Wild Business Growth

Dan Harden, the Founder, CEO, and Principal Designer of Whipsaw, joins the show to share his journey from endlessly curious kid to starting the acclaimed product design company that's brought over 1,000 products to market for Google, Nike, Uber, and other top companies. Hear how to differentiate your company, create balanced tension, find the "It Factor" in products, what Dan learned from working with Steve Jobs, and what excites him about biomimicry. Connect with Dan at Whipsaw.com and on Instagram at @WhipsawDesign and @DanHardenDesign

Randall Thompson and Kris Dehnert, the Founder and CEO of Dugout Mugs, join the show to share their journey from seeing the potential in cut-off baseball bats to creating MLB-licensed mugs and a company on the Inc. 5000. Hear how to gather customer feedback as you create your product, come up with new product ideas, become an officially licensed product, the SUV Model of creative marketing, and their favorite MLB players they've met through their business. Connect with Randall and Kris at DugoutMugs.com and on social media

Elnaz Sarraf, the Serial Entrepreneur and Founder of ROYBI Robot, joins the show to share her journey relocating from Iran to the US to pursue entrepreneurship and inventing the world's first Ai-powered robot to teach children language and STEM skills. Hear how to create traction before launching your product or service, pitch major media outlets, get into every Apple Store, how ROYBI Robot thrives on artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the iconic characters ROYBI reminds people of. Connect with Elnaz at ROYBIRobot.com and on LinkedIn

Dawn Dickson-Akpoghene, the Serial Entrepreneur and Founder of Flat Out of Heels and PopCom, joins the show to share her journey from having sore feet from wearing heels to building multimillion-dollar businesses around smart vending machines for flats. Hear how to build your community to fuel your business, raise money through crowdfunding, build out your team, keep solving problems, and Dawn's experience on The Breakfast Club. Connect with Dawn on social media and Medium

Brittany Berger, the Founder of Work Brighter, joins the show to share her journey from being an overworked workaholic to helping content marketers get business results while prioritizing rest, self-care, and fun. Hear how to remix your content without burning out, the best types of content to repurpose, the downsides of hustle culture, how to make time for activities that recharge you, and brighten your day with The Sims. Connect with Brittany at BrittanyBerger.com, WorkBrighter.co, and on Twitter at @ThatBBerg

Jake Sommers, the Drummer for Luke Combs, joins the show to share his journey from giving up video games and committing to drumming to touring the world as one of the most popular bands in music. Hear what's driven the success of Luke Combs, how performing on TV compares to stadiums and arenas, what goes on behind-the-scenes on SNL, his practice routine and drumming idols, and what he said to John Mayer. Connect with Jake at JakeSommersDrums.com and on Instagram at @JakeSommers7

Jason Whitney, the VP of Venture Development for IU Ventures and Executive Director of IU Angel Network, joins the show to share his journey from running several local businesses and a pizza shop to connecting Indiana University alumni entrepreneurs and angel investors. Hear how to attract angel investors, speed up your sales cycle, manage thousands of relationships, the imaginary skill Jason is exceptional at, and the surprising thing about Mark Cuban. Connect with Jason at IUVentures.com and on LinkedIn

Dan Bennett, The #Antipreneur and Founder of 1 Minute Media, joins the show to share his journey from losing his business and declaring bankruptcy to helping small business owners tell their stories through video. Hear how to get started with video content, edit videos faster, win back clients, what Dan learned from his 10-day wilderness retreat, and his diligent nap routine. Connect with Dan at ImTheAntipreneur.com/LinkStack

Deirdre Lester, the Chief Revenue Officer of Barstool Sports, joins the show to share her journey from growing up in a sports family to leading Barstool's growth from the low double-digit millions to triple-digit millions in revenue. Hear what's driven the growth of Barstool, how much of the advertising revenue comes from podcasts, the story behind Pink Whitney, the Barstool personality who cracks Deirdre up the most, and what the office environment is like. Connect with Deirdre on LinkedIn, on Twitter at @GanunLester, and on Instagram at @DGanunLester

John Warrillow, the Bestselling Author of Built to Sell, The Automatic Customer, and The Art of Selling Your Business, joins the show to share his journey from being involved in every aspect of business to exiting four companies. Hear how to work on your business vs. in your business, develop recurring revenue, the difference between those who sell their business vs. those who don't, how to add a personal touch on social media, and John's favorite extreme sport. Connect with John at BuiltToSell.com/Wild

Jim Markham, the Celebrity Hair Stylist, Serial Entrepreneur, and Bestselling Author of Big Lucky, joins the show to share his journey from getting married and having a child at age 15 to founding several hair care companies that have netted over $1.2 billion in sales. Hear how to find your point of difference when positioning, start a successful product line, the business lessons Jim learned from Jay Sebring, how pimps and Playboy changed his life, and stories from working with Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Johnny Carson, and Frank Sinatra. Buy Big Lucky on Amazon

Laura Rike, the Pinterest Powerhouse Strategist, joins the show to share her journey from working as a virtual assistant to becoming an early adopter to Pinterest and top Pinterest marketing strategist. Hear how grow your business through Pinterest, know if Pinterest is right for you, how often to pin, the secret talent Laura has won awards for, and the most overused Pinterest pun. Connect with Laura at LauraRike.com and on social media at @LauraRike

Tyler Gillespie, the Serial Entrepreneur and Thinking Time Chief of Productized.Services, joins the show to share his journey from his family's luxury vacation rental business to relocating to Medellín and helping entrepreneurs productize their service businesses. Hear how to stop being the doer, track your tasks and outsource what you need to, create appealing virtual packages, his favorite Colombian fruit, and go-to style of dance. Connect with Tyler at Productized.Services

Kelsey Moreira, the Founder and Fearless Leader of Doughp, joins the show to share her journey from confronting her issues with alcohol and getting sober to starting the mission-driven edible and bakeable cookie dough business. Hear how to give back with your business, pivot from brick-and-mortar to eCommerce, surprising behind-the-scenes stories from Shark Tank, how Kelsey came back from rock bottom, and the song she can rap and dance to in its entirety. Connect with Kelsey on LinkedIn and Doughp at Doughp.com and on social media

Blake Sorensen, the Founder of Blake's Seed Based, joins the show to share his journey from star linebacker for the Wisconsin Badgers to creating allergy-friendly snacks made from seeds, fruit, and chocolate. Hear how to gather feedback at different stages of your business, enforce quality standards for your offering, raise funding on Kickstarter, the toughest road environment Blake played at, and the player he's most proud he tackled. Connect with Blake at BlakesSeedBased.com, Amazon, Instagram at @BlakesSeedBased, and on LinkedIn

Max Brickman, the Serial Entrepreneur and Managing Director of Heartland Ventures, joins the show to share his journey from starting landscaping, real estate, and education businesses in high school and college to bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and the Midwest. Hear how to license your product, pick companies to partner with, navigate your responsibilities as an entrepreneur and VC, ride your bike faster, and one very corny billboard. Connect with Max at HeartlandVC.com and on LinkedIn

Laura Belgray, the Award-Winning Copywriting Expert and Founder of Talking Shrimp, joins the show to share her journey from appearing on Sesame Street as a 2-year-old to writing TV spots and copy for Nickelodeon, Bravo, HBO, and top online entrepreneurs. Hear how to make your audience go bananas with copy, create vivid imagery, build a brand around yourself, why the crumb scraper is Laura's worst enemy, and how she screwed up her husband's proposal. Connect with Laura at TalkingShrimp.com and on Instagram at @TalkingShrimpNYC

Jeff Snyder, the Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspira Marketing Group, joins the show to share his journey from the early days of the craft beer revolution to building one of the fastest-growing experiential agencies in the world. Hear how to create breakthrough experiences, win big clients, how Inspira makes magic with experiential marketing, that time Jeff ran across the Grand Canyon, and a concert in the Arctic Circle. Connect with Jeff at InspiraMarketing.com and on LinkedIn

Dave Heimbuch, the Founder of Hidrent, joins the show to share his journey from looking for help with home renovations to creating the business that connects customers with off-duty firefighters. Hear how to validate your idea, raise crowdfunding, get over perfectionism, the sacrifices Dave has made to bring Hidrent to life, and his favorite dad joke. Connect with Dave at Hidrent.com and [email protected]

Storm Anderson, the Partner and Co-Founder of Kumo Partners, joins the show to share his journey from starting Cavebox in college to helping Fortune 500 companies simplify their processes with Office 365 and the Power Platform. Hear how to turn your ideas into businesses, win more clients, find the right pricing, how music plays such a big part in Storm's life, and how he learned Japanese and juggling. Connect with Storm on LinkedIn and at KumoPartners.com

Winnie Sun, the Award-Winning Financial Advisor, TV Contributor, and Founding Partner of Sun Group Wealth Partners, joins the show to share her journey from her parents declaring bankruptcy to becoming one of the most influential financial advisors in the world. Hear how to manage your finances as an entrepreneur, benefit from tax shelters, find what makes you happy, how her hashtag got over 25 billion impressions on social media, and the craziest thing she's seen from a live TV audience. Connect with Winnie on Twitter and LinkedIn at @WinnieSun

Jason DeFillippo, the Award-Winning Podcast Producer, joins the show to share his journey from coder and programmer to producing, editing, and hosting some of the top podcasts of all time. Hear why it's important to edit your podcast, the crazy story behind the award-winning Jamie Foxx episode on The Tim Ferriss Show, what makes it possible to release over 500 podcast episodes, what sets top podcasters apart, and the most surprising thing Jason learned when he worked in the movie industry. Connect with Jason at jpd.me

Alli Webb, the Co-Founder of Drybar, New York Times Bestselling Author, and Shark Tank Guest Shark, joins the show to share her journey building Drybar from an in-home blowout service for her friends to over 150 locations across the US. Hear the key decisions she made to scale Drybar, how to maintain fantastic customer service while rapidly growing your business, stay confident in your vision, her creative entrepreneurship lessons, and her favorite type of fries. Connect with Alli on Instagram at @AlliWebb

Ash ElDifrawi, the Clinical Psychologist, Marketing Executive, Author, and Father-Son Podcaster, joins the show to share his journey from writing a book on the psychology of happiness to leading marketing for Aspen Dental, Redbox, Gogo, and more. Hear the science behind happiness, the key marketing lessons Ash has learned, how Moore's law applies to different industries, the most surprising thing about happiness, and the thought-provoking podcast he does with his son. Listen to Hold Me Back at HoldMeBack.com and get Ash's book at TheTenWorlds.com

Jarred Jermaine, the Music Producer and TikTok Star, joins the show to share his journey from coining the RnBass genre to creating song sampling TikToks that get millions of views. Hear how to break through on TikTok, why song sampling is so popular, his TikTok creation process, how to get to the point right away in your videos, and his dream song to sample. Connect with Jarred on TikTok at @JarredJermaine and Instagram at @ItsJMaine

Kasey Luck, the Founder and CEO of Luck and Co, joins the show to share her journey from exchange student and Semester at Sea to helping eCommerce stores maximize their email revenue. Hear how to increase your revenue with email marketing, grow your email list, step inside the customer journey, how learning English compares to learning Russian, and what it's like living on a ship for so long. Connect with Kasey on LinkedIn and at LuckAndCo.Agency

Shondell Varcianna, the Founder and CEO of Varci Media, joins the show to share her journey from telemarketing for the Bank of Montreal to taking her content writing company from side hustle to dream business. Hear how to blog specifically to your target customers, create more engagement with your blog posts, benefit from joining Facebook Groups, hire a team and delegate tasks, and the craziest things she heard while telemarketing. Connect with Shondell on LinkedIn and at VarciMedia.com

Michele Ronsen, the Founder, Educator, and Chief Curiosity Cat of Curiosity Tank, joins the show to share her journey from drawing logos as a 3-year-old to leading user research and design for Fortune 500 companies and startups. Hear how to ask better questions, why short questions are better, how to deal with rejection, how we decide what we eat for dinner, and the Skittles Popcorn experiment. Connect with Michele on LinkedIn and at CuriosityTank.com

Katelyn Brower, the Social Media Manager at Sterling, joins the show to share her journey from English major to leading social media marketing and management for global brands. Hear how to prioritize your efforts on social media, manage frequent interruptions while working, use social media for your personal and business benefit, approach social listening, and how she got memed at a Giants game. Connect with Katelyn on Twitter at @KatelynBrower_ and on LinkedIn

Rob Balasabas, the Video and Content Strategist and TubeBuddy Partnership Manager, joins the show to share his journey from being shy growing up to making a living off videos, livestreams, and helping other content creators. Hear how to humanize your brand, create helpful videos and livestreams, build connections with and among your audience, inspire more engagement, and the awesome word he can't stop saying. Connect with Rob at TubeBuddy.com, YouTube.com/TubeBuddy, and on Instagram and LinkedIn

Tim Timmons, the MLB Umpire, joins the show to share his journey from growing up loving baseball to umpiring in the big leagues for over two decades, including the World Series, several playoff series, and multiple All-Star Games. Hear his most memorable moments on the field, the lessons he's learned from baseball, how he partners with UMPS CARE, questions from Wild Listeners and the Tim Timmons Fanclub, and an ejection that belongs in Cooperstown. Donate to UMPS CARE at UmpsCare.com

Jasmine Star, the Photographer, Business Strategist, and Founder of Social Curator, joins the show to share her journey from dropping out of law school to becoming the internationally-recognized creative entrepreneur. Hear how to rock it on social media as an entrepreneur, find out what resonates with your audience, when to create a separate account for your business, her favorite photograph she's ever taken, and the person she was Star-struck by. Connect with Jasmine at JasmineStar.com, SocialCurator.com, and on social media at @JasmineStar

Jordan West, the Co-Founder of Mindful Marketing Co and Little and Lively, joins the show to share his journey from paramedic to generating over $250,000 in sales in 24 hours. Hear how to create successful eCommerce launches, build an engaging VIP group, what organic posts can teach you about paid ads, business lessons Jordan applies from being a paramedic, and his time owning a Taco Del Mar. Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn and at MindfulMarketing.Co

Riana Lynn, the Founder and CEO of Journey Foods, joins the show to share her journey from Biologist to Serial Entrepreneur building the next generation food platform. Hear how Journey Foods unlocks insights and savings for innovative food companies, why we like food so much, how to avoid burnout, the history of fruit snacks, and her favorite candy from the '90s. Connect with Riana at JourneyFoods.io and on social media at @RianaLynn, @JourneyFoods, and @JourneyFoodsio

Rob Fletcher, the Founder of Dr. Trouble Sauce, joins the show to share his journey discovering his great-grandfather's chilli sauce recipe from the 1890s and turning it into a global brand. Hear how to develop a product, perfect your recipe, expand your business into different countries, how Dr. Trouble Sauce gets made, and the spiciest prank you'll hear about. Try Dr. Trouble at DrTrouble.com, DrTroubleSauce.co.uk, and on Amazon

Ilana Ben-Ari, the Founder, CEO, and Lead Designer of Twenty One Toys, joins the show to share her journey from playing with abstract toys as a kid to bringing the transformative power of play into thousands of schools and offices around the world. Hear why we learn through play, how the Empathy Toy and Failure Toy work, what skills will be most important in the future workplace, the punny URLs Ilana has secured, and her impression that will quack you up. Connect with Ilana at TwentyOneToys.com and on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @21Toys and @IlanaBenAri

Jerry Miller, the Founder of FarmersOnly.com, joins the show to share his journey creating the famous sensation that has helped the lives of millions of members. Hear how he started FarmersOnly.com, the story behind the famous commercials and jingle, how to stay committed to an idea that has many doubters, break through the clutter, and his favorite FarmersOnly.com success stories. Connect with Jerry at FarmersOnly.com and on LinkedIn

Katie Witkop, the Founding Designer of Faire, joins the show to share her journey from packaging design to leading the design of the online wholesale marketplace. Hear what's driven Faire's growth, how to build a team from the ground up, construct a creative work environment, adjust your brand and site design over time, and the type of flower she can't get enough of. Connect with Katie at Faire.com, on Instagram at @KatieWitkop, and on LinkedIn

A. Lee Judge, the Founder of Content Monsta, joins the show to share his journey from being an international DJ to starting a marketing agency that creates Big Content for businesses and individuals. Hear how to create Big Content, make it unique, set up podcast interviews and videos for gems and snippets, business and music lessons from DJ Judge Mental, and the song that got the craziest crowd reaction. Connect with Lee at ALeeJudge.com and ContentMonsta.com

Lauri Loewenberg, the Certified Dream Analyst, Author, and TV and Radio Personality, joins the show to share her journey analyzing over 75,000 dreams. Hear how to remember your dreams, experience lucid dreaming, understand what your dreams and nightmares mean, real-life dream interpretations submitted by Wild Listeners, and the dream that changed Lauri's life. Connect with Lauri at LauriLoewenberg.com and YouAsAPinup.com

Phil Marcus, David Haber, and Ben Haber of J. Marcus join the show for a very special family edition during Thanksgiving week to be interviewed by their cousin, Max Branstetter. Hear how they've grown and pivoted their 4th-generation family business, how to take your business from local to national to international, excel at eCommerce, the pros and cons of working with family, and their favorite parts about Pittsburgh

Paul Thomson, the Founder of the Online Course Creators Hub, joins the show to share his journey from nearly becoming a school principal to coaching online course creators to bring in millions in sales. Hear how to create a successful online course, validate your online course idea, market your online course, stick to your calendar, and the longest flight he's ever been on. Connect with Paul at @ThePaulThomson on Instagram and Facebook and at ThePaulThomson.com

Sarah Groen, the Founder of Bell + Bly Travel, joins the show to share her journey from rolling out Uber Eats in Houston and Phoenix to becoming a top luxury travel advisor. Hear how to dig deep into the minds of your customers, build a network of all-star partners, provide stellar customer service, create unforgettable experiences, and the craziest thing Sarah has ever seen while traveling. Connect with Sarah at BellAndBlyTravel.com, her Luxury Travel Insider podcast, and on Instagram at @SarahGoesGlobal

Julia McCoy, the Founder of Express Writers and The Content Hacker, joins the show to share her journey from being born into a cult to escaping and building flourishing businesses. Hear how to go from freelancer to entrepreneur, evaluate talent, focus on what's important for your business, go about creative writing, and how Julia made her escape and turned her life around. Connect with Julia on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, ContentHacker.com, ExpressWriters.com, and Amazon

Betty Brennan, the President and Founder of Taylor Studios, joins the show to share her journey from growing up on a farm to creating exhibits for the top museums in the world. Hear how to simplify complex projects, deliver unmatched customer service, the most memorable experiences Taylor Studios has created, how the team brings history to life, and her time eating chocolate-covered ants. Connect with Betty on LinkedIn and Taylor Studios at TaylorStudios.com and on social media

Christina Garnett, the Social Listening Analyst and Digital Marketing Strategist, joins the show to share her journey from teaching math to strengthening the digital strategies of Fortune 500 brands. Hear why you should use social listening, the best social listening tools, how to read your consumers' minds, her NASA Social experience, and how to get better at meditating. Connect with Christina on Twitter and Instagram at @ThatChristinaG, and on LinkedIn and Medium

This episode is dedicated to Grandma Barb. Lars Silberbauer, the Digital Marketing Leader, joins the show to share his journey leading LEGO from zero social media presence to the top brand on social media. Hear how he got LEGO to embrace social media, they got their first million fans, how to stay playful, discover new gadgets, and his favorite LEGO set. Connect with Lars on social media at @LarsSilberbauer, LarsSilberbauer.com, and WAVE7.org

Nick Coleman, the Founder and CEO of Snaffling Pig, joins the show to share his journey from loving pork crackling as a kid to disrupting the UK snack industry and becoming a Dragons' Den success story. Hear how to come up with new product ideas, grow distribution, handle impostor syndrome, Nick's experience on Dragons' Den, and why he faked his marriage. Connect with Nick on LinkedIn and at SnafflingPig.co.uk

Dan Gingiss, the Customer Experience Speaker and Coach, joins the show to share his journey from marketing collectible figurines to creating remarkable customer experiences at McDonald's, Discover, Humana, and more. Hear how to create extraordinary moments for your customers, make memorable moments while improving pain points, the difference between customer experience and customer service, Dan's stories from being a licensed bartender, and his family's secret chocolate chip cookie recipe. Connect with Dan at DanGingiss.com, on Twitter at @DGingiss, and on LinkedIn

Rachel Inman, a Staff UX Design Lead for Google Maps, joins the show to share her journey from loving maps and exploration as a kid to enhancing Google Maps and Google Earth through UX design. Hear how to be user-friendly, how teachers helped redesign Google Earth, what Google Maps might look like in the future, how to create a culture of creativity, and how Street View gets made. Connect with Rachel on Twitter at @rachel_inman and on LinkedIn