Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Carrie Stevens  - Fed Up Foods

On the Knowing What it Takes to be Successful: "When you're setting up your business, you want to make it convenient for the customer, but also it needs to be convenient for us because if we can't maintain it then we're going to get burnt out and we can't sustain it."

Thousands of pounds of produce goes to waste every year.  This is due to many things, often having nothing to do with the actual taste or health of the produce.  Sometimes it just isn't pretty enough.  So what can be done with all of this good food that should be consumed?

Carrie Stevens has a farm, butchers animals to sell and recently purchased the business named, Fed Up Foods.  This is a business that takes less than pretty food and turns it into beautiful sauces, relishes and pickled produce.

Fed Up Foods got its start in the local farmers markets, thanks to Wisconsin's pickle law. Carrie Stevens is building on that foundation to bring locally sourced, shelf-stable products—ranging from pickle relish and maple ginger beets to cranberry applesauce—to more retail shelves and customers. Discover the surprising details behind what it takes to buy and run a canned goods business, from PH testing and food safety to sourcing "imperfect" produce and managing labels and inspections.

Listen as Carrie explains her journey and what she has learned from building her sustainable food businesses.

Enjoy!

Visit Carrie at:https://www.fedupfoodswi.com/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Woman-Owned Artisanal Canned Goods

03:41 Pickle Business Journey and Growth

09:04 Pasture Management and Livestock Rotation

10:44 Horseback Observation Resolves Calf Issues

13:23 Wisconsin Food Finance Support

17:00 "Work to Eat Philosophy"

21:21 Pickling Process and Variations

22:58 "Imperfect Produce Solutions"

27:59 "Pickled Beets Worth the Effort"

30:04 "Lard Pigs, Not Lean"

32:04 "Food Business Quality Challenges"

35:50 "Product Testing & Process Authority"

40:27 Scaling Production with Co-Packer

43:41 Cost-Effective Labeling Challenges

46:33 Frozen Meat Storage Advice

50:26 "Balancing Business and Convenience"

53:47 Cranberries: Creative Uses and Recipes

55:03 "Podcast, Support, Share Sauce"

Podcast Transcription:

Carrie Stevens [00:00:00]:

And I said, hey, why don't you try the cranberry sauce in there? Because, you know, muddled cherries kind of look like cranberries in the cranberry sauce. And I picked them up just that day from the Mr. Ayan Rousch from Roush Century Farms in central Wisconsin. He gave me a nice little tour of his cranberry farm. Organic cranberries. Fantastic.

James Kademan [00:00:20]:

Sounds like another podcast guest. Yeah. Yes.

Carrie Stevens [00:00:22]:

So, yeah, just a little cranberry sauce in your old fashioned.

James Kademan [00:00:27]:

How about that?

Carrie Stevens [00:00:27]:

Make it the rest of the way however you like, your favorite way.

James Kademan [00:00:30]:

Foreign. Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link fundedrawincustomers.com we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie and today we're welcoming slash preparing to learn from Carrie Stevens of Fed Up Foods. Carrie, I'm so freaking excited. We're talking about food, which is always good.

Carrie Stevens [00:01:00]:

Always good.

James Kademan [00:01:01]:

We're talking about pickles, which is always good.

Carrie Stevens [00:01:02]:

Absolutely.

James Kademan [00:01:03]:

And we're talking business. So I feel like we got the trifecta here.

Carrie Stevens [00:01:06]:

Yeah, absolutely.

James Kademan [00:01:07]:

How's it going today?

Carrie Stevens [00:01:08]:

Good, good.

James Kademan [00:01:09]:

All right, tell us the story. What is Fed Up Foods?

Carrie Stevens [00:01:12]:

So Fed Up Foods is a woman owned Wisconsin based artisanal canned goods company. So I purchased the business this past August. So I'm fairly new to it. However, it has been around for about five years. So it was started by a woman in central Wisconsin and her, her background, she was a produce buyer at the food co op and, and kind of different roles like that, very involved in the farmer's market and she saw a lot of produce going to waste and that was bothersome to her. Well, you know, and if you, we also own a farm, I'll talk about that more. But for a while I was getting produce from the grocery store, feeding it to our animals when it's, you know, there's a lot of beautiful produce, but you know, what happens to that produce after they can't sell it anymore.

James Kademan [00:02:03]:

So you would get the stuff that was blem essentially or just didn't look pretty.

Carrie Stevens [00:02:07]:

Yeah, or it was too, you know, I had been there for a couple weeks and it was okay, it was going mushy or whatever.

James Kademan [00:02:14]:

Pigs like it, humans don't love it.

Carrie Stevens [00:02:15]:

Right, all right. Yeah. And humans go, so, so anyways, what do you do with that, that produce as it's going bad or almost going bad and it's not selling? So the previous owner had started with Doing some home canning, home pickling. And in Wisconsin there's a pickle bill. So you can pickle at home and sell at farmers markets up to a certain dollar limit.

James Kademan [00:02:40]:

That's fairly new, right?

Carrie Stevens [00:02:42]:

You know, I don't know the, the history of it.

James Kademan [00:02:44]:

Okay. I mean last 10 years or something like that, I feel maybe, maybe.

Carrie Stevens [00:02:49]:

And then there's like there's the cottage baker law too. So that's a different one. Bakers, they can just bake in their house and sell.

James Kademan [00:02:56]:

Is there a limit like you can't for bakers?

Carrie Stevens [00:02:58]:

No, I don't, I, I do not believe so. But don't quote me on that.

James Kademan [00:03:01]:

Okay?

Carrie Stevens [00:03:02]:

Contact your lawyer for that. All right, fair. But for picklers canners there is a dollar limit. So Once you hit $5,000 in sales for the year, then for the year you flip over to not being under the pickle law. So the previous owner had grown, the business, passed the pickle law. So that means I now produce out of a commercial kitchen. I have all sorts of licenses and fun inspections. But that also means the product I'm producing is PH tested and I temp test everything so it is safe to consume.

Carrie Stevens [00:03:41]:

But that, so that started, she started from that under the pickle law, making it in our house, selling it at farmers markets and grew a business to where it's in retail stores, food co ops, kind of boutique stores or stores that specialize in local products. So shelf stable product that is taking a consumable product that is going to go bad and preserving it. So, so you can put it in your pantry and eat it when you get to it. So I purchased the business and have, am continuing the same recipes, getting restocked in the same stores, selling through website. We also sell it through our farm. So we have a customer base that purchases from our farm, so we sell through there too and just kind of looking at different new avenues as well. But it's been quite the learning experience we've started. My husband and I have started a business before but purchasing a business is a little different.

Carrie Stevens [00:04:46]:

So a lot of interesting learning but you know, good, bad and otherwise. Right. Some good things, some things that I'll change but it all is a good learning process. So, so it's been, been interesting and you know, little bumps through the, in the road. But you know, my husband keeps reminding me that one thing at a time and just it's. And it's going to take time. So with any, with anything it is going to take time to figure it out. I burnt a whole batch of pear sauce.

Carrie Stevens [00:05:18]:

And you burnt a whole.

James Kademan [00:05:20]:

How big is the whole batch? Are we talking a cauldron?

Carrie Stevens [00:05:22]:

Like a hundred? Some jars.

James Kademan [00:05:24]:

Well, that's a fair amount.

Carrie Stevens [00:05:25]:

That's a fair amount. Yeah. I mean, but my kids still like it, so. Hey.

James Kademan [00:05:28]:

Oh, well, there you go. Maybe it's a new product. Right?

Carrie Stevens [00:05:30]:

Burn. So white elephants at Christmas. Going to be fun.

James Kademan [00:05:34]:

If people drink Zima, they'll eat burnt pear sauce. Right?

Carrie Stevens [00:05:38]:

I mean, it's not totally burnt. It's just a little burnt.

James Kademan [00:05:40]:

All right. A little t. It's charcoal, right? Like, what is that, tequila?

Carrie Stevens [00:05:43]:

Like a zest of charcoal.

James Kademan [00:05:47]:

Tell me. So you have a farm that you butcher stuff at, right?

Carrie Stevens [00:05:51]:

Yeah. So we raised beef, cattle, pigs, chickens, chickens for meat and chickens for eggs and sell all direct to consumers. So we purchased the farm seven years ago, moved onto the farm. It'll be six years ago this fall and pre pandemic. So fall of 2019, we took our first steers to the butcher, sold to friends and family. And then when the pandemic hit, I said to my husband, and maybe I should have taken these words back, but I said, hey, I think we can sell this. And now we. So that was fall of 2019, when we took two steers into the butcher.

Carrie Stevens [00:06:33]:

Now we take anywhere from three to five steers into the butcher every month. And we do about 50 pigs a year. I did 450 meat chickens last year. I'm gonna double it this year.

James Kademan [00:06:50]:

Wow.

Carrie Stevens [00:06:51]:

Because I sold out in about two weeks.

James Kademan [00:06:53]:

Holy cow.

Carrie Stevens [00:06:55]:

Yeah....

Kevin Murphy  - Evolve Artist

On the Value of Learning Art Beyond Making Art: "As an artist, you require more data. And so an education trains your subconscious mind to feed the data that you need to draw and paint, rather than just the stuff you need for survival."

The power of art goes well beyond pictures, sculpture and music.  To simplify it down to the audio and visual alone is to miss the power that learning how to have an eye for art can offer you.  Knowing how to view the world from different angles to help you create a painting is just as useful to see the world from different angles to understand all manner of perspectives.

