Action and Ambition

Welcome to another episode of Action and Ambition. Today's guest is Ross Gordon. Ross is the CEO of Catch Co, a company selling products and experiences for the modern angler. Ross turned his hobby into a lifelong dream, and the company is very keen on helping others to explore their passions. Catch Co’s “hero” product is the Mystery Tackle Box. The product is a monthly subscription box with an expertly curated selection of the best bait and tackle to succeed at the local fishing hole. You're going to love this episode, let's get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Phillip Lanos. Today’s guest is CR Celona. Celona is the Founder/CEO of CLUSTER, a new on-demand social impact platform. It empowers Millennials and Gen Z to create, share, and scale the causes that matter most to them. CR  has 20 years of Digital Media Management experience with National Senior Agency + Client Relationships. Influencer Marketing Founder. He specialized in; Ad Sales, Lean Thinking, Business Development, Social Media, FTC/GDPR Compliance, SaaS Product Development, Scalable Growth, and Emerging Technologies.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! What is CR About? (1:03) A large part of their mission is tied to the idea that people are powerful.  CR believes that the majority of people do not know how powerful they are. For example, CR says, imagine you are taking a selfie and you post that selfie you might get 100 followers and 10 interactions, and that would be an achievement.  Then say you post a selfie of you with a kitten you just rescued, something very human and you post that out to your friends, and suddenly you see 10x more followers, likes, and comments.  What you realize from that is social functionally is social but we need and seek human interactions.  We, as humans, seek positivity, and we also seek real things.  The irony of digital media is that it extracted the human from a lot of those behaviours and a lot of what we get from that is that these platforms are very insular in nature. Each person has functionally built their own micro-publishing platform. If everyone is powerful, which they are, a lot of us like giving back because the feeling of it is a quite powerful inside of us.  When you help someone else, you feel better about yourself.  CR thought what if there was a platform that allowed you to simplify giving back, utilizing your existing digital platform and an echo chamber for the things you care most about.  What if all of that gave you better engagement, more reach allows you to be discovered, and eventually, maybe that way of giving back that you love could be turned into a potential opportunity, future for income.  What does CR mean with our design is our culture? (29:01) There is a lot of ethos that we follow. CR’s company is fairly new for a lot of his teammates. For CR, however, it is familiar because he came up with the concept and built it.  Even though CR lost his father at a young age, he still felt lucky because his father recruited their CTO out of the CIA at the end of the cold war.  The CTO is currently CR’s uncle Stuart, and he was CR’s father’s business partner for the 15-20 years they were together where they did some amazing things.  They also had catastrophic failures and wild ideas, but whenever CR has called with them, they reflect on everything. It is like having a vision of his father’s life to CR.  When CR says or does certain things his uncle will call him up and say his dad used to do that, he’d ask if CR knew he did it and most of the time CR would say no.  Not everyone associates their family with their business, but CR has found it largely beneficial even though he is big on working with friends. People say do not make business personal, but CR finds that everything is personal regardless. He tries not to let things hurt or phase him, but life business is personal, and his missions are personal. CR believes managers make all of the difference, and he was lucky that early in his career, he had a highly reviewed automotive website that discovered him.  That was how CR got into technology. CR started as a street racer in New York, even though it was a lot of fun, CR says it is best to do racing on an actual racetrack.  Clusters of Change Clusters of Change provides mentorship and tools to inspire and help clusters, ecosystems, innovation agencies and governments employ new scalable models and become entrepreneur-driven entities that spur exponential growth. It's time to move away from 'clusters-as-usual' and join the movement for 'clusters-of-change'! Resources Connect with CR: LinkedIn Clusters of Change: Website Connect with Phillip: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Phillip Lanos. Today’s guest is Michael Stausholm. Michael Stausholm is the founder of Sprout. Since the company was founded in 2013, Sprout has sold more than 25 million plantable...

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Phillip Lanos. Today’s guest is Lorna Johnson! Lorna Johnson is a spiritual teacher, genius alchemist, transformational coach and author. She teaches SuperConscious Awakening. Lorna was an executive in corporate America for 15 years where she helped build and run multimillion-dollar businesses and then went through a soul death, experienced several nervous breakdowns, became suicidal and was diagnosed with two mental illnesses. She then underwent a profound awakening and the birth of her new soul, which led her to launch her ground-breaking transformational business, bringing it to $1 million in revenue in ten months using unconventional means. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Lorna find success during her darkest times? (0:21) Lorna had an excellent career for about 15 years. She was part of corporate America, and during the time of following the path that everyone follows, Lorna was doing well, she sat on boards of companies, she helped build and grow great companies.  On the outside, everything was great, but on the inside, everything was falling apart. The people that Lorna works with now generally have the same story. Lorna now works with people who have a spiritual calling, and have spent their lives scared of that calling.  They were unsure if that calling would bring them money and allow them to live the life that they want to live. There’s a lot within their culture and their myths that spirituality is a noble path of its own and you shouldn’t have to make lots of money from it.  You should be comfortable in the sense that you aren’t starving. Lorna travelled the path herself; she chose to push through the course. She realised that her corporate job did not allow her to live her purpose. Lorna came from a lot of priests and missionaries, but her message was quite different from their belief systems. Lorna talks a lot about a feminine God or the feminine divine. She feels she is now living her purpose.  How does Lorna teach her message to others? (8:58) One of the most confronting aspects of Lorna’s teachings is that there are no victims in life. Lorna is not a victim to her mind; she chose her mind. Before she incarnated she picked this mind not knowing it was going to be very “wet”. When she checked herself into the clinic, and she got all of the neuropsychological tests, she was there for three days, and they scanned her brain. The doctor said he would talk to her about the ADT stuff later, but he wanted to show her her brain compared to others, and he showed her how her brain was wired opposite of most people.  She chose that because that is what’s required for her to bring through the next level of spiritual teachings that are here and ready for people to hear. She has a different way of looking at the world and processing information. She sees it as her blessing.  It is also her curse. She says it was not the universe that was against her, but instead, she wouldn’t let her higher self have the driver’s seat in her life, and that is what caused her suffering, and eventually, she found the courage to pursue her higher self.  During her corporate jobs, how did Lorna cope with things before diving into metaphysics? (20:55) Lorna says that she was living two lives, her nine to five life and then her evening and weekend life. During the evenings and weekends, she was going to retreats and going to workshops. Daily she was talking to her intuitive or psychic self or her shaman, getting readings. She studied a lot of archetypal work and a lot of Yung’s work until she got certified as a union dream analyst.  She studied metaphysics and philosophy in college, and she already had a robust, holistic base, She devoured all knowledge she could find, but the problem was that they did not apply to the message she was trying to convey.  Most people know, but they think that alone is enough. It satisfies the realisation that there is no meaning in their nine to five job and feels a lack of authenticity. She found a home between the people who are considered the black sheep of the world. But it allows people to be disingenuous with their spiritual path because they don’t apply it to their nine to five world and that is what Lorna did for 15 years until she came into her spiritual path.  Dark Euphoria  Home of the Luxe Godhead, this is a portal of consciousness that will transport you through a black hole, and out into the multiverse. The rules are different here. It's dark and uncomfortable. They will show you where consciousness began. They will show you how to play with the codes of the time. They will show you real magic. Prepare to become a true master of manifestation and alchemy. Resources Connect with Lorna: Instagram Dark Euphoria: Website Connect with Phillip: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Philip Lanos. Let’s get to it! Today’s guests are Moira and Raynae Taylor. Mother-daughter team Moira and Raynae Taylor are the Owners of Taylor Made Realty based in Atlanta and they work with buyers and sellers, they offer property management services and have their own real estate school. You’re going to love this episode. What advice can Moira give to someone looking to move to Atlanta? (3:00) Georgia is one of the few states that are still fairly affordable to enter into.  Anyone entering would be able to buy an entry-level home for below $200,000. An intermediate buy on their second or third home would probably be able to place home at the mid-two-four hundreds.  Therefore Georgia has a pretty affordable market.  Atlanta is the number one market for anyone looking for jobs.  There are a lot of companies that are headquartered there.  The opportunity for jobs is great and the price of living is low.  Someone could come in on an entry-level basis and they could easily enter the home and job market.  Particularly people coming from California or New York notice the massive change in the cost of living.  Some people selling their homes in California come to Atlanta and are blown away by the fact that a lot of them can almost buy a new house in cash and double the square footage they had before. How can people prepare to buy a home? (4:35) The number one thing is savings. Having your money ready and your down payment correct at the time of purchase is important.  Credit is the second thing to look at. Lastly, your level of income also played a factor.  But going back on the first thing, you have to be able to in that price range and you have to be able to pay your down payment because very few products in that range do not require a down payment.  FHA requires a 3.5% downpayment, which is not a lot but you still have money to put down. Something in the traditional sense of convention lending will require around a 20% down payment.  