Lay of The Land #158: Nick Dadas (University Tees, SISU Lifestyle, Acton Academy Lakeside, ISI, MasterPlan Coach)
Nick Dadas — Co-Founder of University Tees, SISU Lifestyle, Acton Academy Lakeside, ISI, and MasterPlan Coach.
In 2003, still a sophomore at Miami University, Nick co-founded University Tees after trying to organize a t-shirt order for his business fraternity and becoming frustrated with his experience; so he and his co-founder, Joe, decided there had to be a better way and like all good entrepreneurs, they started their own company. Since then, University Tees has gone on to grow into the premier custom apparel brand for the college market with over 700 campus managers at over 300 colleges nationwide, over 150 full-time employees, and with expanded capabilities for the corporate market where they’ve built a reputation for excellence, servicing large-scale distributors and retail programs at volume across the country from their brand new full-service production facility in Cleveland.
In addition:
- Nick founded SISU Lifestyle, a leading Sauna manufacturing company and brand focused on affording the best sauna experience possible.
- He founded the Acton Academy Lakeside, a one-room schoolhouse for the 21st century and for his own 3 children and other families who share this desire for an innovative approach to education.
- He founded The ISI Life (standing for Iron Sharpens Iron), where he hosts a podcast of his own and has built a community for men in pursuit of developing habits for success, establishing life-giving relationships, and building momentum towards a life of excellence
- He founded MasterPlan Coach, a comprehensive executive coaching program for entrepreneurs seeking to achieve authentic success across their personal and professional life.
All in, Nick is a true entrepreneur, applying his problem-solving mindset to all aspects of life and thematically tying his work together to a foundational principle of Developing People and Changing Lives — a topic which we’ll unpack in our conversation today. This was such an engaging conversation — Nick is intentional and full of wisdom and candor; it was a real joy getting to hear his story and reflections.
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John Carroll University Boler College of Business: https://business.jcu.edu/
As we’ve heard time and time again from entrepreneurs on Lay of The Land — many of whom are proud alumni of John Carroll University — success in this ever-changing world of business requires a dynamic and innovative mindset, deep understanding of emerging technology and systems, strong ethics, leadership prowess, acute business acumen… all qualities nurtured through the Boler College of Business!
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The Boler College of Business is fully accredited by AACSB International, the highest accreditation a College of Business can have.
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LINKS
Connect with Nick Dadas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-dadas-7623534/
Follow Nick Dadas on X: https://twitter.com/nickdadas
University Tees: https://universitytees.com/
Follow University Tees on X: https://www.twitter.com/universitytees
Follow University Tees on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/universitytees/
SISU: https://sisulifestyle.com/pages/our-story
Acton Academy Lakeside: https://actonlakeside.com/about/
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Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and many more.
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