Occupation: Co-founder & CEO at Pantheon Motion

Passion: Building Companies

Lunch: Mountain West Burrito

Get In Touch: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook

Jon Bradshaw is definitely someone to put on your radar. He is the epitome of “upward trajectory” and continues to stay involved in the  local start-up community, as he works on ventures of his own.

Jon is from Pleasant Grove Utah, and went to Pleasant Grove High School:

“They had a great math program.”

He has been an entrepreneur since he can remember.

“So I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I started mowing lawns at the age of 11, hired 2 or 3 neighbors and sold the business before I served a mission [for the LDS church]. In the process I was helping my dad with his startup. I felt like the Internet would be huge, so I started to look around for the smartest people I could find in Utah, and got in touch with Paul Allen, who created the Family Link app – got 85 million users. After that, I worked with Utah Angels while I was at school. Then, I decided to jump into another start-up and do it full-time. Sink or swim!”

What’s your favorite part about what you do?

“I like building something. I like the maverick style of it – which is good and bad. I’m like a jack of all trades, master of none.”

Would you consider yourself a serial entrepreneur?

“No. I believe that philosophy is flawed. I think there are very few people who can start a company and then just hand it off. My current pursuit is my only pursuit. I don’t know how people can manage multiple things. I’d be sacrificing speed if I did that and I’d get too distracted. I can’t do two things at once. You wind up robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

You like to focus on technology and the medical industry. Is there any particular reason for that?

“My first start-up was a service company, but the way I look at it is there are smarter people who compete in the tech space, but if  you can compete against them, you can have a larger win, and it scales well.”

What advice do you have for individuals who are at the point of wanting to be an entrepreneur, but they are terrified of the risk and all the unknowns?

“You can’t change your risk profile, but you can mitigate it. Maybe find a part-time job that pays well enough that creates an insurance program for you. Then, find models that are already working, and test your ability to sell people before you have anything. For my company, we couldn’t fulfill fast, so that was a problem, but you’ve proven that you can do it. You have to test it and prove the model. Will people say yes? The easy part, before we had one line of code or before we talked to attorneys, is we knew the model would work. Find some type of model that has high margins and a scalability aspect. Also, I think it’s easier to do a service-based model and then transition to something automated.”

What drives you?

“My fear is: I hate being co-dependent on other people. Whatever I do, I want to be completely self-sufficient so I I’m not beholden to people to do favors for me. You want to be able to protect yourself.”

Do you have any specific goals for the future?

“It’s all more of an ongoing effort instead of setting and reaching goals, but my personal goals are the company goals. Worst case scenario – we built a 10,000,000 company. That’s a win. For me, that’s fun. I’ve already traveled a lot and everything – so for me, this is my goal.”

Occupation: Professional YouTuber’ers

Passion: Creating Awesome Videos

Lunch: Slab Pizza

Get In Touch: Facebook, Twitter

You’ve probably seen plenty of funny videos on YouTube. People share them on Facebook and Twitter and we all laugh. But where do these videos come from? I met up with some friends from high school that make up the YouTube channel called Warialasky to hear about their story and what it means to be a professional YouTube’er.

How It All Began

The first question, of course, was how did they get started making a living from YouTube videos?

Landon: Casen and I are brothers so we met a freaking long time ago. Then we moved to Arizona and met MIke in Arizona in ‘99. From the get go we started making movies together because we realized that we had each been doing that on our own. We always tried to do special effects and have buildings explode and whatever we could do at the time.

I remember one time we flipped the camera upside down, filled a glass of water and dropped a drop of red food coloring in because we thought it would look like an explosion on the camera. It was all we had to work with.

We all came out to college and ended up here in Utah and we decided, let’s get this wedding video business going with the ultimate goal being to get the equipment necessary to start making our own movies again. So that’s what we did. We got into the wedding thing pretty quickly, and I mean, we made a good amount of money doing it, but it wasn’t very satisfying work because really it wasn’t anything any of us had ever had as a goal in life.

But we got good at them, and we did that for a year. Finally we hit a point where all the chips were in place, everything had fallen in order where we could make this jump to YouTube that we had been talking about for a year prior.