New homeowners or first-time buyers will typically go for the FHA product to still have money left after.  The 3.5% does not include your closing costs which would normally be around 3-6% of the purchase price of the home.  The lowest amount you should set aside is close to 10%. The right way to do it however is to have about 20% set aside before you start looking at homeownership.  The realistic factor however is that a lot of people won’t have that amount of money saved.  What culture do Moira and Raynae have within the workplace? (15:35) They are very close-knit and family-oriented.  This extends to people who work with them as well, they feel like family.  They focus on building that culture with an open door policy. They really care about their employees and they make them feel like they actually want to celebrate their birthdays.  They want to know when they’re going to have their baby and even celebrate their anniversaries. They do lunches together and they talk about more than just business at meetings.  They want to make sure that everyone has a good time working there.  They also have a strong team that knows how to get the job done so they do not need to micromanage and they get to celebrate and empower their employees to do their jobs happily and efficiently.  Taylor Made Realty The Taylor Made Realty team has over 35 years of combined experience. They pride themselves in providing premier services with integrity and personalized customer service.  Possessing a vast industry background in property management and realty services they currently serve metro Atlanta and all surrounding counties.   At Taylor Made Realty they take a unique approach to property management and real estate. Through their property management services, they leverage their background in structuring investment portfolios to maximize returns for their clients.  Additionally, they are not only active in the real estate industry but teach courses to other agencies and companies to stay current on the latest trends and changes that would benefit their clients.  Resources Connect with Moira: LinkedIn Connect with Raynae: LinkedIn Taylor Made Realty: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

 Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Donna Giraud. Donna Giraud is one of Vancouver's most sought-after abstract artists. She strives to tell stories through texture where the viewer can envision a world thriving because of love, hope, and kindness. Donna's work is hanging in private and commercial spaces all over North America. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Donna get to where she is now? (1:47) Donna is an abstract painter that lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  She has spent the last 10-15 years, creating a niche for herself in the art world.  She paints large textual pieces, and her vision is to tell stories through the texture that she makes on canvases.  Her words are usually about how we are better together, hope, and kindness.  From the very beginning, art found Donna.  She was always attracted to the abstract form. There is something about standing in front of something that doesn’t necessarily look like something and having the viewer go through a journey of figuring out what it means.  It is not about what the artist was trying to say but rather what the viewer feels it means for themselves.  Over the years, Donna found people stopping in their tracks when they get to her work and bawling positive tears.  Donna thought that she had a gift to tell stories, and she wanted to share this gift with the world.  Donna wanted to live her life positively, and she has always wanted to shed light on negative things.  She has no space for toxic people’s energies.  She started to pay attention to people and their conversations.  Her art has evolved, and paying attention to people helped her build it even further.  How did Donna cope with the pandemic? (13:47) Before they went into quarantine, Donna was prepping for one of her solos shows that she does annually.  She also runs a gallery in Yaletown, which is a swanky neighborhood in Vancouver.  She runs the Gallery with three other artists, and she plans her annual solo shows six to eight months in advance.  This massive event with bartenders, doorkeepers, and lots of artwork was going to launch in May, and then COVID happened.  No one was getting together in groups of hundreds, let alone outside of your house.  Donna had to do something. She had to choose whether they would ride it out and see what happens later on, or she could try something different.  Donna considers herself quite tenacious, and so she decided to try something different.  She taught herself how to pivot and adapt to go online. She created an entire portion of her website for her virtual show.  Her husband filmed her in the gallery by herself. They went around and spoke about all of the artwork. She laid out the website so that people could come ‘in’ and join them.  It took a lot of work and adapting mere minutes before the show, but it was a huge turning point in Donna’s career.  From now on, she will always do a virtual component. She sold 8 out of 11 pieces within 48 hours to all the new people who have never even seen her art in real life.  People historically have to take the time to see a piece of art, fall in love with it, discuss it, but with the virtual show, the purchase button was continually going. The virtual show was a big success. She made eight more pieces and launched another show in September.  That show almost sold out as well.  The virtual shows have given Donna and her gallery recognition among people not just from Vancouver but worldwide.  People are getting comfortable with the idea of purchasing and just being online and having confidence in the whole process. As an artist, this has been the most financially rewarding year so far.  Donna Giraud Art "I paint my soul on canvas, and I believe art should make you feel something. I believe in inspiring others by sharing secrets, so we can all succeed, and I believe that buying art should be a positively unforgettable experience." ~ Donna Resources Connect With Donna: Instagram Donna Giraud Art: Website Connect With Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Christoph Bertsch. Christoph Bertsch founded Vejo in 2015 after going through a personal journey to improve his health. Through building Vejo, Christoph uncovered many facts about the food industry, ultimately realizing that Vejo would have to develop its entire ecosystem to provide accessible, personalized, and convenient nutrition. How did Christoph get to where he is now? (0:24) Christoph was never employed. He was somewhat the black sheep of the family.  He went straight into building his own business.  By 21, he had his first business and software company in Germany. The company is still around.  A couple of years later, he started a fashion brand that is still around in Europe.  In 2008 he started a company that became the world’s market leader for explanatory. Videos.  Christoph is a free spirit, and he likes to build companies. He enjoys living on the edge. He finds it attractive to see the stages from the wild beginnings of businesses and create structure within them.  Who is Christoph’s target market? (6:21) Christoph believes that they have started a bit of a niche. In the beginning, they did not know much about the impact of nutrition on the human body. They said if they can move the needle for an Olympic gold medalist, they can move the needle for anybody.  They focused mainly on athletes at the start, and they bought it to another level.  They took athletes’ blood and looked at their biomarkers with doctors, which they had as staff.  They made the personalized cleanse routines and wrote them food edit schedules too. After three months, they retook blood work and looked to see if they could improve their overall health.  They wanted to cut inflammation down in their body, and they saw that it was working. They don’t just throw some vitamin B or C into your body without knowing what your body needs.  They carefully and scientifically measure what you need, remeasure, adjust as you go through the plan, and always monitor the impact nutrition has on high-end athletes. They started forming teams, and more high-end athletes join daily, including some celebrities have joined the program. They created their product line, which is now on the mass market, so everything started in a tight niche for high-end athletes, and now it is available for the masses.  What is the vision that Christoph wants to accomplish? (17:45) Right now, they are trying to survive until the Christmas business, where they usually sell out of the product.  They have ordered 10,000 of their products and 3.000 have already been sold. Christoph wants to see that speed up and how the business continues to grow in Germany. They hit a milestone recently for their purchasing revenue projection four months from now.  Building a global supply chain has been challenging, but they are getting it done.  They have a community of users that appreciate it when the company is transparent with them. The mission of the company is to get a device in every person’s hand.  When you work out, Christoph’s company has the stuff you need to take it further in terms of personalized nutrition, and for older people, it helps them understand their body and what it needs.  The brand has become global wellness, health brand and with fitness and health comes happiness.  They aim to survive the holidays, and next year they want to expand to 7 more countries.  Vejo Vejo is the world's first pod-based nutrition delivery system. More than a blender, this smart, rechargeable & portable device pairs with nutritious & 100% natural blends prepared in 30 seconds. They believe that health begins with your nutrition and your ability to access healthy food whenever - wherever. Resources Connect with Christoph: LinkedIn Vejo: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Jonah Allen is a photographic artist based in Northwest Florida who focuses on the relationship between water and light. Jonah's artwork is collected around the USA, and Allen is a rising entrepreneur. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Jonah find success in such a niche business? (2:02) Jonah says he lives an incredible life. He forgets the line between his passion and his career.  He is always chasing waves and the relationship between water and light daily. It is a pretty incredible thing to do that.  Jonah lives 100 steps from the beach by lifestyle choice.  He grew up landlocked in Atlanta, Georgia, and he always felt disconnected from that so he moved down to the ocean.  It enables him to work because the beach is where he does, it’s where he makes his images, and it also allows him to surf and just live an overall lavish lifestyle.  Jonah does other artistic mediums, too, but his sole focus is making photographic images.  Jonah calls himself a photographic artist, not a photographer because nowadays, everyone is a photographer if they have an iPhone. Every day people are bombarded by images from advertisements and social media.  We see thousands of images every day, so for Jonah, a photographic artist is someone who puts themselves in fascinating places and situations to make intentful photographs.  A photographer is someone who is traditionally hired by a client to make images for that client. Jonah makes the images that he wants to make and then sells them to people who collect them as art pieces.  How did Jonah get to the business side of his art? (5:43)   Jonah’s primary source of income is the sales from his prints.    Jonah states that it was not easy starting.  However, he says that anything worthwhile is not easy.  Jonah started to make images when he was 25 or 26.  Ten years ago, making his images, he never thought he would be an artist or photographer.  He fell into it because he saw an opportunity where he lived. It took him around three years to get to a point where he is generating a significant income. Jonah does not have a gallery. In the art world, you have a middle man, or you have an art gallery. They take about 50% if they make a sale.  Jonah operates with some art galleries, but most of his sales are generated himself. He does not have his gallery. He does it all online.  He says it’s mostly about marketing and having systems in place that enable you to scale your marketing.  What marketing strategies does Jonah use? (7:24) Technology has removed the middle man. You can now see technology driving creative businesses in the future.  Marketing as a visual artist, it is hard to create a specific brand for yourself.  Jonah says right now; there is a golden opportunity for creatives. There has never been a time where artists have had more access to getting their work out there than now.  As an artist, you are trying to get your art, your message, your value proposition in terms of business out there to as many people as you can.  Through social media and websites, you can find your audience and make a living off that audience. It takes a substantial amount of time; it is not something that happens overnight. It’s a slow grind and slow build before it becomes something big.  In marketing, you have seeds, nets, and spears. You can plant many seeds that will eventually sprout, whether they are referrals or advertising, but you are planting seeds.  With nets, your message to a lot of people about what you are about, and spears are your targeted outreach to specific people of influence who you want to work with, want to get to know, and what your dream is.  Jonah Allen Studio Jonah Allen Studio is a fine artist based in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Jonah's work is layered by landscape, ocean, surf, and outdoor subjects. Resources Connect with Jonah: LinkedIn Jonah Allen Studio: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guests are Laura Cole and Todd Renard. Laura Cole is passionate about helping businesses connect with their customers. As Vice President of Marketing for Vivial, she uses her entrepreneurial spirit to lead Vivial’s marketing functions, including internal communications, research, branding, public relations, advertising, sales support, go-to-market product strategy, and corporate brand vision.  Todd Renard is the Digital marketing executive for Vivial with an established performance track record for innovation and execution, balancing strategy, tactics, and logistics. Developing innovative digital products that help organizations grow their business is his passion. Todd had spent the last 20 years identifying, evaluating, and bringing to market product and partnership opportunities for leading advertising technology companies.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! What has kept Laura and Todd at Vivial so long? (2:13) A lot of their clients also ask this question.  It is not abnormal when they are sitting in a boardroom talking to a potential client for them to receive this question.  They then go around the table, and all employees would mention their tenure with the company.  Most employees have very similar tenures with Vivial. Vivial has won Best Places to Work several years in a row for many of their locations, offices, and honestly, the whole company.  Vivial’s employees are a happy bunch, and they love what they are doing. It’s turned into a culture that breeds innovations and autonomy.  They are fortunate across the board to have employees that have been there a long time and are dedicated to the mission.  For Todd, another thing has been that the people he works with, although the company refers to themselves as an agency, they are also a development and solution shop.  They build many of their products, and they can only use other products and services only to use different products and services reinvent what they are doing.  How have they been able to leverage COVID-19 to be advantageous for the company? (11:11) They do not think that they have leveraged COVID much.  Unlike many businesses, they were not impacted in the same way by the pandemic.  From a product road mapping standpoint, they have been thinking about the product set well before the pandemic hit businesses hard.  They are always thinking about the value that can be provided over just building out features.  When the pandemic hit, it became much more critical that they did not focus on the less meaningful things and instead focused on the things that could make a difference.  In the DNA of Vivial employees, they have a focused need to help small to medium local businesses.  So when the pandemic hit, the company was thinking about what they could do to help everyone struggling.  They did things like predominant advertising programs, for example;  They approached many businesses that they knew were hit hard and said that instead of canceling their program, they offered to reduce their plan until they found themselves back in a position to continue their original program. So they retracted without canceling or pausing client programs during the time, so they were continually invested in their success.  Vivial has reacted well to the environment, and their clients have appreciated that.  What is the biggest obstacle when it comes to customer retention? (22:02) You have to find ways to figure out how involved a customer wants to be.  When you get that wrong, and you believe a customer wants to be engaged, but it’s apathy, and they aren’t engaging, it’s because they don’t think there is value. For some programs that Vivial runs, the client needs to be engaged, and if you don’t have that voice of the business owner, you can miss something.  Misjudging how engaged a client is and wants to be is an essential factor in customer retention.  Vivial Vivial has been providing marketing products and services to small and medium-sized businesses across the U.S. for over 100 years. Vivial's mission is to help you grow your business, whether with our easy-to-use and affordable local online marketing technology or a custom marketing campaign that we create, implement, and monitor for you. Resources Connect with Laura: LinkedIn Connect with Todd: LinkedIn Vivial: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Angie Tebbe. Angie Tebbe is the Co-Founder of Rae Wellness, a cult-favorite collection of affordable, evidence-based wellness products. Since its founding in September 2019, Rae has experienced triple-digit-growth by building off of a unique and successful launch strategy as well as maintaining an attainable and affordable presence. Rae was sold exclusively online and quickly garnered a robust digital company among consumers, allowing them to expand their footprint with Target nationwide in January 2020. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How has Angie mitigated toxic workplace cultures through her brand and personal life? (1:22) Angie believes it the authenticity of her brand and who Angie is as a person that helped her move forward and start a movement through her brand. Two years ago, Angie was at a place where she had an impressive corporate career and with two lovely sons at home.  But she was decreasing her priority list, and she was not taking care of her wellbeing.  Angie had an opportunity to think about what wellness meant to her personally and professionally together.  She thought about how she could bring that together not just for herself but for others going through what she was.  Angie grew up in a holistic household. Her mom was a nurse, and her dad was into Reiki in Homeopathy.  She says fondly that they were the weird family meditating on the lawn in Fargo, North Dakota.  She wanted to honor that with her brand, she left her corporate career to pursue her well being.  She sought to do that in several ways, supplements included.  She believes there is no amount of kale that can replace what women naturally put out. And so, she believes in the power of supplementation.  What she found, however, was that everything was either way too expensive or in the form of something like gummies containing a lot of sugar.  She did not find any brands that spoke to her about what she wanted and needed at that point.  It’s what sparked her idea for her brand, and she put her head down and pursues it daily.  What challenges has Angie faced since starting her brand? (4:51)   The first two years of building a company are quite crazy.    Everybody starting a company would tell you that they were prepared for the fullest, most unforgiving, but fulfilling two years of their lives.  Angie states precisely what it is; you need strong commitment and tenacity; you have to have an incredible mission.  Angie does not believe that just after two years, you are no longer in a startup. She believes startup is a continual process, and your aspirations have to be high. You do sometimes need to ask yourself if this is going to happen, but what is essential for a new leader of a new company or brand, you have to love the process of building it.  You have to be motivated by the challenges, and you have to be tethered, and you cannot forget why.  The why you started in the first place is very important. It’s your ‘North Star’ on the bad days and your ‘North Star’ on the perfect days. Angie believes it takes a different level of love for the process, commitment, and tenacity.  The years will keep coming, and you must see it as the journey it is.  What Angie has found a combination of how she grew up and honoring what she knew about the holistic approach to wellbeing through everything she learned has made starting her company a very fulfilling journey.  Rae Wellness Founded in 2019, Rae Wellness quickly became a cult-favorite among women for its affordable pricing and innovative formulas. The brand delivers products that are vegan, non-GMO, and free from gluten, added sugar, artificial preservatives, harmful fillers, and colorants. Rae is also championing nutrition, wellness, and confidence for the next generation of women by providing 5% of all revenue to Girls Inc. – the nonprofit organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through direct service and advocacy. Resources Connect with Angie: LinkedIn Rae Wellness: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Jay Ives. Jay Ives is the founder of Jives Media. Jay lives at the crossroads of storytelling, design, data, and tech. As a lifecycle marketer, his goal is to strengthen the relationship between businesses and customers by turning engagement opportunities into meaningful, profitable moments. From Fortune 500 organizations to high-growth startups, Jay has led marketing teams to increase awareness, activation, and retention by better understanding their customer. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! What advice has Jay been teaching during the pandemic? (1:16) Jay says the stats are as follows; there are about 30 million small businesses that employ nearly 60 million workers in the U.S. One in 5 small businesses has shut down since January.  Jay wants to do as much as he can to help these local businesses.  The truth of the matter is that they’re not getting the proper funding from the government right now.  Many businesses are figuring out how to pivot and position themselves in this new socially distanced world.  For Jay, it has been exciting being in the trenches with them to figure out a game plan. Jay helps them figure out how to grow their digital presence during this global pandemic. Jay’s teamwork on the digital marketing side of things for people. They educate them on how to observe data to figure out which channels are and aren’t working.  They are working to increase brand awareness at a holistic level. What trends does Jay see coming in the future? (8:54) Jay believes that people are going to continue to rely on digital media more now than ever before.  People are spending a lot of time at home; screen time is increasing. This might not necessarily be the best thing for our mental health. For marketers, that is an excellent thing for them to take note of.  Behaviors are also changing, with a lot of his clients historically, some of them did well on weekdays, Monday to Friday. With people spending more time at home, they are sometimes working more or better on the weekends and vice versa.  Consumer behavior trends and employee set work times are changing and adapting.  Jay believes it will only continue to evolve over the next few months and years.  What is the legacy that jay wants to leave behind? (14:36) Jay wants to show people that there is a lot of good that can come out of helping these small businesses. Small businesses fail; people fail.  Going back to that 30 million small business out there, they have a ton of impact and influence on the market, public health, and communities.  We need to get out there and help support them in any way you can.  If you are a small business owner, this is the time to adapt and evolve and do this quickly.  Thinking back to the great recession of ‘08-’09, many of the world’s most significant companies were birthed during that time.  Looking back, Jay believes there will be a ton of great ideas and companies that are generated through the COVID-19 period. Business owners must just move quickly and aggressively. They must keep finding new ways to market, new ways to engage clients, and win customers. Jives Media Jives Media is a full-stack digital marketing agency that helps businesses large and small with web design, hosting, search engine marketing (PPC & SEO), and social media solutions. Resources Connect with Jay: LinkedIn Jives Media: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Josh Luber. Josh Luber is the co-founder and CEO of the disruptive stock market-modeled online sneaker marketplace, StockX. Within a short timespan, Josh has transformed sneaker resale and turned StockX into a $1 Billion business. Luber founded many online companies before StockX, including Servinity, that went bankrupt due to the financial crash in 2008. Luber worked a consulting job after that, and in 2012, he used sneaker sales data to launch Campless, the precursor to StockX. He is also the founder and CEO of Stealth Trading Card companies and is moving on to his 5th and 6th startups.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! What was the process like for Josh while starting his businesses? (3:32) Looking back, Josh says he had some kind of corporate job between each of his startups.  His life also changed exponentially between each of his startups as he started a family.  Starting a business is always a risk for everyone involved, and anything that happens during a startup can change how it goes drastically.  Josh’s last startup had to shut down before exiting because of the crash in 2008-2009.  Josh was in Atlanta during that time, and it had a terrible job market; he eventually took a job in IBM, which had him move to New York. As a strategy consultant in NYW, the city was a jumping-off point for capitalists, which ended up becoming StockX. As a startup guy working in IBM, it’s a good company because it’s the definition of big corporations and bureaucracy.  If you find yourself in that position, you have to start working and looking for stuff to do on the inside.  Josh believes that if he never went to work at IBM, StockX would’ve never happened because it allowed him to accumulate enough taste and skill level with data to ask the right questions. So even though his experience at a Law firm and IBM might look like anomalies on Josh’s resumé, they were both massively helpful in all of his endeavors.  What was the data that Josh saw that made him start StockX? (10:12) Josh says that it is extraordinary that what is happening in terms of data in the trading cards right now is almost identical to what was happening in the sneakers in 2012.  It’s the big reason Josh has decided to leave StockX to go after trading card companies was because of the similarities for sneakers at that time.  In 2012 there was no price guide, there was no Beckett for sneakers, no Kelly Blue Book, and as sneakers became more mainstream, that became more and more of a problem.  Sitting in IBM, deep in the data space and having collected sneakers his whole life, and always following the sneaker market, Josh was also just searching for side projects.  He thought about trying to get his hands on some sneaker data and seeing what he could do with it, and eventually, he figured out how to collect eBay data. It became clear very quickly that no one was doing real analytics around the resale market at that time.  People were still using eBay sold auctions to understand the price of a pair of sneakers, the value of them.  It was a very insular, fragmented market at the time. Using the data Josh collected, he looked at what he could build around it, and no one else was doing that.  What is the impact that Josh wants to have? (39:47) Josh was happy about this question because most people usually ask him what’s the most expensive shoe he owns, and he’s gotten tired of answering those questions.  For Josh, it’s about the process, and all the success he has had with StockX is impressive, and he’s excited that that success allows him to do it again.  With the age his kids are now, Josh is excited because growing up, the word entrepreneur did not exist. Going after your dream and making a business, a career from something you love to do was rare. Josh was lucky that what he loved as a kid has grown into the two biggest things in culture and commerce. But it was the actual process of starting up the business and building it that he enjoyed the most.  He hopes that his passion for that will reflect in his kids and show them how to create value—hiring people, creating jobs, and helping the world.  StockX StockX is a Detroit-based online marketplace and reseller of sneakers, streetwear, handbags, and collectibles. Acting as a live bid/ask marketplace for the most hotly anticipated drops.  Resources Connect with Josh: LinkedIn StockX: Website Connect with Andrew: Linkedin 

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Josh Luber. Josh Luber is the co-founder and CEO of the disruptive stock market-modeled online sneaker marketplace, StockX. Within a short timespan,...

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guests are Dr. Shawn Dill and Dr. Lacey Book. Dr. Shawn Dill and Dr. Lacey Book, D.C. are coined as small business superheroes for helping more than 700 businesses boost their revenue with tried and true strategies. They grew and scaled a multi-million dollar franchise and specialize in helping service providers pivot into lucrative entrepreneurs with an innovative strategic methodology that teaches marketing, sales, and mindset skills. Their goal is to help transform service providers’ business to create a lasting impact and value on the community it serves by developing relationships.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! Was Shawn practicing while he was in Costa Rica? (1:48) Shawn graduated from chiropractic college when he was 24 years old.  He says, just like any 24 years old, he thought he knew everything. There are no more life lessons you feel like you can learn. He moved to San Jose, Costa Rica, without even thinking about it and not speaking Spanish at all.  After one year of practicing, Shawn was broke, struggling, and did not even have pennies to rub together. He had to learn some more significant life lessons through that.  Shawn dug his heels in and decided not to give up. After that, he started to become quite successful.  They ended up with four chiropractic clinics in San Jose, Olive Waylon, and Li Mon.  Shawn Dill was also known in Costa Rica for being the author of the law which regulates chiropractic practices. When Shawn arrived there at first, there were no regulations, and chiropractors could do whatever they want.  Shawn took it upon himself to get a law together, lobby it, get it passed through congress, and eventually signed by the President to protect patients from unlawful and unethical practices.  What does their program look like? (3:40) Shawn and Lacey started again as chiropractors with an office in Dublin, California. It was called the Specific Chiropractic Center.  When Shawn came back from Costa Rica, a place they only use cash, Shawn said he wanted to start a cash only Chiropractic office. No insurance, high price point, and does particular types of techniques.  The model turned into a very successful business, causing other chiropractors to start taking notice of it.  They grew from one office to over 1415 offices across the world. They were opening their 15th one in the United States just the other day.  It’s a chiropractic franchise, and in the chiropractic industry, that is unique. For them, all the trials, tribulations, ups, and downs they faced taught them all that they know. It also made them realize that they could teach these concepts to others. They have now branched out and are teaching it to any service professionals who want to learn.    What are some fundamental pillars that they teach and tips that they can give? (11:26) They teach three distinct areas—marketing, sales, and mindset. Shawn and Lacey are firms that believe that you need to have strategies to combat obstacles as they come at you.  For service providers, one of the biggest obstacles for them is their mindsets. A lot of service providers come out of school or starting their business, and they get hooked on their struggles, mostly if their product arent not selling at the start. Relationships are also vital in a business setting. You have to have all partners on board with the same mindset.  You can have one person who’s a go-getter and entrepreneur and then a person that comes from the 9-5 job, saving every penny, etc. That way, they balance each other out. One of the biggest ‘hiccups’ that they ran into from a business standpoint was their relationship with each other.  A quote Lacey likes from Michael Port says, “All business problems, our problems in disguise,” And she feels that this rang very true with her and Shawn when they first got started.  Shawn and Lacey both come from those two different worlds mentioned above, and she feels that their strengths came mainly from their differences.  Openness and a willingness to compromise are key factors in trying to make a business work between partners.  Black Diamond Club The Black Diamond Club is a platform for service professionals who struggle with the business aspect. It lets them join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and service professionals committed to building bigger businesses, higher incomes, and better lives.  Resources Connect with Shawn and Lacey: Website Black Diamon Club: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Stephane De Baets. Stephane De Baets is a Belgian investment, real estate, and hospitality entrepreneur. He is founder and president of the international asset management firm Elevated Returns, which controls the Aspen St. Regis Resort in Aspen, Colorado and other commercial properties in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia.,NA You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! Where is Stephane right now? (1:00) Stephane used the pandemic to take stock f his private life.  In his family, they decided that COVID-19 has taught them that quality of life is something to cherish and promote. They took the painful, but right decision to leave New York and move to Colorado. They bought an old estate from John Denver, Stephane always had assets in Aspen Colorado because they bought a property there 10 years ago.  Re super excited to live in the historical estate, it has original stained glass from John Denver and his fireplace.  How does Stephane cope with periods where tourism is low and so revenue is low too? (6:14) Your timeline during such events is elastic. You don’t know how long the crisis might last or if it’s going to get worse.  Always try and prepare for these moments. Make sure that you have capital, tour revolves alone, or that you have a really good relationship with your banker.  Make sure that you have some kind of cash flow.  This is to make sure that you can sustain a lack of economic activity for a prolonged time.  The moment you receive a call from your banker that says you are being put in default, it’s a really horrible feeling.  The second thing you need is a great team because you are going to ask those people to sacrifice. You need to be able to ask for a lot of compromise from your team and then reward them on the back end when the properties recover.  You also need to listen to the market. There’s a fight you can win with perseverance and practice.  Be clever over how you run your property, however, if the government says there will be no traveling to mountains, you can be the smartest man on earth and not have a solution if all of your properties are in the mountains.  You will just have to accept your fate and huddle through the crisis as much as you can.  What vision does Stephane have for his real estate company and how is he playing the field? (15:21) They are trying to not chase the pie in the sky as Stephane put it. Everyone says that there will be cheaper stocks flushed out tomorrow. But Stephane says that if you’re an owner and you can hold on to even a default position and kick the can down the road, you’re going to do it.   There’s a lot of factors, but Stephane doesn’t think just anyone is going to accelerate bankruptcy.  During the pandemic, no one knows what the next administration is going to do.  Someone could come out tomorrow and say amnesty or normal interest payment or you don’t need to pay rent until the pandemic is over.  Stephane’s approach is trying to figure out how you can create a win-win situation.  What does the owner need today? And what do they want from the owner? Stephane promotes and puts a lot of the business’ profits into consumer funded beta. Stephane believes in a healthy consumer/business relationship you should be able to tell your consumer if you help me out today because I need it I can give you a better deal on the product later on. He believes with technology you can create instruments that are perpetual, transferable and have a nice price for discovery.  Elevated Returns Elevated Returns is a digital asset management firm specializing in; capital partner replacements, equity monetization, and recapitalizations for class A properties located throughout the U.S, South East Asia, and Europe. We are one of the first companies to successfully structure, implement, and execute the tokenization of a trophy asset, the St. Regis Resort Aspen, Colorado.  Resources Connect with Stephane: LinkedIn Elevated Returns: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal.  Ashok Wahi is the Chief Inventor and CEO of Trutek Corp. He is the inventor of NasalGuard® patented technology for the filtration of microscopic particles from entering nasal passages. He has acquired several patents in the US and internationally for this unique electrostatic topical gel that acts as a preventative method for the effects of breathing contaminated air. Since then, over twelve million units of NasalGuard products have been sold worldwide so far.  Before Trutek, he has been a senior consultant to Fortune 25 pharmaceutical companies, hospitals/medical facilities, and higher education institutions in the US for over 40 years. He has specialized in designing state-of-the-art R&D and high-tech laboratories. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! What are Ashok and his business about? (0:13) Ashok is an entrepreneur, even though he is an undergrad in Engineering and has a Master of Science degree. He is an entrepreneur at heart.  He likes recognizing problems everybody comes across and then solves it.  And since nobody has bothered to recognize the problem and solve it, Ashok can smoothly go after its intellectual property.  He began his life, breaking up toys and mixers, irons, and heaters, but he would not be able to put them back together again.  This stayed with him for many years. Through education and experience of many years, he has been able to put things back together again. He says he likes taking problems apart and putting them back together in a solved, simplistic and scientific way.  He’s a science graduate at heart as well as an entrepreneur, and that is why he is not giving people fluke solutions. He’s not trying to rip people off to make as much money as he can.  He does not lie to his customers about needing his products; he has science and technology, backing up his products’ statements.  The company he cofounded is called TruTek because it is true technology, true to its core, and it’s true to what it says it’s supposed to do.  How did Ashok acquire his Patents? (6:47) Getting his first patent in an uncharted area of science and technology was somewhat comfortable.  If you can identify the area you are going after, it is not too difficult to make a patent for that technology.  Ashok likens it to find a massive piece of land that you can build a house on top of, a flat piece of land that no one else has noticed.  For Ashok’s first patent, he has a patent attorney as a partner who said he would do all of Ashok’s patent paperwork, put it into files, and get the license in return for 22.5% of the profits.  This seemed like a great idea to Ashok initially; he figured 22.5% was an excellent low but great pay to pay for the work the attorney was doing. He was providing Ashok with a secure patent and making sure others could not get into it too, which initially would have cost him something like $5,000-$10,000. That would be the price from a small law firm that would represent your claim to USPTO and write a professional claim and then go through filing before going into prosecution. After all of that, you would have about a 70% chance of actually getting the patent.  Ashok also explains that it is more expensive and harder to get additional patents on the same technology that you created. Ashok has half a dozen patents of Nasal Guard itself. The first was on the fundamental idea of the product; after that, he developed the product and had to patent that then. Method Patenting is one of the strongest patents you can have on a physical product.  So once Ashok had his first two patents, he just kept building them from there as he developed his products.  What is Ashok’s vision for his business, and how has he stayed motivated for so long? (16:43) Ashok is driven by his want and need to create a global good that will help many people. Ashoke also finds ways to keep people away from him or medicate them, in a pop a pill fashion that many consumers like.  An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.  His idea for Nasal Guard was if dust particles in the air can increase the number of asthma attacks a person suffers, he created something that limits the particles entering the consumer’s nose and therefore preventing attacks.  With the fires on the west coast, Ashok and his company donated Nasal Guard products for the firefighters to protect them from inhaling all of the smoke and dust from the event while they fought at the front line.  His Nasal Guard is an invisible filter that will stop microscopic and submicroscopic particles that tend to go right through a mask.  So it all comes down to Ashok just wanting to help people live better, healthier, and more comfortable lives. TruTek Trutek Corp. is a company active in Intellectual Property Development, R&D and Manufacturing of Topical Allergy Prevention Products, Nasal Particle Blocker, Cold&Flu Block, Skincare Products (such as Eye, Hand, Face & Body Moisturizers), and Hair Conditioners based in Somerville, NJ USA. Resources Connect with Ashok: Instagram TruTek Corp: LinkedIn Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s Guest is Eliot Buchanan.  Eliot Buchanan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Plastiq. Eliot is responsible for defining the strategic vision and industry-changing innovation at Plastiq. He is a creator of disruptive business model innovations and has been actively engaged in several ventures driven by that imperative.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Eliot get into FinTech? (0:40)   FinTech has become quite a trend in the business world.  Admittedly, Eliot did not initially choose FinTech but instead chose a problem that he found interesting, and it so happened to be financial services.    Eliot grew up in Canada and came to the US for school, and one of the problems he ran into was that he had no credit score.  If you are new to the US, one way to establish a credit score is by getting a credit card. As a student, this is what Eliot did to build his score almost ten years ago.  Credit cards had been around for over 60 years at the time, and so Eliot tried to pay his tuition payment and was very surprised when he was not allowed to pay that way.   That was the lightbulb moment for Elliot and seeded Plastiq in his mind and excited Elliot to innovate within financial services.  What obstacles did Eliot encounter during his journey? (4:11) One thing Eliot experiences in financial services was that companies that were already successful often have compliments for the incumbents versus replacements.  To compare it to say, the transportation industry, which has many pain points people wouldn’t argue with. However, in the financial industry, some disruption needed to happen to the incumbent way of life in the financial sector.  Most successful FinTech’s are not trying to replace the incumbents. They like the incumbents and getting along with the system.  Like any industry, there is a lot of bureaucracy and red tape based on partnering with large organizations.  Once partnered with a large organization, those incumbents help you grow your business instead of work against you.  What are some things Eliot things are going to blow up in the next few years? (18:57) There are several brands that consumers are loyal to in terms of their products and services. A lot of these brands and products that people use daily are not traditional FinTechs.  Looking at the larger tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google, customers willing and have a desire to run banking or their financial lives through the brands and services that they love, even though they weren’t historically a banking tech or in FinTech.  Eliot believes there will come an exciting tipping point in what people look for in managing their finances. This is because so many people complain about their banks, asking consumers which of the brands they use they trust the most, ranking from top to bottom, their bank would usually be one of the last names mentioned.  There’s been a steadily increasing trend of people getting comfortable doing payments and banking from non-traditional banking methods.  How does Eliot keep morale going in his team during the pandemic? (28:20) Eliot said at the start of things he was trying to add too much for morale-boosting.  They were doing happy ours, virtual lunch cat cafes, or virtual yogas, and people took advantage of those during COVID.  He said he eventually just tried to make sure his employees were separating their home and work life and still taking their lunch breaks.  He also enforced the first Fridays of every month where people would work only half days, and the rest of the time, they must not touch their work.  So just trying to keep that normality and balance because if people are not happy at home, they are not going to be very useful at work.  Plastiq Plastiq is a service that lets individuals and businesses use debit or credit cards to pay vendors that don't otherwise accept those payment methods. Plastiq facilitates one-time or recurring payments for bills such as rent, mortgage, utilities, daycare, homeowners association fees, and other expenses. You add a debit or credit card to your Plastiq account and charge it in the bill’s amount, and then Plastiq pays the company on your behalf via a method that the vendor accepts: ACH, wire transfer, or an old-fashioned paper check. Resources Connect with Eliot: LinkedIn Plastiq: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Ross Shanken. Ross Shanken is the founder and CEO of Jornaya. He is a thought leader and business builder within Information Services, interactive markets, and display advertising. Ross has broad knowledge and experience in leading sales, marketing, business development, and launching new businesses.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Ross know he wanted to solve complex problems when he was young? (0:40) Ross always loved brain teasers as a kid. He would spend hours as a kid just sitting and solving complex and advanced puzzles.  When he was around ten years old, somebody released the Rubik’s cube, and Ross thought it was the most relaxed, most challenging thing in the world.  Ross had solved it by the time he was 11 after spending many hours on it. Puzzles were something that Ross couldn’t do.  That’s where his love for problem-solving started, and as he got older, it began to expand into the business world and other things that were hard to solve.  He even did some computer coding and used it to program basic applications. Ross states that it was just how he was made.  What was Ross’s entrepreneurial journey, and how did it lead him to where he is now? (4:09) Looking back now, Ross says he’s always been entrepreneurial and had a burning desire to start companies.  He started that passion off in a small scale manner when he was a teenager. All his friends were getting jobs at ice cream shops or restaurants as waiters.  Ross was instead of putting fliers in people’s mailboxes that he would do odd jobs for people in their gardens and build an excellent little business doing that. Going into college, he came into contact with an import/export guy from Pakistan who brought these sweaters and boots and other items into the country, and then Ross sold those products.  However, there was another side of Ross, which was that he hadn’t been exposed to any other entrepreneurs.  Reading about people like Steve Jobs and Bill gates fascinated him and planted the idea that he wanted to follow a path similar to them.  Wanting to follow the path, Ross did not know how to start, and he knew that he was slightly more risk-averse than other entrepreneurs. His first job out of college was at Haverford College Alumni. Haverford wanted to start a fax-on-demand business, which back then was the fastest way to get information around. To find information like stock quotes or earnings estimates, you had to go to the library and hope they had the information, or you had to subscribe to mail order services.  So Haverford and Ross digitized that information and put it online in the form of fax and eventually pushed it onto the internet as that became more prevalent.  It was the thing that Ross had always loved, but he didn’t have the guts to go out and do himself because he had grown up with little money and was relatively risk-averse.  He worked two more jobs after that, each 3 and 4 years long, respectively, which led to the longest stint he had before founding Jornaya.  For thirteen years, he worked for a data intelligence company called Targets Info. Ross was the seventh employee in the company, and they rapidly grew to a few hundred people. They sold targets Info to a public company, and it was an excellent outcome for everybody.  But again, that was not Ross starting his own company but instead helping to develop it.  By then, however, Ross had made enough money and gained enough experience to feel comfortable starting his own company by himself. It’s ten years later now, and the company has grown extraordinarily.  Does Ross have any tips on how to create effective use of proceeds early on in a business? (41:48) Ross says it was never a case of he had it all figured out, and it all went smoothly from the beginning. He felt like he wasn’t very good at certain things. He was good at the things he knew about certain things that were important to him. But other things were rather daunting to Ross.  Ross never wanted to raise money, but he asked himself the question if he did raise money right now, how much faster and bigger could his company get?  Ross was not young when he finally started his own business, and he had a great mentor for the last three-four years before starting his company, which is now working in Jornaya as a partner. Who helped Ross immensely.  Ross feels he had to learn the importance of setting out and just doing it, really pursuing what he wanted to accomplish.  Being too risk-averse at the start, Ross had to come to realize that there are always risks, and you are still wrong. He learned the famous quote from Eisenhower, who said, “Plans are useless or worthless, but planning is indispensable.” It’s just about going through the planning process and adapting as things go wrong that is the most important.  Ross raised money without really good plans, but he had the right direction and a sound rationale at that point.  However, starting a business is always stressful, and Ross states he’s sure that there’s still that pressure that many entrepreneurs feel but don’t talk about.  When a Venture capital comes in, they don’t want the money to sit in your bank account. They want you to spend their money, and this is for the following reason;  Theoretically, it would make you grow bigger and faster.  However, this is not the case, and without a good plan, and if there is a conflict of interest, it can become tough to align incentives between a VC and Business owner.  Ross did not become great at that until he had, had a couple of runs at this. His advice is to learn as many hard lessons as you can, as fast as you can, because you know excellent lessons in the process too.  Jornaya Jornaya is a data-as-a-service company that uses a network of 35,000+ comparison shopping and lead generation to helps marketers detect consumer purchasing intent and ensure compliance with data privacy laws. Resources Connect with Ross: LinkedIn Jornaya: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn 

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Robert Schlien.  Robert Schlien is the Founder and CEO of Buddy Custard Inc. Robert is a cancer survivor of 13 years and had the good fortune of being introduced to the Budwig Protocol seven years ago.  At that time, he had already decided to forego the conventional treatment of chemotherapy prescribed to him.  Instead, he employed this simple, sensible technology.  It is his personal experience that inspired him and co-founder Katherine Schlein to use that protocol to develop Buddy Custard, a frozen treat additive to foods for dogs.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! Who is Robert, and how did he get to where he is now? (0:01) Robert founded a company called Buddy Custard. It is a unique company in that it produced an initially established product in the human care industry about 60-70 years ago.  Robert, being a cancer survivor, stumbled on a treatment protocol that was developed by Dr. Joanna Budwig in Germany.  Dr. Budwig had a fantastic reputation for taking a holistic and all-natural approach to curing chronic diseases. Robert used the Budwig Protocol to treat his cancer, and it worked wonders about 11-12 years ago.  Robert did not believe the treatment would work, but it ended up working better than he thought.  Robert’s company produces this Budwig Protocol in pet-friendly edible products, particularly for dogs, to cure various things like cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease.  Buddy Custard has had marvelous success in helping treat cancer and arthritis in pets.  The nutraceutical is in a human-grade frozen custard form, and animals love the taste. How did Robert raise funds for the project initially? (10:41) The initial inception for Robert was putting money into R&D and doing testing and packaging, dry shipping, and container shipping for the product.  Robert and his wife initially used some of their own money and used donations from friends and family to start the company with a couple of hundred dollars.  It was at that point that they started doing a lot of marketing and advertising, but Robert says everything they were able to achieve came quite organically.  When COVID-19 happened, Robert put a hiatus on all the marking and advertising until the dust settles.  Now that things are calmer, they have conversations with massive retailers, and they are starting to adopt an aggressive marketing strategy. They are also aiming to fundraise $400,000 that will be their second round of funding, and they are gearing up to go as high as a million dollars, possibly.  They have started branching out and are making probiotics, hemp and CBD infused Buddy Custard as well.  What is some advice or tips that Robert can share on going through the process during COVID-19? (13:56) In the approach, be very careful and very conservative because surprises are out there whether stimulus packages are coming or not.  Robert is waiting on some small loads from EIBL, and right now, they are projecting to do well over a million dollars over the next 12 months.  Many businesses fail because they become so enamored with their concept that they become blindsided to what else is out there. When things were looking bad, Robert took time to reflect on what went wrong, and he would suggest any entrepreneur do that, think about what they did wrong in R&D, and fix it.  Think about it again before launching. A lot of companies get in trouble because they end up wasting a lot of money. Robert keeps his business on a very tight budget, and his business model outsourced almost everything they do.  Robert would instead get the experts to handle the product as they have a history of success, so three vetted FDA and USDA develop buddy Custard approved manufacturing facilities.  Buddy Custard Buddy Custard is an all-natural remedy frozen treat to help dogs feel their best and boost their health, regardless of how healthy or ill the dog is. It is based on 70 years of research and experience. Thousands use it with positive results.  Resources Buddy Custard: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Julius Makarewics. Julius Makarewicz is the CEO of Nude Beverages, British Columbia's fastest-growing alcohol beverage company. Nude launched nationwide in the States a month ago and has made massive waves. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! What was Julius’ journey to get to where he is now? (1:02) Julius started in a very different industry initially. He was working in many various industries instead of just one.  He grew up in a small town and dropped out of university, starting to work shortly after.  He worked for many technology firms, mining firms, etc., but the whole time he was looking for an idea. He knew he wanted to start a business and be an entrepreneur and do something great.  Back in 2013, Julius saw a gap in the market, and everyone was going to be healthier people, choosing healthier food and non-alcoholic beverages that we’re more nutritious than others.  Julius noticed that there wasn’t anything on the liquor category of alcohol that was any healthier than the other alcoholic beverages that are offered.  Julius wanted to create something better for you that also fit into Julius’s lifestyle at the time, so he started thinking about putting vodka soda, or hard seltzer ina can and then thought of the name Nude.  What steps did Julius take to establish his brand once he had the idea going? (3:12) The first little bit of money that Julius used to make the first edition of his product came from his grandmother’s inheritance, an entrepreneur in Poland. He had promised himself that he would use that money to start a business, and he did to make his first viable product. After that, he began to find people to bring on board as advisors.  Julius stated that he brought on the right kind of people to help grow his business, especially their co-owner and head of sales.  Doing all of this helped get Julius to the point where he could pitch his business and product to investors; this was hard and took a few years because Julius was young, and very few people want to give a 20 something year old with no track record a lot of money.  Julius eventually got his first investor, and from there on, more and more people started to invest, and he managed to raise $300,000 to start it up.  Some leadership tips from Julius. (7:18) Julius is a firm believer in leading by example. Be the person you want everyone else to be.  Julius wants everyone to be good people and treat each other well and not to have too much politics on whether you should or shouldn’t be nice to people; he’s just always a straight-up nice guy to everyone.  Working hard for what you want to achieve is another critical component, and Julius states that if you don’t work hard, other people aren’t going to work hard for you either.  Julius makes sure to put more hours in than any of his team to make sure they have that example coming from him.  What is helping Julius currently drive growth and awareness for his business? (9:43) Julius loves doing influencer campaigns, but they do not pay the influencers. They just drop off the products for them and say if they want to post it, they can, and if not, they don’t have to.  Often, people will post their product because they just love the product so much. Julius prefers this because it shows that the influencers enjoyed the product instead of not enjoying it and posting it anyway.  Marketing is a crucial component, and digital ads are great for awareness and new markets.  PR is also quite essential and doing cool stuff and getting it on the wire helps a lot with sales.  Nude Beverages Nude Beverages was founded in B.C Canada, with the goal to make the best alcoholic beverages in the world. They wanted to change up the market by introducing drinks that weren’t oversaturated with sugar and chemicals. They work alongside industry-leading and award-winning beverage developers to work towards a result that will be the new standard for alcoholic beverages. Resources Connect with Julius: LinkedIn Nude Beverages: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Tanner Chidester. Tanner Chidester is a self-made millionaire and successful entrepreneur. He has grown and scaled two 7-figure online businesses: Elite CEOs and Fit Warrior that has generated $16 million in less than three years. He is a five-time winner of the "2 comma club" award from ClickFunnels, which signifies doing a minimum of $1 million in a sales funnel, and an 8-Figure Award recipient for one billion in the sales.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Tanner get started with his businesses, and how did he scale them so quickly? (1:11) Throughout school, Tanner was bullied as a kid.  Tanner eventually found his niché in fitness, and that started to build his confidence to start going in that direction.   It was kind of like he worked out and got results, and suddenly people were respecting him. So he figured if he worked hard at school and girls and all those other things, it would all fall into place.  Through his second year in college, Tanner wanted to play in the NFL. And the way Tanner is about business is once he sets his mind to something, he goes ‘[sycho’ about it, and he would work all day long for extreme hours to achieve what he wanted.  By 20, he had his third shoulder surgery, and he realized that Football was not going to work for him, he wasn’t big enough, and his injuries made it very hard to keep pursuing that dream.  Tanner met a man who convinced him to leave school to be an entrepreneur who was a big thing for tanner because no one in his family was one, and they did not believe in him when he left. The guy taught Tanner about online marketing in the first two years, and Tanner was starting to feel stressed out because he had no money and wasn’t making any money.  However, he did learn a lot of valuable things that helped him later on in life.  After two years of learning Online marketing, Tanner couldn’t do it anymore and decided to be a server, doing door to door sales; he hoped he could raise enough money that way to start his own business.  What ended up happening was after learning those skills and working a year or two as a server, Tanner realized he was going in circles and not making any money.  Tanner noticed an ad while he was out walking that said how to build your online fitness business.  Tanner signed up for the course after scraping together the $5,000 tuition fee. At the seminar, he was more advanced than many people attending, having worked door to door, and his two years of Online Marketing learning.  So at this seminar, tanner ended up making a lot of connections, and he started messaging and contacting people and ended up selling over $10,000, which was four times more than what he was making a month.  Realizing all he had to do was build connections and message them offering his fitness service that Tanner could finally make money. What are some tips that tanner can give busy professionals and founders on how to stay in shape? (15:03)  Tanner did not understand how people can be out of shape until he started his business.  He realized then how hard it was to fit the gym into a busy and stressful schedule because all you want to do after work is sleep.  So during his first couple of years, Tanner was not in the most excellent shape himself.  The first tip tanner can share is that it’s mostly about diet. Someone who’s eating right will easily beat someone going to the gym every day but eating poorly.  Tanner says to try and follow a healthy diet and if you’re going to eat bad, try not to do it every day.  Another tip from Tanner is to incorporate weight training into your week. You do not have to do it excessively, but three times a week should be easily sustainable. And the last tip from Tanner would be that when you do not have time, try and do a quick 30-minute high-intensity Aerobic exercise at home because of how fast they are with good results.  Many entrepreneurs tend to sit at home at desks and never actually move, so Tanner encourages Cardio just to keep the heart healthy and the cholesterol levels down.  Where does Tanner want to go now, and How will he go about accomplishing those goals? (18:36) His short immediate goal for this year is doing about $15 million and to possibly try and push that to $20-$25 Million in consulting.  That goal is near the ceiling of where you can go with paid ads and stuff like that. Currently, Tanner is working on the first SAS, which will be a trainer to trainer software.  They will be expanding that further as they are still getting new trainers over the next 3-5 years. Tanner is not too sure about what his next big thing is going to be. He has thought about investing and getting into start-ups where he feels there is a lot of upsides.  At this point, Tanner just ikes doing things that push him to be the best person that he can be; therefore, Tanner has put a lot more time in his personal life lately.  Fit Warrior Fit Warrior has a different approach to sport, nutrition, and fitness. They believe that there is a warrior in everyone, and they strive to release that inner warrior for each of their clients. They believe in the spirit of fitness and the mental and physical discipline necessary to achieve it, and they strive to support their clients as they find their warrior. Resources  Connect with Tanner: LinkedIn Fit Warrior: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Jeff Radway. Jeff Radway is the CEO and co-founder of SKYMINT Brands. (Formerly Green Peak Innovations). Before launching Michigan’s largest vertically integrated cannabis company, Radway built and sold J. America, one of the largest privately-owned licensed apparel companies in the U.S. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! Were the exits that Jeff had previously change anything for him in his life? (1:37) Jeff considers his first exit to have been life-changing.  When Jeff was in high school, he started a landscaping and lawn keeping business, and he sold it to his partner to pay for college.  He says he was too young to realize back then how much work he had put into that business and didn’t translate the same work ethic in College.  He screwed around through most of college and blew all of the money he had earned on paying for it. His second exit taught him a valuable lesson as he had exited with shares. The company ended up filing for bankruptcy, so he barely received any of the earnout/payouts.  At the time, he thought his career was made, and his life was over.  Sometimes the things that hurt you the most end up teaching you the most. So by his third exit, which was the most recent in 2016, Jeff was relatively prepared for the best and the worst. The third turned out successful, which was also life-changing because Jeff and his wife were building a house in the Caribbean, and he was ready to retire.  He lasted about 24 hours in retirement before starting Green Peak Innovations; now, SKYMINT Brands.  What path got Jeff into the Cannabis Space? (3:32)  Jeff was in the apparel industry for almost 30 years, and so from 92 to 2016, Jeff got up every day and competed with Nike. It sounds a lot more glamorous than it was because Nike is terrific at everything, from distribution to branding to design and import.  The business Jeff was in had to figure out how to be different and meaningful to retailers and make more margin for the retailers because ultimately, Nike was Nike.   Despite their large competitor, Jeff’s business did well and a much-needed resource for retailers.  And so after almost 30 years, Jeff told his wife that he was ready to be bored for a couple of years.  However, Jeff went to a Trade Show in Las Vegas. And as he was standing in Las Vegas and waiting for his Uber driver who got lost, Jeff thought Ubers have to be better.  They have to deliver dry cleaning. They should provide food, and then Jeff thought, hey, they should provide Cannabis.  