Here is our story of how we started podcasting. 

Growing up in Baton Rouge, I had the opportunity to meet some amazing people throughout the community. Being raised in an entrepreneurial environment, it was a no brainer from day one that I wanted to do something on my own. Seeing my dad go between three different engineering firms over his career before going back to the family business was something that intrigued me. Why would he make a drastic career shift after 20+ years in a different industry? It was at that point in time I learned one of the very important lessons every entrepreneur faces one day or another, so long as you are employed by a company, you don’t have 100% control.

As the years continued and my father continued to grow the family business it continued to become clear that he built a life for me and my siblings I couldn’t have imagined. Now, the family business is one that is now on generation three of Gremillion’s operating it. The company is an industrial plumbing company that has taken any shapes over the years. Initially, when I was growing up, it was more heavily focused on residential jobs, later evolving into a big commercial company and finally taking a turn down the industrial road to where it is now. What does all this have to do with starting a podcast, you may be wondering? It provided me with the roots and mindset that anything is possible even after committing to one thing in the beginning.

Fast forward, when I turned eleven my brothers and I started a lawn care company. My first dabbling in entrepreneurship. From there I would go on to creating roughly five different businesses from the time I was eleven through my time at LSU. Going into my freshmen year at Louisiana State University, I knew I wanted to also follow in my mom’s steps, become a CPA. While it wasn’t 100% clear to me as to why I made this decision, I knew that business owners needed a CPA and they needed a good one. With my background in starting companies, I thought I would make the perfect fit.

Throughout my college career I added a couple minors, communication and entrepreneurship. After a few semesters working on those minors, I was approached by the LSU Entrepreneurship Department. Dr. Ed Watson asked if I would consider changing my Entrepreneurship Minor to a Major. In order to become a CPA you need 150 credit hours to sit for the exam, my normal under graduate degree in Accounting would only provide me 120. Adding the Entrepreneurship Bachelor’s degree would give me the additional 30 hours necessary to sit for the CPA exam.

Going through the courses at LSU within the Entrepreneurship program I met some truly wonderful people. They showed me just how creatively different people can be, yet still pursue the same passion. Meeting new people and having business conversations around their ideas and plans made me realize just how much I enjoy speaking to people. It wasn’t until three years into my degree program that I noticed everyone kept saying they couldn’t wait until they graduated so they could leave Baton Rouge and go tackle the world. This blew my mind!

I keep a mentality of process over profit. I love what I do!

Patty-G (Jordan Hefler Podcast)

Leave Baton Rouge?! Why would someone want to leave what I viewed as a truly amazing place to both live and work. Yet, it was a resounding answer I continued to hear from all my fellow classmates. When pressed for a reason, they simply informed me, “There’s no opportunity here”. Completely unsatisfied with this answer I knew I couldn’t live with this. No opportunity?! But each day I was having amazing conversations with truly exceptional people working towards completing projects that would continue to create opportunity within this city and state. This led me down a Gary Vaynerchuck rabbit hole on how to promote the businesses in the city. I ran across a post from him about how podcasting was going to be the next big thing and here to stay. After researching what in the world a podcast was, I was hooked.

My philosophy for the how was that I wanted a conversational podcast that people could easily listen to. Thus, interview style was what I chose. Next I had to decide between doing it all myself or bringing on guests. Because I believe each person has their own unique story I went for the route of bringing on guests for each episode. Then came the fun part, booking guests and recording the show. The first episode was recorded with only Patty-G on an iPhone 8. From there the list of guests were from my immediate rolodex and each guest recommended another person that would be a great fit.

Being able to interview amazing business leaders and owners is what pushed me so hard for so long. The city of Baton Rouge is home for many businesses that are doing truly incredible things in the community. I wanted to create a place where those people could share their story and give people the opportunity to witness first hand just how great our city is. Promoting the city is something we will continue to do as we feel you can find all the opportunity you seek right here in our little big town.

Wanting to start your own podcast? Check out our blog post on the 5 tips for podcasting.