What happens when you hand 6- to 14-year-olds a business plan template and a booth? You get 150+ confident kid-CEOs. Dr. Carolyn Colleen returns to Purpose Chasers to reveal:

• The Children’s Business Fair model (and why no participation trophies matter)

• “Peace-table” conflict skills that build lifelong leaders • How a song written for her became the anthem of the Fierce Foundation

• The profit-for-purpose loop funding scholarships and scaling impact

If this inspires you, subscribe to the show and share Dr. Carolyn’s story with one parent or educator today!

Episode 116 : Radio Days & Beyond: Bobby J from Rockaway

The Purpose Chasers Podcast with Mark Crandall @organicwordnerd

Nostalgia-drenched boom-bap meets Brooklyn precision. Bobby J from Rockaway and super-producer Nef have created a collection of work together. This episode we breakdown the in's and out's of Bobby J from Rockaway and Produced by Nef's work. Featuring: Radio Days EP, single “The Hangover,” and “From the Jump” (ft. J57) into underground staples—and why real, in-the-room collaboration still crushes template beats.

• Origins & Hustle – Bobby J’s Rockaway roots, Nef’s Maine-to-Brooklyn grind under DJ Premier & Statik Selektah

• Creative Chemistry – From a chance studio cleanup to a decade-long partnership

• Track Spotlights

  • Radio Days EP: golden-era textures, live strings, vinyl crackle

  • The Hangover: cinematic horns + raw lyricism

  • From the Jump: neck-snap drums, J57 synergy

• Nef’s Production Philosophy – Turning “good” into “legendary,” one mix tweak at a time

• Take-Home for Artists – How relationship-driven creation wins in an algorithm world

• Bobby J from Rockaway: Website • IG @bobbyjrockaway

• Produced by Nef: Studio & Services

• Artist Seeking Management? The Purpose Chasers

If this episode leveled up your mindset or your mix, hit that ★★★★★, drop a review, and share it with the one artist who still thinks LinkedIn is “just for suits.”

Purpose fuels art. Precision turns it into profit.
Stay connected at https://thepurposechasers.com

Why is a shreddy, fan-favorite like One Time Weekend still stuck in the mid-day slots? In this punchy sit-down we unpack the “headliner conspiracy,” their DIY booking grind, and the studio marathon fueling their next drop.

Hit Play, Then…

What You’ll Learn

Catch OTW Live

🎟️ Sound Check Studio's THIS SATURDAY NIGHT 6/28/2025

Grab Your Tickets Right Meow → https://www.soundcheck-studios.com/shows/one-time-weekend-28-jun

🎟️ Fencepost Festival – Aug 9 2025, Millville MA

Tickets → https://linktr.ee/FencepostFestival

🎟️ The Homie Collective Campout – Aug 21-24 2025, Russell MA

Passes → https://homiecampout.com

CTA—Join the Chase
🎥 Watch the video on YouTube and drop a comment.
🌐 Deep-dive resources, embeds, and links at thepurposechasers.com.

Host Mark Crandall sits down with hip-hop producer Produced by Nef to trace his journey from late-night bedroom sessions in New Hampshire to collaborating with legends in Brooklyn. Discover how Nef turned his beats into a business—leveraging SEO, digital asset management, and passive-income models—to build a sustainable career in music.

Purpose Chasers is your backstage pass to the art and business of creative success. Hosted by Mark Crandall—veteran entrepreneur turned artist advocate—each episode dives deep into how musicians, producers, speakers, and visual creators can transform passion projects into thriving, sustainable enterprises. We cover everything from mastering organic marketing and SEO for your personal brand to negotiating contracts that protect your creative vision and financial future.

Join us for candid conversations with top-tier artists, producers, and industry experts as they share real-world lessons on growing digital assets, building passive income streams, and maintaining personal well-being in a fast-paced creative world. Whether you’re releasing your next album, launching a speaker career, or simply curious about how to retain control of your online presence, Purpose Chasers equips you with actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and the industry insights you need to scale your creative legacy—on your own terms.

👉 Need Exclusive Beats, Seeking to Lease Beats? Or want that by Nef Production? : https://producedbynef.com 

👉Artists Seeking Management &/Or Marketing Services: https://thepurposechasers.com

Received Value? Hit The Like & Share It Out!

It's no secret that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs drives and motivates human behavior. Each stage is the motivating factor behind what you are doing and why you are doing it. When it comes to business, these needs only intensify when it comes to you and your employees. 

Suppose you want to create a successful business where the success is mutually beneficial for everyone involved. In that case, you must start with the first level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. After understanding your employee's needs, you also need to recognize and understand your needs as the entrepreneur and owner of the company. 

Purpose Chasers, if you missed last week's episode where I broke down Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and how to fit the company's vision with your employee's driving factors and behaviors, I invite you to go back and listen to part one. Last week, I took a deep dive into recognizing and understanding your employees' needs, specifically how you can help them attain them and how you and your team will reap many benefits, including maximum production, happiness, and self-fulfillment.

