I had a wonderful time last week in Dothan, Alabama! Dothan is one of our ATF Roadside MBA towns, and we featured Key Fire Hose and Panhandle Converter Recycling in the book. The occasion was the Dothan Area Chamber's General Membership Luncheon, and I was honored to be invited to deliver the keynote address. I talked Roadside MBA, tried to tell a few funny stories from the road, and generally had a great time. Some highlights from the day: Breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Lyle Peluso Jr. Lyle gave me a great update on the remarkable growth at Panhandle Converter, and then we … [Read more...]
Mazzeo and Oyer on Cincinnati Edition
Mike Mazzeo and Paul Oyer were guests on Cincinnati Edition last Wednesday on 91.7 WXVU, and you can listen to their interview here. We buzzed through the greater Cincy area in April 0f 2012, and a couple local businesses --- Berns Garden Center and PMC Solutions --- are featured in the book. Ohio is also the scene of Paul's greatest lodging crime: To Scott's utter dismay, he booked us into a Bed & Breakfast rather than a sterile Holiday Inn Express. Mike and Paul had a great time, and we thank the folks in the Queen City for hosting us! … [Read more...]
Talking Scale with Clyde Lear of Learfield Communications
Our latest piece for Inc.com features Clyde Lear, the founder of Learfield Communications. We talked with Clyde way back in July of 2010 on the very first Roadside MBA trip. And as we've written before, calling Clyde a “character” is akin to calling Yellowstone a park. Our visit with Clyde was one of our all-time-favorites, and we're pleased to tell his story --- and illustrate a brilliant application of economies of scale --- on Inc.com. … [Read more...]
Mazzeo Talks to KC Examiner
Mike Mazzeo recently talked with Eric Jacobson about the Missouri-based businesses featured in Roadside MBA. We visited the Show Me State back in 2010, and had a great time. In addition to meeting lots of interesting small business owners, we hit the Dairy Queen in Saint Joseph and toasted Paul's birthday with dipped cones. … [Read more...]
Roadside MBA Launches Column on Inc.com
We have interviewed 100+ small businesses in the last few years, but only had space for maybe 45 in our book. What to do with the great stories, insights, and "It Depends" examples from the other 55+? Our friends at Inc.com have been kind enough to bring us on as columnists, and we're pleased to say that our first piece hit the web just this week. Check out our first column here, and look here for our Inc.com home page where you can find all of our posts! … [Read more...]
Roadside MBA Is Now Available!
4200 miles. 27 states. Dozens of wrong turns. And more than 100 interviews with thoughtful and passionate small business owners. And now our book, Roadside MBA: Backroad Wisdom for Executives, Entrepreneurs, and Small Business Owners, is out. Get it here! … [Read more...]
Trip #7: Success!
Roadside MBA Trip #7 is now complete. Let's bust out some adjectives to see if we can give you a taste of the fun. Adjective #1: Exhausting. Oh sure, it sounds glamorous. A bunch of economists, lots of open road, a TV crew, a massive and hard-to-drive RV... what else could you possibly need? Well, the missing ingredient was, unfortunately, sleep. On this trip, eight hours was pretty much an impossibility, and it got even worse our last night. We rolled in around 10:30 pm and had stupidly scheduled a 6 am start to our day of horsing around. If I had wanted get up that early, I'd … [Read more...]
Heat, Horses, and Hoover
Sorry, but an almost-non-stop schedule and limited internet access set our live blogging schedule behind. We arrived at the Stagecoach Trails Guest Ranch late Thursday night with mild concussions from the 15-mile dirt road approach. This was about the only time we regretted having the RV, which varied from hydroplaning on the loose dirt to bumping up and down on the washboard contours of the more hard-packed sections of the road. Why did we visit a ranch, you ask? Well, Scott set it up and we are a bit suspicious that he was just looking for an excuse to wear his cowboy boots. Whatever … [Read more...]
An Economist Learns to Weld
Today the Roadside MBA crew was in Adelanto, California (slogan: The City of Unlimited Possibilities) visiting with Bill and Linda Scott at Scott Turbon Mixer. We rolled into the area late last night, with just enough time to grab a quick dinner at Paulina's Mexican Grill (excellent, btw). Walking back to our hotel, we spotted a mini-golf/go-kart/batting-cage spot, and... sadly were simply too tired to partake after our big dairy day on Wednesday. The sacrifices we make for Roadside MBA. We woke to crystal clear skies and rolled on out to the edge of town to see Bill Scott. And when … [Read more...]
Got Milk? Yes, and in Glass Bottles
We spent today with the owners of the Rosa Brothers Milk Company at their processing facility in Tulare and on their dairy farm in Hanford. Noel, the younger brother, runs the processing facility where they bottle milk, make ice cream, and sell their various products. It was both fascinating and fun. First of all, we got to wear these really cool outfits: We also got to taste their offerings. Paul particularly recommends the Root Beer milk and the Cookies & Cream Ice Cream. This is Noel serving up some Strawberry milk: We then headed over to the 1,000 cow dairy farm where we met … [Read more...]