Jeremy Joins Jane Portman on the UIBreakfast Podcast to talk about launching a creative project on Kickstarter

What should you do to ensure your Kickstarter campaign success? How can you avoid common pitfalls in structuring your reward tiers? Our guest today is Jeremy Slagle, founder of Slagle Design. You’ll learn how Jeremy successfully launched two children’s book projects, his tips on launching a crowdfunding campaign, benefits beyond funding, and more.

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Show Notes

• Happy Cargo Books — Jeremy’s book project with Beth Stafford

• Slagle Design — Jeremy’s design studio

• Dropbox Paper — a collaboration tool

• Kickstarter, GoFundMe — popular crowdfunding options

• Squarespace — a popular CMS

• Studio Neat pens — a great product example

• It Will Be Exhilarating — a book by Studio Neat

• Find Jeremy at Slagle Design

• Follow Jeremy on Twitter and Instagram

Follow Jane here: https://twitter.com/uibreakfast • https://uibreakfast.com

Jeremy Joins Heather Parady on the Unconventional Leaders Podcast

I had the privilege of talking with Heather Parady on her “Unconventional Leaders” Podcast again, this time on the topic of “Big Brands for a Small Business.”

Heather is such a blast to talk with and I always enjoy or conversation.

If you haven’t heard our first podcast appearance, it’s one of my all-time favorites. You can listen to that episode here.

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How do you stand out in a SEA full of people who are doing what you are doing? Jeremy Slagle says it starts with STORY. So before you start making a logo and deciding what your branding colors are going to be, you need to go to the farmer’s market, pull out a notebook and ask some deep questions. Say what? Yup. Today you are going to learn a few practices that will help your small business have a bangin’ brand.

JOY VENTURE | Brad & Krystal Woodard on what it means to “Brave the Woods”

“The one thing we’ve learned about our business is that no one is going to come to you and say “Oh, you want to do a children’s book, here you go” or “Oh, you want to teach or speak more, here you go.” If we want to do it, we’ve got to make it happen.”

— KRYSTAL WOODARD, Brave the Woods

In order to brave the woods successfully, you’d better walk into them with a plan, some goals and the right tools. It’s not an analogy on how to work with Brad and Krystal Woodard, owners of Brave the Woods, but rather a mindset of how they look to build a family-run business that’s going to fulfill and stretch them in all the right ways. 

Brad is the face and accomplished designer behind their action-oriented moniker while Krystal keeps all things non-design running and mapping out the journey, quick to push Brad out of his comfort zone for the sake of growing. 

This Boise, Idaho duo stopped in Columbus as part of a cross-country workshop tour and talked with us about what motivates them and how they are motivating others. From Kickstarting a children’s book to support victims of Typhoon Haiyan in The Philippines, to crowdsourcing Artists for Education with educational design for teachers to use in the classroom -- doing good and building community are part and parcel of their craft. It’s those brave and unselfish acts that are key to their success and opening up opportunities that fuel their business, which also reveal new ways to do meaningful work and have a positive impact on others. 

JOY VENTURE | Kevin Ely on honing his craft (beer)

“I brew beer that I like to drink, and I like to share that. Not that we won’t have 12 percent alcohol beers that knock you over, but that’s not our forte. We’re trying to brew delicate beers. I think simple and subtle can be very powerful.”

— KEVIN ELY, Founder & Brewmaster, The Wooly Pig Farm Brewery

Kevin Ely knows beer. And now he knows how to build a brewery — quite literally by hand.

Kevin's story is a pivot of a different nature. Previously the brewmaster at Uinta Brewing, a nationally recognized craft brewery in Salt Lake City, Kevin and his wife Jael Malenke decided to move back to her hometown in Fresno and purchase a farm.

Fresno, Ohio that is.   

Armed with a degree in brewing science from UC Davis (yes, there is such a degree), Kevin is no hobbyist. Beer is indeed his career and he's a recurring judge at the annual Great American Beer Festival. Kevin shares with us his decision to start his own brewery in Ohio, the importance that family and community played in that decision, and why starting a farm brewery in a rural patch of rolling hills just made sense. Curly haired mangalitsa pigs ("wooly" pigs) that inspired the name actually roam his farmland and are visible from his taproom patio with cold beer in hand. It's both idyllic and intentional; it's also indicative of everything about this brewery. From the quirky name to the German-Bavarian style of beers he chooses to brew, down to his hand-made and hand-planed taproom — all of it is crafted with purpose and a story behind it.