Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Michael Wedaa  - Augmentus Business Solutions

On the Keeping the Details Correct: "If your address is your old business address with the Secretary of State or with the IRS or on one of the credit bureaus, there's an algorithm in a lot of banks that will give you an automatic denial."

Money makes the world go 'round, and it does that by flowing.  Money in your business, money out to employees, vendors, investments, and the ever present tax-man.

But what if you could shuffle your money a bit to be able to improve the flow to the good things to build your business and your net worth and reduced the amount going to the less than good things?  Would you want to learn how to reduce your tax burden, limit your liability and build your business credit??

The crazy thing is, a lot of these strategies are simple and effective.  The crazier thing is that many entrepreneurs don't know about them or feel they are too small for it to matter.

It matters.

Michael Wedaa is the owner of Augmentus Business Solutions.  Their purpose is to help businesses navigate the game of business to make and keep more money.  He understands the nuances and differences between things like LLCs, S-Corps, C-Corps, and how you want your different business entities to be structured.

Listen as Michael goes into detail on business credit, taxes and business entity differences.

Enjoy!

Visit Michael at: https://www.augmentusinc.com

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

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Understanding Business Credit Types

07:23 "Ensuring Business Credit Readiness"

12:22 Boost Business Credit with Proper Address

18:05 Kid-Friendly Jobs and Saving Tips

22:51 Passive Income through Market Rent Strategy

31:32 Protecting Assets with Equity Liens

36:55 Strategic Lien Planning Explained

41:22 Real Estate Investing with Business Credit

46:18 Delaware Business Court Advantage

48:50 "Registered Agent Requirement for Businesses"

59:11 Asset Protection Through Liens

01:04:44 "Business Rogue: Advanced Corporation Hacks"

Podcast Transcription:

Michael Wedaa [00:00:00]:

No, but, you know, business credit is what I wanted to talk about today. As you know, we focus on helping people get the most out of their corporation or llc. And one of the ways we help people do that is by helping them build business credit. And business credit is very different from personal credit. The rules are different.

James Kademan [00:00:25]:

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and 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 Michael Wedaa of Augmentus Business Solutions. And Michael, we're hitting a lot of things here. The business credit, I believe, is the main one. So let's just start out with what is business credit?

Michael Wedaa [00:01:01]:

Great. No, first off, James, it's great to spend some time with you again. It's been a while since we last.

James Kademan [00:01:06]:

Chatted, but it has, you know, it's funny. I'll just elude here a little bit. YouTube is moving into shorts and all that jazz because they're trying to compete with all the other social media things that have short videos. And so we just got fancy software, whatever to find shorts. And it's interesting because some interviews, you're like, yeah, there's a handful. And yours is like, ba, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. All good stuff. So I'm so happy that we have you on here a second time because, well, good.

James Kademan [00:01:34]:

Now we get more content for the masses.

Michael Wedaa [00:01:36]:

Right? That's right. That's right. No, but, you know, business credit is what I wanted to talk about today. As you know, we focus on helping people get the most out of their corporation or llc. And one of the ways we help people do that is, is by helping them build business credit. And business credit is very different from personal credit. The rules are different. The way you build it is different.

Michael Wedaa [00:01:59]:

And, you know, you asked me what is business credit? And business credit is credit that is tied to the ein of a business that comes in two forms, personally guaranteed and non personally guaranteed. The personally guaranteed credit is where you would put your Social Security up, Social Security number up as a business owner. And what you're doing is you're guaranteeing that debt so that the business can't pay it, then it transfers over to you as an individual. And it makes the banks feel good that they have that second route of recourse, really. And then the non personally guaranteed stuff. If you can get your business credit score up high enough and get your profile looking good enough, there are banks that will give you credit lines without being tied to a to your social. So what's great about that is that if you have trouble with your business and you need to shut it down and bankrupt the company, all they can do is take the assets in the business. So it's important to know when people are applying for business credit, what's personally guaranteed and what's not.

Michael Wedaa [00:03:00]:

And really the best way to say it is that in most cases, if it's a major signature bank like a Chase or a Wells Fargo or a Bank of America, nine times out of 10 it's going to be a personally guaranteed account. If you're going for a credit card, right? And people, that's not a bad thing. You know it, all it does is it shows an inquiry on your credit. But if I got a $25,000 credit line tomorrow from let's say Chase, all it would show is an inquiry. My personal credit, it wouldn't show that I got my business, got awarded that $25,000 credit line. And if I maxed it out tomorrow, it would only show on my business credit profile, not on the personal credit profile. Because it's simply a personally guaranteed personal guarantee. It doesn't show up active account on the personal credit.

James Kademan [00:03:49]:

Oh, interesting. So you do your Experian or whatever they are, you wouldn't see that card listed as either available credit or debt that you have there.

Michael Wedaa [00:04:02]:

Yes, because you know if you max out a card on the personal side, you get dinged in a big way. Score tanks. Right. So that's what's great, is that the only way your credit gets dinged is through that initial inquiry and then if you default on the debt, it will then report on your personal credit score. But if you're just maintaining the debt and it's fine, only one thing you're going to see is that inquiry. Everything else will remain incognito on the business profile.

James Kademan [00:04:27]:

Interesting. So the credit bureaus, right? There's three of them, is that right?

Michael Wedaa [00:04:32]:

Yep, that's right.

James Kademan [00:04:33]:

Experian's one that's top of mind. But I'm sure there's another two. I can't think of their names.

Michael Wedaa [00:04:37]:

Yeah, there's Equifax, TransUnion.

James Kademan [00:04:40]:

There we go.

Michael Wedaa [00:04:41]:

Yes, there you go.

James Kademan [00:04:42]:

Those are the three from the business side. Is it still those three companies or are there different companies?

Michael Wedaa [00:04:47]:

There's two that are the same. There's Dun and Bradstreet, that's the biggest one. And then there's Business Experian and Business Equifax. Those are the three big ones. And then there's, you know, they dig into LexisNexis a little bit and a few other smaller ones. But the big three are Dun and Bradstreet, Business Experian and Business Equifax.

James Kademan [00:05:05]:

All right, So I remember way back when we're talking mid 2000s, I had opened up my first business and Dun and Bradstreet sent me a letter saying, hey, if you want business credit, you have to pay us a nut or a monthly nut or something like that. And I was just a small little, I don't know if I had two employees, something like that. It was one of those things where I'm like, why would I pay you to have business credit? I don't need any business credit. Is that still a thing? And if it is a thing, tell us about that thing.

Michael Wedaa [00:05:36]:

Yeah, it is a thing. So here, you don't need to pay Dun and Bradstreet, even though they will tell you that you need to. You can call them and ask them, say, I need to get a free DUNS number for verification purposes only. That's the keywords. And they are going to go, oh, we don't know what you talked about, or no, you needed this or it's not going to do any good. The person on the phone gets a commission for marketing their monthly plan, their annual plan, right? And so they're going to tell you, they're going to fight you tooth and nail to say, you need to pay, you know, this $50 a month or you need to pay $250 for the access for the year. And you just hold fast and say, nope, I need it for verification purposes only. I'm not using it for anything else.

Michael Wedaa [00:06:14]:

And eventually they'll capitulate and give you your DUNS number. And there is, there's some free services. We can go in there and actually enter your information, your company information into. You build out your own report. James, that's one of the biggest differences with personal credit from business credit is that you have to go set up your business credit where on the personal side you go get a card and it also gets set up automatically. You don't have to go in there and physically do it. So one of the key differences is that, but yes, Dun and Bradstreet go get your Duns number, get it for free, don't pay for it. The only time you want to pay for it is once you've gotten a few credit lines,...

Tracy Anderson  - Big Brother Big Sisters of Dane County

On the Value of Being a Mentor to a Kid: "When you spend time with a child, it's shown to prove that they'll likely go to college when they grow up or have a better paying job or not partake in violence, alcohol or drugs."

As entrepreneurs, we strive to do our best every day.  We push and drag ourselves, our employees, our clients and our vendors to join us in growing our business.  We do all of this for many reasons, but for many of us, that reason is based on two words, Growth and Freedom.

What is interesting is that not everyone has that mindset, or has even had the opportunity to be exposed to that mindset.  Not everyone knows that you can do and be better.  Some people simply have not been shown all of the opportunity they really have.

That is one of the reasons I became a Big, with Big Brothers Big Sisters and why we are lucky to have Tracy Anderson, of BBBS Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin to chat with us about the difference a mentor can make.

Tracy explains what all Big Brothers Big Sisters does for kids, adults, the community and society at large.  All of this rolling around the idea of people sharing time, experience and ideas with each other, thinly veiled as just having fun hanging out.

If you have ever wondered how you could make a difference in the world, as a way to show gratitude for the success you have achieved, I'd highly suggest becoming a Big.

Listen as Tracy explains what it takes to be a Big and the challenges Big Brothers Big Sisters has continued to overcome, just like any business.  Often success can be measured by a bank account, more importantly, it can be measured in smiles and expanding the opportunity that you were lucky enough to learn about.

Enjoy!

Visit Tracy at: https://www.bbbsmadison.org/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Building Birdhouses and Life Lessons

03:59 Mentoring Program: One-on-One Impact

07:04 "Child Signup Process Overview"

12:07 Revamping Recruitment Post-COVID

14:58 Interview Process for Kids and Bigs

18:14 Event Hub: Free, Discounted Activities

21:27 Unbreakable Bonds Through Mentorship

23:50 Podcast vs. Gaming Popularity Dilemma

28:31 "Community Outreach & Partnerships"

31:03 Economic Uncertainty Hits Spending

34:54 Dane County Scavenger Hunt Adventure

36:56 Team Roles: Fundraising and Missions

38:58 Mission-Based Team Challenges

44:43 "Team Building and Mission Alignment"

47:46 Transformative Experience Perspective

48:44 Mentorship Boosts Future Earnings

54:38 "Girls on the Run Program"

57:52 Local Giving Transparency in Madison

Podcast Transcription:

Tracy Anderson [00:00:00]:

So it's a one to one mentoring program. So it's all about spending that one on one time. It truly makes a difference. And when you spend time with a child, we create new matches, ages 6 to 13. Another great reason why mentorship works. I mean, you're getting out of a different environment and you're being asked to do things that you know are going to help you when you become an adult.

