EP 88: Mitchell Swanson | Growing Up In A Small Business, Royal Rangers, Passive Mentors, Don’t Chase The Dollar, Serving Principles, Everyday Failures, Thriving in Failures, Trying to Solve It First, and The Fun of Watching a Team Succeed

EP 88: Mitchell Swanson | Growing Up In A Small Business, Royal Rangers, Passive Mentors, Don’t Chase The Dollar, Serving Principles, Everyday Failures, Thriving in Failures, Trying to Solve It First, and The Fun of Watching a Team Succeed

My story of failure: Not telling a babysitter where I was going. Mitchell graduated from Evangel University with a bachelor's degree in Business Management. He started with AGCU in 2012 and has served many roles inside the mortgage department, including Loan Officer, Processor, and Underwriter. Before moving to AGCU, Mitchell spent his career helping operate his family's businesses, learning a diverse set of skills that would help him in his roles at AGCU. Mitchell and his wife, Heather, have lived and worked in Springfield their entire lives. They have six children, Ella, Bentley, Parker, Thatcher, Juniper, and Adalyn. The Swanson Family enjoys outdoor activities, playing games, going to the lake, and spending time with friends and family. In today’s episode Mitchell talks about: - falling into lending - working for his parents - having someone follow through with him and offer him a position - taking a pay cut to get his foot in the door - focusing on lending now - working for Mitch - growing up in the business with friends - great memories of working - being a part of a small family business - pushing a broom as a kid in the shop - coming to basketball practice smelling like strawberry popcorn - hard work ingrained at a young age - not eating popcorn for 3-4 years after leaving - his dad as a mentor and instilling doing the right thing - taking care of and serving people first, no matter what - “Even if there’s an easier way, you do the right thing no matter what.” - Royal Rangers and pinewood derby - unshaped wood - building his self confidence at a young age - Paul Ebbish as a mentor - Fail forward fast - being strategic as a small business - not enough words - being fortunate to have some direct mentors - passive mentors - lunch with more experienced people - don’t chase the dollars - growing organically over the last decade - sharing different perspectives ten years in - nice to be able to share now - helping set him apart - being an overbooked market - doing the right thing and replicating with others - buying a house is not a short term deal - being the highest of integrity through the process - coming from a family of five kids - taking care of six high energy kids - his wife Heather and him wanting four kids in the beginning - being scared from a physical standpoint to have more kids - going from fostering to adoption - never anticipating six children - the same serving principle translates to home - being entrusted with children - the ultimate goal is to be there for his kids - wild days and making breakfast - his wife being a champion at home - worth the stress and hair loss - the willingness to enter the madness - driving and listening to podcasts - pouring in passively - coming into the industry in 2012 - everyday failures - humbling in the beginning - thriving in failures - seeing rates in the threes - lenders being overwhelmed - “There’s no excuses. You grind and figure it out.” - being forced to look into the process - sharpening himself through the process - wouldn’t have grown without the hard work and failures - some of the sharpest people in the industry - trying to solve it first and then helping - unicycle without training wheels - getting hung up on - a tough and character building time - the exciting thing right now in weird economic times - earning favor and building out a team - the fun of watching a team succeed - hard to imagine where he is now - something he needs to work on - like to look back and see that he hasn’t lost his roots - giving back like he was given - finished building their house - the excitement of a new home - enjoying what God’s created and 1/4 mile walks - continuing the dating pattern and growing together - sparking a love for traveling - a podcast with kids

EP 87: Rachel Cooper | Making The Shift to Healthy, Algorithms and Stories, More Videos More Money, Passive Income Is Not So Passive, Chaotically Organized, Truly Giving It To God, Genius Marketing, and What’s The Alternative?

My story of failure: Getting a hernia from lifting weights in high school. About Rachel Cooper: Sharing all amazon finds that I love and think you would as well. From fitness equipment, to health and wellness items, and all things in between. Follow me to catch my livestreams here on Amazon for interactive demonstrations and live workouts! In today’s episode Rachel talks about: - living an unhealthy lifestyle - making the shift to eating healthy - wanting to expand and change to an online presence - Amazon Live - comparing to QVC - seeing the product being used in real time - starting from sheer vanity - operating her business out of a country club - “When your physical health aligns, you want everything to align.” - the main ways to make money through Amazon Live - water bottle example - shopping from an Amazon carousel - videos and creators - passive income is not so passive - her cousin being a mentor early on and to this day - story of failure about starting a YouTube documentary - working with a filmmaker for future profits - being ghosted by a filmmaker - why it’s good to go for things - getting kicked down and pivoting - being consistent - why it’s about pressing forward - what’s the alternative? - working on her own website - building your business off the back of another platform - renting vs. owning - affiliate marketers and why they’re successful - www.rachelreviewsitnow.com - the flow of website traffic - SEO and email marketing - what she does with free products - not promoting products she doesn’t use - what she hopes for RC Fitness - personal and group training via Zoom and in person - Zoom training sessions - training in an affluent community - the convenience of training online - the limits to training online - multiple categories of Amazon Live - getting into Amazon Live Program - more about engagement than followers - the success of live streaming in China - why we’re intrigued by what other people are doing - a huge audience makes for a big profit - RCfitness.nyc - why she does free live workouts on Amazon Live - genius marketing - buying a dumbbell set and watching previous videos

EP 85: Emily K. Louis | An Unlikely Worthiness Coach, Mentored In a Narrow Box, Borrowing Belief, The Roller Coaster To Burnout, Recognizing Patterns Faster, Laying New Foundations, Perfecting What She Already Has, and The Negatives of Comparing Harder

My story of failure: Backing my parents SUV into our pastor’s truck. Emily K. Louis is a worthiness coach, wife, mother, and host of the Abundance Grace Podcast! Emily helps people confidently be themselves! She wants people to own their worth so they can stop feeling like they need to be strong and have it all together. She offers individual and group coaching. In today’s episode Emily talks about: - an unlikely worthiness coach - being annoyingly rule following - the “good” checklist - growing up under an abusive pastor - not working to prove her worth anymore - stepping into what God calls us into - getting past the pressure - The Pressure is Off - trying to handle the question with grace - grateful for where she is - mentored in a narrow box - a church that thought they were the only ones that had it right - being genuinely afraid of truth - being safe even though she’s wrong - finding mentors after almost wanting to quit - Gretchen H. as a mentor - borrowing belief from mentors until we own it ourselves - seeing what God has for someone before they do - the mental checklist that becomes a task list - not finding our identity in the place that it should be - the roller coaster that will burn us out - Lauren Dangle’s Song - You Say - constantly being aware of turning anything into a checklist - speaking the Gospel over herself daily - words having the power of life and death - recognizing patterns faster - laying new foundations - laying a new foundation takes work - story of mistake setting up childcare - not having the right support - the negative thought that came to her head - owning the mistake but not letting it be a story - not letting failures mean more than it should - making failures lighthearted - complimenting yourself for trying - “If beating yourself up was going to help you succeed, it would have worked already.” - goal to be on a TedX Stage - growing the Abundance Grace podcast - having four littles at home - perfecting what she already has - downplaying your hard and it not being healthy - praying for God to expand our capacity - the trap of comparison - comparing other people’s hard - easily bypassing our emotions - her struggle a couple of weeks ago - texting two people and sharing what was hard - which one do I text? Why not both? - we are worth taking care of - how does Emily recharge? - Sabbath being important and why it’s profound that it’s the tenth commandment - remembering - setting aside time and creating margin - going for long walks, talking to God, and journaling - not liking to be boxed in - The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner - why she loves connecting with people - the podcast not being her identity

EP 85: Clayton Rothschild | Hustles That Didn’t Hit, A Bias Towards Action, Informal Mentorships, Good Leaders Are Always Calibrating, The Conviction of Entrepreneurship and Bring on The Rejection!

