The DMV (Washington, DC | Maryland | Virginia) Business Show

In this week's episode we have Brendan Hines-Ike professional soccer star player who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club D.C. United.  He was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado a suburb outside of Denver.  He grew up with a soccer ball at his feet and remembers starting to juggle the ball at 4-5 years old.  Soccer ran in the family, he looked up to his older brother who was one of the best soccer players in the nation and always the best player in Colorado in his age group and his younger sister was a star soccer player too.  Brendan was constantly doing tournaments, games, and practices.  At 10 years old he would wake up at 6 am and go running before school, would go to school, then training, then team practice, and before bed would try to get in some more juggling.  It taught him at an early age about discipline and what it takes, and thanks his dad for instilling these habits.  Went to college and was always driven, would go to bed by 8:30 pm and would remember his girlfriend now wife wanted to go to a party he would go to bed and wake up later to pick her up from the party and go back to bed - you only get out what you put in!  From College he went to Sweden to start in the first division and gained a lot of professional experience for three seasons.  After Sweden he went to a Belgium club and was there for for three and half years until he returned back home to America to play for the M.L.S. club D.C. United as a starting defender.  We chat about how your perspective changes everything.  Brendan shares his morning routine and guess how it all starts for him?  He mentions his plans for life after his professional soccer career even though he is hitting his prime and has a long way to go.  You have to constantly take care of yourself and have discipline. Do not miss this episode!

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In this week's episode we have Scott Barbaro, CEO of Masonry Masters with headquarters in Sterling, Virginia!  He is a first generation  Italian immigrant that grew up here locally in Silver Spring, Maryland  and graduated from the University of Maryland.  He began working in the  family business Masonry Masters while in college starting at the bottom.   He shares a great story about his father giving him a little bit of  tough love on the first day of work.  Scott mentions the importance of  having the right people in the right roles, and talks about a recent COO  hire that completely changed his business for the better and it is  allowing him more time to grow the business and brand.  He brings up the  significance of self development and learning something new every day,  and why every organization should start and stick with their core  values!

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Alex Smith is the Founder and CEO of Division Street Landscaping from Baltimore, Maryland!  They are not your ordinary landscaping company, they are creating opportunities for ex-offenders.  Alex grew up in Baltimore City and moved to the county in his early teens.  At an early age he was a lover of nature having fish tanks and a terrarium.  In school he was more into the arts and music than school itself.  He stopped going to school in his early teens because he started selling drugs.  His uncle showed him the drug trade, he wished his uncle would have been in another type of business because he looked up to him.  He was living on his own at 16-17 years old, and mentions what he learned from running the streets at an early age and how he has used and transferred those skills into business.  Alex shares how at 18 years old he was sentenced to 30 years and gets sent to prison.  In prison he finds himself, and talks about not being a coward and to be true to yourself.  He started an horticulture program in prison with a few other inmates and goes deep into the horticulture world.  He gets released out of prison early, eventually forming Division Street Landscaping to give other ex-offenders such as himself another chance.  He mentions how the cause is important but always lead with business first, if you are running a pro-fit organization.  Alex shares many lessons, one is most of his business is about relationships - focus on the relationship and creating opportunities!  

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In this week's episode we have Dr. Josh Funk, CEO of Rehab 2 Perform with 7 locations in the DMV area, the 8th on its way and much more coming!  They are not your typical physical therapy company, you feel like you are more in a fitness and athletic training center than a doctor’s office.  Josh grew up in Montgomery County Maryland, spent the first 14 years of his life in Germantown, MD until he got into a magnet program in Poolesville and moved there.  He played 9 different sports growing up and found his identity through athletics, always also focusing on academics and it was in college that he figured out that lacrosse was that sport and played Division 1 lacrosse at The Ohio State University.  It wasn't until his second year in college when he got hurt that he was then exposed to physical rehabilitation and decided on a career in physical therapy (PT) and came back home to PT school in Baltimore, MD.  During PT school he was playing professional lacrosse and holding camps, starting his first company after graduating PT school as a "side hustle".  He was teaching and coaching youth lacrosse by night while working in PT during the day.  Until in 2016 when he decided to open his first location in Frederick, MD, and in just 6 years they are in the process of opening their 8th location with additional growth!  Josh shares the different numbers and metrics they track in their business, always looking to plan ahead.  Over 80% of their weekly business does not come from other doctor referrals, they originate from other sources and they focus on direct access and direct to consumer marketing through creating top of mind awareness through relationship and storytelling.  He talks about the different mentors he has had what he learned from them.  Josh mentions how he learns and seeks inspirations elsewhere, you have to be continuously learning and always focus on winning and being on the offensive and attacking!

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Paige Lisk is the Chief People Officer (CPO) of Verato with headquarters in McLean, Virginia!  They are a mission first tech firm providing patient data as a single source of truth in healthcare.  She was born and raised in Sugar Land, Texas.  At an early age she started signing, that was her very first career as an opera singer.  Singing was a lovely thing to have and afforded her many wonderful opportunities, she competed and did a lot of shows and earned a full ride to Rice University as a vocal performance major.  Singing taught her many things, one being discipline.  As some of the kids were hanging out at the pool she was learning her music.  Also, having a stage presence which has served her well in the corporate environment.  After college she felt a little lost for a moment and continued to perform some more until deciding to move on to the corporate world.  She started working in a educational tech company until she was later poached to the energy sector leading trade floor technology.  Eventually was recruited to Constellation Energy to help with trade floor technology and through a series of events ended up moving for the first time to the Human Resources side of things.  Paige became PayPal's head of Human Resources credit business, growing the business to a global business and hiring and opening offices across the globe working with a really strong leadership team.  She later moved to another tech firm as a CPO, and the business was expanded through acquisitions.  Goes into detail on what a Chief People Officer (CPO) is and their role. Talks about showing up and suiting up every day and the significance of her family's support, her husband and daughter who is going to go play lacrosse at Loyola University.  Paige shares how she has organically grown her network and relationships and how that has helped her throughout her career.  She chats about how women should take charge of their careers and not hold back and advocate for themselves, even offering to contact her if anything!  Mentions all of the different informal and formal mentors she has had, and how helpful reverse mentoring has been.  Paige's focus is on being the best human you can be, and to listen and involve the team!  Such an insightful episode you would not want to miss!

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Text Me!  240-706-7584

In this week's episode we have Fernando González, Co-Owner and Pitmaster of 2Fifty Texas BBQ in Riverdale Park, Maryland!  They are a handcrafted, wood smoked BBQ restaurant.  Fernando was born and raised during the civil war in El Salvador, and remembers food being scare and adding ingredients to his mothers recipes.  His wife and business partner is third generation of women restaurateur, her grandmother started a restaurant chain in El Salvador.  In El Salvador he had a side hustle shipping products to the USA from El Salvador and in one of his visits to Central Texas he was looking for things to do and decided to do a BBQ tour, and that was the beginning of a new world for him!  When he returned home from his trip he spoke with his wife and decided to start smoking meat in his backyard by building his own smoker.  He became a student of the craft and kept studying and asking questions and tweaking things.  His brother-in-law suggested to open an Instagram page and there was an overwhelming response of people interested in BBQ.  They eventually came to America and the DMV area in 2018 without knowing anyone and start looking to open a restaurant and found their perfect location in Riverdale Park, Maryland.  He shares how they were able to purchase the business next door Dumm's Pizza and started hosting BBQ pop-ups their while the BBQ restaurant was being built out next door.  In April 2020 they were finally done and ready to open the restaurant doors to the public and were not able to because of COVID-19 and the lock down.  They ultimately opened and thanks to an Eater DC article business has been going up!  Fernando shares how he loves bringing people together, there is something magical about the BBQ and fire.  Find out how the name 2Fifty came about and much more, you cannot miss this episode!

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Ken Sandy is the Managing Partner of Dryy Garment Care with headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia, several store locations in Washington, DC, and drop lockers in over 500 locations!  They are re-imagining dry cleaning, meeting people in their preferred method.  They are the first one to bring dry cleaner locker technology to the DMV area!  Ken grew up in Richmond, Virginia and after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University he did the whole corporate circuit but never felt like he belonged.  He came to Washington, DC in 1999 professionally, and was working with a freight logistics company when he was laid off in his mid 40's.  It was the perfect time for him to start his company and started a marketing company which eventually led to the dry cleaning lockers and it became his entrance into the garment care industry.  They have a 20,000 square feet Eco-friendly plant facility in Northern Virginia with over 70 team members working there and 15 vans that deploy each day to their locations.  In 2018 they opened their first Dryy Store (drop-off and pick-up) location, and now have three with the fourth on the way!  Ken shares his love for creating intersections of community, culture, and commerce.  He mentions how we need to go all in because there is no other way!

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In this week's episode we have Marc Steren, Founding Director of Entrepreneurship at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland!  His family is from Argentina and he grew up  locally in Rockville, MD.  Marc has founded several companies and exited  them, afterwards he decided to spend more time with his family, write  books, and teach the valuable lessons of entrepreneurship he has learned  to his students.  Some of his students have gone on to ABC’s Shark  Tank, Tech Stars of London, Leonsis Prize winners, Georgetown’s  Entrepreneur of the year, and other Incubators.  He attended and  graduated from Bullis School and came full circle that he later went  back to Bullis and started their entrepreneurship program.  He mentions how important it is the empower your team and learn how to delegate if  you want to successfully grow your business.  Find out how at a young  age he learned that actions have real consequences.  He shares how  raising investment capital is not success, real success is serving others!  Learn about the great entrepreneurship program he oversees and  how it not only helps its students but also the local business community in Montgomery County, Maryland!

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In this week's episode we have Ryan Peusch, CEO and Co-Founder of Zentility in Annapolis, Maryland!  They streamline energy procurement through their tech enabled platform.  Ryan grew up in Harford County Maryland and now resides in Annapolis.  While at college he had an internship at Constellation Energy and that was the beginning of his long career in the energy sector.  He was there for almost a decade focusing primarily in business development.  He and his friends tried different business ideas until they founded Zentility and explains why they choose it, and mentions the benefits of starting a side hustle.  He and his Co-Founder Craig focused the first 2-3 years in building a great product.  We chat about having the right business partner and more importantly the biggest partner of all your significant other, your spouse.  Having a supportive and understanding spouse is needed because the life of an entrepreneur and business owner is not for the faint of heart.  Ryan explains how the platform works for the broker/advisor and the end user.  He shares a big pivot they did and how it completely changed their business, and how at the end of the day one should just jump in sooner and take that leap!

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Gus Hamdan is the Founder and President of Emprove Remodeling located in Gaithersburg, Maryland!  They are a home remodeling company focusing in exterior, kitchen, bath remodeling, and flooring installation.  Gus was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and came to United States arriving in Maryland at 20 years old with only $300 in his pocket.  He mentions how crazy it was living in Lebanon and remembers spending the great summer months all the day at beach with his sister enjoying the beautiful Mediterranean water.  He was always hard working and creative even at a young age, starting to work at 14 years old as a photographer assistant in Beirut.  Once he arrived in America he worked for many years in the retail industry until he eventually started working with a home improvement company.  He quickly became a top performer after his first full year and shares how you can too!  He moved into management and became the Vice President of Sales and Marketing responsible for a $60 million dollar office until May of 2020 when he decided to start his own company, and Emprove Remodeling was founded!  Gus mentions how mistakes are all learning opportunities, if you are not making mistakes you are not learning enough.  We chat about being foreigners and not taking things for granted, and appreciating all the great possibilities this great country has to offer!  He shares amazing advise anyone can learn from, how he feels fulfilled, and a life changing routine that may change you as well.  One of Gus's main principals is to focus on the team, it is all about your people!

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LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/ottosevilla

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YouTube:  https://youtube.com/channel/UCp3fOa-IgbYwiQfgkB3SbaQ

Email Me!  [email protected]

Text Me!  240-706-7584