CoupleCo: Working With Your Spouse For Fun & Profit

Dan Hill & Karen Bernthal: Blah Blah Blah--A Snarky Guide

This is a special edition of CoupleCo. We’ve engineered this show for shameless self-promotion! Blaine helped write a satirical business book created by Dan Hill. Dan is a very smart guy who has consulted to over 100 of the world’s biggest brands on the topic of emotion. He also collaborates with his wife, Karen Bernthal, who’s an artist and a designer, which is how we made this work. But how potent is Dan’s advertising prowess? Honey has had a career working in big ad agencies, and Dan had her wondering if everything she knows is wrong. This conversation is also about Dan’s book, aimed at corporate management BS: “Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo.” Honey has worked in corporate America and is a tough audience—and this book made even her laugh. And finally, this convo is peek at “the collegial CoupleCo.” They’re not exactly business partners, but they’re always collaborators.  

It's Figureoutable: John Lord & Alma Aguilar of Cerveceria Crazy Moon, Part 2

Today, we are back with Part 2 of reaching for the moon. Specifically, craft brewer Crazy in Cholula Puebla, Mexico. When we were invited there, we replied using one of Honey’s favorite travel philosophies: Por qué no? “Why not” is a great phrase to know in any language. It has served us well around the world, including in Mexico. Craft brewers John Lord and his wife Alma Aguilar are lovely people who introduced us to more lovely people and we had an excellent time. They are also serial entrepreneurs. When they decided to open a brewery, they thought, “How hard could it be?” But nobody can count on their business being beset by a global pandemic.  To their credit, John and Alma kept everything up and running and kept everyone on the payroll. Crazy Moon brews excellent beer. They have confronted the challenges of the pandemic, and they’ve just closed their first round of funding, exceeding their goal by almost 20%. Did keeping the brewery open during COVID help fuel the investor enthusiasm? Who knows? But they’re on their way to the ultimate goal of building a newer, bigger brewery and exporting to the US.

It's Figureoutable: John Lord & Alma Aguilar of Cerveceria Crazy Moon, Part 1

In this episode, CoupleCo leaves the country for the moon—specifically, the Crazy Moon brewery in Cholula Puebla, Mexico. This business is run by an old, Connecticut friend of Blaine’s and his Mexican wife. John and Alma are serial entrepreneurs who started this craft brewery in time for a global pandemic—which they have survived as they enter into a new funding series for taking their brewery to the next level. They make excellent beer. They confronted the challenges of the pandemic by keeping everyone on their staff employed and doing the pivots required to keep the revenue coming. They’re raising funding with the ultimate goal of building a newer, bigger brewery and exporting their beer to the US. They’re also great company, and provide excellent insight into the trials and tribulations of running a business together with the added bonus of cultural duality. 

Uncorked XXVIII: Something's Gotta Give!

Opportunities, priorities, profit—all kinds of greatness is afoot. But that also means: something’s gotta give. Will it be this show? Nope. Well, not really. But we are taking a dose of our own advice and attenuating everyone’s favorite show about couples in business together. And honestly, it’s not just because we’re feeling queasy from being stuck in the hot, humid freak show that is South Jersey…

CoupleCo Uncorked XXVII: How Big Is Big Enough?

Why are a pair of married capitalists talking about Marxism, and what does that have to do with the price of CoupleCo-ism anyway? In this episode, we avoid the adolescent jokes surrounding the great question, “How big is big enough, anyway?” In your business, is it OK to want to remain small? We ask ourselves this question as we hang out with friends who’ve started really big companies. The answer has a lot to do with your priorities in life, and another, more important question you need to answer for yourself…