The LoCo Experience

Gavin Kaszynski (ka-shin-ski) and Todd Welter joined me on the LoCo Experience podcast to share their respective business journeys, and especially to discuss the challenges and their suggested fixes for the health insurance industry in America.  

Gavin has newly transitioned to the role of CFO for the Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies - at the time of recording he was CFO at Associates in Family Medicine which you'll hear referenced in the show.  Todd is the Founder and CEO of RT Welter & Associates, an organizational development consultancy serving physicians groups across the US.  Todd is also an Affiliate Faculty member with University of Denver, teaching courses on Healthcare Macroeconomics and Innovative Strategies & Change.  

This episode ranges from health care to economics to politics, and includes plenty of philosophy along the way.  The punchline on how to best maximize health care outcomes for all, at the lowest overall cost?:  Get the federal government out of it, and allow market forces for large population groups to drive health care pricing and outcomes.  

I like to say sometimes - "I don't know if it's so that the smartest people agree with me, or that I find people to be more intelligent when they share my opinions!" - and it's relevant for this one.  These guys know finance, economics, and health care, and their awareness of the unintended impacts of well-intended solutions is impeccable.  If fixing health care matters to you, educate yourself and give this one a listen.  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In this LoCo Shorts episode Ben West, Owner & Operator at Radial Development Group, shares his journey to creating a company he always wanted to work for. One with flexible work schedules, ample training, and great culture.  Ben shares his motivation to create Radial from his own experience with burnout (and how to prevent it). He also highlights ways to create a great culture that can support the company when you’re not there.

Listen to this episode with Ben to get good tips to consider, like: get your priorities in order, make clear on commitments priorities that matter (not those that are easy), and make a “priority budget.”

At Radial Development Group, they help people who don’t know a lot about technology understand and use it to their advantage. Learn more about Radial Development Group here.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Zach Mercurio is the author of The Invisible Leader, Founder of ZM Consulting, and Affiliate Professor for Colorado State University at the Center for Meaning and Purpose.  

Zach is an expert on purpose, on purpose.  He's studied it, trained it, studied it more and shared what he's learned abundantly.  He's a Ph.D., further informed by a lot of elbow grease, research, and intentional thought.  

This episode is different than most of the podcasts that feature Zach, on purpose.  :)  He shares his tradecraft a good bit, you'll get tips and inspirations on how to find more purpose in your own work and how to spark it in the people you lead.  More than that though, this episode is about Zach and his journey and philosophies and his why.  We range from how he met his wife in a shoe-tying pub trick to an intense bit of conversation around whether one can reasonably claim both mantles (as does your host) of being both a Christian and a Libertarian.  

It's another good 'un, and I think most anyone who listens will come away with a nugget or two that they can apply and share, because that's what The LoCo Experience is all about.  

To learn more about Loco Think Tank, the producer and sponsor of this podcast, please visit our website at locothinktank.com!

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Do you remember the moment when you made your passion your business? Ann Baron, Founder of Northern Colorado Community shares her business journey of creating a space for local business owners to convene.

Ann’s passion for people, sharing of resources, professional (& personal!) support, and connectivity paved the way for this continually growing multi-city business group. She shares stories of diversity, empathy, and opportunities of coming together to build something greater for business owners.

Learn more about Ann and Northern Colorado Community here.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

AJ Fountain & JJ Fountain are Band Managers, Songwriters and Bandmates in A Brother's Fountain - a popular "Campfire Folk Music" band based in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as the Founders and Producer / Director / Videographers for Stoked Ember Productions, a Videography company built to stoke the embers of passion-first businesses through video and story production.  

The intro and outro music for the LoCo Experience Podcast is borrowed with permission from the song "Soul" from ABF's 2017 debut album, Pine Needles & Streams.  

This episode is a hoot, with a whole lot of storytelling and philosophy, a little bit of music, and the introduction of the "LoCo Experience" segment - "What's the craziest story you're willing to share with our audience?"  Before his ABF and Stoked Ember days, AJ was a part of another business journey, as the first key employee and eventual partner and GM of the popular natural soap company Dr. Squatch, and we pull a lot of business lessons out of that chapter also.  It's a great listen, and you'll wish you were in the room with us - :)  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Katie Straubel is the Founder, Owner, and Queen Bee at Clean Bees, a residential and commercial cleaning service business she founded as a side-business while in college.  Katie left her native Orlando and a career in fine dining to follow her partner Mike back to his native Colorado, attended CSU toward a History degree and found no fine dining jobs to be found.  After subbing for her friend's cleaning business to cover for a personal medical leave, Katie went on to found Clean Bees only months later.  Clean Bees was her part-time side business all through college, with 5 - 7 part-time employees and only limited intentions about it becoming a durable enterprise.  

