Launch Youniversity

Turning Good Intentions into Reality in Your Career, Business and Life

start up

038: Brewing Beer and Business With Purpose: Joel Iverson of Monday Night Brewing

by Leave a Comment

Brewing Beer and Business With Purpose: Joel Iverson of Monday Night Brewing
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
038: Brewing Beer and Business With Purpose: Joel Iverson of Monday Night Brewing
Loading
/

Summary:

Joel Iverson is one of the three founders of Monday Night Brewing, a top craft beer brewery in the Atlanta area. As the official Taste-Testing Ninja of Monday Night Brewing, Joel is joining Launch Youniversity on the podcast today to talk about how beer deepened relationships, relationships built a brewery and how the brewery is launching and thriving with purpose.

Welcome to episode 38 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Monday Night Brewing

Monday Night Brewing blog

The 10% Entrepreneur by Patrick J. McGinnis

Three Takeaways:

1. What’s your purpose?
There are a variety of craft beer places in Atlanta, but what makes Monday Night Brewing special is it’s purpose: To deepen human relationships over some of the best beer in the country. Monday Night Brewing was built from relationships, so their goal is help facilitate and invest in relationships. Similar to a sticky statement, it’s powerful to be able to summarize your purpose in a single sentence. It’s your job to tell the marketplace what you want to be known for, and give them the words to communicate it.

2. It Takes Time.
Not every person can quit their job and launch headfirst into entrepreneurship. Joel and his partners had families and jobs and responsibilities to think about. So they started small and gradually grew. In time, through consistent efforts and producing a quality product, they were able to go full time and see their business thrive.

3. Do you need to hold on or let it go?
Joel credits learning how to discern this question to time. As the entrepreneur of your business or mastermind behind a project, it’s so instinctual to want to take the reins on any and every issue that needs to be fixed. But creating a culture of asking questions, learning, and problem-solving means that you need to not be the person to swoop in, but help your team figure things out along the way.

037: Life Lessons From Launching An Agency with Blake Howard of Matchstic

by Leave a Comment

Life Lessons From Launching An Agency with Blake Howard of Matchstic
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
037: Life Lessons From Launching An Agency with Blake Howard of Matchstic
Loading
/

Summary:

On today’s episode of the Launch Youniversity Podcast, David is sitting down with Blake Howard. Blake is a passionate entrepreneur and co-founder of Atlanta-based Matchstic, a brand identity firm. Blake is sharing his story on how he got started, how he built a thriving business and the lessons he learned along the way.

Welcome to episode 37 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Matchstick

Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team by Alina Wheeler

Creative Mornings

Sid Mashburn on LYP Pt 1

Sid Mashburn Pt 2

Belay Solutions

Three Takeaways:

1. Find Your Genius.
This is something we say as often as we can on the podcast. Find your genius: the place where your talent and passion collide. Blake had a talent for art and a passion for business. This led him to graphic design, which was the first step in ultimately opening up his own branding agency, Matchstic

2. Let Tough Seasons Shape You.
Matchstic was hit hard in the 2008/2009 recession. They lost clients and had to make painful layoffs. They could have let the recession sink them, but they let their hard season refine them. It was in those times where they realized the need to find what they were the absolute best at and focus on it. That’s how they narrowed their focus on branding.

3. Perfect Your Pitch.
Blake told David that Launch Youniversity’s own Jeff Henderson gave him advice years ago on how to prepare and perfect a pitch: Problem, solution and action.

1.     Identify the problem you’re trying to solve

2.     Explain the solution

3.     Invite people to take action

If you’d like Jeff to dedicate a full podcast episode on perfecting your pitch, let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

036: How to Turn Your Idea Into a Business with Courtney DeFeo

by Leave a Comment

How to Turn Your Idea Into a Business with Courtney DeFeo
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
036: How to Turn Your Idea Into a Business with Courtney DeFeo
Loading
/

Summary:

The Launch Youniversity is a community of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who want to turn their big ideas into reality. Courtney DeFeo is an expert on doing just that.

As an intrapreneur, Courtney refined her process for bringing ideas to life for a company. As an entrepreneur, Courtney dreams of new ways to grow her business each day.

On today’s episode, Courtney is sharing her experience and advice on growing an idea, presenting it to others and turning it into a thriving business.

Welcome to episode 36 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

CourtneyDefeo.com

Pathway to Launch: Imagine

Pathway to Launch: Validate

ABC Scripture Cards

Three Takeaways:

1. Not every idea is a good idea. And that’s okay.
Courtney has come up with some incredible ideas, both for her business and for companies she’s worked for. But for every great idea, there were a bunch that didn’t work.

As launchers (and really… just humans), our ideas feel like our babies. We want everyone to love every idea and for it to be wildly successful. But that’s not realistic. You will have ideas that never get off the ground, but it’s okay and normal. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure. And it certainly doesn’t mean you should stop dreaming of ideas. Keep pressing forward, the right idea will come at the right moment.

2. Collaboration over competition.
Courtney had to actively seek (and be open to) collaboration over competition in when she was an intrapreneur. When Courtney worked in a corporate setting, she often had to pitch her ideas. If you’ve done this, you know how vulnerable of a position this is to be in. You’re not only sharing your idea, but you’re giving other people the power to change it. But, nine times out of ten, when people speak into your idea, their feedback will elevate it. So don’t shy away from the “That won’t work, but this will…” or “That’s great, what if we add…” conversations. The collaboration might be exactly what your idea needs to be successful.

This applies to entrepreneurs as well. You might not be competing for a boss’ attention, but you’re competing with other forces in the marketplace. When Courtney created her ABC Scripture cards, she noticed that Pinterest was driving a ton of traffic to her site… but not converting to sales. After a little investigation, she realized that her cards were wildly popular on Pinterest, but every post was about how to make the cards yourself.

Instead of trying to shut down bloggers who were giving DIY tutorials on her product–or pretending they didn’t exist–Courtney leaned into the marketplace desire and released her own DIY tutorial. By serving her potential customers well, her web traffic jumped and she was able to get more eyeballs on the other resources and tools she had available on her site.

3. Waiting now will pay off later.
When you’re passionate about your idea, you want to shout its success from the rooftop. That happened to Courtney when she landed her first celebrity client.

When the order came through, she wanted to post it everywhere. But Courtney’s husband reminded her to wait and that the celebrity didn’t ask for that. So she waited. And because she waited, the celebrity later talked about how much she loved the product on massive, national platform. Had Courtney bragged to the marketplace about having this celebrity client, she might have missed the better opportunity.

033: Break Into Business: Monica Lage on Launching Your Passion From The Ground Floor

by Leave a Comment

Break Into Business: Monica Lage on Launching Your Passion From The Ground Floor
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
033: Break Into Business: Monica Lage on Launching Your Passion From The Ground Floor
Loading
/

Summary:

In this week’s episode, Launch Youniversity is joined by Monica Lage—Founder and Executive Director of Break Into Business. Break into business is a summer camp for entrepreneurs, ages 9-14, who work toward launching their own real small business.

They brainstorm a product idea, perform market research, design a logo, manage a budget, make a website, style an Instagram post, make t-shirts, distribute flyers, film a commercial, and enter the Shark Tank before making their first (real) sale.

Not only does Monica help young launchers, but she’s a launcher herself. We’re so happy to have her share her wisdom and advice with us today.

Welcome to episode 33 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Break Into Business

Break Into Business 2017 Summer Camps

Plywood People

Jeff Shinabrger of Plywood People on Episode 13 + Episode 14

Three Takeaways:

1. It’s okay to be risk-adverse (as long as you push yourself to take risks).
It’s easy to look at other successful entrepreneurs and think that they’re just wired to take risks and you aren’t. But you don’t have to be a hardwired risk-taker to be an entrepreneur. Monica describes herself as being risk-adverse at times, but when the right risks seemed smart – she pushed herself through it.

2. Find people a few steps ahead of you.
Monica found a group of peers through Plywood People who provide her with encouragement and advice (and the fact that they’ve been where she is now is immeasurably helpful). She could spend months researching the right payroll software, or, she can reach out to her trusted network for recommendations.

3. Keep going back to your raving fans.
As a form of market research, Monica frequently reaches out to her network of customers who have continued to support her business. When she’s thinking about a new idea or project, she asks for their feedback. Not only does it help her keep a pulse on the customer’s needs, but it makes her most loyal customers feel valued.

Thanks for listening to another episode of the Launch Youniversity Podcast! Let us know how we’re doing and what you’d like to hear next by leaving a review on iTunes!

027: Channeling Your Passion to Change the Word: Justin Miller of CARE for AIDS

by Leave a Comment

Channeling Your Passion to Change the Word: Justin Miller of CARE for AIDS
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
027: Channeling Your Passion to Change the Word: Justin Miller of CARE for AIDS
Loading
/

Summary:

At 18 years old, Justin Miller sat in a room listening to Bono talk about the AIDS crisis and knew that he had to be part of the solution. What started as an idea for a documentary has, 10 years later, grown into the incredible and impactful organization that is CARE for AIDS.

In David’s conversation with Justin, they talk about channeling passion, staying focused on your mission, how to scale your business and how to protect your time.

Welcome to episode 27 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

CARE for AIDS website

CARE for AIDS on Twitter

CARE for AIDS on Instagram

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeowen

Three Takeaways:

1. You don’t need to have it all figured out before you launch.
Justin was only 18 when he developed his passion for the AIDS crisis. He didn’t have the connections, time, experience or resources to launch an AIDS prevention organization, but he knew that he was meant to do something. So he did. Because sometimes you just have to take the first step.

2. Focus gets your further.
One of the keys to CARE for AIDS success has been their ability to focus on their mission: Preventing children from becoming orphans due to AIDS. It doesn’t mean that Justin or his team don’t see the many other needs in the communities they serve, but they know that staying focused—and saying yes and no to the right things—will allow them to have the most impact.

3. Even passion needs to take a back seat to personal care.
If you’re a passionate launcher, then you can absolutely relate to this. Passion is a special gift and a driving force, and one that some entrepreneurs can temporarily get swept away with. But the passion that fuels you can burn you if you stop caring for yourself in the process. For Justin, this means setting boundaries with his schedule. It means time blocking parts of his day to pour into his team. It means acknowledging that even though he is saving lives in Africa, his wife and child always come first. Passion is an incredible thing, but we need to steward it correctly to be successful with it.

025: Find Your Niche And Make It Happen: Van Baird and Justin Dean of That Church Conference

by Leave a Comment

Find Your Niche And Make It Happen: Van Baird and Justin Dean of That Church Conference
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
025: Find Your Niche And Make It Happen: Van Baird and Justin Dean of That Church Conference
Loading
/

Summary:

We are so happy to be joined by Van Baird and Justin Dean on today’s podcast. Not only are they the creators of a conference, That Church Conference, but they are launchers who also have full time jobs outside of That Church. No matter which industry you’re in, Justin and Van’s story is a great example of finding your niche, moving fast and embracing empathy. We hope you enjoy today’s podcast as much as we did.

Welcome to episode 25 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

That Church Conference

That Church Conference on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Three Takeaways:

1. Find your niche.
In keeping with the first step of the Launch Loop, Van and Justin understood a super-specific need in their market and knew that their idea could help. Not only did they fill the need of the people they were serving, but they were able to create a community. Their tribe may have previously thought that they were the only people who cared about digital + the church, but thanks to That Church Conference, they now have a network of peers. When you can connect someone to community, it’s a powerful thing.

2. Move fast.
Justin and Van met for coffee to talk about an idea, and walked out of the coffee shop with a plan. You’ve heard it before: Done is better than perfect. The hardest and most important thing to do is just start.

3. Become a practitioner.
When designing a product or service, empathy is everything. Empathy connects you to the needs, struggles and wishes of your market and audience. The best way you can develop your empathy is to become a practitioner of your product.