Gustav Joensson is an exchange student at Clarkson University. I sat down with him to discuss entrepreneurship in Sweden and how it compares to the United States. Gustav discuss the strong entrepreneurship education available to all students starting in high school and continuing through college. We discuss the impact this has had on Sweden. Gustav also relates his experience at Clarkson and exploring various parts of the United States. Hope you enjoy this episode.

Thanks for listening,

Bela and Mike

We love to hear from our listeners, send us your questions, comments, and suggestions at [email protected] We will answer your questions in a future episode.

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Mitch Hara started as an investment banker helping Beekman 1802 grow and ended up becoming CEO. Every growing business needs experienced talent, finding the "right" talent is multi-faceted. Starting as a consultant enables the founders and Mitch to get to know each other before making a major commitment. This interview was recorded live at the NY Biz Lab - Clarkson Entrepreneurship Lunchtime Series. It's a fascinating story of a New York City banker, joining a "Living Brand" business in rural up-state NY. Mitch also discusses the challenges of maintaining the founders culture in a growing business. We also cover how Beekman 1802 built a strong customer following. Hope you enjoy this episode.

Thanks for listening,

Bela and Mike

Check out Beekman 1802 here: Beekman 1802

We love to hear from our listeners, send us your questions, comments, and suggestions at [email protected] We will answer your questions in a future episode.

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EP-11: Passion, Culture, and Supply Chain. Nichole Snow - Darn Good Yarns

Nichole's entrepreneurial adventures started with selling Betta fish to her dorm-mates in college. Then she transformed her childhood hobby into a thriving business. She's a master at recognizing opportunities. Darn Good Yarns provides uniquely made materials to the craft market while helping there suppliers from impoverished regions of the world make a sustainable living. Nicole's mission is to infuse good into all parts of her business, from satisfying a market need to doing good around the world. Nichole also describes how her experience in the United States Army helped prepare her for working with a worldwide supply chain and all the complex regulations and challenges that are part of the package. We also discuss the importance of corporate culture and building a strong customer following. Hope you enjoy this episode.

Thanks for listening,

Bela and Mike

Check out Nichole Snow and Darn Good Yarns here: Darn Good Yarns

We love to hear from our listeners, send us your questions, comments, and suggestions at [email protected] We will answer your questions in a future episode.

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EP-10: Kickstarter plus passion equals start-up. Charlotte Hayden - Craft Coffee Flavors

What do you do when you cannot find your favorite coffee flavor? Charlotte Hayden starts a business to develop and sell coffee flavorings. Listen to her describe the challenges of leaving her full-time job and jumping head first into her passion to start her business. Charlotte also discusses the robust entrepreneurial community in Austin, Texas and the adventure of starting a Kickstarter campaign. She is still early in her adventure and we will check in with her periodically to follow her progress.

Thanks for listening,

Bela and Mike

Check out Craft Coffee Flavors here: Craft Coffee Flavors Kickstarter Page

We love to hear from our listeners, send us your questions, comments, and suggestions at [email protected] We will answer your questions in a future episode.

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EP-9: Holiday Bonus. Releasing 2 podcasts this week.

To kick off the Holiday season we are releasing 2 episodes this week. The period between Thanksgiving and New Years is a special time of the year. It's exciting for everyone from young to old. We would like to thank our listeners for helping to make "The Unconventional Path: Secrets to igniting your business with Bela and Mike" a success. So this week, we have 2 episodes: EP-10, with Charlotte Hayden - Craft Coffee Flavors, explores the challenges of leaving your full-time job to pursue your entrepreneurial dream and using Kickstarter to help fund that dream. EP-11, with Nichole Snow - Darn Good Yarns, explores the challenges of growing your business and responding to customers. Charlotte and Nichole share stories with a common theme - both turn a life passion into an entrepreneurial journey and feel fulfilled, and have fun along the way. Hope you enjoy these episodes.

We wish all of you a happy, safe and peaceful holiday season.

Best,

Bela and Mike

Check out Charlotte's Kickstarter page here: Craft Coffee Flavors Kickstarter Page

Check out Nichole Snow and Darn Good Yarns here: Darn Good Yarns

Send us your questions, comments, and suggestions at [email protected] We will answer your questions in a future episode.

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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bela-l-musits/support

Lawyers can be great sources of advice to entrepreneurs and can also be entrepreneurs themselves. Rich Honen - Venture Capital & Technology Practice Team Leader at Phillips-Lytle and the leader of the Albany NY office.

Rich tackles the age-old question, "Start a business right out of school or join an existing company." Hear Rich describe how he ended up in law school, joined a start-up law firm right out of law school, then bought out his partner and acquired the frim and then the decision to sell his firm to a much larger law firm. Rich also elaborates on why getting solid advice is so critical for start-ups.

Check out Rich's current activities here: Rich Honen Web Page

Send us your questions, comments, and suggestions at [email protected] We will answer your questions in a future episode.

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It's not about risk, it's about being prepared for the challenge. Craig Skevington - Serial Entrepreneur

Disruption, challenge, planning, and entrepreneurship. How do they fit together? Craig Skevington, a serial entrepreneur, shares his provocative views on entrepreneurship. Craig differentiates between challenges (what drives entrepreneurs) and risk (which is driven by the challenge). He discusses the role of planning, disruption, managing, building a team, and managing rapid growth.

Check out Craig's current activities here: STEADfast

Send us your comments and suggestions at [email protected]

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How does vision develop? Dave Kruczlnicki the former CEO of Glens Falls Hospital in Glens Falls NY tells his story of how he took on assignments that challenged him and gave him a solid foundation to develop a vision and lead a community hospital. Dave discusses balancing the needs of the community with the financial demands of running a hospital. Finally, Dave shares advice on how to manage entrepreneurially and take smart risks in a complex, regulated environment.

Check out Dave's current activities here: http://www.highpeaksadvisor.com/index.html

Send us your comments and suggestions at [email protected]

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How do you build a successful culture? Darrin Jahnel, co-founder of software developer Jahnel Group, explains the role of people and culture in his company. Darrin offers some great tips on hiring and keeping great people, on investing in your culture, and on genuinely caring about your employees. He also discusses his journey from quitting his job, going through all his savings and getting into $70K in debt, before figuring out to "go where the money is".

Check out Darrin's company here: https://www.jahnelgroup.com/

A few links on Servant Leadership

Zimmerman on Servant leadership

Center for Servant Leadership

Forbes Article

Send us your comments and suggestions at [email protected]

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Hugh Johnson, the founder of Hugh Johnson Advisors, Albany NY. Listen how Hugh built his career, from humble beginnings, into being a world renowned financial advisor. Chances are you have seen him on CNBC or heard him on NPR. You will hear how he left a large firm and blazed out on his own and how one small thing he did early in his career had a lasting impact on him.

Check out Hugh Johnson Advisors here: https://www.hjadvisors.com/

Send us your comments and suggestions at [email protected]

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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bela-l-musits/support