How do you transition from backup dancing for A-list musical artists to becoming a licensed pilot and founding an in-airport wellness company?

Recorded live from Central Park, Dave Gulas sits down with Youmie Jean Francois, founder and CEO of Flex-n-Fly. Youmie shares her 8.5-year journey of turning a sudden spark of inspiration during a flight layover in Morocco into physical airport wellness studios—offering pre-flight yoga, meditation, and red light therapy at major hubs like LaGuardia and Newark.

Youmie breaks down the brutal realities of cash flow, navigating predatory lending practices for small businesses, why she rejects the mask of "having it all together," and how her nonprofit foundation is giving underserved communities real access to travel, wellness, and AI education.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Preview: Enjoying the humble journey & knowing you can do hard things
• 01:04 Welcome to Beyond Fulfillment from Central Park, NYC
• 01:36 From backup dancer to travel wellness founder
• 03:03 The layover in Morocco: Discovering the concept for Flex-n-Fly
• 04:45 Becoming a pilot and pitching a completely new airport concept
• 05:51 Saving late-night restaurant tips to hire a corporate lawyer
• 06:47 Launching travel yoga mats and growing the initial audience
• 09:35 Embracing the journey: Why showing up authentically builds a loyal community
• 11:25 Customer intentionality: Why small businesses must protect their loyal supporters
• 14:13 Facing everyday founder burnout and small business loan barriers
• 17:00 Expanding to LaGuardia & Newark and creating the Flex-n-Fly Foundation
• 20:51 Three core pillars: Travel, wellness, and entrepreneurship for underserved communities
• 23:25 How the in-airport 15-minute and 35-minute studios operate
• 25:04 The ultimate lesson: Proving to yourself that you can handle hard things

Key Takeaways:

• Document the Process, Not Just the Destination: Audiences align with authentic founders who share the real struggles of building rather than projecting an illusion of instant perfection.
• Protect Your Foundation Early: When launching a novel concept in heavily regulated spaces like aviation, prioritize proper legal structuring and trademark protection upfront.
• Own Your Direct Connections: Social media platforms fluctuate, but maintaining an active, owned email list provides total control over customer communication.
• Build Philanthropy Into the Journey: You don't have to wait for an exit to give back; creating community access to wellness and education along the way multiplies your overall impact.

Connect with Youmie:

• Company Website: flexnfly.com
• Foundation Website: theflexnflyfoundation.org
• Instagram: @flexnflyofficial
• LinkedIn: Youmie Jean Francois on LinkedIn

Support & Episode Partners:

• 💼 Max Capital Hub: https://maxcapitalhub.com/
• 🌊 Oceans Talent: https://hire.oceanstalent.com/dave_gulas

About Beyond Fulfillment:

Beyond Fulfillment is a weekly show about the people and operations behind growing e-commerce and lifestyle brands, hosted by Dave Gulas, co-founder of EZDC 3PL. Follow on Apple · Spotify · YouTube. Need a fulfillment partner? Visit https://www.ezdc3pl.com/.

#TravelWellness #Entrepreneurship #FlexnFly #YoumieJeanFrancois #Aviation #BeyondFulfillment #ShopTalk

Supply chain executives can make maybe five decisions a day, but the network demands a hundred. What happens when AI makes the rest?

Dave Gulas welcomes back Jim Tompkins, founder of Tompkins Logistics. After decades shaping the logistics industry, Jim explains why he’s launching an AI-native, autonomous orchestration layer that sits on top of the entire end-to-end supply chain. It’s not a 3PL or a 4PL, and it’s built to optimize the whole network instead of its individual parts.

Jim breaks down why optimizing each warehouse and transportation move separately produces “noise” instead of music, why the 4PL model no longer fits modern supply chains, and why neutrality is the foundation of trust. He also explains how companies can get their time back by focusing on their core competencies.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Preview: Complexity is a tax on your future
• 00:51 Welcome back, Jim: Why launch Tompkins Logistics now?
• 02:03 What it is: An autonomous orchestration layer, not a 3PL or 4PL
• 03:00 The orchestra analogy: Optimize the network, not the components
• 03:43 What changed that made orchestration possible and necessary
• 06:03 How AI makes real-time decisions across the network
• 07:26 Why the 4PL model is outdated
• 08:21 Why neutrality is the foundation of trust
• 09:10 The outcomes: Service, cost, and resilience
• 10:09 Core competencies: Why you may not need to run your own logistics
• 12:02 The future: Orchestration as common as WMS and ERP
• 13:15 The one takeaway: Complexity is a tax on your future
• 14:07 Where to learn more

Key Takeaways:

• Optimize the Network, Not the Parts: Improving each warehouse or transportation move individually doesn’t produce a better supply chain. Orchestrating the whole network does.
• Humans Can’t Make 100 Decisions a Day: Spreadsheets, dashboards, and meetings support a handful of decisions daily. AI can make network-level decisions autonomously and give you real optionality when disruptions hit.
• Neutrality Builds Trust: Loads and inventory should go where they deliver the best cost, delivery, and resilience, not to the partner who always gets them.
• Complexity Is a Tax on Your Future: Adding another dashboard or software package isn’t the answer. Changing the operating model is.
• Focus on What Moves the Needle: If logistics isn’t your core competency, hand it off and spend your time on product, innovation, sales, and service.

Connect with Jim:

• Website: tompkins-logistics.com
• Email: jtompkins@tompkins-logistics.com
• LinkedIn: Jim Tompkins on LinkedIn

Support & Episode Partners:

• 💼 Max Capital Hub: https://maxcapitalhub.com/
• 🌊 Oceans Talent: https://hire.oceanstalent.com/dave_gulas

About Beyond Fulfillment:

Beyond Fulfillment is a weekly show about the people and operations behind growing e-commerce brands, hosted by Dave Gulas, co-founder of EZDC 3PL. Follow on Apple · Spotify · YouTube.

Need a fulfillment partner? Visit https://www.ezdc3pl.com/.

#SupplyChain #Logistics #AI #AutonomousSupplyChain #4PL #3PL #TompkinsLogistics #JimTompkins #BeyondFulfillment

How do you go from pre-med biochemistry and dental plans to running a 12-year-old media and data analytics firm?

In this episode of Beyond Fulfillment, Dave Gulas sits down with Kenny Ridgell, founder of Ridge Media. Kenny shares his wild entrepreneurial path; from subcontracting lawn care in high school and building a Charleston city app, to cooking late-night breakfasts for strip clubs on weekends just to pay his first agency employees.

Kenny breaks down how he disappointed his father by ditching dental school, why he restructured his agency around specialized contractors rather than full-time generalists, and how embracing a "fail fast, fail hard" mindset built a resilient, 12-year business.

In this episode:

• Ditching dental school and surviving a month of silence from his dad
• The "strip club breakfast hustle" that funded his early agency staff
• Shifting from a high-burn app concept to a profitable ad agency
• Moving from creative agency work to data-driven media buying
• The general contractor model: Scaling margins using specialists over internal bloat
• Why long-term business survival depends on positioning yourself as a problem solver

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Preview: Fail fast, fail hard & late-night hustles
• 00:54 High school lawn care: Early lessons in subcontracting
• 02:08 The pre-dental path and the Charleston spreadsheet that launched an app
• 03:51 Discovering his app was eating all the profits from his ad work
• 07:20 Telling his dad he’s leaving dentistry (and the 30-day silent treatment)
• 09:47 Navigating the brutal emotional highs and lows of early entrepreneurship
• 13:30 Cooking 100 lbs of bacon at 1 AM to pay employee salaries
• 15:51 Escalating milestone moments: First salary, first vacation, first manager
• 17:04 Restructuring the business: Why switching to a sub-contractor model saved margins
• 19:56 E-Myth lessons: Turning your job back into a scalable business
• 21:03 Adapting through COVID-19 and AI disruptions
• 24:00 The most rewarding part of the 12-year journey

Key Takeaways:

• Follow the Cash Cow: Don't let a passion project burn through the profits of a working service business. Separate your books and double down on what actually generates margin.
• Fail Fast, Fail Hard: Every failure carries data. Push into new initiatives completely rather than dipping your toes in, learn the lesson immediately, and never fail the exact same way twice.
• Adopt a General Contractor Model: Scaling full-time staff for every niche can destroy profitability. Keep core strategists internal while contracting specialized execution experts to keep overhead agile.
• Be a Sticky Problem Solver: Tools, platforms, and AI will change every five years. Clients keep you long-term when you solve cross-functional problems across their entire tech and marketing stack.

Connect with Kenny:

• Website: ridgemediallc.com
• LinkedIn: Kenny Ridgell on LinkedIn

Support & Episode Partners:

• 💼 Max Capital Hub: https://maxcapitalhub.com/
• 🌊 Oceans Talent: https://hire.oceanstalent.com/dave_gulas

About Beyond Fulfillment:

Beyond Fulfillment is a weekly show about the people and operations behind growing e-commerce brands, hosted by Dave Gulas, co-founder of EZDC 3PL. Follow on Apple · Spotify · YouTube.

Need a fulfillment partner? Visit https://www.ezdc3pl.com/.

#Entrepreneurship #AdAgency #BusinessGrowth #DataAnalytics #RidgeMedia #KennyRidgell #BeyondFulfillment