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What does it take to build something still standing in a hundred years? This week Aram, Yemi, and Gabbi sit down with Pat Martelli — master carpenter, former high school history teacher, and founder of Boone Creek Construction — for his first-ever podcast appearance 🎙️. The conversation is about the tension at the heart of modern building: an industry that rewards speed and efficiency, and a builder stubbornly convinced the techniques that have stood the test of time are still the ones worth using. 

Pat opens on what actually separates a builder from the guy with "quality craftsmanship" painted on his trailer over the cheapest house wrap money can buy. He talks sourcing premier suppliers from out of state — including the airtight Arizona-built Western Windows going into a winery project, the first building in Kentucky to have them — and why he refuses to mark up materials, adding only his builder's fee to whatever crosses his desk. It's a practice other builders call crazy, but Pat's math is long-term: spend fifteen or twenty grand up front, or watch the client pay forty to fix it in a year. As Aram's dad used to put it, you can do it right the first time or right the sixth time, but eventually someone will have to do it right 🔨.

From there it gets personal. Pat grew up on his father's job sites, started digging ditches as an eighth-grade summer laborer, and worked his way up through framing and trim carpentry. Then he spent five years teaching high school history and coaching swim — a passion job he says he'd return to tomorrow if he won the lottery — until he did the math on a sub-$40K salary and realized his summer trim-carpentry side business was earning half that in two months. He shares the story of a student on the run from police who turned up hiding in his classroom, and how that same instinct now goes into mentoring blue-collar guys in their twenties who are being told by influencers they're on the wrong track.

The crew also gets into the tech that's helped and hurt: 4G walkie-talkies (a deliberate step backward Pat loves, and a moment of silence for Nextel), construction management software, Pinterest boards that quietly torch budgets, and AI renderings that finally let clients show a builder what's actually in their head. Then the legacy question — and Pat's answer isn't only buildings. It's the block mason's job site with four living generations on it, a ninety-year-old still packing mud, and a check that feeds all of them. When Gabbi asks what someone tearing into his work a century from now should find, Pat deadpans that he leaves a Boone Creek token in every house, immediately admits he doesn't, and Aram is fairly sure he's going to start 😄.

In this episode:

• What actually separates a quality builder from the marketing on the trailer
• Sourcing premium materials, and the first Western Windows install in Kentucky
• No material markup: why Pat's "unusual" pricing is a long-game referral strategy
• Spend it now or spend double later — the real cost of cutting corners
• From eighth-grade laborer to master carpenter to business owner
• Five years teaching history, and why he left (and would go back)
• Mentorship, strong role models, and the pipeline into the trades
• 4G walkie-talkies, jobsite communication, and the Nextel we lost
• Pinterest budget blowups and how AI renderings are changing client conversations
• Building a company that runs without him — systems, foremen, and being a present father
• Legacy as buildings and relationships: four generations on one job site
• Boone Creek Millwork: bourbon barrel goods, and a third business on the way

Find Boone Creek:

• Boone Creek Construction: https://boonecreekconstruction.com/
• Boone Creek Millwork: https://boonecreekmillwork.com/ — bourbon barrel coasters, muddlers, cigar rests and more 🥃 

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What do you sell when your best work is invisible? This week Aram, Yemi, and Gabbi sit down with Alex Smith, who spent five years in digital marketing before becoming business developer at Green Solutions Land Care, a veteran-owned commercial landscaping and site-work company in Lexington. His big idea: curb appeal isn't lawn care, it's a first-impressions business — the kind people only notice when something's gone wrong.

Alex breaks down the "three-ring binder" a client once taught him — the landscape, the front office, and (yes) the bathroom — and how nailing all three wins people every time. He gets into the hidden costs owners miss until they're expensive (those 12:30 a.m. sprinklers quietly wrecking your turf and your water bill), and the fleet of 52-inch all-electric autonomous mowers that turned a four-man, ten-hour Danville property into a four-hour cycle — roughly 15% labor savings on year one 🤖.

Then the conversation widens: the military precision behind a veteran-owned crew, the seasonal whiplash of a job that changes four times a year (mowing to snow-and-ice, with dormant-season cutbacks keeping local crews working through winter ❄️), and the private-equity roll-up wave reshaping the industry — why Alex bets that staying local, accessible, and relationship-driven is the real moat when the competition's billing you from an office in Dallas. He closes with where the industry's headed (electric equipment, AI-assisted irrigation) and one thing every property manager should check today: the trip-hazard trench between the sidewalk and the turf.

