innovation

The Coffee Business Grind with Michael McFall

How do you go from a barista to the CEO of one of the fastest-growing coffee franchises in the country? Mike McFall is the Co-CEO of Biggby Coffee but his career in coffee was unexpected but the foundation of Love is something he learned growing up. When you bring together Coffee and Love you build a culture and community that defines their business. In today's episode, we also talk about the world of startups, creating culture in the workplace, and much more.

Building Brands with Steve Trayner

What does it take to build a brand in a crowded market? In today's episode we chat with Steve Trayner about his journey of building brands in the clothings industry. Now he helps other brands find their identity, message, and audience to grow their business and influence the world. Steve founded The Barbarian Agency and Great George Watches. He shares the story of how he and his team built these brands and the lessons they learned along the way.

The Art of Innovation and Invention with Michael Woodward

Recently Apple held their spring product announcement. In the announcement they launched their new products including Apple Card, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, and Apple News. Are these new services and products fall in line with the Apple innovation and invention that we've come to know? In today'e episode we chat about the power of innovation and invention. I share how Apple has lost it's identity and visionary power.

How to create an Innovation Strategy with Michael Woodward

Do you have a strategy to turn your ideas and dreams into reality? Many people starting out (and even big businesses) forget that innovation is critical to the success of your business. A good Innovation Strategy will help you move from uncertainty into a clear vision for the future.

Don't Outsource Your Ideas | Jarl Jensen

Jarl Jensen is a specialist in inventing and innovating many medical devices.  He has issued patents having retail sales of over $500 million dollars. Jarl shares how you need to own your idea and build a team around you.  Being hands on with your ideas is the key to making them reach their full potential.

In today's episode Jarl and I also discuss his new book 'Optimizing America', creating a cultural economic change, making economics cool, how understanding economics can help you create your own personal ecosystem, the importance of innovative leaders, evolving your idea, writing and selling books, and much more.

New Technology for Old Problems | Sam Rusani

New technology is being used to solve old problems.  Sam Rusani is on the bleeding edge of using new technologies to innovate in industries that go back thousands of years.  Sam is the Chief Revenue Officer at ShipChain.  ShipChain is reinventing how we manage shipping on a global level.  Their technology is built on Blockchain and allows businesses and individuals to track the source and history of their individual items.

Bonus | Beyond Bitcoin & Blockchain | Matthew Schutte

This is a bonus episode with Matthew Schutte.  You can find part one at Beyond Bitcoin & Blockchain.  You can also find our first interview with Matthew from Season One: The Evolution of Community, Economy, and the Internet.

Matthew Schutte is the Communications Director for Holo.  Holo is an organization re-imagining the internet as a distributed network of users.  Their approach will make pier to pier connection online possible.  Holo is a community of passionate humans building a distributed cloud, owned and run by users like you and me.

Beyond Bitcoin & Blockchain | Matthew Schutte

Matthew Schutte is the Communications Director for Holo.  Holo is an organization re-imagining the internet as a distributed network of users.  Their approach will make pier to pier connection online possible.  Holo is a community of passionate humans building a distributed cloud, owned and run by users like you and me.

Holo provides a way to unleash the enormous idle capacity in everyone’s computers. This gives us the power to build vibrant cloud hosting communities that will challenge how the Internet monopolies control our data and our interactions. Holo offers each of us the ability to participate by sharing, earning, and building the future of the web.

E63 | The Trial and Error of Innovation | PJ Jonas

PJ Jonas is a business owner, goat-wrangler, entrepreneur, and mother. After getting goats to provide healthy milk for her eight children, she decided to put some excess milk into a batch of handmade soap. That decision was the beginning of Goat Milk Stuff, a growing goat milk products business that has been featured on The Today Show, The Doctors, The Huckabee Show, and in “O”, the Oprah Magazine.

What started with an initial small batch of soap has expanded into a host of goat milk items such as goat milk soaps, cheeses, candies, fudge, gelato and more. It’s a team effort to keep the farm running, make and ship all the products, and welcome visitors to the farm. PJ’s husband, eight children (aged 9 to 19), and six full-time employees, all work hard to promote the goodness of goat milk.

E59 | The cost of inefficiency | Gavin Zuchlinski

Have you ever wondered if there is an easier way to do something?  That was the birthplace of Acuity Scheduling.  Gavin Zuchlinski was searching for a way to help his mom become more efficient with scheduling appointments for her customers.  He didn't find the solution, so he built it.  

In 2006 Acuity Scheduling was born.  Along the way they have become the industry leader for business scheduling.  As the company grew, Gavin knew he had to leave the safety of his Cybersecurity job (a job he loved) for the unknown of growing Acuity Scheduling.  They have now served over 50,000 businesses with making their scheduling needs efficient proving that it was worth the risk to create something amazing.

