21 Hats Podcast

This week, in episode 97, Paul Downs talks about why furniture makers traditionally have not stamped their names prominently on their work—and why he’s rethinking that now. That change of heart is the direct result of Paul’s unlikely experience connecting two very different businesses: One a Mennonite company manned by master craftsmen, and the other a startup manned by tattooed hipsters with a ma...

This week, in episode 96, Shawn Busse, Karen Clark Cole, and Jay Goltz compare notes on some of the many choices they’ve made building their businesses, such as the emphasis they’ve placed on growth, the risks they see in growing through acquisition, and—as Karen has recently experienced—the rewards of being acquired. They also discuss whether The Great Resignation, despite forcing companies to pa...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about why he thinks inflation is pulling workers back into the workforce. Plus: Is it a big deal that Apple is going to let businesses take payment by iPhone? And Gene explains just how easy it can be to steal money from a company’s bank account—and what you can do to protect your business.

This week, in episode 95, Jay Goltz, Liz Picarazzi, and Dana White talk about the advantages and disadvantages of bringing in outside capital and expertise—something both Liz and Dana have considered. “I have a background in Russian literature and credit card marketing,” says Liz. “I'm now a manufacturer, so if I could have an outside investor who either brought that to the table or could help me...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about whether a four-day work week is a benefit small businesses can use to lure employees. Plus: Is your website ADA compliant? And what do you do if you get a complaint that it’s not? And Gene talks about why he prefers Florida’s response to the pandemic to Philadelphia’s, which he says is killing the city’s restaurants. But are Philadelphia’s restaur...

This week, in episode 94, Shawn Busse, Paul Downs, and Jay Goltz talk about their evolving succession plans. There are lots of options—selling the business, turning it over to a family member, selling it to an employee stock ownership plan, holding a going-out-of-business sale, just walking away—and they all come with advantages and disadvantages. Shawn, Paul, and Jay take us through their current...

This week, Loren Feldman talks to Lou Mosca, COO of American Management Services, about the growing trend of making salaries public—either because municipalities require it or because businesses choose it. Plus: if the economy is growing at its fastest pace in decades, why doesn’t it feel like it? And how should businesses plan? And a recent study found that more than half of the 2,000 workers sur...

This week, in episode 93, Jay Goltz, Liz Picarazzi, and William Vanderbloemen talk about sales, specifically the transition most founders have to make from handling sales themselves to building a sales team. Jay, Liz, and William also discuss the value of going to trade shows, the pros and cons of compensating salespeople based on commission, and the differences between inside sales and outside sa...

This week, Loren Feldman talks to John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, about what most concerns the businesses in his group and how they view their prospects. Plus: what are smaller businesses doing now that the Supreme Court has blocked the vax-or-test mandate? Is there a possibility of more funds being allocated to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund? And what are the chan...

For many, knitting may still conjure an image of a grandmother in a rocking chair, her cats sleeping and her doilies taking shape. In recent years, however, the quiet industry of tiny neighborhood yarn shops scattered across the U.S. has become an unlikely cultural battleground. It’s been divided by charges of racism and cultural appropriation that have erupted in a series of social media firestor...

This week, in episode 92, we introduce another new member of the 21 Hats Podcast team, Liz Picarazzi, who talks Shawn Busse and Paul Downs through a series of challenges she’s faced at her business, Citibin. Among those challenges: why she outsourced her manufacturing to China, why she’s trying to bring it back, why she’s struggling to find an American fabricator that wants her business, why she t...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about how Hormel is somehow selling more Spam than ever. Plus: What will small businesses do now that there’s no vax-and-test mandate? Why Buy Now Pay Later is a good deal for small retailers (but potentially risky for their customers). And why you shouldn’t use your customer relations platform for email marketing—even though CRM providers say you can.

This week, in episode 91, we introduce a new member of the 21 Hats Podcast team, Shawn Busse, who tells Jay Goltz and Laura Zander about an intriguing challenge he faces. Twenty-two years ago, Shawn co-founded a marketing firm called Kinesis, but now he’s trying to convince clients that it takes more than just marketing. Sometimes, it’s not enough just to drive more leads. Sometimes, you have to s...

This week, Gene Marks tells Loren Feldman that he expects blockchain technology to spawn an explosion of digital transactions and a whole new economy. Does this mean business owners need to understand what a non-fungible token is? And would you buy an NFT of this podcast episode? Plus: tips for inflation-proofing your business. And is the Qualified Small Business Stock exemption a ridiculous looph...

This week, in a special bonus episode, we talk to Steve Krull and Dan Golden, co-founders of Be Found Online, a digital marketing agency based in Chicago. In the second quarter of 2020, as COVID hit and their clients stopped advertising, Krull and Golden watched helplessly as their agency lost 40 percent of its revenue. And then things got much worse: By the end of the year, both of their wives wo...

This week, in episode 90, we have a special guest, Fred Warmbier, owner of a metal-finishing business he founded in Cincinnati in 1998. About 10 years ago, Warmbier was ready to walk away from that business. “It just never seemed like I could have the type of business that I wanted,” he says, “where things worked properly and our employees were happy and our customers were happy.” That changed whe...

This week, in episode 89, our last episode of 2021, we take a look back at the conversations we’ve had this year about the rewards and responsibilities of business ownership, including what it’s like to sell your business, to fire an employee, to risk your own home in order to get financing, to have to make a bet-the-company decision, and to deal with mental health issues, even thoughts of suicide...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about the arrival of omicron. With holiday parties getting canceled, sporting events getting canceled, offices either closing or postponing plans to reopen, it’s starting to feel a lot like—well, not Christmas, but more like March of 2020. Are businesses in for another rough patch? Or is that just COVID hysteria? Plus: Gene admits he likes ABBA.

This week, in episode 88, Jay Goltz and William Vanderbloemen talk about what it takes—in the throes of an unprecedented labor shortage—to hold on to your best people, the ones whose departures might send you looking for a trash can. They also discuss whether “hire slow” still works, whether it’s a good idea to rehire a former employee, whether it’s still possible to do a meaningful reference chec...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about how some 20 states are giving business owners a special workaround that helps them evade the federal cap on state and local taxes. If you live in one of these states and have a pass-through corporate structure, it could be worth a lot of money. They also talk about reports that businesses are budgeting to give their employees big raises next year...

This week, in episode 87, Paul Downs, Dana White, and Laura Zander talk about the lessons they’ll take from 2021 and what they’re hoping to accomplish in 2022. Paul thinks he’s found an alternative sales channel that will lessen his dependency on Google. Laura, who built Jimmy Beans Wool on ecommerce, is planning a renewed emphasis on brick-and-mortar retail. And Dana White is working on building...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about how businesses that engage in digital marketing are adjusting to the new rules that make it harder to track customers. They also discuss how businesses are replacing employees with chatbots and what businesses should do while the vaccine mandate battle plays out in court. Plus: the SBA has $100 billion in disaster relief funds that are about to ex...

This week, in episode 86, instead of a conversation with our regulars, we talk to two people who walked away from promising careers to buy blue collar businesses. Long before search funds and sweaty startups became all the rage, Bob Schwartz left a Wall Street investment banking career to buy a chain of laundromats, SuperSuds, which operates in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. More...

This week, in episode 85, Paul Downs, Jay Goltz, and Laura Zander talk about the bonuses they plan to pay this year—and how their bonus plans and philosophies have evolved over time: Are the payments a reward for company performance? Are they a reward for personal performance? Are they supposed to motivate? Or are they just a thank you? Then the owners talk management, a discussion inspired by las...

This week, Loren Feldman and Gene Marks talk about why robot sales are setting records and how even small businesses are taking advantage of the opportunity. They also talk about the inflation spike and why electric vehicles will help—at least over the long-term. Plus: the government takes action on ransomware, and a fresh approach to paid time off.