The Big Small Business Story

David started David Turner Companies in 2000 with a passion for classical architecture, design, and building. After graduating from Ole Miss, David studied in the Masters of City and Regional Planning program at the University of Memphis, which led to several years working in commercial land development. His passion for new urbanism was born.David Turner Companies started as Sustainable Construction, mainly working with renovations but quickly into new custom home construction. David first developed Fondren Green in Jackson, Mississippi. Fondren Green, a small in-fill development in one of Jackson's beloved neighborhoods, was Jackson's first new urbanism project. This project allowed David to design and build many homes within the development. Fondren Green was the first project where David's vision and talents came together to produce a fantastic urban development. David shares with the future entrepreneur that there is a lot of space in this world to make great things and to contribute. There is no better place to do that than through your business.

Since his childhood, Jamie has been fascinated with the built world: how structures, spaces, and environments affect our lives, moods, and behaviors. Through architecture, Jamie can interpret his clients' needs in ways that constructively influence those interactions while leaving a physical legacy and impression on the world around him. Jamie spends most of his free time enjoying hunting, hiking, and watching a good football game with his family.Jamie discusses his life as an architect and serial entrepreneur. After being derailed, he decided to apply to architectural school, which became a vision come true. To him, architecture is the matchup of art and science. He describes architecture as making an impact and creating an experience. During the architecture design process for his client, it's best to get to know them, and he problem solves in the form of a building.Today everything that he has drawn as a kid has come to full fruition as an adult. He enjoys being an architect because he has the opportunity to create a scene and develop an experience. He believes that every entrepreneur should think about their childhood when discovering their entrepreneur journey. As a child, he reminisces on wanting to become an architect because he wanted to create the experience and distinctly remembers the feeling that he wanted to capture: humbled, overwhelmed with design, and excitement.He mentions that we are all part architects to some degree. We all have gifts. Allow yourself to be childlike, inhibited, go back to do the things that you enjoy. He wants the future entrepreneur to ask themselves, what are you passionate about?Follow his work on Instagram: @wbaarchitecture @fondrenfitness @gennabennas @thegallowsspeakeasy

In this episode, Alex discusses maintaining excellent leadership skills even throughout fear. He points out that one of the most selfless things he had to do was build a foundation for himself through the pandemic. He accredits engaging on social media, consistently assists with keeping his staff afloat within his businesses. Alex never professes to be an expert. However, he believes that every business owner should incorporate pivoting, envisioning themselves as the target audience, and going into survival mode. An additional takeaway for entrepreneurs is maintaining good leadership skills and relationships are the fundamentals of having a successful business. Born in Jackson to a half-Lebanese family, cooking has always been a considerable part of Alex's life. His younger years were spent cooking on open fires at Boy Scout campouts. While studying business at Mississippi State University, he spent his college years working at The Veranda Restaurant. After graduation, he followed his passion for cooking, completing a degree at Johnson and Wales School of Culinary Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina. Eaton helped open Domenica, a John Besh's Italian restaurant in New Orleans, where he learned the art of wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas. Eaton then added Cajun food to his repertoire by working at Mr. B's Bistro under Chef Michelle McRaney. Alex was Voted 2015 Best New Chef by Jackson Free Press, the 2016 titleholder of King of American Seafood, and James Beard-nominated in 2019. He brings with him a love for artisan foods, a passion for locally-sourced products, and a burning desire to make his friends and family proud. He resides in Jackson with his wife Jamie and three children." You can follow one or all of his businesses on Instagram: @smokeshow.specialty.foods @aplosjxn @themanshipjxn @back.bay.brands

