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.

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

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

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.

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

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain