When it comes to running a competitive company, Bob Moog doesn’t play games. Well, actually, he does. Daily.

Bob is co-founder and president of University Games, the largest independent game company in the world.

For almost four decades, Bob has gone up against the biggest players — including Hasbro and Mattel — and found a way to beat them at their own game. Pun intended.

In fact, University Games distributes more products in more outlets and more markets than any other company focused on board games. 

The company now has six divisions: University Games (board games), Great Explorations (science and learning/glow-in-the-dark products), BePuzzled (puzzles and brainteasers), Briarpatch (preschool games and puzzles), U-Create (crafts and activities), and Front Porch Classics (classic games, built to last a lifetime).

University Games’ philosophy has always been to offer games that encourage social interaction and imagination through gameplay, with learning sprinkled in to spice it up. 

Bob’s story will inspire anyone who competes against entrenched giants. He’ll also share the management philosophy that has proven a game winner for just shy of four decades.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Bob Moog, University Games
Posted: March 11, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:10
Episode: 12.36

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Leading business schools and best-selling leadership authors seldom compare the skills required of for-profit CEOs and non-profit fire chiefs.

Yet, the two professions share a lot in common. Indeed, battling blazes is excellent preparation for dousing the many firestorms business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs face.

This week’s guest, Clive Savacool, devoted 25 years as a Northern California firefighter before retiring his chief’s helmet and stepping into the boots of a full-time startup CEO.

Clive is the founder and CEO of LogRX, which created and sells an advanced mobile app designed to help firefighters, paramedics, law enforcement personnel, and others who administer and are legally bound to keep track of controlled substances in their work.

As a firefighter, Clive fought numerous structure fires and one of the largest wildfires in California history. As a startup CEO, he faced the challenge of bootstrapping a company with an untested app and zero outside investment.

Both entailed risk and required courage.

How does a fire chief's experience in life-or-death decisions benefit a CEO facing a corporate crisis? In this episode, Clive shares his unique perspective and strategies for staying cool-headed under extreme stress.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart. Dean’s book, Dedication and Service, showcasing the Genesee, Colorado, fire department, can be purchased in a digital version here or paperback from Amazon.

Photo: Clive Savacool, LogRX
Posted: January 22, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:05
Episode: 12.29

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After 16 years as a wedding photographer, Ryan Erickson concluded he was barking up the wrong tree. 

He was making decent money but didn’t have a passion for his work.

It was risky, but Ryan decided to try his hand at fine art photography, and he’s been so successful early on that he’s thinking of expanding his fledgling enterprise nationwide.

Ryan’s discerning clients are willing to pay up for his portraits that accentuate the eyes and subtleties of his subjects’ faces. Rather than ask his subjects to come to him, Ryan brings his workspace and state-of-the-art equipment to them in a mobile studio.

But that’s not the most unique aspect of Ryan’s enterprise. That would be the free belly rubs he happily gives to each of the retrievers, shepherds, bulldogs, beagles, and other canines who pose for him and his Fetch Photo Truck.

“It’s so much easier and enjoyable working with dogs,” Ryan confesses. To which every active wedding photographer in the world responds, “Amen.”

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Ryan Erickson, Fetch Photo Truck
Posted: January 15, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:19
Episode: 12.28

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

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Chris McShanag has enjoyed a long and productive career in the healthcare field, working alongside two physician entrepreneurs to build a thriving business providing off-site virtual assistants to doctors, dentists, and even veterinarians.

Their company, MedVA, founded in 2020, provides medical and dental virtual assistants and has done an admirable job of helping their clients improve quality of care while simultaneously boosting the bottom line of their practices.

In fact, MedVA has proven such a success with clients that Chris and his partners figured their methods could work for any company across a broad spectrum of small businesses. So a year ago, they launched BizVA, delivering virtual assistants capabilities to the entire business community, both domestically and internationally.

BizVA’s pledge is that it will help companies get more done at a fraction of the cost.

This week, Chris, president and CEO of both MedVA and BizVA, shares his insights about the many advantages of relying on virtual assistants, and the logistics of successfully transferring the knowledge gleaned in one business niche to another.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Chris McShanag, BizVA and MedVA
Posted: December 18, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 40:01
Episode: 12.24

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

Many innovative business concepts fall through because the cost and logistics of pulling them off just wouldn’t work.

Uzair Ahmed, a Canadian chemical engineer, recognized all the missed opportunities and figured he could design technology and automation to make unworkable business models workable.

Uzair, founder of Cottonwood Automation, tested his high-tech, low-overhead system by launching a service that sends car mechanics to the homes or offices of customers. Guess what? It succeeded wildly.

While Cottonwood Automation generally focuses on making home service businesses easier to operate, Uzair believes that his method — which brings together automation, AI, global talent, and other digital technologies, can help businesses in almost every industry cut their costs by up to 60%.

Best of all, perhaps, it allows owners and CEOs to do more while working less.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Uzair Ahmed, Cottonwood Automation
Posted: December 11, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:29
Episode: 12.23

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

Bronson Hill took it to heart when Warren Buffet warned investors that they will work the rest of their lives if they don’t find a way to make money while they sleep.

Bronson became a zealous student of passive investing and, in 2018, with zero prior experience, raised a comparatively tiny $200,000 to form his first real estate syndicate.

Today, Bronson, founder and CEO of Bronson Equity, is a general partner in more than $200 million worth of real estate. He is also the author of the recently released book, Fire Yourself: Replace Your Working Income with Passive Income in 3 Years or Less.

This week, Bronson reveals his successful passive investing strategies and his approach to raising tens of millions of dollars through syndications.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

Photo: Bronson Hill, Bronson Equity
Posted: November 20, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 41:27
Episode: 12.20

Three years ago, Nick Barrett had an idea — and little else. He envisioned a new, weighted, portable gadget that could keep cords and wires from getting entangled.

Nick’s CordBrick is only a tad longer than a large paperclip and about as thick as a quarter. At this year’s National Retail Federation trade show in New York, one of the largest consumer products showcases in the nation, CordBrick was named “coolest product,” nabbing a $10,000 prize.

Nick’s experience launching CordBrick mirrors that of many first-time entrepreneurs. He’s made mistakes, learned from them, had the support of friends and mentors, and is now steadily growing his business.

Other inventors and entrepreneurs can learn a lot — and save themselves big headaches — by discovering how Nick went from pitching his innovative home and office gadget at flea markets to being a major Amazon and retail success story. 

You don’t have to be an entrepreneurial rookie to benefit from Nick’s inspirational story and to relive the magic of starting your first business. 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

Photo: Nick Barrett, CordBrick
Posted: November 6, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 40:23
Episode: 12.18

Zeynep Ekemen has ridden the rollercoaster of COVID-19 and its impact on small businesses.

She is the founder of Silver Defender, a company that sells antimicrobial-protected film for high-touch areas — such as door bars and handles, elevator buttons, and guide rails. She launched her business in 2018.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit less than two years later, her sales took off like a rocket, stretching her company’s production and distribution capabilities to the max.

But now, as demand has waned, Zeynep is fighting to avoid the fate of so many other businesses that were whipsawed by COVID-19. It's a common dilemma for many small businesses when a product or service they provide experiences a surge in popularity and then fades almost as quickly.

Zeynep herself is determined to demonstrate that what comes down can always go back up.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link or scan the QR code below. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

Photo: Zeynep Ekemen, Silver Defender
Posted: October 30, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 34:42
Episode: 12.17

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In 1855, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his journal: “If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.”

In time, his words were somehow conflated as the oft-cited quote: "Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door."

Carina Ramirez Cahan, co-founder of Cobalt Rose Company, is testing Emerson’s thesis, having worked with her husband, a respected breast surgeon, to build a better bra.

The Cobalt Rose bra utilizes a radically new design that replaces rigid underwires — which many women rely on but hate — with a flexible, patented polymer insert that is molded right into the cups. 

Carina promises that her bra will be the most comfortable, supportive, and flattering bra her customers have ever worn.

But is that enough? Will that translate into a hefty slice of the annual $12 billion U.S. lingerie market?

As Carina knows firsthand, the path to success is more complicated than it might appear at first blush.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Carina Ramirez Cahan, Cobalt Rose Company
Posted: October 23, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 44:48
Episode: 12.16

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On October 16, 1923 — precisely 100 years ago today — Walt Disney and his older brother Roy launched Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. In time, their business would morph into one of the world’s best-known and most beloved companies.

To mark this milestone anniversary, co-hosts Dean and Maxwell Rotbart review the history of The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland, paying special attention to the many practical lessons that executives and entrepreneurs can glean from the Disney successes and failures of the past century.

Listeners will also hear from Michael Goldsby, a professor of entrepreneurship at Ball Street University and the co-author of Entrepreneurship the Disney Way. Professor Goldsby was a guest on the podcast in September 2019.

As a special feature, Maxwell shares the incredible story of how he uncovered, buried deep in the archives of a Kansas museum, an original prospectus for Disneyland written in 1953, roughly two years before the first park opened. If you’re a Disneyphile or grown-up Mouseketeer, comparing Walt’s vision to today’s Disneyland will fascinate you.

So perk up your mouse ears and listen to the leaders of the band for a thrilling ride through ten decades of Disneyana and the business lessons they impart.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link or scan the QR code below. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

Photo: Walt Disney, 1946
Posted: October 16, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:39
Episode: 12.15