Insights In Action

Insights In Action

By Preston ReynoldsBusinessEntrepreneurshipManagement
Download on the App Store

Insights In Action episodes

  • The Big Secrets in Government Contracting

    Winning a government contract doesn't guarantee a single sale. Labeaud Colbert explains why she keeps going after them.

    She started bidding on her own after the companies she wrote winning proposals for kept leaving her out. Today her company, Panoramic Solutions Management, holds several contracts with one school district, including an after-school enrichment program and AI governance consulting. Walking around Fort Worth with Preston, she gets into what an award really gives you, and why she says the wait is worth it.

    In this episode:

    • Why she has spent four years learning how to buy a business and still hasn't
    • Why she says the paperwork scares most owners off
    • The five things she'd tell anyone before they start a business, beginning with getting plugged into groups like 1 Million Cups, where she found many of her first customers
    • Where she looks to figure out what to charge
    • How one school district's regional cooperative can open the door to others

      • Chapters:

      00:00 First jobs and asking the owners

      04:10 A marketing company, then a pivot

      07:53 Proposals that won for other people

      10:22 One proposal, three to five years

      14:13 No guaranteed sales

      16:53 The cooperative, and old bids

      19:02 Why she hasn't bought a business

      23:46 Where she found her first customers

      26:57 The employee who changed how she reads

      30:15 Faith, and not marrying the outcome

      33:42 The one rule she lives by

      Find Labeaud Colbert:

      • Panoramic Solutions Management
      • Instagram
      • Facebook
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

        • Mentioned in this episode:

        • Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
        • The U.S. Small Business Administration
        • 1 Million Cups
        • America's Small Business Development Centers
        • Better Business Bureau
        • Startup Weekend from Techstars
        • Adam Coffey, the Dallas mergers and acquisitions author
        • Books by Ryan Holiday
        • Labeaud's Life Lessons, her own podcast

          • Full show notes

          Watch on YouTube

          Know a business owner who'd be great on the show? Send them to https://www.insightsinaction.com/podcast/be-a-guest

          37 min
        • 5 Rules for Running Two Food Trucks With Full-Time Jobs

          James Lear, his wife Kenzie, and his brother Josh run two chicken nugget trucks, and all three have full-time jobs.

          It started in 2020 with a pot of oil in a college apartment, an inflatable chicken costume and free nuggets handed out door to door. Preston spends the morning with The Nug in Provo, Utah, to find out how it all works. It all comes back to five rules, and the first one came years before they owned a truck.

           

          IN THIS EPISODE

          - Why their first nuggets were free, and how a chicken costume became the upsell
          - The giant nugget that didn't work, and the name they kept
          - A truck bought off the side of the road, and a freezing winter in a Taco Bell parking lot
          - Why a one-item menu lets a tiny truck serve 250 meals an hour
          - How high schoolers become "junior nug techs," and how a shift runs without the owners
          - Paying off the first truck in a year, then buying a second one sight unseen

          QUOTES

          "It was me and my brother and my wife just in the truck, freezing our butts off, not selling any nuggets."
          James Lear

           

          TIMESTAMPS

          00:00 Meet The Nug in Provo, Utah
          01:43 Free nuggets and a chicken costume
          04:46 The first truck and the wrong bet
          08:06 A tiny menu and fast prep
          10:39 250 meals an hour, and who serves them
          13:06 Two trucks and what comes next

           

          ABOUT JAMES LEAR

          James Lear is the co-founder of The Nug, a chicken nugget food truck business in Provo, Utah, which he runs with his wife, Kenzie, and his brother, Josh. The idea came to him in a McDonald's in Belarus. He and Josh started making nuggets in their college apartment in 2020, and The Nug now runs two trucks at farmers markets, weddings and corporate events. All three owners work full-time jobs outside the business.

           

          WHERE TO FIND THE NUG

          Website: https://www.thenugofficial.com/ 
          Catering: https://www.thenugofficial.com/catering 
          Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenugofficial/ 
          Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenugofficial/

          13 min

        About Insights In Action

        From the publisher's feed

        In each episode, you'll meet one business owner, talking about the things nobody told them before they owned a business. As they say, "The best lessons in life come from those who have lived…