In this episode:

• Why curb appeal is really a first-impressions business — and the "three-ring binder" that wins clients
• What translated from digital marketing to landscaping (and what didn't)
• Autonomous electric mowers: real labor savings, and a local thought-leadership play
• Reading the customer — industrial vs. retail vs. multifamily first impressions
• Veteran-owned culture, crew buy-in, and military-grade logistics
• Running a business whose job description changes every season
• The private-equity roll-up wave and the case for staying local
• Where the industry's going: electric equipment and AI in irrigation

Find Green Solutions Land Care:

• Website: https://greensolutionslandcare.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/green_solutions_landcare/
• Connect with Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsmith02/ 

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What do utility-scale solar, Bitcoin mining, hotshot trucking, and Texas barbecue have in common? Michael B. Stevenson II has built in all four. This week Aram and Yemi are joined by guest host Gabbi McErlean to talk with Yemi's brother Michael — a builder who turned a 12-year solar career into a launchpad for venture after venture, and is now betting it all on brisket. 🤠

Michael takes us from graduating into solar and building Sunscreen, a QA/QC app born out of eight-inch paper binders, to Mine2Hodl — the garage Ethereum rig (once running out of a hotel room 😅) that grew into a ~3-megawatt Bitcoin self-mining and hosting operation. He breaks down why hosting beats self-mining for steady cashflow, how a 401(k) rollover (ROBS) funded his second mining company Hash Hive, and the July 4th phone call that ended his trucking company Open Air Logistics overnight. 💥

Then the heart of it: That Good Smoke — the New Age Tex-Mex concept he co-founded with his fiancée (an Army-vet cook 🎖️), run as a five-kid family business. Pecan-wood, 18-hour smoked brisket, everything from scratch, signature sauces heading to retail shelves, and a plan to go from food truck to brick-and-mortar. Michael's leaving his project-management career at the end of August to chase it full-time — and his advice for anyone scared to leap? Just go for it. 🙌

In this episode:

• 12 years in solar & building the Sunscreen app (and the equity lesson he learned the hard way)
• Mine2Hodl: from a $5K hobby rig to a 3MW operation — hosting vs. self-mining explained
• Using a ROBS 401(k) rollover to launch Hash Hive
• Open Air Logistics and knowing when to walk away
• That Good Smoke: family business, from-scratch Tex-Mex, and sauces going retail
• Legacy, calculated risk, and betting on yourself

🔗 Find That Good Smoke:

• Website: https://www.thatgoodsmoke.com

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Can entrepreneurship actually be taught — or do you just have to go get punched in the mouth?

It's an old jab: those who can't do, teach. David Hasler is the awkward counterexample. He spent fifteen years in finance leadership, running the org for Walmart's $125B U.S. grocery business (and later Health & Wellness), led a treasury project that saved store operations over $1B — and then chose to go teach founders how to raise fifty grand. 🎓

He's now Kentucky's 2022 Startup Coach of the Year, 2023 Startup Mentor of the Year, a lecturer in entrepreneurship, and the guy who built the Startup Ecosystem Roadmap that maps the founder's journey from "is there a there-there?" all the way to IPO.

In this conversation, David makes the case that education doesn't replace the arena — it reduces uncertainty before you walk into it. 🗺️

What we get into:

🔥 Whether entrepreneurship education is ever just snake oil — and how to spot real content vs. feel-good platitudes
 📈 What actually transfers from Fortune 1 finance to a pre-seed startup, and what he had to unlearn
 🧭 The Startup Ecosystem Map and the Three Key Questions that keep new founders from drowning in information overload
🤝 "Finding your Jeff" — why the visionary needs the integrator, and what Henry Ford owed James Couzens
💸 Why founders are chronically financially illiterate, and how a simple model beats a beautiful pitch deck
🌎 Kentucky vs. the coasts vs. Denmark — how regional risk profiles and collaboration models change what's possible
🏗️ Building culture on purpose in the early days, before it builds itself
🤖 How AI is compressing the entrepreneurship classroom — and why case studies should be dissected, not admired
🏘️ Collaboration over competition, and how regions stop exporting their own "economic refugees"

Whether you're building something, teaching someone who is, or trying to grow the ecosystem around you — this one's for you. ⚡

Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhasler/

Reach out for a copy of the Startup Ecosystem Map: [email protected]

Coffee, Chaos, & Cashflow. Season 5.

