angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

WBE Feature – Women‘s Month & Stress Awareness: UNiTE

April 11, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

WBE Feature - Women‘s Month & Stress Awareness: UNiTE

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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Clara Paye, founder of UNiTE, a unique protein bar company offering global flavors. Clara discusses her inspiration, stemming from her gluten intolerance and immigrant background, to create a diverse product line. She shares the challenges of breaking into the grocery retail market, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how community feedback shapes their offerings. Clara’s story highlights the importance of a strong brand mission and her dedication to encouraging women entrepreneurs.

As the CEO and founder of UNiTE, Clara Paye’s mission is to foster a more expansive and inclusive wellness community—a place where everyone is not just welcome but encouraged to try something new.

UNiTE made its debut in March 2020, introducing an award-winning range of protein bars thoughtfully crafted to embrace diverse cultural flavors. Exciting flavors include: Churro, Bubble Tea, Baklava, Mexican Hot Chocolate, and PB &J. Today, UNiTE stands as one of the innovative leaders in the rapidly growing protein bar industry.

Connect with Clara on LinkedIn and follow UNiTE on Facebook.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women In Motion, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show we have Clara Paye with UNiTE. Welcome.

Clara Paye: [00:00:44] Thank you. Happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about UNiTE. How are you serving folks?

Clara Paye: [00:00:51] So, UNiTE, if people aren’t familiar out there, is a protein bar company with a twist. So, our protein bars are not your average run of the mill vanilla and peanut butter and chocolate. We like to incorporate global flavors to welcome everybody into wellness. So, our flavors would be churro, baklava, bubble tea, Mexican chocolate, and peanut butter and jelly, because that’s my American heritage also. And our goal is to just bring everybody into wellness, make protein bars that reflect our beautiful multicultural world.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:23] So, what’s your backstory? How did you get into this line of work?

Clara Paye: [00:01:27] So, like a lot of entrepreneurs, I had no food background other than, you know, just being a home cook. But it was just born out of personal need. I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance a few years ago and was trying to look for diet compliant food. I ended up working with a nutritionist who told me gluten free foods to eat were like protein bars. And I would go to the grocery store and try to find one that I liked. And one day I just realized that they are all the same flavor. It didn’t matter which brand I chose, they were always chocolate or chocolate-peanut butter or double chocolate chip or just kind of all in the same flavor profiles.

Clara Paye: [00:02:03] And I’m an immigrant. I was not born in the U.S. I was born in Sudan in Africa. I came here at the age of five. And I have always loved to incorporate my cultural foods with American cultural foods and just thought that, you know, nobody had done this yet. Why hadn’t there been any kind of more interesting flavors out on the shelves? And thought, you know, I could do it. It can’t be that hard.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:25] So, was it that hard?

Clara Paye: [00:02:28] You know, I think there’s, like, such a benefit to being naive and starting out. I happen to pick a super competitive category. Grocery retail is super cutthroat, low margin. But it’s been more fun than it is hard. And I think the fun makes the hard work worth it. And when I get emails from consumers who say thank you for making a protein bar for us, thank you for seeing us, for validating us, it becomes about more than just creating a product. It’s about living out a purpose and a vision and a mission.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:57] So, what was it like at the beginning not having the background, how did you make a bar? Like, how did you even begin this?

Clara Paye: [00:03:06] Simply. I mean, I went to Trader Joe’s and I got one ingredient I would put in my bar if I was making it for my family. And I got a Cuisinart out, and I started just tinkering with ingredients. So, I put in some almond butter, some dates, some vanilla, and cinnamon and started just creating my own recipes and testing them on my friends. My poor friends, I probably went through 20 different flavors on them.

Clara Paye: [00:03:35] When they finally started to like them, I got a little bit more serious and found a food scientist to help me take my kitchen formula and make it kind of a manufacturable formula, manufacturing ready formula. And she went to Trader Joe’s, too, so we were working off the same ingredient list. And that’s how we did it. We just created a prototype.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:53] And did you like, go to farmers’ markets and festivals to just test it or did you go right from your kitchen and your friends to let me see if I can get it on a shelf somewhere?

Clara Paye: [00:04:04] Yeah. It went straight from my kitchen to shelves. And so, that’s probably not the best path for most food entrepreneurs. But I knew that I didn’t want to make it myself. I knew that I wanted a very qualified packaging and producing partner – it’s called the Coleman in our space – to make it for me so that there was no liability or no way for me to kind of mess it up. I wanted the highest level manufacturing.

Clara Paye: [00:04:32] And so, we had the product made, and I was sent to debut it at a large expo in natural products called Natural Products Expo in March of 2020, and literally had our booth set up ready to sell my product, and COVID happened. So, our business was born at the intersection of the COVID pandemic. So, kind of a really crazy launch story.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:53] Now, those kind of food, I’ve been to several of those trade shows where there’s a lot of vendors but it gives you a chance to put your product in front of people that could buy large amounts of it. Being in COVID, were you able to do that? Obviously, you couldn’t do it in person that kind of sampling, but were you just sending out samples left and right?

Clara Paye: [00:05:14] So, during COVID, if you remember, grocery stores and everything were more worried about keeping toilet paper on shelves and Lysol. Nobody was buying bars because consumers weren’t on the go, so the category took a major hit. But I kind of saw the opportunity in using our bars for the power of good. So, I just really started donating as many bars as I could to hospitals and food banks. You know, I didn’t have any masks I could donate, but I could donate protein bars to help fuel our health workers and just started really spreading the product out through charitable contributions. And that kind of started to build our brand awareness.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:54] And so, you were building your brand awareness by a good group of people that are the potential purchasers of the brand in the long run.

Clara Paye: [00:06:03] Yeah. I didn’t even think about that, but that’s a great point, health workers and healthy people.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:09] Now, what was your first flavor?

Clara Paye: [00:06:13] Our first flavor, actually we launched with three, so they were churro, Mexican chocolate, and peanut butter and jelly.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:20] So, they forced you to put a chocolate in there? You couldn’t get around that?

Clara Paye: [00:06:25] No. For me, I wanted an interesting chocolate. Like chocolate is one of the most popular protein bar flavors that there are because people want to really eat a Snickers, but they’ll settle for a chocolate protein bar instead. And so, for me, if we were going to make a chocolate one, I wanted it to be interesting. And Mexican chocolate has really interesting flavor notes and a flavor profile that I just really love.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:47] And then, what is kind of the nutritional makeup of these bars?

Clara Paye: [00:06:54] So, the bars are under 200 calories, a minimum of 10 grams of protein, a good source of fiber, and, really, dietitian and nutritionist approved.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:05] And then, are they all gluten free or that was just what got you started?

Clara Paye: [00:07:10] Thanks for reminding me. They’re all gluten free, soy free, and free of artificial flavors, and anything artificial really. They’re very natural.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:18] And when did you start kind of getting some traction where you’re like, “You know what? I think this thing’s going to work out”?

Clara Paye: [00:07:26] So, there was no opportunity to really meet with grocery stores, but my local grocery store had a local program, and it was Bristol Farms. I don’t know if you’re familiar, but it’s a chain here in Southern California, where they look for local makers. And I said, I live here where your store is, would you help me spread the word about my product? And the local buyer loved it. And she gave me this huge display of protein bars, like, in June or July of that year, 2020. And we were able to sell so many bars and people really started to build traction. And then, later that year, I got a chance to get in front of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, and they loved it, too, and they launched our product that next year.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:08] And then, how did you develop the packaging because it’s beautiful packaging?

Clara Paye: [00:08:14] Thank you. Yeah, I did it with a freelancer. So, I knew exactly what I wanted. I had a clear vision for the product. You know, when I think of global flavors, I think of color. And so, I think of like a Moroccan souk or a bazaar in Mexico City and those tall mounds of spices that are always very colorful. And in the protein bar space back then, it was very grays and whites and green, and people were really trying to show natural through just a lack of color. And I said, well, we’re going to stand out. We’re going to be the color on the protein bar aisle. And so, color is very important to our brand. And then, just really clear value proposition right on the packaging, so our packaging has served us well.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:59] And I think there’s some whimsy to it, too. It doesn’t look like those kind of corporate-y bars.

Clara Paye: [00:09:04] Yeah. It’s supposed to be fun. We’re food that you want to eat, not food you have to eat.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:08] Right. So, now, any advice for an aspiring food entrepreneur out there? Are there some kind of things that you’ve learned that you were like, “Well, if I could do this again, I probably would do it this way”?

Clara Paye: [00:09:21] I think in formulation. You know, how we started our conversation, I think, don’t get too married to your very first iteration. You’re going to launch and then you’re going to get a lot of consumer feedback, and obviously you want to have the best product when you launch, but be amendable to insights as you grow and as you learn to improve your product. And, really, taste is table stakes. It has to taste really great.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:49] Right. So, that’s a given, like you have to get that right to just play.

Clara Paye: [00:09:55] Right. And you’d be surprised, a lot of people think that you can just launch an average product and people will eat it just because it’s healthy. And they might try it once, but they won’t continue to eat it.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:04] Right. I think the consumer is so much more sophisticated now and their expectations are so much higher now.

Clara Paye: [00:10:10] Right. For sure.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:12] Now, how important is having kind of this brand mission that you have and the social impact that you’re shooting for? How important is that in the success of a brand like yours?

Clara Paye: [00:10:26] You know, consumers want to understand who the company is making their products are, and especially with food. I think in this Netflix era where there’s so many food documentaries and what you should eat and what you shouldn’t eat. Consumers are smarter than ever and they want to peel back the curtain and they want to know who’s making their food, how are they making it, what causes do they support. So, it is important. And I think brands that will emerge as leaders will have powerful social missions in addition to great products.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:04] Yeah. I think if you have a strong why that’s an edge in today’s market.

Clara Paye: [00:11:09] A hundred percent. And we’re not selling widgets here. Food is what brings people together. Food is how you nourish yourself and your family and those you love. So, it deserves a good analysis.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:23] And, also, it makes the customer feel good when they’re pulling it out of their bag at the gym. They’re signaling to their folks what kind of person they are as well. So, it has to be kind of authentically theirs as well.

Clara Paye: [00:11:37] I couldn’t agree more. We’d like to invite our community into creating our products. So, on the back of every single one of our packs is an email address, it’s hello@unitefood.com, and we invite our community to tell us what flavors we should make next. And I love getting those emails and I love learning what flavors people grew up with.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:55] So, have you been able to incorporate any of their flavors yet into your product mix?

Clara Paye: [00:11:59] Yeah. So, we’ve taken a lot of insights, and so in our innovation pipeline, we’ve got quite a few flavors developed. But people have said that they want to see more indulgent flavors and that’s what we kind of take.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:15] So, now are your neighbors your beta testers still or you’ve kind of got a whole new advisory board when it comes to beta testing?

Clara Paye: [00:12:26] It’s expanded a little bit. But I do love testing them on my neighbors. They’ve been with me from the very beginning. They’ve tasted every bar, every iteration, every change, and so I do trust them. But I also like to test on my kids because kids don’t lie and kids don’t pander. And if my kids like it, or our cousins like it, or friends’ kids like it, then I know it’s on the right track.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:49] And that’s another pro tip for those aspiring food entrepreneurs is, kids don’t lie. That’s a better focus group than your family.

Clara Paye: [00:12:58] A hundred percent.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:59] Now, can you share a little bit about why you chose to be involved with WBEC-West?

Clara Paye: [00:13:06] Well, when I started this business, you know, I didn’t see a lot of women represented in the food industry. And if they were and they raised funds, they quickly were diluted. And so, getting women-owned status was an important differentiator for me because my bigger mission is to inspire more women to become entrepreneurs, and to enter the food space, and enter just the business space, because I think women bring a unique point of view that will actually create a better business environment.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:39] Now, have you had a chance to collaborate with any of the women in the association?

Clara Paye: [00:13:45] Not too much. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to attend the conference, but it’s on my list for next year. It’s a little bit too close to Expo West, which is our national large trade show for natural products. So, I can’t be in two places at once, but it is on top of my list.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:01] So, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Clara Paye: [00:14:05] I think you guys are very supportive. I think it would be great to have more continuing education. You guys do a lot of that and a lot of great resources out there. And I think the trade shows that you do, where you bring partners who are looking for women-owned businesses to partner with, I think that’s really important. So, creating economic opportunities is probably what’s most important to women starting businesses.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:31] And then, what’s next for UNiTE?

Clara Paye: [00:14:34] We want to be the next household brand. We want to stand for diversity, inclusion, for a protein bar that people can trust, that is going to taste really great, that it’s going to give them the energy that they need to get through their day and their tasks, and to be just the bar that you reach for that’s your favorite and your kid’s favorite.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:55] And if somebody wants to learn more about UNiTE, the website or the way to kind of learn more on social media?

Clara Paye: [00:15:03] Yeah. You can look us up at unitefood.com or on Instagram, @unitefood. And if you want to follow my personal journey, I’m Clara Unite; on Instagram, @clara_unite; or on LinkedIn, Clara Paye.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:18] Well, Clara, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Clara Paye: [00:15:23] Thank you, Lee. It was a pleasure to be on.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:26] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

Exploring Hormone Therapy, Menopause Care, and the Holistic Approach to Health and Well-being

April 11, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Exploring Hormone Therapy, Menopause Care, and the Holistic Approach to Health and Well-being

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In this episode of Cherokee Business Radio, Stone Payton welcomes Katherine “Kitty” Houston, a nurse practitioner and owner of Elite Health HRT, and Carrie Soulliere, owner of Covered with Carrie. The discussion delves into the nuances of hormone therapy and menopause care, with both Kitty and Carrie providing valuable insights on the symptoms of hormone decline, the critical nature of personalized therapies, and how lifestyle choices can influence hormone balance.

Kitty opens up about her entrepreneurial journey, detailing the challenges she encountered while establishing her own business, and the marketing tactics she has found effective. Carrie adds to the conversation by sharing her own experiences and perspectives in the industry, enriching the dialogue with her expertise.

The episode also explores the affordability of treatments and the range of services offered at Kitty’s clinic, such as IV hydration and vitamins, which Carrie reflects upon, highlighting the importance of such services in overall health management.

After spending years in the nursing field, Kitty Houston, owner Elite Health HRT, became a family nurse practitioner to help men & women naturally solve the root causes of health issues – rather than medicating symptoms.

At 45, she experienced the negative effects of imbalanced hormones firsthand. It was this time-period that made her realize how many others also suffer from similar challenges.

Since then, she’s helped thousands of patients (including herself) reclaim their health through HRT treatments!

Follow Elite Health HRT on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Carrie Soulliere is a licensed insurance agent and Owner of Covered with Carrie, a health insurance agency that helps outdoor tourism workers nationwide.

Though she travels the country in an RV most of the time, her home is in Acworth, GA. Her agency is in the top 15% of health agencies nationwide. In addition to her agency, Carrie owns Courses with Carrie, an educational company that sells courses for insurance agents.

She also does specialized consulting within her field. She passionately advocates for consumer and agent rights within the health space.

Connect with Carrie on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:24] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning, and today’s episode is brought to you in part by Woodstock Neighbors Magazine, bringing neighbors and business together. For more information, go to Facebook and Instagram at Woodstock Neighbors dot BVM you guys are in for a real treat this morning. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast, first up on Cherokee Business Radio this morning with Elite Health HRT, nurse practitioner and owner, Ms. Katherine Houston. How are you?

Kitty Houston: [00:01:03] I’m doing great. Thank you. You can call me Kitty.

Stone Payton: [00:01:05] Oh, good. All right. Well, all right, Ms. Kitty. Well, we’re delighted to have you in the studio and on the program. I got a ton of questions. I think our other guests have questions, too. So this ought to be a very informative segment. But before we go there. Mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Kitty Houston: [00:01:27] Well, um, I really specialize in menopause care. I take care of men as well for hormone therapy, but when I went through menopause, it was rough. It was really rough. And my, um, physician really just kind of was like, well, you know, this is this is, you know, basically suck it up. And for me, I was not willing to just suck it up. I was a nurse in women’s health at the time. And, you know, I wanted to figure out the whole menopause issue because we don’t talk about it. We don’t talk about it in nursing school. We don’t talk about it in nurse practitioner school. It’s not taught in med school. So, you know, we practitioners just are like, well, I don’t know what to do. It’s just normal. Just suck it up. Here’s an antidepressant move on. And I really wanted to help women because 100% of us go through menopause now. And so that’s what I do.

Stone Payton: [00:02:22] Well, now that you’ve been at it a while. What, uh, what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about the about the work for you?

Kitty Houston: [00:02:29] It’s definitely seeing the change in the patients that I have that come in. I have women that come in and they are desperate, and they say, you know, I’m taking this herb and and this medication and this supplement, and I am out of my mind. I don’t feel like myself. I’m going crazy. And then eight weeks, ten weeks into therapy, they’re like, you gave me my life back. I feel normal again. And it’s wonderful for me to see the light in the eyes of these women who came in a lot of times crying, saying, help me, please help me. Because I am struggling with work. I’m struggling with relationships, my marriage is struggling. I hate everybody and everything all the time, including myself. And I know what that feels like because I went through that. And so it’s wonderful for me to look at these women and go, I know, I know how you feel. I know that that you feel like you want to participate in life again. So that’s probably the most rewarding thing for me is to see that change.

Stone Payton: [00:03:28] I gotta believe that it’s not one size fits all, that every situation is different. Yeah it.

Kitty Houston: [00:03:34] Is. You know, I have no idea what someone’s base hormones were like when they were in their 20s and 30s and they felt their version of normal. So it’s a lot of trial and error. It’s a lot of adjustments to get women to what they say is, this is my norm. And for some women, I, you know, that might be like, wow, that’s you know, that’s a really high level of estrogen. But for them, that’s their norm and that’s where they feel good. So it’s definitely not a one size fits all. It’s definitely a tailored therapy for each individual person.

Stone Payton: [00:04:07] So I’ve heard it before, but, uh, I’m, I guess I’m still a little bit surprised that men sometimes have some of these challenges.

Kitty Houston: [00:04:16] Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So women peak their testosterone production at 28, and there’s a slow decline until we go through menopause. Men peak their testosterone production around 20, and then they have a slow decline until they’re about mid 40s. And then they stay stable for the rest of their life, which is about half of where they were when they were in their 20s. So for some men, they they don’t have what’s called andropause where they feel like I am not myself. I’m having poor quality of sleep. I’m having less motivation, I’m having weight gain. I’m having more anxiety and depression and inability to manage stress like they could. But I see time and time again men are like, well, you know, my doctor says my testosterone is normal. Well, the normal range for men is the same from 18 to death. And it is a very, very, very broad range. So if they’re making half of what they were in their 20s, when they’re 50, they don’t feel normal. So I get them back to that normal level where it’s it’s still safe, but it’s definitely giving them the oomph that they need.

Stone Payton: [00:05:23] All right. So let’s talk about the work a little bit okay. And maybe and let’s let’s start at the beginning. Well yeah. Like when should, uh, a man or a woman reach out to you or are there signs or should they just be checking anyway? Is this like you take your car in, just you don’t go on a long trip without taking your car in.

Kitty Houston: [00:05:43] So it’s always great to get a baseline when you’re young. And I do have patients that are in their 50s that bring in their, you know, semi adult children that are in their early 20s to get a baseline and see where are their hormones at that age. And any time you feel like you’re just not your optimal self is probably a time to have your hormones checked to say they’re starting to decline because they decline as we age. And then when you factor in all of the hormone disruptors that we have in our environment, they’re declining much more rapidly for people in their 20s and 30s and 40s than they were for people in their 50s and 60s.

Stone Payton: [00:06:25] Okay, I got to ask about hormone disruptors, and then I want to know more about the process. But yes, speak to that a little bit.

Kitty Houston: [00:06:30] So hormone disruptors can be anything from pesticides or some of the things that we put in our plastics, or they’re in our To-Go foods in our to go containers. Hormone disruptors are in our foods. We put a lot of, um, antibiotics and hormones in our food, in our in our animals. And then we eat that and they mimic our, um, our hormones in such a way that our body’s like, well, oh, I’m getting so many of these hormones, I don’t need to make as much. So then we naturally decrease our own natural production and it’s just a cycle. Then we make less so we feel worse and it just goes on and on.

Stone Payton: [00:07:13] I hope mom’s listening because my that’s it’s good. If you have a radio show that mom listens now and again. Right. But. No. Mom watches her vegetables. She buys the grass fed beef. So there really is something to this.

Kitty Houston: [00:07:26] There’s that is huge. Eating organic, eating non-GMO, eating food that is not treated with pesticides is huge for your health and for the health of your family.

Stone Payton: [00:07:38] So carry over here is nodding her head. Ah, it sounds like you buy into this whole thing about at least doing what we can to stay away from these disruptors. She was going, so I lost.

Speaker4: [00:07:49] Half of my body weight at one point in my life. So I saw a huge change when I moved to the eating in this style, where my health was significantly better, I felt better. I slept better when I focused on eating foods that were healthy, natural, and organic and were not filled with pesticides. I felt a huge change in my life. It was so significant.

Stone Payton: [00:08:09] All right, more about the process. So that’s one of the things that identify. So those that’s just like some quick pro tips right out of the box that you can have a conversation with them about, and they can start making some of those adjustments and be on the lookout for that. But yeah. So I come into your office, I sit down. Well, first of all, what am I complaining about or worried about if I come if I’m coming to your office?

Kitty Houston: [00:08:32] Um. The symptoms for men and women are very similar. Okay. As women are going through perimenopause and they’re starting to have hormone decline. Uh, the symptoms, the most common ones that everybody thinks about is hot flashes, mood swings, but heart palpitations, itchy skin, dry eyes, joint pain, um, weight gain, especially midsection weight gain, low libido, low drive to be active. Forgetfulness. Less ability to stay focused and on task. These are very, very common as the hormones decline because our hormones have a lot to do with that for men. Um, anxiety, depression, less motivation, poor quality of sleep, lower libido, weight gain. Um, just that motivation that get up and go is kind of got up and left and it’s it’s terrible. But it happens to us all as we age. And a lot of times we attribute this to I’m tired, I’ve got a job, I’ve got kids, I’ve got spouse, I’ve got stress. So we attribute a lot of the common symptoms of low hormones to life factors, whereas a lot of it is is cohesive. You’re going to have hormone disruptors. You’re going to have hormones dropping along with all of these, these life things that are happening. But it you know, you just get your hormones checked whenever you can.

Stone Payton: [00:09:53] So please tell me there are no disruptors in bourbon.

Kitty Houston: [00:10:00] As long as they’re not using, you know, pesticides in their grains and things, then you’re good.

Stone Payton: [00:10:06] Organic bourbon.

Kitty Houston: [00:10:07] Organic bourbon. You should be just fine. I would say drink in moderation, but. Right. You know, there’s nothing wrong with having bourbon.

Stone Payton: [00:10:15] Well, Kerry brought up weight loss. So there’s there’s some real connection here in, um, weight loss or the appropriate weight for your frame. And with all this as well. Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Kitty Houston: [00:10:27] So when I bring a person into our office and they have questions and they want to become a patient, one of the things that we do, we do blood work. But I also put every single person on a body composition scale, because it’s important to know that it’s not about your weight, it’s about your percentage of body fat. And, you know, just for me, for example, my weight hasn’t changed in five years, but my size has changed dramatically because I’ve lost 13 pounds of fat and put on 10 pounds of muscle. So my weight is the same. But I went down three sizes and I have, you know, lost a lot of the visceral fat, which is the fat that kills us. It’s the fat that causes high cholesterol and heart disease and fatty liver. So just balancing the hormones can help you lose all of that midsection weight and help you feel better. You’re putting on muscle. Your muscle burns your fat even at rest. The more muscle you have on your body, the more better calorie burner you are.

Stone Payton: [00:11:30] So a lot of this is counsel from you with your specialized expertise, but it’s shifts in lifestyle and and habits.

Kitty Houston: [00:11:39] Yeah, absolutely. So you know, getting the hormones balanced is part of the, the the process. So I like to think of that as if you have a toolbox balancing your hormones as a tool, watching what you eat, how you eat, the order in which you eat your food is a tool. Being active is a tool. How you exercise is a tool so you know you have a toolbox. You can’t just have a hammer. You have to have a screwdriver. You have to have a wrench. You there are other components. And when you you know, when patients come into my office, I counsel them on all of the different tools that they can use, because some patients don’t want to do hormone therapy, but they want to feel better. So we look at it from a nutrition standpoint or for a supplement standpoint or from a weight loss standpoint, but you know, you have to have all the tools.

Stone Payton: [00:12:30] So does hormone therapy or can it include adding some hormones or.

Kitty Houston: [00:12:36] Absolutely.

Stone Payton: [00:12:37] Oh okay. Yeah. Say more about that.

Kitty Houston: [00:12:38] All right. So um, we do hormone replacement for men. We do testosterone and we monitor estrogen because estrogen and testosterone have a symbiotic relationship. So we also give something to men to help with preserving testicular function so that they don’t have shrinkage or they don’t have infertility, especially for my men that are in their 20s and 30s. Yeah. And still planning for families, for women we do testosterone, we do estrogen, we do progesterone. And we have a balance. I have a formula that we do a balance. Some women don’t want testosterone. Great. You don’t have to have it. It is our most abundant hormone in our body as women. Women don’t realize that. But we have a lot. I didn’t.

Stone Payton: [00:13:22] Either. I don’t guess.

Kitty Houston: [00:13:23] We have a lot less testosterone than men. Um, but we have a lot of testosterone in our bodies when we’re in our 20s and 30s. And I replace all of those. Some patients are like, oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to turn into a man. I don’t do gender reassignment. I just replace hormones so that we feel optimal.

Stone Payton: [00:13:43] Yeah. All right. What I’m going to switch gears on you a little bit. What was it like to leave the the job, a job and then start your own business? That had to be a little scary. It was.

Kitty Houston: [00:13:54] Terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying. But I wanted to be able to help people the way I didn’t get help. And my husband is a partner in this business with me, and he does the business side of it, whereas he says, I’m the talent, so I, I take care of the patients, he takes care of the business side of it. So if I wasn’t doing this with him, I would never have done it.

Speaker5: [00:14:23] Knee.

Stone Payton: [00:14:25] So how does the whole, um, sales and marketing thing work for a practice like yours? Because not only do you have to be good at this, you got your husband in there. Do you have to get out there and shake the trees? Do you have, like, this whole systemic approach for it? I guess education would be a big part of your whole marketing approach. Yeah.

Kitty Houston: [00:14:44] Yes. So we don’t do any kind of like outside marketing.

Stone Payton: [00:14:50] Not going to see you on the billboard.

Kitty Houston: [00:14:52] No, we’re not going to see me on a billboard. Okay. Most of our patients come in as word of mouth and, you know, just I go to the hair salon and I had somebody ask me, well, what do you do? And I said, well, I’m new to the area. I just opened my own business. This is what I do. And they’re like, oh my gosh, I need you. And just from that, I’ve gotten like 20 patients because women at the hair salon talk and were there for a long time. And, you know, you go to your hairstylist and you’re like, wait a minute, why do you look like you feel so much better? I saw you three months ago and you were miserable and you, you know, had no energy. And now you feel great. What did you do? And so that’s a big marketing thing. But just being out in the community, I just talk to people. I keep business cards in my purse. And anytime I hear somebody, you know, if I’m, I’m out. I went out to the wineries over the weekend with my daughter, and there were four women at the table, and they were griping about all the things. And I said, ladies, where do you live? And they said, Marietta, I said, come see me, I can help. And they’re like, oh my gosh, you do hormones? I said, yes, I do. And so it just, you know, listening to conversations and chit chatting with people is how we do our marketing.

Stone Payton: [00:16:10] So deep root, downtown Woodstock has a ribbon cutting in a few days, so you should definitely show up.

Kitty Houston: [00:16:15] Oh, absolutely. I’d be happy to. You should.

Stone Payton: [00:16:18] If you do sponsor anything, you should sponsor Deep Root, right? We’ve been a couple of times and we really we really enjoyed it. Oh that’s that’s great. So I don’t know when you would ever find the time because it sounds like you got a lot going on. But interests, hobbies, passions that you pursue outside the scope of your work, anything you have a tendency to nerd out about?

Kitty Houston: [00:16:40] Um.

Stone Payton: [00:16:41] Uh, my listeners know I like to hunt, fish, and travel. Okay. The reason I ask, okay.

Kitty Houston: [00:16:45] I love to be outside. So I just hiked Yonah Mount Yonah on Saturday. Oh baby, I love to. It’s gorgeous. So. And it’s a it’s a good hike. I’m still sore. And I hiked on Saturday and I’m still sore and I’m not out of shape. So I love to be outside. I love to hike. I love to kayak when we have time. Um, I’m contemplating taking up golf. My husband golfs, my son golfs, my daughter in law golfs. So they’re like, you need to be the fourth. And I’m like, yeah, but I really am going to be terrible because I am not sports oriented. I never did sports, but I’m willing to try. I’m willing to I’m willing to try taking up golf.

Stone Payton: [00:17:28] Oh, I wanted to ask you about and this is, you know, all of my research is like from Facebook, so take it with a grain of salt. But a word that keeps popping up for me is peptides. Mhm. Is there something to that or is that just Facebook pablum or no Pep.

Kitty Houston: [00:17:44] Peptides are another way to do something to help with anti-aging. There are different peptides that do different things. Peptides are just chains of amino acids that work in different ways. We have peptides that help with sex drive and let me tell you, they really work. We have peptides that help with healing, especially with healing the gut and healing wounds. We have peptides that help with increasing muscle mass, and we have peptides that help with decreasing weight by regulating insulin sensitivity. So by adding these into your routine for your hormone replacement or your weight loss, people can see a much bigger benefit using peptides. Well, I’m.

Stone Payton: [00:18:30] Glad I asked. All right. Circling back to the work, yes. Uh, and we and we used me as our case study. I think, you know, I got a little too much prosperity right here. You know, I’m not fat in a lot of places, but I got a little prosperity right here above the belt. Uh, even if I lose weight, it’s still. It’s that smaller. But in proportion to everything, it’s right there. So I come in, I talk with you, you ask me questions, you know just how much bourbon stone and where is it coming from? And we think to that, if appropriate. And so you might provide some immediate counsel on, hey, consider doing this and eating less of this and more of that and all that kind of stuff. And if appropriate, you might say, and maybe we need to add some of this, you know, and we’ll and we’ll do that and think about the peptides and all that. So walk us through what that I know you’re not prescribing for me because we haven’t had that conversation. But. And what what might uh I don’t even know what to call it. A. Therapeutic plan look like over the course of the coming months or something.

Kitty Houston: [00:19:27] Okay, so the first thing I would do is check bloodwork. So anybody that I’m going to treat I check bloodwork. So I look at cortisol because if your cortisol is really, really high you’re going to hold on to that belly fat no matter what you do. Got it. So we look at cortisol. We look at thyroid. We look at testosterone. We look at fertility hormones for everyone. Just so we have a baseline. And I tailor everybody’s therapy to what are your goals. What is your body fat percentage. Because we have patients that come in that like you you look fit. You look slender. You might be skinny fat, meaning your percentage of body fat is high for your frame because you don’t have enough muscle. And we lose muscle at about 1% a year as we age. For women, when we’re about ten years into menopause or ten years around menopause, we will lose 2% of our muscle mass.

Speaker4: [00:20:22] Interesting.

Kitty Houston: [00:20:23] And this is why we start going. I’m not changing how I eat. I’m not changing how I exercise. I’m not changing how much alcohol I drink. And yet I’m putting on all of this weight. It’s because we’re losing our muscle mass, so we’re burning less calories. So for someone like you, I would say the first thing I’m going to do is look at your hormones. You could probably benefit from testosterone. And then based on what your individual goals are and what your, um, body fat percentage is, we would come up with a plan specifically for you, and then we recheck body composition every six weeks. You know, some patients want to check it every week. Great. Jump on the machine. Check it every week. It doesn’t cost you anything. Um, and then we look at blood levels after about 12 weeks of therapy just to see are we getting where we want to be? Are we getting where we feel, where we’re happy, where we’re comfortable. Mhm.

Stone Payton: [00:21:14] And is this a terribly expensive prospect or does it just vary from person and case and goals.

Kitty Houston: [00:21:22] Um, if you’re looking at just specifically hormone therapy for men, it’s about $140 a month if you spend.

Stone Payton: [00:21:31] That on bourbon.

Kitty Houston: [00:21:34] Weekly or monthly. So for women, if they are in perimenopause and and need all three hormones testosterone, estrogen and progesterone, it’s about $200 a month because we’re working with a lot more hormones. Um, um, weight loss therapy is very affordable. Peptide therapy is very affordable, and I have some patients that just come in and get IVs and vitamins just to help give them a boost and help them feel better. And we’ve had a lot of patients come in lately that went on spring break and came back with a virus. I’m like, you need some hydration because you probably drank too much at the beach. So we also do IV hydration and vitamins.

