Scratch Entrepreneur

We’ve all seen those sad animal commercials, right?  Underserved, scrawny, abused pups that need your help.  On this episode, we sit down with someone who decided to address the problem head on.  Not by donating a few bucks but by dedicating her life’s work to serving these animals.  Who is this superhero to destitute animals?  It’s the director of Monroe County Humane Association, Rebecca Warren. 

Rebecca tells the story of how she took a misguided voucher program and converted it into a vet tech clinic where lower income folks could get basic veterinary services for their animals.  She shares the highs and the lows of what it’s like to build a not-for-profit that cares for sick animals each and every day. 

We’re glad you joined us! 

Special thanks to Rebecca Warren for taking the time to share the Monroe County Humane Association story with us.  Really, if you have an extra dollar, fifty, or a ten acre piece of land, right now is the time to share it and help Rebecca and her amazing crew of vets change the lives of one sick animal after another.

If you can’t do that, at least pop a cute pic of your furry friends out on social media and give the human association a shout out.  You can do that with the hashtag #mcha or #scratchentrepreneur 

If you enjoyed this podcast, there’s a couple of things we need you to do right now.  First subscribe to Scratch Entrepreneur on itunes, Stitcher, or wherever you losten to podcasts so you can hear future episodes as soon as we release them.  While you’re there, please give the show a review.  We’d love to know what you liked, what you didn’t, and what you want to hear next.

Until the next time, We truly appreciate you listening.

Monroe County Humane Association - http://www.monroehumane.org/

Sponsored by Shine Insurance - https://www.shineinsurance.com/

Music by Mark Vinten

Learn more about us at:

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Our Course - www.newhomebuyersguide.net

On today’s show we chat with small business icon Jeff Mease who took the work ethic he learned from an early age and built a pizza shop that sprouted a restaurant which naturally needed a brewery. 

Once all of that was humming, he created a community commissary where other small food businesses could start just like he did.    After over 30 years of growth, Jeff now steers a ten million dollar per year organization and the new ideas just keep coming.

Here’s an overview:

What early stories from Jeff’s life set him up to succeed as a business owner?

Jeff was the youngest of five kids.  He worked at his dad’s grocery store from an early age.  He did everything from sorting recycled pop bottles and bagging groceries to running the deli.  Besides a general work ethic, one of the largest lessons was how to keep things clean.

Eventually, in the early 1980’s, he left his home in Ohio and headed to college at Indiana University.  He majored in business and worked at the local Domino’s Pizza.  What he really learned in those first years was that he didn’t need a business degree to start a great business.  When the opportunity presented itself, he decided to Make a business plan and start his own pizza shop.  Jeff learned at that moment that he loves starting things.

 What happened when Jeff tried to expand outside of the core Bloomington businesses?

Jeff has always been building on the foundations he builds.  When he tried to jump from the core business and start something on his own in South Florida it just didn’t take.  He learned he needed his team and his team need him.  He came back and refocused on the Bloomington, Indiana businesses.

 How does Jeff feel about franchising?

Jeff found the Dominos franchise as a really clear and simple system for running a business.  On top of that, his businesses are all on heavily franchised industries.  But Jeff feels like local accountability is really important for business and heavy concentrations of power are problematic for democratic ideals.  For both of those reasons, he’s commited to avoiding franchises.  His plan is to grow organically and locally.

 What’s special about the One World business?

Jeff’s goal is to add interesting foods and interesting experiences.  His businesses are eclectic and different while still being responsive to the custumers palette and food needs.

 How did the One World Commissary come into being?

Jeff’s restaurant and pizza shops have always needed a central place to create the core food products.  Long ago he created a commissary that feed the prepped foods.  At some point he started sharing the prep space with other businesses.  More and more businesses wanted to rent food prep space from Jeff and it got to the point where they were out growing the space.  At the same time, they lost their lease in the current building.  The timing was perfect.  They went out and found a 36,000 square foot space which now houses the commissary for Jeff’s businesses and for more than 30 other businesses as well.

 As the owner of a large business with more than 200 employees, what advice do you have for buddine entrepreneurs?

1. You have to go out and really understand the business you want to be in.  Understand the scalability and how that works, ask people who already own businesses in that industry.
2. Don’t be over protective of your ideas.  You have to share ideas to find out if they’re good or not.
3. Don’t get addicted to Education.  Kick the school and go work for people who are already doing it.

What does One World look like in 5 years?

Jeff’s planning to grow in Bloomington.  More pizza, growing the catering, & starting a couple of different restaurants are all in the 5 year plan.

A special thanks to Jeff Mease for sharing the story of One World Enterprises.

You can find the businesses here:

One World Enterprises

Pizza X

Lennies

Bloomington Brewing Company

A few of the businesses in the One World Commissary:

• Bloomington Bagel Company
• Everyday Adventure Treats (formerly Ugo Bar)
• The Big Cheese
• Lucky Guy Bakery

Music for this episode provided by Mark Vinten

Learn more about Shine Insurance and the resources we provide:

Today we chat with RCV Roofing owner Jay Nelson about all things roofing. Learn how he grew from zero to one of the largest midwestern roofing contractors in less than 5 years. We’ll talk bad roofs, the tension between roofers and insurance companies, how to pick a good roofer, and more. We’re glad you joined us.

On today's show, Jeremy sits down with the owner of Felt Creative Agency and Marketing Guru AJ O’Reilly. We’ll lay out the 7 specific steps to the perfect marketing approach. Get these steps right and the biggest issue your business will have is how to keep up.

On today’s episode of Scratch Entrepreneur we explore a real life example of someone who left his perfect apartment in lower Manhattan, a swanky job as a magazine fixer, a high rise office overlooking Times Square and moved to a small midwestern town with no real plan. What came next was the birth of a New York quality magazine on a college town budget. We’ll dig deep into the story of Bloom Magazine with its founder, publisher and editor Malcolm Abrams

On today’s episode of Scratch entrepreneur, how Jessica & Aaron Wehr, owners of Wehrloom Honey, took a Christmas present and turned it into a booming agricultural business. We’re glad you joined us.

On today’s show how Doug Dayhoff and the Upland team grew a small town brewery and pub into a multimillion dollar business known internationally for their lineup of traditional craft beers and their innovation around brewing wood aged sour beers. We’re glad you joined us.

What does it mean to create content to build your brand? On today’s episode Colin Clark, owner of Tribeswell, and Jeremy dig deep into our of their favorite topics: Authentic Content Marketing Creating great content (videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc) is far from new, people have been doing it for decades. But it becoming a more and more central strategy to every business who's mission is to build community and create a loyal following. It's a super fun super real way to present yourself to ideal clients and it can really help make their life better where they decide to purchase from you or not. Colin and Jeremy talk on this episode about how they approach content marketing, what their favorite tricks of the trade are, and what resources they've used for ideas and motivation.

“Where will Ugo Today?” On today’s episode an incredible look into one of Bloomington Indiana’s rising food star’s Rebecca Walters. Rebecca is an entrepreneur who truly took an idea and built it into a healthy profitable business. Her idea solved a problem she had. She was hungry. She needed healthy food that was mobile but had the nutritional value to support her as a college athlete. So she created a product, grew it into a side business, and then dove in head first.

Have you ever just felt stuck, like your life or your business isn’t where you want it to be? Meet transformation coach Adam Schaeuble.