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This week, Tato Corcoran joins me on the show. Tato is the proud owner of Brandt Molded Marble, a new ICPA member. Tato graduated from the University of California at Davis in 2014 and then started a career in the Silicon Valley tech industry serving as an Executive Assistant to a Fortune 200 executive.

Several years in, she decided to pursue her true path as an entrepreneur. I started out in Real Estate and eventually purchased Brandt Molded Marble, a company that has been producing & installing cultured marble countertops, shower pans, and tub surrounds of the highest quality for the past 35 years.

You can learn more about Brandt Molded Marble by visiting https://www.brandtmarble.com. 

On this episode, I feature an interview I did at CAMX that highlights an innovative approach that allies composites, fiber optics, and electricity safely. 

This week Andrew Pokelwaldt joins me on the podcast again this month to tackle some common problems in your manufacturing process that can lead to quality issues. 

This past week, I attended CAMX 2022 in Anaheim, CA, and while there had the opportunity to interview a number of companies in the composites and advanced materials industry, including a few ICPA members who serve the cast marble industry.  

Marcos Vidal from ACS International & Dorfner stopped by my table for a quick interview and a beer. 🍺

This week I welcome Nick Santhanam to the show. Nick is the CEO of  Fernweh Group, and the co-author of a brand new book The Titanium Economy coming out October 25th in book stores and available for pre-order on Amazon. 

While Silicon Valley titans dominate the headlines nowadays, many of the fastest-growing, most profitable companies in the US are firms you’ve likely never heard of, such as HEICO, Trex, and Casella. These booming companies belong to a burgeoning sector—industrial tech—that offers surprising hope to workers, consumers, and investors alike. 

Nick and I will be discussing some incredible companies in his book – companies such as Trex, a company that manufactures high-performance composite decking using plastic waste. 

In an age of instability, industrial tech is a cornerstone of our economic future, and Nick and his co-authors dispel the myth that the best of American manufacturing is behind us and illuminate an opportunity for a brighter future—if we can seize it.

You can pre-order their upcoming book on Amazon here. 

This week, I welcome Kevin Donlin to the podcast. Kevin is the author of Marketing Multipliers: 11 Simple Tools to Grow Your Business. 

Kevin has been in marketing since 1994, when he sold one of the first ebooks -- on Usenet, for $10, payable by check.

From 1995 to 1998, he was Webmaster for FedEx.com, where he worked with the pioneers of online marketing.

Since 1998, he's been a copywriter and marketing advisor for clients big and small, delivering sales gains of more than $1 million on multiple occasions with online marketing and direct mail.

He's been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fortune magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, ABC-TV in Detroit, Fox and NBC News in Minneapolis, CBS Radio in Los Angeles and New York, and too many others to list here.

You can find his copywriting services at www.ClientCloningSystems.com

On this episode, I share an inspirational entrepreneur story from an interview I did a few years ago. At the time, this interview was geared toward my Composites Weekly podcast audience highlighting a startup company that had designed some new carbon fiber framed backpacks.

The company is KUIU, an outdoor performance hunting gear manufacturer started by former NFL player Jason Hairston. 

Jason played professional football back in the mid ’90s with the San Francisco 49ers and then went on to the Denver Broncos. Unfortunately, as with many players, injuries shortened his career. 

Jason’s story doesn’t come without tragedy though.

In 2018 not long after my interview with him, Jason took his own life. Little did I know at the time, he had been suffering from CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in some former athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of brain trauma. The disease was confirmed after his death. 

Jason left an amazon legacy of a company that was built from one of his greatest passions. The company did $43 million in 2020. 

Some of the biggest takeaways from this interview is Jason's dedication to quality to make his company better. There’s also a really great lesson on using scarcity to drive customer demand. 

Jason once said, “Within our company, we have to be remarkable at everything we do,” He referenced Seth Godin’s 2002 book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.

“Whether it’s the product, whether it’s the brand experience, whether it’s the way we answer the phones, the way we address customers, the furniture that I put in the office.”

He built a culture around handwritten thank-you notes, which he wrote regularly. Each of Kuiu’s 11 representatives, plus their showroom manager were required to write at least five thank-yous per day, but they often would write more. They were sending up to 40,000 paper thank-you's sometimes in a single year. 

KUIU is obsessed with engineering the world's most innovative performance hunting gear, and you can learn more by visiting https://www.kuiu.com. 

This week I welcome Megan Multanen, one of the founders of Women in the Composites Industry. Megan is the co-CEO at Bestbath based in Caldwell, Idaho.

The rapid growth of composites holds great promise for many current and emerging market segments. 

Members of Women in the Composites Industry are an integral part of a fast-growing and committed network of women that come together across sectors and career levels to promote the education, professional development, and advancement of women.

You can learn more by visiting https://www.compositewomen.com.

This week Bobby and Tim Brooks join me on the podcast to discuss one of their newest product designs. 

This week Andrew Pokelwaldt joins me on the show to discuss the Composites Certification Training programs that are offered to help improve quality production and boost employee development at every level of an organization. 

The ACMA’s standardized composite process training with CCT Certifications are designed for technicians, engineers, quality, safety and technical sales personnel. 

Nine certification specialties are available and you can learn more about each of these by visiting http://www.acmaeducationhub.org/certification. 

This week I welcome Dennis Fink of Akpa Chemical on the show. Dennis is a veteran with over 40 years in the polymer industry. He is the president of Resin Research & Recovery and a consultant for Akpa Chemical. 

AKPA Chemical was established in 1997 and specializes in the production of Organic Peroxides, Initiators, Accelerators, and Paint Driers.

AKPA has a State of the Art R&D center with distribution headquarters in South Carolina.

On this episode, Dennis will be sharing his background and the history of Akpa. He'll talk about choosing the right MEKP for the job and what separates their product line from so many other suppliers. 

You can learn more about their product line today by visiting akpachemicalus.com or by calling them at 803-686-2888.