Author: Annie Sowell
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Generational, Healthy, Integrated, Family-Owned Niche Businesses
How Did Byron Integrate Family Into His Business Story? Was It Worth It? Short version: we took our boys to work, went to meetings, conferences, and introduced them to our network. It didn’t start with the European adventure. Below is a photo of my 11 year old son meeting world-renowned speaker and author Verne Harnish…
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Work-Life Balance or Integration | Are You Open to Reinterpretation?
Could we be misconstruing the idea of work-life balance from its original intent? Is it possible that the presence of millennials in the workforce has affected how this phrase is interpreted today? Employers have been putting tremendous effort into determining the best way to appeal to millennial workers, and this phrase often comes up with…
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Handwerk | Tools of the German Trade
This article was first published in the June 2024 issue of Sweeping Magazine; you can view the article here. So I’m in Germany on a family sabbatical studying chimney sweeping in Europe, and I’m walking around what might be described as an Ace Hardware for chimney sweeps. It’s a brick-and-mortar tool and equipment store exclusively…
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A Visit to the Mr. Soot Training Centre in Wigan, England | Feature in Fireplace Specialist Magazine
While exploring chimney sweep practices across Europe—Austria, Germany, France, and Switzerland—I made sure to stop in England and learn about British techniques and standards.
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Chimney Sweep Tour of Europe and United Kingdom
In 2023 and into 2024 Byron took a near 7 month trip to Europe to meet with chimney sweeps from around the world starting at the annual International Spazzacamino 4 day festival. After multiple site visits with other chimney sweeps and fireplace industry leaders in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France we noted the uniqueness and…