Matt Johannsen aka “Josie” and his wife, Kelly, started Upstairs Circus together and have captured a totally creative niche: crafts & cocktails. But this ain’t no ordinary follow-along painting class; this is a dope-ass bar, with banging beats, and an edgy vibe. And the crafts are things that you’d ACTUALLY use, wear, and show off on Instagram and …

Mike Arzt is one badass creative and thank god he picked up a snowboard 20+ years ago. His passion for snowboarding became a career, which became a business, which is now five businesses. The Public Works is creative agency that he co-founded with Frank Phillips but they don’t just dream up cool shit, they build it. Mike talks us through some incre…

If you polled 100 startup founders about the kinds of things to expect during the process of a company acquisition, you’d be hard pressed to find any of them who would suggest that the company being bought would continue to grow exponentially during and after the acquisition process. But that’s exactly what happened as Jason Eckenroth (website) led…

Every entrepreneur dreams of building a company that makes a difference in the world and he or she is able to grow for years to come. George Morris (@gmorris) felt the same way but felt a tension in his own soul as he did. The things the company needed from him were not resonating with who he was – both in terms of his skill level and his own perso…

Dr. Ryan Ross’ (email) journey from the projects to PhD will show you he transformed through grit, hustle, and the kindness of others. There are a couple things to pay particular attention to in this episode. The first is how Ryan always came up with a third option when faced with two unappealing ones. The second is the sheer amount of effort he pu…

Teju Ravilochan (@tejuravi) is the CEO and co-founder of the Unreasonable Institute, has already been named “30 Under 30” by Inc. Magazine, and received a standing ovation for his TEDx talk. And he’s as humble as they come. Since 2009, his institute offers entrepreneurs from around the world, a 5-week bootcamp connecting them with highly seasoned m…

My guest this episode is Maggie Hsu (email), Chief of Staff to Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. Maggie is an Advisor at the Downtown Project which treats downtown Vegas like a startup, using $350 million of Tony’s personal funds, to revitalize the city. After she gave me a personal tour and did a shot of Fernet-Branca, I knew something special was ha…

Elizabeth Vino (email) gave me tangible, practical tools and steps to implement when I wanted to build a great company culture. You see, I’m obsessed with great company cultures and as much as I’ve read, I just couldn’t figure out what to do. The light bulb went off when I went to a leadership training program at the Ritz-Carlton who is known for h…

Lorii Rabinowitz (email) is a master community builder and highly decorated civic leader who shares with us her design blueprint to engage various people at the ground stage of a new venture, creating physical spaces to make behavioral change, and building a culture of acceptance and growth to create vibrant communities. Lorii’s newest project is t…

Gloria Neal (@glonealknows) is an award-winning journalist whose experiences range from TV, radio, and print. She is the morning news anchor on CBS 46 in Atlanta and brings her one-of-a-kind flavor into the living rooms and hearts of thousands. Glo is known for being a personality, both on and off the air, and gives so much to the communities where…

In Part II of the monster Amit Sharma interview, we decode his experiences working as Chief of Staff for one of the largest international banks on Wall Street during the financial crisis. Finally, we dive into his current endeavors focused on leveraging capitalist markets to improve social welfare. Here are are the intro and show notes below…. Amit…

Amit Sharma (email) is one of the greatest storytellers you’ll ever meet. And for good reason; what this guy’s seen will blow you away. From living in a tent in Mongolia for 2 years to tracking down terrorists through financial markets, to lifting the hood under Wall Street’s institutional investors, Amit has seen some shit. Be a fly on the wall an…

Sue Jacques (@TheCivilityCEO) spent 18 years as a forensic death investigator and was responsible for investigating thousands of unexpected, unnatural, and unexplainable deaths. Her curiosity was not only to solve the death, but to understand the untold life story that never got a chance to be heard. Sue’s grace and kindness is evident as she share…

Cindy Carrillo (LinkedIn Profile) is who I call when I needed help seeing the future. Her 40 years of business experience give me a perspective that I can’t get from peers, and who better to help me find the future than someone who’s been there, done that. This interview is to help you get clarity on whatever may be clouding your vision and to leve…

James Eklund (@EklundCWCB) is a whisky-drinking buddy and someone I think has set a legacy at a very young age by developing the first plan in Colorado’s history on its most vital resource: whisky water. James is the director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. As a lawyer and a government official, James is already a disappointment to much o…