Mitten Money

Dakota and Garret Porter started ActionGlow over 10 years ago. The idea began when they were snowboarding on a dark ski slope and had the idea to tink around with their gear to include LED lights. It originally didn’t start as a business venture until other boarders were interested in the product.

The brothers built up inventory and sold out within 48 hours. Around this time is when Shark Tank producers reached out to have them apply to the show. ActionGlow at that point was too new, but they tried to get on the show on three separate occasions. Garret applied a fourth time without consulting Dakota, and the rest is history. 

On the show, the two needed something to break the ice, so cracking a few jokes was the route they decided to take. The pitch took about 45 minutes but boiled down to 8 minutes on TV. Since the show, the brand has been sold out. The Porter brothers added that having a Shark on their side “opens doors.”

According to the brothers, it took about 2 years to actually come out with a product to withstand action sports. Action sport equipment tends to get roughened up; ActionGlow is 100% waterproof and can be submerged up to 10 meters. The LED lights were toughened up to not tear under pressure. Constant revisions of ActionGlow are always undergoing.

Now, the boys are planning a bus tour as a “grassroots way of selling.” As for the future of ActionGlow, they are lasered in on the action sport market for now.

Connect with Dakota and Garret here:

Dakota Porter | LinkedIn

Garret Porter | LinkedIn

ActionGlow Website

ActionGlow Instagram

This week’s episode, we sit down with some members of the Tri-Star team to discuss some financial mistakes we’ve experienced in our lives and have grown from the most.

Sandy Worner delves into the repercussions of borrowing from your 401(k). For every dollar put in, it took about $1.30 to get back to where she was.

Lee Reimann recalls not knowing what she really wanted before talking to an insurance salesperson, spending a lump sum on yearly premiums.

Kevin Scorsone recounts his 3-step process of credit. Establish, manage, monitor! Jane Hagen touches on selecting investments carefully. When there was no education on 401(k), there was money market.

To finish it off, our host Will Zank looks back on how important self-reflection is for investing. He realized he needed to think more in depth for what he wanted that money to be when researching where to put it.

With each financial mistake comes a lesson learned. Tune in for insight on what each of them know now that they wish they knew back then.

Connect with the Tri-Star Team:

Sandy Worner | LinkedIn

Lee Reimann | LinkedIn

Kevin Scorsone | LinkedIn

Jane Hagen | LinkedIn

William Zank | LinkedIn

Tri-Star Trust

Today, we sit down to talk to Kyle DeWees, Interim Executive Director of Valley Lutheran High School. Kyle was involved with the school’s biggest capital campaign, raising over $12 million in 5 years and reaching out to 1,700+ donors.

DeWees originally never saw himself at Valley Lutheran – he started just 1.5 years before their biggest capital campaign. But as soon as he started on the staff, it was made clear it would be his responsibility to oversee it.

The level of success of the campaign was impactful; the school raised $2 million more than their $10 million goal. According to DeWees, the staff was hopeful and thought it was the right time for such a campaign. It started with volunteer leadership and reaching out to anyone connected to the school - alumni, parents, etc.

Reaching out to alumni was a big part of the capital campaign. A way Valley Lutheran keeps alumni involved, as well as other members of Valley Lutheran, is making sure to establish personal relationships. Meeting one-on-one in person is the backbone of alumni relations that Valley Lutheran continues to make an effort to do.

The capital campaign went towards expanding the space to teach properly, making it more of what a 21st century education looks like. With more space comes more opportunity to collaborate, problem-solve, and co-teach. The teachers of Valley Luther High School act more as “mentors” and get to know their students individually.

Connect with Kyle:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kdewees/

https://vlhs.com/

This week’s guest is Arielle Patrick, Chief Communications Officer of Ariel Investments, who sits down with us to discuss a mini “master class” of crisis management, relationship building, and rebranding. A graduate of Princeton University, Arielle was first interested in journalism, which eventually led her into consulting, and eventually corporate strategy and finance.

With crisis management comes many factors. Of these factors, Arielle touches on the human side of mistakes; the word “humility” comes up in conversation, which Arielle is not afraid to address. Humans make mistakes, but the way we correct them is important. Unveiling initiative and standing on the right side of history with corrective action is important.

“Networking” isn’t in Arielle’s vocabulary – instead, she prefers “relationship building.” Adding value to other peoples’ lives is far more important than trying to gain something from them. A simple yet widely known phrase of paying it forward is Arielle’s tip on how she became more involved with people and her current organization.

On surface level, rebranding may sound easy. In actuality, rebranding comes down to the nitty gritty of how you want others to perceive your organization. For Ariel Investments, diversity exists within them, being a black and female owned company. Reciprocating this in their image was something Arielle had the pleasure of tasking. Arielle is a graduate from Princeton University, where she earned an AB in Classics with a concentration on Ancient Greek and Latin language, Literature and History. She currently resides in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment related advice. Clients of Tri-Star Trust firm may contain securities that are mentioned in this podcast.

In this week’s episode, Michelle Burkhard, Owner of Grow by 1, LLC, sits down with us to discuss the ins and outs of life coaching. Michelle’s point of change happened about 15 years ago when she calculated how many people she affected as a teacher and wanted to go beyond that number. 

Michelle delves into how people struggle with change not because the fear of failure, but the fear of success. Fear of success can mean results such as pulling away from other duties or making others in your life unhappy by these changes. Michelle explains that with navigating and negotiating your life comes discomfort, which is perfectly normal for working through understanding changes. Discomfort is part of the process, but it should never reach “overwhelming.” According to Michelle, people want to start making changes when they hit a “midlife crisis” – a very real phase of life some people experience. Not everyone goes through this; some people make changes very early on or very late in life. When you make it to that phase and are seeking assistance, there is a difference between working with a coach vs. a mentor. Anyone can coach, but only experts can mentor.