Stone Payton: [00:22:12] Oh, neat. Uh, physical location. Then you have a physical location?

Kitty Houston: [00:22:16] Yes, I have a physical location. We are on highway 92. We are at, um. 920 Woodstock Road, suite 240, in Roswell. So there’s a moe’s there. There’s. It’s like a little plaza right across from LA fitness. Yeah. In Roswell.

Stone Payton: [00:22:34] All right, so what’s the best way for our listeners to have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, or they. I guess they could go to go to the place, but maybe set up kind of a consultation thing or what’s. Yeah.

Kitty Houston: [00:22:46] Yeah. So we do consultations are free, which I know people think I’m crazy. Um, but a consultation is free. We can do a consultation over the phone. We can do a consultation in person. Uh, the best way to schedule a consultation would be to call the office, and somebody will that’s in charge of my schedule will put them on my schedule. And the phone number is (678) 539-9464.

Stone Payton: [00:23:11] Fantastic. And then get the blood work and all that done with you. Or do we got to go out and do it and come to you with the blood work report? Or how does that piece work?

Kitty Houston: [00:23:20] We do the blood work at the clinic. It’s $150 for a very, very comprehensive, um, panel. Yeah. If you were to go to a lab and have these labs done, it would be about $1,800. Ouch. We charge 150. We charge because we get a discount from the lab. So we charge what the lab charges us. And it’s very, very comprehensive. And it’s about a two day turnaround. So if somebody came in today, I could see them on Thursday to go over their results and get them started with therapy.

Stone Payton: [00:23:50] Man, that seems fast.

Kitty Houston: [00:23:52] It’s pretty fast.

Stone Payton: [00:23:53] Yeah. All right. One more time. Those coordinates, let’s make sure our listeners know how to get to you.

Kitty Houston: [00:23:57] Okay. Um, the office is at 920 Woodstock Road, suite 240, in Roswell. We’re right there on highway 92, and the phone number is 678. 5399464.

Stone Payton: [00:24:12] Nobody ever calls themselves right. So they always they it always takes them a little longer to tell you their phone number that you don’t feel like the Lone Ranger.

Speaker4: [00:24:19] It took me forever to memorize my business number. I was like, oh, I just could not. I took forever in the.

Kitty Houston: [00:24:25] Beginning, I kept giving people my cell phone number. I’m like, oh no, no, no, no, no, don’t, don’t, don’t call me on my cell because I don’t answer it after work.

Stone Payton: [00:24:34] Well, thanks for coming in and sharing your insight and your perspective. I look forward to continuing to follow your story, but I also look forward to to to learning about this topic in particular. Uh, but don’t go anywhere. Will you hang out with us while we visit?

Kitty Houston: [00:24:46] Absolutely.

Stone Payton: [00:24:48] And she’s been a great wingman. She’s been nodding and been very encouraging. And we’re going.

Speaker4: [00:24:52] To take the card, actually.

Speaker5: [00:24:54] Uh.

Stone Payton: [00:24:55] There you go. And I’ll send you the invoice for the broker fee. There you go. If she.

Kitty Houston: [00:24:59] Does, is it.

Speaker5: [00:25:00] Bourbon? Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:25:01] It’s one bottle of decent bourbon. Absolutely. All right, next up on Cherokee Business Radio this morning, please join me in welcoming to the program with covered with Kerry. The lady herself. Kerry Soulier. How are you?

Speaker4: [00:25:15] I’m doing great. How are you today?

Stone Payton: [00:25:17] I’m doing well, but I, I guess I’m in a little bit of a fall. Maybe I need some hormone because Kerry walks in the in the lobby and, uh, and I and I asked her if you if she was Kitty. Well, I didn’t know it was Kitty at the time, so I said, are you cats or. She says, no, Kerry like you, dummy. We just met last week. We just. And I had the most wonderful conversation with Kerry. It was like last week, wasn’t it?

Speaker4: [00:25:39] I think it was like two weeks.

Stone Payton: [00:25:40] Was it okay? Yeah. Well, see, that makes it sound better. And, uh, it just she’s a fascinating person. I can’t wait for you to hear about her, the breadth of her, her life and her life style. But. Oh, by the way, she also runs a very profitable and productive business that genuinely serves people. Tell us about it.

Speaker4: [00:26:00] Definitely I own covered with Kerry. I help people under the age of 65 with health insurance. I serve via marketplace healthcare.gov. I help with private plans. Short terme medical. I sell all types of insurance, but I specialize in helping people that work in the outdoor tourism industry. I work nationwide, but I when I’m in town, when I’m home. Staying in Red Top Mountain. Um. My business. Has been open since April of 2022. And so we just celebrated one year or two years now on the first.

Stone Payton: [00:26:40] So one of the things that I immediately found fascinating about Kerry and her mindset, and you will see as this conversation evolves, how much she genuinely cares about other people and really does want to, uh, want to serve them. My business partner at the Business RadioX network, uh, his name is Lee. He’s, uh, known for saying that niches make riches, and he’s a very big proponent. And we are in our in our work of, you know, finding that that crowd that wants to hear your music and playing really well for them, you know, basically. And I just found it fascinating that that you chose that niche. Speak more to why that niche and some, some things that we may not realize about that group of people. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:27:23] So the outdoor tourism industry, first of all, what is that? White water rafting guide, zipline guides, hiking guides, farm and ranch is part of outdoor tourism. So overall it’s people that help you when you go on vacation. Have fun. The reason that’s my niche is that’s who I am. I’m a whitewater rafter. I’m a guide. I never intended to find this niche. It just happened overnight one day. I owned a perfectly normal insurance agency that specialized in helping Cherokee County before this. Uh, that was my primary form of business. But I arrived at Guy camp for training at the Ocoee River in Tennessee last year and discovered the entire community did not have health insurance, and they qualified for pretty much most of them $0 plans on marketplace. Due to their income levels, most people in the outdoor tourism industry make a fairly low wage. They’re below or within 150% federal poverty line. Just for example, in the state of Georgia, that would be under $21,000 a year for one person. Um, they travel between multiple states and work two or more seasonal jobs. So a lot of them are just like, oh, I can’t have health insurance because I live here, I live there, I live there, and I’m licensed nationwide between myself and my referral network. So I was able to help no matter where they originally were from or where they were going, so that they’re able to manage their health care throughout their yearly moves. It’s been really fulfilling.

Stone Payton: [00:28:57] I can tell and I can tell and I could tell when we when we sat down and visited a couple of weeks ago how much you really you do find the work rewarding. You do. I know you’ve built your business up to the point where it is financially rewarding, but I get a sense that so much of it for you is what I would characterize as emotional compensation. Or you really that’s a big part of your comp is helping people, isn’t it?

Speaker4: [00:29:22] It is. It’s something about just finding there was this whole group of people that never knew they had access to health insurance and wanted it and wanted my help was just such this fulfilling thing. And then they are my friends, my community. Those are the people I want to help. Um, and just to see that things that were problems in the past aren’t problems so much, and to join in levels of advocacy for them to help improve their living conditions. Most people that work in outdoor tourism, uh, live in company provided housing, and it’s not necessarily in the best of conditions. I lived in it when it when my business found success. I was actually considering closing my business when I found all these people that needed my help because I was like, I think my industry, something’s wrong with it. I’m not being paid correctly and I don’t have any money. And then, like, a tree fell on my car. And, you know, the people I work for just stopped paying me. All of a sudden I was like, maybe my industry’s a scam. Maybe I should quit. And then one day it was the last day of the month. You have to sign up for health insurance via healthcare.gov by the end of the month for it to start on the first. Um, the outfitter that I was living at and working at asked me to help enroll her staff in health insurance and like, she was ready to just pay them more for whatever it costs.

Speaker4: [00:30:50] And I just she brought them one after another after another to me. And it was like 20, 30 people at the end. And every single one except one family of two was $0 and theirs was $0.41. And I just kind of I, I never really discussed like the income if you worked in the industry full time. I worked corporate America before that, I had quit corporate America so I could be a whitewater guide, um, and opened my own business so that I had more time. And I asked the owner and I was like, does everyone who works here make about that? And she’s like, yeah. And I asked, how many companies are there? And she said, 27 here. And I was like, oh, that’s a lot of people. And I just decided to throw a taco and beer party. And I just like, made some fliers on Canva and threw them up on social media and told some people and it was like free tacos, free beer and low cost health insurance. What else do you need? And hit me up? Yeah, I had no money at this time. Like my life was on fire and I was like, well, I have $800, I can buy a beer and tacos, but I hope they come because like, this is my last $800.

Speaker4: [00:31:58] And I was setting up and people were walking in and I was like, oh, at least people showed up. And I was like, I’m almost ready with the food, the beers in the back. And they’re like, well, that’s all great. Well, but we’re here for the insurance. And I was like, oh, that’s strange. Okay, um, give me just a minute. And I had thought real quick to put a QR code up with like my intake form so that people could fill it out while waiting. While they were waiting. And I sat down and the party was planned to be for four hours. And I did not stand up for five hours because I was just enrolling one person after another with health insurance. And at the end of that month, you know. Health insurance agents that work on marketplace. Their busy season is normally November through February 15th, mostly November through December. Um, and this was in the spring, in March, April, because all of them qualified for year round enrollment due to their income levels. You can enroll at any time if you earn below 150% of the federal poverty line. I was like, hmm. So I just made some like marketing fliers that were focused on the industry, and I just kind of started emailing them to people. And then. It just exploded. My phone just never stopped ringing after that. That’s great. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:33:24] This is the kind of story that I love because. And look, I have a great deal of respect for the people that do all the due diligence. They go get the SBA loan, they, you know, take out a second mortgage on their house and they properly capitalize their business, or maybe they even decide to franchise because they’re not really, you know, but this this I find so incredibly inspiring and it’s it continues to be wildly successful. Yes.

Speaker4: [00:33:49] It’s it is. I’ve seen the results in my work. It’s not been easy. I, you know, I have a high school education. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just like, well, I have an insurance license. I’m not bad at selling insurance, and I’m terrible at being a corporate employee. So I’m not wanting to do that. I got Covid and they went to write me up for taking time off, and I was like, no, I don’t think I work here anymore. Um, and I had like $1,400 opened my business and I was like, well, I’m going to make this work. Um, and when it happened, you know, I did not have a car I lived in. I called it my shack. It did not have running water. Um, it just was a cabin in the woods. If someone’s like, yeah, you don’t have anywhere to live, so you can live there if you want. Um, and, you know, I didn’t have internet. Obviously, there were cell phone service, so I had to walk to those things. Uh, and just like I found someone that would rent me their car while they were working because I quit guiding. I was, like, too busy selling insurance now. Sorry. Um, so it just started growing and it just spread because I had all my state licenses at that time.

Speaker4: [00:35:01] I’ve let some go because some states don’t have rivers and outdoor tourism, so they don’t really matter anymore. And I just found other people that can help there. But I just had a cell phone, my laptop, and an Excel spreadsheet, and suddenly I went from having like 50 clients, which was normal for how long. I had been open to having hundreds within a matter of 60 days. And I was like, Holy cow, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have any money. Because I still wasn’t being paid correctly from my prior company I was contracted with who still doesn’t pay me correctly, whatever. Um, but I was like, how can I quit when there’s such a need? And I can see the obvious scalability of this? Like, I got to figure this out. Like I didn’t have a credit card. Um, I definitely could not get a business loan. Um, you know, that wasn’t going to work. And I was like, well, I just better get to work then. And I just worked for ever. Um, you know, I people in the insurance industry started to take notice of what was going on.

Speaker5: [00:36:04] I bet they.

Speaker4: [00:36:05] Did. Um, and I didn’t even mean to do it. I had always been a moderator and an administrator on Facebook groups for insurance. I was knowledgeable, you know, I have designations now in the industry from working at the carrier. Um, and they started asking me questions and I was like, I am way too busy to talk to you right now. You don’t pay me any money. Like, I gotta work. Good for you. And then somebody might. You should make a course. And I was like, huh? And I was like, no, I’m busy. And then I thought about it. I was like. He should make a course. I had friends suggested I should, like, make something. That’s what I call one to many like you, when you work with someone, it’s 1 to 1, right? Right. And when I sell someone insurance, it’s 1 to 1. But I could one to many this for insurance agents and just make it like a course that they watch and it answers all their questions. And I was like yeah, you know, maybe I’ll make a couple thousand bucks, like, I need a couple thousand bucks, I’ll do some work for that. And I just posted on Facebook because all these insurance agents were bothering me. I was like, if I made a course, would anyone buy it? And they were like, yep. And I was like, all right. Um, so I sat on a friend’s couch. She came and picked me up because I didn’t have a car and I didn’t have an internet. I was like, I need real internet because I need to work right now.

Speaker4: [00:37:23] And I sat in, uh, Atlanta for four days just and I did not sleep. And I just wrote this course, and I started a pre-sale while I was writing it because I was like, okay, I can see this going to like, I’m near the end. And I was like, huh? And I made $25,000 off this course in 48 hours. Wow. And I’m just like sitting there and I’m like, Holy cow, I don’t know what I’m doing. Like, I plan to, like, deliver this to, like, you know, ten people. And now I got to deliver it to a couple hundred, and that’s going to take a lot of time. And I was like, I need automation. So I had already had a CRM customer resource management system that had a lot of automation capabilities, and I built it out for my insurance aspect of my business at this point. And I was like, well, I just need to make an automated delivery system for that, so I did. Um, and when it was all said and done, I’m sitting at $75,000 of sales on it since August of 2023 last year. Um, and I don’t talk about it anymore. I don’t want to talk about it. It just sells itself and it delivers itself, and it has answers to all their questions in there. And it’s just a case market analysis of my marketing concepts. Obviously, it’s focused on insurance agencies like how I present it, but it’s more so how I market it on social media and through employer engagement to prospect business to business, even though I sell business to consumer.

Stone Payton: [00:38:57] So you see, Katie, why? We wanted to have her in the studio.

Speaker5: [00:38:59] That’s amazing. That’s fantastic.

Speaker4: [00:39:03] Yeah. So it’s just evolved. And, you know, insurance is my passion. I do everything else so I can sell insurance to my consumers. Um, because I can’t keep up with them. Like the demand I’m booked every week. All week. Um, doesn’t.

Kitty Houston: [00:39:20] Leave you much time for rafting then, does it?

Speaker4: [00:39:21] Oh, I make time. I make the time for rafting. Definitely. Um, so I scale back a little bit in the summer. Um, I’ve learned outsource, I utilize automation. Um, so, like, if somebody walks up to me and they’re like, oh, I need to talk to you about health insurance out in public, I’m like, great, get your phone out. And they’re like, I’m like, type in (304) 507-8039. Just say health insurance. And I have an automation built so that if you’re not an existing client and you say those words, it’s going to intake you, it’s going to book your appointment, it’s going to get your intake form so that when I just have to pick up the phone and call you, um, that’s all I have to do. I don’t have to do the fact finding myself anymore. And that’s just eliminated so much in my life, so that I don’t need as many people to do a large amount of work. Um, I also utilize outsourcing things I’m not the best at. It’s so important. Um, I can build automation, but I would rather just tell someone what I want and be like, here you go and let me know when it’s done. So that’s what I do now. Um, but overall it was crazy. I got invited by the largest outdoor tourism employer in the United States to come live on their property and, and, uh, offer their 700 part time staff health insurance. It was so crazy.

Kitty Houston: [00:40:39] I bet you met a lot of fun people, though. Oh, my.

Speaker4: [00:40:41] Gosh. I have friends all over the country. I live in an RV now. Um, don’t live in a shack selling that course. Got me an RV. Um.

Kitty Houston: [00:40:51] Moving on up.

Speaker4: [00:40:51] So I travel to the country now. Um, which is always been a thing I’ve enjoyed, but I just sell insurance as I go, and I get to go rafting.

Kitty Houston: [00:41:02] That’s fantastic.

Speaker5: [00:41:03] Yeah. Isn’t that marvelous?

Stone Payton: [00:41:05] So what will the summer look like for you? You’ll back off a little bit, you’ll play a little bit more, but you’ll you’ve got you’ve got things set up, so I.

Speaker4: [00:41:13] Do the.

Stone Payton: [00:41:14] Machine keeps running.

Speaker4: [00:41:15] So I will be working in Fayetteville, West Virginia, which is the Whitewater capital of the world. I’ll be working at Ace Adventure Resort as a whitewater guide. I’ll be doing new trips from June through August, um, up there. So I know a lot of people sometimes go on vacation because that’s a state or a national park, the new River Gorge. And then from there it’s festival season. Um, my industry had a insurance crisis where so there’s whitewater races where people go race, and the highest classification is a class five. So a class five is really challenging. And they basically just said no insurance for class five races anymore. The company that previously provided it. And they just started canceling all these races. And I was like, oh no. I was like, I think I can fix that. So like, I figured it out, I found an insurance and like, I started this social media campaign like called Save Class five and like, made it like a movie style, like thing, um, and like, got all the people that formerly organized the races to reach out and like, got them insurance. So I’m going to go to the festivals and I created a waiver system for it.

Speaker5: [00:42:28] Are you hearing this is insane.

Speaker4: [00:42:31] Um, so that they used to just have to fill out pieces of paper and that’s silly. So I made a waiver system so that I can intake all of the insurance information for the users, for the liability policy. And so that I also have the master like billed for it for the industry.

Speaker5: [00:42:49] All right.

Stone Payton: [00:42:50] Before we wrap, I got to ask one more question because I could I could swear we had a little bit of a conversation around it. You do a radio show while you’re out playing too, don’t you?

Speaker4: [00:42:58] So I just do a lot of podcasts in general. I, I didn’t even know I was going to be on your podcast. I came looking to run a podcast. So he’s like, no, I don’t do that. But like, I want to talk to you.

Stone Payton: [00:43:08] I want you on the show.

Speaker4: [00:43:09] I just I find them in the world and I do quite a few of them.

Stone Payton: [00:43:14] So you get on them as a guest a lot.

Speaker4: [00:43:16] I about two a month usually.

Speaker5: [00:43:17] Oh wow, that is fantastic.

Stone Payton: [00:43:21] Oh, what an inspiring story. We’re going to follow your story as well. I hope you’ll check. Maybe you can be like the, the, uh, on the road, uh, health insurance correspondent. Yeah. Have Carrie call in.

Speaker5: [00:43:33] Call me.

Speaker4: [00:43:33] I can stop by and give a visit when I’m in town regrouping. This is where I come back and be like, oh, I need a new round of stuff. Got to get my mail. Say hi to everyone.

Speaker5: [00:43:42] That’s perfect.

Stone Payton: [00:43:44] All right. What’s the best way for listeners to learn? Learn more. A website, a good central hub for you.

Speaker4: [00:43:49] So first, if you’d like to book some time to chat, you can go to covered with Caricom. If you’d like to talk to health insurance, you can always send me a text at (304) 507-8039. And if you just want to follow along, you can type Carrie, Carrie, Grace, grace in Facebook. I’ll be the first one that pops up.

Stone Payton: [00:44:09] What a delight to have you come join us this morning. Thank you so much. All right. My pleasure. Okay, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today. And everyone here at the Business Radio X family saying we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.

Nicole Thomas with Rockin Rollin Resumes

April 11, 2024 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Nicole Thomas with Rockin Rollin Resumes

00:00 /

Nicole Thomas has lived in Woodstock, GA all her life. She’s always had a strong passion for writing and graduated from Piedmont University with a Mass Communications Degree.

It was at Piedmont University’s Career Center that Nicole learned how to write her resume, and she’s now able to apply that knowledge to write other people’s resumes.

One of her closest friends, who she calls her 2nd mom, knew that Nicole had helped friends before with writing their resumes and asked if she could help her write hers. Happily, Nicole agreed. Her friend was very impressed and suggested she start her own resume business, which Nicole did.

Her friend used the resume Nicole had written for her to apply for a job, and shortly after she applied, the hiring manager called saying that he was so impressed with the resume that Nicole had written for her that he wanted to hire her.

Nicole’s number one goal in life is to make an impact. She’s grateful that one of the ways she can do that is by writing people’s resumes to increase the chances of them getting hired.

Follow Rockin Rollin Resumes on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX Studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:17] Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline, and today in the studio, I’ve got someone who’s pretty special to me, who I think is just a wonderful person I’ve met through Ypow. She is the founder at Rockin Rollin Resumes. Her name is Nicole Thomas. Hi.

Nicole Thomas: [00:00:40] Thank you so much for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:42] You’re welcome. It’s like such a pleasure to spend some time with you, because every time I’ve spent time with you in the past, it’s just been really fun for me and I always leave feeling really good. So I’m excited to have like some one on one time with you again.

Nicole Thomas: [00:00:52] Thank you. I feel the same way about you.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:54] Oh, thanks. All right. We’re. Our work is done. That’s all I needed. I’m just kidding. So what’s cool about you is that you really have a lot of different skill sets that are really marketable and valuable. And one of them, right now that you’ve really focused on a lot, is rock and roll and resumes. Tell me about how you got started in that.

Nicole Thomas: [00:01:15] Thank you. So I had helped friends before with resumes and then somebody very close to me who I call Second mom. Uh, she was like, I’m applying for a job. I would love for you to help me with my resume. And I was like, okay, cool, no problem. I’m very close with her. So I helped her with her resume and she was so impressed. Uh, the hiring manager called her saying, I love your resume. This is very impressive. I want to hire you. This is an amazing resume. And then second mom, uh, news. How passionate, how passionate I am about, uh, entrepreneurship. So she suggested that I start a business doing resume writing, and so I’ve done that.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:54] So what was special about the resume that you made? What do you think made it stand out?

Nicole Thomas: [00:01:58] I highlighted her skills. I tailored it to the specific job position, since she had the specific job position in front of her, highlighted her skills, accomplishments, listed everything in a neat, organized, uh, fashion.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:12] It’s interesting because I think I’ve heard that if you submit your resume into like LinkedIn or something automatic like that, that it will not be, um, highlighted or flagged if it doesn’t have certain words that are exactly what the client is looking for in terms of hiring. Is that right?

Nicole Thomas: [00:02:28] I know with resumes there’s not all the time, but there’s sometimes an ATS system called an applicant tracking system. Um, and it’ll look for certain words. So I can’t guarantee that clients it’ll pass through the ATS system. But what I do is I use ZipRecruiter and so zip. Um, and the reason why I can’t guarantee that it’ll when one of the reasons why I can’t guarantee that it’ll pass through an ATS system is because I don’t make, uh, resumes tailored towards, uh, specific job descriptions. So, um, one of the ways that I help increase the chances, though, of it being passed through an ATS system is by ZipRecruiter has an. Says the top skills listed by employers. And they say this for different industries. And so I will look up the top skills for the job, uh, field that my client is wanting to get into. And I will use those, uh, job, uh, skills. Yeah, those.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:30] Are descriptive words, skills.

Nicole Thomas: [00:03:32] Right. To increase the chances of it getting, um, through an ATS system if the ATS system were to have those words. So that’s a very helpful resource. I highly recommend ZipRecruiter.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:43] It’s interesting. It’s not something that I thought about in terms of, um, trying to get myself to stand out is to actually use what the job description is that I’m applying for and really tailor and highlight some of the items that are more useful to that job description, as opposed to saying, oh, yeah, you know, I used to do, you know, wait tables or whatever it is. If that doesn’t really apply, it’s not going to seem like I would be a good applicant. It would automatically kind of pass me by. Right?

Nicole Thomas: [00:04:08] You’re going to want to include the most relevant experience and title it as relevant experience. So for example, with my resume, I have marketing experience in a section with all my marketing experience to help increase the chances of it going through an ATS system. And even if an ATS system doesn’t look at it just to an employer’s, eyes are like, oh wow, she has a lot of marketing experience, right?

Sharon Cline: [00:04:30] Right. That totally makes sense when I think about it. Um, so it’s really come a long way since I’ve worked on my resume. I think in terms of the computer metrics and analytics that I guess forward you through. So I don’t really know. I mean, I’m thinking what it must be like for anyone who’s like 2021 just graduating school. I don’t know how they would be able to compete so well. When you don’t, if you don’t have a really good understanding of how that all works. So that’s what you do, right? You give people that explanation.

Nicole Thomas: [00:05:03] I find people’s it’s important to include accomplishments. So I include their accomplishments. I include their job skills. And then I also include why they did the specific position. So for example, if they marketed I would say marketing, um, if they have analytics, user quantifiable achievements, um, to raise brand awareness. So what they did, why they did it, that stands out a lot.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:28] I bet a lot of people don’t think that deeply about resumes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:05:31] Probably not.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:31] But it’s important, clearly. Right?

Nicole Thomas: [00:05:33] It is if you want to get hired. Yes.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:36] What software do you use to help get the resumes to look really nice? I’ve used word in the past and it always would just populate in a really weird way. If I added anything different, it would just kind of change because you want it to look esthetically pleasing. It would not work for me. So I’m wondering what you what you’ve had success with.

Nicole Thomas: [00:05:54] So I use I actually do use word. Oh, you must.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:56] Be better at it than me, that’s for sure.

Nicole Thomas: [00:05:58] But I convert it to a PDF file and so that helps contain maintain its consistent format. I actually learned how to resume write my own resume in college. So I use that format that I learned in college and I use Microsoft Word, but I trans um, I.

Speaker3: [00:06:17] Forget the export it. Export it? Yes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:06:20] Export it as a PDF file.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:22] What? I never thought to do that. So that if it when it gets brought up on someone else’s computer, it won’t look all strange and wild and wacky. Yes, to the schools. Thank you. So I know that you’ve been promoting yourself some on on Facebook, do you how how successful has it been with you? I mean, have you had to feel like you have to do any kind of extra advertising, or is Facebook just most people use Facebook for advertising? Has Facebook just been kind of the way that you’ve been able to get business networking?

Nicole Thomas: [00:06:50] Actually a lot of networking.

Speaker3: [00:06:52] In person, networking.

Nicole Thomas: [00:06:53] And Facebook. I’m part of a group called Cherokee Connect. A lot of people from Cherokee County are part of that group. And so people will ask, hey, I need a help with a resume written. And then the people I network with are so sweet. They refer me. So Cherokee Connect and word of mouth goes a long way. So Facebook and word of mouth, networking and networking is free. A lot of them are. So that’s great.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:15] I was thinking about the fact that, you know, people discount how important relationships are, um, in, in terms of, um, getting one on one business. In other words, there are a lot of people that will use advertising like on Facebook, but it’s impersonal. But when you know someone and you’ve got that history behind it, that relationship, it really does tend to make you think, oh, I know that person, Nicole, you know. Oh, I remember we had such a great conversation. You’re not just a name, you’re an actual person. Yes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:07:44] And it counts so much more. I feel like when somebody else refers you versus just saying my own things. Great. Of course your own things. Great. But when somebody else refers you, then that goes a long way too.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:54] It feels. Yeah. It feels more secure or something. So what’s your favorite part about making someone’s resume look just right?

Nicole Thomas: [00:08:02] I think the rewarding, um, one of my biggest goals in life is to make an impact. Um, so I want to do that, uh, by writing people’s resumes. Like when second mom she got hired or the calling that sorry when she got hired. Um, that felt so rewarding. And especially because the, um, hiring manager said, I really love your resume. I’m like, I want that to happen to everybody. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:30] Who wouldn’t? Right. You must have felt so proud like that was because of you, you know? Yes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:08:34] Thank you. It felt really good. We were very happy.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:37] I think it’s cool, too, that you learned how to do this in college. But not all colleges focus on that, right?

Speaker3: [00:08:43] Right.

Nicole Thomas: [00:08:43] I mean, I don’t know, I can’t really speak for other colleges. I was very lucky. I went to a private school so they can give students more attention, which is great, and more support. Uh, I’m guessing maybe than a public school. So I went to the learning center and they were able to help me with my resume.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:01] Well, look how valuable that is. I mean, now it’s translated into a business. What were the challenges of starting this business? Did you have any.

Nicole Thomas: [00:09:09] Um, challenging? Maybe getting clients. I mean, figuring out, uh, how to make it more marketable because I, uh, no longer am tailoring it towards specific positions because it was a lot of work finding positions and then trying to tailor it to that. So still trying to make it where it is presentable. But I feel like I did that pretty well by using ZipRecruiter, top skills listed by employers, because it increases the chances. And like I said, even if there’s not an ATS system, I know what employers are looking for. So I would say that it’s interesting.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:44] I it’s like I never I don’t know why my brain just goes right to LinkedIn. But but ZipRecruiter is like it’s like the unsung hero in my brain. I feel sad that I didn’t even know. So that makes me think if I ever do want to kind of progress in my career, that’s where I would go to do the exact same thing. Yes, but I’d also be asking you for help because.

Speaker3: [00:10:02] I clearly don’t know what I’m doing. I would love to help you.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:05] Oh, you’re the sweetest. You also had previously been the, uh, the community liaison for Piedmont Injury Law, and that is Ken Crossen.

Speaker3: [00:10:14] In his group. Yeah. They’re great. Yes.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:16] They’re wonderful. So what was it like to be working with him as well?

Speaker3: [00:10:19] Uh, it.

Nicole Thomas: [00:10:19] Was so much fun. I miss it. Uh, so I would network, uh, for, uh, Piedmont Injury Law, and I would constantly refer business owners, and it felt so rewarding. And I would meet with people I love people, um, so I would meet with people, um, and I would ask them, so who would you like to be referred to? And then I would also manage their Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn back when I worked with them. Um, and I would do some email marketing to promote events that they were having. It was so much fun.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:48] These are all skills that you use now, I’m sure you know things that you did very well then. So what do you do now with with rock and roll and resumes? How do you use social media this way to help promote your business?

Speaker3: [00:10:59] So I’ve made.

Nicole Thomas: [00:11:00] Some Instagram Reels. I want to get back on that. Um, I’m have several things I do during the day so it can get a little busy, but I, uh, I’ve created Instagram Reels before I’m in the process of creating a website. Uh, Randy with, uh, studio Lensa uh, took my photos and they turned out they’re.

Speaker3: [00:11:20] Beautiful, I saw them, I appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:24] Yeah. So you reached out to him and said, hey, do you have a minute?

Speaker3: [00:11:26] Get some photos posted on.

Nicole Thomas: [00:11:28] My Facebook saying, uh, if anyone was a photographer and he was happy to help. And so that was great. He took amazing photos. So I’m in the process of creating a website right now. It’s almost done. Not yet, but um, the website is almost done, so I’ll have that. I post on Facebook, post on Instagram. If I see somebody on Cherokee Connect I’m posting on there. That’s the main thing. I feel like.

Speaker3: [00:11:47] Really, that’s.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:48] That’s also how I get a lot of guests to come on the show, especially authors, you know, um, it’s really handy in order to kind of pare down this. What is it like? 60,000 people are part of Cherokee Connect. I mean, you’re going to find someone that needs something on there like that could benefit from your business, I imagine.

Speaker3: [00:12:02] Thank you.

Nicole Thomas: [00:12:03] I appreciate.

Speaker3: [00:12:04] It. Yeah, yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:05] All right. So, um, how challenging is it for you to create a website for yourself as well? Like, what are the steps that you’ve taken?

Nicole Thomas: [00:12:13] It’s actually pretty easy. So I learned a lot of great skills in college. And one of them was a website design class. I have a mass communications degree, um, in a social media marketing certificate. I learned, uh, the website though, in my, uh, in college at Piedmont University, it was called Piedmont College back when I went. But I, um, uh, learned, uh, website design there, so it was pretty easy. So, um, I used I normally use Wix, but for this one I use Squarespace, and it was pretty easy uploading everything in there. I highly recommend, uh, Squarespace.

Speaker3: [00:12:47] I use that.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:47] For my my website too. Yeah. I’m thankfully and it’s so nice because you can really deal with everything you need to on your phone. Like if I have something that I just want to change on the website, I don’t have to go to a regular computer. I can do it on the fly. It’s kind of nice.

Speaker3: [00:12:59] I mean.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:59] Certainly when you’re not, this isn’t your everyday thing to do is to create a website. There are so many great resources, right, that can kind of help you to make the basics. It doesn’t have to be the most special stellar.

Speaker3: [00:13:12] Website.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:12] It just needs to be where people can see who you are.

Speaker3: [00:13:15] Yes, and get to you.

Nicole Thomas: [00:13:16] I would suggest stick with your brand colors, have appealing photos, have your logo, have your contact information, have all that marketable information that says what you are, and then you’re pretty much good to go.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:26] Who’s your ideal client then?

Nicole Thomas: [00:13:28] My ideal client. I love doing students resumes and I actually offer a discount for students. Um, I offer different discounts regarding professions, but they get the most discount. Um, I love doing students. It’s so rewarding. And it’s a lot easier, um, because they don’t have all this experience built up yet. But I want to help them, you know, hopefully get their first job. So, um, students, I love doing students. Um, and then other ones, uh, teachers hospitality. Um, those have been good too. And then I have a list of, uh, packages that I’d love to share with anybody that might be interested in it, just depending on what their profession is, because some resumes are harder to do than others, for sure.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:10] And I like that point that you. Make that the older I am, the more experience I have in the background to try to like, navigate around that and decide what’s really relevant and what’s not. You know, that must be challenging new students or, you know, people who are just new to the workspace, right? It’s like, oh, shiny, brand new.