Kevin Murphy draws thought provoking parallels between learning art and mastering other complex skills, exploring how our brains process visual information and how deliberate, foundational training opens doors not just in painting, but in any creative pursuit. You’ll also hear inspiring stories of Evolve Artist students, from high school competitors to retirees, many of whom have gone on to find personal fulfillment and financial success through their art.

Listen as Kevin explains how Evolve Artist systematizes the fundamentals of art to help you and other artists see the world and make it more beautiful.

Enjoy!

Visit Kevin at: https://www.instagram.com/evolveartist/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolveartist/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Art Foundations and Skill Decay

10:00 "Subconscious Processing and Art"

11:02 "Understanding vs. Replicating Visuals"

19:34 "Foundations of Creating Poetry"

25:51 "Photoshop Pixel Tool Insight"

27:47 "Improving Color Accuracy Techniques"

34:24 Brush Types and Their Uses

38:49 "Quality Paints Worth the Cost"

45:41 Portrait Artist Opens a School

50:30 "Building a Frictionless Art School"

56:30 Mentorship Through Shared Experiences

01:03:33 "Knowing If It's Done"

01:04:10 "Painting Perfection and Consequences"

01:14:05 Authentic Business Adventures

01:19:04 "Gradual Pricing & Promotion"

01:22:18 Business Basics in the Program

01:30:56 "Corporate Structure Enables Success"

01:36:05 "ABA Art Site Launches"

01:37:10 "Appreciation and Positivity"

Podcast Transcription:

Cody Wiseman  - Wiseman Capital

On the Caring for Your Investments: "I don't want to be driving by that in 15 years and seeing it's a dump."

Investing in real estate has many benefits, but not all investors are created equal.

Cody Wiseman started investing in real estate a few years ago.  Through his hard work and care he has built a portfolio, which is great.  the exciting thing is that he gets compliments from his tenants and neighbors for the work that he has done to the properties, to lift the neighborhoods to be nicer places to live.  Without necessarily raising rents.  Affordable luxury, is what he calls it.

From the challenges of his very first property renovation, to the ambitious transformation of a rundown motel into affordable luxury apartments, Cody Wiseman shares the behind-the-scenes realities of real estate: sleepless nights, hard-earned lessons, and the creative hustle required to make deals work. Listeners will get an insider’s look at how Cody Wiseman partners with local investors, the value of authentic networking—like the Madison Multifamily Meetup that he’s grown into the Midwest’s largest—and why hands-on leadership and a passionate team matter.

Listen as Cody explains his philosophies on real estate investing and how you can apply them to your real estate investments as well.

Enjoy!

Visit Cody at: https://www.codywiseman.com/

https://Wisemancapitalgroup.com

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codyewiseman/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Wiseman Capital: Local Real Estate Partner

03:30 Real Estate Investment Journey

09:09 Getting Started in Real Estate

10:55 Multifamily Real Estate Networking Event

13:39 "Learning Multifamily & Passive Investing"

18:21 Delegating While Staying Hands-On

22:16 "Journey to Affordable Housing"

23:54 Personal Standards in Property Development

26:37 Community Impact and Urban Transformation

31:08 "Hidden Costs of Rent Explained"

35:00 Property Agreement Protects Long-Term Value

38:49 "Delays, Costs, and Waivers"

40:58 "Proving Creative, Affordable Housing"

45:56 Hardee's Worker Brings Joy

46:48 "Emily Sets Event's Tone"

50:19 "Authenticity in Business Partnerships"

52:49 Navigating Challenges with Confidence

Podcast Transcription:

Cody Wiseman [00:00:00]:

Average rents in Madison, you know, 15, 1600 bucks. Our average rent is a little over a thousand bucks.

James [00:00:04]:

Wow.

Cody Wiseman [00:00:05]:

Brand new. I market it as affordable luxury. So people are like, what, what is that? How do you do? Well, let me tell you, we have all of the amenities that you're going to have with a brand new class a ground up deal in downtown Madison. Pool, pool, fitness co working areas, bike parking and storage, dog park, dog wash.

James [00:00:30]:

You have found authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Today we're welcoming slash, preparing to learn from Cody Wiseman of Wiseman Capital Group. So Cody, how's it going today?

Cody Wiseman [00:00:45]:

Excellent. Thank you so much James for having me. I'm excited to be here. It's a beautiful studio you have and so close to home.

James [00:00:51]:

Indeed. So nice. Tell me a story. What is Wiseman Capital Group?

Cody Wiseman [00:00:55]:

Yeah, so Wiseman Capital, I founded this company back in 2022 and so we're a real estate investing firm really focused in the greater Madison area, multifamily specific. So at the end of the day what it is is we partner with everyday people to invest in real estate together. So that's, that's the beautiful thing about it is a lot of times people are, hey, how do I invest in this building that I see getting put up in Madison or these apartment buildings? They think it's just a big investment firm or something like that. But Wiseman Capital is partnering just with everyday people, a lot of local Madison people, and we run the project for them. They get investor updates. I put my own money in too, so they're investing right alongside of me.

James [00:01:37]:

All right, so you're talking the huge apartment buildings, the 5500 unit, whatever stuff.

Cody Wiseman [00:01:42]:

Yeah, maybe not quite 5500 units, but yeah. So we've got, we just opened up 129 units over on the east side of Madison. So I mean some, some consider that large medium, you know, it kind of depends. But yeah, the larger buildings where we've got an on site property manager, we actually manage our properties now in house, meaning we've got our own property manager that works for Wiseman Property Management, which is a subsidiary of Wiseman Capital.

James [00:02:09]:

Sure.

Cody Wiseman [00:02:10]:

So it gives us a little bit better control and a better resident experience when we're controlling the full asset and experience from, I like to say from lead to lease. Right. You know, if you come in and you want to inquire about living here, we want to give that great experience, fast response right away, give that showing get people living there if they've got a work order or just have any questions. The property is clean because we're taking care of it every single day.

James [00:02:34]:

All right. How do you get into the real estate game like that?

Cody Wiseman [00:02:37]:

Oh my gosh. So there's a lot of different ways. I was going to say, well, we'll focus on my story. Right? I mean, what, what we're here for. It's the one, you know, it's the one that I know best. And a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of, A lot of tears with it. No, I'm just kidding.

James [00:02:52]:

It sounds like the way to go.

Cody Wiseman [00:02:53]:

No, no joke, right? I mean we're, that's what we're, we're here to talk about is being authentic and real and in the behind the scenes and what it actually takes to build something. Because a lot of times you see as we've, you know, we've seen overnight success.

James [00:03:06]:

Yes.

Cody Wiseman [00:03:07]:

That overnight success. There's a lot more to it. The 10 years before that pop of success. So I started about four and a half years ago. My background is software sales. Growing up I was. Did some construction. My dad's a home builder, does some land development up in the Twin Cities.

Cody Wiseman [00:03:26]:

So my summer jobs were building houses.

James [00:03:29]:

All right.

Cody Wiseman [00:03:30]:

So, you know, I understood construction but from a single family home aspect of it. And I always wanted to get into real estate in some capacity. I don't have the skills to be the broker, you know, connecting deals and stuff like that. But I do have a sales background and I just knew that wasn't going to be the route I wanted to go. I wanted to actually own and develop and, you know, fix up properties and stuff like that. So about four and a half years ago, I bought my first three unit building in downtown Madison, 938 East Dayton. A lot of sweat equity put into that one. So I bought that with my own money and did essentially a value add or a brrrrs, another name for it, where you're gonna fix it up and then refinance and kind of roll some money into the next deal.

Cody Wiseman [00:04:13]:

But so that was a complete, almost, almost a complete gut job. We were down, you know, ripping that place apart. When I bought it, it was a vacant building. Then 3 unit. I wanted it in there.

James [00:04:25]:

Oh, it went down there.

Cody Wiseman [00:04:26]:

Yeah. So that was part of the agreement. It was owner occupied. One person was moving out and there was a hoarder who lived upstairs for 19 years. And it was, I don't know how she was living there. It was that that bad. And so that was part of the agreement is I want this building empty. So left the closing table went, started just ripping this place apart, cleaning it up.

Cody Wiseman [00:04:46]:

And spent a couple months while I was working full time as a software sales rep working from home. So I'd go down there from like 5 to 8am and then go down there in the evenings until like 10, 11 o' clock and most weekends for a couple of months, fixing this place up. Wow. And then, you know, I was. I was learning on the job. Right. I didn't know anybody. I didn't know anybody who owned multifamily.

James [00:05:09]:

So you got into that game specifically saying, hey, I can make money in real estate, but knowing nothing, really.

Cody Wiseman [00:05:16]:

You know, I read. I read some books.

James [00:05:17]:

Okay.

Cody Wiseman [00:05:18]:

You know, I did the old. Listen to some podcasts, you know, good stuff like this, where you're able to learn from people who have actually done it. I'm like, oh, okay, I think I can do this. But, yeah, there was nobody that I knew that owned rental properties when I got that thing under contract. And I was scared. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll figure it out.

James [00:05:38]:

So how did you know? Tell me about pricing, because pricing, we're talking four or five years ago was even more insane than it is now.

Cody Wiseman [00:05:44]:

Yeah. So looking back, it's amazing what I got this thing for. I bought it for $255,000. What? Yep. Put about.

James [00:05:52]:

That must have been a mess.

Cody Wiseman [00:05:54]:

Yeah, it was a mess. And I put about. What was that, 46,000 of my own cash. Then into that to fix it, and then leased it up and went to get it reappraised because I wanted to pull some money out, get it reappraised, and then refinance it. That was kind of the game plan. Well, the appraisal came in $100,000 less than what it appraised for before I bought it.

James [00:06:15]:

$100,000 less.

