The StartupCamp Podcast with Chris Graebe

How you can use an all-or-nothing approach in your business

When Hovhannes “Hov” Zirekyants arrived in the States at fifteen, he couldn’t speak English. But he was a pro at saving money. Knowing he wanted to start a business, he worked as a private client banker until an unshakeable idea overtook him: what if he could develop an app that would help people turn their dreams into reality?

That’s when Savely was born.

Savely helps people break down the costs of a large goal and save weekly to meet that figure. As Hov prepares to launch his app, he outlines the struggles he faced after leaving his corporate job and the lessons he learned jumping feet-first into entrepreneurialism.

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“Money is the easiest quantifiable way of seeing progress.”

So many people have big ideas, but they never act on them. Hov doesn’t want people to have major regrets. His experience as a private client banker taught him that people have trouble putting away money, whether it’s to start a business, take a trip, or to buy a house. Seeking to solve his clients’ problem, Hov developed the Savely app to create a stress-free way to calculate the costs and saving milestones for a larger goal.

“Just put something out there for people.”

If Hov had to do it all over again, he would have launched sooner. In his quest to tweak everything to get it just right, he has delayed his launch several times. In this episode, Hov explains how to launch a minimum viable product from the get-go to generate revenue and real consumer feedback.

“If the ships are burned, and there’s no alternative, you’re going to fight harder.”

Hov is not a fan of the expression, “don’t burn your bridges.” He actually prefers the mantra, “burn your ships”. He references the Spanish conquest of Mexico, wherein the infamous conqueror Hernán Cortés burned his own ships so that his men would fight the enemy or die trying. He applies this philosophy to his business to ensure he works hard to achieve his goals.

If you want to learn how to turn your biggest dreams into a series of actionable steps, you’ll love our conversation with Hov, a truly courageous entrepreneur who is making good on the American dream.

How one woman uses her interior design talents to give distressed families hope for the future

Deidra Livingood knows tragedy. She lost her father at age seven. Whenever she heard stories of children losing family members, she kept asking herself, “What can I do to bring relief and hope to others?”

Realizing her full-time job stood in the way of her need to give back, Deidra left without a plan, and eventually formed Heart and Home Makeovers, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gives free home makeovers and renovations to distressed families in Oklahoma.

In this episode, Deidra shows us how anyone can use their skills and passion to make a big impact in someone else’s life.

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Families going through tragedy don’t always have the “mental margin” or the means to make changes in their home. But if you can transform your space to bring peace and positivity, it can promote healing. Deidra was already doing interior design on the side, but forming a non-profit and putting her talents to use in a more official capacity was a different game. She used her talents to create a memorable first fundraiser – in her backyard – and raised double her initial goal.

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.”

That is Deidra’s mantra. She went from working in a leadership role with a supportive, talented team to being a one-person organization. One of her major struggles was learning how to find reliable, consistent help to build a team from the ground up.

“Do not despise slow beginnings.”

Sometimes the smallest step forward can be a major accomplishment. Deidra decided in the beginning what she was willing to sacrifice to be successful and where she had to create boundaries. The smallest decision, like setting up shop in a co-working space, can make the biggest difference in your work-life balance, especially at the beginning.

Deidra’s ability to put her natural talents to good use and work with that she has is an inspiration to all new and aspiring entrepreneurs. Plus, you’ll love to hear her stories of how lives have changed with her free home makeovers. If you don’t think you have the resources to start a business that matters, listen to Deidra’s story now.

How Liz Martin listened to her gut and landed a deal on Shark Tank

Liz Martin was at her wit’s end when it came to combing her daughter’s’ hair. Necessity being the mother of invention, Liz literally tore up a teddy bear and inserted a hairbrush—and Tangle Pets was born.

Knowing her family was six months away from financial trouble, Liz put together an unusual action plan to realize her dream of making Tangle Pets a real business. A year later, she landed a deal with Lori Greiner on Shark Tank with only five dollars to her name.