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Most entrepreneurs are told to “fail fast” and move quickly. Zack Wallace did the opposite. After becoming the nation’s top advisor at a Fortune 100 firm at an early age, he walked away from a winning hand to build something better: ABRI, a company built on true all-in-one advice across tax, legal, investment, and insurance.

In this episode, Zack shares why mastering an established role first made him a better founder, what most inexperienced financial entrepreneurs get wrong, and how his hard-won expertise shaped ABRI’s culture, team, and client experience. If you’ve ever considered leaving a successful career to start your own thing – or simply want to know what real financial integration looks like – this conversation is for you.

Check out ABRI: https://abri.io/

Connect with Zack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-wallace-cfp%C2%AE-clu%C2%AE-ricp%C2%AE-197aa521/

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What does it take to lead when the roads, bridges, and winter storms don’t wait for a perfect plan? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Asa James Swan—founder and CEO of GREAT Leaders, former Chief of Staff and Legislative Liaison for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), and the nation’s first-ever Chief Leadership Officer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Before Asa helped shape leadership training across the state, he was in the trenches of one of government’s most demanding agencies: the Cabinet responsible for Kentucky’s entire transportation infrastructure. We explore how he applied the five pillars of GREAT leadership (Gritty, Relational, Equipped, Authentic, Transformational) to navigate bureaucracy, lead legacy employees, manage crises, and build trust in a high-stakes public safety environment.

Whether you lead a team of two or two thousand, this conversation is packed with real-world lessons on how to stay authentic, equip your people, and drive change when the pressure is on.

Connect with Asa: 

https://great-leaders.org/begin-the-conversation/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/asa-james-swan/

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What happens when two brothers decide to run a modern short-term rental company… without a single smartphone between them?

Meet Allen and Luke Warford, the co-founders of Inndoorsy—a hospitality business built on honor, excellence, beauty, and an intentionally slow, faith-driven life. In this episode, we sit down with these self-described "old souls" to talk about how they manage property design, guest relations, and daily operations

Plus, Allen and Luke share the one rule that keeps their brotherhood intact, and why a non-hurried life might be the ultimate competitive advantage in hospitality.

If you've ever dreamed of starting an STR business without losing your soul, your family time, or your peace—this one's for you.

P.S. Unbeknownst to us, Luke's recording had stopped about halfway through the episode. So if you're wondering why it's just Aram and Allen talking through the second half, it's because technology doesn't always cooperate. 

Check out Inndoorsy and book a stay: https://www.inndoorsy.com/

Connect with the guys: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-warford-9751b51a2/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-warford-01b5b7256/

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In this engaging interview, Ieasha Allen shares the inspiring journey of transforming a historic building into The Melroy, a vibrant social club in downtown Lexington. Discover the decade-long process, strategic decisions, and community-focused vision behind this unique project that blends culture, entrepreneurship, and community development.

Follow The Melroy: https://www.instagram.com/themelroylex/

Connect with Ieasha: [email protected]

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Rob Perez, a seasoned restaurant veteran, shares his journey from Hard Rock Cafes to founding DV8 Kitchen, a social enterprise employing people in recovery. Discover how his innovative approach is transforming the restaurant industry and creating sustainable employment opportunities for those overcoming addiction.

https://dv8kitchen.com/

Connect with Rob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robperez64/

[email protected]

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David Hasler has led finance and strategy for some of the biggest names in business—Walmart ($125B grocery division), Procter & Gamble, Bath & Body Works, and The Body Shop. He's sat in the CFO chair and navigated private-equity pressure. But his most interesting chapter might be the one he's writing now: as a one-person consulting firm founder, Kentucky's Startup Mentor of the Year, and a guy who bootstrapped his way to over $1M in revenue using "free credit from Facebook."

In this episode, David pulls back the curtain on the moments that shaped him—saving a plant from shutdown, creating P&G's first brand divestiture playbook, pitching "intrapreneurial" ideas inside Walmart that saved over $1B, and yes, the hard lessons that he calls "failures of sorts." You'll hear what it's really like to go from the C-suite to solo consulting, and how "being present" became his most effective marketing strategy.

Whether you're a startup founder, a corporate finance veteran, or just someone who loves a good story about reinvention, this conversation is packed with practical wisdom, hard-earned humility, and a surprising amount of heart.

Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhasler/