Built to Stay

Eric Shanfelt left his corporate gig to start Local Marketing Institute. He was tired of seeing bad, scammy, and dangerous advice for small businesses and local marketers. Today he chats with Bart Bradshaw about the best marketing practices and his personal journey. Check out builttostay.com for more info.

Today host Bart Bradshaw speaks with Vanessa Quigley, co-founder of Chatbooks. When Vanessa got the idea to start Chatbooks, a consumer tech startup that turns your Instagram feed into scrapbooks, she was a busy mother of seven. But Vanessa and her husband Nate took the leap and have built Chatbooks into a multimillion-dollar company. She is also the host of the MomForce podcast. For more content check out builttostay.com

Today we're chatting with Allison Lew, who co-founded Braid and the Sego Awards in addition to running People and Culture at Blip. Allison talks about her years working for local government and what inspired her to start Braid. She shares the importance of supporting women and giving them options and opportunities. To learn more about Braid, the Sego Awards, or Blip, visit builttostay.com

Today we’re branching out into a new industry: film and camera rentals. With us is Mark Hedengren, a former film professor and founder of Red Finch Rental. Mark has his MFA, is an author, and directed the documentary Sundance Skippy. He bought one of the first Red One cameras in Utah and has built a company around renting to budding filmmakers. From more exclusive content including a list of essential eBay tips, head to builttostay.com

In this episode of Built to Stay we interview Cory Pinegar, CEO of CallForce. At 22, Cory and his partner Kasey Henson purchased a small call center from Weave and turned it into CallForce. Cory talks about the early challenges they've faced and what they've learned over the last 4 years of serving dental offices. For more exclusive content, check out builttostay.com and follow @builttostay.

In this episode of Built to Stay we interview Ilise Benun host of the Marketing Mentor podcast. Ilise is a national speaker, 7-time author, and business mentor for creative professionals. Today she shares how builders can improve their marketing, especially if they are freelancers. For more exclusive content go to builttostay.com

In this episode of Built to Stay we interview Chelle Neff. After working as a hairstylist, Chelle started her own salon, Urban Betty, that paid on commissions. Fast forward a decade and there are now 2 locations with 50 employees. Chelle is now working with her husband to build up Weird Homes Tours, an event that takes you inside the most creative homes around the country. For exclusive content, check out builttostay.com and @builttostay.

In this episode of Built to Stay, we talk with Jasmin Aujla, director of partnerships at Man Repeller. We dive into partnerships and how they can benefit brands. Some of the things Jasmin really emphasizes are being genuine as a brand, what an ideal partnership looks like, and how events have helped Man Repeller grow. As Bart says in this episode, partnerships, at its roots are, “ a great way to fill in the gaps...and ally with people that are going down the same path or working with similar audiences.” For more exclusive content, check out builttostay.com and @builttostay.

In this episode of Built to Stay, we interview Gary Kennedy, one of the first employees at Oracle and first investor, president, and CEO at Ten Fold. Gary had great success in the tech industry and explains his story and what he learned working in some of the top tech companies of the ’90s and early 2000s. In this episode, we dive into how to rebound after a stock market crash, how Gary chose to move from a stable job to a risky start-up, and what makes him interested in some investment ideas. Visit builttostay.com and @builttostay for exclusive content.

In this episode of Built to Stay, we interview Liz Findlay, founder of Albion Fit, an athleisure clothing company. Liz gives an extremely vivid example of rising up after falling. Liz was working on her master's degree when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She and her husband and their newborn twins relocated to Guatemala to be closer to her parents. During that time, they started Albion Fit in an effort to save her parent's clothing factory. Liz shares the incredible Albion Fit story and how she worked through challenges, setbacks, and rose above it all. For more content, visit builttostay.com

In this episode of Built to Stay, we interview Joey Van Konigsbruggen. Joey is the founder of Jimmy Joy, an international company that provides a complete meal replacement shake and other healthy foods. Joey talks about how it all started in his dorm room in Amsterdam while he was studying media marketing and art, and decided to study something commercial so he could sell his art. He also discusses many of his setbacks, such as the legal issues he faced while trying to expand his business abroad, as well as his experience overcoming these issues. For exclusive content visit builttostay.com.