Speaker3: [00:14:27] Let’s make you.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:28] Look the best you can. We don’t have, you know, have to make it too complicated.

Speaker3: [00:14:31] Yes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:14:32] And their accomplishments can still stand out if they’ve received any awards or if they’ve had jobs during college or internships or classes. So their accomplishments can still stand out, but they are a lot easier to do.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:44] Or how do you get the students? Are you are still going through Cherokee Connect or do you go to like some of the universities? How do you market to them?

Nicole Thomas: [00:14:51] I really want to call up some of the universities. I haven’t done that yet, but I really want to call the universities up.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:57] They’re not that far like there are enough around here, right?

Speaker3: [00:14:59] Right.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:00] So amazing that you don’t have to go too far.

Nicole Thomas: [00:15:02] Yes, I actually put a, um, flier in, uh, Chattahoochee Tech.

Speaker3: [00:15:07] That was smart.

Nicole Thomas: [00:15:07] And I’d love to put more fliers and more colleges.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:10] Heck, yeah. This is a valuable skill.

Speaker3: [00:15:12] Thank you, I appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:13] So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your job prospects, because I’ve seen on Facebook that you have been looking for full time work for a little bit, but also you did something so unique that local news stations here, uh, had you on their station and interviewed you. Um, can you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker3: [00:15:32] Yeah.

Nicole Thomas: [00:15:32] Thank you. It was so nice. The community is so important and the kind of people really care. Um, uh, so that was great being on the news. Uh, somebody I was passing out resumes on the corner of, uh, want to say exit eight, maybe. Sorry, I.

Speaker3: [00:15:51] Forgot that, like, Town.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:52] Lake Parkway. Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:15:53] And 575. Yes. Yeah.

Nicole Thomas: [00:15:55] Uh, so I was passing out resumes. Somebody picked up a resume, and they, uh, shared it with somebody. And then, uh, today on Cherokee Connect. And then a lot of got way more attention than I thought it.

Speaker3: [00:16:10] Was going to. I was like, oh, wow.

Nicole Thomas: [00:16:12] So many people care.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:13] You had a sign as well, didn’t you?

Speaker3: [00:16:14] What did your sign say?

Nicole Thomas: [00:16:16] Um, it said, all right. It was close to Halloween. What’s scarier than Halloween? Being almost homeless. I was so afraid of being homeless. I would ask my best friend every day. I was like, hey, if I end up in a Walmart parking lot, will you come visit me?

Speaker3: [00:16:30] And he was so encouraging. He’s like.

Nicole Thomas: [00:16:32] That’s not going to happen. You got this, you got this. So encouraging.

Speaker3: [00:16:35] But yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:36] So then what was it like for them to contact you to say, wow, you know, look at the lengths that you’re going through to get a job. What was that like?

Nicole Thomas: [00:16:42] I was pleasantly surprised. And back in my mind I was like, I really hope this is real. I hope this is good. And thankfully it was. They were so nice. Um, so that was really great.

Speaker3: [00:16:51] To have you.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:52] Gotten some good feedback then from that um, story, I want to say, was it 11 alive?

Speaker3: [00:16:56] Yes, it was 11 alive. That was great.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:58] Yeah. Um, and it’s funny because it’s like here you are doing everything that you can going way beyond the extra mile. And, and you’re still able to make your company the way you want it to, but you’re still looking for that, that one right job for you right now.

Nicole Thomas: [00:17:12] Yeah, I really am. I’m really needing full time work, preferably with benefits.

Speaker3: [00:17:17] Right?

Nicole Thomas: [00:17:18] Yeah. Like I’m 26, so I’m no longer on my parents insurance.

Speaker3: [00:17:22] So yeah.

Nicole Thomas: [00:17:22] Preferably with benefits. I would prefer a marketing job, but if it right if the right opportunity opens up that’s not within marketing, I would be more than happy to explore that.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:32] Well, so do you want to take a minute to explain some of the skills that you feel like are just yours, that you feel like you could offer any company?

Nicole Thomas: [00:17:39] Thank you. So I’m really love interacting with people, and I’ve been told that I’m good with interacting with people. Yes, I have strong interpersonal skills. I genuinely want to help people. And I also love the, uh, companies that are involved in the community and really care like I want to work for. And I’ve been so blessed to work for employers that genuinely care about people. And I want to continue to be able to do that. Um, so, uh, companies that are like, involved with the community would be great. Um, and then I have strong social media management skills. I got my certificate in October 2023, uh, from KSU. Nice.

Speaker3: [00:18:18] Thank you, I appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:19] Thank you.

Speaker3: [00:18:20] That’s where I went to school. Oh that’s.

Nicole Thomas: [00:18:21] Awesome. What did you get your degree in?

Sharon Cline: [00:18:23] It’s in communication. Media studies. Just like you. Awesome. I know we’re like soul sisters.

Speaker3: [00:18:27] I love.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:28] It. Yeah. So I mean, you have so many of these great basic skills that are marketable right now. In particular, like you’ve got digital marketing down and you clearly are a go getter and you clearly have, um, um, bravery. And that seems like to stand out. It feels like you, you really do have to do something a little extra out there.

Speaker3: [00:18:48] Thank you.

Nicole Thomas: [00:18:49] I try, um, I also have writing skills, and I’ve used Canva a ton. I, uh, I’m almost. I want to make some tweaks, but I’m almost done with, um, my portfolio website. I plan to share that with people soon. Um, I’ve passed out some business cards, but there’s, like, minor tweaks I want to make to my website first. Um, and I have a portfolio website, so I’m really out there. Wanting to be as proactive as possible. I think that’s.

Speaker3: [00:19:13] Important.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:14] Oh my gosh, you are. You’re doing so much. It’s funny. It’s like you want people to take steps and be brave and like, use their time wisely. And I have to say, you do you do.

Speaker3: [00:19:23] All those things.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:24] Thank you know and this is another step to it. Like I’m so happy to have you on the show to be able to give you just a minute to to get people to know who you are. It’s not just Nicole who does resumes, but here’s what motivates me. You know, I love that you’re a people person when you’re in communication and you you know, you’re in marketing and you are really trying to get people to understand a message, you’ve got to really be a people person.

Speaker3: [00:19:47] Thank you. I really appreciate it. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:49] No. It’s important. These are valuable skills. Not everybody who’s super smart out there has that kind of basic skill.

Speaker3: [00:19:56] So and I genuinely.

Nicole Thomas: [00:19:57] Enjoy interacting with people.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:59] And I like to that. You want to give back. You want to be part of a community or a business that really cares about the their, their population. And that’s I know you’ve done some work with limited, limitless disabilities, right?

Speaker3: [00:20:11] No, I worked with a circle of friends.

Nicole Thomas: [00:20:14] Volunteer work with circle of.

Speaker3: [00:20:15] Circle of friends. That’s right. How did that go?

Nicole Thomas: [00:20:17] So a circle of friends. That went well, I, uh, recently, after college, I volunteered, uh, with their social media, with their Instagram, with their Facebook, with their, um, TikTok accounts. And then I would, uh, some of those were like interviewing the employees. Some of them were doing pictures of event of an event they had, especially their kickball. I loved their kickball event. Um, and, um, it was a lot of fun. And then I also wrote a blog post, why I Love Volunteering or Circle of Friends and encourage other people to volunteer.

Speaker3: [00:20:49] That’s awesome, because I think a lot.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:51] Of people don’t know how satisfying that can be if they don’t really.

Speaker3: [00:20:54] Try it.

Nicole Thomas: [00:20:55] Yes, it’s great. I miss volunteering with them. I might try that again sometime soon.

Speaker3: [00:20:59] Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:59] Heck yeah. Or with the company that’s going to hire you because they do things that will give back.

Speaker3: [00:21:03] Yes. Preferably both.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:05] So how will it be when you are hired with your position and obviously looking for full time and benefits? How how challenging will it be for you to keep rock and roll and resumes going?

Nicole Thomas: [00:21:15] Mean, I’m the type of person where I don’t know until I’m in that situation, but I think I’ll be able to handle it. I have some part time jobs right now. I’m working, uh, some part time jobs right now. So I am working.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:28] Yeah. You are doing.

Nicole Thomas: [00:21:29] It. Yeah. So I think I’ll be able to manage it. I wouldn’t want to take on more than maybe 2 or 3 clients at a time, just because I want to provide the best service I possibly can to the clients I’m doing. But, um, I also like the resume business because I can monitor how many clients I can take on.

Speaker3: [00:21:47] Oh, that’s so smart.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:48] It’s great that you can do these kinds of things. Like at home, you don’t have to actually be in a place.

Nicole Thomas: [00:21:52] Yes, I love that. That makes it so much easier. Yeah. Um, so I was like, I can still do this and I can still work full time. I can get everything I want in life. I can, you can.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:02] That’s the American.

Speaker3: [00:22:03] Dream. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:05] What do you think people don’t know about what it’s like to be you?

Nicole Thomas: [00:22:09] Um. I don’t know. That’s a great question.

Speaker3: [00:22:14] Can you repeat that again?

Sharon Cline: [00:22:15] What do you think? People don’t know what it’s like to be you. Like, what do you think that people would really benefit from knowing something about you? Something that surprising? Because I think I think it’s easy for all of us to just pass people by every day and not really take a minute like this is one of the best things about this show, is that I get to spend some time one on one with people that I normally wouldn’t because I’m so busy. This is my dedicated chit chat and I feel like I. I get to have like this exchange of who you are, who I am, and, um, yeah. So I feel like I know you better than I would know someone else that I, you know, I’m just talking to at Ypo. But it’s like having this time together is great. So if you if you could tell everyone something about you that you feel like maybe would be helping you in the job world, what do you think that they need to know?

Nicole Thomas: [00:23:00] I’m people driven and I’m value driven. Um, so I want to make an impact, and I hope that shows through my work that I provide for people.

Speaker3: [00:23:09] Heck yeah, I.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:10] Love that value.

Speaker3: [00:23:11] Driven. Thank you.

Nicole Thomas: [00:23:11] I appreciate.

Speaker3: [00:23:12] It. That’s a really good word. Look at you.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:14] I’m like trying to download some of these terms so that I could use them if I ever need to. You know, that’s great. And I also feel like that’s really undervalued a lot to the fact that people really care about what they’re doing. It’s not just the money, but it’s actually really investing your life energy into something that you believe in.

Speaker3: [00:23:32] Right?

Nicole Thomas: [00:23:32] My perfect job would be something where it’s both where it pays well and also has great values. And there are several companies out there that have values. I’m like, I love this. That’s great.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:42] Yeah, we just need that. We just need to get that going. Yeah. This is part of it though.

Nicole Thomas: [00:23:46] Yes. Yes definitely definitely.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:48] Do you have any mentors or people that you kind of look to to kind of help guide you if you have some questions?

Nicole Thomas: [00:23:54] I have friends, I have very close friends, and I also have a second mom.

Speaker3: [00:23:58] Uh, second mom.

Nicole Thomas: [00:23:59] Yes, I love her. She just started calling me daughter one day and I was like, I’ll just call her second mom. This is great. Um, and so, uh, my friends mean the world to me. Uh, second mom means the world to me. Uh, my family means a lot to me. Uh, so those are the people that I tend to go to.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:16] Is there anything that’s been really surprising as you’ve gotten started with rock and roll and resumes? Is there something where you’re like, wow, I wish I had known that before I got started?

Speaker3: [00:24:25] Um. I don’t know.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:29] I threw I threw a curveball.

Speaker3: [00:24:31] At you. I think I.

Nicole Thomas: [00:24:32] Was excited about how many people actually wanted resumes, because I didn’t know if they were just if it was something that would work out or not. Because some people can just do resumes by themselves or have a parent help them. And that’s great for the people that have that resource. But then there’s other people where it’s like, I really want to improve my resume even more. So I guess I was happily surprised that so many because, like, I think I do offer something valuable, but I was so happy that people needed it.

Speaker3: [00:24:56] Do you.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:56] Still have physical resumes, like print them out and send them anywhere, or is it everything really digital.

Speaker3: [00:25:01] Right now?

Nicole Thomas: [00:25:02] Everything’s really digital right now. I mean, I would suggest to somebody who might want to be somewhere to reach out to that employer directly. Um, that helps a lot. Um, or the hiring manager directly. That can help a lot. Or to even go into, like, these places and be like, hi, I’m Nicole, and here’s my resume and hand out a paper version. I don’t give my clients a paper version. I’m hoping that they can print it out themselves. And a lot of things are digital, but that can help a lot. I’ve heard that it can help to go into a place in person. I was.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:32] Thinking that too, because you’re not just a name, you’re actually putting a face and energy and name together.

Speaker3: [00:25:37] Right?

Sharon Cline: [00:25:37] But I always wondered, there’s such a fine line between being aggressive or I don’t know, I don’t know what the word is, but like, not not being too much, you know, when you’re doing. Because I always thought you’ve got to stand out a little bit, but not too much. So I love the idea of just being able to go and say, here’s my resume. I just want to say hello and name and face.

Nicole Thomas: [00:25:59] And that’s something, you know, I’ve had to learn over time because, like, I’m trying to get a job myself, okay? So be driven, not desperate.

Speaker3: [00:26:04] Oh, that’s the energy.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:05] That’s what I’m thinking. It’s not aggressive, but it’s desperate.

Speaker3: [00:26:08] Like hire me, right? Right.

Nicole Thomas: [00:26:09] And I’ve had to learn that over time. Okay? Like I’m confident in who I am now. I have these skills. Sometimes people take longer, uh, to respond and nothing against that. But just keeping that in mind of, okay, like, sometimes people just take longer to respond. And it’s important to keep that in mind and try not to freak out.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:27] What do you think your fearless formula is? Because, you know, fear stops a lot of people from doing a lot of things. So I’m wondering how you are so brave.

Nicole Thomas: [00:26:35] Thank you. I mean, I get anxiety, I mean, a lot of people do, but, um, I think I’m just really driven and I’m passionate about what I’m doing, and I’m so lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people that want me to succeed. And that helps a lot.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:48] Oh, so the right people around you?

Speaker3: [00:26:50] Yes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:26:50] And there are so many wonderful people, uh, who I’m friends with and in the community, and there’s just so many great people out there. And that always, like, is very heartwarming.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:59] Yeah, it gives you courage, right?

Speaker3: [00:27:01] Yes, definitely.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:01] People people are looking out for you, which is so sweet. Like you said on on Facebook, you know, someone hears that there’s something that you could provide for them.

Speaker3: [00:27:09] They’re like Nicole Thomas.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:10] They tag you.

Speaker3: [00:27:10] In it.

Nicole Thomas: [00:27:11] Yes, I love it.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:12] Well, you certainly are doing all the things that you know to do. And this is one other step. So I just I’m so honored that you actually, you know, came on the show and explained kind of what motivates you and maybe gives somebody a little bit of a, of an insight into what makes you, you and how valuable you can be to a company. I can’t imagine any company. They’d be so lucky to have you.

Speaker3: [00:27:32] Thank you. I really.

Nicole Thomas: [00:27:33] Appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:34] Where can people get in touch with you? If they’re interested in.

Speaker3: [00:27:36] That, people can.

Nicole Thomas: [00:27:37] Email me. Rock and roll and resumes at Outlook.com.

Speaker3: [00:27:40] Excellent. And Facebook. Facebook? Yes.

Nicole Thomas: [00:27:42] And Facebook to Facebook, too. I’ve had a client reach out to me on my, uh, rock and roll and resume Facebook. And then I’ve had people reach out to me on my personal Facebook. So both.

Speaker3: [00:27:52] Both both.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:52] Work. Oh that’s.

Speaker3: [00:27:53] Awesome.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:54] Well, I can’t thank you enough.

Speaker3: [00:27:55] This has been such.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:56] A pleasure for me, and you have to keep me updated on how things are going. And I would love to have you back. And we can even talk about how things have progressed as time’s gone on with your company.

Speaker3: [00:28:04] So thank you.

Nicole Thomas: [00:28:05] That’s really sweet. That’d be so much fun.

Speaker3: [00:28:07] Yay!

Sharon Cline: [00:28:07] All right, Nicole Thomas with rock and roll and resumes. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you with knowledge and understanding we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.

ACG: Connecting Middle Market Companies for Unprecedented Growth

April 11, 2024 by angishields

Sandy Springs Business Radio

ACG: Connecting Middle Market Companies for Unprecedented Growth

00:00 /

In this episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio, Rachel Simon and Gloria Kantor delve into the Association for Corporate Growth’s efforts to stimulate middle market growth. Gloria, VP of Operations for ACG in Atlanta and the Southeast, discusses how ACG connects companies with revenues of $15 million to $1 billion with essential advisory services and facilitates networking to drive business expansion. The episode covers ACG’s role in matchmaking for M&A consulting, the significance of social events for networking, and how ACG’s programming addresses executive challenges. Additionally, Gloria highlights the Georgia Fast 40 awards, which honor the state’s rapidly growing companies, and shares observations on office return trends and emerging industry growth.

Gloria Kantor is the Vice President of Operations for ACG Atlanta and the Southeast Region. She has been with ACG since October of 2015. Before her role at ACG, Gloria was with Prime Wine and Spirits, a middle-market wholesaler of wine and spirits in Georgia.

Gloria provided administrative and strategic leadership as well as the support of Prime’s operations. Previously she has worked in radio and event promotions. Ms. Kantor is involved with Second Helpings, Kate’s Club, the Alliance Theater Advisory Board, and Goucher College.

A native of Atlanta, she has a degree in Management and Communications from Goucher in Baltimore, Maryland.

Connect with Gloria on LinkedIn and follow ACG Atlanta on Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Sandy Springs, Georgia. It’s time for Sandy Springs Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:24] Lee Kantor here with Rachel Simon. This episode of Sandy Springs Business Radio is brought to you by Connect the Dots Digital. When you’re ready to leverage LinkedIn to meet your business goals, go to Connect the Dots dot digital. Rachel, great show today. How are how are things in your world?

Rachel Simon: [00:00:44] It’s eclipse day.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:45] Eclipse day. So you got big plans?

Rachel Simon: [00:00:48] I’m going to sit in my driveway and see what happens.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:51] Don’t look.

Rachel Simon: [00:00:52] Don’t look at it. Uh, now we have a great show today. Very excited to have our guest, Gloria Kantor, who is the VP of operations for Atlanta and the southeast region of the Association for Corporate Growth. Super cool, amazing organization doing incredible things here in the southeast. So Gloria, welcome.

Gloria Kantor: [00:01:12] Thank you guys for having me. Appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:15] So, uh, Gloria, tell us a little bit about ACG for folks who don’t know.

Gloria Kantor: [00:01:19] Yeah, ACG actually has a brief four word mission of driving middle market growth. We are locally about a 600 member organization, 15,000 members throughout a 59 chapter uh association headquartered in Chicago. Um, locally, you know, we we, our members, allow us to facilitate great networking and content events for them to help drive business growth.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:47] And then how do you define middle markets for folks, you know, just so they can get.

Gloria Kantor: [00:01:51] Exactly. Yeah. Locally we define middle market as $15 million in revenue. And that’s that’s gross revenue to a billion in revenue. Uh, National Center for Middle Market, uh, defines it as 10 million to 1 billion. Atlanta’s business community and the great venture work that is done here through through some other organizations, we play nice together and in our sandbox of of growth equity, but really focus more on the private equity versus series A and uh, venture funding.

Rachel Simon: [00:02:19] So what are the kinds of companies that you tend to work with that are members of the organization?

Gloria Kantor: [00:02:24] The membership base is is, you know, really split up amongst corporate members. We do the Georgia Fast 40 awards, which I’m sure we’ll talk about a little bit later. Um, which for us is really great. It gives us connectivity into those, really the growing industries here in Atlanta and and in Georgia, you do have to be headquartered in Georgia. Um, but the rest of our members are a make up of advisory services, roles of accounting, legal consulting, um, as well as our private equity friends and investment bankers, uh, as well, and all of those kind of consulting roles that touch a merger or acquisition.

Rachel Simon: [00:03:00] So you’re helping to facilitate relationships between the company and then those.

Gloria Kantor: [00:03:05] We are the matchmaker. Yeah. The matchmaker of the of the of the group. So we, we put about 25 events on a year, uh, locally and throughout the country based, you know, we typically are not industry specific. Um, we pretty much play in a generalist space. But ACG is a is a global organization. We’ll do some, um, more specific content events for specific markets.

Rachel Simon: [00:03:33] Yeah. I was spending a little time just looking at the kinds of events that you’re putting together, and it’s sort of a mix of, you know, educational but also fun. Like you’re going to the Braves game. Exactly.

Gloria Kantor: [00:03:44] We have a we have a Braves game, uh, tomorrow actually, hopefully. And then actually our newest kind of social event, we’re doing a putting social on Thursday. Um, hopefully the weather holds out for us, but for the first day of the masters, for folks that can’t go to Augusta. Um, and then, you know, kind of our next big content event is May 7th. We have we will be announcing our Georgia Fast 40 honorees that evening, but also have a really great fireside chat with Yum Arnold of Leapfrog Services, who also happens to be president of the board of the Federal Reserve, and Paula Takac. I’m hoping I pronounce her name right. Um, who’s the chief economist with the Federal Reserve Bank? Uh, for our members and guests as well.

Rachel Simon: [00:04:24] So where do you see? Because like that mix of social but also, um, like educational value content speak to the value of the social components of it. Like how does that help facilitate the mission?

Gloria Kantor: [00:04:36] The social component really is to, to drive. Our mission is that that relationship business, you know, we are all about relationships and you fostering and building your network, um, is an emerging leader if you’re new to the or just in general, new to the industry of, of mergers and acquisitions, um, you know, 75% of our members do business with one another throughout the, throughout their membership life. Um, so it’s it’s are you going to get a deal on the first day? Probably not. But you build those relationships going forward, uh, for for your business growth and, and your client growth.

Rachel Simon: [00:05:12] That’s that’s amazing statistic 7,575%.

Gloria Kantor: [00:05:15] Right? I mean, and it’s you know, we do keep our our dues are a little bit higher, but it’s it’s the right people I think that you want to meet in this city in the country that are, you know, in the mergers and acquisitions space. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: [00:05:27] As my business coach would say, they meet the red velvet rope policy.

Gloria Kantor: [00:05:31] Exactly.

Rachel Simon: [00:05:33] Um, yeah.

Gloria Kantor: [00:05:34] So using that one, that’s that’s a good one. That’s a good one. Yeah. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: [00:05:37] She’s always like, do your clients, does this person meet your red velvet rope policy because. Not everybody know.

Gloria Kantor: [00:05:42] That’s a really good. And those folks will, you know, will, you know anybody that wants to come check us out and see an event? We will. Absolutely. But if you are, if you’re the one that does not necessarily meet the Red velvet group, you know, they’ll weed themselves out pretty quickly. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: [00:05:56] So you’ve been with, um, ACG for almost a decade. What are some of the trends that you’ve seen over the last ten years?

Gloria Kantor: [00:06:06] You know, it’s it’s been now that I’ve been been with ACG and a decade seems like a really long time.

Rachel Simon: [00:06:13] Um.

Gloria Kantor: [00:06:13] Sorry to make you. Thanks. Um, I mean, it’s it’s to be, you know, it’s the best job I’ve ever had. Um, but what I love about it and the trends that I’ve seen, it’s interesting. From the networking space. Uh, we got to a really a point, and I don’t know if it was pre-COVID. Covid’s kind of that draw line for me. Um, we’re now just kind of getting out of. Folks are starting to realize the importance of building a network. We had emerging professionals and your young what you want to call young leaders, whatever you want to call them. The importance of building that got it kind of got away for a couple of years that they were just heads down doing work, not realizing that they were going to have business development goals or other things put on them. Um, I had a I had a lawyer say to me at one point, if I had known the law was going to be the easiest part of my job, I would have probably rethought what I’ve done with myself. Um, so I think that for me is the biggest trend is, is just building your network and realizing the value of of who you know and who you can meet in the city especially, you know, as transient as Atlanta can be. Um, on those pieces, that’s. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: [00:07:20] Yeah. I mean, you’re speaking my language right there with the whole building your network. And, you know, obviously from my vantage point with LinkedIn, like just it’s so hard to keep up with people and so making a concerted effort to track and kind of follow up with, oh, you know, I haven’t talked to so and so in a while I should reach out.

Gloria Kantor: [00:07:42] I should reach out. Yeah. And taking that time to, to go through and be like, who in my network, especially when it comes to, you know, award season or whatever, you know, who am I connected to, you know, from a CEO, CFO perspective that I can invite to these events, that I can do that, that puts them in the room with with their peers as well as, you know, some business connectivity with advisor partners that that they can meet.

Rachel Simon: [00:08:05] Yeah, I mean, there’s the value of your own network, but then you become a valuable commodity when you can bring people together and introduce them.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:16] Now, when you have a constituents that range from 15 million to 1 billion, how do you create programing that kind of brings them all together because they each have different kind of objectives, goals and needs from the organization.

Gloria Kantor: [00:08:30] Absolutely. We you know, from a social networking perspective, sheer social is sheer social that kind of touches everybody. Um, when it comes to content, a lot of the challenges that we hear from our CEOs and CFOs and C-suites that we talked to are relatively similar talent, huge issue. Can’t find the right people. Not sure where we’re going to find them. There aren’t enough of, you know, just all of those pieces. Um, and then we can kind of tailor, you know, for, for the folks that are already equity backed, we do some roundtables for, um, corporate, uh, you know, corporates that are private equity backed because they have a whole different set of challenges and reporting and all sorts of pieces there. Um, we don’t growth. To us, growth is growth, whether it’s organic or acquisitive. We also do roundtables for corporate development professionals. So strategic acquirers that are buying throughout the life cycle. Um, so we really, you know, we look at we survey our folks every, every couple of months and say, what are your biggest challenges and build around that now?

Lee Kantor: [00:09:36] How do you work with the other kind of acgs around the country, or do you work together in terms of, hey, it seems like there’s a cluster here in Georgia that are in fintech or whatever. You know, we have kind of superpowers here in Georgia. Absolutely, absolutely. And do you help kind of make those kind of connections?

Gloria Kantor: [00:09:52] So we do we we also both between industries. So you know, obviously fintech is big. Um, all of the and that’s a much broader, much broader piece than, you know, what do you define as fintech. Um, and so many different places, the health care, you know, the health care tech space is huge here. Um, we’ve seen a lot of manufacturing coming back as well and choosing Georgia to, as a place to do business. But we do connect with our other ACG chapters and really, you know, look at how can we do programing together. There is a from a ACG perspective, there’s an ag tech. So agricultural, you know, technologies that’s hosted in Raleigh every year. Um, because they have a big ag tech space. There’s a defense and aerospace contracting event in DC that we spend some folks to as well, um, kind of with a cyber unit out in Augusta and some other pieces. Right.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:46] We’re like, if you’re Atlanta centric, you may not remember that Georgia has a extensive agricultural component to the.

Gloria Kantor: [00:10:52] Georgia is a much bigger state than Atlanta that people don’t realize, uh, for many reasons. But, uh, yeah. So that’s where we look at it while we are ACG Atlanta. Um, we do look at it from a state perspective as we are the only chapter, um, here, here in the state. Now, are you.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:09] Doing, uh, kind of. Or research and connecting collecting data regarding kind of what’s happening here, or is that just happen organically?

Gloria Kantor: [00:11:19] Yeah. We, um, ACG acquired a company out of, I want to say Pennsylvania or Connecticut called GF data. So they are actually a blind service. So you submit your deal based on NAICs code. So it’s completely aggregated. Um, which we can pull. We pull a bunch of data from them and they share that with us. Now granted it’s not drilled down and. Because it’s completely anonymous. They don’t drill down to where the deal takes place. We’re working on trying to figure out if there’s a way to kind of get around that, to make some regional, you know, look at things from a regional or local perspective. Um, by NAICs code versus versus specific deal.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:02] Is that something the members are kind of asking.

Gloria Kantor: [00:12:04] Members do have access to that as well as, you know, from our our investment banking partners and private equity folks and companies, we it’s a really great way to submit data with it being anonymous, unlike some of the other you know, there are some regulatory issues around PitchBook and some other sources. Um, from the private equity fund where this is not considered marketing because it’s it’s completely anonymous. Mhm.

Rachel Simon: [00:12:30] Interesting. So we talked about sort of like reflecting on trends in the last ten years. But where do you see, what do you see coming down the pike.

Gloria Kantor: [00:12:39] Depends on what happens in November. Um, I mean I think as I’m sure most of your guests probably are like, oh, well, we’re just kind of in a holding pattern. Um, we are seeing, at least from what I’m hearing from our members and folks, uh, ideal activity is picking up. I think that a lot of folks will try. And there’s still a ton of dry powder and money out there to deploy. Um, folks are holding on to it a little bit, a little bit tighter than they have in the past. But, um, it’s been interesting to see how how those how that’s going. I think it’ll be. I think also again, going with with what is the fed going to do with interest rates? It does make a bank dollar a little bit more expensive than, than other dollars. So we’re seeing a lot more alternative and alternative investments in different strategies. That’s been fun to watch. The creativity of deals and how people are getting deals done. Um, in that that vein.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:36] Now, what are you seeing from the return to office standpoint?

Gloria Kantor: [00:13:40] It’s a mixed bag. It really I mean, you know, for us, we’re we’re fully remote. Um, and we will continue to be fully remote. Uh, we have a, we have a mailbox in a storage unit, uh, because it makes it nice. And we have great members and, you know, firms that allow us to use office space. So for us, the dollar doesn’t quite make sense to spend there. Uh, it’s a mixed bag from the return to office. I think most people are probably going to be. You know, most days in the office, um, you know, with Georgia being one of the first states to open, we had a lot of folks that went back immediately that weren’t really, you know, it’s a small enough office, and there are enough doors and safety mechanisms that they were like, you know what? We’re going to go work from the office anyway. Um, on those pieces. So now.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:26] What about the commercial real estate component to the I would imagine your sponsors and, and other folks that are part of the ecosystem we.

Gloria Kantor: [00:14:33] Have we have a little bit. Um, our, our commercial real estate folks, we do work with a few different firms. Um. But they’re, you know, they’re kind of hearing the same, you know, they’re hearing the same thing, but it is picking up, you know, for them it’s picking up as well. Um, as far as space being, you know, people looking for more space. Yeah. And the return office. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: [00:14:56] Uh, tell us about past 40. Yeah. Um, and, you know, what is it for our listeners who may not be familiar, and it’s coming up soon. It is coming.

Gloria Kantor: [00:15:05] Up in June. We just finished our our application process closed at the end of March. We honor the 40 fastest growing middle market companies in the state of Georgia. So it’s based on you have to be headquartered in the state. You can be private equity backed, but your and your equity firm doesn’t have to be here. But your your headquarters has to be here in Georgia. Uh, you have to have between 15 million and 1 billion in revenue and the most current year. So for that would have been fiscal year 23. Um, and then we just need six data points. So we, we need three years of revenue growth and three years of headcount growth. And we do a little bit of math. And it’s all math based. There’s there’s no application fee. There’s no pay to play. Um, all of the things are there. And we we run the math and it’s we get, you know, 20 companies in the lower category, 20 companies in the upper category. And then we added the last couple of years, um, a category of 500 million to 1 billion, uh, that that is a growing category for us, but that also falls under those same categories. Um, and that so the 15 to 500 million, we get 40 companies and then the 500 and above, we get usually about 6 to 8. Um, and it’s a lot of them are alumni that have kind of grown out of the process and are still in the middle market, but. Yeah. So we it’s we get 100, 120 applications. We, we narrow it down via math and we actually do go out and interview them. Those interviews will start this week and next week, um, just to verify the revenue and headcount growth. So they give us we don’t publish any of the numbers. So it’s just a really great recognition of growth here and here in the state. Uh, last year, I think the companies have not run the numbers this year. Um, last year our 40 companies, you know, contributed two point over $2 billion in revenue to the state of Georgia.

Rachel Simon: [00:16:56] That’s amazing. Yeah, I love that. It’s completely math based as opposed to like, there’s no, uh, there’s nothing subjective.

