Michael Slotboom is doing things on his terms.

He was on track to run the machine shop at the University of Texas, but he discovered he really wanted to make custom guitar parts.

So he talked to his wife and they invested their savings into starting a specialized shop.

Fifteen years later, his parts are sought the world over, and you can see them on stage when you see many of your favorite artists.

Erin O'Keefe is the kind of woman that sees a vision and makes it happen.

She learned about what makes a great recording studio...and then built one!

What amazing artists is she recording these days? How do you even build a studio? What is the future of the music business?

All of this and more in today's show.

You can learn more about Firefly Austin Studio at https://www.fireflyaustinstudio.com/

DaVon Walker wanted to see positive, sleek, motivational clothing designs, and no matter how hard he looked, he could not find what he had in mind.

So he did what entrepreneurs do...he made the clothes himself!

We meet DaVon two years into his journey. We talk about his inspiration, his designs, and how he gets it all done.

Robin Moore and Cebastien Rose, self-proclaimed "plant nerds" are seasoned foragers and farmers.

When they decided to leave their jobs and start their own business, they made a list of things they lived to do. 

When their list included being outdoors, being in the wild, spending time with their dogs, foraging, and being in nature- the direction of their business, Dryland Wilds, became second nature. 

Join us this week as we discuss distillation, enfleurage, maceration, essential oils, tinctures, concretes and absolutes and much, much more.

Steve Jones founded Teton Gravity Research with his passion for action sports and technology. 

This week, I had the pleasure of talking to John Lee Dumas. John is the founder and host of Entrepreneur on FIRE, an award winning podcast where he interviews entrepreneurs seven days a week. 

For this week's special FLASH episode, we were able to talk to John. Join us as he shares some of his best pieces of advice and wisdom from his experiences. 

Tom and Carrie Dragt have been collectors of vintage pieces since they were kids. Opportunity struck when an old clothing store went out of business and Tom and Carrie bought some of their old inventory.

This led them to focus on vintage clothing.

They began selling out of their house and doing online sales, then moved to a store three years ago. They find pieces through traveling and utilize Instagram to show off their recent finds.
Tom and Carrie started Old Colorado Vintage, a store that brings together vintage clothing and articles.

This week on Small Business War Stories, Tom and Carrie join us from Durango, Colorado.

At this year's Inbound conference in Boston, MA, we had the pleasure of meeting Strother Gaines. 

Strother Gaines is an entrepreneurial coach, a theater owner and a Unicorn, dammit!

Strother, fresh off his breakout session, How To Network Without Being An @sshole", gives us pointers on how to network comfortably, while remaining true to yourself. 

Carla Nowicki's background as a young athlete alerted her to a problem facing many young athletes. 

Instead of encouraging athletes to be stronger or healthier, there was a constant emphasis on being smaller. The message was that being smaller was the key to being faster and "better" for these young athletes. 

Carla started Pursuit Nutrition, a performance solution for individuals looking to pursue their best selves. 

Paulo Coelho Brandão comes from a city in Brazil called Manaus. Manaus is located in the middle of the Amazon jungle, accessible not by automobile, but only by airplane or boat. 

Known by many as 'Coelho', Paulo is a Black Belt World Champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Killy Scheer always had a love for interior design. As a young child, she constantly found herself rearranging her bedroom. 

After working for a few design firms, both big and small, Killy decided she wanted to go out on her own. 

On this week's episode of Small Business war Stories, we join Killy to talk about her Austin-based boutique interior design firm, Scheer & Co. 

Faced with a new year, you are probably reading about diet cleanses and all sorts of 30 day challenges to transform your body- and quick!

Tod Moore of Atomic Athlete started his "Fitness with a Purpose" approach with some rusty barbells out of the back of a truck in Austin, Texas. 

Rather than piggybacking on fad workouts, Tod Moore was more interested in identifying individual strengths and weaknesses, honing in on them and building out a sustainable physical fitness system.

The Hotel Kitsmiller Main is a family-owned retro motor court built in the 1940s in the town of Fredericksburg, Texas.

