Show overview:

Tom Burden is an inventor and the CEO of Grypmat. As seen on SharkTank, Grypmat is a flexible, non-magnetic tool mat. Tom has also been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and the Grypmat has been featured on the cover of TIME Magazine. Listen in as Tom tells the origin story of Grypmat, as well as his experience of being on SharkTank.

Watch the Shark Tank episode with Tom pitching:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=search&v=10155123189939352&external_log_id=74baad83-28c5-4480-bb63-f752c3e06a76&q=tom%20burden%20shark%20tank

Key piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: 

Be persistent, and never give up. If you keep going, you will make it. But at the same time, never get comfortable because challenges and adversity can appear in a moment’s notice. 

How to get on SharkTank:

Find the online application through the show’s website. Or build enough klout online through social media or other platforms like Kickstarter. Most importantly, be able to tell a great story and be compelling. 

Resource recommendations:

Eric Thomas: etinspires.com/home

Book: Illusion of Money: kylecease.com/illusion/

How to connect with Tom:

Instagram: @tom26burden

Show overview:

Mitch Case is the Owner and Founder of More than a Meal, which helps businesses and sales teams strengthen their most valued relationships through simple, personalized meal kits. Mitch quit his job in commercial HVAC sales to pursue entrepreneurship, spend more time with his family, and help business owners and sales leaders engage their employees and clients in unique ways. 

How was it telling your boss you were quitting?

It was the most liberating experience Mitch has ever been through. Just thinking about it still gets him excited. Work was great and he likes his job, but Mitch had grand visions of the next step in life, and unfortunately his employer was not part of that vision. Luckily, Mitch’s boss was understanding. 

About More than a Meal:

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Mitch and his wife listened to their customers and what the market wanted and acted on the feedback. Originally starting with a B2C focus as “Mommy Meals” Mitch pivoted the business to “More than a Meal” to more broadly focus on B2B and help businesses better serve their employees and clients. 

You should be embarrassed!

One of the key takeaways from the interview with Mitch is a story he told us about an interaction with a mentor. As a perfectionist, Mitch was hesitant to send out the first few meal kit deliveries. However, a mentor told him that if he isn’t totally embarrassed by the first few he sends out, he is too late. Wise words to live by for all entrepreneurs with a product or service. 

Book recommendations:

The Go-Giver - Bob Burg

7 Levels of Communication - Michael Maher

Giftology - John Ruhlin

How to contact Mitch:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mitchellcase

Website: morethanamealco.com

Show overview:

Lindsay Jarquio is the Manager of the Centurions Leadership Program at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. We discuss all things Centurions, KC Chamber, and the importance of lifelong learning for a millennial’s career path. The key takeaway is that the ability to impact the local community will always outweigh accolades and certifications.

About the KC Chamber and Centurions:

The KC Chamber is a membership organization that represents more than 2,250 companies and 300,000 employees across the Greater Kansas City region. It focuses on three key areas that benefit members: growing the region’s economy, advocating businesses’ interests in the public policy arena, and providing innovative programs and resources that help members grow their businesses.

The Centurions Program is a two-year leadership development program that prepares greater Kansas City’s emerging leaders for roles including judges, CEOs, and nonprofit executives. Centurions is an unequaled training ground for future Kansas City leaders.

Learn, Serve, Lead:

The Centurions program lives by a mantra of Learn, Serve, Lead. Centurions participate in monthly task forces that help tackle issues facing the region. They are also required to complete a minimum of 20 hours of community service each year, and collectively contribute thousands of hours in community service to the KC community each year. 

Resource recommendations:

Harvard Business Review’s Women at Work Podcast

Professional AF Podcast

All In Startup

How to connect with Lindsay: 

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lindsayjarquio/

Centurions website: 

kcchamber.com/what-we-do/professional-development/centurions

Show Overview: 

Kwaku Duah is the Owner and Founder of Six5ive Media, as well as Global Waves. Six5ive Media is his DJ business, and GlobalWaves is a non-profit, event production company that provides a worldwide music experience.

Leave your handprint:

This is a mantra that Kwaku lives by. His belief is that each and every human is born individualistic with unique traits. If everyone lives out their passions and skills, it will make the world a better place. 

Searching for purpose:

If you’re searching for your purpose, Kwaku encourages everyone to be patient with it, as he believes it is a completely devine process. Once you do have your “light bulb” moment, run with it and never look back. 

Coming together:

In a year of turmoil on multiple levels, Kwaku believes that focusing on helping others and being outward focused will help all of us get past culture tensions that arose in 2020.

Resource recommendations:

7 Spiritual Laws of Success: by Deepak Chopra

Charlie Rocket

Connect with Kawku:

Website:www.djsix5ive.com

Podcast - The Passionate Creative$ - anchor.fm/djsix5ive/support

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/duahkwaku

Show Overview: 

Jeff Evans is the Owner & CEO at Mean Mule Distilling co., an agave-based distillery in Kansas City, Missouri. Jeff tells us about the rich history of the Mean Mule brand, as well as what sets it apart from other distilleries in the area. He also tells us about his top lessons learned from being an entrepreneur. 

What’s the deal with agave, and how it is different from other spirits?

Learn all the in’s and out’s of agave on the Mean Mule FAQ page by clicking here.

Top lessons learned:

1. If it feels too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.
2. Everything costs something. 
3. Don’t make it hard for people to give you money. 
4. Business is hard, but it’s harder if you don’t have sales. 

Characteristics of a good entrepreneur:

• Tenacious - never quit and never let go of your end goal
• Find people and teammates you can rely on

Connect with Jeff:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeff-evans-875a0325/

Website: meanmuledistilling.co

Terry Iverson is the President and CEO of Iverson and Company, a sales and service organization that offers engineered manufacturing process solutions. He is also the Founder of Champion Now, and the author of “Finding America's Greatest Champion,” which both focus on raising awareness of changing the perception of the manufacturing industry and skilled labor jobs in the United States.

In this episode, Eric Hughey, founder and host of the GenWhy Leaders Podcast, announces the winners of the GenWhy Leaders Awards. Andrew Potter, Founder of RoKC, as well as several other companies is the 2020 Mentor of the Year. Andy Rieger, and Lucy Reiger, of J. Rieger & Co., are the 2020 Leaders of the Year. It was a difficult selection process, but these winners demonstrated incredible passion for the companies they started, as well as commitment to the Kansas City community during an incredibly challenging year.

After a long break, WE ARE BACK! On this episode we will cover two key updates. The first being that the host, Eric Hughey started another entrepreneurial endeavor with Vessel Media. The second being that we are niching down the focus of the show to help those aspiring entrepreneurs go from employee to boss.

• What's the new business you may ask?
• • Vessel Media (vessel-media.com)
  • It's mission is to help keep small and mid-size media outlets or publishers afloat, and guide them to new revenue streams. 
  • Eric felt called to do this as the next step in his entrepreneurial journey. 
  • He had a light bulb moment when he could package his knowledge and experiences to deliver it to these types of businesses as a value proposition. This was a sweet spot of where he could add value because he collectively spent 3 years in corporate PR and media, 3 years at agencies, and most recently the last 3 years at a publisher. 
  • Podcasting is an interesting tie-in, because it is very much in line with the modern lean media model. Eric encourages you all with this -- to always reflect on your experiences and knowledge, because they can all snowball build momentum for big opportunities.  
  • If you know any businesses operating from advertiser or subscriber revenue, and needs help growing their business, please send them Eric’s way. You can reach him at [email protected], or go to vessel-media.com and find him there.
    
    
• What's the new focus of the show?
• • Not so much a new focus, just focusing further on a single niche.
  • Tried to treat this podcast as an open learning experience for me. Act, Assess, Adjust. Time to adjust because we are 75% the way to our 100 episode goal, and the numbers aren't where we want them to be. 
  • No surprise the last episode we published before going on pause also talked about this topic, “The riches are in the niches”.
  • Also received feedback from peers and mentors about the importance of doing this to better add value to a specific audience.
  • If you'd been a listener you know that we were focused on creating both millennial business leaders (within a corporation), and entrepreneurs.
  • But now, we're going to be solely focused on the entrepreneurship portion, and helping those who are aspiring to make the leap from having a job, to being their own boss.
  • We'll continue to interview people and learn from their successes and failures and provide you value as best as possible.

Show Overview: 
Ryan Mason is CEO of two companies - Luxe Brand & BizBuzz, and was recently recognized as both a Yahoo! & Fox News Top Entrepreneur. Luxe Brand offers luxury shoelaces in a variety of styles, colors, fits and finishes. In this episode we talk about how Ryan ventured down the path of starting a shoelace company, and what’s led him to be recognized by a variety of media outlets such as Good Morning America and NFL Network. 

Blazing his own trail:
As the son of a former NFL player, Ryan found himself on a similar path. But he realized football wasn’t for him, and he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He quit football and school to pursue his first entrepreneurial endeavor, and the rest is history. 

How Luxe Brand started:
Ryan had a passion for shoes, but wanted to do something fresh and original. He discovered other companies focused on drawing on shoes, rebuilding shoes, etc. But no company was focused on luxury shoe laces that could go on almost any pair of shoes. 

Business asks:
Luxe Brand - Ryan wants the company to be impactful in various communities across the U.S. If there is a cause or charity that aligns with Luxe Brand, please r each out to Ryan. 

BizBuzz - please consider visiting his website and determine if the program is for you. His mission is to help 100 businesses. 

Connect with Ryan :

Website: ryandmason.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ryandmason

Show Overview: Connor Montgomery describes himself as someone who builds things that make your day better. Previously working for Pinterest for seven years as a Software Engineer, Connor is now part of a new startup The Browser Company which is building a better way to use the Internet.

More about Connor:
He is the son of Jeff Montgomery, who is a former Kansas City Royals pitcher and now broadcaster for the team. Growing up, Connor pursued a potential career in baseball, but decided to instead focus on building a family and started to look for a new passion. In college, this was journalism, but he then switched to computer science after realizing it was what he enjoyed in his free time.

Connor began coding when he was around 10-years-old. Fast-forward to college and he quickly realized he already knew more than the information that was being taught to him. He often found himself correcting some of his professors. He also had a job offer from Pinterest and decided to take a “calculated risk” and withdraw from college. 

Make bold decisions: 
After withdrawing from college, Connor found an internship in San Francisco that allowed him to further pursue his journey into computer science. This was the beginning of Connor’s career in technology, which he describes as an exciting roller coaster ride. He crossed paths with a variety of famous business professionals within the technology sector, including Ev Williams - the Founder of Twitter.

They're people too:
After growing up with a famous MLB player as a father and now encountering many big tech CEO’s throughout his career, Connor has sound advice for connecting with high-status people. They are people too. Regardless of who you meet, remember everyone started somewhere, and more than likely they will be kind enough to offer you some type of advice along the way. 

DO THE THING:
Connor encourages other business-minded millennials to get past apprehensiveness and fear and to just jump out and do what they feel called to do. Go do the thing!

Connect with Connor:
Website: www.cnnr.me
Twitter: @Connor