You don’t need a flight to feel far away. In our conversation with Kevin Wilson, we explore how a former sushi chef and restaurant owner is building Camp Yellow Cardinal, a 24.5-acre glamping retreat designed for couples who crave nature without sacrificing comfort. The vision is crisp: geodesic domes spaced for true privacy, king beds, hot tubs on every deck, an “invisible service” model that removes friction, and a ridge-top barrel sauna with a glass end facing the trees. It’s hospitality that feels intentional, not improvised.

Kevin walks us through the long road here—risking $10,000 at 24 to co-found Sticky To Go-Go, learning the gritty parts of operations, and later stepping into a corporate role to lead community, brand, and a pandemic webinar engine that served 16,000 people. Those lessons now power a data-informed hospitality plan: land-first economics, a location within 90 minutes of major Virginia markets, pricing that targets accessibility without losing the premium feel, and design choices that favor serenity over squeezing in more units. He breaks down realistic revenue targets, lean operations, and how tech plus thoughtful touchpoints can make service feel human and hands-off at the same time.

But the heart of this episode sits beyond spreadsheets. We dig into why couples need time and space to reconnect, how the outdoors can reset a restless mind, and why “work-life balance” is less useful than a clear set of values. Kevin shares the simple rituals he won’t compromise on—breakfast with his son, a date night scheduled every month—and how that mindset shapes the experience he’s crafting for guests. Expect practical detail for builders and entrepreneurs, plus vivid snapshots of what a weekend at Camp Yellow Cardinal will actually feel like: crackling fires, sunset decks, and stars you can almost touch.

If this sparks ideas—or wanderlust—follow Camp Yellow Cardinal on Instagram, join the newsletter at campyellowcardinal.com for first access to booking and discounts, and share this episode with a friend who needs a reset. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s your ideal nature escape?

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What if the fastest path to growth isn’t quitting your job, but changing how you show up inside it? Jessica Thomas joins us to share how she moved from healthcare operations through a pandemic storm into real estate leadership, co‑founding Impact Leverage while serving as Director of Operations at Pace of Richmond. Her secret isn’t hustle porn—it’s coaching, vision, and ownership.

We dig into the career visioning process at Keller Williams that flipped the script on hiring, why she now measures her worth with numbers not feelings, and how her team invests roughly 14% of its budget in education and executive coaching. Weekly one‑to‑ones start with “How are you?” and build toward motivation, goals, and the right “how.” The result is a culture that retains talent, scales systems, and creates leaders who think like owners.

Jessica also unpacks intrapreneurship: taking equity, sharing profit, and building new ventures without giving up the team you love. From launching Impact Leverage to stepping onto a national stage to teach their 10‑week business development model, she shows how operational people can be rainmakers when they codify value and tell that story. We talk org models, three‑ and five‑year vision, and the boring reps that compound into mastery. There’s even a wild property story that turns a $3,500 lot into a five‑figure win—proof that ownership is often about positioning, not permission.

If you’re a founder, operator, or aspiring intrapreneur, this conversation is a blueprint: publish your vision, invest in whole‑life coaching, and design compensation that rewards impact. Subscribe, share this with a teammate who needs a push, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we’ll read our favorites on the show.

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The glossy version of entrepreneurship skips the chapters that actually build empires: selling your car to fund fixtures, skipping paychecks to make payroll, and showing up at the front desk the day your team walks out. Natalie takes us into those rooms—how she left a legal career after harassment, turned weekend makeup gigs into a thriving salon brand, and rebuilt with a clearer culture and a steadier hand.

We get into the mechanics of sustainable growth: starting from a spare room, moving clients into a $900 downtown space, and using auctions, paint, and stubborn optimism to craft a premium experience on a tight budget. When the exodus hit, she learned hard lessons fast: fire quicker, protect culture, move good people into the right seats, and lead from calm, not fear. She also shares the expansion blueprint—why parking and neighborhood fit matter, how salon suites create owner-operators, and the upside of partnerships like bringing a luxury spray tan studio in-house to share acquisition costs.

If you’ve been burned by “experts,” the marketing section will feel like a deep breath. We talk real ROI vs. pretty grids, iPhone-first content that can outperform $7,000 rigs, monthly reporting that sparks iteration, and starting clients on smaller packages that scale only when revenue does. It’s practical, honest, and built on relationships. We also explore the personal engine behind it all: a marriage where a visionary founder pairs with a financially minded partner, kids learning tradeoffs in real time, and a community-first mission that makes clients feel seen through weddings, losses, and everyday life.

Subscribe for more unfiltered founder stories, share this with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review to tell us your biggest takeaway—and the one risk you’re finally ready to take.

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The moment machines rolled into the Netflix DVD warehouse, James had a choice: stay comfortable at the tables up front or learn the new tech no one wanted to touch. He chose the hard thing. That decision didn’t just save a job; it rewired how he approaches risk, skill, and ownership—and it led to building All American Pest Control and a franchise model designed to buy back your time.

We unpack the real journey behind that arc. James breaks down the streaming-era chaos, the painful lessons from selling stock too soon, and the mindset shift from “missing the window” to mastering financial literacy. He shares how government and private sector roles became a free university—CDL, pest control licensing, leadership training—and why “unsexy” essential industries like waste and pest control quietly mint resilient, high-margin businesses. If you’ve ever wondered where the reliable money hides, it’s in solving problems people can’t ignore.

From there, we dive into systems. James explains how his franchise offers territory protection, centralized advertising, CRM and design, full training, and AI-powered intake to compress the learning curve and keep owners focused on service and growth. We talk relationships too: being married to a fellow entrepreneur, trading strengths, and keeping the vision aligned when late nights collide with big goals. Parenting enters the chat with a fresh angle—time-rich conversations, college as an option rather than a mandate, and stacking certifications to build a defensible moat.

Pressed on his hardest moments, James points to fear and repetition: crawlspaces, unknowns, and choosing courage daily. The pattern repeats across his life—when most stepped back, he stepped forward. That’s the quiet thesis here: do the difficult work that compounds, and let your business pay you in time, not just cash.

Ready to turn essential problems into enduring profit—and freedom on your calendar? Tap play, subscribe for more real founder talks, and leave a review with the bold move you’ll make this week.

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What if your next client found you because you explained their future neighborhood better than anyone else? We sit down with Amanda of Richmond Living to unpack how she turned local curiosity into a thriving, search-driven real estate funnel—without chasing empty vanity metrics. From neighborhood tours on YouTube to green screen reels on Instagram, Amanda shows how practical storytelling, sharp titles, and clean audio can outperform glossy fluff and generate real conversations with buyers who are ready to move.

We walk through the system, not just the sizzle: why YouTube is the best place to capture relocation intent, how thumbnails and keywords set the first impression, and where Instagram fits as the fast-twitch discovery engine. Amanda explains her barbell approach to production—raw, human updates for speed and reach, paired with polished listing videos that earn trust and premium outcomes for sellers. She shares what actually moved the needle: consistent posting, simple hooks, curiosity-driven scripts (with a little AI help), and stories that invite direct replies. You’ll hear the pacing, prompts, and posting rhythm that built momentum to 28,000 followers in under a year and $13M in trackable pipeline.

There’s no hero myth here—just field-tested tactics and lessons from a tough early failure that reshaped how she learns and invests. If you want to build a local media flywheel that feeds your business, this conversation maps the route: serve first, master the small details, and connect the dots between platforms so casual scrollers become confident clients. Subscribe to stay ahead of the algorithm, share this with a friend who needs a nudge to start, and leave a review with the one tactic you’ll try this week.

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Risk without recklessness, rest without guilt, and the kind of reinvention that only comes from writing the truth down—this conversation with Monaca is a blueprint you can use today. We start with her military-rooted discipline and a decisive pivot from pharmacy to business, then follow the trail from auditing to door-to-door selling where she built a promotions company on connection instead of ads. The early lesson is unmistakable: talk to people like people, and everything else compounds.

When family life demanded new boundaries, she made them—moving the business out of her dining room, hiring help, and setting client expectations. That single decision unlocks scale and sanity. Then comes the leap into construction with a partner: roles clarified, systems documented, and a brave commitment to healthcare containment before it was trendy. She and her team flew out for ICRA training, stocked PPE before shortages, and built the niche expertise that hospitals needed when COVID hit. Preparedness met opportunity, and the phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

The turn no one sees coming is personal. A sudden separation forces a reckoning with narcissism, trauma bonds, and unspoken patterns. A therapist’s prompt—write the letter you’ll never send—opens a vein. The letter becomes pages, the pages become a bestselling book with a companion journal that helps others find language and healing. Monaca's throughline is clear: put goals and grief on paper, decide in daylight, and hire people who outshine you. Say yes, then earn the yes with training, tools, and follow-through.

If you’re building a business, navigating burnout, or trying to heal while you lead, there’s something here for you: niche positioning, boundaries that make you better, and simple practices like journaling and weekly focus routes that actually move the needle. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to tell us what risk you’re ready to take next.

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The conversation starts with a simple premise: when access is designed into sports, athletes don’t just participate—they excel. We sit down with Sportable’s Director of Strategic Partnerships to unpack how a small Richmond nonprofit grew from four staff to sixteen, expanded to 18+ adaptive sports, and hosted back‑to‑back National Wheelchair Basketball Association championships, all while keeping independence at the center of every program. The result is a ground‑level view of what it takes to build pathways from first‑time participants to elite competitors without losing the social heartbeat that keeps people coming back.

We explore how new programs come to life—like adaptive golf—by aligning athlete interest with community partners such as First Tee Greater Richmond, VSGA, and indoor golf facilities that make year‑round training possible. You’ll hear the nuts and bolts of adaptations that unlock performance: racing chairs vs handcycles, vertical carts that enable a full swing, and the coaching frameworks that emphasize independence over dependency. We also talk logistics and scale: traveling seasons for wheelchair basketball and rugby, Richmond Region Tourism’s role in landing national events, and the Henrico Sports & Event Center’s accessibility features that set a new bar for hosting. Along the way, we hit on why demand is rising—more Paralympic coverage, stronger DEI commitments, and social media that finally shows adaptive sport at full speed.

