Critical Mass Radio Show

Betsy Thagard, Founder of B.Toffee is host Ric Franzi's featured guest.  Betsy and Ric explore her entrepreneurial journey of creating a business around her handmade, delectable toffee confections.  Betsy explains her focus on building a distribution channel through specialty food stores, exclusive corporate gifts, and gift basket proprietors.

Ken Willette, Founder and CEO of SideOrder.com is host Ric Franzi's featured guest.  Ken discusses his newest venture.  SideOrder.com is Orange County's largest resource for local restaurant menus; for quick and convenient food ordering for pickup and delivery.  Listen to learn how this serial entrepreneur is bringing to life his latest technology venture.

Manish Gorawala, President of Tri-Force Consulting Services, speaks about the company he started in 2000.  Tri-Fource Consulting is a specialized consutling services firm focusing exclusively on providing emerging mobile development and diverse open source technologies.

Dan Markson, SVP of Development for The NRP Group LLC is host Ric Franzi's first guest.  NRP Group is the 2nd largest builder of affordable housing.  Dan discusses the need for PEOPLE FIRST-RETAIL SECOND and why housing issues are critical for business to maintain vibrancy in the retail sector. Sherrie Skeans, Vice President for Grubb & Ellis is the second guest.  Sherrie discussing the emerging real estate trends including LEED certification. Jack Nelson, CEO Propel Financial Services is the final guest on the show.  Jack talks about how his business can help homeowners with their tax liens and cash flow.  Ric and Jack also discusses the opportunity for Propel Financial to take their business model nationally.

Van Muse, Director for the MBA Progam, Mihaylo College of Business and Economics is host Ric Franzi's featured guest.  Van explains the three (3) MBA programs and the focus for each program.  Van also goes into detail about the newest of the three MBA programs, the Full-Time MBA program.  The Full-Time MBA offers a unique focus on the "interpersonal and soft skills" through the Mihaylo Leadership Academy.  As Van says "There are plenty of choices for a full-time MBA in the marketplace, so we chose to develop ours differently."  Listen to learn more details about the benefits and features of the Mihaylo MBA programs.

Lisa Steadman, Founder and CEO of Woohoo, Inc. is host Ric Franzi's featured guest.  Ric explores with Lisa how, as an entrepreneur, she manages her multi-faceted business.  Lisa is an author, speaker, coach and consultant to a wide variety of businesses both nationally and internationally.  Listen to this fast paced interview to uncover some of the secrets to building your own powerful personal brand.

Host Doug Gfeller's guest is Liz Lewis. Liz is a Certified Human Resources Professional, and Entrepreneur, Mentor and Certified International Life Coach/Speaker.  Liz offers over 20 years of leadership experience both in the private and corporate sectors.  She provides expertise to entrepreneurial and Fortune 500 companies who are in need of human resources and workers' compensation management services, producing significant results in reducing overhead liability and maintaining low cost commercial business premiums.

Mike Lieberman, President of Square 2 Marketing is host Ric Franzi's featured guest.  Mike shares with Ric how his firm creates Marketing MachinesTM to drive brand awareness and increase traffic to the firm's website as well as maximizing the effectiveness of social networking campaigns.

Lisa Marie Platske, CEO and President is host Ric Franzi's featured guest and they explore a wide range of topics including her philosophy that connection is the new currency in today's business world.

Christine De La Torre, Founder and Owner of Christine's BookKeeping discusses the most common bookkeeping mistakes made by business owners and entrepreneurs with host Ric Franzi. Kathy Dahl Crifasi, Founder of Hipzbag shares experience building a business-to-consumer firm after successfully creating a business-to-business information technology firm.

Daniel Bistany, Partner at breezeIT joins host Ric Franzi and discusses the IT firm he and his partners started and the challenges and opportunities facing a startup in their industry.  Listen to learn how "cloud computing" and other exciting new technologies are helping mid-market firms lower IT costs and reach new customers. Jim Downes, Senior Director with BBK returns to the show and shares additional insights into what companies must do to survive when they are in a turnaround situation.  Jim and Ric also explore the role suppliers and supply-chain management play in the success or failure of manufacturing companies.

Linda Pinson, Founder of Out of Your Mind and into the Marketplace talks with host Ric Franzi about her business which produces books and information to help entrepreneurs develop business plans.  Linda is a published author of numerous books and seminars on the subject. Alison Sansone, Creator of Be There Bedtime Stories shares her experiences in building her unique technology-based company inspired by her desire to remain close to her nieces who do not live close to her.  Listen to learn how this entrepreneur is creating not only a business but a brand around her service offering.

Sheri Geoffreys Founder of Sheri Geoffreys Photography, Inc. talks with host Ric Franzi about her path to becoming a professional photographer.  Sheri believes you must "photograph what you are passionate about to create top notch imagery" which is why she photographs corporate photography.

Doug talks about on-boarding and coaching new hires and of course more tips on technology to make the coaching experience more productive.

Jason Lindgren, Owner of Coyote Courier Services discusses the rising costs vs. flat to decling pricing within the courier industry and the steps he is taking to ensure his firm remains a profitable business.   Michael Brozzetti, President and Owner of Boundless, LLC. joins host Ric Franzi to talk about business and IT auditing as well as compliance issues facing mid-market firms today.

Kevin Moshayedi, Founder of Ark Collective is host Ric Franzi's featured guest.  Kevin details his unique business model and how a few summers back he learned about a vast number of students attending Los Angeles schools without adequate school supplies and backpacks.  This started his journey to create Ark Collective with a mission to improve the quality of our underserved youth's education.

Host Doug Gfeller continues the discussion on coaching and human resource issues.

Dan Cornell, CTO of Denim Group is host Ric Franzi's featured guest. His firm develops secure software, helps organizations assess and mitigate risk with existing software, and provides training on best practices in software security.

Jen Shirkani, Founder and CEO of Penumbra Group joins host Ric Franzi for a lively conversation about how Emotional Intelligence and how it can help larger firms grow their top line revenue.  Jen also shares a bit of her knowledge and expertise as it relates to the interesting topic of emotional intelligence.

Host Doug Gfeller interviews Life Coaches to learn how it is different from business coaching and what are the factors to consider in deciding between the two.