BRX Pro Tip: Hire More People Who Demonstrate Accountability
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BRX Pro Tip: Hire More People Who Demonstrate Accountability
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today’s topic, personal accountability.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:09] Yeah. This is so important to me and it’s so important to your company. When you’re working with people, you have to have people that demonstrate accountability. Accountable people don’t make excuses. They don’t play the blame game. They take responsibility and they have that make-it-happen attitude. And they don’t wait around for someone to tell them what to do. They take action when action needs to be taken. And you have to have a culture that enables that action to be taken in a way that they don’t feel like their job is on the line or that’s not their job to do some of these things. So, that’s the leader’s job to make sure that the culture is right in order for people to feel safe in order to take that accountability. But you also want to attract and hire people who, as their default position, is personal accountability.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:00] And in order to foster this kind of culture, you have to be able to share a clear vision of what is expected. Your people have to understand the outcome you desire, and on both sides of the ledger that the things you expect and most importantly, what you will not tolerate. There has to be a true north. There has to be what is acceptable, what is desired, and what is unacceptable. And if somebody honestly tries something and makes a mistake, you can’t shame the mistake. You can’t tease them about the mistake in a way that makes them afraid to take more risks down the line. You have to role model looking at a mistake as a learning opportunity, not a failure. That’s so important because people are afraid to take action because they’re afraid they’re going to make a mistake, and they’re going to afraid they’re going to get embarrassed or fired for it. So, create a safe culture that allows people to, you know, when their heart’s in the right place, and they’re trying to do the right thing, if they make a mistake, you got to let them know that that’s okay. And finding that right best fit team member is critical to your success. So, always remember you want to hire slowly and fire quickly.
Stone Payton: [00:02:15] Well, and I have a book recommendation on this topic. It’s called The QBQ!. And QBQ stands for the Question Behind the Question. The author is John Miller, a personal friend of mine, a colleague of mine some years back. But I highly recommend getting that book. It’s a quick, easy read. It is chockfull of operational examples of personal accountability, the price you pay when your organization doesn’t have it. It speaks to returning the learning to the organization and cultivating that culture, that environment of personal accountability. But I mean, the fact is, if you can build a culture of personal accountability, you can produce much better results in a lot less time. So, check out that book, The QBQ! By John Miller.
Joe Cianciolo with Front Porch Advisers
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In this special call in episode, Sharon Cline is joined by guest host Joe Cianciolo. They dive into the value of practical advice and how Joe’s work has impacted businesses. They also chat about the significance of finding the right people to complement your strengths in both business and relationships. Also in the studio are Anna Kawar and Rachel Dudash, who share their own experiences and insights.
Sharon and her guests discuss the importance of understanding and meeting the needs of your clients and customers. They emphasize the need to build trust, be authentic, and make well-informed decisions. This episode is packed with practical advice and insights for personal and professional growth.
Joe Cianciolo, Human Capital Strategist with Front Porch Advisers, is a thinker, questioner, planner, goal setter, problem solver, family man, and all-around believer in people.
As a teenager in small town Ohio, he learned early that reaching higher levels of success requires becoming, building and leading from a healthy place of self-awareness.
Joe has helped create missions, achievable strategy, social media content for brands, as well as developing nationwide outreach and local community building platforms. Through it all, he’s discovered that no matter the job, he finds success by leaning on who he is at his natural best.
Each of the amazing opportunities Joe has allows him to understand and build his own human capital. Now Joe gets to share his skills and tools to help others do the same.
Follow Front Porch Advisers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram
Anna Kawar, National Director of Quality Improvement and Impact, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, is a recent transplant to Georgia and originally grew up overseas in Ireland and the Middle East. She has dedicated her career to supporting non-profits from diverse sectors in producing measureable outcomes for the people they serve.
She is passionate about continuous quality improvement, compassionate leadership, and ultimately, bettering the American social sector.
Follow Boys and Girls Club of America on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Rachel Dudash is a newly married, Kennesaw State graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business communication.
She knew her passion was animals early in life and strived to peruse them in every way possible.
She continued her studies with CATCH Dog Training Academy and has been studying dog behavior for 2 years. 
From working at a dog daycare to an animal hospital, she feels right at home with Atlanta Dog Trainer.
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Fearless Formula with Sharon Cline.
[00:00:15] Welcome to Fearless Formula Friday on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. Today is a very special show. I’m so excited because this will be our very first ever call in show and our special guest, I guess guest host, because you are hosting the show too, is Joe Cianciolo of Front Porch Advisors, and he has been on the show in the past. And it’s been those are like one of my favorite shows ever is when we get to talk about the different ways that our personalities lend to positives and some challenges that Joe can give you tips on how to overcome, right, Joe?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:00:56] Sure, I do my best. I do love it. And this is fun to be back here.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:00] Yay. Well, I would love to make this a regular thing. I just think that there are a lot of people out there who have these questions that maybe they have these challenges and they don’t really have the skill set or even know where to turn to to get someone to give them sort of the the, I don’t know, concise answer because you can get a lot of information out there on the Internet. How do you deal with a difficult person or how do you deal with the fact that I freeze or whatever it is, but to have someone give practical in the moment advice I think is really valuable. And I love too, that what you do, Joe, is so quantifiable because you can there is actual dollar amount differences from before you’ve worked with a person and then after. And I just love that because it’s almost like a challenge to get people to understand that this really does help business. You know, you think about it and you’re sure your personality will help in some way benefit, but when you actually can see a number, well, that’s the dream. Okay.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:02:01] Well, yes, I’m quantifying more than just numbers, but understanding sort of the the way in which your rhythms work in your life and the balance of enjoying what you do and being asked to do what you do well and being able to rely on the people around you to to provide the rest because some of them are better at that than you are. Is is amazing. In fact, I had a client today that that was kind of the takeaway was I think we’re finally finding a groove within our team where we are really good at thinking through all the details and they’re really good at dreaming up the future. And now I feel like we can do that without stepping on each other and it’s great. And he said, I realize now that a rewarding work environment is way more important to me than I knew before because I thought I was chasing money only. And yes, money is important when you’re in a job, but so too is being happy to be there. So.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:58] I love that. Also, I wanted to say that Anna Kawar of Boys and Girls Clubs of America is in the studio as well. She has been on my show a couple of times. She was the first person that I interviewed for Fearless Formula, and it was such a great interview. Set the bar so high, Joe, you’re there. You’re there, too, in the bar.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:12] She was on the first one with me.
Sharon Cline: [00:03:14] Oh, that’s right.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:15] If you recall.
Sharon Cline: [00:03:16] That’s so right. I forgot. Oh, it was glorious. It was a great show. I felt like what I really loved is that it was real time work together explaining what you do in a in a way that even Anna now gets to benefit from because she’s part of your program, which is awesome.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:34] Well, and that was that was us being bold. And today is another step for us being bold and realizing that if we don’t put ourselves out there and try something new, what, you know, we don’t know. So that day was Anna was a very, very gracious I don’t know. What do you call when she guinea pig?
Sharon Cline: [00:03:52] A subject guinea pig.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:03:54] I mean, you have to be sometimes in order to to to do what I do or to work with me, you have to be willing to dive deep. You have to be willing to be vulnerable. Yes. And that’s why we do it on our front porch. That’s why it’s Front porch Advisors is a very comforting environment where it is just us. It’s kind of like our porch is designed to hug you and then the trees are in front of you. It’s really nice. And that day showed me what was possible with somebody who was not a client who could ask a question, and we were able to have a whole show about it. Gotcha. Which was great. So I’m curious to see what else, what else can we do? How can we help people? Even the littlest bit, to maybe get them unstuck or help them realize that they keep making the same decisions and the pattern is the same and the outcomes are the same. And maybe they could change one thing and have a whole different.
Sharon Cline: [00:04:48] Do you feel like most this This is something I thought about because I was awake during the night. Sorry, I’m just admitting this now. I was awake during the night and I was thinking about this show and I was wondering how hard is it to convince people that they’re who they think that they are as a leader or a strategist, or the different ways that they lead through their company is actually not their natural default way. And that’s because I think people believe like, I’m the boss, I’m going to power through.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:05:16] Well, it’s often you often hear people say meet people where they are. And I think the way that I do it is I first allow people to understand kind of what they think is going on. And and I actually believe it. There’s nothing wrong with that. But then what I start to look for is I start to look for that one little nugget, a statement, a phrase, their nonverbal cues I look for, I response, I look for all of that. Usually it’s a relaxation in the face or one sentence that they sound very different. And once that happens, then I say, Is it possible that when you said that we tapped into this and then I get a chance to explain to them all that all of them, every set of wires, every pattern has greatness to it and has a purpose. And every single one also is awful if it’s under stress. So there’s no one that’s better than the other. And once you once I can do that, they all realize, Oh, there isn’t one that I have to aspire to. It’s let’s figure out which one is most comfortable, which one’s going to lighten me up, which one do I naturally resort to when I have to or when the chips are down? Or, you know, what’s the ones That just really makes me excited. And that’s where when we had originally talked, we had talked about the quiz and one of the quiz was like, if the house was on fire, what’s your first reaction? And the goal is to find that reaction that makes you feel like, Oh yeah, that’s totally me. Oh, you mean other people don’t do that? Like, No, of course not. Let’s figure out which one you do best and I’ll tell you which one I do best. And then we share that around and that that usually softens people to then realize, Oh, tell me more.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:56] Well, I like to is that you’re talking about stress like everyone is under stress. And I’m sure. Okay. Also, I would like to introduce Rachel Dudash, who is with Atlanta Dog Trainer. She was with me today. And I asked her if she wanted to be on the show. And she has seen me at some of my worst moments because she’s my daughter, knows me probably better than most. So anyhow, I was going to say, like the moments that I am under stress, I become a different person altogether. And I don’t love that about myself because oftentimes it’s when I’m if I’m under a significant stress where my personality changes, I actually need to be as grounded because there’s something big happening and I need to be as grounded in myself as I can be, but I’m not.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:07:38] Well, the problem is we put a lot of expectation and pressure on ourselves to be all things for in that situation. And when you use the term strategist, that’s what I naturally gravitate towards. And once I had that framework, once I had all those lenses that let me know, Oh, that’s why the harder. The thing is, and the more pressure I am under time, the better I am. If I’m fretting over something, it’s probably minor because that is a trigger for my defense system, which is analysis, paralysis. And that analysis paralysis can usually perseverate over something that’s really meaningless. But when the chips are down, I’m actually really good there. Whereas some people, it’s like, you know, let me step in today. There were people at IPL that went and helped out the shop that had storm damage and the the owner said, Who are you to Dan? And he’s like, Well, I heard that you needed help, so I’m here to help. You know, that’s what he does when when something is really down, he just shows up and starts doing or he brings like 15 people because he knows people. And so when when people understand you don’t I don’t have to be the one that makes all the calls, I can say, hey, let’s make sure that they have all the time, money, resources that they need, whereas somebody else is like, I’m going to provide lunch because that’s their natural care mechanism, Whereas somebody else is like, Oh, there’s a whole different way that we could do this. What if we completely redesigned the entire. It just depends on what’s needed in that moment. My job is to first help people figure out what that looks like, and then we start practicing it to say, How do you make it most effective for the situation at hand? Because some people who are outside the box thinkers don’t always apply that to the right spot. And that’s what we do.
Sharon Cline: [00:09:23] What I like to is, is actually Anna is the kind of it’s okay if I speak for you, the kind of person that that says, I was like, I’m going to do this call in show. And she’s like And she’s like, How are you going to do it? And I’m like, I don’t know. So I just told her my basic idea. But she’s so good at thinking about the most effective way, and she’s like, You’ve got two different options. And I was like, What are they? And then she explained it to me and I’m like, I don’t even know why I even think of that. So I love that it takes a village. It takes a village to make things work. But like I next time we do the call in show, I’ll be so prepared because of someone like Anna who can think different than me and I value it. I appreciate it. I actually need it.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:10:02] Well, and I want I mean, we’re a very small business, obviously, and this town is full of small business and a bunch of entrepreneurs want to be entrepreneurs, side hustlers and all that. And that culture has bred a misconception that you can do and be all things. And what we want to say is, no, let’s lead from where you are naturally best. And then even if you can’t hire people full time to come with you, you need to know what you’re asking them for and you need to know who those people are. So the kind of people that I need are the people who are outside the box because I’m the one that will have a spreadsheet for everything. I’m the one that makes sure that we say every mistake we’ve ever made. I have a catalog in my brain and how not to do that again. And so if I can help even a solo entrepreneur or even want to call it to realize, okay, stop trying to spend your whole day doing racking your brain for every piece, let’s start with the ones that you can do, and then we’ll intentionally go and find those who bring the other pieces to it. And I don’t know. That’s why it’s best when people ask questions, because I can’t tell you the answer until I know what you really are bringing.
Sharon Cline: [00:11:10] I wanted to ask you just as a side question. There she goes. I said, my brain, this is my brain. Please. So when you’re talking about like someone who’s dating, I think about this a lot because there are people where you sort of see them as a couple and you’re like, interesting. You would never put them together or whatever. And so do you find in your line of work that you can see the tendencies of one person and the tendencies of another person and that they would work well together or not work well together?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:11:40] Absolutely. And it’s because a lot of communication actually boils communication and expectations boils down in a relationship that’s kind of key. And when I see patterns and tendencies, I see, oh my gosh, the first thing that we need to look at is your your closest relationships. And people who are wired the same tend to relate to each other very well. They don’t even have to communicate as much because they kind of already see how each other thinks. However, in a relationship, there’s a blind spot there because you both are going to have the same blind spot, whereas you could date somebody who is completely polar opposite to you, completely different wiring. And that creates in and of itself the potential for disaster or if healthy on both sides can can solve bigger problems. And that that is a very common thing for me, especially in expectations wiring because people who are out or motivated need somebody on the outside. And when two of those people get together and often get married, which I know some very close to my family, neither of them are the ones that set the expectation they’re waiting for the other and that can cause a strain. Now, I do have, interestingly enough, a set of clients that are a husband and wife couple, and they are they do struggle with the expectations. And so they actually come to me. To help them set those expectations.
Sharon Cline: [00:12:59] So if you had to outer motivated people. So like, that’s me, I’m an obliger. I need to know that you’re counting on me to do something. I will do it. I will not let you down, but I will let myself down all the time because I’m in charge of me and I can make that decision if I want to or not. So I think it’s interesting. If you had to outwardly validated people or motivated people, can they motivate each other? You know what I mean? Like, can they.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:13:26] They need somebody on the outside to help. That’s why I like I said about that, that couple. Yeah. That I work with, they come to me just every once in a while to kind of make sure that some of that is planned out and then they aren’t expected to do it all for themselves. Like if, for example, a lot of times the Obligers will try to do it too hard because they’re thinking that they’re they’re helping the other. And so what they do is then they come to me and they’re like, These are the things that we’ve been saying we’re doing. We’re not doing them. I’m like, All right, you need to get this done by this time. This time this is everything you brought to me. Let me hold you accountable. You just know that I’m I’m going to check in at each of these points, and you both will be fine. And they don’t need me much. I’m not a part of the relationship other than the fact that I’m helping them in an area that they now know is not strong for them. And that’s fine. Like there’s nothing wrong with that.
Sharon Cline: [00:14:17] But those are the key words right there is because if there’s nothing wrong with that, takes all that judgment out of it.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:14:24] It also doesn’t take away from the fact that a relationship can work. But you have to fully like if you are the same patterns, but you have to do is be very, very understanding so that you yourself can stay grounded in that and not thrust that off onto the other person. And that is very, very easy to do and hard.
Sharon Cline: [00:14:44] Well, we have our very first caller. This is Tricia and she has a question for you. Joe.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:14:51] Hi, Tricia.
Tricia: [00:14:52] Hey, Joe. How are you?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:14:52] I’m good. How are you?
Tricia: [00:14:54] Wonderful. Thank you for asking. So I’m a realtor and I deal with a lot of emotions. I was wondering, how do I protect my own energy so that I’m not as affected by other people’s energy?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:15:07] Hmm. That is a really, really good question. First, in your industry, there are it’s nothing but people and there’s a lot of expectation of sort of filling a dynamic for the kind of person that you have to be for your clients. What I recommend is that you have to fully understand what it is that you bring to the real estate table. I think I think one of the it’s interesting because my mom actually got her real estate license, which is really, really strange. Back in the day, I never thought she would because she is the opposite of what the realtors in my town grew up with. She was not cutthroat. She was very much strategic in her thinking. She was very bold, but she was not willing to compromise on, you know, how sometimes I mean, there can be a lot of competition in. And what she did was she really kind of just sort of settled herself into that identity. And then those customers kind of shared that. And that’s that’s the practice that she built. All of her clients came to her because that’s what she brought. So instead of trying to be loud or trying to, you know, be very entertaining, I mean, that was the thing. I of course, I would want to ask you more questions like what is what is it about real estate that really excites you? What’s what’s your favorite part of the job?
Tricia: [00:16:32] That’s a great question. There’s a few, actually that really excite me. Obviously. Well, for me, first time homebuyers, they’re typically younger. They’re excited. And with that being said, I need to educate them more. And I do love educating people on the different transactions, the different needs, their wants. Yeah. So definitely first time homebuyers are my favorite.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:17:01] Is it because they’re asking you for your advice or is it because you feel like it’s a way to care for them?
Tricia: [00:17:11] You know, I haven’t really thought about that. Well, a little bit of both. Yeah. I definitely want to give them my input. I’m a little more blunt, a little more honest. But then again, I want to educate. That’s the biggest thing for me is just education, educating people on their tools that we have. Their needs specifically, just different things that they don’t think about because they’re not in this field.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:17:36] Well, and that’s I like that because what you’re what you’re talking about in terms of so for me, I’m a strategist, which means that I, I love to give my opinion. I’m an advisor, but it only works when they ask it of me. And that’s kind of where I, you know, get I kind of puff up my chest and get really excited and say, Oh, let me help you with your spreadsheet. And so for you, with a new homebuyer, if you start looking at what they receive best in terms of your the way that you communicate with them, look for those verbal nonverbal cues like I was talking about. If you see them light up because they’re like, Oh, this is so overwhelming. He said, Don’t worry, I got you. If you see them sort of relaxed, then that’s where you’re going to know what it is that you bring to them more than knowledge. And so that’s the thing. You may be an expert in your field, but you want to start to become very aware of what they need, not necessarily in a home or even within the industry, but in that moment. Because like we talked about, stress is everybody experiences stress and looking for a house as a young person or a new homebuyer is very stressful. And so some of them are going to be looking for do they need you to be Well, first we have to figure out which one you are. But do they need somebody that’s going to be really aggressive or do they need somebody that’s going to say, hey, you know what, I’m willing to take a little extra time because I really care about making sure you have all the knowledge. Once you make it more about, I don’t know, the proverbial them and what they’re receiving, then all of a sudden they will continue to stay loyal to you just because of the way that you’re making them feel, not even anything to do with the transaction.
Tricia: [00:19:15] Very true.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:17] Yeah, I think that’s amazing when you think about the fact that even though you’re providing them this service to buy this house, what they’re downloading is the energy of how you’re making them feel in the process. So it’s not even, yes, I got this house with Tricia because someone who’s not a good salesperson could probably sell you a house or not a good realtor, very effective, can still get you a house. But the experience being so like, I guess, joyful and peaceful and grounded, that is something that they would remember. Is that right?
Tricia: [00:19:47] Oh, yeah, I would remember that.
Tricia: [00:19:49] But I will say that this process is stressful just in general. It’s the biggest expense they’ll ever make. And money changes people. It just. It just does. Well, I need to find out what their personality is. Are they more factual or are they more, you know, like an engineer is different than a sales person or whatever the case may be. I need to find out their personality and how they receive the information.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:20:14] Absolutely. That’s one of the first things that I do with all of my clients is, is, hey, we have to study the client first, and then we look at all of your clients to see who are the ones that you enjoy working with the most so that we can understand how those patterns come out naturally. What you want to be able to do is love getting up and doing what you do within your job. A lot of people define themselves by their job and I say, No, what is it that you bring to the job? Because that’s what’s going to keep you excited. Otherwise you’re going to get stuck in a stress loop of, Oh my gosh, I got to make this work. There’s another tool set that I have. This is going to happen a lot if we do these shows is I have another tool set where we look at sort of people’s driving motivators behind what is most important to them. And yes, money is a big deal. It tends to be people’s it gets the most of people’s attention. But once you realize that there’s more to driving their life than just money, is the house just a financial burden for them? Does it solve a geography problem for them? Does it allow them closer access to the people that make them excited once they can? I mean, once you understand it, you can start to see what it is that that house is really solving for them. And at that point, if money isn’t their top driver, then you can help them make a better decision on what they’re looking for, where they’re looking for, and what that long term commitment is going to be. Because when you’re buying a house, you’re buying more than just that moment. And so I would use that tool as well with your your clients to say, okay, let’s let’s put them in order of priority. And once that’s the case, I can help you better.
Tricia: [00:21:52] That is very true. I do ask them what their specific needs are or their priorities. If they need a big backyard for a dog or they need it fenced or location for commuting to work, and have they driven that road during rush hour traffic? Like there’s so many different things that we need to find out to better serve them.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:22:12] Yeah, and it’s funny because we’ve all been programed by watching anybody who’s watched a show on like HGTV or something to how you’re supposed to look for a house. And we’ve been preprogramed to answer those questions that you’re saying. And I’m saying we got to figure out and this is not normal for a lot of people, but you put them into that future scenario of what’s the stress trigger for you? Is it is it the garage situation? Is it the fact that what is ideal for you is a lot of trees and there’s no trees here? Or is it that you have been putting off for a long time that you want to go hiking on weekends? But this is not the right ideal location for you to easily access that? Are you the type of person that’s going to get annoyed by the people in traffic? If that’s the case, let’s look let’s look at that so that you know exactly what you’re buying before. And that is something that, you know, in real estate you’re selling the house. We know that. And it’s a pretty big transaction. But when you show them that you actually care about how they’re going to live in it for longer and more than the traditional questions, then they start to ask you, oh, well, do you know anything like blah, blah, blah. And that’s where you get to bring that extra that you probably enjoy. And you’ve probably been cataloging for a while.
Tricia: [00:23:26] I actually do enjoy it. I truly do enjoy it.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:23:29] And that’s what we want. We want you to spend the majority of your time with your clients doing what you enjoy about it, and only the parts that you don’t enjoy. They are still important, but they don’t need to take as much time and focus from you. And if they start to pull you back, they’re going to you’re going to lose some of that natural influence with them. And as I tell I mean, Anna, we were talking about this earlier when people embrace their natural tendencies and become grounded in it, it becomes gravitational. And people all of a sudden just want to be around you and they want to use your services just because it’s easier. They don’t feel like they’re having to solve you. If you can be comfortable in your skin, then they already just know it and they don’t have too many other questions.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:14] So you mean it’s like an energy that they can pick up on? Is that what you mean?
Tricia: [00:24:17] Absolutely. Would it be like.
Speaker5: [00:24:18] Law of Attraction? That is.
Tricia: [00:24:20] Fascinating.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:24:20] Yeah, it can be. Yeah. And and the thing is, especially in real estate, because I actually did get a real estate license for a hot minute. I never sold anything, but it’s because I had this weird preconceived notion of like, okay, if you just follow the checklist that the brokers are all telling you and all this kind of stuff. And the thing was, is that was not me at all. So my the thing that I bring to any job I’ve ever had is why I have the current job that I have, which is all these components of my natural tendencies for good. I get to use about 70 to 80% of my time and that I enjoy. In fact, it makes me want to gather more like when I’m when I’m working out, I’m actually listening to podcasts to continue to find more data. Why? Because I just think it’s fascinating and it gives me energy. So when that happens, the people can feel that, but they can also feel when you’re trying too hard. And I’m sure in your industry you’ve come across other agents who are very intense and you can tell that it’s just not real, but they’re trying their hardest. And I feel bad because unfortunately they could be amazing if they stopped being a shell of what they think is supposed to be the realtor and be what they are in real estate.
Tricia: [00:25:32] Exactly. It can come over as being overbearing or aggressive.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:25:37] And that’s not really who they are. It’s just who they think they need to be. And that to me, that’s also a sign of stress. So.
Tricia: [00:25:45] Very true. Oh, my.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:25:45] Gosh. Tricia, I’d love to have more conversations with you.
Tricia: [00:25:47] I know.
Sharon Cline: [00:25:48] This is so fun. Amen. Thank you, Tricia, so much for calling because this is you’re our first call. And, you know, we’re kind of coming at Joe with with like, you never know what kind of question is going to come out. So this was really fun to see. You have all this information in your head there, Joe, And it just kind of all was perfect for Tricia’s answer.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:05] Yeah, And it’s not something that you can study to use to manipulate people. It’s one of those things where you become super curious about them and it automatically builds trust and influence.
Tricia: [00:26:18] Definitely you’re genuine and you’re building that rapport.
Tricia: [00:26:20] Absolutely perfect.
Tricia: [00:26:22] Thank you so.
Tricia: [00:26:23] Much.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:23] Thank you. We appreciate.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:24] You. Tricia, thank you so much. We’re going to do another call in show at some point, and I’ll let you know when that happens. And I would love to have you call again.
Tricia: [00:26:32] Wonderful.
