Freedom to Fail

This week's episode is a Legends episode with Liz Findlay from March 2020. Her story was so good and impactful that I wanted to share it again for all our new listeners who may not have listened to it the first time around. One of the smartest people I've ever met, Liz received a Master's degree and was 4 years into a PhD program when she decided to start Albion Fit with her husband...

Growing up, Chase Harrington always thought he was going to be a dentist. That was part of his identity. But fate said it wasn't to be. Instead, he ended up working at a plasma center and helping grow it to a lucrative, interstate business, one he was set to take over. But fate intervened once again, and in a drastic change of events the company was forced to shut down. That didn't deter...

Having a successful company is exciting. Going from hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue to zero overnight is not. But that's exactly what happened to Kylie Chenn with her company, Acanela Expeditions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How do you know it's time to pivot to a new idea or business? Are you quitting or being smart by moving on? These are some of the questions that I disc...

In this episode, you will learn about how Fernanda and her sister had the idea for Bohme in 2006, and since then grown the company to have over 200 employees and 17 locations, with no signs of slowing down.  If you look at where they are now it's a great success, but their first attempt was a financial failure, and along the way almost got shut down by their landlords because of struggles as...

This week I'm doing something a little different than in the past! I want to highlight more local businesses that are just in the startup stage so that my guests are anywhere from the initial struggle to initial public offering. London Chandler is an up-and-coming entrepreneur who just started an affordable jewelry line, The Muse Supply. She literally just started last month, and already has...

This is a repeat of an episode with Kory that first aired on January 6, 2020. For our listeners out there with good taste in shoes or style, you may have heard of the shoe and boot company, Taft. Easily one of my favorite companies and brands, I was ecstatic to find out that they were based in my backyard here in Utah. Kory Stevens is the founder of Taft, along with his wife. Besides being the CEO...

At 28, Tate Stock is still very young in the entrepreneur community. Yet based on what he's been able to accomplish, you would never expect it. His company, Chirp, has only been around for a couple years so far, yet he recently just landed a deal on Shark Tank for the largest valuation in history. Listen to this episode to find out where he got his idea for his business, as well as to learn s...

2020 was a crapshoot for everybody. Good things happened, but so did plenty of difficult things. And nobody was immune. Yet while some people faltered and didn't see much growth, others flourished. The difference was the accountability that these people took in their situations. Some people (including myself) blamed 2020 for their struggles and only saw it as bad things happening to them that...

Ten years ago, at age 60, Judy and her husband were trying to figure out what they were going to do for their retirement. They had started multiple businesses in the past, with varying degrees of success, but were still needing something more to help them feel more secure with their finances. At the same time, Judy went to the doctor to get help with a medical problem she had always had. That meet...

Hello again! It has been a hot second since I have come out with a podcast episode. That is on me 100%. I spent the last couple months just waiting for things to get better in my life before I did, but I realized that there will never be a time when everything is perfect. Life sucks, and life is also great, and it will be a constant balancing act between the two. What matters is finding ways to st...

If you know anything about the Utah entrepreneur scene, odds are you've either heard of Johnny Hanna or the businesses he's started. In 2003 he was one of the founders of the company PropertySolutions (now Entrata) that was doing over $100,000,000 in recurring revenue by 2015 when he felt like it was time to leave. After leaving, he went on to start a company by the name of Homie, which...

Sierra McCleve is a local Utah entrepreneur who now runs multiple successful businesses. She started with Dottie's Kolaches in a little town called Heber, and now also runs a company called Thirst Drinks that has multiple locations in the Salt Lake City area, as well as inside of Vivint SmartHome Arena, where the Utah Jazz play. In this episode learn how Sierra focused on building a strong te...

Tristen Persons is a Utah entrepreneur who has grown his jewelry business significantly since he started just a few short years ago. He makes unique rings based on his travels around the world, usually out of spoons he finds. He started wearing rings like that when he was a teenager and always got asked where they were from, so he took that initial interest and has ran with it. In this episode you...

Osmond Designs started 19 years ago when Heather Osmond was initially a realtor. She started staging the homes she was trying to sell in order to increase the value she could receive from them, and soon people were asking where they could get that stuff. So she started it out on the side, and since then has grown it into a very successful interior design company that operates three locations and i...

This week's episode discusses the reason why the podcast has been so intermittent and why I've been in such a funk. It's hard for me to discuss my mental health and struggles still, but I've been wanting to be open and share my story to help people see that normal people who may seem happy can also be struggling with depression. You will learn more about my experiences with dep...

Jon Richards and his cousin, Jacob Durham, launched Nomatic on Kickstarter with a simple minimalist wallet. That Kickstarter ended up raising over $100,000. Since then, they have transitioned to bags and have raised over $13 million on Kickstarter. Things were going really well and they were growing quickly, but the past 12 months brought them back to reality quickly. They went through a series of...

Cubby James grew up working in the restaurant industry, but never in a million years thought he would start a business in that industry. Initially his plan was to work in an NBA front office, but when that dream didn't work out he found himself traveling the world for a while until he had the idea for Cubby's in his 30s. After working with someone who could very well be a mob boss (his w...

This week is a solo episode where I talk about some of the ways I've learned to avoid burnout with work, which has been a challenge for me in the past. I also talk about how to treat yourself after you make a mistake, and I end with a major announcement. My cookie company is launching this week! If you would like to learn more or place an order you can find it on Instagram at @betterthangrann...

Jake Toolson went from walk-on athlete to WAC Player of the Year and All-WCC 1st Team. In this episode, he takes his through his journey from BYU to UVU and back to BYU while detailing his bouts with anxiety and depression and how they almost derailed his basketball dreams. Along the way he got married, had a baby, and is now well on his way to becoming a professional basketball player. I've...

Valerie and Tyler Kukahiko started Crust Club a few years ago, selling pies out of their house. Since then, they have grown it into a million dollar company and are expanding rapidly. But it hasn't been without a lot of ups and downs. They talk about some of their failures, as well as how they have learned to have good communication in order to balance being together nearly 24/7 at work and a...

Justin Su'a is the mental performance coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, but has worked with the Boston Red Sox (go Sox), IMG Academy, the military, and 10 year old Little League players. In this episode Justin talks about the business side of being a mental performance coach and how he missed out on thousands of dollars during his initial speaking gigs because he didn't know he should ask fo...

Jenna Parker basically stumbled upon her business while baking macarons just for fun. Since that time, she has grown her business from a home-based business doing pop up shops a couple times a month to now having a permanent storefront location. Speaking from experience, these treats are a must-have. Located in Orem, Jenna has done a great job providing a solid customer experience along with a qua...

This past month has been the most wild month of my lifetime so far. Covid-19 has changed the way we live and interact, and in my case it also brought me back to a constant state of fear. Since I started this podcast as a way to help others overcome fear, I realized that I would have to practice what I preach and snap out of it. The first three weeks after being told to self-isolate, my company did...

Kortni Niccoli grew Kortni Jeane to be one of the top 5 fastest growing company under 5 years, but it almost didn't even get off the ground. She put all of her money into a run with her manufacturer and every single piece was sized wrong, to the point she had no money left. But that didn't stop her. She presented a creative idea to the manufacturer to help her produce more AND pay for th...

One of the smartest people I've ever met, Liz Findlay received a Master's degree and was 4 years into a PhD program when she decided to start Albion Fit with her husband, Dave in order to try and save her family's factory in Guatemala. What started as a rescue attempt turned into one of the fastest-growing companies in Utah. They have 4 brick and mortar stores in 3 states, and have...