Business Talk Sister Gawk

Ever wanted to know the background of why we are where we are with FEMA today and what options are available to you as business owner if you encounter a FEMA rated natural disaster? This series is for YOU! Take a listen as we dig into the details.

Denise Monroe shares about how she started out doing long term care consulting for individuals in need of transitioning from rehabilitation centers to longer term support services and housing. She works to help individuals understand how to advocate for their wants, and needs while navigating the structure of medical needs and insurance complexities. Take a listen to hear how she started her business, and what she recommends to other people looking to get started with this type of business.

Tom Schotec shares how his real estate flipping business diversified into offering full transitional care services for individuals who were overwhelmed by the thought of moving in order to be closer to family, lowering their home's maintenance needs, transitioning to more supportive care housing facilities and more. This is part 2 in this podcast interview with Tom, and in this episode we discuss his business diversification into the construction industry to ensure the quality of homes they were renovating. Take a listen!

Tom Schotec shares about how he started his entrepreneurship journey as a house flipper and saw the opportunity to become a service based business that assisted the elderly population with navigating the emotionally difficult journey of transitional care needs. This is an excellent listen for anyone who has a passion to care for others and is interested in hearing how he built a business to support families through this journey. His business, Standard Homes Buyers & Estates, is a great case study to check out.

Roger (Poka) Pogorelc, serial entrepreneur, discusses the meaning of prospecting and how he recommends you practice improving these skills. He gives advice for talking on the phone, in-person, understanding the cues of your prospective customer, and knowing how to respond to questions or comments in a way that shows you are comfortable with receiving feedback.  

Billie Asmus, inventor of the Repaint Tray, is back to share with us in Part 2 of this series how she is leveraging organic social media to grow exposure and sell her product. We discuss knowing when it's time to hire help, utilizing influencers for content exposure, and just being willing to ask people to share your content. If you want to know how to leverage social media, with a degree in marketing and communications, this entrepreneur knows where to start. 

Billie Asmus, Inventor and entrepreneur of the Repaint Tray, is with us to discuss her journey with organic social media as a business owner. This is first hand experience from a product based business owner on how she is leveraging social media to spread the word about her business. We discuss posting frequency, the type of content to share, and more. Tune in today!

Ever wanted to buy something from Alibaba, but were not sure where to start? This episode is for you. Bekkah covers when it can be a good idea to utilize Alibaba, how to negotiate, what sort of shipping time to expect, and so much more. Take a listen on your favorite platform.

Scott Jacobson, 20 year veteran real-estate investor, explains what metrics you should be looking to see in a property's financials if you're hoping to invest in a multi-family property, as well as advice in working with a syndicate group of investors. Take a listen!

Bekkah covers why it's important to be patient in looking for a property, evaluating if you can grow in the space, if it has enough parking and easy accessibility, considering a property on the national historic registry, and more! Listen now!

Rena Freeman shares how to build a property management business. Rena covers getting the correct licensing, managing all of your properties efficiently, how to vet possible renters, ways to price yourself in a way that makes sense for property owners, how to maintain great customer service relationships with your tenants, and advertising your rental openings. All this and so much more, take a listen!

Have you ever wondered what resources are available to business owners for commercial properties? This episode covers how to look for grants within your region, what questions to ask as you prepare for your grant application, when to start spending money on your project, when you should apply, and how to encourage your local region to make more economic development funding available to small business owners. If you've ever wanted to find ways to make a building renovation project more affordable for your business, this episode is for you! Take a listen!

Richard Parker has bought 13 different businesses personally and has spent 34 years working with acquisitions and mergers. In this episode, he discusses how to separate the value of a business from the value of real estate. Richard covers how you should consider how the actual property rental costs, noting that many business owners paying themselves rent for the use of the property space the business occupies or won't pay themselves any rent at all. These two distinct differences are big items to consider when projecting what you will need to factor into your own costs of running the business once you acquire it. This tip, and so many more are in this episode. Take a listen!

Brandon Freeman discusses how he has built his rental investment portfolio, and explains how to calculate a cash on cash return so you can understand for yourself how to strategically build your own portfolio. He discusses why he separated out his property management company from his assets, and how he keeps a mix of short term and long term rentals to maintain a diversified amount of cash flow options for his business.

Bekkah explains what factors you may want to consider when you open up a physical storefront! This episode covers considerations such as whether you are hiring employees, being in the right location for your target market by researching your target market demographic, exploring overall city and regional resources that may be available to your business, and leveraging what your business will bring to the community when choosing a site location.

This week Roger Pogorelc (Pooka) shares how he set up, not one, but TWO different indoor billboard advertising companies starting with absolutely no connections in two different markets. You are going to want to listen in to this conversation as it's a business anyone could build, and his advice regarding how he did it is so valuable. This episode also has some fantastic advice on how to just get up and get going with sales to meet your target customers where they are at. Roger is a pro. Take a listen!

This is part 2 in the series on goal setting, and you're not going to want to miss this! This episode covers how to set your goals to be specific, what you need to consider whenever you set yourself a sales goal for your business, and how to get tactical with examples of goals you can really hold yourself accountable for in pushing yourself and your business forward. Listen now!

Setting your goals for the new year is a BIG DEAL. This two-part episode, gets you planning your business' direction by preparing your financials for evaluation, understanding what you need to be spending money on, and even thinking through when you need rest. Take a listen to get started!

Cassanda Greene shares what you need to know to advertise your event planning business, connect with clients, make suer they have great customer service, and can understand if their overall expectations were met for their event. Take a listen to how she started her business to see if it's a skill you may want to learn for yourself. 

Bekkah shares how to prepare your content to teach entrepreneurship internationally, what to be thinking about in regards to mindsets that may come up when you are teaching, and how to be prepared to answer questions or address the core threads behind where the questions are coming from.

Bekkah shares ways you can prepare to get paid for teaching entrepreneurship, learning reflections from the last two episodes in this series, and a path forward to teaching and making money through the use of education. Also at the end of this episode, the Head of Media Production from Little Thinking Minds shares a great story you're also going to want to gawk about with us!

Rama Kayyali, co-founder and CEO of Little Thinking Minds, shares how she started her edtech company that is focused on closing education gaps in the MENA region by creating subscription based platforms focused on improving Arabic literacy and learning outcomes. Their educational platforms include,  "I READ ARABIC," which provides Arabic reading and learning content for Arabic speakers, and "I START ARABIC," which offers content to help non-Arabic speakers acquire Arabic reading and writing skills and so much more. Take a listen!

Kyrgyz international student and English teacher, Aiperi Mavliankulova tells us how she used Instagram to launch an English learning business for language learners when she was looking for ways to make money while studying abroad. Learning business skills along the way, Aipreri shares tips to ensure you stay profitable and don't overwork yourself!

Business owner and South Asian New York Fashion Week Beauty Director, Barbie Patel shares how to start your journey in becoming a professional makeup artist. With over 15 years for experience, Barbie offers great advice in regards to setting yourself apart from competition, promoting yourself, and having great customer service for your clients. 

If you've ever wondered how to make money off the land or how to safely forage and eat wild mushrooms, then you've come to the right podcast series. This two part episode (starts in 147) with Cliff's Mushrooms and Foraging tells you where to look for mushrooms, what season and tree species to be paying attention to, and so much more. Even if you're not even a mushroom person, you're going to find this podcast interesting. 

If you've ever wondered how to find edible plants and mushrooms in the wild that are safe to eat and then also thought, wait, why don't I just sell these because they're growing naturally and all I have to do is pick them?? This is they guy you need to talk to, Cliff's Mushrooms and Foraging. Sit back and listen to this two part episode series on all things legitimately legal with foraging edible mushrooms as a business. 

Maddi Frick shares how she got into the music industry representing artists to pitch their music for TV shows, movies, and video games. Maddi gives great recommendations on how to become networked within the industry kickstart your career. Give it a listen and check out her business at junejulymp3.com

When you have a government contract, it's important to be thinking through diversifying your business to ensure you will be okay if you lose a government contract, how you are planning ahead for growth, considering pilot programs, etc. Reading your contract is also important to know how you are developing goods and services for the government. Knowing what information is your intellectual property versus work done for hire is crucial to ensuring your own business' research and development is protected. Listen in to hear more tips in this episode!   This is our third episode in the government contracting series, so don't forget to check out episodes 143 and 144!

Preparing yourself to bid on a government contracts starts with networking and understanding the players involved within your business industry, familiarizing yourself with what is in the typical contract, and considering the price point you're willing to place in your proposal. This episode covers how to read a government contract, who to ask about the contract, and so much more! This is part two in a series on government contracting. 

Understand what classification your business falls into, what the tiers of the government are and how they take bids or requests for proposals (RFP's). This episode is part 1 of a series on working with the government agencies as a small business owner. If you've ever wondered how to do this, take a listen! Bekkah tries to help small business owners understand the process through first hand experiences of navigating the systems and understanding the terminology. 

Billie Asmas fills us in on how she pitched her patented silicone paint tray in a pitch competition, and how you can pitch your product idea too. Some of her tips included: Making sure the judges know the problem you faced and how you came up with a solution, having your manufacturing and market opportunity numbers ready, and knowing the clientele that would be most willing to purchase your product. Take a listen for even more!

This week, Cassondra Greene from Greene Frame Events discusses how she got started in event planning, how she plans out her business, stays organized, and networks within the industry. This is a great listen if you've ever thought about becoming an event planner. 

From understanding your sales style, to positioning yourself, and even asking someone to mentor you, this podcast is the reset you needed to get you off to the races again as a newer business owner. This episode gives advice to other entrepreneurs on all the things Bekkah wishes she would have known or had to be reminded of as she was in the first couple years of business. 

Steven and John, explain what the spark exhibit will be like for the children's exploratorium they are building, how they are putting it together, and what the space for Birchwood Studios is all about in supporting the Crescendo Youth Orchestra. Take a listen! This is the first update on what is happening with some of the members of the golden group.

Have you ever wondered how people can get together to make something great, but know that something might take years of visionary ideas and discussions before it starts to actually become tangible? That's what this golden group is about, and this is the promo for a new sub-series Business Talk Sister Gawk will be throwing out updates on so you can follow along!

Co-owner of Guilty Party Mysteries, Jason Hussman, discusses how they set up a business that provides murder mystery events using lines that match each player to a character that best fits their participation style to hunt for clues. Not only is this business perfect for dressing up and having fun, they've learned a lot of things about running a service based business that any business owner should know. Take a listen!

"People just don't want to work," is such a common phrase, but there is so much more there than most people realize! This week, HRA Director, Jackie Prescott explains what core foundations need to be set in place to see impoverished individuals see financial stability, confidence, and employment consistency. This is information you need to know as a business owner if you truly want to make an impact in your community. Take a listen!

Have you ever wondered how to maximize your ability to help others? This episode gives you the resources to make a difference in your business and in your community by knowing what's available. You don't have to solve every problem in the world, but knowing who can, can make a major impact on those around you. 

Restaurant Franchise owner, Tim VanSoast, discusses how he was able to grow a profitable business that helped people who weren't used to winning feel like they were part of something greater. This is part 3 in our series, and the 2nd interview with Tim where he gets into the details of how his incentives structure helped connect workers to the reward of performing well. 

Restaurant Franchise owner, Tim VanSoast, tells how he was able to lower his turnover and run one of the top 100 most profitable franchise chains in his region by understanding how to maximize his staff's strengths and realize the needs of his workforce. This is Part 2 in our series on ACE's. Take a listen!

We can't grow if we don't have people to do the work. Where's the workforce? How can we reduce turnover? Why are people having issues maintaining a job, and how do Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) affect the way people go to work? This week, we start digging into this understanding and how being trauma informed can retain employees and limit turnover. Jase Elam, owner of Nebulous Healing, and Team Lead at Hope Works, gives us insight into how a trauma informed workplace can look and understand how 60% of the US workforce comes to work with a different perspective. 

The key to this strategy is preparation. Carissa explains how she used her surgery recovery time from two hip operations to plan all of her business product, promotion, and niche branding before getting physically ready to execute in the future on her business, Upward Mobility Fitness. Take a listen!

Most people don't even know what all is going on in the background of how a local Chamber of Commerce functions, and this episode gets right down to it in order to help you make a good decision regarding whether or not you should be a member. Take a listen. 

You'll learn how to engage with customers, strategize your product and service conversation with people you don't know, and ways to network with other vendors at the trade show. If you've never been to one of these events before as a sales person or a small business owner, this episode is for you! Learn all about the way trade shows work.

Doing your first trade show can become expensive fast! Here's what you need to know to get your booth set up with the least amount of cost and attract the biggest crowd. 

What you bring to that meeting says a lot about you and your ability to execute. Wayne Kangas shares why you should always start with your local bank when it comes to business funding, even if they aren't your ideal source. He shares how you can structure funding by designing ratios into your business plan, or based on phased accomplishments. He stresses being prepared when you walk into a bank saying, "I'm looking to start this business." 

Loan packaging consultant, Wayne Kangas, discusses the importance of how you should prepare yourself before reaching out to financial institutions, investors, and more to ensure you're ready for the funding your business needs. Take a listen to get started!

An equity fund Director of Growth, Drew Lendermon discusses how businesses should prepare themselves if they ever want to be acquired by a private equity fund. If you've ever dreamed of preparing your business for this type of opportunity, take a listen!

Private Equity funds are a topic not many people know about, (Probably because most people don't use them to manage their money!) Drew Lendermon works for a private equity fund doing acquisitions in the pet care industry, and he walks through what how they are funded, how they make decisions, and so much more! Take a listen. 

Ever wondered how to prepare your business to get in front of investors? Malcolm Macaulay shares the different ways he started looking for capital to grow his business, and why he's going after investors. He gives us a good overview of what steps he took to get started in the process, and how he's preparing his business, LightSpeed Lift, for their review. Take a listen!

Business valuations are typically done by an independent 3rd party to ensure the accuracy of a business' value when being purchased or passed on to a new owner. Northspan Vice President, Bob Palmquist shares the processes of how and why someone would want to this and what you need to know if you want to get one done yourself. Take a listen!