In this episode, we interview John Hornsby, a creative graphic artist, organizer of information, strategic thinker, and an experienced achiever. What one might call, a Chief Creative Ninja.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

  • How John developed his style (and is still doing so today)
  • The importance of finding art through community
  • How the practice of “going down the rabbit hole” and diving into research helps John’s curiosity
  • Why value is not tied to productivity
  • Understanding the difference between reactivity and proactivity
  • Why John started building something he calls “Connection Kits” during COVID-19

Enjoyed this interview? We think you might also dig this episode with local Asheville graphic designer & business owner of Amp’d Designs, Alyssa Phillips. Alyssa sits on the board of AIGA.


Season Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Range Urgent Care an Asheville-based clinic that offers affordable healthcare, transparent pricing, and streamlined, friendly service. Learn more about Range Urgent Care.

*Enjoy your first month free of annual membership at Range Urgent Care. Use code ‘makingitinasheville’ at checkout. Offer valid for a limited time only.


Show Notes

About John Hornsby

Delivering the rare balance of graphic artistry and business acumen, Hornsby Creative brings to the table a strong background in environmental graphic design specializing in signs and special events marketing, as well as extensive hands on experience in sales, relationship management, business development and workflow solutions.

Places

  • Fast Signs helps to solve your marketing & visual communications challenges with signs, banners, graphics & much more.
  • Allegra is a national printing and design company.
  • AIGA is a chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. John sits as Treasurer at the Asheville location.
  • Garden Party is a lifestyle boutique in West Asheville specializing in elevated objects for the aesthetically inclined.
  • Moonlight Makers is a t-shirt and gifts printing company with items featuring silly sayings and designs.
  • Rosetta’s Kitchen vegetarian & vegan soul food located in Asheville, NC.
  • Oowee Products makes handmade & custom leather goods.

People

Events

  • Watch Stack – watch a talk on a subject, followed by a facilitated conversation around the subject

Books

Products

 

Interested in engaging more with John Hornsby?

Instagram: @JohnHornsbyCreative   @ConnectionKits

Websites:  JohnHornsbyCreative.com    ConnectionKits.biz

 

Music by Commonwealth Choir

In this episode, we interview Sarajane Case, a coach, writer, and speaker.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

  • A basic breakdown of what the Enneagram is, what it’s not, and how it can help you better understand yourself and others
  • Sarajane shares what it was like to write and publish her first book, The Honest Enneagram
  • Tips for building a successful Instagram content strategy

We hope you enjoy this episode with Sara!


Enjoyed this interview? We think you might also dig this episode with digital marketing expert, Tyler J. McCall.

Show Notes

This episode is brought to you by Range Urgent Care an Asheville-based clinic that offers affordable healthcare, transparent pricing, and streamlined, friendly service. Learn more about Range Urgent Care.

*Enjoy your first month free of annual membership at Range Urgent Care. Use code ‘makingitinasheville’ at checkout. Offer valid for a limited time only.


About Sarajane Case

Based in Asheville, Sarajane Case is s coach, writer, and speaker. Using research and mindset shifts that she has compiled over the years, Sarajane help women find (and re-find) joy in their work and life. She is the author of The Honest Enneagram, as well as the founder of Enneagram and Coffee and @YourCoffeeatHome. Connect with her at sarajanecase.com

The Honest Enneagram

Written by Sarajane Case, The Honest Enneagram is a kinder, more down-to-earth approach to understanding the nine types. The book includes beautiful illustrations (done by Sarajanes husband!) mixed in with highly digestible writing.

If you’re interested in buying this book and you’re from Asheville, we recommend buying it from our local independent bookstore, Malaprops (click this link here). However if you must buy it on Amazon, please use this affiliate link to help support this podcast and project.

People

Sandra Matri is an artist, an author, an enneagram teacher
Tyler J. McCall is a digital marketing expert. He’s Sarajane’s former business partner—and current friend.

Coffee Things

Nespresso Aerroccino Milk Frother (affiliate link) – the milk frother Sarajane uses at home to make her favorite coffee drink: the cappuccino.
Aeropress – the coffee-making tool we use at home and travel with!
Finca El Puente coffee by Counter Culture – Sarajane’s favorite coffee blend right now

Books

The Artist’s Way is a book by Julia Camera about discovering and developing the artist within. View on Malaprop’s or view on Amazon (affiliate link).

Shrill is a memoir by Lindsey West. It’s the book Sarajane was reading at the time of this podcast recording. View on Malaprop’s or view on Amazon (affiliate link).

Places

High Five Coffee – Sarajane’s favorite local coffee shops (the one on Broadway)

Music by Commonwealth Choir


Curious to learn more about what we do?

Making It in Asheville is a podcast where we go behind the scenes with artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in Asheville. We learn about what they’re making and how they’re making it in Asheville.

Making It in Asheville is powered by Making It Creative, our boutique marketing and business consulting agency. We help passionate small business owners build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.


We appreciate your support!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribelikereview, and/or share. Each review means than you might think as they help this episode get discovered on podcast players.

To recommend an interviewee, visit MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast

 

For as long as he can remember, Jeff has been fascinated by entrepreneurship. Prior to becoming the Director of Entrepreneurship at Venture Asheville, he graduated from the University of Florida with a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship. He’s taught entrepreneurship, written a book about entrepreneurship, and is even an entrepreneur himself—selling one of his startups about two years ago.

Considering we’ve had a podcast about Asheville-based entrepreneurs for over a year, we’re about a year late in having Jeff on the show. We hope you’ll agree that the wait has been worth it.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

  • Jeff’s background story and many entrepreneurial endeavors
  • How Venture Asheville fits in Asheville’s Chamber of Commerce (ranked America’s top Chamber of Commerce this past year)
  • What Venture Asheville is, how it helps new businesses scale, and its three main programs, including mentorship, funding, and events
  • The core competencies of successful entrepreneurs based on real case studies that Jeff and his team have conducted
  • Resources for Asheville-based entrepreneurs and which ones are best for different stages of the business
  • What the goal of the Asheville Impact Micro-Grant program is and how to apply
  • Jeff also shares his pitches for three businesses he’s worked on in the past (and one he is currently working on now)

Enjoyed this interview? We think you might also dig this episode with Andrew Nehlig of Sauna House.


Show Notes

This episode is brought to you by Range Urgent Care an Asheville-based clinic that offers affordable healthcare, transparent pricing, and streamlined, friendly service. Learn more about Range Urgent Care.

*Enjoy your first month free of annual membership at Range Urgent Care. Use code ‘makingitinasheville’ at checkout. Offer valid for a limited time only.


About Jeff Kaplan

Jeff Kaplan is the Director of Venture Asheville (more on that below!).

Concurrently, Jeff is leading a startup of his own, JustKibbitz, a new kind of dating site where parents do the matchmaking. He’s also the local director of VentureSouth’s Angel Investment Group, the Asheville Angels.

Prior to leading Venture Asheville, Jeffrey earned his Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and instructed in Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida. He is a published author in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy, launched and sold pet-tech startup Dogphrendly as an alumnus of the Groundwork Labs accelerator in Durham, and was Product Owner and Consultant in digital product development at Anthroware.

In the community, Jeffrey serves on the State of North Carolina’s Board of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Vice-Chairman on the Mountain Capital Community Fund, Board Member of the Hatch AVL Foundation, Board of Directors Member and Secretary of the Asheville JCC, and advisor to UNCA’s Center of Jewish Studies.

About Venture Asheville

Venture Asheville is the high-growth entrepreneurship initiative of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. The program’s work centers on catalyzing Asheville’s high-growth entrepreneurial ecosystem and connecting entrepreneurs with startup funding, mentors, and talent to scale their ventures.

Other Notes from this Episode

Venture Asheville Programs

Asheville Entrepreneurship Week is an annual, week-long celebration that highlights Asheville’s growing startups, innovative businesses, and entrepreneurs from every industry. The program is hosted by both Hatch AVL and Venture Asheville.

Elevate is a free mentorship program designed to help new businesses navigate the practical, day-to-day challenges of building great companies and develop their skills as effective managers, leaders, and CEOs.

Venture 15 Awards is an annual awards ceremony that honors Asheville’s 15 fastest growing startups and the people and organizations that make Asheville a place for startups to thrive.

Asheville Startup Road Trip helps a small group of Asheville-area startups fundraise for their businesses in surrounding cities such as Charlotte, Durham, and Winston Salem.

Asheville Impact Micro Grant provides $5,000 micro grants for early-stage startups in Buncombe and Haywood County.

Other Resources for Entrepreneurs
ScaleUp WNC provides intensive growth strategy development and implementation assistance to cohorts of 15 small businesses. Western North Carolina businesses with strong potential for growth and job creation have the opportunity to apply to participate in this highly competitive program. The program is hosted by Hatch and Mountain Biz Works.

Big Scary Fish Tank is a live pitch event in Asheville where local entrepreneurs compete to win a game-changing financial infusion from the city’s top investors.

One Million Cups of Coffee is a free, weekly pitch event that gathers downtown. Each week, one to two founders pitch their business to like-minded entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, and supporters of Asheville’s growing startup scene. And there’s free coffee!

Talent Jam is a one-of-a-kind pitch event that authentically connects job seekers with local opportunities and employers within their community, and beyond!

Dig South Tech Summit is where leading global brands connect with the South’s most innovative tech companies.

Businesses that Venture Asheville has worked with:

Moonlight Makers is a silly puns T-shirt and gift shop. We interviewed founders, Nicole and Claire, in episode 052.

French Broad Chocolates is an Asheville-based chocolate confectionery and bakery.

3 Mountains Tea sources and produces premium, organic, and fair-trade teas from Rwanda.

Other Local Businesses
Aux Bus is a simple & affordable podcast solution that lets you plan, record, and launch all in one place.

Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours is an award-winning rooftop bar tour featuring stunning sky views and fun bits of history.

Dogwood Health Trust s a North Carolina nonprofit corporation with the sole purpose of dramatically improving the health and well-being of all people and communities across Western North Carolina. Dogwood Health Trust is the successor foundation of the nonprofit Mission Health System.

Hatch AVL Foundation is a 501(c)3 uniquely supporting high growth startups with a proven Playbook, Programs, and Partnerships to grow the next $10M companies in Asheville.

Anthroware is a US-based team of brilliant strategists, developers, designers, and engineers who build software for humans.

Jeff’s Startups:
Chef Sleeves
Dogphrendly
Just Kibbitz is a new kind of dating site where parents do the matchmaking,

Principles & Concepts
Intrepreneur vs. Entrepreneur

Corridor Principle is, according to BPlans Glossary, “where an entrepreneurial venture may find that it has significantly changed its focus from the initial concept of the venture as it has continually responded and adapted to its market and the desire to optimize profitability potential.”

Kaleidoscope Thinking is a mindset or strategy that requires you to re-arrange what you see and imagine new arrangements, new patterns, new groupings.

People
Jon Jones is the President/CEO and Founder of Anthroware.
Josh Dorfman is former Director of Venture Asheville, now currently the CEO and Founder of Simbly.
Dan Radan is the founder of Auxbus.

Places
Roswell is a small town located in the north metropolitan suburbs of Atlanta, GA.
All Day Darling is is a cafe’ located in Montford that serves an all-day menu of market-focused food.

TV Shows & Movies
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is comedy/drama TV show about a 1950’s Jewish housewife who turns into a comedian after divorcing her husband.
Star Trek

Music by Commonwealth Choir


Curious to learn more about what we do?

Making It in Asheville is a podcast where we go behind the scenes with artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in Asheville. We learn about what they’re making and how they’re making it in Asheville.

Making It in Asheville is powered by Making It Creative, our boutique marketing and business consulting agency. We help passionate small business owners build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.


We appreciate your support!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribelikereview, and/or share. Each review means than you might think as they help this episode get discovered on podcast players.

To recommend an interviewee, visit MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast

We realize that there are a lot of people out there experiencing some kind of suffering, loss, or pain during this pandemic. It may be financial, physical, or even mental.

As a way of supporting and loving this community, we want to take a moment to share with you three important philosophies that have really helped shape our thoughts and responses to what’s happening around us. Although we know we are speaking from a place of multiple types of privilege, these teachings have helped our minds stay positive and be optimistic. These counter-intuitive mental frameworks have helped us cope and continue to work toward our goals.

And although some of these teachings are, let’s say, strange, our hope is that you’ll find at least one of them helpful. No matter what you’re going through right now, whether it’s a financial loss, the feeling of failure, or a sense of loneliness, we hope this episode will help you in some small way.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in the Episode

  • Why we’re going on the offensive during COVID-19 (and some of the ways we’re doing so)
  • How these frameworks have affected the way we’re showing up with friends, family, and this community.
  • The three philosophies or teachings that have impacted the way we see the world (and are especially important as we consider the effects of COVID-19 on our business and our personal lives)
  • For each teaching, we also share resources and books where you can learn more about them
  • Why some of these teachings might be “triggering” or difficult to hear for some people

P.S. We recently put together a list of resources for small businesses in Asheville to help during these uncertain times. Read Coronavirus: Resources for Small Businesses in Asheville (and Beyond).


Show Notes

Below we provide some more information about each of the philosophies we covered in this episode. Please note: some of these links are Amazon affiliate links. We appreciate your support!

To learn more about stoicism, we recommend the following:

To learn more about Byron Katie and “The Work,” we recommend the following:

To learn more about Busting Loose theories, we recommend:

We’ve built a resource page for Coronavirus/COVID-19 support for local businesses

MakingItInAsheville.com/coronavirus

We’re hosting a week of live-streamed conversations to support the community called, “What Now, Asheville?”

MakingItInAsheville.com/what-now

 

Music by Commonwealth Choir


Curious to learn more about what we do?

Making It in Asheville is a podcast where we go behind the scenes with artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in Asheville. We learn about what they’re making and how they’re making it in Asheville.

Making It in Asheville is powered by Making It Creative, our boutique marketing and business consulting agency. We help passionate small business owners build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.


We appreciate your support!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribelikereview, and/or share. Each review means than you might think as they help this episode get discovered on podcast players.

To recommend an interviewee, visit MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, as a pandemic.

Needless to say, this announcement sent a shockwave around the world, leaving many of us wondering what’s going to happen next, especially when it comes to our business.

Here at Making It in Asheville, both Tony and I (this is Sarah by the way) began deeply pondering how this might affect our own business and local Ashvelile community. We started asking ourselves things like, “What tools can we use during this time? What new skills can we learn? How can we continue talking with local businesses, customers, and friends?”

Then we noticed that Tyler was offering a community for online business owners to come together and ask questions related to coronavirus and how it impacts there business. And we knew we had to know more.

Whether you’re a purely online company or a brick and mortar store that relies on foot traffic, you’re likely thinking about what’s going to happen to your business over the next coming weeks and months. We hope that this episode gives you some new and productive ideas to reconnect with your online audience.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in the Episode

  • The number one thing Tyler says NOT to do during this time period
  • The five main social media platforms Tyler recommends to most businesses and ideas for the type of content you can be sharing right now
  • A game-changing switch you can make on Instagram to increase engagement and gain more followers
  • Ideas on how your business can go digital, even if it has traditionally been brick and mortar
  • How you can use Facebook groups to reconnect with your audience
  • Why finding your niche is important (especially in a time like this)

P.S. We recently put together a list of resources for small businesses in Asheville to help during these uncertain times. Read Coronavirus: Resources for Small Businesses in Asheville (and Beyond).


Show Notes

Tyler J. McCall helps online business grow their business using Instagram. Learn more at www.tylerjmccall.com

Tools & Resources

Places

  • White Duck Taco
  • Smoky Park Supper Clube
  • Pescados Burritos
  • West Asheville Yoga

Miscellaneous

Music by Commonwealth Choir


Curious to learn more about what we do?

Making It in Asheville is a podcast where we go behind the scenes with artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in Asheville. We learn about what they’re making and how they’re making it in Asheville.

Making It in Asheville is powered by Making It Creative, our boutique marketing and business consulting agency. We help passionate small business owners build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.


We appreciate your support!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribelikereview, and/or share. Each review means than you might think as they help this episode get discovered on podcast players.

To recommend an interviewee, visit MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast

I’ve always tried to relentlessly focus my thought process to [something that is] reality-based. Get out of your own head and see what the world is valuing.

– Clint Spiegel

When we met Clint for the podcast interview, we began by taking a tour of his 70,000 square feet factory. There are big machines and lots of metal parts everywhere you look. In between each machine, is a handful of employees wearing protective face gear, working away to keep the parts moving through the system. The floor is covered in what can only be described as “metal sawdust.” Oh, and it’s loud. Very loud.

Clint yells over his shoulder, “I’ve been walking on metal shards all my life.”

He’s not joking.

Since the day he was born, Clint has been surrounding by manufacturing. Many years ago, his dad had established a machine shop in Asheville that manufactured parts for a variety of industries throughout the world. At age five, Clint began to join his dad at work, learning the ins and outs of the industry. After graduating from college with a degree in Computer Science, Clint found his way back to his family’s business, eventually taking it over and making it his own. Although the business has evolved since then, he and his dad continue to work together on certain aspects.

Clint identifies as a “constant innovator” with an “overactive mind.” Over the years, he’s started numerous businesses, from manufacturing knives to building engineering software and industrial robotics. Some of these businesses failed and faded away, but some of them—like Industry Nine (appropriately name “nine” because it was his ninth business)—have been wildly successful.

During our interview with Clint, which feels like an MBA-level course on entrepreneurship, we try to unpack what he thinks has contributed to Industry Nine’s success and how he’s thinking about the future.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in this Episode

  • How the idea for Industry Nine came about
  • Clint’s insight on innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship
  • What makes Industry Nine’s cycling parts different from others in the industry
  • What client identifies as “the perfect mix” for entrepreneurship
  • Key milestones and turning points in Clint’s business
  • The importance of focus and keeping your edge when running a business
  • Tips for managing employees (Clint has about 90 currently)

Show Notes

Industry Nine manufactures and hands build custom cycling components. They’re based in Asheville, NC. Connect with them via their Website, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube page.

Places

Miscellaneous

Music by Commonwealth Choir


Curious to learn more about what we do?

Making It in Asheville is a podcast where we go behind the scenes with artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in Asheville. We learn about what they’re making and how they’re making it in Asheville.

Making It in Asheville is powered by Making It Creative, our boutique marketing and business consulting agency. We help passionate small business owners build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.


We appreciate your support!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribelikereview, and/or share. Each review means than you might think as they help this episode get discovered on podcast players.

To recommend an interviewee, visit MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast

“Appreciation means two things: It means to grow and it means thankfulness. And I do believe that appreciation is a form of currency and people can show that they appreciate you with money. One of the ways to allow for that, as a business owner, is to tell really meaningful stories about the work that you’re doing.”

In this episode, the two of us sit down and talk about the meaning behind “gratitude,” money, and three different ways to price your product or service.

Here’s What You’ll Learn

  • Why Tony doesn’t like the word “gratitude” and the word he prefers to use instead
  • A technique that can help you prioritize what to spend your money
  • Three different ways you can price your product (and why you want to understand the first two but use the third)
  • What we’re most thankful for this year


Show Notes

During this episode, we mentioned two of our favorite “money” books.

Busting Loose from the Money Game by Robert Scheinfeld – We know, we know —the title of this book is quite cheesy. Nevertheless, this read has completely transformed Tony’s relationship with and perspective on money. We highly recommend it to anyone who has ever experienced “money shame.”

I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi – Another finance book with a cringeworthy title but fantastic information. This book should be required reading for all adults! A personal finance guru, Ramit teaches you how to get your personal finances in order and shares so many genius money hacks. Open it to a random page and read for a minute and the book will have already paid for itself.

Top-Down Pricing: Revenue-focused pricing based on the market

Bottom-Up Pricing: Profit-focused pricing based on lifestyle

Appreciation-Based Pricing: About massive value creation and storytelling


Curious to learn more about what we do?

Making It in Asheville is a podcast where we go behind the scenes with artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in Asheville. We learn about what they’re making and how they’re making it in Asheville.

Making It in Asheville is powered by Making It Creative, our boutique marketing and business consulting agency. We help passionate small business owners build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.


We appreciate your support!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribelikereview, and/or share. Each review means than you might think as they help this episode get discovered on podcast players.

To recommend an interviewee, visit MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast