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

Josh Etemadi is the Owner and Co-Founder of District Bonding in Leesburg, Virginia!  He was born in Warrenton, Virginia and grew up in Loudoun County.  In school he was into the arts and originally wanted to be a music producer until one day at the mall he was handed a business card to sell Cutco Knives and it was his first time he was exposed to sales, he shares the invaluable lessons he learned from that experience.  He explains what is a surety bond and how he advises construction companies to be more bondable, and the significance of the three C's of bonding.  Josh talks about the importance of relationships and how that is the first step to anything.  He mentions that you should take that next step even though it may appear risky, and live with no regrets!

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In this week's episode we have Arun Mallikarjunan, CEO and Co-Founder of Symbiosis in Washington, DC!  They are revolutionizing how healthcare providers open, manage, and grow their own private practice without all the hassle.  Arun is originally from India and came to the United States in 2003 to work on a software project in Denver, Colorado and has been here since.  It is interesting how his first venture into entrepreneurship was how he started a company within another company and what he learned from that experience.  He shares about a 6 month sabbatical he and his wife Subha who is also the COO and Co-Founder of Symbiosis did traveling in Central and South America, Africa, and India and the fascinating people they met along their journey and how the trip changed him as a person - guess where is the place he had the most fun?  The origins of Symbiosis came about from his wife Subha wanting to start her own medical practice and finding out all of the work needed to open and operate a clinic, there had to be a better way.  Arun mentions how you have to have perseverance and when someone says no or they have no interest you have to continue moving forward and build a bigger pipeline of people interested.  Do not lose sight of the end goal and continue to focus on the next step!

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Amelia Elze is the Principal of Elze Law from Oakton, Virginia!  She grew up in New Jersey and Long Island, and loved surfing before heading in for class in high school.  She has been a hard worker and entrepreneurial since a young age, basically running her own babysitting agency in high school.  She talks about some things she would have done differently such starting with at least a 3-6 month cushion in savings before jumping off the cliff and starting her own law practice.  Amelia advises business owners about expecting the unexpected and how you should plan on certain items costing you at least twice as more than expected.  She mentions the important in specialization, especially in law.  She shares some great tips on what to look out for in a commercial real estate lease, this alone can save you tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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In this week's episode we have Rob Rodriguez, CEO and Owner of REFF, LLC in Baltimore, Maryland!  He shares with us his story on how he grew his commercial painting, pressure washing, sandblasting, and epoxy flooring company to what it is today working with global organizations.  He was born and raised in Panama City, Panama and lived through the Noriega regime.  He completed his computer engineer education and at 24 years of age decided to leave Panama for better opportunities elsewhere.  When he arrived to United States he started working at a mall kiosk and was in an unstable living environment, he eventually started working as a subcontractor and grew from there!  Rob goes into depth on all of the different marketing and advertising strategies he has tried and the results, and why he loves LinkedIn to generate business!  He shares some great advice on the importance of knowing your numbers and margins for every project and how the best way to earn business is still bonding and forming relationships with your customers.  He mentions the beauty of recurring revenue and how you should always give a tactic a try, and don't be afraid of failing!

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Adam Segal is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cove from Washington, DC!  He is originally from the Boston, Massachusetts area and of course is a big Boston Red Sox fan that as a teenager he worked at Fenway Park selling cokes up and down the aisles and had a lot of fun!  During grad school he started to develop the business plan for Cove and that is where he met his business partner, and came down to Washington, DC afterwards.  He gave himself twelve months to work on it and raise some seed money and got started.  It began as a personal need, thinking how you can make work a much better experience and with technology you can work in many places you no longer have to be in a centralized office anymore.  Real estate is a people business and what they are building at Cove is helping companies, office, and multifamily property owners better serve their tenants with their technology to create superior experiences and putting everything in the hands of the right people in the right places.  Operating a business is a long game and it's about the perseverance and who can stay in the game the longest!