Salam Rida and Travis Crabtree discuss their love for entrepreneurship and creativity through various businesses such as Carbon Office, Echoshed, and Fertile Ground. They would describe themselves as creative problem solvers. A few traits such as being patient, disciplined, and seeing the value in potential allow them to create beautiful things out of places that have been forgotten about. They account for a major part of their success is due to having a trusted team that they can teach, work with, and grow with. They believe that entrepreneurs should challenge themselves to think differently and be creative. An Entrepreneur should also consider going against the typical norms and adding mystery and surprise when thinking about business.Travis Crabtree is the creative director and co-founder of Carbon Office and Ecoshed. His interdisciplinary background ranges from urban design, green infrastructure, geographical analysis, development planning, and environmental sustainability.Salam Rida is the operations director and co-founder of Carbon Office and Ecoshed. Her strengths range in public art and design, tactical urbanism, digital fabrication, and public programming.Collectively they own Carbon Office; a research-based interdisciplinary design team focused on creative placemaking that embodies social, economic, and environmental sustainability. They develop dynamic environments and experiences that form a better quality of life. Their work intersects many fields on the built environment and fluctuates in scale from rethinking an entire metropolitan region to a parking space.To learn more about Salam & Travis's work, visit https://www.ecoshedjxn.com. Follow them on Instagram @ecoshedjxn and Facebook @ecoshedjxn

Dr. Grace Gore Sturdivant talks about her love for speech pathology and helping people communicate. Her mission was to create autonomy in the pathology industry while creating new ways of giving people the opportunity to protect their hearing. She describes having the DNA of being built to be a hard worker and having the “entrepreneurial itch” focusing on the neurological part of the hearing. Dr. Grace developed OtoPro, which is your personal hearing conservation concierge. She completed her Doctorate of Audiology degree from Vanderbilt University Medical School and dove headfirst into the world of diagnosing and treating hearing loss. After working in the medical and research settings, Grace launched her own hearing conservation business, OtoPro. Grace's expertise allows her to vet, recommend, and provide the ideal product, brands, and manufacturers tailored to meet each client's specific hearing needs. She wants entrepreneurs' to think about ways to dominate their industry. Questions every entrepreneur should ask them themselves are: What is that you know a lot about? What are some items in your industry that are underused, undervalued, and undermarketed? What service in the marketplace can you bring your focus? She has always believed in being slow and steady while creating controlled strategic growth.To learn more about Dr. Grace, visit https://otoprotechnologies.com.In addition, you can contact her at info@otoprotechnologies.com.Follow her at @otopro_technologies on Instagram and @OtoproTechnologies on Facebook.

Taylor speaks with Chris Valentine of Jackson, MS. He discusses his struggle with addiction, his time spent incarcerated, to redemption. Chris discusses how he became a felon and what prompted him to forge his path. As a result, he created Green Heart Wellness and Large Mouth Media. Green Heart Wellness's primary focus is to bring balance to everyday life. The mission is to help people find things they need to feel balanced from a natural standpoint.For more information on Chris Valentine:Instagram: @valencrime @green.heart.wellness @largemouthmediaFacebook: @green.heart.wellness.msWebsite: www.largemouthmedia.net

Taylor speaks with Kristen Ley of Jackson, MS. They discuss the challenges of balancing life and business, as well as the highs and lows Kristen has faced as an entrepreneur.Kristen Ley is the founder, owner and creative director of Thimblepress®. Founded in a garage back in 2012, Thimblepress® is a design & lifestyle company aiming to create products that make people happy. Each product is designed by Kristen and filled with loads of love & color. Thimblepress® is sold in retail shops internationally and her products are also available on Thimblepress.com.Kristen also runs kristenley.com where she focuses her efforts on mentoring and creative consulting with individuals and brands. One of Kristen's biggest passions is encouraging other's to see their potential and chase after dreams. Kristen offers monthly mentoring & creative calls to help an individual or brand take next steps, develop products and/or marketing plans and work to achieve goals. Soon she will begin offering online courses, so be sure to check it out!For more information on Kristen Ley:Instagram:@kristen_ley@thimblepressWebsite:thimblepress.comkristenley.com

Taylor speaks with fellow podcaster and serial entrepreneur Kyler Moppert. He decided to take a leap from a corporate and established career to full-time entrepreneurship. In just 3 months, Kyler saw a need for a higher service level, lower lead time, high-quality offering (premium) headwear and decided to develop it himself. Social and website links are below:Instagram: @surceedesignswebsite: www.surceedesigns.comInstagram: @louisianabowhunterwebsite: louisianabowhunter.comPodcast: Louisiana Bowhunter Podcast by Kyler Moppert