Firepreneurs

On this episode of the Firepreneurs Podcast, we interview Josh Latimer. Josh is a home services expert having built and sold a seven figure home services company. He took the experience and knowledge he gained from home services and built a software company called SendJim that is also now a multi-million dollar a year business. With his experience from both, he has also coached and mentored thousands of small business owners with his coaching and consulting company Automate Grow Sell and Conquer. In our interview today, we take a Tim Ferris approach to the questions, inspired by the book “Tribe of Mentors.” Since Josh has been a virtual mentor to Bennett in his entrepreneurial journey, we wanted to ask some questions that we felt would provide valuable insight and advice to our listeners. This one is filled with “gold nuggets” and great quotes. Enjoy!

In this episode of the Beginning with the End in Mind Series, we tackle an overview of Marketing, Website Creation and SEO. Yes, believe it or not, many firefighters that own businesses do not go take the extra step of building a website. We're going to unpack how that mistake can cost you in the long run. Additionally, we'll cover some other marketing tips that will help you from Day 1. Last, we'll open the book on Search Engine Optimization. This episode alone will not be enough to cover the topic expansively, as it evolves multiple times each year, but it will get you thinking the right way for sustainable growth.

On this episode of the Firepreneurs Podcast, we sit down with CEO of Blue Skies, Dan Platta. Aside from running a multi-million dollar home services company that is located in multiple states, Dan also oversees an Admin company that performs bookkeeping services and oversees an HR company that provides recruiting services for the Home Services industry. Before his immersion into home services, he was a financial jockey performing risk analysis, working in mergers and acquisitions and financial analysis inside fortune 500 companies. 

Aside from the wealth of financial knowledge he provides, Dan always bring a common sense and fun approach to understanding your numbers. If you are just getting started, he also helps unpack why it is important to Begin with the End in Mind for your home services company. You can reach Dan by email at [email protected], at his Facebook Group: Booking, Beer, and BS, and on his website Blue Skies Admin Services!

This is another must listen if you are a firefighter that owns a small business, or an entrepreneur at any stage of your journey!

On this episode of the Firepreneurs Podcast, Bennett interviews the Author of Target Funding, VP of Coaching at AGS Conquer, Small Business Champion and 5th Generation Entrepreneur Kedma Ough to talk about Funding your Startup and Funding your Growth. In the third installment of the Beginning with the End in Mind Series, we equip Firepreneurs with traditional and alternative funding resources to consider, along with some cautionary tales and wisdom to keep in mind as they get their business going, or traverse viable paths for the continued growth of their business. 

In this episode, Bennett Grove sits down with Brad Stohry, an attorney with Reichel Story Dean LLP. They cover how to legally form your company, what to consider when forming your company, why it is important to form your company and other considerations that will help you in the early stages of getting started. After they break down the different types of company formations, they get into the second piece of the episode which is protecting your brand and company. After you form your company, you have to protect it so the company can protect the people that work for it, and you the owner. They unpack Trademarks, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Licensing, Franchising, etc. 

They do all this while Beginning with the End in Mind, so that you have the knowledge to continue on in your entrepreneurial journey.

In this episode, we will discuss the "Beginning with the End in Mind Series" that will be airing over the next six weeks.  We will talk about what it means to Begin with the End in Mind, while also answering the question of "How can I think about the end when I'm just getting started?" 

This is a big topic and has many sub-topics such as Forming the Entity & Different Formations, Funding you Startup & Possible Grants, Bookkeeping and what numbers to track from Day 1, Trademarking your Name and Brand, Website Creation and Search Engine Optimization and finally we'll end with a Series Conclusion. 

The Intro Episode will be Jeff and Bennett, but the other episodes will have guests and experts. For our Series Conclusion, we'll bring on an Entrepreneur that has built a 7 Figure Business by Beginning with the End in Mind.  

In this episode we have guest Johnny Baker join the Firepreneurs Podcast. Johnny is a career fireman since 2003, and a firefighter at the Indianapolis Fire Department going on 7 years. He is a Veteran having served 6 years as a Fire Dawg in the United States Air Force. In between IFD and the military, he worked for a short time at Fire Dawgs Junk Removal bringing lots of leadership and fun. We will delve into some of the shenanigans from his time at FDJR and what type of leadership lessons he learned working in a services company. After that, we will dig into the events of 9/11 and how those events shaped our firefighter careers and leadership journeys. We'll also discuss how we aspire to instill those lessons learned into our leaders of  tomorrow who may be too young, or not born when the events took place.

In this episode, we introduce the Firepreneurs team of Bennett J. Grove II and Jeff McDole, Jr. We will describe their background in the services industry and as firefighters. Out of that experience, they describe how important it is to start with "Why" when thinking of starting a business, or even when looking to advance in an organization. They arm you with two tactics when using the "Why" approach that they call "Using 5 Whys" and using a "Bucket of Whys"