How many times have you wished you were more environmentally conscious as a consumer? Brett Edwards aka Mr. Eco can teach you how through rap! While in college Brett started free style rapping for fun, under the rap identity of “Mystery E” and one day while at lunch with his sister and dad they suggested, he should start rapping about the environment. And thus, Mr. Eco was born!

Since that moment Mr. Eco has performed at 270+ elementary/middle school assemblies to 135,000+ children in The United States, St. Lucia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, his YouTube channel has over 730,000+ views, he funded his second album “Renewable Rap” via Kickstarter, and sailed from Bermuda to Iceland with 5 Gyres studying ocean plastic pollution. That’s what I love about Brett, he is a passionate individual with a mission to empower youth to make a change in the world.

Get ready to learn from the following topics and questions:

• What it means to empower an individual and not necessarily just inspire them
• Why is it so hard for us to make changes in our lives?
• What you can do right away to start contributing to the protection of our planet?
• How to handle the haters or hecklers while performing?
• Why you should start your business now and not waste any time thinking about it?
• Current events, such as the recent governmental ban on micro bead in face wash and tooth paste.
•  How you should approach running a successful Kickstarter campaign? Along with some strategies and tactics to use along the way.

Additionally Brett references a blog post by Tim Ferris on how to hack Kickstarter funding, here is a link: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2012/12/18/hacking-kickstarter-how-to-raise-100000-in-10-days-includes-successful-templates-e-mails-etc/

Here is a link to Mr. Eco’s Kickstarter campaign for his second album: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/74628798/renewable-rap-mr-ecos-worldwide-youth-album.

If you are looking to invite Mr. Eco to perform at your school, please reach out to him at MrEco@MrEco.org he can also be reach on Twitter or Instagram at the handle of @MrEco or better yet, watch his music videos on YouTube.com/MrEcoOffical, oh and his person website is MrEco.org

Deuces! 

Today’s guest is Jessica Santana, who is the co-founder of New York on Tech, a startup where it is there mission to prepare the next generation of technology leaders.

Jessica is a great example of leaving corporate to pursue a startup. And what makes her story so interesting is that her experiences working as a minority in corporate inspired her to develop New York on Tech. Not to mention her parents are immigrants that came here to help their family achieve the American dream.

We cover the topics such as:

• The gig economy and why parents should be paying more attention to it.
• How the education system is broken simply based on the fact they limit students by not offering enough hands on learning.
• The need for students to be exposed and inspired by potential opportunities that they have post graduation.
• In the long run, why skills matter the most over the theoretical learning?
• How to create a business model in ed tech?
• And much much more.

Give a shout out to Jessica on social media twitter: @JessWorldwide or her startup website: http://www.newyorkontech.org/

Thank you as always for listening, you guys are the best. Enjoy!

Craft wine is booming and today’s guest is in the thick of it! We welcome Sarah Kraft, co-founder of Hillersden Wine to kick off July with a bang. Hillersden has been able to accomplish some mind blowing results within a short period of time.

In this episode we cover topics that include:

• Why is it important to get involved in entrepreneurship at the college level?
• How jumping into a startup can be a way to discover your true passions?
• Doing vs planning?
• What is the difference between US and New Zealand wine?
• When a shopper picks up your product, what is the story you are telling them?
• How to execute marketing in niche locations that you might not normally think of?

If you’d like to contact Sarah Kraft you can find her on Twitter/Instagram @Hillersden/@Hillersden, Facebook facebook.com/Hillersden or order direct from them at www.hillersden.com

Today’s guest is Jeremiah Miller, founder of Forging Leaders, who in 2009 started his journey out by doing speaking engagements and writing articles when ever the opportunity presented itself. Eventually, in 2010 he was able to quit his 9 to 5 and pursue his passion of helping to make other leaders great.

In this interview we discuss the following questions and topics:

• How accountability is one of your biggest assets in building a company?
• Why is the greatest fear we have rejection? And how to over come it.
• How to convert your business plan into a strategic plan?
• How to avoid crisis moments with employees and give quality feedback?
• How to build allies who believe in your purpose enough to sacrifice for you?
• How to get buy-in from employees and co-workers?
• Why you should envision building a business as a game and develop a strategy around that game.
• How do leadership, athletics and grit relate? (my personal favorite part!)

If you'd like to contact Jeremiah Miller you can find him on Twitter @ForgingLeaders or on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/forgingleaders/?fref=ts 

Today’s guest is someone whose story is both that of success and doing the right thing for people who need it the most.

Aaron Steed and his brother started Meathead Movers as a way to make money while going to school and stay in shape for sports. Since this aha moment, they have strived endlessly to utilize the braun and brains of student athletes to help people move. With over 300 employees, MeatHead Movers has grown to become the largest independent moving company in California. Additionally, Meathead Movers provides free moving services to victims of domestic violence.

In this interview we address the following topics and questions:

• Sticking with your gut feeling with your brand name.
• How teamwork in sports translates to creating a quality team in a business.
• How to properly train the next generation of leaders.
• How to create visibility for your brand without spending a dime?
• Why is customer experience so important?
• The more all in you go, the better you’re going to feel.

Connect with Meathead Movers online at MeatheadMovers.com, or on social media Twitter / Instagram @MeatheadMovers

We hear all to much about tech related startups. However, I believe there can be just as much value found from looking into the small scrappy ones finding their niche and making a dent in their community. Today’s guest, Whalebird Kombucha is doing just that.

Jake met Mike at a house party serval years ago, both a little buzzed, Mike thought it would be an excellent business decision to bring Jake on board to be part of the team. Since then, their operations have grown to now being found up and down the central coast of California. Not to mention that have a sweet kombucha tasting room.

During this interview we cover:

• How determine which flavors customers will like the most?
• Why is a rebranding to stand out a good strategic decision?
• Is it more important that you enjoy the beverage or that the customer does?
• How timing is the most important element to starting a business.
• Why is educating the customer a priority?
• Using your community to help inspire other and promote your product.

If you’d like to contact Whalebird Kombucha on Instagram @WhalebirdKombucha

I'm super pumped to bring you today's guest on the Cult of Startup show. If you haven't heard of GhostCodes, go and download it ASAP!

Frank Danna, co-founder of GhostCodes, a simple, fast and fun way to discover new people on Snapchat. Went from being your average Joe software guy, to main stream Vine influencer, to multimedia consultant to now mobile app founder.

Although this conversation is nearly two hours long, I firmly believe this is the most entertaining episode yet. Frank is a world class storyteller & marketing guru.

Topics we cover:

• What are the unique values of telling stories through Snapchat?
• Contract negotiation when working with brands large and small. 
• Disadvantages & advantaged of being a first mover on a social media platform
• Why the copy and voice of your content matters?
• How do limitations build creativity?
• Buyer friendly values vs features.
• Why do brand waste money on over hyped influencers & not just go for the smaller more targeted influencers?
• Why everyone hates Applebee’s, but they have a Snapchat account?

Contact Frank on Snapchat @FrankeDanna or Twitter @erskine

Looking to scale your business from zero to 20k a month in revenue? Greg Hickman, founder of System.ly, has done just that. While documenting the entire journey in his Podcast Zero to Scale.

In this episode we discuss:

• The need for accountability in life & work.
• Leaving corporate and pursuing your passion. How to take the leap.
• Productizing your service.
• How to pivot while not exhausting your resources?
• What is the number on likely thing to derail an entrepreneur from success?
• How to select a mastermind group to join?

Contact Greg on Snapchat @GregHickman or Twitter @gjhickman

As always, you live.

By now, we know that education plays a critical role in the success of future generations. The challenge, of course, is keeping students consistently engaged along that journey. Logan Cohen, co-founder of Küdzoo Mobile App, has set out to solve this problem and is doing so with over half a million downloads.

In this episode we dig deep into:

• What is like to grow up with entrepreneurial parents?
• Why is team balance is pivotal to getting investing?
• How to be careful when contracting developers?
• How to get interest in a product before you write any code?
• The process of customer development and letting the customer tell you their real needs.
• Plenty more value to be found here--we hope you enjoy it!

Contact Logan on Twitter @loganecohen or on Snapchat @logansee