Cody Wiseman [00:06:17]:

And I said, I think you guys messed up this math. And. And so I gambled again. And I said, I'm gonna pay for another appraisal. And it came out much further ahead. So I don't know if that appraiser didn't quite k

Jacob Walter  - VP of Finance - Patriot Properties

On the Property Management Conundrum: "We look really good when everybody's making money. You know, we're always the problem when they're not."

The thing about investing is that the financial part is the important part.  It's all fun and games until you realize you aren't making money, or worse.

This is where it pays, literally, to have a smart finance guy in your corner.  Jacob Walter is the VP of finance with Patriot Properties.  As the guy watching the money go in and out for themselves and clients, he is in charge of making sure the numbers are not in parenthesis in the wrong spots.

Listen in as Jacob Walter shares his journey from college intern to finance executive, offering a behind-the-scenes look into the complexities of managing thousands of rental units, navigating the fast-paced real estate market, and building a team that can handle everything from apartment complexes to storage units. Whether you’re an aspiring investor, experienced landlord, or simply curious about the business of property management, you’ll hear plenty of candid advice, funny client stories, and hard-won lessons on scaling up in a competitive industry.

Enjoy!

Visit Jacob at: http://www.patriotpropertieswisconsin.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriotpropertieswi/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 "Client Forgot Their Property"

05:12 "Life Insurance: Niche Necessity"

08:30 Hiring Considerations for Job Roles

11:35 "Client Forgot Their Property"

13:24 Property Deals and Financing Insights

18:08 Madison's Rental Market Trends

20:52 Real Estate Rent Challenges

24:24 "Leaky Boiler Water Feature"

28:30 "Unrealistic Deal Evaluation"

31:01 Unit Maintenance and Value Maximization

35:19 Madison Property Repositioning Strategies

36:53 Tired of Property Management

41:37 Barrack-Style Madison Property Sold

43:49 Less Competition, Greater Opportunity

46:28 "First Deal Matters Most"

50:15 "Scaling Property Management Success"

53:26 Competition and Property Pricing Factors

Podcast Transcription:

Jacob Walter [00:00:00]:

I do have a funny story. One of my clients, he, he left for, I believe like Italy or Greece or something. He was gone for like two, three weeks. That was right. You know, when he came back was like, right when we were sending out our monthly statements and he called me, he's like, Jacob, like, I forgot I had this property. I'm like, what do you, what do you mean? He's like, yeah, you just, you guys have been handling. I haven't had to worry about it. Nice to see that there's plenty of money in the account.

Jacob Walter [00:00:23]:

Like, this is great. This is exactly what I want.

James Kademan [00:00:31]:

Have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie and today we're welcoming, preparing to learn from Jacob Walther, the VP of finance at Patriot Properties. Jacob, how's it going today?

Jacob Walter [00:00:56]:

I'm doing well, thank you. Thank you for having me.

James Kademan [00:00:58]:

Let's start with what is Patriot Properties?

Jacob Walter [00:01:00]:

Yeah, Patriot Properties, full service property management company. So we kind of joke around that if you can rent it, you know, we will manage it for you. We do. Obviously our bread and butter is multifamily. We do short term rentals. At one point we did camper van rentals.

James Kademan [00:01:19]:

Oh wow, you weren't joking.

Jacob Walter [00:01:21]:

Yeah, yeah, don't do that anymore. That was, that was an interesting time. But storage units, whatever you can rent, real estate wise, we can manage.

James Kademan [00:01:32]:

All right. And how long have you been with them?

Jacob Walter [00:01:35]:

I've been with Patriot for about five years now. Just over five years.

James Kademan [00:01:39]:

Sure. And tell me, VP of Finance, is that finance for internal within the company or is this more external helping investors and stuff like that?

Jacob Walter [00:01:47]:

So it's more internal.

James Kademan [00:01:48]:

Okay.

Jacob Walter [00:01:49]:

Obviously with property management, you're kind of a VP for finance for all the clients you have. So we have 122 different, different bank accounts, if you will, that.

James Kademan [00:02:02]:

Sure.

Jacob Walter [00:02:02]:

VP of Finance for. So it can, it poses its challenges, I bet. But you know, it's, it's, it's fun.

James Kademan [00:02:09]:

All right. I wonder how many people would agree with that. Like, oh, VP of Finance sounds like a blast. So how do you get in that world? How do you end up as a VP of finance?

Jacob Walter [00:02:19]:

Yeah, so went to college, you know, did the accounting route. Kind of bounced around a few times before Patriot Properties and how we kind of found Patriot Properties is a little bit of an interesting story, but you Just, you know, kind of went in there. Chris needed more of an accounting role when he was starting, so I've been there since. Since almost the start.

James Kademan [00:02:46]:

Okay.

Jacob Walter [00:02:46]:

And he essentially just worked up with Chris being his number two from the get go kind of thing.

James Kademan [00:02:52]:

Gotcha. All right. How did you end up meeting Chris?

Jacob Walter [00:02:56]:

So I had an internship at Northwestern Mutual. Okay.

James Kademan [00:03:01]:

Like half the world, right?

Jacob Walter [00:03:03]:

Yeah. Weirdly enough, we found out that we worked with each other but didn't realize it.

James Kademan [00:03:08]:

Oh, funny. At Northwestern Mutual.

Jacob Walter [00:03:10]:

Yeah. So we both worked in the Middleton office.

James Kademan [00:03:14]:

Okay.

Jacob Walter [00:03:16]:

And I did just apply for the Patriot Properties accounting manager position. Get to their interview. We're like, we recognize each other. Like, where is this from? And you know, comes out that we both were at Northwestern Mutual. A lot of his mentors that were there were also my mentors.

James Kademan [00:03:35]:

Sure.

Jacob Walter [00:03:36]:

But we. We bond over the fact that we went through that. You know, the challenges that that can pose.

James Kademan [00:03:42]:

So did you go to try to be salespeople there?

Jacob Walter [00:03:44]:

Yeah, that's what we were both working. Smiling, dialing. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

James Kademan [00:03:50]:

So get your parents and your friends and your aunts and uncles on the life insurance.

Jacob Walter [00:03:54]:

You know, you find out who your true friends are when you get done with that internship.

James Kademan [00:04:00]:

True friends that actually bought life insurance?

Jacob Walter [00:04:02]:

No, no. That still talk to you after.

James Kademan [00:04:04]:

Are they the ones. Didn't you sell me life insurance? Yeah, I don't work there anymore. How long were you there?

Jacob Walter [00:04:11]:

I was there for a year. So it was the internship through essentially my senior year of college.

James Kademan [00:04:16]:

All right, so that's funny.

Jacob Walter [00:04:21]:

Yeah. I'm not afraid to pick up the phone and talk to anybody.

James Kademan [00:04:24]:

No, that's good. That's very good.

Jacob Walter [00:04:26]:

That's a skill that's very, very much needed in the.

James Kademan [00:04:28]:

That is a rare skill. That is incredibly rare skill. I remember, I know quite a few people that have gone through that. Some still there and most not.

Jacob Walter [00:04:38]:

Yeah, exactly.

James Kademan [00:04:39]:

The Chernom.

Jacob Walter [00:04:41]:

Yeah. I mean, it's a very hard industry to start out in, to your point. Yeah. It's just a numbers game to a lot of those companies.

James Kademan [00:04:50]:

And I think once you get going, you're fine, you're making money, you're coasting, essentially.

Jacob Walter [00:04:56]:

Right. Yep.

James Kademan [00:04:57]:

Until people. Until you're clients die. But before then, you have to build that base. And I think it's hard work.

Jacob Walter [00:05:05]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:05:06]:

And it's like, why should I buy life insurance from you?

Jacob Walter [00:05:08]:

Well, yeah. Right. And that's starving.

James Kademan [00:05:11]:

Yeah.

Jacob Walter [00:05:12]:

I mean, that's the interesting thing. There's such a small population in the world that actually need that. Right. I mean, yeah, if something happens, it's nice to have. Obviously, like, I have life insurance for. From when I worked there too, but, like, the group that actually needs it is such a small group.

James Kademan [00:05:31]:

Right. Interesting. So did you have to get all your tests, all your certifications and all that jazz?

Jacob Walter [00:05:38]:

Yep. Yeah. Life disability certified, all that fun stuff.

James Kademan [00:05:42]:

How hard is it to get those?

Jacob Walter [00:05:44]:

It's not overly difficult.

James Kademan [00:05:46]:

Okay.

Jacob Walter [00:05:47]:

For the basic stuff, it's not very difficult.

James Kademan [00:05:50]:

I always wondered, because you, like, I meet a lot of people. You meet a lot of people just networking, going around, and you meet these people. Like, I got all these certifications, and I always wondered, how hard is it to get that?

Jacob Walter [00:06:01]:

Yeah, I mean, once you get into the investment side, it gets a little bit more difficult.

James Kademan [00:06:05]:

Okay.

Jacob Walter [00:06:06]:

So you're like series 66, I think it's called, and stuff like that. Those are a little bit more challenging.

James Kademan [00:06:11]:

Okay.

Jacob Walter [00:06:12]:

But essentially,...

Tim Packer  - Tim Packer Art Academy

On the Truth: "I mean the universities and colleges are failing them just miserably."

We all remember being kids and making art of some kind.  Water colors, macaroni pictures, maybe even some Play-Doh creatures.  But did you ever think you could make a living from it?  Tim Packer realized he could.

In this candid conversation, Tim Packer pulls back the curtain on the realities of the art world, busting myths about the "starving artist" and explaining why most universities and mainstream art advice miss the mark for artists hoping to make a living from their passion. He details how he leveraged both his artistic talent and business savvy to grow his own career, how he turned his mentorship of a young artist into a global success story, and how his experiences inspired him to launch his online academy to help others achieve the same.