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. We are locally interwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] and today we're welcoming, preparing to learn from Tracy Anderson of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Dane County. So, Tracy, how is it going today?

Tracy Anderson [00:00:58]:

Good, good.

James Kademan [00:00:59]:

I'm excited for you to be here.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:00]:

Thank you.

James Kademan [00:01:01]:

I've been a big. I guess I'm not technically a Big anymore, but I was a Big with Danny. We got connected when he was 11.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:08]:

Okay.

James Kademan [00:01:08]:

So it's like I said, is almost forever. It's been a while.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:12]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:01:13]:

And being a big was one of those things. I was like, oh, I should do that someday, someday, someday. And I finally did it and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:21]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:01:22]:

So thank you.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:23]:

No, thank you. And like, how old is he now?

James Kademan [00:01:26]:

I think he's 23, 24.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:28]:

Yeah. That's why we do what we do. We hope for lifelong matches.

James Kademan [00:01:32]:

Yeah.

Tracy Anderson [00:01:33]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:01:33]:

I can tell you crazy stories. I mean, I suppose you've heard millions of them already, but little things. Like, I had to think, what would an 11 year old kid not know? So at the time there was no dad involved or anything like that. And so I'm like, what would you like to do? And we decided we're gonna build a birdhouse. And I'm like, all right, let's build a birdhouse, right? So we kind of whiteboard out or scribble some design for a simple birdhouse. And I got out a table saw and I told him that Blade doesn't care about your feelings. It'll cut off your finger and it won't apologize. So I try to put all the fear possible because I didn't want to return him to his mom with a missing limb.

Tracy Anderson [00:02:18]:

Right.

James Kademan [00:02:18]:

So putting all this fear in him. And I apparently put in too much because as soon as he cut the board, he just let go of it.

Tracy Anderson [00:02:26]:

Okay.

James Kademan [00:02:26]:

And so the board went like too close for comfort, flying down the driveway it scared him. Scared me, right? And I'm like, oh, yeah. Okay. So from then we decided to just use circular. So.

Tracy Anderson [00:02:42]:

Okay, well, that's good.

James Kademan [00:02:44]:

But it's interesting because I'm like, I was trying to think back when I was a kid, when did I learn how to use the saw and stuff like that. So I try to introduce stuff like that to him.

Tracy Anderson [00:02:53]:

Yes.

James Kademan [00:02:54]:

Which is super cool. You guys had programs. I mean, I imagine you still do.

Tracy Anderson [00:02:58]:

Yeah, I mean, we've got our community based program and we have our school based program. So you were involved in the community based program, which is where we match, like bigs and littles, hobbies, interests, and where you live. So we try to keep the matches within 20 miles of each other. And we do a very good job matching. I mean, it's a thorough interview process. I don't know if you remember any of that. Like, background check.

James Kademan [00:03:21]:

Yeah, it was a lot.

Tracy Anderson [00:03:24]:

But I think we do a great job matching because, I mean, there's even some things. I'm a big myself and there's even some things like her and I have in common, but I. I don't know, there's some things like, how would you even know? Like, we both love lip gloss. I mean, that did not come into the interview process. But there's so many things where we're so alike. So they did a great job with that. But then also too, she's introducing me to some new things and I'm introducing her into some things too.

James Kademan [00:03:53]:

Oh, that's awesome.

Tracy Anderson [00:03:54]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:03:55]:

Tell me, just for the people that don't know, just what is Big brothers, Big sisters.

Tracy Anderson [00:03:59]:

So. So it's a one to one mentoring program. So it's all about spending that one on one time. It truly makes a difference. And when you spend time with a child, we create new matches. Ages 6 to 13. When you spend time with a child, I mean, it's shown to prove that they'll likely go to college when they grow up or have a better paying job or not partake in violence, alcohol or drugs. So it's just, I think anyone can kind of, whether you're in the big brother, big sister program or not, think about someone in your life that made that change for you and your life could have gone a different way.

Tracy Anderson [00:04:34]:

So.

James Kademan [00:04:35]:

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. So tell me a story about the number of bigs you have versus the number of littles. Is there a shortage on one end or the other?

Tracy Anderson [00:04:43]:

We always have a wait list. So right now, currently we do have a wait list of 130, 130 kids. 130 kids that are waiting. They're mostly boys and they're mostly kids of color.

James Kademan [00:04:55]:

Okay.

Tracy Anderson [00:04:55]:

We have over 300 matches. I believe close to 360 matches. I mean, this is just like on average. Yeah. Most of the people that become bigs are females. They're white females.

James Kademan [00:05:07]:

Really?

Tracy Anderson [00:05:08]:

Yes. Age is usually around. The average age is like 32, 34.

James Kademan [00:05:14]:

So I would not have guessed that.

Tracy Anderson [00:05:16]:

Yeah. And our need, we have a heavy need. We match within Dane county, but a heavy need in Sun Prairie and on the east side.

James Kademan [00:05:23]:

Wow.

Tracy Anderson [00:05:24]:

So about 25, 30 kids on the wait list in Sun Prairie.

James Kademan [00:05:28]:

Okay.

Tracy Anderson [00:05:29]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:05:29]:

That's interesting because the age I could see that, you know, you're young enough to. To do stuff and not want to just sit in a rocking chair, but.

Tracy Anderson [00:05:37]:

Right. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:05:38]:

But still smart enough to know that you need to give back, make the world a better place.

Tracy Anderson [00:05:42]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:05:43]:

And that's a fun way to do it.

Tracy Anderson [00:05:44]:

And I think people of all ages, I mean, I'm community outreach, community partnership, so I'm out all the time. I do meet a lot of people of all ages that are interested and, you know, learning more. So I mean, you could meet,...

Therese Merkel - Tricky Foods

On the the Goal of Being a Business OWNER and not a Business OPERATOR: "How do I build a machine that works without me so that I can still be involved in this business, but I'm not the one working Friday, Saturdays and weekends?"

The food business can be tricky.  You've got health codes to deal with, so people don't get sick.  You've got the whole issue of spoilage, so you need to keep product moving.  Then you've got the fluctuating prices of your ingredients.  Add in the challenges of employees, and property and customers and different tastes and you have a very challenging business.

That is why it is so incredible to chat with people like Therese Merkel, of Tricky Foods.

Therese Merkel always loved cooking and has brought that passion to her charcuterie board business for Madison, Wisconsin (soon the world) visitors to love. Therese’s journey from a traditional tech career at Epic to building a thriving cheese and charcuterie business is filled with twists, hustle, and a whole lot of Wisconsin pride. She shares how she turned her culinary passion, and a timely Instagram trend, into a storefront that’s more than just a stop for cheese boards.  She added a wine and beer bar, event space, and catering hub that celebrates all things local.

In this candid conversation, Therese opens up about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, from bootstrapping her business with just $10,000, to navigating Madison’s real estate market, negotiating everything from kitchen rent to employee wages, and learning how to build systems that let her step back from day-to-day service and focus on expansion. She discusses the inspiration behind launching shippable charcuterie boards using Wisconsin cheeses, the powerful impact of authentic social media marketing, and the ongoing challenge of scaling up while keeping her signature brand of creativity and local spirit.

Listen as Therese explains how she used her persistence, skills, and a bit of luck along with her incredible wit and charm to get things done in such a blisteringly fast way it must be heard from her to be believed.  Therese is nothing less than amazing and you will be inspired after just listening to her tell the tales.

Enjoy!

Visit Therese at: https://www.notsotrickyfoods.com/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Driven by Money, Not Passion

08:51 Considering Investing in a Storefront

13:36 Unexpected Offer for Dream Space

19:30 Adjusting Business Hours

24:38 Indifferent Sports Parent

28:28 Madison's New Entrepreneurship Hub

34:05 First Experience with Delegation

41:51 Creative Holiday Charcuterie Artists

43:32 Navigating Bureaucracy for Permits

49:29 Prioritize Engagement Over Acquisition

55:55 "Profitable Meat Shipping Realization"

Podcast Transcription:

Therese Merkel [00:00:00]:

Opposed to using. As opposed to using like Harry and David or like 1-800-FLOWERS. They can support a local company and shippable boards that only uses Wisconsin cheeses. And we're from Wisconsin. It just feels like a good way. It. It's serendipitous with like, my feel on community and supporting local and like the. The local economy.

Therese Merkel [00:00:19]:

Here.

James Kademan [00:00:28]:

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 Therese Merkel of Tricky Foods. We're talking foods today, so that's always a good thing. How's it going today?

Therese Merkel [00:00:54]:

It's going good. Yeah. Nothing really crazy going on such a sweet podcast.

James Kademan [00:01:00]:

I know, right?

Therese Merkel [00:01:01]:

You're right. This is probably the most exciting thing I've done today.

James Kademan [00:01:04]:

I'm gonna call that a compliment.

Therese Merkel [00:01:05]:

Yeah, it is. This is the only thing I did today, actually, the only thing on my schedule. The rest was just computer work, like.

James Kademan [00:01:10]:

Nice. Tell us the story. What is Tricky Foods?

Therese Merkel [00:01:13]:

So Tricky Foods is a cheese and charcuterie shop, wine and beer bar, and event space located in Madison. So, like 20 minutes from where we are now. Yeah, but it's. I mean, that's one part of what we do. That's.

James Kademan [00:01:24]:

Tiny part.

Therese Merkel [00:01:25]:

Well, that's a big part, but that's of my entrepreneurial everything, you know, owner of Tricky Foods. But I have, like, you know, just like you do so many other little things. Irons in the fire.

James Kademan [00:01:35]:

That's the game as an entrepreneur, right? You got 5 million ideas every single idea idea day, and then you just have to choose one of them every six weeks or year.

Therese Merkel [00:01:45]:

I know, I know. So, yeah, that's like a big part of what I'm doing, but I'm also trying to expand the business, which I feel like is a bigger focus for me right now.

James Kademan [00:01:53]:

Okay, so tell me a story.

Therese Merkel [00:01:55]:

Okay, well, what story do you want to hear?

James Kademan [00:01:57]:

Let's start with. Let's start with the beginning.

Therese Merkel [00:01:59]:

Okay. All right.

James Kademan [00:02:00]:

So there I was. Right?

Therese Merkel [00:02:01]:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay. So the story I always tell people, the story starts in 2018. So I had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. I had a degree in information technology and Spanish, and I moved to Madison to work at Epic as a project manager.

James Kademan [00:02:16]:

Like you do.

Therese Merkel [00:02:16]:

Yeah, like everyone does. And I knew that. I knew the stories, but I was like, this paycheck is going to look really nice and someone's fresh out of college college debt. So I worked there for a year and a half. I had just paid off my last college loan, and I'm like, I couldn't find anyone there that was living the life I wanted. I'm like, well, why do you stay here? And it was all about the money. Everyone had their feelings about working there, but it was all about the money. Even people that have been there for 10 years, I'm like, why do you stay here? The money's just too good.

Therese Merkel [00:02:47]:

Okay, that's kind of miserable because.

James Kademan [00:02:49]:

Sounds like it.

Therese Merkel [00:02:50]:

Yeah. Like, I don't have debt now, and I'm more sad than when I had college debt. Like, what? And so I realized when they had asked me to take on more work, I said, I think I'm gonna end here. I'm done. So I put in a six week notice like everyone does. And then four weeks later, the pandemic happened. And I was like, oh, can I actually keep my job? And they're like, actually, no. Like you said, no.

Therese Merkel [00:03:10]:

And we don't have any work anymore. Like, everything is delayed. Every project got delayed. Everyone, no traveling anymore. So I thought it was like the worst thing that could have ever happened to me. But it ended up being just like the springboard for everything I did after. So when I quit, after I put in my notice, I started applying for other jobs, other management type jobs, project management jobs. And when the pandemic happened, everything was frozen.

Therese Merkel [00:03:33]:

You know, they're not looking to hire people, they're laying people off. So I thought, okay, this is a good reason to have a gap in my resume. And my other plan was to travel and have fun and, like, get my life back. And that was all, you know, canceled. Everything that I had planned was canceled. And so I lived alone at this time. All my roommates moved away. And I started thinking, like, what do I want my life to be? We're gonna die soon because of this pandemic.

Therese Merkel [00:03:56]:

What do I want my final days to be? And I went back.

James Kademan [00:04:00]:

It's 20 something. You're like, what are my final days?

Therese Merkel [00:04:03]:

Because the pandemic, I thought we were all gonna die. Remember everyone like, you know, peace, peace to your mother. So I literally was like, okay, I'll have like about a year probably left. Let me just. What do I want to do? Not actually, but like, oh, that's funny. I was thinking, life is short. Literally, people are dying. So, like, what do I want to do with my life? And of course, I came out very burnt out.

Therese Merkel [00:04:25]:

I had a small stint of like, I just need to recoup my energy back. I started waitressing at a country club, and I started teaching kids cooking classes just to kind of get my toes in the water. And then I saw the charcuterie board trend. So I had had an Instagram page called Tricky Foods for years. Like, I've always loved cooking. I have little pictures when I was little at J.C. penney's with, like, a chef hat and a bowl. That was my hobby.

Therese Merkel [00:04:47]:

You know, you get those professional photos taken. So I'm just like. So I'm like, that was my hobby. And my dad always said, don't go into food because you're not gonna make money. And I'm like, okay, dad. Like, no problem. And I hear him on that. I mean, being a chef, you're working weekends, nights, holidays.

Therese Merkel [00:05:03]:

But no one told me that there was another route. There's other food businesses you can start.

James Kademan [00:05:08]:

That's fair. When I worked at a movie theater, my boss said, never get in the restaurant business. He said, the movie theater business people are already fed, so they'll buy their popcorn. They're there for a good time. The restaurant, they just got done with work, and they're cranky and they're hungry. And Friday, Saturday night, that's when you make all your money and you're dealing with all these cranky peopl

Danielle Burken - Danielle Burken Marketing

On the How Marketing with Human Design Helps Your Business: "You're attracting the clients that you want to work with because you are showing up as the version of yourself that really trusts in the work that you're doing."

We all have a voice.  In marketing our business, we often try to sugarcoat or use an inauthentic voice that may not really align with us.  Or really even sound anything like us.

If you’ve ever wondered how to find greater alignment in your work, or felt frustrated by “cookie-cutter” marketing formulas that just don’t fit for your personality, you won’t want to miss this conversation. Danielle shares how she went from running a successful food blog to managing a marketing agency, and ultimately discovered the power of applying human design—a system based on your birth details—to help entrepreneurs market and run their businesses in a way that genuinely feels right for them.

James and Danielle dive deep into what human design is, how it differs from traditional personality tests, and why knowing your own design can clear the noise and confusion so common in the modern marketing world. Danielle offers up real-life stories from her own journey and client work, discussing the challenges of entrepreneurship, the importance of authenticity, and even the tough conversations she faced when leaving her day job to take the leap into business ownership.

Listen as Danielle explains how using Human Design can be a great way to bring your own voice into your marketing for your business.

Enjoy!

Visit Danielle at: https://www.danielleburken.com/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Personalized Business Marketing Strategy

07:14 Journey from Blogger to Marketer

13:24 Human Design Holistic Wellness Success

17:06 Human Design: Understanding Your Type

24:33 "Understanding Human Design Differences"

27:20 Clarity Through Actionable Planning

36:53 "Human Design Marketing Strategy Shift"

38:16 Aligning Content with Human Design

46:23 "Attracting Genuine Marketing Enthusiasts"

52:14 Authentic Marketing through Collaboration

57:10 Entrepreneurial Loneliness and Accountability

01:03:04 Pursuing Side Business Dreams

01:05:31 Pursuing Passion Beyond Stability

Podcast Transcription:

Danielle Burken [00:00:00]:

I do everything through the lens of human design. So for audience members who haven't heard about human design before, it is a tool similar to, let's say, Enneagram, disc assessment, Myers Briggs, those personality type tests. However, this goes a layer deeper because it's based on your birth date and time. And when we apply it to marketing, business becomes so much easier.

James Kademan [00:00:28]:

Oh well, easy business is best. 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. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] and today we're welcoming preparing to learn from Daniel Burken of Daniel Burken Marketing. So Daniel, how is it going today?

Danielle Burken [00:01:02]:

I'm good, how are you?

James Kademan [00:01:03]:

I am excited because I was poking around your website.

Danielle Burken [00:01:07]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:01:07]:

And you do marketing, but it, it goes a little deeper than that.

Danielle Burken [00:01:10]:

It does a lot deeper. I do everything through the lens of human design. So.

James Kademan [00:01:15]:

Okay.

Danielle Burken [00:01:16]:

For audience members who haven't heard about human design before, it is a tool similar to, let's say, Enneagram Disc Assessment, Myers Briggs, those personality typ tests. However, this goes a layer deeper because it's based on your birth date and time. So it's not answering any questions which I feel can sometimes skew your results. Like if you took a Myers Briggs test, say 10 years ago and now you've morphed and changed and grown into the person you are today, your answers might differ greatly.

James Kademan [00:01:58]:

However, I kind of hope they would after 10 years.

Danielle Burken [00:02:00]:

I know. I hope so. After 10 years, however, human design, because it's based on your birthday and time, it's really how you are meant to uniquely show up in the world. What your innate strengths are, how you communicate with people, really how you are designed to live in the world. And what I really discovered was, yes, all of these pieces are amazing and it really helps me live my life in alignment. And when we apply it to marketing, business becomes so much easier.

James Kademan [00:02:35]:

Oh well, easy business is best, right?

Danielle Burken [00:02:38]:

Exactly. Yeah. Because then you're not fighting against, you know, your innate strengths. And we hear so much in the business world. Try this like live launch Evergreen funnels. There are so many different ways we can endless. And then it can get really confusing versus if we tap into our unique strengths, how we are built and wired and wired to show up and we apply our marketing strategy based on that. It's like it clears out the noise, clears out the clutter and it's this Clear pathway forward.

Danielle Burken [00:03:18]:

And really what I've noticed, not only for myself, it was like a, a self test initially when I built my business, but then I started seeing that, okay, when I apply my human design to marketing my business and really growing my business, wait, can we do this for others? Can I, can I take someone else's human design and help them apply it to their marketing to grow their business in alignment with who they are versus saying here's how you build your business. And then it feels like, I don't want to build my business this way. Or this feels like I'm pushing a boulder up a hill because I'm trying to market in a way. That guru told me how to market my business.

James Kademan [00:04:07]:

So they're giving you the template or the funnel, right? Exactly.

Danielle Burken [00:04:10]:

Like, here's your swipe files. Just follow this and you'll, you'll make bank. And people are realizing like, wait, I'm not making bank by following this template or this swipe file. And so it's really discovering again your unique strengths and how you are wired to build a business that you actually love, that you want to show up for. That feels really good because it was built here. And then we apply strategy to it.

James Kademan [00:04:43]:

So tell me a story from. You got this marketing company and use human design. Which of those in your world came first?

Danielle Burken [00:04:52]:

Well, that's a really good question. I would say the marketing came first. I. Back in 2017, which you wouldn't see on the, on the website now, but I started with a food blog and did you really? Yes.

