Built In Iowa Podcast

Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have James Rhodes from FiXT.

FiXT was founded in 2006 by popular artist Klayton, also known as Celldweller, and James. James heads up the operations office located in Burlington, Iowa. They have offices located around the world where their 20 employees work.

FiXT was is an independent artist owned record label. They currently have 25 artist signed and nearly 2 billion streams between all of them! Their music has been in Superbowl commercials and many of your favorite video games and movies.

James got into the industry when he started working with Klayton in the early 2000's as part of his street team, which was originally a volunteer position. James was later promoted to the street team manager; and in 2006 after Klayton had trouble with how distributors positioned his music and this is how FiXT was born. They have since launched FiXT Neon, which caters to a different music genre.

Enjoy the episode!

You can find FiXT website here
You can find FiXT Neon website here
You can find FiXT Facebook here
You can find FiXT Neon Facebook here

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Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Lindsy Trotter from Chilled Freezer Meals.

Chilled Freezer Meals is located in Center Point, Iowa and was founded by Lindsy Trotter in 2018. Chilled offers fully frozen meals for local pick up and home delivery in Eastern Iowa, as well as shipping nationwide. Chilled has gluten friendly, keto, paleo or Whole30 meal choices. Lindsy had the idea to found Chilled after her daughter had food sensitivity and it was impossible to come home after work and order a pizza. She started posting about it on social media and had some friends that were interested in ordering and the idea was born. Chilled has four product categories; meals, snacks, seasoning mixes, and digital recipes. About 90% of the revenue comes from food products. Lindsy wants to start growing the digital products as it is easier to scale. Lindsy built her website on the Shopify platform and to grow her company she primarily relies on organic marketing. Chilled’s only marketing ad spend is a $1 Facebook ad. 

Lindsy was very resourceful starting Chilled Freezer Meals. She had no interest in investors or loans to test her proof of concept, so she decided to reach out to a local coffee shop to rent out their commercial kitchen instead of building her own commercial kitchen. Once the idea proved out, Chilled moved into a commercial kitchen about a year later. Lindsy currently has two employees, as well as an outside marketing agency and a virtual assistant to keep her business rolling.

Enjoy the episode!

You can find Chilled Freezer Meals website HERE
You can find Chilled Freezer Meals Facebook HERE

Are you looking to save money with your company? Check out Grey Trunk RFID and stop losing your company's capital assets. They use cutting edge technology and they are located in Iowa! Click here to get 20% off your subscription.

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Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Mark Charter from Charter House Real Estate. Charter House is located in Ankeny and was founded in 2016. Charter House does real estate differently. They charge a flat fee of $2,495 + 3%. The traditional model is 6% or 7% depending on where you are located. If you were to sell your house that is $300,000, that would cost you $18,000. With Charter House, that would cost you $11,495. Taking this approach, Charter House is certainly shaking up the real estate market in the Des Moines metro. When you do things differently, you get some kickback for that. Mark talks about that during the episode.

Mark grew up in Ames and first got into real estate in 2005. In 2016 he wanted to venture out on his own and bootstrapped to get going. He now has 11 real estate agents on his team and they continue to grow and push the limits. Real estate is an interesting business and Mark shares a lot of good information!

Enjoy the episode!

You can find Charter House website HERE
You can find Charter House Facebook HERE

Are you looking to save money? Check our Grey Trunk RFID to stop losing your company's capital assets. They use cutting edge technology and offer the lowest prices in the market. AND they are located in Iowa! Click here to get 20% off your subscription.

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Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

Jon & Christian discussed these key points in starting a business:

• Using a third party software development firm to build their platform
• Their process of getting introduced and matched as a Co-Founders
• Bootstrapping to get the business started
• Raising $500,000 and the process they went through

On today's episode we have Jon Lensing & Christian Williams from Apollo. Apollo is located in Iowa City and was founded in January of 2020. Apollo is a healthcare tech startup that matches healthcare professionals with healthcare organizations. They help Doctors in residency find accessible moonlight opportunities.

I interviewed Jon & Christian in February, right as Coronavirus cases started in the United States. Apollo was on a timeline for a three month beta and to go live in June. The Federal Government passed legislation that allowed providers to cross state lines without having state specific licenses to practice. When this happened, Apollo responded to help combat the Coronavirus and opened up their platform for hospital systems and providers to start filling roles in areas that may be harder hit by Coronavirus. Huge kudos to the Apollo team!

Apollo has three founders; Jon Lensing, Christian Williams, and Matt Grossmann. Jon and Matt are both Doctors and just recently graduated (they started a company while they were in medical school, insane!). Matt has a contractual obligation and will be exiting the company, while Jon is forgoing residency and is full time in Apollo. Christian played football at the University of Missouri and worked in St. Louis for a few years before starting his own company. Jon and Christian got matched up as Co-Founders and are full speed ahead.

Enjoy the episode!

