Defining Moments
32 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago -Everyone fails. It’s one of the few guarantees life provides us, regardless of ambition or status.
Yet, as leaders and entrepreneurs (and humans in general), we often brush those failures under the rug. Because they’re embarrassing. They hurt. They can rock our entire world. But without these moments - these defining moments - we would have a lesser sense of purpose, empathy, and meaningful achievement.
This isn’t another business podcast about accomplished leaders who have changed the world and made millions. This is where we talk to real people who have struggled to make their personal and professional pieces fit while building the businesses that fuel America.
Join us every other week as we guide you through a new and noteworthy story on the power of perseverance, prioritizing, and pivoting.
Defining Moments is brought to you by Lendio, your trusted partner in small business finance.
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Episodes
Vlada Lotkina | Communication Is the Foundation of Success
February 04, 2021 08:00 - 31 minutes - 36.8 MBGrowing up in an entrepreneurial family, Vlada Lotkina, CEO and co-founder of ClassTag, saw firsthand the successes and failures that inevitably come with following your dreams. It was that inherited pioneering spirit that drove Vlada to emigrate from Ukraine to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School for her MBA. Vlada had a few different business ideas early on, but it wasn’t until her daughter began preschool that she fully dove into entrepreneurship. In fact, ...
Gail Sexton Anderson | Helping Build Families Through Comfort and Connection
January 28, 2021 08:00 - 43 minutes - 47.9 MBWhen Gail Anderson began working in third-party fertility nearly 25 years ago, she dreamed of opening a one-stop-shop that would give prospective parents all the resources to face the challenges ahead. Whether it’s mental, emotional or educational support, Gail is determined to provide it to her clients. Gail’s motivation to join the field of third-party fertility was ignited by a difficult personal experience: a heartbreaking miscarriage. After feeling flushed and in pain from severe cramp...
PPP Update From Lendio CEO Brock Blake
January 25, 2021 08:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBWatch the video on YouTube! Lendio's CEO, Brock Blake, gives an update on this new round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The latest round of PPP comes with bolstered support for the businesses that need it most, including: The ability to receive a 2nd PPP loan for borrowers who previously received a loan. Funding specifically earmarked for performance venues and BIPOC-owned businesses. Provisions to help ensure that the smallest businesses can secure these essential loans. Bette...
Brock Blake's Live Lendio PPP Loan Update
January 25, 2021 08:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBWatch the video on YouTube! This new round of PPP comes with bolstered support for the businesses that need it most, including: The ability to receive a 2nd PPP loan for borrowers who previously received a loan. Funding specifically earmarked for performance venues and BIPOC-owned businesses. Provisions to help ensure that the smallest businesses can secure these essential loans. Better support for hard-hit industries like restaurants.
Sam Frank | Quitting Corporate for Construction
January 21, 2021 08:00 - 35 minutes - 40.8 MBIt took quitting a corporate job and living in Morocco for a year for Sam Frank, co-founder of and partner at Four Twelve Roofing, to realize that his heart belonged in the city he’d grown up in. Sam was inspired by the incredible design projects and architecture he saw in Morocco and wanted to bring that kind of beauty to Baltimore. There was just one problem: He didn’t have any experience in construction. Fortunately, he was introduced to someone who did: his eventual co-founder Shea Fre...
Pat Dossett | From Navy SEAL to Self-Improvement Entrepreneur
January 14, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes - 49.8 MBNatural ability is a useful starting point, but the trait that will push you over the finish line is grit. Navy SEAL veteran and Madefor co-founder Pat Dossett admits that he isn’t the best at anything, but he is extraordinarily resilient. After studying hard to get into the Naval Academy, Pat earned a highly competitive place in SEAL school. When his military career ended, he embarked on yet another challenging path: entrepreneurship. The skills and training instilled in him during his ti...
Robin Chase | Driving Transportation Into the Future
January 07, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes - 49.9 MBSometimes being green means charging ahead even when everyone else is applying the brakes. Robin Chase is a serial transportation entrepreneur, but she had no idea what she was getting into with her first project — and that’s how she pushed the market forward. Robin is the co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the car sharing service that connects members to available cars nearby, which they can use for an hourly or daily fee. It’s a recognizable model today, but being first came with unseen...
Jesse Jacobs | Redefining Growth in 2020
December 29, 2020 08:00 - 39 minutes - 44.3 MBIn March 2020, Jesse Jacobs, the founder of Samovar Tea, was poised for growth. He planned to expand his organic small-batch tea house cafes from four Bay Area locations into Southern California and over to the East Coast. Then COVID-19 happened. Jesse is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. When he started Samovar Tea nearly 20 years ago, the Small Business Administration provided him with a list of 72 banks that offered small business funding. It wasn’t until his last meeting with bank No...
Noam Cohen and Hannah Genton | Changing the Legal Status Quo
December 17, 2020 08:00 - 43 minutes - 48.3 MBLawyers get a thrill from a fight. And Noam Cohen and Hannah Genton, founding partners of transactional law firm CGL, are taking on a major opponent: cultural expectations that lawyers must burn themselves out in exchange for high salaries and big bonuses. CGL is a distributed law firm, meaning that its attorneys work wherever they want and on their own schedules. As long as they give clients exceptional service, they’re in charge of their own hours and where they spend them. For example, ...
Liz Mumford | Building a Creative Work Environment
December 10, 2020 08:00 - 39 minutes - 44.2 MBLeaving the beaten path and forging your own can lead to success — but not without obstacles. Liz Mumford, co-owner of creative agency Mabble Media, is still charting the best course. One thing Liz believes in firmly is giving her staff a work-life balance that can help foster their creativity at work. After all, it’s the drive to be different and imaginative that sets Mabble apart. “I see the amount of trust and peace there is on our team, which you have to have. If your brain is in fight...
Lillie Frances | Improv in the Age of COVID
December 03, 2020 08:00 - 41 minutes - 46.4 MBImprov training teaches you to deal with the unknown. But Lillie Frances, owner of Chicago Comedy Company and Laugh Out Loud theaters, says nothing could have prepared her for 2020. “You would think that as an improviser, I'd be better at this stuff, but I hate ambiguity. I hate not knowing when everything's going to end and we're going to be back up and running in full swing,” she says. Lillie’s first concern has always been her staff. This stems from her own experiences working for comed...
Dave Saylor | Ingredients for Long-Term Restaurant Success
November 24, 2020 08:00 - 31 minutes - 36.8 MBThe restaurant business was tough even before COVID-19, but Dave Saylor, owner of Acadiana Café in San Antonio, Texas, believes two crucial ingredients make up the recipe for success. “What's let us prosper and stay in business for 34 years are our employees and our community involvement,” he says. Dave was once an Acadiana employee himself: he started as an assistant manager. Then about seven or eight years ago, he bought out one owner and then the other. Speaking about his employees, Da...
Paul Adams | Embracing the Path You’re Given
November 19, 2020 08:00 - 48 minutes - 52.4 MBWhen a door you spent years opening is slammed shut in your face, don’t waste time shouting at it. Instead, find another door. Paul Adams, founder and CEO of Sound Financial Group, learned that the hard way. Paul spent a decade working for and climbing the ladder at a large financial institution, only to be fired weeks before tasting the fruits of his labor. “I'd never been fired from anything; I had never not been successful,” he says. Initially, Paul was angry. After investing so much t...
Nick Loper | Following Your Side Hustle Dreams
November 12, 2020 08:00 - 40 minutes - 45.1 MBForget your parents’ advice: Nick Loper wants you to quit your day job. The founder of Side Hustle Nation and host of podcast The Side Hustle Show has made a career out of helping other people follow their non-9-to-5 dreams. Nick will be the first to tell you that doesn’t mean climbing on a desk at the next staff meeting and shouting your resignation. As someone who traded corporate life for self-employment, he knows it takes planning, structure, and emotional support. In this episode, Nic...
Scott Porter | How Customer Experience Can Set You Apart
November 05, 2020 08:00 - 43 minutes - 48.2 MBNo matter what industry you’re in, the one thing that can set you apart from your competitors is excellent customer experience, says Scott Craig Porter, founder, and CEO of San Diablo churros. To call Scott’s career eclectic would be an understatement. He’s worked in PR and as a nursing home administrator, founded a subscription airline, and now he’s selling churros. But his focus has always been making customers and staff happy and eager for more. During his stint turning around underperf...
Luke McElroy | Choosing Optimism
October 29, 2020 07:00 - 41 minutes - 45.8 MBOptimism is a vital ingredient for entrepreneurs. As Luke McElroy, founder and president of Orange Thread Media, says, if you can’t believe in your own crazy idea, who else will? Luke has been an optimist and an entrepreneur since he was a teenager. And with a company built around live events, he’s needed that hopeful attitude more than ever recently. After building five businesses before the age of 18, Luke landed in the industry he came to love — live events — while studying at Nashville...
Brian Smith | The Good, the Bad and the ‘UGGly’
October 22, 2020 07:00 - 48 minutes - 52.1 MBSurfing can teach you a lot about business. UGG founder Brian Smith learned that in both, you have to keep pushing towards the next opportunity — the next wave — or you’ll go under. Today, UGG is well-known around the world for its sheepskin boots and other products. But Brian weathered many storms to keep the company afloat. The first obstacle was his own education. After 10 years of studying to be a chartered accountant in Australia, on the day of his graduation, Brian quit. “I never lik...
Andrew Vasylyk | Grow by Going Remote
October 15, 2020 08:00 - 31 minutes - 36.5 MBOnce you’ve made it past the “start” in startup, you realize that was the easy part. Scaling, says Andrew Vasylyk, is the real challenge — and he should know. Andrew and his brother and business partner Alex are startup-obsessed. As co-founders of StartupSoft, they help early-stage tech companies scale their engineering teams remotely. The brothers have also founded their own companies together — “From electronic cigarettes to manufacturing and e-commerce,” Andrew says — with varying degre...
Miha Matlievski | Succeeding at Failing
October 01, 2020 08:00 - 35 minutes - 40.8 MBBragging about success is easy: opening up about your failures — and learning from them — takes hard work. Even self-described “Fail Coach” Miha Matlievski admits it took him years. In 2009, the recession put Miha $5 million in debt. Bankrupt and hounded by creditors, he contemplated suicide — until he realized he had failed, which meant he could also change. Miha was used to fighting from behind. After dropping out of high school, he joined his dad’s business but suddenly found himself in...
Mike McKim | Cold Brew, Hot Commodity
September 17, 2020 08:00 - 37 minutes - 42.4 MBPersistence and persuasion open doors. This combination took Mike McKim from the Navy to sales in the midst of the dot-com boom and eventually to his real passion: high-quality coffee. Whether working his way into a Naval academy, selling telecoms or espresso machines, or starting his own coffee company, Mike doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Mike joined the Navy after high school, as a path to admission in a service academy. He took college classes for three years — and made sure his supe...
Jeremy Stewart | Handling a Career Flip Flop
September 03, 2020 08:00 - 36 minutes - 41.2 MBHaving a particular set of skills doesn’t have to limit you to one industry. You can always follow in the footsteps of Hari Mari founder Jeremy Stewart. Jeremy spent a decade as a political consultant: But after two presidential campaigns in Indonesia, he and his wife Lila were burned out. Their next move was something completely different — they started selling flip flops. But it turns out that making the switch from politics to products is not as wild a leap as you might think. “A polit...
Danielle Shoots | Bringing the Real You to Work
August 20, 2020 08:00 - 37 minutes - 42.1 MBThere’s no one-and-done course that can teach you to be a great leader. It requires a willingness to learn and improve every single day. That’s no small task, which is why Danielle Shoots created Daily Boss Up. Subscribers to Daily Boss Up receive inspirational quotes, prompts and constructive homework on their phones every morning. It’s based on Danielle’s experiences leading teams, which started early — when she was just in her mid-20s. At age 26, Danielle was the youngest CFO in the his...
Sasha Rowe | Trusting Your Vision
August 06, 2020 08:00 - 37 minutes - 42.3 MBThe way we think about work/home balance is evolving rapidly in the era of coronavirus. But entrepreneur Sasha Rowe foresaw the switch to online work way back in 2015 (and before the pandemic) when she founded virtual assistant business Rivvly. After Sasha had her son, she decided not to go back to her job in corporate finance. But after three days at home, she realized she needed an intellectual challenge — and that there must be other people like her, who couldn’t work in an office but st...
Jodi Brandon | How to Finally Write That Book
July 23, 2020 08:00 - 33 minutes - 38.6 MBBeing an entrepreneur requires more than business instinct: you need creativity too. Word nerd, editor and publisher Jodi Brandon helps people channel theirs into books. Jodi always knew she wanted to work with words — but she also had “the entrepreneur bug.” After majoring in English and business at college, Jodi horrified her parents by moving to New York to work in publishing. She started on the bottom rung, as an editorial assistant, but was lucky enough to have a boss who helped he...
Sandy Abrams | Shifting Your Day From Chaos to Calm
July 09, 2020 08:00 - 36 minutes - 41.3 MBWho you know can make up for what you don’t know in business. That personal touch served Sandy Abrams well when she started her company, Moisture Jamzz, in 1993. Sandy’s idea for moisturizing gloves wasn’t new, but she was convinced she could improve on the existing product. The trouble was, she had no experience in business or the textile industry. Undeterred, Sandy hit Los Angeles’s garment district. Taking the time to cultivate personal relationships helped her find a manufacturer who ...
Danielle Rocco | Finding Success by Leaning Into Strengths
June 25, 2020 08:00 - 32 minutes - 37.5 MBControlling your destiny is one of the great promises of entrepreneurship. But getting there isn’t easy. Just ask Dani Rocco, a relationship expert for members of the military. These days, Dani focuses on her documentary work — aimed at helping veterans — but her path to “serving the ones that have served us” wasn’t a linear one. At age 18, Dani began to work at her family’s gymnastics school. She started out as a janitor cleaning the toilets. Eventually, she worked her way up, becoming...
Kelly Fitzsimmons | Finding Beauty in Failure
June 11, 2020 15:29 - 44 minutes - 48.4 MB“Because almost all of us will not handle failure gracefully...it'll take a while to finally get to the, ‘Oh, this had everything to do with me, didn't it?’” Kelly Fitzsimmons is an author and technology entrepreneur with experience in information security, voice interface, and reality. In this episode of Defining Moments, Kelly digs into how entrepreneurs can navigate through difficult terrains, and face real, catastrophic failure head-on. You’ll also hear about Kelly’s book, Lost in St...
William Manzanares | A Guide to Success Through Failure
May 28, 2020 08:00 - 31 minutes - 37 MB“How you react, that defines who you will be, not what you do.” William Manzanares is a serial entrepreneur who started a number of businesses including a bar and restaurant, health food store, a smoke shop, and even a magazine. In this episode of Defining Moments, William describes why entrepreneurship is like a roller coaster. As he says, there are highs and lows, but it’s always a thrill. You’ll also hear about his struggles with dyslexia, and the defining moment that left him with an...
Scott Simson | Overcoming Failure by Becoming Fearless
May 14, 2020 08:00 - 31 minutes - 37 MB“As an entrepreneur, you have to be fearless and you just have to acknowledge that you're going to learn from those mistakes. But if you don't take that step, then you'll never know.” Scott Simson is a full-time YouTube content creator and CEO of Video Marketing World. But before his success with these ventures, Scott started several other businesses, including a video rental vending machine company similar to Redbox. The company failed, but the lessons he learned from it were invaluable....
Ryan Combe | Becoming A Game Changer
April 30, 2020 19:10 - 32 minutes - 37.3 MB“A big part of being a game changer - and being successful - is you have to be willing to look at what other people are doing around you and adapting that to work for you and your industry.” Ryan Combe is the Managing Partner at Better Way Franchise, where he works with franchises that already exist and teach them how to grow faster, plus find additional franchisees. Listen in as Ryan and Chris discuss why the most successful companies in history are taking old ideas and improving them by ...
Paul Allen | Finding Strengths in Crisis
April 23, 2020 08:00 - 42 minutes - 46.5 MBResources: Soar’s Website Connect with Paul on LinkedIn Lendio’s Website Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
Introducing Defining Moments!
April 14, 2020 22:47 - 3 minutes - 3.01 MBResources: Lendio’s Website Connect with Chris on LinkedIn