THIS is a Thing

David Barnett co-founded Noble Signs, a Brooklyn-based design studio specializing in hand-painted and neon signage His wild idea? Keeping the art of craft signage alive in a world where fast and cheap vinyl signs are becoming the norm. He's in his dream job now, but before this he was in a different dream job -- designing album covers and posters for Def Jam Records as Art Director. He tells t...

Entrepreneur Joe Hession built SNOW Partners into a $100M company from just $60,000 in savings— he rescued Mountain Creek from bankruptcy and opened Big Snow American Dream, North America's largest indoor ski area, after it sat unfinished for 15 years. We talk about how he made two wild ideas a reality that everyone doubted, why credibility beats capital when starting a business, and what it r...

Peter is one of the only artisan globe makers in the world today. He and his team make custom globes out of his London studio for passionate individuals, collectors, and museums that can run well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He didn't start out in the arts, though. He created a business for pizza parlors, ran a nightclub, did some property development ... It was only when he trie...

Chris Turner is a treasure hunter and the Founder of the Ring Finders. He and his community of over 300 treasure hunting professionals across 18 countries are there to find anything you've lost (wedding rings are the most common!). In this interview, Chris shares his story of starting and growing the Ring Finders -- it wasn't part of his master plan, but he says it's better than anythi...

Pete builds high-end treehouses, bringing dreams to life for the young at heart. In this interview, we talk about how he fell in love with treehouses, how he ventured into turning his passion into a business, and how he grew beyond his wildest dreams with a major assist from a TV show on Animal Planet. Nelson Treehouse and Supply: https://nelsontreehouse.com/ Treehouse Point Resort: https://www.tr...

Andrew Evans started a magic speakeasy in his apartment in San Francisco as a fun project with friends -- after selling 1000 tickets in 60 seconds he realized he was on to something and quit his job at the design firm IDEO to build his business full time. This is an awesome story of following your curiosity and always evolving. Check out Andrew's show and get tickets here: https://www.themagic...

Assaf Eshet is the founder of the toy company Clixo, which makes incredibly innovative building toys are a bit like magnetic origami and lot like magic ⭐️In this conversation, he talks about how he transitioned from graphic designer to toy designer, how he prototypes, and how he knows when to stop tinkering and launch. Check out Clixo toys here: https://clixo.com/

When Laura was working as a police officer in Kansas City, she responded to a homicide scene where the victim’s family asked when the police would return to clean up the body. The answer was: they wouldn’t. Even more surprising, Laura couldn’t find a single local company to recommend to the family. In that moment, she saw a real, unmet need in the market. Spaulding Decon grew from a business Laura...

Leah Koch founded the romance bookstore The Ripped Bodice with her sister Bea Koch - they now have two locations, consult to major movie and TV studios, and have been rightfully called "the cool whisperers of romance." In this episode, I talk to Leah about how she made her wild idea of being the first romance-only bookstore in North America happen, despite the many skeptics who told her...

Have you ever looked at a business and thought, "Wow, I cannot believe that is a thing!"  With the right alchemy of skill, passion, and a healthy dose of good timing and luck even the wildest dream can become a successful business. In a world where we're inundated with stories of huge tech businesses and mainstreet store fronts, I want to tell you the stories of all those other businesses, the bus...

Robert Cirjak is the co-founder of Wibit Sports, the world leader in floating waterparks. Robert started his career as a professional soccer player and now is the CEO of a waterpark company... the two dream jobs of every kid. His company inspires so much passion and excitement that he has fans with Wibit tatoos and he's even gone to a wedding of two people who met on a Wibit. Wibit: https://www.wi...

Rachel Tobias left her career in tech — quitting her job at Salesforce — to travel the world with her husband, Sebastian, photographing wild cats. Together, they lead small-group expeditions across the globe where guests can learn about, photograph, and support the conservation of some of the planet’s most elusive and endangered feline species. I talk with Rachel about her decision to walk away fr...