Listen as Tim explains how to enjoy what you do and make some good money doing it.

Enjoy!

Visit Tim at: https://www.timpackerartacademy.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timpackerartacademy/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Teaching Artists to Earn Income

07:56 "Regret, Art, and Helping Others"

12:25 Art Worlds: Villages and Markets

16:39 90s Limited Edition Print Boom

22:11 "Keys to Successful Art Sales"

30:03 "From Artist to Police Officer"

35:30 "Art, Auctions, and Breakthroughs"

39:44 "Keys to a Thriving Art Career"

43:29 "Creating Art You Truly Love"

52:39 "When to Pursue Art Full-Time"

54:13 "Turning Point in Career Success"

01:03:10 Artistic Process and Experimentation

01:04:04 Breaking Free from Comfort Zones

01:11:18 "Art, Critics, and Accessibility"

01:15:44 Art vs Commerce Priorities

Podcast Transcription:

Tim Packer [00:00:00]:

I mean, my dream when I. Because I quit my job and walked away from my pension as a police officer when I was 40 to give this another try. My goal was if I could ever just make as much as what I would have made had I stayed and gone on pension, then it'll be a wash, right? Well, I far surpass that. But while I was in there, you know, just kind of and watching the sales go up and I was mentally crunching the numbers because this was November, and I thought, holy. Know what? I'm going to make over a quarter million dollars this year. As an artist.

James Kademan [00:00:34]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls On Call, Extraordinary Answering Service, as well as the Bold Business Book. And today we're welcoming preparing to learn from Tim Packer of Tim Packer Art Academy. I'm excited we get to talk about art, Tim. So how are you feeling today, Tim?

Tim Packer [00:01:04]:

I'm feeling great. I'm excited to be here and thanks for having me on the podcast.

James Kademan [00:01:08]:

Yeah, I'm excited because I don't know if you know this or not, but I majored in graphic design.

Tim Packer [00:01:13]:

Oh, me too.

James Kademan [00:01:14]:

Way back when. I don't do anything with it now. And I just got back from Italy and it was interesting because I'm like, wait a second, I've actually painted and drawn this cathedral.

Tim Packer [00:01:27]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:01:28]:

And I just never knew where it was.

Tim Packer [00:01:30]:

Oh, this is going to be a lot of fun then, because there's going to be a lot of context on your end, and I'm sure you're going to have a lot of questions as well, which is cool. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:01:37]:

So let's start with the foundation. What is Tim Packer Art Academy?

Tim Packer [00:01:41]:

Okay. It's my online art academy. And there's a lot of, like, recorded courses where people pay just for a certain course. I can get my color and composition course or see how I paint the subjects that I paint, or I have, like, whole suites of programs on there. And then I also have, like, a mastermind program. I call it the Hungry Artist Community. And that's where they get all of my courses. Plus, every week I do a live zoom call from the students, basically from around the world.

Tim Packer [00:02:11]:

But I'll critique their paintings, I'll answer any questions they have about art or the business of being an artist, and I'll give them coaching Advice.

James Kademan [00:02:20]:

So is the idea, I guess most of your students, are they looking to do art just as a hobby or are they looking to do it as a professional?

Tim Packer [00:02:27]:

Yeah, that's my niche is like I've been, I am a very successful artist. I've had a really successful career as an, as an artist, as a self publisher, kind of ran my own gallery. But what I really want to do now is my new mission in life is sharing the lessons and the knowledge that I've acquired over 25 years of being a full time professional artist with other people who share that dream, where their dream is they want to be able to actually make a livable income from their art and that's a huge void. I mean the universities and colleges are failing them just miserably. And also most of the common wisdom that's out there is actually just plain wrong that I found in my experience. And so I, I mean not only was I successful, but I ended up mentoring a young artist back in 2017. She was a, just a daughter of a friend of mine that I golfed with who was, she was taking landscape architecture but she really liked to paint and she did it as a hobby. And I got to know her first of all, we did a small print job for her of a painting she'd done for her grandfather and she wanted to do prints for like neighbors on the cottage road.

Tim Packer [00:03:39]:

And over her last couple years of school I got to know her and she would always be picking my brains about art. And then after she graduated I was golfing with her dad and he said, well yeah, Brooke spoke to us last night and I said oh, how is she? And he says well she doesn't want to be a landscape architect. Apparently after a four year university program, she wants to be an artist. And he wasn't happy and he wasn't happy with me and he was just, you know, if you could have had a thought bubble above his, it was it's all your fault. Oh no. And because every time we got together she would like. Cause I would, she would meet at social functions, at the club and she golfed a few times with me and her dad, but she was always picking my brains about art and about being an artist. And she knew too like my background.

Tim Packer [00:04:25]:

I, I grew up wanting to be an artist. I took graphic design like I just found out you did as well. And then by the time I was 21, realized I'm just not talented enough to make a living as an artist. The Toronto police force was hiring and that was an 18 year career that I did as a Toronto police officer before I discovered the whole idea, the growth mindset. So if you're hope, I guess I should let your listeners know too, if they're hoping for a quick story of how I went from being a kid who liked to draw to where I am now. It's not there. But anyway, she knew my story and so she knew that I knew. And by the time I met her, I was a very successful artist.

Tim Packer [00:05:02]:

So I said to her, I said to her dad, I said, listen, she's, she's just graduated, she's young, she's living at home, she doesn't have any debt. If there's ever a time to take a chance on this, it's now and then. And I already had my YouTube channel that, that I was doing which was all directed at just free content for helping artists who want to make a living from their art. And I said if she wants to, if she's willing and wants me to mentor her, I'd be willing to mentor her over the next couple of years as long as she's willing to have all of our sessions filmed and have it go up on YouTube. So we did that in 2017-2019 and now she is a worldwide superstar. She's got over a million followers on social media. She's living in Vienna right now. Her work sells around the world.

Tim Packer [00:05:52]:

Her work sells for much more than mine. She's got much, you know, and most artists was a recent study is that most artists in North America who are full time artists who are have make less than $10,000 a year in their net income. And she did 30,000 in that first year that I was mentoring her. Now I don't know what she's at, but it's a lot. And so that kind of reinforced to me that, okay, I can help people. And I knew that I wasn't gifted, right. I was not the most talented, most naturally talented person in any class that I took. I was always kind of maybe just above the middle.

Tim Packer [00:06:31]:

And then in 20, 20, 2019, I had, I contracted graves disease. I almost died twice. I was kind of lying in the gurney with my wife, not really knowing if I was going to survive the next 10 or 15 minutes. And that was kind of a life changing moment for me. For in a couple ways, the first thing, the great thing about that, again, I'm fine now, I'm healthy, healthier than I've ever been. But you know, you think what a lot of emotions might run through your head when you're lying there Thinking, I don't know if I'm going to be here in five or 10 minutes. And for me it wasn't fear, it wasn't terror, it wasn't regret, it was gratitude. I just really, you know, I just, I just, I can vividly remember both those times just thinking, hey, like, whatever is up there, whoever's up there, if this is it, okay, I'm really not ready to go.

Tim Packer [00:07:24]:

But if it is, thank you so much for allowing me to live the life that I led. I got to achieve the dreams that I had as a child and way beyond my wildest dreams. And then over the course of that year while I was sick and the other thing that was really cool is at the time I thought,...

Cole McCloskey  - The Electrician, Inc.

On the Appreciating the People: "I don't know that it's necessarily a bad thing that we, as a society, in business, are adopting a culture of being appreciative and valuing people for more than just what they produce."

Flip a switch, the lights come on.  Plug in your phone charger at night and your phone is ready to go when you wake up.  We take things like this for granted, but what does it take to make the lights turn on and the power to move through a house?

Cole McCloskey, co-owner of The Electrician, Inc. shares with us what it takes to become one of the people that do what they can to make sure the lights can turn on the and the electricity can move through the right wires.

The conversation goes beyond the nuts and bolts of working with electricity, delving into the challenges and rewards of starting a business, the importance of building trusted relationships in the trades, and the lessons learned from managing and growing a team from just a handful of employees to nearly one hundred. Cole opens up about the pivotal moment he became a partner at The Electrician Inc., why he believes in empowering team members rather than binding them with golden handcuffs, and how genuine appreciation and leadership can make all the difference in retaining good people.

Listen as Cole explains his journey and how others can follow his path to become not only electricians, but entrepreneurs as well

Enjoy!

Visit Cole at: https://theelectricianinc.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theelectricianinc/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 From Construction to Electrician Journey

06:10 "From Apprentice to Entrepreneur"

08:17 Succession and Growth Strategy

12:13 Reluctant but Generous Mentorship

15:27 Organic Leads Build Relationships

18:43 "Freedom Over Golden Shackles"

20:01 Retaining Good Employees

25:03 "Code Exceptions and Missteps"

28:53 Journeyman vs. Master Licenses

29:54 Master Electrician: Skill vs. Integrity

33:38 Madison Electrician Training Insights

36:32 Electrical Practices and Misconceptions

42:13 Trusting and Empowering Others

44:36 Prioritize Valuing Top Performers

46:51 "Embracing Appreciation in Business"

50:16 Strategic Approach to Tough Conversations

54:23 Entrepreneur Stories & Electrician Insights

Podcast Transcription:

Cole McCloskey [00:00:00]:

You do have to have a master electrician license to have your own business, because to have your own business to pull permits, you have to have a contractor's license. You have to have a master license to get the contractor license. So if that's a route someone wants to go, they do have to pass that exam.

