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 talent and experience as a counselor helped her help clients not only look great - but feel great about the way they look - which makes the photos even better! And, she even turned her learnings on the topic into a Ted Talk!

While she has continued to be in high demand for her photography, in the last few years Julie started coaching business owners and executives to excel in their current role - and to consider their next chapter. Newly in 2024 her focus has narrowed even further - helping people like her - teachers, counselors, nurses, social workers, and more - that have found career success but are experiencing burnout - plan and execute their next chapter, usually as entrepreneurs!

Julie is a great conversationalist, a lifetime learner, and an adventurer. Though acquainted for years, this is the first time we’ve really sat down together for an extended period - and I left the conversation with both my fondness and my respect increased. So please join me - and learn lots of great stuff - about and from Julie Ulstrup, America’s Encore Career Strategist!

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Logistics Co-op | https://logisticscoop.com/

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

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, Custom Marine Products - when he built a website to offer his father’s solar panel on a pole invention to the market - allowing live-on boaters to maximize their solar collection by adjusting the angle of the panel to be always-perpendicular to the sun.

Custom Marine Products has been growing at a 40%+ growth rate for most of its 10-year history, and is beginning to broaden their product offerings beyond highish-end marine solar systems, controllers, and lithium battery systems. They are increasingly developing their camper-van market offerings, and introducing refrigeration systems and more in the seasons to come. It’s an interesting business, with 3 - 6 month lead times for most of their products, and slow inventory turns.

In Tom’s previous chapters, and still today to a lesser extent, Tom has been a finance entrepreneur - sourcing capital for day traders, identifying arbitrage opportunities in foreign exchange markets, and other brainy stuff - and he is also active as an angel investor. Tom’s a brilliant guy, a world explorer, and a very entertaining guest - so please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Tom Trimmer.

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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 found herself looking at the local Snelling Staffing franchise for sale, and with encouragement from her then-boyfriend (now husband) she took the leap and became the owner and President of Snelling Staffing of Northern Colorado in April of 2015.

Trish’s previous work developing training and education plans helped to build a culture of service and learning in the organization, and many of her earliest employees are still there today. Isaac Bowen (her son) started soon after the acquisition on a very part-time basis in a Recruiting Assistant role, but was mostly focused on his restaurant career. However, when the Covid crisis hit the industry, and customer traffic (and personal income) fell off - he was eager to find a new challenge. He quickly became one of the best recruiters and business developers to ever join the team (a role they had struggled with) and they’ve grown in size and scope since his full-time arrival. Isaac has also been building an adjacent search business for specialty trades - Benchmark Search Group.

Lots of good stuff in this one - team dynamics, cultural awareness, hiring trends, industry ethics, and generational opportunities and transition. This mother and son have a great dynamic, each allowing and encouraging the other to do well what they do best, for the furtherance of their business, and the service of client needs. It’s a peak behind the curtain of an often-misunderstood industry, so join if you will, and enjoy my conversation with Trish Bowen-Bannister and Isaac Bowen.

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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 years, and through a journey of exploration she began to tie together physical wellness and athletic performance to mental and emotional health. She built a physical therapy business early in her career, and grew her coaching business on this foundation of physical well-being.

Jennifer is an accomplished speaker from the stage, and at times I think she forgot it was just the two of us in the studio. She used the words “you guys” enough times I couldn’t help but call her out - and if you close your eyes and listen, you can imagine her on a TedX stage. And - Jennifer shares abundantly from her journey and learning, and there are a good many nuggets in this one. So please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Jennifer Watson.

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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 years she’s scaled the business, built a training team with specialization, and recently moved to a larger location with property!

We talk a lot about Tucker in this one - my 11-year-old Schnocker - and Amber shares abundantly with me and our listeners about how dogs (and people) think and learn, and especially about how to create better behavior for your dog - even as a self-implementor. Don’t teach your dog not to bark when there’s a knock on the door, for example - that’s really hard. Instead, teach them to go sit on their sleeping pad and be ready for an introduction. Give them something to do - not something not to do.

A propellant to Summit’s recent growth has been her “Drink with Your Dog” training program, which brought Amber to national attention - DWYD is a program centered around creating dog-friendly breweries, and brewery friendly dogs. The growth of the business has required Amber to spend less time training dogs, and more time working on the business and becoming a capable CEO. We talk a lot about that journey, her hopes and plans for the future, and about those who’ve been a part of her journey so far. She’s perhaps the most smarty-pants about dogs person I’ve ever met, you’ll learn a lot and love her personality, so please enjoy my conversation with Amber Quann.

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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 spot in Colorado (Poudre Canyon) came true when she and her family moved to Fort Collins in 2012.

Kelly came to town for a big job - to turn around longtime housing focused non-profit organization Neighbor to Neighbor, which had grown out of a grassroots movement in the 1970’s but had suffered through the real estate doldrums of the Great Recession. She did just that, growing to a sustainable revenue model and a staff of nearly 20 before the Covid pandemic response flooded the organization with resources - with expiration dates! - and they grew to over 60 employees by 2022 - and then had to shrink back down to a stable(ish) staff of 30. How does a compassionate leader downsize with prudence and justice and empathy? - just ask Kelly - as I did. N2N is in a great place and still offers a dozen programs ranging from home buyer preparedness training to rent assistance to homeshare programs and much more.

Kelly is cheerful and open and kind, and one of the most empathetic and intelligent people I’ve ever met. And - she’s a freethinker and a person I can cheerfully disagree with and challenge without risking a friendship! So please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Kelly Evans.

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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 - and clients - to get to win-win-win and YES!

Don’s sales career began in middle school, when he started buying candy in bulk and selling to kids - and sometimes teachers or admin staff - but not competing with the brands the band or cheer squad were selling for fundraisers. He was a socially awkward kid, and endured an abusive and isolating relationship with his mother for much of his childhood. Eventually finding success and social skills through speech and debate, at one point Don imagined a life in conservative politics. After growing disenchanted with politics, however, Don built his sales skills and programs, and came to Colorado as part of the Gorilla Group in the early 2000’s. When he was laid off during the post 9/11 dip, Don launched his independent sales training business in 2001 and hasn’t looked back.

Don is the Sales Heretic - and a heretic in general he would say. He’s an eccentric genius - my favorite kind - and he shares very abundantly from his sales and training toolkit in this conversation. So please enjoy getting to know and learn from the Sales Heretic, Don Cooper.

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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 change of scenery not long into the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and beyond. He has had an incredible career journey, working with some of the fastest growing and most innovative marketing agencies in the industry, and leading campaigns for Arby’s (We Got the Meats), Buffalo Wild Wings, and Netflix - among others. His first big client after launching Party Land was Liquid Death, and if you’ve noticed that Men’s Warehouse is moving back into cultural relevance - that has Matt’s fingerprints on it too.

And - Matt’s earlier chapters of life were no less incredible. His grandfather and family were effectively marijuana kingpins of Eastern Oregon, with multiple grow ops, sophisticated processing, and a significant dealer network. Going to grade school with grown-up secrets was emotionally challenging, and Matt struggled for years before finding a creative outlet in music - initially jazz, and then punk. He tried to sign up for the Air Force when he was 17 to escape his town and home life, but his parents wouldn’t sign the paperwork - and that launched him on a 10 year professional music journey! A music festival allowed the band a window into the next level of success - and they didn’t want it! And the advertising career began.

Warning: This Episode is a world-class ADHD squirrel chase with a pair of goofs, and you can basically hear us becoming friends during this conversation. So please join me in getting to know the Founder and Chief Creative at Party Land, Matt Heath, on The LoCo Experience.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain