Bar Napkin Business

Casey Donner is the founder of Kiss and Makeup, a Beauty Boutique. But she is also a local social media influencer in her city, leveraging her accounts to connect with followers and brands in her area about beauty, makeup, and more.

In this episode we talk about:

• Building a business through contractors instead of employees
• How she handles being a local "social media influencer" and what makes a successful social media influencer event
• The battle against the changing Facebook algorithm 
• How she targets prospective clients with Facebook ads
• The importance of transparency in building a brand 
• The creepy and dark side of social media 

Learn more about Casey and her business on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Kiss-And-Makeup-A-Beauty-Boutique-366527456694312/.

Tyler Sprunk started his first business when he was still in college. Excited by the opportunity to put his marketing and advertising skills to work, he and his business partners owned and operated Forgelight Creative for nearly 3 years before they decided to call it quits. 

Now, over a year later, Tyler is putting his lessons learned to good use as the CMO of a different Midwest-based marketing agency and he's not afraid to talk about learning from failure. In this interview we talk about the challenges he faced in his first business, what he learned the hard way in building and growing an agency, the importance of pricing your services, and how a bad hire or client fit can challenge a young company. 

Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn or Twitter. Learn more about his current role at www.simplestrat.com/about.

Ciara Searight is the founder of the first circus gym in Nebraska and the epitome of starting a business on a bar napkin, with the vision for her first business starting on a napkin at Yia Yia's pizza.

Ciara is also the owner of Tangerine Salon, which will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. In this episode we talk about what it's like to be the first to do something different, her perspective on risk and getting out of your comfort zone, and why a little bit of publicity can go a long way.

Learn more about Ciara's businesses on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/TangerineHairArtistSalon/

https://www.facebook.com/BigTopCenter/

Courtney Lockridge started a business in college called Nebraska Wedding Day. She grew that magazine and media platform to a regional leader and later sold the business in order to focus on her family. She says she's still an entrepreneur at heart, but she's shifted her focus to....MLM?

Courtney recently decided to become a market partner for Monat, a direct sales company that offers specialty hair products. But does joining an MLM company mean that you're an entrepreneur? Or just a sales person? Is it a pyramid scheme? What's the risk if you can just start selling? 

In this interview, we dive into a lively discussion of what she believes are positive and negatives points of coming into a MLM opportunity, and how Facebook and online communities have become a new "norm" for social selling but don't replace the face to face meetings.

Learn more about Courtney at courtneylockridge.mymonat.com. 

Dan Sloan is one of the owners of The Mill Coffee & Tea. A self-professed recovering accountant, he's been running his business for decades - long before the emergence of Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, or even McCafe Coffee. Despite the prevalence of national chains and the development of new coffee brands nationwide, The Mill has continued to grow and prosper in the community of Lincoln Nebraska.

On this episode of Bar Napkin Business, we talk about going from one location to four, building a brand people want to be part of, the importance of hiring for talent even when you think you can't afford it, and why people choose to frequent a local coffee house (hint: it has to do with experience!).

Learn more about The Mill Coffee & Tea at www.themillcoffee.com or visit them on Facebook.

opendorse is the athlete marketing platform that helps the biggest brands in sports share content on social. Started as an idea while founders Adi and Blake were running a social media agency, they've now secured millions in funding and work with hundreds of athletes, agencies, and brands to share content online.

In this episode we talk to co-founder Adi Kulanic about coming to America when he was little, his short time as a professional athlete, how they started the company, and challenges they've experienced along the way.  

Learn more at www.opendorse.com or follow them on social media. 

Erik Hustad is best known as the co-founder of a Midwest foodie favorite - Honest Abe's restaurant. From food truck to a brick and mortar food and beverage business, Erik's learned a thing or two about building an experience that customers want to be part of.

He's also learned when to call it quits, how to pivot quickly, and how to swallow your pride and learn from failure. In this podcast episode, we talk about his journey from culinary school in Seattle to starting and growing a restaurant group in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Learn more about Honest Abe's at grounduprestaurants.com or follow them on Facebook. 

Brandon Akert was a college student when he pitched the idea for Gate 25 Restaurant. After approaching dozens of people and getting shot down, he eventually found a believer to invest in his idea - and that started him down the path of entrepreneurship. In this episode, we talk about the story of Gate 25, how he structured his financial risk, the new endeavors he's working on, and the lessons learned along the way.

We also learn about the one thing that scares him more than anything else. Get the details, menu, and more at www.gate25lnk.com or follow them on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Today's world is driven by word of mouth online - and that word of mouth often comes in the form of online reviews. Whether you like it or not, your business is just as susceptible to a bad review as it is a good review. 

Jessica Sodeke has been reviewing businesses on Yelp for years - at such a level that she's earned the title of "Elite Yelp Reviewer" by the platform itself. She's reviewed over 400 places and posted nearly 4,000 photos of her experiences. Get an inside perspective on her tips for businesses to earn five star reviews, how to manage bad reviews, and why storytelling is essential to your customer experience. 

Read Jessica's reviews and connect with her on Yelp at https://jsodeke.yelp.com. 

Ben Pankonin is the CEO and Cofounder of Social Assurance, a marketing and software company that helps financial brands market with confidence. 

In this interview with Ben, we dig into the concept of trust - and why it takes admitting that you've been through a challenge in order to build it. We also talk about the foundational elements of a good story and why conflict, or "the hard stuff", in inevitable in building a brand that people want to follow. 

Ben has been recognized as the Silicon Prairie News 2017 Executive of the Year, Lincoln Chamber of Commerce 2017 Entrepreneurial Spirit Award Winner, and Pipeline Innovator of the Year. 

Learn more about Social Assurance at www.socialassurance.com.