You Can't Afford Me

A 79 cent royalty check can either crush you or clarify the game. We’re joined by producer and songwriter Alex Mack (Easy Alex Mac), who went from a small town in Blackstone, Virginia to building a fast-growing career by treating music like both art and business, even while working a full-time IT job for years. We talk about the real grind behind “overnight” growth: staying consistent after colleg...

A lot of people talk about “multiple streams of income” like it’s a mood board. Ashley Lewis lives it, and she’s honest about the price. She’s the founder of BeatBox, a Richmond, Virginia juice bar and cafe, the owner of Melt Parlor, and she’s active in real estate fix and flip projects that helped fund her earliest moves as a business owner.  We get into her backstory from Oakland to the East Coa...

You know the moment when moving stops feeling like an “adult chore” and starts feeling like a full-body risk? We get into that reality with Chase Fuller, General Manager at Cavalier Moving, a Richmond moving company built on in-house training, speed, and trust. Chase’s path is the kind people rarely talk about: he starts as an entry-level mover during COVID, learns every part of the business, and...

Something flips when you realize discipline is not a personality trait, it is a system you practice. I’m joined by Will, a long-time business owner in promotional marketing and the founder of a health coaching brand called The Primal Journey. We start with his path from Richmond to UPS sales training and back into the family firm, then get honest about what actually creates freedom as an entrepren...

An 18-year-old college dropout running a fast-growing real estate media business sounds like a headline, but Preston Day makes it feel like a repeatable playbook. We talk with Preston, founder of The Perfect Plat in Richmond, Virginia, about how he went from zero experience to delivering real estate photography, real estate videography, drone photos, and floor plans that compete with the best in t...

Car repossessed. Fired from a job that was supposed to be the “made it” moment. Then a decision: stop dabbling and start building. Martine Richardson joins us to tell the real story of how she climbed out of a rough season and built a multi-million dollar rental portfolio, even when she didn’t have piles of cash sitting in the bank. We get practical about real estate investing from the ground up,...

A million-dollar home used to signal one thing. Now it can mean almost anything, which is why we wanted a straight, behind-the-scenes look at what “luxury” actually means when you’re designing and building a true custom home. We’re joined by John Fleming, VP of Sales and Marketing for AR Homes Richmond, and he walks us through how a luxury custom builder thinks about design, finishes, timelines, a...

Somebody offered Khabir “KB” Muhammed $50 million for his company and he said no. That moment is just the headline. The real story is how a kid from Compton turns pressure into discipline, uses sports and computer science to build a career, gets hit with corporate politics, and decides he will never let someone else control the ceiling on his life again. We talk through KB’s tech path from softwar...

A career-ending injury can take more than your paycheck. It can take your identity. Natalie Russell lived that firsthand as a professional ballet dancer, then had to rebuild from zero, across countries, careers, and seasons of motherhood. Her story is equal parts reinvention and realism, and it hits home for anyone who has ever thought, “If I can’t do the thing I trained for, what do I do now?”  W...

You probably think you know the YMCA. A pool. A gym. A place you went as a kid. Then Jody Alexander, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Richmond, sits down with us and reveals the much bigger truth: the Y is a community engine that mixes public health, youth development, and real economic mobility work under one roof. We get into her own climb from a first job as a swim coach to leading an o...

If your nonprofit is hustling for small donations but still feels broke, the math might be the problem, not your mission. We sit down with Trevor Bragdon, founder of Seven Figure Fundraising, and get real about where nonprofit funding actually comes from and why major donor fundraising is the lever most organizations avoid until it’s too late. One stat changes the whole conversation: a tiny percen...

Cake gets eaten. Flowers fade. The one thing that can outlive your wedding day by decades is the story you save. We sit down with Slade and Kinsley, the two creatives who sparked our decision to reopen Enso's wedding division, and we get honest about why wedding photography and wedding videography matter more than most couples realize while they’re buried in spreadsheets and vendor quotes. We...

Rod Powell didn’t wake up planning to work in insurance. He spent two decades building a music career, learning the hard way how the business really works, and discovering the one lesson that translates everywhere: if you don’t own the asset, you don’t control the outcome. We talk through the economics of the music industry in plain language, including what it actually means to own your masters, w...