Matt and Taylor Gutierrez met in Austin while they were both working in the corporate hotel world. Little did they know, they would be afforded the opportunity to run Taylor's family's longstanding business. 

Michael and Kathy Dumont made a big bet by moving from New England to Tennessee.

They bet that they could buy and revitalize a historic hotel in a small Tennessee town.

What happened after The Commodore Hotel opened? How many businesses now surround it? What are the rewards and challenges of revitalizing a historic property?

All of this and more in today's episode.

When Erik Axel Brunt began his apprenticeship at a tattoo shop, he thought he was only interested in doing body piercings. 

However, once Erik began apprenticing on a weekly basis, he found himself interested in the tattoo art surrounding him. Being around the art and seeing tattoos done on a daily basis, Erik began envisioning the tattoos he would eventually create.

Now, Erik works out of Triple Crown Tattoo in Austin, Texas.

In the break room at his old job, Damien Reyes suddenly found himself in an early midlife crisis. Faced with the dilemma of the future spread out before him, Damien decided to make a change. 

He began his journey at a somewhat unlikely place for a retired truck driver in his late twenties: beauty school. And a few years later, Short Hair Company was born. 

Kristy Brandabur received her degree in Exercise Science Sports Medicine, taught health and physical education for 11 years, and worked in a variety of fitness and wellness-related fields. 

At Metamorphosis Holistic Wellness Center, Kristi uses a blended technique of physical therapy, mental therapy and holistic approaches like massage and acupuncture. 

This week Kristi brings us into her world.

Three reasons to tune in this week:

• Learn what the EFT or emotional freedom technique is and how Kristy administers it to her clients. 
• Learn how Kristy balances medical recommendations with physical and mental training. 
• Learn about the healing and transformative powers of essential oils. 

Josh Harcus, chairman at Huify and bestselling author of A Closing Culture, joins us this week four our inaugural Flash Episode of Small Business War Stories. 

This week, we discuss the art of business gifting, the best tactics and the perfect timing to gift your customers. 

Josh Harcus instructs us on how to gift thoughtfully and authentically to grow your business relationships. 

Three reasons to tune in this week:

• How to give gifts that are thoughtful, lasting, and that people might not typically buy for themselves. 
• How to think of the long-term value of a customer gift. 
• Enter our contest to win a $100 "gifting" gift certificate to the best gift submission idea. 

Tommy Talley came home to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2011. After working for years in reality television in Los Angeles, Tommy launched and grew his production company, Tommy's TV, into a full production arsenal. 

Tommy's TV produces and creates stunning personalized videos that deliver key messages through the art of storytelling. 

This week Tommy talks about "Punk-ing" with Ashton Kutcher, the love of storytelling and about coming home to Louisiana. 

Three reasons to tune in this week:

• Learn how to use the fundamentals of storytelling to tell a story in an interesting and communicative way.
• Learn about the best places to fit your video content and what, in today's standards, constitutes a "too long" video. 
• Take a stroll down memory lane, as Tommy and Pablo discuss the finest of reality tv (ahem Jersey Shore) from the late aughts. 

When Phil Angotti and his two guitar-loving coworkers left their jobs at a huge guitar store, they opened their own business in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago. 

Avenue N guitars was founded with an overflowing knowledge and passion for guitars, especially of the vintage variety. 

This week on Small Business War Stories, Phil talks about music, Wicker Park and the fine workmanship of classic guitars. 

The New Roxy in Clarksdale, Mississippi was built in the 1940's but sat vacant for 30 years until a merchant marine from Seattle named Robin Colonas purchased it in 2008.

Robin had been visiting Mississippi off and on for a while, and something about Clarksdale really grabbed a hold of her. 

At the time, Robin had no plan for the building other than to try to protect it. It was just an expensive hobby.

However, today, the New Roxy is a successful art, music and theater venue. 

This is Robin's incredible story about transforming the New Roxy into a new opportunity for the Clarksdale community.

When Jeff Pearson started his Play N Trade video game store in Lafayette, LA, Play N Trade was a successful franchise with 750 stores nationwide.

A few years later, after the original founder retired, the company went through three CEOs and essentially collapsed.

However, Jeff's store is still going. He even has plans to open a second one.

How did Jeff's version of Play N Trade survive? What makes him different?

This week we get the whole story from Jeff. 

Letterpress printing dates back to the 1400s and was the primary method of print until the mid-20th century.

Offset printing took over and now digital printing dominates the print world. However, recently letterpress has had a revival as an artisan printing form.

In Louisville, Kentucky, Patrick Masterson is helping to keep this print form alive with his print shop. He believes that this is how typography is meant to be printed, it adds dimension and feels great in your hand.

We get into this and whole lot more on this week's episode of Small Business War Stories.

The American Dream is closely tied to entrepreneurship. The notion that someone, regardless of their background, can work hard, make a better product or invent something completely new, and become whatever they want, is fundamentally American.

Many businesses fail. But perhaps one of the most frustrating reasons for failure is dealing with excessive regulations.

This week on Small Business War Stories, we sit down with JoAnn Prosser to discuss her battle with regulations when opening a raw food cafe in Lexington, Kentucky.

Walter Carter and his wife Christie spent decades working in the vintage guitar business...and they had a vision.

It was a vision of a guitar store where kids and internationally-renowned musicians alike could feel comfortable playing and appreciating collectible stringed instruments.

The business has grown rapidly, and in a short seven years, Carter Vintage Guitars has become a destination for musicians and fans of vintage instruments worldwide.

We dug into Walter's philosophy, the pros and cons of a physical store in a digital world, Carter's social media and video strategy, and more!

Just over 5 years ago, David Swider was lamenting with a friend about how they wished there was a good record store in their hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

Finally, they asked themselves, "Why don't we do it?". 

This simple idea led to the creation of the independent record store The End of All Music.

Now, 5 years later, the business is stronger than ever and David is working his dream job.

This week on Small Business War Stories, we sit down with David to talk about how he has managed to make an independent record store not only succeed but thrive. 

Embrace community. Serve others. Create culture.

These are the words you will find on the walls of a coffee shop in Lexington, Kentucky.

A Cup of Common Wealth is doing what the biggest and best companies in the world aspire to do, create an amazing culture. 

A great culture not only inspires your workforce, but helps to promote your brand.

A company's culture goes beyond their benefits and is not something that employees bring with them. It must be set by the founders of the business and it is reflective in the vision, beliefs and values of the organization.

We were lucky to speak with Sal Sanchez, founder of A Cup of Common Wealth, about how they think about culture and how that has helped the growth and success of their business.

This week on Small Business War Stories, Sal Sanchez of A Cup of Common Wealth Coffee.

Caroline Cook was a stay at home mother with three children (now four) when she decided to venture back into the workforce and become a real estate agent.

The initial stage for this career change was tough. She was pregnant with her fourth child and attempting to sell $4 million worth of property during a down market in 2009.

However, she not only persevered, but thrived.

She still loves what she does and besides somehow managing to raise four children while working full time, she had time to write a book about her ministry involvement in Haiti.

Carol is an amazing woman and we are excited to have her as today's guest on Small Business War Stories.

In 1969, a former coffin show room located at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Albama was converted into the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

Huge names in music like the Rolling Stones, Cher, Bob Seger, Lynrd Skynrd and many more recorded songs and albums within its' walls.

Only a decade later, in 1979, the studio would close.

Following a documentary titled Muscle Schoals in 2013, interest was peaked in restoring the forgotten building. 

Today, on Small Business War Stories, we talk to Andrew Kelly of the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation about how they helped restore this building to help establish an iconic music museum.

There has been an explosion in growth of the craft beer market over the past 10 years. Today, there are more than 5,300 breweries in operation in the U.S., up from just 2,000 in 2011.

That means breweries have grown 21% annually since 2011!

However, after 8 years of double digit market growth, in 2016, the craft beer volume fell to just 6% year of year growth.

What does this mean for the craft brewery market? Is it time to panic or is this just a sign of the industry growing up? Have we reached a saturation point?

We sat down with Mike Raspatello, founder of October, a beer magazine and website, to discuss where he thinks the craft brew industry is going. 

This and much more in today's episode of Small Business War Stories.

We often underestimate the impact that a small business can have on their community while in reality, small businesses are the main driver of job creation in the United States.

One small business has less impact than a major corporation, but as a whole, small businesses create more jobs, create a positive atmosphere within their communities, and create local role models for kids to look up to.

One coffee shop in Clarksdale, Mississippi is a perfect example of such a business.

Cali Noland and Ben Lewis of Meraki Roasting Company have combined their passions for education, community and business to use their local coffee shop to help teach kids necessary job skills. 

With a poverty rate of 40% in Clarksdale, this program is filling an extremely important need for this community. These kids are learning necessary soft skills like time management, that will ultimately help them secure and keep a job in the future.

We get into this program and much more in the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

Great business people are able to adapt, think on their feet, speak and captivate an audience, and collaborate and communicate with a variety of people in a variety of situations.

These also happen to be the exact types of skills you learn in improv.

Improv training is fantastic business training. The skills necessary to stand on stage and improvise any topic thrown at you, is an extremely transferable skill to business.

Jonas Koffler of the improv and training group Four Day Weekend, has been helping businesses learn these skills for the past 20 years. What started as a limited six week run at a local theatre, has grown into a 20 year successful business where the group has now worked the who's who of Fortune 500 companies, toured with the USO, and performed for two different U.S. presidents.

We were lucky to sit down with Jonas Koffler, and get his story, company background and advice as part of Small Business War Stories.

Starting a photography business is simple, but making it successful and profitable is a real challenge.

Between existing full-time photographers and those doing it as a secondary part-time job, there's a tremendous amount of competition in the market.

But many photographers have managed to succeed by carving out a niche and building a sustainable lucrative business.

We spoke with Dan Mitchell about his journey from budding school teacher to full-time music and events photographer.

His modest beginnings started with uploading a video he created with his cellphone of a friend's open mic performance. That was compelling enough to be contacted about the possibility of making money from creating similar content.

Fast forward to today, and this self-taught photographer has built a growing business specializing in music, portraits and special event photography.

We are excited to share with you our interview with Dan in today's episode of Small Business War Stories.

The Shack Up Inn embodies the intersection between music and cultural tourism.

A stay at one of their sharecropper shacks immediately immerses you in the history of plantation life while also immersing you in the live music scene at the birth place of the blues.

The Shack Up Inn started nearly 20 years ago as a single sharecropper shack on a plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Tourists interested in seeing what a plantation looked like started asking about renting the shack.

Fast forward to today, The Shack Up Inn has 19 shacks, can accommodate over 100 people, and has its own live music venue that has featured legends such as Robert Plant, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello.

In today's episode of Small Business War Stories, we spoke with Guy Malvezzi to learn how they got their start, why music tourism and much more.

Claire Flowers was in software sales and after years of suffering through poorly made shoes that would get caught in sidewalk grates and fall apart weeks after buying, she was inspired to design her own shoe.

Now, it turns out, getting someone to manufacture a single shoe is not so simple. It's not like getting a tailored suit. Large manufacturers have no interest in doing one-off business like that and no one overseas will do it.

This is what inspired Claire to start Claire Flowers Shoes. She wanted a woman's shoe that feel like a Nike, looks like a Jimmy Choo, and wears like a work boot.

We sat down with Claire to talk about how she went from idea to full fledged business and much more in this latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

Amy Dee got to Nashville and could not find what she wanted: A no-frills spot with a vintage vibe to listen to great country and blues music. 

So she used all of her experience working in bars in New York City and all over the land to create Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge.

She currently works with Daniel Walker, a great musician who is in charge of booking great acts for the venue, and what was a dream is now a reality.

Dee's Lounge has an amazing vibe that is hard to pout into words...although we try our hardest in today's episode.

In the early 90s, Mark Baier was working as a stockbroker, playing music for fun. Having finally made enough money for the first time to buy new music equipment, Mark excitedly purchased a brand new amp.

He was unfortunately disappointed. The new amp didn't sound anything like his old second hand amp.

After comparing the electronics between his old and new amps, he realized that in order to have a new amp that sounded like his old amp, he'd need to build it himself.

Knowing nothing about electronics, he taught himself 1960s electronics via his local library and then went to work.

This incredible story was the modest beginnings of Victoria Amps. We get Mark's full story and much more on the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

Like many entrepreneurs, Mike Dalle Molle and Jordan Gurren started out working for someone else. 

Although they loved the work, they felt like there was not a lot of creative freedom. They had to do what they were told.

After receiving a lucky break where a local restaurant asked them to design a shelving unit, which led to designing an entire restaurant, they leapt at the chance to start their own custom furniture business.

They were only 23 and 24 years-old at the time. 

Now, less than three years later, they have a 6,500 square foot facility with 8 people on staff, cranking out amazing furniture every day.

For such young men, they have a lot of perspective and a ton of drive.

On this latest episode of Small Business War Stories, we take a deep dive into how they got their start, how they learned and adapted along the way, and what the future holds for Goodwood NOLA.

Brooke Worthington got her start in the jewelry-making business after first creating pieces for her friends and family as a creative outlet.

Others took notice and she started selling her custom-made jewelry at a local store in Nashville. One thing led and another, and her business started to grow.

Recently, she opened her own retail store in Nashville, where she sells both her own works and an assortment of curated items from other lines.

What began as a hobby is now a thriving business. 

In this episode of Small Business War Stories, we talk with Brooke about how she got her start in the jewelry business, and how she continues to evolve and learn.

St. Louis is a BBQ town.

Outside of St. Louis, what we know as "St. Louis Barbeque", is a pork spare rib cut where the ends of the ribs are trimmed so they're all the same length.

However, within St. Louis, BBQ is much more than just a cut of pork. 

We take a deep dive into the St. Louis BBQ Tradition with owner and operator of Pappy's Smokehouse, John Matthews.

Pappy's Smokehouse was started over 9 years ago and now has multiple locations and lines out the door. What started as John, his business partner and 3 employees, has now grown into a 50-plus person operation.

We speak with John about how he started, how he hires, markets and much more on the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

Matt Eich knew he wanted to be a guitar maker. 

After attending guitar-making school, he worked various factory and manufacturing jobs for 10 years before he was able to start Mule Resophonic Guitars, a custom handmade resonator guitar business based in Saginaw, Michigan.

Everyday, for 5 years, he started work at 6:30am. Get up, do the work, learn, rinse and repeat.

He had to make a lot of mistakes along the way and have incredible discipline to get to where Mule is today with a 12-month customer backlog.

For him, building a guitar for someone is a personal experience. The customer is involved in every step along the way. People who buy a Mule aren't simply purchasing a thing, Matt and his team are putting their soul into the guitar's creation and connecting the consumer with their art.

This is their passion and their story. This and more on the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

There are a ton of benefits to urban farming. 

Local food, farm to table, 100 mile diet, all of this is possible with urban agriculture. Further, urban gardens are often built over abandoned spaces in cities, converting them into green space, helping increase the beauty and value of the neighborhood.

However, there are also many challenges with urban farming. There's potential contaminants from city water runoff, zoning laws that must be overcome, laws about owning chickens, bees, and other farm animals, as well as major space constraints.

We get into all this and more on the latest episode of Small Business War Stories featuring Mel Millsap of Urban Roots Farm.

CD and digital sales are declining as music lovers turn to streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, yet vinyl records sales have grown 260% since 2009.

We are in the midst of a vinyl revival.

Third Man Records, a record label founded by musician Jack White, has been on the ground floor of this renewed interest in vinyl. 

Vinyl, more than any other medium, has a timeless appeal, it's tactile. Ben Blackwell of Third Man Records, says that people have a strong connection to what vinyl means in their lives, it's a lifestyle. 

To help us dig further into why people have started buying vinyl again, the background of Third Man Records, we spoke with Ben Blackwell, who shared some amazing stories in today's edition of Small Business War Stories.

Small businesses can give a lot to a community and in turn, those communities help support those businesses.

Community involvement helps further distinguish your business from competitors and helps create customer loyalty.

At Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield, Missouri, owner and operator Jeff Schrag sees it as their responsibility to the community to help local non-profits move further with their missions.

