BizMode Podcast: Recent Episodes
Alex Bruno
I'm happy to introduce to you, Michelle O'Grady Caballero. Michelle is the CEO and founder of TEAMFRIDAY, a marketing agency that focuses not only on communicating your ideas but the impact they will have on the community and the culture.
As you know, this season, we're breaking beliefs and barriers that may hold us back from getting to our true selves and from getting to our maximized potential.
Michelle was very candid in our talk when describing her journey. How do you take a risk? What do you do to reframe failure? For Michelle, it was as simple as reminding herself of that old phrase you might have heard, what is the worst that can happen?
Tune in to hear her journey.
Andrea Orrego is the CEO & Co-founder of Atelier App, a home design platform marketplace for sustainable brands that is looking to change the landscape of interior design.
Rewind: Shifting Perspective with Erin Beck
Welcome back BizMode Family. Alex Bruno here. This week I want to introduce you to Erin Beck. Erin is the founder and CEO of Wana Family Network. Wana is an online platform that assists families with sharing babysitting duties. Prior to launching her startup, Erin was the Mission Director for the Dragon Team at Space X. Social entrepreneurship is at the core of Wana’s mission. Erin was inspired to start Wana to provide everyone with access to affordable childcare. Listen how Erin describes how Wana pivoted its business model to assist the working families on the front lines. Erin also shares how her company’s approach to partnerships and acquisitions are hyper-focused on fit and alignment. If the partnership looks right on paper, what are the metrics? How are the numbers looking? By failing to spend time on whether a new business partnership fits the company mission and values, you can end up wasting precious resources on an opportunity that will eventually fizzle out. Well enough about my thoughts on my chat with Erin, hear for yourself and drop us a note on your takeaways.
An architect turned studio painter, Ramon Ramirez is a native Angeleno inspired by urban design and cityscapes. He studied architecture at UC Berkeley receiving his Bachelors and Masters’ degrees.
According to Ramon, he’s lived three lives building careers as a seasoned architect, later as an assistant professor, and now as a fine artist. After his son survived a serious illness, Ramon rediscovered that he was not living his passion. At the age of 40 he was feeling more removed from creativity in his career, so he made a drastic switch. He left the workforce - including a stable paycheck - to do what he wanted to do: paint.
Many people in his life did not understand his career change, and some still don’t think he has a “real job” although he has received numerous accolades. He has been featured in solo shows and later this year in December he will curate an exhibit at Avenue 50 studios in Los Angeles.
Nearly ten years later with over 400 paintings to his name, Ramon speaks with Alex on having confidence to pursue your passion, staying true to your craft, finding inspiration, and the discipline needed to be a successful artist.
THESE DAZE, Curated by: Ramon RamirezAvenue 50 Studio
Exhibition Dates: December 12, 2020-January 23, 2021
Some topics that were discussed include:
- Deciding between what you want to do versus what you have to do
- Turning your passion into your career
- Artist Inspirations: Frank Ramirez, Gronk, Linda Arrello, Yolanda Gonzalez, Raul Balthazar
- Learning to Prioritize: You can’t be good at everything
- Pursuit takes discipline
- Maintaining focus and establishing your primary goal
- Accepting that people may not understand your choices
- Finding inspiration daily
- Facing doubt and finding confidence
- Embracing failure, but what’s the alternative?
- Social media democratizes art
- Be a Unicorn: finding your own direction
- Initiating opportunities via social media
- Staying authentic to create your best product
Contact Ramon Ramirez:
- On Instagram | @jaguarland
- Reach out by email at | ramon@jaguarland.com
- www.jaguarland.com
References & links mentioned:
- Ramon’s First Solo Show at the Carnegie Art Museum: Monumentum: Drawings + Paintings
- Visit Ramon’s open studio in LA starting on May 2nd
- Shout Out: Avenue 50 Studios
Welcome back BizMode Family. Alex Bruno here. This week I want to introduce you to Erin Beck. Erin is the founder and CEO of Wana Family Network. Wana is an online platform that assists families with sharing babysitting duties. Prior to launching her startup, Erin was the Mission Director for the Dragon Team at Space X. Social entrepreneurship is at the core of Wana’s mission. Erin was inspired to start Wana to provide everyone with access to affordable childcare. Listen how Erin describes how Wana pivoted its business model to assist the working families on the front lines. Erin also shares how her company’s approach to partnerships and acquisitions are hyper-focused on fit and alignment. If the partnership looks right on paper, what are the metrics? How are the numbers looking? By failing to spend time on whether a new business partnership fits the company mission and values, you can end up wasting precious resources on an opportunity that will eventually fizzle out. Well enough about my thoughts on my chat with Erin, hear for yourself and drop us a note on your takeaways.
An architect turned studio painter, Ramon Ramirez is a native Angeleno inspired by urban design and cityscapes. He studied architecture at UC Berkeley receiving his Bachelors and Masters’ degrees.
According to Ramon, he’s lived three lives building careers as a seasoned architect, later as an assistant professor, and now as a fine artist. After his son survived a serious illness, Ramon rediscovered that he was not living his passion. At the age of 40 he was feeling more removed from creativity in his career, so he made a drastic switch. He left the workforce - including a stable paycheck - to do what he wanted to do: paint.
Many people in his life did not understand his career change, and some still don’t think he has a “real job” although he has received numerous accolades. He has been featured in solo shows and later this year in December he will curate an exhibit at Avenue 50 studios in Los Angeles.
Nearly ten years later with over 400 paintings to his name, Ramon speaks with Alex on having confidence to pursue your passion, staying true to your craft, finding inspiration, and the discipline needed to be a successful artist.
Some topics that were discussed include:
- Deciding between what you want to do versus what you have to do
- Turning your passion into your career
- Artist Inspirations: Frank Ramirez, Gronk, Linda Arrello, Yolanda Gonzalez, Raul Balthazar
- Learning to Prioritize: You can’t be good at everything
- Pursuit takes discipline
- Maintaining focus and establishing your primary goal
- Accepting that people may not understand your choices
- Finding inspiration daily
- Facing doubt and finding confidence
- Embracing failure, but what’s the alternative?
- Social media democratizes art
- Be a Unicorn: finding your own direction
- Initiating opportunities via social media
- Staying authentic to create your best product
Contact Ramon Ramirez:
- On Instagram | @jaguarland
- Reach out by email at | ramon@jaguarland.com
- www.jaguarland.com
References & links mentioned:
- Ramon’s First Solo Show at the Carnegie Art Museum: Monumentum: Drawings + Paintings
- Visit Ramon’s open studio in LA starting on May 2nd
- Shout Out: Avenue 50 Studios
Have you ever wanted to learn how to build something? Well, Matt Jones has been welding for the last 20 years, learning and sculpture classes that he took in college, as well as working as a professional artist for 10 years with having soul shows throughout the nation as well as group shows internationally along the way. He’s had day jobs doing custom fabrication, building furniture, building sets for museums and amusement parks. Think the Harry Potter world at Universal Studios in Orlando or Carsland over here in a Disneyland. About 10 years ago, he founded Molten Metal Metalworks LLC and has taught welding ever since. He knows he’s fulfilling his purpose when he sees his students smile and they get that ‘a-ha’ and as one student quoted, “they learn how to build things for real.”
Matt studied at Dartmouth College earning bachelor’s degrees in both psychology as well as studio art. He then got his masters in fine art from Stanford University and he also went to central New Mexico Community College and got some coursework in welding and electronics.
One gem I got in my talk with Matt is this. As an entrepreneur you’ll be making a lot of decisions on the direction of your business and company. If you will recall, we talked a couple of episodes back about how using an outside advisor such as a business coach can help you accelerate those decisions.
Another tool you can use, as Matt will describe in our talk, is to be hyper focused on your mission and values. When you’re presented with a business opportunity, and if that opportunity does not fit within your mission and values, it should not be pursued. It will only distract from what you’re trying to do and it will consume your energy and resources. We’ll take a listen and send us your feedback and takeaways at bizmodepodcast.com. Now onto Matt Jones molten Metalworks. Hope you enjoy.
Family, I want to introduce you to Steve Koszis. Steve is a co-founder of DoorJamm. DoorJamm is a product for first responders to control doors for safety. Think about it. If you’re someone in the fire department, you need to get into a space that you’re not familiar with, DoorJamm helps you keep that door open so it doesn’t lock behind you.
For many years, Steve worked in city government. While he was in city government he decided to not only pursue his MBA but also to become a reserve police officer, eventually becoming a full-time active duty police officer. It was during this career that he founded DoorJamm and we’re going to talk about DoorJamm today. But before we do a couple takeaways.
One, you know the most effective way to sell a product or service is to use it and believe in it. Steve describes how he has the belief in his product and it helps him promote it. Another one, get your product out to market. Then you iterate based on customer feedback and input. Don’t start developing and iterating while it’s still in the lab. Get it out to the, to the market. Let the market dictate what you’re going to do. Another takeaway, is that great products and great businesses are built out of necessity. It is sometimes solving a practical idea or practical necessity that’s really gonna help you and your business grow. You don’t have to be the next Steve jobs. You don’t have to have the next iPhone, but if you have something that solves a problem, that’s very valuable. Well enough about my takeaways. Have you have some takeaways? Contact us at bizmodepodcast.com. Hope you enjoy.
Have you ever wanted to write your own book? Well, our next guest on BizMode did. Karla Monterrosa is the author of Unbraided: Transform Your Pain to Power and Purpose. With Unbraided, Karla shares her own childhood trauma and steps she took toward healing. We all have experienced trauma. This book provides a framework to work through that trauma so you can free yourself. Prior to being an author, Karla worked in city government in community and economic development. Several years ago. She decided to dedicate herself full time to crafting and developing Unbraided, which was released in fall 2019.
A couple of takeaways from this episode. It is never too late to start. As you will hear, Karla was well into her career before she started this journey. As with any new adventure, there can be feelings of anxiousness, fear and disruption. You have to keep in mind that what you’re going to do is going to provide a great impact. It will help you grow as well. Listen how Karla describes also that having a coach can help you make a decision faster and can also help you get out of your own head. Karla also reminds us of some key elements we all need as we start on our own entrepreneurship journey. Whether you’re writing a book, developing a product, or scaling the service business, you always need to know why you are doing it, your purpose and who you’re doing it for. Well, let’s get to the show. Hope you enjoy.
Some topics that were discussed include: * Overcoming trauma specifically abuse and writing a book * Taking a pause from my career * Finding purpose and your path to impact the world * From thinking about writing a book to actually doing it! * Put something out into the world that grows and has a life of it’s own * Recognizing the effects of abuse * Awareness around the triggers * How trauma can affect your marriage, and communication in your relationships * Generational trauma * A difficult conversation helped mend a relationship that was broken * Challenges that came up writing book * Mindset challenge stepping away from a 20 year career in city government * The shift from a secure job to an entrepreneurial venture * Having the support of your partner is vial * Working with a coach to make progress on your goals and dreams * The dream of writing a book, what does it really take? * Working with a writing coach * A framework for healing * The power of journaling * The first step in the healing journey * The Unbraided Framework: 7 Steps Toward Healing * The neuroscience of healing * What it’s like being CEO, Chief Everything Officer
Welcome to season two of biz mode. If you caught last week’s trailer, you learned that this season we’ll be focusing on the makers. As I mentioned, entrepreneurs are all creators in some way and we’ll be hearing from these creators.
Have you ever turned on the radio and heard a new segment with music in the background or maybe a traffic report with music in the background? Maybe you heard a program on one radio station turn to the next radio station, you heard a program that sounded really familiar or actually almost the same as the last program? Chances are you heard a creation from Benztown. Dave “Chachi” Denes is the president and co-founder of Benztown, which is a preeminent audio branding and imaging company that provides those products and support to radio stations, not only in the U S but throughout the world.
Now, Chachi got his start in radio while he was still at the university in San Diego. From San Diego, he moved on to Los Angeles where he eventually became the Program Director for KBIG radio station. Now, if you grew up in LA during the 1980s and 1990s you knew about KBIG because their advertising was everywhere, but as with many industries, the era of radio started to shift. They started to consolidate and Chachi moved on and founded Benztown in 2008. A couple takeaways. Listen to how Chachi describes the business environment we are now in. We are now in an age where a lot of companies are good and competent, but to try and differentiate, you have to not only be good and competent, you actually got to be great, which includes not only what you sell, but how you sell it, how you treat your customers, how you treat your team, all of it matters.
