Brian Kerlin had a successful sales career of over 2 decades when the first cornerstones of Optitude were laid, and he became enamored with the entrepreneurial lifestyle while dating his now-wife, who had a successful professional services company - but was struggling to build the systems for predictable growth. Brian helped her discover and overcome those challenges to growth, and soon started sharing his insights with her entrepreneurial friends. He continued in his corporate sales role for many seasons while also volunteering for Denver Startup Week and incubators in Boulder and Fort Collins, including Innosphere.

Brian launched Optitude in 2018, and is focused on helping professional services companies grow from the place of the founder being the primary rainmaker - usually up to $1MM annual revenues - and grow toward middle market scale and systems and push through the revenue plateau that often hinders growth and hampers morale.

Brian chose the name Optitude as a hybrid of optimization and attitude, and if you can get those ingredients right, you’ll be ready to grow. He shares abundantly from his experience and principles during this conversation, and perhaps the best part is the unfolding realization that “Hey, I’ve got something here that I can turn into a business!” and then hitting the ground running to bring value to the market. There are abundant insights in this conversation for anyone who cares about predictable revenue growth, and so I hope you join me and enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Brian Kerlin.

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

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I met Ty Dannebring at church one Sunday, when he hunted me down and said “Can we have a conversation about possibly being on your podcast, with regard to our new book?” Knowing nothing, I said, “of course” - and then after a coffee and conversation I was eager to spend time in the podcast studio with Ty and his co-author, Jeff Dillon. Ty is a financial advisor with a big idea, and Jeff is a Pastor at Redemption Church in Loveland, and his skill and expertise in writing helped give shape to Ty’s ideas with proper grammar and sentence structure!

From the Go-Fund-Me Page for Party In The Front! -

There is an epidemic of loneliness in our culture today.

The U.S. Surgeon General says lacking social connection is more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. More dangerous than obesity or air pollution.

Yet most of us live separate lives - distant from the people who are literally right outside our front door. We believe it's time to change that story. And it doesn't take a lot.

All it takes is being yourself and bringing the good things of your life out into the open for others to see.

Instead of a party in your backyard, why not bring it to the front yard, where people can see and be invited in?

This is what it means to Party in the Front. To overcome loneliness and create community right where you are.

My conversation today is with a pair of smart and thoughtful guys, who spent a bunch of time putting together ideas and structure around a big challenge - why are so many people lonely, when we’re surrounded by people every day? - and how can we fix that?

So please, join me to share in some ideas and visions for a more-connected future, and get to know the authors behind a new book sparking change in our cultural revitalization - Party In The Front!

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

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Today's episode features regular guest Aaron Everitt, along with his 17 year old son, Emerson, discussing the election coverage and election season of 2024. We started at 7:30ish PM MT, and called it a night by 9:30 PM MT as it became obvious Trump was going to be #47.

Aaron is a highly-acclaimed X.com creator of independent material, including a series of 100 essays on philosophical and economic topics, many of which supported the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He and Emerson were able to spend an hour with the then-Presidential candidate in Denver, and we spent time talking about Aaron's journey going from frustration with the candidate Trump to optimism over the team of leaders who have joined his campaign.

For your Host, I was a first-time Trump voter this year, after voting Gary Johnson and Kanye West the past two elections. I voted for a major party for President for the first time with this vote, and did so both to acknowledge the coalition of leaders, and also to punish Democrats for obvious lawfare, suppression of free speech, and a very non-democratic primary selection process, including the black-balling of Kennedy, and the installation of Harris.

Enjoy the perspectives, and thanks for listening!

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

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In my early years of LoCo Think Tank, when I was just getting out of the mobile food catering game, everyone was talking about the wonderful new caterers in town, Juli & Juan! Soon after, we had the chance to get acquainted, and they catered one of our most successful events during LoCo’s strongest expansion year of 2019 - Tips, Tacos, & Tequila - featuring business tips, a tequila talk and tasting, and tacos from Juli Y Juan’s Kitchen!

The colors and flavors that Juli creates, and the sheer beauty of their catering displays, is truly next level, and over time they’ve shifted their business to premium events such as weddings, rehearsal dinners, and private chef engagements. Juli polished her craft as Executive Chef at a resort in Playa del Carmen, where Juan was a leader in creating amazing guest experiences - the owners of which were from Colorado. After a 10-year career, Juli made the decision to leave her job and go on a 3-month solo trek to her native Columbia - through Guatemala, Central America, and the Dorian Gap. At the same time, Juan was involved in a shamanic study program, and through his meditations and reflections he discovered that though he might not yet know the question, Juli was the answer!

Their love and Juli Y Juan’s Kitchen sprouted soon after, and the couple made their way to Fort Collins to launch this new chapter of life. We talked about food, love, and community, plus Colombian and Mexican culture, business lessons learned, working at a resort, shamanism, immigration, race relations - you name it, we touched on it - and we went over 3 hours! Almost everyone who knows Juli and Juan loves them, and I know our listeners will enjoy - as I did - my conversation with Juli Trujillo and Juan Rodriguez, experience creators at and co-founders of Juli Y Juan’s Kitchen.

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

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

The business journey we’re featuring in today’s episode started when Garrett fell in love with Andrew’s sister (and later married), and took a great leap forward during the Covid pandemic when Garrett became the owner-operator of a standalone Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta location in the Central Park area of Denver. He was working a full-time job in the automotive industry, raising young children, and worked nights and weekends to quickly prove to be the most innovative, profitable and forward-thinking operator in the network.

Though Anthony’s had been established 40 years ago, the brand had grown stagnant at 18 locations, and had inefficiencies in its supply chain and marketing functions. Garrett proposed an acquisition of the franchise to Andrew and his partners at FR Companies, they eventually settled on terms with the franchise owner, and effective in February 2024, EPIQ Ventures, LLC was formed to make the acquisition.

Much has happened since, including a new partnership to serve Anthony’s Pizza at Red Rocks shows, revenue growth and increasing happiness of franchisees, and a new location on Harmony Road in Fort Collins that was open for only a few days when we had this conversation.

Today’s conversation reveals wisdom through story on business acquisition and finance, and the cultivation of relationships that tie it all together. Northern Colorado has already seen a lot from FR Companies, but the best is likely yet to come, and Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta is a cornerstone venture for what lies ahead. So please enjoy - and learn from - my conversation with Andrew Rauch and Garrett Brizendine.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

I met Christine Forster at a big fun business event of some sort (we both can’t remember!) - circa 2022 - and we had a short but lovely conversation, and she was super interested in what LoCo Think Tank was all about, and gave me her card with encouragement to connect. And then - her card got lost in the shuffle and we didn’t connect proper until this podcast conversation!

As much as I love sharing a conversation with someone I’ve known for years, it’s quite special to me when I get to know someone in the podcast studio. Christine started her business in 2006 as My Big Day company, and their first events were imagined and created as a service to the community - not for clients! Their very first event - The Adult Prom - was for adults of any age who missed out on prom in their high school years - or just wanted a redo - and where participants dressed in the fashion of their high school days. The NOCO Easter Keg Hunt is an annual scavenger hunt that takes place in downtown Fort Collins and Loveland - and will continue in 2025 in its 17th year! These early events were all about community - and grown ups acting how they feel inside!

Christine was full-time employed in marketing and advertising for over a decade while she grew her business, and they did a lot of wedding planning and event execution in the early years. My Big Day has grown steadily and transitioned to become Big Deal Company in recent years, and Christine has built a team of marketers and event planners that now put on over 100 events annually - and do full-service marketing for their events clients - and only do weddings on a very selective basis. Christine left the security of her day job in 2022 for the joy of being a full-time entrepreneur, and hasn’t looked back.

And - all these business facts don’t tell the tale of the person. Christine and I went over 2 and a half hours in this podcast conversation, and we probably could have gone a couple more. We talked business and ideas and chased squirrels and shared laughs and we drank 2 bottles of white wine. I left the conversation more convinced than ever that she is indeed - and considers all of her clients - a big deal - and so I hope you join in and enjoy my conversation with Christine Forster!

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

John Arnolfo operated the Silver Grill Cafe for 42 years, and found his exit plan through my guest on Episode 143, Alan Jantzen. John and partner Mike Gress purchased Silver Grill on Valentines Day of 1979 as an unheated one-room diner. The business had been established by Leonidas “Flossie” Widger in 1933, and mostly served the blue collar workforce of early downtown Fort Collins. Though the partners grew the business quickly, it remained too small an enterprise to support a pair of households, and Mike departed for other opportunities after only a few seasons.

In the years to follow, John slowly grew the footprint of the restaurant - leasing and eventually acquiring vacant buildings to the west of the original location - and grew Silver Grill the 5-adjacent-units high-volume enterprise (& Fort Collins Icon) it is today. John shares the story of how cinnamon rolls changed his business and client mix, and how the stars lined up for Alan and Jackie Jantzen to become the new operators in 2021. As also shared by Alan, an introduction from their mutual banker turned into a conversation and then a transaction and now an enduring friendship.

John needs no introduction in the world of Fort Collins restaurants, and I’m proud to share both the business journey and the sparkling personality behind the brand. We talk about the evolution of the restaurant industry, challenges and opportunities during covid, saltwater fly fishing, the gradual disappearance of the raisin cinnamon roll, and much more - so I hope you’ll tune in and enjoy my conversation with John Arnolfo.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Ben Aste is a conservationist, first and foremost, also an Eagle Scout and the son of a Swiss immigrant. Ben started Uncle Benny’s Building Supplies from a small rented shed, because he couldn’t stand to see the waste in the lumber supply industry in which he’d been working for some years. Uncle Benny’s grew quickly, and is growing still, despite an interruption in retail operations you’ll hear about in the business journey segment. And - Uncle Benny’s will soon reopen bigger and better than ever, and fully under 2nd generation management, with Ben’s son Ben taking the reins.

Because…Ben the senior expects to be busy. My guest today is CEO of Uncle Benny’s, but also running for Larimer County Commissioner for District 3, a seat he ran for and narrowly lost (to the current occupant) last time around. With many of the same philosophies as his building supply company, Ben is running on a platform of Reasonable, Affordable, and Sustainable, and you can learn more on his campaign page at Vote4Aste.com.

I like Ben a lot, enough that I put a “Uncle Benny for Larimer County” sign up in my yard, and I even gave him a little chip-in on his campaign. He’s a win-win-win-win kind of guy, and his combination of business sensibilities and conservationist principles should be (and is) appealing to voters of all stripes and flavors. And - when I learned in this conversation how much Larimer County Commissioners make I wondered aloud - maybe I should be a Larimer County Commissioner! Stay tuned on that topic! - and please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Ben Aste.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain