The LoCo Experience

I got acquainted with Todd Brooker through LinkedIn, where we follow some of the same voices, and learned last fall that he spends a lot of time in Fort Collins - where his daughter Libby Brooker is a goalie on the CSU soccer team!  It took us a minute, but this spring we finally got properly acquainted over lunch, followed by a long-form conversation in The LoCo Experience studios.  Todd is the s...

Duane and Chad Stroh are the father and son that lead the team at Healthy Harvest in Berthoud, CO, which also includes Duane’s wife and Chad’s sister, and one red-headed step-child in a key operations role.  They were initially involved as investor-partners of the business, but as partners departed and their market awareness grew they pivoted the company to specialize in production and wholesale d...

In today’s episode, I was honored to be joined in studio by Ed VanDyne, one of the most fascinating guests we’ve had on the show.  When you look up serial entrepreneur in the dictionary, you’ll find Ed’s smiling face, and the ideas that have sprouted his various companies are consolidated from ideas and learnings from previous chapters, including a lengthy season managing the MIT Racing Team, and...

Dr. Katie Foster booked time with me out of the blue last spring (which never happens), and brought cookies and we shared a very enjoyable coffee and conversation.  She was weeks away at the time from opening her business, Timnath Kids Dentistry, and was exploring the business community at large and curious about LoCo Think Tank.  She’s not a member at LoCo - yet - but she’s our kind of people.  W...

I was introduced to Micah Johnson by Jeffrey Beyle, one of my guests during Season 1 of The LoCo Experience (Episode 29 if you wanna check it out), and one of my spies in the Boulder area.  By spies I mean those who think of me when they meet someone with an interesting business journey to share, and a lot of value to share with the business community through a podcast conversation like this one!...

Diana Rogers Jaeger joined me for an uplifting conversation and shared her fascinating life and career journey that led her to Northern Colorado in 2022.  Diana is the founder and owner of Love to Appreciate Consulting, and recently released a new book - “Let Go of the Rope - Create Unlimited Confidence”.  Love to Appreciate was founded in 2017, and is focused on helping companies keep their best...

I was introduced to Peter Yu by a mutual friend, as the liberty-minded person’s best pick for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.  Peter has a great record of success in both big and small business, fell just short in his race for Colorado’s 2nd District in 2017, and has remained active in the political sphere since his first run.  Peter is the first American-born child of a Chinese family, who...

Tim and Danielle Jordan joined me in The LoCo Experience studios on March 5, 2024 - just 4 days removed from concluding the sale of a pair of legacy businesses in Northern Colorado - Palmer Flowers and Paul Wood Florist, locally owned since 1976 and 1933, respectively.  They sold to one of the largest flower enterprises in America - Family Flowers, a privately owned company that operates legacy fl...

Justin Follin came all the way from Austin, Texas to Fort Collins a few weeks ago - not to be on the show, but to visit his younger brother Sean - my guest on Episode 134, who introduced him to me as a potential guest.  Both brothers are in the strategic planning industry, which I found fascinating, and Justin had a fresh book out in 2023 - titled as you might guess - Be a Better Team by Friday. ...

My guest today was Shani Canillas, Owner and Editor of The Scout Guide Fort Collins.  The Scout Guide is a visually appealing coffee table kind of book, featuring classy storytelling pictorials of gold standard local businesses.  It’s a franchise that has a strong foundation in the Southeast part of the country, but is increasingly spreading west.  Shani picked up her first guide in Bozeman, Monta...

If you tuned in for our bonus episode last week, you’ll know that today’s episode is a bit of a change-up from our normal routine.  I met Viktor Bjerre a few weeks back, while recording the bonus episode on Greenheart Exchange, and he later followed up with an expression of interest to learn more about podcasting.  This led to a get-to-know phone call, and soon after an invitation by me to him to...

Many who know me in Northern Colorado know that my wife and I have a fondness for hosting exchange students, and for the past 2 years, our outlet for getting these students has been an organization called Greenheart Exchange.  I’m joined today by a Regional Manager and the Regional Director of the organization, Lisa Melville Peterson and Lasha Crowell Seaman - and they also brought along several e...

Aaron Everitt was back in the studio for our quarterly check-in, fresh off a trip to Boston visiting a college with his son.  We started our conversation with a whiskey taste test, featuring Blanton’s Bourbon gifted me by Mat at Wilbur’s, Smoke Wagon Uncut the Younger Bourbon, and Stellum Rye Whiskey.  We talked about Boston and some Founding Father stories, we talked about the border crisis and U...

