By scanning Jill Simonds’ LinkedIn profile, one can see that she is achievement-oriented.  Coordinator to Manager at her first career stop, and then Manager to Director at the next, and then Director of Marketing & Operations to Chief Operating Officer & Integrator.  That last stop is where Jill earned her EOS stripes and Integrator Certification, and in 2023 she started her own firm, Savvy Strategic Partners.  

Savvy helps EOS-implementing(ed) firms build their leadership team, by serving in the role of fractional Integrator, and sourcing and managing fractional C-Suite roles in Finance, Marketing, and Sales.  For those small businesses trying to make the journey from small to middle-market, Savvy can often be a medium or longer term part of the team.  

Jill grew up in Colorado Springs, with parents she described as very Irish, very Catholic, and very high-functioning alcoholics.  She’s been strong and largely self-sufficient all her life, met her now-husband early in their stay at UNC, and brings a lot of power in a small package!  In addition to all the above, Jill has built and sold an e-commerce business, operated a part-time photography business, earned a Masters in Organizational Leadership from CSU Global - and is a proud wife and mother!  She’s smart and savvy, has a wonderful smile and an inspiring journey featuring hard work, constant learning, perseverance, and strong relationships.  

I know that listeners will enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Jill Simonds.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I met Max Mackey soon after he opened Moto Haus Coffee in South Fort Collins off College Avenue.  I’d recently become the proud owner of a 1976 BMW R75/6, and the former owner told me of a group of old (and some younger mostly BMW guys that met regularly for evening coffee and riding.  It was the coolest spot in town for the riding community for several years, but was ultimately killed by the Great Recession.  I kept the R75 for over 10 years, and she served me truly, upstaged in most parking lots only by Max’s earlier-model` R75/5 with a chrome toaster tank!  

The closure of Max’s coffee shop led to a long-term chapter with Coda Coffee in Denver, and lots of music, especially as guitar and vocals with the band Thunk - for 16 years!  In 2018, after his girls were out of the nest, Max took the leap into full-time music - playing everywhere he could make at least $100 plus tips.  His growing popularity led to an album effort based in California, but Covid delays interrupted the album, and then a tragic motorcycle accident flipped the script and shattered his knee and sent him into a tailspin.  Many months and much pain and physical regression later, Max went into a surgery not knowing if he’d lose his leg below the knee or not.

Max came out of that surgery with a new mechanical knee, and a new lease on life.  His music career caught fresh fire, and turned into a trio, and then into a band, and now he’s a “what size do you need?” original music plus great jam covers offering to the Colorado community.  This was an intensely personal conversation re-getting to know a friend from long ago, and I’m certain you’ll enjoy my conversation with Max Mackey.  

Look for Max’s new album coming soon - Eyes on the Road - and check out Max’s upcoming dates and more here

July 3rd - Penrose Taproom | Fort Collins CO. 6:00-9:00 pm

July 6th - Panhandler's Pizza | Fort Collins CO. 7:00-9:00 pm

July 7th - St Julien Hotel | Boulder CO. 12:00-3:00 pm

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I connect with Joseph Vander Linde most regularly in our shared roles at the Rotary Breakfast Club in Fort Collins, where he is the Membership Chair, and I’m the Sergeant-at-Arms.  So, when new people visit I often introduce them, and if they become a member Joseph inducts them into the club some weeks later.  

Joseph’s is a journey of triumph over trauma.  His mother was a victim of domestic violence from his step-father, and they escaped to a series of secure shelters and safe houses in the witness protection program during his 6th grade to 11th grade years.  His grandfather was one of his primary rocks during those years and beyond, and I happened to interview Joseph just days after he delivered the eulogy at his grandfather’s funeral.  

Eventually, the threat subsided, his mom remarried a good man and Joseph began his educational and professional journey.  He also became interested in finance, getting into podcasts and reading books like “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.  

Joseph’s journey included many hundreds of hours of volunteer research for Mayo Clinic, located nearby his undergrad college, a transfer to a pre-med track from nutrition, and then a move to Colorado to further his medical education with Anschutz.  From there, a hard right turn led him to a New York Life office - Legacy Financial Group in Fort Collins - and a couple years later - his own firm.  Hard work, smart decisions, and dedication to being an honorable man are the hallmarks of this conversation, and I’m proud to share his journey of triumph through hard times.  So please tune in and enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Joseph Vander Linde.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In April of 2020, in the early days of the lockdowns and pandemic threat response - we got new neighbors. Days after, we invited them to our then-12th annual backyard Cinco de Mayo party. Thinking “Oh, great, we’ve moved in next door to crazy people” they politely declined our invitation, but did accept some leftover pork carnitas and cilantro-lime coleslaw I set on the fence. But after eating that leftover pork their hearts were won - and we’ve been over-the-fence-friends with regular patio time and meals together ever since, and occasional mini-golf excursions in the ‘hood.
Clarity Project Management was born of a collision of interests between Chris and his now-wife, Kristi Corbin. She’d been laid off from an educational sales background, and became more and more interested in the contracting work that Chris was doing for a larger company. Months later, she’d started an LLC, gotten some jobs, and hired Chris in a contract (now full-time) role. He was soon joined by his son and some industry contacts - and it was on! Clarty does high-impact finish carpentry for bars and restaurants and venues and retail enterprises all across the country, and Chris and his team go on 3-6 week high-intensity missions to complete these projects.
I told Chris we could party during the podcast, and he took me up on it. We drank about 2 of the 3 liters of cabernet in the Black Box and smoked two fatty J’s during the show while he shared his interesting journey - and then we played drinky ping pong after, and had more fun conversation during the walk home together. Chris is a creative misfit that has found a great-fit place in the world, and I’m so glad he and Kristi moved in next door during those strange days of 2020! So please join me in enjoying my conversation with my interesting and entertaining neighbor - Chris Corbin.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

This week on The LoCo Experience, we welcomed back Aaron Everitt, our sponsor through his business, Logistics Co-op, and regular guest of the show for real estate updates and real talk on national and local politics.  Aaron has been creating content on X the past year or so as @loanly_hipster, some of which has been supportive of RFK’s Presidential run, and he caught the attention of the campaign a few months ago.  In May, Aaron was invited to have a one-on-one meeting with RFK prior to the Rally in Aurora, and he shares his reflections on that meeting - and on the potential routes to victory for the campaign - and the many efforts being made to oppose it.  

Also fresh in the news is the Trump 34-count conviction for hush-money something something, and the first day on the stand for “Mr. Science” Anthony Fauci.  Aaron and I discuss what is the swamp and how can we actually drain it? - and some of the big items in local politics.  We close with a NoCo real estate update - hint - not a lot has changed - and we talk a bit about the future of water and population growth here in Northern Colorado.  It’s always an easy conversation with Aaron, and he shares a touching LoCo Experience tying back to his grandad and the early years of the Fort Collins Country Club.  So please tune in and enjoy my recent conversation with Aaron Everitt.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

A few years into their marriage, Autumn Fleck and her husband, Trevor, made the decision that they wanted to budget well, save hard, and retire early so they could travel the world and live a life set apart.  And then one day - she had a cockroach run down her arm! - and the next day she found a cockroach in her daughter’s bed! - and of course informed her husband they needed to call for pest control.  “What are we going to cut from our spend so we can fit that in the budget?” was hubby’s response.  “I dunno - but we need pest control - stat!”  

Autumn had been working in the wine industry for years, and enjoyed it - but Covid changed her job and industry dramatically, and she had been furloughed to two days per week during the pandemic. She took a loan signing course, got her Notary Public, and marketed herself to 50 local real estate, mortgage, and title offices.  It was the height of the refinance boom, and in her first month - working 3 days a week at around $100 per loan closing - she made $10,000!  The next month, she made $17,000!  Pest control budget solved! - and wine career officially over!  

Autumn founded Precision Signing Agency in November of 2020, and within 12 months she transformed the business from herself as an Independent LSA (Loan Signing Agent) to the CEO of a high-growth national signing agency!  In 2023, Autumn and Trevor moved their family to Fort Collins (which she had dreamed of for years) and she has continued to grow her client base and HQ team and her network of professional loan signing agents nationwide.  She’s had quite a journey - at one point losing over 50% of their revenue overnight - but has grown herself and her company to become one of the fastest growing in her industry and in our region!  

She’s also smart, sassy, funny, and overall - my kinda people.  So please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Autumn Fleck.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Diego Rago Vega is a chef, a writer, a philosopher, and a permanent resident here on political asylum - but he came to America long before it was trendy.  He and his family operated an import/export business in Venezuela, and as the nation’s economic fortunes crumbled under first Chavez and then Moralez, the enterprise became unsustainable - in part because the family wasn’t aligned with the government, or willing to be compromised.  

Diego’s business is Obsidian Atlas, and he provides strategic marketing consulting and full-spectrum marketing activities - mostly for B2B small businesses.  He was a top producing marketer for Madwire and other agencies in previous chapters, but branched out to start his own firm so that he could give individualized attention to his clients.  Diego’s business is early stage in America, but his philosophies and experience run deep, and the journey he shares in our conversation - along with about a third of a bottle of bourbon between us - will please and inspire the hearts and minds of our long-form conversational podcast listeners.  And - this is a long one, but full of the good stuff - so please enjoy - as I did - my conversation with Diego Rago Vega.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I first learned about Toddy, LLC circa 2013, during the twilight of my banking career.  The story I heard was that the owners of a local marketing agency, Clay Pot Creative, had purchased a manufacturing business in Texas, and moved it up to Loveland!  The company made cold brew coffee systems (whatever that was), and seemed to have a strong product in a niche market - a banker’s dream client!  I failed to connect but tried again to reach them a few years later as I was growing LoCo Think Tank - but little did I know that they were in the midst of a family move to Denver, to stay close to a child fighting for his life at Children’s Hospital.  

I’m an easy grace kind of guy though, so when Julia reached out this spring with a “We’ve heard from friends that we should be on your podcast” email, I was quick to book them and eager to share their story.  I didn’t know the half of the trials and tribulations they’d journeyed through, and their story is an inspiring one for any entrepreneurial couple who wants to keep family values first AND build a successful business enterprise.  

Today, Toddy holds a strong market share in the commercial cold brew systems marketplace, and their business has grown as more and more coffee chains and independents embrace the unique flavor profiles of cold brew.  Toddy also has a sound consumer product set, including a roastery and a selection of cold-brew specialty coffees, cold-brew filters, and a tasting room in Loveland - and their home-use equipment is increasingly entering households - and they’re soon to have a system at Walmart!  

Through it all, this pair now finds themselves in a great spot, with a strong business, relationship, and family dynamic, and I very much enjoyed - as you will each of our listeners - my conversation with Julia and Andy Leach of Toddy, LLC.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I got acquainted with Todd Brooker through LinkedIn, where we follow some of the same voices, and learned last fall that he spends a lot of time in Fort Collins - where his daughter Libby Brooker is a goalie on the CSU soccer team!  It took us a minute, but this spring we finally got properly acquainted over lunch, followed by a long-form conversation in The LoCo Experience studios.  Todd is the second Texan I’ve had on the podcast, and the second from Austin - apparently the Fort Collins of that state. I’m hoping for Joe Rogan or Lex Fridman as my third such citizen - intros welcome!  

Cawley, Gillespie & Associates (CGA) is a 60+ year petroleum engineering, geology, and valuation firm that Todd has worked at for 32 years, and been President of for more than 10 years.  The firm has ~35 employees in two offices, and is something of a boutique firm in the industry.  Owners of oil wells all over the nation - and beyond - hire CGA to evaluate potential acquisitions or support creation of audited financial statements to comply with Sarbanes Oxley.  I wanted to bring Todd onto the show because he knows a lot of things about a lot of things, especially as it pertains to the oil and gas industry in our nation.  

Todd is a proud dad, loving husband, and VP and Board Member of the Town & Country Optimists Club in Austin.  He’s a part-time Fort Collinsian now, and fits right in - and when he moves here full-time in the future I’ll try to snag him for the Breakfast Rotary Club and maybe as a LoCo Facilitator - he’d be great.  So please join me in enjoying my conversation with oil industry expert and my new friend, Todd Brooker.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Duane and Chad Stroh are the father and son that lead the team at Healthy Harvest in Berthoud, CO, which also includes Duane’s wife and Chad’s sister, and one red-headed step-child in a key operations role.  They were initially involved as investor-partners of the business, but as partners departed and their market awareness grew they pivoted the company to specialize in production and wholesale distribution of non-GMO cooking oils across Colorado - and entering new markets across the American West.  They also offer nationwide direct-to-consumer oil sales through their website and on Amazon.  

In a previous chapter, the family operated a conventional grain farm and feedlot near Holyoke, where Duane was also the wrestling coach for many years.  When Duane met a man with a persistent infection caused by exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria on a hog farm, he started investigating the drug and chemical-laden conventional farming industry.  And - when his brother died at an early age of lymphoma, he remembered how that brother was the one responsible for spraying Roundup around the farmyard and mixing the sprayer tanks.  And long story short - the family decided to sell out of their farm and feedlot and change their business as a result of this change in perspective.  

What I love about Duane is that he’s a lot like my dad - the secret to success in farming or in business is math!  And what I love about Chad is that he is focused on the impact of marketing, technology, and relationships to build long-term business value.  Together, they’re a formidable pair, and I’m excited to see their business continue to grow and help more and more non-GMO farmers share their Healthy Harvests with the world.  So please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Duane and Chad Stroh.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain