The North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast with Jordan Russum

Jordan Russum
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Origin stories of business owners on the North Shore of Oahu

  1. 1d ago

    #21 Myers Surfboards - Carson Myers

    Carson Myers of Myers Surfboards went from working the line at a Turtle Bay restaurant to becoming one of Oahu's go-to shapers of traditional single fin longboards. We talk about his first board (surfed twice, sold for $100), learning from veteran shapers in a shared factory, and why he chose longboards over competing with the world's best shortboard shapers. Carson also opens up about the COVID surfboard boom, when he took as many orders in three months as he had in a full year. He explains how the burnout that followed led him to open and later close a glassing factory, and why simplifying gave him more time and less headache. Plus: his new spot at North Shore Marketplace, building a personal "board of directors," growing Myers beyond surfboards, and how CrossFit and marathon training changed his life. Chapters:0:00 Preview0:45 Meet Carson Myers3:40 Growing up on Kauai6:34 First boards and learning to shape8:57 Why traditional longboards17:59 The COVID surfboard boom19:56 Burnout and pausing orders23:22 Buying, then closing, a glassing factory26:54 The new North Shore Marketplace shop29:54 Marketing and a personal board of directors31:55 Building a brand beyond boards36:51 Advice: don't get comfortable39:39 CrossFit and a first marathon Find Myers Surfboards at San Loco, North Shore Marketplace, Haleiwa. The North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast features the people building businesses on Oahu's North Shore. Hosted by Jordan Russum (@jordan.russum)

  2. Jul 13

    #20 JAX Wood Fired Pizza - Elisha Joy Danzik

    Elisha, co-owner of Jax Wood Fired Pizza (@jaxwoodfiredpizza), joins me to talk about building a family pizza business on the North Shore from the ground up. She and her brothers Z and Gabe left mainland careers to come home in 2023, bought an existing pizza shop in Haleiwa, and grew it into two locations (including a food truck at Sharks Cove with a hand-built, forklifted-in pizza oven) and a team of 50. We talk sourdough science, the fight to keep the Sharks Cove businesses from being displaced, and how the family kept making pizza the morning after losing their own home in the March 2025 flood, eventually raising over $40,000 for local families through their Stronger Than the Storm fundraiser. Follow for more origin stories of North Shore entrepreneurs. @jaxwoodfiredpizza | Haleiwa Town & Sharks Cove

  3. Jun 15

    #19 Mele Mele Bakery - Song Ebbesen

    🎙️ Episode 18 of the North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast features Song Ebbesen, the woman behind Mele Mele Bakery — one of the North Shore's most beloved small businesses. In this episode we get into her story, how she built something special from scratch, and what it really takes to run a food business on the North Shore. 🌺

  4. Jun 8

    #18 Capelli Salon Hawaii - Courtney Choi

    Courtney Choi is the owner of Capelli Salon in the Waialua Shopping Center and The Loft Salon in Haleiwa. In this episode, she shares her origin story — growing up in Adams, Massachusetts as a foster child, skipping college for trade school, doing movie makeup in Florida and Hawaii, and eventually making the North Shore her home.What started as booth renting at a local salon turned into owning two locations, managing a team of both booth renters and employees, and building a brand with merchandise, community events, and social media. Courtney talks honestly about the leap from cutting hair to running a business — figuring out payroll, navigating leadership, and how Square Capital helped her expand when a coffee shop space unexpectedly opened up next door.We also get into the hybrid booth renter/employee model, why the wedding market is growing, and what it looks like to build a loyal, local clientele on the North Shore.Topics covered:Growing up in foster care and finding a path through trade school Working in film makeup before transitioning to hairThe booth renter model — pros, cons, and what it teaches youBuying a two-chair salon for $2,000 and building from thereHow Square Capital funded an unexpected expansionManaging a team and learning to leadCommunity involvement — beach cleanups, kids' haircuts, local eventsWhat's next: social media, merchandise, and a 5-year anniversary event

  5. May 28

    #17 Sam Bergan - Field Social

    Sam Bergan grew up in Mililani spending every free moment on the North Shore. She tried real estate, didn't love it, discovered she was really good at Instagram, and launched Field Social Hawaii in September 2024. Two weeks later she was fully booked.In this episode we sit down with Sam to talk about how she built her social media agency from the ground up, what small businesses are getting wrong on Instagram, and why she thinks most business owners are sleeping on a free tool that could change their business.Fair warning — I told myself going in I was NOT going to turn this into a free consulting session. I did my best. No guarantees. 😅In this episode we cover:📱 How she went from realtor to running her own social media agency🚀 How she launched in September 2024 and was fully booked within two weeks📈 How she grew @lyricwoodwork from 730 followers to almost 16K🎥 What full service social media management actually looks like day to day❌ The biggest mistakes small businesses make on Instagram — and how to fix them🎓 Why she ran a social media education program before launching the agency — and what it taught her🤝 Why showing up in person and networking is still the best first move for any new entrepreneur📹 Why YouTube is way easier than you think — and how one video can become 10 pieces of content💡 Her top tip for aspiring entrepreneurs: just start meeting people Whether you're a small business owner trying to figure out Instagram, an aspiring entrepreneur on Oahu, or just someone curious about how local businesses get built up here — this one is worth a listen.Go give @fieldsocial.hi a follow and check out what Sam is building. 🌊