As time progressed though, so too did Katie's intentions for the business - she'd grown the business some but had leveled off before joining LoCo Think Tank in 2015.   In the time since then, she's largely created the business that she imagined - a profitable business with a durable team that handles the bulk of business operations, and she was able to spend the fall and winter of 2020 traveling the west and homeschooling their son.  

Katie has become a self-described Business Improvement Specialist, and recently joined the ranks of the LoCo Facilitators as a Builders chapter facilitator!  Clean Bees will celebrate 20 years in May of 2021, and we celebrate Katie for being an awesome member, podcast guest, and member of our team at LoCo Think Tank!  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

The City of Fort Collins Mayoral race features three candidates on the ballot, and April 6, 2021 is Election Day.  LoCo Experience Episode 16 featured current City of Fort Collins Mayor Wade Troxell, and his endorsed candidate, Molly Skold.  This episode features the other two candidates in the race, Jeni James Arndt and Gerry Horak.  

Both of these candidates have a rich history of public service, and colorful and impactful journeys that inform their perspectives.  Jeni currently serves as the State Representative for Colorado House District 53, and serves on many important boards and committees at the state and local level.  Gerry has a long legacy of local public and board leadership service plus a successful business journey along the way, and has been on the Fort Collins City Council for 21 of the past 40 years, including a previous two-year term as Mayor!  

This race features three very capable and like-able candidates - and with three candidates it's a tough race to predict!  It's a win-win-win for the City of Fort Collins that we have such capable candidates willing to serve, so listen and learn and VOTE on April 6th!  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Tyler Brooks founded Analytive in 2015 as a digital marketing agency focused on driving meaningful revenue growth for clients through strategic and measurable campaigns and SEO optimization.  This episode takes listeners through an interesting life journey with Tyler as he departs his native Indiana and finds his career footing in video production and digital marketing before founding his own agency.  With a diverse team of creatives all around the nation and the world, Tyler and his team consider themselves to be "digital sherpas" - they help people who are looking for your product or service find a path to your website and take action!

Tyler's life and business journeys are filled with servant-heartedness and a quest for new learning and adventure.  This episode is chock full of (free) marketing tips, tricks, tidbits, and shoulda-known-that's that might help you understand how to better connect with your customers and would-be customers.  It's also filled with a lot of discussion on history and philosophy, and growing as a person, man, and husband - but there is no mention of the upcoming webinar that Tyler is hosting free at the end of March - because it wasn't planned yet!  Register here!  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

The ideal client is one you can drink beer and eat pizza with, right? Erik Cox, Owner of Wise Ape Design Marketing, shares his business journey of moving back to Fort Collins after a decade working in creative agencies in San Francisco and Chicago. He decided to bring his years of experience to a place he grew up to help local businesses level up their creative assets and stand out in reaching their customers. Going at this alone isn't always easy and Erik shares challenges he faced as a one-man-shop.

Erik has prioritized his work-life balance by focusing on loving the clients, being nimble, and going all-in on his creative design by filling design gaps in small, local businesses.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In this episode, Curt dialogues with City of Fort Collins Mayor Wade Troxell, and his lifelong friend Molly Skold, one of three candidates in the mayoral race to be decided on April 6, 2021.  

Curt digs into Wade's journey through academia and business, and more recently, government, and unfolds his underlying principals around economics and creating a great place to live and do business.  A Ram through and through, Wade earned his BS, Masters, and PhD's from Colorado State, (where he was also a star football player!) and earned a Post-doctoral Fellowship in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  He was also a partner and co-founder of a company called Sixth Dimension, which scaled and ultimately went public.  

Molly shares her own journey of impact, from growing up in Fort Collins through time spent in a scientist-exchange program in Russia with her husband, time spent in journalism and rearing kids in Chicago, and being a major player in the re-imaging effort of Omaha, Nebraska.  Her move back to Fort Collins in 2005 spurred yet more impact service, including board roles at Visit Fort Collins and the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.  

This episode digs into servant leadership in a way that few others will, and unfolds the importance of thinking globally, and acting locally.  Many thanks to Wade and Molly for sharing their time, and good luck to Molly in the election!  

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain