Maturepreneurial Podcast: Interviews with Older Entrepreneurs | Online Business Tips | Learn From Those Who Have Succeeded

Jonathan Bates has spent the last 21 years mastering entrepreneurship and systematizing processes. He has served military heroes and continues to serve by bringing his expertise to the backbone of America; his hometown heroes, the small business owner. Jonathan is an expert at diffusing business bombs; bringing owners new levels of success and more importantly, profitability. Nothing is more satisfying than providing the tools, motivation, and accountability that afford business owners the opportunity for clarity, sleep, health, a happy family, all adding up to living a life of significance. Jonathan is married to his best friend and has four awesome kids. Three days after he was married, he deployed for 13 months. For the rest of his Navy career, he traveled for no less than 180 days per year and averaged over 280 days a year away from his family. Putting his work first afforded him a great military career and experience all over the world, but limited his family time. Sleepless nights, multiple surgeries, concern for his growing family, and arguments with his wife are why he empathizes with the overworked small business owner. Now that Jonathan is back in the states and able to spend time with his family, he has focused his efforts on helping small business owners grow both in business and, more importantly, with their families. As an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer (Bomb Squad) for the United States Navy, he worked his way through the ranks. First, he learned to utilize systems and execute processes as a junior enlisted sailor. He quickly rose through the ranks and mastered the identification of needs and creation of new ways to handle unique situations that demanded reliable outcomes. After 17 years of successful program development and deployments to remote and less-than-desirable locations, he was eventually commissioned as a Naval Limited Duty Officer. His technical expertise, leadership skills, and ability to get the job done right made him an excellent candidate for this leadership position. The Navy Bomb Squad is the entrepreneurial segment of the military. Jonathan was able to sell his systems and processes to anyone, in any situation, and deliver the desired outcome every time. The secret is the ability to provide choices. To complete any mission, decision makers need the critical ability to produce reliable results. Whether the mission is to disarm an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED), onboard a client for a law firm, bake a cake for a restaurant, recover a lost body underwater, or make the next sale for your company, the results need to be repeatable by anyone on the team. Jonathan teaches that when a business is systematized, the business owner has choices that include the following: Expand the current business – take advantage of created efficiencies to produce/sell more Franchise – sell the right to use your systems and processes Sell – when the owner is not the business, the repeatable results are valuable Buy bolt-on businesses – exponentially increase the value of a business with established systems to consolidate the businesses, take advantage of new efficiencies, and create a larger customer base, increasing profit immediately Pass the business to their family Who doesn’t like choices? Let’s systematize!

Matt Miller spent the first nine years of his career as an Air Force pilot before entering the private sector to work in both the medical device and advertising industries. Although he was a top performer in the corporate world, his long-term desire was to be his own boss.  A good friend one day mentioned the gumball machines he and his young daughters owned and that conversation began a 10-year business quest that has brought Matt's company, School Spirit Vending, to the cutting edge of both the vending and school fundraising industries. Today, School Spirit Vending’s franchising program provides a proven and profitable business system for busy professionals and their families looking to develop secondary income streams, while raising millions of dollars for education at the same time. In addition to running School Spirit Vending, Matt is devoted to sharing his expertise with others. Through many different venues, including podcasts and public speaking, Matt seeks to enable other entrepreneurs to chase their dreams as well.

Anna literally wrote the book on change. She is the author of Igniting Change: From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Her life has been a series of fascinating leaps off the proverbial cliff. Anna grew up in the Midwest, left college and moved to California to work in the entertainment industry. Several years later, she left her job at The Walt Disney Company - where she coordinated a year-long, international promotion celebrating Mickey Mouse’s birthday - to go in search of meaning. What Anna thought would be a three-month adventure, turned into 11 years of living in-residence studying and eventually teaching consciousness. Anna has combined all or her experience to create a 90-day group coaching program called The Shift System that provides structure, guidance, shortcuts and support for transformational change.