James Kademan [00:05:08]:

Food blog.

Danielle Burken [00:05:09]:

I was like known for desserts. So you know when you, There are.

James Kademan [00:05:14]:

Worse things to be known for.

Danielle Burken [00:05:16]:

Exactly. When friends would have parties or you know, we'd get together and have dinner together, I was always the dessert person.

James Kademan [00:05:25]:

You'd be the one bringing the dessert.

Danielle Burken [00:05:26]:

Oh, 100%.

James Kademan [00:05:27]:

And people were like, we gotta invite Danielle. We gotta get an awesome dessert.

Danielle Burken [00:05:30]:

Exactly.

James Kademan [00:05:31]:

Well, that's pretty cool.

Danielle Burken [00:05:32]:

And at the same time, I was really going through a health journey. It was a couple years post college and I'm like, I need say health journey. Health journey.

James Kademan [00:05:41]:

Seem to be opposing ideals.

Danielle Burken [00:05:43]:

So that's where maybe there's a theme here of like blending very. What might seem opposing viewpoints and blending them together. That I've was like, wow, just a light bulb moment for myself of. I think that's what I've done maybe my entire life. But I really focused on healthy desserts. So how do I make a dessert that is healthier and also tastes really good? So that was really what kicked off my blog. And so I was making recipes, testing them out, developing them, and then I was taking all of the photos, I was writing the blog posts, I was doing the email marketing, the social media marketing. I taught myself how to do WordPress and set up my whole WordPress site.

Danielle Burken [00:06:36]:

So I'm really the type of person that I love to dive in and just figure out how to do it. So that's really what started my whole journey in marketing, was this blog and teaching myself how to, to market healthy desserts.

James Kademan [00:06:55]:

Is that still going?

Danielle Burken [00:06:57]:

No, no. Oh, yeah.

James Kademan [00:06:59]:

Oh, there's a story.

Danielle Burken [00:07:01]:

It gets to be, I mean, when you're developing recipes and testing those and then photographing everything and writing all the blog posts. I was doing all of this while I had a full time job. So.

James Kademan [00:07:14]:

Whoa.

Danielle Burken [00:07:14]:

Yeah, that wasn't, that wasn't my full time income. It was something that I was doing on the side in the hopes that someday I'd make it as a blogger and be an entrepreneur. So that was really a common thread throughout basically post college that I really wanted to move into entrepreneurship in some form or fashion. And so it took different viewpoints, different ways. And then I left a job that I had previously when I was doing the food blog and went to a marketing agency in Madison. And really the food blog was what helped me get that marketing role because I was able to share the fact that I did all of this from scratch. Built this website and the marketing, the social media, the Pinterest,...

Chris Gantz - Patriot Properties Property Management

On the How the Internet Has Changed the Real Estate Industry: "Now you have the democratization of that MLS book, right? So that value is completely gone for the broker because everybody can see everybody everywhere at all times."

Investing in Real Estate is often a great way to add to your investment portfolio.  There are a few main ways to invest, and one of them is to own property that you pay for someone else to take care of the property.  This includes preparing the place for rent, marketing the property, and finding some sweet people to rent the place.  Chris Gantz of Patriot Properties knows property management and real estate investing. Unlike the usual interviews with investors and agents, Chris brings a boots-on-the-ground perspective, sharing what it’s really like to manage thousands of units across Wisconsin—including multifamily buildings, self-storage, mobile home parks, and short-term rentals.

This is the guy doing the things that the other investors pay people to do.  Chris is the real deal and explains in candid detail what you need to look for when hunting for your property manager.  He also discusses a few things to look for in the rental property you are looking to acquire.

Chris delves into Patriot Properties’ innovative decentralized model, how technology is transforming the industry, and the strategies his team uses to stay ahead of the competition—like same-day showings and rapid application processing. He also explains the challenges and perks of active management, pricing strategies, the ever-evolving rental market, and how landlords can maximize returns in both cash-flow and appreciation-focused markets.

Listen as Chris explains tips for finding off-market deals and managing tenant relationships (including some wild stories!). If you’re thinking about investing in real estate or want to learn what it takes to truly succeed in property management, you won’t want to miss Chris’s thoughtful insights and candid stories from the field.

Enjoy!

Visit Chris at: https://patriot-properties.com/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 "Instant Self-Showing Rental Advantage"

05:52 Apartment Leasing: Act Fast Strategy

12:36 Operational Success Determines Investment Outcomes

18:07 Madison Real Estate Investment Surge

22:43 "Challenges of First Property Investment"

29:56 Real Estate Market Evolution Gaps

32:30 "AI Transforming Company Operations"

39:51 Balancing Maintenance with Convenience

43:36 Maintenance Included: No Chargebacks Policy

52:08 Strengthening Client Relationships

54:10 "Value Add Strategy Explained"

01:04:09 Unconventional Property Account Management

01:05:49 Client Communication and Strategy Adjustment

Podcast Transcription:

Chris Gantz [00:00:00]:

I would say so. You know the Burr method, right? House hacking, I think that's always a great way. One of the things I've always said is, in my opinion, you know, one of the fastest ways to make money in real estate is to fix and flip. So if you can find the single family home, you're going to live in it, or the duplex, you're going to live in it, fix it up. While you live there, you're putting in all the sweat equity, do as much work as you can. Foreign.

James Kademan [00:00:33]:

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. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link funded drawincustomers.com and today we're welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Chris Gantz of Patriot Properties. We're going to be talking about property management. So, Kris, how is it going today?

Chris Gantz [00:00:59]:

Good, good. Excited to be here.

James Kademan [00:01:01]:

Yeah, thanks for being on the show. I'm excited here because I've interviewed quite a few people in the real estate realm that are investors or real estate agents, things of that nature. I've never actually interviewed someone that has a business where they're actually doing the stuff that the people talk about.

Chris Gantz [00:01:17]:

Sure, sure.

James Kademan [00:01:18]:

So there's investors, whatever, figuring out the money thing, but actually finding the tenants, getting rid of the tenants if you need to. The clean up the mop up, the mowing, the plowing. Yeah, all that kind of stuff. Let's chat about that.

Chris Gantz [00:01:29]:

Yeah, absolutely.

James Kademan [00:01:30]:

So let's start with what is Patriot Properties?

Chris Gantz [00:01:33]:

Yeah, so Patriot Properties, we are third party management. We do a lot of management for our own portfolio. We have about 3,000 units across the state. We manage everything from multifamily being, our bread and butter, self storage facilities, mobile home parks, short term rentals, Airbnb. Shout out. Super host. We got it again. So congrats.

Chris Gantz [00:01:57]:

We. Apparently there's a thing called like an ultimate host or something. So that's when you've gotten it four times in a row, like a full year in a row. So we have that now as well. Wow. They don't. It's like a new thing to Airbnb. So they haven't like given another badge for it, but internally we're like, hey, good time, good job, rock stars.

Chris Gantz [00:02:18]:

So. But yeah, no, a lot of that is, you know, shout out to the team that we work with, the people that we have on, on staff. It's not just me, so can't Take credit for everything they're doing. Really, I'm less involved in that side. That's the team that's running it. And so. And that's kind of an interesting point of like the operation side of like what we've built and what we've scaled to is what it looked like when we started versus where we are today. So as far as nutshell, you know, property management, 3,000 units, state of Wisconsin, we're knocking on the door of Iowa.

Chris Gantz [00:02:50]:

We've got ambitions to get over there, you know, kind of expand into the Midwest in a bigger way. And so we always look at that as far as expansion, expanding our geographies toward Milwaukee, up, you know, Fox Valley, Green Bay, eventually all of those areas. So right now we follow i9094 kind of throughout the state. And that's been strategically kind of just happenstance. Right. Our clients are like, okay, well you guys are here. Will you go here? Kind of just moving the line a little bit every time.

James Kademan [00:03:21]:

All right, so does that mean that you have employees in all these different spots?

Chris Gantz [00:03:25]:

Yeah, yeah. So what's interesting about the way that we operate is we, because we're a newer, younger company, there's a lot of benefit to. We don't have a lot of old ingrained habits because of the way things used to be done. And so with technology, you know, the last five years, the last 10 years, there's been so much that's entered the space that we have a fully decentralized model, meaning we have an office in Wanakee. That's our only office. So there's no on site office at any location. Which is interesting because when we took properties over, there would be an office that was a converted apartment, was, you know, a space that could be converted to common area amenity. So we've done that taking those units to re amenitize them or put them back into the rental pool.

Chris Gantz [00:04:14]:

And so day one, when we have a property like that, we're saving the cost of the unit, cost of the on site salary. And so like that's typically very easy for us day one to pay for ourselves pretty quickly. So that decentralized model, the way that that works additionally is we have field staff. So our maintenance technicians in the field are all employees of Patriot Properties. Our cleaning staff double as showing agents. And then with the technology, we've also gotten set up with software like Show Mojo that lets us do self showings 24 7.

James Kademan [00:04:48]:

Oh, nice. Okay.

Chris Gantz [00:04:50]:

So yeah, those are, those are kind of the big differentiators. Because when we look at the competition locally, even, even nationally, the self showing piece is still in its infancy. So it's not something that renters strictly expect because we're doing it. People are like, whoa, this is amazing. I can just show up at 8am or 8pm and the thing that we pride ourselves on or the thing that we focus on is how do we be the fastest. Right? Because we can take class B product and compete with class A if we are just faster and so we have the ability or what we've done is, you know, same day showing, same day application processed by the end of the day, they get an answer that day. Whereas, you know, if you call up competitors, we'll do this kind of audit, you know, what's everybody else doing? And it's hey, I want to see a showing and it's okay, we'll get you in this week maybe, or we've got an opening next week. And so it's a lot of times a week to two weeks just to see the apartment.

Chris Gantz [00:05:52]:

By the time you submit that application, it's still another week to two weeks, you know, depending on the level of capacity that the other competition has. But we've seen kind of that typical two to three week range of you want, you see the apartment online, you want it, it's going to take you two to three weeks before you get an answer of, yep, you got a lease, you can take it. And so for us, we, you know, we drive the urgency with our tenants of, you know, legitimately. We only have so many of these units available first come, first serve. So if you want it, sign now. We're signing these units before anybody even has a chance to look at the other properties, which realistically, they might like them more, they might desire them more. But we also try to have a value alignment of we're not trying to overcharge ridiculously. It's what is this apartment worth?...

Peter Shankman - Bestselling Author and the Founder of Help A Reporter Out (HARO)

On the Value of ADHD in Business: "Faster Than Normal has sort of become the bible for ADHD and the concept that ADHD is a gift, not a curse."

The data on entrepreneurs, even C-Suite executives is clear.  We happen to lean towards having ADD or ADHD or some form of attention deficit.  I'd argue it isn't a deficit, it is more short term focus as an advantage, as it allows for thinking fast, moving fast, making faster decisions and overall, accomplishing more.

Peter Shankman, author of Faster Than Normal and founder of HARO (Help a Reporter Out) talks with us today about the limitations of ADHD, as well as the value of owning the diagnosis.

He takes us through his entrepreneurial journey that includes many startups, some exits and a few great books.

Listen as Peter explains all that he has done and how he has been able to do it, despite his label of having ADHD.

Enjoy!

Visit Peter at: https://sourceofsources.com/

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 From AOL to Dot-com PR

04:36 Startup's Fall and Rebirth

07:29 Backlink Spam and Subscriber Cull

11:56 "ADHD as a Gift: Life-Changing Impact"

14:29 Massive Exposure and Bold Stunts

17:32 Chaotic Printer Smashing Event

21:20 Harrow's Origin: Networking Made Easy

23:58 Email Ads: High Open Rate Value

28:47 Tree Insurance Confusion

32:09 Private Equity's Destructive Impact

33:46 "Entrepreneur's Transition Challenges"

38:02 Unexpected Breakfast Encounter

40:17 Harnessing Your Brain's Potential

42:59 "Early Riser: Avoiding Traffic"

Podcast Transcription:

Person [00:00:00]:

And I think that too many companies sort of forget that they initially started to solve a problem. Right. And maybe, look, maybe I'm just, you know, naive, but I kind of feel that if you work on something to solve a problem, you'll have much better success than you would if you work on something just to make money from it. Agreed. Money will come if you're doing it for the right reasons, I think is the best way to put it right. And so if you're doing it for the right reasons, the money will come.

Person [00:00:44]:

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 funded drawincustomers.com we are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie Calls and Call Extraordinary Answering Service as well as the Bold Business Book. And today we are welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Peter Shankman. Peter, I got to read this. You got a lot going on. We got six time best selling author, serial entrepreneur and the founder. This is the most important part that I've found at least of help a reporter out also dubbed the world's most authentic marketing expert. So that's not something you get dubbed a lot or every day.

Person [00:01:26]:

So Peter, how's it going today?

Person [00:01:28]:

It's going well. I'd love to know who said that.

Person [00:01:30]:

Yeah, who did say that? I don't know. It was in your bio. So I just figured somebody important did or somebody observant will call him.

Person [00:01:38]:

There you go.

Person [00:01:39]:

Let's. We got a lot of ground to cover and I think we both have a little bit of adhd. So let's roll with it here. Let's start out with the first business you started because it mentioned in your bio that you had sold a couple businesses. Yeah, I don't know how far back you want to go.

Person [00:01:56]:

So first company I started in the late 90s when the mid-90s I started my career with I had one full time job. I worked in America Online and I helped start and launch the AOL newsroom back when AOL was the Internet. The I left AOL in the late 90s and launched a PR firm that focused on the dot com world because dot coms were blowing up at that point with clients ranging from Napster to Juno to I mean really, you know, staples of the dot com world sold that in 2001. I saw the writing on the wall, knew that the sort of dot com boom, you know, had its, had its limits. The goal was to take a Year off, I booked a flight to Asia. Remember, I went to Tokyo, went to Hong Kong, went to Phuket, Thailand, and flew back to Tokyo. And I remember calling my mom from a payphone at the airport and I said, I'm coming home. I said, it's in three weeks.

Person [00:03:01]:

I'm going back to the city. I lived in New York City in a studio apartment, and my parents like, why are you coming home? You're supposed to be gone for a week. I'm like, you never taught me how to relax. This is your fault. Hung up on them. But, yeah, I realized I didn't really know how to relax. And so I came back and I started consulting for several years, consulted for companies all around the globe, was traveling constantly. Loved being on a plane, Just love being on a plane.

Person [00:03:26]:

Still do. And what wound up happening was I just created this huge, massive Rolodex and that led to knowing a ton of people. When you're adhd, you talk to everyone, right? If you're, if you, unless you fake your death, I want to know everything about you by the time we land, if you're sitting next to me on a plane. And so I had this huge Rolodex and it sort of came in handy. Reporters started calling me, hey, I'm working on a story about whatever. Who do you know? Yeah. That led to help a reporter. Help a reporter out.

Person [00:04:03]:

I started in 2007, sold it in 2010.

Person [00:04:07]:

Oh, wow.

Person [00:04:09]:

Yeah, it was a three year exit. And it worked. It was pretty amazing. It changed my life when I sold it. And I learned a lot of lessons from that. I'm glad I sold it. But when you sell something that you've created, it's your legacy. What you did with it is your legacy.

Person [00:04:36]:

And it's hard to separate the part that you did from whatever the company who bought it does after you sold it. Right. And that's a hard lesson learned because I sold it and the company that bought it, I ran it for the first couple of years for them and then fulfilled my contract and that was done. I walked away and the company who acquired it kind of ran into the ground and the reputation that it had was destroyed. So what happened was it, they eventually shut it down and about six months ago or so, another company stepped in and bought the IP at like, I guess, bargain basement prices and they tried to relaunch it. I don't know how it's. How it's doing, but I wound up real. I wound up creating a new company that pretty much does the same thing.

Person [00:05:39]:

Because I got so frustrated with what they turned it into. I had no, I had no non compete. It was like 15 years later. So I'm like, I'm not going to let this happen. And so I relaunched it and I created a new company. It's called Source of Sources, which is similar to what Help Reporter out did. Is that, is that, you know, we connect journalists with sources all over the world and it's a free service. You sign [email protected], you get two emails a day from journalists with queries from the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, cnn, you name it.

Person [00:06:22]:

If you can answer any of the queries, if you have the expertise, you just reply directly to the journalists and you get quoted in the media. And one of the things I learned is that you can't fake caring. The reason that Sources Sources is successful, we're at over 50,000 members in a year.

Person [00:06:41]:

Journalists or these are sources experts.

Person [00:06:43]:

So any, any expert can join. And we have about a 79% open rate for each email and that's two emails a day, five days a week. So that's pretty crazy. You can't fake caring. Other. I, I've, I've heard through the, through the grapevines and there are so many grapevines that help reporter and the other companies like them. There are a couple others that, that sort of sprung up over the years. They try to automate everything and you know, they, they, they fill out this form and it'll automatically go to your, to all these experts.

Person [00:07:29]:

Well, SEO companies have long, long ago learned the value of a backlink and hire these companies out of Bangladesh and Delhi and whatever to get as many backlinks as possible. But they do it and they found these services and so they use Arrow and they use the other services and hit reporters with every reporter in there. They just harvest the email addresses and pitch them on everything, hoping for a bank backlight. Problem is that doesn't help the journalist or the re. Or the source. So, and none of the, none of the companies are willing to sacrifice their subscriber numbers to get rid of these people except me. I have called close to 10,000 subscribers off my list. I banned entire countries.

Person [00:08:25]:

You cannot sign up for Source of Sources if you are in India. You cannot sign up for Source of Sources if you are in Thailand. You cannot sign up for Source of Sources if you were in Vietnam. And the reason being is because that's where all the SEO farms are and oh well, I have a business in Vietnam and I really want to subscribe. That's not fair. You know, life sucks sometimes, you know, buy a, get a vpn. Subscriptions cost six bucks a month, don't be cheap. So you know, I, and that's sort of like my take on it.

Person [00:08:53]:

I'm not. If you don't care, I don't care what kind of business you run. If you don't care, you're not going to be able to run it as successfully as you could. And so yeah, so source to source is growing by leaps and bounds. We're supported by a small little text ad at Stop beach email. It's going well and I'm having fun with it and you know, I'm sure at some point we'll get acquired again. I'll start round three, but who knows....

Molly Hildebrandt - Hildebrandt Consulting LLC

On Learning and Knowing Thyself: "Being able to help people tap into their unique energy source will help them then be able to figure out where do they get energy? What are the energy drains?."

Every professional athlete has a coach.  The great athletes typically have an incredible coach.  With business professionals, it is no different.  But how do you choose a coach?  What will the coach help you with?

Molly Hildebrandt has a lifetime of experience in the business world and experience, first hand, some challenging times.  Challenging enough for her to stop, rethink where she was heading and make a shift.  With this awareness she made moves to build a business to help other professionals.

We all know that entrepreneurship can be stressful, challenging and sometimes make your mind go a little crazy.  This is where a professional like Molly can help.

Listen as Molly explains a simple mental test to help you understand who you are, so you can then determine what you can do best to get into the groove of building your successful empire.

Enjoy!

