Dr. Katie Foster booked time with me out of the blue last spring (which never happens), and brought cookies and we shared a very enjoyable coffee and conversation. She was weeks away at the time from opening her business, Timnath Kids Dentistr

EXPERIENCE 163 | Headed West with Workday Ninja Micah Johnson, Veteran CEO, CTO, and COO and Process Optimization and Automation Expert

10 days ago 2h 34m

I was introduced to Micah Johnson by Jeffrey Beyle, one of my guests during Season 1 of The LoCo Experience (Episode 29 if you wanna check it out), and one of my spies in the Boulder area. By spies I mean those who think of me when they meet s

EXPERIENCE 162 | Love to Appreciate and Let Go of the Rope with Diana Rogers Jaeger, author, speaker & leadership and employee retention expert.

17 days ago 2h 2m

Diana Rogers Jaeger joined me for an uplifting conversation and shared her fascinating life and career journey that led her to Northern Colorado in 2022. Diana is the founder and owner of Love to Appreciate Consulting, and recently released a

EXPERIENCE 161 | An American Dream featuring a Chinese Family with Peter Yu, Candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District

24 days ago 1h 47m

I was introduced to Peter Yu by a mutual friend, as the liberty-minded person’s best pick for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. Peter has a great record of success in both big and small business, fell just short in his race for Colorado’s

EXPERIENCE 160 | Palmer Flowers and Paul Wood Florist SOLD! - Exclusive Interview with Tim and Danielle Jordan, owners of SG Window Tint and Mold Removal Express (and former owners of Palmer Flowers and Paul Wood Florist)

1 month ago 2h 13m

Tim and Danielle Jordan joined me in The LoCo Experience studios on March 5, 2024 - just 4 days removed from concluding the sale of a pair of legacy businesses in Northern Colorado - Palmer Flowers and Paul Wood Florist, locally owned since 197

EXPERIENCE 159 | Be a Better Team by Friday with Justin Follin - CEO and Co-Founder of BLUECASE Strategic Partners in Austin, Texas

Mar 18th, 2024 2h 8m

Justin Follin came all the way from Austin, Texas to Fort Collins a few weeks ago - not to be on the show, but to visit his younger brother Sean - my guest on Episode 134, who introduced him to me as a potential guest. Both brothers are in the

EXPERIENCE 158 | Scouting a New Path with Shani Canillas, Owner and Editor of The Scout Guide Fort Collins

Mar 11th, 2024 1h 53m

My guest today was Shani Canillas, Owner and Editor of The Scout Guide Fort Collins. The Scout Guide is a visually appealing coffee table kind of book, featuring classy storytelling pictorials of gold standard local businesses. It’s a franchi

EXPERIENCE 157 | A Truly LoCo Experience! - Guest Host Viktor Bjerre, 15-year-old exchange student from Denmark, interviews LoCo Think Tank Founder and LoCo Experience Podcast Host, Curt Bear

Mar 4th, 2024 1h 33m

If you tuned in for our bonus episode last week, you’ll know that today’s episode is a bit of a change-up from our normal routine. I met Viktor Bjerre a few weeks back, while recording the bonus episode on Greenheart Exchange, and he later fol

BONUS EPISODE | All About Greenheart Exchange with Lisa Melville Petersen, Lasha Crowell Seaman, and a group of International Exchange students!

Mar 1st, 2024 1h 17m

Many who know me in Northern Colorado know that my wife and I have a fondness for hosting exchange students, and for the past 2 years, our outlet for getting these students has been an organization called Greenheart Exchange. I’m joined today

EXPERIENCE 156 | Whiskey Taste Testing, Boston Trip Reflections, and Creating Content on X (formerly Twitter) with Aaron Everitt

Feb 26th, 2024 1h 32m

Aaron Everitt was back in the studio for our quarterly check-in, fresh off a trip to Boston visiting a college with his son. We started our conversation with a whiskey taste test, featuring Blanton’s Bourbon gifted me by Mat at Wilbur’s, Smoke

EXPERIENCE 155 | Growing Through Challenge with Mandy Mullen, Founder and Owner of Run Windsor, Co-owner of Run Colorado Relays, and Executive Director of Windsor Gives.

Feb 19th, 2024 1h 50m

Mandy Mullen’s previous episode (Episode 91) is The LoCo Experience podcast most-listened episode! It’s an inspiring journey of a chubby post-college wife, then mom, growing her passion for running and fitness and community until it sprung for

EXPERIENCE 154 | Leveling Up and Building Teams with Ian Simkiss - Executive Vice President of Centennial Management, Inc.

Feb 12th, 2024 2h 26m

I was introduced to Ian Simkiss at a very interesting time in his career journey - as the soon-to-be-announced and newly appointed Executive Vice President of Centennial Management, Inc., overseeing Centennial Leasing & Sales locations in Winds

EXPERIENCE 153 | A Journey through Sales, Management, Ownership, and Leadership with Mike O’Connell, former Owner of Mountain Woods Furniture and former Senior Director of Larimer County Small Business Development Center.

