Great Entrepreneurs with RJ Lumba

Boosting Employee Productivity: Overall’s Co-Founder and CEO Jon Cooper

In this episode we speak with Jon Cooper, Co-Founder and CEO of Overalls, a new kind of employee benefit platform that helps make employees’ lives easier by assisting on things like making financial and insurance decisions, choosing vendors for your home, and handling other personal time-draining tasks.
Jon is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Life.io, a pioneer insurtech company that successfully recast digital customer engagement for life insurance.
Three key takeaways from this episode include:
1. People miscalculate the concept of risk when it comes to entrepreneurship.  It can be a lot riskier taking a job and being an employee, rather than building your own business.
2. Entrepreneurs need to have the spirit of “test, learn, experiment.” Always be willing to second guess the assumptions you made going into a project.
3. You don’t need to innovate on every aspect of your business. Innovate on one thing, and be as traditional as possible on everything else. This will allow you to channel all your energy into figuring out the key driver of your business.
I am your host RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show.  

Wow Customers With Experience: Luxury Haircare Pioneer Frédéric Fekkai

In this episode we speak with Frédéric Fekkai, the world-famous celebrity hair stylist and Founder of FEKKAI Brands and FEKKAI 3.0, his newest brand of haircare products combining his legendary expertise on everything hair with his relentless focus on creating innovative, high-performance products that are clean, vegan, and sustainable. 
Frédéric sold his namesake haircare brand to P&G in 2008, but in 2018 reaquired it with the help of Cornell Capital. He is now CEO of Blue Mistral, a holding company founded by Frédéric and Cornell Capital to operate Fekkai Brands together with Bastide, the fast-growing Provence-based provider of luxury fragrances and hand and body care products that Frédéric has led since 2017.
Three key takeaways from this episode include:
1. Customers need to be wowed when they experience your brand in order for it to be a massive success.
2. Beauty evolves to reflect the fashion and lifestyle of the day, and so should your business.
3. Make being sustainable a priority, both for the good of the planet and because customers are quickly coming to prefer it.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  

Create A Movement And Win: Creative Branding Maestro Scott Goodson

In this episode we speak with Scott Goodson, the Founder and CEO of StrawberryFrog, a powerhouse creative consulting company who has worked with iconic brands including Google, Mercedes, Heinekin, Emirates, Pepsico, LG, Truist and many others.  StrawberryFrog is behind the Purpose Power Index, the world’s first empirical study of Purpose driven companies.
Scott founded the company over 25 years ago.
Three key takeaways from this episode include:
1. Think hard about your company’s purpose, create a Movement and accelerate your company’s trajectory
2. You can take on massive industry incumbents and win, even as a small business
3. Cultivate a family culture of entrepreneurship, it can inspire future generations  
I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  

Against All Odds: Real Estate Entrepreneur Michael Feldman

In this episode we speak with Michael Feldman, Co-Founder and Director of Operations of Choice New York, a multi-disciplined real estate management company offering a broad array of services, including commercial and residential property management, leasing, advisory and project management.
Michael was filled with fear and anxiety when he started Choice New York in 2009.  He was inexperienced with the market he was entering, but by surrounding himself with the right people and through an insane work ethic, he built the business into an enterprise that a leading private equity firm wanted to acquire.  
He exited in 2021 and earned economic freedom and then some, although as he’ll admit, it took a toll.
Three key takeaways, among many others, from this episode include:
Collect talent, it’s a force multiplier.
Execution is more important than the idea.
Be passionate about being successful.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  

Aiming For Unsurpassed Hospitality: Coffee Entrepreneur Jonathan Rubinstein

In this episode we speak with Jonathan Rubinstein, the Founder and CEO of Joe Coffee, a unique specialty coffee company based in New York City.  In addition to brewing and serving the highest quality coffee out of 25 bespoke cafes, the company extends its offerings through a wide range of licensing and wholesale relationships. 
Jonathan founded Joe Coffee in 2003, after a stressful career as a talent agent.  His current investors include Danny Meyer among others. 
Three key takeaways from this episode include:
Think about handing over a little bit of sunshine with each customer interaction.
Diversifying business lines can create resiliency in your business model.
Tough feedback can make you better for the long run.
I am your host RJ Lumba.  

Building An Elite Tutoring Company: Education Entrepreneur Steve Feldman

In this episode we speak with Steve Feldman, the Founder and Managing Director of Private Prep, an elite tutoring service offering individually customized lessons for a wide range of K-College school subjects, standardized test prep, college admissions consulting, executive functioning, and learning differences support. 
Steve founded Private Prep in 2006, just three years after graduating from college.  Since then, he has successfully built the company to over 300 people with a presence in multiple locations throughout the United States. 
In essence, Steve and Private Prep’s mission is to help students become the best version of themselves.
Three key takeaways, among many others, from this episode include:
Caring deeply for other people and authenticity leads to viral word of mouth.
When you earn your customer’s trust, you can efficiently and effectively expand into other services.
Scaling culture takes clarity on core values and consistent communication.