The Fierce Focus Show

Mark Jennings is the CEO of Subba Media Inc., which allows people to post reviews for any live events.

They are currently fundraising with a very cool model (which we do talk about in the interview0 that allows just about anyone take part in an equity stake in the business. If you’re interested, https://netcapital.com/companies/subba-media.

In this conversation, we talk about working in media, shifting to work full time on Subba Cultcha, and how he has grown it into something you can invest in today using a very unique funding model. After listening to this, you’ll learn what the future of live shows will looks like, What a Delaware Flip is, and the best way to get deeper relationships with your favorite underground bands, or if your’e a band - your own fans.

Umber Ahmad is the founder and head chef at Mah Ze Dahr bakery, the first brand under the Colicchio Discovery Platform. Umber grew up being fascinated by how things worked - this led her to study Genetics at MIT, get her Masters in International Health Policy at University of Michigan and an MBA in Business and Finance at Wharton. She has worked at Goldman Sachs & at Morgan Stanley, has worked in the restructuring of hospitals and health systems in the US and Canada, helped brands expand their footprint throughout the world. This has given her quite the toolbox of skills. All the while, cooking has been a constant joy in her life, and it was not until she received a query that made her do a double-take, that she decided to jump fully into baking. In this episode, we talk about how she filled up her toolbox that prepared her to start Mah Ze Dahr, how studying genetics contributed to creating a bakery, how Mah Ze Dahr is best experienced, the concept of mise-en-place in helping a chef focus, and how the trees in a snowy Michigan winter are similar to being an entrepreneur.

Josh Spodek has done 90,000 burpees. He has a PhD in astrophysics from Columbia, and an MBA from the Columbia business school where is is a professor at Columbia Business School’s Program on Social Intelligence. He has a new book out, New book: Leadership Step by Step.

This is a LONG episode, and we cover subjects like what a SIDCHA is and why josh has done 90,000 burpees, how and why he went to North Korea, and talk about his leadership course.

If you listen to the whole thing, you’ll find a special code word. And if you email josh with that code word in the subject, he will give you a special 15% on his leadership course. If you email him after you’ve done 30 days of SIDCHA, he will arrange to get you the book too.

Adam Harrison is the of Tart, a bakery & coffee shop in London. We talk about his love of languages, his jobs in advertising, how he decided to go out on a limb and start a bakery with his partner Jace, the ups and downs of starting a small business in London and where they plan to be in 5 years.

What do you do when you have Jury Duty? Write a book review.

This is an insane case study in content marketing & optimisation. The guy takes questions from twitter (audience engagement), asks them for his youtube show, transcribes the answers, categorizes the content into sections, and then puts the answers in a book. The he names it a hashtag, and records an audiobook that has more original content. That is probably scratching the service of what he did.

I'll do more of these - lots of books out there to review - what would you like to hear about?

Email me or tweet me: [email protected] or @fierce_focus

Jenny Blake is an author, career and business strategist and international speaker who helps smart people organize their brain, move beyond burnout, and build sustainable, dynamic careers they love. In this interview we talk about starting a new career or pivoting internally at work, avoiding “how” as the first step in the search for a pivot, how to get a mentor, her love of operations and templates on how to make your operations more efficient, how to be a better meditator, why she doesn’t set an alarm or check emails in the first 2 hours of her day, and much. more.

Megan Griffiths is a film director living in Seattle Washington. We talk about how she is a master of film - how she builds a character from dialogue in life, where she finds stories, why it is preferable to have multiple story arcs in each story, how long each part of the movie-making process usually takes, the differences between indie and studio films, how to get big talent, the importance of film festivals, much more, and how she focuses.

Find her: iTunes, Netflix, amazon prime, twitter @thecinechick.

Cat Castellanos: Neuroplasticity for the Relentlessly Ambitious by The Fierce Focus Show

Charles Mudede is an editor at The Stranger in Seattle. He was Born in Rodesia, Studied political philosophy in Botswana, and is also a film director, and critical thinker. We talk about his thoughts on why growth us unnecessary, why he made the movie Zoo, how a bubble starts, and the housing situation in Seattle.

Michael Ellsworth is a partner at Built By Civilisation - a design firm based in Seattle, Washington. In this conversation, we talk about how he went from working in ad sales with community organisations, and pivoted to working in design. We talk about the name Civilisation, terms like ‘forced perspective” and “simplicity” , what designers do in general, examples of his work such as “drugs over dinner” and identity work for governmental organisations, how he defines "design-thinking”, and how he focuses.