Gloria Kantor: [00:17:03] There’s nothing subjective about, you know, and we’ve had people call us in the, you know, so we’ve been doing this six this will be our 16th awards technically 17 years. We did we did take 2020 off. Um, it wasn’t appropriate to celebrate 2019 growth in, you know, in June and try and talk to a CEO in April of 2020 to figure out, oh, you did really well last year. What? You know, what can we. How’s it going? How’s it going? Right. Like, let me not take 45 minutes of your time to, to do that. Um, but, you know, it’s been a couple of things. One, it’s been great. All of the companies that we have are definitely great companies that are headquartered here and have really great news. Um, and then the other piece is also watching the, again, going back to industries. And I should have brought that list with me and I totally forgot, um, just how cyclical the growth trajectory of, of specific industries are. You know, we’re always going to get the tech companies. We’re always going to get, you know, a little bit of manufacturing. But it’s really fun to watch. You know, obviously post post Covid, we had a really we had a bunch of really great construction companies because people were doing, you know, home renovations and all of the things. It was just really on trend with what was going on nationally. Now.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:20] Looking back through those 16 years, is there, um, kind of leading indicators like are you noticing like how we have a cluster here? So that might be a trend coming moving forward.

Gloria Kantor: [00:18:32] We I mean, yes and no. I mean, I think that that you always you always get the firms that are, that are going to apply no matter what. Right. Um, and again, it is kind of word of mouth. We don’t necessarily advertise it, but we have enough of a of inroads and that we can, you know, go out into, you know, chambers and other sort of things and say, hey, who are your members that that should be involved in this? Um, there are probably a few. I’m not sure that we’ve ever actually looked forward looking at the trending indicators. Definitely more back than than forward.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:01] But I would I would wonder, you know, those smaller ones are those really or those emerging, uh, industries?

Gloria Kantor: [00:19:08] Probably, yes. I mean, I think that, you know, you have, you know, you know, if there’s.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:12] One that may not be, but if there’s three, all of a sudden you’re like, wow, this is right. There’s more. You know, where these come.

Gloria Kantor: [00:19:18] From also is is and it’s something to look at. And we haven’t in a greater ACG world is should we take those industries and look at it from a, from an ACG perspective, as a growth perspective? Um, just because we’re focused here does not mean that it’s not necessarily growing in the, the industry or in the region.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:36] Now, do you have, uh, any learnings from what makes an, uh, you know, uh, growing company or there are certain things that you’ve kind of gleaned like, oh, you know what? These all have this in common or like, were there some foundational elements or is it just kind of the usual suspects? You know, I need talent, I need a culture, good leadership.

Gloria Kantor: [00:19:55] Um, obviously looking at looking at your c-suites and your leadership, you know, we’ve had folks that have made the list that grew a business in a basement and just, you know, the I’m going to call it the HP in the garage, you know, the HP in the garage. And we’re going to go interview this person, um, two serial entrepreneurs that have that have come in. And this is not necessarily the first time that they’ve made the list. Um, I do think that leadership probably and leadership at the top is, is probably the best indicator of if you’re going to continue to grow, um, and building that team around you from a talent perspective and bringing your folks along for the ride. Um, on those pieces.

Rachel Simon: [00:20:35] Yeah. I mean, you can’t underestimate the. Crucial importance of of leadership. It can make or break.

Gloria Kantor: [00:20:42] Absolutely, absolutely. And it’s and it’s also seeing you know, we had there was a company here that a medical company you know a one of the like doc in a box type places that obviously during Covid was they were the first ones to figure out how do we do these mass testing facilities. And so therefore we’re going to, you know, have significant growth. Now the past couple of years, they’ve kind of pivoted and figured out what they’re going to do. But it’s, you know, still in a really great, great position. Um, to be in there just not necessarily growing. They’re just still, you know, but they’re still a great middle market company here in town.

Rachel Simon: [00:21:15] Yeah. I mean, you have to. Right. That’s an example of like taking advantage of you take advantage.

Gloria Kantor: [00:21:20] Of circumstances and and for better or for worse, you know, looking at looking at the landscape you have, you know, that just broke I guess this week that prize picks which is another fast 40 alumni, um, is just taking on again another I think three. They’re building a 33,000 square foot space in the Star Metals building, um, and bringing on another thousand employees because of the growth of of that the esports game and, and, you know, game betting and all of that.

Rachel Simon: [00:21:47] And so prize picks is a UGA alum.

Gloria Kantor: [00:21:49] It is a UGA alum company as well. It is a UGA alum company but.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:54] And Tech Village right.

Gloria Kantor: [00:21:56] They started in Tech Village I think they I think they started in Tech Village. Do not quote me on that. I don’t need them coming coming after me. But, um, they’re they’re a fast 40 alum as well. But I read read about that last week.

Rachel Simon: [00:22:07] So yeah very cool. It must be like feel great to see some of these companies that have it’s been given this, you know, honor and continue to they.

Gloria Kantor: [00:22:16] Continue to grow. And then it’s also you know, there are some folks, you know, that that are no longer eligible because they get acquired by somebody else and they’re no longer technically their company headquarters is here, but they’re no longer really headquartered here. Um, you know, the favorite phone call that I ever got was. I think some, you know, a CEO called me and said, well, why didn’t we make the list this year? I was like, well, you’re the 43rd fastest growing company. I don’t know what to, you know, it’s all math based. I don’t know what to tell you. I. Congratulations on your success. But, um, which is fun, but it’s fun to watch, you know, the alumni and where they go and what they do and or all of them. Great stories. No. You know, there are a couple that have, you know, folded or, you know, things have happened, but, um, yeah, it’s the majority of them are good.

Rachel Simon: [00:23:01] Someone’s got to be that 41st.

Gloria Kantor: [00:23:02] Exactly, exactly. And, you know, I could get a lot more CEOs in the room if I dealt with slow growing companies versus versus fast growing companies. Um.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:12] Now, you said that right now is the time when you’re looking for those people to apply.

Gloria Kantor: [00:23:17] We just finished our application process. Too late now. It is too late to apply for this year. Um, but we do open that process again in the fall for the for the fast 40, um, which is our second largest event behind M&A South, which is our big conference in February where we’ll have, you know, 200 private equity firms in town. Atlanta is a really nice place to be in February when you live in New York or New York or Boston or Chicago, um, the folks that have moved to Miami are not as much. But, um, so that’s our that, you know, fast forward is and to me, it’s the most mission driven event that we do. Sure, we do celebrate those companies in June and then we will make the announcement May 7th. We typically do that via email this year. We’ll do it in person at our Spring Summit event. So that’s also a time to come and meet those folks. If you are a company, you know again, a company, please feel free to check us out and find find us and get involved before the application process.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:16] What’s the.

Gloria Kantor: [00:24:17] Website? It’s acg.org. Org forward slash Atlanta I.

Rachel Simon: [00:24:23] Have a funny story quickly about M&A South. So one of my clients attended and it was his first time going and he didn’t really know what to expect. And so he booked himself. And it’s like it runs like 20 minute meetings. He had like 20 I mean he was like he he completely overbooked himself. And the next week we had met and he’s like, I needed like two, three days to recover from that because it was like he had like 50 meetings in a day and a half. It was.

Gloria Kantor: [00:24:53] Bananas. We’ll have some equity for, you know, some equity firms and investment banking firms that between their team will have 200 meetings over. It’s like a day and a half Monday. Yeah. It’s Monday afternoon to Tuesday. Maybe some on Wednesday Wednesdays kind of light. But um, it is. Yeah. And then we do offer some content. What we did this year, um, instead of doing full hour long panels. Now, we did do a couple of hour long panels as well, but we added some micro learning sessions just in 20 minutes so that somebody could block out 20 or 40 minutes and be like, I don’t want to talk about myself. Let me go learn about AI or some other things affecting our industry. Um, some health care, you know, health care costs, things that things that folks need to know, which was really fun to watch that this year as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:39] Do you offer some coaching for those firms to get the most out of that experience?

Gloria Kantor: [00:25:44] We do not, but we probably should. So we do a couple of preview. We do a preview event. So we did a preview event in January this year. Um, there was a deal story with Scott Devaney of Chicken Salad Chick and their acquisition of Piece of Cake, because it was a really good Atlanta home grown story. Um, and so we did that as a kind of opening networking. Come meet some folks that you’ll see again. Um, but we probably should do, you know, we always kind of communicate here’s how to best get, you know, get the most, get the most out of it, you know, one register early. That’s that’s how you that’s how you get the most out of it is registering early so that you’re in there before, you know, when the, you know, the, um, application opens to schedule meetings. Um, how many.

Rachel Simon: [00:26:29] People attend that.

Gloria Kantor: [00:26:30] This year? We had over 1200. Wow. Yes, we had 12. Which which in the past we’ve we’ve said we’ve had 1200, but we you know, we were really pushing about 1300 this year, um, and trying to figure out at Avalon who was, who’s a great partner of ours, um, how we don’t outgrow the space. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:26:50] I mean, that’s a testament to the market here, right?

Gloria Kantor: [00:26:53] It’s absolutely a it’s a big number. It is a big number. And it’s also the, you know, from from the ACG perspective, it’s the first kind of major conference out of the calendar year. So folks will come in to fill their funnel to hear what’s going on. What are trends. What are, you know, what are people seeing for the year coming down the pike?

Lee Kantor: [00:27:11] Um, and this is human beings. So this isn’t a hypothetical. Like, this isn’t like you’re seeing 1200 human beings here.

Gloria Kantor: [00:27:18] 1200, right? There are 1200 human beings there. Um, and the great part about Avalon is that folks can walk to lunch and have a meeting. Or do you know, there’s some just really great, great space out there to be able to to facilitate.

Rachel Simon: [00:27:31] Up. Yeah. And it’s always the very beginning. It’s the first.

Gloria Kantor: [00:27:34] It’s the first week of February. So we’re I guess it’s the third through fifth next year. We used to be the week after the Super Bowl. Now we’re the week before the Super Bowl.

Rachel Simon: [00:27:42] Um, but it’s great timing wise with the calendar because it’s like you’ve sort of gotten through the first month of the quarter. And now.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:49] Exactly. It’s game.

Gloria Kantor: [00:27:50] On. Now it’s game on, right? It’s game on. It’s so funny. The number of people that come back, you know, we open registration in the middle of August, September somewhere in there January 1st, people were like, oh I need to register. It’s like too late. You can, but I don’t have any tables. You know, this year, you know, this year we sold out of all of our exhibitor tables the middle of December, um, which has never happened. Um, I mean, at least in the ten years I’ve been here, uh, our hotel rooms were sold, like, everything, which was great. Um, so we’ll see. We’ll see how that what that trend continues at. And we’re looking to add more tables. Um, we added some more tables and sold those out. So it’s, it’s, you know, all in the good problems to have category. Yeah. It’s all right. It’s all of the good problems to have category for that.

Lee Kantor: [00:28:33] And that’s why Georgia is one of these growing states. I mean this is I mean it’s it’s like you just don’t see an end to it. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s it’s.

Gloria Kantor: [00:28:43] Right. I mean, you look at it, it’s, you know, you look at it and it’s continuing to grow. There’s are there a ton of folks that from a private equity perspective, are there a ton of folks seated here and people not not a ton, but there’s a ton of investment and folks that are coming in and, and, and investing in the South and in Georgia and specific and the southeast, that is just it’s fun to watch and I. Not making any prognostications, but like, I don’t see it ending anytime soon.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:10] It’s just Georgia. So the economy is so diverse. And I mean that just when one thing’s down, there’s something else up. And invariably it just people don’t realize how diverse the economy is in Georgia. Absolutely.

Gloria Kantor: [00:29:21] Which is what, you know. Yeah.

Rachel Simon: [00:29:24] It’s awesome. Great. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:25] So, uh, one more time, the website, if people want to connect it is yeah.

Gloria Kantor: [00:29:30] Dot acg.org/atlanta and we’re on LinkedIn and all the social medias.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:37] So speaking of LinkedIn.

Rachel Simon: [00:29:39] What a great transition.

Gloria Kantor: [00:29:40] I’m so good at this. That was great. You thought I’d done this before.

Rachel Simon: [00:29:45] Um, yeah. So I, I actually put up a post, um, this week with this great tactical tip that I got from, um, somebody else. So there’s a gentleman named David Fisher. He actually runs social selling program for SAS. They have an internal social selling, uh, team, which is awesome to see. I love seeing companies investing in, um, like a real social selling program. But his tip that he shared, which I reposted, is that he takes a stack of ten pennies and puts those on his desk, and that is for every com. Like every time he drops a comment, he moves one of those pennies over. So it’s like a good way of a visual cue of activity on LinkedIn. So you could do that again for comments like, okay, I want to drop, I want to write, uh, share five comments on posts. Or you could do it for DMs outreach. But I love the visual cue of having something because and I do this for myself, I’m like, I really need to comment more. And then you get busy and you don’t do it. So when you see something and it could be paperclips or whatever, it shows you, did I actually do it? So that was that a week?

Gloria Kantor: [00:30:52] Is that weekly or is that.

Rachel Simon: [00:30:54] Well, he does it every single day a day.

Gloria Kantor: [00:30:56] Wow.

Rachel Simon: [00:30:56] So I’m not saying you need to do ten comments a day, but maybe you can do three comments a day or three DMs a day or something. You know, start small and build up. But having that visual cue I think is a awesome tip. I loved it.

Lee Kantor: [00:31:09] And then from a standpoint of activity on LinkedIn, is commenting better than like liking or like how would you kind of rank order? What is the activity?

Rachel Simon: [00:31:17] Commenting is always better because you can share your perspective on things. So no, not a thanks or good post or cool, but actually engage with what the person is talking about in a meaningful way because it’s a win win. It helps the the author’s content obviously get more seen in the newsfeed, but it also helps you because sometimes you’ll see in your news feed, you know, Gloria commented on blah blah blah post. So you get you show up in the news feed, but it also helps build that rapport with the person posting content.

Gloria Kantor: [00:31:50] So it also true that you you should use more than three words. Yeah, I mean I is what I hear like from a perspective of.

Rachel Simon: [00:31:57] Yeah, I mean the better you know, the more in depth you can go the better. Um, I like to ask a question or but comments comment first and then you can react. It’s a better order of operations.

Lee Kantor: [00:32:11] Good stuff. Well, Gloria, thank you so much for sharing your story today.

Gloria Kantor: [00:32:14] Thank you guys for having us.

Lee Kantor: [00:32:16] Yeah, you’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Gloria Kantor: [00:32:19] Thank you for having me again.

Lee Kantor: [00:32:20] All right. This is Lee Kantor for Rachel Simon. We’ll see you all next time on Sandy Springs Business Radio.

About Your Host

Rachel Simon is the CEO & Founder of Connect the Dots Digital. She helps companies ensure that LinkedIn is working for them as an asset, not a liability.

Rachel works with teams and individuals to position their brand narrative on LinkedIn so they can connect organically with ideal clients, attract the best talent, and stand out as a leader in their industry.

Rachel co-hosted LinkedIn Local Atlanta this week along with Phil Davis & Adam Marx – a networking event focused on bringing your online connections into the real world.

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

BRX Pro Tip: Customers Want Follow Up

April 11, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tip: Highlights from the 2023 Edison Research Podcast Stats

April 10, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Highlights from the 2023 Edison Research Podcast Stats

00:00 /

BRX Pro Tip: Highlights from the 2023 Edison Research Podcast Stats

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, let’s take a moment and look at some industry benchmarks, like podcast stats, over the last year or so.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Yeah. Every year, Edison Research kind of surveys podcast listeners or people who listen to audio, really. And they’ve been doing this for 25 years, I think, now. And it’s released usually at the end of the first quarter of every year. And anybody can get access to this report if you go to Edison Research and look up U.S. podcast stats. They have tons of stuff there.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:40] But some of the highlights from last year are 260 million people own a smartphone; 35 percent of people 35 to 54 use LinkedIn versus 73 percent who use Facebook; 120 million people listened to a podcast last month, 85 percent of those people were 35 to 53; 39 percent listened last week, and typical weekly podcast listeners listen to nine podcasts a week. So, they’re not listening to just one or two podcasts. They really enjoy this medium and they’re listening to nine podcasts a week.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:21] So, what have we learned? Lots of people listen to podcasts nowadays. Lots and lots of people listen to podcasts. And if you need help getting them to listen to yours, go to businessradiox.com, we can help you.

WBE Feature – Women‘s Month & Stress Awareness: Workplace Wellbeing

April 9, 2024 by angishields

Women in Motion

WBE Feature - Women‘s Month & Stress Awareness: Workplace Wellbeing

00:00 /

In this episode of the Women in Motion, Lindsay Johnson, Founder of FitPros, discusses her company’s mission to enhance workplace wellbeing through a variety of services like fitness classes, speaker sessions, and team-building activities. She emphasizes the importance of live engagement, especially in remote work settings, and the use of breathwork for stress management. Lindsay also shares success stories from FitPros’ impact on individuals.

Lindsay Johnson is the Founder & CEO at FitPros.

After more than a decade of working in corporate America, Lindsay witnessed firsthand how well-being was deprioritized and often ignored entirely, leading to unhealthy and unmotivated employees.

She set out to change things in 2016 by founding FitPros, a corporate wellness company whose mission is to motivate employees through physical movement and mindful education.

FitPros services spans the globe, virtually, at worksites and through their mobile app platform.

Connect with Lindsay.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show we have Lindsay Johnson with FitPros. Welcome, Lindsay.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:00:45] Well, thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] I am so excited to get caught up with you. Uh, for the folks who aren’t familiar, tell us a little bit about FitPros. How you serving folks?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:00:55] Absolutely. So FitPros is a workplace well-being service provider, and we help corporations offer on site and virtual well-being services that help them connect with the culture and with their personal health.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:07] So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:01:11] Yeah. So, uh, I’ll try to give you the quick version. Um, but the fun version. So, uh, backstory is that I worked in corporate marketing for over a decade, and I, like many people, I was burnt out, I was overweight, I was unhealthy, I was drinking way too much, and I finally hit a wall. Let’s see, it was like 2011. And I said, I just can’t do this anymore. And so I started this, this journey. And then let’s skip ahead to 2013. I decided that I was going to stop drinking alcohol, and I decided to go on a retreat, a yoga retreat. Mind you, I’d never done yoga before. I was not, I had no idea what a downward facing dog was. I went on this yoga retreat and I woke up out of a meditation and I said, I think something has to change. Something has to change. And so, um, and I was only 90 days sober at that time. And so I decided to become a yoga teacher. And so I actually followed a teacher to India, and I got my yoga teacher training certification. And this was probably only a few months after the first retreat. And then in addition to yoga, I decided I was going to become a personal trainer and a health coach. And so and you can tell from my personality when I decide I’m going to do something, I just really jump right in, try to speed up and skip ahead.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:02:29] I did that for about two years. I was personal training women primarily and helping them attain their personal fitness goals. I was also, um, working on myself, doing a lot of inner work, and I also started competing in fitness competitions, and so I got down to 10% body fat. I was still, you know, sober at this point. So a couple years in, skip ahead to, uh, June of 2015, my youngest brother died in a car accident. And so when that happened, I hit another just, uh, rock bottom and decided that I needed to get away. I needed to get away from it all and just recenter my thoughts. And so so I went to Asia, I started backpacking and had some just really miraculous experiences. And I started writing a business plan. Uh, you know, I just, I connected my background of corporate marketing and sitting in that stale cubicle with a mean boss, and, um, and then I connected it with my new found passion for health and wellbeing and helping other people. And, um, when I got back to the States, I reached out to a friend and I said, hey, I have this idea. What do you think? And she’s a brilliant graphic designer and said, let’s build a brand. And so Fitpro was born officially in January of 2016.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:51] And then, um, when you started to, you know, try to get clients and explain the, the value proposition. What was that like? Because now this is it’s a different animal, like training an individual to be a client of yours, as opposed to explaining to a corporation the benefits of a workplace wellness program.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:04:12] Yeah. Great. Great question. Um, you know, I was when I was teaching yoga, I skipped over this part, but I was I was also teaching at Corporation, so I was living in the San Francisco Bay area at the time. And, um, I had the opportunity to teach yoga at a handful of tech companies. And so these were employers that already, for themselves, saw the difference of their employees when they went back to their desk. And I personally, as a teacher, was able to witness that myself. Um, and so I think employers, um, many employers know, especially today in this post-Covid remote world, which we can get more into, um, know that their employees are dealing with with things and they’re going to bring it to work no matter what. And so how can the employer help set the employee up for success? Because that’s truly going to help their bottom line when the employee is at their most productive. And so I truly believe at least the companies we work with at Fit pros see the positive ROI on investing in their investing in their employees.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:15] So is that, um, who your ideal client is? Is that kind of startup or that kind of tech tech type company that can has the vision for this type? Of culture they’re trying to have in their workplace.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:05:31] No. Well, no. Um, in the beginning of fitpro. So 2016, 2017, because it was started in the Bay area, that was tech was a lot of our clients. Um, and but today, I mean, we are a global company and so we are helping corporations, um, large and small. We have, you know, we have some clients, um, as small as 50 employees, up to, uh, 20,000 employees is probably about. Oh, no, we have a very, very large, uh, popular company I cannot name, um, who has probably nearly 100,000 employees. And so that’s the outlier. Our very sweet spot is probably 200 to 5000 employees.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:10] And then what’s the service you provide for them? Yeah.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:06:14] So, um, we provide virtual and on site services, everything from physical fitness classes. So yoga, boot camp, boxing, um, we also specialize in speaker sessions. So we call them health talks. And that is across the spectrum from financial well-being to mental health to physical development, um, to diversity, equity, inclusion and chiropractic care, you name it. We have hundreds of of professionals around the globe that speak on topics. And then a third category is a team building sessions. So that could be anything from cooking classes, trivia. We do magic shows for the family. Um, and I’ll throw in a nugget there because your family is so important. And so we know that a lot of employers also want to support their parenting groups. And so, you know, we we really like to offer the spectrum of, of sessions. Um, and this is, you know, the statement I usually say is all of us, all of us on listening in today are going through something, but we’re not all going through the same thing. So the best thing an employer can do is offer a variety of of well-being sessions and activities that engage their employees. In. The number one differentiator with Fit Pros is that we focus in live, live engagement because, um, you also get the on demand recordings with what we do, but we really focus in live because in today’s world, we’re we’re very disconnected from when when we were primarily in the office, we were able to pass the hallway and talk, talk about those conversations that help us belong and feel like a community. And now people are feeling so disconnected. So, um, we really are intentional about the live engagement within our programing.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:03] Now, it sounds like, uh, your menu of offerings to any given company is pretty holistic, like, it’s a wide range. It’s not you’re not you’re not defining fitness and wellness very narrowly. You’re taking kind of this, uh, wide net kind of point of view when it comes to this. Um, was that by the demands of your customers just telling you that or is that something how you believe that wellness really is all encompassing?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:08:30] Uh, I mean, it is a belief of mine that that it is all encompassing. Um, but I would say it was it was certainly hand in hand. Um, when Fitpro started, um, prior to Covid, we were primarily an on site company. And so we would bring professionals into corporations and perform the service. Um, as time went on, we in Covid, we had to get we had to perfect virtual. So we had to perfect the virtual services. Um, and. So that so today, um, you know, we we also rolled out another, uh, program, uh, last year called Fit Pros Live. Um, and just as of January of this year, we launched our app. And so, um, you know, even back when we started, one of our core values is making well-being accessible. That has not changed. And today, with the app that allows us to be in the hands of people wherever they are and our platform, our Fit Pros Live platform offers 400 or more live sessions throughout the year that employees can tune into and engage with the the speaker. They can engage in chat with the audience. Um. And did that answer your question.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:46] Yeah. And so there’s also it’s the live element is super important because it’s obviously bringing a lot of people together at one time. For one thing it’s a shared experience. But like if I miss that, is there still a library of, um, classes or workouts or, you know, different things that I can kind of get access to, you know, without a schedule, like just, you know, when it’s convenient for me 100%.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:10:13] Yeah, absolutely. Um, yep. We we include all of the recordings from all of the sessions. So things definitely come up and people miss the session so they can check it out at a later time. Yep. That’s that’s absolutely included with the platform.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:25] Now for the listener. Um, stress is so, uh, on a lot of people’s minds. Uh, way too often I think, uh, you know, for everybody’s own well-being. But any advice or tips you can give somebody listening now, when it comes to stress management, is there anything like somebody listening could take action right now and kind of lower their stress or manage their stress better?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:10:51] Breath. Oh my goodness breath. We I remember during yoga teacher training the the teacher said, um, breath is the first thing you come into this world with and it’s the last thing you leave with its breath is always with you. And so if anyone this is obviously a no cost thing that we can all do, I like to plant my two feet on the ground and put my hands on my belly and take the biggest belly breath that I possibly can. I expand my tummy. I expand my lungs, inhaling. I bet you guys are doing it right now, aren’t you?

Lee Kantor: [00:11:24] I am, I’m a big believer in in deep breathing.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:11:29] Oh, amazing. Do you, do you do some yoga yourself?

Lee Kantor: [00:11:32] I have dabbled I haven’t been able to be as consistent as I’d like, but I go through periods where I do it and then I stop doing it.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:11:41] Yeah. And that’s so natural. We all do. I was just talking to my mother in law about this yesterday. Um, because she was getting hard on herself about meditating. And I said, you know, one thing that a teacher told me was that meditating is what we make of it. A lot of people think they’re doing it wrong because they can’t concentrate. And wrong is only in our mind because the thoughts will constantly come in our mind. Um, so that’s okay. But what I like to do and what I suggest for people when those thoughts come in, so let’s just say, you know, we’ll take it back. We’re taking that big belly breath and we take a couple of moments to inhale and exhale. And that thought comes in and you’re like, oh, I don’t want this thought here. I like to think of it as elf on the shelf. And so I visualize this little thought and I put it up on the shelf. And that helps bring me back. And I just again put my hands on my belly, inhale and exhale. And it just really helps ground me and recenter.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:42] Yeah. And it’s not something you have to do for like an hour. Like just a couple of breaths kind of can recenter you.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:12:48] It’s so true. Oh my goodness.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:51] Yeah. It’s one of those things, um, when you learn that and you really apply that, it it does make a difference and it is noticeable difference. And I just think it’s, it’s so counterintuitive that your breath, which everybody’s breathing at all times, is the thing that can really, um, kind of get you out of a stressful situation. You can recenter.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:13:15] It’s so true. It’s so true. It’s when I, um, when I am preparing to go speak on stage at a conference or whatnot, I get so anxious even before talking to you today. Lee, I am so anxious. I, um, to manage my stress. I in my hand right now. You probably can’t see it, but I have this little rock, um, that says strength on it. And so I find that as a little tool. And so that might be another thing for people. Um, I’ve seen, I’ve seen people put, like a rubber band on their wrist and just kind of tap it gently when they’re feeling stressed. Um, do you have anything like that, Lee.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:48] I have, I have a little stone that says create. That’s my kind of mantra of life. Um, I would want to be a creator. Um, so that’s what I use to kind of center myself. And I have that around, around me. And then I try to be mindful and be in the moment, like doing this job. As long as I’ve done this job, it forces me to be in the moment. I’m wearing headset, I’m talking a microphone, I’m talking to a person kind of intimately, and I want to stay locked in and I want to be able to react to what’s happening. So I think it’s I mean, I’ve been doing this for so long, it kind of helps me stay kind of in the moment in real life as well.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:14:31] Yeah. Yeah yeah, yeah. Especially. Yeah. In a role like yours. Yeah. You can’t, you can’t just start thinking about something else or typing something else. And I think a lot of a lot. And just to kind of tie it back, you know, a I don’t know that. Statistic off the top of my head, but a majority of people are still working remote or hybrid, and it’s so easy. In zoom meetings I do this too. We get distracted and we’re trying to do so many things at once. A role like yours, that’s not that. That is impossible. Um, but I think that, um, you know, tying it back to, to Fitpro sessions and a reason we are focused on live is because that does help people stay intentional about the accountability piece. Um, you know, when something’s live and your colleagues are expecting you to show up to this session, um, let’s just because with our with our app platform, it includes challenges. And so one of the unique things that we have is it’s called check in challenges. And so, um, let’s just say a company wants to do a challenge for one quarter and per month. There’s approximately 30 to 40 sessions that fit pros offers, so employees can check in for however many they attend. Well, you know that that accountability of of oh, either a my colleagues are going to show up or B, I want to beat my colleagues like I want, I want to I want to win in this competition. Um, it helps kind of piece together the again the accountability piece, the showing up, the being present and um and help it helps build that company culture and help someone with their own well-being at the same time.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:09] Now, um, is there a story you can share? Obviously don’t name the person or the company, but they came to you and they were at, you know, a place. And then after working with you and your team for a period of time, they got to a new level. Um, can you share that kind of before and after, uh, with either an individual or a company you work with where you really made a difference?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:16:32] Yeah, I got a couple really good nuggets. I think the most recent, um, that made me cry because I’m. I am a new mother. I have a six month old, and, um, a gentleman came to a meditation, and mind you, um, it’s I’m so thrilled today in today’s age that we are seeing more men. But eight years ago, when I started Fitpro, a lot of men weren’t showing up very much. But today they are. And that that really fills my heart. Um, so this was a new father. He showed he, um, was in a meditation. Um, at the end of every session, our pro drops a link in the chat and encourages people to tell tell us about their experience. And so this gentleman filled out the feedback form, and he shared that, um, seven weeks ago, his daughter was born, um, and she’s been at Saint Jude ever since her birth. Um, and I think as a, as a male, um, in a father, um, you may perhaps are not as connected to the baby just because the mother carried them or, um, and so, um, he also shared that, and then he hadn’t been with her for seven weeks. And so, um, he was able to share that, that meditation, he sat in on a fitpro session, uh, whatever the speaker said, whatever the focus of that session was, um, really, it helped him go to a new level of connecting with his daughter, and he just felt this new closeness that he hadn’t been able to experience yet. And so I hope, I, I hope I expressed everything that he did top level, because the emotion when I was reading his words, I just I started bawling. And it just, um, when you can have an impact on that, that end user, that employee, um, is just that’s why we do this. Um, it’s, you know, of course. I’m sitting here and we’re working with corporations. Those are our direct clients. But truly, who we’re doing this for is the end employee that attend the session. Um, and in a story like that, it just it just reinforces why.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:48] Yeah, the impact is real. I mean, it’s tangible. That left a mark on that person and it’s going to carry with him and, and potentially make him a better father, a better spouse, you know, it’s a better employee. I mean, they’re all connected completely.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:19:04] Another quick one is we were doing, um, on site self-defense workshops in San Francisco. Um, and it was it was for a big tech company that was right downtown in the heart. And, um, someone got mugged. Um, one of the employees at this company got mugged. And so the company decided they’re going to do these consistent on site, um, self-defense workshops. And, um, the I just remember I attended this one, and, uh, a woman pulled me aside after, and she’s like, so and so was my friend. And, um, I was going to walk home with her that day, and I’m I’m so grateful that I now feel armed with knowing how to handle those situations like that. I could I will protect myself, but then I could also protect my friend. And so you know that again, it’s it’s these are real life things that people go through. Um, and so how can we arm people with the tools to, to handle that?

Lee Kantor: [00:20:00] And it says a lot, uh, for the culture of those organizations that are investing in fit pros for their employees and themselves is that they care about the totality of their employee, not just the work they’re doing while they’re there.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:20:18] Yes, 100%. They they realize that we’re all humans. We all have human issues. We we in it, you know, we have work to do. But if if we don’t feel whole in all the other parts of our life, then we’re not able to show up and be our best.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:36] Yeah. And this is something that is I’m sure helps in retention. It helps in when you’re trying to recruit new employees like this pays dividends. And there’s probably, I’m sure, a tangible ROI that’s associated with it. This isn’t just kind of a fluffy, nice to have. This is stuff that really pays off for those companies and it pays off for the employees. So it’s a win win win all the way around.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:21:03] Yeah, you nailed it. And, um, brought up another topic I think. Well, well wellness um, has such had and still has kind of a bad connotation that you can’t really find the value, the ROI on, on wellness. Well, you can um, you can a these tangible stories, you know, attaining the feedback that we do. And then we share that feedback, um, with the employer anonymously. And the employee note has the option to be anonymous if they so wish. Um, we have these feedback links, but then, um, at least at Fit Pros, we, um, have the check ins and we know how many employees are registering for events, how many are attending events. Um, and then also the engagement, which employees, which teams are engaging in the sessions and the commentary and the social hub wellness, the feed in the app. So my point is, like we do have ways to, to to tangibly let a company know your employees are seeing a difference. So, um, it’s critical.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:10] Now, before we wrap up, um, can you share why it was important for you to get certified and why being involved with WebEx West was a good investment for your organization?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:22:23] Absolutely. I remember a handful of years ago, someone asked me if I was part of Webbank West, and this was when I first started the company. And, you know, early on, entrepreneur. I was like, no, no, no, but I’ll look into it. And then three years ago, um, we joined again because it’s just Webbank has such a great reputation. Um, I’m so proud to wear the logo. We have it on our website, we have it in our emails, we put it on our, um, our, uh, our fliers. And so, um, it’s, we think is such a reputable, um, business. Um, also the connections I’ve met a lot of phenomenal women, um, through the webbank. And so, um, I’m really appreciative for the connections and, and the opportunity for referrals. Um, although I haven’t gone to the conference, which I believe is coming up very soon, I’m so excited to in the future, I think there’s a lot of opportunity with the uniqueness that is put into the curriculum with Webbank events. And so and then finally, I have attended a handful of really awesome training sessions. I think Webbank is so intentional about teaching people how to make the most. Get the most out of their certifications. So, um, it’s just it’s not like your normal. I’ve. I’ve joined a lot of, uh, certification type, uh, programs in the past, and, uh, Webbink takes the extra steps to ensure that people are getting the most out of it.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:50] Well, if somebody wants to learn more about fit pros and have more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What is the best way to get Ahold of you?