E55 | Being Future Hackers | Bix and Joe Bickson

Bix and Joe Bickson have worked with leaders and their teams at Starbucks, Guinness, Lululemon, Escada, Goodyear, Microsoft, Linde, and many more. Bix and Joe teach legendary leaders to consistently produce material outcomes. They have reimagined management for today’s and more important, tomorrow’s world.

Future hacking is the management discipline that provides leaders with the essential tools required to push past what is in the way of creating and fulfilling the future. Bix and Joe have lead many “turn-arounds” of organizations ranging in size from 100 to over 10,000, with revenues of a few million dollars to over a billion.

E45 | Hoarding Experiences Not Things | Stephen Petith

Stephen Petith is an Internationalization Architect, working to create Internationalized Businesses and Lifestyles for his clients.  In the past he was the campaign manager for a Parliamentary representative’s elections in Australia.  He is a world traveler and global citizen.

As an Internationalization Architect, Stephen helps businesses move beyond the local, regional, or national boundaries and shows businesses how they can grown their business by pushing past borders.

Topics covered in this episode: Globalization, Family businesses, Working in politics, Entrepreneurial Investments and investing into people's dreams, Travel, Being a global citizen, The economy, Globalization vs Corporation, The role of eduction in the world, The Sovereign Capitalist Movement, The importance of collaboration, The evolution of Co-Working, and so much more.

E44 | Overcoming the Imposter Syndrome | Raj Daniels

Raj Daniels is the CEO and VP of Enthusiasm for OpenTime.  He is also an active blogger and business consultant.  He has a passion for seeing people reconnected to Face to Face interaction instead of being lost in Social Media.  His passion for mentoring has impacted people in all age brackets.  

OpenTime is an app that helps individuals connect Face to Face.  They create a more meaningful human experience by helping people spend more time with other people in person. Unlike technology such as social media and virtual reality, our software connects people in a way technology cannot ever replace; face-to-face.

Topics covered in this episode: Entrepreneurship and family balance, Mentoring, the Imposter Syndrome, A culture lost in social media, the millennial generation, and so much more.

E43 Pt 2 | Ideas Grow Better in Community | Matthew Schutte

Matthew Schutte is the Co-Founder of Collaborative Advantage and a member of The Meta Currency Project.  The Meta Currency Project is focused on rethinking the foundation of the internet and how it is approached.  Matthew is also a political philosopher, privacy advocate, and most importantly a dedicated surfer.

In part two of this episode Matthew shares how The Meta Currency Project is reshaping the internet, his company Collaborative Advantage, and he answers our rapid fire questions. 

Topics covered in this episode: Measuring what matters, Creating the soil for growth, Ideas grow better with people, Educated but deprived of wisdom, All you need to have community is communication, and so much more.

The biggest bang for buck that you can get in terms of innovation is an improvement on your ability to collaborate.  - Matthew Schutte

E43 | The Evolution of Community, Economy, and the Internet | Matthew Schutte

Matthew Schutte is the Co-Founder of Collaborative Advantage and a member of The Meta Currency Project.  The Meta Currency Project is focused on rethinking the foundation of the internet and how it is approached.  Matthew is also a political philosopher, privacy advocate, and most importantly a dedicated surfer.

In part one of this episode Matthew shares how The Meta Currency Project is reshaping the internet along with addressing the issues of community, privacy, and the economy.  Their tools are truly open-sourcing the next economy.

Topics covered in this episode: Seeing what's possible, Structures for technology, Generation and Curation, Diversity, The evolution of community, How nature impacts technology, and how communication is the key to thriving.

E39 | Creativity happens in Community | Natalie Franke

Natalie Franke saw the need for community for creatives.  She Co-founded Rising Tide Society to fill that need.  Rising Tide Society focuses on building community locally and transforming not only the creative industry, but also the world. In May of 2015, the Rising Tide Society hosted its first set of TuesdaysTogether gatherings in twelve cities across the nation. Today there are hundreds of locations that meet globally.  Natalie is also a professional photographer and the Head of Community for Honeybook.

Topics covered in this episode: Community, Service, Business Tools, Philanthropy, The new creative economy, Women in business, Changing the culture of business, creativity, and so much more.  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliefranke/
Twitter: twitter.com/nataliefranke
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NatalieFrankeCreative/
Website:  www.nataliefranke.com

E12 | Innovation at the Edges | Jeff DeGraff

In this episode I talk to Jeff DeGraff.  He is a professor at Ross School of Business at University of Michigan, a respected author, active blogger, sought after speaker, and consultant to leading corporations.   In this episode we talk about a wide range of topics surrounding innovation.  His insight will inspire you to take the leap and begin to create your ideas.