OPSQC INC Podcast

In todays episode we welcome Mark James President and Lead Advisor at Performance Advisors based in Greater Chicago Area. Performance Advisors are B2B business process improvement practitioners with over 40 years experience in a diverse range of midsize to Fortune 50 companies. Mark helps companies eliminate barriers relative to people processes, strategic planning and deployment, and precision marketing. Mark and I discuss how he started, where he is going and lessons learned along the way. 

Website: https://www.performadvisors.com

Have you created your business and are now looking to move or improve your corporate office space? Or, your business is currently under a lease that you want to change? Maybe you are completely happy with your lease agreement and simply want to sign an extension. Listen this week to learn from Craig Nadborne of Bradford Allen. His business is finding lease agreements for small to medium size businesses at no cost to the customer. This service allows you to continue to work on your business while Bradford Allen finds the perfect location per your requirements. Additionally, we discuss the impact of Covid19 on the corporate office and what the industry is expecting for 2021 and into 2022. We are in a tenant's market right now. Listen this week to learn how services from Bradford Allen could save you on your corporate office costs.

Have you been thinking about starting your own business? Do you want to challenge yourself? Listen this week to draw inspiration from Ed Egan, founder of Double E Workplace Solutions. Ed was in the corporate America workforce for 2 decades but wanted to be his own boss and more importantly, wanted to challenge himself. Double E Workplace Solutions offers customizable services to identify performances gaps in the workplace. They offer coaching and training solutions to small and medium size businesses. Ed's mantra that he brings to his customers is efficient execution and constant evaluation. You have created your startup but are now struggling with communication channels and/or want to improve your employee's behavioral efficiencies? This week's podcast is perfect for you. We hope you enjoy this week's show.

Ever heard the term category king? Co-Founder Locke Berkebile discusses how he and his co-founder Aaron De Zafra approached digitizing the aircraft maintenance industry over knocking around the idea at a poker game. He also discusses the importance of a Founder's Agreement, and why its important. Making the leap from corporate to starting a business with friends or family is wrought with risk, so having those hard conversations in advance makes sense. In addition, the potential to be a disruptor in other industries simply by looking at growing industries and looking at what supporting processes need improvement.  You won't want to miss what Locke has to say about this, starting a company during COVID and other topics. Enjoy!

What happens after you have built a profitable and successful business and you want to pass it on? That’s why today we are bringing in Jason Pittman, President of Exit Advisor. Jason is in the M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) space to help business owners that have revenues of $300,000 upwards to $10,000,000, plan their exit and/or retirement. Whether you want to pass the business to other members within your family or want to sell to the highest bidder, there is more than 1 way to achieve your goal. What started as a blog and a hobby has now grown into a full-time business for Jason. Now that your business is profitable, it's never too early to begin planning your exit strategy. We hope you like this week's show!

Today we bring in Keith Kriegler and Randy Cavaiani, founders of Savvyeur. Savvyuer focuses on marketing for entrepreneurs via programs designed specific to their customer through their 3-pillar programs, Knowledge, Coaching, & Marketing. The end product is optimized for the customer depending on how much or how little they require from Savvyeur. Savvyeur was founded in August 2020 during the Covid19 pandemic and now has 11 full time employees. Both Randy and Keith have startup and large multinational experience bringing well balanced focus to Savvyeur. We discuss some of the bigger obstacles they came across starting Savvyeur and the path to overcome these challenges. Listen this week to learn more and we hope you like this week's show!

In this episode we interview Neil Schwan - Owner of Schooley Mitchell Chicago. Schooley Mitchell is a large franchise network of independent and objective cost reduction experts, handling repetitive billings, traditional expenses relative to services like telcom, waste handling, small package shipping, etc.  allowing you to focus on your core business knowing your systems are fully optimized and any wasted money is recovered. Neil and I are also co-founders of an Efficiency Mastermind Group.   

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-schwan/ 

https://www.schooleymitchell.com/telecom-merchant-services-small-package-shipping-courier-consultants-chicago-illinois-nschwan/

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast 011. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and small business owners scale their business profitably. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses and real owners, and learn through their experiences. This week we talk with Paul Van Metre, co-founder of ProShop ERP. The company didn’t originally start as an ERP systems company but rather was founded in 1997 as a CNC shop. As their CNC business grew, Paul realized that their spreadsheet record keeping was not going to scale laterally with the business. For this reason, they developed their own system and through 8 years of organic growth eventually became Proshop ERP. The history of Proshop ERP is truly a story of “What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.” Proshop was heavily involved in Aerospace in 2001 and the 9/11 attacks nearly bankrupted their company. They learned from this and adapted because during the 2008 financial crash, they didn’t furlough nor let go any of their workforce. Fast forward to the Covid19 Pandemic, they are thriving. Proshop ERP has doubled their workforce in 2020. Listen this week and learn how Proshop ERP grew from a CNC shop to an ERP company and overcame the many obstacles along the way. We hope you enjoy the show.

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast 010. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and small business owners scale their business profitably. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses and real owners, and learn through their experiences. This week we bring in Joe McDermott of Carma. Joe is the COO/CFO and the co-founder of Carma with his brother Frank. Carma was formed to provide professional services for telecom and data centers, creating a platform to inventory data collection systems to reduce ridiculous defect rates and improve the efficiencies. Joe has experience with startups and was also the co-founder of Arcanum Alloys, a steel venture.  Joe has seen and experienced what it takes to be a good leader. He knows how to build a good company and instill a positive culture so the employees are excited and engaged in their work. Joe also spent time in the Air Force,  went on to graduate from Princeton and later attend the prestigious Harvard Business School. Carma ‘s path is a bumpy one, but doing well now. Enjoy this week's episode!

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast 009. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and small business owners scale their business profitably. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses and real owners, and learn through their experiences. This week we talk with Bailey Kramer of Property Dogs. Bailey is a Managing Partner with Frank LaMark Jr. whom he met on an online networking platform. After many zoom calls and emails, Bailey and Frank decided to start Property Dogs which debuted about a year ago and now currently has 4 employees working full time. To this day, Frank and Bailey have never met in person, face-to-face. Property Dogs focuses on Residential and Commercial real estate. They have isolated their approach to the market and instead of being a “Jack of all trades, master of none”, they have taken the opposite approach. They become a master in one area before moving onto the next. Listen this week to learn more about Property Dogs as well as about the power that networking and social media can bring to those that want to start a business but don’t know where to begin.

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast 008. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and small business owners scale their business profitably. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses and real owners, and learn through their experiences. Today we are featuring Kaleen Marshall, CEO of Viaggio Group, an author, and creator of the nonprofit BellViaggio. Kaleen is a professional coach and consultant focusing on leading children and adults with special needs to live a beautiful journey through life. Additionally, she works with caregivers, guardians and advocates on this same journey. Kaleen is an author of the book "Who Will Love Me" which focuses on her experiences when she became the unexpected caregiver to her sister with Downs Syndrome, after the untimely death of her mom. Listen this week as we explore what makes a community and how we are all stronger when we work together and listen to each other. We hope you enjoy this weeks show.

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast 007. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and small business owners scale their business profitably. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses and real owners, and learn through their experiences. Today we bring in Roy Kessel of The Sports Philanthropy Network. Roy’s mission is to produce positive social change in kids and young adults through the good of sports. 2020 was a pivotal year for Roy because he had to navigate around the difficulties of the covid19 pandemic due to strict lockdowns and lack of sport activity. Additionally, Sports Philanthropy World was an in-person conference started by Roy in 2019 and had to transition to a video format for 2020's conference. Now scheduled for June 2021, the conference consists of over 120 organizations consisting of 80+ countries. Listen this week to learn more about Roy and his creation of The Sports Philanthropy Network. We hope you like this week's show.

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast 006. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and small business owners scale their business profitably. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses and real owners, and learn through their experiences. In this episode we interview Louie Sharp of The Gifted Leader and Sharp Auto Body. Louie has built successful business including an auto body shop and consulting practice, but more importantly, he has defined what it is and what it takes to be a great leader. Louie’s life experiences and military background helped mold his leadership skills. His businesses thrive today because he repeatedly goes the extra step to be a great person, not just a great leader and therefore, his team that he has built will go the extra mile for him. Louie is and entrepreneur, a leader, an author, a family man, and a leadership management consultant, among many other things. You will enjoy this week's interview!

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast Episode_005.  Helping entrepreneurs, innovators and small business owners scale their businesses to profitability. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses, real owners, learn a little and have some fun while doing it. I am your host: Jared Warrick, Founder of OPSQC INC. Today, please welcome Marcy Fortnow of Engaging Play. Engaging Play works with team development to improve productivity by engaging the work place. Covid19 has been especially impactful on Engaging Play because efforts had to switch from face-to-face activities to virtual team building. Listen today on ways of rethinking how we connect with our staff and colleagues to improve moral.

Join us today as we interview Jason Jacobsohn of Propellant Ventures. Jason is in capital investment focusing on early stage healthcare, future work, supply chain, fintech, and edtech startups. Propellant Ventures initial investment ranges from $25,000 up to $500,000. Propellant was involved heavily in face to face meetings, personal meetups, & networking with goal oriented business / individuals but had to quickly change due to the Covid19 pandemic. Propellant now focuses on virtual networking and envisions this is will be the future. Listen today to this great interview!

In this episode we interview Mary Holzkopf, Founder and Owner of Blessed Little Kitchen located in Huntley, IL. Mary started out baking in her home under the Baker's Act and quickly grew into a full sweets bakery of her own with 11 employees. Mary is very faith based and shares her story growing her business and how they have dealt with the impact of COVID. She truly embraces the "Growth through Giving" model. We hope you enjoy it!

Join us as we explore Chad's experiences on starting and growing a successful business over the past 2 decades, lessons learned and current issues in the COVID economy. Chad started Tumbletime out of a bus, grew and expanded into a full Gymnastics facility and then pushed to be one of the first 25 trampoline gyms in the United States. He is driven to say the least. Chad splits his time between Boise, Idaho and Sun Valley, Idaho with his wife Katie and his 2 children.

OPSQC's mission is to constantly evolve our network, education, services and training/media tools to directly support small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs, resulting in improvements to the community, local and national economy, create jobs and further develop innovative ways of doing business.

Welcome to OPSQC Podcast Episode 002. Our Mission is to help entrepreneurs, innovators and small business owners scale their businesses to profitability. The goal of this podcast is to showcase real businesses, real owners, learn a little and have some fun while doing it.

In this podcast we interview Tony Pierce of Wayward Studios and Fingerlakes Grindhouse Entertainment located in Auburn, New York.

Tony’s and my friendship dates back to Port Byron High School, a small town located in Upstate New York. Tony has always been a creative spirit and his works have been the focus of many attractions. After Art School, he spent some time at Universal Studios designing the backdrops of sets for various rides, some that you may have been on. His works are really intricate, high quality and absolutely unique! I will include some links in the transcripts: like the Sharks Mouth water park entrance, a Giant gorilla holding a sub and coke, and he is now expanding his skills into the world of film, earning the title of Director of his own Horror Flick.