Podcast Episodes

Betting It All to Scale: How Volcanica Coffee Left Comfort Behind

Season 6 Episode 83

What happens when you risk a profitable side hustle for the chance to scale? Maurice Contreras, the founder of Volcanica coffee, spent 15 years building a side hustle and then bet a big portion of hi…

Published on 2 months ago

How a Serial Entrepreneur Launched a Business from His Dorm Room

Season 6 Episode 82

What do you do when your only options are a job you don’t want or a business that doesn’t exist yet? Angus Willows, the founder of Kangaroo Hanger, chose the harder path — and made it work. As a coll…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

How a College Student Turned a Class Project into a Scalable Business

Season 6 Episode 81

What if the riskiest part of your business was just saying what it is out loud? Katie Diasti didn’t plan to start a company about periods – especially not one she’d pitch to rooms full of confused, u…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Redefining Risk: A New Way to Make Bold Moves

Season 6 Episode 80

What if the real barrier to your success isn’t risk but uncertainty? Dr. Matt Rutherford, John de Pope Chair in Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University, joins host Andrea Marquez to redefine ri…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

How a Small Business Turned One Celebrity Moment into Long-Term Growth

Season 6 Episode 79

What happens when your viral moment finally comes — and you’re not ready for it?

Aliett Buttleman, co-founder of Fazit, only had 300 TikTok followers when she said her goal was to get Taylor Swift to …

Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago

From Bee Stings to Big Wins: How One Teen Turned a Backyard Hive into a Thriving Business

Season 6 Episode 78

What were you doing when you were 12? Blake Shook, the founder of Desert Creek Honey, was wrangling swarms of bees and selling honey – all before middle school let out. What began as a childhood hobb…

Published on 3 months ago

How an Accidental Entrepreneur Went from No Orders to Sold Out Overnight

Season 6 Episode 77

What if your business took off before you were ready? No team. No investors. Just a homemade product and a sudden wave of demand. That’s exactly what happened to Adria Marshall, founder of Ecoslay. W…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

Turning Rejection into Momentum: How One Mom Started a Multimillion CPG Brand

Season 6 Episode 76

When Partake Foods founder Denise Woodard’s daughter had a life-threatening allergic reaction, everything changed. That moment inspired Denise to launch an allergy-friendly snack company that’s now w…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

How Two Friends Quit Their Jobs to Build a Brand That Disrupted the Eyewear Industry

Season 6 Episode 75

What do you do when your glasses don’t fit well – and the eyewear industry doesn’t see the problem? For best friends Tracy Green and Nancey Harris, co-founders of Vontélle Eyewear, the answer was bol…

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago

Small Business Bytes: How UGC Can Help Your Business Stand Out

Episode 5

What if your customers could become your best marketers?

In this minisode of Small Business Bytes on This is Small Business, host Andrea Marquez dives into the power of user-generated content (UGC) an…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago