At the London Tea Room last week I met Ronald. While he and I sipped iced tea and ate our panini's he talked to me about life after federal prison.

Ronald is pretty awesome. Against many odds he has become a small business owner, a proud father and a sound engineer. Luckily he had a great family behind him to support him after prison. When he got out he went back to school and earned his GED. Something he hadn't done before because he'd been kicked out. It wasn't easy because around the same time he was going through a divorce and taking care of his daughters, now 10, 9 and 4. "Just to rise above it...it's an amazing feeling". 

After completing his GED, he got a job as a cook prep, then a chauffeur then a forklift driver. He saved up some money and purchased a piece of property in Wellston, where he grew up. The house was a shell, but he worked out a plan with a friend's dad to put a roof on and he would pay him in installments. This is his first time flipping a house and he admits he's made a lot of mistakes, but he's already purchased another property in Wellston and three lots in Hazelwood. To be a part of the revitalization of the area is what drives him to do this. (a little more on Wellston here; http://www.thewellstonloop.com/)

Besides returning houses to their former glory, Ronald writes his own poetry. He thinks he first began when he was around 10 and never stopped. It's something he even incorporates into his music. Yes, he does music, too. He began watching videos on youtube several years ago on how to use Apple's Garage Band and learned from that how to record his own music. He transferred what he learned there to pro tools. Now he records himself and other local R & B and Hip Hop artists in his studio. This studio, 'Bermuda Music World', was named by his aunt because when Ronald was recording she said he was in the Bermuda Triangle. The album he's working on, entitled "My Odyssey", will be coming out this summer. Expect it to be a blend of Hip Hop and spoken word poetry. 

Ronald knows that music takes patience and at any time the right song could help things take off. So his main focus is his real estate. The thrill of being able to do these things is great for him, especially now that he isn't surrounded by the negative individuals that he surrounded himself with before prison.

As we wrapped up our teas and he his Vegetarian Panini, he told me of his experience with prison and going back to school, "I learned a lot from it. I think I learned more."

Insights: I think there is nothing to say.

If you see a guy wearing a Coca-Cola t-shirt, ordering a Pepsi, say "Hello" to Dr. Rahden.

He is a chiropractor and always knew that's what he wanted to be. It may have started because he lived near Logan School of Chiropractic as a kid and snuck to the windows of the anatomy lab with the other kids to see the bodies there. But where it most likely began, was at his wrestling match at Parkway Central. His sister's boyfriend, who was a part of the Canadian National Wrestling Team, came to see this particular match. In an attempt to really impress him, Dr. Rahden tried to do a hip thrust. The only thing he ended up thrusting was one of his ribs out of place. After his embarrassing defeat he was met in the bathroom by his sister's boyfriend who performed a J Move and Dr. Rahden was able to instantly breathe again! That was the moment.

Dr. Rahden embarked on his career path by getting a degree in biology in college. Life, however, had different plans. Four months after graduation he began throwing up blood and lost 45 lbs in about 2 months. He was off his parent's insurance and in order to take care of himself he had to find a job. Not long after getting started as an Account Executive at JP Morgan Chase he found out he had Crohn's Disease (Learn more here: http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/what-is-crohns-disease/).

In 2008 he went back to school and received his license to practice in 2011. Now, he has the career he's always wanted, he's happily married and loves taking his 7 year old daughter to the Muny (you may also recognize Dr. Rahden as he dances back to the car after a Muny performance). 

Theatre isn't just something he watches, it's something he does...for his family. One year after his grandfather had had a stroke and a heart attack but was still mentally fit, Dr. Rahden decided he wanted to do something special for him. So, he rounded up his cousins (they all had a little liquid courage in them) and performed a skit. They all had so much fun that it became a tradition that lasted for 10 years!

We did talk about his profession quite a bit. He was with an integrated medicine clinic up until 5 months ago, when he joined a friend from school to work in his practice in Ballwin. They are ramping up to become an integrated clinic with Doctors and Physical Therapists. One thing he maintains is that he will not be a "rack and crack" chiropractor who does hundreds of adjustments per day. He provides a more personalized experience, he may even spend a substantial amount of time loosening a muscle before adjusting, otherwise that muscle will pull the bone back out of place when he's finished.

It was great meeting Dr. Rahden for a coffee at the Chesterfield Kaldi's!

Insights: I think it's inspiring that Dr. Rahden was able to overcome the obstacles that he faced in order to follow his dream. I also would like to start wearing a Coca-Cola shirt and ordering a Dr. Pepper.

Entrepreneurial is neither easy to say nor to type. Poor Tyler, he has to say it all the time, but he's gotten pretty good at it.

We met at Crave near SLU's campus. If you haven't been, go. It's a church AND a coffee house! (http://www.cravestl.org/ for more info). Tyler grew up in Springfield, IL, a suburb of Memphis and Mississippi before moving to St. Louis to go to college. After finishing a degree in Entrepreneurship and International Business at SLU, he was asked to take on his current position, where he helps the student entrepreneurs market their projects and ideas. He works 25 hours per week which gives him time to work on his side projects. Including the app that he developed while he was in school, Swagulator. Do you think you have swag? Well you're not cool until you know EXACTLY how much swag you have. Check it out! 

This app got Tyler into the tech scene locally. He attended the T-Rex Incubator 'Startup Weekend St. Louis' this past year. This is an event where people form groups and develop an idea. This goes on over a 54 hour time period and by the end you will have a new startup! It was at this event that Tyler met some friends and together they began developing an app called Kerosene that synchronizes a light show on your phone with others around you, for example at a concert or event.

Tyler was lucky enough to attend South By Southwest (SXSW) on a bus with St. Louis and Kansas City entrepreneurs this past year. The experience was incredible and on the bus it was decided that KC and STL need to work together more to develop startups and change the perception that the Midwest is a fly-over zone. He believes that in the next few years there will be a lot of collaboration between the neighbor states in the Midwest on startup projects.

The development of St. Louis businesses and brain drain are both issues that Tyler and I hashed out in pretty great detail. In his department at SLU, and at many other college campuses in the nation, there's concern about the number of out of town students that leave town after finishing college (he says about 90%). With programs like T-Rex happening, Tyler believes things are starting to change and talent is staying local. But...this winter was pretty tough for him so he MIGHT be a part of that statistic at some point. There are no plans to leave the area for now, though.

Insights: Creating something like an app, or a website, or a business can seem pretty intimidating if you don't know how to start. I think it's crucial to have a support system around you that you can bounce ideas off of. I'm so proud to live in St. Louis where we are creating all of these support systems.

Do you need a sounding board? Sign up for a free coffee!

Connie is like a shot of caffeine and she uses this energy to stay busy with projects from music to biomedical engineering to venture capital! 

Connie is studying biomedical engineering at Washington University, but don't make the mistake of pigeonholing her into this field, because she is a firm believer in learning as much information as possible because who knows, maybe she'll need it 20 years from now. 

This is the logic that led her to a talk on Venture Capital recently, where she was the only female in the room. "I don't think there are a lot of girls who are interested in tech or finance, but I was the ONLY girl there and it was really interesting". She had recently finished reading 'Lean In' by Sheryl Sandberg, which mentions the lack of women in these types of positions and industries, so it was poignant for her to witness this firsthand.

This summer at Capital One, Connie will be working as a business analyst. Yet another foray into uncharted territory for her (she's never taken a business class)! She took this job because she thought it would be beneficial to help her go through a logical thought process. We laughed at the fact that although she feels like she's very logical, sometimes she just goes with what feels right, like music. Have you ever heard of Jammin' with Phil? Me either. But if Connie has anything to say about it, you will very soon. The music scene at Washington University is growing and she has two friends who are rappers that introduced her to Jammin' with Phil. They were looking for a manager to help them book shows and Connie had some background in programming, so she volunteered! She already had a love for music, playing piano and trumpet, so it was easy for her to bridge the gap between her music and programming experience.

I don't know how she finds the time for everything, but in addition to managing a band and participating in talks on Venture Capital, Connie is also on the swim team and is the Vice President of the Junior Class. Does she have time to help put together a research symposium? Yes! And, how about putting together a two day event that takes big issues and breaks them down to the practical ways they can help society? Done!

This two day event was her brainchild after she won the student lottery and was able to attend the Clinton initiative. She thought, why doesn't Washington University do something like this? So, she brought the idea to the Dean of Engineering and received more support than she expected. The concept is to have different stations with topics like 'food safety' or 'environmental protection' and let students convene in areas that interest them to share ideas and research. Then she hopes to have a major speaker lined up and the next day panel discussions by alumni and local business owners. This event will be open to all students, but it's intended to help the speakers, too. Hopefully the event will help them see how their ideas can be practically applied and contribute to humanity.

Connie is applying for medical school this summer while she works on her multitude of other projects.
Keep your eyes out for her, because with all of the experience she's gaining, who knows where she'll end up...

Insights: Everything Connie does, she does with purpose. Although we didn't get to it, I think she has a destination in mind. I give myself daily goals and hourly goals that help me reach my monthly goals. But what do those months add up to? Like Connie, I need to pinpoint a destination to make the journey more meaningful.

Rose, by any other name, would be just as awesome to meet for Coffee #21.http://archgrants.org/), which they hope will help them get a solid marketing plan in place and jump start the reviews.

Carol knows her coffee. And her coffee is Organo Gold. 

Carol has been selling Organo Gold to individuals and businesses for about 2 years now. And what surprised me was that because this coffee is so hugely popular, her husband has been able to stop working!

Because I'm not a big coffee fan (I know, weird), Carol had to prepare the cup of coffee for me with creamer and sugar. I was nervous, because I've never enjoyed the taste, but I was surprised how nice and mild it was. As we sipped our coffees she told me how the coffee had Ganoderma Lucidum. This is the worlds oldest medicinal herb. It's widely used in Asia and its gaining a following here, too. Carol also pointed out that coffee is woven into our culture with coffee tables, coffee shops, etc.  While she wants to leave a legacy for her family, Carol also wants to use coffee to build happier, healthier communities in St. Louis.

Before she found Organo Gold, Carol worked in the restaurant industry for about 18 years, much of that as a local or regional manager. At the same time she was staying busy by performing in her church choir or singing backup around Delmar with her friends band. 

Be prepared to be slightly jealous...

Coffee #17 was with Jonathan. Jonathan is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Systematic Revenue. The same place that Jamie with coffee #13 works! Oddly enough, neither one had mentioned it to the other, they'd both found me organically through the Techli article written about my concept. 

The easiest way to sum up Jonathan is with a question..."why?" Our 45 minute conversation revolved around this theme. Why do what you do? Why leave your family everyday to go to a "job"? Even talking to Jonathan for 5 minutes, one can pick up his passion for what he does at Systematic Revenue. It's his passion for his team and for helping small business owners grow their sales. Why is he so passionate about this? Because he gets to help other people spend less time at work and more time with family or generally doing what it is they love. 

Jonathan has been with this company for about 3 months now. Before this he worked with another company that believes was a family to him in many ways. In talking about this and the research behind bottom-up management, he told me that he "eats culture for breakfast"! I agree that company culture is absolutely essential in making happy employees. He said that only 1 in 5 people are engaged at work and that 90% of people who leave their jobs, actually leave their bosses. He strives to be a servant leader. Why strive for this? Why not just aim for profit related goals? Jonathan's been eating his culture for breakfast for a few years now and has seen that outside of a boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse relationship, the working relationship you have with your manager is one of the most important relationships. And the top-down culture that most organizations create is a part of the reason that many of them are failing. 

He thrives in a purpose driven company, one where he can wake up every morning and kiss his two daughters and his wife goodbye and tell them, "Dad's going off to change the world". He and Systematic Revenue are doing that in a few ways, not the least of which is the partnership they've formed to sponsor an entrepreneur in a third world company with every new customer they sign up here. 

Meeting Jonathan was better than a caffeine fix to get my day started! He began our meeting with a high five and to complete the circle, I threw him a long distance high five as we climbed into our cars and drove away.

