

what's in that storage.

[00:03:13]

Is there are those storage units.

[00:03:14]

That's funny.

[00:03:16]

So you got the senior move

thing and senior move

[00:03:19]

from what I understand from talking

to other people,

[00:03:21]

it's a fairly new industry or someone

figured out, hey, this is a big deal.

[00:03:26]

We got to fix this. Relatively new,

[00:03:28]

yeah, I think basically.

[00:03:29]

So we're part of the Association

[00:03:30]

of Move Managers and started

basically around twenty years ago.

[00:03:34]

Okay. Yeah.

[00:03:35]

So it's been around for a little

longer than most people think.

[00:03:37]

Yeah.

I would not have guess that. Alright.

[00:03:40]

It's just been growing.

There's a thousand

[00:03:43]

thousand companies similar to mine,

[00:03:44]

although mine's a little

unique in some aspects.

[00:03:47]

But there are about a thousand

of us around the country really.

[00:03:50]

It's part of this association.

Wow.

[00:03:53]

And internationally, there's some

in Australia.

[00:03:55]

There's a bunch in Canada.

So.

[00:03:56]

Yeah.

All right.

[00:03:58]

Has that number exponentially gone up?

It's gone up every year.

[00:04:01]

We go to conference every year.

[00:04:03]

So the number just keeps going up.

[00:04:04]

People just, yeah. That's so cool.

[00:04:07]

Yeah, it's great organization.

I love it.

[00:04:09]

So what did people do before

something like this existed?

[00:04:13]

Well, now we've had you know,

[00:04:14]

we've had such a change over

the years with baby boomers.

[00:04:17]

And so basically back before our industry,

[00:04:20]

a lot of people were

not living as long, first of all.

[00:04:24]

Oh, so they just die. Justhappens.

[00:04:27]

And they live with family members and

their possessions aren't quite as great.

[00:04:31]

Alright.

We've moved along the curve of having

[00:04:33]

the baby boomers who are

tend to be collectors.

[00:04:36]

They have they went through

a lot of hardships.

[00:04:38]

They tend to collect a lot of things.

[00:04:40]

So as this population has aged and then

[00:04:42]

their kids are coming up,

there's just a whole

[00:04:45]

round of people that weren't around

before, weren't in need of the service.

[00:04:49]

Sure.

As much as it is now.

[00:04:51]

Right now.

[00:04:51]

The other part is that families

are spread apart much more so.

[00:04:55]

A lot of my clients are kids live

in New York or California, and their

[00:04:59]

parents needs to move from their family

[00:05:01]

home into independent living and

assistive living. Sure.

[00:05:04]

So they're just not as close,

[00:05:06]

you know, that they can come and help

them on the weekends or whatever.

[00:05:10]

And so they just need

help for their parents.

[00:05:12]

So that's typically what's

kind of happening now.

[00:05:15]

Nice.

[00:05:16]

So when you

when you reach out to your husband,

[00:05:19]

you're like, hey,

I want to get in the senior move thing.

[00:05:23]

How did he react to that?

[00:05:25]

Yeah, I think that he some

degree was working with seniors.

[00:05:27]

So I think he's always known that.

I don't know that.

[00:05:29]

OK, back Becklinyears ago.

[00:05:32]

Back in the day.

Back in the day.

[00:05:34]

So I really liked working

with seniors a lot.

[00:05:37]

And I know and again,

after we sold the store,

[00:05:40]

I had a little time where I worked

at St Vincent de Paul and I kind of helped

[00:05:43]

them with some of their electronic

recycling for a real short period of time.

[00:05:47]

...

Nathanael Zurbruegg - Live Life to the Fullest

We take so many things for granted.  This is especially true with our health.  We have arms, legs, lungs and a heart that keep doing their jobs day in and day out with nary a thank you or nod of apperception from us.  We typically only miss them when they hurt or stop working the way we want them to.  So goes the phrase, "Don't know what you got, 'til it's gone," right?

Nathanael had a rough childhood.  His health was challenged again and again and still he came out swinging.  Thank the doctors, thank the science and thank the sheer will of someone that was determined to survive and shift into full on thrive mode.

Listen as Nathanael takes us through his story and his suggestions for how people can overcome their obstacles, whatever they may be.

Enjoy!

Visit Nathanael here: https://nathanaelzurbruegg.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

Susan A Marshall - The Backbone Institute

We have all come across people that just seem to need to learn how to stand up for themselves and for others.  Sometimes, we may even come across that way.  What is the answer?  How do you become more confident in a professional setting without becoming arrogant?

We, as business owners, walk a fine line between commanding the respect necessary to get stuff done and still maintaining the empathy needed to make sure you keep the culture of your business welcoming.  Susan A. Marshall knows just how this works and she makes a living helping businesses of all sizes accomplish this challenging task.

Susan also wrote a few books, including Life, Be In It, Of Beauty and Substance and How to Grow a Backbone.

Listen as Susan explains some tips on growing (or keeping) your backbone in business and life.

Enjoy!

Visit Susan here: https://susanamarshall.com and here: https://backboneinstitute.com

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]

 

[00:00:14]

Coming to you remotely, because that's

how we roll in this Covid world.

[00:00:18]

But I'm excited because we

have Susan Marshall today.

[00:00:21]

Susan is the founder

[00:00:22]

of the Backbone Institute,

as well as the author of four books.

[00:00:26]

So if anything makes you feel lazy,

that should do it.

[00:00:29]

But I'm excited to hear from Susan.

[00:00:31]

So, Susan, let's start with what

is the Backbone Institute.

[00:00:35]

James, thanks for having me.

[00:00:37]

Backbone Institute as a private practice

essentially dedicated to the three

[00:00:41]

elements of backbone, which are

competence, confidence and risk taking.

[00:00:46]

And if you think about three elements,

they really form a learning

[00:00:51]

learning pattern or a learning system,

if you will, if we can set a goal,

[00:00:55]

if we don't set a goal,

we got no where to go.

[00:00:57]

Right.

[00:00:57]

But once you set a goal that kind of gives

you your focus,

[00:01:00]

then you back up from that and say,

what do I need to get better at in order

[00:01:04]

to elevate my confidence

to go achieve that?

[00:01:07]

So personal professional entrepreneurs are

[00:01:09]

fabulous, as you know yourself,

for having all kinds of energy

[00:01:13]

that sometimes isn't quite channeled

toward toward a particular goal.

[00:01:18]

So competence, confidence, risk taking.

[00:01:20]

When I started speaking on this,

[00:01:23]

twenty five years or so ago,

I used to ask the audience of those three

[00:01:26]

elements: competence,

confidence and risk taking.

[00:01:31]

Which one do you think is most missing?

Hmm.

[00:01:34]

People would say very,

very early on it was competence.

[00:01:39]

A lot of people are out there doing stuff.

[00:01:40]

They don't know what they're doing.

[00:01:42]

Then it became risk taking.

[00:01:44]

In fact, I was at an IT conference years

ago and said competence, confidence, risk taking.

[00:01:48]

Guy pulled me aside at the break

and he goes, You can't say that word.

[00:01:52]

Can't say what word.

Which word?

[00:01:54]

He said, risk.

[00:01:56]

What? Exactly.

[00:01:57]

I said, why not?

[00:01:59]

He said it scares people.

Kind of the point, right?

[00:02:03]

Kind of the point.

Exactly right.

[00:02:04]

At an IT conference anyway.

[00:02:06]

And more recently, James,

[00:02:08]

it's been confidence.

I think are very confused about what

[00:02:13]

business success is means,

what leadership is all about.

[00:02:18]

So I get a lot of questions on that.

[00:02:21]

And while people kind of stand up strong

[00:02:23]

and say all these wonderful things,

you can tell just by looking at some

[00:02:27]

people that the confidence

is really not there.

