Entrepreneurs Over 40

That she gave a TED talk on the wonderful world of worms.

Why she is an advocate for worms and worm composting.

How her business is ultimately an education business.

How a trade deal with the US that closed her local landfill spurred her to take action.

The number one main objection to worm composting

How she dispels the myth that someone needs a yard of their own to grow food.

How to do vermicomposting.

How to get rid of fruit flies even if you do not have worms!

What the worms like to eat.

The recipe for making worm tea.

That anyone can grow sprouts if they try!

What Laughter Yoga is and the benefits of it.

Dana Knowles discusses:

How her invention 'The Hanging Shower Caddy' came about.  

That the book "One Simple Idea" by Stephen Key introduced her to the world of licensing.

What a good example of a royalty percentage is.

Chris Klesh talks about:

What got him out of retirement and in to being a travel guru.

How his son is the perfect example of being able to work remotely in a vacation setting.

Victoria Wieck shares:

How the typical MBA program's curriculum does not serve the small business owner well.

How a small business can compete in the Marketing realm with giants.

Shawn Moye explains:

Why he started working on his invention, The E-Sports Trainer.

How he validated the idea and moved it forward.

How he views continuous improvement as being integral to his product.

Catherine Kirk talks about: 

How she went from prototype to product with the Coffee Bullet.

The name that she wished had been available for her product.

Joe Pulizzi discusses:

The seven steps of starting a business using the Content, Inc model.

What the term Content Tilt means and how to use it to differentiate your business.

How a Content, Inc business is one that must be in it for the long haul.

Zev Asch talks about:

How marketing is based on 100% human behavior.

What Marketing Chutzpah is and how Jet Blue is a great example of it.

Brian Fried shares:

How he comes up with an idea and commercializes it with regard to inventing.

That a patent is not always necessary.

Some of the common mistakes that he sees inventors make.

Sara Crique explains:

What motivates her to keep moving forward in her Entrepreneurial journey.

How her business operates now and what she envisions for her future.

Alan Beckley talks about: 

The importance of validating your idea before going too far with it.

What the life of a patent is.

The steps he would take to bring an idea to fruition.

That her family goes back four generations living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

How she came from a mixed family and that her maternal Grandfather fought for the social justice issues of his day.

Her first business was selling oxygen canisters in Aspen Colorado to combat altitude sickness.

Though she wanted to source her product locally, the best that she could find at the time was a manufacturer in New Jersey.  She still was able to keep the product from being manufactured in China which she opposed due to personal reasons.

Her next business was a Limousine service that grew out of her knowledge of the service business in Aspen.  Hher limousine drivers were also able to deliver the oxygen concentrators as needed.

This also introduced her to the demand for a private jet valet service at the Aspen Airport (ASE).  Her company was the only one allowed to take the luggage to the waiting jets on the tarmac.  As she was the first point of contact for arriving and departing guests she was able to increase her company's cash flow by adding on ala carte services.

Since her daughters have gone off to college, she has become involved with modeling and is currently a model for the Wilhelmina agency.  She credits modeling with giving her the opportunity for more introspective self reflection and the confidence to be on camera.

Modeling was not a career path that she ever saw coming and is excited to see where it takes her.

She believes that the greatest book today is still her Bible and she encourages people to dive in to what sets their soul on fire.

She has come to realize that not everyone has the same life experiences and that as we get older we tend to get stuck in that mindset.  She tries to remind herself every single day to think differently or take a different action that she wouldn't ordinarily take, or, just let her mind go with a different thought process that she might not even have.

That she got in to radio news because of the numerous injuries that she had suffered as a modern dancer.

How she had to have a very regimented morning routine due to how early she got up in the morning to go to work.

She left working in the radio industry to become a PR consultant.

She started her own theatre company in Sacramento that focused on either world or Sacramento premieres.

That she had to augment her ticket sales with additional funding such as donations and foundation grants.

That working as a radio announcer helped her to be able to write good press releases and make editorial decisions in her business.

Theatre also taught her how to plan for future events by working backwards from the events deadline and setting up interim goals.