This week, I'm focusing on you, the entrepreneur. When creating a solid business, four main contributing factors keep any entrepreneur out of the lower levels of the Hierarchy of Needs: Cash Flow, Paying Yourself First, Chain of Command/Leadership, and Systems. While individuals commonly refer to a typical 9-5 job as a rat race, it's easy to fall into the entrepreneurial roller coaster trap. To get off the roller coaster for good, tune in as I help you dial in these four systems to create space for you to do what you do best.

If you’re loving these conversations, come hang out with us at thepurposechasers.com or watch the full episodes on YouTube @thepurposechasers and hit subscribe. Your next favorite story is waiting. 

According to Abraham Maslow, all humans operate inside a Hierarchy of Needs. The Hierarchy of Needs includes Physiological Needs, Safety, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. These needs are what drive and motivate human behavior. When it comes to business, creating a vision for your employees to align themselves with is the key to recruiting and maintaining employees. 

This week, I'm sharing a quick overview of the 5 Stages of the Hierarchy of Needs and how to fit the company's vision with your employees' driving factors and behaviors. Once you recognize and understand your employees' needs and how you can help them attain them, you and your team will reap many benefits, including maximum production, happiness, and self-fulfillment.

Purpose Chasers, be sure to tune in next week as I share part two of how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applies to business, specifically how it applies to entrepreneurs and business owners. 

 If you’re loving these conversations, come hang out with us at thepurposechasers.com or watch the full episodes on YouTube @thepurposechasers and hit subscribe. Your next favorite story is waiting. 

This week, I'm sharing the lessons learned from terminating two individuals who are near and dear to me. Terminating employees who are like friends and family is one of the most challenging decisions I've ever had to make in business. But one of the most valuable takeaways is the importance of asking how YOU can do better. How can you be a better leader and team leader? What areas can you improve on to future-proof the relationships in and out of your company? 

While entrepreneurs and team leaders don't regularly ask this, it's important to instill it into your team. When you own up to your mistakes and treat others equally, you create a strong accountability structure moving forward that everyone can pick up on. On the flip side, just as owning up to your mistakes is necessary for team success, so is praise and appreciation. Ensuring that you point out the achievements of your team members lets them know that you're investing in their growth and security. 

Purpose Chasers, be sure to tune in next week as I share how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applies to business, specifically how it applies to your employees and team members. 

Topics Discussed:

• The Number 1 question to ask yourself when facing adversity in your business
• Why owning your mistakes makes you a better leader
• Finding mutual ground and equality with your team
• Establishing a solid accountability structure
• Understanding the balance between praise and demand
  
  

Ready to stop working for your business and have your business start working for you? To gain access to resources I've created for you and learn how to work with me and my marketing team to grow and scale your business, visit www.markcrandall.net

Quotes:

Mark Crandall

• "Whenever something happens that negatively impacts your company, the most important question to ask yourself is, "What can I do better." 
• “An iron fist can only go so far, but too much praise can get you in trouble. Finding the balance between praise and demand is key.”
• “I never want to be better than the team beside me. I don’t view myself as better or less than the people surrounding me. We are all equal.”
• “Making money is great, but not on the backs of those you rarely show appreciation to.”
• “Good is the enemy of the great. Keeping the good may prevent the great from ever gracing you with their presence.”

If you're an active listener of the show, then you might remember Episode 100, where I chatted with Nathaniel Bruno, Owner of Community Solar Authority, about my entrepreneurial journey and how he helped me get started. It was a fantastic conversation about the two main lessons I learned in entrepreneurship and the incredible insight I gleaned from Nat's own experiences. Well, Purpose Chasers, I decided to bring him back for an all-new episode. 

Nat Been has been an entrepreneur since college and is currently on his 6th business. He's lived in a van for three years and traveled all over the US and overseas. Now, homesteading in Texas, he's been running a solar business without ever meeting his business partners in person ever since Covid-19. In this episode, Nat shares his own entrepreneurial journey and how he became a community authority within the solar industry. 

Be sure to listen in as we discuss the truth behind what it takes to be a business owner, how to grow your business and scale yourself out of your company, and why entrepreneurship isn't for everyone (and that's okay!)

Topics Discussed:

• Going all in and focusing on ONE business at a time
• Being intentional in both your personal life and business
• The KEYS to creating healthy partnerships (and the dangers to look out for)
• Why it’s near impossible to scale out of a consulting business

Ready to stop working for your business and have your business start working for you? To gain access to resources I've created for you and learn how to work with me and my marketing team to grow and scale your business, visit www.markcrandall.net

Connect with Nat Bruno:

• Website: https://www.communitysolarauthority.com/ 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/community-solar-authority/

Quotes:

Nat Bruno

• "I started with my good friend and consulting client; next thing you know, I had three businesses. And that quickly led to burnout. I sold everything, took off on the road, lived in a van, and traveled through the US and Canada to enjoy life. Running three businesses, I finally had to say enough and focus on one business. And now I'm all in on one business, and since then, things have been super clear in my life, and I'm a lot more intentional in everything I do in life and business." 
• “There’s always going to be that entrepreneur in me that’s always looking for what’s next, what can I do better, and how do I be better. I don’t think I’ll ever truly feel settled and content.” 
• When I was on the road, I had a very specific framework of what I was looking for in my next venture, one that had unlimited income potential, the ability to work from anywhere, and the ability to hire and train my replacement. I didn't want to be the only one. In consulting, being the face of a company, you're never going to be able to get out of it because people want you and only you, not your replacement.”

