For nine years, Sequoia Blodgett worked in the entertainment industry as a commercial and video director for many mainstream pop artists.
After being hospitalized, she began to ask herself would she be happy with all she had 
accomplished if it all should end then. Sequoia began her road to entrepreneurism and so began her journey into Draper U, her website, 7AM and ultimately her appearance on ABC Family’s ‘Startup U’.
We discuss;
- Her transformation from video director to entrepreneur
- Her experience at Draper University and with ABC’s ‘Startup U’
- Her website 7AM, a marketplace for personal development
- Best practices in getting your business backed by a venture capitalist. Including what she’s learned from her investor, Tim Draper.
- Advantages of living in the Bay Area for Tech entrepreneurs
- And much more…
Ben Carter, CEO of Manage Your Damn Money, a blog and web series inspired to create fun and have more relatable conversations around money. Ben is also the newly minted author of the book ‘Fictitious Financial Fairytale: A Completely Untrue Story About 
Money, Friends & Moscow Mules’ which is currently being sold on amazon.
Ben was a fun guest and he answered questions;
- Is skipping your latte in the morning really necessary while saving?
- Thoughts on Suze Orman being cool. Here’s a hint…only a little.
- What amount of debt (if any) is good to carry.
- How to start saving…even without a job or if you think you don’t have it with a job.
- Financial books he reads
Entrepreneurs are vital in today’s economic climate and the driving engine behind prosperity. Understanding how to make a difference beyond their business is even more pertinent to the sustainability of their business and growth of industry. They all go hand and hand. This is why Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to read this book. Daron Acemoglu, MIT Professor and author of ‘Why Nations Fail’ talks with Priest about the 
ideas in his book: why some nations fail and others succeed, why some nations grow over time and sustain that growth, while others grow and then stagnate.
We discuss;
- Why Inclusive economic institutions are important
- What are we missing to make a greater impact on global poverty?
- Does where a country is located almost pre-determine the prosperity of a country?
- Is our current economic climate helping or hurting the countries growth?
- Thoughts on China’s economic growth and is it sustainable
- And much more…
Andrew Brandt has over 25 years of experience in professional football, both from the management and player representation side.
Andrew has written about Sports Money for Forbes, Huffington Post and more, while also appearing across all ESPN TV, radio and online platforms. In his time in the football business, Brandt served as an agent, World League GM and a VP with the Green Bay Packers.
Since leaving the Packers in 2008, Andrew has focused on media and teaching. On the media-side, he provided NFL business analysis for ESPN (he's shared openly about being laid off from ESPN) and writes a column for Sports Illustrated at MMQB.SI.com. He’s also the Director of the Moorad Center for Sports Law at Villanova University, which is one of only a handful of sports law programs in the United States.
- Andrew Brandt with Aaron Rodgers
On top of that and as I alluded to above in talking about being laid off from ESPN, he’s also a podcaster, focusing on the business of sports in a podcast named, The Business of Sports with Andrew Brandt.
Oneika, a serial expat and travel junkie who has travelled to 70 countries on 6 continents. She has taught and traveled all over the world. Travel for her just isn’t just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. She writes about all of her fun adventures at Oneika the Traveller and talks travel on the Huffington Post.
We discussed;
- Some of her favorite places of travel
- The sites she uses to monitor flight deals (Secretflying.com, Airfarewatchdog.com and Theflightdeal.com)
- The biggest lessons learned on her travels
- How has race and or gender has affected her travels (spoliler: it hasn’t).
- And more…
Chad Carson who also goes by "Coach" proves that you that you don’t need a large down payment to get started in real estate. You can even learn “how to do one of the more important parts of the rental business on someone else’s dime” if you’re smart about it.
This episode is packed with actionable advice to help get you started with a side hustle in the real estate market, as well as some long-term options to set you on the path to building long-term wealth.
Chad and I discuss;
- How to start making money in real estate now. Here's a hint...you have to innovate and hustle.
- Getting into real estate with bad credit or no credibility
- How to use house hacking to earn rental income and live for free
- How live-in flips can build your nest egg tax-free
- How anyone can start master leasing
- How to become a leasing agent
- How to start “bird-dogging”for deals
- and much more...
You can learn more about Chad and his real estate business at CoachCarson.com, where he writes about using real estate investing to retire early and do what matters.
Here are a few resources from Chad to help you along:
Once upon a time, Foundr was just a business magazine with a few hundred readers. But we’ve grown. Now, Foundr is a multi-faceted digital media business spreading the love of entrepreneurship through its podcast, magazine and training platform. And Foundr magazine is now enjoyed by thousands upon thousands of entrepreneurs located all around the planet.
Launched by entrepreneur Nathan Chan in 2013 with nothing but a laptop computer and his personal savings which wasn't much, Foundr began dedicated to the mission of helping entrepreneurs build and grow a successful business.
Nathan has put together interviews with literally the world's top entrepreneurs and changemakers, from Virgin Founder Richard Branson, to Seth Godin, to Tim Ferriss, these guys are absolutely crushing it.
And they have over 763 thousand followers on Instagram (download their ebook below on how to build your page) and have been driving tons of traffic through it.
Nathan walks us through his entire mindset and the constant ups and down of building a multi-faceted digital media empire.
Chris Lema has been building web applications since you could build them (1995). Over the last 12 years he’s used WordPress to build everything from blogs to websites to web applications for folks like his brother, his friends and companies like ABC. A regular blogger and public speaker, he is also the Vice President of Products for Liquid Web.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Chris at the WordCamp 2017 in Raleigh.
Chris and I discuss;
- What’s the difference between a subscription site and membership site.
- If I have you have an online store already. What are some things you should take into consideration.
- Plugins that you would consider for wordpress and why?
- One of the largest mistakes that he sees online store owners making with membership sites
- Some of the coolest eCommerce sites that you’ve seen incorporate memberships
- An interesting product that has been recently released in the space in general
Dan Shapiro a serial entrepreneur is the CEO and cofounder of Glowforge, a startup that’s creating a 3D laser printer which is the biggest 30-day crowdfunded campaign ever!
Dan is also the creator of the highly popular board game Robot Turtles which launched on Kickstarter as the bestselling board game in Kickstarter’s history. Robot Turtles, a game that teaches programming fundamentals to preschoolers and even a little older (my kids love it!) can be purchased now from Target and Amazon.
Dan is also the author of Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook. You can see a theme here. The guy is busy but he’s been very successful and willing to spend a little time to share some insights.
We discuss;
- His different ventures, including the laser printer, game and book.
- How startups are different today then from when he started back in 2005
- Some advice for those looking to be funded in their business
- Thoughts on leaving a full-time job for a start-up
- And more….
I had a fun and eye opening (or mind opening) discussion with Nir Eyal who blogged often about psychology and marketing which eventually brought him to the path of marrying the two and published a book called: Hooked – How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Hooked is a guide with a very insightful and simple thought system to building habit-forming products. If you’re a marketer, designer, entrepreneur and more, this is for you.
We discuss;
- What started his interest around the psychology around products.
- The ‘Habit Zone’ that’s outlined in his book and the four habits in the thought system.
- The key elements to consider when creating a product.
- And much more…
I had the pleasure to sit down and speak with Gina McCauley who is one of the leading voices in this “new media” age. Known for being one of 2007 ESSENCE Most Influential African Americans (with (at the time Senator) Barack Obama and Tyler Perry). She is the publisher of the blog What About Our Daughters and the CEO and organizer of the Social Media, blogging conference , Blogging While Brown.
We Cover;
- The Genesis of Blogging While Brown
- Attendees and Speakers
- The goal of the conference
- Going beyond diversity in tech
- And more…
Jon Acuff is the New York Times Bestselling author of five books including his most recent, Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work and Never Get Stuck.
For 18 years he’s helped some of the biggest brands in the world tell their story, including The Home Depot, Bose, Staples, and the Dave Ramsey Team. Most recently he’s spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at conferences, colleges, companies and churches. Featured regularly on national media, Jon has been seen on CNN, Fox News, Good Day LA and several other key outlets.
- Jon and I had a great discussion and I really enjoyed his transparency. We discuss;
- His books Quitter, Start and Do Over!
- Being afraid to succeed
- How an entrepreneur can get over what I call “comparisonitis”
- Is there really such a thing as work/life balance?
- And much more…!
Nick is grounded in over a decade of traditional marketing experience, including work with Fortune 100 brands like Staples, Estee Lauder, Pfizer, and Pepsico. Since founding ReviTrage, he has developed into a leader in the Viral and Social Marketing space, and leverages these powerful channels to help his 100+ Internet Top 1000 clients grow their online revenues rapidly. As CEO of ReviTrage, Nick is responsible for generating over $10M+ in revenue each month for his clients via digital/social promotion.
Nick shared his successes in broadening his reach through new products and services—not dependent on Google—such as Reddit. Nick has spent a lot of time in what can appear to be a complex but welcoming community and today shares his insight into being a real part of this ever-growing community.
I've been in the affiliate marketing space for over 15yrs and have done well both as an affiliate and an affiliate manager. I created sites early on (late 90's) when I just has Amazon banner up and even as recent as November, 2016 I sold a subscription box affiliate website. I've managed small to large multi-million dollar affiliate programs (Buyseasons, Lenovo, etc...), sit on the board of Affiliate Summit the largest affiliate marketing conference. We get emails, calls, FB messages weekly on people starting out and wanting to learn. Some confused by there being so much information out there, I thought I would share what I know.
I'm starting with an interview I did last year, 2016 on Matt Tran's Engineered Truth Channel. A channel dedicated to giving career advice and I was honored that he had me on to discuss my journey and what I know about the business today. Although this space changes a lot, some things stay the same. I hope there's something you can take from this.
This year my team and I will be doing a video on starting an affiliate site from start to finish and everything in between. I want you to see real-time how it's done. I purchased the domain name Iwanttobeanaffiliate.com to have a live Google hangout (no cost) and document the journey. Would that?