That’s when Casen ended up taking a class at BYU from Devin Graham. We learned a ton of stuff from Devin. He really got the ball rolling, he’s awesome.

The Reasoning Behind The Videos

I was also really interested in what drives them to keep making videos week after week.

We have ambitious plans to make feature films about different things we’ve enjoyed through our childhood, based on video games or different movies that we’ve enjoyed. The movies that we made were always parody films as kids. We’ve kind of continued that. And not that we want to do parody in the future, but we want to do the versions of films that we wished people were making. The films that we want to see that no one is doing right now.

It’s kind of a tough area because we don’t have the rights to all of the things that we’d like to do, but sort of the trend with YouTube right now is that a lot of companies are realizing that it’s very beneficial to their bottom line to allow YouTuber’ers to use their intellectual property and go ahead and make a video about Assassin’s Creed because people watch that and it’s free marketing for them. They don’t have to pay anything for it, all they have to do is not sue the people making the videos about their product.

People see it. Some of these videos get millions of views, multi-million views. And it’s massive amounts of marketing. Companies used to be against things like this like Nintendo, but in the last year, year and a half, they’ve changed their stance.

Tips And Advice

With over 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it can be nearly impossible to get your video noticed. By consistently producing some very high-quality videos, the guys at Warialasky have been able to grow a consistent fan-base.

They shared some advice and tips for doing what they are doing, and life in general.

Casen: I’d say if you’re interested in what we do, don’t go to film school. Pick something else, like marketing, because those skills are a lot more applicable within the internet video production ecosystem than just film school in general.

There’s a bright future to be had on the Internet and YouTube. The potential is growing massively and there’s a bright future in the next generation.

Mike: The internet is the greatest learning tool on the planet. There’s nothing that beats it. Not only can you learn most effectively there from the vast amounts of information that are available there, but it’s free. You don’t have to pay for it.

Landon: Just in general, I would say as quickly as you can, as early as you can in life, find something you enjoy doing and learn as much as you can about it and get as good at it as you can and make it your goal to try and find a way to make a living doing that. Be the best person at that thing.

Take risks, try and be the first, have the first foot in the door. Especially when you’re younger in life, because the risk of failure is basically nothing. When you’re young, and you’re not married or you don’t have a family, the risk of failure is almost irrelevant given what the potential is for the whole rest of your life if you do succeed in doing something you actually love.

Casen: If you’re in college or high school right now, just do stuff. Don’t wait until you graduate to start. Start doing it right now. The internet is the kind of thing that allows you to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.

The Future Of Internet Video

I wanted to their take on where they thought Internet video was heading in the future. Would YouTube continue to grow? Was there an up-and-coming competitor? They had a lot of good insights to share.

I have a feeling that Netflix, Hulu, etc are going to try and get in on the game. Netflix is already producing their original content, and it’s the same thing with Amazon. I have a feeling that companies like Netflix and Hulu are going to skim off the top of content developers on YouTube in order to create unique content.

I can see them expanding what their video service is by doing something where you can watch things for free, but it’s subsidized by ads, like Hulu does with delayed content from the broadcast networks.

If Netflix were to approach us with an offer we would totally do that. And the amount of money that they would need to fund us to do something awesome would be significantly less, almost nothing compared to what they are used to paying. We’re ultra-streamlined.

Favorite Videos and Tools

While I’m a fan of most of the videos that Warialasky has made, I wanted to get their take on which videos were their favorites, whether that was because of how fun they were to make, or how they turned out.

Casen: Tetris was a blast. Even though in that one week we each probably worked about 80 hours, it was an absolute blast. So much fun.

Mike: Tetris is along the lines of the closest to what we want to be doing, in how cinematic it is, how it’s modeled after a big movie trailer. In that aspect, it’s the closest thing to what we want to be doing.

In execution, Imaginary Warzone is our best video. It’s the one that I think resonates with people the best and is the most effective in that way.

Landon: Skyrim. We took our time, it was over the period of a month or something. We got to work with the men’s chorus, and spent a lot of time in the studio working on stuff. There are only a couple of effects shots, which is why I really like it. A lot of my time tends to be taken up in effects shots, and the less there are, the better for me.

