🎙️ From Store Merchandiser to COO: Lynnette French's Path to Nova Farms

In this episode, Lynnette French, Chief Operating Officer of Nova Farms, shares how 18 years climbing the ranks at Urban Outfitters led her into Massachusetts' earliest cannabis dispensaries, through a multi-state restructuring at Parallel, and eventually into the COO seat at a company built around large-scale outdoor cannabis farming. Lynnette opens up about the layoffs that wore her down over years, the leap of faith that took her back to business school in her forties, and why Nova Farms is betting on scale over overhead in an industry that keeps eating its competitors alive.

✨ Key Insights You'll Learn:

• Spent 18 years rising from store merchandiser to senior district manager at Urban Outfitters

• Left retail after a single visit to an early Massachusetts dispensary changed how she saw the industry

• Joined Neta as director of retail operations after cold-emailing the founder a compliment

• Spent a full week managing the fallout after a disassembled vape battery ignited on the sales floor

• Learned hard lessons about product quality after a rushed edibles launch produced “sweaty gummies” in Florida

• Led an executive team through roughly a decade at Parallel, including years of repeated layoffs during a 2022 restructuring

• Left the unfinished restructure to protect her own wellbeing after years of delivering bad news

• Enrolled in an MBA program at Boston University's Questrom School of Business to close a private equity knowledge gap

• Became COO of Nova Farms, overseeing cultivation, manufacturing, and retail across four Northeast states

• Champions Nova's outdoor-grow model, betting that scale without heavy overhead beats indoor cultivation's cost structure

🌟 Lynnette's Key Mentors:

• Her Leader at Neta: First taught her about ego, a concept she initially dismissed before it reshaped her entire approach to leadership

• Her Longtime Extraction Expert: A trusted technical partner of nearly eight years who helped her master cannabis chemistry she never learned in retail

• Derek Ross (CEO, Nova Farms): A foster-care system survivor turned successful entrepreneur whose story shapes Nova's Puffers with Purpose giving program

• Her MBA Peer Cohort: A group of fellow driven professionals who gave her the feedback and camaraderie she'd stopped receiving as a C-suite executive

👉 Hear how a retail veteran who once ran Urban Outfitters stores now runs cannabis farms across four states, betting that radical transparency and outdoor-scale growing can outlast an industry full of costly restructurings.

🔗 Connect with Lynnette French:

Website: novafarms.com

📄 Transcript Available: Highland Cattle and Outdoor Grows: Inside Nova Farms' Unconventional Cannabis Model

📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast

🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast

📄 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line

Website: addbackbenefits.com

🎙️ From Arthur Andersen to Charlotte, David Tunstall Built the Tunstall Organization One Referral at a Time

David Tunstall, founder and president of the Tunstall Organization, is a CPA and fractional CFO who started his own firm after being laid off from AIG. He shares how a restaurant owner on his corner became his first client, what he learned as finance director for the American Friends of the Louvre, and how he rebuilt his business after moving from New York to Charlotte. He also opens up about a failed options fund, losing clients to growth, and the faith that helps him see the good in hard moments.

✨ Key Insights You'll Learn:

• Turning a layoff into a CPA firm

• Finding a first client on the street corner

• Auditor referrals as a growth engine

• Rebuilding a client base in a new city

• BNI and honing a 30-second message

• Fund accounting for a cultural nonprofit

• Lessons from a failed options fund

• Building accounting tools with AI

• The 13-week cash forecast

• Losing clients to growth

🌟 David's Key Mentors:

• A fellow BNI member and former CFO: a weekly sounding board

• His father and brother: partners in Red Fox Capital

• A nonprofit auditor: the referral source behind his early growth

• His first restaurant client: proof that asking opens doors

👉 Don't miss this conversation about building a firm on relationships and finding the good in losing a client.

🔗 Connect with David Tunstall:

Website: tunstallorg.com

📄 Transcript Available: The Restaurant Owner on His Corner Became the First Client of David Tunstall and the Tunstall Organization

📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast

🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast

📄 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line

Website: addbackbenefits.com

🎙️ From Broker and Client to Business Partners, Mitch McGinley and Kristin Abel Built Boutique Fitness Broker Together

Mitch McGinley, founder and CEO of Boutique Fitness Broker, and Kristin Abel, its president, both left corporate finance careers to own yoga studios before becoming broker and client, then partners. Mitch shares how a failed first sale taught him what buyers need, and why he told Kristin to wait a year before listing her studio. Kristin talks about letting go of a business that had become her identity, and together they explain how honest advice drives an 80% success rate.

✨ Key Insights You'll Learn:

• From corporate finance to yoga studio ownership

• Getting the right people in the right seats

• A failed sale and the fixes that led to a 5x exit

• Showing true profit on your tax returns

• Telling a seller to wait for a better price

• Selling a studio through COVID

• Why clients shouldn't know who pays the rent

• Contractors versus W-2 employees in a sale

• Three kinds of buyers for boutique studios

• Separating your identity from your business

🌟 Mitch and Kristin's Key Mentors:

• Mitch's mother-in-law: 40-year studio owner and his model for entrepreneurship

• Mitch's in-laws: the support that let him build the firm through COVID

• Mitch's older brother: his rock after losing their father

• Kristin's life coach: helped her process the loss of her studio

• Each other: a client relationship that became a partnership

👉 Don't miss this conversation about honest advice, letting go, and helping studio owners exit on their terms.

🔗 Connect with Mitch McGinley and Kristin Abel:

Website: boutiquefitnessbroker.com

📄 Transcript Available: Yoga Studios to Exits: Kristin Abel and Mitch McGinley of Boutique Fitness Broker

📺 Watch on YouTube: Inspired Stories Podcast

🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast

📄 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency: AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line Website: addbackbenefits.com