How I Built My Small Business – Details, episodes & analysis

Today we have Jak Wonderly in the studio chatting with us about his journey to becoming a National Geographic photographer.

Jak is an award-winning commercial and editorial photographer based in Northern California. His remarkable work has been featured in esteemed publications such as Smithsonian Life and the New York Times, with over a thousand images in the National Geographic Image Collection and contributions to more than 25 National Geographic books.

Wonderly's photography captures the beauty and complexity of the natural world. He achieved first place in the prestigious Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition and has had his work exhibited in several museums. A passionate advocate for conservation, Wonderly has lectured on conservation photography at Stanford University and the California Academy of Sciences. 

Through his lens, Jak not only documents the world but also inspires action to protect it, making him a significant figure in both the artistic and environmental communities. 

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Naomi Crawford is the visionary founder and CEO of Lunchette. 

Naomi has been at the forefront of the sustainable business movement, transforming Lunchette into a model for eco-friendly and socially responsible practices. Lunchette has become Petaluma, California's go-to lunch spot and is renowned for its engagement in community building, zero-waste policies, commitment to paying living wages and partnership with small local farmers. 

Naomi's innovative approach not only champions sustainability, but also proves that doing good can positively impact the bottom line.

Lunchette was ranked by Sonoma Magazine as one of the 50 best restaurants in Sonoma County and has been recognized with a Slow Food Award for their business values.

Businesses mentions:

Zero Waste Sonoma

Rusty Hinges Ranch

Niman Ranch

Blue Zones

Recology

Sonoma Compost

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Jacques Spitzer shares the secrets of how to create high performance marketing content that people actually enjoy watching.

Jacques is the founder-CEO of Raindrop, an eight-figure, four-times Emmy Award-winning and two-times Super Bowl ad-producing creative agency that is also behind the top-performing ad in YouTube history.

Their ads combine the best of entertainment and advertisement and have generated over a billion dollars in sales for clients, and he shares the formula in this episode. 

The San Diego Business Journal named Raindrop Agency as "one of the best places to work and Jacques as one of the most influential people in San Diego. The Los Angeles Times named him as one of California's most visionary CEOs.

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Amanda is the CEO, founder and lead designer of Untamed Petals, a bridal jewelry and dresses brand that started as an Etsy shop and is now tipping 8-figures a year with a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site, over 250 wholesale accounts nationwide, and an emerging presence internationally.

Her business has collaborated with Nordstroms, Anthropologie, and the costume designer for the CW drama Reign.

Her creations have been photographed being worn on the red carpet by several celebrities, including Kate Beckinsale, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Sofia Vergara and many more.

Amanda is a proud member of the female founder collective, the 10th House.

This episode is sponsored by Pareto Labs, an online business education platform.

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Joe Allen is the owner of Jumpin' Jacks, a family owned and operated event rentals company that offers bounce houses, inflatables, and other event entertainment in Sonoma County.
 
Majority of rentals take place within a 6 month window from the end of April until the end of October, providing for a great lifestyle and very comfortable, livable income for Joe and his family.

Listen in as he shares his story - jumping (no pun intended) from cellular retail sales to buying (what was at the time) a very small bounce house business and making improvements that have helped him build to 750+ events per year (and growing).

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Subscribe to my newsletter: Time To Live: Thriving in Business and Beyond

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Today we have Nicole Stevenson talking with us about what it takes to start and run a street fair. Nicole is the co-founder CEO of Dear Handmade Life, a company that produces Patchwork Show Festivals in nine cities twice a year, reaching over 500,000 attendees in a marketplace for over 15,000 artists and small business owners. Her business also produces the Craftcation Conference, an incredible five-day event with over 200 craft and business workshops in Ventura, California. That conference has been described as "life-changing" and "an MBA for creatives in a weekend." Dear Handmade Life has been featured on Good Day LA, the Huffington Post and Sonoma Magazine, the LA Times and countless blogs.

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Alex Salz and Buzz Bonneau talk with us about their journey starting an international wetsuit brand.

Alex and Buzz are two avid surfers who started and still run FERAL Wetsuits, a mostly direct-to-consumer brand from Ocean Beach in San Francisco. FERAL designs and produces the Vans Surf Team wetsuits, has collaborated with Volcom, and Stab's editor-in-chief, Michael Chiaramella, was quoted saying "it's my favorite of the entire wetsuit test.

Their business has been featured in Surfer, Stab, Vans, Vogue and in the short film "Once Upon a Time in New Zealand" with Raglan surfer and comic Luke Cederman @RaglanSurfReport.

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Alison Hotchkiss is one of Vogue’s top 50 “Best wedding planners around the world,” and has topped over half a dozen other prestigious lists.

Alison is the founder CEO of Alison Events. She is a destination wedding planner, event producer, luxury concierge, and now a third-time author of “Gorgeous Gatherings” a large format coffee-table book that showcases some of her most stunning events and is an explosion of visual inspiration with practical tips and how-to for anyone designing a bespoke event.

She has produced over 500 jaw-dropping events in 15 countries and 29 cities. Her exquisite celebrations have been featured in Vogue, Brides, Martha Stewart Weddings, Elle Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar.

Other businesses that have helped Alison on her journey:
Studio Mondine
Norman and Blake
Max Cutrone

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Ali Navid about his journey from the corporate world to crafting Thriving Mindsets financial education programs.  Ali was a former banking VP and private wealth advisor who managed client relationships with high net worth individuals and only working with wealthy people did not align with his personal values.  So, he made a transformative leap into offering the same high caliber financial education, but to thousands of regular everyday people at a very reasonable cost. He places the highest value on quality and has self-limited the number of individuals that he can accept at a time so that he can maintain an open line of communication with his students and so that he doesn't compensate quality.

He is the author of the bestselling book Stock Investing Without Fear and is driven by a passion for empowering others to make savvy investment choices and attain financial freedom more quickly. 

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This episode is Anne McGinty's reflection on how hosting the 'How I Built My Small Business' podcast has been so far and offers additional insights into the process.

She answers the questions:

How has podcasting been?
How do you find your guests?
Are you monetizing?
How is the show performing?

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Let’s connect!

Subscribe to my newsletter: Time To Live: Thriving in Business and Beyond

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