My Company Story

In this episode, Don interviews Alper Cakir! Alper is the CEO and Founder of Xtensio, a collaboration platform for creating and sharing beautiful living business documents. 

After experiencing a disjointed experience collaborating on documents at his agency, Alpersaw the opportunity to start Xtensio which allows anyone to design and create professional documents like pitch decks, case studies, and more. Alper talks about being able to empower your team: “You need to be able to let things go. Set up your team in a way that they take charge in those areas that you’re letting go.”

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Leiman Chan! Leiman is the Owner and CEO of Nonstop Printing. Nonstop Printing is on a mission to help creatives design more fearlessly and for businesses to only make what they need with no minimums while providing high quality print. “We make prints that make you stop.”

Leiman talks about his experience and struggles transitioning into the role of owner and CEO of his family’s business. His parents started the company in 1993 and initially it was not quite clear where Leiman saw his role in the company. He talks about his mindset shift and taking ownership, which has led him to continuing the success his parents began. Leiman talks about his passion, “I think I was put on this Earth to help people create. To help remove obstacles to help them be more creative. Helping creatives become their best selves.”

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Logan Gelbrich! Logan is the CEO of Deuce Gym. Deuce Gym is an aspiring “deliberately developmental organization” in which the core business is human performance. The brand has multiple locations and is a resource for men and women to be coached in classic strength and conditioning disciplines. 

Logan brings light to the dynamic of the fitness business and the general health of the population. He says, “We spend a lot of money on not a lot of results.” He wanted to address this problem to bring people to achieve results and maintain accountability.

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Ashley Crowder! Ashley is the CEO and Co-Founder of VNTANA. VNTANA brings products to life, from design to 3D shopping, across web, augmented and virtual reality platforms in minutes rather than weeks. Using augmented reality, consumers can try and experience products prior to purchase and make informed decisions. 

Ashley talks about her company both pre-COVID and how it has changed post-COVID. She talks about having to make pivotal decisions shifting from events to software and having to layoff employees as a result. Ashley talks about certain biases and struggles she faced, “I think it’s about having open and honest and hard conversations. And I think a lot is going on in the world to make that better.”

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

To celebrate My Company Story’s 1-year Anniversary, we throwback to the very first episode of My Company Story! Don welcomes guest Host Bill Black (from the Exit Coach Radio) so that Don can sit in the hot seat. 

Don dives into his incredible 30+ year entrepreneurial journey and how he was inspired to create My Company Story podcast. After purchasing his company from his father back in 1988, Don explains how certain areas of his printing business had become less in demand, which required him to quickly pivot into new strategies. Don had become largely successful and had worked with huge brands such as Disney, AOL, and Hanna-Barbera.

Don was at the front of pushing the printing industry into the 21st century. Tune in to learn how Don led his fresh strategy to eventually become an attractive acquisition and exit. Don credits a lot of his success to his involvement with Vistage, an executive mentoring and coaching group with the key purpose of solving high-level problems for individual business leaders.

This episode was originally recorded and published in July 2019.
 

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Lou Caron! Lou is the CEO and President of Printing Industries Association of Southern California, a trade association for the graphic communications in Southern California representing printing, graphic design, and other related businesses. Today, the association is joined by 750 member companies.

Lou talks about the trends and changes in the printing industry. He says the industry is morphing, not dying. Printing is all around us and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Lou says, “The best business advice is common sense. Communication is paramount to success.”

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Stephen George! Stephen is the CEO and Founder of Surkus. Surkus is a consumer activation platform that enables businesses of all sizes to acquire, engage and retain their ideal customers. Through Surkus, businesses can source authentic feedback on products, promote events and drive in-store foot traffic.

In 2008 at the age of 20, Stephen joined Groupon as one of the Founding Members. It was at Groupon that he was able to quickly understand what it took to grow a company. Stephen talks about the strategies he has carried into his own company. He emphasizes investing in your team.

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Jaison Morgan! Jaison is the CEO and Founder of Common Pool. Common Pool has been designing and running competitions for 10 years. They have worked with notable clients such as National Geographic, Bill and Melinda Gates, and NASA. 

Common Pool is commissioned to create competitions that use prizes and reward systems to motivate people to solve complex problems. Their incentive-based competitions have produced the solutions to many large issues. Jaison calls it “reinventing philanthropy”.

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Weston LaBar! Weston is the CEO of Harbor Trucking Association. He is also the CEO and President at Ventures 52. Harbor Trucking Association is the largest drayage specific association in North America. Ventures 52 is focused on early stage innovations in the goods-movement, supply-chain, and transportation industry.

Weston talks about his early beginning of entrepreneurship. He recommends any business owner to not be afraid to put themselves out there. Over years of networking and building his expertise, he found a way to connect the dots by helping other businesses grow: “What better opportunity than building a business that’s founded on the principle of helping grow other businesses.”

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.

In this episode, Don interviews Jon Reed! Jon Reed is the President and Co-Founder of IA MED, delivering digital professional-grade training and educational services. 

Jon talks about his military training in the Special Forces and the way his training attributes to his ability to do very well in times of crisis. He recites a common quote in the military, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Jon talks about speaking out against racial injustice and the way his team navigated taking a stand with the Black Community. He says, “This is not an issue of politics, this is an issue of humanity.”

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About My Company Story

A Podcast for business owners by business owners. Each Episode will explore the challenges business owners face and how they’ve overcome them.