Life on Brand

How many of you like to get a shot or have your blood drawn? It’s pretty awful. Now imagine how terrible those experiences must be for a kid. Things don’t have to be that way and today’s guest is doing something about it. Christina York is the founder and CEO of SpellBoundAR, a Michigan based startup that uses augmented reality to distract kids children during medical treatment. Her vision is to use AR to overcome the negative aspects of treatment

When was the last time you were stressed out? For most of us, stress dominates our lives and it is important to learn to manage it. Our minds and our lives are constantly moving at 100 miles per hour and the evolution of our digital society isn’t helping. So what can we do to combat the stress? The answer is slowing down through mindfulness and meditation and we know no better person to guide us through this topic than our good friend Stacy Conlon, aka The Zen Girl.

Stacy is also the Director of Business Development for the Lean Startup Co, so we talk plenty of entrepreneurship before Stacy leads us through a special exercise that can help us all avoid burnout during the everyday hustle.

Life doesn’t always work out the way you planned. Just because you didn’t become a doctor or a lawyer doesn’t mean you can’t do great things with your career. Today’s guest, Dave Stuart, is a perfect example of this philosophy. Dave decided back in his college days that medicine was not the path for him. Today, he works as a history teacher by day and writes a blog with almost a half million readers by night. His blog is focused on helping teachers engage and impact the lives of their students.

Episode 6 is a little different, It's our first live episode recorded in the lovely garden at Cultivate. We talk with the founders of Cultivate Coffee and Taphouse, Bekah and Ryan Wallace. The idea came to Ryan, who had been brewing beer as a hobby for a few years when he noticed a coffee shop employee opening a beer at the end of his shift. It took more than six months for him to convince his wife to take a chance on the idea.

Together, the couple founded the business on the premise of building community and giving back to that community. The business is centered around the three concepts of craft, community, and cause. We sat down with the dynamic duo in the garden where they grow food for local hunger relief to discuss business, values, and striving to find that balance.

Today’s guest started his business in a barber shop. The unconventional start sets the tone for what Abraham Gusman and his co-founders wanted to achieve with their business, Wise Men’s Care, which produces all-natural eco-friendly men’s grooming products. 'Wise' caught our attention last year when they were featured in a GQ article highlighting their new grooming product line and unique packaging. Their purposeful and minimal packaging is a huge part of their brand’s message.

Letters are sexy to us here at Life on Brand so today we are excited to welcome the Type Hunter himself, Keith Tatum. For those of you who don’t know what that is, the Type Hunter Co is an Instagram stream of antique typography from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With over six thousand posts of beautiful lettering and unique advertisements for things from the familiar Bicycle playing cards to German hair tonic, it’s obvious that this passion Keith explored is shared with his over 40,000 followers. At the height of the page’s popularity, Keith decided to shut down the stream and move onto to a new project called Visibility Experiments.

They always say that the best problem to solve is a problem that you yourself are experiencing. Nobody personifies this better than today’s guest, Patrick Hoban. Patrick is the founder of Probility Physical Therapy, which has multiple locations in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan. Patrick is a truly inspiring individual whose story really shows that if you have a purpose in life you are going to achieve what you want and change lives along the way.

Jane Larson, co-founder of the Sfumato joins us to talk about fragrances and her new scent/cocktail fusion bar. We discuss her story and what its like to be apart of the Detroit entrepreneurial scene. Jane talks co-founders and how the support of the small business community works together to support one another’s successes.

It's Episode 1! We're featuring Logan Nickleson, the founder of Music for Makers, a niche product that offers royalty-free music to creatives and entrepreneurs. The unique aspect of Logan’s business is that he composes every piece of music himself. Every single week, Logan finds the inspiration to write a new song to add to his library and offer to his customers without the hassle of royalties and copyrights.

Welcome to Life on Brand with Hien Lam and Matt Hansen, a podcast for change makers and rule breakers who want to succeed on their terms.