The Empire Builders Podcast

Apparently copywrite laws were pretty weak during the great depression, so, Joseph Rosefield started Peter Pan and Skippy peanut butter. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Steven&#82...

Alexey Pajitnov was supposed to build voice recognition software for the Russian government. Instead he built a video game and gave it away. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Steph...

Smoking trends started to shift with men smoking more allowing Marlboro County to become Marlboro Country. Strong, confident and independent. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Step...

Jim Koch is a multi-generational brewer, but it was a tax loophole that inspired him to start his brewery and create Samuel Adams. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s...

Wolfman Jack was a larger than life Radio DJ that broke out after he adopted a persona and created a very interesting character. Can you say marketing? Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I&#8...

Frank Zamboni couldn’t stand the time it took to resurface the ice on a massive ice rink in L.A. So, he invented a better way. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’...

Tom Casey’s Griffin Service was sought after and sold because it became famous and stood for something. Do the work and treat people well. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m St...

Tom Casey tells us how a health scare jump started his change in life that lead to the birth of Griffin Home Service. This guy is awesome. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen...

Facts tell, but stories sell. Nike needed to break away from the crowd and so they related to the everyday athlete. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and b...

Leslie Scott got bored of a game and invented a new one, Jenga. She also almost went bankrupt trying to bring it to market. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekic...

Understanding the relationship between the consumer and the web is how Paul English grew Kayak and sold it for 1.8 billion dollars. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’...

Ben Cook describes how brilliantly trained NASCAR Pit Crews inspired an amazing business consulting division. Be open to new opportunities and nimble enough to adapt. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and st...

After a soul searching sabbatical and a very smelly #2 experience, Suzie knew that she finally had the right idea at the right scale to be sustainable. Welcome Poo Pourri. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop, to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector a...

How do people think about your company? What do you do to support how they feel? How do you influence their feelings? Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen sidekick and busines...

HDTV was a great invention that made it tough on the make-up artists. Rea Ann Silva created a solution and a million sales later… Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen&#8...

Clarence Birdseye was a very curious human and this lead him to owning 168 patents. To think he started as an 11 year old taxidermy teacher. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Simple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephe...

1 Million followers on YouTube, crowd sourced distillery, whisk(e)y sommelier courses and a sought after consultant for the industry. Let’s listen up. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller....

Job ad reads: If you are not a misfit do not apply. This was for the faculty. Teachers and professors had to think differently. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s si...

What do you do to stop people from drinking to much alcohol? Get them to travel, of course. Witness the birth of the travel agency. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’...

Ray Croc has nothing on Martha. She was a pioneer in every aspect of her business and is the woman who gave birth to franchising. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s...

It was never intended to be an Empire.  She just wanted to make her work easier.  Next thing you know.  Gillette comes a knocking with a truck load of cash. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, a...

This is what you do when you have a strange name and need everyone to remember you. Don’t be a little weird, stand on the edge of absurd. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m St...

Lots of obstacles got in the way and with location being a big one, Dave Anderson figured out how to become famous for Bar-B-Que. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s...

All the secrets behind the podcast are revealed. Discover how Dave and Stephen came together, where all the stories come from, and if it’s scripted or not. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storytel...

Third generation run company including the granddaughter who inspired their famous brand, Little Debbie. She now sits on the board of directors. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m S...