Meet Ryan. A music entrepreneur who records and manages local indie musicians, all out of his home that he converted into a studio.
Ryan first got into music in high school when he started taking guitar lessons. After only a year the place he was studying offered him a job as an instructor. From there he studied music and audio engineering in college, where he met his now business partner. Together they started a student run record label until about 2009 when they built up their own recording studio, where they've been successfully working on making a sustainable music scene in St. Louis for five years. They started their label, called Loud Label, around 2010. Recently, some of the bands that Ryan works with have even begun to branch outside of St. Louis. He and his business partner hope to organize several more tours outside of the area this year.
When we met, Ryan gave me a CD he'd released for a band called "Everything's Fine America". It was a folksy-mix with a unique use of brass instruments. There were at least three songs that had me toe-tapping along as I listened the second (and third) time.
Ryan actually knows Matthew who I met for Coffee #11. When I suggested that he go to Creative Happy Hour (Crappy Hour), he already knew about it and said he was good friends with a lot of the people who attend.
A quick side note, I have a habit, good or bad, of finishing people's phrases. Most people accept the word that I give them and move on to finish their thought without even thinking about it. But some people, very few though, will say "no" and supply their own word. I know this is minor, but I've always wondered what this might say about someone and I find it really interesting when I meet someone who doesn't use my words. Ryan did not.
The other thing I noticed while listening to the recording of our meeting, was that I came in (after work) with a really frenetic pace, talking quickly and loudly and trying hard to fill every silence. Ryan was laid back and calm. By the end of our conversation we had kind of met in the middle as far as pace and volume.
Back to our free coffee meeting...
Here's what I found extremely interesting, Ryan started a crowd-funding website to help stabilize historic buildings in St. Louis. He wants to start a dialogue with St. Louisans about what restoration means, because it can be as simple as stabilizing a structure until a developer can come in and rehab it. The focus right now is Old North St. Louis, near Crown Candy Kitchen. 
Right now St. Louis tears does a lot of its historic structures, and Ryan wants the city to see that we St. Louisans care about redevelopment. The city currently has a demolition budget, but he wants that to be shifted to a budget for stabilizing buildings that are a part of our history. Kudos to the city, who released a sustainability plan recently, part of which calls for a stabilization fund. 
As he was telling me all of this, I remembered a passage I had read in a guide book a few years back when my sister and I went on a road trip through the U.S. In talking about St. Louis, it said that there isn't much to see because we've converted a lot of our historic structures into parking lots and let the rest fall into disrepair. 
That's a terrible reputation to have, and after talking to Ryan, I want to help change that trend and change that paragraph in the guidebook. To help with this project you can visit Ryan's website, http://www.brickstarter.com. He is working with Old North Restoration Group, a not for profit that is doing a lot of work to help this area.
The cost of stabilization varies depending on the project, but his current goal is $10,000. As of our meeting last week he had reached $2,000.
I really enjoyed meeting Ryan and really learned a lot about him and about St. Louis. 

Insights: I should make a conscious effort to slow down and really pay attention to the person sitting across from me.

I'd really like to meet you for coffee.
I'm currently falling short of my goal and I only have 5 more months.
Sign up to get a free coffee together and tell me all about you and the interesting things you're doing!

I met with Pat this week at Bread Co., after both of us running late and Pat accidentally going to the wrong location (at least he gets reimbursed for the mileage!). What's fun is Kristen and DJ with Coffee #4, connected me to Jacqui at coffee #5, who connected me to Pat! It keeps growing!

We started by talking about my website concept because he wasn't familiar with it. He agreed to let me record our meeting so I was able to write a more detailed blog post. Pat works with Market Volt and has been there for 2 years. He's engineered campaigns for a wide scope of businesses with tools that let him send emails that mirror the look of a company's website.He was very proud of the marketing campaigns that he'd engineered for small businesses, most especially where he tied in other media partners and generated leads and response for these local companies. This led to talking about how important it is to use email and any other media to gain information from potential customers (while also sharing information, it's a two way street).Market Volt has been around for 12 years and Pat is the first salesmen for the company. The small business way of doing things really appealed to him and he loves that he can bring his ideas to the owners and directly influence operations and policies.

At a few points I started yawning because I'd gotten up very early and we shared a laugh about how he was boring me.

Pat worked with Hertz before and has been doing sales for 15 years.  He started by selling vacuum cleaners door to door, and he tells me that as long as he can out run a Rottweiler, there isn't much that deters him from telling people about a product he's selling.

He also DJ's on the weekends for weddings and events. Currently, he works with a company to do this, but he used to own a business that booked DJ events. He loves volleyball and coached college volleyball for 4 years. He's currently brainstorming how to make a growth serum so his 1.5 and 4 year old will be tall enough to play :)

Pat was really on top of the Clear Channel radio stations that I work with. Any changes we've made to our stations, he knew before I could mention it!

I told Pat that I was looking to connect with business owners who understand the importance of digital marketing. I also gave him some connections that I know are looking for a solid email marketing campaign.

Insight: I loved recording the conversation. It made writing the blog so much easier.
I've also realized how difficult it can be to try and schedule a meeting via email. I may try to set up a scheduler on the homepage where interested parties can just sign up for a time.