Finding Founders

Today, we sit down with Sarah Petty, founder of Sarah Petty Photography, a successful photography business specializing in portraiture and Joy of Marketing, which teaches photographers how to increase their profitability. She has also co-authored Worth Every Penny: Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What You’re Worth and hosts the Worth Every Penny Podcast. Sarah grew up in Illinois with a love for sports and eventually played division-one volleyball at the University of Memphis, where she majored in marketing. It was during a tumultuous time in Sarah’s pregnancy that she realized the importance of freedom and flexibility to pursue motherhood alongside her professional goals. This realization drew her towards her entrepreneurial lifestyle today. Relevant Links Sarah Petty’s LinkedIn Sarah Petty’s Facebook Sarah Petty’s Instagram Joy of Marketing Website Joy of Marketing Facebook Page Sarah Petty Photography Book - Worth Every Penny: Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What You’re Worth by Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck Worth Every Penny Podcast The University of Memphis University of Memphis Women’s Volleyball For Further Study Inside Coca-Cola’s Marketing Strategy - Forbes, Paul Talbott (4/26/2019) Why Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke’ Flopped - History.com, Christopher Klein (3/13/2020)  September 11 Attacks - History.com (9/11/2020) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I welcome my sister and Finding Founders editor, Sophia Donner, on the show to talk about how to speed read. I put her through a series of tests that actually increases her reading speed in just 15 minutes! We learned all this from Jim Kwik's recent book, Limitless. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What failures have shaped you into the person you are now? It’s an easy question to ask, but a hard one to answer. Yet for Omar Zenhom, it’s the question behind all of his successes today. In this episode, we sit down with Omar Zenhom, founder of Webinar Ninja, an online platform that expedites the configuration of large-scale webinars, and host of the award-winning $100 MBA Podcast, which provides aspiring entrepreneurs with free, daily doses of real-world business advice. While Omar may seem like he’s already learned all he needed to succeed, there was a time when he too had a lot to learn about entrepreneurship. And his best teacher at the time? Failure. Join us as we explore Omar’s entrepreneurial journey, starting from his Long Island roots growing up in an Egyptian-American immigrant family, to his earlier career experiences in Egypt and Dubai, and finally to the momentary reset behind his return to the Big Apple, where his long-lasting passion for teaching fostered his success with Webinar Ninja and The $100 MBA Podcast. Relevant Links Patriot Act w/ Hasan Minhaj | Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80239931 Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King | Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80134781 Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from Our Kitchen Table - 57 Real Life Laws on Entrepreneurship | Bobby Hashemi & Sahar Hashemi: https://www.amazon.com/Anyone-Can-Do-Building-Entrepreneurship/dp/1841127655 Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! | Robert T. Kiyosaki: https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680194 Coffee Break Language Learning Podcasts: https://radiolingua.com/ John Lee Dumas - Finding Founders episode: https://findingfounders.co/episodes/john-lee-dumas The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers | Ben Horowitz: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205 Shoe Dog | Phil Knight: https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Phil-Knight/dp/1508211809 Webinar Ninja website: https://webinarninja.com/ $100 MBA Podcast: https://100mba.net/show/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I talk with Jeff Harry about how we can make our remote work more fun. So much of our lives is over Zoom and Slack, so Jeff is coming in to give us some advice. Jeff Harry shows individuals and companies how to tap into their true selves, to feel their happiest and most fulfilled — all by playing. Jeff has worked with Google, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon and Facebook, helping their staff to infuse more play into the day-to-day. Jeff is an international speaker who has presented at conferences such as INBOUND, SXSW, and Australia’s Pausefest, showing audiences how major issues in the workplace can be solved using play. Jeff was selected by Engagedly as one of the Top 100 HR Influencers of 2020 for his organizational development work around addressing toxicity in the workplace. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we sit down with Max Hertan, founder of Megaphone Marketing and Telstra Business Award Finalist. Since starting the company in 2012, Max has helped businesses optimize their advertising conversion rates and buffed up their social media presences. He also runs a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers where he documents learning a new skill every 30 days, featuring challenges from learning the violin to juggling. So press play and listen to Max explain the whole journey. Starting as a mischievous elementary schooler who prank called a fire department, Max became the creator of a Uni Party Listing service that has attracted over 50,000 people from across Australia, and ultimately scaled his marketing skills into a global agency that has generated over a billion dollars in revenue for its clients. Relevant Links Megaphone Marketing Website: https://megaphonemarketing.com.au/ Max’s Monthly Youtube Challenges: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4b3OepbY-yWGZhUAauK0mtud_W0enSo7 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-dale-carnegie/1100370318 Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blink-malcolm-gladwell/1100022866 The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79352.Six_Pillars_of_Self_Esteem The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2122.The_Fountainhead --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I talk with Joanna Vargas about the book Growth Hacker Marketing. We analyze Uber's strategies, talk about Joanna's business ventures, and explore the importance of a customer avatar. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the last episode in our series on Puerto Rican Entrepreneurs and today, we sit down with Sebastian Vidal. Sebastian is the founder of Parallel 18, a start-up accelerator that provides mentors and resources for aspiring Puerto Rican and international entrepreneurs. At Parallel 18, Sebastian has served as a judge and participant for many start-up focused events, including SXSW, Stanford Ignite, and the MIT Innovation Awards Español. Recently, Sebastian was invited to be the standing Chief Innovation Officer at the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust. Born and raised in Chile, Sebastian has always been immersed in numerous cultures. From studying at a predominantly French-populated school in his hometown, to traveling through the Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern, and European regions in early adulthood, to working in global wine export, and now, heading a Puerto Rican start-up accelerator, it’s no surprise that Sebastian possesses a well-rounded aptitude for cultural understanding and global curiosity. An innovator by heart with a knack for tackling challenges, Sebastian is passionate about building community and lending help to those who take the road less traveled, because that’s exactly how he got his start. So with this in mind, let’s press play and learn how going against the grain led Sebastian to founding Parallel 18 in a part of the world people least expected: Puerto Rico Find show notes at findingfounders.co --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I talk to a member of the Finding Founders design team, Shruti Ramanand, about how we can be more productive with less work. We discuss the concept of the Pomodoro and how we can apply it to our lives to instantly become more productive! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the second installment of our Puerto Rico series where we are trying to explore how destruction sews the seeds of opportunity and growth. And Carlos embodies this idea perfectly. Today, we sit down with Carlos Goyco, founder of Libros787, an online bookstore focused on selling books by Puerto Rican authors.  Rather than letting the winds of disaster pin him to the ground, Carlos’ love for his community mobilized him to create Libros 787, an online bookstore focused on selling books by Puerto Rican authors. He started the company as a passion project to help his country in the aftermath of disaster, but after winning over $70K from multiple accelerator programs, Libros 787 has become much more than a hobby. It’s a way for Carlos to spread the treasure of Puerto Rican culture. And his love for his country started young, in the town of Ponce. Relevant Links Libros 787 website: https://libros787.com/ Libros 787 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/libros787/ The Facts: Hurricane Maria’s effect on Puerto Rico - Mercy Corps (11/9/2020) https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/quick-facts-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico Island of Puerto Rico ‘destroyed’ by Hurricane Maria - ABC News, Youtube (11/20/2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNFnVIlE6cA 160+ Startup Incubators and Accelerators Around the World - Embroker (6/10/2020): https://www.embroker.com/blog/accelerators-vs-incubators/ Parallel 18 Startup Accelerator (Libros787 Graduated from this accelerator): https://www.parallel18.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we talk to Mark Fidelman, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Fanatics media. I was reading a book called "Growth Hacker Marketing" by Ryan Holiday, and as I was browsing the footnotes I saw Mark's name. I knew I had to talk to him, so we scheduled a call to discuss how to market a product and steal your competitors customers.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices