Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast

Jason Smith - Adventures In Homebrewing & Austin Homebrew Supply From experiments in brewing while serving in the Army to now over 20 years in the Homebrew industry, Jason Smith joins us to talk about the joy of Homebrewing and fermentation. Checkout Jason's fine websites to help you in your homebrewing adventures today! Adventures In Homebrewing - https://www.homebrewing.org/ Austin Homebrew Supply - https://www.austinhomebrew.com/ Transcription Intro: Jason Smith is the owner of Adventures In Homebrewing. It all started when he was brewing beer in 1992. While serving in the army in 97, he left the army and moved back to Detroit to pursue pharmacy school. While preparing for school, he realized the lack of competition in the homebrew market in Detroit and opened up his own shop in 1999. Over the last 20 years, his business has evolved into both retail and online sales as well as producing their own warehouse management system. So the gap year that he took off from pharmacy school has actually been over 20 years now, but it's been quite a rollercoaster ride. Jason Smith, welcome to The Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Jason: Thanks for having me. Brian: So why don't you let everyone know a little bit about what it is that you do? Jason: My name is Jason Smith. I own Adventures In Homebrewing and Austin Homebrew Supply. We do homemade beer making, wine making, cheese making, distilling of products. We have guests that do soap making, soda making to kind of anything that you would make at home. As far as beverage supply goes for sure. Brian: How did you end up of all things in the home brewing industry? Jason: It's kind of crazy. I started out in the Army. And when I started, I wanted to make wine with the guys in the Army. And they're like wine, How about beer? Well, I suppose we could do that. So we got involved with some beer making. I worked in a pharmacy. We had lab equipment available to us, of course. So we started culturing a lot of our own yeast doing different things in the beer making side of it. We really didn't have what's available today. Internet access, we couldn't just order something. It was a lot of finding where can we get grains, where can we get hops? And then of course with the yeast we started culturing a lot of it within the labs at the hospital at the time, I did that for some time, started a small homebrew club at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, did some fun stuff with that. And then as I left the military, I got home, I was gonna go back to school for pharmacy. When I got home, there was a couple small shops, but nothing really, that had bar equipment and you know, the kegging equipment and just the bigger items that were available. I just had a larger vision of what home brewing could be versus what the local shops had had. Says talking to a friend one night over beer, of course, and kind of determined that we could do a better job than what was currently available in Michigan. So the first thing we did was kind of that ESPN mentality. Well, we can open this in Michigan, but there's a whole world out there. Let's jump on the internet and make sure that we are getting out to everybody. We started collecting email addresses, phone numbers, names,

Petra Page-Mann - Fruition Seeds In our opinion, Petra Page-Mann is one of the top communicators in the self reliance and DIY organic gardening fields. Join us for a terrific conversation on why personality marketing and quality education can help differentiate you from big corporate companies. As well as some heart felt thoughts on current events in America today. Head over to Fruition Seeds for helpful tips on gardening and be sure to grab some organic seeds to start growing now! - https://www.fruitionseeds.com/ Transcription Brian: Petra Page-Mann is the co-founder and storyteller at Fruition Seeds. Growing up in her father's garden, Petra believes each seed and each of us is in the world to change the world. Her passion, curiosity, love of food and love of people led her all over the world studying seed, song and culture worth celebrating. In 2012 she co-founded Fruition Seeds with her beloved partner Matthew, to share the seeds, knowledge and inspiration gardeners crave to amplify our individual as well as collective abundance in our short seasons. Petra, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Petra: Why thank you, my friend. It's a joy to join you. Brian: Awesome. So how did you end up here? What's your life story up to this point? Petra: I really like to eat and I've been fortunate enough to eat a lot of wonderful things and somehow it just keeps happening and so I am to share all of those seeds and all of these meals with all the people so we can all keep growing. I grew up in my father's garden here in the Finger Lakes of Western New York. And if you'd asked a little seven year old Petra, what she loves to do, I wouldn't have told you gardening. I also wouldn't have told you brushing my teeth. It was just something that we did. And I took seed saving for granted as well. Now, if you want to sow some seeds, you should save some right? So I'll profoundly be so grateful for that gift that my father gave me my entire life. And as I, you know, became a teenager and became more aware of the world around me and really just deeply concerned by the patterns that I was seeing. I realized that agriculture was kind of this intersection of a lot of my passions of being outside of eating but I've also like soils and justice, and all of these wonderful things and seeds are kind of the seed of it all right? And seeds are this just epic metaphor to me of just the growth of the potential the capacity to adapt and change, and kind of that like gift of our ancestors and how we can become good ancestors. So I spent over a decade working in kind of the organic seed world, working on farms and also for seed companies. I've worked for some of the smallest seed companies in the world, also one of the largest. And it really galvanized me to know decentralization is so important. You know, there are oaks all over so many continents, right. But there are so many different genus species. So many subspecies and the Oaks that we have on this ridge above me, are distinctly different even within that subspecies from five miles down in down in the valley. So we must do the same thing as humans, with our economies, with our businesses, with our hearts with how we communicate and organize. And so our centralized, highly commodified seed system, food system, you know, it's not broken. It's doing exactly what it was designed to do, which is exploit the marginalized people that have been so profoundly exploited for ...

  Sam & Ida Friedman - Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve It all started with a school teacher wanting to help educate students and show people online how to have healthier beauty and wellness options. Join us as Sam Friedman takes you on a fun journey from his mother Ida's beginning, to his involvement soon after, all the way up to today as a thriving ecommerce based, natural and organic body care products company. Be sure to checkout Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve's quality organic products today - https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/   Transcription Brian: Sam Friedman has taken a long and interesting journey on his road to operating an organic bath and body care company. His first passion being music and theater, Sam co-founded and was artistic director of the actual reality Theater Company in Columbus and Cleveland from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004, he took the position of technology director at the Agnon School in Beachwood, Ohio, where he taught second to eighth grade technology and media and was also the family retreat director from 2002 to 2004. In 2004, Sam then moved to Madrid, Spain, where he worked with the Spanish government as an English language specialist to diplomatic liaisons. In 2007, at the request of his mother, Sam moved back to the US to try and help turn the hobby and small local market business she had started into something bigger. Today, Sam is the managing and brand director of Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve. A USDA organic brand that hand-makes over 350 bath skin and hair care products. And he helps lead the natural body care industry as educator spokesman and brand ambassador for one of the globe's finest brands of natural personal care. Sam Friedman, welcome to The Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Sam: Thank you. Thank you for having me Brian. Brian: Yeah, so that's a nice recap of your life up until this point, why don't you let us know a little bit about what you do right now. Sam: So right now Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve is a company that makes about 350 organic certified products. We currently have a staff of 19 individuals. We're selling our products through our own website, ecommerce, and in some stores, both small mom and pops and a few larger shops in all 50 states in the US and over 120 some countries across the globe. Mostly all small parcels, small packages, mostly direct to people's homes. Of course A few business clients that buy and resell themselves. We make every type of product under the gamut that you could imagine having to do with body care, skin care, taking sort of care of the outside of the body. And, you know, at this point, just looking at where we've come from where we've been, it's been a really great journey from the kitchen to a really robust business. Brian: What led your mother to go into this business? Sam: Well, my mother's background is in science and human biology, because her first job she was a nurse, so she actually went to nursing school for several years and got medical training and then spent a decade working in local hospitals. Then after leaving the hospitals, a lot of the reason that happened was because of her not agreeing with some of the standard pharmaceutical care that's out there and the things that are being provided for people as far as the diagnosis and the remedy for what your issue might be. That really started spinning in her head because of my stepfather's eczema. Eczema is a pretty annoying condition that a lot of folks have, especially here in the US.

Tigger Montague from BioStar US took sometime to sit down and talk us about the companies fine horse and dog supplements, what brought her into the industry from her time in dressage and some of the companies challenges and mindset during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to handle adverse situations. Be sure to check her BioStar as well as her Healthy Critters Podcast linked below. BioStar USbiostarus.com Healthy Critters Podcast healthycrittersradio.com   Full Transcript Brian: Tigger Montague is the owner of BioStar, a provider of nutritional supplements for dogs and horses. Tigger has been in the supplement industry, both human and animal for 38 years. She competed in dressage as a professional, but had to give that up when she started BioStar. She's written two books, has a fine monthly podcast called Healthy Critters and lives on an organic farm in Virginia. Tigger Montague, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcasts. Tigger: Thank you, Brian. Brian: Why don't you let everyone know a little bit about how you ended up here, what's your life's story up to this point? Tigger: How much time do you have? (laughs) Actually, my competition horse it was diagnosed with inflammation of the bursa. The bursa is in the foot and my vet is one of the United States Equestrian Team veterinarians. We tried every drug every modality known to man to get this horse sound, nothing worked. He finally said to me, I think we're going to have to nerve him. And that means cutting the nerves in his foot so that he wouldn't feel it. The problem with nerves and horses is that the nerve regenerates. So in a year or two, we'd have to go back and nerving him again. So my vet was away at a big show in Calgary, Canada. And I thought, well, you know, this horse is going to have surgery, maybe I should start thinking about preparing his body and I was working at the time as a consultant for a human health food company called Mega Foods, doing a lot of research on raw food, spending a lot of time in California. I thought, well, you know, maybe I should just start sprouting some seeds and I had a little dehydrator and I just literally took sprouted seeds, added some papaya, made it into little cookies to hydrated them and start feeding them my horse. To make a long story short, in about three weeks I saw an improvement. And then my vet came and he couldn't believe it. He said, wow, if you can do something with nitric oxide, you might be onto something. I didn't really know what nitric oxide was, but it turns out it's the master circulatory molecule of the body. There are certain foods that are very high and an amino acid called arginine. Arginine is a precursor or a substrate for nitric oxide production. So I started looking at foods that were high in arginine, and they always contain lysine. I realized that in nature, those two amino acids are always together. Now some foods are high in lysine, low in arginine and others are high and arginine low in lysine. But when I sorted out the high arginine foods and made them into a cookie if you will, just to dehydrated them. And feed them to my horse, he came sound. I went, whoa. okay, okay, there's really something to this food. And that start that started the journey. Brian: Wow, that's incredible. So how did that know into a business for you?

Looking past the amazement of people lining up for full carts of toilet paper in the month of March. The real underlining concern for most Americans was for safety for their loved ones yes, but also an all too real lack of practical preparedness. Join us today as Joe Rieck of Emergency Essentials (BePrepared.com) shares what life has been like since sales started to climb in the month of February. From challenges the company has faced to the customer letters of gratitude Joe's received that help him and the staff know they are making a difference in tough times. Our hopes align with Joe's that in light of these challenges, people will view preparedness as a practical and safe thing to do in the future. Find out more at their website and be sure to pickup a QSS certified, 1-Month Food Supply - https://beprepared.com/ Full Transcript Brian: Joe Rieck is the VP of sales for Emergency Essentials. It can be found online at BePrepared.com. He's been involved with emergency preparedness for over 14 years, and he has helped thousands of people to become better prepared. Joe Rieck, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Joe: Hey, thanks Brian for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here with you. Brian: So why don't you let everyone know a little bit about what it is that you do? Joe: Okay, so emergency essentials, we specialize in long-term emergency food, and this usually consists of freeze dried items as well as dehydrated items. We have a wide selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, ready made meals, MRE's, we have a wide selection of emergency gear, 72 hour backpacks, water filtration systems, anything you can kind of think that you might need an event of an emergency or disaster. We try to have you covered. Brian: Great. How did you personally end up here? What's your life story up to this point? Joe: Well, you know, about 10 to 11 years ago, I was involved with a company that we started a long-term food storage company that grew. And we ended up selling that off a couple years ago. Typically once companies get in the hands of private equity groups, the mission kind of changes a little bit. I was lucky enough to be found with a group called Emergency Essentials. And I've been here for over two years. It's a great little company, we're a privately held, there's no private equity group that is responsible for to. We have one owner and that's the only person that we listen to, and that we kind of take advice from. And so it's very, very simple. We try to just be there for our customers the best that we can. So I actually love what we do here at Emergency Essentials and it's been a lot of fun over the past couple of years. Brian: Oh, fabulous. So what where do you find new customers at? Joe: Well, let me just tell you right now they're coming out of the woodworks with this whole COVID-19 pandemic that we're going through. It's like, a flip was switched and everybody in the world kind of became well aware of the need to have a backup plan. As you can imagine, with this COVID crisis that's going on just our industry, our business, I mean, we've been hit tremendously hard, you know, in a positive way, because the amount of interest that we have in our products. And so it means it's caused a little bit of hiccups from a business perspective as far as having the capacity to produce and to make the food and to get it packaged and prepared and shipped out, which caused some trouble that way as far as having a backorder list. But as far as the knowledge and the need to educate people, the media has done a great job of showing what happens in the event of a disaster w...

Episode 31. When it comes to your business, what are you good at, and what do you need help with? Are you ACTIVELY searching for help? In this episode David and Beth Pruett discuss with host Brian J. Pombo all the highs and lows of building an "accidental business." When their first product became a run-away seller, they inadvertently found themselves in the growing world of eCommerce. A load of live events, rampant customers and a hugely popular YouTube Channel later, David and Beth are looking to take their website and business to the next level. What do they recommend for growing businesses? Listen Now! Find out more about David, Beth and AMP-3: https://www.amp-3.net/ Checkout David & Beth's YouTube Channel: USNERDOC Beat out your competition – EVEN if it’s Amazon.com: https://brianjpombo.com/amazonbook Full Transcript Beth: David and I have always had the theory that we are not here to sell you something. We want to teach you something, from day one. If we don't sell anything, that's fine. If you learn a skill and can take that home with you, that is more important to us than us selling you a product. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman. We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your Maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel. From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap. This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure life off the grid. Brian: Welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast, I'm Brian Pombo. What you're about to hear is part two, in a two part interview series that we're doing with David and Beth Pruett, owners of AMP-3.net and host of the YouTube channel, USNERDOC. The first conversation went deeply into the life story and background and what drew them both into the arena of emergency preparedness and true emergency preparedness. Not just the prepper stuff that you see on TV, but really preparing for specific emergency situations. It's very interesting. If you did not get a chance to listen to it and make sure and go back and listen to that part one first, you could get that over at offthegridbiz.com. This is part two. In this one, we focus much more into the details of their business and what makes it work, what they'd rather be doing better in their business, and we go into some of that, although we mainly focus on the areas that they're wanting to improve in. But David and Beth's frankness and openness about where they're at and where they want to be was really refreshing. Great to listen to and I hope it will help you to develop where you want to take your business to. Now let me set the scene. This is a second interview that took place months after the first interview. This time we did the interview from inside of their new camper trailer that they call Liberty. You get to hear a little bit of the back and forth of them referring back to Liberty. They're talking about where we're sitting right there. So have a listen, enjoy and I'll be back on the other end to discuss some of what I got out of the conversation.

Episode 30. What inspired you to start your business? David and Beth Pruett are survivors. They survived a flash flood that nearly swept away their home, as well as the Loma Prieta earthquake that shook the Northern California in 1989. Their experiences, and the panic they saw others going through, encouraged David and Beth to never be caught unprepared again. "Our mission is simple, to share what we’ve learned and help others be ready for whatever may come their way. " Hear the amazing story that lead the Pruetts to building their emergency preparedness business. Listen Now! Find out more about David, Beth and Amp-3: https://www.amp-3.net/ Checkout David & Beth's YouTube Channel Also: USNERDOC Beat out your competition – EVEN if it’s Amazon.com: https://brianjpombo.com/amazonbook Full Transcript Intro with David & Beth: So we lived four miles from the epicenter of the 1989 earthquake, so everybody calls it the San Francisco earthquake, it's the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was at work at the time and it was a little bit after five and it literally felt like a giant was outside the building, shaking the building as hard as he could. And we'd get earthquakes in California all the time, but at the time. When they happened you were like, Oh it's an earthquake, and it wasn't a big deal and things would shake and that was it. This was like a major jolt from that earthquake. Again, it was about a week of no power. It was more devastating than the flood because it affected so many more people. And you felt it at nighttime when the sun went down, suddenly there were no lights in the buildings. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman. We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your Maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel. From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure life off the grid. Brian: David and Beth Pruett, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcasts. David & Beth: We are so excited to be here. Thank you Brian, for coming out to our ranch. We're excited to share our life story with you. Brian: Yeah, no, I can't wait to hear it. We're sitting out here on the deck of their mountain view ranch, right? Beth: Yup. Brian: It's just a gorgeous day right now. There's a fire going on up North so you could see smoke off to the Southwest South there past a table rocks, here over in Sam's Valley (in Southern Oregon). We're just going to jump right into it. What is it that you do? David & Beth: Well, we do a lot of things. We have a company called Amp-3, so it's AMP-3.net and we have preparedness products and first aid. David is an Emergency Room Physician practicing in the Pacific Northwest and we have had our business since 2011. Hard to believe time has gone by that fast. It started kind of from a first aid kit, but we also do preparedness. We have our ranch, which we're staying here for our two and a half weeks, totally off grid. We have a little generator and that's about it for right now. But,

Episode 29. Does your business grow year after year? Can you maintain that growth? Can you imagine passing on your experiences to help other business owners? Heidi Danos is the Owner of Dirty Knees Soap Company. When her twins were 1-years-old, she went on a search for a project that would allow her to "find herself again" and do something a little more "adult." While testing out different soap recipes she came across one that her husband loved, and so she built a company around it. Heidi has a common sense approach to her business that is refreshing and a giving attitude that has lead her to advise other entrepreneurs and help them along in their journey. Hear her story and her tips. Listen Now! * Find out more about Heidi and Dirty Knees Soap Company: https://www.dirtykneessoap.com/ * Check out Heidi's consulting site: https://heididanos.com/ * Watch their videos: * Dirty Knees Soap Co - The real story? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeLx9QvK5hY * About Dirty Knees Soap Co. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgV2V_7vePU Beat out your competition – EVEN if it’s Amazon.com: https://brianjpombo.com/amazonbook Full Transcript Brian: How has social media benefited your business? Heidi: Oh, it's huge. Absolutely huge. It's been a great Avenue for us to advertise. You know, you get those quippy little videos out there and they get shared, which is awesome. I've had several comments on one of the videos. Oh my gosh, I have to buy your soap now just because of this video. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman. We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your Maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel. From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap. This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure life off the grid. Brian: Heidi Danos has successfully grown and scaled several successful businesses, most recent being Dirty Knees Soap Company. After several asks, she also started consulting with other small business owners and those who are looking to be. Heidi Danos, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Heidi: Hey, thanks Brian. Happy to be here. Brian: Fabulous. So, why don't you let everyone know a little bit about what it is that you do. Heidi: Here at Dirty Knees Soap Company, we create our soaps, body washes, lotions, beard oils, thanks to a lot of customer requests, including my bearded husband, which helps that we have a line of candles right now bec...

Episode 28. How do you stand out in front of your customers? Have you adopted a cause that your clients can relate with? RaeJean Wilson is the Senior Vice President of GloryBee, a family-run company since 1975. Her parents, Dick and Pat Turanski started GloryBee Foods with a dream of providing natural, healthy ingredients for the people of their town. It has grown to international fame, but they have never lost the original principles. In our conversation, RaeJean discusses how she never saw herself in the family business, but has fallen in love with the process, the customers and the cause they have set out on to "Save the Bee." Where is your company going to be in 45 years? Listen Now! * Find out more about GloryBee: https://www.glorybee.com/ Beat out your competition – EVEN if it’s Amazon.com: https://brianjpombo.com/amazonbook Full Transcript RaeJean: Another fun dream of mine was have a healthy event we have a save to be five k, this will be the six year we've been fortunate enough to raise over $10,000 the last couple years at that event because we get people to sponsor the race and then every penny of your race fee goes to save the bees. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid. Brian: RaeJean Wilson is the daughter of GloryBee founders Dick and Pat Turanski. RaeJean has served in the family business in several capacities over the last 25 plus years following college, her focus was on sales and building GloryBees customer base. She also spent 10 years as GloryBees HR manager. In 2015, RaeJean stepped into the position of senior executive vice president where she now co-leads the company with her brother Alan Turanski, overseeing sales, marketing, human resources, safety, sustainability and community outreach. RaeJean Wilson, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast. RaeJean: Thank you. Thanks for having me today. Brian: Absolutely. Now, why don't you let us all know a little bit about what you do? RaeJean: Well, like my bio said, I'm the Senior Executive Vice President at GloryBee and I spend a lot of my day sitting in an office in meeting solving problems helping people solve their problems so that we can take care of our customers. Specifically, I'm involved in our community programs where we give back causes vice president of marketing as well and vice president of sales, working on our branding, our new products, our marketing plan, we're in the middle of a brand refresh right now. On the human resource side, I connect that with our safety and sustainability that has a lot to do with our people development and the programs that connect to that that are tied to our values and keeping our employees safe. And making sure they work they do has the best environmental impact possible or the...

Episode 27. Are your customers part of a community? Do you actively educate your customer base to make them more informed consumers? Joe Stout is the President of Mt. Capra Products, a family-owned, sustainably-managed goat dairy located in Centralia, WA. After receiving a Masters of Science in Clinical Human Nutrition and a Bachelors of Science degree in Human Nutrition and Food Science from Washington State University, Joe found himself in a position to take the lead of the family business. In our conversation, we discuss how (even as an infant), Joe has had a unique perspective regarding the nutritional qualities of goat milk products. We also delve into how such a simple commodity like goats milk, can spin-off into many different consumer realms and business opportunities. Are you seeing all the customer groups for your core product or service? Are you creating systems in your business so that it doesn't require YOU to make it function? Joe's story will stretch your thinking and inspire you. You may even walk away with a new belief in how you can truly effect people with your business. Not only that, the end has a surprise testimonial by Brian's wife Kate Pombo regarding their son Lucas and Mt. Capra's Goat Milk Formula ingredients. Listen Now! * Find out more about Joe Stout and Mt. Capra: https://mtcapra.com/ Beat out your competition - EVEN if it's Amazon.com: https://brianjpombo.com/amazonbook   Full Transcript Brian: Let's say a year from now, we brought you back on the show and just kind of looked over the past 12 months and look back on that. What would have happened from now till then for you to feel happy with the progress concerning your business? Joe: Understanding the customers needs, maybe even before they understand what their need is, and having the information that they're going to request available to them and even automatically given to them before they even request it. Really, really good for customer service because the customer then is like wow, yeah, how they know I needed that that's exactly what I needed? Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap. This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid. Brian: All right, with us today is Joe Stout president of Mt. Capra. Joe received a Masters of Science and clinical human nutrition from the University of Bridgeport and Bachelors of Science in Human Nutrition and Food Science from Washington State University. Along with running the farm, he is engaged in graduate studies of sustainable food systems at Green Mountain College and is certified in permaculture design. Joe and his wonderful bride,

Episode 26. What has been the ideas that have catapulted your business? Have you found them yet? Were they where you expected them to be? Justin Lair is a United States Marine Corps Veteran who has created "one of the best Natural Fire Starters on the market ." John DeSpain, who met Justin while working in real estate, partnered with Justin and is helping expand the brand through trade shows, additional retailers and new products. In our conversation we go over the obstacles, the wins and the future for Justin and John. Their journey is very unique, but the principles they discuss are helpful to any growing entrepreneur. Listen Now! * Find out more about Justin, John and Fiber Light Fire Starter: https://fiberlightfs.com/ Find out the business events secrets for growing and strengthening ANY company: http://brianjpombo.com/secrets/ Full Transcript Justin: I knew that I wanted to start looking at big box retail. This was my first not my first business, but my first product, right? So I had to learn a lot about how retail works. And I found out very quickly that buyers for big box retails, they don't return phone calls, and they don't return emails ever. So I was determined to figure out how do I get ahold of these people? And I found out that they spend most their time and attention at trade shows. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid. Brian: Justin Lair is a Marine Corps veteran and entrepreneur moved from Southern California to Oregon four years ago. Once in Oregon, he started, Fiber Light Firestarters. Two years after the start of Fiber Light, Justin met John DeSpain and brought him on as a business partner. John, who moved to Oregon from the Bay Area at a young age, is a brilliant young entrepreneur heavily involved in the real estate business. Justin Lair and John DeSpain, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Justin & John: Thank you. Thank you. Brian: So besides what we heard in your bio, tell us a little more about who you are what you do. Justin: Well, I'll start my name's Justin, appreciate you having us on the podcast. It's pretty exciting for us. Been a serial entrepreneur my whole life. I started my first business when I was 15. That business inadvertently got shut down just because I went to the Marine Corps and my best friend who was my best partner at the time he went off to college and we so we shut the business down. I spent my time in the Marine Corps and then came back home, which is my home is considered Southern California. Got married, we moved down to Orange County, me and my wife. We have two kids. Started a couple other businesses during that time of my life. All my previous businesses were service based businesses.

Episode 25. This is "Part 2." Be sure to listen to "Part 1" here: http://offthegridbiz.com/rick-elara-bowman-backyard-green-films-part-1 Do you use events (topic-based and trade shows) to grow your business and interact with customers? Is it worth the expense and time? Rick Bowman is audio and video producer. Elara Bowman is a project manager and accountant. Together they have teamed up to travel country to record and promulgate the stories of incredible people and a monumental dilemma that everyone. Here we continue the conversation we began on the last episode and dive deep into attending events and long-term goals. Listen Now! * Find out more about Rick, Elara and Backyard Green Films: https://backyardgreenfilms.com/ * Watch their videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnQm6NOFcMrvJQrv09Xzt6w Find out the business events secrets for growing and strengthening ANY company: http://brianjpombo.com/secrets/ Full Transcript Rick: First off, having the film out there is to me the biggest thing. Elara: Yes, my big thing too. Rick: Because I feel like that will open up our audience a little bit more towards maybe wanting to listen to our podcast as well going and maybe becoming more interested in heritage breeds and seeing some of our clips of interviews that we've put up on our YouTube channel. Hopefully what I'm thinking with the film is that it'll be able to venture off and be able to make another film that continues the story of heritage breeds and of farmers. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid. Brian: Looking back on just what you've done up until now going to events like the Mother Earth News Fair, like the Heirloom Expo, would you recommend other people plug into the same type of events? Elara: I think it's very individual depending on the type of business they have. And here's one of the problems that has occurred. I mean is anybody in business knows we are going through a fundamental shift in not only the way we do business, how we do business, how we finance, how we market, there's a huge shift. And I would say businesses have to be really really agile in order to adapt quickly. Because a lot of storefronts are going out of business because you know, people don't come in the door anymore. You just order it online. You know, you might have strategic partnerships between similar businesses are completely different businesses and you really have to stay up on that in order to be able to compete with people that can. In a way, our experience has been very similar to the animals you have to adapt to survi...

Episode 24. How do you define happiness? Is it a dollar amount? Is your "cause" bigger than your "bottom line? Rick and Elara Bowman have diverse backgrounds, but have uncovered a common passion for telling stories through modern media. Filmmaking, podcasting and social media have allowed them to explore issues and topics that engage them personally. They interview people "who love farming, science, ranching, getting their hands dirty – or are just plain interesting." They have been traveling the country in their teardrop trailer, while grabbing footage, researching and now editing their upcoming film, "The Holstein Dilemma: Heritage Breeds and the Need for Biodiversity. " What does it take to create a documentary from scratch, self-fund it on a budget, (while still keeping your day-job) AND cover an incredible worldwide puzzle that very few people even know exists? Listen Now! This is "Part 1." When done listening to this, check out "Part 2" here: http://offthegridbiz.com/rick-elara-bowman-backyard-green-films-part-2 * Find out more about Rick, Elara and Backyard Green Films: https://backyardgreenfilms.com/ * Watch their videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnQm6NOFcMrvJQrv09Xzt6w Find out the business events secrets for growing and strengthening ANY company: http://brianjpombo.com/secrets/ Full Transcripts Elara: Life is a trade off. Do you work more for the things that make you happy? Or do you take a little less and be happy just through the things that you are not buying but your producing? Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap. This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid. Brian: An experienced and innovative filmmaker, Backyard Green Films owner and Director Producer Rick Bowman has cataloged over 25 years of broadcast commercial and corporate video experience. Rick combines skillful expertise and artistic vision to create top quality projects for clients, and has learned by experience that each project requires a special approach and solution to meet its goals. Backyard Green Films received an indie fest award in 2012 for their documentary Hillsville 1912, A shooting in the court. As well as winning Best Documentary award at the minefield Film Festival in Los Angeles for their film, Banjos, Bluegrass and Squirrel Barker's. Currently, they're in post production on their latest film The Holstein Dilemma, heritage breeds and the need for biodiversity. A farmer at heart, Elara lives on a mini farm with her husband Rick in an Urban Oasis located in t...

Episode 23. Who is Corn Man? Is he a music album, a children's book or a way to expose where our food comes from? Charles Wiley is a lifelong musician who was caught off guard by one of the best-kept-secrets in the world of nutrition today: the amount of corn byproducts that are artificially added to EVERYTHING. Hear host Brian J. Pombo and Charles discuss how his art form has been inspired by his mission to inform. How can you use the Corn Man to stand-out in your crowded market? LISTEN NOW! Find out more about Charles Wiley and Corn Man: https://charleswiley.net/cornman/ Find out the business events secrets for growing and strengthening ANY company: http://brianjpombo.com/secrets/ Full Transcript Charles: Dovetailing back when we talked about before, I was like, how do I separate myself in this market of a million musicians, a million bands a million this and it kind of all kind of came together coalesced and here we are. Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman. We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your Maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel. From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure life off the grid. Brian: Charles Wiley he has been writing music and playing drums for 25 years, he currently lives in Los Angeles and plays with various bands and artists, including rock band Dark Horse Rising, Riot award winning singer songwriter Chris Angeles and Americana Band Circus 62. In addition to playing drums, he also writes music for television. His music has been played on Oprah, Dateline NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Dr. Oz Show, The Young and the Restless and more Charles created the corner Man project to bring awareness to how much corn is in everything we eat. Corn man is an ongoing action adventure children's book series and progressive rock concept album. Charles was inspired to call attention to the issue using music and humor. Corn man hopes to be the conversation starter and tackling the complex issues surrounding the food industry, the environmental impacts of it and the unsustainable nature of how we eat and grow food. Charles Wiley, welcome to the off the grid biz podcast. Charles: Thank you so much for having me. Pleasure to be here. Brian: So besides what we heard in your bio, tell us a little bit about who you are or what you do. Charles: Okay, well basically, as a bio said, I've been drumming for over 25 years and for the last six to seven years, I've been a full time musician, make my living playing drums in various bands, some of the bands you mentioned, doing session,

Episode 22. Who is your tribe? Is there a “community” of people already out there that would love what you do? Could you create one by scratch? Chris Mcclellan (better known as “Uncle Mud”) has a special skill in finding and bringing together easy-going, like-minded individuals to create spectacular structures out of mud and junk lying around. Though he started out a business owner of a computer company, a life threatening situation made him rethink what his priorities were. Now, he travels the world, and has the world travel to visit him to learn his techniques in natural building. What would it be like to design your life around an ideal lifestyle versus around an income number? Listen Now! Find more about Uncle Mud: http://www.unclemud.com/ Support him here: https://www.patreon.com/unclemudLike and Follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unclemud/ Find out the business events secrets for growing and strengthening ANY company: http://brianjpombo.com/secrets/ Full Transcript Uncle Mud: One of the things about having a midlife crisis and I would say a heart attack is a midlife crisis. If you survive it is that we were able to like reassess what we wanted to do, and start planning for a better outcome for our Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family. If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap. This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid. Brian: Uncle Mud aka Chris McLellan raises free range organic children in the wilds of suburbia, in Ohio, building houses and pizza ovens and wood stoves with mud and junk is his way of sharing the can do spirit he writes teaches workshops and hosts a mud pit and DIY building demonstrations at fairs across the US. The rocket mass heaters and his double wide dropped his heating bill from nearly $1,000 per month for propane to less than $75 per year. Your results may vary but this guy is happy. Follow him on patreon.com/UncleMud or facebook.com/UncleMud. Uncle Mud, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast. Uncle Mud: Thank you very much. Brian: Well then besides just what we heard in your bio, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do. Uncle Mud: I like to play in the mud. Found a great job where I get to be a kid and go like to summer camp. And do an artist residency program were we get kids like as young as seven, an impact driver and have them help us build a tree house or have them help us. Make a pizza oven that they have a pizza party for their parents. And later, they come to visit, we get all muddy and then go jump in the lake and then do it again, it's great fun. But it also kind of illustrates the divide between what a person can do and what we feel like we're encouraged to do, we're kind of encouraged to leave things to the experts and go buy something rather than make it and...