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In this week's episode we have Mary Abbajay, President and CEO of Careerstone Group in Washington, DC!  They help create positive and productive workplaces in organizations.  She is originally from Toledo, Ohio and moved to DC over 31 years ago because her sister was living here.  Growing up in Ohio she called herself a nerd, she was into reading and sports.  Her first job in DC was at children's museum as a director and she shares some great stories about meeting celebrities and entertainers, especially one about Michael Jackson.  At one point she was the Co-Owner of the Toledo Lounge, a very popular bar and club in Adams Morgan.  Mary shares amazing applicable steps you can take to advance your career, and about how her best-selling book Managing Up: How to Move Up, Win at Work, and Succeed with Any Type of Boss came about.  She mentions how someone starting out should specialize and focus on managing the relationship, and to remember that the world is not a meritocracy it is about who knows you!  This episode is jammed packed with so much actionable advice anyone can implement, whether you have a boss, you are a boss, or aspire to be a boss!

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Dylan Krzywonski is the Founder and CEO of Hop Havoc from Williamsport, Maryland!  They were named to the Inc. 5000 in 2020!  He is from South Padre Island, Texas and grew up very quickly, he has been entrepreneurial since a young age starting his first business aimed at the six week spring break rush.  We had great conversation about the school system and home schooling.  He attended a Montessori school and shares how it helped him overall in his schooling that he finished high school at 16 years of age.  He came to Maryland due to friend and getting involved in a hop farm.  Dylan started several companies from a sales and marketing company, construction company, and others prior to founding Hop Havoc.  He mentions how you should focus on the top line and growth, sales and revenue!  Do not worry so much about the expenses, don't jump over dollars to save dimes!  He shares the importance of his team and how at the end of the day he would like to leave the company to them.  Hope Havoc has a global customer base ranging from New Zealand to South America, even though they mostly work with brewers in the Mid-Atlantic region.  If your favorite local brewery is located in the DMV area it is more than likely a Hop Havoc client!   

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In this week's episode we have Ron Gula, President and Co-Founder at Gula Tech Adventures out of Columbia, Maryland!  He grew up in Syracuse, New York and served in the U.S. Air Force before arriving to the Washington, DC metro area to work with the NSA (National Security Agency).  He has founded several companies, one of them being Tenable Network Security.  Where he was the Co-Founder and CEO from 2002-2016 growing Tenable to $100 million in revenue, raising $300 million in venture capital, and setting it up for an IPO in 2018!  Ron is also involved with numerous nonprofits and think tanks, and has investments in over thirty portfolio companies.  He shares what data care is and how fruitful a career in it can be for anyone coming from all walks of life.  He mentions how the biggest investment you can make is in yourself and your company, and what he is the most proud of is in building people's careers!  When he is not busy investing in companies and nonprofits that help close the gap in cyber technology and workforce he is also the co-host of Gula Tech Cyberfiction - a must listen!

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Andrew Dana is the Founder and Co-Owner of two award-winning restaurants Timber Pizza Co. and Call Your Mother with locations in Washington, DC and Maryland!  He grew up in the same neighborhood as me in DC, we're just two kids from Mt. Pleasant that went to the same middle school Alice Deal.  Did not know it but lived only a several blocks away from each other.  Recently President Biden made his first DC restaurant visit as President and went to their Call Your Mother Deli location in Georgetown.  It does not matter where you start, it matters where you're going and Andrew is a prime example of that!  After earning his undergraduate degree he sold windows door to door, went to business school afterwards and did not feel fulfilled in his corporate job that he eventually left to open a mobile pizza food truck!  Now, years later with several locations and more in the pipeline and over 150 team members he takes us behind the scenes of how it is growing his restaurant empire!  He chats about several pivotal moments in his business, one of them being named Bon Appétit Top 50 New Restaurants in the Country - sales basically went up over 40% overnight!  Andrew talks about the importance of just showing up no matter what and to put in the time and hard work, and how you need to have attention to detail on everything!  He shares how they treat their team and the benefits they give them, it is more like a family!  He mentions how we need to keep things as simple as possible and remove the grey area, and focus on growth!

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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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Text Me!  240-706-7584