Entrepreneurs, Executives, and Eccentrics

In this conversation, Erica Paulson, doula, childbirth educator, clinical hypnotherapist, and founder of Nurture, shares how her own birth experience led her to a career supporting women and families through pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. She explains how Nurture grew from doula services into a perinatal wellness center offering childbirth education, elective ultrasounds, massage therapy, and other forms of support. Erica also discusses building the business with her husband, managing the fear and uncertainty that come with entrepreneurship, and learning to trust her vision through periods of change. Looking ahead, she plans to expand access to doula-informed care by training doulas, families, nurses, and hospital providers while helping healthcare systems integrate doulas more fully into maternity care.

Takeaways
Doulas provide physical, emotional, and informational support before, during, and after childbirth.
Erica became a doula after experiencing firsthand how much the right support could improve a birth experience.
Nurture was built around the idea of providing a full circle of support throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Mind-body awareness plays an important role in Erica's approach to childbirth education and hypnotherapy.
Growing demand led Erica from working as an individual doula to training doulas and building a larger care team.
Erica and her husband bring different strengths to the business, with Erica driving the vision and her husband helping with execution and operations.
One of Erica's most important lessons in entrepreneurship was to commit to the business without relying on a plan B.
She believes fear and stress did little to improve her decisions during the early stages of building a brick-and-mortar business.
Connecting with other entrepreneurs and avoiding comparison helped Erica manage the isolation and pressure of business ownership.
Erica's long-term goal is to make doula-informed care more common within hospitals through education, training, policies, and integrated care programs.

Today's guest, Erica Paulson, can be found at:
Website: https://www.welcometonurture.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-manto-paulson/

Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:
Website: https://scottturman.com/, https://brightray.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14602682/

Keywords
Doula, childbirth, pregnancy, postpartum, perinatal wellness, birth support, childbirth education, maternal care, hypnotherapy, mind-body connection, entrepreneurship, brick-and-mortar business, business ownership, doula training, hospital care

Reena Goodwin, founder and CEO of FACTEUR PR, shares how she built a specialized communications agency focused on women’s health, wellness, and aesthetics. She explains why strong positioning can help businesses stand out, attract better-fit clients, and build lasting authority in their market. Reena also discusses how public relations has changed since her early career at Columbia Records, including the rise of podcasts, Substack, influencers, and independent media. The conversation explores why relationships remain central to PR, how business owners can benefit from narrowing their focus, and why media coverage, thought leadership, reviews, and other forms of earned authority are becoming more important as consumers use AI tools to discover businesses, products, and services.

Takeaways
Strong positioning helps a business stand apart from competitors and makes its ideal customer easier to identify.
FACTEUR PR gradually focused its business on health, wellness, beauty, and aesthetics after seeing growing demand in those markets.
Specialization makes it easier for agencies to build deep relationships with journalists, influencers, and industry thought leaders.
Business owners sometimes need to turn down opportunities that do not support their long-term positioning.
Word of mouth and strong client results remain powerful drivers of agency growth.
PR has expanded beyond traditional magazines and newspapers to include podcasts, newsletters, Substack publications, influencers, and other independent media.
Modern PR requires businesses to think beyond one major media placement and build authority across several channels.
Remote work has changed how agencies hire talent and build professional relationships across geographic boundaries.
Reena recommends that entrepreneurs identify what makes their business distinct and build their marketing around that position.
Media coverage, blogs, thought leadership, reviews, podcasts, and other signals of authority can help businesses appear in AI-driven discovery and recommendation systems.

Today's guest, Reena Goodwin, can be found at:
Website: https://www.facteurpr.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reena-goodwin-6919411/

Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:
Website: https://scottturman.com/, https://brightray.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14602682/

Keywords
Public Relations, Entrepreneurship, Business Positioning, Niche Marketing, Women’s Health, Reputation Management, Thought Leadership, Media Relations, Brand Authority, Business Growth, Marketing Strategy, AI Discovery, Artificial Intelligence, SEO, Earned Media

Dr. Sarah Crawford, founder of Anchor Wellness Center and WAVE Physical Therapy and Pilates, shares how burnout in traditional healthcare pushed her to build a different model for both patients and health and wellness professionals. She explains how she moved from insurance-based physical therapy into fee-for-service care, what she learned from helping grow other practices, and why cash flow, strong systems, and the right people matter when building a service business. The conversation also explores hiring, leadership, emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, and the lessons Crawford learned from contracts, partnerships, and managing talent. She also explains how Anchor supports independent health and wellness entrepreneurs by giving them the infrastructure, community, and business support they need while allowing them to maintain ownership of their practices.

Takeaways
Burnout in traditional healthcare led Crawford to explore a more flexible, patient-centered business model.
Fee-for-service care showed her that patients will pay for quality, access, and a better experience.
Anchor Wellness Center brings independent health and wellness providers together while supporting them with operations, administration, and business strategy.
Cash flow is one of the most important parts of building a sustainable business.
Visionary founders often need strong operators who can turn ideas into action.
Entrepreneurs must become comfortable with uncertainty, unfinished work, and learning through failure.
Leadership requires self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and the ability to work with people who think differently.
Hiring based on potential instead of demonstrated ability can create costly mistakes.
Crawford now uses tools such as DISC and Enneagram assessments alongside a lengthy hiring process to reduce hiring bias and improve team fit.
Incentives matter. Crawford uses profit sharing in her physical therapy practice and gives Anchor members ownership of their own growth and business results.

Today's guest, Dr. Sarah Crawford, can be found at:
Websites: https://anchorcincy.com/, https://makeawavecincy.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-crawford-dpt/

Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:
Website: https://scottturman.com/, https://brightray.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14602682/

Keywords
Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Physical Therapy, Private Practice, Business Strategy, Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Hiring, Talent Management, Cash Flow, Business Systems, Healthcare Innovation, Patient-Centered Care, Business Growth, Health and Wellness Entrepreneurs

In this conversation, Danielle Strachman, co-founder and general partner of 1517 Fund and a founding team member of the Thiel Fellowship, discusses how she identifies unconventional founders before their potential becomes obvious to the broader market. She explains how her background in homeschooling, education, and working with highly self-directed young people shaped her approach to venture capital. The discussion explores the importance of irrational passion, authenticity, resourcefulness, long-term relationship building, and investing in people rather than relying solely on business models or traditional credentials. Strachman also shares how 1517 Fund looks for founders years before they become investable, why some of its strongest investments began with an initial no, and how traction builds conviction over time. She closes by reflecting on entrepreneurship, education, career uncertainty, and why young people should pursue work that genuinely gives them energy and meaning.

Takeaways
1517 Fund focuses on backing unconventional founders before their potential becomes obvious to the broader investment community.
Strachman's experience in homeschooling and education taught her to recognize people with deep, self-directed, and often irrational passions.
The fund prioritizes investing in founders and teams because products, business models, and markets can change significantly over time.
1517 aims to invest two or three years before a sector becomes widely popular rather than competing in markets that are already crowded with investor attention.
Hyperfluency is an important founder trait, combining deep subject knowledge with the ability to communicate clearly to both experts and nonexperts.
Resourcefulness, or what the fund calls alchemy, reflects a founder's ability to creatively stretch limited money, materials, relationships, and opportunities.
Authenticity matters more than prestige, school credentials, name dropping, or other traditional signals of status.
Long-term relationships help investors evaluate founders more accurately than relying only on short pitch meetings or isolated interactions.
Some of 1517 Fund's strongest investments initially received a no, then became investments after founders addressed concerns and demonstrated meaningful traction.
In an uncertain future shaped by automation and changing career paths, Strachman believes young people should explore deeply, pursue meaningful interests, and focus on work that genuinely lights them up.

Today's guest, Danielle Strachman, can be found at:
Websites: https://www.1517fund.com/, https://innovationsacademy.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellestrachman/

Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:
Website: https://scottturman.com/, https://brightray.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14602682/

Keywords
venture capital, startups, entrepreneurship, founders, early stage investing, pre-seed investing, founder evaluation, Thiel Fellowship, 1517 Fund, authenticity, traction, deep tech, AI infrastructure, unconventional founders, startup funding

In this conversation, attorney, mediator, and arbitrator Felicia Harris Hoss explains why businesses should think about dispute resolution before litigation consumes time, money, and attention. Drawing on more than two decades of complex commercial litigation experience, she breaks down the differences between arbitration, traditional mediation, and early dispute resolution, or EDR. She explains how EDR can help parties exchange key information, assess legal and business risk, value a dispute, and explore solutions before spending heavily on discovery and trial preparation. The discussion also covers confidentiality, non-monetary settlement options, sunk-cost thinking, and why resolving a dispute early can sometimes produce a better business outcome than winning in court.

Takeaways
Litigation can be slow, expensive, and largely outside the control of the parties involved.
Arbitration functions much like a private court, with an arbitrator hearing evidence and issuing a decision.
Mediation gives the parties more control because they negotiate the outcome rather than leaving it to a judge or jury.
Early dispute resolution aims to move mediation upstream, before full discovery and major legal expenses occur.
EDR can use a structured process that identifies key issues, exchanges important documents, analyzes risk, and supports informed negotiation.
Parties do not need perfect information to make sound settlement decisions, but they do need enough information to understand their risks.
Mediation can produce business solutions that courts often cannot, including contract changes, payment plans, recommendations, and collaborative commercial arrangements.
Mediation discussions remain confidential and generally cannot be used later in court as admissions made during settlement talks.
Sunk costs, ego, and escalation of commitment can keep companies fighting disputes long after settlement may make more sense.
EDR is not right for every matter, especially true bet-the-company disputes, but many cases may benefit from earlier negotiation and risk assessment.

Today's guest, Felicia Harris Hoss, can be found at:
Website: https://harrishosspllc.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicia-harris-hoss/

Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:
Website: https://scottturman.com/, https://brightray.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14602682/

Keywords
Mediation, Arbitration, Early Dispute Resolution, EDR, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Litigation, Business Disputes, Settlement, Negotiation, Litigation Costs, Risk Management, Confidentiality, American Arbitration Association, Legal Strategy