How's Business?! by Bottleneck.io

In this episode, Adam sits down with Jennifer Austin, who runs a community magazine in Beacon, New York, that brings local events, expert advice, sports, real estate and a featured family together in one place. It isn't a magazine full of ads and fluff. It's built on stories from the community and the business owners who serve it, and it gives local businesses an organic way to get in front of their neighbors. Jennifer has spent her whole life connecting people. She grew up a hotel kid, watching her dad turn around struggling properties by seeing them through the customer's eyes. That hospitality mindset carried her through boutique hotels in Manhattan like the Iroquois, the Michelangelo and the Distrikt Hotel, and on to City Winery in Montgomery, NY. Now she brings the same instincts to publishing: listening first, telling a client when she's not the right fit, and helping businesses share what makes them worth trusting. She also shares how she turned the cold calls she used to dread into something she actually enjoys. Whether you're a local business owner trying to stand out in your community or someone who wants to sell without feeling salesy, you'll walk away with a new appreciation for the details your customers notice, and how telling your story can turn neighbors into loyal clients. You can contact Jennifer on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermaustin/ Want to appear on the show? Find more about the podcast at: https://howsbusinesspodcast.com

In this episode, Adam sits down with Justin Corson, owner of Wreck Room HV, the Hudson Valley's place to grab a bat and smash TVs, dishes, and everything else weighing on you. Justin traces his path from St. Louis to culinary school in the Hudson Valley, a year back at the culinary school as a manager-in-training, a few local restaurants, and about eight years managing a small cafe he calls a local institution, to the celebrity-chef dreams, a Chopped tryout, and a YouTube venture that never quite panned out. When the frustration piled up, a conversation with his therapist sparked an idea: there wasn't a single rage room within two hours, so he built one himself. The conversation covers what it really costs to open a business nobody in your area has done before. Justin breaks down why he walked away from a $300,000 franchise fee plus 6–8% of revenue and built it for half, the thousands he wasted on jumpsuits nobody wanted, and why he won't print merch until he knows people will buy it. He explains how he was so busy in his first months that he had to turn customers away for lack of things to smash, and how partnerships with local thrift stores and the Habitat ReStore solved his supply problem. He also gets into the cash surprises of year two: a lease he paid upfront that came due in full again, and an insurance "renewal" that was really a brand-new policy with 25% down. Justin gets candid about the real cost of ownership: wearing every hat from janitor to social media manager, hiring help to get home to his family only to fire him over a safety violation, and why you should plan on three times the money and half the family time you expect. He makes the case that the restaurant industry treats burnout as a badge of honor, that society teaches us to bury our anger instead of releasing it, and that everyone who looks perfect online is fighting the same battles. He also opens up about his younger son's autism journey, the local therapy program that helped him find his voice, and his dream of adding sensory rooms so families of kids with disabilities can finally do something together. Whether you're a career-changer with an idea nobody in your town has tried, a first-year owner staring down cash flow surprises, or someone who needs a reminder that it's okay to be angry, this episode is packed with hard-won lessons on planning, money, mental health, and the mindset to smash through fear instead of being paralyzed by it. Find Justin and Wreck Room Hudson Valley at the Poughkeepsie Galleria and online at https://wreckroomhv.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wreckroomhudsonvalley/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Wreck-Room-HV-61580917328253/ Want to appear on the show? Find more about the podcast at: https://howsbusinesspodcast.com