And because they get asked all the time, they wanted to list the tools that they use to make their videos. So here’s the list they gave me:

We use Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, 3DS Max

We use video co-pilot action essentials 2 and some sound libraries.

Be sure to check them out over on YouTube at their channel and subscribe to get updates on their latest videos.

Also, to continue getting updates on the latest and greatest happenings at The Luncheon Project subscribe to our email list below. We’ll only send out updates for new posts and other cool stuff, so no worries about getting spammed!

Did you read our interview with Caitlin Connolly of Hue and Hum? In addition to getting to know her story better, we got to know a little bit about what she does, likes, and is super into. Check it out!

Caitlin’s Schedule:

• Monday: Organization Day. Check emails, check calendar and re-focus brain
• Tuesday – Thursday: In the studio!
• Friday: Blogging day

“I blog about things I’ve been thinking about or pictures I’ve been taking. I just sort of organize the blog posts. I’ll come back to them on Monday, and reassess them.”

Favorite Artists:

Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)

Mark Rothko (1903 – 1970)

Brian Kershisnik (1962 – )

Art School:

“I love art school. When you start out they tell you try doing a painting like another artist. The whole time you’re thinking “Can I do this? Can I make my brush work this way?” Then you can keep refining, and after being put through what I like to call the “funnel process”  to the other end you will end up semi-polished with a more refined focus, thinking, “This is something I could really do.’ You’re not stealing others’ techniques – you’re building a foundation of vocabulary. In the process of building a vocabulary, you give yourself options. It’s like loading up a toolbox.”

Sketch Book:

“I try to sketch in my sketchbook daily or weekly – as much as possible. I’m always surprised by what comes out. Anything goes! The weirdest, the craziest, the worst. And then I can see what I’ve got to work with – it’s a really exciting process.”

Painting:

“I do a lot with acrylic and oil, but I’m pretty open to anything. I’m bad at watercolor – terrible at watercolor!”

“The human mind is a form of energy, a part of it being spiritual in nature. When the minds of two people are coordinated in a spirit of harmony, the spiritual units of energy of each mind form an affinity, which constitutes the “psychic” phase of the Master Mind. The “Master Mind” may be defined as: ‘Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.’” – Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, 1938

Hey folks!
In an effort to flesh out some plans to support our upcoming goals, we’ve put the interviews on hold (just for a little while) so we can seek out YOUR ideas and feedback. What do you think about Luncheon Project events? We’re really excited about the potential these events could have – connecting professionals, mentors, students, learners, and individuals who have ideas and resources to share.
The inspiration for these events stems from the old “Master Mind” groups of the past. Think about Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and  Andrew Carnegie. These men were constantly surrounding themselves with other extraordinary thinkers. Together, they created greatness. We want to foster that same pipe-smoking, billiard-playing, (super-classy), idea-sharing environment where YOU (the great thinkers) can come together, get to know each other, share ideas, and build more greatness in this world.

The Luncheon Project Events?

You bet. We want to connect people in a real way. This is most easily accomplished through events, and face-to-face interactions.

How Much?

Enough to cover basic costs – maybe $10 – $20 per person.

Where?

Because The Luncheon Project is based in Utah Valley, the events will likely be held (initially) in the Utah Valley area.

What?

We’ll eat, mingle, host a business card exchange, discuss ideas, listen to a brief, keynote speaker, and get to know one another. You know – - really connect! But this is also where we need your help:

What would YOU like to see in a Luncheon Project lunch event?

Please submit your comments, and let us know what you’d like to see.

When we tell people about The Luncheon Project, the number one thing we hear is

“That’s such a great idea! What do you want to do with it?”

The answer to that question has always been a big variable, and we’ve found ourselves confounded and frustrated that we don’t know exactly what to say.

Until now.

As we think about the future with The Luncheon Project, we feel a pulsating energy surrounding all our ideas and goals. We’ve got some killer stuff lined up, and some great lunches in the pipeline. We’d love for you to have a look into our crystal ball full, and we would love it even more if you would like to be involved with us and our progression.

Here’s where we’re headed:

1. Events

Our main goal with The Luncheon Project is to connect people. What better way to do this, than to host events where people can sit together (over lunch, of course) and connect? Keep an eye out for upcoming connecting events, “mastermind” meetings, and mentor club.

2. Podcast

Featuring people from the past and from today, The Luncheon Project Podcast will introduce listeners to people of interest throughout time.  In each podcast, we will highlight an individual’s background, career path, family life and success story for ultimate inspiration.

3. Speaking Engagements and Education

We want to help people of all ages understand the importance of fostering positive, impactful relationships with others.  Whether at an elementary school, or at a business retreat, we want to seek to empower people connect.

4. Books

With the amazing experiences we’ve had, we’re looking into building a library of books, and eBooks featuring similar themes that we have noticed, both in the histories and lives of our lunch guests, as well as in the advice we receive from them.

5. Other Media

Online videos to documentaries – you name it! We’ve thought of it all. And we’re excited to explore our options as we create artful products that seek to connect, inspire, and empower people all over the world.

Last but not least, we’d love to give all our readers a HUGE

THANK YOU

Thanks for sticking with us, and being patient as we have figured out this whole, crazy, online world.  We look forward to engaging with you and getting to know you even more.

If you’re as excited as we are, please show us a little love by Liking us on Facebook, Tweeting your favorite interviews, or suggesting lunch guests on our Facebook page.

You rock.

Sincerely,

Lizzy, Spencer & Mitchell

Occupation: Founder of ThinkAtomic

Passion: Creating new businesses

Lunch: Beto’s Mexican Food

When you talk about venture capitalists, your mind probably wanders instantly to Silicon Valley and the big name venture capitalist firms. But four years ago when I met Ralph Yarro, I found out that there are venture capitalists all over, even in cities as small as Provo, Utah. I had the chance to meet up with Ralph for lunch and get the lowdown on how he became a venture capitalist and his advice for others that want to follow a similar path.

Even as a kid, Ralph had hustle and was always looking for a way to make a buck:

I always had little side business and gigs as I grew up, and everything was for sale. I bought and sold cars, computer equipment, and anything else I could get my hands on.  I love computer graphics, design, and art.  I would build a portfolio of paintings and ceramics during the school year and take it home during the breaks and sell it.  I could put a couple grand in my pocket before I went back to school.

After serving a mission for his Church, he went to college at BYU where he quickly switched from a business degree to political science. He made the switch because he wanted to get out of school as soon as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my college experience and learning in general.  I just found that in my days at school, education was more general.  Today, the good schools offer a variety of practical and applied learning experiences. I knew that what I could learn on the job was far more valuable then what I was learning in school.  Plus the school didn’t offer the kinds of classes I was interested in.  I switched to graduate as quickly as I could so as to get into the business environment.

He then went on to start several companies and work as a contractor. Most of his contractor work ended up in full-time job offers. The story of how he gained one of his first jobs was very interesting.

In 1989, the job environment was rough for a graduate, very similar to today.  I finally figured out that I had to be disruptive and different if I was to secure a job.  One of my first jobs was with Wasatch education.

In my interview I said don’t pay me a dime. Give me some jobs, if you think that I’m worth it, keep me and pay me what I’m worth, if not, send me along and you can keep all the work I do for free.  I was very confident in my abilities, and I was hired after the first day.

Throughout the many different jobs and contract work he had, he made sure to always work hard and get as much value out of the opportunity as he could.

I tried lots of things, and I always kept my eyes open.  Before I had kids I would work all day, and come home and work all night.  I took risks, started companies, and kept learning.  I made sure that I listened to people around me, learned from them, and applied it all the time. By listening and absorbing, keeping my eyes open, being flexible, being a good employee and working hard it created opportunities for me. Doors kept opening. I didn’t have to kick doors down. They just kept opening for me.  It was important that I loved what I was doing.

Now that Ralph is a full-time venture capitalist, he has the opportunity to work on a number of different companies at the same time, including Zimbi, a drink that is package in a bottle that can fly!

He got really excited when explaining this to me, and said it was because people doubted that he could succeed in breaking into the beverage industry.

I love being told you can’t do something, and Zimbi is one of those places where someone told me you can’t do it. The beverage industry is so consolidated already. You have 5 major players. The top ten are everything you find in your refrigerator. To introduce a new beverage into that space is almost an impossible feat. At least that’s what people think. Maybe its more that I don’t fear failure, or that I’m so dang competitive, than wanting to prove people wrong.

But, what most were missing is that we weren’t introducing yet another bottle of water or energy drink.  We were introducing interactive packaging.  The beverage is secondary.  Of course we put a good product inside, but we were disruptive and unique because of the flying bottle, and kids get it immediately!

He originally got the idea while eating with his kids at a sushi restaurant. They asked for a marble drink, which he had never heard of. After seeing how excited his kids got about this drink, he knew that he was onto something. It wasn’t the drink that was exciting, but the packaging.

After having his industrial designer brother design the bottle and many iterations later, the Zimbi flying bottles are now being distributed nationwide.

One of the most interesting things I found out about Ralph though was what motivates him to get out of bed and work every morning. His answer was very simple, yet very profound. The process.

Art, is the best analogy I can give. I paint, draw design, sculpt, etc.  I love getting my hands dirty, creating something new, or expressing myself in those mediums.  Yet, once it’s done, you can hang it on the wall, you can give it to someone or show people.  The point is its done, I can’t wait to start the next one.

It’s the process, I love the creative process.  Once I’m done, the fun’s out of it. What gets me up every day is the creative process. Being engaged in the fight, the problem solving, creating, watching it take form, and dealing with all the issues daily.  I managed to find myself the perfect job in venturing.  I get to be involved in the creative process daily.

Once I understood the motivations behind what drives him to get up and work everyday, I wasn’t surprised to hear how he defines success for himself or his business.

Success is being happy with where you are every single day. I don’t need a big event in my life to feel success. I measure success in the simple day to day goals. Making sure that you’re inching towards those goals. I also define success by helping others reach their goals, potentials, and successes.

To finish out lunch, we talked a little bit about advice that Ralph would give to those wanting to be entrepreneurs.

Take risks while you can. Do it now while your young.  Then take control of your own destiny and limit your risks by working hard, working smart, surround yourselves with bright people, be abundant with your attitudes, and never fear failure. You’ll learn more from your failures than you will ever learn from your victories, at least I have.

When I was younger I took a job in an industry that interested me.  It was a start up and I knew the risks. I worked six months, and never saw a dime from it. But, what I gained from that experience was worth far more than I ever learned from school. I got real world experience, I got to touch product and interact with people on a real world and even desperate level.  And, that wouldn’t be my last, lucky I was young and able to absorb the financial impact.  I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.  It has lead me here.  Good news is that I’m a fast learner.  I usually only need to be bitten once to learn from it.

Also, never be satisfied. Enjoy the creative process not the end. I don’t ever see myself retired. Work is retirement for me. I guess I’m lucky that way.

A special thanks to Jeff Klakring for suggesting this lunch to us. Have suggestions for others we should take to lunch? Feel free to send those over to us!

Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah

Occupation: Artist, Guitar Teacher, and Lady Hue of Hue and Hum 

Passion: Art

Lunch: Thai Drift, Orem, UT

Be in Touch: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube

Photographer: Justin Hackworth

When you meet Caitlin Connolly, you’ll get to know a kind, bubbly lady in colorful clothes, with an even more colorful personality. Lunching with her was absolutely delightful! If you’ve read her blog, Hue and Hum, you will know that she has many varied interests, and a dynamic life. It is a blessing to have gained her friendship.

Personal Background

She started making art at a young age, but began to take it seriously in college when she took an art class and loved it so much, her husband encouraged her to change her major even though she was already three years into a communications degree!

“There are a lot of artists that recreate and reproduce. That’s just fine, but I was never interested in that. When I was a kid I did a lot of reproducing and thought, ‘This is fun but what’s the point?’ When I was in college I finally felt like I had something I wanted to stay. Then art gave me purpose and became that medium for me to acutally say something, which is where I think a lot of artists really struggle. They can recreate really well but can’t figure out what they want to say.”

One of the most inspiring things about Caitlin is her drive, and positive motivation toward doing and succeeding.

“I have friends who were in the art program with me. They ask me for advice about how you DO it – that’s their biggest hurdle is quitting their job and doing it. I think that challenge is true forever. There is never a moment where you wake up and suddenly it becomes easy. I think that was easier for me because my dad was an entrepreneur. He has a really curious mind, and growing up, I watched him being curious, and exploring and doing. For me I knew that you could start your own business, and I was trained to be curious. I guess I was kind of crazy to just do it. If I knew how crazy it would be, though, maybe I wouldn’t have made the same choice.”

Hue and Hum, The Blog

After starting to find her artistic voice, she started Hue and Hum about 2 years ago in response to the popularity she was gaining with a personal blog, due to her aspiring art career, and her husband’s music career. When she launched Hue and Hum, she did so with the intention to use the blog as a creative outlet, and to make it a part of her career.

“I was really excited when I saw the blogging world. I had a personal blog and was blogging about what we were doing. I finally figured out how to check the stats, and that’s when I noticed that we were getting a lot of page views. It was really weird at first because we had a lot of personal things on there. People started using pictures of Robbie for the band [Fictionist] that I had posted to that blog. It got me to this big decision where I had to choose if I wanted to have a public blog or make it private. After putting some thought into it, I realized having a blog would be the perfect place where I could do all things creative. I hoped that I would make money. With art and music, you never know how much money you’re going to bring in – it’s sort of a gamble. I thought if I could get a little money here and there we might be okay. And I was trying to do something I loved to do! So now, I teach guitar lessons, I write my blog, and I sell art.”

When we started talking about her advertising and marketing techniques, it became clear that Caitlin takes a different approach than most other blogs. Because her blog exists to promote her art, and her husband’s music, she is wary of clouding the blog with other companies, other art, and other music.

“I felt and still feel sort of unique, because I can only think of one or two other blogs that really remind me of my own blog. I feel like a lone ranger out there. I’d love to work with other companies, but just as long as it’s the right fit. Rather than trying to advertise using other people’s products, I’m always trying to advertise using our products. I really want our material to be the life of the blog. What’s best is I feel like I don’t have to play games with my blog.”

So, using her own material as the marketing and advertising material, she explained more, giving some examples of marketing promotions she has done:

“I would do a lot of giveaways on other blogs at first. A big advertising program I did was last year we did a christmas CD, and I just knew that lots of blogs would be eager to have the promotion. Artistically, I wanted to do a music project with Robbie. Beyond that, I knew it would be an amazing marketing venture. I reached out to a bunch of blogs I admired, and I did giveaways on their blogs, and made a few music videos. At Christmastime people are looking for Christmas things to feature. I gave the albums away asking if bloggers would be willing to mention it or post the music video. It was fun because my readership was about three times as much in December and it’s been high ever since.”

Words of Wisdom

Advice she has for up-and-coming artists and creative souls is:

“Have a blog. Have Instagram. Instagram I think is the most immediate way to be involved with people. You can have people feel a part of your life every day or multiple times a day. I like to think of it as an appetizer. People can go there and get a look at you and a taste for you. But the blog is where they’ll find the meat.”

And I’m sure Caitlin would want to remind other artists about their motives and reasons – something she explained has become her favorite part about what she does!

“Last January I did a lot of big pushes and I got pretty down about not getting more of a response. I think I was trying to put too many price signs on my art. But the pursuit of art isn’t about money – it’s about cultivating your questions: waking up in the morning with a question and going in your room and getting at peace withy our question. I realized I had been overlooking that whole process and had forgotten about it. Now, every day, I try to be grateful for not knowing what’s going to happen. I love the unknown. I love the mystery. I love the challenge. And I love questions. It’s kind of hard to love, but I love it.”

Success

Has she been successful? We’d say yes. She’d say:

“I would say that I’m successful because I think I’ve exceeded my own expectations. How do you quantify succes, especially with art? I don’t get a pay-raise or a manager telling me I’ve done a good job. But I see progress. So I think success could be seen as progress, and moving forward while being eager to create. Even when you have the success you’ve been waiting for, sometimes it doesn’t feel like it because you have new expectations. That’s really hard! But one thing I try to do with my husband is try to celebrate. It’s so easy to be our worst critic, but we try to celebrate because it’s easy to fall into an unhappy pattern, thinking “I can do better.” That’s a good dialog to have, as long as you have some positive reinforcement going on in your head as well.”

There you have it, folks! A peek into a creative soul. I know I learned a lot from Caitlin, and I hope to learn much more in the future! Any creative thoughts on your own? Agree or disagree with what Caitlin has to say, let us know, in the comments, below!

Names: Mara & Danny Kofoed

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Occupation:  Founders of A Blog About Love

Hometown: Sydney Australia/Dublin, Ireland

Occupation: Founder of The Remarkables Group - a talent agency for bloggers

Passion: Connecting brands with bloggers

Lunch: Starbucks, New York City

Be in Touch: Twitter, Facebook

I met Lorraine Murphy through Twitter. And even though I live and work primarily in the Salt Lake City area, and she primarily lives and works in Sydney, Australia, we both found ourselves in New York City this summer, so we got together for a quick bite! (A social media success story, if I’ve ever heard one!)

What is so inspiring about Lorraine is her intense drive and propensity toward achieving success. At the beginning of this year, she left her job to start The Remarkables Group – a blogger talent agency, and an idea that was, to her, a no-brainer.

“I decided I needed to start this business quickly, because if I didn’t do it, someone else would. It was so obvious to me. I made that decision earlier this year. It was an easy decision. And it’s already been a huge success. It’s been a lot of work but the bloggers are happy and clients are really welcoming it.”

She manages five “mommy bloggers” and acts as the liaison between brands and bloggers.

“I call it ‘blogger talent agency’ because I think it’s the best model for what we do. My background is in public relations, but the best model I can find to fit the business is a celebrity talent agency, where a brand wants to work with “X” celebrity, so they contact the talent agency who becomes the point of contact for both sides.”

Currently, her bloggers are all of a similar genre, though each of them has a different niche. Nikki of “Styling You,” Beth of “Baby Mac,” Sarah of “A Beach Cottage,” Mrs Woog of “Woogsworld,” and Eden of “Edenland.”

“They’re all mommy bloggers, but the word “mommy” can spark a lot of controversy. These “mommy” bloggers are amazing female writers and writing about their family is quite a small percentage of what they write about. But they are moms, they blog, and a lot of their readers are moms. From a grand perspective, moms make 85% of household decisions, so moms are where it’s at for marketers. For me to use the term “mommy blogger” with brands is quite useful, but the bloggers don’t necessarily want to be called that.”

Lorraine’s has a degree in Communications Studies, and a post-graduate diploma in Public Relations, Event Management, and E-Commerce. She’s got a killer resume, that includes working for PR agencies in Dublin, London, and Sydney, as well as a Communications Strategy agency, where she “got the opportunity to see how the broader marketing plan was put together.”

“I worked in public relations for 8 years. My most recent role was working for a lot of family brands – toothpaste, margarine – and they were very, very mom-focused. I worked a lot with communications strategy, and I became close to a few of the main bloggers in Australia. I put on seminars, teaching bloggers how to work with brands, and during the day, I was teaching my clients how to work with bloggers.  I saw the opportunity for someone to come into the middle of that.”

Interestingly, Lorraine faced what many people have faced over the last few years – being laid off a couple years ago. But this is something that, arguably, gave her courage to move forward on her own and work for herself.

“I was made redundant. I was devastated and I took it quite personally, because I had no idea the business wasn’t doing well, and I was a senior: second in command. I had no idea at all. To be told that was such a shock! There’s just no guaranteed job security anymore. Companies expand and contract as needed. When you go to start a business, people say ‘How can you give up your job and the security?’ But – you don’t have any!”

And though the company is only a few months old, she’s already had a lot of great success and interest. She has an intern, hires freelancers as she gets busy, and she’s already got her eye on other larger bloggers that she’d like to represent in The Remarkables Group.

“I’ve been receiving a little bit of back-lash regarding the business name, because people are saying”The Remarkables Group – does that mean the others aren’t remarkable?” But a friend of mine said, ‘Really? Would you really set up an agency called ‘The Averages?” It’s so true! The original meaning for the name is that bloggers get brand talked about on social media – so they’re remarkable because they get brands talking – and I think bloggers are remarkable because they put so much time and energy into something that won’t necessarily get a financial reward. I think it’s amazing.”