James Kademan [00:00:14]:

So if they pass that test, then they have achieved master electrician status.

Cole McCloskey [00:00:18]:

Yeah, really above that, you can get into credentials for being an inspector if you want. The master exam is the first step towards that. If that's route you want to go.

James Kademan [00:00:30]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. We are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie and downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link found at https://drawincustomers.com Today we're welcoming, preparing to learn from Cole McCluskey of the Electrician Inc. And we are talking construction, electrician, electricity, all the good stuff. So Cole, how is it going today?

Cole McCloskey [00:00:59]:

Going very well. Thank you for having me.

James Kademan [00:01:00]:

Let's talk about the foundation. What is the Electrician Inc.?

Cole McCloskey [00:01:04]:

So we are a full services electrical contractor. We do jobs large and small across all sectors from residential to commercial to industrial. We do also fire alarm and low voltage access control systems. So we cover a wide variety of the market in that way. But just the full service is electrical contractors is what we are.

James Kademan [00:01:26]:

Right on. And how did you get into that?

Cole McCloskey [00:01:29]:

Well, I grew up in the industry, so my father has worked for a construction company for his entire life. So growing up, right about the time I was old enough to grab a hammer and swing it, he was teaching me how to do that. So that was pretty cool to grow up in the industry and just be interested in what it's like to work with your hands. So I would help him out with roofs and woodworking projects and remodels and all kinds of different things. That was, that was really cool. And so I knew I wanted to get into a field that allowed me to do that when I became an adult. And long story short, I ended up through a family friend, finding the Electrician Incorporated and talking to the owner, who's now my business partner. So I'm sure we'll get into that piece of things.

Cole McCloskey [00:02:17]:

But just worked there for a summer in high school and fell in love with it and just really enjoyed not only working with my hands, but kind of having to learn how electricity works and circuitry and controls and things like that. It's just always really intrigued me and ever Since I started, I've just really enjoyed it and loved it.

James Kademan [00:02:39]:

Nice. I played a little bit in the construction game and I gotta say, electrician, electric. Electrical stuff seems like way more fun than plumbing.

Cole McCloskey [00:02:50]:

It depends. But yeah, I think for the most part, especially the service side, I think plumbing can get it to be a little bit of a nasty job sometimes.

James Kademan [00:02:58]:

I would much rather replace the light switch than unclog a toilet.

Cole McCloskey [00:03:01]:

Yes, definitely.

James Kademan [00:03:02]:

So that's just where I'm at.

Cole McCloskey [00:03:04]:

So I think you made the right respect for plumbers because.

James Kademan [00:03:06]:

Absolutely.

Cole McCloskey [00:03:07]:

Because of that.

James Kademan [00:03:08]:

You know, it's funny, I was hanging wire at this bank, low voltage stuff. And there's a guy that was up, way up high, his fancy H type thing, and he's putting in the sprinkler pipe.

Cole McCloskey [00:03:19]:

Sure.

James Kademan [00:03:20]:

Like the iron sprinkler pipe. He's got a thread it and all that kind of stuff. And it's just him up there. And I'm like, I gotta shake this wire. Right. This low voltage, super flimsy, easiest thing in the world to do. And I'm like, huh, I guess I won there. Yeah.

Cole McCloskey [00:03:38]:

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We end up running rigid pipe like that for certain things, but. But yeah, that. Just the noise of the fittings that they put on that sprinkler pipe. My brother actually is a sprinkler fitter.

James Kademan [00:03:51]:

Oh, he is. Okay.

Cole McCloskey [00:03:52]:

Yeah. So he. Him and I, you know, give each other grief and good fun about the different trades. But. But yeah, for them there's a lot of. There's a good combination, I think, in. In the electrical field of using your hands. You know, it is hard work or can be really hard work at times, but there's a lot of thinking ahead using your brain, really thinking through an installation before you start it, those kinds of things.

Cole McCloskey [00:04:18]:

And I just, like I said before, I really have always liked that piece of it.

James Kademan [00:04:21]:

Yeah. That's cool. So is the Electrician Inc. Franchise or is it just.

Cole McCloskey [00:04:26]:

No, we're actually not. No. It was founded by my business partner, Brent Yockler, by himself in 2004. Okay. He was one man and one van. He's got a last name that's a little bit hard to pronounce and spell and. And I just don't know that he wanted to be like every. I don't think he wanted to be like everyone else and have, you know, yacht or electric.

Cole McCloskey [00:04:50]:

Right.

James Kademan [00:04:50]:

Sure.

Cole McCloskey [00:04:52]:

He. He just came up with the electrician ink and it's. It stuck with us and it's done. Well, there's no Confusion about what we do.

James Kademan [00:05:00]:

Not at all. Right. Unless you guys did plumbing and they're like, wait, right.

Cole McCloskey [00:05:03]:

Yeah, yeah, this is a little weird.

James Kademan [00:05:04]:

Yeah.

Cole McCloskey [00:05:04]:

So as we've expanded our market services, we've, we've or different scopes of work in, into kind of the more specialty. We do some specialty testing and maintenance and safety compliance within the electrical realm. And then obviously we're getting into more and more of the low voltage systems. So we've talked about certain marketing techniques that might better explain that.

James Kademan [00:05:28]:

Sure, that's fair.

Cole McCloskey [00:05:29]:

But. But in general, I think we've got decent brand recognition, specifically in Dane county with the construction side and the service side of things. And it's going well for us.

James Kademan [00:05:42]:

Nice. So tell me a story about how you bought in as a partner.

Cole McCloskey [00:05:46]:

Yeah. So I started with the electrician, as I said, for a summer in high school and loved it and so got to develop a good relationship with. With Brent. And as I went through my last year of high school, I really kind of made the decision that this is what I was going to pursue, at least at first, that field.

James Kademan [00:06:09]:

Being a partner.

Cole McCloskey [00:06:10]:

Well, no, no, no, I'm sorry, the field, the electrical field. And so I talked with him about the possibility of doing my apprenticeship schooling and training through the company and he said absolutely, 100% would love that. So graduated high school on a Friday, came to work on Monday for him and worked my way through the apprenticeship program, which was five years....

Isabelle Blaser  - Vet Receptionists

On the State of the Veterinary Field: "I think it's just a nationwide thing. That vet hospitals are understaffed and overworked and they always need an extra set of hands."

Pets are like family to a great majority of our population.  As living creatures, these pets need help.  Sometimes just a checkup, and sometimes something deeper, such as surgery.  Regardless of what they need, they are the animals we care about and so we want them to be taken care of.

The world of veterinary medicine is a challenging one.  The volume of pets is increasing, the volume of veterinarians and technicians is decreasing.  The workload is simply too much for most people to bear for anything considered long term.

But does it have to be this way?

Isabelle Blaser is the incredible manager at Vet Receptionists, a company designed to lift much of the burden found in most veterinary clinics, by taking calls and helping reduce the workload of the overworked staff.  By doing this, Isabelle and her crew at Vet Receptionists are able to help their client's employees keep doing all they need to do, keep them sane and keep them happily employed.

In this episode Isabelle shares the problems facing most veterinary clinics and the solutions that can turn a struggling practice into a place of happiness.  Though most veterinary clinics may not be struggling financially, mentally and culturally they are often a house of cards.  Many times without the doctors or clinic owners even knowing of the issues or demands being made on their team.

Listen as Isabelle explains the need for improved customer service to allow your clients to be treated better, as well as your employees.

Enjoy!

Visit Isabelle at: https://vetreceptionists.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vetreceptionists/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Supporting Overworked Vet Hospitals

04:20 Staffing Shortages and Owner Misunderstandings

08:15 Vets Avoiding Independent Practice

09:49 Veterinary Staff Experience Insights

13:12 Teamwork in Hospitals Explained

16:57 Veterinary Medicine: Broad, Demanding Expertise

19:31 Healing Through Puppy Care

23:08 "Clinic Growth and Staffing Strain"

28:08 General Practice Veterinary Hospital Size

29:58 Dominance of Market Software Leaders

34:05 "Veterinary Hiring Knowledge Test"

Podcast Transcription:

James Kademan [00:00:00]:

What is Vet Receptionists?

Isabelle Blaser [00:00:01]:

Vet Receptionists is a remote reception service for veterinary hospitals.

James Kademan [00:00:06]:

Nice.

Isabelle Blaser [00:00:07]:

In short, that's.

James Kademan [00:00:08]:

That's cool. That's cool. Why is that important?

Isabelle Blaser [00:00:11]:

It's important because I'm sure you've been to a veterinary hospital sometime recently. The staff is more than you'd like to admit. I think it's just a nationwide thing that vet hospitals are understaffed and overworked and they always need an extra set of hands. That way they can take care of the patients that are in the hospital.

Isabelle Blaser [00:00:29]:

So that's where we come in.

James Kademan [00:00:34]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] we are locally underwritten by the banks of Sun, Bank of Sun Prairie. Woof. Calls on Call, Extraordinary Answering Service as well as the Bold Business Book. And today we're welcoming, slash preparing to learn from Isabelle Blaser, at Vet Receptionists. So, Isabelle, how is it going today?

Isabelle Blaser [00:01:04]:

It is going just fabulous. How about yourself?

James Kademan [00:01:07]:

Sweet. It's going well. I'm excited. We're talking about veterinary receptionists. Let's just start there. What is Vet Receptionists?

Isabelle Blaser [00:01:14]:

Vet Receptionists is a remote reception service for veterinary hospitals.

James Kademan [00:01:20]:

Nice. In short, that's cool. That's cool. Why is that important?

Isabelle Blaser [00:01:26]:

It's important because I'm sure you've been to a veterinary hospital sometime recently. The staff is more than. More than you'd like to admit. I think it's just a nationwide thing that vet hospitals are understaffed and overworked and they always need an extra set of hands. That way they can take care of the patients that are in the hospital. So that's where we come in. It's really important just to have a backup and just, you know, a fail safe of someone else that can handle the phone calls, the text messages, the emails that come in so that the staff can handle the critical patients that are in front of them.

James Kademan [00:02:03]:

And is this a problem that's been going on for years, forever, or is this a fairly new issue?

Isabelle Blaser [00:02:09]:

I think it's been a problem that's been going on for a while, but it's becoming more prevalent because more people are having pets. The population is getting a little bit bigger and people are obviously more outspoken about issues that they may have in their workplace and especially in veterinary medicine, you know, that's, it's just hard to keep staff. So this is a great way to make sure that everybody's taken care of.

James Kademan [00:02:34]:

So tell me about keeping staff in the veterinary medicine world. Because I've been on the side of the counter where I pay, but not on the side of the counter where I have to take the pets in and deal with the angry customers and all that kind of stuff. I've certainly been on this side of the counter dealing with angry customers in other realms. It just, it seems interesting to me because you have someone's pet who some people like. I think of my dad, to him, a pet is an animal. He grew up on a farm. And an animal can be replaced.

Isabelle Blaser [00:03:05]:

Yep.

James Kademan [00:03:05]:

They're just like, oh, it's like a hot dog that got moldy. If your animal's sick, just get rid of it. And I used to be that way until I got my first animal. I got a dog. And now that dog I love more than most other people in my life. So I'm like, that's a different game. Right. So I guess I say that to say you're not just ordering popcorn or a beer or something like that.

James Kademan [00:03:24]:

Like you're actually dealing with this living, breathing member of a family, which means that emotion can get involved. So tell me a little story about what it's like to work on that side of the counter.

Isabelle Blaser [00:03:34]:

Yeah, I mean, I think you hit a lot of good points. And I think one all encompassing thing is I don't think people realize that whatever they can do in a human hospital, like imagine that that is also being done for animals. So like the emergency room realm is real. And I think that's where most of the short staffing and burnout comes from. Because like when you are imagining a pet, you're probably thinking, okay, yeah, vaccines, well, visit, maybe a spay and neuter. Right. But it really comes down to the emergency side and the critical care side. So like, if your pet is having an active emergency and you come in there, whatever you would imagine that you would get in a human hospital, that's what's also being done for the animal side.

Isabelle Blaser [00:04:20]:

And I think there's just like a lack of knowledge on the owner's side, firstly, that maybe they don't understand everything that's going on. So when they get upset and you have an angry owner and you're getting yelled at, you just want to like, say, like, I wish you could understand what I'm doing. And just that, you know, after a long period of time leads to people saying, okay, well I'm not doing this anymore. Maybe I don't get paid enough money, I don't have a good work life balance Whatever, it just accumulates over time and that ultimately leads to the staffing shortages. Another thing is, you know, just the whole money side of it, which I hate to get into. But people, yeah, it's important. Owners, obviously, they love their pets. Some things are expensive.

Isabelle Blaser [00:05:15]:

If you take your pet to an emergency hospital, they got hit by a car and they need to be in the ICU for a week, they might tell you it's going to be eight to ten grand just to keep them alive. And people, owners sometimes can come across saying, like, you just care about the money. Right. We don't, we don't care about the money. We're not. I'm not getting that 8 to 10 grand, like I promise you.

James Kademan [00:05:37]:

Yeah, Just.

Isabelle Blaser [00:05:38]:

Yeah. Directly in my bank account. No, I might see it a very small fraction of that. So I think it's just that there's a side of veterinary professionals and there's a side of owners and we don't always mesh a hundred percent because they don't see our side. And maybe we don't understand their side completely either. And there's just, you know, hostility and things like that sometimes. And I just think that accumulates over time and leads to people wanting to leave the veterinary field because they don't get the same respect as a human doctor would.

James Kademan [00:06:15]:

Oh, interesting that. You know, it's funny, I have noticed that as well with the veterinary side. Talking to my vet, who he's a male and I didn't know that. I'm learning the veterinary field is female.

Isabelle Blaser [00:06:29]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:06:30]:

I had no idea because my one vet, the guy that I see is a dude. So my, the awareness that I had was this one guy. So therefore a lot of vets are guys. I don't know. I'm wrong.

Isabelle Blaser [00:06:43]:

You're very wrong. Yeah, very wrong.

James Kademan [00:06:45]:

Oh my gosh. But it's interesting because talking to him, he was talking about expanding his practice and the cost of build out. He's in an older building....

Allen Curran  - Curran Cabinetry and Design

On the Knowing Your Users: "So if you have teenagers at home, it might come in really handy to be able to slow that down so they don't have the opportunity to slam things shut."

We all live in homes with a few of the same types of rooms.  We all have kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and a place to do laundry and maybe even a place to hold stuff in the garage.  In almost all of these rooms we have cabinets.  That is where the similarities deviate.

Cabinets can be made of a variety of materials, and styles.  How do you choose the best cabinets for your remodeling project.

Allen Curran, owner of Curran Cabinetry and Design, knows a thing or two about cabinets.  He has been in the industry for years and has seen designs come and go and come back again.

Listen as Allen explains the nuances of cabinets, the different design options and even the things you don't see, but you actually feel when using the cabinets.  It opens up a whole new world to making your house a much nicer home.

Enjoy!

Visit Lane at: https://currancabinetrydesign.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curran.cabinetry.design/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 "Timeless Cabinet Color Choices"

04:00 "Architect Encounter on Flight"

09:45 Soft-Close Drawer and Door Features

12:17 Toolbox Over Kitchen Cabinets

14:46 Friendship, Friction, Sales Strategy

20:07 "Connecting with Amish Artisans"

22:55 "Helpful Advice From Retiree"

25:19 "Shop Machinery and Systems"

29:37 Local, Quality-Focused Service

33:07 "Custom Cabinets, Semi-Custom Pricing"

37:39 Muted Colors for Timeless Kitchens

39:17 Oak's Decline and Revival

42:38 "Microwave Drawers and Filtration Systems"

46:56 "Counter-Depth vs Full-Size Refrigerators"

49:43 Ethical Start in Remodeling Business

53:30 Modern Trends in Door Desgin

57:20 "Efficient Kitchen Showroom Design"

Podcast Transcription:

Allen Curran [00:00:00]:

White or shades of white are still the most popular. Gray, blue, and green are the other options. And if you look at the blues and the greens, they will tend to have a shade of gray in them. And the reason for that is so much easier to decorate with other colors. If you wanted cobalt blue cabinetry, certainly we can do it. We offer all the Sherwin Williams paint colors as standard, different colors to choose from. But if you want cobalt blue, my biggest concern and first question is going to be how long before you get tired of that color?

James Kademan [00:00:42]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie, and today we're welcoming, preparing to learn from Alan Curran of Curran Cabinetry and Design. I almost forgot the and design part.

Allen Curran [00:01:06]:

Perfect.

James Kademan [00:01:07]:

So, Alan, how is it going today?

Allen Curran [00:01:09]:

Today's going well. It's a beautiful sunny day.

James Kademan [00:01:11]:

Yeah. We're talking cabinetry here.

Allen Curran [00:01:13]:

We are.

James Kademan [00:01:14]:

So let's just start with the foundation. How do you get in the cabinetry business?

Allen Curran [00:01:18]:

Well, how I got into the cabinetry business is I applied for a job, having had experience selling to general contractors and found out a little bit later that I was the only one who applied and dressed in a suit. That's my claim to fame, is I wore a suit the right day.

James Kademan [00:01:37]:

You know, that is. That's funny. You say that side anecdote here. I'm hiring, I guess you've been doing some hiring. And I get people in Zoom meetings. You probably, I imagine, have people in person.

Allen Curran [00:01:48]:

A bit of both.

James Kademan [00:01:49]:

So how are people dressing when they come to apply to your job?

Allen Curran [00:01:53]:

Much more casually than I would like.

James Kademan [00:01:54]:

Yeah.

Allen Curran [00:01:55]:

Or would expect.

James Kademan [00:01:56]:

Almost to the point of jammies.

Allen Curran [00:01:58]:

Tennis shoes, sometimes.

James Kademan [00:02:00]:

Okay.

Allen Curran [00:02:00]:

And it's like, okay, we're kind of a big ticket item and we're selling to typically professionals or, you know, people are. Most of our customers are 55 years of age and older. That's starting to change a little bit. But I mentioned to one of my employees who wants to dress a little more casual than I would like, and I said, okay. Have you ever gotten a compliment on how you're dressed? And he says, well, no. And I says, I have.

James Kademan [00:02:31]:

I love that.

Allen Curran [00:02:32]:

It's not like I'm bragging or anything of that sort. It's just to me, it's kind of showing respect.

James Kademan [00:02:38]:

Absolutely.

Allen Curran [00:02:39]:

For the people that you're talking to. And if you want to come across as professional, I think you need to dress professionally. So that's kind of where my thought process goes.

James Kademan [00:02:48]:

That is totally true. I was just watching the movie Casino and the thing that stuck out there was Robert De Niro suits. It was almost every scene he's got a different color and they're bright and I'm like, what a baller.

Allen Curran [00:03:02]:

Nothing like a sharp dressed man. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:03:05]:

And it's interesting because I heard a stand up comic talking about the way people dress at the airport where it used to be kind of a.

Allen Curran [00:03:11]:

It was a big deal to go.