By donating free beer to various fundraising events and charities, Mother's has established itself as a community-minded brewery. They hate to say no to anyone and this unique perspective paired with a fantastic product has helped Mother's establish itself as a must-visit location for beer lovers.

Today, we are happy to share with you our interview with Jeff Schrag of Mother's Brewing Company's as the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

Many of us dream of ditching our desk jobs in favor of a workshop. Working with our hands, crafting something out of wood or some other material. Something physical, something real.

Seth Lee Jones worked at Whole Foods for 6 years while on the side building up his business as a guitar maker. Eventually he had to leave his day job because he had enough people beating down his door with requests for guitar work.

He now builds builds 25 to 30 custom instruments a year and a handful of acoustic guitars.

The journey to becoming a full time luthier or guitar maker, is not an easy one.

Today, we are happy to share with you Seth Lee Jones's story as the latest episode of Small Business War Stories.

Nearly a quarter of the U.S. population consists of people under the age of 18.

Kids, more than any time in our history, are influencing the spend of household income. Kids influence an estimated $500 billion in household spending.

Further, spend on kids products is growing rapidly. Products targeting children between the ages of 4 and 12 are now responsible for $40 billion in revenue.

Children and their parents are savvy consumers and there's great opportunities for those entrepreneurs looking to build a kid-focused business. To help us explore this topic further, we spoke with Maggie Tucker of Magpies Baby and Magpies Girl to discuss how she has built two successful kid-focused retail businesses.

Lindsey Hein is the awesome host of "I'll Have Another with Lindsey Hein, a successful podcast about running.

We talk about what it takes to make it as a podcaster, but her lessons are applicable to all creators, small businesses, and fans of good stories in general.

There's something special about vinyl records.

The feel, smell, look and sound all seem richer and more authentic than digital music.

In 2016, stores sold 13 million records, the highest volume of vinyl sales in the past three decades. We are in the midst of a vinyl revival.

Vinyl record pressing companies can barely keep up with the demand. Most pressing companies are relying on restored equipment from the 70s and 80s, which is slow and error prone.

However, Hand Drawn Records is modernizing this process. They are using the first pieces of modern technology designed for record pressing. Their presses are controlled by computers, reducing error rate and speeding up the pressing process 3x. 

Today, on Small Business War Stories, we are joined by John Snodgrass from Hand Drawn Records to discuss how they are revolutionizing the vinyl pressing industry.

Selling to small businesses is different than selling to large corporations or consumers.

A small business has a unique set of needs.

These businesses do not have purchasing experts on staff or vendor managers whose sole responsibility is to make deals happen. Instead, the decision maker at a small business is typically wearing many hats and hearing your sales pitch might be a stretch for them.

The good news is that with small businesses, a lot of the time the sales cycle will be much shorter. There are fewer people involved with the decision and less red tape to work through. 

However, establishing trust is extremely important. Small business owners can be loyal to a fault. Also, while the majority of businesses in the U.S. are small businesses, sourcing and reaching this long tail of potential customers in a cost-effective way can be very difficult. 

To help us dive into the secrets of marketing and selling to small businesses, we talked with Alison Burns founder of Precision Payments. Her company has been successfully selling their credit card processing and merchant services to small business since 2013.

Nearly 100 years ago, Detroit was poised to become a major American industrial city. Cars, new factories and an eager workforce helped put Detroit on the map.

A lot has changed since the early 20th century.

After some very rough years, small businesses are helping to restore economic viability and community in Detroit. The once booming factory scene is being replaced by a booming small business scene.

We are very lucky to have spoken with one such small business owner, Alicia George, owner and operator of Motor City Java House.

She began working with Motor City Blight Busters 17 years ago to help revitalize and develop commercial destinations in her neighborhood in Detroit.

In 2003, inspired by the idea of having a local community coffee shop, she started work on opening Motor City Java House. It took over five years to open, relying on the help of volunteers and the local community to help raise money for renovations.

She would raise money, then do work and then have to stop. But her patience paid off, she's now operating a thriving business with no debt and is an amazing example and a positive influence for her neighborhood.