My story of failure: Hitting a tree with a baseball bat and killing it. Clayton Rothschild is an entrepreneur from Springfield, MO. He is very interested in the creative destruction and disruptive effect technology has on everyday life. His favorite topics are those that are perhaps undergoing the most disruption: accessibility, economics, consumer behavior, and regulation. He is passionate about product development. He is also the co-founder and co-owner of CloudPano, the standard in 360º virtual tour software. CloudPano has been seen on Redfin and Zillow, and has clients across the globe. In today’s episode Clayton talks about: - why we failed at the in person interview - Clayton’s back problem in last podcast attempt - training for his first marathon - co-foundng CloudPano - virtual tour software - expanding the CloudPano concept to other industries - working tech consulting - making his first website in 4th grade - serving Fortune 500 companies - hustles that didn’t hit - the story of the Baylor Information project - story of Corpus Cristi Roofing leads - loving that Clayton took a chance and went after a project - why it’s about executing well - building a communications platform for frats and sororities - building a fake honor society - what a 21 year old is expected of early on - a bias toward action - sharpening your axe - a networking only available to college students - why startups are able to succeed - delivering value and innovation faster as a startup - the obvious answer of a mentor - his dad and mom being entrepreneurs and teaching him early on - talking business at the table with his parents - his mother making a rule at home that business can’t be spoken at the dinner table - reading The New Yorker and Wall Street Journal as a teenager - meeting Clayton at a coffee shop - informal mentorships - mentored by a manager - delivering electricity to customers - putting supply on the grid and forecasting - trying to become a professional that creates value - a high degree of responsibility - learning how to lead and operate teams - leadership is a balance - mission first plus discipline - mentors model - his business partner as a mentor - why he can be a little pessimistic - how a sales person and tech guru can form a great partnership - cultivating the foil - why CloudPano’s success is about execution - 100% sales and 100% product - bring on the rejection! - a college student selling Cutco knives during the summer - perfect code doesn’t fully affect revenue - basically married to your business partner - reflecting on failures - “Where has there been an abject failure in my life?” - story of starting his career as an accountant and pivoting - general business literacy of accounting - making a space website in 7th grade - starting his first job and realizing that accounting wasn’t for him - building a transition log - the last of a generation of corporate employees - the conviction of entrepreneurship - having the courage to recognize that your career choice may not be the right thing for you - restarting his career - why he grateful for his time as an accountant - the journey of an entrepreneur - “Suffering is a huge component of entrepreneurship.” - story of waking up early and grinding at Starbucks - “The entrepreneurial journey has many moments of discouragement.” - making assessments at the weekly or monthly level - suspending emotion in the day to day - what does God have in store for me? - why working out teaches entrepreneurship - what is Clayton looking forward to - why he wants acreage and wants to homestead - okra - praying with discipline and physical posture - being ok with the suspense - it can take a year or two to execute your goals and that’s ok - having the discipline to say no to other projects

EP 84: Dave Snyder | Being Ahead of the Market, Figuring Out Your Identity, Starting Slow, Throwing It Away, Survival Vs. Confidence, Money Begets Money, The Impossibility of AI

My story of failure: Not correctly tying my shoes and tripping over them. Dave Snyder is the CEO of CopyPress. His background in SEO, social media, and content marketing led Dave to look for a better way to scale and create content and market it. That search led to the formation of CopyPress. Today CopyPress is one the most trusted content marketplaces online working with brands like Sears, Macy's, Linkedin, Zenefits, and IHG. In today’s episode Dave talks about: - getting a creative writing degree - teaching and starting a website - doing fantasy sports writing - learning SEO - faking it till you make it - tripling revenue in eight months at 28 - starting his first agency - building the original blueprint for Copypress - getting kicked out of Bluegrass - struggling for ten years out of the gate - being ahead of the market - penny a word content - figuring out their niche - needing time to figure out your identity - how AI effects businesses - why AI can’t think of new things - an inherent issue with capital - figuring out what products people want - not letting your eyes fool you - scaling up but having money issues - start slow and perfect as you go - going after the premium market - having enough humility - do it, fail, and then do the next thing - structure chaos and building on what works - the only reason Dave had a partner in business - not being the grind guy - not wanting to let everyone down - confidence vs survival - why Dave developed into a good salesman - being genuine and transparent to a fault - not trying to sell people - not a one size fits all solution - the biggest failure for Dave with cashflow - cashflow problems - merchant credit account loans - predatory loans for businesses - floating loans revolving for five years - being concerned with the interest rates and people taking loans - having to personally guarantee short term loans - figuring out cash forecasting - having to cut expenses and getting profitable - three years to pay down loans - building his own software to forecast cashflow - making sense from a risk perspective - AI not being creative - AI not creating anything wholly new - how AI could potentially replace developers - spammers and AI - kids using ChatGPT to do homework - moving apart socially - some form of this has always existed - outsourcing tweets and social media to Fiverr - capitalism will figure itself out - burst of people doing dumb stuff and then fading out - the end of social media? - an exciting time for business owners - automating tasks - AI sourcing and plagiarism - NFT’s and copyrights - people suing over lack of accessibility - why you have other cryptocurrencies - the stability of Bitcoin - only worth what someone is willing to pay for it - nothing that keeps Bitcoin from going to zero - the lack of utility of Bitcoin - every investment carrying a risk - FTX and the exchange being gone, and being too wild west - regulating Ripple and why it would stabilize the market - why you might as well gamble - why Dave likes building product - how he’s going to help his employees grow and make more money - creating cool product - giving up social media and why