Conscious Business Leaders: Recent Episodes
David Loos
Conscious Business Leaders is a podcast that shares the experiences and stories of seasoned entrepreneurs who've built profitable companies while also maintaining a mission of helping others.
For this part of our Small Business Series, we'll explore Cannabis again but from a non-plant touching or ancillary side. Peter Vogel is the founder and CEO of Leafwire, a cannabis-centric professional networking site. Think LinkedIn but for weed! For a burgeoning industry that still faces heavy regulation, specific networks such as these are important for helping the sector to grow. Their operations serve both professionals and companies and they're getting more involved in events and conferences now too. If you're a cannabis professional, I definitely recommend creating a profile to see who you can meet and how it can help you. Just go to leafwire.com to register for free!
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
This was part of our Small Business Series, where we dive deep into the world of Small Business leaders. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
In this episode, I'm going solo on the mic and taking a deep dive into the life of Yvon Chouinard, the founder and former CEO of Patagonia. For those who don't know, Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and gear company headquartered in California. They've been operating since 1973 and have been very consistent in using their voice and influence for environmental activism. They're also diligent in the impact of their supply chains and treat their employees well having been a pioneer for onsite child care back in the 90's. Most people know about Patagonia and what they offer but not many know about the founder behind it. He always directed the company to be an environmental steward just as he was in his personal life. He was born in Maine but then moved to California and became an ardent outdoorsman starting with the boy scouts and going on to eventually be part of the Sierra Club and many other organizations.
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
Episodes are released every Monday morning. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
For this part of our Small Business Series, we'll explore the cannabis industry. Chris Becker just co-founded the Honey Bee Collective this year with some colleagues in the space after working as a budtender and wholesaler at another company. Seeing so many frustrations in this space, he sent out an email to assemble the team and hasn't looked back. The Honey Bee Collective is unique in many ways such as: being employee-owned, sourcing cannabis grown regeneratively outdoors & in greenhouses, partnering with good (diversity, sustainability, etc.) growers to create white label products with royalties and last but not least: operating on a flat hierarchy/leadership structure. Chris walks us through how he did it all and gives some advice on what you can take away from his experience. The Honey Bee Collective's website can be found here and Chris can be found on Twitter @chris_honeybee. He's a great follow for those who want to follow the cannabis industry closely.
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
This was part of our Small Business Series, where we dive deep into the world of Small Business leaders. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
For this part of our Small Business Series, we'll cover a bit of podcasting and remote recording. Zachariah Moreno and Rockwell Felder (aka Zach and Rock) founded Squadcast in 2016 during the more early days (even though we're still considered early by some standards) of podcasting. Originally podcasters themselves, they found that remote recording solutions at the time were lacking and thought that it would be a growing need as the sector expands. Along the way, they've always managed to keep community first and help the people who use their products. Whether it's their Facebook group, free slack channel, "Squadits", guest exchanges, or giveaways, users of their services benefit from more than just the services themselves. They've also made some phenomenal hires in Arielle Nissenblatt and Alex Whedbee who are community experts! If you're a podcaster in need of a remote recording platform, I definitely recommend them (it was used for this very episode after all!) and you can check out the website here. Zach and Rock are also some great follows on Twitter.
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
Episodes are released every Monday morning. This was part of our Small Business Series, where we dive deep into the world of Small Business leaders. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
In this episode, I'm going solo on the mic and taking a deep dive into the life and leadership of a well known conscious business leader, David Bronner. Born into the family business of Dr. Bronner's, he took well after his eccentric father in many ways. David was arrested twice for his protests against cannabis and hemp prohibition, once in 2009 and again in 2012. Here's the 2009 video and here's the 2012 one. Since then, he's taken to using financial funding as a form of activism instead of his own personal record. In 2020, he directed the company to pledge more than $2 million dollars to the Oregon Psilocybin Therapy Initiative which successfully passed. And if that wasn't enough to paint an accurate picture of this man for you, just know his role is "Cosmic Engagement Officer" (not Chief Executive!). He's also led his team to add more products to their lineup while adhering to their core principles of clean and environmentally friendly ingredients and fair labor. Although the products are a bit expensive, they're well worth it when you consider the impact that they're able to make. You can see some of these here in their annual impact report.
Here are a few of the things I covered, with timestamps:
- Dr. Bronner's story (02:15)
- Founded by Emmanuel and world-renowned for their long and eccentric label
- Starting out with soaps and slowly expanding to other hygeniene, cosmetics and cleaning products
- David's story (05:45)
- Taking after his father and being arrested twice for protesting cannabis and hemp prohibition
- Adding more products to the company lineup while adhering to core principles
- Lessons and takeaways for entrepreneurs (10:50)
- Take care of your people and they will take care of you. And your people's people for that matter. Impact > dollars
- Start out narrow and expand at a speed which can still carry core merits and principles of the business
- Unique businesses require unique leaders
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
Episodes are released every Monday morning. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
For this part of our Small Business Series, we'll cover real estate and affordable housing. Tyron started Houston Vintage Homes in 2015 and works exclusively in the Houston area. With affordable housing meaning something different to everyone these days, his approach to it is simple and I believe the most correct I've encountered yet. Rather than focusing on numbers or statistics, he sees affordable housing as housing that everyday blue-collar workers can afford. Meaning the waiter at the local diner or your kid's math teacher and so on; essentially the people responsible for keeping society running. This can look a lot different by region and location but the concept still holds universal merit.