Michelle has her PhD in Educational Evaluation and Research from Walden University. She is a Coach Doctor that is highly requested in 7 different time zones. She also produces a podcast called “Change Your Thinking.” Michelle spends her free time with her three children.

Connect with Michelle:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-burkhard-870062100

https://growby1.com

In this week’s episode, Joe Ruth joins us to discuss how roles in healthcare has evolved into today’s standing from experience at the loading dock at Saginaw General Hospital to being the Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Sparrow Health System.

During their conversation, Joe goes into depth about how the healthcare industry as a whole has been operating since the pandemic. Joe touches on the diverse job opportunities within healthcare; anything from food service to IT staff to accounting is needed to operate a health system, with patient care at the forefront. The pandemic has exhausted healthcare, with many health organizations continuing to struggle finding staff. For Sparrow, acquiring talent comes from redefining roles and jobs, vertical integration, continuous training for workers and students of major universities and community colleges, and adding specialized roles such as social workers in primary care clinics for mental and behavioral care. Since making the decision to join the University of Michigan health system, Joe has made it clear this will be beneficial for Sparrow as two like-minded organizations add to the ability to care for patients.

Joe is a graduate of Michigan State University and the DeVos Graduate School of Management, Northwood University, where he earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, respectively.  He and his wife Pam have 2 children and live in East Lansing. 

Connect with Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-ruth-6685345/

https://www.sparrow.org/

In this week’s episode, we speak with Kip Northrup of Blue Thumb Water Features. The self-professed “Fish Geek” has turned his water feature installation company into a national wholesaler. Kip shares his tips on how mergers and acquisitions helped grow their small aquarium cleaning company to a network of dealers for water features throughout the U.S.

Since 2005, Blue Thumb has been through multiple challenging financial situations between the 2008 recession and the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic. Through each challenge, his team utilized its tools and grew stronger than before.

At the end of the 2020 Pandemic, Blue Thumb had explosive growth, with sales nearly doubling by the end of the year. Kip says, “Our success is due to good decisions. Good decisions need to be made on a daily basis. Some are small, and some are big, but be consistent. Being consistent with these good decisions means you will continue to grow and prosper.”

Kip is a proud graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a focus on International Business. He and his family reside in Saginaw, MI. His company, Blue Thumb, is headquartered in Saginaw, MI.

Connect with Kip on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kipnorthrup/

Blue Thumb’s website: https://shopbluethumb.com/

Upwards of 2,000 cyberattacks happen per day to businesses, yet they may not know how to fix this problem as they don’t have an IT specialist to look over their programs on a day-to-day basis. On the podcast, Will Zank speaks with Chad Paalman, CEO of NuWave Technology Partners.

Chad faced the unexpected early in life. In high school, he suffered an injury causing him not to be able to join the air force dashing a lifelong dream. This problem led him to go to college and become the entrepreneur he is today. Anything can happen in this world. Even if you think your company is secure, it just takes a split second for someone to gain all the information about your company, your clients, and your personal information.

In this episode, we discuss the dangers of not having an IT specialist or company looking over your company's programming. Every business, big or small, should be budgeting out for an IT portion within their company to eliminate the unpredictability of what could come. It may be an expensive portion within your budget, but would you rather have a costly bill or lose all of your company’s earnings because someone cyberattacked your business and stole your money?

To learn more about Chad Paalman and NuWave Partners, visit the following links.

Chad Paalman | LinkedIn

https://nuwavepartners.com/

In this episode, Will Zank interviews Kim and Daniel Guest, the proud owners and hosts of the Little Yellow Cottages in Port Austin, Michigan. Kim and Daniel have worked in corporate America for many years now. They endlessly aim to be their own bosses and increase their financial freedom. What turned out as a hunt for their own house turned into purchasing a unit of 6 vacation rentals and turning them into a must-see vacation destination, the Little Yellow Cottages.

In their conversation, Will unpacks how this entrepreneurial duo has successfully built a new revenue stream and how they manage day-to-day operations. Kim and Dan share the highs and lows of owning vacation rentals and valuable tips on making their properties stand out in a tourist town. You’ll fall in love with their Midwestern charm and passion for their fur babies and daughter, Lottie June. Family means everything to Kim and Dan. Kim jokes that she is now retired and enjoys caring for “the bird, the cat, the dog, and the kid.”

To learn more about Little Yellow Cottages, visit the link below!

https://littleyellowcottages.com/

This week we spoke with our very own Andy Bethune. Andy is a master networker, and this week he talks with Will Zank about the art of networking. A key to unlocking your potential is confidence.  No matter what you’re doing or where you are, networking is essential to any work or social environment. It is about working with those who will not only help with your work but also will help build the community together.

One of the biggest problems people face is networking as an introvert. For extroverts, it feels like you’re talking with any other person, but for some, it may be a little more challenging. The most considerable note to remember is that introverts can be just as talented at networking as extroverts, but it may take some practice. The best thing to do in this situation is to prepare, ask questions, and have a different outlook than you did going into the events. Andy notes that often people skip out on events for fear of not knowing anyone or being unable to network, as others may be networking. It can be overwhelming, and some may not be comfortable in their situation, but anyone is willing to help if you ask.

This week, listen in and learn a few tips on improving your networking ability.

Connect with Andy at [email protected]