In this episode, Liz details her incredible journey and the importance of acting on your intuition when everyone around you believes you’re on the wrong path.

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“You know what you know, and no one else needs to know.”

Liz has an incredibly strong moral compass that guides her decisions—even when they might seem strange or ill-advised to others. As she points out, outsiders don’t have the full picture and they don’t always know what’s best for you. Whether it’s going on a game show to raise capital, or building a relationship with a Chinese manufacturer, she takes a leap of faith when her gut tells her “yes”. Liz accepts the consequences of each risk, knowing they will provide valuable lessons if everything goes south.

“What did you do with your day today?”

Liz’s brother gave her the push she needed to turn Tangle Pets into a real business. His ‘simple’ approach of action and reflection each day ensured that she made time to move her business forward, especially when money was tight.

Full of life and love, we are blessed to have Liz share the highs and the lows of her entrepreneurial journey.

You can get in touch with Liz right here: Lizzys-light.com

Get scrappy, fire up social, and launch without spending a fortune.

Do you want to launch your own brand?

It might seem crazy to step into a marketplace crowded by global titans like Nike and H&M. But Air Force veteran-turned-entrepreneur J.B. Reynolds is showing us how to launch an apparel brand with BeneFIT Medical Apparel.

J.B. saw a gap in the marketplace for better fitting, higher quality scrubs (a $60 billion global industry) and attacked it.

On this podcast episode, J.B. explains how—with a social media ground-game and a scrappy pre-launch strategy—you can start a thriving company on a tight entrepreneur’s budget.

Check out the podcast below to learn how J.B. made it happen, and don’t forget to subscribe!

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“You can start a business in a week and get it rollin’ if you just know who to talk to or you know what you’re doing.”

That’s what J.B. Reynold’s says. That’s because this is the golden age of entrepreneurship—there have never been more tools or knowledge freely available for entrepreneurs. Instead of hiring a full team — a huge investment for a scrappy startup  — you can just download 10 apps.

Developing an Entrepreneur’s Mindset

J.B.’s journey from the Air Force, to pharmacy school, to the CEO of an apparel brand, is an exciting one. At every step of the journey, he was forced to solve problems he’d never encountered before–from designing a scrub pattern (a blueprint for making clothes) to finding a manufacturer.

J.B. says that he owes part of his success to the “overcome any obstacle” mindset instilled in him by the military. He also probably owes part of it to being the youngest of seven and growing up a scrappy little fighter. Still, J.B. says that he had to completely change his mindset to succeed as an entrepreneur.

“You have to… learn to appreciate the grind. Fall in love with the journey. Fall in love with the process of getting through the roadblocks. Hitting the speedbumps and not slowing down. Learn to fall in love with your life sucking for a little bit.”

A Smart & Scrappy Pre-Launch Strategy

As entrepreneurs, one of the greatest obstacles we face (especially in the beginning) is finding startup capital.

What has made BeneFIT’s success so remarkable is that J.B. and his partners did not bring in any outside capital.

How did they make it happen? By building a respectable social media following, building hype, and perfectly executing a pre-launch sale that provided them all the capital they needed to get the ball rolling.

To learn more about how J.B. and his crew pulled it off—and a lot, lot more—check out the episode now.

Sorry, TLC, we love these scrubs! And you will too after listening!

What separates a professional photographer from an amateur?

The courage to jump in, over and over.

That’s what our newest coaches, Jenn Wilson and Charla Storey, have to teach us. They’re the two beautiful voices sharing their journeys from photography enthusiasts to thriving creative entrepreneurs on this episode of StartupCamp Stories. Listen below.

And you can get everything you need to become a professional photographer and open your own part- or full-time photography business in Jenn & Charla’s StartupCamp course, Develope.

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These days, it seems that everyone is an amateur photographer. But making that your career or profitable side-business is a whole different ball game.

