Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do

Thom Singer showed up at a comedy open mic night in March 2018 (at age 51). Nervous as hell, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. A friend, who is a comic, pushed him to give stand up a try. When he was younger Thom had wanted to do stand up, but never had the guts to try it. But in his 50s his motto is "Try New Things", so when invited to accompany Drew Tarvin to an open mic in New York City, he said YES. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Laura Gassner Otting inspires people to push past the doubt and indecision that keep great ideas in limbo because her presentationsmake listeners think bigger and accept greater challenges that reach beyond their limited scope of belief. She delivers strategic thinking, well-honed wisdom, and perspective generated by decades of navigating change across the start-up, nonprofit, political, as well as philanthropic landscapes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you asking yourself the right questions on a daily basis? Thom Singer shares his list of "Curious Questions" on episode 450 of Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do. This episode is about finding you way toward better performance. It is so easy to get stuck in a rut and never take the necessary actions to reaching your potential. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Santwire is a born and raised Northwest product, growing up in the greater Seattle area.  He truly loves the Seattle area, calling it one of the greatest cities in the country, with so much to do and everyone has something in common - dodging rain drops and mud puddles.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Damian Mason speaks on the two subjects he knows best: Business and Agriculture. Since 1994, he has spoken to nearly 2,000 audiences in all 50 states and 7 foreign countries.  Damian is a graduate of Purdue University. He also studied comedy writing and improvisation at The Second City – Chicago. Damian is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the National Speakers Association. He is one of only 900 public speakers in the world to hold the Certified Speaking Professional designation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Del Bello of Capital Strategies LLC is an active member of the Austin Technology Council. This episode is co-produced in partnership with the ATC, the largest tech industry organization in Central Texas that empowers members by using insights, resources, and connections their members need to succeed and thrive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 1, 2019 marks ten years since Thom Singer became a full time professional speaker. He was laid off from his corporate marking job on the first day of April in 2009 (the bottom of the Great Recession), and he has never looked back. The journey has been difficult. When he was let go from his job he knew there were not many opportunities in marketing available, so he decided to jump in full time to making a go at professional speaking. Being a professional speaker was something he had dreamed of doing. While working in a career in sales and marketing he had attended a lot of events that featured motivational speakers and other thought leaders. Because he was not sure he was in the right job, he would watch these presentations and think "They have a cooler job than I do". Alas he had not choice but to follow his dream, and in 2009 he went full steam ahead into a career as a professional speaker. His family and friends were supportive. Many people in his network when out of their way to make introduction

Scott Walker and his family founded Screenmobile in 1980 in their garage in Glendora, California. The Walker family started by converting a tent trailer into the first mobile manufacturing unit for screens. This trailer allowed them to measure, manufacture, and install all of their product offerings on-site at the convenience of the customer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The American Dream is dead” were the words said to me by a 50-year-old entrepreneur in talking about Millennials and Generation Z.  Thom Singer disagreed. In episode 444 or the “Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do” podcast Thom shares his opinions of what potential lies ahead for business professionals of all ages.   Thom chose this topic to speak about on this episode because of three conversations he had in the past week about the economy, income inequality, and the great recession. While there may be a recession coming, it is not the end of the world. We have had a depression and many recessions in the past. The one consistency is all of these dips have been followed by economic growth.   Thom launched his full-time business as a motivational business speaker on April 1, 2009.  He had just been laid off from his corporate marking job, and his prospects for long term employment were bleak. While many might have thought that was an impossible time to start a business, Thom had no choice.  Over the next few years

Antonio Grahm and Daniel Cline are the co-founders of Krystal Luxury Transportation, in Austin, Texas. Check out episode 443 of the "Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do" podcast to hear their story of entrepreneurship.   Krystal is a family and friends owned and operated chauffeur company founded in 2013. When the two young entrepreneurs arrived in Austin, Antonio and Daniel noticed one big issue with the Austin chauffeured industry - The service sucked.  They witnessed chauffeurs were often under dressed, unclean vehicles were the norm, and drivers regularly arrived late.   In founding a new company, Daniel and Antonio wanted to fix the fundamental issues of the industry. In their first year the co-founders of Krystal focused on mastering the basics. After they got the service right, they were able to focus on other systems.   The duo worked hard to make sure their company was committed to ease of booking and billing for their clients. They created a system of easy communication with chauffeurs via GPS tracking of

