All Episodes

Noah and Alli Hutchison met during their college years at Baylor, and grew a friendship through their shared involvement in a church community - Antioch Waco. Alli started doing interior design work for friends and their friends soon after college, and eventually they worked in church ministry, with Noah as the Childrens & Family Director. They moved to Fort Collins in 2015 where Noah was the Executive Director for Antioch Fort Collins - basically leading the administrative function to allow the...

Julie Ulstrup began her career in admissions counseling, soon transitioned to school counseling, and was a School Counselor for Poudre School District for 13 years. Like many of the purpose-driven, she began to experience burnout after about 10 years - and made a leap in 2016 - transforming her hobby business of photography into a vibrant full-time enterprise. In just a few years, she had more than doubled her income, and saw transformative change in dozens of clients. Her mix of photography tal...

Tom Trimmer, Jr. spent his growing up years in the Northern Suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, and was disappointed when his father got rid of the family powerboat (about the time he was old enough to start skiing…) and bought a sailboat instead. The sailboat sparked a love of sailing however, that carries through to today, and spurred Tom’s first significant entrepreneurial venture - Bachelorette Party Boat Tours departing the Chicago Yacht Club. And - love of sailing led into his current business, ...

Trish Bowen-Bannister started her career in education, grew quickly in the field, and spent many years as the Director of Education for Weston Distance Learning in Fort Collins - a role very similar to the role my wife currently fills for the same organization! She later became Campus President of another local education organization, but was keen to leave after a new CEO created a less-than-enjoyable work environment. Despite having no previous interest in running or owning a business, she foun...

I was joined by my longtime friend Jennifer Watson in studio this week, while she was in Colorado for the first stop of her Chemistry of Resilience Fall Tour. It’d been a few years since we’d seen one another, as Jennifer moved to Greenville, South Carolina to be closer to her twin sister and growing family a couple years back. Jennifer’s journey is inspiring in both achievements and authenticity. An All-American athlete during her college years, she also battled depression and anxiety for year...

Amber Quann joined me in the studio this week to share her business journey, which started at the age of 13 after she’d built notoriety since she was 10 by winning many local and regional competitions in the 4 H community for her dog training skills! Several neighbors and family friends got puppies around the same time, and so Amber started group training lessons in her front yard! She’s been training dogs ever since, eventually founding Summit Dog Training 9 years ago - and in the last few year...

Don’t judge her for it, but Kelly Evans is and will forever be a Jayhawk. Born and raised in and around Lawrence, Kansas, Kelly got her Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Kansas and soon after began a front-line role with a local non-profit. Two-and-a-half years in, the board made the decision to depart the Executive Director, and asked Kelly if she would take the job! Kelly is a natural leader, and a lover of nature, and her dreams of moving their family near their favorite vacation...

Don Cooper was referred to me by a mutual friend, Carolyn Strauss, in my search for a chapter speaker who would bring an innovative approach to sales training. He brought his most popular workshop, The Myth of Price, and got great reviews from every attendee. And - thankfully for our listeners, he made time to come by The LoCo Experience studios and share some of his principles for creative thinking about sales, and ultimately to break some of the psychological barriers for sales professionals -...

I met Matt Heath at our LoCo Social at Cheba Hut in April, where he had just finished up meeting with Marc Torres, Cheba’s CEO and my guest on Experience #139. We had an awesome and interesting conversation, which led to a zoom and then booking this podcast, and I look forward to the day when LoCo Think Tank can hire his creative team to create a clever campaign - as their stuff is just so fun! Matt founded Party Land in the Los Angeles area in 2018, and moved the HQ office to Fort Collins for ...

A few weeks ago, longtime friend and local musician Max Mackey joined me in studio for a wonderfully authentic conversation (Episode 174), and afterward he mentioned that I really should have his girlfriend on my show because she’s so smart and experienced and I would just love her - and she was coming to visit in a couple weeks! And so I did - and I’m smarter for it, and glad to add another friend. The entrepreneurial journey for Chantill Lopez seems to have started with a move to Hawaii, when...

I popped into William Oliver’s Publick House a few weeks ago at the end of the day, to grab a quick beer and a snack - and ran into the owner whom I remembered from their early days - Ryan Wallace. William Oliver’s had been a regular lunch-spot for me when I worked at Capital West Bank - a top choice because the staff was always great and they served locally sourced fare in a non-pretentious fashion. After leaving the bank and becoming Old Town centric in my consumer behaviors though, William Ol...

In today’s episode of The LoCo Experience podcast, I had the pleasure of getting to know Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCahan from Fiske Electric. Fiske is an electrical design and contracting business with a homebase just outside Loveland, and clients all across Northern Colorado, the Western US, and occasionally, internationally. They have a highly diversified service offering, ranging from adding a new outlet in the garage for a homeowner, to residential subdivisions to commercial and tech instal...

By scanning Jill Simonds’ LinkedIn profile, one can see that she is achievement-oriented. Coordinator to Manager at her first career stop, and then Manager to Director at the next, and then Director of Marketing & Operations to Chief Operating Officer & Integrator. That last stop is where Jill earned her EOS stripes and Integrator Certification, and in 2023 she started her own firm, Savvy Strategic Partners. Savvy helps EOS-implementing(ed) firms build their leadership team, by serving in the r...

I met Max Mackey soon after he opened Moto Haus Coffee in South Fort Collins off College Avenue. I’d recently become the proud owner of a 1976 BMW R75/6, and the former owner told me of a group of old (and some younger mostly BMW guys that met regularly for evening coffee and riding. It was the coolest spot in town for the riding community for several years, but was ultimately killed by the Great Recession. I kept the R75 for over 10 years, and she served me truly, upstaged in most parking lots ...

In April of 2020, in the early days of the lockdowns and pandemic threat response - we got new neighbors. Days after, we invited them to our then-12th annual backyard Cinco de Mayo party. Thinking “Oh, great, we’ve moved in next door to crazy people” they politely declined our invitation, but did accept some leftover pork carnitas and cilantro-lime coleslaw I set on the fence. But after eating that leftover pork their hearts were won - and we’ve been over-the-fence-friends with regular patio tim...

This week on The LoCo Experience, we welcomed back Aaron Everitt, our sponsor through his business, Logistics Co-op, and regular guest of the show for real estate updates and real talk on national and local politics. Aaron has been creating content on X the past year or so as @loanly_hipster, some of which has been supportive of RFK’s Presidential run, and he caught the attention of the campaign a few months ago. In May, Aaron was invited to have a one-on-one meeting with RFK prior to the Rally ...

A few years into their marriage, Autumn Fleck and her husband, Trevor, made the decision that they wanted to budget well, save hard, and retire early so they could travel the world and live a life set apart. And then one day - she had a cockroach run down her arm! - and the next day she found a cockroach in her daughter’s bed! - and of course informed her husband they needed to call for pest control. “What are we going to cut from our spend so we can fit that in the budget?” was hubby’s response...

Diego Rago Vega is a chef, a writer, a philosopher, and a permanent resident here on political asylum - but he came to America long before it was trendy. He and his family operated an import/export business in Venezuela, and as the nation’s economic fortunes crumbled under first Chavez and then Moralez, the enterprise became unsustainable - in part because the family wasn’t aligned with the government, or willing to be compromised. Diego’s business is Obsidian Atlas, and he provides strategic m...

I first learned about Toddy, LLC circa 2013, during the twilight of my banking career. The story I heard was that the owners of a local marketing agency, Clay Pot Creative, had purchased a manufacturing business in Texas, and moved it up to Loveland! The company made cold brew coffee systems (whatever that was), and seemed to have a strong product in a niche market - a banker’s dream client! I failed to connect but tried again to reach them a few years later as I was growing LoCo Think Tank - bu...

I got acquainted with Todd Brooker through LinkedIn, where we follow some of the same voices, and learned last fall that he spends a lot of time in Fort Collins - where his daughter Libby Brooker is a goalie on the CSU soccer team! It took us a minute, but this spring we finally got properly acquainted over lunch, followed by a long-form conversation in The LoCo Experience studios. Todd is the second Texan I’ve had on the podcast, and the second from Austin - apparently the Fort Collins of that ...

Duane and Chad Stroh are the father and son that lead the team at Healthy Harvest in Berthoud, CO, which also includes Duane’s wife and Chad’s sister, and one red-headed step-child in a key operations role. They were initially involved as investor-partners of the business, but as partners departed and their market awareness grew they pivoted the company to specialize in production and wholesale distribution of non-GMO cooking oils across Colorado - and entering new markets across the American We...

In today’s episode, I was honored to be joined in studio by Ed VanDyne, one of the most fascinating guests we’ve had on the show. When you look up serial entrepreneur in the dictionary, you’ll find Ed’s smiling face, and the ideas that have sprouted his various companies are consolidated from ideas and learnings from previous chapters, including a lengthy season managing the MIT Racing Team, and spinning a technology company out of Woodward, VanDyne SuperTurbo! The innovative sails for Tetrahedr...

Dr. Katie Foster booked time with me out of the blue last spring (which never happens), and brought cookies and we shared a very enjoyable coffee and conversation. She was weeks away at the time from opening her business, Timnath Kids Dentistry, and was exploring the business community at large and curious about LoCo Think Tank. She’s not a member at LoCo - yet - but she’s our kind of people. When she can carve time away from a young business and two young children we’ll be ready to find a great...

I was introduced to Micah Johnson by Jeffrey Beyle, one of my guests during Season 1 of The LoCo Experience (Episode 29 if you wanna check it out), and one of my spies in the Boulder area. By spies I mean those who think of me when they meet someone with an interesting business journey to share, and a lot of value to share with the business community through a podcast conversation like this one! Micah is what most would call a serial entrepreneur, with multiple starts and exits, and some fail...