Groundwork with Erik Young

Hunter Harrelson founded BEACHBALL Properties, and this is the company's tenth summer. He talks with Erik about where the brand came from, the lean early years, and the stretch when he wrote more than $560,000 in refund checks in about two weeks. He also shares why he still feels like they're just getting started.

Chase Duke was 23 when his dad died and he had to step in and run the family company. He talks with Erik about carrying the weight of a whole team, why building something meaningful means signing up for hard times, and how faith shapes the way he leads now at 28.

Dustin Jackson has about eight companies, and the first was a paintball rental business he started at 14 with a $1,500 loan. He talks with Erik about growing up with little, learning to sell early, and the businesses he built after that.

Isaac Stooksberry opened Big Fish Ministries on Leap Day in 2016 with a few men in a garage apartment. He talks with Erik about ten years of the work, losing the original building to a fire, and why the lives changed there matter more than the building.

Marcus Allgood owns Gather and Grind in Daphne and also works in real estate. He talks with Erik about the personal journey that shaped him, the early-morning habits that keep him grounded, and how he balances family, a coffee shop and an investment team.

Jimmy Fazekas and his daughter Megan Harcrow run Bluewater Exteriors together. They talk with Erik about the phone call in 2019 that brought Megan to the business, learning marketing on the job, and the highs and lows of a father and daughter working side by side.

Tim Lower sits on the other side of the table for once. He talks with Erik about trading sweat equity for money and then money for time, buying an office building when everyone said offices were done, and why there's never a perfect moment to start.

Lee West founded The One Rescues to free families held in bonded labor in Pakistan's brick factories. He talks with Erik about the email that led to his first rescue, and how a rescue works, from paying off a family's debt to helping them start a business so they stay free. He also shares the work under way on recovery homes for trafficked children in Eswatini.

Alex Piercy and his business partner Phil Duke started SWAG Window Designs in a garage. Alex talks with Erik about leaving steady jobs, the year they stopped paying themselves so the team still got paid, and why he keeps making Swag Sessions videos more than 500 episodes in. It's an honest conversation about the details, faith, and never going back.

Jimmy Fazekas started working in his family's gutter business at 13 and bought it from his dad at 19. He talks with Erik about losing that business in the housing crash, five and a half years in law enforcement, and starting Bluewater Exteriors with a $10,000 savings bond his grandmother left him. He also shares what made the difference the second time, from hiring the right people to learning the numbers.