Tricia: [00:26:33] Y’all take care.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:33] Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:36] How did that feel?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:37] It was good.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:38] Good. Because I love it.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:26:39] Because it’s small. Like you saw me. And this is not a video show. But what happens is, is people we start going and it’s like, I have all these tools that I want to give them, so I have to get used to not less is more, right?
Speaker5: [00:26:55] I dial it back.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:56] Well, but there are some people that have sort of a natural understanding of what you’re talking about. And then there are some people who don’t. But it sounded like she understood. Tricia understood pretty well the different dynamics that go into either being too much or too aggressive or too insistent on having it their way. Like I can imagine a real tour, not really listening to what someone else is saying, what they really want.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:27:20] Well, the stereotype in the real estate world is that you have to be busy all the time and that you’re on call all the time, which that’s how that industry works. But you can get lost in that. And that’s what when she was telling me, like, I want to know about the backyard, I’m like, I’ve heard that question before. We have. And they’re not. They’re definitely important questions, but they’re they’re on the top level. And what we want is what are the 2 or 3 things that this house is going to solve their pain. And then you can say, oh, okay, that house is great, but this is not the one based on what you’re telling me. I think you might want something like this and then you show it to them and you explain to them why. And they’re like, I would have never even thought of that. What kind of person wants a real estate agent that does that? A lot of people.
Sharon Cline: [00:28:04] I love that you’re talking about solving their pain because a lot of people don’t even put that verbiage associated with like, I need to have a backyard or something like that, you know? I like that you’re talking about relieving a burden, a pain. You’re solving a problem, and then having to be able to listen to what they’re saying and then translate it to what you think that they really would want. But what they’re saying is something different. But you know what they really want. And then having the skills to say it in a way they receive it. Jesus. Well, I just said Jesus on the air.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:28:35] That was one of the things that, you know, I wish I could see her face to face because I would be looking for her facial response to see what was clicking with her. And that’s the only downside of the radio is I’m listening only is she is an individual. She’s Tricia. But there’s like a gazillion real estate agents. But she is the only Tricia, whatever her name might be. And she only brings her own wiring, her own experience, all those things to.
Speaker5: [00:29:02] It, a uniqueness.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:29:03] And she doesn’t need to be any more than that. She just needs to be very comfortable being that. And at that point then and, and the thing I told her about her clients, if she knows that for her, then she’ll understand what her own motivation is there, too, because it’s it’s in business. All of us are thinking, how do we make money? How do we make money? Money is my fourth of five drivers. It is important and I have to make time for it. But if my decisions are driven by money or transaction, I’m already off my game and it takes some of that power away.
Sharon Cline: [00:29:35] I get that. And I think what’s interesting is money is like my fourth or fifth driver as well, but it’s like it’s what all business is pretty much motivated by. So you’re dealing with people whose goals are to make profit all the time. And so one of the things I love about Fearless Formula is I get to ask questions about how do you feel about that? Because if we’re talking profit and things like that, I’m like, Oh, interesting. I don’t know. But like, tell me about how you feel about it.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:30:03] Well, it’s interesting because what you said at the beginning, I if I can combine my purpose, which is my number one. Yes. And the money can come at an allowing me to do my purpose, that I actually have been more successful doing it that way than the other way around. So instead of pushing right, I’m doing this is what I bring. And if I’m not, I’m not I’m not great if I’m not using my purpose. Right.
Sharon Cline: [00:30:27] Well, we have another caller. This is Marie and Marie. You are on the air with Joe.
Marie: [00:30:34] Hi. Hi.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:30:36] I’m very excited and nervous. What do you got?
Marie: [00:30:40] All right.
Marie: [00:30:41] Well, I am currently a store manager at a salon, and I am actually looking to hire a couple people to work for me. So I’m very curious as to what kind of things I should be considering. What are some key aspects I need to look for in terms of what would really benefit me and and the best kind of candidate for the for the job.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:31:06] Oh, I love strategic hiring. We’ve been we have been doing a lot of that lately because it is so specific to you. If you’re the manager, we need to know what kind of a manager you are. So when you’re looking for people, you need to kind of understand. Do you have a management style that is very comfortable for you?
Marie: [00:31:28] Yes.
Marie: [00:31:30] I so I like to be very, very hands on. I’m very educational.
Marie: [00:31:36] That’s oriented. Everything is like, you know, I am only as strong as my weakest employee. So I like making sure that we are all on the same page and we’ve got good incentives. And, you know, I want I want them to be just as as confident and strong as I am. So we’re all like, you know, I don’t think there’s like a hierarchy or anything like that in terms of success. I want everyone to be just as successful. It’s a plateau. Like there’s room for everybody here, you know what I mean?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:32:08] Okay, so you like harmony and and drive, which is good. So what you want to look for when you’re interviewing people is you need to understand when have they been in a situation where they were working for somebody that was all about making sure everybody felt in harmony. And you need to figure out whether or not that resonates with them. A lot of times in an interview, people it’s funny, there’s you can find lists of questions to do in an interview, and that’s not what I do at all. I the resume is always what people want it to be. What you want to know is how can they interact with you if you’re going to be managing and leading them. You need to know are they the type of people that need to do list and then they need the outer accountability that you can then check on them and make sure they’re doing it? Or are they the type of person that needs to be left alone? Like, I got this, just trust me. And then you need to know which one of those is comfortable for you. And since you’re in a salon, I don’t know what specific positions you’re looking for, but when you’re hiring somebody, you if you like that harmony and you want them to see that there’s potential for them to do well there, you need to kind of understand what the job looks like three weeks to six months from now for them. Is it satisfying? Like, are they the type of people that do really well with day to day tasks or are they dreamers that are outside the box saying, Oh, what if we could do it this way one day? Which one drives you crazy?
Marie: [00:33:35] Right. Right. Well, I you know, it’s. There’s a there’s a certain kind of person that we need people like we need people, people. We need the kind of people that are, you know, open to ask questions that are open to interact with customers and clients that aren’t, you know, aren’t very chatty, but people that can bring other people out of their own shell and be willing to, you know, go out of their way to interact with somebody that they’ve never, you know, never met before. And to be that outgoing person and to yeah, you’re absolutely right to take, you know, think outside of the box. You know, we’ve got shelves of products that, you know, people are like, okay, well, what if we organize them this way? Maybe more people will be interested as opposed to like, okay, I’ll just dust around these, you know, every single day and not think about it, you know what I mean?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:34:35] And I can hear it like I have 40 things going through my head, but one, when people go to the salon, they need somebody. Often, if I’m hearing this correctly, they want somebody that can care for them and listen to them. And so when you’re interviewing someone, you want to know, are they too chatty in the interview? Are they too opinionated in the interview? If so, you have to figure out whether or not that fits with what kind of customers you have, which is really important because then you’re giving this new person that comes in to work for you an opportunity to care. And that’s part of their job. And when you tell people who are naturally wired to care that that’s part of their job, they’re going to light up. Then if you do like the outside the box thinkers, there’s another wire. There’s either dreamers or believers. One’s more excitement and one’s more ideas outside the box. It depends on who your current staff is. But my suggestion is that you want to make sure that it covers the entire range of of, of all the personalities so that when you have a customer come in who needs somebody, that you see a customer that doesn’t necessarily have a whole lot of self confidence and self-belief if you need to put them with a Sharon Because Sharon is a natural believer, right? Sharon, the host of this show because she cares so much and she is so excited when she sees somebody new that she could possibly pull that excitement out of. And so there are assessments that people can take online for free. But you have to understand which ones excite you and then which one you need in the seat before before you hire them.
Marie: [00:36:10] That’s a really good point because there are certain kind of person that, you know, maybe they they have more of a creative personality. And then there are people who have more of a creative mind and they’re two different things, right?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:36:22] Yes. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. That is phenomenal that you know that. And I am a strategist, which means I do I the counter to me is the dreamer who’s completely wild, off the cuff in the clouds. I don’t get that. So if you put me in that seat, it would stress me out. But if you put someone in the seat that’s like, Oh, I’ve been doing this for 40 years, I have got everything mapped out in my head. I know exactly what you need that’s going to make me feel more trusting. So you want to make sure that your customers are all going to be able to have an opportunity to fit with that one person, whether it be a stylist or whatever, to to satisfy that need. That automatically builds influence, trust and comfort right then and there.
Marie: [00:37:06] Absolutely. No, I agree because when your client has confidence, then they’re confident buyer and then they have the, you know, the trust to come back to know that, okay, this person has my best interest at heart. And that’s really what we’re trying to accomplish is like, hey, you know, we want to me as a, you know, an interviewer, I want to make sure like I can create a, you know, a fake scenario ahead and ahead of time and, you know, lay it out. So, okay, so this person, you know, has never been to the salon before. Like, what’s the first thing you you know, you want to do when they walk in? Do you want to introduce yourself? Do you want to ask them questions? Do you want to show them around? Like what? What’s your best way to, you know, create that foundation of a relationship? Because, you know, every kind of relationship is, you know, it’s all based on that first, first few moments that really sets the tone for everything. So it’s you know, it’ll be interesting to see what kinds of answers we’ve got.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:07] Yes. Can I give you one other piece of advice?
Marie: [00:38:09] Yes.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:10] Please make sure that they understand that there’s no right answer there, because the problem is, is in an interview, they’re going to want to give you the answer that they think you want to hear. And what you’re saying is, oh, we have all kinds of customers that come in here. And what we’re looking for is to make sure that we allow our staff to fully understand that who they are is celebrated by us and our customers. And so each customer is going to need something. So now that I tell you that, now tell me which one you would do, because then you take that sort of expectation off of them to have to be perfect.
Marie: [00:38:43] Right, Exactly. Yeah. I don’t want people to come in and automatically feel defeated like they’re going to get something wrong or that I’m going to be like, you know, about something because that’s not necessarily true. So I actually really love that. Thank you.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:56] Of course.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:38:57] Oh, my gosh. We could go for hours, but we won’t.
Marie: [00:39:02] That’s the B standing next to me when I go through this. That sounds amazing.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:39:06] That’s one of my favorite things. I love to sit in on interviews, but there are ways where we sit here and we we help you kind of map that out. That’s why that’s one of our offerings for the business. But it’s so interesting when you can disarm the interviewee. Most people don’t do that. So when you have somebody come in and you realize what we’re looking for is we want to make sure that we understand what a real opportunity for you is and then we can tell you what the opportunity here is. And then it’s not emotional as to whether or not they don’t fit. It’s like, oh my gosh, you’re awesome. And when we have a spot for that, we will call you. But right now what we need is this. And what we don’t want to do is force fit you to work with this set of customers that’s going to drive you crazy. So then it’s not that personal, like you weren’t good enough. It’s no, that’s just not the right opportunity right now.
Marie: [00:39:56] No, that’s actually so true because when I was looking for a job myself, you know, one of my employers actually outright said like, hey, you know, this is our, this is what, this is the box. We’re hoping to have someone fit here and you know, just because you’re the wrong shape doesn’t mean you’re, you know, the wrong shape for another box. So, like, don’t get disheartened. You know, everybody has their own talents and skills. So it’s just a matter of, you know, finding that perfect match. It’s kind of like dating in a way, you know?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:40:27] Well, and if you like, in educating people, what you end up being able to do is you can do that Even within the interview, you’re like, oh my gosh, you you need an opportunity that’s going to allow you to shine like this all the time, or at least the majority of the time. So as you continue looking, make sure that you interview them to see that that’s the right opportunity, because the worst thing is to get hired someone somewhere and realize in two weeks that that was not at all what they were looking for. And so you can you can impart that to anybody you interview if they’re receptive. And if they’re not, you’re not going to want to hire them anyway. But if they are, you get to be the educator that you love to be, even if you can’t hire them. And that will also continue to build that trust where people will always say, Wow, that was really enjoyable. Even though I didn’t get the job, I would go back and look again if it became available, right?
Sharon Cline: [00:41:15] Like that was really kind of that employer to say, Listen, just because you don’t fit this box does not mean that you are not amazing somewhere else. Like, I don’t know, many bosses or hiring people who would be so kind. I mean, oftentimes it’s just. No, we went we went with someone else.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:41:30] Well, there’s yeah, there’s always that standard response of, no, this isn’t the right fit and mine is. No, I want to see that you light up like you did when we had that part of the interview, because I usually when we get to the levels of interview that I do, I usually get them to tell me their worst work scenarios, the worst, most stressful things, the people that drove them the most crazy versus the times where we’re looking for them to light up. And once I find that, I say, okay, no, you deserve to be in a situation where you can shine. And I don’t have that for you right now, but I want to make sure you do. And if I can make any recommendations to other people in the industry, I’m happy to do that. And even doing that, not only does it help that person, but it gives you credibility in the industry because people are like, why are you doing that to competition? No, it’s we all deserve to have opportunities for people that they can do well in.
Marie: [00:42:20] Exactly. Yeah, exactly. That’s what I mean. Like there is room for everybody on this planet to be successful here. It’s just a matter of finding your, you know, your absolute strength that you can just display for the world and get that get that credibility and that validation and get paid basically for for, you know, all those skills that you developed over time. And, you know, I want when I’m hiring somebody, I’m, you know, I’m a little nervous to, you know, decipher between person to person, as you know, which would be best which one wouldn’t be. Because I know there’s a lot of different personalities out there. So, you know, I guess I, I guess it’s just one of those you got to see as you go type situations because you never know.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:43:11] The more you know yourself and understand how that works for you, the easier it will be. So you first have to understand how that plays out for you. And I will say that your voice has changed from the time you started to the time you’re that we’re sort of getting to the end of this part. And because I feel like your confidence is going up, your excitement is going up, and the reality behind it is more fun than a daunting task.
Sharon Cline: [00:43:35] Aww, Joe. Look what you just did. It’s true.
Marie: [00:43:38] Validating that person is, you know, it really just it makes people feel like they, you know, they’re doing something right. And even if it, you know, say this path wasn’t your path, but, hey, like you’re you’re just, you know, every all knowledge is good.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:43:53] Amen. Hey.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:43:54] Thank you so much.
Sharon Cline: [00:43:56] Marie, thank you so much for calling in. I really appreciate it. And Joe, that was really great advice and I love that you could tell that with Marie she was able to have a sense of maybe I don’t even know if it’s control, but maybe discernment of what it would be like, what to look for, because I’ve never hired anybody. I wouldn’t know what to look for. But if I had some skills and some thoughts behind it, then it just like you said, it doesn’t seem so scary. It seems more fun.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:18] She’s more comfortable and curious.
Marie: [00:44:20] I have a whole little list of notes here that I took from the conversation, so I’m I’m so excited to implement them.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:26] Yay. I can’t wait to hear it. Tell us about it. Call back and tell us.
Sharon Cline: [00:44:29] Yeah, let us know. We’ll do another show and I’ll message you about it and then you can be back on and see Am on it.
Marie: [00:44:35] Thank you.
Sharon Cline: [00:44:35] Guys. You’re welcome. Thank you, Marie. Bye bye. How did that feel, Joe? That was fun.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:41] It was fun. Again.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:42] I love seeing you right next to me. Right across from me.
Sharon Cline: [00:44:45] Because he’s talking about Anna.
Sharon Cline: [00:44:47] That’s okay. What thoughts do you have for Anna? I’m hoping we have one more call, but it may not pan out. So let’s talk amongst ourselves. You, Rachel. I’d like to hear your your information.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:44:57] What have you gathered from everything thatBecause we’ve had two calls with a lot of information in a short amount of time.
Sharon Cline: [00:45:03] Yeah, Rachel,
Rachel Dudash: [00:45:03] Absolutely.
Rachel Dudash: [00:45:04] I think just overall, like uniqueness plays such a big part in, like, I don’t know, feeling confident in yourself and knowing like, everyone is so unique and you don’t have to be one thing or another. And I think for me personally, like something that kind of hits home is like in the dog training industry. Like there is a stereotype of having to be this very almost I don’t want to say bossy because it’s not like a bossy position like that has a negative connotation. But if you think of someone very strong and big and huge and like no one can alpha, no one can see me right now except for you guys, but I am a five foot three smaller woman and I have this very light voice. And so I think a lot of people tend to like, underestimate me in that way and kind of put me in a box before they even talk to me or get to know me. And so it has made me question my own self and like comparatively to other people, like, oh my goodness, I see someone else doing this way. Should I change to be like that? But that doesn’t feel natural to me. So when you’re talking about being natural, I have to remind myself, okay, but my strength is also this, and that’s something that this person might not have and might not be natural to them. So I think we all got to understand our weaknesses, one which does take a lot of looking inward, and that’s where a lot of shame kind of comes into play because I think we want to tend to ignore that part of ourselves. Like, you know, I’m not this way or No, I don’t do that. Or you don’t even get to the point where you even look. I tend to look away and I think a lot of people do that. You have thoughts? I can see them.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:46:52] I do. I do.
Sharon Cline: [00:46:53] Go ahead. Bring what are your thoughts.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:46:55] When you talk about being an alpha and you talk about animals.
Rachel Dudash: [00:46:57] Absolutely.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:46:58] Animals. They don’t have the same communication skills that we do. They feel. Yes. So an animal can tell when you’re nervous, an animal can tell when you’re comfortable, that natural comfort you can’t fake You either are or you’re not. And so quiet confidence, whatever people want to call that is. It’s one of those things when you accept who you are and are very comfortable, that doesn’t mean you have to be loud about it. It just means you have to be really grounded in it. That’s why I say it’s gravitational. You probably experienced that with dogs.
Rachel Dudash: [00:47:29] So I actually have made a motto for myself. And because I wanted to, I truly wanted to look into why did I feel this way? Or like, how can I kind of make myself feel a little bit more powerful in a way. But my motto is, I am fair, but I’m kind and and I am also strong. So I have all these three qualities that kind of balance. You know, I’m strong, but I’m fair. I’m not going to, you know, make this horrible experience because it benefits me or vice versa. And then I’m kind. I never want to lose that part of myself that is empathetic. And I don’t want to lose that part of myself that is patient and patience is huge.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:48:20] Well, and when you look at the statistics for the people who want statistics behind it, caretakers who are kind and caring by nature, they tend to be reserved a little bit in terms of they’re not the first to speak out. They tend to think that their ideas aren’t as important as others speak for over 40% of the population. And when you look at that from a customer base, you’re going to come into contact with more caretakers than you are anybody else. And when you are that that as I said earlier, when you meet somebody who has the same wiring as you, it’s a natural fit in communication. There’s not a lot of extra that has to go in. The problem is, is sometimes when you have a caretaker customer who’s stressed out, you may misunderstand that and think that there’s something they’re not. And so when you look at it from the curiosity of like, Oh, what if they’re just stressed out? I got you. I am, I am kind, I am fair and I’m strong and I kind of want you to put it on a tattoo right here.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:49:17] Because you can ask yourself every decision that you make. Was it fair? Was it kind? Was it strong? And the answer is got to be yes for you. And people will respect that because it’s very simple. Not easy. Simple.
Rachel Dudash: [00:49:30] It’s not easy.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:49:31] It’s simple.
Rachel Dudash: [00:49:31] Yeah.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:49:32] And that and people respect that. But it also you have to remember that all the animals are your they’re your thermometer, I guess because they feel barometer. They can sense that tension. They can sense stress. That’s why I was never good with dogs, because I’m too uptight. There’s all these things that could go wrong and dogs are like, what? They just want to play. And and and that’s why I think you could take a lot from that. It helped me understand my kids a little when we took care of horses because one is naturally just a caretaker and willing to just go with the flow and the horse was moving right with it. And the other one’s like uptight, like me, like.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:50:15] If I hold the bowl. They’re not they’re not letting me. Put the bowl down. Not natural.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:50:19] And as a result like I have to, then that gives me the opportunity to practice. And for you, if you find that comfort and confidence in that, then you will be strong without having to be perceived as strong. People will just feel it.
Rachel Dudash: [00:50:32] Absolutely. I think the more that I talk to people and the more I get, they get to know me. It’s almost like I just don’t even have a title anymore. I’m just me and I.
Sharon Cline: [00:50:45] Don’t put his hands in the air. I’m just.
Rachel Dudash: [00:50:47] Me. And you did.
Sharon Cline: [00:50:48] A fist bump or something.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:50:50] Well, titles get in the way. Expectations. It comes to expectations, both inner and outer. Are you inner driven or outer driven?
Rachel Dudash: [00:50:58] Um. What a great question. I, I guess I’ve never thought about it before.
Sharon Cline: [00:51:05] So if you make yourself obligated to do something to someone else, are you more like, yes, I’m going to do that, or do you have your own sense of.
Rachel Dudash: [00:51:12] So I would say I’m outer driven because I feel almost like a not like a pressure. But I, I have a standard for myself that I want to accomplish, like a task or like I want to make this a certain thing for someone because they they need that. And I kind of want to I want to be that for them. And if I can’t be, I’ll go to someone else and ask them to help.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:51:35] But then there are I believe this is weird out there. I believe that animals all have different expectations. Wirings too.
Rachel Dudash: [00:51:44] Absolutely.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:51:45] I think some are very much inner driven and they’re not very good, but they need it to make sense. Like me, I’m a questioner. It needs to make sense to me. So if you give the those dogs that are very much not obliging, a very strict set of boundaries where they understand and it’s the same all the time, they need the routine, the ritual safety. Yeah, yeah, that’s what makes sense to them. Whereas other dogs are just like, whatever, okay. You know, and they’re the natural. Like, I wonder. Now this makes me curious. I wonder with therapy dogs, if it’s the outer accountable that they are, they need those people to rely on them and they’re naturally good at that. They just have to be trained how to use it.
Rachel Dudash: [00:52:23] Well, absolutely.
Sharon Cline: [00:52:25] Wow, that’s so fascinating. I never really thought about that because I met a therapy dog this past weekend. I was out and it was a little dachshund, and I was like, Can I touch your little doggy? Had a vest on, The little dog did. And he said, the owner said, Let me sit down, because if I’m standing, this dog knows that that they’re on. But if I’m sitting, then I don’t have to worry. And I thought, how interesting is this? This little doggy whole goal was to make sure that this man was well and could tell him when a seizure was coming on. And we give him about a minute’s notice. And I thought, that’s this dog’s little purpose in life is to make every day is to make sure that this man is okay. And I thought, well, that’s so special.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:53:07] But I find that fascinating because when you’re dealing with the pet owners and you realize what kind of person the pet owner is versus the pet, then you can use those strategies to say, okay, you already know how to train, but then when it’s time for them to take the dog home, it’s like, okay, do they need it to be made sense? Do they need you to send them home with the list and all the things? Do they need you to check in on them six months from now? Did you keep doing this? Are these things once you know that, it’ll just make it exactly what they need?
Rachel Dudash: [00:53:38] And I think people have their own expectations that the animals aren’t aware of. And so I have to tell people, these are your expectations and we have to bring that to the animals, but they’re not going to naturally know or want to do what you want.
Rachel Dudash: [00:54:05] It’s like someone asking you, Hey, sit down outside of Disney World for me. And they’re like, Why? Well, no reason. And it’s like they have to have a reason. You have to have a motivator. Animals need to be motivated. And I think people forget and I’ll go to the vet’s office and people are screaming at their dogs to sit. And I’m like, Do you even know that they’re stressed? There’s no learning window. And the way that you have an expectation for them to do something, this is not on their radar, but it’s actually unfair to them and it’s not going to get you what you want or need. And so I have to break it down like that to people. And I just kind of give them a warning before we get into dog training. Like these are your own expectations. If there’s no reason for them to want to do it, they’re not going to do it. And so it’s kind of fun to.
Sharon Cline: [00:54:50] I think you’re training people.
Rachel Dudash: [00:54:52] I am. You are.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:54:53] Actually. And that’s the thing. I have another client who works in the animal industry and training people is exactly the entire business. They think it’s training the animal, but it’s not. I mean, you have there is work to do to help, just like there are things that teachers do for kids in schools and whatnot. But what it really boils down to is do you know yourself well enough to not let other people’s stress throw you off? Because that’s the biggest thing. And then once you are aware of your own, do you start becoming curious about them so that you can say, Oh, here’s the client that needs this. This isn’t that. Here’s the client who needs to be excited about the fact that they can they need someone to believe in them. That’s what your mom’s really good at, is they like me. I need somebody that believes in my ability to figure it out. Like not somebody that’s going to yell at me and tell me everything I’m doing wrong. Absolutely. That’s what I do. I like to tell people what they’re doing. And so what I need is very different. And so if you can start to see that, you’re like, Oh, this will be it becomes like a game of who are you really?
Joe Cianciolo: [00:55:50] You know?
Rachel Dudash: [00:55:51] And I have to be pretty much on people all the time. And I come at them in a way like, you know, I’m trying to help you. So there’s no shame. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, but I’m going to tweak it to be better because I can see something you can’t see. And so I’m not going to make you feel bad about it. It’s just something you don’t really know. And there’s a lot of subconscious that happens in that kind of world, even for me. And so when someone tells me I’m doing something wrong, I’m like, No, I’m not.
Sharon Cline: [00:56:24] No.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:56:25] But what if I am? Like, Yeah.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:56:29] I find that all very, very, very fascinating. And I think.