Lindsay Johnson: [00:23:59] Yeah, our website is fit Proz.com. Fit Proz.com. And email is helloapp. Proz.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:07] Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work.

Lindsay Johnson: [00:24:12] Thank you so much. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you and Webbank for this opportunity.

Lee Kantor: [00:24:16] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion. Are.

BRX Pro Tip: How to do Facebook Ad Targeting

April 9, 2024 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: How to do Facebook Ad Targeting

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BRX Pro Tip: How to do Facebook Ad Targeting

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, what are you learning about this Facebook Ad retargeting?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:10] I think this is a really underutilized strategy to stay in front of the people that matter most to you in a really efficient way. Facebook Ad retargeting, I believe, should start with your own email list. This is going to keep your brand and your offer in front of the people who have already interacted with you.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:29] And it’s so easy with Facebook Ads. Here’s kind of the basic 101 to Facebook Ad retargeting. First, you upload your email list as a CSV file. Then, in Facebook Ad Manager, go to audiences, create a new custom audience, select that customer file as your audience source, then upload your email list as that CSV file into that. Facebook then takes that list and matches them to Facebook users. And, obviously, they’re all not going to match, but a lot of them will. And use that as a starting point with your retargeting ad.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:06] So, now create a retargeting ad campaign on Facebook Ad Manager, and use that audience as the place to aim that retargeting ad campaign. And then, you’re going to be able to get your brand and your offer in front of more of the people who matter most to you, and check to make sure that that is driving the needle in your business and getting you more sales.

Georgia Technology Summit 2024

April 8, 2024 by angishields

Atlanta Business Radio

Georgia Technology Summit 2024

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The Georgia Technology Summit is THE preeminent, regional technology conference highlighting innovation and leaders driving our local and global economy. For 2024, in honor of TAG’s 25th anniversary – this year’s theme is Innovation in the South, where community meets technology.

Max Reed, Moveworks

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:21] We are broadcasting live from Signia Hotel in downtown Atlanta. We’re actually at the Georgia Technology Summit 2024. The halls are teaming. People are going into sessions. First up today, please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Moveworks.ai, Mr. Max Reed. How you doing, man?

Max Reed: [00:00:43] I’m doing good. Thank you for having me here.

Stone Payton: [00:00:45] Well, it’s good to have you, man. What brings you guys to this summit?

Max Reed: [00:00:48] You know, we have a lot of great relationships and a lot of great partners in the area. So when there’s a chance to come out and actually see them face to face, we we love the opportunity.

Stone Payton: [00:00:59] So I just confessed to you before we came on air, Sharon and I were just talking about I maybe some applications for our work in the media industry. Are you guys finding that a lot of folks are really embracing this, have a ton of questions, and are coming to you just to start to get educated about AI? Yeah.

Max Reed: [00:01:18] You know, just coming into 2024, over 70% of CIOs had some top down initiative around AI and improving their business and making it more efficient. So a lot of the times when people reach out to us, it’s not really about anything specific that we do, but more about their overall AI strategy and just how to incorporate in the business where the low hanging fruit is and just how to fix up what is easiest first, and then getting to the hard stuff later.

Stone Payton: [00:01:46] Well, to me that sounds like great council, right? Start with that low hanging fruit. Some easy applications because, you know, Sharon and I were over here with world domination plans of AI, and we don’t even know what we’re talking about. I’m not even sure we really understand what AI is, but I’ll bet there are some misconceptions or some some doe eyed ideas about what to do. And then you guys can swing and say, hey, you know, what about if we go over here in this little corner and take a swing at this, is that more usually the scenario?

Max Reed: [00:02:11] Yeah. Every I think everyone uh, after ChatGPT, they think that AI is advancing at this extremely rapid pace and it is to an extent. But now it’s much more, you know, open AI and all these other large companies developing these LMS that’s really just kind of the engine for any AI product. At the end of the day, it’s all about how you utilize those LMS, what data. And in terms of like the vertex stores that you’re putting on them for specific applications. And so when we’re talking to a lot of these high level executives about how they’re how they want to incorporate it, I, we kind of have to ask them to take a step back at first and think of, you know, what use cases you want to go for, and then we can tackle it that way.

Stone Payton: [00:02:56] What a marvelous opportunity for me to show off. Maybe because I think I know what Lim is large language model that I get that right.

Max Reed: [00:03:04] 100%.

Stone Payton: [00:03:05] So I know just enough to be dangerous, right? I read a few articles. I’ve been talking to Sharon, I’ve been talking to my business partner Lee about it. All right, so what are you guys hoping to accomplish with your time here at the summit? What, uh, what would be a big win for you? What would be success for you guys here?

Max Reed: [00:03:20] For us, it’s all about just building relationships. So, you know, if we can have a few good conversations here, learn a little bit more about what people want to accomplish in 24, in terms of AI, what’s on their roadmap? Uh, then that would be a big win for us personally.

Stone Payton: [00:03:36] Okay, I got to back up. I got to know the backstory, man. How does one find themselves working in such a cool arena? Did you? I mean, when when I was playing cowboys and Indians, were you playing like AI guy or. But because this is also a reason you may not have even gone to school for AI. I don’t know what’s the back story, man.

Max Reed: [00:03:52] Yeah, I actually went to school to be a science education major. Uh, nothing remotely close to AI, but, uh, you know, when the opportunity came up, I was working in sales at a startup accelerator, and I was talking to a lot of AI companies. Obviously, once ChatGPT came around and everyone was using one of their plugins for their products. So, uh, you know, just through connections, working on accelerator, I was meeting all the startups in the space. Move works is the only, uh, startup on the Forbes Cloud 100. That’s an AI company. And so when I got the opportunity to kind of connect with some of the people there and possibly come on board, I took it.

Stone Payton: [00:04:33] That sounds like a really big deal to me. I confess, I don’t know what the Forbes 100 cloud thing is, but that’s that’s a big deal, huh?

Max Reed: [00:04:40] Yeah, it’s probably the top Forbes list, I’m going to say for any enterprise companies out there that are on the cloud.

Stone Payton: [00:04:49] Wow. Impressive. So you’ve been at this a little while now, right after you after you achieved some escape velocity from the startup world.

Max Reed: [00:04:57] About a year.

Stone Payton: [00:04:58] Okay. All right. So now that you’re a year in, what’s the most fun about it for you, man? What’s the what’s the most rewarding, you think?

Max Reed: [00:05:05] I think, you know, the most fun thing by far is that we’re. It’s not boring. It’s not boring. It’s not like we’re selling an air platform. For example, no offense to air platforms.

Stone Payton: [00:05:18] Uh, there goes our air sponsor.

Max Reed: [00:05:21] It’s, you know, you’re talking to people about something that’s exciting, something that they’re genuinely interested about. They want to learn about it. They want to hear about all the different applications. So you’re talking to people that have a lot of energy at the end of the day that want to make big transformations in their company. So just kind of getting to hear their overall strategy where they want to go with their business, it’s it’s great conversations. And I think, you know, I wouldn’t be having nearly as much fun with those conversations at any other company.

Stone Payton: [00:05:51] I’ll bet. All right. What’s the best way for folks to reach out, have a conversation with you or someone on your team kind of tap into your work and start to learn more. Website or some other magic place? I don’t know, you guys may have some other cool place to go. What’s the best way?

Max Reed: [00:06:06] Yeah. Uh great question. So you can obviously go to our site. We have it’s just move works.i or move Works.com one or the other. Uh, but we have a lot of different if you’re looking to learn, we just have a lot of customer use cases on our site, a lot of different articles about, you know, how you can get started in terms of building a copilot. If you are deciding to use ChatGPT to build a chatbot at your company right now? Uh, and that’s a great way to learn there. If you want to demo, there’s obviously, you know, a way to sign up for getting a demo on the site, but what is going to be a little bit more fun and is coming out in a month is we’re going to have a platform where you can just type in questions to our conversational AI engine online, just through your web browser. So if you really just want to play around with what we have, I’d say wait a month and then use that.

Stone Payton: [00:06:59] I love it. You’re eating your own chili there, right? Yeah. If you’re going to be in the AI world, you got to do the AI thing, right?

Max Reed: [00:07:05] We use our stuff all internally. Uh, you know, it’s it’s nice when you have a decent product and you actually get to see it in action.

Stone Payton: [00:07:13] Absolutely. Well, Max, it’s been a delight having you on the show, man. Thanks for joining us.

Max Reed: [00:07:19] No, I appreciate the opportunity. Thanks for having me.

Stone Payton: [00:07:21] Our pleasure. All right. We’ll be back in a few at Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Alyssa Tichenor, 7Factor

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Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we’re not in the studio at all. They let Sharon and I out to come to the Georgia Technology Summit 2024, celebrating their 25th anniversary. So that’s fun. Maybe there’ll be cake dancing girls. I don’t know, we’ll see. But it’s a lot of fun here. There’s a lot of activity already, but we’ve caught a spot here where a lot of folks are in session. So we’re talking to some of the folks that are here exhibiting and, uh, an old friend. So please join me in welcoming to the show with seven factor.io. Alyssa Tichenor, how are you doing?

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:00:52] I’m good. Yes. I’m here bright and early. Excited to be here. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:00:56] I think you beat us here.

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:00:58] Yes. And thankfully I had yes, some of my crew stayed overnight, so they beat me down here. But yes, bright and early for sure.

Stone Payton: [00:01:04] So not your first rodeo because I think this is how we’ve met over the last year or two. Uh, what are you hoping to accomplish while you’re here this time?

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:01:12] Yeah, definitely. Um, so, yeah, seven factor has been a member of Tag for a few years. Technology Association of Georgia. So yeah, this is I think our second or third round being here at the Tag Tech Summit. So yeah, definitely just hoping to learn more about industry trends, what’s going on. And obviously spread the good word about seven factor. Shake some hands and just see you know what everyone else is up to in the tech industry. And make sure that we’re all communicating and seeing what’s on par and sharing some ideas.

Stone Payton: [00:01:35] So tell us a little bit about seven factor mission purpose. What are you out there trying to do for folks.

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:01:40] Yeah for sure. So seven factor software. Um, we’re in short, a software consulting firm. Um, so we contract out small teams of software engineers to go and work with clients, and that capacity can really look at anything. We kind of do solutions at scale. So whether that’s a small business that needs a mobile app starting from the ground up, a greenfield project like we call it, or a very large enterprise that’s maybe moving to the cloud or wants to move to a different cloud, needs some infrastructure work, maybe just update a legacy system, kind of anything in there. So we partner with businesses getting on the ground, either being their software team or working with their internal teams to help bring custom solutions to life.

Stone Payton: [00:02:13] So I got to ask, and this may save me a lot of money, but when a when a small business or a medium sized business like the Business RadioX network, when we start looking at maybe getting some software built, where does a project like that come off the rails? If we don’t know what we’re doing or we’re not talking to the right people? Yes.

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:02:32] So I think there can be a lot of gatekept thought in the software industry and in the tech industry in general. As someone who’s on the marketing side, I very much thought that tech was not for everyone. Seems to be like, you kind of have to know it to know it, but we don’t like to think that way. We think definitely software is for everyone. So I think what can happen with business leaders who need software help, it can seem very overwhelming. And then you can kind of get lost in the sales cycle of other companies. So seven factor is completely onshore, meaning all of our software engineers are here in the United States. They’re real people. Um, we don’t deal with offshore teams. So what can happen a lot is you pay for what you get. So you can as a small business, you want to be cost efficient, and you’re looking at a solution that might take a lot longer, but maybe be a lot cheaper. And you’re not really sure how exactly it’s going to work for you, but that might just be all you can afford. We definitely want to break down those stereotypes again. We do solutions at scale. We have programs for smaller businesses called our Force Multiplier Program, to really offer what you need in that capacity and to get you across that finish line and have it be built. Custom for longevity to work with your goals in the future. So definitely don’t get scared with all the buzzwords that I would say, definitely just do your do your research and just know that if something maybe sounds too good to be true in terms of price point, that it might actually be because there’s a lot going on here in the tech world.

Stone Payton: [00:03:47] That sounds like wise counsel is. Sure. So always. Have you always been in the software world or did you transition from a different industry?

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:03:55] Um, definitely. Well, I’m the director of marketing and operations here at Seven Factor, so I can talk the talk. Don’t put me in front of the code base. I might do a little bit so I can play my game just as well as I can, but, um, no. Never really thought that I was going to be in the tech space. Was a marketing person, really just wanted to connect with companies that had a story and a mission and a value that I could see in their end result, and got connected with our founder, Jeremy Duvall, fresh out of college. Um, and just saw the good work that they were doing. And he told me what it was like. I came in to see, and I saw that in the real world, in action, saw our software engineers caring about the code and the quality and the solutions that they were bringing, because this is helping people in the real world. And then I just never looked back. I’ve been here for almost five years now and wow. Yeah, watched us grow from a team of 18 to a team of 60. Now we’re in 17 different states across the United States helping clients of all sizes. It’s been an amazing ride. But yeah, definitely, if obviously someone listening to this probably in the tech world. But I do truly believe that tech is for everyone. And it’s been great to watch myself grow in it.

Stone Payton: [00:04:52] Well, that’s an encouraging message to hear because I definitely don’t identify as a as a techie. But I have some appreciation and it continues to evolve for the the high impact that tech done properly can have on my business and my ability to, to serve other people. So I think that’s, uh, that’s fantastic for sure.

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:05:13] There’s definitely a piece of it for everyone, as I’m sure we’re going to see here today. Yeah, there’s so many slices you can find. What inspires you in tech anywhere. So yeah, just go for.

Stone Payton: [00:05:20] So you’re in the marketing arena. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a firm like yours? I got to believe the sale. My instincts are that it’s more complex. It’s far more relationship driven. It’s not this transaction. You’re not selling popcorn here. I mean, this is.

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:05:37] Yes. You might have cracked the code of why we’re here today. Shaking hands? Very much so, yes. Okay. Um, yes, definitely. Thinking through the marketing strategy for seven factors, I was kind of there from the humble beginnings as this is challenging because our product is humans and we’re a very human centric company. So we want to talk about them in the light that these are real people. We have quality standards of our partnerships. We see our clients as our partners. We see our humans as trusted advisors. So we’re not order takers. We’re not just going to have the client say like we think it needs to be this. We’re not going to nod our heads yes. So there needs to be that like psychological safety in place. Um, so getting those messages across and really that was by doing showcasing what we’ve already done in the solutions and seeing how what we’re doing is kind of different in this space, especially for a company of our size and that it’s working. So I just keep continuing to tell the good stories, leaning on what’s factual and the data that we can use to support it. Um, and just investing more in our people. And I think our founder does that from the top down.

Stone Payton: [00:06:30] Well, I can tell you, after five minutes with you on air, I can see why Jeremy Duvall said, yes, we want you on this team. So congratulations on the success, the momentum. Enjoy today. And, uh, thanks for joining us on air. This has been fun to catch up.

Alyssa Tichenor: [00:06:45] Yeah. Of course. Thanks for having me.

Stone Payton: [00:06:46] All right. We’ll be back in a few at Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Eric Meadows and Brendan Keegan, Cisco

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we are back broadcasting live from Signia Hotel. And we’re not in the studio. Sharon and I, they let us out to come talk to the folks at the Georgia Technology Summit 2024. They’re celebrating their 25th anniversary. We’re getting a chance to talk to some very interesting people. We’ve caught up with some old friends and making some new ones. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast for this session, Mr. Brendan Keegan and Eric Meadows. They are with Cisco Systems. Good morning gentlemen.

Eric Meadows: [00:00:51] That’s right.It’s not Cisco Foods, it’s Cisco Systems right?

Brendan Keegan: [00:00:53] Right.

Stone Payton: [00:00:55] That’s good to know man. All right. We’ll start with you, Brendan. Tell us a little bit about what brings you out here this morning, man.

Brendan Keegan: [00:01:00] Yeah, sure. So, um, I yeah, like like you said, work for Cisco Systems. Uh, we are a, I believe, a gold sponsor here today for the, uh, Technology Summit.

Stone Payton: [00:01:09] I did not get a check from Cisco, so I don’t know what.

Eric Meadows: [00:01:12] Our names are on the bag.

Stone Payton: [00:01:14] You’re not the radio sponsor.I can tell you that.

Brendan Keegan: [00:01:16] Somebody paid a little bit of money for this, uh, this sponsorship, but, yeah, we’re here just, uh, representing the company, saying hello to a lot of people. We’ve got some nice little giveaways and talking a little bit about what we’re doing here in the state and, you know, in the US and broadly too.

Stone Payton: [00:01:30] So fine, Eric, you’re just hanging out with him. You’re just hanging on to his coattails or.

Eric Meadows: [00:01:35] Pretty much I just follow Brendan around. That’s my job. Yeah.

Brendan Keegan: [00:01:38] It’s my assistant.

Eric Meadows: [00:01:39] Here I love. You know, Cisco has made a huge investment in Atlanta as a whole. Yeah, we have a regional, regional headquarters here, and we’re here to basically support that initiative along with what we do individually within the company.

Stone Payton: [00:01:52] So Cisco, you guys individually, are you members of this Technology association of Georgia?

Eric Meadows: [00:01:58] Yeah, actually, our CFO, Scott Heron, is on the board of GTA.

Stone Payton: [00:02:01] I feel like I’ve run across that name before. Maybe we’ve even conned him into coming on air over the years. We’ve been at this a while. I feel like I know that name.

Brendan Keegan: [00:02:09] He’s around here somewhere today. Yeah, yeah.

Eric Meadows: [00:02:11] We’ll send him over. Okay.

Stone Payton: [00:02:13] Fair enough. So, yeah. So tell me about being a member of the organization. Do you feel like it served you? Served you. Well, what’s the benefit in your in your mind?

Eric Meadows: [00:02:22] Um, yeah. Gta is a fantastic organization. You know, when you can unify all the voices around technology, um, in the state, um, you know, share, you know, what you’re doing, how you’re doing it. It’s funny, I was just in the Fedex office picking up some stuff, and, uh, a guy from a local company. Right. Cisco’s a global company. Yeah. He’s like, oh, you know, uh, you guys are a top 40. And I’m like, I don’t really know what that means, but thanks. Um, but it’s good to connect with people, right? And I was like, yeah, I’ll come over to your booth and talk to you and see what you’re doing. Um, I think he might think I have more power than I really do, but either way, he’s. You know, it’s that kind of connection that GTA drives, which I think is very valuable.

Stone Payton: [00:03:00] So you just carry yourself that way, man. You just exude power when you walk down the carpet. I told Sharon, go get that guy. We need him on the air. So, uh, how will you attack the day or the conference? Do you guys kind of divide and conquer? Do you try to make an effort to visit a lot of the exhibitors? Like what’s do you have a plan?

Brendan Keegan: [00:03:19] I think we’re my plan is to just kind of hang around the booth and say hello to as many people as I can. Yeah. Uh, kind of get the word out about what we’re doing. Um, and then, uh, yeah, just meet with some, you know, potential customers to maybe drive some more opportunities and business. But, uh, you know, we also have, I believe, a couple speakers that are going to be doing some of the keynotes, um, conversations today that actually are from Cisco, so. Oh, wow. Our, uh, senior vice president, she runs our Americas sales organization. She’s running the, uh, 10:00 session today. So, uh, Rachel Barger, we’re going to probably pop in there and watch her present today.

Stone Payton: [00:03:55] So. All right, so please forgive my ignorance. I really don’t know what it is you sell. And it’s probably this big, you know, breadth and depth of product and service. But as an example, what might someone come here learn about, end up having a conversation with you guys or somebody on your team about and end up doing with you guys?

Brendan Keegan: [00:04:14] Yeah. So I would say our primary business is networking, and that’s a very broad, you know, thing that we do for technology. But we have, you know, everything from switching and wireless and routers all the way to collaboration tools like WebEx, uh, meetings, uh, WebEx, video conferencing, call center, uh, you know, WebEx calling, which is our cloud calling platform.

Stone Payton: [00:04:37] So my wife has a real job and she’s on WebEx all the time. That’s like in a big company. So I’ve heard this. That’s right. Go ahead. I’m sorry I interrupted you. Oh, no, of course.

Brendan Keegan: [00:04:47] And, yeah, I mean, it’s very broad. So we have, uh, wireless, uh, we have security tools, we have collaboration. Like I said, we kind of really do it all. Um, and I think that’s kind of the power of Cisco. It’s. We’re not really. Too narrow in what we can offer. We can offer our customers really anything, you know, on the technology suite.

Eric Meadows: [00:05:05] Side, essentially, if you use the internet, you use Cisco. You just don’t know it. Ah, okay. Every, you know, 90 something, it wasn’t like 95% of the internet traffic in the world flows over Cisco. Mhm. Wow.

Brendan Keegan: [00:05:16] Sounds about right. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:05:17] That is impressive. So it sounds like fun and and noble work as a person who has kind of gravitated to the sales side of whatever industry I was in at one time, it was consulting. Now it’s media. Uh, it also though strikes me as a, a far more complex, um, sales process marketing that, you know, like the Business RadioX you, you underwrite a show or you don’t, you know, or maybe you sponsor a house show or something, but I mean, the, the this, um, selling what you do is, uh, there’s all the technology, but it must be firmly grounded in building real relationships. And so, yeah, speak to that a little bit if you would.

Brendan Keegan: [00:06:01] Yeah. I mean, I think that’s kind of where it starts is, you know, making connections with people. Yeah. You know, it’s a, uh, it’s a business where we do a lot of talking and a lot of relationship building.

Stone Payton: [00:06:13] Nobody’s going to write you a check this afternoon. I don’t care how good today goes. Right.

Eric Meadows: [00:06:16] That would be. Probably not. Yeah, we’d love that.

Brendan Keegan: [00:06:19] I yeah, I don’t see that happening today.

Stone Payton: [00:06:21] Right, right.

Brendan Keegan: [00:06:22] But yeah. And I think it’s you know people they say you know, you buy from who you like. And I think that’s kind of what we’re here to do is, you know, get to know a lot of our people in the local Atlanta community. Um, you know, get our name out there a little bit. And, you know, ideally the the technology sales will come from there on out. So. Yeah. Um, yeah.

Eric Meadows: [00:06:42] I mean, if we’re solving helping people solve their problems daily, everything’s getting better. That that’s kind of where we’re coming from, right? We want to build those relationships and then help people solve their pain, uh, if whatever that might be, across any of the things that we do within our company, from a technology perspective, even outside of technology, we do a lot of charitable work. Um, really.

Stone Payton: [00:07:02] We’ll speak to that a little bit. Yeah.

Eric Meadows: [00:07:03] So Cisco does a lot of charity work. Well, first of all, we’re all empowered individually to give up to like $25,000 a year that the company will match so we can have a 50,000 impact. Wow. On, you know, on any given charity that we care for. Um, you know, I support ones called the Cumberland Academy here in Georgia. The Clean Water Project, which is, uh, creates, uh, it’s called Wheels and Water in Africa. Basically, we drill wells in remote, um, remote villages in Uganda. So we have the power to help really make an impact on the world, which is one of the great things about Cisco is that it’s not just about the company, but it’s about the community.

Stone Payton: [00:07:39] That is incredible. Are you familiar with the Stone Payton Foundation? We’ll talk after the show. No, I don’t mean to make light of it, because I think that is that is, uh, it’s moving for me. Yeah, and it’s intriguing. I would have never. I mean, I guess I would have anticipated some big PR push that. Hey, look, Cisco gave away a bunch of money over here or there, but it sounds like they are really making it real and accessible and empowering. The the the team. Yeah. To be a real a very.

Eric Meadows: [00:08:12] The beauty of it is it gives you the opportunity to support what you want. Right. There’s a lot of diversity within Cisco of of people. Right. You have people who are bald like me. You have people who have hair like Brendan. Right? Um, actually, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, but we have the opportunity to give to who we want to. And there’s also concerted efforts like, you know, going and doing things with, uh, um, you know, habitat for humanity or the covenant House, which are supported both locally. Right. Um, you know, that I can speak to when we go our sales conference, we actually do a whole session, uh, about a half a day of give back, like bagging toiletries for homeless people or, you know, things like that. So there’s a lot more to Cisco than just, hey, we’re a business. We want to make money. There’s a lot of giving back. And it’s great that we get to define kind of in our own ways how we give back.

Stone Payton: [00:09:01] Yeah. And you’re local. Yeah. Brendan, are you local or is you’re both here? Local?

Brendan Keegan: [00:09:05] I live about 20 minutes away from here.

Stone Payton: [00:09:07] Yeah. Oh, sweet. Yeah, well, we’re in Woodstock, so Sharon and I Business RadioX studios all over town, but Sharon and I drove in from Woodstock. But we’ll call ourselves local.

Eric Meadows: [00:09:16] How was 575 this morning? Was it a complete nightmare?

Stone Payton: [00:09:18] We came early enough that that it was fine, but I wouldn’t want to make this drive every morning. Next time we do this, you come to my studio. Yeah.

Eric Meadows: [00:09:25] I live in Smyrna, so I’ll be. Oh, sweet. Easy. That works.

Stone Payton: [00:09:27] Perfect. So, uh, how long have you guys been at this?

Brendan Keegan: [00:09:30] I’ve been with Cisco for about three years now. Yeah. Um, yeah, it’s been great. Been the highlight of my career so far.

Stone Payton: [00:09:37] So what’s the most fun about it for you, man? What’s the most rewarding?

Brendan Keegan: [00:09:40] You know, I think I like the. I love being out able to kind of get out and set my own schedule and do what I want. Yeah, there’s a lot of, you know, Cisco, actually, you know, we talked earlier about collaboration tools like that’s kind of a big part of what we do as our own companies. We enable our employees to kind of work from wherever and set their schedules and, you know, really embrace what we call hybrid work. So, um, I, you know, woke up today. I didn’t need to be at an office at 8 a.m. to kind of clock in and do all that stuff. Yeah. Um, they really, you know, give us the freedom and responsibility to, to, you know, do what we want and make the most of our day, you know, obviously, you know, making an impact on our job and all. But, uh, but yeah, I think that’s kind of my favorite thing is they really give you that autonomy to do what you want.

Stone Payton: [00:10:27] So, you know, in my line of work, because we do business interviews as business people, interviewing business people, I, I hear a lot about culture. I hear a lot of people speak about culture. We haven’t actually used that word at all. But the the Cisco culture sounds to me like something to really be proud of.

Eric Meadows: [00:10:44] And it is.

Stone Payton: [00:10:45] It is for me.

Eric Meadows: [00:10:47] You know, it’s funny because when you talk to people outside of Cisco, they’re like, oh, Cisco, they’re a sales driving organization. They, you know, they crack the whip. It’s a high performance organization, no doubt. But it’s really got a a caring culture. And I think that’s the best way to describe it.

Brendan Keegan: [00:11:03] And yeah, I mean, not to brag, but fortune magazine rated us the number one workplace in the US.

Eric Meadows: [00:11:09] Wow.

Brendan Keegan: [00:11:10] Number one. Number one. Wow. Last three years actually.

Stone Payton: [00:11:12] Man that’s better than your top 40 stat. That’s right.

Eric Meadows: [00:11:14] I was like, hey, Todd, I thought we were in top 40.

Stone Payton: [00:11:16] We were going to lead with that. We were going to make that the title of the thing, but not now.

Speaker5: [00:11:20] Yeah, we moved.

Eric Meadows: [00:11:20] From 40 to 1.

Stone Payton: [00:11:21] He’s he’s what we call a topper. Brendan is you know, you come in with a cool story and Brendan just comes in with one. He says.

Speaker5: [00:11:28] I know.

Eric Meadows: [00:11:28] This is like.

Brendan Keegan: [00:11:29] We’re talking culture.

Speaker5: [00:11:30] Yeah. Just fits. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:11:33] Oh my goodness. So, uh, so again, you’ve got at least one of your execs doing a talk or a session.

Eric Meadows: [00:11:40] Several of them.

Speaker5: [00:11:40] Several, several.

Brendan Keegan: [00:11:41] And I think so we were talking about our presence in Georgia here. So Cisco is, uh, a San Jose based company that’s we started, um.

Eric Meadows: [00:11:50] That’s our bridge on our logo.

Speaker5: [00:11:51] Yeah, it’s the bridge. Sweet.

Brendan Keegan: [00:11:52] Okay, Cisco is San Francisco.

Speaker5: [00:11:55] Oh, um. All right. Few people put that together.

Stone Payton: [00:11:58] All right. I’m in the truck with you now as we stay down here. Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:12:01] And, um.

Brendan Keegan: [00:12:01] So so we, you know, we started out there, but we opened our space here in Atlanta, uh, last year. It was last April, actually, and we kind of planted our flag. This is going to be our East Coast hub. Um, our CEO actually is a Georgia native, and he has since moved back to Georgia. Oh, wow. Um, we have our CFO. Like I mentioned before, he’s here today somewhere. Uh, he lives in Atlanta. He’s a Georgia Tech alum himself. Um. That’s okay.

Stone Payton: [00:12:26] I bet he’s a nice guy.

Eric Meadows: [00:12:28] Hey, hey, slow down there.

Brendan Keegan: [00:12:29] Go jackets.

Speaker5: [00:12:30] Everybody.

Stone Payton: [00:12:31] Probably a lot of Georgia Tech folks walking these halls. I mean.

Speaker5: [00:12:34] Our.

Eric Meadows: [00:12:35] Our our office is actually on technically the Georgia Tech campus, isn’t it? It is. We share the space with Georgia Tech.

Speaker5: [00:12:40] It’s a Georgia.

Brendan Keegan: [00:12:40] Tech building too, actually.

Eric Meadows: [00:12:42] Yeah. The coda building center of. I don’t even know what Coda stands for.

Brendan Keegan: [00:12:46] I don’t know if it’s an acronym or not. Actually, somebody asked me that yesterday.

Eric Meadows: [00:12:49] It’s the center of something.

Speaker5: [00:12:51] Yeah.

Eric Meadows: [00:12:52] Center of our universe.

Stone Payton: [00:12:53] Uh, I was just teasing. I’m sure if I could have achieved some different test score on some of those tests coming out of high school, I would have been delighted to go to Georgia Tech.

Speaker5: [00:13:03] Join the club. You can try it now. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:13:06] I’m a lost cause. Well, gentlemen, it’s been a real pleasure visiting with you. I can see why you’re successful. I can see why Cisco is successful. It’s, uh. It’s been great having you on the show, man. Thanks.

Eric Meadows: [00:13:18] We appreciate being.

Speaker5: [00:13:19] Here. Yeah. Thanks so much.

Stone Payton: [00:13:20] Our pleasure. All right. We’ll be back in a few from the show floor here at Georgia Technology Summit 2020 for.

Kalyan Sriramaneni (Kal), INDESTRL

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we are back broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2024. Stone Payton, Sharon Cline here with you. Our next guest. Please join me in welcoming to the program with Indestrl, Kal, how are you doing, man?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:00:35] Doing great, doing great.

Stone Payton: [00:00:37] Well, it is a pleasure to have you on the show. Tell us a little bit about this organization. What are you out there trying to do for folks.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:00:44] As an organization? What we are trying to do is democratize innovation, make it accessible to as many people as possible. At a broad level, that is what the company is about.

Stone Payton: [00:00:56] So what inspired you to pursue this this mission? I sense that you saw a gap, a void, an injustice or something, or just maybe just a way to help people to make money, I don’t know.

Speaker4: [00:01:07] Nah. Yeah.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:01:09] Money is always there. Don’t money. Nothing runs right. But what made me get into this is when I was working in the corporate world. I was always motivated when I was doing something innovative, something new, something that energizes me. I wanted to spread that same joy that I felt by making it accessible to as many people as possible. So at a broad level, that is what the company is about.

Stone Payton: [00:01:37] So why is it not accessible for some or many, do you think?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:01:42] I would say I’m fortunate, right? I had a good education, good background overall, right? I was supported by my family and friends and all the mentors along the way. I want to give back. So why it is not accessible. There can be multiple reasons, you know. There are too many to mention, but making it more accessible is what I am behind.

Stone Payton: [00:02:06] So why tag? Why? Why are you part of this organization?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:02:10] This is the biggest organization of all the technology folks to come together great minds and share their experiences, as well as motivate other other folks as well as, you know, uplifting our great state of Georgia.