The Spring is time for live events. If you are in business, the odds are you will be attending meetings in your industry sometime soon.  Local events for groups like a chamber of commerce or national multi-day conventions seem to all clump in the fall and spring (winter and summer have other challenges that make many associations and companies hold their gatherings in these time frames).   This episode of CTED podcast is for you if you are not sure why to attend a industry meeting, or you want to make sure you get the most ROI for your time or money.  Live events can change the trajectory of your business and career. The education, networking and motivation / inspiration all can come together and get you to take new actions.  But change does not happen by accident.  You need to be prepared to maximize your time at the event.   Meetings today are different than they were ten or twenty years ago. The expectations of participants has changed. People do not want some "sage on the stage" to talk at them, but they

Brian Scudamore is the founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. He is also the author of "WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success"   Brian started his business in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 18, and later went on to franchise 1-800-GOT-JUNK? as a way to expand operations. Today, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has 1000 trucks on the road throughout some 180 locations in Canada, the United States, and Australia.   Brian has received wide recognition in the media and business community. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has celebrated appearances on the highly-acclaimed Undercover Boss Canada, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, CNN, ABC Nightline, the Today Show, The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos, and the View. His story has been told in Fortune Magazine, Business Week, New York Times, Huffington Post, and Wall Street Journal, to name a few. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is currently the starring junk removal attraction on the hit A&E reality show, Hoarders. In addition to interviews and guest appearances, Brian contributes written articles on b

While at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, Thom Singer had the chance to meet author and speaker Laura Gassner Otting (author of Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life).  She started her SXSW presentation with a powerful statement:   "You can't be happy living someone else's dream"   Boom.  That stuck in Thom's mind for the last few days, and when preparing for Episode 440, he knew he had to share this quote and the reasons it resonated with him.   By the way, Laura agreed to be a guest on "Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do", so look for that episode in April 2019.   Thom Singer spent most of his career with his "ladder against the wrong wall".  He was doing a career that he fell into (sales and marketing).  While he was very successful, it was not his dream.  Happiness was not front and center.   Fast forward to today and Thom is a successful professional speaker and podcast host. He is living a life that few people get to live, and he is happy.  Not happy every singl

This episode is co-produced in partnership with the Austin Technology Council, the largest tech industry organization in central Texas that empowers members by using insights, resources, and connections their members need to succeed and thrive  Join Underminer Studios CEO, Alex Porter and CTO Timothy Porter for a look into their startup company and how Austin has played a role in their growth. They are candid about working together as a married couple and how they navigate emerging technology markets.  Underminer utilizes Visualization Technology like Augmented and Virtual Reality as well as Volumetric Video to design innovative products for business that will help define the future of human-computer interaction.  Alex’s background in physical and digital design started with her education in Interior Design and made its way to founding a tech company. She drives the vison for the company with a focus on how their work can contribute to accessibility and functional uses for technology. Tim spent a decade i

All businesses should be creating some sort of content marketing. In the age of the internet, content has become more necessary than ever in history.  But dropping a blog post onto your website and hoping for millions of views is not realistic.   So what is a entrepreneur or business leader to do?  In episode 438 Jill Schiefelbein and Thom Singer talk about how to repurpose content.  Jill has lived this...and she found ways to create real results.  She has millions of YouTube views, but didn't stop there.  She turned her video strategy into paying clients, syndication offers, and a collaboration with Entrepreneur Magazine.   Listen to this episode for actionable strategy on how to take a single piece of content and turn it in dozens of different digital touch points across the web.   About Jill Schiefelbein   University faculty-turned-entrepreneur, Jill Schiefelbein is an award-winning business owner, author, and recovering academic. She taught business communication at Arizona State University for 11 ye