You can find Apollo's Website HERE
You can find Apollo's Facebook HERE
You can find Apollo's Twitter HERE
You can find Jon's LinkedIn HERE
You can find Christian's LinkedIn HERE

Are you looking to save money? Are you currently tracking your capital assets? Stop losing your company laptops and invest in asset tracking software with Grey Trunk RFID. Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based Company! They use cutting edge technology and are the most cost-effective solution in the industry. Click HERE to get 20% off your annual subscription. Tyler will take care of you!

Head to our website and subscribe to the newsletter HERE

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE
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Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Sarah Banowetz from Banowetz Marketing. Banowetz marketing is a full service marketing agency based out of Cedar Rapids. Sarah started the company in 2018. Sarah bootstrapped the business to start and has 6 employees. Banowetz marketing focuses on helping family owned businesses scale their marketing team.

Sarah is an absolute hustler and shares a ton of different wisdom in this episode. She talks about scaling the business with cash and how to hire your first employee and the mistakes she made during this process and what she learned. Sarah didn't take a salary when she started the business and just recently started taking a $500 salary a month.

Sarah has big goals and a vision to open a second location in Ethiopia. She has a huge passion for Ethiopia and has visited numerous times.

You can find Banowetz Marketing website HERE
You can find Banowetz Marketing Facebook HERE
You can find Banowetz Marketing Twitter HERE

Are you looking to save money? Are you currently tracking your capital assets? Stop losing your company laptops and invest in asset tracking software with Grey Trunk RFID. Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based company located in Clear Lake that utilizes cutting edge technology and the best prices in the industry! Click HERE and get 20% off an annual subscription, Tyler will take care of you!

Head to our website and subscribe to our newsletter HERE!

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE!
Check out Built in Iowa's Twitter HERE!

Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Dane Kuper from Performance Livestock Analytics. On April 8th, Zoetis acquired Performance Livestock Analytics! PLA is located in Ames, Iowa and has 43 employees. PLA is a digital platform for the livestock industry and they solve the problem of business management on farms. Dane's Co-Founder, Dustin Balsley is also from Iowa and they had worked together prior to PLA. Dane and Dustin started this as a side-hustle and bootstrapped it with their own money.

How they built their minimum viable product was very unique; they hired a sophomore that was on a full ride scholarship from Iowa State to build out their product, and that same engineer is still on their team today. Their biggest competitor is pen and paper, and how PLA on-boards their customer to introduce technology is truly impressive. The average user spends 4.5 hours per day on the PLA platform seven days a week - this is a truly impressive number!

In this episode, Dane shared the advantages and disadvantages of building a tech company in Iowa versus Silicon Valley. Dane grew up on a farm in North Central Iowa, then went on to wrestle at Iowa State. Dane worked for a couple different technology organizations based out of San Fransisco prior to starting PLA in 2015.

Here is the link to the press release of Zoetis acquiring Performance Livestock Analytics

You can find Performance Livestock Analytics website HERE
You can find Performance Livestock Analytics Facebook HERE
You can find Performance Livestock Analytics Twitter HERE
You can find Performance Livestock Analytics LinkedIn HERE
You can find Dane's LinkedIn HERE

Are you looking to save money? Are you currently tracking your capital assets? Stop losing your company laptops and invest in asset tracking software with Grey Trunk RFID. Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based company located in Clear Lake that utilizes cutting edge technology and the best prices in the industry! Click HERE and get 20% off an annual subscription, Tyler will take care of you!

Head to our website and subscribe to our newsletter HERE!

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE!
Check out Built in Iowa's Twitter HERE!

Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Melissa Pepper from Total Solutions. Total Solutions was founded in 2015 in Davenport, Iowa by Aaron Tennant. Total Solutions focuses on tasks that business owners don't want to do; payroll, high level accounting, HR, IT, and marketing. They give time to SMB's that don't have time to focus on these tasks. Their customers typically have between 10 - 25 employees on their team. Total Solutions has 13 employees and their team is still growing. Melissa has been President at Total Solutions for a little over a year.

Melissa has been President at Total Solutions for a little over a year. She also founded Lead(h)er in 2016 as a non-profit that has a mission is to connect women with experienced leaders to fuel their careers and community engagement. That is how she met Aaron Tennant who eventually hired her at Total Solutions. Melissa is still on the BOD at Lead(h)er and is actively involved!

If you are a small business and need help with any of these area's give Total Solutions a shout. Melissa is a rockstar and loves to win and see her clients win!

You can find Total Solutions Website HERE
You can find Total Solutions Facebook HERE
You can find Total Solutions LinkedIn HERE
You can find Melissa's LinkedIn HERE

Are you looking to save money?  Are you currently tracking your capital assets?  Stop losing your company laptops and invest in asset tracking software with Grey Trunk RFID.  Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based company located in Clear Lake that utilizes cutting edge technology and the best prices in the industry!  Click HERE and get 20% off an annual subscription, Tyler will take care of you!

Head to our website and subscribe to our newsletter HERE!

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE!
Check out Built in Iowa's Twitter HERE!

Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Jordan Andrews from Heartland Soles. Jordan and his wife founded Heartland Soles 2016 in Des Moines. Jordan and his wife are originally from Kansas City and both ran Cross Country in College. Lindsey won a team national title at the University of New Mexico. While they were living in New Mexico Jordan bought the guts of a running store that closed in New Mexico for $500, and that is the beginning of Heartland Soles!

Jordan and Lindsey got started by being creative while bootstrapping and a line of credit from Jordan's parents. They were cash flow positive within three months of opening their store in Des Moines, an incredible accomplishment! Heartland Soles is a brick and mortar retail shoe store that focuses on running with locations in Des Moines and Iowa City. Heartland Soles focuses on premier customer service to compete with B2C and big box retailers

The grit and hustle that Jordan and Lindsey had when they started Heartland Soles was exceptional. They would go to trails in the Des Moines area and hand out water to runners to get their name out. They grew their business organically, and that is a testament to their creativity and hard work. Heartland Soles has 12 employees and did just under $1 Million in 2019!

I spoke with Jordan in February before Coronavirus was impacting us in Iowa. They had to shut down their brick and mortar locations due to state regulations and go totally e-commerce. If you need running shoes head to their website here; Jordan and Lindsey will take care of you!

You can find Heartland Soles website HERE!
You can find Heartland Soles Facebook HERE!

Are you looking to save money?  Are you currently tracking your capital assets?  Stop losing your company laptops and invest in asset tracking software with Grey Trunk RFID.  Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based company located in Clear Lake that utilizes cutting edge technology and the best prices in the industry!  Click HERE and get 20% off an annual subscription, Tyler will take care of you!

Head to our website and subscribe to our newsletter HERE!

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE
Check out Built in Iowa's Twitter HERE

Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Rob Hach from Trusted Energy.  Trusted Energy is located in Storm Lake, IA and is a renewable energy developer.  Rob started the company in 2002 around wind farms and in 2008 diversified and invested into the solar business.  Rob worked at Enron and wanted to go out on his own out of necessity.  Rob's father got started in the wind energy business in 1978 and Rob has always had an interest in renewable energy.  Trusted Energy has 20 employees and is actively growing their organization.  Trusted Energy business model is focused on Commercial and MUSH (municipals, universities, schools, and hospitals) projects.

Rob has stated that it is tough to hire in Storm Lake, but they have been creative and built out a remote team to help them grow for now and the future.  Rob literally put his life savings on the line to start Trusted Energy; he cashed out his 401k and his life insurance and took a small loan from his parents.  Rob feels strongly about keeping his company private and spinning out renewable portfolios for long term revenue.  Trusted Energy has a revenue range between $5 - $10 Million.


You can find Trusted Energy's website HERE
You can find Trusted Energy's Facebook HERE

Are you looking to save money?  Are you currently tracking your capital assets?  Stop losing your company laptops and invest in asset tracking software with Grey Trunk RFID.  Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based company located in Clear Lake that utilizes cutting edge technology and the best prices in the industry!  Click HERE and get 20% off an annual subscription, Tyler will take care of you!

Head to our website and subscribe to our newsletter HERE.

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE
Check out Built in Iowa's Twitter HERE

Welcome to the Built in Iowa Podcast!

On today's episode we have Tyler Anderson from Roller City, Tyler also owns Escape Iowa, which he started in 2016.  Both businesses are located in North Iowa.  Roller City is in Mason City and Escape Iowa has two locations; one in Mason City and Clear Lake.  Tyler purchased Roller City in 2011 for $550,000.  He was able to purchase Roller City with an anonymous $5,000 gift and a $5,000 lien on a van as a downpayment and owner financing over 20 years.  Total revenue for both businesses is about $400,000.  Tyler bought the business with a business partner and ended up buying his partner out due to a falling out.  He provided good advice on having a business partner exiting the business.  An interesting point Tyler brought up regarding his Escape Rooms is that they are fantastic team building exercises and he has seen huge success with that.  Between both businesses Tyler has 14 employees that are mostly part time.

Tyler is from Belmond, Iowa and was working at a a small Bible College in Missouri then decided it was time for his family to move back to Iowa.  They ended up in Mason City and he got a job at UPS going to work at 2:00 in the morning and driving past Roller City in the morning on the way to work.  That is how he originally was interested in purchasing Roller City.  Tyler has big plans for his businesses in North Iowa and will continue to scale and add entertainment attractions to his business.

You can find Roller City's website HERE
You can find Escape Iowa's website HERE
You can find Roller City's Facebook HERE
You can find Escape Iowa's Facebook HERE

Does your business need help tracking their assets?  Check out Grey Trunk RFID for a low cost, out of the box solution that be setup in under a day!  Grey Trunk RFID is an Iowa based business and located in Clear Lake.

Head to our website and subscribe to our newsletter HERE

Check out Built in Iowa's Facebook HERE
Check out Built in Iowa's Twitter HERE