THE SEA-TOWN PODCAST: Interviewing Seattle's Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs

This week's guest is Angie Marshall and Amy Becker, the owners of Life Capsule Productions, specializing in legacy films and story telling videos for businesses. Highlights From This Episode: Angie and Amy were childhood friends and always enjoyed telling stories & making videos together as kids. Angie started making video's of older family members to help document their life, legacy and stories and that eventually lead to helping businesses tell their stories through video. Angie helps draw out the deeper story and records the content, while Amy edits all of it into a polished final project remotely from her home in the UK.

• Best advise Amy has received: "no one will laugh at you for trying and failing, they will just envy you for having the courage to try in the first place.
• Best advise Angie has received: listen to and digest the feedback and not taking it personally.

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: https://www.lifecapsulepro.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifecapsulepro/
• Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LifeCapsulePro
• Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifecapsulepro/
• Guest's recommended books/tools/resources: Google Drive & the Angie's "business bible" when starting Life Capsule Productions was "The Woman's Small Business Startup Kit".
• Guest's favorite podcast(s): Angie's: How I Built This, Two Dope Queens. Amy's: The Moth Radio Hour, Radio Lab, Up First.
• Guest's word of wisdom: Amy: "Remain a life-long learner, don't assume you know best" Angie: "Be appreciative of the people that help you along the way and give it back. Don't just take others help but give it back too."
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Ian Weinberg, the owner of Ian Fitness. Originally starting with 1 location on Queen Anne but now has 9 locations around Seattle. Ian's philosophy is to get people moving in a fun, safe, non-intimidating way through group "boot camp" workouts and one-on-one training, focusing on results.

Highlights From This Episode: Ian used to play professional soccer and at one point, worked in a gym part time to make a little extra money and he discovered that there tends to be a disconnect with gym members and their motivation for working out since a relatively large number of gym members don't regularly go to the gym. After spending some time traveling the world, he came back to Seattle and wanted to really make an impact but didn't know exactly what to do but he really enjoyed fitness and movement, so eventually took a job as an independent trainer on Queen Anne. Ian doesn't believe that the "Knowledge Is Power" because if you just sit on that knowledge, it doesn't do anyone any good. So rather he believes that "Action Is Power"... Just get started and take action on your idea, business, fitness or whatever because you'll never achieve anything if you are always waiting for things to be perfect. Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: http://www.ianfitness.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ianfitness/
• Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanFitness
• Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ianfitness/
• Guest's recommended books/tools/resources: "How To Win Friends and Influence People"
• Guest's favorite podcast(s): Tim Ferris Podcast, Lewis Howe "School of Greatness".
• Guest's word of wisdom: Never, never, never give up!
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton!

Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Matt Wendland, owner of Burien Press and Moonshot Coffee in White Center. Matt had the opportunity to purchase Burien Press at the beginning of 2014 and just this year opened Moonshot Coffee in White Center. Highlights From This Episode: After years of frequenting Burien Press, Matt bought the coffee shot at the beginning of 2014.

• Matt's goal is to make a positive impact in everyone's life who comes in contact with their store or coffee - They use Olympia Coffee in his shops and sources all their supplies, milk, etc from responsible businesse' with responsible farming and business practices.
• Matt talks about partnering with coffee vendors (like Olympia Coffee) and the investments they have made in the economy and people of countries like Burendy, Africa, where local farmers and villagers have received training how to produce better and more consistent quality coffee beans and provided substantially better quality of living for them and their families.

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: https://www.wendlandco.com & https://www.moonshotcoffee.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Burien-Press-151817251495869/ & https://www.facebook.com/moonshotcoffee/
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Cory Cote and Brandon Ramirez, owners of Mystery Made mens apparel and action sport oriented graphic design firm in The Admiral District of West Seattle. Highlights From This Episode: After 10 years at K2 and Ride Snowboards, Brandon and shortly after, Cory decided to take the leap into self-employment to start their own design firm and then more recently, opened the front of their space into a men's apparel shop. As artists and designers, they wanted to branch out from the cyclical nature of working at just one company and really explore the opportunities with starting their own thing.

• Mystery Made primarily does branding and design for action sports but also love doing branding and design for local companies, new restaurants (like The Nook) and individual entrepreneurs.
• One of their life mortars & slogan is "Get Busy Living". They live by the saying of "find what your passionate about and you'll never work again in your life"... it may be cliché but it's true.
• Best advice Cory remembers getting was from an old boss who told him to "Make a decision and be confident in it". Own it and move forward!
• Best advice Brandon lives by is to "put your passions in your backyard". Pursue your passions and it will work out.

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: www.mysterymade.com
• Like on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mysterymadedesign/
• Follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mysterymade/
• Guest's word of wisdom: Take a leap of faith and believe in yourself.
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Clay Eals, up until summer of 2017, Clay was the Executive Director of the SouthWest Seattle Historical Society, headquartered out of the Log House Museum on Alki. Highlights From This Episode: Clay Eals has been involved in the Southwest Seattle Historic Society since it was created in 1984 and in 2013, became it's first Executive Director. Up until that point, it was entirely run by unpaid volunteers. The purpose of his role as the Executive Director is to focus on three areas: fundraising, outreach & volunteer recruitment... in addition to the overall management of the organization. The South West Seattle Historic Society's mission is to promote history through education, preservation and advocacy. Their focus area is the entire Duwamish Peninsula, from West Seattle to White Center and South Park. A big part of Eals focus has been to get out into the community and let people know that the Historic Society is about much more then just the Alki Log House Museum. Clay's family is from West Seattle, he grew up on Mercer Island back when it was predominantly 3 bedroom ramblers but would come over with his mom to visit his grandparents in the Admiral District all the time. He went to school in Oregon and worked for the Oregonian Paper for a number of years but always wanted to get back up here. In 1982, he moved back to West Seattle. With his background as a newspaper journalist, he became the editor of the West Seattle Herald. It was really his work on putting together the 1987 "West Side Story", a historic picture book of the history of West Seattle that really changed him from an objective journalist to a West Seattle history advocate.

• The real juice of life is taking the risk (and in the reward) of communicating with others... and the best way to do that is face-to-face.
• Clay talks specifics of what goes into getting historic buildings land-marketed.
• Clay talks about stepping down as the first Executive Director of the Southwest Historic Society (for 4.5 years). His successor is Jeff McCord, though Clay promises us that he isn't going any where and will remain involved with the Society.
• As the first ED for the society, the best advice he received regarding fund raising comes down to four words... pick up the phone. An analogy for taking the initiative for setting up meetings with people in the community.
• "Life is anticipation"... meaning we all need something to look forward to. We all need a mountain to climb... something to inspire and motivate us. When you through yourself into something with passion, you will draw people to yourself.
• The main mission of the historic society is forward thinking... not just about looking back at old stuff of the past but preserving it for the benefit and enjoyment of youth and generations to come.
• Clay speaks on reading the newspaper every morning because it's a medium that has a little of everything and is a combination of what people want to read and what they SHOULD read... vs. the modern consumption of news and media online where people just search for and read/watch what they want and what they already agree with. Leading individuals to be more polarized in their world views then ever before. Being well informed helps us all to make better decisions.
• With a background in journalism, Clay speaks on the most respected media organizations are the ones that have been around the longest and still live by the three pillars of journalism - Fair, Complete & Accurate.
• His perspective on the accusation that "All journalism these days is just about bad news": The bad news is just good news in disguise. Perhaps showing people what is really going on in the world will motivate them to make changes, get involved and help. The whole core of it is that if we know more, we'll make better decisions.

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: www.loghousemuseum.info (sign up for their weekly email announcing events and updates)
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Log-House-Museum-167980764047/
• Guest's recommended books/tools/resources: "The Water Is Wide" by Pat Conroy. Clay gives a "shout out" to some great local media organizations: The West Seattle Herald, aka "Westside Seattle" and the WestSeattleBlog.com, founded and run by Tracy Record and Patrick Sand (Check out their interview in Episode 040 of the Sea-Town Podcast).
• Guest's word of wisdom: "Have no fear and assume that when you take the risk to communicate with someone, something good will come out of it... Don't let fear hold you back... Take the risk to engage other people"
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

I've been a bit MIA on the new podcast episodes. Big things in the works for Sea-Town Real Estate & our community partnership initiative... stay tuned for more info (and more episodes)!

This week's guest is Tracy Record, Co-founder and operator of the West Seattle Blog, West Seattle's go-to news outlet. With husband, Patrick Sand, together they have run the West Seattle Blog full time for the last 10+ years (since 2006). Highlights From This Episode: The West Seattle Blog was launched in December of 2005 by Tracy Record as a personal project to have a place to write about West Seattle. The turning point was the famous December 2006 windstorm, which knocked out power for days, for a lot of people around Seattle, including West Seattle. They started getting a lot of inquires from people in the community asking if they knew when the power would be coming back on and after that they just started covering the local news around West Seattle. A year later, they decided to make it their full time business. Prior to doing the West Seattle Blog full-time, Tracy had been a manager and producer in TV news for 20+ years and Patrick's background is in journalism, radio, news and advertising. Patrick is the chief photographer and runs the business aspect of the West Seattle Blog, while Tracy is the full-time editor and chief reporter who compiles the news stories and blog updates. Christopher Boffoli has been a freelance photographer and contributor to the West Seattle Blog for the last 10 years and has become an internationally known art photographer with his "Big Appetites" creations series of photography.

• What do you love most about what you do? When they can reassure the community and when they can find out about stuff that the public doesn't know about but needs to know about.
• Where there other community blogs around when you got started? CapitalHillSeattle.com was started around the same time and they are still going strong and are a great resource for Capital Hill residence an news.
• What is your greatest strength? We are dedicated to accuracy in their stories and being honest about what we do and how we do it.
• What are you passionate about? Being able to help the community.
• What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of running the West Seattle Blog? Deciding to run it 24/7.
• What is a personal habit that contributes to your success? Personal ethics and honesty.
• Do you have a specific internet resources or application that you can't live without? Research tools: Seattle 911 realtime Log; Property information on King Co. Parcel Viewer; WA State Liquor Licenses Applications .
• Do you listen to podcasts? Don't have time to listen or watch much of anything considering how busy running the West Seattle Blog keeps them... though they did listen to one of the Sea-Town Podcast episodes after I brought it to their attention last summer and appreciated the straight forward conversation about what the business is about and what that person is about.
• What is your one book recommendation for our listeners? "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation", a humorous book about the importance of proper punctuation.
• Parting Guidance - As your time allows, consider getting involved in the community and volunteering. Christian also recommended a couple local non-profits that do great work and that you can find out more about by listening to their interview episodes - Chris Langeler of West Seattle Helpline (Episode 26) and Nancy Woodland of West Side Baby (Episode 25).

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: WestSeattleBlog.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westseattleblog
• Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/westseattleblog
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Greg Bennick, a public speaker and Executive Director for the Seattle based non-profit, One Hundred for Haiti. Greg got started as an entertainer in his early teens and has been doing public speaking, communicating ideas and engaging with audiences (as a musician in touring bands & as a speaker) ever since. Highlights From This Episode: Greg started performing around 13 years old and quickly discovered that people pay far more attention to ideas when they are entertained. He currently does public speaking in two main avenues; The corporate, business and special events realm and doing spoken word at independent (often punk rock related) events around the world. While they seem like very different things... they are really quite similar, as communicating ideas, having people connect with those ideas in an entertaining and engaging way, is something that is really important to Greg. So communicating has always been part of his life. Greg's involvement with Haiti came about differently. Since Greg makes his living speaking, he doesn't have a "day job" and so when the earthquake in Haiti happened in 2010, he had the time and flexibility in his schedule to actually go to Haiti and help. Some friends and him sailed on a sailboat with thousands of pounds of supplies and food and (as far as he knows) were the first private relief boat to hit the southern coast of Haiti. This wasn't his first time to Haiti but after seeing the situation and condition that his friends were in after the earthquake, he decided that he had to do more... and One Hundred for Haiti was born. Using his experience and ideas he has learned from the punk rock scene and the do it yourself culture, he knew he could make a direct impact for Haiti on a couple select issues that they decided to focus on. He wanted to make sure that the model for helping was one that supports and empowers the Haitians to provide the resources and jobs for them to provide the solution themselves, as opposed to "swooping in" as American rescuers and doing the work on the ground that the Haitians can do and want to do themselves. Haitian run on Haitian terms, by Haitians, for Haitians. One Hundred for Haiti simply provides the support, money and supplies to empower the Haitians to provide the solutions for a better quality of life for the people in Haiti. As an organization, they run very lean with all volunteers (no paid staff), so that all the donations go directly to paying for supplies (not salaries and airfare). Their focus is on two initiatives: The Rural Water Project & GTPE (a Creole acronym that stands for the working group for the protection of children). Rural Water Project: In North Haiti, cholera was a huge issue a couple years ago and some friends of his started a group called Peace Work Medical, where they helped the Haitians build cisterns that were fed by naturally occurring springs, where the water could be treated if there was another cholera outbreak. These cisterns were especially effective and when Peace Work was done with their work in Haiti, Greg asked if he could take over the 20+ cisterns they had built. They now have over 40 sites, all requested made by Haitians, built by Haitians and managed by Haitians. Since having started the Rural Water Project, there have been no cholera deaths in the regions where they have helped build these cisterns... and that is what they are trying to maintain. GTPE: In the south portion of Haiti, sexual assault has been rampant and GTPE is the program their anti-sexual assault and education and the only one of it's kind in South Haiti. One Hundred for Haiti is the sole funder of this anti-sexual assault education initiative. One Hundred for Haiti is entirely funded by individual private donations, with the exception of one very generous corporate sponsor, LUSH. Greg has been involved with the Punk Rock scene for a long time and there are a number of band's that have gotten behind them to help raise money during concert tours, like the Seattle band, Wake of Humanity and the Detroit band, Hallow Earth. Greg used to tour with the band Trial for many years.

• What do you love most about what you do? With the speaking business, Greg loves the challenge and unpredictable nature of owning your own business. With OHfH, Greg loves the idea that a group of dedicated individuals and work together and make a difference.
• Of all the speaking engagements you have done, from the small grassroots events to Fortune 100 Corporations, which was your favorite speaking gig and why? A retreat event on the East Coast, for a friend he went to high school with for her travel agency (Largay Travel).
• What was your biggest challenges with running your own business? While Greg loves what he does, finding new business is super challenging, as there is not a huge market for public speakers (like there might be for hairdressers or another service that nearly everyone will use). And if there is a major apocalyptic event, no one is going to be running around asking where they can find an entertaining keynote speaker 😉. With One Hundred For Haiti, the biggest challenge is keeping the energy for support flowing and keep people involved in a genuine way.
• What is the best advice you have ever received? As greg was talking to his mom one day, updating her on all the things he had been doing in Haiti, travel and such... and when he got to the end of telling her all about his recent exciting adventures, she turned to him and said, "The shave of all this is that you doubt yourself". She had uncovered a theme of anxiety and self-doubt in Greg, of him wondering if he was doing enough in Haiti, with his speaking, travel, making a difference in the world, etc. What she was saying is for him to strip away the self-doubt, "you are doing everything you can be doing... get excited about that, do more of it and go bigger and leave all the self-doubt behind". It's a conscious choice to reject that negative self-talk each day.
• Do you listen to podcasts? What are your favorites? S-Town Podcast (from Serial and This American Life), not to be confused with "Sea-Town Podcast". He also mentions How Stuff Works and the first season of Serial.
• What is your one book recommendation for our listeners? "The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle" by Steven Pressfield & Earnest Becker's, "The Denial of Death".
• Parting Guidance - "In the midst of all of our self-doubt and negativity in the world, let's all make one choice TODAY that does something good in the world, to counteract that".
• • Write in to the show or leave a comment letting us know what YOU DID TODAY to counter act the negative voices.

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: Support the work One Hundred For Haiti is doing at onehundredforhaiti.org or book Greg for a speaking gig at GregBennick.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100forhaiti/
• Guest's recommended books: "The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle" by Steven Pressfield & Earnest Becker's, "The Denial of Death".
• Guest's favorite podcast(s): S-Town Podcast (from Serial and This American Life), not to be confused with "Sea-Town Podcast".
• Host's offer/sponsor: "In the midst of all of our self-doubt and negativity in the world, let's all make one choice TODAY that does something good in the world, to counteract that".
• • Write in to the show or leave a comment letting us know what YOU DID TODAY to counter act the negative voices.
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
• Click here to subscribe on Stitcher

Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Amber Campbell, Owner of Do Communications & creator of GoSouthSeattle.com (previously known as the Rainier Valley Post). She is a marketing consultant with 20 years of experience helping small and medium size businesses. Highlights From This Episode: Amber is a marketing consultant with 20 years of experience helping small and medium size businesses and used to run the Rainier Valley Post, working some with West Seattle Blog's own Patrick and Tracy. The Rainer Valley Post has now transformed into the vibrant GoSouthSeattle.com. Go South Seattle is based on three things: a community blog, a business directory (funded by business sponsorships), & an online store to sell Go South Seattle merchandise & business gift certificates and such. Amber's marketing business not only does 1-on-1 marketing consulting but also provides turnkey digital marketing tools to small businesses that don't necessarily have the time or budget to hire a full-on marketing consultant to help them get in front of those who people who live in their same zip code. She will work with business's goals to develop a marketing strategy and how to implement that strategy. Amber got started in marketing originally in a round about way, as an ambassador or sorts, for low-income elementary school's in Tucson Arizona for her University, The University of Arizona. Amber was the first person in her family to graduated from college. This experience helped her see the value in being able to highlight the best of something and communicating that value to others... and that's what she sees marketing as, highlighting the best of something. Amber came was recommended as a guest on the podcast by Erin Williams (Ep. 33, Owner of Pier Coffee) After 7 or 8 years of running the Rainier Valley Post, working twice as hard but still not making any money, she was referred to Ventures Non-Profit (Ep. 28, Ventures ED Beto Yarce) to help her build her ideas (where she met Erin and tons of other great people). Not only did going through Ventures's classes really help her but now she teaches one of their marketing classes and Amber says that "Erin has changed my life" and is her bookkeeping coach for Amber's business.

• What do you love most about owning your own business? Being able to have the flexibility to be there for her kids and family.
• What was most surprising or unexpected with opening your own business? How hard it is and how time-consuming it is. Initially, Amber didn't realize that there is a difference between creating a job for yourself and growing a business.
• What is Do Communications known for? 1-on-1 marketing consulting... with additional more affordable turn-key marketing options via the Go South Seattle platform.
• What is your greatest strength? I don't give up!
• What habit do you wish you had? Being prompt.
• What are you passionate about? Making sure my kids have the kind of opportunities in their lives that I did not.
• What boundaries have you setup to keep from being distracted by technology or other time suckers? I use a time-keeping app open on her desktop as she is working on client's projects and is very focused on only doing one thing at a time.
• What is the most challenging aspect of owning and running your own business? Self discipline & being straight about staying focused with what you are doing in your business.
• What is the best advice you have ever received? As she was considering going to college (as the first person in her family to go to college, there wasn't any emotional or monetary support from her family), she was starting to get cold feet as she was looking over the student loan numbers when someone who was previously in her position told her that "they can't take it away from you". They can take away a car or other physical positions but they can never take away your education, knowledge or college experience. She was told not to let the scary big numbers scare her away from going to college and the opportunity it presented. This gave her the courage to go though with it, become the first person in her family to get a college degree and she now knows that this person was right and she is so glad she went through with it.
• Do you listen to podcasts? What are your favorites? Serial, Left, Right and Center & Welcome to Nightvale.
• What is your one book recommendation for our listeners? The E-Myth by Michael Gerber

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: DoCommunications.net & GoSouthSeattle.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/docommunications/
• Guest's recommended books/tools/resources: The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
• Guest's favorite podcast(s): Serial, Left, Right and Center & Welcome to Nightvale.
• Learn more about Christian, Sea-Town Real Estate and more at: www.Sea-Town.com

Ways to Subscribe to The Sea-Town Podcast:

• "Like" the Sea-Town Podcast FaceBook Page HERE
• Click here to subscribe on iTunes
• Click here to subscribe on Google Play
• Click here to subscribe on TuneIn
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Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.