  6. May 11

    #14 Gabriel Gross - Hero Moving Hawaii

    In this episode of the North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast, Jordan Russum sits down with Gabe Gross, founder and owner of Hero Moving Hawaii, for a wide-ranging conversation on building a service business from the ground up in Hawaii. Gabe shares his origin story — growing up in a Christian community in Brazil, moving cities every few years, and learning the power of faith and persistence by going door-to-door asking for donations as a kid. He talks about leaving Brazil at 22, selling head massagers in a Chicago mall in the dead of winter, hanging drywall in Toronto, driving 26-foot moving trucks in LA traffic with no prior experience, and eventually landing in Hawaii through a national moving company. After 10 years working for someone else and feeling like he was always "hanging by a thread," Gabe launched Hero Moving in November 2019. Today the company runs three trucks, employs 10–12 people, and offers local, inter-island, and long-distance moving plus storage. Gabe lays out his plan to 10x the business in five years, the role of mastermind groups and coaching, and why investing in personal development has paid back many times over. We also get into the realities of moving in Hawaii — extreme summer-vs-winter seasonality, why long-distance shipping is so prone to damage, how Hero is helping flood-affected families with donation moves, and why Gabe believes food, housing, and transportation are the indestructible foundations of any economy. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a Hawaii resident, or anyone who's ever moved more than once, this conversation is full of practical wisdom and hard-won lessons. CONNECT WITH GABE / HERO MOVING:Website: https://heromovinghi.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heromovinghi/ new

  7. May 5

    #15 Lyric Woodwork + Snake Road Sawmill - Joshua Bowles

    Joshua Bowles grew up the son of a luthier and the grandson of a carpenter, so woodworking didn't really pick him a career — it picked him. After cutting his teeth on high-end design-build projects in Austin (think Italian travertine and Wenge floors for Texas oil money), he traded the stress and the landfill roll-offs for a pair of businesses on Oʻahu's North Shore: Lyric Woodwork, his custom furniture studio, and Snake Road Sawmill, the lumber side that keeps it fed. In this conversation, Joshua walks us through how locally-fallen trees — hauled in from arborists just miles away — get milled into slabs, dried for a year, and turned into heirloom furniture with almost zero waste. Offcuts go to raku potters, sawdust goes to mushroom and chicken farmers, and the rest becomes dining tables, headboards, and credenzas headed for homes across the islands and the mainland. Jordan and Joshua dig into the unglamorous reality of building a craft business from scratch: $40K in startup costs, demoralizing farmers market mornings, the first $12K commission that made him think "this is going to work," and the embossed business cards and pretentious magazine ads that taught him what not to do. He shares why social media (handled by Sam at Field Social) took him from 500 to 16,000 followers in 18 months, why most of his clients are women, and how shipping a 20-ft container to a Kailua-Kona project opened his eyes to the off-island opportunity. Looking ahead, Joshua talks about building a tight furniture collection — dining table, chairs, mirror, lighting — incorporating Hawaiʻi materials like Big Island abalone inlay and locally-caught fish leather from Open Seas. What you'll hear: Why woodworking on the North Shore is one of the most genuinely sustainable businesses you can runThe Austin penthouse project that pushed him out of high-end remodelsHard-won marketing lessons: keep it low-tech, knock on contractor doors, skip the fancy catalogHow to attract great employees when you can't pay top hourly ratesWhy "bigger isn't better," and the case for capping your team around five peopleListening to customers vs. building castles in the skyWhether you're a maker, a designer, or just someone thinking about starting something on the North Shore, Joshua's story is full of practical wisdom about staying small, staying honest, and letting the work speak. 🎧 Find Lyric Woodwork and Snake Road Sawmill at the top of the hill on the way down to Wailua — look for the open flag. The North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast, hosted by Jordan Russum, profiles the founders and small-business owners shaping life on the North Shore of Oʻahu — and shares the lessons every aspiring entrepreneur can use.

  8. Mar 11

    #13 Kyle & Jenn Womack - MUV Crossfit

    This episode features the owners of MUV CrossFit, sharing their entrepreneurial journey from Oklahoma to Hawaii, building a community-focused gym, and integrating holistic health practices. Discover insights on starting small, community building, and adapting business models in Wahiawa on the North Shore of Oahu. Key Topics Entrepreneurship in HawaiiBuilding a community-focused gymIntegrating holistic health practices Sound bites "Built the gym with community help and trust." "We treat everyone like family at MUV CrossFit." "Start small, ask questions, and build community." Guest links Website - https://www.muvcrossfit.com/about Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/muvcrossfit/

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Origin stories of business owners on the North Shore of Oahu

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