James Kademan [00:03:12]:

On a flight and you would dress because it was an event and now they're just like, roll out of bed and maybe I'll put my socks on.

Allen Curran [00:03:20]:

We just went to Napa Valley, my wife and I, and you know, early flights and people were in sweats and hoodies and it's like, well, okay, granted I'm dressed more casual than what I am now because I want to be comfortable. But it's, it's different than what it was going to show age here about 30, 40 years ago when you get on a plane. And yeah, it was a high end event to be able to be on a plane. And now it's just a necessary evil.

James Kademan [00:03:49]:

Yeah. It's interesting because I always wonder who am I going to be sitting next to? No one's going to be like, oh, a nice jogging pant.

Allen Curran [00:03:56]:

Right.

James Kademan [00:03:56]:

Or they're not going to be inclined to chat.

Allen Curran [00:04:00]:

Well, exactly. And for me, I get a lot of. If I'm sitting next to a couple. Not to be sexist about this, but when the husband finds out what I do for a living. Don't talk to my wife, she's probably in the kitchen. But interesting. On my trip back from Napa, we flew through Minneapolis and the person I sat next to was an architect.

James Kademan [00:04:24]:

Oh, wow.

Allen Curran [00:04:25]:

I was like, what a great connection that is. Because architects are one of the people that kind of plan out spaces and things of that sort. So we had a lot to talk about and a lot to come. That is cool. Yeah. So he was dressed in a suit, by the way.

James Kademan [00:04:37]:

Oh, nice. So it's interesting because the suit on a plane, I like the idea of it, but the planes are so tight and I don't know how you can get off that plane without having your suit just be totally wrinkled.

Allen Curran [00:04:49]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:04:50]:

So there's the, the movie, you're in a suit on the airplane and then there's like, there's no way.

Allen Curran [00:04:56]:

The reality.

James Kademan [00:04:57]:

Yeah. Because you get off that thing. And it'd just be like a bedsheet that got out of the dryer. What is this?

Allen Curran [00:05:02]:

Yeah. Well, so today's world.

James Kademan [00:05:05]:

Yeah. Fair, fair. And in the end, I don't know. I suppose people are more accepting of it to a point.

Allen Curran [00:05:12]:

Covid created a lot of things in our world, and one of them is, hey, I don't have to get dressed to go to work. So I can kind of wear just about anything I want. If you're on a zoom call, you have to dress for work from the waist up.

James Kademan [00:05:24]:

Yeah. Don't even need pants.

Allen Curran [00:05:25]:

Yeah. I don't want to know about the rest.

James Kademan [00:05:29]:

Keep that camera up here.

Allen Curran [00:05:29]:

So it becomes kind of a different world.

James Kademan [00:05:31]:

Right on. Right on. So you got this job. Was it selling cabinetry or was it selling just 2 of GC? Other stuff.

Allen Curran [00:05:41]:

A little bit of both. It was a larger company here in Madison at the time. We covered pretty much the southern half of the state. We sold to lumber yards. We sold appliances. At the time. We did design work. But now, keep in mind cabinetry.

Allen Curran [00:06:01]:

This would be back in the 80s. It's a storage industry at that point. It's not a design industry. So fashion didn't come into play. And that's why you saw so many kitchens. Oak cabinets. Oak cabinets. Oak cabinets.

Allen Curran [00:06:17]:

As readily available as an inexpensive wood relative to other species. Once in a while, it would be an upgrade to cherry, but that was kind of it. And as time progressed, you would find it became more and more of a fashion industry, and I was fortunate enough to grow along with that.

James Kademan [00:06:33]:

Got it. Okay.

Allen Curran [00:06:35]:

And at that point, back in the 80s, most of the design aspect of our industry was taught by cabinet manufacturers simply because there weren't the interior design programs that featured kitchen and bathroom, which is much different today. Madison College has a program. There's others....

Lane Kawaoka  - The Wealth Elevator

On the Reaching Higher Wealth Floors: "For some people out there, above a few million dollars net worth, time is more valuable than money. It's not the pursuit of money anymore, but it's the pursuit of trading in the money for the experiences."

One of the most important things to know when building your wealth is to use the tools that are available to you.  Interestingly, the tools available to you grow as your wealth increases.  This means you need to build your awareness of opportunities, as you build your wealth.

Lane Kawaoka, founder of The Wealth Elevator and a seasoned real estate investor, helps build that awareness to educate people that are in wealth building mode.

Lane started out like most of us, as a young worker-bee, blindly following the traditional path—working a W-2 job, saving up for a house, and living frugally.  Realizing he wanted more and more was out there, he moved to discovering the power of cash flow and passive income through real estate investing. Starting with a single rental property, Lane scaled his investment portfolio strategically and ultimately transitioned from hands-on property management to larger commercial deals and passive investments.

Lane and James dive deep into the nuts and bolts of real estate, including how to evaluate a property with the rent-to-value ratio, why market selection and insider knowledge are critical, and how networking with the right crowd can redefine your investment trajectory. Lane breaks down key concepts like forced appreciation, the difference between Class A, B, and C properties, and the barriers to entry that can be both a curse and a blessing in the business.

Listen as Lane explains the value of knowing what opportunities are available to you at the floor you are on in the wealth elevator.

Enjoy!

Visit Lane at: https://thewealthelevator.com/

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewealthelevator/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Network Determines Success

08:15 Strategic Networking vs. Weekend Warriors

12:10 Real Estate Investment Strategies

20:33 Investing in Apartment Demand

26:26 Building Wealth Through Real Estate Investments

27:48 Scaling Passive Income Strategies

36:46 Contractor Reliance Challenges

38:32 AI's Impact on Workforce Polarization

47:42 Wealthy's Real Estate Strategy

50:53 "Wealth Strategy and Investment Growth"

59:19 Self-Reflection on Book Quality

Podcast Transcription:

Lane Kawaoka [00:00:00]:

On a whim, I just got a. Got a property manager started to rent it out. And that was kind of where I got this taste of cash flow. And that was back in 2009, 2010. And when I mean the numbers, you look at this thing called the rent to value ratio, where you take the monthly rents divided by the purchase price. If that is not anywhere near 1% or higher, it's not going to work. You know, like, it might be a great place to live, great school district, but, you know, we're trying to find good rental properties that cash flow. And that was kind of why I started to buy these turnkey rentals.

Lane Kawaoka [00:00:32]:

Out in Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis.

James Kademan [00:00:41]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls On Call, Extraordinary Answering Service, as well as the Bold Business Book. And today we're welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Lane Kawaoka. I hope I did that. Okay, Lane of the wealth elevator. We're talking real estate investing here. So, Lane, how is it going today?

Lane Kawaoka [00:01:13]:

It's good. Aloha, everybody. Thanks for having me, James.

James Kademan [00:01:16]:

Yeah, thank you. I'm excited you're in Hawaii, but were you born and raised in Hawaii?

Lane Kawaoka [00:01:24]:

I was. I grew up here, but I spent maybe a dozen years up in the cold, wet Seattle.

James Kademan [00:01:29]:

All right. Oh, yeah, okay, fair. How did you end up getting in real estate investing?

Lane Kawaoka [00:01:36]:

Yeah, I guess like my path. I graduated college, up until that point was always taught to go to school, study hard, eventually became an engineer, which is if you're looking to not go to too much postgraduate doctor degree, you get paid the most out of college.

James Kademan [00:01:53]:

Right.

Lane Kawaoka [00:01:54]:

And that's what I did. I got paid a decent salary right out of college, and I saved up to buy a house to live in because that's what I'm, you know, we're all blindly taught to do that in the 401k. Bought the house to live in in my early 20s. And here I am living all by myself and I had this job where I would travel all over for work. And, you know, I was a construction supervisor and I was never home. So on a whim, I just got a. Got a property manager, started to rent it out, and that was kind of where I got this taste of cash flow. And that was back in 2009, 2010.

James Kademan [00:02:28]:

All right, so were you renting it out? Airbnb type stuff because you would come back to it or you just rented it out and you'd stay somewhere else.

Lane Kawaoka [00:02:35]:

Yeah, long term rental. And I was homeless basically for several years there really. But I was living off the company dime from hotel to hotel. So what this did is it turbocharged my savings like before that. Most of my clients today, they're able to save, you know, fifty thousand, hundred thousand dollars a year. Back then I was, you know, doc, you know, those are the doctors and dentists guys out there or business owners. But at the time, you know, I was maybe saving 30 grand a year. That's how I was able to save up 80 grand down payment, couple years out of college.

Lane Kawaoka [00:03:13]:

But when I was, you know, quote unquote homeless, I was triple charging that to six figures every single year. And that went to buying more and more rentals. From 2009 to 2015. 2015, I had 11 rental properties. There was a little bit of switch that happened in the middle. You know, stopped buying, you know, had a few nets in Seattle, but Seattle is a primary market like California, Hawaii, New York, San Francisco. It's just not going to work in terms of the numbers. And when I mean the numbers, you look at this thing called the rent to value ratio where you take the monthly rents divided by the purchase price.

Lane Kawaoka [00:03:50]:

If that is not anywhere near 1% or higher, it's not going to work. You know, like it might be a great place to live, great school district, but you know, we're trying to find good rental properties, that cash flow. And that was kind of why I started to buy these turnkey rentals out in Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis. And that was kind of the formula up until 2015.

James Kademan [00:04:11]:

All right, what changed in 2015?

