Anything But Typical

Steered by faith and authenticity, Jim Dunn has been helping businesses grow for many years. After running his own Sandler Sales Franchise, Jim is now the Director of BGW Growth Services. A common hurdle Jim has faced when working with business owners is their fear of failure. “You cannot grow unless you’re willing to fail.” In this episode, Jim shares how he gets leaders out of their comfort zone...

Angel Rutledge was an educator. Her first career choice, teaching 7th graders, was the path Angel envisioned for herself. Through a passion of adoption, Angel and her husband, Dan, adopted two kids from Liberia. Along that journey were many other families trying to do the same thing. The problem was, it was unorganized chaos. Angel and Dan solved their own problem, and the problems of many hopeful...

Phillip Lanier didn't realize he even started a business until years in. This accidental entrepreneurship journey almost came with an early exit. Lanier wasn't enjoying the business and was thinking about a way to sell. Instead, with business coaching and a voracious appetite for personal development, Phillip Lanier built a company that he loved working in. The renewed passion led to significant b...

Scott Dunstan, Owner & President at The Dunstan Group, has helped businesses utilize custom apparel and promotional merchandise to build their brands for years. So it may come as no surprise that when they started a podcast they named it the Brand Builders Podcast. Scott talks with us about how they go about understanding their audience. Figuring out budgets and goals of companies, then executing...

Ketan Patel was exposed to business ownership helping out his parents as a kid in their business. Today he owns and runs Pop the Top Craft Beer Shop. Ketan took a year and a half to put together a business plan. He factored in what he was passionate about and what he wanted in his life. Ketan discusses how he gets out of his bubble to gain perspective. He shares what it was like going back to 80+...

Mike & Cindy Praeger sold their first business together in their 20s. They looked at this sale not as a finale, but as a building block. Cindy learned that is was her job to find people's super powers and bring the right people into a company. One of Mike's takeaways was "Everybody tries to boil the ocean right at the beginning." Instead, Mike said, we must solve a narrow pain point. Mike went on...

Matt Pozda and Mike Meyer met in the corporate world doing investment banking. With consistency and purpose, the two created MM Capital. Today they acquire, operate, and grow businesses. In this episode, we talk about how they choose businesses to acquire. We discuss the qualitative aspects that make a company or industry attractive. And we dive into how they balance running a business together wh...

"It was like going 200 miles per hour and somebody pulling the emergency brake and spinning out for months." That was Helen Edwards description of Covid-19 hitting. The pandemic hurt many businesses. But when you own and run an event planning company, business screeched to a halt. In this episode, Helen describes how they responded to the pandemic. Spark By Design was able to adapt so well, they d...

Jack Burke is the CEO & Chief Visionary Officer at BRK Global Marketing. He’s been running the business for almost 32 years. In addition, Jack is the Founder and President of A Big Heart Foundation. Yet, it all started with a $3,000 limit Sears credit card. From his days playing Division 1 Tennis, Jack learned to keep a tight schedule, balance multiple responsibilities, and master his time managem...

When Steve Wohlenhaus was in his early 20's, he started Weatherology. He has run the business for over 35 years. In this episode, Steve discusses working an unpaid internship for 2 years to learn from a mentor. He maintained his priorities and refused to give up his workouts, even when that meant 2:00AM wake ups to get a run in before working.  Today, in addition to running the business, Steve is...

Jim & Sandy Forbes, owners of Rinnovare Inc, have been running businesses since 1989. From trying to make a living with their first business to trying to make a positive impact today, the Forbes' entrepreneurial path is filled with stories and lessons. Jim and Sandy discuss how they now use vision boards to increase their focus and accomplishments of their goals. They go into their differentiators...

Brian Parsley is a keynote speaker, Managing Partner of The Constance Group, and an Angel Investor. In our episode, we talk about how Brian figured out his first entrepreneurial endeavor in 5th grade. We discuss how speaking engagements and content have led to business. Brian shares how he struggles with and overcomes imposter syndrome. This episode is the perfect example of how we all deal with s...

How do you balance running a profitable business and impacting the world? Enter Liz Ward. Liz is the founder of Give Impact- an advisory services firm focused on affordable housing and upward mobility solutions. Companies have capital or resources and a desire to impact their communities. But nobody was out there to support or help them put those resources to good use. Liz and her team help busine...

Torrey Wood, Founder & CEO of M&A Financing Services, finishes the podcast talking about making it easy to prioritize what's most important in your life. Whether it's family and faith in Torrey's case, or whatever it may be for you, prioritization is a key theme in this episode. Torrey learned early on in his career not to listen to other people. He believed in his vision and set out to achieve it...

Greg Artzt grew up around entrepreneurs. So it will come as no surprise to hear that early in his career, Greg left being a trader at a hedge fund to start his own business. After the Sandy Hook school shooting, Greg and the other founders of PunchAlert came together to create a solution that would save lives during active shootings and other emergencies.  In this episode, Greg talks about the evo...

Joe Farrell has owned Quality Data Systems, a cash automation company, for over 39 years. Now Sean is CEO. In our conversation, we discuss the dynamics of Sean coming into the business after playing professional baseball. Joe shares his background and how QDS was founded. Sean talks about the awkward size of a company with 85 employees that's leaving the small business arena and moving up to a med...

Roddey Player worked in his father's business as a kid. As a young professional, he moved into the business full time. Roddey then proceeded to work up the company, before taking over as CEO 14 years ago. In this episode, Player shares the insight of growing up in a family business.  Today, Queen City Audio Video & Appliances is a flourishing retail business. We dive into the difficulties and evol...

Andy Hilliard, CEO at Accelerance, was in a banking career that was draining his energy. On a cross country skiing trip, Hilliard decided to leave banking to join the Peace Corps. It was in there Peace Corps where he saw first hand how different cultures achieve happiness, as well as business development mistakes and opportunities he could apply to his future. Today, Hilliard runs a global organiz...

Mike Reimels, owner of Reimels, Miller, Pattera Dentristy, may be one of the most efficient guests we've had on the Anything But Typical Podcast. In this episode, Mike lays out what his day looks like. He minimizes travel time and said "time in the car is wasted". He only does meetings if they are absolutely necessary, and then it needs to be somebody coming to him or via Zoom. Reimels goes well b...

"You've got to show up in a chicken costume at their front door if you want them to notice you." That was Andy Pfeiffer's sentiment when talking about all of the distractions and things that are vying for our attention today. Andy, Founder and Principal of Arthur Elliott Marketing Group, approaches marketing and branding with his clients in a manner that gets to the root of how you want to be know...

David Redding's sophomore year of college he had to figure out how to pay for school. On the table was a flyer about ROTC that his roommate received. David joined the Army, and later the Green Beret. In this episode, Redding shares his lessons and experiences from his military days. "Take the blame, pass the praise." This was his most important lesson learned. Redding also created F3- Fitness, Fel...

Jason Tuttle had commercial real estate in his blood. Working for his father in the industry, Jason built up his knowledge and understanding. During the Great Recession, Tuttle's resiliency was tested. Yet, he came out the other side stronger than ever and prepared to build and grow his own firm. In this episode, Jason shares some of the things he looks for when investing in commercial real estate...

Jennifer Guthrie, Founder and CEO of In-Flight Crew Connections, knew she wanted to be a business owner at 16. After trying her hand in multiple industries, she founded In-Flight.  Jennifer shares with us how she got the business started and evolved from a regional corporate flight attendant service. We go into Jennifer's growth mindset and how she goes about thinking big. We discuss how they hand...

Mike Estramonte started his first business at 14 when he and a buddy began painting barns in Upstate New York. Estramonte become a chiropractor and went into business. Today, Dr. Estramonte is the CEO of Starmount Healthcare, a healthcare management company supporting practices with services such as human resources, recruiting, accounting, and more. In this episode, we talk about how Estramonte to...

Omar Jorge was born into a family of entrepreneurs with Dominican Republic roots who owned supermarkets in New York. He started actively working in the grocery stores in his early teens. He seemed destined to be in the family business. But as he grew older, he thought the way he could best serve the family business & his community would be through law. So, he left the supermarket business at age 2...