Before she was baking wedding cakes for 900 people on Michigan Avenue, Laura Davenport was a Kentucky chemistry grad who went to law school, practiced civil and appellate law in Jackson for eight years, and then stepped away to raise five kids.

Brandon Marken and Alex Masten sit down with the founder of The Blue Julep, the downtown Jackson specialty dessert shop heading into its tenth year. Laura talks about turning a home business that took over her house into a storefront, the wedding cake that nearly melted mid-ceremony, how a volunteer became her first employee, and getting through surgery right as her manager walked out the door.

She also shares the one question that helped her finally drop a product she loved: would I still make this if it paid three times as much?

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This week we flip the script and put JTV's Bart Hawley in the guest chair for the first time. Bart takes us back to 2000, when a portrait photographer and former radio DJ took over Jackson's government access channel and built it into JTV, now the world leader in local high school sports television and the most visited website in Jackson County.

We talk about the "no plan" origin story (his words: an entrepreneur jumps off a building and figures out the parachute on the way down), how JTV's commitment to unedited, long-form interviews became its differentiator from traditional news, and why staying hyperlocal rather than going regional or franchising to other markets was the right call, even when AT&T came calling to try to replicate the model elsewhere. Bart also shares how his sons Andy and Joey grew into the business, what it took to pivot to live sports production during the pandemic, and the Gandhi quote that got JTV through its early "this will never work" years: first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

If you've ever wondered how a small local station ended up worth 40,000 guests and 25 years of daily programming, this one's for you.

Connect with Lean Rocket Lab:

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What happens when a video production company outgrows its space and stumbles into a real estate deal instead? In this episode, Brandon and Alex sit down with Jake to unpack the winding, hard-won journey of scaling a video business — and then taking a completely unexpected leap into property development.

Jake opens up about the pricing mistakes that were quietly capping his business (and what happened the moment he tripled his rates), the shift from selling "a video" to selling a measurable return on investment, and how tiered proposals changed the way clients said yes. He credits Unreasonable Hospitality with reshaping how his team thinks about every customer touchpoint — no more videos delivered 30 minutes before showtime.

Then the story takes a turn: outgrowing Lean Rocket Lab, Jake and his father took on a distressed, gutted downtown building — holes in the floors and all — and turned it into a studio, podcast space, two commercial units, and three apartments. He walks through the messy reality of capital stacking a project like this: MEDC grants, American One, County National Bank, a 13-month wait for official approval, and a renovation that moved faster than anyone expected once the green light finally came.

It's a candid conversation about pricing with confidence, building systems before you think you're ready, and betting on yourself even when the math looks scary — plus a look at what's next, including a free video assessment tool and plans to expand the studio.

In this episode:

• Why tripling prices didn't scare clients away — it changed the conversation
• Turning quotes into tiered proposals built around client goals, not just deliverables
• Lessons from Unreasonable Hospitality on treating every touchpoint like it matters
• Capital stacking a building purchase: grants, banks, family investment, and patience
• The real timeline behind a "quick" downtown renovation
• What's next: growing the team, expanding the studio, and maximizing video content

Connect with Lean Rocket Lab:

• Website: leanrocketlab.org
• LinkedIn: Lean Rocket Lab
• Facebook: Lean Rocket Lab
• Instagram: @Leanrocketlab
• TikTok: @Leanrocketlab
• YouTube: Lean Rocket Lab

Don't miss a single story! Subscribe, rate, and review Startup Storytelling by Lean Rocket Lab wherever you get your podcasts.