If you have business or affiliate questions, click here, leave a recording and if we use your question live on the podcast, you'll get a FREE shirt! Who doesn't like free...or shirts? You should see my shirt drawer. It's shameful.
Enjoy!!
Quincy is a former teacher and school director who transitioned into a career in tech. He is the creator of Free Code Camp, an open source community of over 500,000 people who learn to code while building projects for nonprofits.
Quincy first became interested in tech while working in China as a school director. During this time, his focus on using technology to increase efficiency led to a career change. Back in California, Quincy began attending meetups and hackathons as often as he could. His networking efforts led him to his first tech job, and eventually to his founding of Free Code Camp.
In 1997, after going for a long run, Seth Goldman was frustrated with the sugar-filled drinks at the corner market. So he brewed up a beverage in his kitchen, and turned it into Honest Tea. The company’s mission was to create and promote great-tasting, truly healthy, organic beverages.
In 2008, Coca Cola bought 40% stake of Honest Tea, and, in 2011, it acquired the company. Seth has remained with Honest Tea since the acquisition as President and TeaEO. Today, Honest Tea is the top selling organic bottled tea in the US, and offers a range of lower-sugar drinks, sold in more than 100,000 outlets across the US.
Their book, Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently and Succeeding, tells the story of their start-up in a graphic novel format. Nalebuff is a professor at the Yale School of Management; Goldman, a graduate of the school, is one of his former students. http://missioninabottle.net/
Our guest is Robert “Brix” Glover, Ex-Fat Boy, owner and founder of Brix Fitness. Four years ago he made some critical changes that not only transformed his body, but his entire life and the lives of those he has trained…including myself.
Tipping the scale at 346 pounds with high blood pressure and being borderline diabetic didn’t persuade Robert to change his lifestyle. Neither did his inability to walk a flight of stairs without feeling faint. In his defense, he had ventured out on many weight-loss journeys before but first, second and third attempts failed. His addiction to unhealthy foods was always his downfall and he had become the ultimate yo-yo dieter.
It wasn’t until January 2013 when a close friend who was the same age as he, died of health problems associated with being severely overweight. And soon after, Robert made the decision to adopt a healthy lifestyle, forgoing all lose-weight-quick schemes. In his new love affair with perfect health, Robert was moved to create Brix Fitness, which relies on principals based on a realistic approach to health and fitness.
Matt Miller, founder of SchoolSpiritVending.com, started this journey out of desperation to support his family and with just one gumball machine, he quickly scaled to more machines and realized it was a business that could stick. Matt transformed this passive income business into a franchise designed to help schools raise funds they needed as an alternative to sme of the traditional ways, installing spirit merchandise vending machines that replaced the need for kid-powered door-to-door fundraising. People began to reach out to Matt on how they could repeat this in their own area.
If you want to learn more about the vending businesses as a source of income...even as a side hustle, tune in to hear Matt’s story. He’ll share his tips on getting started as a franchise owner, partnering with schools, and how parents and kids can learn entrepreneurial skills as a family.
Matt and I cover;
- The story of Matt’s first gumball machine and how he scaled to more.
- Spirit School Vending: The business model and and changing how schools fundraise.
- How the vending machine business can be disruptive and change with tech.
- Investments, costs, margins associated with vending machine
- How Matt sources inventory and stock machines.
- And much more!
I first read Nagina’s story in a Business Insider post called ‘How I built a 6-figure business while working full-time and raising a family’. Her story caught my attention because there's a large population of us that want to "hack" our full-time jobs.
Nagina turned her weight loss blog, MasalaBody.com, into a 6-figure side business. By day, she works for a large consulting company, and with a busy work schedule, a young family, and limited time to work on her side hustle, Nagina has been very smart about she spends her time and making sure she gets the best results in her efforts.
Nagina and I cover....
- Being burned out in business, realizing she needed to make a change and what she did.
- How she finds time to continue working a full-time and run a successful side hustle.
- How she started a blog to share recipes and how it evolved into offering more.
- The tools she uses to run her business and finding outsource help.
- How to get three of her favorite sugar craving busting recipes for yourself. (FREE gift below)
- and much more!
FREE Gift! http://masalabody.com/missions
Sterling is an entrepreneur focused on social good and design.
Prior to launching The Starling Project and Sterling McDavid LLC, Sterling worked at the architecture firm Projectiles in Paris. Prior to Projectiles, Sterling was a financial analyst in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs in New York.
Sterling decided to quit her job in Wall Street to bring solar energy to underprivileged countries around the globe through her newly found business The Starling Project. The Starling Project is a charitable company that sells home candles in order to provide solar energy to under-resourced communities.
The Starling Project donated $100,000 to UNICEF a year ago to provide solar energy to people in Chad, Africa. The Starling Project candles not only bring the positive difference to the world but it also supports the U.S economy by providing more jobs for their company partners and suppliers.
Sterling and I discuss;
- The transition from Wall Street and starting her own business.
- How she started the Starling Project while working full-time.
- About the Starling Project
- Her focus on solar energy
- How she markets her candle business online
- Her partnership with UNICEF
- Can you profitable in a social good business?
- And much more!