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Business Leaders Radio

Business and Life Lessons from the Appalachian Trial, with Susan Otten, Indie Do Good

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Business and Life Lessons from the Appalachian Trial, with Susan Otten, Indie Do Good

Susan Otten of Indie Do Good joined host John Ray to discuss the “non-traditional” logistics company she founded, and about her latest endeavor, hiking the Appalachian Trail with her daughter to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research. Susan shared the challenges of the trail, the trail angels and support team they had, the lessons of “tools, training, and team” Susan learned that apply to business, their fundraising goal, and much more.

Business Leaders Radio is produced and broadcast by the North Fulton Studio of Business RadioX® in Atlanta.

Appalachian Trail for Parkinson’s Disease

If you feel moved to donate to Susan and Gretja’s cause to raise more than $50k for Parkinson’s Disease research (they are currently over $93,000 and would love to get to $100,000!), you can do so here.

If you want to learn more about their thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, check out their YouTube channel (95 videos, including a summary of the whole trail in less than an hour!):

Susan and her daughter Gretja on the Appalachian Trail

Indie Do Good

Indie Do Good is a storage facility, distribution, and fulfillment center. They offer fulfillment services for e-commerce and retail fulfillment including DTC, B2B, Amazon, and more.

They are passionate about supporting businesses, freeing up your time, and giving clients the flexibility to handle more orders. Indie Do Good shares a vision to help through collaboration, believing the more successful clients are, the more successful they all are.

Indie Do Good’s fulfillment and distribution services are strategically located in the Midwest, and our team of fulfillment experts ensures your product gets picked, packed, and shipped in a fast, affordable, and accurate manner.

In addition, they offer business planning, product engineering, and marketing.

Company website | Facebook | Instagram

Susan Otten, MBA, ABC*, Founder and CEO, Indie Do Good

After a successful, 15 year corporate career at Apple, plus global roles at two agriculture companies, COO at a behavioral health consulting company and as a strategic sales & marketing consultant supporting small as well as global businesses, Susan and her husband Ron founded Indie Do Good, a services/consulting company, and Otten Associates as the investment arm. With the purpose of investing in and helping entrepreneurial companies who do good, both as non-profits and profit-based companies, Susan’s passion is helping businesses grow by driving engagement through relationships, logistics, marketing, engineering, process and delighting (not justP “satisfying”) the customer. An award-winning, accredited business communicator, marketer, and business development strategist, Susan helps entrepreneurs achieve success faster and with more impact.

On a personal note, Susan is an avid well-being enthusiast, from advocating and teaching the importance of balancing all dimensions of well-being with her family, friends, and clients, to eating planet-forward foods, such as crickets for their sustainability and health benefits, she seeks ways to mitigate stress, improve health and lead a happier/more impactful life. Susan recently completed the Chicago Marathon, beating her time when she ran it previously (22 years ago).

*ABC = Accredited Business Communicator

Questions and Topics in this Interview

You run a business, how could you abandon it and take 5+ months off to hike the Appalachian Trail?
Why did you do this 2194.3 mile hike?
How can listeners help find a cure?
Did you learn anything on Trail for 154 days that can be applied to business?
What key learnings can be applied to BOTH BUSINESS and LIFE?
Would you do it again?
What’s next?

Business Leaders Radio is hosted by John Ray and produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta. The show can be found on all the major podcast apps and a full archive can be found here.

National Parkinson Foundation

This week we sat down with the President and CEO of National Parkinson Foundation, Joyce Oberdorf and Larry Kahn, CEO/Founder of PD Gladiators, a man who develoed early-onset Parkinson disease. Approximately 1 Million people are living with Parkinson disease in the US today. The National Parkinson Foundation’s website describes Parkinson disease this way, “Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, meaning that symptoms continue and worsen over time. Nearly one million people in the US are living with Parkinson’s disease. The cause is unknown, and although there is presently no cure, there are treatment options such as medication and surgery to manage its symptoms.

Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of vital nerve cells in the brain, called neurons. Parkinson’s primarily affects neurons in the an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Some of these dying neurons produce dopamine, a chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As PD progresses, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain decreases, leaving a person unable to control movement normally.”

Joyce came by to talk about research the National Parkinson Foundation is supporting that is aimed at improving the quality of life of patients living with the disease today. They seek to share best practices that show promise among providers, with regard to the pace of progression and/or severity of symptoms so these persons can enjoy life more fully, longer.

She brought Larry Kahn, founder of PD Gladiators, a boxing gym exclusively for PD patients that was launched after Larry learned about and experienced the benefits of vigorous exercise on his symptoms. He shared his poignant story about learning he has PD (after having had it missed over a year earlier by his initial doctor), how he and his wife approached the diagnosis, and how/why he started PD Gladiators. Larry and Joyce talked about research that has shown the benefits of vigorous exercise on cognitive function among ALL of us, including PD patients. They endeavor to share that information widely so that more PD patients can receive the reparative benefits themselves.

We talked about the resources needed by the National Parkinson Foundation and Larry that will enable them to further advance awareness and quality of life among Parkinson disease patients. We hope you share this podcast, as the information they shared will very likely help someone you care about who’s suffering with Parkinson today.

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