Michele Williams began her entrepreneurial journey in sixth grade, hawking fireballs in the back of the school bus. Over the last 20 years that journey has included a bed and breakfast in Charleston, SC and a high-tech executive recruitment firm. Although wildly different, each of Michele's ventures and ‘big ideas’ has been unified by a single passion: to facilitate meaningful transformations through innovation, curiosity, connections, encouragement and mindset….. not to mention a truckload of grit and humor! Today, Michele continues as a strategic growth consultant to small-midsize organizations and professionals under her boutique, executive recruiting firm, Ellington Growth Partners; she co-launched a local networking community for female entrepreneurs; and she is the founder of the BVU Mastermind for women. Michele has guided hundreds of women, professionals and small organizations through meaningful transformations to become the best versions of themselves for those they employ, serve and love. You can reach Michele at Mojowilliams16@gmail.comor www.bvumastermind.com.

In her corporate career, Judi Schindler was a marketing executive. She is a founding member and past president of the Chicago Area Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. She is a member of the Leadership Team of Engaging Speakers and the Advisory Board of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She’s listed in “Who’s Who in America,” “Who’s Who in American Women” and “Who’s Who in the Midwest.” Her book Husbands: An Owner’s Manualoffers witty, candid advice for women who want to stay married for the rest of their lives. Judi claims, "The secret to my marriage is that in all these years my husband and I have never had a single meaningful conversation." Judi is also an actor, who has been entertaining women's groups with her multi-media show on marriage for the past five years. She wrote her book in direct response to the many requests she's had over the years for a printed version of the program. "While the book is meant to be entertaining," says Schindler, "I hope readers also learn some useful strategies on how to stay married for life. Slammed doors aside, there's enormous gratification that comes with creating a family and growing old with the same person." The book is suitable for new brides, husband-seekers of any age and anyone who understands that a sense of humor is essential to a long-term marriage. Judi Schindler Fun Facts She became a skier at 50, an actor at 64 and an author at 75. She has one child, a son, who has produced six children of his own, which, she says, is "a pretty good return on investment." Her parents, both entrepreneurs, sold their businesses in the 60s, bought a Volkswagen camper and went on the road with no destination in mind. She used to create hand-sewn quilts. She majored in journalism because she wanted to be a police reporter, "like my two role models, Brenda Starr and Lois Lane." She can do a two-minute plank. She was in the same high school class as Ann-Margaret. She has been a member of Weight Watchers since 2001 and still goes to weekly meetings. She collects birdhouses. She survived a heart attack at 39, breast cancer, bladder cancer and two bouts of lung cancer. (Not fun, but worth noting.)

Nadine Artemis’s official biography begins when she first combined flasks of essential oils to recreate Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps for a school science fair. These early botanical-inclinations led her on petal-pathed adventures in creating organic beauty balms, reviving elixirs, healing oral care and perfumed poetry to quench the natural yearnings of many. Nadine opened North America’s first full concept Aromatherapy store, Osmosis, in 1994. Since that day she has received glowing reviews for her formulations in the Hollywood Reporter, Flare, the New York Times, Vogueand The National Post. Nadine has addressed gatherings at conferences, appeared on television and radio shows, and she is a frequent commentator on health and beauty topics for national media outlets. In addition to her innovative product work, Nadine is the author of two books: Renegade Beauty: Reveal and Revive Your Natural Radiance andHolistic Dental Care: The Complete Guide to Healthy Teeth and Gums. Her healing creations, along with her concept of “renegade beauty,”encourage effortlessness and inspire people to rethink conventional notions of beauty and wellness. Celebrity fans include Shailene Woodley, Carrie-Anne Moss and Mandy Moore. Aveda founder, Horst Rechelbacher, calls Nadine “a pure flower of creativity.” Alanis Morissette describes her as “a true sense-visionary."

On January 15, 2009, Dave Sanderson was the last passenger off the plane that crashed into the Hudson River, best known as “The Miracle on the Hudson”.  Dave was largely responsible for the well-being and safety of others that fateful day, risking his own life in frigid water to help other passengers off the plane. Dave emerged from the wreckage determined to encourage others to do the right thing. Dave's mission is to impact people’s lives by sharing and teaching the strategies he learned and implemented on how to grow from traumatic life experiences that everyone will face one day and that he calls “life’s personal plane crashes”.  Dave shares 12 resources as a faculty member with Dominique Wilkins, Don Barden, Brittany Tucker and Steve Nedvidek at the Leadership Mindset Series, the first and only servant leadership coaching program designed to help business leaders around the world to build a happier, more-productive business with a better bottom line. In addition to speaking and training, Dave conducts workshops; is a much sought-after podcast celebrity; is the author of the best-selling book, “Moments Matter”; hosts his own radio show on Contact Talk Radio and C-Suite Radio called “Moments Matter with Dave Sanderson”; and hosts a daily flash briefing on Amazon Alexa titled, “Dave Sanderson: DECLASSIFIED.” Dave, his wife Terri, and their four children reside in Charlotte, NC.

Mark LaMaster's mission is to offer encouragement and inspiration for men to become the fathers they’ve always dreamed of being. He believes that all dads have an incredible, God-given opportunity to make a lasting positive impact on their children, their families, and their earthly homes. A former nurse, Mark has authored two books: Friday Night Lights: For Fathers and Sons, published in December 2015, is a game plan for dads to help develop their sons into the men God intended them to be. Friday Night Lights: For Fathers and Daughters, published in May 2018, is a guide to producing ten episodes of your own personal TV series, covering topics from faith and friendships to social media and self-image. Mark wants to make sure each and every dad out there has access to positive, encouraging, and faith-filled resources about how to be the best parent they can be. He seeks to build a sense of community among like-minded fathers who want to learn from, strengthen, and support one another in a space free of judgment or criticism. Mark creates faith-filled fatherhood resources because the Bible has instructed us (dads) to help one another along on our earthly journey while we look with hope to our ultimate destination: heaven. Mark lives in Minnesota with his beautiful bride, Jen, and two amazing children, Hannah and Lincoln.

After a very successful, twenty-five plus year career in the manufacturing and service industries, Gregory Gray left the corporate world to pursue his purpose: to develop incredible leaders and dynamic corporate cultures as a leadership and business consultant. He has since rounded out his purpose with the true joy of helping others cast their vision for their life and business and then helping them create plans to fulfill that vision. Gregory is passionate about bringing his clients clarity and focus. Gregory's business is built around helping people find their purpose and joy in life and in their businesses. Whether they desire freedom of time and money or whether an exit strategy is the best option, he and his team can assist. They offer life and business coaching, along with courses, programs and workshops specifically designed to effect positive transformation so clients can realize their desired vision. Gregory is the author of the upcoming book, Business Owner Freedom, which will be released late August or early September. Gregory is the father of two daughters, ages 16 and 14, and has been married for 21 years to his best friend Kim. They live south of Nashville on a farm where they raise grass-fed beef, lamb and goats. The Grays love their lifestyle and are living their vision daily.

Scott Beebe is the founder of My Business On Purpose, a business coaching, training, and strategy group that helps small business owners and organizational leaders transition from working IN their businesses to working ON their businesses. Scott is also the host of the Business On Purpose podcast; a weekly podcast where Scott interviews small business owners who share insights into how they are living their business on purpose. Scott was born in Washington DC and lived in Charlotte NC, Houston TX, Portland OR, and Greenville SC before graduating from the University of South Carolina in 1997. After college, he moved to Texas with his new bride Ashley, where he attended and graduated Southwestern Theological Seminary, then worked as a legal drug-salesman for Pfizer selling Lipitor, Viagra, and other well-known products. Among his many roles, Scott has served as Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church of Euless TX; he founded and served as lead pastor for LifePointe Church in Burleson TX; and he was international administrator for HELP, Inc., where he worked with multi-cultural teams both in the U.S. and Nigeria to build a platform for sustainable partnership with Nigerians through a variety of sectors, including business, finance, and agriculture. Over the years, Scott's numerous roles have provided him with experience in direct and B2B sales, designing and implementing organizational strategy, training and development, marketing, fundraising, teaching and speaking. The diversity of his roles and locations have shaped his unique view of businesses, churches, and cultures around the world. From this unique perspective, Scott created the Four Steps To Business Freedom; a six-month, group coaching experience built exclusively for businesses under $25mm and under 25 employees. The program: Helps owners and organizational leaders develop and implement a vision, a mission, and a set of values; Helps them build systems and processes to liberate them from the chaos of working IN the business; Leads weekly, virtual mastermind groups to uncover and implement the things they cannot see. Scott loves to read and learn. He and his wife Ashley travel whenever possible and make enjoying time with their three children a priority. Scott and his family live in Bluffton, SC (near Hilton Head), where they spend most of their time on the water!

Sarah Shaw is a fashion entrepreneur, product designer and business coach. Her specialty is helping clients get products into the hands of celebrities to get more sales and media exposure. Sarah works 1:1 with clients to achieve their goals. She also offers a plethora of DIY programs that teach you pretty much everything she knows. With 20 years of experience and six companies under her belt, Sarah has amassed a treasure trove of secrets for launching product lines, putting products into stores and boutiques, and generating massive publicity in order to grow new companies quickly. Sarah’s products have been in over 1,200 stores and boutiques across the country, including Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Barney’s, Henri Bendel, Fred Segal, Neiman Marcus, Saks 5th Avenue and Bloomingdales. Sarah has appeared in the pages of almost every major fashion and lifestyle magazine, including InStyle, People, US Weekly, Lucky, ELLE, WWD, Marie Claire and the O-List. She’s been on TV shows like Access Hollywood, Extra and the E! network and she’s been interviewed for Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com and American Express’s OPEN Forum. In her spare time, Sarah hangs out with her 10 year-old twin girls… and hopes they’ll inspire her next great idea.

Sonia Lovett was born in August of 1952 in Cape Town South Africa. She is from British and Italian descent and soon after she was born, her family moved to Argentina. Her grandfather had several ranches and had moved from Britain to help run a family business. Sonia grew up in Buenos Aires, a very cosmopolitan, fashion-conscious city, under the influence of two very fashionable women: her mother and her grandmother. When Sonia and her sister were of age, they were sent to a school in Switzerland to finish their education. Sonia has lived in many countries in South America. Fluent in both Spanish and English, she thinks in both languages and had a heavy British accent until she came to live in the United States for an extended period of time. Sonia believes that living and visiting other countries fosters an open mind and greater receptivity to other cultures and ideas. Her love for fashion and travel were nurtured from an early age, when ideas regarding color and style made a notable impression. Her European sensibility, however, has always informed her choices and still do to this day. Of her fashion tastes, Sonia writes on her website, "I have noticed that at this time in my life I am embracing more color than I used to. A neutral pallet however is still the chicest thing around. I don’t wear many prints (I get bored easily) so I prefer to have solid colors and accent with accessories; you get so much more wear out of your clothes that way. I believe in family traditions and my sister and I have both saved family heirlooms which we wear to this day. I believe in great bags and shoes, tailoring and following trends in limited doses and only to the extent that they suit you." Today, Sonia and her husband make their home in Montana. They have a daughter who is a stylist living in LA and who Sonia says "inspires me to stay young and explore new possibilities."

David C. Baker is a business consultant who has written 5 books, advised 900+ firms, and keynoted conferences in 30+ countries. His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, BusinessWeek, and Inc. Magazine. David lives in Nashville, TN, but grew up in Guatemala, where his parents did medical and literacy work. His family lived with the K'anjobal, a tribe of Mayans in San Miguel Acatán, Huehuetanango. David helps entrepreneurial creatives make better business decisions about their positioning, their marketing, how they structure their roles in the firm, and how to benchmark their financial performance. His most recent book is called The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact + Wealth. He also produces a podcast with Blair Enns at 2bobs.com.

Rocky Romanella is founder and senior partner of 3SIXTY Management Services, a management consulting firm specializing in executive speaking and leadership development. Rocky has the rare ability to see a clear vision of the changing business landscape combined with the passion to develop strategies, tactics and metrics to drive desired results. In a corporate career that spanned almost 40 years, Rocky served as CEO for UniTek Global Services, a mid-cap telecommunications solutions company, and in several senior leadership roles at UPS, including President, Residential and Retail Operations. At UPS for 36 years, Rocky successfully launched one of the largest re-branding initiatives in franchising history: The UPS Store, which revolutionized the $9 billion retail shipping and business services market. In addition to leading the global strategy of all U.S. and international retail channels, Rocky played a critical role in the integration of more than 20 acquisitions that became UPS Supply Chain Solutions to improve the company's financial performance, capabilities and global network footprint. With responsibilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America and South America, Rocky also led UPS’s entry into the healthcare industry as part of their supply chain logistics strategy. Rocky serves on the board of Goodman Networks, a leading provider of end-to-end network infrastructure, field and professional services to the wireless telecommunications and satellite television industries. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Management from St. John’s University.

Sharon Sultan Cutler has been founding and running businesses for over 30 years. While parenting, Sharon started down a new career path when she launched a nanny agency, based in Long-Island, New York. (This also provided her with excellent nannies for her two active sons!) She was featured in a five-page Newsday article for traveling around the USA and hosting Nanny Job Fairs to personally meet qualified caregivers. Eventually, the agency expanded to include a Nurse's Registry and Home Health Care. Then, Sharon decided that people 50-plus needed reliable resources, products and services.  She began Mature Resources Network, similar to today's Angie's List and Home Adviser. Taking that to the next level, she created Long Island's first 50-Plus Expos, with over 100 exhibitors and thousands of guests. She was featured in many media articles including a May 14, 1995 Q & A feature in The New York Times titled Riding A Demographic Wave, Marketing to the Over 50's. Yes, she was one of the first in this field. At 70, Sharon created and co-authored Bandstand Diaries, a book about the early days of American Bandstand published in November, 2016. Striking a nostalgic chord for people 65-plus, the book enjoys a cult following of baby boomers and seniors who remember running home from school to watch Dick Clark's daily dance program in glorious black-and-white television! Currently, Sharon is writing Your NEW YOU After 65, a self-help and motivational book to be published in 2018. She styles herself "The Positive Aging Activist" as she enjoys her life's third chapter each and every day.

Steve Wilson is a 30-year veteran of the technology industry. He has held roles in digital strategy, web communications, product marketing, business development, and product-line management for international brands such as Walmart Inc., McDonald's Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, and Oracle Corporation. Steve and his wife Rebecca, co-founder of Your Bag Tag, first met when they worked together at Oracle. Steve and Rebecca started Your Bag Tag in 2006 after a friend came to Rebecca with an existing luggage tag and asked if she could develop a better one. From that first prototype, Steve believed the couple could market Rebecca's tags on the Internet. He developed a simple website and sales took off immediately. YourBagTag.com was born. Since their humble beginnings, the Wilsons have added an entire line of scuba and active water sports products. Dive product ideas came from Steve, who is a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor emeritus with over 2,000 dives behind him. Twelve hundred of those dives took place in the cold waters of Monterey Bay, California where he taught. The other 800+ dives occurred in many of the beautiful dive locations around the world. The Wilsons provide custom tag solutions for dive shops, resorts, private and commercial aviation companies, and a broad range of other industries.

As a fashion stylist by trade at Lobler & Delaney for more than a decade, Sara Delaney found that styling the ladies of New York was getting in the way of really experiencing the city. She decided it was time to learn new stuff, grab adventure by the horns, and after a series of fashion journalism classes, her fashion and lifestyle blog was born. Notes From a Stylist initially started as a place to share fashion finds, muse about style inspiration, and document Sara's exploits. But as family and everyday life marched on, dragging her past the dreaded 40-year mark (only to find that she didn't turn into a pumpkin and was still quite besotted with shoes and sequins!), the blog morphed into a resource for how to keep your fashion mojo on track. Newly refurbished, Sara's blog is positioned to channel her fashion styling nous into a community where women can find anything from how to work the seasonal trends, to new interior finds, right through to quick and easy recipes. Along the way, Sara has worked with world-class brands like The White Company, Designers Guild, Harrods, Barbour, Astley Clarke, and Liberty London, but she is always happy to collaborate with new brands that are the right fit for the blog. In addition to her blogging work, Sara also consults on social media projects, helping people set up and run their digital presence online. Currently, she is working with leading facialist Lisa Franklin and advising the social media campaign for The Wild At Heart Foundation's major charitable event in June. Sara was recently named in Fashion Monitor’s Top Influencers over 40 list and is quoted in The Times article: The Rise of the Midlife Instagrammers by Alex Gorton.

Suzanne Noble is a serial entrepreneur who started her first business - a series for England's Channel 4 television about astrology - at the age of 27. Stretching from Warner Bros to Universal via Sony and LazyTown Entertainment, Suzanne's PR career includes a collaboration with the White House, where she masterminded a partnership between LazyTown and Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' campaign for children. On the technology front, Suzanne launched Frugl, a successful events discovery app for Londoners on a budget. Most recently, Suzanne co-founded the online magazine, The Advantages of Age, to challenge the media narrative around ageing. Suzanne has worked in PR for over 20 years, in entertainment, music and technology. She has amassed a fat address book of contacts, she has forged relationships with key influencers, and she has gained extensive experience in: Creating and developing strategic partnerships Leveraging PR to drive awareness and build businesses, and Managing multi-channel brand communication. One of her goals is to join a board of directors (whether corporate or non-profit) with which she can share her knowledge and experience. Suzanne has lived most of her life in the UK and, as a result, has developed a deep understanding of the UK market. This has contributed to the success of both her client's success and her own start-ups.

Doug Sandler is a nationally recognized speaker, trainer and podcaster who has over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, business owner, and leader. His book, Nice Guys Finish First, is a #1 ranked Amazon Best Seller. One leading social media marketing company ranks Doug among the top “100 of Social Media Thought Influencers to Follow.” Doug specializes in making connections, building relationships and strengthening bonds both inside and outside organizations.  His speaking and consulting business is geared towards improving relationships and winning business through his time-tested sales, service and relationship building system. Doug co-hosts a podcast with Strickland Bonner, The Nice Guys on Business.  The show has over 500 episodes and more than one million downloads. As a maturepreneur, Doug is using his extensive experience to help businesses and brands grow their audiences with TurnKey Podcasting.  The concept-to-launch podcast production service is 100% customer-centric and specializes in over-the-top exemplary service with a high touch emphasis in this high tech space.

Olga Szakal, Founder of The Ageless Generation™, is an innovative women’s leader committed to helping Gen X women overcome their mid-life crises and leap into the success they deserve. Based on personal experience, Olga has created a blueprint for turning a mid-life crisis into a period of self-discovery. She teaches women how to design their best life so they can reclaim their voice, build their legacy and make a difference in the world. Olga was born in Siberia, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English, history and social studies. With $400 in her pocket and a scholarship, she moved to the state of Washington in 1995, where she studied business and marketing. After 17 years working in pharmaceutical sales and real estate and then going through a  divorce, Olga needed to start a new business and a new life for herself and her four children. As the lucky winner at Valuetainment, Olga was blessed to experience the invaluable mentorship of none other than Patrick Bet-David. She soon found herself putting the divorce behind her and focusing on her children and growing her business. Olga knows from personal experience what midlife crisis is. She's lived it. She knows the effort it takes. And she's found a path to creating a life of appreciation, freedom, and fulfillment. Today, her mission is to share with others like her, the journey, the steps, the pitfalls and the exhilaration of succeeding. Every woman can do it!