This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes interviews Sassa Akervall, Owner and CEO of Akervall Technologies — a company known for producing ultra-thin, ultra-strong and remarkably comfortable sport mouthguards and night guards. Akervall’s sport mouthguard is highly respected, having become the official mouthguard of the US Mens’ and Women’s Lacrosse Teams, official partners with CCM Hockey Equipment, and more. At CES 2019, Akervall even debuted a smart mouthguard that measures head impacts. Akervall Technologies’ innovations have earned the company a trio of Inc. 5000 awards and a variety of other awards, including the 2019 Best Small Business of the Year by Michigan Celebrates Small Business.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with Shanda Sumpter, Founder, CEO, Business Coach, and Speaker at HeartCore Business — an entrepreneurial training company offering a step-by-step system to build a profitable company and achieve a free and flexible lifestyle. HeartCore’s core concepts are built upon principles that Sumpter picked up from her explosive 9-figure real estate career — that successful businesses are started by putting the audience first — and HeartCore’s proven methodology has gained the company notoriety and has landed it on the Inc. 5000 list.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes interviews Chad Brodsky, Founder and Owner of City Brew Tours — a beer tourism company that offers daily all-inclusive behind-the-scenes brewery tours complete with round-trip transportation. City Brew Tours is currently featured in 9 metropolitan areas, showcasing over 85 breweries nationwide, and is in the process of deploying a franchise model. Last year, Brodsky’s company entertained and educated over 20,000 beer connoisseurs, which landed his company on the Inc. 5000 list.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes Ilana Zivkovich, Co-Founder and CEO of WERQ — a leadership-advisory firm working to “to fuel the development of top-caliber teams who deliver real results.” WERQ clients come from a wide array of industries, including real estate, private equity, CPG, healthcare, higher ed, and more. Zivkovich is also an experienced executive, certified executive coach, and licensed mental-health professional and is known for her exceptional public speaking and coaching abilities.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with Yasmin Kaderali, CEO of Mommy’s Bliss — a consumer products company whose mission is to help moms bond with their babies by creating effective products with wise, clean ingredients. While Mommy’s Bliss has been the Kaderali family business for 20 years, Yasmin’s run as CEO has lasted only a third of that time. Yet, since taking the helm in 2012, Mommy’s Bliss has experienced monumental growth, reaching the Inc. 5000 list every year since 2013 and achieving 6-Time Inc. 5000 Honoree status. Mommy’s Bliss now sells a stable of products, featured in some of the world’s top retailers, and supports The Mommy’s Bliss Foundation, which partners with global organizations to support infant and maternal health.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with David Simnick, CEO & Co-Founder at Soapbox and Managing Partner at Impact Driven Brands, which is the parent company for both Soapbox and Bushwick Kitchen. Soapbox features a variety of nourishing hand soaps, body washes, and shampoos. For every product sold, a bar of soap is donated to someone in need and is often paired with proper hygiene education. To date, over 3 million lives have been impacted by Soapbox purchases. Bushwick Kitchen features a collection of hot sauces, all locally sourced near its headquarters in Brooklyn, NY.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes interviews Jenelle Coy, Founder and Managing Partner at SPERO — an agency that provides solutions for both government agencies and private enterprises through both workforce personnel and digital strategy. Clients include RCA Records, Proctor & Gamble, the State Department, and many more. Last year, SPERO accrued $17MM in revenue and was recently recognized by the Capital One and Women Presidents’ Organization as one of the top five Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies. Additionally, Jenelle has also been featured on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Marketing and Advertising and was a recipient of the Minority Business Leaders Award from the Washington Business Journal.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with Ryan D’Aprile, Founder of d’aprile properties and Midwest Lending Corporation. Since its founding in 2010, d’aprile properties, a real estate brokerage which operates in various markets throughout the Midwest, has experienced monumental growth and now employs over 50 full-time employees and nearly 500 real estate agents. D’Aprile is an entrepreneurial maven; between his real estate brokerage and his mortgage business, his company accrued close to $20MM in revenue in 2018.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes interviews Bill Clark, CEO and Founder at MicroVentures. Founded in 2009, MicroVentures is a full-service online platform that enables the public to take part in venture capital investments. With as little as $100, users can invest in a wide range of startup opportunities. To date, Clark’s company has raised over $200M on the platform from 110,000 investors, for over 250 different companies. MicroVentures has also been featured in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes chats with Daniel Marcos, Co-Founder and CEO of Growth Institute — the premier online training company for mid-market businesses across the globe. Growth Institute’s educators include thought-leaders such as Verne Harnish, Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Brad Smart, and many others. Since 2011, Daniel’s company has trained 40,000 global executives, representing 10,000 companies headquartered across 64 countries. Prior to Growth Institute, Marcos was a CEO coach and serial entrepreneur.