Mandy Mullen’s previous episode (Episode 91) is The LoCo Experience podcast most-listened episode!  It’s an inspiring journey of a chubby post-college wife, then mom, growing her passion for running and fitness and community until it sprung forth as Run Windsor, a community-driven race series in the Windsor, CO region.  At the time of that recording, she was just sealing the deal to buy a pair of...

I was introduced to Ian Simkiss at a very interesting time in his career journey - as the soon-to-be-announced and newly appointed Executive Vice President of Centennial Management, Inc., overseeing Centennial Leasing & Sales locations in Windsor and Englewood in Colorado and in Phoenix, Arizona.  They also offer fleet leasing and sales operations nationwide, and a relationship buying services to...

I met Mike O’Connell in the fall of 2013, early into his final career stop, when he became Director of the Larimer Small Business Development Center in Fort Collins - and soon before I left my banking career!  The organization had struggled for all the years of my volunteer involvement going back to 2008, and Mike was the 3rd or maybe 4th Director to serve.  From July 2013 through December of 2021...

Tami Parker had a long career in corporate HR, but 7 years ago, with a leap of faith and a supportive husband, she founded UNIcycle Business Consulting.  As with most of us, her early years were spent staying alive financially and doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but her growing firm has found its sweet spot as an off-site HR department for our region's small business ente...

I first met Mat Dinsmore during my banking career, perhaps at the Salt N Pepper Lunch Club.  Wilbur’s Total Beverage has been my go-to special occasion retail liquor store ever since, and Mat my often-last-minute wine guide!  This November, after he’d secured us a nice Prosecco Rose as the centerpiece of our LoCo Think Tank member gifts, we got to talking about the impacts of Proposition 125 on hi...

My guests on today’s podcast were Justin & Eugene Boling, father and son.  Justin and I became acquainted this summer, and at a LoCo Think Tank event this fall I asked attendees as part of their introduction who was their hero.  After Justin answered “my dad, Gene Boling” we started a conversation that resulted in this podcast.   Gene was born and raised in rural Nebraska, and attended a one-room...

I met Anika Sawni at the Unstoppable Women’s Conference in October of 2023, where she was an inspiring keynote speaker - in what I learned in this podcast was her very first keynote!  She’d recently been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and I was captivated by her talk and her brand and market and culture-changing opportunity.  At the conference, I was able to sample Gruvi’s Juicy IPA, Rose,...

This episode is a recap of Season 3 with the team at LoCo Headquarters, Colin Jones, Director of Business Development, and Alma Arellano, Operations Manager & Podcast Producer. We go through many of the podcast highlight episodes of the season and talk about our recent acquisition of Tank, the mobile podcast studio, as well as some of our plans for Loco Think Tank in the year ahead. So, if you&apo...

Timiry McCaskell is the Founder and Owner of Dora Grace Bridal, named after her two grandmothers.  Dora Grace has been fitting brides and prom dates and more in Fort Collins since 2011, and opened a second location in Windsor in January of 2023.  The second location came along as an unplanned opportunity of sorts, and has allowed Dora Grace to expand their design offerings and demographics.   Timi...

Nathan Shaw is the Executive Director and Founder of Vindeket Foods in Fort Collins, and Benjamin Jewell is the Chairman of the Board.  Vindeket is a non-profit organization that was originally founded under the umbrella of Serve 6.8, a ministry aligned with Timberline Church.  Vindeket is a food rescue - they take in near-expired and after best-by packaged foods as well as small or non-standard s...

Shauna Hylenski and her husband Bryan have been Longmont-based entrepreneurs since 2015, when they came to Colorado from South Korea. Bryan had there built a reputation as a world-class sport and mountain climber, and they came to represent a Korean climbing shoe manufacturer and built an import brand - HMH Outdoors.  In 2017, they recruited their best friends, Mack and Heeran, and Shauna's b...

Houska Automotive in Fort Collins was started in 1952, by Dennis’s father - Charles “Chuck” Houska, and still operates from the original location at 899 Riverside Avenue in Fort Collins.  Chuck had been a B-17 Mechanic in WWII, and opened the business not long after moving to Northern Colorado.  Dennis was crawling around the shop before he could walk, and never really worked anywhere else. He too...