Stone Payton: [00:02:23] So the people here are some of them prospective clients, some of them prospective partners. What are some of the the folks walking the carpet here? Why do you want to get to know them better and build those relationships? You think?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:02:37] For a business to thrive. You need to be a known entity, right? So building those partnerships and relationships at a personal level is really important in my mind. And that’s why I’m here just learning and sharing.

Stone Payton: [00:02:53] So you’re exhibiting are you an exhibitor or you’re just you’re visiting everyone else who is exhibiting or.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:03:00] I don’t think what I sell is exhibiting here.

Stone Payton: [00:03:04] Okay, okay.

Speaker4: [00:03:05] All right, all right.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:03:06] We need to get permission. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:03:07] All right. So. So you’re. But you are visiting with people who are offering these products and services, and do you plan to attend some sessions or listen to some of the, the keynotes, that kind of thing? What are you going to do with your time here?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:03:19] I attended the keynotes, and I’m looking forward for the evening session where the top ten, uh, startup companies are, uh, presenting, and I’m excited to see what they are doing and how they are innovating.

Stone Payton: [00:03:31] So for you, is there an ideal kind of, uh, client, is there a profile of someone that that you want to be working with or a certain type of industry?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:03:42] Absolutely. I would say my key industry that I’m targeting right now is apart from B to C in the B to B space would be manufacturing and uh, also construction.

Stone Payton: [00:03:55] Okay. So let’s let’s take manufacturing for example. What if I were running a small to medium sized manufacturing operation. What are some things that I might see in my operation that would make me think, you know what, maybe we ought to reach out and have a conversation with Cal. Like, what are some some symptoms of things that could be better that, you know, maybe Cal can help us out with this.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:04:18] Yeah, that’s a tall order. But let me explain what I think, okay?

Stone Payton: [00:04:22] Okay.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:04:23] The way I look at any business, manufacturing is operational efficiency, right? Mm. Uh, let’s drill down a little bit there. Let’s say there is a company or a factory with, uh, multiple work centers. End of the day, it is overall equipment efficiency. Right? Then how do we keep the uptime? And, uh, using the latest technology? That is an innovation that is out there. Uh, I don’t want to use any buzzwords, the current trends. But at the same time, it is about the bottom line. The more efficient the process is, the better the bottom line will be, and that will be helping the companies grow their top line as well.

Stone Payton: [00:05:01] So do you find when you come into a situation like that? The answer really isn’t I don’t want to call it simple, but it’s not all this crazy complex, you know, save the world answer and you can see it pretty quickly. It’s just that because you have a fresh set of eyes and a different perspective, maybe a more objective perspective, you’re able to see it, call it out and help them take some action on it. Uh, that maybe it’s difficult for them because they’re just right there in the weeds of it.

Speaker4: [00:05:30] Yeah.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:05:30] That’s a very good way to put it. Right. People who are in the weeds and, uh, if you can’t, there is a saying you can’t see the picture if you are inside the frame. So I.

Speaker4: [00:05:41] Like it. Yeah.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:05:42] You need somebody external to come in and take a look at it. It need not be me, but anybody. Right. Um, then what we bring to the table is extensive experience in various industries. Uh, and, uh, look at the overall business process and understand the human element of the business process, where there are levers that can be pulled or triggered to make it more efficient.

Stone Payton: [00:06:09] It’s interesting that you bring up the human element, because one of the things I’m, uh, beginning to open my my eyes and I guess my heart too, because we’ve had a handful of conversations this morning, already on air with several people in different aspects of the technology world. And I guess I came here this morning thinking that technology was so transactional and mechanistic, and every conversation has been so heavily laced with the human element. Right? The at the end of the day, there’s still that the human element is a critical part, maybe the most important part of all of it, isn’t it?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:06:44] Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker4: [00:06:46] I mean.

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:06:47] Everybody is a little bit apprehensive of the way the world is going on in terms of technology. Right. Mhm. Uh, take the case of generative AI right now with uh, ChatGPT that came up in 2022, uh, November and uh, became uh, pervasive right now. And there are so many things going on. People are a little bit afraid that we will eventually end up in a society similar to the movie Wall-E. But, you know, it might happen. It might not. I’m not the guy to predict that, number one. And, um. No matter what we do, we have to stay grounded. And, um, human element is one of the key ingredient that we need to focus on. End of the day, no matter what technology we bring to the table, to the businesses to make them more efficient, it is still the human on the other side looking at how can I make this business more efficient? And let’s say the factory workforce, they are looking at more better ways to do their jobs and get some satisfaction and, uh, newer ways, innovative ways of handling their work. So then again, it boils down to democratizing innovation.

Stone Payton: [00:08:00] Very well said. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to learn more? Is there a website or some way to connect with you?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:08:07] Absolutely. I have a website. Uh it’s www.industrial.com I and s.r.l. dot com.

Stone Payton: [00:08:16] Well Cal thanks for coming to visit with us man. Enjoy the event and don’t be a stranger. Swing back by sometime and catch us up on what you’re learning, okay?

Kalyan Sriramaneni : [00:08:25] Absolutely. Thanks a lot for the opportunity.

Stone Payton: [00:08:27] Our pleasure. All right. We’ll be back in a few from Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Luis Guzman, System Technology Works

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we are back broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2024. The halls are buzzing. They got out of the session, they’re visiting all the tables. And we are going to have a great time in this one. Please join me in welcoming to the show with System Technology Works, Mr. Luis Guzman. How are you, man?

Luis Guzman: [00:00:41] I’m doing all right. I’m doing all right. Enjoying the place.

Stone Payton: [00:00:44] So did you attend the keynote? The session that just let out a little while ago?

Luis Guzman: [00:00:48] Uh, I was not able to attend the keynote. I was more attending to my table. Yeah. Presentation of the robot.

Stone Payton: [00:00:55] All right, so tell us a little bit about that. So you were presenting?

Luis Guzman: [00:00:59] Yeah. Yes. We, um, one of the 40 top 40, uh, innovative companies of of Georgia. And we are a robotics company which are producing humanoid robots and implementing AI to it.

Stone Payton: [00:01:13] Well, it’s got to feel good to be one of the top 40. Yeah.

Luis Guzman: [00:01:15] Oh, yes. Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:01:17] So tell us a little bit about your association with Tag. Has this been have you been part of Tag for a long time?

Luis Guzman: [00:01:24] Just being part of Tag for a while. But it has been a wonderful experience. Yeah. Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:01:29] So what do you feel like it brings to the party? Is that the relationships? Is it the events.

Luis Guzman: [00:01:34] It brings people at the high, uh, high level technical and understanding of the business and trying to the true business of, uh, Georgia.

Stone Payton: [00:01:44] A lot of IQ points work in this carpet, I think. Maybe. Huh. Yeah. So smart folks and some good folks. So what is the what’s a win for you coming out of this. Like come this weekend, you look back on it and you say, you know what, I’m really glad I was there. We got this accomplished. We got that accomplished. What would be a win for you, you think?

Luis Guzman: [00:02:02] I think the connections and the people actually seeing the the product, uh, working live, uh, I think is a big win. You can never get this many people coming into an office space. So this is this is the office space right now.

Stone Payton: [00:02:20] So how did you get into this space? What were you doing before you were working with this robot technology?

Luis Guzman: [00:02:25] So before I started working with robot technology, I used to work for the Weather Channel. I was at a, um. Software. Yeah. Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:02:34] I got to know what prompted the switch. Man, that was a bold move. I think.

Luis Guzman: [00:02:39] Um, to me is, uh, you know, I’m a I like the hardware, the software, and, uh, always fascinated with robotics. Yeah. Uh, humanoid robots, I think right now is that they’re taking off. But, um, it’s been a passion of mine for eight years, so I’ve been working on it for quite some time.

Stone Payton: [00:02:58] It’s it’s been.

Luis Guzman: [00:02:58] Brewing. It’s been brewing. Exactly.

Stone Payton: [00:03:00] The storm was. Yes. Was brewing.

Luis Guzman: [00:03:04] Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:03:04] So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work? Are there people here who might at some point write you a check, or is this more of a the people you need to collaborate with to get to people who will write you checks, or how is that going to work?

Luis Guzman: [00:03:18] Uh, that’s.

Stone Payton: [00:03:19] Twofold. Yeah.

Luis Guzman: [00:03:20] Okay. Right now, um, I’m already meeting people to do the POCs, so, uh, proof of concepts. Okay, so I got, uh, already a couple lined up. Um, and those are the people. Then you start talking about how can we, uh, write a check for it?

Stone Payton: [00:03:35] See, I’m getting smarter already, if you ask me. Ten minutes ago. What’s a POC? I don’t know, but in my next interview, I’m going to say, well, tell me about your POC. Tell me about that process. Oh my gracious, what fun. So, uh, going forward, what are your world domination plans? Six months, nine months, 18 months? How do you think?

Luis Guzman: [00:03:54] So the world domination plan is more having a robot that does multi languages. Um, uh, receptionist to and also upper uh, promoting peace and at the same time, uh, an educational product uh, for young um students like, uh, high school seniors and college students to be able to program AI into the robot.

Stone Payton: [00:04:19] I thought I was being facetious when I asked that question. I think you are going to take over the world with that. All right. So let’s drill down and just take a fun use case, because there must be a gazillion. But let’s just let’s just take a fun use case that you’re either excited about, hoping to come to fruition one day and drill down a little bit, or, um, one that you already have in play this further along than we might realize.

Luis Guzman: [00:04:41] So right now, um, every, um, every semester I have a group of, um, interns, uh, about six interns, um, uh, that come from the Fulton County to work, uh, work their, um, internship program. In my, uh, in my office. They are programing this robot, seeing the excitement of these kids as they’re programing I and seeing it, uh, how you call it respond because it’s actually they see a live the robot responds with what they programing it into. And um, that is uh, I think, uh, that’s a fulfilling feeling that, you know, is is working like, you know, I imagined it.

Stone Payton: [00:05:26] You must sleep really well at night. It’s got to be incredibly rewarding work.

Luis Guzman: [00:05:30] Yeah, it is, it is.

Stone Payton: [00:05:33] Oh my goodness. And I have that kind of impact on people that, you know, are going to have impact on other people’s lives. You just you really can’t even anticipate how that continues to, to evolve and.

Luis Guzman: [00:05:43] How that’s going to.

Stone Payton: [00:05:44] Grow. Yeah. Yes. All right. So are there particular people you want to meet while you’re here, particular, uh, talks. You do want to try to catch or you just kind of going with the flow.

Luis Guzman: [00:05:56] I am a newbie. I’m going with the flow and letting it letting it ride.

Stone Payton: [00:06:01] Well, congratulations on hitting the top 40, man. That’s got to feel good.

Luis Guzman: [00:06:05] It does.

Stone Payton: [00:06:06] Well, keep up the good work. Congratulations on the momentum. Let us know if there’s anything we can be doing at the Business RadioX family to support your efforts. But one of the things I hope you’ll do is keep us posted. Let let us kind of continue to follow the story and something that might be fun. If you’d like to do it sometime, maybe we can set up a special, uh, segment. Maybe we sit down with some of your interns and you and maybe one of your early adopters, maybe. And, uh, kind of chronicle that, uh, proof of concept journey. That might be fun, huh?

Luis Guzman: [00:06:36] That would be awesome.

Stone Payton: [00:06:37] That’d be all right, man. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

Luis Guzman: [00:06:40] Thank you for inviting me.

Stone Payton: [00:06:42] All right. We’ll be back in a few from Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Christian Hyatt, risk3sixty

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] Well, we are broadcasting live. We’re nowhere near the studio. Sharon Cline and Stone Payton here with you. We got out of our hole there in Woodstock, Georgia and came down to the Signia Hotel. We are broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2024, and it’s, uh, it’s just buzzing with activity. We’re catching up with some old friends, making some new ones. Please join me in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone with risk3sixty?

Christian Hyatt: [00:00:48] That’s right.

Stone Payton: [00:00:49] All right, Mr. Christian Hyatt. Good to see you, man.

Christian Hyatt: [00:00:53] Thank you. I’m happy to be here.

Stone Payton: [00:00:54] Well, we’re glad to have you. I know you didn’t just come for me. So what were you hoping to accomplish by being here, man? Yeah.

Christian Hyatt: [00:01:01] So our company was top ten of the innovative company. So we’re here to receive an award, and I have to get on that huge stage out there for five minutes.

Stone Payton: [00:01:08] All right, we’re shutting the production down. When they when they hand that out, we’re going to be like entourage. Now you.

Christian Hyatt: [00:01:12] Can start a wave in the crowd or.

Stone Payton: [00:01:14] Something. I love top ten. Congratulations very much. Yeah. Oh yeah. That is cool. All right. So tell us a little bit about about this organization. What are you out there trying to do for folks. Yeah.

Christian Hyatt: [00:01:24] So, uh, wrist 360 people might not be aware, but cybercrime is a $12 trillion industry. If it was an economy, it’d be the third largest economy after the US and China. So one of the things that’s happened is, uh, companies have a huge amount of regulation and compliance because of the cybersecurity threat. And that’s what our company does. We help companies navigate the regulations and the compliance and take what is typically a multi-million dollar endeavor for a very large company. Try to cut that in half through software, through people, save them a lot of money, help them build a great program. And that’s really our mission.

Stone Payton: [00:01:55] Christian, you’re scaring me because. No, it’s that important, right. And and I guess when I think when I hear words like cybersecurity, I think of the bank, or occasionally I’ll get a note that says, hey, we had or I’ll get something in the mail. We had to notify you. There’s some breach and some other system on the day to day basis. It feels like, oh, that’s a big company problem. Yeah, but it’s not just a great big, huge company problem. Is it? Like it’s a very individual problem.

Christian Hyatt: [00:02:20] Like everyone’s already aware of the things like social media. Like your information is out there, your emails, uh, your personal information. And that is getting breached. You see that in a headline that goes to the dark web. So it has a very real personal application for each of us. But what a lot of people don’t know is it has a huge business implication, because all of our businesses rely on other businesses to do business. So we’re outsourcing our HR, we’re outsourcing our accounting system, so on and so forth. And it’s our third parties that are getting breached that are impacting our companies. So there’s a really important trust relationship between the company and the third party. And the way the industry is solving that is through these security certifications through, uh, through the compliance exercises that I mentioned. And we’re trying to help those companies build that trust so that they know that they’re doing right by each other.

Stone Payton: [00:03:05] I would think that would be incredibly important now, and will only continue to get more and more important when I’m trying to sell a B2B service or really nail down a long strategic partnership, an enduring strategic partnership, I got to have this in my back. If I don’t, it’s going to be like the Carfax. When you’re buying a car, you can’t show me the Carfax. I’m not interested. Right?

Christian Hyatt: [00:03:26] That’s just like how it is. So like, I make the joke and I don’t mean this, but I say, hey, no one does cybersecurity because they’re good folks. They’re not just building a cybersecurity program, although some do. The reason they’re doing it is because there’s a multi-million dollar contract on the line. You know, they can’t do business with this really big business unless they have these certifications, because it’s required in contract. So by the time a company is calling us, they either have a whole slew of compliance requirements or a new, uh, compliance requirement they’re trying to navigate. And we try to make that easy, easy for them and kind of remove the hidden tax of this whole ecosystem that exists.

Stone Payton: [00:03:58] So are you working then with relatively small midsize companies? Not necessarily the great big huge ones. Is there a place in your world for the or do you refer them out to a different type of?

Christian Hyatt: [00:04:08] We do work with some smaller companies. Most of the companies that we work with are companies who’ve never heard with their B2B technology companies, okay, that don’t necessarily serve consumers, but they’re typically pretty large. Um, our target market is the enterprise because they have very complex, uh, important issues. But you’re seeing more and more like startups are seeing this because you’re a startup tech company. You want to do business with this big company, and suddenly they’re throwing these regulations at you. Right? Right. So it’s really interesting how small the companies that are impacted. We work with a couple companies that are 2 or 3 people, and just to do their first ever contract, they have to do this stuff. Mostly we work with the big enterprises though.

Stone Payton: [00:04:43] All right. So your personal role in all of this, are you out? Are you like on the sales and marketing side of most of this, or are you in the back room eating Cheetos and writing code like.

Christian Hyatt: [00:04:52] I’m the I’m the founder and CEO? Oh, wow. Yeah. So I started this company about eight years ago. Uh, my role today is really just leading through people. So although we’re a tech. Organization. We’re a people organization. So almost all day I’m thinking about how to get the best people in the door, how to motivate people, how to lead through others. And we just try to build what we call craftsmen, people who are excellent at their job. They can go off and serve customers really, really well, build great technology and solve hard problems. So my number one job really is just to harness the energy of our team to go serve those clients and do important things. I see.

Stone Payton: [00:05:22] I’m so biased, Sharon. He’s just too young and too handsome to be running an organization like this. So I just I just figured he was like the hotshot sales guy right on the on the I do I.

Christian Hyatt: [00:05:31] Do sells out of necessity, I guess. But mostly it’s just telling people the good word, you know?

Stone Payton: [00:05:36] Oh, but no, this is great. This is very fortuitous because I got a ton that I want to learn from you. And one is creating a culture like the one that you’ve described. Uh, I guess you’ve had to you’ve had to get good at recruiting, developing, not just going and getting them, but then keeping them. Any, any counsel you have to offer. Yeah. Any of us on that front, man.

Christian Hyatt: [00:05:58] That’s where I spend most of my time thinking, uh, yeah. I’ll tell you, one of the things that had a huge influence on me is, uh, probably the most famous, one of the most famous business authors ever, Jim Collins, who wrote good to. Great. Yeah, yeah, but he wrote a lesser known book that’s a 40 page, 46 page book called Turning the Flywheel. And if you think about a flywheel, it’s really hard to get momentum at first. You’re trying to pull this flywheel, but over time, if you focus your energy, you get momentum. So we built our flywheel as a business all around people. So it’s hiring strange renegades, hiring the best people, developing craftsmen. So, you know, paying for their certifications, training programs. And then we try to let those craftsmen build artisan products, which is our great software, all of our services. Then we build an inimitable brand based on those great projects. I mean, just like people, when people love your products, your brand gets better. And if you have a great brand, well, you can recruit more great people. So it’s a very people centric business model. So whenever we make investment decisions as an organization, if it’s not one of those core elements of the flywheel, we have to rethink why we’re doing that thing. So it just helps me maintain a lot of focus and discipline on what I’m trying to focus on as a CEO.

Stone Payton: [00:07:01] I just want to read your book whenever you write it, if you haven’t yet, and I do have a.

Christian Hyatt: [00:07:05] Book coming out in in May. It’s called Security Team Operating System. Oh, sweet. It takes all the lessons that I’ve learned as a CEO of a security company and reapplies them for security leaders in their context.

Stone Payton: [00:07:17] Oh, I can’t wait. And when you do, you come join us in one of the studios. Or if we have to, we’ll do a virtual interview, but we’ll get the word out about that. So what are you hoping to accomplish this week being down here? What’s a what’s a win for you being here?

Christian Hyatt: [00:07:28] Um, gratitude. Like, I was born raised here in Atlanta, uh, educated at University of Georgia, did my MBA at Georgia Tech. So the Georgia Technology Summit for me is just an opportunity to, like, be with other tech leaders and appreciate that moment and, uh, getting a little bit of recognition, which is really nice and unexpected. So, I mean, I think just gratitude is what we’re here for today.

Stone Payton: [00:07:48] Oh, man. Well, I’m certainly filled with gratitude. It’s really been a delight having you on the program. And you, uh, you know, I’m a little long in the tooth than you are. Uh, and it sounds like maybe not quite as accomplished, but I just hanging out with you is fun. So much. Yes. Well, congratulations on the momentum. Congratulations on the honors that are well deserved. Keep us posted. Let us know what’s happening in your world. I’m quite sincere. Uh, I really would like to catch up with you when you get ready to release that book. I would love to. And, uh, I definitely will be, uh, will be reading. Well, thank you for joining us, man. Thank you so much.

Christian Hyatt: [00:08:21] It’s been a pleasure to be here.

Stone Payton: [00:08:22] All right. We’ll be back in a few from Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Ravi Venkatesan, Cantaloupe

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we are back broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2024. Stone Payton here with you. No, we’re not in studio. We are here at the Signia Hotel and this thing is just brimming with activity. People are starting to fall into the next set of sessions, I believe. But you guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast CEO with Cantaloupe. Ravi, how are you, man?

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:00:45] Stone, it’s great to be here. Doing wonderful. It’s been an incredible summit so far.

Stone Payton: [00:00:50] So yeah, we’re only kind of late morning and it looks like a lot’s been accomplished. Yeah, yeah.

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:00:55] It’s been, uh, it’s been rocking out of the gate. You know, we, uh, we are first time exhibitors here, and our booth has been humming. You know, I brought six people here, and I’m thinking I should have brought 60.

Stone Payton: [00:01:07] Wow. So what is the key? Because, you know, not everyone has that kind of success in a exhibit environment. Did you just get lucky or did you set up a strategy that going into this that you think really helped you get the most out of being here?

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:01:21] I think from an Atlanta technology companies, we are one of the best kept secrets. We actually are the largest technology company on the planet in terms of powering self-service commerce storefronts in plain English cases like vending, laundromats, parking, car wash, dog wash, anywhere where you can buy a product or a service and make a payment without a store clerk helping you or an attendant helping you. That’s what we build, and we have 1.2 million such storefronts and do over a billion transactions a year. So we are kind of, you know, under the radar a lot of times, but but very cool technology that is becoming more and more relevant as people want to buy without interacting with another human being to, to pay and get their products or services.

Stone Payton: [00:02:10] Well, it’s impressive and it is. At least it was a secret to me. I you know, of course, I’ve, uh, interacted with all of those things, right? Except not the dog wash for a while. I’ve grown out of the dogs, but, you know, the parking and all that. Yeah, sure. Every day. So coming here are there are there people here you’re looking to partner with? Are there people here who might at some point be doing business directly with you? What are some of the objectives I guess, yeah.

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:02:33] When it comes to software and particularly payments, you know, what’s now? Contemporary terms is fintech or financial technology. Atlanta has practically become the world’s capital. 80% of the world’s payments actually in one shape or form, run through an Atlanta company. So, you know, it’s just a great ecosystem to be here for recruiting talent, for finding partners, uh, you know, for just working with even customers. Uh, we do a lot with companies here. So it’s it’s been nice to be here. Uh, our company was traditionally or historically headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. But now most of the executive team is here, and our major presence is started shifting, uh, to Atlanta. And so I’m proud to say we are kind of an Atlanta based company, but I’ve been in Atlanta 22 years, my whole professional career. So. Oh, have you really? I like having our base here.

Stone Payton: [00:03:27] So you’ve always been involved with technology or commerce or or or both or did you kind of make some big shifts along the way?

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:03:36] Um, always with technology in one shape or form. I kind of grew up at Accenture, early part of my career, and then moved to a company, public company called Seebeyond, where we did cloud based infrastructure as a service, and then, uh, moved to a company called bridge two, where we did a lot of loyalty, rewards, redemption, and then to a company called backed, you.

Stone Payton: [00:03:56] Can’t hold a job, Robbie.

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:03:58] Where it was well backed was crypto options and futures. And then then I came to cantaloupe from there. So different, different things. But all in technology and all in financial technology of one, one kind or another.

Stone Payton: [00:04:10] It seems like a very exciting field. Uh, I mentioned in a conversation earlier a lot of IQ points walk in these carpets here. It’s like a lot of a lot of smart, passionate, dedicated folks who just have some cool stuff going on. Yeah.

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:04:23] I, you know, again, I think that’s where, uh, even financial technology in Atlanta and that ecosystem sometimes flies under the radar. You know, people look at Silicon Valley and how vibrant it is. I think fintech in Atlanta is equally vibrant or more. And the future is really bright.

Stone Payton: [00:04:41] So being a CEO, you got you got a lot in your field of view. And you have to make some choices about where you’re going to spend time, energy, resources. But I have to believe that, uh, a very important aspect of that must be trying to, uh, architect the culture, like creating what you want the environment to, to be like. Do you spend a lot of energy thinking about that and trying to to shape the culture going forward?

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:05:09] Absolutely. I mean, that’s job number one, right? It’s the old saying culture eats strategy for breakfast. I think it’s literally true. Yeah. Uh, I certainly try to live that every day from a cantaloupe culture perspective. What I’ve tried to do since I’ve been in the role is really build a culture of adaptability and resilience, because that’s what today’s extreme uncertainty world, where, you know, we’re moving from a trend of globalization to a trend of de globalization. Supply chains are completely, you know, re swizzling themselves. A lot of my sourcing of electronics and components that go into payment terminals is shifted from China to, uh, to Mexico and to five other places. So, so with that kind of uncertainty, the the culture we’ve tried to build is people that are nimble and that are collaborative and that are comfortable with not knowing and figuring it out and, you know, finding the people that can help them. So that’s that’s how I would describe it in a nutshell.

Stone Payton: [00:06:12] Well, it sounds like a noble pursuit. And I can see why that would get you energized to, to try to find, to recruit those folks. And then you’ve got to develop them. And to your point, whatever success looks like today, I mean, that’s a lot of it is a moving target, isn’t it?

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:06:28] It is a moving target. And, you know, one of the things I’ve seen companies do, which I’ve learned from, you know, you always try to learn from doing it wrong and learn from mistakes. Mistakes teach you more than success does. Right? So. Right, right. The the biggest mistake I’ve seen companies make is they set very aggressive short tum goals and then they set not very aggressive if at all long Tum goals. And I do it the opposite way. I said very realistic and very uh achievable short tum goals. And I set very lofty and audacious longer Tum goals because that works way better. And by the way research proves that people underestimate what they can do in the long tum and overestimate what they can do in the short tum.

Stone Payton: [00:07:13] Interesting. I’m sure that’s true. I’ve never really thought about it in that frame, but that makes a lot, makes a lot of sense. So you obviously get a great deal out of your participation in tag. And I can I can see it in your eyes. I can hear it in your voice. And, uh, anecdotally, through some of the ways that you’re sharing that you’re interacting with folks, what tips, if any, would you have for other people who are entering into this ecosystem to. What would you encourage them to do or not do to help them get the most out of a resource like like tag?

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:07:45] So I’ve been associated with Tag for many years, being in technology and being in Atlanta. Um, and I’m a recent board member at Tag as well. So I’m very passionate about what the organization does and how it serves the technology community in Atlanta, but more importantly, how it’s creating a bridge between technology and other non technology businesses in the Atlanta ecosystem. And more specifically, when we think about where businesses are going, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence, there’s going to be no business that is not a technology business. Everybody is going through. You know, an overused Tum is digital transformation. But in plain and simple terms, everybody is looking at everything that they do as part of their operations and what can be automated and what can be technology enabled to make themselves more efficient, more productive. And I think the technology companies that are in Atlanta and as well as elsewhere, can play a big role in helping Atlanta and Georgia companies go through that transformation, and Tag plays a pivotal role in connecting those dots.

Stone Payton: [00:08:56] Well, I feel like you’ve answered that question before. You’re very articulate about that and passionate. Let’s just say.

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:09:01] I’ve thought about it.

Stone Payton: [00:09:03] Well, Robbie, it has been a real delight having you on the show, man. Thanks for making the time. I’m going to let you get back to it, but I can’t thank you enough for joining us. Keep up the good work, man.

Ravi Venkatesan: [00:09:13] Absolutely. Thank you. So I appreciate it.

Stone Payton: [00:09:15] Our pleasure. All right. We’ll be back in a few from Georgia Technology Summit 2020 for.

Kyle Tothill, Collective Insights Consulting

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Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we are back broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2024. Stone Payton Sharon Cline here with you. We are not in studio. We are here at the Signia Hotel. It is so much fun. There’s a I’ve mentioned in the last couple of conversations, there are a lot of IQ points walking this carpet here, and, uh, it’s been so much fun catching up with some old friends, making some new ones. This is going to be a fun one. Please join me in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone, Founder of Collective Insights Consulting and the man himself, Kyle Tothill. How are you, man?

Kyle Tothill: [00:00:58] Stone Payton: I’m doing great. What an exciting day. Super energized to have the mayor and the governor come. And as the board chair for Tag for 2024, I couldn’t be more excited and happy with the results so far. It’s it’s a packed house. We sold out all of our tickets. Uh, and it’s super exciting.

Stone Payton: [00:01:14] I can only begin to imagine what it must take time, energy, resources just to get something like this in motion, much less pull it off. And you guys have done it, man. It’s a.

Kyle Tothill: [00:01:25] Process. It starts. It starts many, many, many, many months, in some cases years in advance. And, uh, it takes a committee of very committed volunteers and tag staff to plan it. The logistics, you know, the invitations, the sponsorship, raising the money. And Tag is primarily a volunteer led organization. It has a staff, but most of the big events that we we pull off are led by our board members or our executive committee members or volunteers.

Stone Payton: [00:01:55] So whenever we are talking to an organization about coming out and doing an on site broadcast, we tell them, you know, we’d really like to visit with a handful of bright, passionate people. If you’ve got any anybody like that in mind, line them up for us. We never run short of that at a tag event. Yeah.

Kyle Tothill: [00:02:11] This is, uh, this organization was started 25 years ago. Wow. Yeah. And, uh, a handful of the technology community stakeholders, people from, you know, wind or from the Southeastern Software Association or a handful of smaller groups, you know, decided that it’d be way better to get together, put together a collaborative ecosystem and, and manage that from a single platform. And they named it tag and started it right after the Olympics, like maybe a couple of years after that, give or take. And, uh, it’s amazing to see the power of a connected ecosystem and what the power of a sharing ecosystem really can do. Uh, and those founders and early tag leaders had no idea what was in store, but they knew there was a wave coming and they wrote it. And so, um, there’s a lot of brilliant people that have moved to Atlanta. There’s a lot of folks that, uh, companies that have come to Atlanta and, uh, you said IQ points. I tell you, it’s it’s an honor just to be around a lot of these folks, um, and some of our great entrepreneurs and great tech leaders, great, uh, business leaders. Um, it’s great.

Stone Payton: [00:03:13] So you’ve clearly chosen to take on some leadership responsibility here in the Tag organization, and you’ve done it long enough now to know better if you didn’t enjoy it and not and not continue to do it. So I’m operating under the impression that you do enjoy it a great deal. What is the most rewarding about that part of your life? What are you? What’s the most fun about being that integrally involved in Tag for you?

Kyle Tothill: [00:03:37] Well, number one, you know, I’m committed to being, uh, a stakeholder in the community in which I serve. And I think that’s just utterly natural for me. Um, I’m an extrovert. It’s like the ultimate extrovert extroverts Paradise. Uh, so, um, but I think what gives me a lot of joy is seeing the impact that this community can have. And, you know, as the, as the chair and someone that’s been on the executive committee for a while and been focused on shaping the vision of the organization, um, I really have encouraged the organization to open open its aperture tag is, uh, really now kind of the Innovation Association of Georgia. We’re serving such a broader community of people, and we’re making a lot of change. And, you know, I mean, what’s not to like being a part of ATL, being part of our success story, being here at these transformative times and being involved with all these great people doing amazing things, you know, from from scoring big and making big money and making people wealthy all the way to mobilizing people’s careers that weren’t in tech, that now are in tech and have access to, you know, to the richness of this, of this type of career.

Stone Payton: [00:04:45] All right. Let’s talk a little bit about collective insights, man. Tell us what you’re up to with that.

Kyle Tothill: [00:04:49] Well, Collective Insights uh, started in 2015. We we founded it out of, uh, EIA, uh, which is, uh, you know, a professional recruiting organization. We help. Build high performance technology and sales organizations and do search work for a pretty diverse set of organizations around, around the country and around the world. And collective insights came out of that organization. So Collective Insights is a business transformation, technology modernization, and talent solutions business.

Stone Payton: [00:05:15] Wow, that’s a mouthful. But you said you were working on shrinking it.

Kyle Tothill: [00:05:18] Nice. I’m trying to I’m trying to make it more elegant. But I tell you, it’s that’s what we do. And, uh, you know, we serve global enterprise. So, uh, most of the organizations that collective insight serves are billion dollar plus organizations. Okay.

Stone Payton: [00:05:30] Yeah. So what do you enjoy about that?

Kyle Tothill: [00:05:32] Wow. Um, what do I enjoy about that I enjoy building I’m a builder. I’m a I’m a visionary, uh, entrepreneur. Uh, I’m not a management consultant. Right, right. Um, I love helping people achieve their objectives. And I love helping leaders transform their businesses. Uh, and I love being a part of the story. I mean, I think that’s kind of what you get with me. If you know me, you’re like, yeah, man, you just want to be in, don’t you? You just want to be part of the know and part of the do and get after it. And I think that that’s that’s amazing. And when you’re around people that are excellent, you know, like you said, high IQ points, high driven people, ambitious a-players it’s infectious. Right. So, um. I love collective insights. I love my IR team. I love the impact that we’ve made on the community and in the lives of our constituents. And you know, I couldn’t be happier and more passionate about it.

Stone Payton: [00:06:18] So I know you’re wearing a couple of different hats while you’re here, but how will you attack the day? What will you do with your time?

