The Herd of Turtles

Brent Krizo

Join host Brent Krizo as he interviews people who have decided to go their own route and are pursuing what truly makes them happy with the intention to inspire you to make your own path through life. We explore inspiring stories with a focus on travel, active lifestyles, family and how they are able to make it all work. Gone are the days of working 30 years and retiring with a gold watch and a pension. More people are finding ways to pursue their passions at an earlier age with non-location based careers that allow them to live a life that others can only dream about. Learn the success the hacks and the challenges that they have faced to help you live a life to get you excited every morning. read less
Society & CultureSociety & Culture

Episodes

Backcountry Coach and Guide - Patrick Scanlan - 37
Nov 3 2021
Backcountry Coach and Guide - Patrick Scanlan - 37
Patrick Scanlan is the Program Director of the Backcountry Program at Carrabassett Valley Academy (CVA) in the western mountains of Maine. The Backcountry program is a unique program that exposes kids to incredible places while teaching them how to not just be active in the backcountry, but to do it safely.  They take incredible trips all over the world to rugged wildernesses to test themselves in environments that most people would shy away from.  Kids learn a blend of mountaineering, mountain safety skills as well as challenging themselves by skiing breathtaking lines.To find out more and to check out CVA.: https://www.gocva.com/athletics/backcountryBrent and Patrick also cover:State of mountain guiding in the United States. Increase of clientele during pandemic. Increase in general of people wanting to get out and explore. AMGA/IFMGA Certification versus un-certified guides. Un-regulated guide services. The US ethics versus other mountainous countries. https://amga.com/ ; https://ifmga.info/The climate crisis effect on the outdoor industry, glaciers, and mountain hazards and the organizations that are helping to find solutions:  https://protectourwinters.org/ ; https://communitysnowobs.org/ ; https://app.mountainhub.com/exploreDiversity in the outdoor space.  A critical part of solving social and political division as well as addressing the climate crisis on a national and international scale.  https://www.kismetrockfoundation.org/ ; https://outdoorafro.com/ ; https://www.mountainproject.com/ ; https://americanalpineclub.org/other-grantsPatrick also supports and promotes the following organizations: CVAEMS Climbing School https://www.emsoutdoors.com/SOLO Wilderness Medicine https://soloschools.com/White Mountain Avalanche Center https://mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org/Support from https://www.blizzard-tecnica.com/us/en ; https://folkrm.com/ ; https://coros.com/
Patrick Gallagher - A Passion for Building Community and Leadership Skills
Jul 13 2021
Patrick Gallagher - A Passion for Building Community and Leadership Skills
Patrick Gallagher talks with Brent about building community and leadership and why it is important.Patrick talks about how he got started in this business of developing community and leadership. He has a business The Engineering Leadership Community which specializes in building leaders in the software engineering community. They also talk about the importance of developing meaningful personal relationships.This business was very different from studying physical therapy and kinesiology in college so they discuss how he made the leap to the field of leader ship buildingBrent asks him about the importance of travel in his life and what is one of the unexpected areas that he found himself liking. They discuss why it is important to have leadership and develop a sense of community in a professional environment. Creating community creates a sense of ownership for every job in a business, no matter how small or insignificant that position may seem.Brent asks Patrick whether or not leaders are born or developed and they discuss why certain types of leaders are red flags.Patrick supports a Cure Bike Ride that is run from Santa Barbara to San Diego in support of an illness called Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. They discuss his personal involvement and why this particular charity is important to him.They both agree that there is real truth in “The importance of giving of yourself so that others will give.”Patrick Gallagher can be reached on LinkedinListen to his podcast at SFELC.comResources that Patrick mentioned on his journey to becoming an expert in community building and leadership:How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl RazFrom Good to Great by Jim CollinsThe Art of Gathering by Priya ParkerThe Power of Moments by Chip and Dan HeathOutliers by Malcom Gladwell
Jennilee Morris - Grace and Grit: The Tenacious Journey to Success in the Coffee and Catering World
Jul 6 2021
Jennilee Morris - Grace and Grit: The Tenacious Journey to Success in the Coffee and Catering World
Jennilee Morris speaks with Brent about her journey to becoming a coffee expert and successful business person.  Jenni Morris, an entrepreneur and chef.  She owns a coffee roasting company, 2 coffee shops and a catering business on Long Island.Brent and Jenni talk about:Her first experience on an extended road trip in a camper.  They discuss the type RV she and her partner, Emma Ballou, used and why and how they were able to find the time to travel.  They had challenges of not finding camping spots under covid restrictions. Their most used app to find camping spots was AllStays.Why Tucson AZ was her WOW experience.How she is a workaholic but gaining a better work life balance. Why working for inner peace doesn’t mean more is better.The universal issue of the effects of the labor shortage because of limited housing for service workers. They discuss how it is affecting the atmosphere on Long Island and especially the North Fork area of Long Island.Jenni’s businesses that include the North Fork Roasting Company which roasts coffee for her two coffee shops with locations in Southhold and Westhampton Beach, NY.and online customers. An important part of Jenni’s focus is the art of coffee and what makes coffee so special.   She is also part owner in a catering company called Grace and Grit.She values education even though she initially dropped out of high school. After she got her GED, she tried lots of different businesses including real estate, financial services and the hospitality industry where she found her place.They discussed the challenges of learning to turnover parts of a business to others so you can concentrate and grow a business.You can also find Jenni’s business’s on Facebook at North Fork Roasting Co and Grace and Grit.Also found on Instagram at North Fork Roasting Company and Grace and Grit Catering.
Chris Riley - A Head for Business, and a Heart for Sailing
Jun 22 2021
Chris Riley - A Head for Business, and a Heart for Sailing
Chris Riley and Brent discuss Chris’ entrepreneurship, his interest in sailing and mountain biking.EntrepreneurAfter graduating from college Chris, while working at a school for outdoor education, he forms his first business with his brother, photographing weddings and other eventsWhile doing that he and his brother worked on developing programming to improve the photo editing process and it became an important part of the digital photography explosion.He also saw an area of need supplying summer camps and campers with gear, that becomes another leg of their business.  With the covid pandemic closing summer camps there is a possibility that the business will not reemerge in the same form.While he was looking for more warehouse space he found a business that interested him which was looking for new direction, Fabric Warehouse.  They purchased it expanded it so now has both a retail and online component.SailingSailing has always been an important part of Chris’s whole life. He believes that sailing does not have to be an elite sport. He looks at his form of sailing as “dirt bag sailing,”  a non-pejorative term that refers to doing things that you love the cheapest possible way. He and his wife have retrofitted and flip sailboats. How he and his wife planned and budgeted for years for a 6 month sailing trip.Chris shares the adventures and experiences they had while sailing the Bahamas and how they grew as a family.Unfortunately the trip didn’t end as planned due to a violent weather event.  Chris shares the lessons learned from dealing with adversity and the importance of being flexible.Mountian BikingChris is also an avid mountain biker and works hard on supporting mountain biking in Maine.  Currently president of the Central Maine Mountain Biking Assoc, working to create trails improve the sport.  He also loves to ride the Augusta Trail and Bondbrook Trail system and is impressed with the challenges of the Carrabassett NEMBA trails.
Wesley Henderson - An Attorney with a Passion for Business
Jun 15 2021
Wesley Henderson - An Attorney with a Passion for Business
Brent interviews Wesley Henderson, an attorney in the Charleston, South Carolina area. He has taken a different road to creating a successful law firm and they talk about why and how he did it.Quite often people become attorneys because of mentors or family influence but for Wesley and his brother there were no lawyers in their family. He discovered he had an affinity toward law classes in college.  He decided to pursue it because of the many practice areas that are available to those that achieve a law degree.Out of college, Wesley joined a big law firm but two weeks into it decided that it wasn’t for him. It took him a year and a half to make the break but he learned a lot from the process. Wesley and Brent discuss the different career paths for attorneys and what it means to be a partner in law firms.  Wesley explained that this was not interesting for him.Wesley and his brother formed a small law firm, Henderson and Henderson in Charleston SC, where they have the ability to control who the firm deals with and this is of great value.Their main practice areas are business and employment law. They also work in ancillary areas for their clients such as litigation, estate and probate, and family law. Relationships are very important, both with colleagues and with clients.  This also allows them to have a balance in their lives. This is good because both of them have growing families and it is important to them to be an active part in their family life.They also have an online legal service to serve the needs of business owners, Drafted Legal. It is similar to and competes with LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer and is quite successful.  They give more direct and personal help to their individual online clients than the other online companies offer.He can also be reached on Instagram.
Brad Herder - Accidental YouTuber, Mountain Biking and Camper Vans
Jun 1 2021
Brad Herder - Accidental YouTuber, Mountain Biking and Camper Vans
In today’s interview Brent talks to Brad Herder who’s mantra is “let’s see what happens” as he truly follows his passions and curiosity. Brad met his wife when she was a canoe racer and they have followed their passion for an outdoor life ever since.Brad refers to himself as an “accidental person” and it all started while he was delivering papers as a young kid. He found that he could run his delivery route faster than he could ride his bike and his passion for running was born. This passion has taken him into many different outdoor activities, but his true love is mountain biking.He figured out how to make his job work for him so he could follow his interests rather than other way around and it has allowed him to delve into many different outdoor activities which are his passions.Brad calls himself the “Accidental Youtuber" and makes various YouTube videos about whatever he is interested in.   He has almost 5,500 subscribers and more than 6,600,000 views.  His “how to” videos tend to do best, but he doesn't let that dictate the type of videos he posts.  He does what interests him and that attitude allows for him to keep his interest and not to take it too seriously.  Now when he finds himself interested in something he will show people how he did it so that they can learn to do it too.  You can find Brad on YouTube at Bradtube1.Brad is also an avid mountain biking trail builder.  He has built miles of trail in the Pittsfield State Forest.  To help promote the sport in the region and to help others find the trails he runs a website about mountain biking called berkshiresports.org.  He and his wife also run a side business of taking pictures of biking events around the Northeast and selling them on the web site Roots and Rain.This episode is brought to you by Travel Pro Luggage.  This is an affiliate link and if used to purchase luggage a small commission will be earned to help support the show.