As she has gained expertise in the blogging industry, Lorraine has some wonderful advice for up-and-coming bloggers. Mainly, she encourages them to really hone in on their interests and not be afraid to offer a unique perspective. She also believes it’s important to interface with “bigger” blogs, and to develop relationships.

“I think when people find something they’re really passionate about, even though it can take a while to find that, they’re a lot more likely to keep blogging and stay consistent. And you have to find your voice. That really appeals to people. People want an authentic, genuine voice – someone who knows themselves.”

Lorraine is truly a creator. Her favorite part about running her own business?

“The opportunity to innovate, is huge. Being at the forefront of change, making new things happen, and helping other people make new things happen, as well – doing things that have never done been done before gets me really excited.”

Occupation:  Professor of Composition at The Juilliard School

Lunch: Jing Fong, New York City

Be in Touch:  Website

Eric Ewazen is one of the kindest, most welcoming people you could ever meet. He is extremely talented, and has an incredible, positive attitude about the world around him.  He started his music career at a very young age, in Cleveland, Ohio, starting piano lessons when he was 5 years old.

“There was a music teacher up the street. She was teaching all of us in the baby boomer generation, so I started with it and I really enjoyed it. I pretty much stuck with it ever after!”

In high school, Ewazen’s teachers were extraordinarily influential, encouraging him to start composing for the orchestra, chorus, and marching band.

“I went to public school and I had great teachers. That’s probably why I wanted to become a teacher. So what happened was I got really interested in the blank piece of paper, and putting music on it! I had a lot of encouragement from my band director who got me to write a piece for the marching band, and I also wrote a piece for chorus. And I played cello in the orchestra – after a failed attempt at violin! So, I wrote a piece for the orchestra. So on the basis of those works, I went to Eastman for composition and ever since, my whole life and my career has been music.”

Ewazen went on to receive a B.M. at the Eastman School of Music, and M.M. and D.M.A. from The Juilliard School. His career has been one of success after success, including published works, recordings and performances, world-wide.

“I view music as the window of our times. It’s a reflection of any given period of time.  It shows what is happening either personally for somebody, or in general – maybe in terms of society. Whatever is happening finds its way into the music. I like how it chronicles our time. In my case, I write music to communicate with people. Emotions. Beauty. Feeling. And wanting to create. There’s this great quote from John Adams. It’s something along the lines of ‘We have to study the military art in order for our sons to study the political art, in order for their sons to study the liberal art.’ Isn’t that the goal! In the arts you see the things that were created at that time, so, the arts take me back for all sorts of reasons. Plus, I get a lot of joy from it.”

After being asked how he views success in the music industry, he said:

“Success for musicians comes from having opportunities for performance, for getting their music out there, and for people know about you. For composers, you want people to play what you’ve written – different people in different places. But it’s very, very difficult.”

Speaking particularly about today’s economic climate, Ewazen commented:

“The arts sometimes are marginalized in our society as being “extra” things. It’s true! The arts doesn’t directly put food on the table, or build a house or something like that, so they’re always considered a luxury. Musicians struggle with that. But that’s where teaching comes in because if you don’t teach, people will forget what’s there.  With music, I think it will always be there, but whoever thought the Philadelphia Orchestra would go bankrupt! These are hard times.”

To combat these hard times, Ewazen suggests that aspiring composers, performers, and musicians stay well-rounded:

“Be flexible. Be able to do more than just one thing. That is something I got from a teacher at Eastman who said, ‘Be careful not to put all your eggs in one basket.’ For me, I do composing, but I do some teaching, and I can play the piano. To make a living just composing, even to be a composer whose music is played, I have to do something else. Arts administration, the recording industry, teaching, or it can even be something totally different. I have friends who are still composing but are working in other fields, and they’ll put groups together to play their music – doctors, lawyers, things like that. Music is still a part of their lives. It doesn’t always have to be commercial. I’ve done a lot with community orchestras, for example. Everyone should be able to do be flexible – know different types and styles of music – and be willing to do many different types of things.”

It is obvious that Ewazen practices what he preaches. His works range from percussion ensembles, to full orchestra, to brass quintets. Check out some of his works! Personally, I enjoy his brass works:

How do you feel about how the arts have fared in the current economy? Have you ever had a professor who has had a profound impact on your life? Share your thoughts and comments with us, below!