Truthache

With no guests in sight, Michael and Daniel have a conversation about managing business goals, business as a numbers game, and the pain of losing a pet.
About the Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

Edwin has two jobs, but even if he had three, he’d always deliver on time. His philosophy is to get the job done. If it’s hard, do it early instead of putting it off. He discovered this strategy as a kid. If you don’t like what’s for dinner, take bigger bites. Get it done.
That’s how he leads his sales team at a software company, and how he leads those who report to him in the Air Force Reserves. 
We discussed how to find shirts for tall, slender guys, how to be good at cold calling, or anything else you’ve never done before, and whether momentum beats discipline. 
About the Guest:
Edwin Frieden is Vice President of Sales at Ember Software for fire protection businesses. Find him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwin-frieden-09130035/ and https://www.embersoftware.com/.
About the Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

We finally got Joel and Michael in the same room. Two people in the same business, ready to slit each other’s throats. 
Instead, they became best friends. Joel is an instinctive businessman who has built an e-commerce business in an industry often filled with small business owners beating the streets. One day, with little to his name, he left his dad’s business and his home in Florida and moved to Indiana. He slapped a website on the internet and turned it into a faucet of money.
In this episode, we talk about how people navigate such an endeavor, how they deal with the competition, including when faced with them on the other side of a podcast studio. 
About the Guest:
Joel McCall is the founder and owner of Logo Shirts Direct, an e-commerce embroidery business that helps people look good at trade shows, on sales calls, and more. Find him at https://logoshirtsdirect.com/.
About the Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

There’s a lot packed into each episode, but with Jason, there’s too much to fit in one release. 
We received lots of feedback on our last episode with Jason, especially from those who said we should have gone deeper into the topic of Flat Earth Theory. So we invited him back on for a focused (and respectful) discussion on his belief that the Earth is flat. 
There was a lot of head scratching and eyebrows raised, but in this conversation, we went deep down the rabbit trail. We discussed why Jason believes in a flat planet, his argument for why others should follow along, whether you can trust institutional authorities, and a reflective assessment of what might be the weakest points of this view.
Long-time listener, second-time caller. Welcome Jason back to the show.
 
Mentioned in this episode:
The Antarctic Treaty, which does not prohibit visitors, as stated in the show. https://www.ats.aq/e/antarctictreaty.html
The rigorous process required to establish a scientific theory:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/video/the-development-of-scientific-theories.html#:~:text=A%20scientific%20theory%20is%20not,other%20scientists%20to%20gain%20validity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
About the Guest:
Jason Graf is a former pastor and now a sales manager in the construction field. On the side, he studies biblical theology.
About the Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).
 

Grant has solar panels on his house, which will really pay off when he eventually moves in. Until then, he’ll have to settle for a solar-powered Casio timepiece while he crashes in Barb’s basement – his mother is very hospitable. 
Grant started his career by building Go-carts and trying to figure out what the word “consulting” meant without coming right out and asking about it. Now he develops hard tech products for people who pay him through his company Glassboard – it’s consulting, actually. 
Grant says hard technology is more important than AI. He makes a good case too in this episode. It was a great conversation. We talk about how batteries work, the trajectory of AI advancement, and Formula One racing.
About the guest:
Grant Chapman is CEO of Glassboard. Find his company at https://www.glassboard.com and his podcast at https://www.thehardtechpodcast.com.
About The Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency and author of The Lorem Ipsum.
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads.

Ryan is a low-stress guy, but when he acquired a business from its retiring owners, he found he had even more things to not stress about. Like many entrepreneurs, he finds himself processing issues at 2:00 in the morning. Staffing, payroll, cost controls, profitability, and anything else to keep you up at night.
Ryan told me that life is too short to put up with these things. And to navigate the stress of business and life, he’s picked up at least three methods to manage stress and anxiety.
The Lookout method
Couch Counting method
The Baby Carrier method
After we talked about how to navigate stress, we talked about how Ryan has 9 kids, which made me want to go back to the first topic. (It’s stressful enough having a dog.)
We talked about the differences he sees in each kid, whether the traditional college path, entrepreneurship, or something else is right for each of them. We also talked about whether AI would make all of their jobs (and ours) obsolete. I’ll ask Claude to figure this one out for me, or just invite Ryan back for another conversation focused on the future of technology.
About the Guest:
Ryan Brubaker is an entrepreneur who recently acquired Select Sewing (https://contact.selectsewingservice.com/) and has served as a CIO for several companies.
About the Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

You could say that you have to fight to get what you deserve. But whoever said that didn't do the math, because getting a better deal at a high cost is not that great a deal. 
We dive into the Trump vs Iran peace deal and apply the same principles to everyday life and business. We discuss our views on good deals, bad deals, and how optimizing to get the best deal sometimes means taking less at a lower cost and leaving with more in your pocket.
About The Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

There’s a massive gap between serving your country and surviving a life back in it.
That, as Courtney Zaugg explains, is the big challenge veterans face when transitioning from being a soldier to being a dad, an employee, or an entrepreneur.
Courtney spends her life advocating for veterans, starting with her husband, Nathan, years ago. She talks about the “missing middle” between military service and getting back to civilian life, as Nathan experienced. Finding meaning, finding the work that makes you come alive, and navigating reentry.
After starting a construction business, together they realized that what Nathan needed was something many veterans needed. So they started VentureVets to help other veterans who were starting their own ventures.
She explains to employers that hiring veterans is not “charity,” but it’s hiring someone who has already been trained to navigate complex situations, with little information, and a need to adapt and pick up new skills on the fly. It's a smart decision.
In our conversation, we talked about the most important thing that veterans need for success in entrepreneurship. Ahead of capital, training, and protein, they need community. For Courtney’s business, community is a business strategy.
About the guest:
Courtney Zaugg is cofounder of Venture Vets (https://venture.vet/), a 501(c)(3) dedicated to economic growth through the veteran community.
About The Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

We’re releasing this episode as audio only, thanks to a setting Daniel forgot to change on the cameras that resulted in unfit footage. You deserve better, so expect more with the next episode.
Jason was a minister who decided he wanted to get closer to the truth. This led him to a new set of conclusions, not in line with the denomination that he was a part of, and ultimately, they excommunicated him.
We accept him just the way he is, but we didn’t let him get out of the hot seat without being challenged. We talked about his worldview (including literally talking about his thoughts on the heliocentric view of Earth), how he determines it is true, and whether or not absolute truth even exists. 
If you’re uncomfortable talking about sex, politics or religion, one of those is all over this episode, so buckle up.
About the guest:
Jason Graf is a sales manager for Danco Roofing in Indianapolis.
About The Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).

Getting older has its moments. There’s a sense of freedom, but it is also strange at times. We discuss this with Jeremy Zucker, whom I’ve known since he decided to start a business, then decided to stop. He says work is less hard, but he’s also not looking for any more corporate ladders.
We talked about navigating the loss of the creative edge as you get older, and how to keep it. We also talked about music, and Jeremy’s former side gig pressing vinyl records for select artists. 
About the guest:
Jeremy Zucker works in the medical industry, managing teams of writers, and spends more time going to concerts than literally anyone we know.
About The Hosts:
Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency (HRNDN.com) and author of The Lorem Ipsum (danielkherndon.com).
Michael Salemi owns a branded apparel and promotional products company, Colored Threads (colored-threads.com).