Visit Molly at: https://www.mollyhildebrandt.com

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Unlocking Personal Energy Sources

06:38 Discovering Your Intrinsic Self

12:39 "Overloaded Mental Load"

19:39 Avoiding Burnout Through Prioritization

26:08 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Struggles

30:25 "Motherhood and Business Expectations"

33:04 "Building Genuine Self-Esteem"

40:52 From Bullying Roots to Leadership

43:35 Choosing Executive Coaching Over Personal Training

52:26 "Handling Criticism and Self-Esteem"

56:10 Empowering Leadership Development Autonomy

59:16 "Parenting: Recognizing Teen Growth Moments"

01:04:39 Mother-Daughter Bonding Through Communication

01:10:32 "Growth Amid Relationship Challenges"

Podcast Transcription:

Molly Hildebrandt [00:00:00]:

Leaders and parents to discover who they are intrinsically, their uniqueness, so they can truly and intentionally lead from who they are, that the whole authentic leadership.

James Kademan [00:00:11]:

Yeah, you know, we love that word authentic.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:00:13]:

We love authentic. So authentic leadership. But then we really start to work through different thought processes and understand how their mind and their brain work so that they can dissolve and get to the root issue of various mental wellness hurts, hurdles and challenges. To really help them start stepping into mental resilience and to be able to hold their thought process regardless of what's going on with the kids or with.

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. We are locally underwritten by the bank of Sun Prairie. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link [email protected] and today we are welcoming Slash, preparing to learn from Molly Hildebrandt of Hildebrandt Consulting. Molly, how is it going today?

Molly Hildebrandt [00:01:05]:

Oh, fantastic. Thank you for having me.

James Kademan [00:01:07]:

Thank you for being on the show here. Let's just start out with the basic foundation. What is Hildebrandt Consulting?

Molly Hildebrandt [00:01:13]:

Hildebrandt Consulting is a leadership development company.

James Kademan [00:01:16]:

All right.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:01:16]:

I facilitate leaders and parents to discover who they are intrinsically, their uniqueness, so they can truly and intentionally lead from who they are. That the whole authentic leadership.

James Kademan [00:01:28]:

Yeah, you know, we love that word, authentic leadership.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:01:30]:

We love authentic. So authentic leadership. But then we really start to work through different thought processes and understand how their mind and their brain work so that they can dissolve and get to the root issue of various mental wellness hurdles and challenges. To really help them start stepping into mental resilience and to be able to hold their thought process regardless of what's going on with the kids or what's going on with the board or what's going on with work, any context. They can show up and be resilient and be their best selves. And then I'm a certified flow coach. So I help people determine and develop their unique process for flow, which is the optimal mental state where we are really in our peak performance state.

James Kademan [00:02:10]:

Okay, Flo, There was a book, I believe, called Flow that I read there. Is that okay? I was like, flow coach?

Molly Hildebrandt [00:02:16]:

What is that?

James Kademan [00:02:16]:

Okay. All right. So this is essentially how to get into flow, or you help people get into flow.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:02:21]:

Yeah. We all know the benefits of flow. We know why flow is important, that it's where we're most creative, we're most innovative. Our brain is releasing all these pleasure chemicals, and it's the Best state for our brain to be and we never fatigue. However, there's no other model that teaches people how to intentionally flow. Because part of this whole model that I work under or work with helps you determine your uniqueness. And no one else has a model for uniqueness. And you have to know who you are to be able to then gain mental resilience, to then be able to step into your unique process for flow.

James Kademan [00:02:53]:

All right, my goodness, you touched on 5 million things here. So let me think about where to take it. First one is, if somebody discovers that there's something and they want to be something different, can you help them with that?

Molly Hildebrandt [00:03:05]:

What do you mean by that?

James Kademan [00:03:06]:

Well, spitballing.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:03:08]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:03:08]:

But someone's comes to a. Is it presentations? Is it one on one coaching? What kind of thing do you have?

Molly Hildebrandt [00:03:14]:

All of the above. So I'm a keynote speaker. I facilitate interactive workshops and I also am an executive coach.

James Kademan [00:03:21]:

All right. I guess through my experience going to different seminars and stuff like that, people, I guess I've gone to Tony Robbins stuff and they call it breakthroughs.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:03:31]:

Yeah.

James Kademan [00:03:31]:

Where people realize that they're doing something or believe something that is holding them back, or they learn about a fear that they have or something of that nature. So I guess learning how to flow, maybe they're learning like, I don't even like what I'm doing, or something of that nature. Like you learn how to get really good at something, maybe you don't want to do that something, whatever that may be. So I guess what my point is, maybe when people are digging through, going to one of your presentations, they learn something like, oh, I gotta shift into a not only different gear, but maybe a whole different car.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:04:05]:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I work with individuals to really determine how do they uniquely gain energy. Because we all do things based off of energy. Why didn't I clean the garage last weekend? I didn't feel like it. That's energy. So being able to help people tap into their unique energy source will help them then be able to figure out where do they get energy? Where is what are the energy drains? And then be able to possibly, sometimes if there is different deeply held beliefs or unhealthy beliefs that they might have, we can truly unpack that and determine are those beliefs, are those behaviors, are those patterns serving them, are they facilitating them in a healthy direction? Or are they holding them back from something more? And then we can really help them start to make progress in an intentional direction where they are gaining energy and hopefully becoming the best version of themselves in that Process.

James Kademan [00:04:54]:

All right, so it sounds like you have a list of where people get energy. Is that safe to say or a rough idea? So if I said, hey, Molly, I need more energy, would you tell me, like, find a coffee, get out, put.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:05:08]:

All these chemicals in your body. That's what I would say. No, no. Although I do love me some coffee. No, no, no. Hate against coffee. No. We would discover, and we would really discuss your uniqueness and determine who is James intrinsically, your mind and your soul.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:05:25]:

What is that unique element of you that's been there from birth, that's never changed? And this is very different from personality tests. Personality tests, let's name a few. Myers Briggs Insight, Discovery, Enneagram, like. Exactly. Those are really measuring your external behavior relative to a context. Think of the last time you took one. Let's take Myers Briggs, for example. You sit there, you've got your list of questions, and they ask you to imagine you're sitting at work.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:05:54]:

So that's a context. So now you're determining your behaviors relative to that context. The difference between that and what I do, because those external behaviors are going to change when your context changes. So that's not really figuring out who you are. It's figuring out how you show up in different contexts. What I do is I determine who you are intrinsically, that internal cause within you that is consistent and doesn't change. And I call that your intangible driver. So the way that the analogy that I think helps people understand it is if we think of our mind, it's like our uniqueness and our brain is the gray matter, right? Well, I'm not my brain.

Molly Hildebrandt [00:06:38]:

My brain isn't who I am. So there's a distinction. So the intangible driver is who you are intrinsically, and that runs and operates your physical brain,...

James Hatfield - LiveSwitch

On the Sealing the Deal Conveniently: "And now people are selling home services from the comfort of their call center, comfort of their truck."

Sometimes you need to see some things, in order to make sure you can get your client the right stuff.  Most often with contractors that need to give accurate estimates.

Someone needs boots on the ground to measure or just see what they're dealing with.

But what if you could have the client take some live video, showing you the space and what you need to see?  You'd save time, money and get a better connection with your client, working on their schedule.

James Hatfield of LiveSwitch has set up this magic for you and your business.  He explains how the concept came about, how it helps businesses and the challenges that he and his crew had to navigate along the way.

Listen as James explains the value of helping clients help themselves, allowing you to provide better value for your clients.

Enjoy!

Visit James at: https://www.liveswitch.com/

 

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Video Tech Revolutionizes Window Cleaning

03:42 Tech-Driven Business Success Story

07:39 Community Giving and Building

13:08 Global WebRTC Innovator Acquisition

14:54 Situational Awareness Tech Expansion

17:11 Global Live Video Infrastructure Leader

23:07 Seamless Video Recording Anywhere

25:25 Enhanced Call Center Connectivity Solution

29:37 Hypergrowth Challenges and Opportunities

30:26 Risky Marketing Investment Concerns

34:59 Effortless Communication Solution

40:06 AI Enhances Speed and Communication

42:03 Team Pushback on Video Calls

44:52 Enhancing Career Pathways

49:43 Rekindling Success: A 20-Year Partnership

53:03 From Adversity to Entrepreneurial Success

Podcast Transcription:

James Hatfield [00:00:00]:

It's not like a FaceTime call. This is actually the reverse of a FaceTime call, meaning if I'm the homeowner and I receive the text now I'm going to see myself large and the salesperson small. So I get to see and the salesperson will have a virtual background. It's all tuned up to do a virtual estimate. And so now the customer can walk through the home and me or if I'm the salesperson in the call center, hey, I'll record everything. The entire video is recorded. I can take remote photos and tap into your camera, take high res photos, take notes, share my screen if I need to walk you through document, hold up your ID if I need a picture of id. And now people are selling home services from the comfort of their call center, comfort of their truck.

James Hatfield [00:00:42]:

And it's all about speed. To lead.

James Kademan [00:00:50]:

You have found authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and 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 are welcoming slash, preparing to learn from James Hetfield of Live Switch. We're going to talk about essentially mobile video for for service businesses. Is that right, James?

James Hatfield [00:01:22]:

That's right. I'll take you on adventure from me being on a ladder through technology and nonprofits.

James Kademan [00:01:27]:

Nice. I'm excited because when your crew reached out to me, we actually could have used a service like this during pandemic times. Way back in those days, right. For a hot minute I was working with a guy that was putting together remote window replacement company for your house and getting people to understand how to count their windows. People aren't window experts. This would have really helped so that they could just take a walk with video and the agents on our end could see what they were looking at. So why don't we start with what is the foundation? Tell us what is Live Switch?

James Hatfield [00:02:03]:

That's exactly what you're talking about. Except for now, people are, you know, Covid ushered in the age of video. But now our home service businesses like window washers are using this every day. Because the way window washers are doing it is they're looking at at a satellite photo and then they're walking a Google street doing their best to count the windows because it's a struggle. Or they have to send someone out hourly in their truck to go walk around and count Windows and that's expensive. Well, now you can just send a text to the homeowner, they can tap on it, video pops up and they can just walk around and they don't even have to count, just walk around the house nice and slow for us. Great. And you can do this guided or you can do it with nobody on the other end.

James Hatfield [00:02:45]:

So now you're getting, with no apps, you're able to see what they see and do your remote and virtual estimations along amongst other things. We'll talk about.

James Kademan [00:02:55]:

Let's start this chronologically just because I have a lot of questions for you from the technical aspect to see, figure out how the little magic works in this thing, but also how do you get involved in something like this?

James Hatfield [00:03:05]:

Well, for me personally, I used to run painting and power washing companies over two decades ago, had multiple crews. I knew what it's like to run crews to take care of homes head to toe. And I had a bit of a problem when I was running my service business. When I went to the bookkeeper and they would speak English to me, I would nod my head and I'm like, I don't know what they're saying. Us business owner or home service owners, we find ourselves have to be business owners and we have to run everything right. We gotta hire, fire, promote, do all the books, do everything. And it can be overwhelming for owners. So I decided to, hey, I think I better go back and put myself through State School.

James Hatfield [00:03:42]:

And 20 years ago was actually affordable, not affordable anymore. But while I was learning that on running my businesses, I met another guy who was running landscaping companies and doing the same thing at a sister university. And he created this technology where you could take your income statement and balance sheet and put it into the system and it would tell you in layman's terms how you're doing. So before the age of AI 20 years ago, no one talked about LLMs. We said, hey, if we can use this technology that will explain to a business owner what an income statement, balance sheet, how we're doing. I wonder if other people would buy this. So I said, well hey, I'll come off the ladder for a little bit and see if I can sell it. And what happened is we went from an incubator of a company to Inc 500 for three years, meaning we're one of the fastest growing companies in the country for three years.

James Hatfield [00:04:31]:

And. And it became a multi billion dollar company, still exists today with a B B. Yes, billion. Worked out pretty well. Really well. And so we ended up selling that business to KKR had a great exit and got into nonprofits. I launched nonprofits. My partner did as well.

James Hatfield [00:04:50]:

One of them is called Inmates to Entrepreneurs. We take incarcerated men and women, thousands and thousands of them, and put them through our program and that ended up becoming an ABC TV show called Free Enterprise. And that's won a bunch of awards. Yep. And we decided, hey, we're a little too young to hang up our boots and call it a day. Let's see if we can build another billion dollar company. And so we instead of starting from scratch this time, we bought a company. So it's a 16 year old company.

James Hatfield [00:05:14]:

We jumped in and now we're building that. We've owned that now for the last five years. And I can tell you about that journey and how that connects us today. And back to Liveswitch. But that's kind of our adventure from being on ladders to go into financial technology to nonprofits. And now we're back into video technology.

James Kademan [00:05:30]:

Well, you introduce a few more questions now with the answer to that question. So tell me because a lot of, I guess I've interviewed a few people that are in the exit business exiting realm as far as helping people do that, brokers and valuation people and all that jazz. So how do you value a business that's doing revenue in the billions?

James Hatfield [00:05:53]:

Well, for a tech company, that's looked at different than a services company. Right. Service companies, when you're ready to exit, you'll probably see a 2 1/2, 3 multiple on your EBITDA or seller's discretionary income if they're lower than 5 million. But when you get to the billion dollar mark and your Software and your SaaS model and you're getting recurring revenue, the market values recurring revenue much higher. Because as a home service, you got to keep knocking on doors. Right. Or you got to keep going after business. And we'll talk about how, how to help your home service business become a little bit more recurring revenue as well.

James Hatfield [00:06:23]:

But for us in the software side, the market values SaaS and recurring revenue much higher. Many multiples more. So you're able to get much more on your EBITDA when you're going to exit that. But you know, you want to make sure with any exit, you get your books cleaned, you get your house in order, you get as lean and mean as you can and trim up and then they'll end up coming in and large company like kkr, they'll come in and they'll just reorient the business even after the purchase. So it's a little bit different when you get to that level compared to if you're selling something in the millions. But, you know, it's all kind of still walks along the same path.

James Kademan [00:06:58]:

All right, and did they just give you a bag of money or was this a buyout

Luis Derechin - Nir-Yu (Pronounced 'Near You')

On the Building Upon Your Success: "Any successful company is in the continuous improvement process. We identified what we call the Offshore Team Death Trap—seven systemic failures—and built our process to counteract them."

Hiring locally can be expensive and you need to pay for a space for that employee to work.  Hire remotely and your costs should go down, but your volume and value of work may suffer, dependent on your employees.  Hire overseas and you end up with vaguely incoherent contractors that do less work than a domestic employee, if you count you saying, "Please repeat that..." about a zillion times.  The answer for some businesses may be Nearshoring.  Hiring contractors that have lived in an English speaking world, but also in a world that allows a dollar to go three or four times as far.

Luis Derechin of Nir-Yu has created a company to help you do just that.  Hire, train and utilize a workforce that speaks well and has strong skills at a cost that is a fraction of a domestic employee.

Luis dives deep into the world of remote staffing and the art of building international teams. From early candy-selling hustle as a child in Mexico, to founding Mexico’s first tech startup to be venture funded by U.S. investors, Luis shares his lifelong journey as an entrepreneur—and reveals the key challenges businesses face when hiring remote employees in Latin America.

You’ll hear firsthand the pitfalls of remote talent acquisition, the importance of cultural alignment, and how Nir-Yu’s “Remote Intelligence Framework” solves issues like the “Offshore Team Death Trap.” James and Luis also get candid about managing teams, navigating language barriers, and why a win-win relationship is essential for international staffing success. Whether you’re battling talent shortages, feeling the pinch of rising labor costs, or just curious about building remote teams, this conversation is packed with insight, practical stories, and a bit of entrepreneurial humor.

Listen as Luis explains the pros and cons of utilizing a nearshore team and how it may help your business.

Enjoy!

Visit Luis at: https://www.nir-yu.com/

 

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 From Candy Seller to Tech Entrepreneur

06:50 Simplifying Data Integration Processes

14:34 Custom Job Matching & Vetting

16:53 Remote Hiring Over Project-Based Work

23:55 Cultural Challenges in Remote Work

28:16 Transparent Hiring and Fee Strategy

37:18 Health Insurance Cost Disparity

42:44 Infrastructure Differences in Latin America

48:10 "Importance of Hiring a Tech Lead"

53:02 Company Rehires After Layoffs

57:22 DNA Genome Mapping Challenges

01:02:02 Differences Between US and Europe

01:07:48 Offshore Team Success Guide

Podcast Transcription:

Luis Derechin [00:00:00]:

I would buy Mexican candy and take it over to the US and then sell them to my schoolmates. So that was my first taste of entrepreneurship. Until the principal shut it down. Because no one had lunch money.

James Kademan [00:00:18]:

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 found at 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 Lewis of near you and Louis. We're talking staffing today. So let's just start with there. What is near your?

Luis Derechin [00:00:49]:

Thank you, James. First of all, allow me to thank you for having me on. It's a privilege and an honor.

James Kademan [00:00:57]:

Yeah, happy to have you.

Luis Derechin [00:00:59]:

Thanks. Very excited to talk to small and mid market companies about staffing because what we do is basically hire staff to work remotely for US companies from Latin America and in doing so saving themselves 60 to 70%.

James Kademan [00:01:23]:

Oh, that's healthy. Or we're just having a domestic hourly employee, Correct?

Luis Derechin [00:01:28]:

Correct. So, you know, I think what's interesting, James, if I could, is twofold because one, the ability to find talent is important because you know, as I'm sure you and a lot of your listeners are aware of, the talent wars are so hot in the US There are so few jobs that even finding the talent becomes difficult. And if you can find them and then employ them to work in the same time zone, Latin America, Right. Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, they're all in similar time zones. If you can find them in Latin America to work remotely for you and save 60 or 70%, you sort of just kill that two headed Hydra that tends to do away with a lot of businesses that want to grow and need to hire.

James Kademan [00:02:21]:

Nice. So how did you get involved in the staffing business?

Luis Derechin [00:02:26]:

Great question. So I've been an entrepreneur my entire life. I won't bore you with all the details. I'll just tell you the funny story about my entrepreneurial beginnings and then I'll jump to your answer. I was born in Mexico. My parents moved to Southern California in 1976 when I was about 7 years old. And then we would oftentimes cross the border into Tijuana and do some things. You know, my mom would go grocery shopping for some things that back in the 70s you couldn't find in the US so I would buy Mexican candy and take it over to the US and then sell them to my schoolmates.

Luis Derechin [00:03:06]:

So that was my first taste of entrepreneurship until the principal shut it down because no one had lunch money. They would be spending it all on Mexican candy. Move forward into the early 2000s and I founded what became Mexico's first tech startup to raise US Venture capital funding. So, you know, in Mexico City, me and my brother started a tech company and you know, through sheer hard work and some luck, we were able to create a product that had good, strong customers in Latin America and then were connected to some VC funds, Intel Capital, Darby Technology Ventures, and then they funded us, moved to the US And I ran the company until its eventual acquisition. So it was there that I got into the staffing business, but it was our staffing. Right. When I moved to the U.S. i sort of had this aha moment where some of the realizations that I just mentioned to you, it was the first time that I had them.

Luis Derechin [00:04:12]:

Gee, there is, you know, the talent is sparse in the US and, well, that sounded worse than I wanted. There is little available talent. Talent is everywhere, but available availability. Talent is very little, especially for smaller companies or startups. And then the second is when I saw the price tag or the costs involved, I had sticker shock. So what I did is went back to Mexico and used our contacts and then started hiring in the region to do work remotely for us. So that was how we got started. And just to sort of finish on that chapter, and it'll be the full answer to you is 2013, 2014, my company was acquired on my way to retirement.

Luis Derechin [00:05:01]:

I started getting calls from other CEOs from the Washington D.C. region, which is where I live, and they had remote talent projects that were going sideways and they asked if I could help them fix the projects and, or find other talent that could help them. I did the first few of them sort of as favors, free, and then realized after a while that, that the problem was real. Right. So managing remote talent, finding remote talent, even though it sounds plain vanilla and easier to do, it's, it's, it's challenge. You got to vet them. You got to make sure that they. That culturally, I mean, I'll get, I'll get to that later.

Luis Derechin [00:05:44]:

So after, after a few of these, I started doing this full time. And that's, that's my, that's my company today. James, Nice.

James Kademan [00:05:52]:

We hit a lot of points there. I want to touch on a few. When you, the tech company was that. Are we talking software or what kind of company was this?

Luis Derechin [00:06:02]:

Yes, yes, it was. It was a software company. It was called Jack B. Like Jack B. Nimble Jack B. Quick.

James Kademan [00:06:08]:

All right.

Luis Derechin [00:06:10]:

It started again in the 2000s, and we were one of the first companies in the web 2.0 space. And then like other companies, as you meet your real clients, you sort of pivot or sort of move. And then when we were acquired, we were in the real time business intelligence space. So very exciting times. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:06:34]:

What was Jack B. What was the platform for?

Luis Derechin [00:06:40]:

I'm sorry, you're asking what, what. What was Jack beat in its.

James Kademan [00:06:44]:

Yeah. As far as the software, why would people use it? I have to apologize, I'm not familiar with it.

Luis Derechin [00:06:50]:

The answer is, and this is. This is a thesis that repeats over and over, what ends up happening is people. As technology becomes easier to use, people tend to put things, data into more and more sources. You have data in Excel, you have data in databases, you have access to other People's data through APIs, through web calls. You have just a bunch of different data and the ability to bring in these different sources of data and mash it up, as it was called in the 2010s, you would get a piece of data from this source and a piece of data from this source, create some sort of correlation, and then that data be able to bring in another piece of data. So doing that when it's coming from multiple sources is difficult. It usually takes a lot of integration work. So we made it easier through a canonical model that you'd be able to point to these sources, find the data, bring the data, and by having a common structure, common language,...

Mei Yung - Ageless Zen Skincare

On the Value of Safe Skincare: "It's not about so much about vanity, but having healthy skin."

Maintenance free is what we all seem to want.  But with some things, we don't get that option.  Our skin, that we do not get a second chance with, is one of those things we need to maintain in order to keep healthy.

Mei Yung Lee, the founder and CEO of Ageless Zen, a skincare company built on a mission of authenticity, transparency, and giving back. Mei shares her personal journey from investor and philanthropist to entrepreneur, inspired by her search for truly natural skincare solutions and her father's legacy as an herbal doctor in Hong Kong. Together, James and Mei dive deep into the world of skincare ingredients, industry regulations, and why many products on the market don’t meet the standards consumers deserve.

Mei details how Ageless Zen’s products are created with scientific rigor, natural ingredients, and minimal preservatives, emphasizing safety and efficacy while supporting non-profit initiatives like funding schools and cancer research. She pulls back the curtain on the challenges of sourcing rare ingredients, the complexities of creating shelf-stable, effective creams without harmful chemicals, and the thought behind her innovative, eco-friendly product packaging.

Listen as Mei details how she started her skincare company and what she has learned throughout the process.

Enjoy!

Visit Mei at: https://agelesszen.com/

 

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 Ageless Zen Skincare Startup

03:49 Journey to Natural Medicine Business

07:15 Creating a Pearl-Based Facial Cleanser

10:34 Expertise in Natural Ingredient Synergy

16:08 Natural Skincare Consciousness

18:44 "Natural Oil Soap Development Insight"

22:03 Consumer Empowerment Through Information

25:23 Seaberry's Unique Natural Benefits

28:04 "Balanced Topical Skincare Dosing"

31:35 Eco-Friendly Skincare Packaging

36:35 Night Cream with Peptide Matrix

38:28 Day vs. Night Creams Explained

41:36 Airtight, Eco-Friendly Bottle Design

45:45 "Exploring Natural Plant Benefits"

50:03 Nonprofit Empowerment & Fundraising Initiative

53:47 Focusing on Anti-Aging Skin Health

55:40 "Product Purchase and Community Support"

Podcast Transcription:

Mei Yung [00:00:00]:

Well, interesting. That's a very interesting question you asked. And I think your listeners should also understand it too. FDA in America actually does not, you know, approve any product. They have a set of guidelines and they assume people will follow that guideline. And you build your product in the facility that is approved by the FDA and they can check the facility, all of that to make sure, you know, that everything is up to that particular standard. But mostly it's up to a skincare company to uphold it. And like, for example, I can tell you currently US company, you know, have about three or four hundred ingredients they're not allowed to use because they're toxic.

Mei Yung [00:00:48]:

They're highly sensitive like you said. But in Canada there's over a thousand or fifteen hundred that matter. Depends on where you look at.

James Kademan [00:01:05]:

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 funded drawincustomers.com we are locally interwritten 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 Mei Young Lee, the founder and CEO of Ageless Zen. So May, how are you doing today?

Mei Yung [00:01:36]:

I am doing great in this beautiful Lake Tahoe.

James Kademan [00:01:41]:

Yeah, that's excellent. Glad to hear it. Thanks for being on the show. Why don't you start with the foundation? What is Ageless Zen?

Mei Yung [00:01:49]:

Well, Ageless Zen is a company. It's a startup company that I decided to build at this point of my life which, you know, is very interesting. Many people ask me why I built this company at this time of my life and because I really feel I'm not done yet. And for many years I was searching for natural skin care for myself and you know, but I find that I really couldn't find product every key natural ingredient that really support my skin. So I started researching, experimenting and testing on myself basically trying to find a solution for myself. And you know, later on I, you know, finally find it after many, you know, success and failure with different formulation. And I found what I needed and I just thought I'm always in, you know, volunteering in nonprofit. Why don't I wrote the business model into helping nonprofit as well to start a foundation on top of it.

Mei Yung [00:03:02]:

So yeah, so this has been a very interesting venture for me and we are now partnering with Mecavivor, which is Metabolized Cancer Patient Network. And so their doctor endorse our product and they use it. So we have nice Clean and natural product which I built for myself really for personal needs. Now I know that many people is going to need it too. If I had the need, I will think other women will also have this need. So I'm very proud and we are rolling along.

James Kademan [00:03:45]:

So when did this idea first come about?

Mei Yung [00:03:49]:

Well, it came about almost seven years ago, a little bit of my background. My father actually was an herbal doctor in Hong Kong and I was born in Hong Kong. So I saw him firsthand how he handled patient and really took care of the patient with natural herbs and ingredients and it works really well for them. And so I grew up with it and I took a lot of those Chinese medicine. So it's kind of deep down already in my blood I would say that I really like natural products. So at 2016 I I met a researcher, Michael Scott, and he actually had 30 years of experience in research natural products also with a team of researchers from different hospital and research center. So they have a really deep bank of knowledge that I can actually draw on. And so I decided, you know, I need to build this company because I don't feel I'm done yet.

Mei Yung [00:05:02]:

And then of course, after I find the formulation, after I search all the different natural ingredients, what is good for what formulation, then I decided to build it out and started a nonprofit and work with somebody like McWyver as our business model. So every time when we sell product through our community partner website, Megariver or whoever want to join us and this movement later on will get a really high commission. Like for example, we gave out 30% of our post it to them. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:05:40]:

Oh, very cool. Tell me, so you previous to this were not in the skincare realm or chemistry realm or anything even remotely close to doing something to do with skin care natural ingredient skincare, is that right?

Mei Yung [00:05:56]:

That's correct. I'm actually as a self taught investor and doing quite well. I've done quite well and raised my two kids and family and my dogs. And so I was pretty happy with life. Basically I did achieve the American dreams and I was very proud of myself for my hard work. But now this is really taken to a different level because I feel that I'm able to give back now through this initiative. So I'm really happy and excited about it and I'm hoping that to get basically some awareness from other people. They know that we support school, we support any other nonprofit and we're camping together.

Mei Yung [00:06:42]:

Like Mega Viver, our key partner will be campaigning with us this week. When we go to trade show, we tell people about it and about our relationship with nonprofit.

James Kademan [00:06:56]:

All right, very cool. So your product, how long did it take you from a timeline point of view, how long did it take you to figure out what you're going to create? And then from there, once you figured out what you want to create, how long did it take to actually put together the formula and figure out what works and what doesn't work and all that?

Mei Yung [00:07:15]:

Yeah, well, because it's a science based product that we created in here with our scientists. And so usually the process is that once when I have an idea, particularly, you know, something I need, like a cleanser, you know, so then they will look at it and then I will check out the ingredient they recommended and test it on myself. And so the whole process, it depends on, you know, I should say, you know, how I feel about that product actually works for me. And so some of the creams that we created, they will come faster, maybe about six months to develop it. But the cleanser itself, it took a year because it include the pearl powders. And it's an old Chinese recipe, you know, the old Chinese lady, they use pearl powder and to, you know, exfoliate their face away from all the dead skin cells. And also pearl itself contain moisture because it got a lot of natural minerals in it. So we put in the frankincense oil so the skin won't get dry after you wash it.

Mei Yung [00:08:34]:

And also we put like, oh, manuka honey. So it's a natural antibacterial. So just all these different ingredients that we put in it make it work together and then have the white pH for the face, it took a while, so that's why it took a long time. And I personally, because I'm making all this product to use for myself and my friends, so I have very high standard. You know, sometimes, you know, let people say, you're so mean. You know, I work so hard and, you know, I tried to create this and you say, it's not good enough. Okay, I'm sorry. Not good enough.

Mei Yung [00:09:17]:

Not good enough. So it's not good enough for me. It wouldn't be good enough for my friend and other people.

James Kademan [00:09:23]:

So when you tried,...