Want to level-up your life, your art, or your business? Here's how to take the next step with Purpose Chasers:

Subscribe & Review

If you had a spark from today's episode, join us!
Subscribe to Purpose Chasers wherever you listen so you’ll never miss an episode—and drop a ★★★★★ rating or review to help new heart‑centered hustlers find their path. Purpose Chasers is designed for exactly that: bold creators chasing more revenue and less hustle. 

Watch & Engage on YouTube

For video versions, bonus content, guest interviews, and behind‑the‑scenes? Head over to YouTube @thepurposechasers and subscribe there too. It’s where the visual magic unfolds.

Want Marketing That Scales, Not Spends?

Visit scaletosaleconsulting.com—Mark Crandall (commonly referred to as the Anti-LinkTree Lumber Jack) & Bud Heaton  provide marketing services built on systems, not hype. Whether you’re an artist, creator, or service‑based founder, Scale to Sale helps you transform customer trust into a growth machine, without wasting ad dollars. 

If you lead your business with honesty and integrity, you’re setting yourself up for a successful company. While building a scalable company isn’t for the faint of heart, it is doable and it can be done the right way. You just have to nurture your relationships and honor your previous agreements. 

But sometimes other people don’t always hold their end of the bargain. One of the key lessons I share this week is how a $8k error made by a former supplier has made my company more money than I can count. One of the most important lessons you can learn from your mistakes is how to leverage your errors in order to grow. Owning up to your mistakes and recognizing ways to improve will help you create stronger relationships and scale your company. When you constantly evaluate what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, the room for error shrinks over time. 

Not only can you leverage your mistakes but you can also leverage your relationships. Though, the number one thing you have to remember about leverage is that you have to have some weight on the other side of the scale. If you don’t have something to offer on your end, it’s a lead that goes nowhere and the other person can see that it’s not a mutual benefit for them. To learn more about how to leverage your mistakes, strengthen your relationships, and how technology can propel your growth and scalabilyt, tune into this week’s episode of Purpose Chasers!

Topics Discussed:

• Streamlining your business to make it more efficient to scale up
• Why you need a “fail safe” tracking method for your business
• Red flags to look out for when doing business with other suppliers
• How technology helps your business stay accountable

Ready to stop working for your business and have your business start working for you? To gain access to resources I've created for you and learn how to work with me and my marketing team to grow and scale your business, visit www.markcrandall.net

Quotes:

• "Technology saves time and minimizes the risk of error through accountability”
• “A lot of companies should be asking themselves how they can leverage their errors.”
• “We can be friends but if you don’t navigate business from a high-level of integrity with my interest in mind, there is no friendship. I’m thinking about you and how to be the best customer possible but if you’re thinking about yourself, it’s not going to work.” 
• “One of the key ingredients to rapid and massive revenue scale is strengthening and leveraging relationships in business.” 
• “The time on-site should be spent being as productive as humanly possible.”

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or industry leader, then you’ve more than likely heard the phrase, “cashflow is king” or “cash is king.” Just because you make millions of dollars a year doesn’t mean you pocket millions of dollars. On paper, it may look like you’ve made tons of money per job, but in practice, you may be losing more money than you even realize. But what if I told you there’s a better strategy? One that can ensure you’re getting paid first while also paying your employees and paying off any surprises along the way. (i.e., renting equipment).

This week, I’m sharing the formula that I’ve created within my own companies to ensure each business is in a healthy financial state. One of the biggest pieces of this formula is recognizing that your finances can’t be a guessing game. There has to be an effective mathematical equation put in place to predictably hit your margins every time. Once the needs of the customers are met, and the job is completed, then you can start paying yourself first. But only after accurately calculating every step of the process. 

Topics Discussed:

• The TRUTH behind the notion “cashflow is king” 
• Gamifying the financial state of your business
• Why you should NEVER spend money that you don’t have in your pocket
• Expenses most business owners never consider until it’s time to pay the bill

Ready to stop working for your business and have your business start working for you? To gain access to resources I've created for you and learn how to work with me and my marketing team to grow and scale your business, visit www.markcrandall.net

Quotes:

• "If the owners are stressed out about money, the employees are stressed out about money, and that is absolutely no way to live."
• “You never want more money going out than you have coming in."
• “You get to plan what the IRS takes. They don't get to tell you what they're taking.”
• “Your financial systems can be the greatest asset or the most profound downfall within your company.”