Sharon Cline: [00:56:34] That would be an interesting show in itself. Just to even talk about, you know, how energy is perceived in translated and the expectation that energy has with it or energy that expectation has with it. It’d be really interesting. I hadn’t actually ever thought about it.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:56:48] Well, and like, I mean, even young business people are I liken them to being in the young infant adolescent stage of life where they’re trying to figure things out. And if we don’t have grace for them, if we don’t give them any leeway and we don’t show them any understanding that if we think they have to have like this is my favorite when it comes to interviewing and strategic hiring, it’s like, oh, you need to have 3 to 5 years of experience. Your your resume needs to look like this. And then in the interview, you got to tell us all the right answers. I’m like, Well, that’s a surefire way to get people to be very stressed out coming in. I want to know that. There’s going to be an opportunity for you here six years from now. Because if I’m that invested in my company, I want to know that you might be I’m not expecting you to, but I’m just wondering, what would it be like if you were and what would we need to do to make it so that you’re still excited about being here after a year or two years? And in today’s world, people will cut and run in an instant because we’re under so much stress. So we say, what if? What if we become the business owners, the hirers, the employees that say, no, there’s an opportunity for me to really enjoy this, and I want to make sure that I’m here for a while. What do I need from you? What do I bring to you? What do you need from me? And how do we make sure that we can be understanding? It doesn’t mean that we can be all things for all people, but we are understanding. And then I can see the stress levels and you can then not be as triggered by somebody else’s stress.
Rachel Dudash: [00:58:17] And then also like, what do you need from yourself? I think you also need to think about Joe.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:58:24] Yes, because you do have I mean, you have it’s really easy in time to continue to practice how to work with customers, which we’ve been talking about on these calls. But do you do that for you? Are you are you kind and fair and strong for yourself?
Rachel Dudash: [00:58:40] Absolutely. Yeah. And I think I think it’s worth taking a look inward for. Absolutely. Everyone should definitely.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:58:49] She’s on the team.
Sharon Cline: [00:58:50] Is she on the team? I’m hired. Are you hired?
Rachel Dudash: [00:58:53] Actually, I’m Joe Cianciolo, too.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:59:00] We need to encourage people that that is actually something worth our time.
Sharon Cline: [00:59:04] Which is what Anna is doing, which is kind of fascinating because, Anna, I don’t want to speak for you again, but I am, I guess. But like you, have you had to go through the hiring process in your job with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. And that was an interesting dynamic to kind of go through. And it was fascinating the types of people that you would talk about and like this person has this strength and this person has that strength and now you have a team around you. And I love that you’re working with Joe that can help you figure out the different parts of that team, how it how they can all work together to make like the perfect team.
Joe Cianciolo: [00:59:38] Oh, we had a fun chat about that this morning.
Sharon Cline: [00:59:40] Yeah.
Anna Kawar: [00:59:40] Oh, I’m learning a lot about a lot of the things that we’re talking about here. And it’s yeah, it’s been a great journey, but I think understanding my weaknesses and strengths has been insightful because I think sometimes we have a surface level understanding of them. But then when you get a little bit deeper, it can be very humbling and also vulnerable, but also inspiring because then you can think about how to you can see them as opportunities. And I think Joe and I have talked a lot about I tend to be I’m learning a lot about how I’ve tried to be all the things.
Sharon Cline: [01:00:25] All.
Anna Kawar: [01:00:25] The things I’m very hard on myself, and I have a lot of perfectionist tendencies, and I’ve worked on that a lot in the last few years, but I still have a ways to go when it comes to when it comes to accepting those gaps as opportunities and then inviting other people in to help me with them. And that’s a very vulnerable place.
Sharon Cline: [01:00:46] Because you have felt like you’ve had to be everything. So is that what you mean? So like in asking someone to come in is actually admitting that you’re not everything and that you have a vulnerability there that you need someone to fill. So then the question is, will they care enough about you to fill it? Yeah. Or their job.
Anna Kawar: [01:01:04] Yeah. Or will you be judged for not being able to do that thing?
Joe Cianciolo: [01:01:09] But when you see and this is without divulging anything, when you go to somebody asking them to do what is natural to them, they immediately take all the chains off and they light up and you’re like And the person said, I got you. Yeah, because you’re asking them to do what’s so natural to them, so simple to them. It comes out of them and they people love that. Yeah. I mean, instead of saying, Hey, I need you to help me dream up this idea that’s going to take, you know, solve world hunger, you give that to me and I will, I’ll shut down because I have way too many questions. But if you ask me something that requires like, let’s gather a bunch of data, poke a bunch of holes, and let’s see if we can, you know, quantify all this. I’m like, I got you. Let me get a spreadsheet.
Sharon Cline: [01:01:54] And then they don’t judge you right? Then they don’t judge you for it.
Anna Kawar: [01:01:57] Yeah. And I think I think there’s a I think there’s a big lesson that I keep trying to remind myself, which is people want to help and they want the opportunity to help and they want to feel valuable. And I and it’s and I love bringing my team along. And I think sometimes they’re annoyed by how collaborative I want everything to be, but that there’s a difference between that and specific. Glee, calling on people for specific strengths that they have. And I’ve had a couple of really great conversations with my team members in the last couple of weeks where I’ve said, Oh, oh, you are really good at this, okay, here’s how we can improve the way we work together and communicate and talk, even just the way you ask me questions, the way I ask you questions so that we can really leverage that thing you love to do. And that’s been just a more it’s been fun. It’s a it’s a fun.
Sharon Cline: [01:02:56] That’s a big word right there. Yeah. Fun. Because what we’re talking about can feel kind of heavy, you know, in doing this introspection and then being willing to be feel ashamed of like the natural tendencies. We have tendencies we have to protect ourselves or to to not show that there’s any kind of weakness. But I love that what you’re saying is it’s actually fun to uncover those things because then you can work around them and so it reframes it from being something to be ashamed of, but instead is just like a little nugget of knowledge. It doesn’t have any emotion attached to it, which takes all the judgment off.
Anna Kawar: [01:03:30] And it also makes me feel like I have more time to do other things that I would much rather do.
Anna Kawar: [01:03:36] Which is the key, right?
Rachel Dudash: [01:03:38] And I also think it’s okay to not know. And like you can tell yourself like it’s okay that I don’t know this. Maybe I’m not meant to know everything, right.
Sharon Cline: [01:03:48] Having the acceptance of that.
Rachel Dudash: [01:03:49] Yeah.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:03:50] Well, and I always lead by telling people right off the bat what the weakness is. When I tell them, I’m like, I’m about to sound judgmental. I’m not. It’s just how I sound. So if I. If you hear me say that, it’s because my questions are better when they’re strategic, not personal. And sometimes I don’t mean to say it that way, So I have to reframe it. I lead with that, and people are like, okay. And I said, no, because it would be easier if all of us understood where we might like, Oh, you know what? I just bounced too many ideas, didn’t I? Okay, yeah. Okay, let’s pick one. And then you’ve already solved what they’re frustrated by. And business owners, team leaders have that problem all the time is if they don’t know that, then they run those same team meetings over and over and over, and people have the same frustration, and eventually they just stop trying to even communicate it back. They just think, Oh, I just have to deal with it.
Anna Kawar: [01:04:42] I just have to sit here.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:04:43] Yeah, no, it’s what would happen if we became open to that feedback. What would what would it be like if we changed the dynamic of that? And I had a client today, a whole company client, where they have they have received feedback this year in a way that we’ve never done it before. We have an entire it’s very well laid out so that they can’t be emotional. It has to be it has to be balanced with the organization structure. We have great tools for it. And I said this one, this one employee was very, very frustrated years ago and today said, I’m actually much happier about feedback because I’m okay with it, knowing that there’s so much reason behind it. I was like, Yes, that loyalty for that employee to be there is so different now than it was before, and the feedback is going to be much better to me. More appropriate.
Sharon Cline: [01:05:34] It feels better, right? So it’s so interesting to me because we’re talking about feeling, you know, and I think so much of what I think about when I’m talking to business owners is, is like there’s a lot of facts, you know, how did you come up with your LLC, You know, how did you come up with your business plan? Where do you want to see yourself in five years? But it doesn’t really have as much of the feeling behind it. But I love that that’s really so important because that’s like our barometer of our happiness is like, Well, what was today? Like? Am I driving home with the radio off because I’m trying to process everything you know, or am I happy? Am I feeling fulfilled? And because that’s it, it’s like the fulfillment part. It’s not all. I mean, I know there are money driven people and that’s fine, but it’s like not all about that. At the end of the day, we.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:06:16] Just want them to be authentically driven by that and then not be afraid of.
Anna Kawar: [01:06:20] It. And I mean, there’s science and research that backs up that the most successful companies allow space for people to be that much more authentic, innovative, creative and to to really to innovate as a company, you have to allow people’s brains the space and safety and inspiration to think of ideas, but then also feel supported in executing them. And so it is I mean, we talk we talk about our kids in Boys and Girls clubs like learning doesn’t happen if kids don’t feel emotionally safe. And I think it’s the same for humans. You you can’t really you can think you’re succeeding, but really you’re running in circles versus are you moving forward and able to take in feedback and process it in a safe way and come up with ideas and try things and fail and learn? Be okay to fail. Your business isn’t going anywhere if you don’t make space for that human component of just. The natural instincts we have for learning and wanting to wanting to share and wanting to take things in and.
Sharon Cline: [01:07:29] And want to be valued. I like that you said valued.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:07:31] We have a tool for that. Do we have a tool for that, Joe? Of course there’s skills.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:07:36] There’s emotional awareness and there’s others awareness. And the top most respected people. When you say make space, it’s because they understand that all of those are necessary to keep people productive, happy and innovating or just executing. Because that’s the other thing is a business owners will come in here trying to figure out how do we keep growing? How do we keep growing? What happens if the solution is actually just to execute really well and make sure that the drivers or your your indicators, your health indicators are in the proper order and the money is enough and the people are what keep you motivated. The purpose is strong, whichever one it is, Is it the ability to to not. My kids always say this. You work all the time. I said no, I get to work. I love my job, but I also have a balance and I choose that balance. And I could be like other people and go to a 9 to 5. But that’s not the world that I define success by. So playing a round of golf in the in the in the yard before taking the kids to school this morning is fun for me. That’s what makes life worth living. And so I also love my job.
Rachel Dudash: [01:08:44] So I’m clapping for Joe because.
Sharon Cline: [01:08:46] That’s that’s a golf clap, by the way. That was a golf clapping.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:08:50] That’s absolutely true. But we have to be bold.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:08:53] We have to be understanding and we have to be willing to say we don’t have to do it alone.
Sharon Cline: [01:08:58] I love it because I feel like you helped. Well, two people out there in the stratosphere today.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:04] Sorry if there was a third one.
Sharon Cline: [01:09:05] It didn’t it didn’t work. But that’s actually kind of like that. We had to that we could a little bit deconstruct a bit and spend some time really analyzing what the best solutions are. And I would love to have you come back, Joe, and and have some other calls come in. And I’m learning so much, too, even about myself, which is so fun because I know that we’re helping other people. But I, like I download all this too, and think, how can I implement these things in my life and maybe make a better fearless formula for myself? So it’s all about me.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:35] That’s awesome.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:35] No, you can’t give what you don’t possess. So if you don’t know it for yourself, how can you help others? So we have to help ourselves first.
Rachel Dudash: [01:09:42] Absolutely.
Sharon Cline: [01:09:43] Well, Joe, anyone that’s listening now and is interested in following up with you, how can they get in touch with you?
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:48] I am Joe from Porch advisors.com. That’s advisors with an E at the end.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:54] I know.
Sharon Cline: [01:09:55] Ers. Yes, no worries. Okay. So they can contact you there.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:58] They can contact me there.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:09:59] Yeah.
Sharon Cline: [01:10:00] Excellent. Well, thank you, Anna. Boys and Girls Clubs and Rachel Jordache of Atlanta, dog trainer. And thank you, Joe, of Front Porch Advisors for being on the show. And let’s do this again, like in a month.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:10:12] Yes.
Joe Cianciolo: [01:10:12] Thank you Sharon.
Sharon Cline: [01:10:13] You’re welcome. My pleasure. And thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Klein reminding you with knowledge and understanding, heck yeah, we can all have our own fearless formula, have a great day.
Joan Mannis with Old Cartersville Tours, Tami Caspersen with iThink Financial and Olympic Freestyle Wrestler Jordan Mitchell
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In this episode of Charitable Georgia, Brian welcomes Joan Mannis, Tami Caspersen, and Jordan Mitchell. Joan shares her background and entrepreneurial journey, discussing her diverse experiences and her passion for bringing a unique tour experience to Cartersville. Tami and Jordan also join the conversation, sharing their own entrepreneurial stories and emphasizing the importance of following one’s dreams.
Joan Mannis is a native of Bartow County, but has lived in other cities during her career in sales and marketing.
She spent the last two years in Savannah associated with Old Savannah Tours and recently returned to Cartersville and opened Old Cartersville Tours.
Old Cartersville Tours is the premier touring company in Cartersville and Bartow County, GA. The owner was previously affiliated with Old Savannah Tours, the oldest touring company in Savannah, GA.
Our goal is to make your experience in our beautiful city so enjoyable that you can’t wait to come back.
Tami Caspersen is the Community Events Manager at iThink Financial. She attended IUPU at Ft. Wayne for a business degree and cheerleading. She soon realized her passion for helping people as she mentored younger girls in cheerleading.
Tami went to California to become a certified personal trainer and aerobics instructor. She was the youngest manager of an all-women’s health club and then became a corporate fitness trainer for two large companies, Dana Corporation and Coke-a-Cola.
Tami has two amazing young adult children Jeremiah age 22. Jeremiah is serving with the US Army 160th Airborne Special Forces division as a drone Piolet and my daughter Ciara Grace is in her Jr. year at Georgia Southern studying Kinesiology.
Tami has had a few great careers over her life and working for the iTHINK financial credit union is one of her favorites. She has worked for iTHINK for 18 of the 54 years that they have been in business, and enjoys helping individuals and her community.
Tami is very involved in her church, and she’s served on the board of Sweetwater Mission, Teacher of the Year selection board for Pickens County, Past Ambassador for the Cobb Chamber, helped raise donations for Etowah Marching band and Color guard program and was the recipient of the: In The Spirit award.
Jordan Mitchell, Jamaican World Team Member and Olympic Freestyle Wrestler, graduated from Cass High School in Cartersville, Georgia in 2016.
He entered the sport of wrestling in 6th grade at Cass Middle School where his story began.
Going through the high school circuit, Jordan placed 5th at State senior year, and from there he began coaching and competing at the collegiate and international level.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:09] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.
Brian Pruett: [00:00:46] Good, fabulous Friday morning. It’s another fabulous Friday. We’ve got three more fabulous guests. And this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia. This is all about positive things happening in the community. So, Sharon, welcome back again this morning.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:57] Thank you. So happy to be here.
Brian Pruett: [00:00:59] I guess Stone just wants to let you just do the show the rest of the time.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:02] I’m taking over everything.
Brian Pruett: [00:01:02] There you go. There you go. So, Sharon, you know, you we bring stories on of all kinds of positive things happen on here. Right? So you’re going to hear three more amazing stories this morning. So our first guest this morning is Joan Mannis from Old Cartersville Tours. Joan, thanks for being here this morning.
Joan Mannis: [00:01:16] Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Brian Pruett: [00:01:18] So you shared with me your story not too long ago. And you to me, you have a story of overcoming perseverance and following your dreams all at the same time. So if you don’t mind, give us your background.
Joan Mannis: [00:01:29] I’m not easily discouraged, as you can tell. And I’m not old. My body has just been on earth for a while. That’s the way I like to look at it anyway. So yes, I started old Cartersville tours about two months ago in Cartersville. I’ve tried to retire 2 or 3 times. It just doesn’t take it’s like a vaccine that doesn’t take retirement, doesn’t take for me. I cut my teeth in the business in Savannah. I did not go down there to work in the tourist business. I went down there to retire. And I had a friend that well, actually a neighbor, she would come out every day and we wore costumes there when we were touring on the Trolleys, and she said that she worked on one of the trolleys. And I’m like, you know, I’m kind of getting bored of doing everything I want to do and go on the beach 2 or 3 times a week. I mean, you can get tired of that, too. I said, I think I’d like to do this. And I hired on with Old Savannah tours in the historic district there and started touring, had to put my own tours together. They give you a historic guide, but they don’t give you a word for word tours. So you got to kind of dig down in that. And so that’s what I did and put my tours together. And then I do believe in divine guidance, and it has been really evident in my whole life. So one day I’m on the tour and I’m sitting there and I’m just having a good time on the tour. No, no plans. Whether I stayed in Savannah, it was a bucket list item and one day and it just came to me, You know what? Cartersville has so much history. It really deserves something like this. Two months later, I was in Cartersville putting my tour together there.
Brian Pruett: [00:03:02] Well, you’re no. You’re no stranger to Cartersville because you’re from there, right?
Joan Mannis: [00:03:05] I’m from Bartow County, originally, went to public schools there, went away to college, never really as an adult, came back. I’ve lived in New York and Manhattan. I’ve lived in Connecticut. I’ve lived in in D.C., in Virginia, worked for a California company for years, went back and forth there. My whole careers have been in sales and marketing. I was in telecommunications way back when people just started buying their phone systems. I didn’t have to get them from Mobil and got into voice mail then. So it’s always been in sales. This is my third venture personally for a business and my son started a business, so we’re kind of an entrepreneurial family. We’ve started for Total and they’ve all been successful. It just doesn’t mean you’re going to stay with one forever. I’ve had a nursery in a daycare. I’ve had an event facility where we did parties and weddings. I did that for a while and and been in real estate. So. So sales is my background. I try to give a good tour there. My family lives all around Cartersville area. I have two grandsons and I’m hoping to leave the business to them eventually. They’re not old enough to drive yet, but eventually, hopefully they will and they can take the business over.
Brian Pruett: [00:04:17] So you also share with me that you you overcame cancer as well.
Joan Mannis: [00:04:20] I’ve had I’ve had stage four twice and I’ve had it I’ve had three occurrences of malignant melanoma. And I was never a sun worshiper, really. I mean, in the south you get a certain amount. And one day about spending almost 13 years ago now, I had a bump come up on the top of my head. It was just like a little mosquito bite or it was just a little pink bump. I was already going to the dermatologist. And so he says, Well, is there anything else today? And I said, Yeah, I got this little pink bump, but it doesn’t, you know, my sister looked at it. She said it didn’t look like anything. He looked at it and he said it didn’t look like anything he said. But I always do. A biopsy came back, malignant melanoma. He said, you’ve got to have surgery right away. I had surgery. I wouldn’t take any kind of liquid treatment. 13 years ago, there wasn’t much. And they took part of my scalp out. And I mean, it was pretty serious. It spread to my lymph nodes and I just felt like I was they just more or less didn’t give me much hope. I sold my business. I gave all my good jewelry to my daughter in law. She won’t give it back.
Brian Pruett: [00:05:24] Oh, no.
Joan Mannis: [00:05:25] But then I was okay. I just kind of I thought, well, I’m not dying yet. I might as well live. My life went on about about four, about every four and a half years. It comes back four and a half years later, a bump right on the scar where they took my scalp out before. And by that time I just said, Well, this has got to be it. I just quit. Going to the doctor. I’m kind of stubborn that way. I ended up four years later having tumors everywhere had spread all through my body. And I went to the doctor. My son went with me and he offered this immunotherapy and it was pretty new. You know, then that’s been four years ago. And I said, No, I don’t think I’m going to take it. I’ve really had some extra time. My son goes, Mom, God has kept you alive until technology has caught up with you. Now you must take it. And you do things for your family, you know that you wouldn’t do. And I took it. And after the treatment, which put me in the hospital, almost kill me. After that, you know what? Every tumor was gone, and that’s been four years ago. So I just appreciate every day it makes you look at life differently when you have a brush with death, when you come close to death, you have a whole new perspective on life. And so I’ve just lived it, you know, really taking chances because I think we have to be gamblers in this life. You can’t play it safe and reach your full potential. So it’s made me not hold on to material things nearly as much and try to help other people and just look, you know, look forward. We got only so many trips around the sun. You know.
Brian Pruett: [00:06:58] I feel like we’ve been playing Kenny Rogers song right now.
Joan Mannis: [00:07:00] Yeah. And you never know when those when that last one’s going to be there. So I just try to live my life differently and be a good person and treat people right. And it has changed my perspective totally.
Brian Pruett: [00:07:12] Well, we could stop with her right there because that’s amazing. But I know you’re not supposed to ask ladies this. So there’s three of them in the room. So if you want to hit me, go ahead. But would you share your age?
Joan Mannis: [00:07:22] I’m about well, and I’ll tell you this, I’m going to make you guess in another year. Not this year, but next year I will have a birthday with a big zero in it.
Speaker5: [00:07:32] Mhm.
Joan Mannis: [00:07:32] Okay. So anybody care to guess? I don’t mind telling you. I’d rather look great for my age. 70, 20.
Brian Pruett: [00:07:38] No, 20.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:40] You’re so smart. He’s my friend.
Joan Mannis: [00:07:42] Not 70. 80.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:43] Yes, 80. No way.
Brian Pruett: [00:07:44] All right.
Joan Mannis: [00:07:45] So next year.
Brian Pruett: [00:07:46] The reason I asked her to do that and share that is because, I mean, like you said, she’ll be 80 next year, but she started her own business, right? Oh, yeah. And it’s never too old.
Joan Mannis: [00:07:55] You never give up your dreams. Always follow your dreams and your heart. And I think you do have divine guidance. And if you feel like God is leading you to something, you better do it because he’s going to get you there one way or the other.
Tami Caspersen: [00:08:07] I want to be like you when I grow up.
Joan Mannis: [00:08:09] Yeah, he’ll get you there today or he’ll get you there whenever. But he’s going to get you there because we all have a plan for our lives. Yes. And we need to reach that potential and listen to our, you know, to the spirit that’s leading us.
Tami Caspersen: [00:08:22] Amen, sister.
Brian Pruett: [00:08:22] So obviously, it’s in the name old Cartersville tours. But let’s talk about that a little bit. So share what you guys do on a daily basis and what people can learn.
Joan Mannis: [00:08:30] Well, I have a regular what I call a public tour, and now we’re doing it on Fridays 11 and one on Fridays. We go from the easternmost point is the Tillis Mineral Museum all the way through the historic district. If you know anything about Cartersville and then out on the west side, we go to the Etowah Indian Mounds. It is an hour overview. I talk about all these places. We don’t stop and let people off. I have I have a touring bus now one and I’m adding to my fleet, hopefully another one by the end of the year. I want to have five in the fleet totally, because I’m starting to do some personal things. Some like charters now with weddings and just took a party, you know, Jay Frazier and his down to Atlanta for dinner and of course, proms, wedding receptions and all that. So we are available for Charter as well as a public tour. I really came up to do the historic tours and we don’t have nearly as many visitors, of course, in Cartersville as we do in Savannah. However, everybody that I’ve taken on the tour that’s from Cartersville, the Chamber, the Visitors Bureau, they all say they learned something that they didn’t know because I really do a lot of research and study and try to give a rich tour. And I want people to think that they’ve got their money’s worth and that they know something about Cartersville that they didn’t didn’t know. There’s so much history there. Mining history is incredible. Their Civil War history, black history. I mean, the old homes, some of them survived the Civil War. It’s just a tremendous amount of history there. I want to get into doing more specific tours. I’ve talked with David Archer, who’s a historian in town, and he agreed to be a tour on on the Bus, what he does. And then I’ve been trying to get to Judge Benham. I know he’s not in great health, but he would do a wonderful Black history tour. And so I wanted to start doing more specific tours like that and get people in.
Brian Pruett: [00:10:22] So share something that somebody may not know about.
Joan Mannis: [00:10:25] Cartersville Well, of course, everybody can look up when it was founded in 1850 and it was the people, the Indian Mounds people think they associate with the Cherokee and it was the Cherokee Nation last. But the Cherokee didn’t build the mounds. The mounds date back to 1000 to 1500 ad. And one of the interesting things I found out about the Cherokee tribe, every every North American Indian tribe has the same blood type no matter what, no matter if it’s Apache, if it’s Cherokee. Everyone has the same blood type. Every one of them has O blood type and the A and the B and the AB didn’t come in until the Europeans started coming in. But all the all all of them have the same blood type. There was originally a thousands now there’s 380,000 Cherokee surviving. It’s the largest surviving tribe. Also, there was a love story going on there. William Sherman. General Sherman was the head of the union troops. They had a bloody battle in Chattanooga, marched right down through Bartow County and rested in Kingston, a little town between Cartersville and Rome. He received his orders there to burn his way to the sea. They burned down. Most of Bartow County, went from Bartow County, burned Macon headed to Savannah. Savannah people knew that burned Atlanta, as you know, to the ground, and they didn’t want their city burned because there was all these wonderful old homes there. So they went outside of town and they gave him the city.
Joan Mannis: [00:11:54] That’s why Savannah’s historic. And they didn’t burn Charleston and because they heard he was coming. Let’s see if there’s anything else interesting. Well, you know, Cartersville is very haunted. And I’m working with the Pumphouse players now to put a haunted ghost tour together for October. We’re going to be doing them in October. The depot there is one of the most haunted places. One of the ladies that worked there for years said they had this huge desk in there and somebody had bought it prior to her. She said it must have weighed 500 pounds. There was no way even 2 or 3 men could have moved it. And she said occasionally they would go in and that desk would be moved. Nobody was in there. And then she actually saw, I guess you’d say, a ghost or an image. One day it was a young man. She said he was dressed like an Amish person. And he says, Can we go in there? And she said, yes. Well, she got ready to lock up and she looked around and she couldn’t find him anywhere. And she said she walked outside and it was already like 6:00 in the evening and the sun had gone down on the other side of the depot. And she said when she walked out the door, this enormous light just hit her right in the face and she never saw the guy again. So there’s a lot of ghost stories in Cartersville.