Kyle Tothill: [00:06:25] I’m going to meet a lot of people like this guy.

Stone Payton: [00:06:27] Yeah, it’s hard to interview this guy and not be distracted because everybody knows him and he’s paparazzi covering the whole area, but it’s fun.

Kyle Tothill: [00:06:35] So, uh, number one, I wanted to get, you know, I introduced the mayor had the great honor of introducing our technology. Mayor Andre Dickens, who’s a total ba, uh, if, uh, if you’ve gotten a chance to know him, he’s one of us. He went to Georgia Tech. I went to Auburn, but he went to Georgia Tech, which I call close to home. Uh, I grew up here in Georgia as well, in Roswell, and, uh, he’s amazing. Governor Kemp has been amazing. So bringing those guys and getting those guys engaged, having both of them unite under one flag, um, it’s pretty rare. And it’s a model for the rest of the country. So I get pretty I get pretty excited about that. Yeah. Um, you know, so that was a big part of the day. And then, you know, I’ve got an opportunity to introduce our tag Impact award, uh, which is the award for the top volunteers inside of our organization. Oh, neat. So that’s super cool. Um, you know, I’ve got I’ve got some dignitary responsibilities there, but my number one thing that I’m going to be doing today is pressing the flesh, man. Yeah. Connecting with great people. You know, hugging people that I know. You know, this is the one opportunity, you know, uh, in the, you know, in of the year that all of us come together in this disparate ecosystem and, uh, it’s great, man. You know, I get a lot of energy from it.

Stone Payton: [00:07:43] Well, I can tell that you actually draw energy from it. I know tomorrow you’re probably going to crash. Or the day after I’m getting on a.

Kyle Tothill: [00:07:48] Plane and going to Costa Rica tomorrow with my family. So, like, this is like, full burnout. Like Max. Max burnout. My thank yous will go out tomorrow on the plane, and then I’m going to unplug for a few days.

Stone Payton: [00:07:58] All right. Well, we’re going to let you get back to it, but let’s do leave our listeners with some easy, uh, coordinates for getting to learning more about collective insights or connecting and learning more about Dag. Well, the number.

Kyle Tothill: [00:08:08] One thing you can do if you want to learn a little bit about Collective Insights, is follow us on LinkedIn. We push out a lot of content around some of the things that we’re doing for our customers. We love to share our thoughts and our collective insights with everybody. So that’s number one. And of course, you can visit the website or you can just connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m at Kyle Tothill at LinkedIn. It’s pretty easy for me. I was original LinkedIn guy many, many, many decades ago. Um, so that’s pretty easy. You know, if you want to learn about Ehya, you can go to the website. It’s really easy if to schedule, you know, an appointment with one of our top recruiters or one of our top, you know, account managers to learn about how we can help you. Um, if you want to engage with tag, it’s tag online. Org I highly recommend that you look through tag, look through some of the things that we’re doing from a major events perspective. There’s always an opportunity to lean in there, join tag, or, you know, get engaged. With our societies. We have 18 amazing societies. Some of them are tech related, some of them are functional related. Whether you’re marketing or sales leadership or our cloud society or infosec. If you’re into it, get connected with that and get in and volunteer. Get your hands dirty. You know, you’re, uh, you’re not going to get a ton out of tag just coming to the events. I mean, you’ll get connections and make some catalytic connections, but you really get a lot of value out of it when you lean in lead. And it really does transform you, um, into a leader when you get engaged with this organization. It’s amazing actually.

Stone Payton: [00:09:24] Well, keep up the good work. Enjoy some well deserved time. Time off. Don’t be a stranger. You know, we’re quite sincere when we say, let’s do this again and let’s stay. Stay connected. But it’s it’s been a real pleasure having you stop by and visit with us, man.

Kyle Tothill: [00:09:37] Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Thanks for having.

Stone Payton: [00:09:39] Me. Our pleasure. All right. We’ll be back in a few from Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

John Wilson, First Ignition

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Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] So actually, nowhere near the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia are Stone Payton and Sharon Cline here with you? We’re actually broadcasting live from the Signia hotel, and it’s for the Georgia Technology Summit 2024. They’re celebrating a lot of things, including their 25th anniversary. So it’s an exciting time. The place is brimming. You got people coming and going from sessions. You got people visiting tables. And I got to tell you, we do a lot of conference and trade show work. We have for almost 20 years now. And, uh, it’s usually not, not this busy in teaming. And, and, you know, you’re not seeing people at the booths throwing the frisbees back and forth with each other. They’re actually engaging and are having real conversations. So we’re delighted to have you join us. And you guys are in for a real treat for this segment. Please join me in welcoming to the show with First Ignition, Managing Director John Wilson. How you doing man?

John Wilson: [00:01:12] Doing great, Stone.

Stone Payton: [00:01:13] And, uh, you know, I might have done you a disservice because I know from talking to you before we went on air, that’s about one of nine hats that you wear, right? That’s just like one of your day jobs.

John Wilson: [00:01:23] Well, if you live long enough, you can actually have a few.

Stone Payton: [00:01:27] So we’ve got a lot to talk about. Or at least I’d like to, but let’s start there. At first ignition. Tell us a little bit about that organization.

John Wilson: [00:01:34] So that’s just my my in-house shop that I use for advising and working with start up technologies, you know, that I’ve done over the years. I’ve had the luxury of being a serial founder and investor and advisor and, and you know, you give back. And so tag is a great way to do that. And so for quite a while, I’ve been working with Dennis Ax and the other members of the top ten selection committee. We’ve uh, we’ve got a little process underway always that each year looks at, you know, you know, over 100 companies whittles it down to the top 40 innovative companies. And we, you know, they’re here at the show and then we choose the top ten after a kind of a tough selection process to get down from 40 to 10. And they’re on stage today. And so it’s a it’s just a great it’s a great day to visit all these people. And like you said you see everybody.

Stone Payton: [00:02:32] Oh that’s going to be fun. So we’ll actually be able to see the ten that make the cut. But it’s what an honor to even be considered in 100, much less make the 40. Uh oh. That’s going to be an exciting. Well, I don’t know. I’m saying exciting. I guess part of it could be a little bit arduous because you feel like, oh, man, number 42 was really good, you know? Right. Is there some of that emotional pull?

John Wilson: [00:02:53] Well, there is, and in fact, we’ve been tracking, uh, we’ve been doing this from, you know, for over a decade. And, and the fun thing is to watch companies return to the competition. We’ve got companies that have cycled through, been a top 40 a couple of times, then won a top ten. We’ve got we keep track of those that become unicorns. We’ve had a lot of unicorns here and several of them that were named along the way. You’ll see sitting at the the table of the Hall of Fame, they’ve already been inducted into the Hall of Fame. I had pleasure talking to a couple of people over there this morning. And it just it just it’s a great community.

Stone Payton: [00:03:31] So I got a quick unicorn side story for you. My business partner. His name is Lee Kantor. He actually founded Business RadioX. He’s the CEO. I jumped on his coattails 20 years ago. Uh, but he has designed and commissioned a design of a t shirt with a rhinoceros on it. And the slogan is. What do you mean I’m not a unicorn? But I like the sentiment of that because. Because maybe all of us can be, in our own way, a unicorn. Right?

John Wilson: [00:03:57] Exactly. Yeah. And, you know, we I remind people good businesses are good businesses. Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:04:02] Yes, absolutely. All right. So I can’t imagine how you even had time to come talk to us. So so thank you for that. But like what are you going to do. You got to be running around like crazy today with all your responsibilities. Or is it now that was all up till last night. And now you can just kind of ah.

John Wilson: [00:04:18] No, it’s a nice it’s a nice way to see everybody in the community that’s here. It is busy. You hope people get work done by, you know, doing a deal here or there in the, in the corners. But but this is a day to celebrate the fact that George is such an innovative state. I mean, it’s amazing. The governor started off this morning. Uh, we we really are lucky and blessed to have a governor and a mayor that are so focused on technology as an underpinning part of the the state’s economy. And, you know, it’s it’s very unusual to have a, you know, a good large city mayor and a good governor working together on things like this. So we. We should be. We should count our blessings well.

Stone Payton: [00:05:01] And even if they aren’t together, and I don’t know that they aren’t on a on a lot of other stuff, they certainly seem to be together around this. That’s right. Right.

John Wilson: [00:05:09] That’s right. Economic development brings everybody together. It does do a deal.

Stone Payton: [00:05:14] So you’re seeing a lot, uh, you know, we’ve already picked up on some trends, a lot of, uh, conversation around AI, some conversation around robotics and all kinds of things that maybe hasn’t made it to our table yet, but, um, I’m picking up some, some stuff around national security. There’s some cool stuff happening in that space.

John Wilson: [00:05:32] Yeah, well, it’s interesting Georgia’s had a role in some key national security plays for many, many years. Remember we Georgia Tech, you know, was the the home of a number of inventions that came to radio, to television, to broadcasting towers, to radar and the like. And, and they’re both our commercial and national security implications of all of those. And we are you know, this was one of the early nodes of the backbone of the internet on the East Coast called Arpanet at the time. And wow, before that, this little piece was called Suranet. The Southeastern University Research Association and Georgia Tech was the was the endpoint. And so there’s a there’s a long history of national security here. I mean, I moved back here at the time when the C-5a was flying around in the air, and you saw that we produced a number of them here. Uh, there are some more recent, uh, jets that have come off the line at Lockheed. But what’s most interesting to me are the number of startup companies that are in the space, whether they’re in satellites, satellite imagery. There’s a company over in industrious right now, over in Ponce City Market called Dante. That’s that literally does a fusion of all the different systems that satellites provide for both commercial and for national security, uh, customers. So it’s it’s very, very impressive. Uh, we also, if you’ve heard the name of a company called Anduril, which is really big in the defense technology world, um, they make a lot of drones are, um, Anduril acquired a little local Atlanta company called area I. And that’s why you see Anduril logos all around town. Um hum. Um, and they, uh, they make a variety of things that are available in commercial settings as well as national security settings. So, so we play a role and that’s, that’s nice to see.

Stone Payton: [00:07:37] It must be fun for a guy like you. You must run into new and exciting and fresh ideas or applications of older ideas all the time.

John Wilson: [00:07:48] Well, that’s one of the interesting things. There’s a startup, uh, here today that’s working in a space in the payment space that that started as another startup and then evolved into a second one. First one was a success, got sold. Second one is is in a specific vertical. Um, we’ve got another startup that, um, you’ll see that is in the aerospace sector that will deliver a piece of news today, um, to this stage about their work. And they’re out at PDK, uh, and they have a hypersonics company. So if you’ve heard of the concept of, of very, very fast airplanes, missiles, things of that nature operating above, uh, say Mach five, that’s, uh, that’s exactly the space this company Hermeus is involved in. And you’ll just you will be very, very surprised. Their goal is to do a hypersonic commercial airliners. So you could leave. You could leave Atlanta and be in London in 90 minutes. Wow. You could cross the Pacific in three hours. So, you know, kind of a different way of thinking about, um, about how we can move people and goods. But there are also national security implications of that. And so they they are a major, uh, recipient of funds from the Defense Innovation Unit, which is the government’s large investor in startups in this space.

Stone Payton: [00:09:25] So for me, I haven’t interviewed anyone at this type of conference this last since this time last year. So my head’s been exploding all morning for you. It’s like a it’s a Tuesday morning. Yeah. Oh, here’s a supersonic thing. Here’s a national security. Oh look what they’re doing at I. But that is part of, uh, I’m operating under the impression, part of the distinct advantage, um, and value in being part of tag. Yes. Just speak to what from your perspective, what are some of the advantages of being part of Tag?

John Wilson: [00:09:54] So in the case of of Atlanta, we’re really blessed to have, uh, organizations like Tag here because they provide the communications network the backbone for all the growth in this space for us. And so, uh, tag gives a way for, for individuals who are involved in the startup community to get involved, people in existing large firms to also give back. And so it’s quite a it’s quite a good network. Um, you know, there are tons of committees. There’s, you know, dozens of ways to be involved in tag. And Larry’s done an incredible job. Larry. And the board, uh, just worked very hard on on bringing this to the table. And so a new technology will pop up, say, in the biotech space or in the, uh, aeronautics space, and they’ll they’ll bump into tag one way or another.

Stone Payton: [00:10:50] Right? Right. So, uh, but you bring something up that strikes me as a genius model and maybe just evolved over time, or maybe somebody really, you know, crafted this from day one. You got this huge organization, tons of people, people fly in and, you know, to join all this, but you’ve also got these small kind of focus groups. So it’s a it seems like it would be a very approachable way to be part of a very powerful organization, if you just will stick your toe in and start getting involved in.

John Wilson: [00:11:20] Yeah, exactly. I mean, there are, you know, dozens of, of, uh, societies and organizations within Tag societies.

Stone Payton: [00:11:27] That’s the word I was searching for. Yeah.

John Wilson: [00:11:29] If you’re focused on the concept of, of, uh, employee, uh, growing a workforce, um, uh, there are multiple ways within tag to do it. And Larry talked from the stage earlier about that. Um, if you’re interested in AI, if you’re interested in in machine learning, all of those things are there. In fact, you know, one of the one of the best presentations I’ve heard in a long time on AI, uh, was the Gartner presentation a few minutes ago, just before the break when I walked in here and, uh, the the presenter gave a vision by asking a question. And the question was, if you, uh, woke up and I’m going to I’m going to trash his his description, but I’m going to try to tell the joke again. If you woke up one morning and the person that, uh, was your significant other for the last 20 years turned out to be a machine, would you stay or would you go, or would you try to reprogram them? And so is he as he as he shared that that that paradox. Everybody okay. Raise your hands. So it’s pretty evenly split between the stay and go types and the the go types are the ones who are really scared of the stay types are more curious. And the can you program just don’t get it. Because if that person’s a machine, you’re not going to be able to program them.

Stone Payton: [00:12:52] Oh, wow. That is funny. All right. What’s the best way for people to connect? I had a couple of different levels. If they’d like to reach out and have a conversation with you about any of these trends, or about the work that you’re doing to help individually, I want to leave them with some coordinates, a way to do that, but also best way to get, you know, plugged in to tag this whole, this whole ecosystem.

John Wilson: [00:13:13] Well, there’s there’s just, you know, go tag online. Org I think is the is the website for tag and and just take a quick look at all of the opportunities to, to be involved. Uh, in my case, I’m easy to reach. I’ve got a little website called First ignition.com and that’ll, that’ll tell you how to find me and better than anything else. But, you know, I encourage everybody, no matter how small or how large your entity is, uh, to, you know, reach out to these different resources and to become involved.

Stone Payton: [00:13:47] Yeah. Well, thanks for coming to visit with us, man. Thanks so much.

John Wilson: [00:13:50] John, I enjoyed this.

Stone Payton: [00:13:51] So did I. All right. We’ll be back in a few from Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

JaLorean Hayes, Meal Maps

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:20] And we are broadcasting live here at the Georgia Technology Summit, the 25th anniversary of the summit here on 2024. We’re really lucky to have some really great people to chat with who are associated with TAG and one of our happy people in the booth, this is JaLorean Hayes with MealMaps.Org. Welcome.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:00:41] Hi. Thank you for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:43] You’re welcome. So how long have you been associated with I guess, um, the Technology Association of Georgia, has this been a new association for you?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:00:53] Yes, it’s actually pretty new. I found out about them a few months back, when they were looking for companies to see how innovative they were, to see if they were one of the top 40. So just about 2 or 3 months ago, I found out about them.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:07] Wow. That’s amazing. And now look, here you are.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:01:09] Yes, here I am.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:10] So tell me about your company meal maps.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:01:13] So meal maps is a platform for people with chronic health conditions. So what we do is provide recipes for people with eight conditions that we cover right now. So they create their account. They’ll select from one to all eight conditions. And the only thing they see are recipes that have been created by a team of health professionals specifically for those chronic conditions. So we pretty much take the guesswork out of what a person can eat.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:38] Wow. That’s amazing. And it’s such a great idea when you’re considering someone who’s not feeling 100%. The last thing that they need to worry about is whether or not they have the energy to try to find the right food for themselves.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:01:52] Definitely. And it’s so easy to get lost in the sauce. As they say, when you’re looking for recipes online, to find something specific for high blood pressure is fine, or specific for diabetes is fine. But when you start to consider a person with 2 or 3 health conditions and it gets even harder.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:11] So how did you come up with the concept of this of meal maps?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:02:15] Um, a few years ago, I was actually visiting my mom in Houston, and I had to force her to go to the doctor. Uh, she wasn’t doing well, and she was actually diagnosed with three conditions at once. And so I was in the grocery store just standing there, completely lost. I have a master’s degree in public health, and I’m also a registered nurse, and I, I just was lost. And, um, when I went back to work a few days later, I just started listening more intently to my clients, and they were having the same issues. I was doing disease management at the time, and they were having the same issues. They knew what they could eat for one condition, but when it came to the, um, second or third condition, they they weren’t sure. And so that’s how maps was born.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:57] But such a great idea. Um, given that people who are struggling in any way their main resource can be the internet, right? So to be able to have access to information right away is so smart of you to harness technology like that, to give them options for the betterment of their health.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:03:14] Yes. Well thank you.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:15] You’re welcome. So how did you create your platform and get get into actually having your own business that you actually can go to?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:03:24] Um, so I hired a developer. Um, we kind of walked through what my, my goals were with the business, and, um, we mapped out how that would work as far as the algorithm in the background, because the client should have the easy part, which is to log in and see what they can eat. So we just mapped out how that would look in the background. And then, um, what that would look like down the road with us doing different integrations. Like right now, one of the integrations we have is being able to order the groceries from the meal plans that you set up. So it’s a lot easier than like, I don’t like to shop out.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:59] Yeah, you may know the recipe, but you still have to get all of the ingredients, right?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:04:03] Right. So being able to get the ingredients makes it a lot easier to get it right from the recipe instead of having to, um, go to the store. But if you do like to stop and shop in the store, then we also have where you can create your grocery list from your your meal plans and everything.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:19] So how are you marketing yourself as you are, um, promoting this, this company?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:04:25] Um, most of our marketing right now is on social media. Um, and then we do some events similar to this, but not as large of a scale, but, um, events just where we can meet people, um, do different, like, educational events. So, uh, because that’s one of our main components too, is actually learning. Um, I don’t want to just show somebody what they can eat. I want them to know how they can create those recipes themselves. Or if they decide to go out to eat, then they know what it is that they’re looking for whenever they go out to eat. So I’m doing education in various places as.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:59] Well. So how has your experience been here at Tag? Has there been any kind of surprise to you as you’ve been walking around?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:05:07] Uh, it’s been good to see a lot of different companies. Uh, I don’t think I was as aware of how much technology really takes over our lives, but seeing the tech in all of these different companies, it has been a little mind blowing.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:23] But, you know, you’re right in there with them, with your company.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:05:27] Funny enough, I didn’t know I was a tech company until October. Oh.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:31] Well, congrats.

Speaker3: [00:05:34] Thank you. Well, when you.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:35] Think about it, you are using exactly what technology is is for, you know, for the betterment of people.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:05:41] Yes, definitely. I, um, I thought I was just a health and wellness company until I went to an event, um, in October, um, with this company. Her sweet spot is my my mentor. And. Yeah, that’s when she told me, no, you’re a tech company. And which is how I even ended up looking at tag and thinking, oh.

Speaker3: [00:06:02] I should be associated here. Yeah, that’s what you’re.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:05] Amongst really good company. Everyone that has got their niche, of course, but I haven’t heard of of one that’s exactly like yours. And it kind of makes me think how, how important this is and how, um, so many people’s lives can be affected by it. And it’s it’s not there. I’ve never seen it yet. So it’s so exciting.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:06:23] Well, thank you. So just, uh, some quick statistics.

Speaker3: [00:06:26] Let’s hear it.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:06:27] 60% of Americans have at least one chronic health condition, and then 42% have two or more. So it’s definitely something that’s needed.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:37] Absolutely. Are you finding it to be successful? Are you surprised at how well it’s going or any anything that you would wish you had known before you got started?

JaLorean Hayes: [00:06:49] Uh, uh, probably that, uh, the work would be very intensive.

Speaker3: [00:06:56] Uh.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:56] Well, yeah. Right. It’s 24, seven kind of work, you know.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:07:00] Yes. And I mean, I knew it would be hard. I’m not afraid of hard work by any means, but, um, being a founder CEO just requires a lot more than being a worker bee.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:12] Well, that’s so true. Well, and with social media being 24 seven, you never do really feel like you can have a complete downtime or a vacation. You know, if you’re kind of handling everything on your own. Well, we’re so excited to have you come in and let everyone know that this exists. And I think it just seems so important given the statistics that you have. But even just people in my own personal life, I’m sure they would love to know that they have a resource to be able to set them up for their best health.

Speaker3: [00:07:40] Yes.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:07:41] Well, we are at meal maps.org mil maps.org.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:46] Well, I can’t thank you enough. Jillian, you’re just a pleasure to talk to and it’s so inspiring to see that you’re doing something that is really, truly, um, helpful for everyone. And everyone knows someone who’s got a health issue. So giving a resource that can make them better, it’s actually very inspiring. Thank you for having such a good heart.

JaLorean Hayes: [00:08:05] Thank you, and thank you for having me here today.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:08] You are welcome. And thank you again, all for listening. And we will be back, uh, with our next interviewer at the Georgia Technology Summit 2020 for.

Megan Heinze

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:20] And welcome back to the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 here at the Signia Hotel. We’re so excited to have Megan Heinze. That’s how you say your name, right?

Mega Heinze: [00:00:30] Heinze.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:31] Heinze. Got it. Megan Heinze here in the booth. I’m so excited to talk to you. Because you were just saying you’re the co-host here.

Mega Heinze: [00:00:38] Yes, I am the co-host. This was amazing. This year, we had over a thousand attendees at the Georgia Technology Summit. And what is even more amazing to me is that how quickly we all got it together. So 90 days ago, I was nominated again to be the co-host for three years in a row and we didn’t have a staff, uh, tag yet. A brand new staff came on 60 days before the event. So everybody together, the whole entire tag board, um, including the tag staff, got together and kicked off this amazing event. We got the governor to come in, the mayor, Monica Kaufman Pearson, who was just amazing. I heard it was, oh my God, so inspiring. It was inspiring. And the fact that she thought, okay, back in the day, you know, you’re talking about 1973. She’s like, all right, I’m going to get that job. She’s like, all right. Somebody already told me I was bad at the news. I’m going to be a reporter and I’m going to do it however I can. And the fact that she took modeling, she’s like, I’m going to be the best speaker in the world. I’m going to do anything I can. And the fact in 1975, she beat out Oprah Winfrey was just.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:50] Oh, that’s a feather in her cap. I imagine I would take that as a large feather in my cap.

Mega Heinze: [00:01:56] I think she does. But she gets really upset because Oprah always digs into her like, oh, you took my job. Oh.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:03] Well, listen, she was where she was supposed to be looking at how successful she’s been and some of the adversity that she’s had. Um, just knowing that even though she’s somewhat retired, you know, she still is affecting the world in a positive way. It is inspiring.

Mega Heinze: [00:02:17] Absolutely. Um, I think there’s two things on that is one is also talking about what’s important from a news perspective to making sure that you actually know where you’re getting your news from. And then the second thing, being a powerful woman as well. So yesterday I thought was really interesting. She talked to 350 women at the Cherokee, um, and Country Club, and she was talking about breast cancer awareness. And today, you know, this month, the month of March is women. Um, and one of the things that I think is important is a lot of people forget about breast cancer awareness. Um, a lot of us just don’t think about it. I’m also a breast cancer survivor as well. And she’s 27 years. I’m only three years. Well, congratulations. Well thank you, but it’s not about that. But women need to be advocates for their own health. And oftentimes we don’t because we’re worried about our kids. We’re worried about jobs. We’re worried about everybody else but ourselves. And at the end of the day, if you’re not healthy, it’s just like when you’re on the plane, if you don’t put that oxygen mask on first, you got to take care of yourself first.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:20] It’s true. I love that there’s that promotion of helping each other and reminding each other how those are important things to keep track of. You’re right, it’s very easy for most people, like in our in an industry, even technology industry, no matter what, you’re putting other people and other thoughts ahead of yourself. I mean, I love the fact that you are like, I’m going to dig in to make this work this year and I’m going to get people together. I don’t care what it costs me. And look at how successful you’ve been now, like having this over a thousand attendees. It’s incredible.

Mega Heinze: [00:03:50] Yes, we sold out, so we had 1175. Holy cow.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:55] Could you believe it? I’m thinking how stressful that must have been 90 days ago to not even have any of this put together. And then now you’re looking around at. Yeah, all the people’s lives that you’re affecting.

Mega Heinze: [00:04:06] So the hotel was just finished. I don’t know if you know that I didn’t. So when I went to go visit in January, I was a little bit nervous. Uh, but they said John Lennon sang here, you’re going to be fine, because that last year at the Georgia World Congress Center and the acoustics were terrible at the very beginning, it sounded like we were all the adults from peanuts, and I wanted to make sure the acoustics were perfect. And so I came down here. I had just had knee surgery, so I had a big brace on and crutches because I wanted to make sure this was the best place to have it. And it is.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:39] Look at you. Look how much you’re accomplishing. You know, even putting putting things that are important for yourself, you know, kind of aside so that you can really make sure that this is as successful as it possibly can be.

Mega Heinze: [00:04:51] Well, when I sign up for something, I want to make sure it’s successful.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:53] Well it is, don’t you feel like it is? I mean, it’s so impressive.

Mega Heinze: [00:04:57] Yes, it is successful and. Again, I just want to thank everybody that helped out. I mean, we have our sponsors, we have the fabulous tag board, the fabulous people that work at Tag, but even the employees of the Signia Hotel, I mean, they were just phenomenal when I was walking around here saying, we’ll help you with anything you need. And I love that. And the fact that you guys are here too, just promoting us, we really appreciate it.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:19] How long have you been associated with Tag?

Mega Heinze: [00:05:21] So I joined in December of 2020 and you know, during Covid and I was like, I need to meet people. So right before Covid, I closed my offices here in March of 2020. Um, but that was already thought of because there was only 60 people in the area. And I was like, okay, we’re going to save some money. Well, I didn’t know that I wasn’t going to be able to travel after I know.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:44] Right. That was the exact moment, right? Ground zero of pandemic.

Mega Heinze: [00:05:48] So I joined the board in 2020, December 2020. And right away they said, okay, you get to be the content chair for the Georgia Technology Summit. And I guess they liked my content so well that for three years in a row now, I’ve been the co-host for the Georgia Technology Summit, uh, which has been phenomenal. I mean, it’s just a great way to meet people through the Technology Association of Georgia and all the different societies. You know, really when we say we’re like networking, engaging, etc., I think it’s important because we all learn from each other.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:22] It’s true. Is there anything been surprising to you this year that you’ve seen with vendors or with some of the speakers in terms of technology?

Mega Heinze: [00:06:32] I think Daryl with the artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence is so big this year after ChatGPT and while watching the video grow, etc., there’s so much focus on it. Um, and the fact that, you know, he’s a little bit more like, okay, yes, there’s 50% of us that are fine with technology and artificial intelligence, the other 50% are not fine with it. A few years ago, which is funny, at the Georgia Technology Summit, you know, I was talking about content. I did lead the panel on the rise of the machines and artificial intelligence. No kidding. So it’s kind of funny that we’re going full circle, that people are now really, really talking about it. Yeah. It’s so pervasive, isn’t it?

Sharon Cline: [00:07:12] It’s kind of everywhere as it is. Um, well, that’s actually really exciting to see that, how much you’re able to promote something that is affecting so many people’s lives, you know. Yes.

Mega Heinze: [00:07:24] And people don’t realize it, that artificial intelligence and machine learning has been there forever. Um, so it’s not a brand new concept. We’ve had it for a long time, but people don’t realize it. Not really. Until ChatGPT came out was like really public awareness, which is kind of crazy. But we’ve had machine learning and artificial intelligence for a very long time, and it gets better every single day. Um, yeah, it could be scary. But as Daryl said from Gartner, if you put some governance around it, you can control it.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:53] What would make this feel like a complete home run of an event for you?

Mega Heinze: [00:07:57] I want everybody to post on their social media that they came, um, and they’re back here next year. And I hopefully every single vendor that we see here today will be back next year as well. Um, you know, that’s to me is that if there’s that engagement from the day you leave here to all the way to next year, um, that would be exciting. And that you want to join the Technology Association of Georgia?

Sharon Cline: [00:08:22] You know, it’s I think you might be needing a bigger space at some point, given that you sold out this year, and it just gets bigger and bigger every year. How exciting. Yes. Well, I mean, you’re doing good work. You’re working really hard. You’re encouraging people to have an open minds about the different ways technology affects our lives. And so I thank you so much for for being such an advocate for not just the vendors, but for people like the average people who lives are going to be affected, whether we’re ready or not, with the technology that’s coming.

Mega Heinze: [00:08:50] Absolutely. Thank you.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:52] You’re welcome. And thank you all again for, uh, tuning in. And we will have our next, uh, interview in just a little bit from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Sam Reagin, CoreSite

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:20] And we are broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024. We are so excited to have another vendor here. This is Sam Reagin from CoreSight. And what’s really cool about your company is that what we’re talking about a lot of times is an actual product that people can touch or purchase exactly to be able to use on their home computers. But you’ve got something kind of a different concept here that I’m kind of curious about. Tell me about it. Yeah.

Sam Reagin: [00:00:48] So CoreSight is a data center company. We have two data centers here in Atlanta. We’re in 11 markets around the country, and we have 28 data centers total. So what we sell really is a very simple product. It’s space and power for business customers to put their IT equipment, servers, storage, that kind of stuff in a data center that allows them to have access to carriers, uh, cloud infrastructure that they can then build their, uh, data center products within, within our data centers.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:21] Right. So it’s like you were saying, you’re selling real estate, which is an interesting concept when we’re talking about technology. Yeah.

Sam Reagin: [00:01:27] So we’re a real estate investment trust. And really we do sell real estate. We sell, you know, uh, for real estate investment trusts, the important thing is to deploy capital. So they raise capital, they deploy that capital and they charge rent. So, you know, instead of doing a big, uh, you know, mall or, uh, uh, rental property, we do data centers.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:49] Does it just grow exponentially year after year?

Sam Reagin: [00:01:53] Uh, basically the the if you think about it, the metric that everyone talks about is the the amount of data in the world doubles every year. Holy cow. So it doubles every year. So if you think about just yourself, how much more pictures do you take? How much more storage do you need on your iPhone every time you upgrade it? Data doubles every year.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:12] So here you are at the Technology Summit. How long have you been associated with the Technology Association of Georgia?

Sam Reagin: [00:02:18] Uh, I’ve been through a couple of different companies for over the last ten years.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:22] Wow, that’s a long time. You must have seen a lot of changes over the years, haven’t you?

Sam Reagin: [00:02:25] I have, it’s a great organization. It’s a really good way from a sales person perspective, which is what I am, to meet new people and meet prospects and to network.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:34] So how long have you been in the industry then? It’s been over ten years.

Sam Reagin: [00:02:37] Yeah. So I’ve been in the industry for 30 years plus. Wow. Um, you know, started mostly in telecom and worked my way into data centers.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:45] So here you are at the summit. You’re meeting a whole bunch of other people that are obviously in the same industry as you. Is anything surprised you as you’ve been here this year?

Sam Reagin: [00:02:53] You know, I’ve been able to meet with two prospects that I’ve been trying to get in touch with over the last, you know, two months. Both of them just showed up at the booth and said, hello. So what are the. That was awesome.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:05] That’s what’s the benefit of having this organization. And yeah, and being part of the summit. So tell me about American Tower.

Sam Reagin: [00:03:11] So American Tower is our parent company. Uh, there are the largest real estate, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the world. They own cell phone towers. We own about 50,000 cell phone towers in the United States. We? Oh, we own 180,000 towers of globally. So it’s a it’s a company you’ve never heard of before, but it’s a $100 billion market cap company.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:33] What do you think people don’t know about your industry?

Sam Reagin: [00:03:36] You know, I think most people don’t know where their data is stored. So, you know, if they’re if they’re a customer of AWS or Google or, you know, uh, Azure, Microsoft Azure, they don’t really know where their data is stored. If so, what I always tell people is, you know, the cloud lives in our data centers. So in most cases that’s not exactly true. Those guys Google, Microsoft and Amazon have their own data centers, but it’s the same concept.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:03] So how do you feel that, um, artificial intelligence is affecting your industry?

Sam Reagin: [00:04:08] Artificial intelligence for the data center industry is great, mainly because if you think about the standard we have today for equipment that people put in these racks that we sell, that we, you know, lease to them, it’s usually 5 to 10kW, uh, per rack, but the AI racks are 20 to 40kW. So for us, it’s really just we can pack more equipment into the data centers that we have as long as we can get the power.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:36] So you were talking about native Onramps. What is a native onramp?