Another takeaway is that the relationships you develop throughout your career and those relationships that you nurture and maintain can provide you opportunity that you may not even be aware of. Also, toward the end of the episode, Chachi describes a stressful situation he experienced during this company’s growth. The takeaway I got from that is that in order to grow, you have to let something go. Even if that thing that you’re living letting go has helped you grow and could provide a source of revenue for you. Well, enough about my takeaways. Listen to my chat with Chachi and send us your takeaways, info@brunogroupinc.com. Enjoy the show.
Some topics that were discussed include: * How do you decide to expand into new product offerings? * Outsourcing * The gig economy * How to stand out when everything is good * Getting started in radio * The courage to make a big move * Shout out to Tracy Johnson * Meeting a legend in LA radio programming * Getting let go * Hiring trends and shifts in the radio industry * The mindset and mental stress of losing a job * Inspiration to step into entrepreneurship * From side hustle to a Benztown * Relationships that support you through your career * Managing a global team * Maintaining the company culture * Changes in entertainment industry * Smart speakers * Trends driving the industry * Business Challenges * Would you do it all over again? * Don’t give up to soon
Once you start dashboarding your financials, you’ll feel a lot better about your business. You won’t have that constant worrying of "Am I hitting my number," because you’ll know what your number is, and you’ll know what you need to do to hit that number.
Alex Bruno, Founder, Bruno Group Inc.
“Make sure that you’re ready to pivot when you need to pivot. Otherwise, you can get kind of stuck trying to do something that you thought you absolutely needed to do, when in fact, the business is saying, no that’s not the direction you need to go. You need to turn. You need to do something different to get to your end goal." Katherine Hunter-Blyden, Hello Cheffy
“I think that’s the most important thing. When you’re building a business, don’t forget to think about what kind of a life you’re building too.”
Memo Torres, Memo & Co.
Get our three biggest takeaways from the first half of season one in a single episode. As we transition into the second half of season one, we’ve selected three big ideas from our conversations with innovative leaders of food-based businesses that with help you along your entrepreneurial journey.
"I realized that one person's effort, through grassroots, can really make impact. So that led the chain reaction of us doing policy work. We ended up getting the bill passed in the state legislature and the governor signed it into law. This is AB 636 The California Homemade Food Act, which allows each home food kitchen operator to generate up to $50,000 of revenue cooking out of their home kitchen. People ask me, what's the one thing you're most proud of in your career and I can easily say that's it."
Ani Torosyan, DishDivvy, CEO & Co-Founder
"It's not about copying. It's about doing you, because you're unique and there are so many people that can relate to you [and] are looking for what your interests are. So with Xelas, it was a lot of staying true to ourselves. I think what happened was we became confident bar owners. We were confident enough to say, 'You know what? We know what we're doing.' And I think that this concept about reflecting who we are in the bar will work because there are a lot of people like us who like what we're into and will feel validated with this bar."
-Corissa Hernandez, Xelas
"So, I’m the son of immigrants. When my parents came to this country there was no Plan B. They came here and they had to find a way to make it work. They had to will it to succeed. That quickly was a mindset that I developed at a very young age. Through work, hustle, effort, and with grit, we’ll get through this and we’ll find a way to make this succeed.”
Arnold Ventura, Beanfields
“Our goal is to try to help people understand that they can empower themselves through business and entrepreneurship and invest back into the communities that they live in.”
Barney Santos, Founder, BLVDMRKT
“You can’t tell an entrepreneur to balance their lives. You can try… You bring work into the forefront of your life when it needs to be and you bring life into the forefront when it needs to, and it kind of flows back-n-forth, it’s integrated.”
Annie Choi - Founder, Found Coffee
Welcome to the BizMode Podcast with Alex Bruno.
“What is BizMode? BizMode is entrepreneurship at its highest level. BizMode is flow state. BizMode is that hunger pain you feel. BizMode is success by your own definition. BizMode is operating from abundance. BizMode is what you make it.”