Chris Crawford, founder of Kickass Media in Toronto, has always been a risk-taker, and his persistence, the hallmark of all great entrepreneurs, has paid off in spades.  As the son of a teen mom, Chris learned early in his life that nothing would be handed to him.  His ingenuity had him delivering papers, starting a band, excelling as a young man in his career and making the big leap at XX to start a business of his own.

Chris’ belief in himself and his courage to take a risk for his dream and a better life had him leave his successful career as a 20-something and turn his love for live music into a business helping bands to promote their live shows.  He soon learned why they call them starving artists, and almost starved himself, losing his apartment and sleeping in bus stations, airports and campgrounds while he hustled to reinvent himself and get his business off the ground.

Nearly 8 years later, Kickass Media has become a million dollar creative printing company that specializes in helping their clients create great brand experiences at their trade shows, parties, galas and retreats.  His clients include well-known brands like Disney, Sony and Yahoo.  Chris lives in Toronto.

Tom Reber has built a million dollar business, experienced the devastation of bankruptcy, and experienced all life’s highs and lows in between.  Known for his motor and drive, Tom has always felt the need to prove himself and is known for being the guy who will always manage to “find a way.”

His Strongpreneur podcast is for entrepreneurs who are committed to creating strong businesses, strong families and playing at a high level.  He talks about things like creating incredible brand experiences, minimizing risk in your business, hiring rockstars, becoming more profitable, bouncing back from setbacks, and motoring hard.
As a performance coach, Tom teaches others to tap into their own potential, deal with the head trash and implement powerful strategies to grow their businesses.  
Tom is a Marine Corp Veteran, high school football coach, and proud father of three adopted kids.  His mission is to help others build strong lives and strong businesses that are anchored by a strong brand that customers love.  He lives in Colorado Springs with his family.
As a business owner, Tom excelled at providing great customer experiences that helped strengthen his business into a million dollar valuation in under three years.

Dan R Morris is the founder of Blogging Concentrated, a global training and development company for Advanced Level Bloggers, has been working in the online space since 2004. His career began in the infomercial world helping convert traffic driven from TV and Radio spots into online customers. He has since worked with hundreds of bloggers on perfecting their online revenue strategy utilizing the tools of social media, SEO and web copy.

Dan knows the internet provides many with full time incomes and wonderful working conditions. He believes that bloggers can build full-time incomes that provide vacations and retirement. His blogs Dan's Notes and Blogging Concentrated, his Keynote appearances and Amplify Podcast are designed to help bloggers and online business owners achieve those ends.

Sam Wegert started his family-based business, Superkicks, in Amherst VA when he was 15 years old.  As a homeschooled high schooler, he was exposed to entrepreneurial and leadership training  as part of his education, inspiring him to grow his school in Amherst to record numbers despite a town population of only 1,500.

He soon opened a second school in a hotel – and in only 12 months, grew into one of the most successful  martial arts schools in the country.  He became one of the youngest chief instructors in the United States, and he he has a passion for teaching and inspiring others to reach their full potential. He has taught thousands of students in public and private schools across Virginia, and he recently opened black belt leadership schools in Charlotte, NC and Charlottesville, VA.

Sam loves the outdoors, including mountain biking, skiing, and backpacking, and he’s an avid salsa dancer!

Brian Erickson is a event producer and savvy foodpreneur in Austin, and the founder of Austin’s Truck by Truckwest, a food truck festival that attracts thousands of locals and boasts a grand prize of $10,000 to the “most deserving food truck” as voted by attendees.

His experience in the restaurant business and commercial real estate has given him a unique flair for branding and systems in the foodpreneur space, like food truck owners, personal chefs, and restauranteers.  Over the last 3 years, Brian has parlayed his expertise into a coaching and consulting practice that supports all sorts of creative projects for local Austin Brands like the popular Bouldin Creek Cafe, Man Flow Yoga, and well-known food truck and #1-Yelp-Rated “Hey You Gonna Eat or What.” He uses his creativity and expertise to elevate and support other entrepreneurs in growing businesses that are outside the box and tapped in to the power of human potential.

Roger Ryan is a grammy-nominated music producer, arranger and piano virtuoso who grew up in Trinidad in a musical family.  He started playing piano at age 4, and was a child virtuoso who started playing piano for church services at 8 years old.  When his peers were playing basketball in high school, Roger was arranging music and playing anywhere he could get the chance.

After college, Roger moved to Nashville to pursue a full-time career in music.  His collaborators include Whitney Houston, Wynonna Judd, Cece Winans, Faith Hill, Amy Grant, Michael W Smith, Jaqi Velasquez, Anointed, and a capella group Take 6.  He’s performed for two presidents, traveled the world playing some of our largest music venues, traveled to Scotland for Ashley Judd’s wedding, and has had some other unbelievable opportunities like appearances on Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show, Rosie O’Donnell Show, Motown Live, and CBS This Morning.

In January of this year, he launched his record label, Aftertouch Music to launch artists he believes in. AND, he is the producer of the awesome music you hear on the Creative Entrepreneur Podcast.

Corina Frankie is the owner of boutique staffing agency Competitive Creations, which specializes in brand strategy that build brand experiences for her clients. Corina started the agency when she was just 22 years old after discovering her knack for branding, sales and word-of-mouth marketing. She’s worked with well-known brands like Ferrari, Mashable, Lamborghini, Circuit of the Americas, Microsoft, Coachella, Mac Cosmetics, Clear Wireless, Banana Republic, Patron, South by Southwest, Grey Goose and more.

Corina has been recognized as an important advocate for the LiveStrong Foundation and serves as a LiveStrong Ambassador in Texas. She is also the host and organizer of the Anthony Robbins’ Power Team in Austin.

At only 23 years old, Jairek was awarded the Congressional Award (Gold Medal) from the United States Congress.

Jairek is a keynote speaker and executive coach, with over a decade’s experience coaching executives, entrepreneurs and others who are passionate about creating and living an intentional life.  His ideas have been featured in standout channels like TedX, Huffington Post, CNBC, and Fast Company. He’s developed his own philosophy about “living with passion,” that centers around the idea of “developing your ideal day.”  

He’s developed Rapid Results Retreats, an extended at-sea experience for achievers that mixesrelaxation, fun in the sun, and intimate workshops dedicated to supporting you in the areas of emotional, physical, and spiritual health, as well as wealth, relationships, time management, business practices, and beyond.  Jairek has also written “Live It,” a step-by-step guide for filling the gap between where you are today and where you want to be.

Jairek’s got a blog called HelpMeFindLove.net that teaches you how to learn from your past relationships (or lack thereof) and prepare for future relationships, so when you meet the man or woman of your dreams, they’re yours for keeps!

Whether it’s cage diving with great white sharks, hanging with silverbacks in Rwanda, white water rafting down the Nile, working as a volunteer in underdeveloped regions, or building a powerful enterprise that’s built for results, Jairek does more than talk about it, he stretches the boundaries of traditional thinking and makes it happen.

Nick Ray is the owner of ModernNash, an alternative shipping option for IKEA® products that delivers to the greater Nashville, TN area.  What started out as a hair-brained idea to sell new IKEA® products on Craigslist for a profit has now turned into a full service IKEA®-oasis in Nashville. In addition to shipping IKEA® products, ModerNash now keeps inventory of a wide variety of IKEA’s top selling products, ready for immediate purchase and delivery, as well as complementary services.

ModerNash’s services now include furniture assembly, custom installation of kitchen and bathroom products, entertainment centers and wardrobes as well as commercial and residential interior design services.

Nick lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife and three kids.

Bryan graduated from high school across town a year before me in Oklahoma City.  As Okies, we’ve connected on a lot of things: our shared love of God and family, an appreciation for things like Boomer Sooner (sorry Longhorn fans) and cruising 12th street.  But when I went off to college in Springfield, Missouri, Bryan beat me to Nashville with $500, his drumsticks and his guitar, hoping to make it big in country music.

And make it big he did!

Bryan White has charted seventeen singles on Billboard’s Country Charts, had six number one singles, two platinum records, two gold records, he joined forces with Shania Twain and together they took “From This Moment On” all the way up to number four on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart.  He has garnered several awards for himself, including a Grammy, a CMA Horizon Award, and an ACM Top Male Vocalist award among them.

And, as a hit songwriter, his songs have been recorded by Diamond Rio, Sawyer Brown Wynonna, Joe Diffie, LeAnn Rimes, among others.  He’s been named one of People Magazine’s 50 most beautiful people, he’s a music producer and oozes talent as a vocalist, drummer, guitarist, engineer and all-around virtuoso.  He lives in my Nashville with his hot wife and two beautiful boys.  And he loves hunting turkeys.