Ricardo O’Neal and Holly Young are looking for gold. And when they find it, they want to share it with the world.
The gold the talented duo is mining are nuggets of wisdom and fresh inspiration from a diverse range of local entrepreneurs, creatives and thought leaders in West Michigan.
The plan to share these nuggets of gold begins with a live interactive event and then through a series of podcasts. Pure entrepreneurial gold.
Holly Young, the organization strategist at
The Aurikk Brand Movement Group (Aurikk BMG), the creative team behind the
Entrepreneurial Gold Podcast series, answered a series of questions from Rapid Growth about their company and inspiration behind the series of podcasts.
RGM: First, tell us about your company.
HY: The Aurikk Brand Movement Group is a collective of gifted creatives with a passion to build brands through consistent and effective strategy, design and engagement elements. These three core elements, we call SDE, all play off one another to scale and strengthen brands. This includes strong strategic work as a foundation supporting growth and customer retention; design work (logos, web sites, info cards, etc.) to gain attention and build interest, and ultimately, build the all important customer retention through engagement. We've been around for three years as Aurikk BMG. Our team is small yet powerful and effective. We've got our creative branding guy, Ricardo O'Neal; two graphic designers, Jake Karadsheh and Edwin Anderson; and organizational strategist, Holly Young. The team works out the Blue 35 building located at 35 Oakes St SW.
RGM: What was the inspiration for the Entrepreneurial Gold Podcasts, and what do you hope to accomplish?
HY: We know West Michigan has a strong and powerful entrepreneurial spirit. People have brilliant business ideas everyday, and the ecosystem to support entrepreneurial endeavors in GR is becoming stronger every day. Entrepreneurial Gold stemmed from the gap we see in the Grand Rapids entrepreneurial community in the areas of diversity -- not just racial diversity, also gender, religious, orientation, and even business ideas. Our mission is to deliver valuable nuggets of entrepreneurship designed to help shape, strengthen and scale brands. We plan to build a diversified networking forum, create an educational business media outlet dedicated to assisting entrepreneurial growth and economic equality in the Grand Rapids/West Michigan region, and unearth the richness of our community through sharing stories of why failure isn’t the end of the world, but a motivational push towards success.
RGM: Besides your team, who else is involved with the podcast project?
HY: We have strong support from Scott Brew of Adtegrity (38 Commerce St. SW) as our primary sponsor. From the very first conversations about this idea with Scott, he was bought in as he sees the same solvables -- we don't use the 'P' word, problems, at Aurikk -- and was eager to be at the forefront of supporting the Entrepreneurial Gold movement.
RGM: Where and when can people check these out?
HY: The beauty of the
Entrepreneurial Gold live podcast experience is in the ‘live’ part. Interested individuals can come to the actual events and be a part of the experience. There is a networking component and live Q&A with the speakers to truly make the audience a part of the movement. We host these events at multiple locations throughout the city, with our initial launch hosted at The Factory. Entrepreneurial Gold is a mobile event designed to make sure we are inclusive of all communities in the Grand Rapids area, so we will pop up at various locations across the city. The recordings will be uploaded onto Stitcher, SoundCloud, and iTunes within 48 hours of recording. As the Entrepreneurial Gold movement grows, so will the platforms hosting the podcast.
RGM: How do you select the panelists?
HY: We are actively and intentionally looking for a diverse set of speakers. Successful entrepreneurs representing various business ventures and backgrounds who are willing to share their journey (successes and failures) and be fully open and engaged with our audience; speaking from a place self-assured transparency and prepared to give away some of the valuable Entrepreneurial Gold nuggets integral in propelling their journey to success. We are really looking for individuals who understand the significance of participating in something game-changing and thought-shifting.
RGM: Why the podcast format?
HY: This is our first foray into the podcast world. We have plenty of guidance from skilled sound engineers to help along the way. We chose the podcast platform over other communication avenues (blogs, Facebook, etc.) because they are so mobile and easy to use. Whether listening during one’s commute, doing the dishes, or just cleaning out the inbox in the evening, listening to a podcast is something people can do anytime while still in motion. While we will still use other written platforms to support and share the message, we are excited about the inclusive nature of the live podcast experience and getting more people involved in the conversation and entrepreneurial movement than just the interviewer and guest speaker.
To follow the when and where of the next live Entrepreneurial Gold Podcast experience, check out their
Facebook page here.
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor
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