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with Ben Herman, CEO and Co-Founder at Mad Fish Digital. The Portland-based Mad Fish Digital is a digital agency that takes pride in quickly adapting to new technologies in order to best partner with some of the nation’s most forward-thinking brands. Mad Fish has been featured on several prominent lists, including the Inc. 5000 (multiple times), “The Fastest Growing Private Companies in Oregon,” and many more. In 2017, Mad Fish raked in $2.4M in revenue and has clocked in a 3-year growth rate of 176 percent.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes dialogues with Jay B. Sauceda, Founder (and self-proclaimed “Chief Texan”) at Texas Humor — an “all-things-Texas” content creation platform that has gained an excess of 2.2 million combined followers across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In fact, the incredible success of Texas Humor led to the creation of Sauceda Industries, which is the umbrella company for Jay B.’s Texas Humor social channels, advertising platform, creative services agency, and retail store and for his e-commerce logistics and fulfillment company. Jay B. is also a recognized professional photographer, with his most recent project — Texas From Above — being featured as a cover story in Texas Monthly, published as a book by the UT Press, and displayed in the Bullock Texas State History Museum until mid-2019.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes chats with Rusty Shelton, Founder and CEO of Zilker Media — a premier agency for authors, thought leaders and brands based out of Austin, TX. Rusty is an expert on all things marketing and entrepreneurship, having co-authored two books and spoken at top conferences including EO Alchemy, SXSW Interactive, and more. Rusty is also a serial entrepreneur, having built and sold two businesses before the age of 35. His first business — Shelton Interactive — handled the launches of more than 30 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers and was named one of the nation’s top 10 social marketing agencies in 2014 and 2015 by the research agency Clutch.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes interviews Jake Dreyfuss, CEO of real estate firm Philly Living. Jake’s company has been featured on the Inc. 5000 list for three consecutive years and is considered one of the top 20 fastest-growing companies in the Philly area by multiple publications. In 2017, his company conducted $5.2M in revenue and sustained a 3-year growth rate of 174 percent. Jake’s remarkable career includes growing a successful restaurant franchise, building and selling an app company, working at one of the world’s most successful technology companies and, now, sitting at the helm of one of the fastest growing real estate companies in America — all while under 40. He is also the Founder of the 5AMERS — a support group dedicated to waking up earlier for the betterment of their lives.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes chats with Hal Denbar, President and Founder of Patriot Pool & Spa. Denbar’s company has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list and the Aggie 100 list, featuring the most successful businesses run by Texas A&M alumni. Last year, Patriot was a winner in Austin’s Fast 50 contest, which celebrates the fastest growing companies in the Austin area. Patriot has also been named the #1 Customer Service Company in Texas by Pool and Spa News. In 2018, Patriot accrued $3.5 million in revenue — a figure which Denbar aims to quadruple within 10 years through rapid growth and expansion. In fact, Austin Business Journal has described Patriot’s growth as “white hot.”

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes speaks with Chelle Neff, Owner and CEO of Urban Betty Salon in Austin, Texas. Urban Betty, whose 50 employees work across two locations in the Austin area, has recently been recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing privately-held companies in America. With a branded product line on the horizon and other locations being considered, this salon is truly on the ground floor of its sky-high potential and is set for take-off.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes dialogues with technology law entrepreneur Brian Hall. Hall is a seasoned law expert, specializing in issues pertaining to Intellectual Property, Internet Law, and more. He is a regular author and speaker on legal topics relevant to tech companies and has been chosen by his peers as a Rising Star in Intellectual Property for the years 2010 through 2016. Hall has also maintained a perfect 10 out of 10 on the Avvo Rating scale, which rates attorneys based on expertise and skill level.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with real estate mogul Chris Watters, CEO and Founder of Watters International Realty. Watters International, which began as an Austin-centric operation, has now expanded into a franchise model and is operating in markets across the United States and Canada. Chris is also at the helm of two other related ventures — a real estate technology company (#RealDeal) and a real estate investment entity that buys and sells properties (WHD Investments).

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes speaks with Kurt Rathmann, CEO and Founder of ScaleFactor, Inc. When Rathmann started ScaleFactor five years ago, he simply wanted to enable small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to automate time-consuming accounting tasks. Since that day in 2014 around his living room table, ScaleFactor has grown into a thriving software business whose sole purposes is to free SMBs of mundane back office work to focus on their passions.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes chats with restaurateur Matt Fish, who is the Founder and CEO of Melt Bar and Grilled. Melt, which started as a single location in suburban Cleveland, has since exploded and now features 10 restaurants across the state of Ohio and generates over $20M in revenue. Melt Bar and Grilled has received numerous accolades over the years and has been featured on popular shows such as Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes Stephen Shang — CEO and Founder of Falcon Structures, which specializes in taking large shipping containers and converting them into usable assets, such as living rooms, office spaces, storage facilities, and military training structures. Shang’s innovative company does more than $8M in revenue, has been featured on the Inc. 5000 list for 5 years, and is the latest endeavor for Shang, who had come off of (and learned from) 7 failed startup attempts.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with Susan Scott, acclaimed author and CEO and Founder of Fierce, Inc. — a multi-million dollar leadership and training company that teaches organizations of all shapes and sizes how to have meaningful conversations within themselves. On the podcast, Scott shares her inspiring story of overcoming hardship and discrimination and dives deep on what makes for “fierce conversations,” including both personal and professional takeaways.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes dialogues with Clint Greenleaf. Clint is a serial entrepreneur and Founder of Greenleaf Book Group — a publishing house that, under his leadership, grew to over $10M in revenue and landed on the Inc. 500 list for 7 years in a row. In 2014, Greenleaf Book Group underwent an acquisition, and since then, Clint has established several other ventures, including a family of brands which includes the fastest-growing peanut butter brand in the nation.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes speaks with Julie Allinson — CEO and Founder of eyebobs, the first-ever affordable designer eyewear brand. Since its founding in 2001, eyebobs has grown into a mighty 8-figure business and was recently acquired by a private equity firm. The sky is the limit for eyebobs, and the brand’s sights are set on greater expansion.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes sits down with Tim Hamilton — CEO and Founder of Praxent, a start-to-finish custom software firm based out of Austin, Texas. Praxent has been named one of the best places to work in Austin, has been featured on the Inc. 5000 list and works with both large and small businesses, including established companies such as Cisco and Keller Williams.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes Mark Deutschmann — CEO and Founder of both Village Real Estate and Core Development. Village Real Estate employs over 300 agents and staff and operates out of its headquarters in downtown Nashville. Core Development — an offshoot of Village Real Estate — is an award-winning real estate development team focused on environmental stewardship and community revitalization.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes Parham Parastaran — an entrepreneur and author who is living proof that fast success can be unhealthy. At a young age, Parastaran moved to the US from Iran and ended up building a $10M+ automotive business; however, at the peak of his success, he was nursing a $2,000 cocaine habit. Parham has since been delivered from his addiction by addressing the faulty foundation upon which his success was built.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes David Singer — President and Owner of Warehouse of Fixtures. Warehouse of Fixtures is a store that sells used office furniture, while offering a new (and better) customer experience. David birthed Warehouse of Fixtures by reviving his grandfather’s old store and has built it into a $10M company and 5-time Inc. 5000 award recipient.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes Theresa Fette — Founder and President of the highly-successful and newly-acquired and Provident Trust Group. In the podcast, Fette gives an extremely vulnerable look at the oft-ignored reality of the entrepreneur’s “exit,” as she opens up about having to rediscover her own identity, apart from her company. Hear the raw truth of what it’s like to step out without knowing what’s coming next and gain some business wisdom along the way.

This week on The EnTRUEpreneurship Podcast, Wes welcomes Robert Cornish — a Founder and CEO that had $300,000 stolen from him yet was motivated to launch an advertising agency that is now helping some of the world’s biggest and best brands craft sales journeys and tell brand stories. Cornish’s agency — Richter 10.2 — has been featured on the Inc. 5000 for half a decade and works over 100 companies on the Fortune 1000 list.