Behind the Business - A Butler County Business Matters Podcast

Today, I'm talking with Lisa Guard, the founder and owner of Specialized Staffing and Industry Recruiters which is located on Main Street in the city of Butler. Lisa went off on her own in 1996 to start her own staffing company in Butler after working her way up through the staffing industry. She started all on her own with a computer and a fax machine that was gifted to her by her mother in a small office in the basement of an office building. Now she owns her own building and has a staff of 5 talented recruiters helping place people with local small companies. In this episode, we discuss why she got into staffing and her company grew and the importance of a support system when taking the leap to being your own boss.

In this month's episode, I interviewed Julie Hooks, a personal trainer and nutritionist at Butler Health and Fitness as well as bodybuilder. Julie spoke about her journey from graduating from SRU with a degree in dance and while studying discovering she was a better teacher and pivoting her life towards that pursuit. She also delved into how she learned to properly value herself and her time in order to avoid burnout, something everyone can learn from. So whether you are athletic or not, this definitely an episode you want to tune in for.  SHOW NOTES Butler Health & Fitness: http://www.butlerhealthandfitness.com/ Julie's Trainer: https://www.facebook.com/JBFitLifestyle

This podcast's guest is Audrianna Bly, a Slippery Rock native, a manager at the Springhill Suites in Butler and she’s probably one of most well-connected people in the county. She has little free time because she is a part of so many county organizations including the Chamber of Commerce and the Butler County Young Professionals. In this episode, Audrianna and I talk about networking, a skill that she has mastered, and why she finds it so important. Audrianna's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audriannably/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/audriannably/] Springhill Suites: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pitut-springhill-suites-pittsburgh-butler-centre-city [https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pitut-springhill-suites-pittsburgh-butler-centre-city] Chamber of Commerce: https://butlercountychamber.com/ [https://butlercountychamber.com/] Butler County Young Professionals: https://www.facebook.com/ButlerCountyYP/ [https://www.facebook.com/ButlerCountyYP/]

In this episode, I'm talking with Bob McCafferty of North Country Brewing about how sustainability fits into his business. A former farmer with a degree of environment geoscience from Slippery Rock University, Bob now owns North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock and Harmony Inn in Harmony. He also partners with SRU to run a program called Grow Together Aquaponics at the North Country Brewing Company cannery. The program provides job training to individuals with disabilities with the goal that they can then enter the job market and be integrated into a workplace. The program also provides McCafferty’s the restaurant with microgreens. In this episode, Bob and I discuss his back story and what sustainability practices he has implemented within his businesses. Being a bit of a nerd about sustainability myself I was really excited for this interview and I hope you find our discussion helpful. Without further ado, let's get into the episode. North Country Brewing Company: https://northcountrybrewing.com/ [https://northcountrybrewing.com/] Grow Together Aquaponics: https://northcountrybrewing.com/growing-together-aquaponics/ [https://northcountrybrewing.com/growing-together-aquaponics/] Sustainability programs at Slippery Rock University https://www.sru.edu/about/sustainability/programs-organizations-and-resources [https://www.sru.edu/about/sustainability/programs-organizations-and-resources] Music: 
Sincerely by Kevin MacLeod  Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5033-sincerely [https://filmmusic.io/song/5033-sincerely]License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]

This episode's guest is Shaun Painter. Shaun is co-owner of quite a few YourCBD stores in Butler County and the Greater Pittsburgh Area. In order to join YourCBD he sold off all of his cannabis stocks and he, along with his partners, now controls the Western Pennsylvania franchising rights for the company, which has locations across the globe. In this episode,  Shaun talked about  why he got into the cannabis industry, the benefits of CBD, how in the span of a year he went from having one store in the region to over a dozen ( even during a pandemic), and how COVID has affected the business. YourCBD website: https://cbdrx4u.com/find-us/pennsylvania