Lane Kawaoka [00:04:14]:

2015, I, like I said, I had 11 rental properties. And this is kind of what I talk about in my book, you know, for higher net worth investors. Once you get past a million dollars net worth, you start to realize that you're a target for life lawsuits and litigations. And you know, when you're under that, you're not giving me legal advice here. You're not really a target per se, but this is why you don't really want to own little rental properties after a certain point. And in my book I have kind of a chart, you know, when does that switch happen? But you know, essentially that's in becoming a credit investor, right? Net worth, million dollar or greater or $200,000 a year income or greater kind of puts in that category to not mess around with the small little rental properties and the Headaches that come with that. And, oh, by the way, you get the debt in your name when you do that type of stuff. And what I discovered at this time is, I'm sure you talk about on your podcast a lot.

Lane Kawaoka [00:05:08]:

It's all your network, right? The people you hang out with, the five people you. You become, the five people you hang out with. Up until this point, you know, my parents were not wealthy, they were not accredited investors. I didn't have a rich uncle. So I was just kind of doing this all by myself and kind of haphazardly, I kind of met up with a bunch of accredited investors at that point, started to understand what the heck that word means, and started to realize I need to surround myself with those types of people. And I started hearing these best practices that I later put into the book of what the wealthy people do with, you know, multi million dollars of net worth. And a lot of them had the same story that I did. They bought little rental properties, judiciously, good savers, ran their businesses, and then they parlayed that into bigger deals as a passive investor in syndications and private placements, which, if you're kind of wondering what that is, the analogy I like to use, it's kind of like an airplane, you know, in a deal, the cockpit is your pilots and co pilots, those are your general partners, sponsors, operators that do everything in the deal.

Lane Kawaoka [00:06:10]:

They find the deal, they get the lending in their name, they run it, they distribute, etc. And then the past investors are now allowed to just come on coach and ride, right, and go to sleep. But this allows them to diversify into many, many different assets across the board, right? Apartments, self storage facilities, mobile home parks, venture capital, private equity, buying businesses too, and allows them to kind of put. Put the best people in the cockpit to fly the airplane. But the big difference here is if you notice you're cutting out the middlemen, right? Like you can invest in REITs and other wall street products, but there's just so many middlemen in those things,...

Ibrahim Mohmed  - Taja.ai

On the Being Real: "The first element is you have to be authentic. So it's about what's authentic to you."

The world of business gets moving with marketing, and marketing now happens via social media platforms.  These platforms love short form video, to keep our attention spans short and our eyes on the next ad, err, video.

But creating short form videos from long format videos takes time.  Going through and editing down every bit of profound short video used to take hours.  But the ever present question now is, can AI do this?

Ibrahim Mohmed founded Taja.ai to solve this problem.  A problem he was having with his marketing agency.  After building out Taja with his partner, he now offers a robust and useful platform to create video shorts, along with many other useful bits of content, in minutes, rather than hours.  Best of all, they aren't your minutes, the computer does the work and you can do other things.

Listen as Ibrahim explains how the idea for Taja.ai came to him and his partner, how they built it, what they have learned and how they are continuously working on improving it.

Enjoy!

Visit Ibrahim at Taja.ai

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growwithtaja/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 "Taj's AI-Driven Transformation Journey"

06:23 "Transitioning to Software Products"

08:25 "Emotional Creative Entrepreneurs"

11:37 "Shifting Focus: Diversifying Platforms"

16:29 "Becoming an Authentic Influencer"

17:23 Maximizing Watch Time for Platforms

23:25 College Connection Sparks Startup Venture

24:14 ChatGPT's Role in Agency Launch

29:43 Content Creation Tools and Scheduling

33:35 Streamlined Video Content Expansion

36:19 Improving AI-Generated Video Shorts

39:31 Automated Video and Blog Creation

42:06 "Video-Based System Advantage"

Podcast Transcription:

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:00:00]:

The first thing is these algorithms care about watch time more than anything. And what watch time is essentially how long is someone watching your piece of content? And if the. The higher the watch time of your content is, the higher the algorithm will pick it up and showcase it to more people. Because it's signaling to the algorithm that as a result of your video, people are staying on the platform longer. And so as a result, these platforms can serve more ads, these people, and then that platforms make more money as a result. So watch time is huge.

James Kademan [00:00:41]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and strength and successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link funded drawincustomers.com we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls On Call Extraordinary Answering Service as well as the Bold Business Book. And today we're welcoming, preparing to learn from Ibrahim. Oh, my gosh, is it Mohammed Mohmed? Yep, Mohmed. All right. Founder of Taja. Let me try that again. We are welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Ibrahim Momed, founder of Taja who.

James Kademan [00:01:17]:

I gotta say, Ibrahim, I'm excited because we were just talking about this before. We create shorts with this software. So we're talking about, or talking to the founder of a guy that's you, that created a product that we're actually using. So that's kind of monumental in our world. So I'm excited. So, Ibrahim, how is it going today?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:01:37]:

No, thanks for having me on. Yeah, I'm happy to hear that you guys are using Taj actively. And my day's going well. Weeks going well. It's crazy that we're in September, but mid September, that is. But yeah, just trudging through and trying to end the year on a high note.

James Kademan [00:01:54]:

Yeah, fair. Tell me just a quick history. I know my experience with Taja, but I have no idea how old the software is or really how you got started. So let's start with how long have you been around?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:02:06]:

Yeah, Taj has been around for 26 months. So two years and two months. We started back in December of 2022. Basically. I ran an agency before that, managed influencers, helped them build and monetize their content on social, primarily YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, all the ones that have AdSense revenue associated with them. And we had a lot of clients that had podcasts on YouTube, but we just didn't have the bandwidth or demand or. Or we didn't have the bandwidth to keep up with it. And so at that time, you know, Chat GBT had just rolled out, so my partner and I started looking at how AI could affect our business and help us streamline our business.

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:03:01]:

So we, you know, went on this whole discovery realm and under, you know, looked at what are the key pain points, identified those key pain points, and then we use Taja as the tool to help us streamline the business. And then in July 2023, we decided to roll it out to everyone.

James Kademan [00:03:20]:

That's awesome. So the. Has it worked for your clients that were using you to market or essentially, if I understand correctly, they were looking to become influencers.

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:03:32]:

They were already influenced. So the clients I used to work with, they were already influencers. They were like prominent NBA players, former NBA players. They just wanted to get in the media space. So they wanted us to run their podcast, essentially repurpose their podcast into multiple forms of media, such as, you know, clips, shorts, etc, and put it up on their channels. So we were running their clips channels actually for them. And, you know, the first channel we ever built was, you know, went from 0 to 100k subscribers and 14 months using Tasha.

James Kademan [00:04:08]:

Well, it's incredible. That is super incredible. Tell me a story about the back end. Because, Chad, GPT comes out, the AI revolution essentially is happening, and really got fired up. I mean, what are we talking November 22nd?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:04:22]:

Yeah, November. December 22nd. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:04:25]:

So did you have a background, a programming background to help you figure out how to turn the AI and use it as a tool to build this whole program or how did that work?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:04:35]:

No, my partner did. My partner, he's an engineer. He's been in building AI tools since, like 2015. He's been in the space, so he's understood it. Well, all that. He actually sent me chatgpt and he's like, hey, this thing just came out. Do you think it could help your business at all? And then that's when we started just going down the discovery lane and figuring out what can work. And then he.

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:05:01]:

He was the one building it and I was the one, you know, putting in people's hands, testing it out and. And selling it.

James Kademan [00:05:10]:

That's awesome. So when did you decide to actually spin it off to a product that you offered independent of the other services that you had with your other business?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:05:20]:

Yeah, July 2023. We decided to do that.

James Kademan [00:05:23]:

Okay, and was that a big conversation to decide to do that versus just keeping it more or less in house?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:05:29]:

No, not a big conversation. I think we were always building for like, an element of. Of. Of putting it out to the masses. It was Just figuring out what's the pain points. How can we leverage the agency and the relationships we have with the agency to build something that'd be useful for a lot of people. So that was always the, the forefront. I've always wanted to be in the product space just because the impact's greater, the scalability is higher, and, you know, you, you own the product in comparison that, you know, as an agency, the, you know, the.

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:06:08]:

You have a few clients and you're kind of at the mercy of those clients. Product the same thing. You're at the mercy of the customer, but it's more of a partnership than it is, you know, from a, from, from working with a client.

James Kademan [00:06:23]:

You know, it's interesting you say that, because one of my previous guests, pretty recently, he was in more of a physical product space, I believe, or service. Whatever it was, he wanted to transition to a software product because he said, we just want to sell usernames and passwords. And it made me think, like, oh, that is pretty smart. Shy of the whole tech support and updating the software and all that kind of stuff. Your customer base possibility is way bigger, incredibly larger than what you could do with selling a physical product or something of that nature. So that's cool. I like that idea. Ibrahim, the.

James Kademan [00:07:04]:

Do you still have the marketing business essentially for influencers?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:07:09]:

Yeah, but it's like, not as active as it used to be. It's more on autopilot. We have some clients on Snapchat, we manage, but that's more, you know, a lot of things are on autopilot there.

James Kademan [00:07:20]:

Gotcha. So is Taja taking up more of your time now?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:07:24]:

Yes, Taja has taken up more of my time.

James Kademan [00:07:26]:

All right. And was that anticipated when you created it or that just evolved over the course of the past couple years?

Ibrahim Mohmed [00:07:33]:

It was anticipated. I wanted to dial back. Like I said, I wanted to work on a product over a service just because it's a lot of times in the service industry, like I said, you're at mercy to the client or like, you know, especially what I was doing. You're, you know, your days and your workflow is dictated by how the client's feeling. And so those were things that were just too unpredictable. So I didn't want to be in that space.

James Kademan [00:08:04]:

Tell me a little bit about dealing with influencers....