Jenn and Charla have been there. Both of them faced make-or-break moments, and they chose to jump in with both feet. On this inspiring podcast episode, you’ll get to hear from them firsthand how they navigated the pitfalls and challenges of becoming professional photographers and creative entrepreneurs.

You’ll also learn:

Why photography “finds you”, not vice versa

What it’s like to capture people’s joy for a living

Why photography isn’t just fun, it’s important

The biggest challenges Jenn & Charla faced

How to take the first step to turn pro

This episode is packed with business advice and personal wisdom. Both Jenn and Charla faced high obstacles on their way from enthusiast to pros. They overcame them, and you can, too. That’s exactly why they created their StartupCamp course, Develope.

Let Jenn and Charla guide you to accomplishing your dream of becoming a professional photographer. Learn more here.

The best way to reach success is to first define it.

So you’ve got a great idea for a new product and are ready to bring it to market. Or maybe you’ve honed and tailored your skill and are ready to solve client problems. But what does success look like for your business? Where will it be in five years? How will it scale? Do you have a vision?

Ethan Dewhurst is a master of vision casting, so it’s no surprise he’s in the visual media industry. He is the founder of Champion City Media and this week’s the StartupCamp Stories podcast guest. In this new episode, we learn about navigating a new business, and all of its decisions, by following a well-established vision.

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Champion City Media didn’t happen overnight, nor did it happen with large amounts of initial capital or investors. As he describes it, Ethan had to “fake it ‘til you make it,” forcing him to think smart, rather than big, in his first couple of years. Knowing what he wanted to see from his business made it easier to take on the types of clients he wanted to work for, and hiring the team he wants to work with. Ethan is generous with his experience and knowledge—along with the importance of leading with a vision, we learn about:

Turning a hobby into a profession

Managing gradual and rapid growth

Keeping employees invested in their work

Knowing your worth

Balancing work and home life

Whether it’s short or long term, a solid vision is essential to building a lasting business that your employees and customers can get behind. Don’t miss the wisdom shared on this week’s episode.

How one woman got her hands dirty in order to build a skincare brand.

Bethany McDaniel is the owner and founder of Primally Pure, an all-natural skincare and beauty brand pulling in over 2 million dollars a year. If you ask her, she never set out to build such a successful business, but you’ll quickly realize exactly how she made it happen.

Her entrepreneurial interests were piqued after helping her family’s organic livestock farm grow from a hobby into a budding, profitable business. Drawing inspiration from the natural process of the farm and her passion for living healthy, Bethany started crafting her own skincare products for herself and friends. The idea of turning it into a full-time business never even occurred until she needed to make a little extra income for her family.

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Bethany’s story is remarkably simple and can be summed up in one word—relentless. Aware of the risks and excuses she could have easily made for herself, she doggedly persisted. She learned as she went, trading in mistakes for experience. Often overwhelmed, but never reluctant, Bethany took a full swing approach to making, growing, and sustaining a premium brand.

On this week’s StartupCamp Stories podcast, we’re given insight into:

Working with family

Transitioning from product management to people management

Identifying and dealing with weaknesses

The excuses we tell ourselves in the beginning

Bethany’s got a valuable take on why staying relentless is so vitally important to any growing business. You won’t want to miss it.

How do you build a million-dollar business selling on Amazon?

With hard work, fast learning, and maybe a little wisdom from our guest this week, e-commerce expert Jamie Vie. Jamie got his start sourcing products and selling on Amazon on nights and weekends. In a few months, he was able to leave his stable but stressful corporate job and begin his new life as an entrepreneur.

Jamie is a business coach, an e-commerce expert, and one of the newest leaders at StartupCamp. Along with Chris Graebe, he’s teaching entrepreneurs the art of selling on Amazon in StartupCamp’s new e-commerce course, AMZ Millionaire Blueprint. He’s also our guest on this this week’s episode of StartupCamp Stories. He’s here to shares some of the key lessons he learned building a million-dollar e-commerce business from home.

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Jamie Vie wasn’t always an entrepreneur. He had climbed the ranks and was working a job he loved, until a change in the industry turned his career into a corporate nightmare. He started selling on Amazon in his free time as a way to explore secondary income streams. In three months, he was turning a profit. Shortly thereafter, he left his daily grind and had started his new life as his own boss.

And now he’d like to teach you to do the same thing.

Jamie’s knowledge expands way beyond merely selling on Amazon. On this podcast episode, you’ll also learn:

How to anticipate your product’s life-cycle

The story behind Jamie’s nearly disastrous fling with Fidget Spinners

The real benefits of creating standard operating procedures and business collateral

How to manage outsourced help

Why getting uncomfortable is one of the best things you can do in business

Jamie’s message to entrepreneurs is: start now. Whether you want to be sourcing products and selling on Amazon, or you’re looking for some sage advice to help you take bold action, we know you’ll get a lot out of our conversation.

If you don’t know who you are, you’ll be whoever someone else pays you to be.

But you can only pretend for so long.

Those words have stuck with John Emery for a long time. They helped him and his wife, Elyse, to build Emery Agency, where they guide companies to discover their true identity: not who they want to be, not what they think would sell, but who they truly are.

Knowing who you are, how you lead, and your core competencies are crucial to knowing what your business is supposed to be. On this episode of StartupCamp Stories, you’ll learn how John figured out his business’s identity, and how you can spend your life chasing your dream–not someone else’s.

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Entrepreneurship allows you to be true to yourself, to make your passion your profession, and to live your best life.

But to be successful in this way, you need a clear, honest understanding of who you are and what the best version of your business looks like. Otherwise, you are still pursuing someone else’s dream, trying to live someone else’s life. And as we say at StartupCamp, this isn’t dress rehearsal.

On this episode of StartupCamp, John helps explain how we can know when we are operating as who we are and running our business accordingly.

But that’s just the start of what John has to teach us. He’ll also share some of his best advice from building an agency from the ground up, transitioning from a designer to the designer to the boss. You’ll learn whether you’re a front-end or a back-end leader, the one thing John tells all his new hires to lay a foundation for teamwork without egotism, and John’s rule of twenty-percent–the mark you should be looking for when you know it’s time to launch a project.

 

How a near-death experience helped Amber Lilyestrom transform her life and turn her business dreams into her reality.

Amber Lilyestrom was having an emergency c-section during the birth of her first child when she stopped breathing.

While she lay on the operating table, not sure if she would ever hold her baby, Amber was filled with a profound sense of gratitude. This incredible near-death experience changed the way she saw fear and the direction of her life forever: She quit her “safe” corporate job, started her own business, and decided to live each moment for herself and her family.

Now, Amber is a transformational brand strategist and business coach who has turned her business’s success into time and togetherness with her family. Here’s the story of how she did it:

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We all want guarantees in life: a salary we are comfortable with, a job we enjoy, a family we get to watch grow.

As Amber felt her lungs stop working, she realized that nothing in life is a guarantee. What’s more, the pure love and gratitude that came with her brush with death showed her that our greatest fear was not really worth worrying about. So what are we afraid of, anyway?

We won’t all have the kind of quantum leap in consciousness that Amber did, but we can learn from her story. Many of the things she realized in those fateful moments—that she had outgrown her job, that she wanted more out of her life, that she had been giving too much of herself to a system rather than her family—are things we know in our hearts already. We just need a little jolt to bring them up to the surface and make them reality.

On this episode of StartupCamp Stories, you’ll also learn:

How empathy can be a tremendous strength in business

Why you can’t have a business until you have a life

What to do when you are afraid to move forward

Why the people that love us can sometimes (accidentally) get in our way

As Amber would say, “If the dream is in you, it’s for you.”

Campers, dream on.