In this episode of Built to Stay, we interview Tristen Ikaika. Tristen sells handmade rings and uses social media as a way to engage his customers. Initially, Tristen began growing his following on Instagram through videography and photography, which he ended up leveraging into a successful business selling rings. We talk about his experience starting as a photographer and recently moving into the e-commerce realm with rings and how he made his transition from influencer to entrepreneur. Listen in to learn more about Tristen’s amazing business strategy. For exclusive content visit builttostay.com Introduction 1:33 How Ring Selling Started 6:57 Traveling and Rings 18:56 Advice 25:19 “I tell my friends who start businesses, outsource as fast as you can. Because you need to be the one owning the business, not necessarily running the business.”  24:28

In this episode of Built to Stay, we interview Dave Crosby, founder of Wyze. We talk deeply about DTC (direct to consumer) businesses, how they are able to make such a high quality product at a fraction of the cost, how their companies mindset has shaped their success, and we also get to know a little about Dave and his daughter who have had a successful career as a performing duo. Introduction to Dave - 1:26 Claire's Video's - 12:13 Hot Wyze Started - 24:28 What is next for Wyze - 44:32 “You mentioned before that we must have spent a ton on marketing. The truth is we’ve spent almost nothing on marketing. All we do, is we obsess over customers and make a great product...and then we listen to our community and just make the product as good as we possibly can and they just tell their friends.” 42:38

In this episode of Built to Stay, Bart interviews two solopreneurs who are currently in the process of building their businesses. Craig Rabin, creator of Airhooks, tells his story of how he got the idea for Airhooks and how he raised the money needed to fund the project through Kickstarter. Chelsie Tamms, founder of Lettering Works, talks about being an artist and an entrepreneur. She shares her experience of winning an entrepreneurial contest in college and using those funds to back her design business. Chelsie also highlights the reasons why many creative individuals tend to avoid starting a business within their specialty. For more about this episode, check out builttostay.com and @builttostay. - 1:14 Story behind the Airhook - 7:22 Easy way to establish a ‘patent pending’ - 27:58 Lettering Works 30:50 Disconnect between artists and entrepreneurs - 41:39 Being a solo-preneur   “It’s not how well you execute. It’s how well you pivot in a point of crisis.” 15:58

In this episode of Built to Stay, James Anderson, one of the co-founders of Forged Axe Throwing, discusses how he built a million-dollar company around axe throwing. When James was in high school, he loved outdoor jobs that allowed him to have great experiences with his customers. He would do everything from windsurfing in the summer to skiing in the winter. After an internship at a tourism marketing firm, James did some research and decided to build an axe-throwing business with a friend who shared a mutual love for sharing experiences with customers. James talks about experience design, working with competition, scaling a brick and mortar business, and software development. For more, check out https://www.builttostay.com/ and @builttostay 3:50 Tourism and adventure guiding 14:40 Opening day success 17:52 Experience design 22:50 Healthy competition 33:27 Developing axe throwing software https://www.forgedaxe.ca/ www.axecourse.com

In this episode of Built to Stay, Bart interviews Trevor McKendrick. Trevor received media attention, including a cameo on Gimlet's Startup podcast, because he started a Spanish Bible app even though he himself is an atheist. After noticing an unfilled niche in the app store, Trevor built the app hoping to make a couple hundred bucks a month. His app ended up making him 10x that and he continued to build his company which he eventually sold. Trevor discusses how he sold his business and the current projects he is working on at the Lambda School as well as his experience with content marketing. Follow @builttostay and visit our site for more content. 3:30 Developing the app around Spanish-speakers  9:43 What it takes to make an app in the current market  12:58 Being in the media spotlight 21:03 The Lambda School 

Many entrepreneurs talk about how they started their businesses by filling a gap in the market that they personally wanted to have filled. Fran Dunaway's business idea that led to the creation of TomboyX followed the same pattern, stemming from her desire to create fashionable and functional shirts and underwear for women. Beginning as a side hustle and being propelled by a Kickstarter campaign, TomboyX gained massive traction amongst female and LGBTQ audiences. Fran discusses how she and her now-wife, Naomi, have seen success by providing for the needs of unmet audiences, and how they decided to make their mark on the clothing industry. The origin of TomboyX 4:26  Filling an unmet need 10:07 Working multiple jobs to make it happen 14:59 The difficulty of finding funding as a female entrepreneur 21:36 "We had this opportunity, had the name, we had the "me too" movement, we had gender neutrality, gender equity, that type of stuff that was starting to turn in these zeitgeists of the culture. "

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Griffin Thall, one of the co-founders of Pura Vida, a lifestyle jewelry brand with 1.8 million Instagram followers. What started as a side hustle from a trip to Costa Rica, has turned into a multi million dollar business supporting 800+ artists from Costa Rica to India. Learn how he started his business, kept it running and is continuing its growth by harnessing the power of social media.  Griffin’s Story 1:17 Biggest Challenge for Griffin 6:59 Paid Social Media Advertising 10:18 How did you expand your product lines? 12:50 What would you do differently? 14:39   “I think it’s very important to have every brand owner know how to use a camera and use adobe light room to shoot and edit photos. The worst thing that you want to do is start a brand and have to outsource everything…”  

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Hector Lopez the creator of Instasize, an app that automatically cropped your photo for Instagram. He talks about how the company was started from the ground up and gives advice on how to help your business stay. Hector also talks about how he was able to keep the business through re-strategizing.   Introduction to Hector and Instasize 1:20 The Subscription Model 12:24 Statistics of Social Media Users 21:55 General Advice 25:29   "Try to find your audience and where the audience lives and see how you can interject yourself in their day to day life." 

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Bill Macaitis. Bill has been instrumental in helping 3 of the fastest SAS companies of our time, most recently Slack. Bill talks about how he was able to propel these start ups from the ground up to the powerful companies that they are.   Introduction to Bill 1:14 Things that worked and things that didn’t 13:44 What to focus on with your marketing team 19:17 Shift from Slack to advising Startups 22:21 What are the most common mistakes of start ups? 24:15   “You gotta start with just this customer centric philosophy where you delight people at every stage.”

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Zack Oates. Zack has been a part of multiple start ups, winning multiple business competitions and gaining high publicity at a young age. Zack started Ovation which helps brick and mortar businesses to engage with, bring back, and receive real feedback from loyal customers.   Introduction to Zack 1:22 Ovation 12:29 Engaging Customers to Brick and Mortar Businesses 15:03 Mistakes that entrepreneurs make with customer experience 19:34 How to capture feedback and turn a bad situation good 32:16     “These unhappy customers have the highest likelihood of becoming loyal customers. So if you have a dissatisfied customer, you have a 70% chance of turning that into a loyal customer if you can resolve that concern quickly.”

In this episode of Built to Stay we interview Kenny Nguyen owner of Big Fish Presentations and 368 a full service marketing and innovation agency. Kenny talks about what started these companies, the struggles of start ups and how to push through the start up phase, and his mindset on presentations. Kenny also speaks on the need for creativity in working on your business and encouraging creativity in your clients.   What started Big Fish 1:08 Tools Used in Presentations 6:31 How to Sell to big Companies 8:33 Challenges of moving from Start up to Big Business 11:32 Need for Creativity in your business 16:08 Top Mistakes People make in Presentations 23:10   “That's when I realized that we need to do something, cause if we don't rid the world of boring presentations, no one will listen. “    

In this episode, Bart is joined by Janssen Bradshaw, an entrepreneur and business owner that has almost 13 years of experience with Blogs. In this episode, she delves into all aspects of blogging; including how she built her blog, advice to newcomers in the blogging world, monetization options for blogs, and how businesses can work with influencers and bloggers. Listen in to this episode to learn more about how to build a business through blogging and becoming an influencer, as well as how to work with influencers to support your business.  1:06 How Janssen transitioned into being an entrepreneur.  9:51 Advice for new bloggers.  16:59 Janssen's second business - London Littles.  27:01 Advice on how to work with influencers. 

As a medical school student, Steve Neeleman had an unpleasant yet enlightening experience with his health insurance provider. A few years later, during his residency, Steve founded Health Equity in hopes of reforming the health insurance industry. With a $4.8B market cap and healthy financials that have outperformed the S&P 500 for the past 5 years, Health Equity is undoubtedly built to stay. Today we'll hear Steve's story and advice for all business builders. Access exclusive content at builttostay.com.

Sydni Craig-Hart is a double agent of sorts. She helps small businesses grow and she helps large companies connect and drive engagement with those small businesses. She’s the CEO and Co-founder of Smart Simple Marketing, an award-winning digital content marketing agency and she’s a 4th generation entrepreneur. On today's episode, Bart and Sydni discuss common mistakes small businesses make and how you can avoid them. Visit builttostay.com for show notes and our print out "Small Business Marketing Strategy".

There’s more opportunity than ever before for financing your business, but the process and strategy are not easy. Today we’re breaking down venture funding with seasoned investor Jensen Warnock. Jensen is the managing director at Lumen Group and a Venture Partner at Mercato. In the next thirty minutes, you’ll learn the best time to seek funding and the best type of firms to work with. After the episode, download a piece to help you put into practice what you learned at Builttostay.com Rate and review!

Are you designing with your customers in mind? Our guest today is Christian Freissler, who has designed in just about every category, from airplane cabins to Apple accessories. Christian has 14 patents and counting, including one for manufacturing gelatin food products. His latest venture is Evolve Collaborative, a Portland-based insight, design and innovation agency that strives to solve complex problems through design. Today he walks us through the Attract, Engage, Extend model that you can apply to your brand, product, or service. For show notes and a downloadable piece on Attract, Engage, Extend, visit Builttostay.com @builttostay.

Financing your business can be a long and complicated process. Today we'll hear from Joe Camberato, the co-founder and president of National Business Capital and Services. He and his team have secured over $1 billion in funding for small businesses. Listen to how Joe built National to stay by helping fund thousands of other businesses. Visit builttostay.com for our downloadable guide on alternative lending. @builttostay

Who among us hasn't dreamed of opening up a restaurant?! They're one of the top 5 most common small businesses, but that doesn't make them any easier to open. Bethany Teeples started selling delicious, liege waffles with her husband at a local farmer’s market. 10 years later, Waffled has a brick and mortar location and a thriving catering business. Listen to hear how Bethany is building Waffled to stay. @builttostay Visit builttostay.com for show notes and a downloadable piece "How to Manage and Motivate Teenage Employees"

Imagine you’re two years out of high school and you have $8 million in the bank from your first round of funding. Sounds like a Silicon Valley dream, right? Today we’re talking with Sahil Lavingia, the creator of eCommerce platform Gumroad. Sahil was the second employee at Pinterest, but he left his position there, unvested stock and all, to start Gumroad. His story is nothing short of incredible and we love the long-term, level-headed perspective Sahil is using to build Gumroad to stay. Show notes at builttostay.com

Six years ago Scott Paul and his business partner, Nykelle Schlofman, stumbled upon influencer marketing. Together they built Instafluence, one of the first and largest networks of influencers. They worked with brands like Subaru and iTunes to harness the power of influencer marketing. In 2015, Instafluence was acquired by Disney and Scott went on to create Wooly, the antithesis SAS. In this episode, Scott and Bart discuss his journey to Wooly and the different techniques for companies of all sizes to use influencer marketing. Find the show notes and downloadable content at builttostay.com

Is there a formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur, or is it all just luck of the draw? Bart Bradshaw tackles the philosophical questions behind success with serial entrepreneur James Munnerlyn. James shares his top 3 tips for reaching success for a new company and a growing company. Spoiler alert: you might need to sacrifice short term success for long term success! Find downloadable content and show notes at builttostay.com

Pat Flynn is a professional blogger, keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and host of the Smart Passive Income and AskPat podcasts. Pat is also no stranger to failure.  In this episode, Bart and Pat discuss how you can use failure as a stepping stone on the way to success. @builttostay

Wake up from the snoozefest of business content and listen to Built to Stay, a podcast dedicated to sticking, staying, and succeeding in business. Each episode is designed to highlight key ways you can build your company for long-term success using exclusive interviews with thought leaders, business owners and experts in their fields. Hosted by Bart Bradshaw. Learn more at www.builttostay.com @builttostay