Startup Renegades

We are joined by the sophisticatedly sassy Annie P. Ruggles, founder of The Non-Sleazy Sales Academy, who has helped hundreds of people and their endeavors through deep connections, lasting impressions, and friendlier transactions. 

For almost a decade, Annie has harnessed her Hulk-like disdain for hard-sales, tacky self-promotion, and overly competitive sleazeballs as inspiration to help people find better ways to grow their small businesses. As the founder of The Non-Sleazy Sales Academy, she's guided hundreds of people toward making deeper connections, lasting impressions, and friendlier, more lucrative transactions and conversations.

In this episode, Annie and Shauna address the “startup mindset” and the importance of being coachable while also knowing when to stick to your guns when it comes to non-negotiables for your company. Do you listen to your advisors or your clients more? And what is the difference between a small business mindset versus a startup mindset? Annie talks about the importance of scaling your business slow and steadily to avoid crashing and burning. She also tells a story of a company that was on the show Shark Tank who was put in an interesting dilemma, accept the offer on the table that they came in hoping for and compromise on what makes them special, or leave with nothing but keep what they believe is the heart and soul of their business.

Listen in as they share stories, laughs, and actionable advice on topics such as navigating feedback, when to know it’s time to pivot your company, how to scale your business without overdoing it, and how to “blow the roof off this thing!”

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Ehime is the Founder of Sweetkiwi, a frozen dessert company. As an immigrant, she had a lot of unhealthy eating habits, then a health scare led her to a greater understanding of the power of food. She changed her eating habits and delved into learning more about different ingredients that support our bodies’ healthy development. Sweetkiwi was born from this labor of love. 

She has led partnerships with many exciting brands such as Moet & Chandon, Pepsi, Guinness, and Baileys, to mention a few. In 2018, Ehime moved to the DC area and was accepted into the Union Kitchen food accelerator and launched her delicious Whipped Greek Yogurt, which can be found in Whole Foods Market and several other grocery stores.

In this episode, you’ll learn about the importance of always saying yes to new opportunities and how essential brand partnerships can be in scaling your success. Ehime gives helpful advice on how to find these brand partnerships, the best way she’s found to connect with future partners, and how not to be afraid to ask you exactly what you want. 

Join Shauna as she sits down with Ehime and discusses the importance of a “yes” mentality, how to find new doors to open for your business through strategic brand partnerships, and the importance of being persistent. 

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Laura Wood is an activist and founder of LottoLove, the first-ever scratch-off card with a social mission. LottoLove brings charitable giving to everyday gifting. It has been featured on the Today Show and Ellen Degeneres and included in national publications such as Woman’s Day, Real Simple, and RedBook. 

Through her work with LottoLove, she is making a positive impact on people’s lives by providing a better way to gift that empowers people in need and inspires communities to do good in a fun and exciting way. 

In Laura’s episode, we heard about how doing good in the world can be a viable, profitable business! Laura speaks about taking some scary first steps to get her idea validated and the “lucky” opportunities that came her way in the early days of the business. 

She shares how strategic partnerships can help your company flourish, but how word-of-mouth may also be the best marketing tool at your disposal.

Laura loves giving back, and this time, she’s giving back to you through thoughtful, actionable advice to help your business succeed! You can find LottoLove on IG @LottoLove.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Jessica Rhodes is the leading expert on how to leverage podcast guesting for increased brand awareness, more leads, and higher profits. She created the podcast booking industry in 2013 when she founded Interview Connections, the first and leading agency of its kind.

Along with her business partner, Margy Feldhuhn, Jessica has quickly scaled Interview Connections to over $2M in annual revenue, and their team of in house Booking Agents are the podcast powerhouses behind many successful entrepreneurs and businesses including Ali Brown, Perry Marshall, Aweber, USA Financial and more.

In this episode, you’ll learn about how Jessica took a virtual assistant business and scaled it into a highly profitable brand. She’ll teach you the importance of knowing your strengths and weaknesses and finding someone to help balance those weaknesses. Jessica talks about how visibility and strategy are the two most important ways to grow your business as well as the importance of close relationships and networking versus vanity numbers such as Instagram followers.

Listen is as Jessica takes you along her crazy journey to scale her startup into the success it is today!

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Carina Glover is the founder of HerHeadquarters, an app connecting women entrepreneurs to powerful brand partnerships with women-owned businesses. The app makes it easy for women entrepreneurs to discover and secure mutually beneficial partnerships for their business by introducing them to various projects, events, and campaigns to collaborate on.

In this episode, you will hear about Carina’s early experiences in entrepreneurship and the hard lessons she learned about partnership in business that inspired her to bring HerHeadquarters into existence. The story of how she used the power of partnerships with other women to grow her brand will give you plenty of inspiration for using brand partnerships in your own business!

Tune in to hear about Carina’s incredible journey and perseverance and learn about the multiple “ingredients” to her recipe for success.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.