A lot of people talk about “building something.” Cameron and Sam actually do it, fast. Cameron is a Virginia Tech student with a deep coding background. Sam is a longtime hustler who has already scaled real service businesses through door-to-door sales, tight follow-up, and recurring revenue. When Cameron spots an opportunity in peptides, they move from idea to launch mode in about four weeks and...

You can book a trip in minutes, but can you build a trip that actually feels like you? We sit down with Joe Foster, owner of Living Your Bucket Listed Travel, to talk about what separates a basic booking from a true bucket list experience and why the difference shows up when you land, not when you click “confirm.” We get into the real-world value of working with a travel agent or travel planner in...

He gets fired 89 days into a six figure job, then wakes up to EMTs in his bedroom after a seizure he never saw coming. That could have been the end of the story, but for Gary it becomes the moment he stops waiting for “security” and starts building something real. We talk with Gary from TNC Custom Catering Events about the messy, unfiltered road into catering and entrepreneurship: learning to cook...

One million views in 28 days without being a massive influencer sounds impossible until you see the breakdown. I go platform by platform and share exactly what I posted, how often I posted, and what the analytics actually said across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If you run a business, build a personal brand, or manage social media for clients, this is the kind of real-world...

Your body sends signals you can’t afford to ignore and sometimes the simplest fix is hydration, delivered the fastest way possible. We sit down with April, a family nurse practitioner and the founder of Inovitamin Solutions in Richmond, Virginia, to unpack what mobile IV hydration therapy and IV vitamin infusions actually do, who they’re for, and why convenience can be a legitimate health advantag...

What happens when childhood pageants, Army discipline, and a love for beauty collide? We sit down with Kiersta, founder of Artistry by K, to unpack how a five-year-old’s stage sparkle turned into a luxury bridal brand built on grit, service, and smart systems. From North Carolina roots to back-to-back wedding seasons, she shows how legal setup, strict sanitation, and a reinvestment mindset turn si...

What if a 17-year-old could show you a cleaner path to freedom than most adults? Meet Jeremiah Schwartz, a young founder who traded hallway chatter for online school, rebuilt his algorithm to feed him mentors instead of memes, and launched an AI automations agency designed to give service businesses their time back. We dig into the exact choices that created leverage: two-hour deep work blocks, pa...

What if your morning coffee came with a giraffe strolling past your window? We sit down with Molly to unpack the bold vision behind Wilde Manor, a restored 1854 estate in Halifax County transforming into a stay-over safari that blends hands-on animal encounters with real conservation impact. This is a rare peek behind the curtain of exotic animal care, hospitality design, and the relentless grit i...

What if a city could turn movement into its superpower? We sat down with Will, executive director of Sports Backers, to unpack how Richmond’s biggest runs, boldest trails, and friendliest training teams all connect to one mission: make active living easy, joyful, and safe for everyone. You know the finish lines—the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K, the Richmond Marathon, Riverrock—but the real magic is...

The daily paper used to be how we learned our city. Then the habits moved online, and a lot of essential coverage never made the jump. Michael Phillips, editor and founder of The Richmonder, joins us to share how a nonprofit newsroom is rebuilding local journalism with reader power, foundation support, and old-school reporting that shows up at City Hall, schools, and neighborhood meetings. We dig...

Want a nonprofit that runs like a mission-driven powerhouse instead of a tired hustle? We sit down with fundraising consultant Nick Sollog to unpack the real levers that move revenue and impact: clean systems, aligned teams, strong boards, and consistent visibility. From the inside workings of the Virginia Fundraising Institute to gritty stories from the field, we pull back the curtain on what wor...

What happens when a safe room in your grandmother’s house becomes the blueprint for community change? We sit down with Tonya Pulliam, executive director and founder, to unpack a two-part mission: housing and life skills for young adults aging out of foster care, and a rebooted thrift storefront—Sarah’s Den—that quietly meets urgent needs on the sidewalk every day. We start with Virginia’s journey...