December 16th, 2009 | Jake

I am disappointed to say I am still waiting for HiDef Conferencing to respond about a server issue they faced that may have corrupted this week's episode.

On Rule53 this week I was joined by guests Glenn Rothman, Founder & CEO of Hearts on Fire and Fan Bi, a 22-year-old who is a student at Babson College and Founder & CEO of Blank Label.

With Glenn as their leader, Hearts on Fire has grown to be incredibly successful. He and his team have worked tireless to create and build a brand around The Worlds Most Perfectly Cut Diamond. Glenn and his wife, Susan, founded the company in 1996 and quickly became known for their trailblazing efforts to brand diamonds in an industry that was stuck to it's traditional roots. Glenn started out in the late 70's as a street peddler in Havard Square selling Moroccan wallets. He hustled his way to the top.

Glenn Rothman's Rule of Thumb: "under promise and over perform!"

Fan recently finished his semester at Babson College, which was part of his semester abroad program as a finance student at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where he is from. Fan is been an all-star DartBoston member and is the Founder and CEO of Blank-Label. In the coming months Fan will be moving to Shanghai to further grow his business!

In this episode Glenn shares an inside perspective on building a strong brand,  differentiating between marketing and advertisement,  creating healthy work environments and maintaining an effective business models.  Listen to this week's podcast to learn more.

Glenn always brings a fresh perspective and lots of energy.   His focus on positive reinforcement, physiology (i.e. ringing the big bell they have in the office for every time there's a sale) and psychology very motivational.  Fan is always an exciting guy to be around and he loves to connect with other entrepreneurs.  Hope you enjoy the discussion!

Next week on Rule53 Ep 9 we will be with Beth Kanter, social media guru in the non-profit sector. Be sure to check it out!