Guest:

Nick Jain, CEO of IdeaScale

Key Topics Discussed:

• IdeaScale’s Growth: How Nick’s leadership scaled IdeaScale into a global innovation platform.
• AI in Business: Early adoption of AI and how it transformed their operations.
• Challenges with AI: Problems like outdated code and "hallucination" errors in AI tools.
• Balancing Leadership & Personal Life: How Nick finds balance through hobbies like poker and running.
• Key Insights for Business Owners: What it takes to be a business owner today, including hard work and continuous self-improvement.

Key Moments:

• [00:01:00] – Nick discusses how IdeaScale began.
• [00:02:30] – The moment Nick realized AI’s transformative power.
• [00:05:50] – Nick shares the balance between AI and human input at IdeaScale.
• [00:11:30] – The challenges with outdated AI training data.
• [00:14:20] – Poker as a metaphor for leadership.

Quotes:

• “AI doesn’t replace humans; it makes us more effective at what we do.” – Nick Jain
• “You need something outside of work to refresh your brain—whether it's poker, running, or something else.” – Nick Jain

Call to Action:

• Visit IdeaScale.com to explore their platform, free for organizations under 100 people.
• Connect with Nick Jain on LinkedIn for further discussions on innovation and leadership.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Inspiration for Growing Healthy Seasons
2. Robyn’s story of being inspired by a child with autism while lifeguarding, leading her to pursue a career helping children with special needs.
3. Journey from Vision to Action
4. How Robyn’s experiences and her desire to fill gaps in the healthcare system led to the creation of Growing Healthy Seasons.
5. Scaling the Business
6. Robyn shares the pivotal moment when she realized the need to scale—during her pregnancy—and how this led to hiring her first team members.
7. Maintaining Quality While Scaling
8. Robyn’s commitment to ensuring high-quality care through a structured leadership and mentoring program called the Clinical Excellence Teams.
9. Overcoming Challenges
10. Robyn discusses the challenges of growing the business, from perfectionism to a tough decision to walk away from a 70% revenue-generating contract due to ethical concerns.
11. The Regulation Foundation Program
12. The development and impact of this program, designed to help both therapists and business professionals enhance their self-regulation skills.
13. Business Leadership and Innovation
14. Strategies for balancing growth with innovation and staying ahead in the field, while staying true to the company’s mission and values.
15. Key Takeaways for Business Owners
16. Robyn emphasizes the importance of doing the “next right thing” and staying grounded in core values as essential components of long-term business success.

Quotes:

• “It wasn't an either-or. We’re only scaling if we can maintain good quality services.” – Robyn Chu
• “I just dove deep into my core values... once I figured out the why under the what, it became less painful.”
• “What does it take to thrive as a business owner? Just doing the next right thing.”

Resources Mentioned:

• Growing Healthy Seasons – Website
• Regulation Foundation Program – Learn more about the program and its impact on mental health professionals and business leaders.

Connect with Robyn Chu:

• Website: growinghealthyseasons.com
• Instagram: @growinghealthyseasons

Guest: Karie Cowden, Founder of Connect the Dots Promotions

Host: Jamie Seeker

In this episode of What It Takes, Jamie Seeker sits down with Karie Cowden, the founder of Connect the Dots Promotions, a company that merges creativity with social impact through promotional products. Karie shares her inspiring journey from a surprising start in the industry to nearly three decades of running her business, working with major brands like Walmart and Boeing. She talks about the importance of social responsibility, sustainability, and giving back to the community, touching on her involvement in PromoCares and her innovative work with UMOM, a local homeless shelter, where she helped set a Guinness World Record.

1. Karie's Entrepreneurial Journey: How Karie transitioned from an unexpected job in promotional marketing to building her own business.
2. Social Responsibility in Business: The role of sustainability and mindful product choices in promotional marketing.
3. Community Involvement: Karie’s work with PromoCares and local charities, including her unique Guinness World Record event for UMOM.
4. Balancing Growth and Purpose: Insights into how Karie navigates challenges in maintaining profitability while staying committed to social good.
5. Pivoting and Future Goals: Karie discusses recent shifts in her business structure and her new role with Campus Stop, a company in the collegiate space.

• "We need to leave the world better than we found it." – Karie Cowden on the importance of sustainability in promotional products.
• "Sometimes your competitors are your best allies when it comes to making a real difference." – Karie on working with PromoCares.
• "You're allowed to change your mind, and when you find your purpose, that's where the magic happens." – Karie reflecting on her business pivots.

• Website: ctdpromotions.com
• Instagram: @ctdpromotions
• Facebook: Connect the Dots Promotions
• LinkedIn: Karie Cowden