[00:02:30]

Common, extremely common to a fault.

Yeah.

[00:02:33]

Yeah.

[00:02:34]

And so that's kind of given me

a new wrinkle to think about.

[00:02:37]

How do we help people shut out the noise,

[00:02:40]

focus on what they are

gifted with. Strengths

[00:02:42]

finders is one of my favorite tools

and really work to develop that and worry

[00:02:47]

less about what people sometimes tell

than they should or could be doing.

[00:02:51]

Sure.

It's interesting you say that I just had

[00:02:53]

a conversation with one of my employees,

she's training a new employee.

[00:02:58]

And I'm like,

this just doesn't seem confident.

[00:03:01]

And if the new employee

comes and they don't see the confidence

[00:03:05]

in the training and the curriculum and all

that kind of stuff,

[00:03:08]

they're going to be scared away

because they're going to be an idiot.

[00:03:12]

I just

[00:03:15]

yeah.

You don't seem intelligent.

[00:03:16]

You seem like you don't

know what's going on.

[00:03:18]

You're flying by the seat of your pants.

[00:03:20]

And I think a lot of people got

away with that for a long time.

[00:03:22]

But I don't know,

OK, fast talk fast and don't you know,

[00:03:25]

just speed through and leave them

in the way in your way going.

[00:03:29]

Right.

What was that?

[00:03:31]

What just happened?

All right.

[00:03:33]

We got some politicians

that are good at that.

[00:03:36]

Oh, please don't get me started then.

[00:03:38]

We don't have to go down that road.

[00:03:39]

But it's interesting how you could argue

[00:03:43]

if you have more confidence than

competence, you could be more successful

[00:03:48]

than someone that has

the flip side of that.

[00:03:50]

Right.

Well, and I think that's a real trap

[00:03:53]

and actually have spent a lot of time

working with people, because if you if you

[00:03:57]

have more confidence than competence,

is it confidence or is it braggadocio?

[00:04:02]

Are you trying to look

like something you are not

[00:04:06]

really at base level know?

[00:04:08]

What you're doing

is a frightening prospect.

[00:04:11]

But I think a lot of people

I would argue that there's a lot of people

[00:04:14]

in sales positions that have exactly that,

right? To be in sales at all successful

[00:04:20]

you have to have confidence,

I can tell you, from shopping for a car,

[00:04:24]

the sales people have no

idea what they're selling.

[00:04:26]

No clue.

[00:04:28]

Color, maybe.

[00:04:30]

Wow, well, I haven't shopped for car

in a while, but given that I'm not sure

[00:04:33]

I'm going to, well a lot of people

are shopping online. Just.

[00:04:36]

Well, absolutely.

Yeah.

[00:04:38]

I would say it's not

exclusive to car shopping.

[00:04:40]

It's just anything.

I mean, you go into a

[00:04:43]

retail store to buy a TV and you're like,

[00:04:46]

hey, does this TV do whatever

compared to this TV?

[00:04:49]

And they start reading the box

like I can read.

[00:04:53]

I don't even know what's interesting about

[00:04:55]

that, though, as you think about how we've

morphed from going to to talk with someone

[00:05:00]

who supposedly knows a product to looking

online and going through all the specs

[00:05:03]

and having some idea and reading

the blogs and all that kind of thing.

[00:05:06]

So the shopping experience

I think is different.

[00:05:09]

It's evolving, that's for sure.

Yeah.

[00:05:12]

And I know you think about A.I. and you

[00:05:14]

think about Elon Musk,

who's going to a sell with chips.

[00:05:17]

No worries.

Still have confidence built in there.

[00:05:20]

So it's a different world.

[00:05:22]

And I think that's partly why I'm seeing

a lot of people today a little scrambled.

[00:05:28]

What should I write to?

[00:05:29]

What should I not what do

I need to get good at?

[00:05:32]

What do I not need not to worry about?

[00:05:36]

And all of that has

an impact on confidence.

[00:05:39]

I know from my experience and I guess your

Midwest, just like I am,

[00:05:44]

a lot of people here are terribly

slow at making decisions.

[00:05:49]

So I guess it leads to at least me viewing

them as lack of lacking confidence.

[00:05:54]

I don't know if that's

the case or not or if they're.

[00:05:56]

I don't know why.

I don't know.

[00:05:58]

You say that because I've done a lot

[00:06:00]

of work with East Coast people

whom I absolutely love.

[00:06:02]

New Yorkers are my all

time favorite of it.

[00:06:04]

And New Jersey, you don't have to guess.

[00:06:06]

They're going to tell you

like it is if it hurts.

[00:06:09]

So sad.

Too bad.

[00:06:10]

But I think here.

[00:06:12]

Yes, in the Midwest,

we suffer from Midwest.

[00:06:14]

Nice.

We don't want to hurt.

[00:06:16]

Nice.

I don't wanna hurt your feelings.

[00:06:18]

Yeah.

So we'll edit.

[00:06:19]

But we're going to say and we'll I mean

all of that people can sense

[00:06:24]

the hesitation and they can sense that

the word authentic comes from this.

[00:06:28]

You're not being real with me

and our brains are constantly trying

[00:06:33]

to sort out what's going to hurt, what's

not, what's going to help, what's not.

[00:06:36]

And then we get all tangled up and that's

where confidence goes right down here.

[00:06:42]

Yes, interesting, just

[00:06:44]

I guess you're talking about the word

confidence, manosphere,

[00:06:47]

a challenge, and some of the potential

employees that I was looking at.

[00:06:50]

Yeah.

[00:06:51]

Are considering hiring where

their resume seems cool.

[00:06:54]

But when you talk to them.

[00:06:56]

They couldn't form

a sentence or just scared.

[00:07:00]

Yes,...

Nate Warnke - Rockhound Brewing Company

Nothing lasts forever, right?   Businesses, like everything else, each will eventually go away, only to be replaced by something new.  Maybe it is over the course of weeks or maybe even decades.  In the case of Rockhound Brewing Company, a local restaurant and brewery, the statistics are leaning hard towards a premature closure.  Though statistically, Rockhound actually lasted longer than roughly 80% of other new restaurants.

You could blame Covid, restaurant costs, the growing (at least it was) competition, or a number of other factors.  The truth is that the restaurant business is tough.  It is capital intensive, finding, training and retaining employees goes beyond a full-time job and your client base is often a hangry bunch that will often complain at the tiniest of discrepancies.  Margins are brutally thin, ranging from 2%-6%, on average.  Toss in the fight for reviews, dealing with local jurisdictions about their evolving laws (for better or worse) and you have a recipe for starting and growing one of the most challenging businesses.

From all of this, it is no surprise that many of them do not stand the test of time.  The pandemic is knocking out restaurants all over the country.

But how do you close a business?  What happens to the lease, equipment, investors, employees, etc.?  How do you make the disheartening decision to close up?  How do you disconnect your life from your livelihood?

I have always told my clients that your business should be designed to support your life, not the other way around.  In many cases, there is no shame is closing the doors because a business is not producing the results you want it to.  As long as you do so as gracefully and admirably as possible, you can chalk it up to experience and move on.  All this knowing that you did the best you could.

Nate goes through all of this with us in this business podcast episode.  I sincerely hope that this episode helps other entrepreneurs do what they can to not only survive this pandemic, but to thrive.  I also hope it helps people know when it is time to pull the chute, and head towards their next chapter in life.

As a side note, I interviewed Nate a while back, well before the word pandemic became a household term.  That interview is here: https://drawincustomers.com/how-do-you-start-a-brewery-business/

Enjoy!

Visit Nate here: http://rockhoundbrewing.com/

Want to hear more?  Hit it:   [themo_button text="More Business Podcast Episodes" url="https://drawincustomers.com/category/podcast/" type="standard"]