We discuss how he first got into real estate and wind our way to where he's at today with over 25 employees including both his wife and son. If you're on Twitter I definitely recommend giving Tyron a follow which you can do here. Whether it's a hot take on sports or real estate, pics of the projects he's working on or local restaurants with fire food that he tries, his timeline stays lit and keeps me and a lot of other folks entertained. Houston Vintage Home's website can be found here if you'd like to check that out too.
Here are a few of the things we talked about with timestamps:
- Tyron's story (2:25)
- First starting in real estate helping build homes for Habitat for Humanity as a teenager
- Growing up in Houston and wanting to give back to the community
- Houston Vintage Home's story (18:15)
- Working exclusively in Houston to provide affordable housing for everyday people
- "Buying back the hood"- improving and beautifying neighborhoods and homes without displacing the people or culture there. Gentrification does not equal displacement. There's a right and wrong way to go about these things.
- Going the extra mile to build/renovate affordable homes that don't "look" like affordable homes
- Lessons and takeaways for entrepreneurs (24:20)
- Self-awareness is everything. Follow your inner compass- what is it that you truly want? If your work is fulfilling but pays less than other sectors or industries, is it worth it to you? Make that decision consciously or it will be made for you (subconsciously)
- Most people look at mentorship the wrong way. The selection process should be vigorous. You should choose someone you trust because the mentee ideally should follow the mentor's path as closely as possible. If they've done it before you and they know what it takes to get there, why would you not listen and emulate?!
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
Episodes are released every Monday morning. This was part of our Small Business Series, where we dive deep into the world of Small Business leaders. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
For the next part of our Small Business Series, we're going big AND going home! For some home maintenance that is. Daniel started Kura Home in 2016 and has now successfully franchised in Denver, West Florida and a few other areas outside of their Minneapolis headquarters. Kura has a unique business model with quarterly subscriptions for all basic interior home maintenance such as air duct and vent cleaning, filter cleaning and replacement, battery replacement, etc. Their services enable homeowners to stay on top of all their maintenance needs thus saving them money in the long run and also keeping their home more safe and clean to live in. They also give out monthly donations which they bake in to every transaction. Daniel is very diligent about screening for and selecting charity recipients which I learned more about because of him. Kura's website can be found here and here you can connect with Daniel on LinkedIn.
Here are a few of the things we talked about with timestamps:
- Daniel's story (02:20)
- Starting out in similar work with his brother and recognizing a need that was underserved
- Making the decision to execute on a new endeavor of his own to fulfill this unmet need
- Taking out a reverse mortgage on his home to fund the business
- Kura Home's story (05:10)
- Shifting from a monthly subscription model to quarterly after initial customer feedback
- Assembling and training a team centered around going above and beyond for the customer
- Developing systems and integrating them with company culture to scale
- Successfully franchising out and expanding to Denver and West Florida
- Making new and recurring monthly donations to charities
- Lessons and takeaways for entrepreneurs (20:00)
- When starting a business to solve a problem you're personally experiencing, it's important to have funding down first
- A franchise model can be a good way to expand for some businesses but it's important to have a rigid screening process as well as solid culture to ensure values are implemented consistently
- When choosing non-profits to donate to, research their efficacy and impact. Just as not all businesses are created equally, the same goes for non-profits!
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
Episodes are released every Monday morning. This was part of our Small Business Series, where we dive deep into the world of Small Business leaders. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.
Welcome to Conscious Business Leaders and our very first episode. As part of our Small Business Series, we'll start with coffee! Collin started The Grind in 2020 out of a food trailer in Bluefield, Virginia. Last year, he opened the official cafe and just last week, opened a second cafe in Wytheville. With plans to continue expanding in Southwest Appalachia, you'll get to hear about the experiences and perspective of a young and fresh founder currently in the trenches of expansion and scaling. Mr. O'Donnell can be contacted at thegrindbluefield@gmail.com. The Grind's website can be found here.
Here are a few of the things we talked about with timestamps:
- Collin's story (01:50)
- Going down to Virginia to play college football and forming the idea of replacing the outgoing "Fountain" on Main Street in Bluefield
- Starting a business with fellow teammates while going to college and playing football at the same time
- The Grind's story (10:20)
- Achieving profitability in the first year
- Operating during a pandemic and making pivots. From food trailer to cafe and from just coffee to smoothies and milkshakes too (for the beloved southerners!)
- Fostering community through: scholarships, Thanksgiving dinners, hosting school dances, covering pet adoption fees for veterans, coordinating toys for tots Christmas drives and much more
- Lessons and takeaways for entrepreneurs (27:40)
- Scaling and expanding require you to transition from working in the business to on it
- Company culture also plays a vital role in this. You cannot do everything yourself but the environment you set can help guide everyone in the organization
- Hiring plays a role in culture as well. The ideal candidates go above and beyond their role and take extreme responsibility and accountability knowing that in doing so, compensation will inevitably follow
- Listening to consumer feedback and sentiment. Sometimes making a pivot such a menu change or addition can be a risk. The more information and data you have on your customers, the easier it is to find a successful moat
If you'd like to catch more conscious business content, well of course you can! Links to our socials:
- Website
- Email me: projectdave2121@gmail.com
Episodes are released every Monday morning. This was part of our Small Business Series, where we dive deep into the world of Small Business leaders. Hosting and production done by David Loos, audio by Briana Reese.