Terrapin Small Biz Connection

Our guest this week is Mike Drilling, from Windborne Photographic Studios and Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realty. Mike's been running his studio for over 4 decades, and he's established himself as an innovative, creative, and adaptive business owner- and now brings that same creativity to realty. After our chat, Ruthy and Tim delve into the topic of backups, including what to look out for in a backup system, and the frequently-recommended brand that Tim says is inadequate for business.

We had such a good time chatting with Tim Brick of Brick Wheels, and we talked for over an hour! We can only fit 30 minutes of content into our official show episodes, so we put all the bonus extras in this episode. Enjoy!

Tim and Ruthy sat down at the start of June with Tim Brick, owner of Brick Wheels in Traverse City. Tim's shop sells many types of outdoor sporting gear, including ebikes, fat bikes, and tunes and repairs snowboards and skis of all types. Our chat was long, and it was hard to condense it into our half hour! We covered tons of topics, including what he loves -and what he doesn't love- about running a business in northern Michigan.

Welcome to the special bonus episode of Season 2, Episode 1 with Tim Gillen. It's packed with all the good stuff we couldn't fit into the first 30 minutes. In this one, Tim talks about what it was like growing up in a family of entrepreneurs and his very first owned business, a marina in Leelanau County; the instance that lead him to tech, while running his second business, a tool resale business with SnapOn; his favorite parts about running a business up north and the people he encounters, and more.

Welcome to Michigan Small Biz Stories! In this season, Tim and Ruth chat with small business owners in Northern Michigan about the real, frank realities of running a business up north.

For our first episode, Tim takes a step back as host, as Ruthy interviews him on what it was like starting Terrapin Networks in 1990, how his company has changed, what he really thinks about business in Michigan, and more. **Don't forget to unlock the bonus content at mismallbizstories.com!

This week, Ruth and Tim chat with Dr Bryan Shumaker of Headlands International Dark Sky Park. We discuss the cultural impactor the dark sky, how people interested in astronomy or stargazing can get involved, and Elon Musk's SpaceX program completing its first successful rocket launch, with 2 astronauts inside.

This week, Ruthy and Tim are breaking down more nerdy tech and science news for your nerdy ears. We discuss a local pirate legend come to life with a shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan, a great list of remote tools for work-at-home business owners to check out, a disinfectant spray booth possibly coming to an airport near you, and a simulator that lets you fly a SpaceX craft form the comfort of your own home.

This week, Ruthy and Tim talk about a new sleep science study that proves what our dreams are really processing, we celebrate (?) World Password Day, discuss the Narnia-like place in this world without any coronavirus, agree that contact tracing apps, while hopeful in slowing the spread, offer little protection in terms of privacy, and a vulnerability with ShareFile that business owners need to know about.

Tim and Ruthy break down all the nerdy tech news that's happening in the world.

This week, 5/3/20: Google Meet is free for Gmail users, Bubonic Plague is like the coronavirus (but not really), contact tracing apps and API from Google and Apple (is this a privacy violation? Guess what our opinion is), a PPE disinfectant out of Michigan State University, and an update on Elon Musks' Starlink and his possible solution for light pollution the satellites will bring.