Michael Smerklo is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Austin-based venture capital firm Next Coast Ventures. NCV provides early-stage capital to high-growth startups in ‘Next Coast’ markets, using macro trends and themes to guide their investment strategy.     Michael has been in the technology industry for almost 20 years as an operator, investor and board member/advisor. Michael currently sits on the board of NCV portfolio companies Tenfold, Navegate, LeanDNA and AlertMedia. He serves as a board observer for NCV portfolio companies EverlyWell, Stoplight and Cloverpop. Previously, he served on the board of OnRamp (acquired in July 2018) as well as SPS Commerce (NASDAQ: SPSC).       Prior to founding NCV, Michael was an investor and advisor to emerging growth companies in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas from 2014-2015 via his personal entity, True North Ventures LLC. From 2003 to 2014, Michael served as CEO (and Chairman from 2008-­2015) of ServiceSource International, a company he acquired via a search

Most surveys show that the New Year's Resolutions we set are abandoned by the end of February.  People set goals, and then the routines of their life set in and we fall into the same path we have been walking for a long time.   Thom Singer believes in goal setting and New Year's Resolutions.  While he knows that most people never do much with working long toward their goals, for those who do, it can be magical.  But it is not about reaching to goal, the success in in the progress you make along the way.   As humans, we like the idea of a "fresh start".  This is why birthdays, anniversaries, and New Year's Day are such a big deal.  We get to move ahead with a new path. We get excited about that potential, but potential is not a solution.  Potential does not equal results. The key here is "performance".   In observing peak performers, Thom Singer has seen a pattern. There are things people do who reach come closer to reaching their potential, than those who are stuck in a rut (Thom believes that you never reall

Let’s Talk Funny   Nothing is less funny than a podcast interview about comedy.  Episode 435 is an interview with comedian motivational speaker Garrison Wynn. This conversation covers a lot of ground about his career and what makes things funny.   Garrison got into stand up comedy early, and it has impacted his whole career. He has seen a lot of things between the world of comedy, the Fortune 500, and the speaking business.      Nine months after his first open mic he was earning a living as a comic.   Today he is a professional keynote speaker.  On this episode we dive deep into comedy. Garrison has had a very interesting career path, and he is very open in this interview.   It is hard to find funny in some rooms.  You need the right environment to get the humor to connect with the audience. Most people, even when they are funny, do not realize what makes them funny. There are many things that go into making humor work.   About Garrison Wynn   Garrison helps people make the jump from being great at what the

Leaders must have followers. You cannot set up to set the pace if the other people behind you don't care what you think and do not respect you. To be a good leader, you must begin by leading yourself in a direction of more success.  Thom Singer takes this episode of the "Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do" podcast into the explorations of self leadership. If you are living as a fraud, others may not know it... but you are very award. People cannot lead self if they are out of sync with their own soul. You may be acting bigger than reality, or selling yourself short. Either way, if you are not honest with yourself, you will bounce around lost for a long time. Confidence is important, but over confidence or under-confidence are a fine line away.  How you communicate with others will impact your ability to lead, but also you ability to self lead. If others are always mis-understanding you and your intentions, then you are probably not internally clear as to who you are and what you are trying to accomplish.  The

Zach Benson is one of the standouts in the world of influencer marketing. A TEDx speaker, social-media trainer for international brands like The Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, and ViceRoy, and past participant on “So You Think You Can Dance,” Benson doesn’t just manage his own Instagram network of millions; he’s also the founder of Assistagram, where he’s guiding other influencers and Fortune 500 companies into social-media success. Lastly, he is the founder 6 Figure Dancer Academy, where he teaches other dancers the exact step-by-step system that he used to create a profitable 6-figure dancing business, traveling the world. What you probably don’t know is that Benson’s childhood resembled something far closer to outright failure than the kind of wins he has experienced today. At only 4 months old, Benson, who was born in South Korea, was adopted by his parents in the States, where he was taken home to Des Moines, Iowa. Benson was one of the very few Asian kids in his school. Benson was bullied and abused by h