Success Trails Podcast

Tom Kelly is the founder and owner of Potential In Motion, Inc. As a coach, Tom is dedicated to working with salespeople, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and corporate executives that want to reach their full potential in both their business and their life. Tom has worked and studied under greats like Ken Blanchard and Ton Robbins.

In this episode I talk to Joe Chura who began his career on the Ford assembly line at age 20, reading his college textbooks seconds at a time in between building cars. Over the next decade Joe gained experience at many different levels in the automotive industry — including Ford Marketing and Sales, dealership General Manager, and BDC Manager. With a passion for both computer programming and selling cars, Joe co-founded Dealer Inspire (DI) to build new solutions to help dealers win. In a few short years, Dealer Inspire has grown to 600 employees serving over 3,000 clients and 27 OEM brands with game-changing innovation.

In this first full episode of 2021 I sit down with Marshall McCarty Chef/Owner of The Walrus Room in Geneva and Owner of The Burger Shops with locations in Geneva and Saint Charles. Marshall's 18 year hospitality career started in college, as a bartender while getting a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication. From there he's worked in a wide variety of restaurant concepts from fast food to fine dining and in every position from dishwasher to General Manager. Each experience built the foundation he would later use to create the restaurant concepts he owns an operates today.

Listen to some of my favorite tips from our guests over this past year.

Tim went from IT nerd(sorry Tim) to starting and running his own successful business. His business Magnitech in which he started 10 years ago is growing each year and is an industry leader. Tim is full of knowledge and has some great insight in how to build the right culture for your business to excel.

Could you imagine opening a business in a pandemic? Well, that is exactly what Ed Symbol did when he opened Ed's Basement his next business venture. Learn how Ed managed to open a business in chaos and how he has succeed with other business ventures. Ed is a veteran in the hospitality industry and has learned what it takes to treat people the right way in order to thrive in business.

Michael LaFido is a real estate consultant and top-producing Realtor with over twenty years of experience in the real estate industry. Michael’s marketing has been the featured cover story in Crain’s Chicago Business and highlighted in Forbes and FOX News Chicago Business Hour. He is also the author of the books “Luxury Listing Specialist”, “Outside The Box”, and “Marketing Luxury”. In this episode you will hear Michael talk about how he went from knowing nothing to real estate to becoming one of the most successful realtors in the area. Michael also talks about the importance of thinking like a marketer no matter what industry you are in.

Frank owns and operates Dominick's Pizza in the western suburbs of Chicago. Frank has been in the industry since he was young and has helped transform his dads business along with his siblings into the success it is today.

Self proclaimed beer nerd, Dave is an entrepreneur who has two craft beer stores in the suburbs of Chicago. In this episode Dave talks about what he did during the COVID lockdown and how his business continue to grow today in a competitive market.

Allison and Natalie are sisters and business partners in their women's clothing and gift store called Blonde Boutique. Natalie's background in fashion paired with her sisters business insight has helped their business thrive. As busy moms these ladies have balanced their family and business life.

Judy, founder of K'Tizo Tea, is passionate about tea, enjoying the history and traditions that binds tea and culture together.Judy also owns and operates Cafe K'Tizo which sells tea, coffee and small food items. Judy has built a great community feel at her cafe and has tons of knowledge in building a strong team.

Pat Bartel owns and operates Bartel's Auto Clinic which has three locations throughout the Chicagoland suburbs. Learn what its like to get into the family business and to grow it to the next level.

Michael Perich is one successful and entertaining entrepreneur. Not only does he own his own retail store but he also built a very successful makeup and skin care line from the ground up. What I love about this episode is the message Michael shares that everything doesn't have to be about money or about what others want you to be. It is all about you and what you want!

Leah is a speaker, author and owner of Vision Force marketing. In this episode Leah speaks of the challenges of running a marketing business with your spouse. She also gives some advice to business owners on marketing and much more!

Mario Spina is the owner and CEO of Parent Petroleum. Mario took over a family business from his father and has continued to grow the business.He has experience in the petroleum industry, convenience stores and real estate.

Nick is the CEO of one of the top ten busiest independent pizza companies in per-store sales in the U.S. In an industry in which the average annual turnover rate is more than 150 percent, Nick’s Pizza & Pub boasts less than a 25 percent employee turnover rate. Nick’s restaurants have won the National Restaurant Association/American Express “Good Neighbor Award” four times and have been featured in Chicago’s Bestfor having “Great Pizza and [a Great] Company.”

Debbie has been a successful entrepreneur her entire life. Eventually she decided to follow her passion and belief that everyone should practice yoga and opened NEXT yoga with her daughter, Laurenn Duncan. Today NEXT yoga has 2 locations and a thriving business.

Jim founded JIMMYBAR with his sister in Chicago back in 2013. He was frustrated with what his choices on the market were and wanted something better. Since its humble beginnings JIMMYBAR now is in 13,000 stores and 6 countries! Jim is someone who has knowledge on how to grow and develop a brand from out of nothing.

Isaac along with his wife own Kimmers Ice Cream which has 3 locations throughout the Chicagoland suburbs. Kimmers has been scooping up amazing homemade ice cream since 2010. Learn how he and his wife have grown their business as young entrepreneurs.

In this episode Dr. Dan Press discusses what it is like running a successful optometrist practice battling the big names like LensCrafters and Pearle Vision. Dan owns Park Ridge Vision and is board certified in vision development and therapy. He is a frequent lecturer both in the US and internationally on topics related to pediatric vision can and vision therapy.

Niki Moon has been in the salon business since she was 13! She currently is the owner of Niki Moon Salon in Naperville Illinois. Her salon is fully owned and operated by a team of amazing women. Niki Moon Salon has been voted the number 1 salon in their area, and were selected in the top 100 businesses in all of North America by Yelp. Her salon has also been voted in the top 20 salons in North American by Salon Today Magazine

Sam Vlahos has had an entrepreneurial drive ever since growing up as a young kid. It just so happened that drive landed him in the restaurant business. Out of college, Sam partnered with a single pizza company, as he saw a great concept and helped expand it within a year to 3 locations. The company currently has over 7 locations and is beginning to franchise. Sam then changed gears after the third and started full service restaurants/bars including Fuller House and Pierce Tavern.Today, Sam has a staff of over 150 people and sales are reaching eight figures. Sam is excited for what’s to come as he looks for more expansion in the coming years.

Scott Brennecke founded a distribution business in 1987 that delivered popcorn to Chicago area hotels, sports bars, hospitals, corporate headquarters, bowling alleys and museums. This was a business that Scott owned for 28 years. In 2011 Scott developed a formula for a mens aftershave and grew that into a separate business. Eventually it expanded into several related product lines including aftershave, shaving cream, shave balm, shaving soap, and a very popular line of lather bowls. As this second business grew it became necessary to sell the distribution business to better focus on Captain’s Choice which is the business he currently owns and operates.

David Grossman is a Chicago native and lifelong entrepreneur of the restaurant industry. David has worked as an area developer for Subway restaurants as their director of real estate. David was responsible for the site selection and lease negotiations for over 100 Subway locations in Chicago, the vast majority of which are still in operation today. David also spent time as head of the restaurant leasing team for General Growth Properties.Since leaving GGP David has opened up 40 Freshii stores and currently owns 3 of the highest volume stores in the Chicago market. David also is a partner in DMK Burger Bar and has plans to franchise. Grossman philosophy: We all experience life a little bit differently and we bring different skills and abilities to the team as a product of our experiences. When we come to work with the mindset that we not only have something to offer, but a lot more to learn, the whole team gets a boost of energy that is hard to miss and really makes everyone's job so much more enjoyable and productive.