She is donating the proceeds from the sale of prints from "Flowers of Ukraine" to United Help Ukraine.

She advises not to quit your day job when pursuing your artistic endeavors as there is a very small percentage of artists that are financially successful from sales of their art alone.

Ann recommends reading Business and Marketing books with regards to being able to make sales in your craft.

That the Imposter syndrome seems to occur more in artists than in other professions.

That Bob the Cat is 21 years old!

That even before she made the leap in to entrepreneurship her clients were almost begging her to start her own firm to better serve them.

What she does as a PR Manager to help her clients increase their media exposure.

The unfortunate event that happened in the previous agency that she worked for and how it propelled her to start her own firm.

How her biggest mistake centered around a form that she thought needed to be more complicated than it was and how that initially turned off prospective clients.

How she views society as a whole regarding consuming content and what that means for us entrepreneurs.

What she means when she describes herself as a 'P.I. for P.R.'

How she initially defined her customer avatar and why it does not include huge firms.

Why having a Public Relations firm represent you instantly makes your business appear to be bigger.

The mistakes that she sees firms make when it comes to Public Relations and how she helps them correct it.

How a business should prepare to move forward when they engage a Public Relations firm.

That she represents a wide range of clients including authors and inventors.  In fact, Andrea is on the board of The United Inventors Association of America!

How she was an early adopter of working remotely.

That good things can come out of bad publicity and how she has helped other s before do just that.

In this episode Warren shares:

The one trait that he believes separated him from other inventors and allowed him to get Better Blocks manufactured.

That dealing with success was not always easy for an introvert like himself

After Better Blocks was dissolved he began to question himself as an inventor.

That he and his Dad used to race and build their own motorbikes.

His Dad was the first person in Australia to grind camshafts for cars and that his Mom was a well-respected dress maker.

His Dad had a stroke and then his Mom died when he was 11 so he went from an idyllic childhood to one that was difficult.

That his first invention was the Shuffle Bug - a children's ride-on toy that he lost a lot of money on.

How a challenge from a colleague led to the invention of Better Blocks.

How he created the Better Blocks protoypes.

The serendipitous conversation with a friend that led to a wonderful business partner and friend.

That he designed five blocks personally and the rest came from ideas from his team.

How a refrigerator part inspired Better Blocks

Julie was a lot of fun to talk to and we learned a lot, both about Inventing as well as Side Hustles in general.

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In this episode Julie shares:

Her advice to anyone starting a side hustle.

How her Grandmother inspired her by having run her own little Country store in North Carolina.

What inspired her to invent Swiggies.

How she developed her first prototype and what it was made of.

The process that she went through to get a trademark.

How she first distributed product and what she did not realize regarding store sales.

The strategy she regrets doing as well as the one she regrets not doing.

How an impromptu meeting at a trade show led to a new market for Swiggies.

What the Hash House Harriers are and how they expanded her market in to Alcohol.

What a Trade Dress is and how she plans to use it to fight knock offs.

The unfortunate event which allowed her to meet her Patent Attorney.

Why she did not go on Shark Tank.

When she knew that Swiggies had made it.

That her next invention will be in the Pet Industry.

Why she wrote her book, The Money Garden.

Ogburn is an interesting guy that has traveled to a lot of different countries and experienced a myriad of foreign cultures.

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In this episode Ogburn shares:

That he lives on a 25 acre farm.

When he was seven he had a pot bellied pig named Betty.

His ancestor founded Hewitt, New Jersey.

Who his pen name honors.

What the plot of Passages is and what he based it on loosely.

One of the VAs that he uses on Fiverr to assist in Marketing.

That he is not exclusive to Amazon.

How he formats his books and what site he uses to do so.

The Indian Chief that he met who inspired him when he was a young boy.

That he is actively recruiting beta readers.

Why he is considering going the traditional publishing route with another book.

Some of the tools that he uses for Marketing.

The author that he would love to meet and who inspires him.

Some of the plots of his upcoming books.

That he is actively searching for an editor.