In this episode, Adam sits down with his father, Angelo Ferrante — partner at Advanced Disaster Recovery (Advanced DRI) — to trace a family's journey from an Italian immigrant grandfather who couldn't read or write to a multi-generational construction and restoration empire. Angelo shares how his father built a home-building business from scratch in the 1970s, how he and his brother Mike swung hammers on job sites as kids, and how they grew the family business to 50 homes a year across Orange County, New York — only to nearly lose it all when the 2008 housing market collapsed beneath them. The conversation covers the gut-punch of watching spec houses sit unsold, the decision to pivot into remodeling just to keep the lights on, and the accidental discovery of disaster restoration that changed everything. Angelo breaks down how meeting the right business partner led to a private equity acquisition, and how they scaled from two offices to twelve with 170 employees — buying companies across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New York. He also explains why a disaster recovery company now employs three AI developers, how they're using AI in 3D scanning, automated estimating, and call systems, and why the most important lesson he learned too late was simply knowing his numbers. Angelo gets candid about the real cost of entrepreneurship — the missed games, the sleepless nights at 2 AM, and why you can't make up lost family time two decades later. He makes the case that paying subcontractors every dime even when you only have $2 in the bank is non-negotiable, that social media's Lamborghini lifestyle is a lie, and that true wealth has nothing to do with what's in the bank. He also talks openly about the unique challenge of working alongside family for forty years, the E-Myth lesson that the best carpenter can still go broke without a balance sheet, and what's next for him at 58 — including a possible return to swinging a hammer, this time for Habitat for Humanity. Whether you're a tradesperson thinking about starting your own business, a family-run operation navigating growth and succession, or someone wondering what it really takes to survive a market crash and come out the other side, this episode is packed with hard-won lessons on persistence, numbers, relationships, and the mindset to keep going when the world falls apart. Want to appear on the show? Find more about the podcast at: https://howsbusinesspodcast.com

In this episode, Adam sits down with Camden Olivero, founder of Niche & Needle Marketing, to trace the path from scraping paint in college to co-founding a venture-backed laundry tech startup and ultimately building a marketing agency for local service businesses. Camden shares how a personal hatred for folding laundry sparked ClothesLyne, a tech company he helped grow from zero to one across two accelerator programs (Generator in Reno, NV and Techstars in New York City), raising capital from angel investors and boutique hotel groups along the way. He breaks down the hard decision to walk away after four years of blood, sweat, and tears, and how he applied a startup-grade, data-driven approach to everyday businesses that were used to running on referrals alone. The conversation covers the difference between Google Search Ads and Meta Ads and why Camden regularly talks clients out of social media in favor of channels that actually generate revenue for their budget. He explains why boosting posts is the fast-food version of advertising, how call tracking and attribution can turn a $500 ad spend into a measurable ROI, and why the most untapped opportunity for most small businesses isn't a new platform it's the CRM data they're already sitting on. Camden also pushes back on the "self-made" myth, arguing that no one builds anything alone, and makes the case that in a world of AI-generated content, authenticity and owner-facing video matter more than ever. Whether you're a founder weighing when to scale, a small business owner trying to figure out where to spend your first marketing dollars, or someone building a brand beyond your own name, this episode is packed with practical insights on marketing, entrepreneurship, and the mindset to keep moving the needle. Want to appear on the show? Find more about the podcast at: https://hows.business

In this episode, Adam sits down with Angel Rodriguez, chef-turned-entrepreneur and founder of Health in Color, to unpack the journey from cooking rice and beans in the Dominican Republic to building a wellness brand in Beacon, New York. Angel shares how learning to cook at 12, surviving seven and a half years on Royal Caribbean cruise ships cooking 12,000+ plates a day, and bouncing back from a failed food truck and a dead-end juice company shaped his resilience. He breaks down how a hypertension diagnosis led him to the DASH diet, which became the foundation for Health in Color and the Sugar Crusher Shot — a wellness shot using apple cider vinegar, ginger, and avocado oil designed to blunt glucose spikes and help you feel better after the meals you're already eating. The conversation covers the science of food order, why your brain fights diet change, the staggering sugar hidden in everyday foods, and why the 2 PM crash most people accept as normal is anything but. Whether you're a founder navigating failure or someone trying to eat better without giving up the foods you love, this episode is packed with hard-won insights on food, entrepreneurship, and the mindset to keep pushing forward. Want to appear on the show? Find more about the podcast at: https://hows.business