Jeff’s wife was in the health care industry, and she had been talking about CBD and Cannabis lately, although Jeff himself knew nothing about it.  Jeff messaged his much younger Nephew, a government affairs expert, and medical healthcare lobbyist, and said, why doesn’t an Uber deliver weed? Thinking he was making a joke.  Jeff’s nephew texted him back, saying it was becoming legal in Michigan and that he was helping put together the bill and legislation, we will be passing the bill. I could get you into contact with the technology companies if Jeff were serious about it.  Jeff quickly fired off questions at his Nephew to get all of the information. He was too excited as he realized the possibilities of what he had just thought of and discovered.  It was funny because Jeff was at the trade show in Las Vegas to ‘hand over the keys’ of the business he was currently in and retired with his wife to the Caribbean.  And so Jeff’s nephew got him into contact with everyone he needed to know and helped him get everything he needed to get started.  Does Jeff have any tips when it comes to building and scaling a company? (20:32) Jeff joked that the podcast name says it all, Action and Ambition.  You have to take action, and it’s not always going to be the right action.  Someone told Jeff once, you fire the gun, and then you steer the bullet, and he thought that was a very accurate analogy.  There isn’t time to be perfect, but you never lose sight of where you want to go, what the visions and goals are.  In Jeff’s case, they started hiring their executive team from the beginning, gathering an elite group of people with fantastic experience, and that helped SKYMINT grow so fast.  High growth requires high risk, and there is a certain amount of insanity, pain, and fun that goes along with it.  Jeff believes in systems over people, but in this case, they had to build out manufacturing and science, government affairs, legal, merchandising, product, marketing, and retail operations.  SKYMINT SKYMINT are purveyors of premium crafted cannabis. They have developed a portfolio of the finest cannabis brands available for health, healing, or just getting high on life. Whether you want to get off of pain meds, restore your appetite, relax into a more restful sleep, or unlock your higher self, SKYMINT has the products you want and need to enjoy the absolute best cannabis experience.  Resources Connect with Jeff: LinkedIn SKYMINT: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Michael Miller.  Michael Miller co-founded Brightway Insurance in 2008 with his brother, David Miller. As President and CEO of Brightway, Michael’s day-to-day focus is setting the strategic agenda for the company, helping Brightway continue to innovate in ways that help everyone associated with the business grow and prosper.  You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it! How did Michael find success in his industry? (0:44) Initially, they were a very small nationwide captive insurance agency in Jacksonville, Florida. They bought the business from a man named Ray Jennings and he actually had the business for 42 years. It took Ray 42 years to grow the business to annual sales of $2.3 million, which in their industry is a very average size.  Now, Michael and his brother managed to grow the business to about $715 Million in annual sales.  Right now Michael and his older brother David are the sole owners of the business. They had no outside capital on it so they did not start with a lot of money.  The initial buy-in was something like $300,000, they then added and invested more money to start growing the business. They decided to go for a high risk, high reward approach and pushed everything they had into the business, not know if it would succeed or fail.  How much of a risk did they take and how did it pay off? (2:46) People look at Brightway today and say that it was an overnight success. Michael however says there were many moments where they had t do a gut check.  Giving an example, When they started they had about $2.3 million on the books and they hoped that in 10 years they would be at a $10 million agency.  Obviously, they passed that a while ago, but going into it they didn’t have a franchise model and now Brightway is a franchise.  They had to change from, what they were to become what they are now which is a franchise.  They also changed their legal structure in the process and that was also when they changed their name to Brightway insurance. The reason they changed to a franchise was because of how rapidly they were growing.  They were growing so rapidly that they outgrew their financial resources. They had to pause and say wow they were running out of money.  So in 2007, the brothers had a gut check where they had to decide if they were going to continue or pull out of the business.  Michael and his brother decided to continue with the business, they maxed out their credit cards and scraped together every penny they could find under their family.  Doubling down, they said they worked this hard to grow this quickly and quitting then was not an option. So instead of focusing on growth, the Miller brothers decided to start focusing on changing the business model to a franchise company.  They took the gamble, even though they only have enough money left for 3 more months of functioning and they ended up selling their first franchise shortly after.  Where does Michael see himself in 3-5 years, what goals has he set for himself? (13:29) Their goal as a company is to be the dominant insurance distributor in the country.  So they are trying to push out as many Brightway stores, really focusing on developing the franchise across the country because of it being one way to distribute their insurance.  They are also looking at doing some vertical integrations. They have already grown their affinity partnerships to help feed the business and to partner with other companies. They are looking at leveraging their systems and client bases to create some synergies within them. They are mostly just working on innovation which is extremely important in the times of COVID-19. The pandemic has made multiple changes across the business world but Michael believes that the best opportunities come in the worst of times.  COVID has created this opportunity for them to leverage the technology that they had built. Starting to come out of COVID now they created another franchise model.  They removed the barriers to business ownership and they have never grown faster.  So just continuing to focus on the business and where they can grow and innovate is what Michael and his brother will be focusing on for the next few years.  Brightway Insurance Brightway Insurance is a national property/casualty insurance distribution company. It is one of the largest Personal Lines agencies in the U.S. Brightway focuses on creating win/win situations for consumers by offering customized insurance solutions and for people wishing to sell insurance by providing business opportunities that span from a single agent to multi-unit enterprises. Regardless of the path taken, Brightway provides the support necessary to consistently outsell other insurance agents. Resources Connect with Michael: LinkedIn Brightway insurance: Website Connect with Andrew: LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of Action and Ambition. Today's guest is Kyle Mitnick. He is the founder and president of Advertise Purple, a global adtech agency that is a leader in affiliate marketing management. A seasoned tech entrepreneur and angel investor, Kyle was ranked 37th on Entrepreneur.com's Top 360 Entrepreneurs for 2019. You're going to love this episode, let's get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action and Ambution. Today's guest is Sarah-Eva Marches. She is the founder and CEO of Floracracy, a technologically advanced luxury floral brand, which launched in October, 2020. Sarah-Eva leveraged her training as a terrorist profiler to track facts and trends in the floral industry, which became the basis of Floracracy’s patent-pending software. You're going to love this episode, lets get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action and Ambition. Today's guest is Justin Lawson. He is a thought leader in mastering B2B sales, frequently engaged to guide companies on creating early revenue, and successfully proving out their businesses. Having Founded JJELLYFISH with an ethos of profitability from inception, Lawson understands the power of economics over optics. Recognized as an expert in go-to-market strategy and with over a decade of experience in new lines of business, Lawson advises both startups and Fortune 500 companies. You're going to love this episode. Let's get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Elliot Huss, CEO and Co-Founder of New Classic Cooking, which started in 2004 focusing on frozen and refrigerated foods for the Kosher market. In 2008 the company launched the brand Veggies Made Great. During that time Elli has led the company to great success with the Veggies Made Great brand making it an industry groundbreaker for healthy frozen and refrigerated foods, thus making plant-based solutions easier for every consumer, during any occasion. The Veggies Made Great brand showcases veggies as the first and main ingredient in the complete product line, which includes muffins, frittatas and veggie cakes. Under his direction Veggies Made Great has become the leader in unique veggie-rich foods, of the highest quality, that are remarkably delicious and nutrition. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is RJ Garbowicz, serial entrepreneur and founder, CEO, and Chairman of Webtalk, a new type of social network allowing users to consolidate their professional and personal lives all while earning money for sharing. After studying web design at St. Petersbug College and serving as an avionic radar technicians for the Illinois Army National Guard, RJ launched four tech companies before founding Webtalk in 2011. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Jia Wertz, a documentary filmmaker pursuing stories of wrongful convictions and the inconsistencies of the American Criminal Justice system. Her documentary short, Conviction, was released on Amazon Prime last month and has received numerous film festival selections, awards, and raving reviews. A featured writer for Forbes, Wertz is also the Founder and fashion designer of Studio 15. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it!

Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition with your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is Akhila Satish, the CEO of Meseekna, the technology company using metacognitive science to improve individuals' decision-making skills. Backed by more than 60 years of research and 500 peer reviewed publications, Meseekna’s technology enables their team to assess, train, and educate individuals on the power of their metacognition. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it!

In this episode, we are joined by Nick Warrender, Founder, and CEO of Lifted Made, the premier national producer of hemp-derived cannabinoid products. At 32 years old, Nick Warrender has had nine lives. His harrowing journey marked the beginning of years spent in and out of hospitals as 21st-century doctors struggled to identify treatments for diseases they had never seen before. Nick launched the business in 2014 to help bring premium, accessibly priced, hemp-based plant medicine to people in need like himself. He started with just $900, zero employees, and an office in his parent’s garage. Today, Lifted Made is a multi-million dollar public company that averages $1M monthly sales growth. Tune in to learn more on this!