Building a Business From Scratch: No Office, No Playbook, No Limits

What we talked about.

In this episode, Sunny Ray talks with Stephen Ladek, founder of Message Design, a company that helps local service providers like plumbers, roofers, and salons get found on Google Maps, automate scheduling, and respond instantly to leads using AI chat and voice bots. Stephen traces his winding path from studying farm and ranch management at Colorado State University to earning a master's in International Peace and Conflict Resolution and an MBA in Budapest. He shares how meeting his wife Dana in Washington DC led them to build a life across dozens of countries, including humanitarian work in Jordan and Iraq. Stephen recounts founding International Solutions Group, growing it into a multimillion dollar consultancy, and selling it in 2019, along with the identity struggles that followed. He also discusses pivoting into online learning through MoodleNews just before COVID hit, and how all these experiences shaped Message Design. The conversation closes on raising three kids while running global businesses and finding harmony rather than balance between work and family.

From farm school to war zones to AI startups, one founder's wildly circuitous path to building businesses from scratch.

The questions, and the answers.

What does Message Design actually do for local service businesses?

Message Design solves problems for physical service providers and small businesses anywhere in the world. We get them more visible on Google Maps and automate their calendars, because managing appointment chaos costs a lot of business. We also provide AI voice and chat bots so businesses can respond immediately to inquiries, since data shows the business that responds first is far more likely to win the customer.

You studied farm and ranch management at Colorado State. Were you actually planning to become a farmer?

The answer is yes. I went to four different colleges before landing at Colorado State. At the time I had a girlfriend from Iowa and we wanted to build a farm, essentially a soup farm growing organic ingredients for dry soups to sell in fancy bags. My real passion, which shows up in everything I've built since, is figuring out how to create community and better human interactions.

Where did your interest in international peace and conflict resolution come from?

After my farm degree I worked in tech as a recruiter, eventually flying around the world sourcing H-1B workers. I woke up in a hotel in Bangkok and asked myself what I was doing with my life. I wanted a more effective way to contribute, so I asked my network how to become an ambassador, which led me to pursue the peace and conflict resolution degree at American University.

How did International Solutions Group get started?

My wife Dana got a job offer first, so we moved to Jordan and I had to figure something out. I picked up individual consulting contracts with groups like the Iraq Middle Market Development Foundation and various UN and USAID subcontractors. Eventually a client asked what it would take to hire me full time, and I proposed hiring a staff member instead. That's how ISG was born.

What was it like to sell the company you built from scratch?

I suffered every day for six years after selling it, honestly, until this year. When you build a company it becomes part of your identity, and nobody talks about the identity loss that comes after an exit. I went from being an international man of mystery flying to a new country every month to being an employee, and reinventing myself after that was genuinely tough.

How did Message Design emerge from all these earlier experiences?

After selling ISG I pivoted into online learning and got lucky with a side property called MoodleNews. I launched a virtual event on online learning in December 2019, right before COVID hit, and it exploded. That company was later acquired too. Message Design pulled together everything I'd learned about tech, HR, and payment systems along the way into helping small businesses compete.

How do you and your wife make this global, entrepreneurial life work with three kids?

People ask us constantly how we do this with a family. We've been doing it since 2005, and most people we talk to just shake their heads because they can't understand it. For us it's completely normal and we think it's the best life possible. I'd say it's less about work life balance and more about finding harmony.