Brian Pruett: [00:13:04] Oh, hopefully Casper is on one of those stories. That’s right. So Sharon might be interested in this. You talk about what you’re doing with the wine tours.
Joan Mannis: [00:13:12] Yeah, I’m doing wine tours now. Three wineries.
Sharon Cline: [00:13:15] Yeah, I do like wine, but I didn’t know I was known for that. All right, go ahead.
Joan Mannis: [00:13:20] August 19th. It’s all sold out already. I have one on August 26th, and I’m billing that one as the as the bad mom’s wine tour.
Brian Pruett: [00:13:28] There you go, Sharon.
Sharon Cline: [00:13:29] All right, perfect. You did that just for me. Okay.
Joan Mannis: [00:13:32] Mothers have been in, you know, all summer, kind of closed up with their children. So we’re doing a bad moms wine tour. We do the big door in Canton and then up to ball ground to Feather’s edge, and then over to Jasper to Sharps Mountain Vineyard and it’s going to be such fun. I have souvenir mugs and we’re going to wear tiaras and bows around our neck and play games on the bus. And so that’s the next one that’s available is the 26th. But I’ll have at least two a month, and that’s beginning to really take off. Now. People are into that and expect.
Brian Pruett: [00:14:03] A lot of pictures.
Joan Mannis: [00:14:04] From that one. Oh, yeah. Before we do the three. Okay.
Tami Caspersen: [00:14:07] What stays on the bus? Stays on the bus?
Brian Pruett: [00:14:10] Yes.
Joan Mannis: [00:14:11] I’m not sure we’ll do photographs after we’ve done all three.
Brian Pruett: [00:14:13] So you’ve started networking specifically with the Cardinal Business Club.
Joan Mannis: [00:14:17] Love that club.
Brian Pruett: [00:14:17] Great. So share a little bit. I mean, like you said, you’ve only two months into this, but share a little bit about what positive has happened to you in the two months of the networking.
Joan Mannis: [00:14:26] Well, you get to know the other other gamblers and risk takers in the area because, you know, many of them have started their own business. And, you know, when you start your own business, you step out on faith. I mean, we all do. When you start a business, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have you have faith that it’s going to take off. But you really have to you have to take a chance. You know, you just you don’t you don’t have any guarantees. And I tell people, you know, sometimes people are working for companies and they think, man, I’d like to do this on my own or I have an idea for something. I mean, do it, you know, just going. And my son was in the well, he was he was one of these kids that I paid for tuition and he wouldn’t go to college. Well, he’d go part time, you know. And so he wasn’t real serious about it. I paid enough tuition for him to be a Philadelphia lawyer now, but he’s not. So he was getting DUIs and he was just going nowhere with his life. And so I knew I had to take a hard line with him. And I told him, I said, when this semester is over, your clothes will be out on the sidewalk and everything you own will be, Mom, what am I supposed to do? I said, You know, I don’t care because I’ve tried everything. I’m not going to see you at 25 years old, 26 years old, and you’re going to look back and say, why didn’t you make me do something? I said, I’m making you do it now. And so he he had already lost his life. So he called a friend and he didn’t have any place to go.
Joan Mannis: [00:15:48] And he went to the recruiting offices. And one of my cousins was a marine and he said, Oh, you want to go in? The Marines. They’re the best. Well, he ended up joining the Marines and he was actually in Desert Storm. He joined the Marines and it made a man out of him. I’m telling you, I’m all for draft because a lot of these kids get out of high school. They don’t know what they want to do. And it made a man out of him. He got out. He went to school. He was a news cameraman for Channel two in Atlanta for a while. And then he and then he said, you know what, Mom? I don’t want to work for somebody else the rest of my life. I want to do something. Well, what do you want to do? Well, he is a father’s side of the family, Had some old scrubby land out in Mississippi. Wasn’t worth anything in the middle of nowhere. But you know what? It had a wonderful natural spring on it. He did his studies. He did his work for about two years. He started a water bottling company. He kept that spring. He got his got his bar code. He went to the state. He got it approved. They had the osmosis machine, he had the bottling equipment. And he worked out there for really a couple of years to get it started and really built up his distributorship. And after that, they decided they wanted to start a family. He married during that time and they wanted to come back to the Atlanta area. She worked for Equifax, so they had to come back to the Atlanta area. He ended up selling it and he retired at 38.
Brian Pruett: [00:17:11] Wow.
Joan Mannis: [00:17:12] Because he you know, he really stepped out and realized his dream. And so that’s you know, we’ve started four companies together. So I just tell people, follow your dreams. They say if you follow what you love and you follow your dreams, the money will come. Don’t follow the money, you know, because you might be miserable. We’ve all known people that went in to be a doctor or I knew people that went to be a teacher. First day they got in the classroom. They hated it. So, you know, follow your dreams. If you don’t love it, don’t do it.
Brian Pruett: [00:17:41] Well, I don’t have to ask my next question, which was give an advice for somebody who wants to start a business because you just did it. Absolutely. All right. So why other than the fact that you’re from Cartersville, Bartow County originally and you and you like doing this kind of stuff, why is it important for you to be part of the community?
Joan Mannis: [00:17:54] Well, I think because we if you’re part of the community, like you see people, even the business club, and then when they get up and tell what they do, you can more align with them and, you know, be a supporter of what they’re trying to do. I mean, I always want to support the nonprofits, the people who work with children and families and babies. You always want to support that. And I said when I got into that, 10% of my profits will always go toward charity. And I’m not making much money yet because I just started. But 10% of my profits will always go toward charities.
Brian Pruett: [00:18:28] Well, you’ve been supporting the last couple of months for the trivia, so I appreciate you coming out and doing that. Well, thank you. And you like having fun, obviously. Oh, yeah. So you get good food and have fun. We’ll get Sharon out to serve you one of these nights.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:38] Yeah, well, I mean, you actually have a lot of, like, really hard questions that you ask in the trivia, so I’m a little nervous about that. That’s why you.
Brian Pruett: [00:18:47] Play with the team.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:48] Oh, listen.
Joan Mannis: [00:18:49] To the music.
Brian Pruett: [00:18:49] She. She just. She caught on.
Joan Mannis: [00:18:51] He gives you he gives you clues when he’s playing a song. That’s the only way we got anything.
Brian Pruett: [00:18:56] There you go. There you go. She just gave away my secret. There you go.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:59] Oh, gosh. Okay. Well, thank you. I love you so much. Yes.
Brian Pruett: [00:19:03] All right, Joan, thanks for sharing a little bit of your story. We’re going to move over now to Tami Caspersen. I said it right.
Tami Caspersen: [00:19:08] Right.
Brian Pruett: [00:19:09] You did awesome. There you go. Twice in one day. Great job. So I think financial, correct?
Tami Caspersen: [00:19:15] Yes, sir.
Brian Pruett: [00:19:15] So we’ll get to that in just a second. But you to me are right now a story of perseverance because you currently are battling cancer. Correct. So if you don’t mind, just share a little bit of your story.
Tami Caspersen: [00:19:26] Sure. Not something that I ever thought I would see myself walking through. My mom went through breast cancer. My younger sister went through breast cancer. So my breast specialist said to me, Tammy, it skipped over you. Well, obviously, she was gravely wrong. So 20, 20, we all know what happened in 2020, the pandemic. And it was March of 2020. And I was like, hmm, something doesn’t feel quite right. I couldn’t get in to see my primary care physician, couldn’t get a mammogram, couldn’t see anybody, couldn’t see my oncologist, couldn’t see my breast specialist. So I honest to goodness believe God gave me a back ache. So I was like, oh, my gosh, what is this? I’ve got to get to urgent care, or Urgent care was open by appointment. So I went in March of 2020, and while I was, I was like, Oh, my back is hurting. I think it could be this. I think it could be that. And she’s like, Oh, you know, she checked me all out. And I said, Well, why I’m here. Can you check something else? And she said, Sure. And she was like, Oh, yes, ma’am, I’m getting you a mammogram emergency, an emergency mammogram. So we went and did that and my doctor called me in. I had four girlfriends out in the hallway and he said, And I love my doctor. He’s a wonderful man. My primary care physician, Dr.
Tami Caspersen: [00:20:43] El Dr. El Toro. And give you a shout out. He literally held my hand and cried and said, it’s stage four breast cancer and we need to start treatment ASAP. So I was like, okay. I didn’t shed a tear. My girlfriends took me out for a Mexican and a margarita said, Do you need a margarita? I was like, I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had a margarita, but I’ll have one. So he suggested one of the best oncologists in Cherokee County, which will remain nameless. I went there. My sister came down from North Carolina and it was the first chemo treatment. It was eight hours. They were in an open bull room. So you could see everybody and everybody’s business. There was a chair next to me that was very comfortable, but they made my sister sit on a metal chair for eight hours. Then I chatted with my oncologist and I was like, So, you know, just moving forward. I mean, I said from the beginning, Jesus, this is going to be you and me and whoever else decides to join this journey. And I had peace from the very, very beginning. And so I went to meet with my oncologist after the first treatment. And I said, you know, looking forward. And she literally put her hand in my face and said, we’re not there yet. And I said, you’re fired.
Brian Pruett: [00:21:59] Wow.
Tami Caspersen: [00:22:00] So just so happened that this is such a crazy story. My best friend I have two best friends that don’t know each other, but they know one person that has a really good friend. And she had walked through breast cancer twice. They’re like, You’ve got to go meet. I call her my little angel. Her name is Heather. And so they said, You’ve got to meet Heather. She was preparing for family to come in for a funeral and dropped what she was doing to come meet with me. And she’s like, We got to get you to Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Newnan, Georgia. Now, since has become City of Hope. So we got to get you down there literally the next day. Now, you got to remember, this is Covid. I didn’t get a tour of the facility. She told me where to go, who to see how to register for what hotel to stay in. And I have not looked back. So my first chemo treatment was two days before my birthday in May, May of 2020 at the other location that I fired. And then my second one was three weeks later down in Newnan in June. So I can’t say enough about City of Hope, Formerly Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Everything is under one umbrella. Your oncologist. Radiologist is there. Your radiologist is there. Your oncologist is there. Your pastoral care, your natural path, your nutritionist, your chiropractor. Everything is under one roof. So while I’m there, I get in about 36, 3600 steps just in one day going to doctor’s appointments. So of course, I lost all my hair.
Tami Caspersen: [00:23:30] The hair you see on my head today is my real hair, which I’m very thankful to have hair and eyelashes. So I go down every three weeks. I go down on Sunday night. I have a scholarship so I can stay at a lovely hotel for $22.50. I just go down on Sunday night so I can relax, get a good night’s sleep, have a great dinner. I have amazing girlfriends that go with me. We spend the night and then the next day starts with having your port access, having your blood taken, and then off to all your appointments and your infusion. So I. I know that. Perseverance. Positive attitude. My doctors, not only the medication, the nutritional supplements, and overall, my Lord and savior is the reason why I’m still standing and can do what I do. Because most people with my diagnosis goes on long term disability and I work full time serving our community through the, I think, financial credit union. So I am very thankful for my company who supports me. I’m very thankful for my friends. And I will tell you that if anyone’s walking that journey. It’s not going to be your closest friends that are going to stick by your side. Because they can’t. They they will love you. It will be people who come out of the woodwork that will stick by your side and be there for you. And that was the best advice someone gave me. And I will continue because they love you so much. And so don’t ever be.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:04] Offended if your best, best, best friends don’t show up because they’re there just in the background. And I have one young lady that’s become my dearest friend. I did not think I would cry, Brian.
Brian Pruett: [00:25:22] All right. This is what the show does. I love this. I mean, go ahead.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:26] And I cannot tell you how many times that sweet girl has taken me to CTCA in three years and she expects nothing in return. So a shout out for killing. I love you, sweet girl. And matter of fact, we leave Sunday night treatments Monday and I’ll.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:47] Go to work on Tuesday.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:49] So God is good. Everything in my life is.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:53] Stable.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:54] And.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:55] And.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:55] As you well know on this journey.
Tami Caspersen: [00:25:57] Stable is a win. We all.
Tami Caspersen: [00:26:00] Want no evidence.
Tami Caspersen: [00:26:00] Of disease, but we will take stable. As long as you’re stable, you’re golden.
Brian Pruett: [00:26:06] See, that’s why I like this show. Actually, I love this show.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:09] Oh, you love it? Yeah. I can see why. Brian, you.
Tami Caspersen: [00:26:12] Don’t have any Kleenexes.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:13] In this room. I’ll be right back. Hang on. All right.
Brian Pruett: [00:26:15] So we’ll blame Stone for that. He’s not here.
Tami Caspersen: [00:26:18] It’s all good.
Brian Pruett: [00:26:18] It’s all good. So I also like the fact you didn’t. Have you read my mind? Because I was going to ask you to give some advice to somebody might be listening going through and you already did it. So both of y’all are mind readers. You have to read my mind too, by the way. So let’s just talk a little bit more about the persevering part, because a lot of people, I think, get to the point that you are at and just give up.
Tami Caspersen: [00:26:43] Oh, you can’t. And here’s the thing. I have too much work to do. I go to work. The credit union gives me my paycheck, but I go to work every day for the Lord. Every day he gives me the opportunity to pray for somebody every three weeks that I go to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Now, City of Hope, God points out somebody specifically for me to pray for. Because, Brian, the sad part is when someone is handed a diagnosis, as you mentioned earlier, that. It is not a death sentence. Stage four is no longer a death sentence. I have people in my circle that have had stage four breast cancer 15 years, 20 years, 25 years. It’s all about your attitude. It’s all about doing what your doctors say. And it’s also researching for your own working with your nutritional supplement, your natural path, but also researching some holistic modalities. And I do a lot of holistic things. Unfortunately, those cost a lot of money and those come out of your pocket. But you have to stay focused, know your purpose, know what drives you. And not only does the, I think financial credit union drive me because of all the community events that we’re able to do, and a lot of them are my passion. But my son is 22 years old and he serves in the US Army.
Tami Caspersen: [00:28:05] He’s stationed over at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the 1/60 Airborne Special Forces. He’s a drone pilot and doing amazing. I have a 20 year old daughter who is down at Statesboro at Georgia Southern studying kinesiology. She was studying nursing, switched to kinesiology. It was like mom, you know, being in some of the holistic situations, she could see herself doing some of those working in like a holistic facility. So you just don’t know the trajectory of your own journey and how that can affect affect your children’s journey, your family’s journey, your friend’s journey, people you come in contact with. When I’m sitting down talking to somebody about their finances, it gets very intimate because you might find out that, you know, they’ve had a very sick child or a sick wife or a sick husband or there’s been a divorce or a death. And you have to get down to the nitty gritty of of why how have you gotten into this financial debacle? And all the stories aren’t just because they like to shop. So it gets very intimate. And I’m kind of an open book. So when they’re telling me their story, I’m able to tell my story and makes them feel a little bit more comfortable on sharing with me so we can get to the root of what they need.
Tami Caspersen: [00:29:18] And that’s how we look at it. I think Financial Credit Union, we can talk about car loans and home equity lines of credit and our great rates on our checking account. And But what do you need? How can I help you if I just throw a plethora of products at you? You’re probably going to go somewhere else. But if I take the time to sit down with you and listen to your story, I’m going to know how we can help you, whether whether I’m at CTCA or at the credit union. Sometimes people will break down and cry over their story. And, you know, I’ll say I’m going to pray for you. And I think people are so used to hearing people say, I’m going to pray for you, that means you’re going to do it later. And I reach over and I’ll go, I’m going to pray for you right now. And they go, Oh, right now, here where we are, in the cafeteria, in my office, if that’s okay. Because you know what? We all are human beings. I can make a note. Two days later, I’m going, Oh, shoot, I should have prayed for Brian. I should have done it right then and there. So I go to work every day for the Lord.
Brian Pruett: [00:30:18] Well, there’s two things that I want to touch on that you shared we’ll get to, I think, here in a minute. But what you just said about praying, we were at a networking group in Emerson last week and Becky Hart, who’ll be on the show not too long, but her husband was there and somebody had asked for prayer and he stopped the networking group and said, look, when somebody asks for prayer, you do it. Now, I like how you mentioned that because. Exactly. It’s it’s I mean, I’m guilty of this saying, you know, I’m going to pray for you and then it’s later. Yes. And sometimes you forget you have all, well, intentions, too. But I like that. The other thing I like what you shared about is how your closest friends, they don’t know what to say. They don’t want to do. And you got people coming out of the woodwork. Yes. I networked with a young lady who was going through a very hard time at the moment, and she’s got a passion just like everybody that’s sitting in this room about helping others. And, you know, it’s to me it’s not much. But for her it was much. And I was just texting her, seeing how she was doing. I was trying to connect with people because she’s looking for a new job and all this other kind of stuff. And it’s just amazing to see. I mean, you see it every week at CBC. It is a community. It’s not just networking. And I love the fact that you can you know, it all becomes, as Bob Brooks likes to say, the family, you know, friends and family. And anyway, I just I just love those two things you just shared because you don’t think about those things. You wanted to add something.
Joan Mannis: [00:31:39] I did want to add something we have overcome. You’ve heard our stories. We are not superhuman. People know and people who might be listening to us going through something, they’re like, Well, yeah, but you know, they’ve got something I don’t have. You don’t know what you have until your back is up against the wall. You don’t know how strong you can be. And trust me, I’ve had pity parties. I mean, you know, when you first hear diagnosis, you’re not like, Well, I can overcome this. You’re like, Why me? I mean, you do question it. So having a pity party is okay. Just don’t invite too many people. That’s right. And don’t have too long a party. But. It is true. I mean, it is something that shakes you to your core. And so people that might be feeling that right now, you can’t overcome it. You can just dig down deeper than you ever thought. But you’ve got to have faith. You got to have you got to know there’s a God and that he’s taking care of you and that sometimes the only way you can get through.
Tami Caspersen: [00:32:30] And.
Tami Caspersen: [00:32:30] When and when your friends and when your friends and family reach out to you, you know, they the one thing they might be able to do is make you a meal. Even if you don’t like what they’re making, even if you don’t think you need to be humble yourself. It’s pride. Humble yourself and say thank you, Brian, for bringing that meal. That might be the only thing they can do. Maybe they can go grocery shopping for you. Maybe your friends in the beginning can take you to every single appointment because it’s not real yet. But when you sit down in that chair and your ports accessed and you start getting infused with the medicine, that’s when it becomes really real. You know, when you walk through the halls of City of Hope and it’s just a patient and a caregiver, that becomes very real. So it takes a special person to be able to go with you and walk into that situation. Because I’m going to be honest, I was talking to my naturopath the other day and the nutritional supplements are imperative. And I said to him, I said, Dr. Coleman, I could walk down the halls of City of Hope and I can point out people that haven’t met with you yet because you think you can. I said, I know I can because if they’ve met with you and they believe they can be, well, they would look more like me. But what happens is there are some people that don’t want to be well, and you know why? Because you get lots of attention and you get petted. And how are you? How are you feeling? Okay, You know what? I like attention. I don’t want that kind of attention. I want to be the one on the other side where I can walk and give you hope. Give you hope and encourage you and say if you want to be well. You can be well, however long well looks like on your journey. Because every journey is different.
Brian Pruett: [00:34:14] Man, this is good stuff. Are you taking notes? Yeah, I.
Sharon Cline: [00:34:17] Got my phone out. Typing. Typing here and there.
Brian Pruett: [00:34:19] Yeah. Talk about the humbling part. I have a good, very good friend, and he’s former business partner, but still a very good friend who lost his mother this past Friday. And every time he and I go out to lunch, he’s always paying. And so I returned the favor yesterday and he was about ready to pay. And I was like, No, I told you, I’m taking you to lunch. And it’s just something that I could do because we were able to talk and he was able to to unload some things that he hasn’t been able to unload since his mom died. So, yes, again, some great advice. So. All right. Let’s talk about some I think.
Tami Caspersen: [00:34:48] Okay. Let’s talk about the, I think, financial credit union. Well, funny thing, I’ve been with the credit union for 18 years. Out of the 54 years they’ve been in business. So we started out as the IBM credit union, as an IBM International Business Machines. So we started out in Boca Raton, Florida, just for the IBMers. And then we decided to start branching out into other technical companies. And then we brought in other companies and city and government principalities. And basically we go out into the community and offer credit union membership benefits in your fringe benefit package so those employees can have that. Then we branched off from that aspect to going into the community. So 18 months before 2020 hit, we had decided it was time to rebrand. We were spending more time talking about what who IBM is or, you know, because they’re still around and people don’t even realize that IBM is still around and who they were and how we were affiliated. And we’re like, Oh my gosh, we’re spending so much time out in the community telling them who IBM is. So it became apparent that it was time to rebrand. So we pulled our members and said, you know, what do you think our name should be? And so it came back, I think, and we were like, Why? I think. And they said, Because you make us think about our finances.
Tami Caspersen: [00:36:04] Well, we started diving into the name I think, and realized that IBM has a think campaign for their sales team to think outside the box for their customers. So it’s just kind of like a little nod back to them as well. So we became the, I think, financial credit union. We were going to do this big kickoff and promotion march of 2020. So we’re still catching up with getting our name out there, that we are still the same credit union, we still have the same core values. We’re still here about the community. We’re still here about helping people. So 18 years ago I was working for a company climbing the corporate ladder. My children were two and five, as I mentioned now 20 and 22. And I was traveling five states. I had 20 account managers underneath me, and I was climbing that corporate ladder to the next position. And a girl in my Bible study was like, Just come interview with my credit union. And I was like, What is a credit union? I didn’t even know what a credit union was. And I was like, She kept bugging me. I was like, Fine, I’ll interview with your credit union. So I went to go to the interview and I was like, okay, this was interesting. They called me back, said, Come in, take one of those personality tests, you know, And and so I went in and took one of the personality tests.
Tami Caspersen: [00:37:17] Can I tell you, I have test anxiety. I hate tests, too. I can do my homework, but I get nervous about tests. So there was a couple silly questions on there. And I went to the branch manager and I handed her my paperwork because I took every single minute I could have because it was timed. And they ask you these silly questions. And I looked at her and I said, Beth, if this has anything to do with me being hired, it was nice to meet you. I doubt that you’ll be asking me back. Next thing i knew, I was getting a call from h.R. The VP wanted to interview me over the phone and then they were sending someone from HR to interview me in person, and he actually brought the paperwork. So I’m sitting down thinking I’m having another interview. He’s like, oh, no, no, you’re hired. We brought the paperwork. I had not even told my past my employer yet that I was even looking, let alone leaving. So here we are 18 years later. I’ve seen lots of changes with the, I think, financial credit union, which is all, all all good stuff. And since we have gone community, I am now the community. The manager of Community Development, I guess you could say. So we go out into the community and there’s so many things that I want to let you know that we’re doing, and it’s a plethora of information.
Tami Caspersen: [00:38:28] So our brain says, Brian, go all the way up to Pickens County and Jasper. If you come down through Jasper, you’re going to go over to Roswell, Alpharetta, and then come on into Marietta, Georgia. And then, oh, I skipped over Windy Hill and Powers Ferry and then come on into Kennesaw. So we’ve got three branches in Cobb County, and then you’re going to go on down to the south side of town over by a South Lake mall in Morrow, Georgia, on Mount Zion Road, and then downtown in the hub of Atlanta in the Sam Nunn Federal Building. We have a branch inside the Sam Nunn building to take care of the federal employees and then all the way down to the South Lake Mall. So we have a big footprint. And then we’re also serving all. Communities within. Where we are, where our brains are located, and then we’re branching out to because of you, you know, we’re now branching out into Cartersville and up in Jasper are branching up into Gilmer County. So things are moving quickly. Just to give you a couple little things that are just near and dear to my heart, I have a precious friend, Tracy Shymansky, at church, and she started Children Without Beds.
Tami Caspersen: [00:39:38] And we take basically Sunday school to underprivileged children on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. And it’s Sunday School on steroids. Lots of great music. They get snacks. They have they win door prizes. And if their families show up, they get a food box. And you would be amazed. You might have an eight year old little girl or a six year old little girl bringing a two and three year old because she’s taking care of her siblings. So Tracy’s story is she was at I’m going to summarize for her. I’m probably not going to do as good a job as she did, but she was delivering furniture to one of the sides of a family that had to move in because I think their house had burned down. And two of the little girls from the street outreach program came up to her and said, Oh, Miss Tracy, do you have beds for us? And she was like, Well, no, honey, these are beds for the family that they they lost everything. And they said, We don’t have beds. And Tracy as an adult was like, what do you what do you mean you don’t have beds? No, no, no. Come, come, come, come. See our house, our apartment. We don’t have beds. And Tracy walked in and saw that the whole entire family was sleeping on the floor. And from that day, children without beds was created.
Brian Pruett: [00:40:47] So I need to bring her on the show.
Tami Caspersen: [00:40:49] You need to bring Tracy on the show. You would love her. And so from there, up in Jasper fell in love with one of the coordinators at Highland Rivers Men’s Recovery. There’s about 20 men. They have, I think, 22 beds. And they take men in that are needing to go through a recovery program and found out that they were sleeping on teeny, tiny little mattresses. And I was just talking to the the group and they said, you know, really, you know, once the men phase up, they can go back and start working and find a job. But but then they come back to the facility. And so I went in and I was like, well, what’s one of your wish lists? And she said, Oh, my gosh, we need new mattresses so bad. And I was like, okay. I made a mental note, went in and did a budgeting seminar because we’re all about education, teaching people about budgeting. We all think we know about budgeting, and we teach them how understanding what their credit score really means and teaching them how to not be a victim of identity theft and fraud. And so I asked the guys, I said, what’s what’s what’s your what are your needs here, guys? And they all got really quiet. And I said, Seriously, what what is your dream list? And so a couple of them raised their hand and one guy was like, Guys, she’s asking us, what’s our wish list? I said, We need new mattresses.
Tami Caspersen: [00:41:59] Is that too much to ask? I said, No, this is you’re dreaming. Another guy said, You know, we don’t have access to our phones or computers or TV, and the only guitar that we have is on its last leg. And we have a couple guys that can play the guitar. Our grill has died. And the one guy, he was the sweetest man ever, and he turned around and looked at me and he said, Miss Tammy, we need holy Bibles. And he just remembered sitting in his grandma’s house. He just remembered her Bible said, Holy Bible. And I thought that was the sweetest thing. And I said, okay. Reached out to Tracy. We got those men, 20 brand new mattresses. I had a church donate holy Bibles to them, and the church came around, bought them not a used guitar, bought them a brand new guitar. And the Home Depot up in Jasper donated a grill for them. So you know it’s it’s the I think financial credit union is me listening to the stories and then me gathering the community to come around and support these people. Some of the people in the community didn’t even know that Highland Rivers men’s facility was there. That led me to the women’s facility, which is a disclosed place in Marietta. And these women can bring up to three children with them when they’re going through drug and alcohol rehab.
Tami Caspersen: [00:43:19] And the same thing when they phase up. I go in and talk to them about budgeting and getting a credit card or getting a checking account and explaining to them how to work that credit card and not have the credit card work them and how to use a checking account smartly and found out that these ladies and their children need beds. So you’re talking about twin beds. You’re talking about mattresses for bunk beds. You’re talking about little beds for cribs. And with Tracy’s help, with children without beds, we provided 80 beds for that facility and we delivered them and set them up in one day. That took a lot of work. So passionate about children not sleeping on the floor, obviously. And I’m passionate about men and women that are in recovery that that need a good night’s sleep. And the nurse up at the men’s facility said that night the men were sleeping so well. The next morning she went in and had to wake them up. And one guy, she had all of the 20 men write us these wonderful letters. And the one man said he had just gotten out of jail. And he said, Man, I came to the rehab center and I laid my head down. And he was I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I was having a nightmare.
Tami Caspersen: [00:44:29] The bed reminded him of jail. Wow. He goes, And then the next day you all showed up with a new beds. So Children without Beds is doing a lot of good work with us. We also support Reinhardt University. They have a two runs a year. One of the strolls is for children in Pickens County, I should say teenagers in Pickens County that need a scholarship. That’s what that money goes for. The other run that’s in Canton goes for Cherokee County students that are wanting to go to Reinhardt University so that the Rotary in Jasper does a plethora of wonderful, wonderful things. We work with also Pickens County Family Connections is called Walk a Mile in their Shoes. And this is children that really can’t even afford new shoes to go to school. And so we have shoes donated. The money that we raise goes to help pay for shoes for the children. We also have a it’s funny, we have a golf tournament in Jasper, which is called the Snowball Golf tournament. It’s put on by the chamber and that supports the children in leadership in the high school. And we call it the snowball because in March you can have snow in Jasper and it has snowed in Jasper before. And then, of course, in Marietta. We work with or I should say Cobb County, we work with the Powell Club and we do their five K every year and we support the Powell Club on other initiatives as well.
Tami Caspersen: [00:45:55] The first year we did the Powell Club, it helped pay for a boxing ring for these young men and women that were interested in boxing. So these are kids that are underprivileged that might not be able to afford summer camp or might not be able to afford to go to a boxing program or a tennis program. The Powell Club, which stands for the Police Athletic League, helps these kids get that summer experience and find out what their passion is. So we’re we’re very passionate about helping with the Powell Club. And in Marietta, real close to our branch on Roswell Road, we have the most precious little church. It’s called Providence Baptist Church. And, you know, this congregation is tiny. And I’m going to say the average age. Sister Mason, forgive me if I say this wrong. And pastor, But I’m going to say the average age is 68 ish. Okay, We’ll say 65. And 20% of the 65 year olds are doing the work. They feed the homeless, they clothe the homeless. They have a laundry facility. They have a shower facility. And this is all free. So we partner with them in clothing and feeding the homeless. We partner in their back to school. Bash. But to see this teeny, tiny little congregation doing such good work in the city of Marietta and serving the homeless, and they go out and they feed the homeless, I think it’s about once a month.
Tami Caspersen: [00:47:25] And they also have a food pantry that is unbelievably amazing to me that these people take their time. To take care of the less fortunate. And some of the stories they will tell you is just amazing. Then when we go over to. And at the credit union, we have our own foundation. So our foundation through the credit union, where our members can contribute money to the foundation. I can contribute as an employee to the foundation. If you’re just looking for a place to give money. You can give to our foundation. And what our foundation does is they do we call it Jingle Bell at the branches and we go around to the Headstart schools that are within a certain mile radius of our branches. And those Headstart schools that we contact are the ones that are those children are receiving free headstart because those children are in need and we provide a little holiday party with them. Some of the schools are allowed to have Santa. Some of them are not allowed to have Santa come. They get their picture taken. They get a little party and they Brian, they get three wrapped gifts to open during their holiday, whatever holiday is that they celebrate. And these are three wrapped gifts, not from the dollar store.
Tami Caspersen: [00:48:44] These are three wrapped gifts that our members have donated. And then I have a team that we go out and we personally do the shopping. And this is Walmart, Target, Kohl’s. They’re getting really nice gifts at the holidays. And then when school hits, we do the same thing for those Headstart children. We have our own school ready days and we go into those Headstart schools and they get an adorable backpack stuffed full of school supplies that children get to come in and have their own shopping experience. So they pick out their own backpack. They pick out their own pencil pouch. They go over, they get a $35 gift card, visa gift card to go spend however they might need. We provide snacks for them. Usually we get somebody to donate toothbrushes and toothpaste. Sometimes we get a local salon. They’ll do free haircuts for the kids. So our foundation in itself does a lot for the children in our area as well. A couple other little things that I wanted to mention that. We do. And I know my credit union is like, okay, what’s Tammy up to now? What is she getting involved in now and why are we doing this in the greater, greater Fulton greater North Fulton area? I guess I should say is we have partnered with a organization and they have a couple different runs throughout the year and they have the alien run running of the leprechauns and running of the turkeys, and that supports the friends of the Roswell Police and it supports getting people off the street for human trafficking.
Tami Caspersen: [00:50:15] That’s huge for us. And it’s interesting because every one of our branches has a passion and we take that passion from the branch manager to the people in the room. Like whatever our stories are, listening to our employees stories and find out what are they already doing in the community and we can partner with them because we have the funds to do that. And then, like you said, live your passion. If you’re living out your passion, you’re never going to work a day in your life. So you can go to the credit union and go to work. But then you know that your credit union, I think financial credit union’s going to support you in whatever your passion is, whether it’s helping people get out of sex trafficking, giving back to the police department to do what they can do, providing beds for men and women in drug and alcohol rehab. That is huge for us. So we try to partner with other organizations like the Rotary, like Acworth Business Association, Kennesaw Business Association, Kiwanis, the Marietta Business Association, all of the chambers that we’re involved in, we try to partner with them to see what are they already doing because we don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel.
Brian Pruett: [00:51:21] And now B’s Charitable Pursuits and resources.
Tami Caspersen: [00:51:24] Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And we appreciate you as well. So we also do some things with must ministries. We’ve done some fun things with them. And the extension in Marietta, we’re going to start doing more things with them and the extension we’re just getting ready to I’ve reached out to them about a need for beds. They’ve had a flood, so we’re going to talk to them about beds. We’re working with Habitat for Humanity and providing a home. And these people are going to walk into a house and it’s going to be fully furnished and they have no idea. On the south side of town, we worked with another facility, another group, and it’s all women contractors and they pick a woman in need and it’s all women that go work on the house. I thought that was really cool.
Brian Pruett: [00:52:11] That’s awesome. Yeah, there’s a lot of people I want to get on the show, so you got to connect me with some folks. We can get them on the show.
Tami Caspersen: [00:52:16] I’ll help you. That’s what I like doing, connecting people, getting the word out about not only what we’re doing in the community, but what other people are doing in the community. And it just becomes your passion. And when you have a great passion, life is good. Yeah.
Brian Pruett: [00:52:29] So you came and was a part two weeks ago, almost a week and a half ago, the all in, all out ministries that Jordan was in. We’ll talk about him in just a second. Amazing. And Sharon came. And for those of you who don’t know, haven’t listened, all in all, ministries is one of those. He’s trying to get the facility to help men and recovery from addiction and everything. And I don’t think I’ve talked to you or Jordan since we did it, but we raised $10,300 for that organization.
Tami Caspersen: [00:52:54] Fantastic.
Brian Pruett: [00:52:55] Thank you for being a part of that. So absolutely. You know, you’re doing something right. We made him cry four times that night and then made him cry the day after when I called and told him the total. So, oh, my gosh.
Tami Caspersen: [00:53:04] You were talking about being intentional about praying in the Jonesboro area. We’re involved in the Jonesboro ministries and it’s called Prayer and Clean Event. And they go in certain areas of the neighborhoods and they clean up. They’re literally picking up trash. And when they get to the end of the street, they pray for that community and they go over another block and they clean and they pray and they see the people are like, who are these people coming into our community, cleaning up? You know, Like, it’s not like they couldn’t have walked out and cleaned themselves. But they have an organization that clean and prayer walk. I thought that was really awesome, really cool.
Brian Pruett: [00:53:39] So something else you guys do that I think you touched on. But if somebody signs up, they get you can give a portion back to a nonprofit, right?
Tami Caspersen: [00:53:44] Yes. So what we have right now is anyone that’s interested or looking for another financial institution, The I think financial credit union is a place, place, a great place to do your banking. I’m an employee. I do my banking there. My kids are both members of the credit union. You can join for free. We’ll make a $5 deposit for you so you don’t have to make a deposit. Our referral program is if you refer family members, friends, your kiddos, your coworkers, you’re going to get $50 per person every month. It’s been $50 for a while, but every so often our CEO will jump in there and maybe bump that up a smidgen so you can keep that money. Or if you’d like to donate that back to your favorite charity, we can make that happen. So my goal is as we go out and we continue to do more events that whether it’s a golf tournament event for a charity, like I said, we do lots of charitable golf tournaments with like Georgia Mountain Hospice, trying to get those golfers to see, yes, you’ve paid your money to golf, but by. Joining the credit union. We’re going to have something that can fit your need. You refer your child or your spouse or a coworker. You can opt to give that $50 back to that organization that day. So. We would present them a big check at the end of the day, whether it’s $500 or 5000. I’d like us to see. I’d like to see that really get kicked off and get that promoted and let them understand the significance of that. It’s free money. People are leaving on the table.
Brian Pruett: [00:55:06] Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, I’ve got three events coming up that we’re going to talk about you guys being involved in. So perfect. So real quick, for somebody who may not know, can you just share the difference between a credit union and a bank?
Tami Caspersen: [00:55:17] I sure can. Thank you for asking that question because you know what? That was in my notes to do that. So this is what I say. This is the 100 and 101 of credit union and banking. Banking is for profit. Credit unions are not for profit. So basically what that means to you is traditionally a bank is going to be higher on the interest rates on things. You’re going to invest in your money markets, your IRAs, your any your certificates of deposit. Our checking account right now earns 7% on one penny, up to $3,000. So whether you’ve got $500 in there or 3000, it’s going to earn 7%. Anything over 3000 is going to earn a smidgen. So if you have a significant other, get them to open an account. You can have six grand earning 7%. So traditionally higher interest rates on things, you’re going to invest in traditionally lower interest rates on things you’re going to purchase your car loan, your home loan, your home equity line of credit, your credit cards, your credit card balance transfers, things of that nature. Also, I think it’s very important for you all to know is that our board of directors are all volunteers. They do not get paid. So. Again, the money that they would be being paid, we can pass back to you where you don’t have to make an initial deposit to open your free account. We pay that for you. We can afford to give you $50 for a referral and get you started. Because you know what? If we can help you, you’re going to pass the information on to someone else that we can help. So that’s that’s basic Credit Union 101.
Brian Pruett: [00:56:46] So if somebody who’s traveling, how difficult is it for them to go to an ATM and get some money?
Tami Caspersen: [00:56:51] Well, it’s not difficult because with our online banking and our mobile app, basically with the mobile app, you’ve got you’ve got me and the credit union in your hand. So you can go online, you can transfer money to your kids, you can move money, you can pay your car loan and your car payment right online. If you would need to go into a branch, you’re going to go into or go onto the website, you’re going to type into the search bar. You’re going to put in shared service centers, or you can put in ATMs. You’re going to put in the zip code where you’re traveling to or where you are at the moment, whether you’re traveling for a job or for fun, it’s going to bring up all the surcharge free ATMs and all of the shared service centers that you could actually walk in the front door and take care of business there. You can make a deposit, cash, a check. You can even pay on your car loan at a shared service center.
Brian Pruett: [00:57:41] Awesome. Well, you’ve already shared your passion with the community, so I have to ask that question. But you also do networking. I met you through actually Tiffany, right from when we met at Paulding. And you guys came to the ABA Jolt. Yes. So can you share a positive story of networking?
Tami Caspersen: [00:57:54] Oh, my gosh, There are so many. I’m going to say, when there was a job fair. In Jasper and up in Pickens County. And so we’re like, you know, let’s just let’s go to the job fair. It can’t hurt because, you know, we’re always looking for great people at the credit union. And like I said, I’ve been there 18 years. So we have very longevity at the credit union as well. And so we’re like, let’s just go to the job fair. Let’s do some networking. Let’s see what comes in. Well, it was kind of a slow start to the people coming to look for jobs. So I decided, you know, I’m not getting paid just to sit here. So I started networking with the people in the room. That’s how I found Highland Rivers men. Wow. And from there, I just. I fell in love with the ladies at the table. I fell in love with the passion that they had. They had drug, drug and alcohol, substance abuse in their own families. That’s why they went to work there just to see their faces and to see that someone came to their table and was asking questions about their foundation, you know, about their organization. Nobody else was getting it from the table. They were all just doing their own thing. And so that’s how I met them. That’s how I found out the need. That’s how we were able to meet the need. And that just I’ve never been one to sit behind my table at an event because you know what? Everyone else that’s there has a story. And sometimes it just takes one person to go to a table to get the other people to go to the table. And I’ll go around and I let them know upfront that I’m a vendor, but I also let them know that I might have something that they may need and we might be able to network really well together. So that’s one of my good stories.
Brian Pruett: [00:59:34] Awesome. Well, don’t go anywhere. We’re not done. Thank you. I want to move over to Jordan Mitchell. Jordan, thanks for being here this morning.
Jordan Mitchell: [00:59:41] Thank you. It’s a pleasure.
Brian Pruett: [00:59:42] So for those of you who came out to the locker room chat, you heard a little bit of Jordan’s story. But Jordan, you are from Bartow County, a graduate, graduated from life, and you are an Olympic style wrestler working your way to the Olympics. So if you don’t mind, you again, you’re following your dreams, but share your story, if you don’t mind.
Jordan Mitchell: [00:59:58] Yeah. So I am a straight from Bartow County, you know, completely raised in the town I. You know, from since the beginning. I was at Cloverleaf Elementary School, which I don’t know if that elementary school exists anymore. Then I transferred to Kingston Elementary School. Town, you know, in between Rome and Cartersville and went to Cass Middle. That’s where I began my wrestling journey. And the thing about my about my life is like. Everything is always played out. I was always going to be a wrestler. Everything is always the way. It’s all gone down. It’s all just been orchestrated. And I do believe in a higher power. I do believe in God. I do believe Jesus is a, you know, God in the flesh. And obviously, I wasn’t like as I didn’t have a very close relationship growing up because I was a child. I’ve gotten more as I’ve matured, I’ve gotten closer and I started. I start to see his work in my life more as I get older. So yeah, everything’s always, you know, played out, started wrestling in middle school, wasn’t good start, you know, went on to high school, still wasn’t good. And I only the best I ever did in high school was fifth at state. You know my dreams, my whole journey from when I started wrestling in middle school to high school. I wanted to be a state champ and go wrestle in college. You know, Division one, college, be an engineer, be an engineer in college.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:01:28] And. Um, yeah. And from there, wrestling for the Olympics. And this was actually for the US. You know, I wanted to wrestle for the Olympics, for the US, make the US world team. So both my parents on one side, both my parents are Jamaican and I’m first generation here in the States. So my story, I would say it begins when I start. It begins a lot. You know, when I started wrestling. And when I get to high school, once I graduate high school, I get that state right, that when I say when I say that, that’s what I wanted. Like when I was a kid and I was training and that’s what was that that was my dream was to be a state champ so I could go to college. Because back then the way I saw it was if I can be a state champ, I can get a scholarship to go to college, the Division one college, be an engineer. My life will be you know, it’ll be golden. It’ll be the best thing. When I didn’t achieve that goal, it broke me like, you know. This is a whole nother topic, but like how how we pray and things like that. Like the purpose of prayer. I used to pray all the time before matches and be like, God, I just pray that I can win this match. You know, I worked so hard. I deserve to win this match. Clearly, that’s not the way you should go about it.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:02:45] But I was a kid at the time, you know, And when I lost, it tore me apart. And I was like, you know what? Forget this. Like, I can I can do this on my own, you know? And so. I. I talk a lot about God in my in my path and my journey at State that year, my senior year when I was graduating, I got fifth and I actually turned. I actually was like, in a way, I feel like I turned my back to God and I actually walked away from the sport of wrestling. So from you know, I went to a national tournament after state and I was actually talking to the Air Force Academy coach, wrestling coach. And I told him I was like, yeah, I’m trying to get, you know, I want to go to Air Force Academy. I had a 3.5 GPA. That’s why I graduated high school with And at that at that at that national tournament, the wrestling the Air Force Academy coach was there watching my match and I choked and I went zero and two and I got destroyed because in my mind, I was like, you know what? If I can just become an all-American place at this national tournament, maybe I can get a scholarship, went, did terrible choked, and that was that. And then I had one more redemption. I felt like at the biggest, biggest national tournament in the country called Fargo Cadet and Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:04:07] And there I went. I won two matches, lost two matches. That was it. And then that was the last that was the breaking point. I was like, wow, I’m looks like I’m not going to college or I’m not wrestling in college. That’s it. So I actually walked away from the sport, didn’t watch wrestling, wasn’t a part of it. You know, it was actually real painful for me to even, like, watch it because guys, everyone that I had grown up with training with at these other schools, club programs or whatever, they went on to do what I wanted to do. They were in college winning matches, getting scholarships, and I sat there and I was just back I was in Cartersville working a warehouse job, you know, going to Georgia Highlands and just basically flunking my classes because I was like, I didn’t really want to be there. And then. On the flip side, everyone else was doing what I wanted to do. And so the year was about a year and a half after, you know, after graduating, my life was pretty much I wouldn’t say. Chaotic, but it was like all over the place. I wasn’t really I wasn’t really on a path. I was just working my I’ll be transparent. My GPA at Highlands was a 1.6. I was out every night coming back home at 3 a.m. just, you know, just being out and about because I was just like I was not I wasn’t doing anything I wanted to do.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:05:30] And I, I like to call this. I can go warn the detail. What, you know, in that in that I call that my dead period. I can go more in detail, but I like to call this my burning bush moment. You know, like Moses, when he ran to the burning bush and heard the voice, heard God’s voice. I remember I came home one night, it was 3 a.m. and I remember I just started basically just letting everything out. I remember I was sitting there listening to music and I just remember saying like, Look, God, I hate my life right now. Like, I’m not doing anything I want to do. I don’t want to be in school. I hate working ten hours a day overnight shift. I hate this, you know, And I was sitting I’m like, I’m watching everybody do things I want to do, etcetera. I’m in debt. And I remember I heard this was one of the few times I’ve ever heard the voice. Verbal voice of the Lord. And when this happens, it’s like I remember just the atmosphere in the room I was in. It got nice and calm. It was steady. It was like it was just it was just there. And I remember he said to me or the voice said to me, he’s like, Are you done with your pity party yet? Because there’s still more work to be done.
Tami Caspersen: [01:06:50] I love that.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:06:51] And this is listening to your story, Tammy. This is where I like. When I listen to people’s stories, I always listen for like when you decide like, this is what you’re going to do. Yes. And it’s just you and Jesus. It’s you and God. And you decide like, All right, this it’s just you and me. We’re doing this. Everything else after that just kind of plays out. And so I decided when I heard that voice that you don’t need a pity party because it’s still, still more work to be done. I was like, Yeah, I’m done. So I don’t know. I don’t know what it is. I know I don’t know what it looks like, but, you know, let’s it’s just you and me, literally. I was like, It’s just you and me. And we’re going to we’re going to figure this out, you know? And that’s when I started realizing, like, step by step. First step is I got to get my grades up because I’m going to have to transfer to compete somewhere. And I can’t transfer if I don’t have my grades up. Second thing, got to get out of debt, you know, because I was like at the time, I was like $4,000 in debt because I had a student credit card and I was just, you know, not being smart with it. So I have to get my grades up so I can transfer. Get out of debt. And then I have to start figuring out figuring out training. You know, I have to I was not living a lifestyle of an athlete, so. You know, as time went on, it started paying off my debt, got out of debt. There’s some crazy stories about that, about how like just how God really does puts things into play where pays off debts, like there are finances out there for you guys that are in store, you know, blessings that are in store that will help you get get things done.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:08:26] You know, so was able to pay off debt. And from start to figure out training. And it’s interesting because I started coaching when I started doing was I started coaching at local high schools, local middle schools. And as I was wrestling with the guys, wrestling with the kids, that’s when I realized I was No. 1819 at the time. And I realized I was like, I still have I still have it in me. Like I still clearly now looking back, it’s like obviously it hasn’t to me. I was only 19. I wasn’t like old, you know, or, you know, like worn out or retired. But I was like, I still have it in me. Like, I can still get this done. And I like to think about that as like, it’s what brought me back to the sport was actually helping out or giving back. Exactly know helping out the kids. Because what really drove me in the beginning, what really drove me to start coaching, was helping out these kids achieve the goals that I never did. You know, like I’ve not to brag or anything, but I’ve now it’s like I’ve helped out many kids, go on to college, get scholarships, win state, become national champs, All-Americans, things like that. Those are things I never got. I never did, you know, coming up. And now it’s like I’ve gotten better at coaching and I’m able to help and give back more. And that’s what brought me back to the sport.
Brian Pruett: [01:09:52] Well, if you think about it in sports, just to but the people who make the best coaches are people who either never played the game or sat the bench and looked or the ones who think they weren’t the best, you know, and didn’t accomplish those things. So you’re right in that category.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:10:08] Absolutely. But yeah, and so I started. So this is the part of the journey where it’s like, all right, I decided I’ve got to get I’ve got to start figuring out training. And then I start I got to start competing. This is where the beginning of the process, you know, And as time gone on, time has time has gone on. I started realizing the process of development. You know, what it takes to, you know, jump levels and get better. As an athlete, I started I had to figure out training. I started training at local colleges. You know, I was training at Rinehart, was training at Life University. I would go up to UTC in Chattanooga, you know, and this is the funny thing again, God really does put things in your life for certain time periods, you know, certain just plays things out. Like I was training at Rinehart first and eventually I guess the way my life shifted, I started training at life, you know, like just how things just at the time I was, he, he worked it out to where I was in the best room that I needed to be in, you know, possible at that time period. So I’m training. I start competing on my own, literally, when I mean, I was competing on my own. I’m competing. It’s just me driving anywhere in the South east. Five hours to go to North Carolina to compete, go to Tennessee to compete, Florida to compete wherever. And it’s just me and God and some tournaments I win, other tournaments I lose.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:11:38] But this is where I started getting it’s like it’s almost like God was my coach. He gave me a level of discernment to be able to not be so emotionally involved in my results. And I was able to, you know, understand like, okay, I lost because of this. I need to look at what I need to do here, you know, and improve on this area. And then it was just like rinse and repeat. As I was doing that in this part of my life, I was still getting my grades up, still working, you know, still working warehouse warehouse jobs and and back in 2019, I actually get in contact with his name is Daniel Dennis. He is a 2016 Olympian. He actually started coaching me personally, and this is where this was in UTC at Chattanooga. And so he’s coaching me, you know, like he’s helping me jump levels. And by then my grades are I’ve gotten my grades up to where I’m able to transfer. Spring of 2020 comes around. I actually transfer to UTC in Chattanooga. It’s a Division one college with engineering because engineering was my was. My. Was my was my. It was. It was. It was my breaking point. Either it was either I’m going to do engineering and wrestle or I’m just going to wrestle. And so they had engineering. But unfortunately, by the time I got there, if if you guys understand how College Division one sports works, you have a running clock, you know, eligibility.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:13:17] And by the time I got there, unfortunately, I was out of eligibility. But this is the strange, this is the interesting part. So I reached that crossroads. And I always knew, like when I got accepted into the school, I had this, I had this. It’s like this, this feeling where you have to, like, run an errand and you’re procrastinating, but you just know you have to do it. I always had this feeling and it was like it might be too good to be true. Like I spent the last five years working for this moment, training, traveling on my own, you know, without a coach, you know, hopping around, just doing whatever, trying to figure this out on my own. And I’m finally going to transfer and do engineering. You know, I got out of debt and is this this might be too good to be true? And lo and behold, it was. But I reached a crossroads where it was all right. So I had gotten my grades up and it was either I transferred to Georgia Tech or KSU to do engineering and not wrestle or. I had already built a family and an establishment of life university because I was I was a volunteer assistant coach there. And I trained I transferred there and changed my major and continue wrestling. And I was like, you know what? I was talking to my aunt. She gave me some words of wisdom and she told me she was like, I told her how I was like, you know, I just felt like it was just too good to be true.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:14:45] And she said to me, she’s like, Oh, that was the Holy Spirit telling you, preparing you for that, for that crossroad. Like, you know, sometimes God will let you know, like, Hey, there’s a big choice coming up in the future. Near future, I’m preparing you. So, you know, make that decision. And I told her, I was like, Well, I don’t know. I was like, Well. It is audio engineering and go make money or I wrestle and be broke for a little bit longer and, you know, just do what I want to do. And she said, Well, that’s entirely up to you, but here’s one word. Here’s one thing to know. If you wake up every single day miserable, chances are you made the wrong choice. Yes. If you wake up every day content and you know at peace and just and you keep moving forward, most likely you made the right choice. And looking back, I had already had I had already lived years my my young adult life working without without sport wrestling warehouse jobs, being in school without it. And I was like, you know what? Yeah, I’m going to change my major in wrestling. I already made this decision years ago. So around that time, yeah, around that time I had actually gotten in contact with the Jamaican coach. He is, his name is Kevin Wallen.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:16:00] He was actually a Jamaican athlete and coach at the time. And he told me, I told him what I was. I told him what I was going on. I was like, Hey, right now I’m actually not in college right now. I’m actually just training, working, traveling around. And he told me what I needed to do. He was like, That’s pretty cool. This is what you need to do. You need to get this, this and this. Get your citizenship and your passport. And that was all he told me. And he disappeared. And from there to 2021, after quarantine or the initial part of quarantine, Jamaican wrestling, the Jamaican Wrestling Federation, completely wiped their board clean and got new people involved. And then one of the coaches, one of the one of the current board members reached out to me and he was like, Hey, someone passed me along. Your name, are you still interested? And blah, blah, blah, and do you have your documents and stuff? And I was like, Yeah, actually I started the process. He’s like, All right, if you’re serious, this is what you need to do. And by now I was already at Life University as a freshman, quote unquote, freshman for my first year of athletic athletics. And yeah, so I told him I was like, Yeah, I’m at Life University now. I’m going to keep getting better at wrestling. Just, you know, stick to the process, you know? And from here, this is where I’m at.
Brian Pruett: [01:17:27] So those of you who are listening can’t see. We’re talking about Olympic style wrestling, not the WWE. Correct. But when you look at him, he’s I don’t know, he’s not very big, but it’s just it’s what weight class do you wrestle.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:17:40] So college I wrestle 141 141 pounds and then international for freestyle it’s 140 3.3 which is 65 kilos kilograms.
Brian Pruett: [01:17:50] Okay. And so when I think about the Olympics in Jamaica, I think of Cool Runnings. And when I said that to you, you said you are the cool runnings of the Summer Olympics.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:17:57] Pretty much.
Brian Pruett: [01:17:57] Yes. Yeah. So, okay, so let’s, let’s do this. So, um, you and I sat down and talked. You are trying to currently get to next year’s Olympics, correct? Yes, sir. You’ve already participated in several international tournaments. Yes, sir. Uh, what was the last one? You just. You just were at, So ju.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:19] I was in El Salvador at the Central American Caribbean Games July 3rd. That’s where I was at just previously.
Brian Pruett: [01:18:27] How’d you do?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:28] I took fifth. Fifth at the tournament. It was. You know, it was good.
Brian Pruett: [01:18:32] Hey, top five is always good.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:34] Yeah, it’s tough. But, yeah, it was. It was a good experience.
Brian Pruett: [01:18:37] So what’s next as far as getting to the Olympics? What do you have to do to to finish getting there?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:18:43] So the way it works, there is a Olympic qualifying tournament, the Pan American Olympic qualifying tournament, and that is and that is next March in Mexico. So I have to make the finals. You know, I have to get bronze, gold or silver to be to be able to qualify my weight. So the way it works is each country, there’s five weight classes and you have to you have to place at the requirement at a qualifying term. There’s multiple qualifying tournaments around the world. You know, there’s one Asian qualifier, the Pan American qualifier, the European qualifier, South American qualifier, you know, African. And then there’s a couple other ones, last chance qualifiers. And you pretty much just have to medal. And once you medal, you qualify the weight for that country. So I’m the only guy at my weight so I, I medal. I pretty much qualify my weight which I’ll I’ll qualify myself for that country.
Brian Pruett: [01:19:42] Awesome. So and these tournaments that you go to and I’m guessing even the Olympics, you have to pay for these for yourself right. There’s no they don’t pay for you to go to these. So you and I were talking about trying to figure out a way businesses or people want to help sponsor you, right?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:19:58] Absolutely.
Brian Pruett: [01:19:59] Um, have you guys, you know, sat down and talked a little bit about it, But if there’s a way to do that, how can people do that?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:20:04] So I’m actually so what you can do is I’m actually set up I’ve actually I’ve set up a virtual business card if you want to follow me. And my virtual business card leads directly to my. Venmo, my cash app, things like that for donations. I’m still actually and if you want to contact me, my contact information is on there. Also straight to my Instagram or Facebook or my messenger or my text. If you want to contact me directly to figure out a sponsor, you can work something out sponsorship wise. Yeah.
Brian Pruett: [01:20:42] Well, we’ll share that information here in just a second. So for those who don’t know the difference, talk about the difference between Olympic style wrestling and it’s Roman Greco, Right? There are two different kinds, Correct? Can you share the difference?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:20:56] So freestyle, so Olympic style. The two Olympic styles are freestyle and Greco-Roman. Greco-roman is the world’s oldest sport. You know, it’s just basically upper body wrestling. You can’t touch below the legs. The goal, the goal of any wrestling is to pin your opponent, put both shoulders to the mat and Greco. You try to do that with just, you know, upper body wrestling, anything above the waist. Freestyle is basically anything goes. You can grab the legs, headlocks ankles, anything, you know. But again, the end the end goal is to pin your opponent’s shoulders to the mat and you can also win by points, you know, So.
Brian Pruett: [01:21:36] All right. You also shared with me that when you’re done with wrestling, you have a pretty cool dream of doing that when you’re done as well. So you want to continue working with the next generation and coaching. And so I want to ask everybody else in here, did you guys know that Life University has an IT degree? I did not know that.
Tami Caspersen: [01:21:53] I did not know that until I spoke to him at the event.
Brian Pruett: [01:21:55] So Jordan that’s what he graduated with life with. And but you also are going back to get a master’s, which I did not know they had this or this degree either. Share what you’re going to be doing.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:22:04] So I’ll be getting a master’s in positive psychology and then coaching psychology.
Tami Caspersen: [01:22:09] Wow, I love it.
Brian Pruett: [01:22:10] And then you want to do what with that?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:22:12] So later on, I do plan on being a high school, high school coach, most likely somewhere down the line. Yeah. You know, just being that one high school coach that’s probably a health teacher or a history teacher and just, you know, developing the next generation.
Brian Pruett: [01:22:27] You said you had aspirations to go in MMA as well, correct? Absolutely. Yeah. There you go. All right. So awesome. Jordan, thank you for for sharing that. So I’ve got two other questions before we wrap this up. I usually like to ask these while you guys are talking, but since I forgot to ask you first, I decided to wait till the end. Joan If somebody wants to get a hold of you and learn about the tours, come do a tour. How can they do that?
Joan Mannis: [01:22:49] I have a website, Old Cartersville tours.com. That’s probably the best way. I’m on Facebook, I’m on, I’m on Instagram. And so they can follow me that way. Okay, I need followers.
Brian Pruett: [01:23:03] There you go. All right, Tammy, if people want to talk to you more about the credit union, how can they get Ahold of you guys?
Tami Caspersen: [01:23:09] They can reach out to us on our website. They want to reach out to me personally. They can reach out to me at t caspersen and that’s tca’s p r s e n at i think i.org. They can also reach out to me by my cell phone, which is (770) 681-6859. And we’re just here to help people. As my father said, I think you were born from a briefcase. So I learned community service. I learned dedication and work ethic from my dad and the small town that I shared with you that I grew up in. So I’m here to help however I can.
Brian Pruett: [01:23:43] Awesome. All right, Jordan, share if people want to follow you. If people want to help you get your dream, share your Instagram share, How can people get Ahold of you on what they can? How can they follow you?
Jordan Mitchell: [01:23:53] So right now, if you want, you can send me a text message at (678) 677-5250. Or you can just reach out to me on my social media, which is Instagram. It’s just prince underscore Jordan j a h d a n.
Brian Pruett: [01:24:11] Awesome. All right. Last question that I’d like to ask before we wrap this up. You guys have shared a lot awesome stories already, but I’d like for you guys to share one piece of positive nugget, a quote or a word that people can take today, the rest of 2023 and beyond with. So, Joan, what do you got?
Joan Mannis: [01:24:31] Make a long bucket list. Now and at the end of your life, have a short one.
Brian Pruett: [01:24:38] Mm. Nice. Yeah.
Joan Mannis: [01:24:40] Do your bucket list.
Brian Pruett: [01:24:42] Tammy.
Tami Caspersen: [01:24:43] I like to teach people.
Tami Caspersen: [01:24:44] When I go out to do educational seminars, I like to say I’m here to help you say no for a little while so you can say yes for the rest of your life.
Brian Pruett: [01:24:54] Awesome, Jordan.
Jordan Mitchell: [01:24:57] So I want to say. I think so. Understand time. Things take time and have patience. And I say that because. Whenever you’re trying to whenever. And I think I think the principles of life are pretty much universal, whether it’s athletics or business or, you know, building anything. Figure out, you know, there’s a step by step process, figure out what the step by step process is, you know, and it’s basically just rinse and repeat. You know, so if something if you’re trying to develop something, figure out what it is you’re doing. Fix that and then improve. Test it. And then it’s just rinse and repeat from there. So. Yeah, just understand, things don’t come quickly, especially things that have longevity and consistency. They don’t come fast. So give yourself time and have patience.
Brian Pruett: [01:25:53] It’s God’s timing, not ours, that’s for sure. Exactly. All right. So again, the thank you is a lost art these days. So, Jonah, I want to thank you for not only coming on and sharing your story this morning, but what you’ve added to the community of Bartow with old Cartersville City tours and your story of being an overcomer and following your dreams. Tammy, thank you for everything that you’re doing in the community and sharing your story as well and just being the story of hope for others. Absolutely. And Jordan, thank you for what you’re doing. I mean, you guys, you’re following a passion, your dream, and these next generation athletes can look up to you and being a good role model. So thank you for that. Everybody out there listening. Let’s remember, remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.
BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Your Team
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BRX Pro Tip: Invest in Your Team
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, you’ve said it a number of times, I’ve heard it a number of times, I believe wholeheartedly in the concept – invest in your team. But say more about that from your vantage point.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:19] Well, if you want a team of people who deliver exceptional service, then you have to be a leader who can articulate your vision, explain with clarity what you expect and what you will not tolerate. And that’s what it takes in order to deliver exceptional service, and that’s what you owe to your team, and that’s what your team owes to the mission that you’re all on. And to do that, you have to help your people get what they want.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] That’s at the bottom line of all this. In order for you to be able to deliver the exceptional service that you imagine, you have to help your team members get what they really, really want. You have to be able to understand their desired outcome and deliver it to them, and help them understand that by working with you, and for you, and on this mission that they are going to get what they really, really want.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:13] That means, you know, some of the things to try, give them credit publicly. You know, let them know that they’re doing a good job and that they’re special. And figure out ways that you can help make their life easier and better. And if you do some of these things relentlessly, you have a good shot to attract the right people to your team, and that makes it a lot easier when the right people are coming to you and want to be part of the team. And then, when you have the right people, that they will perform admirably, and get the job done in the manner that you would like it to be done. They feel like that they’re winning. They feel like they’re doing work that’s important, that’s meaningful. And then, your customers are happy and your customers keep coming back.
Alyssa J. Devine with Purple Fox Legal
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Alyssa J. Devine, Founder and Managing Attorney of Purple Fox Legal, created a unique law firm brand as a reflection of her appreciation for entrepreneurship and passion for intellectual property.
Purple Fox Legal offers creatives and entrepreneurs customized business and legal solutions, including contract drafting, intellectual property protection, business plan development, process optimization, and strategy execution to increase business value.
Alyssa earned her J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Indiana University. Pursuing a dual degree granted her the opportunity to perfect her time-management skills as well as learn from and work collaboratively with talented thought leaders.
During law school, Alyssa participated in law review, competed in national moot court competitions, and interned with four judges at the state and federal levels. She also made time to volunteer for community legal projects and was awarded the Norman Lefstein Award of Excellence for volunteering hundreds of pro bono hours during her law school career.
In addition to these experiences, she gained valuable insight while working at a renowned intellectual property management company protecting deceased celebrities’ brands. Alyssa J. Devine’s alma mater, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, recently published an Alumni Spotlight recognizing her accomplishments following graduation. She was interviewed on The Renaissance Podcast, where she provided information regarding the importance of intellectual property for all types of businesses.
Viewing issues from multiple perspectives, Alyssa works with clients to add value and create strategic legal solutions that do not compromise their business values. Alyssa educates others about the law to inspire appreciation for the value and beauty of intellectual property and how to use legal principles to grow businesses. In addition, to quench her thirst for learning, she sets time aside to watch documentaries every month.
Follow Purple Fox Legal on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- How Alyssa was introduced to entrepreneurship?
- How she come up with the name Purple Fox Legal?
- How does evolving AI technology affect small businesses?
- What is the most common legal mistake business owners make?
- What Alyssa enjoys doing outside of work?
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.
Stone Payton: [00:00:15] Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Purple Fox Legal Ms. Alyssa Devine. How are you?
Alyssa Devine: [00:00:33] I’m doing well and thank you for inviting me today. I’m excited to be here.
Stone Payton: [00:00:38] Well, it’s a delight to have you on the show. I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. I’ve got a ton of questions. We’re probably not going to get to them all. But but maybe a good place to start would be if you could share with me and our listeners mission, purpose, what you and your team are really out there trying to do for folks.
Alyssa Devine: [00:00:59] Absolutely. So we do offer legal services. I don’t like to call Purple Fox Legal a law firm, though, because that has a very negative connotation. And so I intend I’m very intentional about being modern, being approachable, being at least more transparent about pricing and making legal just making legal simpler. It doesn’t have to be so hard. You know, if you if you don’t understand the contract, I think that it needs to be rewritten. That’s sort of my attitude about about certain things. But and there’s just a lot of misinformation out there, too. So I’m just trying to help out entrepreneurs, you know, different content creators and trying to guide them in the direction that that they want to go.
Stone Payton: [00:01:52] So, you know, I had to ask, where did purple come from? What’s the story on that?
Alyssa Devine: [00:01:59] Yes. So I was very intentional about picking something other than my name. I started this firm in September 2021, so it was right in the middle of the pandemic. So the, the majority, um, you know, everybody was online. That’s, that’s where everybody did their advertising. So I needed to stand out. I needed to be distinctive. Um, and so I kind of, I wanted. Something that was just kind of just popped, you know? So the Color Purple represents wisdom and creativity. And then the fox, of course, cleverness, but also getting out of tricky situations, which is what a lawyer does. Well, preferably I like to prevent those tricky situations from happening at all. But I felt that that that combination of elements, the combination of those connotations, um, represent my law firm and what I do.
Stone Payton: [00:02:59] Well, let’s dive into the backstory a little bit. What were you doing prior to this? What was the, what was the path that brought you to having your own firm like this?
Alyssa Devine: [00:03:10] Well, I didn’t at first. I didn’t want to be an entrepreneur. I think I think a lot of teachers might say that. And actually, my first introduction to entrepreneurship was was through my grandfather. He is a farmer in Indiana and has been his whole life. And as I grew up, you know, every season, I witnessed his struggles, you know, dealing with the incredibly high risk that is involved with farming, not just from a physical safety perspective, but just from a financial business perspective. You know, he could not control the weather, but that was a huge determining factor for, you know, the yield of his crops at harvest. But he could spray pesticides on these crops, too. You know, so. So bugs, other other creatures didn’t, you know, eat his literally eat his profits. So it was all about risk mitigation and and I went to school, law school, and I got my MBA and I kind of. Said to myself, well, you know, I can spot these issues, but why am I not doing it for myself like I can? Why am I just doing it for myself? Why? You know, I can I can do this for a lot of other people. So I’m trying to connect the business and the legal because they’re often at odds. Um, and I think that’s a reason that people run away from, you know, when they see the legal department or the HR department, they run away. But I don’t want them to feel that way.
Stone Payton: [00:04:52] So now that you’ve been at it a while and you started at a very let’s call it an interesting time in history. Yes. But now that you’ve been at it a while and you’re doing it your own way, what are you finding the most rewarding? What are you enjoying the most about the work?
Alyssa Devine: [00:05:10] I think the most rewarding thing is to to see the see my clients, you know, as as they as they grow and are expanding their business. And um, you know, since, since my company is pretty new, I’m growing with them. So it’s more, we’re more of partners versus, you know, attorney client, um, if that makes sense. There’s a lot of collaboration, Uh, and I think that’s how we get the best solutions for, for people. Um, you know, the better I understand somebody’s business or how they want to do business, which may not be how they’re currently doing business. So we got to, got to bridge that gap. Um, and just kind of seeing, seeing clients grow, um, and just be successful, that’s really rewarding. Not all, not all attorneys can can say that, you know, the like, for example, trust and estates. You know, you don’t, you don’t get to see your work outside of work necessarily, but I do and that’s rewarding to me. So motivating.
Stone Payton: [00:06:19] Let’s talk about the work a little bit. Do you find yourself gravitating primarily to other people who are entrepreneurs or run small or mid-market firms? Have you have you found yourself working in a niche or two or on a specific set of like a category of in the legal domain? Or what’s what’s the work been like?
Alyssa Devine: [00:06:40] So the majority of my clients are service based and they’re small or medium sized businesses. And what’s kind of interesting to me is that the majority of my clients are female. But why this is interesting is because the majority of my website visitors are male. So I just kind of find that a little interesting. Um, but there’s a, there’s a great female entrepreneurship community in Nashville. It’s very authentic and genuine, and I’m very grateful to be a part of it.
Stone Payton: [00:07:13] I’ll bet you are. So in my world, I come from the training and consulting world, and now I’m in the media world and I have an opportunity occasionally to blend the two. But IP intellectual property is always has always been a part of our career when we’ve created what we felt like was intellectual property, we wanted to protect it. I have run into situations over the years where someone felt like we infringed their IP and we had to have that conversation. You find yourself working through those issues quite a bit, right?
Alyssa Devine: [00:07:48] Yes, I think more on the preventative side. But yes, I do have people come to me when they do get a cease and desist. You know, when somebody does come to them saying, oh, you’ve infringed my trademark or my copyright, Um, so I mean, I think. I think education is kind of step one because if you can’t identify the different types of intellectual property and figure out what you have, then how are you going to protect it? So you know, what? What trademarks do we have? Which ones should we protect? You know, it’s maybe it’s not necessary to register all your trademarks, but you need to register some probably in every business has at least one trademark, at least one. So it’s just very, very important to be aware of these issues.
Stone Payton: [00:08:35] So you mentioned preventative just now. And earlier in our conversation, you talked about the the agreements, the contracts being well, or at least what I took from it was was simple and understandable. And, you know, where you really do understand what you’re agreeing to and it’s clearly communicated. So I’m kind of picking up a theme from you that let’s get it right early and then we won’t have to deal with all the hairy stuff later. It sounds like that’s a real thrust for you in your practice.
Alyssa Devine: [00:09:07] Yes, it is. And it’s an incredibly popular approach, as I’m sure you could guess. It just it just doesn’t like not everything legal has to be hard. It just doesn’t have to be so hard. We can make things better. We can be more transparent about pricing. We can make contracts, you know, where a one paragraph isn’t a whole page, single spaced. You know, we can we can do better. I think we can do better. And I’m and I’m actively trying to do better for my clients, for my community.
Stone Payton: [00:09:41] Well, so many small business people, at least in the circles that I run in, you know, sometimes we have to take a few risks. We throw our hat over the fence, we fly by our seat of the pants, and we get to a point where things are starting to to work. And I think maybe some of us I’ll at least speak to myself, you know, I might have the tendency to to leave some things undone that could really hurt me down down the road. And I guess I’m operating under the impression maybe before, but certainly after you get just a little bit of traction, you need to you need to least take some kind of inventory and get someone with some professional expertise to say, okay, Stone, you’re an equity partner in this network. You’ve got your own studio, you’re doing some consulting. Here’s, you know, is that what it looks like early on? Like, talk to me a little bit about what the what the the client relationship and the early work looks like. Do you just sit down and try to get a feel for their business and the kind of contracts they are writing? And yeah, walk us through that.
Alyssa Devine: [00:10:48] Yeah, absolutely. I think I think that’s that’s part. That’s all part of it. Um, another part of it is about a conversation about, you know, what, what’s your long term goal here? Like, is this, um, you know, is this going to be like a family business? Are you going to sell this business to, you know, others in the future or. Well, in the short term. Even future. Um, so those kind of conversations help help guide my thinking and kind of what needs to be done because, you know, if you, if you buy or sell a business, there’s a lot of due diligence involved with that. And one of the most important parts is the trademarks. Where did you get the trademarks? How like are they registered? You know, when when was it first used? All those things are very, very important. And if everyone doesn’t if a if a seller doesn’t have all their ducks in a row, that can cause a huge, huge problem and greatly diminish the value of their business, you know, if they do want to sell. But there’s also just business succession planning. So kind of like taking like looking at the long term, like are we are we going into different states and kind of like working my way backwards, so to speak, to to prevent all these different types of problems. But I think I think the trademarks is sort of the core. Um. I started just the starting point because if you don’t have a brand, you don’t have a business. They’re there. They’re intertwined very, very closely. Um, but yeah, there’s also just a lot of different contracts. So like for websites you have to have a privacy policy and terms of use. Um, you know, if you don’t, then you could be violating consumer protection laws, like just kind of getting, getting the foundation right. Is is critical. Absolutely critical. You can’t scale you can’t grow unless you have the foundation set up. Absolutely.
Stone Payton: [00:12:50] So I bet you’re running into a patterns. I bet you see some of the same mistakes over and over. And you’re like, maybe you don’t say it out loud. You’re like, okay, here we go again. Yep. Seen this before? What are some of the common mistakes or the common things that are undone or done wrong that you’re like running into over and over with your clients or before their your clients? Yeah.
Alyssa Devine: [00:13:17] Well, I mean, going back to trademarks, people will start a business. It’s so, so important. So they’ll start a business. They’ll, you know, they’ll, they’ll gain customers, they’ll develop a website, they’ll spend all this money and time and resources building this brand, and then they get a cease and desist. And then there’s litigation. Then they have to change their brand in addition to paying all those litigation costs, the average cost of a trademark lawsuit is actually $400,000.
Stone Payton: [00:13:49] Holy moly.
Alyssa Devine: [00:13:51] Yeah. So that’s that’s quite a bit of money. And that’s, you know, that’s obviously not including any cost of rebranding, which is also incredibly expensive, at least tens of thousands of dollars depending on where the business was, you know, in their in their growth journey of growth. But. Getting that right is so critical. And it’s it’s it’s much easier and cheaper to prevent these problems. So I like to tell people like what what the what a good process would be is to do a trademark clearance search for a name that you want to pick, want to use. And then once you do that, then you want to secure the domain names, the social media handles, all those sorts of things. And then you file the paperwork to create the LLC or other business entity and then you file the trademark. So why you do it in that order is because you want the LLC or your business entity to be the owner of the trademark and you want that name to be on the registration. So that has to exist before you file the registration. But those two things should be done very quickly because there are a lot of, um, I’ll just say bad actors who watch those sort of things and, you know, steal up domain names and social media and all those sorts of things, which used to be actually a huge, huge problem about 20 years ago. And I think I think we’re going to see a little bit of that now that we have the the I. Uh. You know like.com. I. So the URLs I’ve.
Stone Payton: [00:15:28] Actually got a couple of questions around AI and how that impacts your practice and your clients in just a moment. But I’m curious, when you made the leap into entrepreneurship, did first of all, I’d love for you to just describe what that was like. I mean, it’s got to be a little bit unnerving if you’re accustomed to coming from a what a lot of people envision as a more secure environment. But did you have somebody coaching you through that transition or a mentor or anything like that? Or did you just dive in head first and just trial by fire and you just made your way through it?
Alyssa Devine: [00:16:03] And maybe maybe a little bit more of the second. I realized in my in my last year of law school that this that starting my own business was going to be a possibility and that I needed to educate myself as much as possible. Um, about, about starting a business in general. Um, you know, managing a business, but also just kind of different. Elements regarding the legal industry. So, for example, there are a lot of restrictions around legal marketing. So just kind of making sure that I, you know, was very aware and cognizant of those rules. Well. But yeah, that was a I think I think I sort of, you know, did a bunch of research and, and watched videos and attended class and all that sort of thing for probably about a year before I started my business. So I, I don’t, I don’t want to say I kind of jumped in head first trial by fire, I guess it kind of was a little bit after that. But but I did a lot of prep work. I did a lot of prep work.
Stone Payton: [00:17:10] Well, but that’s your wheelhouse, right? I mean, that’s what makes you such a good attorney is you know how to do the research. It’s something that that you enjoy doing and, you know, and you go through and check all those boxes, so. Well, that’s encouraging. You mentioned legal marketing, and there are some parameters that you have to operate within. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a for a practice like yours? Like do you have to go out and market or is it more of an educate kind of process? I don’t know how you go out and sell legal business. I’m convinced if someone sits down and has a conversation with you, you know, and they’re like, Well, yeah, we need to talk. And you know, oh, boy, where you been? Yeah, but like that first conversation, how does that do? You have like process? You have some sort of sales and marketing process or something.
Alyssa Devine: [00:18:04] Um, you know, I have kind of like my intro pitch, but, you know, one of the, one of the legal marketing rules is that you cannot solicit people, um, you know, live either in person or by phone. So no cold calling or anything like that. That’s that’s definitely not okay.
Stone Payton: [00:18:21] Is that is that pretty much all over the country or is that kind of state by state or do you know.
Alyssa Devine: [00:18:26] Yeah, that’s that’s pretty that’s a pretty standard rule across across states. So, um. So, you know, when I go to different networking meetings and stuff, like I can’t just go out and hand people business cards because that would violate that rule. I have to wait basically for them to ask me for that information. So it’s it’s it’s very restrictive, I’ll say. But but I do I focus my sales and marketing efforts on education because once I, you know, obviously want to provide value and, you know, people, you know, that get that information, they can they can see and realize, oh, wait, this is this is an issue with my business. Like I need to get in touch with this person. Um, and the exception to, to that kind of prohibition against live solicitation is if you’ve had like a prior relationship with somebody or if they’re like a family member or something like that. But I’ll just say it’s there for a good reason. But it’s also it’s also makes it very hard for us.
Stone Payton: [00:19:30] Well, I bet it does. And so you but you do have a great deal of. Specific expertise and experience in this domain. And there’s so much that most business owners don’t know. We don’t even know what we don’t know, right? So if there’s a place for us to go that’s credible, to learn a little bit about trademarks and and it’s probably not only new information, but probably unlearning some things because we probably have some misconceptions or misbeliefs and we just got it wrong. But if there’s a repository or a person or a somewhere where we can go and say, Oh, let me watch this little video or listen to this audio or read this article or something. And then over time, then I guess you’re building credibility. And I’m like, okay, yeah, I’m going to reach out and and talk to the purple folks. Yeah.
Alyssa Devine: [00:20:25] Yeah, absolutely. And I, um, well, actually, a good example of that would be sometimes I try to I can convince people to accept payments in a certain way and that can help automate their bookkeeping. And I kind of like, educate them a little bit about that sometimes, you know, maybe I’ll talk to their bookkeeper or CPA to set up, you know, the QuickBooks side of things. But, you know, if you do cash and checks like that’s that’s a lot harder to automate. So they’re taking more time to do that or hiring somebody to take care of that. Well, if they, you know, accept payments through, you know, something like Stripe or or other types of things and we put that in the contract, they can automate that. They can they can save money and time by doing things a certain way. So I try to think about those things. In addition to the legal protection. I think operational efficiency is, is also maybe undervalued. Um, but, but I think it’s important.
Stone Payton: [00:21:28] Well, it seems to me like you would never run out of topics. I mean, you probably have this whole big list anyway and just going out into the marketplace and having conversations with people in this, just listening to them talk about their challenges and even their victories. Probably like every time you go somewhere, you’re like, okay, I got three more topics. I’m going to go. I’m going to go write an article or I’m going to do a YouTube or whatever. I bet you would never run out of topics.
Alyssa Devine: [00:21:54] Yeah, I think that’s probably true. Unfortunately, I would run out of time to create those videos.
Stone Payton: [00:22:00] So I hear you. I do want to talk about I of course, it’s all the rage at this. At this point. My business partner specifically is very fired up about it. It’s helping him craft even like crafting questions for interviews. And and there must be a gazillion other use cases for it. What impact, if any, is AI having on your world and maybe even on some of the the folks you’re working with, like these other small business people? Are you starting to see it have some impact?
Alyssa Devine: [00:22:35] Yes. And the law is still trying to catch up to those sorts of things. So we’re applying you know, the technology is probably a good 20 or 30 years ahead ahead of the law. So we have to we have to be creative in how we apply the law and interpret the law a little bit. But as far as how it affects the legal industry, there was a New York attorney who unfortunately created a brief using AI. The problem with that was that the cases cited, the different resources cited within that brief were not real. And then, yes, yes, this this actually happened and there were fines imposed against that attorney. And I’m sure that client was very unhappy with that. Um, so I mean, that’s. Expecting to do everything and basically be a person is probably not a good expectation or standard to have, I’ll say, in terms of how it affects, you know, content creators, entrepreneurs. Um, there, you know, there are a variety of uses for it. Um, and for, for, from my perspective, the danger is in using it for content creation. So we’re seeing more and more lawsuits or disputes about, about AI, about copyright infringement. So there’s OpenAI has been has been sued by a number of authors for copyright infringement.
Alyssa Devine: [00:24:12] Um, and it’s kind of a question of, well, is there actually copyright infringement because who’s creating the work, the AI? But. But it’s not the company who created OpenAI that’s doing the prompts either. So. And. Creative works that are created by AI aren’t copyrightable. So there’s like. There’s like the big question and then there’s like so many different, like kind of sub parts to that question that we have to kind of figure out so that we can we can evaluate risk, mitigate risk and, you know, maybe, maybe edit some contracts and stuff like that. But I will I, I’m not anti AI at all. I just think that there is a very you have to be wary about it for content creation, but it is incredibly helpful for, you know, like interview, developing interview questions or you know getting getting ideas for social media, post other types of things. I think that it is extremely useful in the operational process. And I’ve you know, I’ve heard I’ve heard from different people how they use it. And I think it is a great benefit. I would just be very wary about the content creation part.
Stone Payton: [00:25:32] Well, it’s a brave new world and job security for you, right? There’ll be all kinds of precedent and different cases that come up and you’ll be able to. So we’ll keep an eye on that. I’m interested to hear about what passions, if any, you have outside the scope of your of your work. My listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel. So when I’m not, you know, visiting with folks like you and learning about their world, you know, we go and do and are there is there something you have a tendency to nerd out about or really dive into outside the legal profession?
Alyssa Devine: [00:26:10] Well, I think just learning in general, honestly, I love watching documentaries. So one of my favorite docu series is actually called The Food That Built America. I don’t know if you’ve seen that or heard of that. It’s a history on the History Channel, but it goes through the, you know, the history in the beginning of a lot of different global well yeah. Global brands that we that we have today. So like Hershey, Heinz Kellogg, all these different people. And it’s so fascinating to kind of see their honestly their entrepreneurial journey, their struggles and maybe some of the not good decisions, decisions that they made and how how how the world was a little different back then. But, you know, I think the well, the episode with Milton Hershey was really interesting to me because at whenever I first watched it, I didn’t understand the concept of a company town. So it’s kind of like my introduction to that. And I was like, Wow, that’s really cool. Like, you know, he cared so much about his employees, like he made a town. Um, so just, just kind of like being introduced to that and also just the story of the underdog. You know, a lot of those a lot of those folks were either immigrants or first, you know, first generation Americans. And that creates a lot of struggles in and of itself. So. Yeah, just kind of coming from nothing and then, you know, building this empire. Like, that’s. That’s always a very fascinating story.
Speaker4: [00:27:50] Well, I’m so.
Stone Payton: [00:27:50] Glad I asked for a lot of reasons, not the least of which I wrote down. It’s the food that built America. Is that right? Yes. I’m going to go because I like the documentaries as well. And it sounds like you learn about how they built their business. And so so thank you for that. All right. Before we wrap, I’d love to if we could leave our listeners with just a couple of actionable tips. Number one, Tip Gang is if you’ve got a question, reach out and talk to Alyssa or somebody on her team and and and do that. But short of that, is there something that small business people, mid market folks, people like me could be doing not doing reading You know just a couple of things that we could take a little immediate action on.
Alyssa Devine: [00:28:41] Absolutely. I think, yeah, there are a couple of different things. So one is just to assess the different types of IP your business has. Like that. That doesn’t require, you know, hiring an attorney necessarily. Just just identify all those different things. Another is to make sure your website has, you know, those policies that we talked about, the privacy policy terms of use, but also to make sure that your website is, you know, ADA compliant. That is, I’ve been seeing a very big increase in those types of lawsuits. So definitely that’s, you know, as simple as, you know, downloading a plugin, that’s that’s a very easy fix. But it can it can be very disastrous if it’s if your website is not ADA compliant. Um, and then I think third is, you know, when was the last time your contracts were reviewed by an attorney, if ever? You know, can they be updated? Do they reflect your process, your client journey process accurately? Is there a way to improve that? What can we use contract law to? To solve pain points. That’s that’s another thing I kind of focus on. I, I usually tell people, you know, I think entrepreneurs should ask two questions. So how do, how do they want people to feel when they encounter their brand? How do they make that a possibility?
Stone Payton: [00:30:13] Very well said. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or someone on your team? What’s the best way for them to connect with you and tap into your work?
Alyssa Devine: [00:30:27] The best way to contact us is Purple Fox legal.com. We are also on social media, Instagram and Facebook and have a ton of different tips and educational post to begin to help people out.
Stone Payton: [00:30:42] Marvelous. Well, Alyssa, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show this afternoon. Thank you for sharing your insight and your perspective and keep up the good work because we need you.
Alyssa Devine: [00:30:57] Well, thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker4: [00:30:59] All right.
Stone Payton: [00:30:59] Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today with Purple Fox Legal Miss Alyssa Devine and everyone here at the business Radio X family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.
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Today, Ronnie co-leads a wealth management team overseeing your complete relationship with UBS Financial Services, Inc. His goal is to create a plan that addresses many aspects of your financial life and allows you to focus on your passion while feeling comfortable with your investments.
Connect with Ronnie on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Robert Lee Lavette is an experienced Account Manager and Sales Professional with background of meeting and exceeding sales goals and building productive relationships. Recognized for sales successes across industries.
Proven performer with a consistent track record of strengthening partnerships, developing new business and generating customer loyalty. Former National Football League player who is actively involved in serving the community through the NFL Former Players Group. Excellent presentation, communication and interpersonal skills.
Connect with Robert on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.
Stone Payton: [00:00:45] Welcome to this very special edition of Charitable Georgia. I am not Brian Pruett. Brian Pruett is very busy shaking hands and kissing babies and getting this event off the ground. We are broadcasting live at the Locker Room Chat brought to you in part by the Glenda Mitchell Law Firm. We’re visiting with athletes, we’re visiting with patrons and anyone who is invested in this terrific cause, benefiting the all in or all out ministry. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast the first two gentlemen who were willing to give this a shot this evening, Ronnie Brown and Robert LaVette. Welcome, gentlemen.
Robert LaVette: [00:01:24] Thank you.
Ronnie Brown: [00:01:25] Thank you. I appreciate it.
Stone Payton: [00:01:26] Well, it’s a delight to have you, and we do sincerely appreciate you guys taking time out of your schedule to make this thing work. Ronnie, you are. You guys were both in that group of, I assume, are the athletes that were conned in to come in to do this thing. Tell us a little bit about your about your background and what you’re doing now. Man.
Ronnie Brown: [00:01:46] Okay. So, you know, I’m Ronnie Brown, grew up here in Cartersville, Georgia. Um, pretty much from birth to to even to now. I get back a pretty good bit. But, you know, played sports, played football here at Cartersville High School, went on to continue my career at Auburn University and finishing that. I played ten years professionally after being drafted as the second overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. And now I’ve kind of transitioned and switched lanes a little bit and working in Atlanta, working in finance in Atlanta and living in Sandy Springs.
Stone Payton: [00:02:21] Fun. So we have a studio Business RadioX does in Sandy Springs and we have out won out where I live in Woodstock, Georgia. And it is fun to get people to come in studio and just and hear their story. So obviously a marvelous career in football. Tell us about more about what you’re doing now. How are you trying to help folks now in your in the business you’re in?
Ronnie Brown: [00:02:40] Yeah. So, you know, after transitioning, you know, coming out of college, you know, I, you know, following the great footsteps of so many people like Robert, myself, I met Robert, you know, ahead of myself. You know, in football. I learned football very well. The thing that they don’t teach you a lot of is business. And so, you know, in transitioning, I always joke, you know, to a lot of the younger guys, you know, I’m like, hey, when I left school pre pre nil, you know, I only had $187 in the region’s account. And then I get drafted and a few months later somebody gives me millions of dollars, you know, and send me to Miami, Florida and say, oh by the way, be responsible with this. I’m like, Where do I start? And so, you know, that was one of the hurdles, just, you know, without having the financial means growing up, you know, that was something that I had to learn. And it’s something that so many guys, you know, whether it’s athletes or non athletes in college, you know, you go to try to further your career and try to be better, but you don’t necessarily learn a lot about financial literacy, financial education. And that’s something that we all have to deal with it deal something, deal with at some point in our careers. And so whether it’s deciding which company to sign with or what benefits package or, you know, for a lot of professional athletes, which financial advisors, what should I start doing and how do I approach this? And so, you know, my team in Atlanta, we help people prepare for that, do a lot of individual and family wealth management. You know, from a holistic perspective, for me, I got the opportunity to start as a client. And so I understand it, you know, from that view. And so trying to help people meet people where they are to get them, where they want to be financially and, you know, just to create that financial cushion and, you know, become financially comfortable.
Stone Payton: [00:04:18] That must be incredibly rewarding work, man. That has got to feel good to help these folks out like that.
Ronnie Brown: [00:04:25] Yeah, it’s, you know, it’s purposeful, you know, And I tell people, you know, small steps, long vision. And so it’s just about, you know, giving me purpose as well. You know, it was a process for me to get educated on that part of it. But then also having the ability to be able to help other people is very rewarding. And, you know, as you can imagine, I never expected to be in this position as a professional athlete, you know, making this transition. I didn’t go to school for finance. And so it was just the path that I think, you know, that called me, you know. And so for me, it’s purposeful. I enjoy it. Every day is fun. I get a chance to meet a lot of really new people, a lot of cool people, a lot of new people and form relationships. And to see them get that, that comfort of, you know, learning, understanding the financial picture and, you know, accomplishing their goals.
Stone Payton: [00:05:13] So have you had the benefit of a of one or more mentors to help you navigate this whole new terrain? Surely you had great coaches and mentors in your athletic career, but in the financial career, were the people that kind of helped you figure this this new path out? You know, there.
Ronnie Brown: [00:05:28] Were it was trial by error. And I just kind of, you know.
Stone Payton: [00:05:31] Threw him in the fire, didn’t it? Robert?
Robert LaVette: [00:05:32] Yeah.
Ronnie Brown: [00:05:33] You know, and it’s, you know, I’m a firm believer in, you know, I believe that success leaves clues. And so you surround yourself with the right people, then, you know, they’ll leave the clues and they’ll set the path. Before you and I kind of teach you how to do that. And so I’ve been fortunate, a recipient of being around a lot of great people that have poured into me, that have helped me along the way. And, you know, when I do have questions, I’ve been able to go to those people and rely on them along with, you know, my personal experiences or being inside of locker rooms and in different encounters. So it’s been, you know, cumulative when it comes to applying and educating and, you know, getting knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
Stone Payton: [00:06:11] I bet. So what brings you out here tonight? What compelled you to join us?
Ronnie Brown: [00:06:14] Man Well, it was just the purpose, you know, and the cause, you know, you know me personally, just a little bit of my background. I have, you know, family members who have dealt with substance abuse. And so, you know, I think when you hear Kevin’s story, I think just understanding that I think we all have or, you know, experienced, you know, someone or a family member or some close relative or friend that have gone through that challenge. And so to be able to come support that, along with a lot of great other people that I’ll be sharing the stage with, you know, it’s really impactful. But, you know, it’s all about serving that purpose. And, you know, I think understanding who we are and the impact that we have, but also, you know, making people more comfortable with uncomfortable conversations, you know, and just feeling like, you know, it’s not just you. This is something that so many people struggle and, you know, go through. And it’s, you know, whether it’s you or a family member, you know, there are a lot of people that are affected. And so you got to create that network or get you a group of people that can walk through those things with you.
Stone Payton: [00:07:12] And he is incredibly articulate. You think he ought to run for office? I think he.
Robert LaVette: [00:07:15] Should. Yes. Yes.
Stone Payton: [00:07:17] No, that is fantastic. All right. So Robert LaVette, what brought you out here, man? Are you just wanting to see him?
Robert LaVette: [00:07:24] I wanted to see him. But Brian Pruitt is always trying to, you know, create situations where we can can get out and help the public. Yeah.
Stone Payton: [00:07:37] And so you had an athletic career as well. Yes. Tell us a little bit about that.
Robert LaVette: [00:07:41] I’m a former Cartersville hurricane who.
Ronnie Brown: [00:07:44] Laid the foundation for people like myself.
Robert LaVette: [00:07:47] Oh, yeah. I ended up deciding on Georgia Tech and had a good career in college and got drafted by my favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys. And so I had about three years at Dallas and it was a lot of fun. Got a chance to see the world through sports.
Stone Payton: [00:08:05] So was it a whirlwind? I can only imagine. I mean, I made the high school baseball team because I had a car. You know, I just. But even at my level of playing sports, I learned a ton. I learned how to win. I learned how to lose. I learned how to work with other people. I learned resilience. So even at that level and at that skill level, there were still a lot of lessons to be learned. But there wasn’t the so many of the other aspects. Did it just hit you like a ton of bricks when you started, you know, playing with the with the big boys?
Robert LaVette: [00:08:32] Well, you never you never forget the first day of practice when you realize that you are playing, you know, for the Dallas Cowboys. And it’s, you know, all these famous guys that you watched on TV as a kid, you realize your dream. So that was amazing to me. I never forgot that first day of practice. And I mean, we we ended up getting you get get treated really, really well. I mean, they give you free cars, free places to go eat. It’s just a lot of fun. You have a lot of privileges.
Stone Payton: [00:09:04] Which is great. But there’s probably another side to that too, that you’ve got to kind of keep yourself in check and try to stay grounded. Are you? Didn’t worry about.
Robert LaVette: [00:09:11] That? Well, no. I mean, if you make it that far, typically you’re going to be well-behaved and you have a lot of discipline. But that’s what it requires, you know, to stay away from, you know, the negative.
Stone Payton: [00:09:22] Yeah. Yeah. All right. So what would you like to see happen this evening? What are you hoping comes out of an event like this.
Robert LaVette: [00:09:29] That we can inspire, you know, the kids to to to want to be, you know, athletes if that’s what they want to be? It’s a great discipline to participate in team sports.
Stone Payton: [00:09:42] You know, you’ve mentioned that word a couple of times, discipline. I can only imagine the level of mental physical discipline you must have to employ to make it anywhere near the heights that you guys made it. Do you find that that also, though, has carried over into other aspects of your life and helped you navigate that as well?
Robert LaVette: [00:10:00] It has. I mean, you got to be disciplined in any endeavor that you take, and football is really structured and that really helps you later on in life.
Stone Payton: [00:10:12] So I had a chance to interview someone else who played professional football. It’s been a while, but he was describing to me how you watched the film after the fact and man, they capture everything, every mistake. Yeah, you get. You capture the good stuff. That must be interesting. And then they can rewind and show it to you again and again. Again. Is that true? Yeah.
Robert LaVette: [00:10:33] That’s not really the fun part of football, because they. They’re telling you what you did wrong over and over and over and over. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s the part where you want to have a practice where your coach doesn’t have to. You want to have a perfect practice to where you don’t have to hear his mouth.
Stone Payton: [00:10:53] So Ronnie’s going to dominate the world in the financial sector. What are your plans going forward? Are you going to fish and golf and play or have you got some big entrepreneurial business? I think I’m going to.
Robert LaVette: [00:11:03] Fish golf and play and watch my grandsons grow up to be football players. Right now they are 13 and eight and their father is putting them in in really good positions to to play for, you know, you know, the best schools. So I’m excited to to watch them grow up.
Stone Payton: [00:11:20] Yeah. All right. Before we wrap and I didn’t prep these guys for that and maybe I should have but you’ve got you’ve got quite a few folks attention. What would you say to the young people that just might give them a little inspiration, You know, a little bit of wisdom, maybe it’s a hard learned lesson. Maybe it’s just one of those things that just sort of always keep in mind. And we’ll we’ll start with you, Robert. What’s the little little nugget of wisdom that that you might encourage them to keep in mind?
Robert LaVette: [00:11:48] You know, to always obey your parents and to, you know, listen to your teachers and and just try to, you know, emulate, you know, positive in your life.
Stone Payton: [00:12:00] Fantastic.
Ronnie Brown: [00:12:01] Ronnie Yeah. And I think for me, it’s, you know, along with what Robert just said, but also, you know, being fearless and chasing your dreams, you know, and, you know, it’s okay to not fit in. You know, they write books about the people who stand out. And, you know, typically the people who fit in read the books about the people who stood out and so dare to be different. It’s okay to chase your dreams. And so just understanding that and I think that’s a that’s a big part of it, especially now in society with so many negative influences or social media and, you know, people and younger generation trying to be comfortable, I think it’s really important for them to understand and accept their individuality and be okay with that. And so I feel like that’s a that’s a huge part of, you know, society now is, you know, a lot of the pressures of, you know, whether it’s getting likes or this social media thing.
Speaker5: [00:12:57] Yeah.
Ronnie Brown: [00:12:57] Being comfortable with being who you are and chasing your dreams, you know, and sticking to it because it’s going to be a lot of hard work. And so I think that’s a that’s a big part of it.
Stone Payton: [00:13:07] I am so glad I asked. I think we’ve got two chapters in another good book, don’t you, Robert? I think so, yes. Well, gentlemen, thank you both. Thank you for being here. Thank you for joining us on on air. And thank you for everything that you’re doing.
Robert LaVette: [00:13:19] Thank you for having us.
Stone Payton: [00:13:19] Thank you. All right. We’ll be back in a few from the locker room chat.
Jedediah Minyard, with Comparion Insurance Agency, is committed to helping you find the right coverage for your insurance needs including options from other carriers.
In 2022, Comparion Insurance Agency was created to transition former Liberty Mutual exclusive agents to a full-service independent agency. The agency delivers a unique value proposition to carriers with over 2,000 agents in approximately 180 cities in 44 states.
We offer customers 50+ insurance companies with product breadth including car, home, life, pet, renters, umbrella, jewelry and much more. We use our scale to deliver a first-rate customer experience through consultative insurance experts located in your community.
Our Leadership team has over 200 years of cumulative insurance experience. At Comparion, we have a philosophy of staying close to our customers and agents, so sales leadership is located throughout the country in our larger storefronts. Comparion is owned and backed by Liberty Mutual Group, a Fortune 100 company, founded in 1912.
Mari Dominguez is a REALTOR® serving NW Georgia and surrounding Metro Atlanta Areas; knowledge is power, and her main goal is to help you learn the tools available in real estate to work towards financial freedom.
Connect with Mari on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.
Stone Payton: [00:00:45] And if you’ve been listening, you know that I am not Brian Pruett. He’s busy. He’s on stage talking to folks and telling them what a great job they’re doing and just doing that Brian Pruett thing. But this is a very special live broadcast of Charitable Georgia. We are at the locker room chat benefiting the all in or all out ministry brought to you in part by the Glenda Mitchell law firm. It is my distinct pleasure now to ask you to join me in welcoming two new guests to the show, Mr. Jedediah Minyard and Miss Mari Dominguez. Welcome. All right, Mari, tell us a little bit about your work and what you’re hoping to accomplish by being here.
Mari Dominguez: [00:01:24] I’m a realtor here in Georgia, and I’m here to accomplish just to meet people, support a really good foundation, a really good cause tonight. It’s great to be out here. The whole setup is beautiful, honestly, and the crowd is amazing.
Stone Payton: [00:01:38] It is an amazing crowd. I interviewed a couple of the professional athletes that I assume are going to be up on the panel and people are going to be asking them questions. So the realty business is I’ve been doing this work for 18 years. I’ve interviewed a lot of realtors. And I think I almost ask them as being a realtor crazy right now. So it’s just being a realtor is just crazy. Isn’t anything to do with it right now, right?