Volunteers and sponsors are the force multipliers. From one‑to‑one cycling support on the Capital Trail to tournament clock crews and hospitality, consistent hands make programs safer and more sustainable. Fundraising blends program sponsorships with a citywide tailgate drive that turns stories into support and unrestricted dollars into gear, staffing, and transport. Through it all, we keep returning to a core idea: equitable experiences. If pro events have hydration partners, branding, and seamless operations, then adaptive events should, too—and Sportable is building that standard in RVA.

Want to get involved, play, or partner? Visit sportable.org and follow @SportableRVA. If this story moved you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more unfiltered entrepreneur and nonprofit spotlights, and leave a review so others can find the show.

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What if your meeting room could lower cortisol, sharpen attention, and make hard conversations easier? We sit down with Christian Markow of Lost Office to explore the overlooked science of workspace design—how plants, light, materials, scent, and music quietly rewire how teams think, feel, and collaborate.

Christian traces his path from English major to global brand strategist, sharing hard-won lessons from experience design with organizations like Chick-fil-A and major consumer brands. We break down what truly differentiates a business once quality and pricing are comparable: how you behave, the details you sweat, and the way your space tells a story. From biophilic design that measurably boosts focus to lighting temperatures that reduce fatigue, Christian explains practical upgrades leaders can make this month for meaningful ROI on productivity and morale.

We also tackle AI with a clear stance: use it to clear the busywork, not to replace judgment. Christian shares a Socratic approach to AI that asks better questions, preserves human taste, and amplifies craft. The result is faster starts and higher finishes—more time for originality, culture, and the tiny touches customers remember. Rounding it out, we get real about burnout and presence, trading the myth of daily balance for weekly rhythms that protect deep work and family time.

Ready to rethink your office as a performance tool? Tune in for an actionable playbook on biophilic design, lighting science, neurodiversity, and AI-enabled creativity. If this conversation sparked a change you’ll try, share it with a friend, leave a quick review, and hit subscribe so you never miss what’s next.

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A $20 palm, a New Jersey sunroom, and a bold move to Virginia—Connie Hom traces how a simple love for plants became Buckingham Greenery, a 40-year interior landscaping brand known for retention, reliability, and real wellness at work. We dig into the early days when a tiny Yellow Pages ad landed hospital and retail clients, then follow the playbook that scaled service across cities: local technicians, centralized operations, and a brand promise that facility managers love—hassle-free, consistent, and proactive.

Connie breaks down the systems behind client and employee loyalty, from closing support loops to training field techs as the visible face of the brand. She shares the 100-penny exercise that makes company finances tangible and teaches smart tradeoffs, plus the culture shifts that matter: four-day workweeks most Fridays, clear expectations with clients, and genuine rest that fuels better work. We explore why biophilic design beats plastic decor, how to buffer copy-center emissions with living plants, and the research-backed benefits that make green workplaces calmer, healthier, and more productive.

There’s a powerful throughline here: evolve without losing your core. Hire experts earlier than feels comfortable. Delegate creative ownership to raise the bar. Invest in uniforms, trucks, and social media that make your brand visible and memorable. And define success on your terms—service, wellness, and relationships that outlast market swings. If you’ve wondered how to keep clients for decades, reduce burnout, or build a company people are proud to represent, you’ll leave with a practical blueprint and a fresh respect for living design.

If this conversation moved you, follow the show, share it with a builder who needs it, and leave a quick review—your feedback helps more entrepreneurs find the roadmap.

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What if fear—not money—is the real reason most dream renovations never happen? That’s the spark for this conversation with kitchen and bath designer Lea Yeager, who turned a health reset and a pandemic into the launchpad for a thriving, CAD-powered design studio. We get into the exact moves that made it work: building a commission bridge while starting up, pitching design value inside a countertop shop, and pairing her eye for function with her husband Brent’s deep Chief Architect skills to create lifelike renderings that remove client doubt.

We talk about the mindset that fuels momentum—law of attraction, confident presence, and relationship-first networking—and why it’s not fluff when it consistently opens doors. Lea shares the moment she stopped discounting forever and the downstream effects founders forget: price signals value, filters clients, and protects your time. She also offers a simple, powerful tactic for boundary-setting: waivers when a client insists on risky choices, from marble patina to awkward layouts, to safeguard trust without a fight.

If you’re here for design, there’s plenty: why layered kitchens beat all-white in warmth and resale, how wide drawers outperform upper cabinets for daily use, what makes an island actually work (hint: 42-inch walkways), and how a bold black kitchen helped sell a high-end home fast. We also explore growth without burnout—staying nimble, adding selectively, and planning a future where design remains a craft, not just a business unit.

Hit play for practical entrepreneurship, real design strategy, and the kind of honesty that helps you make your next move with less fear and more clarity. If this episode moved you or gave you a tactic you’ll use this week, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

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