This week's guest is Melissa Forziat, Owner of Melissa Forziat Events. She also helps a lot of small businesses with their marketing needs. Everything from free resources like her ebook to help them get started to marketing consulting and coaching. Highlights From This Episode: Melissa didn't start off planning to create her own small business... She grew up competing in gymnastics but after she was done being able to compete, she wanted to be able to stay connected to the gymnastics and athletic world. So Melissa started doing major international sport events and started by volunteering at the 1998 Goodwill Games. Next she worked the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy and then worked a couple years for the U.S. Olympic Committee as part of their International Relations Department, 2010 Olympic Winter Games in BC, CA and the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. At the end of the Rugby World Cup, she ended up landing in Seattle and as she was interviewing for event planning positions and jobs around Seattle, everyone wanted to know what she had done here specifically. In one of her informational interviews, she accidentally said that she is now accepting new clients. A week later that person referred a client to her, who was looking for a free-lance event manager... And so Melissa Forziat Events was created! After starting her own business, she also has the flexibility to work some additional international sporting events again, like she did with the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. The marketing piece came a little later, as you can't really do an event without marketing it, so they are really go hand-in-hand. When she got to Seattle, many of her friends ended up being small business owners and she was always getting questions from them about how to grow their client base, often on a very small budget. She also started working closely with a Venture Non-Profit, a Seattle organization that helps educate and train low-income, minority and other under-serviced people on how to take their idea and start their own small businesses. They also have limited resources and so she found that the skill set she was building to help her small business owner friends and the clients of Ventures was very much the same... People just trying to get by, pay their employees, take care of their families and pay for life but don't have a lot of money to get their message out there to acquire new clients and grow their business. Melissa got involved with Ventures Non-Profit (check out our interview with Beto Yarce, Venture Executive Director on Ep. 28), as a means to get to know more people in Seattle and be able to help. She started volunteering with them on a committee and was then invited to join the Ventures Board of Directors. She really sees the value of small business owners being able to be part of a community like Ventures because so many business owners, despite the type of business, share the same pinpoints and struggles as they figure out how to start and run their own business and sharing and learning from each other and realizing that they are not alone in it is huge. Though Melissa's business is named Melissa Forziat Events, most of the events she works on a larger scale projects, while she does a lot more on the marketing side for small businesses and solopreneurs. Even if you currently have zero dollars to spend on marketing, she has options for that... like her FREE "Small Business Marketing On A Budget" ebook and weekly blog with good marketing tips and a strong Facebook community full of other small business owners sharing tips, and helping each other out. Melissa provides a ton of free marketing information to help get small businesses to a place of being able to utilize her paid information, consultation and coaching.

• What do you love most about what you do? The people that Melissa works with. Whether working with a non-profit on an event or a small business on their marketing, there is an underwriting sense of passion she senses in her clients and she gets a lot of fulfillment in helping her clients realize their goals and dreams in their business, professional and personal lives.
• What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of running your own business? Staying confident. As your getting started and trying new things or taking on new types of clients, you may not have the experience yet to feel confident in your abilities.
• What was most surprising or unexpected with opening your own business? The shear volume of highs and lows in the roller coaster that happens in a single day.
• What set's you apart from others in your industry? The majority of the businesses Melissa works with are micro-businesses (5 or fewer employees) and she really enjoys helping those smaller businesses grow and get to a better place and while she likes to work with businesses in Seattle, she works with businesses all over the world.
• What is your greatest strength? Creativity in both how she helps her clients and grows her business.
• What habit do you wish you had? Better sleep schedule.
• What are you passionate about? Supporting the people she cares about... and her clients end up becoming those people. She also does improve comedy in Seattle.
• In the past, what was holding you back from becoming the entrepreneur you are today? After doing one of her first speaking engagements of teaching an Advance Marketing Class for Ventures Non-Profit, she had a line of business owners lining up to ask her questions and she realized that she does think about marketing for a living and way more then most business owners do, so she does have knowledge to share and a valuable service to provide. It comes back to confidence in having something that can benefit and help others.
• What is the best advice you have ever received? "Except Invitations".
• What is a personal habit that contributes to your success? A very detail oriented hard worker.
• Do you listen to podcasts? What are your favorites? Amy Porterfield podcast, which is a marketing focused podcast (I've heard an episode of Pat Flynn's "Smart Passive Income", with Amy Porterfield as a guest and it was quite good). The type of podcast's you listen to can tell you a lot about how you want to be, based on what you are drawn to or relate to the content and how it is presented. Finding the podcasts you like and then asking yourself why you like it can help you develop yourself and your brand and speaking style.
• What is your one book recommendation for our listeners? Melissa's FREE "Small Business Marketing On A Budget" ebook, which covers 10 different types of marketing that you can do if you have little to no money to spend on marketing.

Episode Links & Resources:

• Guest's Website: http://melissaforziatevents.com
• Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaForziatEvents/
• Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MForziatEvents
• Guest's offer: FREE "Small Business Marketing On A Budget" ebook
• Guest's recommended books/tools/resources: Melissa's FREE "Small Business Marketing On A Budget" ebook, which covers 10 different types of marketing that you can do if you have little to no money to spend on marketing.
• Guest's favorite podcast(s): Amy Porterfield podcast, which is a marketing focused podcast
• Learn more about Christian, other projects he's working on and his business at: www.Sea-Town.com

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Help Us Spread The Word - Reviews Help a Ton! Thanks for joining me again this week. If you have any tips, suggestions, or comments about this episode - email me at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Thank you! And finally, please leave an honest review for The Sea-Town Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.