In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Benny Calderone, Founder of The Zoomies Group, to discuss his 28-year career in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry and the entrepreneurial journey that led him to launch his own consulting firm. Benny shares how an unexpected opportunity early in his career, encouraged by his mother, opened the door to leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, and executive positions across global packaging and consumer goods companies. Drawing on experience through major economic disruptions, global supply chain challenges, and private equity-backed organizations, he reflects on the lessons that shaped his leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of resilience, consistency, relationship-building, and leveraging cross-functional business expertise to help organizations grow sustainably.

The conversation also explores Benny's transition from corporate executive to entrepreneur, the inspiration behind The Zoomies Group, and his mission to help founders and business leaders scale through strategic sales leadership, mentorship, and operational guidance. He discusses why building the right business foundation, being intentional about growth, and creating systems that extend beyond a single individual are essential for long-term success. Throughout the episode, Benny offers practical advice for entrepreneurs navigating uncertainty, balancing ambitious growth with personal well-being, and building businesses that create lasting value while remaining true to their culture and purpose.

Connect:

Website: https://www.thezoomiesgroupllc.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benny-calderone-jr-a9a3b617/

In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Mark Holland, CEO of Coverica Insurance and Risk Management, shares a career story that spans more than 30 years, multiple companies, a devastating business betrayal, a dramatic revenue collapse, and ultimately a faith-driven pivot that landed him in the CEO chair of a Christian-founded, employee-owned insurance agency in Texas. Mark built his career expertise around employee benefits and benefit communication technology, grew one firm to five locations and 3,000 commercial clients, sold it to a partner who never paid him and then destroyed the business within six months, rebuilt from scratch, and then watched a second wave of success evaporate when seven of his top ten revenue clients were acquired in a 30-month stretch that took revenues from $1.8 million to $225,000. It was in that valley, during a moment of prayer, that he found Coverica, a company whose biblical founding principles and employee ownership structure matched his own values in a way no purely financial opportunity could.

The conversation explores what it actually looks like to merge two complementary insurance disciplines, commercial property and casualty and employee benefits, and why the firms that have tried to do this through private equity acquisition have largely failed where a values-aligned, relationship-first approach can succeed. Mark also walks through how Coverica is using the Entrepreneurial Operating System to align its growing team around shared goals, how three acquisitions in a single year are expanding its bench strength in employee benefits, and why AI is being deployed not to reduce headcount but to free up service professionals to spend more time being human with their clients. His closing advice to every small business leader navigating the hard seasons is the same lesson his own journey taught him the hard way: stop chasing the finish line at the expense of the journey, find your faith, maintain your balance, and surround yourself with people who will hold you accountable to all of it.

Connect:

Website: https://www.coverica.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcholland/

In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Alan Ellahham of Strong Landscaping in Houston, Texas shares how a former mergers and acquisitions consultant walked away from a life lived out of a suitcase during COVID to join a boutique landscaping company, and then quietly transformed its entire business model. Strong Landscaping had always been known for beautifully designed and installed outdoor spaces, but when Alan joined six years ago there was no ongoing relationship with clients after the project was complete. By introducing a customizable maintenance program covering everything from live landscaping and hardscapes to water features, pressure washing, and exterior window cleaning, he turned a project-based business into one where roughly 55% of revenue now comes from recurring clients who trust Strong Landscaping as their single point of contact for every aspect of their outdoor environment.

The conversation explores how that recurring revenue base became the company's most important asset during the current economic slowdown, where oil and gas industry uncertainty in the Houston market has made homeowners more cautious about large discretionary investments. With fixed overhead covered by maintenance contracts, Strong Landscaping has been able to maintain staffing levels and increase marketing spend rather than cut, positioning the company to capitalize when demand returns. Alan also shares the five-year vision taking shape now, including a move into smart irrigation monitoring and water leak detection that would give clients real-time visibility into abnormal usage and potential pipe failures underground, a natural extension of the trust and long-term relationship the maintenance program has already built. His guiding philosophy sums it up simply: a customer buys from you once, but a client buys from you for a lifetime.

Connect:

Website: https://www.stronglandscaping.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellahham/

Leigh Feldman, CEO of Youth Franchise Brands, shares how his organization is transforming hands-on learning through culinary education. With flagship brands Young Chefs Academy and Flour Power Cooking Studios, Leigh explains how cooking serves as a powerful tool for teaching life skills, creativity, confidence, entrepreneurship, and STEM-based learning. From children's cooking classes and camps to family workshops and corporate team-building experiences, he discusses the unique role experiential learning plays in helping people of all ages develop practical skills in a fun and engaging environment.

Leigh also dives into the realities of franchise leadership, drawing on nearly two decades of experience as a franchisee, franchisor, and executive. He discusses lessons learned from navigating economic uncertainty, building sustainable growth, maintaining culture during expansion, and leveraging technology and AI to improve operations without sacrificing the human experience. The conversation offers valuable insights into thoughtful franchise development, creating remarkable customer experiences, and building businesses that make a lasting impact on families and communities.

Connect:

Website: https://youngchefsacademy.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leigh-feldman-39a2b4203

In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Rene Rodriguez, President and CEO of Speaking Roses, shares the story of a company that is doing something no one else in the world has done: patenting the ability to print logos, messages, images, and brand identities directly onto real flowers. What began in 2002 as a fresh flower business became something far larger when Rene realized that printing on petals does not just personalize a gift, it creates an entirely new product category, one that sits at the intersection of flowers, branded merchandise, and lasting memory. From Tom Cruise giving Speaking Roses on the Ellen show to corporate orders of $25,000 to $100,000 for branded events, the company has earned over 500 media features, won best product at the world's largest promotional products trade show in Las Vegas, and at its peak was producing over 60,000 stems a day. The pivot to forever roses, which look, feel, and smell like fresh roses but never die, has unlocked the next phase of growth by solving the logistics and shelf life challenges that made scaling fresh flowers so difficult.

The conversation traces three distinct stages of the company's evolution, from direct-to-consumer fresh flower sales, to licensing the printing technology to independent operators, to the current model of controlling production, branding, and distribution through a select network of distributors moving toward a global franchise system. Rene is candid about the painful lessons learned from the licensing stage, where losing control of quality and presentation nearly diluted the brand, and explains why the current distributor model, built around exclusive territorial partnerships and shared economic upside, is the foundation for replicating Speaking Roses country by country. His closing thought is as simple as his product is beautiful: every person deserves to receive flowers, and the rose has been the world's most meaningful gift since the beginning of recorded history.

Connect:

Website: https://www.speakingroses.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renerodriguez1/

In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Bill and John of Carabiner Consulting share how two veterans of the entertainment technology world, with careers spanning Broadway sound design, Walt Disney theme parks, lighting design, live event production, and the full financial lifecycle of companies in the industry, came together to build a consulting firm focused on helping small to mid-sized businesses in the entertainment technology space grow, professionalize, and eventually exit on their own terms. Whether the client rents lighting rigs for touring concerts, installs permanent AV systems in corporate headquarters, or manufactures the gear that makes live events possible, Carabiner brings a bento box of operational, financial, sales, and strategic support to founders who built their companies on passion and technical skill but never had to think about cash flow management, valuation, or succession planning until now.

The conversation digs into one of the most underappreciated business stories of the next decade: the wave of boomer-era entrepreneurs in the entertainment technology sector who are approaching the end of their operating years with no exit strategy, no succession plan, and no idea how much value they are sitting on. Bill and John make the case that selling does not have to mean goodbye, that the right transition can keep a founder involved, protect their relationships, and unlock value they never knew they had. They also offer a refreshingly honest take on AI, acknowledging its utility for repetitive tasks while pushing back firmly on the idea that it can replace the relationship-driven, institutionally complex work of guiding a founder through the most important financial decision of their business life. Their biggest obstacle right now is simply time, but with a network full of people genuinely excited to hear from them, the pipeline is already richer than they can work through.

Connect:

Website: https://www.carabinerconsulting.com

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-groener-348806b

In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Dena Strehlow, Senior Director of Threotech, shares the science and commercial story behind one of the most clinically distinctive magnesium ingredients on the market today. With a PhD in food science and more than 30 years of experience spanning General Mills, ADM, and Tate & Lyle, Dena brings a rare combination of deep scientific credibility and commercial savvy to a product that is genuinely differentiated: Magtein is a patented, proprietary form of magnesium shown in clinical studies to cross the blood-brain barrier, delivering cognitive, memory, focus, and mood benefits that most magnesium supplements simply cannot achieve. Originally discovered by researchers at MIT in the context of Alzheimer's research, Magtein has spent over a decade earning its place in the supplement aisle and is now rapidly expanding into functional food and beverages, a category that Dina believes is just beginning to reach its potential.

The conversation explores where the functional ingredient market is heading, from better-for-you sodas and social tonics to functional coffees, stick packs, and low-caffeine energy drinks, and why brands like Recess Mood are proving that you do not always have to lead with the science to win with consumers. Dena also reflects on the lessons she has carried through periods of both revenue contraction and rapid demand surges, including the discipline to simplify a product line under pressure, the importance of radical transparency with customers when supply cannot keep up with demand, and a guiding philosophy she keeps coming back to: you are either winning or learning. With Magtein growing at double digits and a pipeline of emerging brands looking for clinically substantiated functional ingredients, the next three to five years look very bright.

Connect:

Website: https://threotech.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denastrehlow/

In this episode of the Think Small Podcast, Joe Garber of Cyberiad AI shares how a team of veterans with over a decade of real-world AI experience built a purpose-built platform to solve the non-clinical front office and back office inefficiencies that quietly drain revenue from dental service organizations and multi-office dental practices. From predicting patient no-shows and optimizing scheduling to enabling multilingual patient outreach across the 35-plus languages a large dental organization might encounter on any given day, Cyberiad AI is applying HIPAA-compliant, multi-agent artificial intelligence to the operational complexity that most dental groups are still managing with a patchwork of disconnected tools and manual processes. Joe traces his own journey from early AI work in legal document analysis and privacy protection through to today's agentic AI revolution, offering one of the clearest plain-language explanations of where AI has been, where it is now, and where it is heading next.

The conversation is a masterclass in the discipline required to build a focused AI company in a world where the technology can theoretically be applied to almost anything. Joe is direct about why chasing two chickens means catching none, and why the decision to go deep into dental before expanding to optometry, other medical practices, and eventually international markets is the only strategy that builds durable product market fit. He also speaks candidly about what is slowing the company down right now, the need for more voice of customer conversations and the funding that would allow the team to scale those efforts faster, making this one of the most honest startup conversations the show has featured. If you know someone who owns multiple dental practices, this is an episode worth passing along.

Connect:

Website: https://go.cyberiad.ai/home

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joegarber