Feb 5th, 2024 2h 16m

I met Mike O’Connell in the fall of 2013, early into his final career stop, when he became Director of the Larimer Small Business Development Center in Fort Collins - and soon before I left my banking career! The organization had struggled for

EXPERIENCE 152 | Delivering HR Expertise to the Small Business Community with Tami Parker, Founder and CEO of UNIcycle Business Consulting

Jan 29th, 2024 2h 2m

Tami Parker had a long career in corporate HR, but 7 years ago, with a leap of faith and a supportive husband, she founded UNIcycle Business Consulting. As with most of us, her early years were spent staying alive financially and doing a littl

EXPERIENCE 151 | Retail Alcohol Enterprise, Industry, and Ethics with Mat Dinsmore, Managing Partner of Wilbur’s Total Beverage and Wyatt’s Wet Goods

Jan 22nd, 2024 1h 57m

I first met Mat Dinsmore during my banking career, perhaps at the Salt N Pepper Lunch Club. Wilbur’s Total Beverage has been my go-to special occasion retail liquor store ever since, and Mat my often-last-minute wine guide! This November, aft

EXPERIENCE 150 | Family, Business, & Legacy with Justin & Eugene Boling, EOS Implementer & Founder of Boling Remodel

Jan 15th, 2024 1h 51m

My guests on today’s podcast were Justin & Eugene Boling, father and son. Justin and I became acquainted this summer, and at a LoCo Think Tank event this fall I asked attendees as part of their introduction who was their hero. After Justin an

EXPERIENCE 149 | Turning Good Times Grüvi with Anika Sawni - Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Grüvi

Jan 8th, 2024 1h 53m

I met Anika Sawni at the Unstoppable Women’s Conference in October of 2023, where she was an inspiring keynote speaker - in what I learned in this podcast was her very first keynote! She’d recently been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, an

EXPERIENCE 148 | Happy New Year Northern Colorado! Season 3 Wrap Up with the LoCo Think Tank HQ Team - Curt Bear, Colin Jones & Alma Arellano

Jan 1st, 2024 1h 9m

This episode is a recap of Season 3 with the team at LoCo Headquarters, Colin Jones, Director of Business Development, and Alma Arellano, Operations Manager & Podcast Producer. We go through many of the podcast highlight episodes of the season

EXPERIENCE 147 | Accidental Entrepreneur with Timiry McCaskell, Owner of Dora Grace Bridal in Fort Collins and WIndsor

Dec 26th, 2023 2h 26m

Timiry McCaskell is the Founder and Owner of Dora Grace Bridal, named after her two grandmothers. Dora Grace has been fitting brides and prom dates and more in Fort Collins since 2011, and opened a second location in Windsor in January of 2023

EXPERIENCE 146 | Non-Profit Food Rescue with Nathan Shaw and Ben Jewell of Vindeket Foods

Dec 18th, 2023 1h 54m

Nathan Shaw is the Executive Director and Founder of Vindeket Foods in Fort Collins, and Benjamin Jewell is the Chairman of the Board. Vindeket is a non-profit organization that was originally founded under the umbrella of Serve 6.8, a ministr

EXPERIENCE 145 | Investing in a Regional Climbing Community - Together - plus Fitness and Yoga! - Aaron Tellier (Director of Marketing) and Shauna Hylenski (Director of Programs), 2 of 6 Partners of Climbing Collective

Dec 11th, 2023 2h 32m

Shauna Hylenski and her husband Bryan have been Longmont-based entrepreneurs since 2015, when they came to Colorado from South Korea. Bryan had there built a reputation as a world-class sport and mountain climber, and they came to represent a K

EXPERIENCE 144 | Dennis & LJ Houska of Houska Automotive Services - Reflections on a Family and Community-Centric Business Over Three Generations

Dec 4th, 2023 1h 10m

Houska Automotive in Fort Collins was started in 1952, by Dennis’s father - Charles “Chuck” Houska, and still operates from the original location at 899 Riverside Avenue in Fort Collins. Chuck had been a B-17 Mechanic in WWII, and opened the b

BONUS EPISODE | November 2023 Blog - Grateful for a Great and Full Ten Years! (AKA The Founding Story of LoCo Think Tank)

Dec 1st, 2023 14m 54s

We're sharing Curt's blog from November, which is titled Grateful for a Great and Full 10 Years, a. k. a. The Loco Think Tank Story. "Last month marked the 10th anniversary of the last paycheck that didn’t come from my own business account, an

EXPERIENCE 143 | Dishing Up Great Food & Stewarding Legendary Restaurants with Alan Jantzen, Owner and Restaurateur at Silver Grill Cafe and Vern’s Place

Nov 27th, 2023 2h 31m

For almost 30 years, Alan Jantzen was the man behind the scenes for what became one of the Fort Collins restaurant industry’s most dominant organizations - Hot Corner Concepts. Featuring amazing brands including Moot House, Austin’s American G

EXPERIENCE 142 | NoCo Real Estate & Water Update; Free Speech, X.com; and Video Essays from @loanly_hipster with Aaron Everitt

Nov 20th, 2023 1h 41m

Today we welcomed Aaron Everitt back to The LoCo Experience studios for our Northern Colorado real estate and water update, and as usual we got into all kinds of additional topics. Aaron had recently been a part of a historical tour of sorts,