Mari Dominguez: [00:01:58] You’ve got to be crazy to be a realtor.
Stone Payton: [00:02:00] So what else is going on? What is happening these days? And or do we have too much inventory, not enough inventory, interest rates, all that? What’s the State of the Union?
Mari Dominguez: [00:02:08] Definitely both going on. Not enough inventory, interest rates. You know, everybody’s a little bit scared of them right now. Right. Right. So but it’s creating a really good seller’s market. So if people are looking to sell, it’s definitely now is the time to sell. You’re going to get a lot of people looking at your home.
Stone Payton: [00:02:24] So what brings a realtor to an event like this to to make the time, energy, money, commitment to to contribute to this cause and be a part of this event. But why are you here, Maury?
Mari Dominguez: [00:02:36] Well, honestly, just to be involved with the community, you know, it’s not not so much about making the sale. It’s about making friends, about building a village, building the community, and ultimately, hopefully helping somebody out to sell that house or buy that home just out here to meet a bigger community.
Stone Payton: [00:02:51] So what’s your favorite part about the work? What do you what do you enjoy the most?
Mari Dominguez: [00:02:55] Meeting people showing homes, getting to go into the homes and learning all the different designs and styles that are out there, but mainly meeting people. I’m a people person. I can tell people.
Stone Payton: [00:03:08] I knew that when you walked up. So I now live in Woodstock. I moved from from East Cobb and I have found running a little studio there, a Business RadioX studio, just an incredibly supportive business community. And I mean, we even have people in those groups that get together that they’re in the same niche, they’re in the same business, but it’s an incredibly collaborative group. And they just you found that here around as well.
Mari Dominguez: [00:03:33] It’s it’s not selling Sunset, I’ll tell you that. It’s a strong community. Everybody helps each other out. It’s it’s great. It’s a great time to be a realtor right now. Honestly, even though things are kind of weird out there with the market, it’s a great time to be a realtor because the village is strong.
Stone Payton: [00:03:49] So what’s your back story? How did you get involved in real estate?
Mari Dominguez: [00:03:53] Honestly, I just.
Mari Dominguez: [00:03:54] I’ve been a medical biller for about 16 years. And one day I woke up and said, I don’t want to do medical billing anymore.
Stone Payton: [00:04:00] Good for you.
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:01] Yeah. So I got my real estate license and here I am.
Stone Payton: [00:04:04] And what is that process like? You got to jump through some hoops and know some stuff and study and.
Stone Payton: [00:04:09] All that, right?
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:10] It’s a tough test. Let me tell you, that was probably the hardest test I’ve ever taken in my life. Yeah.
Stone Payton: [00:04:16] And then did you did you have a mentor, someone to kind of help you navigate that?
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:21] I do.
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:21] Luckily, my brokerage gives us a mentor. She’s incredible. I could not live.
Stone Payton: [00:04:26] Let’s give her a shout out.
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:27] Shout out to Jackie Dyer.
Speaker4: [00:04:28] All right Jackie.
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:29] couldn’t do this without her. The brokerage is amazing. Like, it’s a community. It is absolutely a village.
Stone Payton: [00:04:35] Yeah. Now, that said, there are a lot of realtors, or at least I’ve met a lot of realtors since I’ve come to to to Cherokee County. Anyway, it must be an incredibly competitive arena. How do you differentiate yourself, I guess is the right way to say how do you try to stand apart? Is it this community involvement? Is that a big part of it?
Mari Dominguez: [00:04:55] It is. It’s the community involvement. It’s being yourself. It really there’s this idea that with the realtor, you have to be the the suit and the tie and very strict and professional. No, just be yourself, be authentic, and people will be drawn to that.
Stone Payton: [00:05:10] Well, that’s refreshing. See that? I can do the math. I couldn’t do so I would never pass this test. But I can be myself.
Mari Dominguez: [00:05:17] You can do it. I believe in you.
Stone Payton: [00:05:19] With you and Jackie mentoring me, We can make it happen. I would starve to death, but hey, I’m glad that we had guys. All right? We got someone else with us as well. We got Jedidiah Minyard. What brings you here, man?
Jedediah Minyard: [00:05:31] Like Mari said, I’m here for the for the community and to. To meet new people and support a wonderful cause.
Stone Payton: [00:05:38] Now, do you. Did you know Mari before this evening?
Jedediah Minyard: [00:05:41] I did.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:05:41] Yeah. We. Mari and I. We do several events together. Oh, wow. We’re a great team. You know, I sell insurance and she sells houses, so.
Stone Payton: [00:05:51] Oh, yeah. Guess that is a good team.
Mari Dominguez: [00:05:53] The village right here.
Stone Payton: [00:05:53] Yeah. There you go. Yeah. So tell us more about your business. What kinds of insurance do you sell? Who are you trying to help?
Jedediah Minyard: [00:05:59] So. So I pretty much deal with all lines of auto home and life insurance and pretty much anything in between.
Stone Payton: [00:06:11] So there again, it strikes me as a very there’s not a lot of physical radio studios. Like I don’t if I had to compete like you guys, I you know again I might starve to death. But but your industry strikes me as like a pretty competitive arena. Is that accurate?
Jedediah Minyard: [00:06:27] It’s it’s really competitive. There’s a lot of brokerages out there. There’s a lot of insurance companies out there. And, you know, and but but fortunately, you know, I mean, if you’re if you’re listening right now, you probably have some line of insurance. So so there’s there’s a lot of there’s a lot of people out there that need insurance. Yeah.
Stone Payton: [00:06:47] If you don’t have it, you probably need it, right? Because I mean, most people, they’ve got a car, a home property and all those things need to be insured and protected. So tell me about the work. Let’s say someone approaches you because they saw you on Business RadioX. So this is a done deal now. They heard you. They heard you on Business Radio X, so they’re knocking down your door. They want to have a cup of coffee with you or whatever. What happens from there? Kind of walk through your process of helping people get properly covered.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:07:14] So I think the most important thing is just understanding the person and and letting them talk for a few minutes and and realizing what it is in their lives. You know, what’s the most important thing to them if we’re talking about life insurance or if we’re talking about your automobile or your home insurance and and just making sure that everything’s properly insured, you know, there’s there’s a lot of different options out there. And a lot of times people I hear it all the time, you know, my daddy had that insurance. So now I have that insurance and and they just kind of get stuck in that in that that that loop. And they never really go out and look. And there’s a lot of other companies out there that, you know, will offer as good a coverage if not better for for a lower price.
Stone Payton: [00:07:59] I love the way that that you began your description of how you work with people in that you listen to them. What a novel idea, right? Yeah. Let’s get to know this person. Right. And ask them what they because, I mean, that’s not always the case, right?
Jedediah Minyard: [00:08:14] Yeah, There’s a lot of questions, you know, that really need to be understood and answered properly to make sure that that, you know, you’re not only getting the proper coverage that you need, but you’re you’re also paying a fair price.
Stone Payton: [00:08:28] Yeah. And back to this village concept, I suspect you lean on the Maury’s of the world a great deal in helping tee you up and refer you to other people and introduce you to other people. And that credibility, that that’s.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:08:43] That’s a 100%. Yeah. I mean, Maury’s been wonderful and really any, anybody in, in the like we said, I mean anybody who owns a house or drives a car, I mean, you know, everybody needs insurance. And I just I think that more people need to to understand their options and get out there and just take a look. And I think that they’ll be surprised that, you know, maybe they have been paying way too much money for a long time.
Stone Payton: [00:09:12] Yeah. So how does how do the other aspects of your sales and marketing work? Like, do you have to advertise? Do you are you out there shaking trees just to get the word out? Or are you or are you like you educating people on some of these topics? I would think education would be a big part of your work.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:09:31] Education is huge. I know.
Stone Payton: [00:09:32] I don’t know anything about it.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:09:33] Right. Yeah, well, a lot of people don’t. And, you know, they just they describe the kind of car that they have. And then, you know, they just expect someone to throw a throw a number at them and they just pay it. So and that’s really you shouldn’t do that. You should you should work with somebody who understands you and knows what your needs are and and and then pay the appropriate price for coverage from there.
Stone Payton: [00:09:57] Yeah. So I have a question for both of you. I’m going to ask Maury first. How do you decide what kinds of events to participate in like this? And then how do you attack it? Like, do you have kind of a game plan of what you’re going to do when you get here? Maury?
Mari Dominguez: [00:10:13] I mean, we set up the table. We have our little fliers we hand out and everything.
Mari Dominguez: [00:10:18] But yeah, being with Jed, he’s also a people person, might be in denial about it, but it makes it easy. You just. I’m here to talk. I’m here to meet people. I’m here to pick up the. The vibes of the whole atmosphere. You know, it’s we just bring the fliers set up, but it’s really about the people. It is honestly getting to know people.
Stone Payton: [00:10:39] And a lot of times when you first meet someone, they may not be anywhere near looking for a home meeting, but you don’t know who knows who and you want to be top of mind and you want to you want to forge that relationship because and you never know who has a sister in law that now wants to move to town because they visited last Christmas and now they want. Right. It’s same with the insurance world. I would think.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:11:01] You have to establish that trust.
Stone Payton: [00:11:03] I bet.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:11:03] 100%. You got to establish trust.
Stone Payton: [00:11:06] All right.
Mari Dominguez: [00:11:07] Going hand in hand with the education that you were mentioning.
Stone Payton: [00:11:09] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mari Dominguez: [00:11:10] One thing. The whole reason, honestly, that Jen and I kind of met is we’re doing workshops to educate people.
Stone Payton: [00:11:16] Oh, are you really?
Stone Payton: [00:11:17] Tell me more about the workshops.
Mari Dominguez: [00:11:19] So they’re homebuyer workshops. You know, right now we’re focusing on first time homebuyers, but we’re open to all types of homebuyers because there’s all types of homebuyers out there. Right. And a lot of people are fearful of buying, especially right now in the market. But there’s so much to learn. And once you have those tools, it empowers people to make the right decision for themselves.
Stone Payton: [00:11:38] What a great idea. And to have both facets at the workshop, not just the one. And you’re able to tap into each other’s extended network, but you guys are smart marketers. So you know this real estate great team. I can tell if this real estate insurance thing doesn’t work out. Maybe you come.
Speaker4: [00:11:54] Maybe. Maybe.
Stone Payton: [00:11:55] Business RadioX.
Speaker4: [00:11:56]
Stone Payton: [00:11:57] Well it’s a lot easier than I make it look. Believe me, anybody can do it. All right. Before we wrap, I want to make sure that our listeners can connect with you guys if they want to have a more substantive conversation, maybe sit down and have a cup of coffee or Business RadioX We usually sit down and have a beer, but whatever your style is. So we’ll start with you, Mari. What’s what do you think is appropriate? Email, LinkedIn, website, that kind of stuff?
Mari Dominguez: [00:12:20] Well, right now with the home buyers workshops, the best place to go is am I ready to buy a home?
Stone Payton: [00:12:26] Eventbrite.com fantastic yet.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:12:29] So. So I guess I’m kind of old school, so I’m Mari’s laughing at me.
Stone Payton: [00:12:38] So here’s my home number.
Stone Payton: [00:12:39] Here’s my address. Come by, we’ll grill a hamburger.
Mari Dominguez: [00:12:41] Send me a fax.
Stone Payton: [00:12:42] Right. Send me a fax.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:12:46] Yeah. I’m that guy to sit down and definitely have a have a cup of coffee and a one on one conversation. But I guess the, the easiest way to to connect with me would be on Facebook at Jedidiah. Jedidiah Vineyard comparison insurance comparison insurance.
Stone Payton: [00:13:03] Right. Jedidiah, did you hear me earlier? Just notice how I went straight to Jed. Like.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:13:07] Yeah, jump, right? Yeah.
Stone Payton: [00:13:10] So he just makes you feel like you can do that, though, right? You spend two minutes in a conversation with him and you’re like. You just start calling him Jed.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:13:15] That’s right. That’s Jedidiah is a mouthful.
Stone Payton: [00:13:18] Well, thank you both for joining us. Thank you for what you’re doing here. Thank you. Keep up the good work. And if you’re up for it and won’t get a nosebleed driving to Woodstock, come see me in studio and we’ll do a more in depth interview with a group of business folks.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:13:31] We’re right down the street from you.
Stone Payton: [00:13:32] Oh, fantastic. We’ll talk more about the workshop. We’d love to have you.
Jedediah Minyard: [00:13:36] Absolutely. Thank you very much.
Stone Payton: [00:13:37] All right. We’ll be back in a few from the locker room chat.
Jayla Boutwell, Front Desk Coordinator, wHydrate.
Connect with Jayla on LinkedIn.
Jaylyn Wylie with wHydrate.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.
Stone Payton: [00:00:45] Welcome back to the locker room chat. We are broadcasting live from Crosspoint City Church and this is something that Brian Pruett and B’s Charitable Pursuits are putting on in collaboration with Glenda Mitchell Law Firm and a host of sponsors. And it’s to benefit the all in or all out ministry. And we now have with us with a company called wHydrate, Ms.. Jayla Boutwell and Jaylyn Wylie. Welcome to the show.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:01:15] Hello. Thank you for having us.
Stone Payton: [00:01:17] Why are you here and what are you out there trying to do for folks with your stuff?
Jayla Boutwell: [00:01:21] We are here just to kind of give some information about wHydrate. We do IV hydration through infusions. We do injections and just different services to help people feel better with different vitamins and medications.
Stone Payton: [00:01:35] I.v. injection, Like you come to them and do it.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:01:38] Our nurses do.
Stone Payton: [00:01:39] Wow, what a cool concept. Where did this idea come from?
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:01:45] Honestly, I think it’s been around. It’s starting to become more of a prevalent thing. It’s becoming more popular. We’re trying to put ourselves out there so we can spread health and wellness just around.
Stone Payton: [00:01:59] So what’s the backstory with you two? How did you get started in this?
Jayla Boutwell: [00:02:03] My backstory is very funny how it started. I worked at a smoothie king next door to our Kennesaw location, and just from being over there, being able to like, talk to the owners and stuff, that’s how I was able to work at Hydrate Fun.
Stone Payton: [00:02:17] How about you, Jaylyn?
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:02:18] So I originally applied to hydrate a couple months ago as their CNA. I’m actually about to start nursing school here in a little bit, so I thought it would be kind of a cool environment to, you know, where I could learn more and be a little bit more hands on and have a little bit more inside look of what it’s like, you know, being with patients and patient care and things like that.
Stone Payton: [00:02:42] Well, congratulations. I think that is fantastic. What an exciting time for you. All right. So what brings you guys here? What are you hoping to accomplish here?
Jayla Boutwell: [00:02:51] Just with our different services, we have a different a lot of different things that help with cellular recovery. We have things for like addiction recovery. When we were looking into the things about the charity and our services kind of go hand in hand with helping out with that aspect.
Stone Payton: [00:03:09] You feel the same way? I do.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:03:11] I do. We’ve got a specific infusion. The Nadp+ stands for Nicotinamide 8 to 9 Dinucleotide.
Stone Payton: [00:03:22] She’s been studying, hasn’t she? Yes.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:03:25] I have. I kind of just rewires your cells. Everyone naturally has an ad recurring in their cells. And, you know, as you get older, those start to deplete and glossy.
Stone Payton: [00:03:38] Looking at me when she says when you get older.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:03:41] But they start to deplete in those you know, who have previously struggled with addiction and things like that, their cells will naturally start to deplete those NAD levels as well.
Stone Payton: [00:03:51] So there’s a direct connection to this particular third of all in or all out ministries. There’s a direct connection. Yes.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:03:57] So kind of just helps to rewire your cells, you know, brain fog, memory loss, anxiety, PTSD, things like.
Speaker5: [00:04:07] That.
Stone Payton: [00:04:08] So I suspect even if a person is not really suffering from any particular ailment, just periodically tapping into this is probably a good thing.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:04:18] Yes, it’s a good maintenance thing to have done. You know, even if it’s once a week, once a month, you know, every two weeks, whenever you feel like you need it, it’s kind of just like as needed. You need that extra hydration where there seven days a week, you know, to help people out.
Stone Payton: [00:04:34] Yeah. So how do you get the new business? Where do the customers come from?
Jayla Boutwell: [00:04:39] We get a lot of different business from different areas. We have a lot of walk in traffic. We do several events as well as like we promote on social media. Oh yeah, that was our owner.
Speaker5: [00:04:49] Oh.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:04:51] Right there. That’s our owner. Just a lot of like community outreach as well. And we try to do our promoting for through social media and then just telling our friends and family and stuff because majority of the wide rates, they’re family owned. So it’s kind of like a family thing.
Stone Payton: [00:05:05] Oh, really? And so can someone living in a in a market where we don’t have one, can they get involved in some way and talk to your owner and maybe yeah.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:05:13] We do offer franchising opportunities. Oh, okay. I don’t know much about it. I haven’t really looked into it, but I know it is on our website.
Stone Payton: [00:05:20] I’m going to tell your owner you told me I could have one for like $100. Oh, no, no, no, I’m kidding. But no, it sounds like a good business because it genuinely serves people. Yeah, that’s a that’s one of my.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:05:30] Favorite things about working at YJ. Just watching people come in, like if they’re feeling horrible, we have people who just have like, you know, vitamin deficiencies. There’s hangover, there’s stomach bugs, different ailments and stuff, muscle fatigue. T chronic illnesses and then walking out of there like a changed person.
Speaker5: [00:05:47] Wow.
Stone Payton: [00:05:47] She’s done this talk before, hasn’t she? This is what you rattle off when we walk. I was going to ask you when you first started, like working these events and communicating to people, was it a little nerve wracking at first, talking to strangers and trying to explain this to them?
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:06:00] Yes, this is actually my first event. So I’m like, Oh.
Speaker5: [00:06:03] Well, boom, they.
Stone Payton: [00:06:04] Throw you on the.
Speaker5: [00:06:04] Radio? Yep. Oh, wow, that’s great.
Stone Payton: [00:06:07] But now you’ve kind of you’re hitting your stride, You got your and well, and it’s clear that both of you genuinely believe in what you’re doing.
Speaker5: [00:06:15] Yeah, we love it.
Stone Payton: [00:06:16] And apparently have a great deal of respect for for the for the owner and their mission.
Speaker5: [00:06:21] Yes, they’re.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:06:22] Great. They’re awesome people.
Stone Payton: [00:06:23] So what what would make this a really successful event for you guys? What are you hoping comes out of tonight’s energy and effort invested?
Jayla Boutwell: [00:06:32] Just kind of like spreading kind of the influence of basically different infusions, vitamins, infusions. I know before I worked at Weider, I really did not know about like vitamin infusions and stuff, but like after trying different bags and like just watching our different mixes and stuff, it’s cool to see that, like how much like accessible that the vitamins are. I know like you can take supplements and stuff, but you’re never really getting that full amount of vitamins. But then in the infusions it’s more of an immediate effect with those vitamins, like especially like B12 injections, we have magnesium that’s really good for like muscle fatigue, headaches. It’s good for just overall insomnia, stress management, vitamin D, three injections, just different things like that. You really see a change I enjoy, like the vitamin D, three injections. It’s good for like mood stability, bone support, as well as your immune system. And I’ve definitely felt a change more than when I was like taking the supplement or when I wasn’t consistent with like being outside because of my school schedule, work schedule, different things like that.
Stone Payton: [00:07:31] So let’s play this out a little bit. It’s my show. Let’s talk about me for a minute. Okay. So I’ll be 60 in a couple of weeks. Over the last year and a half, I cut quite a bit of weight. I’ve been walking more. I’m healthier than I’ve been in some years. So and I’m eating better, I’m eating cleaner and all that stuff. So someone like me, I don’t really have any ailments to speak of, but I’m much more health conscious. Right? So someone like me, is this something that I would maybe be well served to get on some sort of routine and periodically come and get, I guess a professional would tell me what bags?
Speaker5: [00:08:06] Yeah, for sure.
Stone Payton: [00:08:07] I don’t have hangovers much anymore. I don’t really drink heavy. I do enjoy a bourbon, though. I do it.
Speaker5: [00:08:13] You know, a drink or two.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:08:16] I think we’ve got a couple of different bags that are really good for just overall health and wellness and just like a maintenance, you know, you want to come once a month. We could even just do a plain bag and we have an option to where you can build your own bag. So say one week you’re feeling a little more tired than the next week. You can just either get a B12 injection shot or you could get a B, a plain bag and add B12 as well.
Stone Payton: [00:08:39] Okay. Plain bag is just like saline.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:08:42] Plain saline.
Speaker5: [00:08:42] Bag.
Stone Payton: [00:08:43] It’s like even that’s good for you. A lot of us don’t hydrate enough in general. Is that.
Speaker5: [00:08:47] True? Yes.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:08:48] We really don’t. I know I’m not really good at drinking my water, but I know with our infusions, they all come in a liter of saline or lactated ringer’s. So that’s equivalent to drinking two and a half gallons of water. So it’s like you don’t really think about it like that, but you’re getting your water intake with the infusions.
Stone Payton: [00:09:03] Oh, wow. What interesting work. Well, it is a delight to have you here. Thank you for the work that you’re doing. Let’s make sure before we wrap that people here locally know where the place is and or how they might reach out and connect maybe on any of your socials or if there’s someone they can talk to, what’s the let’s give them some points of connection so that they can get to you guys.
Jaylyn Wylie: [00:09:24] I know our address. We’ve got a couple different locations Kennesaw, Cartersville, Roswell. We also have got a couple different locations. We’ve got one in Chattanooga and Rome, Georgia. Oh, wow. Our location, if you’re trying to find us in Cartersville, I think is 211 South Erwin Street.
Jayla Boutwell: [00:09:44] Yeah, that’s our address. And then we do have every social media. So if you want to find us on Instagram, it’s YJ Cartersville. Same with Facebook. And as well, if you just look up YJ, all of our different locations do have social media and then a different connection. We also do have our our website, which is YJ, so you can find us online.
Stone Payton: [00:10:04] Fantastic. Well, thank you both again for joining us. Keep up the good work. And I’ll tell you what, if if you don’t mind coming to Woodstock some afternoon, you can come in studio maybe with some other local business professionals and come on the Cherokee Business radio show where we do a more in-depth interview. We’d love to have you sometime.
Speaker5: [00:10:22] Thank you.
Stone Payton: [00:10:23] Yeah. All right. We’ll be back in a few from the locker room chat.
BRX Pro Tip: Offense Gets Headlines: Defense Wins Championships
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BRX Pro Tip: Offense Gets Headlines: Defense Wins Championships
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, talk a little bit about the relationship between offense and defense in business.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:10] Yeah. Well, in sports, offense typically gets the headlines but it’s the defense that wins the championships. And I think that in business, it works in a similar manner. In business, your offense is typically your sales and marketing, and your defense is your operations. If you’re great at selling someone something but terrible at keeping them, then you’re not going to make it. Your business is going to fail. And winning a sale is exciting and fun, and everybody gets really energized from that happening, and it’s critical in order for your business to survive, but if you can’t deliver value, and you can’t keep your client happy, you’re not going to be able to succeed for any length of time because, ultimately, what you want to have happen is every time you have a client, you would like them to refer another client to you or at least somebody who could be a client. And if you don’t have an engine that kind of builds a future clients from your existing clients, it’s going to be really difficult for you to grow your business over time.
Lee Kantor: [00:01:10] So, you know, a lot of times we’re investing all of our time and resources on the sales and marketing side of our business, but you really got to invest resources on the operational side of your business, the things you’re doing for customer success to keep them happy, the things you’re doing to keep your team energized and motivated, the things you’re doing to help you really build a foundation, so that as you do grow, you’re able to absorb these clients, keep them happy, keep them getting the outcomes they desire, and keeping your business thriving, and successful and growing.
BRX Pro Tip: Solve Problems Faster
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BRX Pro Tip: Solve Problems Faster
Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, anyone who has ever heard me on the air knows that I am absolutely committed to producing better results in less time. Let’s talk a little bit about problem solving and how we can do it faster.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:17] Yeah, this is one of those things where if a problem kind of bubbles up, it’s so much better to deal with it right away and solve it one way or another than kind of putting it on the back burner and hoping it goes away by itself. A lot of times, procrastinating on a problem, it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t get better, and it just typically gets worse. And then, a small problem that you could have solved in a minute becomes a big problem that now you’re dealing with.
Lee Kantor: [00:00:47] So, I think it’s much better, just as a philosophy, that if something bubbles up in the present, deal with it right away. You know, triage it to the best of your ability right when it happens to prevent it from becoming a bigger problem in the future. And a lot of times, we don’t want to deal with kind of these little nagging issues, but you know. And I think this becomes clearer and clearer as you get older in your own health. It’s a lot better to be dealing with issues when they’re smaller than they are if they get worse down the line because these things never get better by themselves.
Stone Payton: [00:01:24] I think, too, that this is one of those areas where having a few working disciplines really can serve you well. Like for us, we always try to err on the side of generosity. For us, we live by bad news first, so we communicate it internally so that we can get the right resources on it. If you have some of those core values or operating disciplines, it helps you guide the decisions, so you can make a decision that’s necessary to to live into and solve that problem. So, I think this is a good opportunity to suggest having just a handful of those operating disciplines can really help you on the problem solving front and get it done faster.
