Cleveland Burning Podcast

Why do they always play Meatloaf at weddings?  Learn the answer to this question and many more when you tune in to this episode with Jim Gepperth, owner of My Life DJ Services of North Olmsted. Jim has been a DJ for over 35 years, also the  Academic Dean of Lakewood University for the past 12 years and spent another 8 years as the Program Director for Catholic Charities Services. It’s no surprise...

Sean Henzey, owner of Studio Mind in Olmsted Township, JOINS The Cleveland Burning Podcast in more ways than one. This is our first episode with our new layout, using our new podcast engineer as a guinea pig. Tune in as we make Sean get in front of the camera to share his business mistakes and we learn how to navigate our new layout and get comfortable in the space.  Sean is the first guest on the...

In honor of the Cleveland Burning Podcast theme - focusing on setbacks, failures and adversity that pave the way to success, this episode is all about the first lessons learned by rookies doing a podcast. Kirk, owner of Cleveland Custom Coatings, and Kim, owner of Burning River Marketing reflect on mistakes from set-up and equipment to overestimating the skills and desire of our initial podcast en...

Lamar Chase, owner of Chase Electric, joins us in this podcast to reflect on lessons learned from missteps made as a licensed electrician turned business owner. As a young teen, thirteen years old, Lamar did electrical work with his uncle and it has been a trade he literally grew-up mastering.  Lamar has been a licensed electrician for over 21 years and working for himself for the past six. Lamar...

Jacob Davidson, attorney at Davidson Law LLC , joins us in this episode to talk about his law practice and mistakes he made before settling into his successful estate planning and elder law practice in Olmsted Falls. First learn what an estate planning attorney does and if you see an estate attorney, like Jacob Davidson, while you're alive, you spend less money dealing with attorneys and proba...

Zach Christensen, owner of Vroom Groom Mobile Detailing, reviews his fantastic growth with a business he just started here in Ohio a few years ago. Tune in to learn how, if Zach could do it all over again, he would have skipped his business school, saved $12K and got into business sooner. As a fairly young man and new business owner Zach is driven, organized and doing a phenomenal job building a c...

Bill Glick, owner of Bill Glick Painting, reviews his ups and downs throughout his journey from starting a small painting company to building up a fast-growing $2M business. Tune in to learn how Bill found it's all about the team. He went from wanting to quit almost everyday for 3 years to building a successful business that almost runs itself. With a fantastic office manager and a self-polici...

Matt Panigutti, Division Director at American Pacific Mortgage in Berea reflects about the massive amounts of challenges he has endured in the mortgage industry since getting his start at The Mortgage Zone in 2002. With 22 years in an industry that has seen the biggest ups and downs than probably any other industry in the past 22 years. Matt reflects on the landscape in the early 2000s with the bo...

Ericka Peake, the CEO of OCD Home Solutions, is passionate about the value she brings clients as she declutters and organizes their space. Since she posted a Facebook ad, 9 months ago, running OCD Home Solutions has been non-stop. Taking on over 91 clients in less than 10 months didn't give Ericka any time to plan a strategy for running her business, adding employees and being more intentional...

Richard Warren came out of retirement after a long career as an entrepreneur to launch paintCLE, a Benjamin Moore dealer. paintCLE will be opening their fourth location on the West side soon to round out their other three locations in Shaker Heights, Willoughby Hills and Medina. paintCLE is your premier Benjamin Moore paint store with everything you need including wall paint, interior paint, exter...

Tyese Love, seasoned property manager for the Dalad Group shares the ups and downs of what can be the turbulent industry of property management. Beginning her career as a leasing agent in New Jersey and New Jersey, and moving throughout positions in the industry. In Pennsylvania she worked with one of the largest 3rd party property management companies globally. After working in several areas of l...

Dr. Scott Sedlacek has owned The Eye Place in Olmsted Falls for almost twenty years and enjoys being an active member of the Olmsted Falls community. As Vice President of a small business networking group in Berea, TAG Team , President Board of Directors of Explore Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Falls Kiwanis Club, Olmsted Falls PTA and several other affiliations, Scott is passionate about eye health and...

Matt Siebert owns several businesses servicing Ohio including a CertaPro franchise (CertaPro Painters of Cleveland West and South), Superior Fence & Rail of Cleveland and Superior Fence & Rail of Columbus. Matt reflects on his initial mistake of focusing on sales when he first bought his CertaPro franchise. He eventually learned that building a solid team to deliver the service was more im...

Chef Jim Cox, who spent 14 years as executive chef for Mr. Hero and now is a chef consultant for Orlando Baking Company. Chef Jim has built over 10 restaurants in the Cleveland area and graciously shares several stories of failures and adversity he has endured in the restaurant industry. Learn how he tackled the restaurant industry for four decades, bit off more than he could chew at times, could...

Jennet and Dan Foster own Minuteman Press in Westlake, Ohio , offering high-quality design, print and marketing capabilities with a personal touch for almost 20 years. But it hasn't always been rainbows and puppy dogs - listen to how a wrecking ball AND COVID-19 forced them to make major changes in their business and how they turned adversity into success. Dan Foster joins the podcast to tell...

Kelly MacLean, an accomplished business owner of over 12 years, has helped hundreds of children and young adults through their education, college admissions, test taking and career planning journey. Hear how Kelly started her business from a place at the bottom - her health was in jeopardy, her marriage suffered a tragic end, her employment over as a result of injustice and Kelly focused on buildi...

Our first interview with a professional from the performing arts, Savvy (Savannah) Daniele , co-owner of the Tantalizing Tigers, explains the world of performance artists. As Co-Owner of the Tantalizing Tigers Savannah works to secure talent across the region (Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana) to perform a wide variety of venues. Talents range from fire performances includi...

Katrina Botimer, owner of Carpet Advantage in Willoughby, OH, joins us to talk about running a carpet cleaning business and struggles that have contributed to their success. Katrina jumped at the chance to share her story and has been a big advocate of our the podcast. She arrived bearing gifts for Kirk's birthday as well as an original work of art she created for us. In this episode Katrina,...

Listen to our first interview with a local professional in the financial investments industry in this episode with Robert "Bud" Cygan of CFS Integrated Financial Services of North Olmsted . Kim and Kirk know Bud as a fellow BNI member in a different chapter, the Power Partners BNI Chapter that meet in N. Olmsted on Tuesdays. In this episode Bud reflects on his over three decades of work...

Kim & Kirk stay on theme with failures and mistakes leading to success with the Cleveland Burning Podcast. In this episode they chat about everything they've done wrong so far. Listen to learn everything from how they QUICKLY decided to do the first three episodes over to the opposite approaches the two have taken to this podcast journey. Listen to learn which one started promoting the pod...

Don't miss this episode of Cleveland Burning Podcast that covers interesting facts about CBD, the marijuana industry and Jackie's business as a wellness certified healer and life coach specializing in stress, anxiety, overwhelm, and panic.  In this interview with Jackie Potter of JPotter Health Kim and Kirk learn about Jackie's failed investment of time and money into the development o...

In this episode Kim and Kirk meet with Greg Snyder, Business Development Manager of Royalty Roofing. Learn about Greg's failed attempt at running a local drywall business and how the setbacks of failure built the confidence and resilience he has now. Although Royalty Roofing has gone from a $3 Million company to a $20 Million company during Greg's time as Business Development Manager he&#3...

Interview with Steve Tomasone, founder of Southwest Companies , a Cleveland commercial and industrial property restoration company. From owning one of the only truck body shops in Solon, Ohio to starting this commercial painting company, Steve has experienced decades of set backs that have contributed to his ultimate success. He has happily reached the point in his career to have his son take over...

In this episode Kim and Kirk talk with Nolan Buchanan, 16 year old founder of North Lake Pressure Washing . Watch how Kim and Kirk gush over such a young entrepreneur. At 12 years old Nolan invested in his first business and loss a small fortune in drop shipping. His failures have taught him more about advertising and more ways to improve and gain expertise. Everything from Shopify to day trading...

In this week's episode Kim & Kirk interview Emmanuel Zerbo, owner of Zenith Cleaning Company and uncover how Emmanuel learned what a lift was for the first time. Emmanuel was gracious enough to share some inside tips, struggles and mishaps along his way of building a successful cleaning company in the Cleveland area over just the past two years. Hear about the challenges of finding reliabl...