Small Business War Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

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.