Nate Ritter - A Traveler's Life : Room Steals, Home Schooling and Living Abroad
May 18 2021
Nate Ritter - A Traveler's Life : Room Steals, Home Schooling and Living Abroad
In this episode Brent speaks with intrepid traveler and entrepreneur Nate Ritter, co-founder of Room Steals.Room Steals is an online company that helps save time and frustration by being sure that you have found the absolute best prices on hotel rooms. Room Steals is able to offer wholesale pricing on rooms, even if you are only booking 1 room for one night. The business model of the service it to give the best prices of the rooms available, and if you can save money using Room Steals prices then you are offered the opportunity to sign up for the service with an annual membership.Nate and his team have offered listeners of The Herd of Turtles Podcast a 20% discount code off of the first year of membership to Room Steals. To redeem this 20% discount, enter the code turtlespodcast at checkout.During their conversation, Nate tells Brent how the Room Steals business idea came about: Nate and his wife love to travel. So much so that they saved for 2 years to try living abroad in France. While that didn't go according to plan, Nate learned a tremendous amount not only about travel, but also about dealing with bureaucracies, and language missteps. It also reinforced their commitment to traveling.This desire to travel has lead them to homeschool their kids, to allow them the freedom to travel and share new experiences with their kids. Brent and Nate talk about their common homeschooling experiences and some of the great things that can come out of it, as well as some of the societal challenges of being a homeschooling family.Upon returning to the US, Nate and his wife had been using travel hacks to score severely discounted travel. It was during this time that Nate began working with some hotel booking companies and learned about the ins and outs of how hotels price their rooms. A seed was planted that eventually turned into Room Steals.Nate shares his experiences of working in start up companies. Working in startups is different from working in a mature, larger company for a few reasons that Nate explains. Nate shares what makes this interesting for him and the satisfaction he gets out of faster pace of startup.Nate also has the interesting claim to fame as one of the first people to popularize the use of hashtags on Twitter. Nate shares the story of how he began to use hashtags as a citizen journalist during the San Diego fires of 2007.You can find Nate online several ways:Twitter: Nate RitterEmailBlogScott's Cheap FlightsRoom StealsQualcomm
From Serving Barflies to Casting Flies - Fishing Guide Logan Messina
Apr 13 2021
From Serving Barflies to Casting Flies - Fishing Guide Logan Messina
This episode’s guest is Logan Messina.  Logan is a newly minted Registered Maine Guide.  Maine Guides are widely recognized in the guiding profession as one of the most respected titles one can acquire.Logan has a passion for fishing that is infectious.  But it wasn’t always the case.  Like most, he tried a number of other professions before he found his true calling.  We learn about his previous work experiences and how it lead him to living in Maine and becoming consumed by fishing.  His favorite type of fishing is fly fishing but he isn’t a purist.  If you are trying to catch a fish he thinks you are doing it right.We also discuss many of the laws and regulations of the freshwater fishing industry in the state and the consequences of caused by them, both the good and the bad.  We cover state stocking of fish, damn removal, invasive species and how the different fisheries are promoted.  It is a complex web of both natural and political laws that affect the outdoor industry and Logan shares his insight as an insider.Logan also shares his experience as a rafting guide.  It was his time on the river watching fishermen ply their trade while he was guiding adventure seekers down the rapids that he began to see a way to make a full time living on the river.Logan also leverages his love of fishing to make additional income.  He ties fly fishing flies that he sells mostly through his Instagram account troutaboutit_flyfishing as well as his Etsy shop.  Logan gives some pointers in how to market and use these tools to help a small business.In addition Logan also explains how he has learned the art of “Thrifting” from his girlfriend.  They travel around the state visiting various types of thrift stores looking for vintage clothing that they then sell on Etsy.  Logan specializes in vintage fishing gear and can be found here.  Leila’s shop LeeBee Vintage Jeans specializes in vintage denim.This episode's sponsor is RVShare - Why deal with the hassle of RV ownership when you can rent the perfect RV for whatever adventure you are yearning for.LinksTrout About it - WebsiteTrout About it InstagramLee Bee Vintage Jeans Etsy ShopNorth Country Rivers Whitewater RaftingMaine Fishing RegulationsMaine Fly GuysNorthwoods Fly CompanyMaine Fly CompanyMaine Fly Fishing Showcase