Chapter BE

Niki Koubourlis is the founder of Bold Betties Outfitters, a company that brings women together with what they need to get them out of their comfort zone and into the outdoors through both local Meetups and an eCommerce site where women can rent adventure, travel and outdoor apparel and gear. Niki created Bold Betties when she moved to Denver and was seeking ways to be adventurous and bold. Her move to Denver was part of an effort to be the driver of her own life and move out of a place of feeling stuck. It was during this time that she ultimately decided to leave her successful career in real estate and focus full-time on making Bold Betties a business. We discuss the abundance she has gained in making this leap, the power of being bold and how outdoor adventure assists her as an entrepreneur.

Features To Be With You by Mr. Big

Astrid Kersten and Mariella van Mackelenbergh are two of the eight people who found and/or run TRUST Amsterdam - a lunchroom and meeting space in Amsterdam, Netherlands, TRUST is a heart to heart business and works to challenge the way business as usual is done. They actively work to apply the purpose of "Be Happy for no Reason," and as they state on their website, "Businesses are a powerful agent of change. TRUST is about being the change we want to seeing the world." Their lunchroom follows the policy of "Come as you are. Pay as you feel," and the eight of them share money and don't have fixed salaries. We talk about their personal stories to creating or becoming a part of TRUST, and how they live by the principles and walk the walk that is TRUST.

Features What I Am! by Will.I.Am

Lindsey Stone is Chapter Be's guest blogger for the month of December. Lindsey was one of the co-founders of Clean Getaway Soap Company, which she started with her husband, Mikel. Yet, after seven years in business, they made the decision to retire it - even though it was what many would deem a success. Lindsey writes about this decision in her piece, Begin Again, as well as how quitting one thing just allows room for something else to blossom.

Features Things Will Never Be the Same Again by jj

Robin Cox is the founder and creator of Citinerary, an international network of passionate citizens who share stories via an online content platform and meet visitors through local meet-ups and events. Citinerary is currently in seven cities - Amsterdam, Bucharest, Madrid, Minneapolis, Montreal, Oslo and Rotterdam - and is expanding into more cities each month. Robin and I met in his studio in Amsterdam to discuss how Citinerary came to be along with his own journey from being in marketing & advertising to starting his own business. We talk about how Citinerary is working to either create or break perceptions about the cities they work with, how the world is in need of more real connections and the importance in giving yourself the freedom to experiment and make mistakes.

Features Wanna Be Startin' Something by Michael Jackson

Kate and Paul McCann are the creators of Inner Wanderlust, a site that is documenting their journey of bootstrapping 12 startups in 12 months. They began in January of 2015, after quitting their high paying corporate jobs in order to live a more simple and satisfying life. Currently, they have created 10 startups while traveling through 23 countries. They are driven by the values of experiences over things, time over money, giving back, social entrepreneurship and being location independent. Since they were entering their 12th and final month, I wanted to talk to them about their decision to spend a year on this Bootstrap 12 Challenge, as well as what they have learned along the way.

Features Better Together by Jack Johnson

Anthony "Champ" Kelly is Chapter Be's guest blogger for the month of November, and he is the Director of Pro Scouting and Personnel for the Chicago Bears. Champ writes about how being a weirdo and being different has helped him throughout his life accomplish the things that he wants to do - and sometimes it might not be exactly what he wanted, but by allowing space for the weirdness it gets him somewhere he could not have even imagined.

Featuring "We Just Won't Be Defeated" by The Go! Team

Jung Park is the founder of Metroboom, a men's style consulting and branding firm in Denver, Colorado. Jung discusses hist journey to creating MetroBoom after leaving a design firm where he face a "concrete ceiling," and how he ended up as an entrepreneur almost by accident after winning a business planning competition during his MBA program. We talk about the hustle of being an entrepreneur and how you have to be aware that suffering will inevitably be a part of your path, but, how in the end, it is worth it.

Featuring "Let it Be," originally by the Beatles; this rendition, Nick Cave

You hear the phrase, "Be Yourself," and you are either left feeling inspired or just incredibly frustrate. Without context, this phrase can be rather cliche and empty. If you are in a moment of confusion or uncertainty, "Be Yourself," can just leave you asking - what does that even mean. Four stories from The BE Stories project discuss what "Be Yourself" means to them.

Featuring "Be Yourself" by Morcheeba

Jacqueline (Jackie) Ros is the CEO and Founder of Revolar, a Denver startup that is making small wearable technology that is aiming to change the way people think about safety. Jackie was a teacher in Aurora, while at the same time building up a tech company. She didn't have a background in technology, but the idea was born out of a personal story and a passion to keep our loved ones safe in a smart, modern way. In today's episode we talk about building a company while working a full time demanding job, how being a teacher taught her how to be a CEO and what it is like being a female entrepreneur in the tech world.

Features Rather Be by Clean Bandit

Pause, Please - Time for a Detour

This short episode details my decision to take a break from Chapter Be for a few months. My hope is that by stepping awya from teh site and all that goes with the day-to-day operations of it, I will be able to see more clearly what my next steps should be. I have become so wrapped up in the daily posts, interviews and logistics of making a weekly podcast, that I fear I have lost sight of my bigger mission and goals. It is not a goodbye or a full-stop, just a pause to take some time to breathe new life into Chapter Be and think about ways to expand, grow and change.

Featuring excerpts from Seth Godin's "Startup School" and "Never Be Daunted" by Jaymay