Sam Reagin: [00:04:40] So one of the things that makes that’s one of the things that makes Corsette unique, is that we have gone through the process to have these cloud companies Google, Microsoft, uh, AWS, Alibaba, Oracle, IBM, they build what’s called a cloud on ramp within our data center. And that’s really a direct connection from our customers in that data center directly into the cloud. So it’s just like instead of having to go to the public internet to get to your AWS instance, you can get to your instance directly from our data center into into the cloud. We also have built a private software defined network that connects all of our data centers together, and also connects. So you can buy in Atlanta. We don’t have a direct connect yet for AWS, but you can direct connect in in Virginia or in Chicago or in Los Angeles. So it allows customers to have a lot of times if they’re a big AWS user, they want an East presence and a central and a West or East and West. We can offer them that on this private network.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:41] Do you, um, how do you, uh, navigate, um, security in this, in this technology?

Sam Reagin: [00:05:49] So for us security, we are we’re very big on compliance. So we’re there’s a industry standard called Soc2 type two, where a soc2 type two data center. Really for us, it’s more physical security because we don’t actually touch customer’s data. We they bring their own servers and storage and stuff and put it into our racks, but we don’t touch any of that stuff.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:09] That’s so interesting, isn’t it?

Sam Reagin: [00:06:10] Yeah. So what we do is provide security as far as perimeter security. So fences around our around our data centers, then actual security people in each data center and then, you know, things like what used to be called a mantrap. Now it’s a security vestibule where you go into one door. That other door has to stop. You have to use your badge. So we use badge and bio. So it’s, uh, it’s like in the.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:29] Movies, right?

Sam Reagin: [00:06:30] Yep. It’s like a bat scanning the retina. Uh, some data centers do use retina scan. We use. We use fingerprints.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:36] Oh, wow. So that’s amazing, actually. You know, it’s funny you say that because, of course, it’s conceptual. Like, oh, my pictures are in the cloud. But if something actually happens to that cloud, so to speak, then my pictures are technically gone.

Sam Reagin: [00:06:49] They are. Or you might not have access to them for a couple of days until they, you know, restore.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:53] Are there backups to the backups to the backups?

Sam Reagin: [00:06:55] Yep. That’s all to our customers do that though. We only provide, like I said, so a very simple business model, just space and power and interconnect.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:02] What are you hoping to accomplish here at the.

Sam Reagin: [00:07:05] For me it’s I’m in sales. So for me it’s really just, you know, having good conversations with either people at, you know, prospects or, you know, just anybody. Right. Just tell the story. Make sure they know we’re here. Make sure they know about us. As a company.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:19] Where would you like to see yourself in five years? Ten years? What would you like to see your company grow to do.

Sam Reagin: [00:07:24] So our company is continuing to grow, right? We’re in a very big growth mode. So we’re looking at this, what we’re calling in the next five years a double double. We’re going to double the size of the company and then double it again in the next five years. So that’s what we’re looking for.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:37] Oh my goodness. Sounds like you’re in the right place. Right time right people around you. Yeah.

Sam Reagin: [00:07:42] It’s a really fun job here in Atlanta.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:44] You’re here in Atlanta here in Atlanta.

Sam Reagin: [00:07:45] So I’m yeah, I’m here in Atlanta. And I am the salesperson for the two data centers that we have here.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:51] Wow. Well, I mean, I feel like I kind of know a little bit more than I did five minutes ago. Well, I feel a little smarter. Listen, I appreciate that, because you’re right. I actually never really thought about the physical location because everything is so conceptual with a cloud. It’s in the cloud or it’s out there in the universe somewhere. Right. But you actually have a physical location that you protect.

Sam Reagin: [00:08:10] Exactly. So clouds live in data centers.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:13] Who’s your ideal customer, then?

Sam Reagin: [00:08:14] Our ideal customer. We you know, we are, uh, we sell to all sizes of customers. So everything from a startup company that only has one rack of equipment up to customers that buy megawatts. So for us, it’s really just technology focused customers that need to have space and power.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:33] Well, maybe next year when you come in, your company is doubled in size. What? No. Next year, five years, five years, doubled. Doubled. Doubled in size. You’ll have your own little wing. There you go. We’ll come by. Well, I can’t thank you enough for sitting down with us and giving us kind of a glimpse into what it’s like to be you and your business. Thank you very.

Sam Reagin: [00:08:48] Much for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:49] You’re welcome. And we’ll be back shortly with more interviews at the Georgia Technology Summit 2020 for.

Elkanah Reed, WORKOPTI

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:20] And we are broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 down in Atlanta, Georgia, the heart of downtown. And we’ve got another interview we’re excited to have in our booth. Elkanah Reed with work opti. I don’t know anything about WORKOPTI. Tell me about your company.

Elkanah Reed: [00:00:39] Okay, well very quickly, what WORKOPTI does is that we allow leaders to see it and solve it. How we do that is that work? Opti is technology that will connect into your tenant. So typically the tenant in a mid-market company or an enterprise is going to be like a Microsoft, a uh, Google, GCP, AWS and all downstream SaaS to pull all the information leaders need into one dashboard utilizing AI so that they can see it and solve it.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:12] So you’re giving them more control.

Elkanah Reed: [00:01:14] And more visibility and accountability, because not only are we showing what is being done, but who’s doing it.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:21] Well, my goodness, you’re in the right place here at the Georgia Technology Summit.

Elkanah Reed: [00:01:25] I am really blessed because not only, um, am I blessed to be surrounded by such innovators and such luminaries like Kyle Porter of Salesloft and David Cummings. But work was selected as one of the top 40 innovative companies in Georgia this year.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:43] Oh my gosh, you must be so proud.

Elkanah Reed: [00:01:45] Oh no, I’m super proud.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:46] Super proud. How long have you been associated with the Technology Association of Georgia?

Elkanah Reed: [00:01:50] Uh, that’s a good question. A number of years. So last year they selected our company as one of the top five early stage startups in all of Georgia. And then also I was a part of the Tag Pathways to Leadership. So when Doctor Daniels recently was talking on stage about really optimizing every level of the workforce in Georgia, I’m a part of that process.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:10] So how did you come up with the concept of your company?

Elkanah Reed: [00:02:12] That’s a very good question. So this company actually came out of a different company. So in 2020 I had built a branded content workflow management solution. So I’m also a CTO and I have two kids under the age of six, five year old, four year old. They need to eat, so I need to sell it. So I’m meeting with executives in what I’ll call high Covid. And normally meetings that would be in person were now online. And executives at places like Viacom, CBS, now known as Paramount Network, C-suite leaders at PepsiCo were saying, Elkanah, I’m getting 65 page PDF documents expected to log into multiple video meetings. And I’m not necessarily getting the information that I need easily to make decisions. I like an aspect of that branded content workflow management system that you built, which was a Kanban board at its core, but I would love to use it for strategy. And so as I heard, all of these leaders tell me that across sectors, I was like, maybe there’s something here. So I decided, well, if you will use it for free and let me monitor you by you having a meeting with me once a week, 15 minutes to let me understand how you want to manage your strategy using my technology. Then I can actually build a solution to help you see it and solve it. So we did that, gave it out to leaders at places like Amazon, Adidas, Twitter produced over 55 case studies, and our software has been proven to increase productivity by 93% and decrease meetings by 25% on average for 93%.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:50] Yeah.

Elkanah Reed: [00:03:50] Outliers. We’ve seen them increase their productivity by like 115% others. You know, some people are decreasing meetings by 40%. You know. And what that really means is that literally if you’ve got. Five meetings. Two of them don’t belong there. We’re trying to find those two that don’t belong.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:09] So who’s your ideal client? Let’s say I come to you and I’m your ideal client. Describe me.

Elkanah Reed: [00:04:16] So my ideal client is the growth minded functional executive. So they’re a business unit leader at a mid-sized or large enterprise. And they understand that if I don’t have alignment, this business doesn’t grow. So they’re already proactively investing in technology. They may not be technical, but they understand that if I can see it. Then I can solve it. And so with a simple Kanban board we’re talking like three columns to do in progress. Done. Our software is a very approachable. So we can go in and solve some really hard technical problems like edge computing, really connecting everything within the business. But the leader can see it in a way where it’s very accessible. And so we’re looking for those people that really want to make innovation pay. That’s your ideal client.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:12] Gotcha. And it’s interesting too, because you’re talking about technology that’s growing and growing and growing every year.

Elkanah Reed: [00:05:17] Exactly. Exponentially, exponentially, especially in the age of AI. Um, we’re in the business of making AI pay. So it’s not just having generative solutions that will help you write code better or let you summarize meetings. It’s about how does those efficiencies attach to strategy to make you more money. That’s what work is about.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:41] Do you do you feel like there’s something that people don’t really understand about the basic concept of you? What would you want to tell people?

Elkanah Reed: [00:05:49] I love people. That’s really if you really think about me as a person. And that’s a good question. And how I built this company were very relational. One of our greatest relationships that we have was with the Hyperscaler Microsoft. Right? I was recently last week in three cities in five days with them, but it really was the people that caused me to leave. My wife and my kids fly across the US to really connect in person, because it’s really your people that are driving your business, and we want to give you the visibility into people, processes and technology in a simple Kanban board with worked so that you can see it and solve it.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:32] I always think it’s fascinating that technology is so focused on non on computers on, you know, obviously not human brain but how important humans are to this industry. Can you talk a little bit about that.

Elkanah Reed: [00:06:44] So right now we’re here live at the Georgia Technology Summit. Our governor was here. And what you’ll see as the. Connective tissue between all the companies, all the people is a desire to put humanity first. As we build Georgia into a tier one innovation, economy and technology ecosystem. So I would encourage all of the listeners to really start to think about that. If you have a technical problem, who are the people that we can bring around the metaphorical table to have conversations so that collectively we can create solutions?

Sharon Cline: [00:07:29] What are you hoping to get out of the Technology Summit today? What would you what would make it feel like a home run being here today?

Elkanah Reed: [00:07:36] Honestly, I’ve already had a home run. I’ve been able to authentically connect with leaders across sectors and have some really good conversations around what the future of AI looks like within enterprises. But then also, I just want to be open to serendipity. So like as long as I’m having continuous serendipity today, it’s a home run.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:01] And that’s, you know, that has nothing to do with computers, does it has nothing to do with technology. Really?

Elkanah Reed: [00:08:05] Exactly. I am an interesting type of CTO. I’m getting laughs here.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:13] Yeah, but isn’t that your unique selling product?

Elkanah Reed: [00:08:15] Exactly. Because I love people.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:17] Yeah, people are still the heart of what we’re doing. Exactly. Protecting and helping. Um, I always think about what you’re talking about with AI, you know, are there concerns about nefarious people using AI in ways that are are not going to be beneficial?

Elkanah Reed: [00:08:33] No. Of course. And so, like, I think of AI as something that needs to be continuously monitored. And so it’s important that we as leaders take a responsible scope to how we deploy AI. So I’m actually working with like some of the foremost AI ethicists to make sure in how we develop AI solutions here at work and how we deploy them is in line with ethical standards that we believe are going to become paramount, like globally, especially with what’s coming out of Europe.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:09] You’re still talking about humans, too. It’s like you’re talking about the monitoring is actually human brains.

Elkanah Reed: [00:09:14] No, exactly. We need that. Like. And the interesting thing about artificial intelligence, and I believe Daryl from Gartner alluded to it, is that AI does not work without humans. We’ve done studies that once you have an AI feeding an AI, there is a high amount of hallucinations. Basically it lies. So what’s going to be its truth, though? Um, what’s going to be essential is that the human input remains consistent. And so if we can insert our humanity into this new age of technology or this new paradigm, I think we’re going to get as much value as we got from the smartphone.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:57] When you’re talking about lying, are you referring to the fact that a computer decided to lie in order to get bypass the Captcha code?

Elkanah Reed: [00:10:06] No, I’m talking about lying. As in like so. A GPT GPT generative pre-trained transformer right chat GPT can only aggregate data from the internet. It does not know whether that data is true or not. Yes, that’s what I mean by lie.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:24] Yeah, it’s not actively lying. It’s just grabbing what it could be. True or not true. And no one’s monitoring that.

Elkanah Reed: [00:10:28] And it’s about exactly. It’s about the human saying, you know what? That’s not true. That’s not even factual.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:36] All right, well, where would you like to see your company in five years? When we come here with Business RadioX booth. Where are you going to be, huh? With your big team.

Elkanah Reed: [00:10:43] Oh, no.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:44] No, no, with your team.

Elkanah Reed: [00:10:45] That that is going to be the blessing. So, like, right now we’re in 2024. So we’re talking like 2029. So we’re got the 2029. We’re doing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue close to $1 billion. And we’ve created ten x value for our customers.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:05] All right. The Georgia Technology Summit 2029 Sharon will be the COO. Sorry I had to throw that in there. That’s cool. I’m excited. I’m excited to see where you go. I mean, you clearly are making huge strides in this industry. It’s very exciting. Are you an Atlanta native? Georgia native?

Elkanah Reed: [00:11:25] Oh, that’s a good question. I went to Morehouse College on a full academic scholarship. Congrats to Morehouse. Um, but I am a New York native, so native grew up in New York, married my eighth grade prom date. She also was a New Yorker.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:37] This is so sweet.

Elkanah Reed: [00:11:38] No, she is the love of my life, the co-founder of my family and all that I do. And actually, the reason that I’m still here in Georgia, because she made the executive decision. We got back in 2019 that my kids have a backyard. Um, and we’re coming from LA and New York. Um, so Georgia is amazing. And then being integrated into the Technology Association of Georgia, I am incubated over at, uh, Atlanta Tech Village under Ali and David Cummings. These ecosystems allow me to believe that we can HQ in Georgia and fan out. So like I’m big on Georgia. I love it well.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:15] And also promote a healthy family environment, you know.

Elkanah Reed: [00:12:18] 100% like I do this for my wife and my kids, and I want other people to have the same ability to create the family that they want to. And I think that it’s important that as it’s already been shared here, that we have the jobs of the future that can create the economy of the future.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:36] Well, this is so exciting. It’s I’m excited to see where you’re going to be next year and in 2029 as well. If there’s anything that Business RadioX can do to help promote your company. And if we’re we can be any, any kind of help to you. That’s our that’s our joy. So just having you here today, giving us an insight in what it’s like to be you, it’s been so much fun for us. Thank you.

Elkanah Reed: [00:12:56] Oh, thank you for this moment. And, um, I look forward to continuing to be a guest on business radio. This is fun, and I’m excited for how you all tell the stories of leaders at every phase.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:08] It’s one of our. The best things about Business RadioX is like from the smallest to the biggest companies, we don’t care. We’re just happy. People are following their dreams, believing in what they want. The American Dream.

Elkanah Reed: [00:13:19] 100%.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:20] Well, thank you so much, I really appreciate thank you so very much.

Elkanah Reed: [00:13:23] This is amazing. Yeah, this is great.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:25] We’ll be we’ll we’ll be back shortly with the Georgia Technology Summit 2024.

Renee Bourbeau, Kennesaw State University

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:20] And we are broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 here in downtown Atlanta. So excited to have something near and dear to my heart, which is Kennesaw State University, where I got my degree. We are excited to interview Renee Bourbeau. Tell me how you’re associated with the Georgia Technology Summit.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:00:40] Sharon, thanks so much. And hootie hoo.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:42] Hootie hoo.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:43] Our alum,

Sharon Cline: [00:00:45] My daughter’s an alum as well. This is very exciting for me. So.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:00:48] Oh great. Well it’s a pleasure to be here. We are so proud to partner with Technology Association of Georgia and be here at the summit. We believe obviously in innovation and technology advancements and with artificial intelligence as well.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:03] So it’s interesting because I get emails sometimes about the fact that you have this artificial intelligence and digital marketing program that you can sign up for, and I think you completed in nine weeks, 12 weeks, something like that. It just seems like such a great place to go. If you’re looking for a new way to be involved in this digital technology landscape.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:01:23] For sure. We have a variety of certificates at Coles College of Business, the second largest business school in the state of Georgia, I might add. And in addition to that, we also, for our MBA, have a new concentration in digital marketing.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:01:38] So we are really making an effort to incorporate artificial intelligence into all of our existing concentrations. And with digital marketing coming online in the fall and information security and assurance and also entrepreneurship and innovation.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:53] So I graduated in 2012, 12 years ago. Technology has changed so much in that time. What are you seeing as the main ways that technology is changing, not only in the business sense, but in as as a student?

Renee Bourbeau: [00:02:07] Well, that’s a great question. I mean, obviously technology and with the advancements in artificial intelligence and business intelligence or business analytics, um, there’s really something for everyone, regardless of your hard skill set. Um, I somewhat levels the playing field in terms of hard skills and coding skills. And so we’re really seeing that students have an opportunity, whatever their forte is, to sort of pursue that, um, as it relates to technology. And so I do believe that there’s an opportunity for MBAs to capitalize on their notorious soft skills, um, by incorporating AI to maybe bridge some gaps.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:47] Well, so you were in the perfect place in order to kind of be right on the cutting edge here at the Georgia Technology Summit to see what, um, different ways they’re being used as well. Correct?

Renee Bourbeau: [00:02:57] Absolutely. And, um, just came from the generative AI panel, which was standing room only and very interesting. And, um, one of my key takeaways from it is, um, the ability for the mastery of language to be kind of an emerging major asset and skill. And, and I wholeheartedly agree with that.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:19] So you were saying, like the mastery of language in terms of prompts that you use?

Renee Bourbeau: [00:03:23] Yes, prompts. And of course, using that language to research, uh, in order to get the correct answer, um, of course, we need to have that maybe domain expertise to know what the correct answer is. But I believe that an MBA can also ultimately help someone achieve that.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:40] So is that what you do at Kennesaw is you help to promote all of all of the advanced technologies that we’re using these days.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:03:46] We do. I mean, we really we partner with industry. We have an advisory board full of industry experts on these topics, and we listen to them. We stay curious. We embrace innovation. We want to provide a qualified workforce, uh, to really help, I would say local businesses to hire local.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:08] Wow. That’s I mean, it’s so encouraging. That doesn’t mean you have to be global. You can still affect people that are directly around you in your geographic area.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:04:17] Yeah. For sure. I mean, Kennesaw State is largely, uh, regional in population. Of course, we do have the MBA, the web MBA, where a student can ultimately be anywhere and join in virtually. But most of our students for the evening, MBA and executive MBA are in person with a high flex option. And so we are attracting students from the regional area.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:39] It’s kind of nice, like, you know, to be able to go somewhere and know that someone graduated from KSU like I did, it’s kind of like, I don’t know, heartwarming to me. I’m like, look, we went through the same kind of experience and the football team doing so well and just seeing things grow. It’s I mean, it’s the second largest university in Georgia these days, right?

Renee Bourbeau: [00:04:56] Yeah, absolutely. And last year our basketball team was in March Madness. For the first time, so that was very exciting as well. But, you know, it’s interesting as I walk around the the expo hall here today at the TAG summit, everyone that I interact with knows someone either in their family or friend who went to Ccsu, and it just really makes me proud.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:16] So how long have you has Kennesaw been associated with Tag?

Renee Bourbeau: [00:05:21] Uh, for several years. And we expect that the the relationship will continue to grow. Um, of course, we also have a new degree, a master’s degree in AI coming online through the College of Computing, which we’re excited about as well. That will probably be down in the Marietta campus.And so we see a lot of opportunities, a lot of synergies here.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:40] What are you seeing as you’re here that has been very surprising at the summit? Is there anything that you’re sort of like, oh, we need to be be more involved in this? Because that’s what’s cool about the summit is, is seeing kind of cutting edge technologies and what’s happening these days. Um, that is never even something that’s in my mind, I couldn’t imagine.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:05:59] Great question. I think there is a slight return to relationship building. Uh, I really picking up on that today. I mean, and just in recent months, people are happy to be back in person. They’re happy to be in the same room with one another, maybe reconnecting with old friends or making new friends, new partnerships or relationships. So I I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by that today. But, um, you know, just being a technology summit, I wasn’t sure what to expect with that, but, um, you know, happy to see that here. And I see that to continue.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:32] We have been talking to some of the other vendors and people who are participating today about how important it is to still have that human factor, because so many people consider technology as something taking away a job or taking away a human person, but actually it’s still incredibly important. Can you talk about that aspect of technology? Yeah, the human side.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:06:53] Absolutely. I mean, at the end of the day, business is about people. And so having that, you know, whether you’re serving people or whether people are involved in building the business, people are involved. And so it’s really nice to see that partnership with technology. I think this is a great example of that, how people ultimately can fuel advancements. People can feel innovation.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:17] Well, what would make today feel like a very successful day for you? Well, thanks. I mean, I think people just learning a little more about Kennesaw State and learning that Ccsu’s MBA program is committed to innovation, technology, and that we want our students to be prepared with all of the skills that they’re going to need to add value to their employer immediately, or maybe start their own business. They can do that here as well.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:41] So if I were a student considering different colleges, what would you want to tell a student to encourage them to go to KSU?

Renee Bourbeau: [00:07:47] The premium value of KSU is just extraordinary. Our MBA program costs only around $20,000 total, and the return on investment is phenomenal for our students.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:00] Well, I look at myself and I think, and this is the truth, I would not be here on the radio with Stone and Business RadioX had I not gotten my, um, education with Kennesaw State University.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:12] It opened so many doors for me that I never imagined would have happened, and I really do credit it to the school and to the different internships that I was associated with. I have met some of the most wonderful professors, just people. The whole experience was so positive for me. I was sad to leave. I didn’t want to be a career, you know, student, but I definitely was sad to leave it behind because I felt like I really got so much from my value as a student there. I really did.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:08:39] Well, Sharon, I don’t think we could have a better testimonial.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:42] Oh well, it’s the truth. I’m a huge fan and now I have a really great magnet that I can put on the back of my Prius that says, Hootie hoo! I’m so excited you don’t know.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:08:54] It’s a pleasure to be here. Great to meet you.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:57] Thank you so much for being here and giving us a little insight into what’s happening behind the scenes at Kennesaw State University. So much to look forward to as technology continues to evolve, and I can’t wait to come back and hopefully see what else is on the horizon for you all.

Renee Bourbeau: [00:09:10] Absolutely. Come check us out anytime.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:12] Well, thank you all too for listening at this latest interview at the Georgia Technology Summit. We’ll be back.

Noelle London, Illoominus

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:06] Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024 at the Signia Hotel in Atlanta. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:20] And we are back from the Georgia Technology Summit 2024. Stone Payton, Sharon Cline here with you. They let us out of the studio to come and mix and mingle with some smart, passionate folks. We’re kind of winding it down. I feel like we’re we’re hitting our home stretch. And, uh, we have had some marvelous conversations. This is going to be no exception. Please join me in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone with Illoominus, Ms. Noelle London. How have you been doing?

Noelle London: [00:00:51] Well, it’s been a minute and it’s really fun to be back.

Stone Payton: [00:00:54] Well, you’re looking great. You’re sounding great. I get the idea that you’ve had a very productive day here.

Noelle London: [00:01:00] Yeah, yeah, we, uh, just got off the stage. Um, we were a part of the top ten companies that were pitching, and so, um, just got off the stage, and so you’re you’re catching me. But I’m, uh, excited to be here, and, um, it’s really fun to hear about all of the amazing technology that’s being created in Georgia, um, just across so many different industries and, and applications.

Stone Payton: [00:01:26] So I’m so humbled and inspired at the same time. We’ve had these marvelous conversations with these 12 year olds. They they come to the microphone and they and they built this company and they sold off that company, and they’re doing this thing.

Noelle London: [00:01:38] I’m going to give a shout out to my eye cream, uh, give them an endorsement. Uh, if you’re saying 12 year olds.

Stone Payton: [00:01:47] Uh, all right. So luminous, tell us a little bit about this outfit. What are y’all doing? Yeah.

Noelle London: [00:01:52] So with the luminous, we’re an Atlanta based company. We are a turnkey people insights platform that essentially sits on top of, integrates and learns from a disparate HR technology stack. We bring that information together and then pair your internal information with companies across the market. So essentially what we’re doing is turnkey people analytics for companies so that they can become more people first and make better strategic air decisions. Wow, what.

Stone Payton: [00:02:24] A noble pursuit. It sounds like a very tall order to me to be able to go out and get that information, um, aggregate it, assimilate it, and then put it in a form that that a layperson like I can actually use to better my company.

Noelle London: [00:02:37] Exactly, exactly. So that piece around so many companies have a lot of different tools that aren’t talking to each other. Um, so they’re not set up for success when you have a dozen different tools and important parts of that data live in different places. So essentially what we’re doing is bringing that information together, making normalizing it. So apples are talking to apples, and then we visualize that data and tell you where to focus your efforts.

Stone Payton: [00:03:04] So if I’m neck deep in an organization, I’m, you know, kind of I’m in the weeds. Right. And I’m and I’m running my, my organization. What are some things that I might see or be on the lookout for that suggest to me that, you know what? We probably ought to have a conversation with Noel. We got we got to we got to be doing better at this and less of this and more of that.

Noelle London: [00:03:24] Yeah, it’s I mean, most organizations that over are over about 500 employees. But those organizations that maybe they just, you know, implemented a new tool and, you know, hey, I’ve got important data living in this tool, but then I’ve got another tool over here that I need to use because I love it and it’s helping me do my work better. Basically, what we’re saying is use all the tools that you want to use that help you do the work best, but we really want to give you that visibility about what’s happening across those tools. So especially if you’ve implemented something new in the last year or so and you’re starting to see some gaps of, hey, this is great for certain parts of the puzzle, but I still have some questions. That’s a great time to come to us. Um, I’d also say, you know, what we notice is a lot of companies are growing through acquisition, especially right now. And so what that means is you want to integrate that company as fast as possible. So being able to bring together those multiple systems from different companies and have them talk to each other and say, say, um, be able to interpret that important information that’s coming through that. That’s another great time to come to us.

Noelle London: [00:04:32] You know, one thing that we’ve really noticed in particular lately is, um, working with companies that have a large front line workforce. So thinking about companies like retail organizations, media and entertainment organizations, those organizations have a large front line workforce. Um, it also is really hard for organizations to retain a front line workforce. Right now, you think about a retailer, you know, sometimes they’re losing up to 70. Percent of their workforce every single 90 days, they might lose someone for a store across the street that’s paying $2 more per hour. So really understanding that’s expensive to a business to hire someone, train someone onboard someone. So really being able to look at how do we keep our high performers, how do we better understand what makes these employees tick? Um, so that, you know, by being able to use something like an illuminous platform where you’re able to understand which sources of candidates are more likely to stay longer. So I know to double down in those areas, or if I’m having issues and I’m noticing that I’m having hot spots of attrition, can I start to pull in that engagement data, those surveys, to really understand why individuals might be leaving. So I can solve for the root causes?

Stone Payton: [00:05:48] Well, if you guys were anywhere near this articulate about what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and why in these presentations you described, uh, I think you’re going to go away with the trophy or.

Noelle London: [00:06:00] I think you have about four more minutes of voting. So, uh, we want to send out your show notes, get your votes in, everyone go vote.

Stone Payton: [00:06:08] So. But what has that experience been like? And the reason I’m asking is I got to believe, you know, win, lose or draw, just living through that experience and helping you solidify your own thinking and crystallizing, uh, the way that you articulate the value that you’re bringing that has to have its own rewards. Just participating in the process.

Noelle London: [00:06:26] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this has been a, uh, yeah, a long time coming. I think that you and I had the chance to talk some years ago when we were working on another project with, uh, one of your friends from Georgia State, Lexie Newhouse. But, um, you know, this is, uh, it’s, uh, been been a long time coming of knowing, you know, uh, just waiting on what’s the right thing that we want to go solve for. What’s the thing we want to wake up every single day and, uh, and try and solve.

Stone Payton: [00:06:57] So you’ve got that on your plate while you’re here. But, uh, I’m also operating under the impression that you’re here to connect, build relationships, uh, continue to to cultivate existing relationships. Have you had an opportunity to focus on that yet? Yet much?

Noelle London: [00:07:11] Yeah, we have a, um, a booth as a part of the tag, uh, Technology Summit. And so it’s been a great opportunity for us to show our platform, um, and show the capabilities of what we have. We have some fun, uh, swag over there, you know, matches of lighting the way first to people, first workplaces. So, um, it’s been fun. We also have, um, we have a community. So I talked a little bit about the software, uh, and the technology platform that we have to support organizations. Another thing that we do at Illuminous is we have a community of people, leaders that we bring together regularly to share their expertise and to share best practices. Because a lot of the times within organizations, people are sometimes feeling like they’re on their own. You know, I’m I’m dealing with attrition in my frontline workers. Is this number good? Is it bad? I have no idea. And so it’s really important to, um, you know, bring those leaders together so that they can support each other. So our head of community, Courtney Bird Swafford, um, she’s here with us today. Um, and so we’re talking a little bit about some of the upcoming events that we have on May 1st, bringing together a couple of different communities of people leaders here in Atlanta. Uh, and then we also have a webinar upcoming on May 16th on root causes of attrition. So in addition to talking about the technology, because we are at a technology summit, of course, we’re also just talking about how we can bring leaders together so they don’t feel so alone as they’re going through some of these key challenges in their organizations.

Stone Payton: [00:08:40] And it strikes me that if you can impact retention even just a little bit, and it sounds to me like you can impact it a lot, but even if you can just impact it a little bit, it must have tremendous implications for the for the bottom line. You are.

Noelle London: [00:08:52] So right. And I think that, um, you know, so much of the expense when you think about an HR budget is on hiring someone, training them, onboarding them, and especially if you’re thinking about someone’s not staying 100 days, that’s an extremely high budget, um, to be spending for people to walk straight out the door. So sometimes what we find within retailers, um, is it’s up to about 3% of their annual store revenue. Um, is the cost of this frontline worker attrition. So even if you think about a small family owned grocer that’s out of North Carolina, that’s a $2 billion company. I mean, that’s $100 million plus issue every single year. And so if an organization is saying, hey, this is a problem, I’m going to stand up a team to try and solve this for me. Uh, we’re going to stand up our own kind of visualization of that tool that’s a year later that that’s oftentimes going to be implemented, and that’s $100 million later even for that midsize company. So absolutely has business impacts. And I think that that’s something that’s really, um, important to us. Um, and what we’re seeing with our customers, you know, we work with people first organizations. And those organizations realize that there is a direct correlation between their people’s experience and their overall business productivity and the overall, you know, performance of the business as well. So we’re really helping to tell that story because I think that anecdotally, we know that there’s a linkage there. Um, and now because we’re able to bring that business data together with the people data, we’re able to tell that story.

Stone Payton: [00:10:38] Well, and you tell it extremely well. Is that your formal role in the organization or do you wear some other hats as well?

Noelle London: [00:10:45] We wear all the hats. We’re an early stage company, right? Right. Uh, yeah. So I’m founder and CEO of the company. And so that means, uh, we do a little bit of everything.

Stone Payton: [00:10:54] And take out the trash. Yeah.

Noelle London: [00:10:56] Oh, yeah. My favorite is, uh, you know, you get a lot of inbound emails when you have the, the title of CEO. And so my favorite inbound is, uh, asking me whether we need janitorial services. I was like, you’re going to take my job. You know, that’s what I do.

Stone Payton: [00:11:11] So what do you feel like it has meant for you and your team to be a part of Tag?

Noelle London: [00:11:16] Yeah. I mean, I think that building in Atlanta, it’s, um. It’s a special place. Um, I moved here about six years ago to actually work with the mayor’s office of helping to attract, uh, technology startups to move to Atlanta. And, um, you know, I think that Atlanta’s a very special place to build and that we have so many companies here across so many different industries. And so, as you are, um, thinking about, you know, getting to product market fit, finding your ideal customers, you get so much exposure by being in Atlanta. And, you know, organizations like Tag with bringing people together so that you’re getting that feedback from potential customers. It’s really invaluable. Um, so this is a great, uh, event and example of that of, um, you know, bringing, uh, people are, you know, just kind of a couple of, uh, points of separation away and, uh, tagged as a great job of bringing us together in Atlanta.

Stone Payton: [00:12:14] So I got to confess to you, I was kind of hitting my afternoon low. I was seeking out a cup of coffee, maybe some dessert. But you’ve got me re-energized. Now I’m ready to attack the world. It’s such an inspiring story. It’s so fun to to follow what you’re doing. Congratulations on the momentum, and thanks for coming and visiting with us. And, uh, we’ll be listening intently here in a little while. But regardless of how that vote comes out, you’ve, uh, you’ve accomplished so much in such a short period of time and really appreciate you sharing your insight and your perspective.

Noelle London: [00:12:44] Absolutely. Thanks for helping to tell the story of, uh, innovators like ourselves. It matters and it makes a difference. So appreciate.

Stone Payton: [00:12:52] It. Absolutely. Our pleasure. All right. We’ll be back in a bit at Georgia Technology Summit 2024.