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Katie Wagner With KWSM: a digital marketing agency

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Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Katie Wagner With KWSM: a digital marketing agency
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Katie Wagner spent 15 years as a television and radio journalist, working for news outlets all over the world, including ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN & National Public Radio. Today, she owns a full-service digital marketing agency made up of brand journalists. KWSM specializes in lead generation with services including websites & SEO, content creation, videography and digital advertising.

Katie lives in San Diego, CA with her husband and their 5 rescue dogs.

Connect with Katie on LinkedIn and follow KWSM on Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How lead generation has changed in the 15 years she have been in business
  • What Nearbound Lead Generation is and why it’s important
  • The biggest mistake business owners make when approaching digital marketing

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Katie Wagner. She’s the CEO with KWSM. A digital marketing agency. Welcome.

Katie Wagner: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn about your firm. Tell us about KWSM. How you serving, folks?

Katie Wagner: Sure. So KWSM is a full service digital marketing agency, but we specialize in lead generation, so that means all of our clients need to scale or grow, and they’re looking to generate more leads and sales online. And then sometimes that’s sort of outside the box lead generation applications like recruiting because hiring recruiting is lead generation just aimed at candidates instead of clients. So we can also help with things like that.

Lee Kantor: So do you mind sharing a little bit about your journey? How’d you get into this line of work?

Katie Wagner: Sure. Happy to. So I was a television anchor for 15 years, actually, before I started the agency. And in the last few years of my TV career, nobody was going home to watch the 5:00 news because they get headlines on Facebook and Twitter and see videos on YouTube. And so the powers that be at my station said, get out there and learn how to use these channels and get our audience back. And the more I learned about digital, this is back in the early 2000 when when Facebook was just coming out and these channels were being popular. The more I learned, the more I realized that we weren’t going to get our audience back, that people liked the immediacy of digital, and that’s how they wanted to get information. And so I retired from TV and opened the agency in 2010 with the goal of helping business owners tell their story and learn how to use and harness these new channels.

Lee Kantor: So was that a difficult transition to go from being on air to being kind of behind the scenes, helping other people?

Katie Wagner: No, not at all. Not at all. So I say that my favorite part of not being on TV anymore is that I don’t have to wear makeup to the grocery store, so it’s nice to be a little more incognito. But also, Lee, it’s the same job. I mean, we tell stories for a living, and these days we just tell them from a certain perspective rather than sort of neutrally. And for that reason we call ourselves a brand journalists. But it’s the same. It’s the same skill set. We’re asking questions. We’re trying to uncover the stories behind the work they do every day, and what’s appealing to their audience, and then help them position that in a way that captures attention and drives action.

Lee Kantor: What are some of the misconceptions when it comes to lead generation? Because the word is kind of bandied about very liberally and I get bombarded. I’m sure you do. And I’m sure most business owners do with just spam in their LinkedIn about their. Here’s a new magic lead generation system that will do this while you sleep.

Katie Wagner: Yes, that happens frequently and there is no magic bullet, so we should all proceed with caution with those emails and messages. But I think one of the problems is that lead generation can mean a lot of different things. So sometimes it means cold outreach or appointment setting. Sometimes it means inbound marketing with blogging and SEO, and there are a lot of different ways to generate leads online. And I think how we generate leads has changed quite a bit over the years. But at Wzzm we do. Lead generation. By positioning our clients as thought leaders and as experts in their space, and we really try to position them as best in class companies. And by leading with that expertise and that thought leadership, we can generate leads through people that are searching and want to work with best in class companies. So our leads are mostly inbound, right? They come through the internet to the website, but these days it’s harder to rely only on one lead generation tactic. And so we often combine those strategies with some outbound, which is cold outreach, sometimes through email or ads, and then near bound, which is strategic partnerships, um, you know, leveraging partnerships and relationships to reach new audiences that way. So really, everything we do is about positioning our clients as experts and as as credible partners for their clients.

Lee Kantor: What are some examples of Near Bound?

Katie Wagner: Well, this is an example the podcast you and I are doing because, um, you know, at the end of the day, you’re going to interview me and then I’m going to take this content and I’m going to share it with my audience, and you’re going to share it with your audience. And what we are doing is exposing our constituents to each other. And so often for our clients, it can be as easy as doing a webinar with a strategic partner or co-creating blog content or social media content, something like that, where you’re each sharing with your respective populations and then you’re exposing the other to your audience. But what happens is, because my audience trusts me and is used to consuming my content, that is sort of a transfer of trust that happens with anybody that I bring into that content. And so it essentially delivers warmer leads for the other person. So for our clients, we’re constantly thinking about who are the strategic partners, who are the adjacent types of businesses that we could couple with to create content and to add more value. And we’re brokering and leveraging those relationships for them.

Lee Kantor: Is that kind of an area where maybe a lot of business owners don’t think about that as a, as an avenue to kind of grow their network and grow their business, that they’re not looking for those collaborative, complementary partnerships.

Katie Wagner: Absolutely. And even the word near bound is very, very new. Not a lot of people are talking about it. But, you know, it’s it’s a concept that we’ve all known about forever. You know, how many of us have gone to networking meetings or tried to, you know, cultivate referral partners? Um, people like people. We connect with people. Um, I think the reason Near Bound is coming to the forefront is that, candidly, trust in the internet is declining, right? There’s a lot of misinformation out there. There’s a lot of AI generated content that may or may not be fully accurate. And people know that where ten years ago, 15 years ago, when I started the company, they could Google, they could get an answer that was reliable and they can make decisions that way. These days, there’s a lot more distrust around that. And so it’s a lot harder to generate leads strictly online. And so I think there’s there’s been this mind shift where, you know, when we can’t find something trustworthy online, what do we do? We ask other people, you know, I need a mechanic. Do you know somebody I need a lawyer. Do you know somebody? And we trust what other people tell us. And so Near Bound is actually just the latest iteration of how we leverage that trust and, and systemize it for our clients. But I don’t think many people think about it, and I don’t think many businesses have a formal plan around how they’re going to leverage those relationships. And if if they did do that, it would exponentially increase the amount of leads they could drive for their businesses.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, early on, you mentioned how you when you started, there was kind of a different landscape when it came to come, came to lead generation. And as the technology has evolved and the media has grown less and less trustworthy, and people have had to alter their tactics, obviously we’re talking a lot about this near bound as a tactic. Um, have you is it difficult to when you’re communicating with your clients because a lot of them obviously aren’t as attuned to the trends and the and kind of the, the landscape change that you’ve experienced because you do this 24 over seven. Is that a kind of an eye opening, difficult conversation where they’re kind of begrudgingly going along with these new tactics as opposed to look back in the day, you know, we ran commercials or we did pay per click ads or some of those things that, you know, like you said earlier, used to be effective but are losing a lot of their effectiveness.

Katie Wagner: Yeah, it’s it’s a new conversation, right? It’s conversations they haven’t had in relation to marketing in the past. But I don’t think it’s difficult because most people are experiencing what you and I are experiencing. We’re flooded with outreach online. We’re seeing a lot of stuff on the internet that’s just not very valuable. And so most people, when you explain that that landscape makes it harder to generate business, they’ve already been feeling that and seeing that. So it tends to resonate. I think the part that’s new is most business owners don’t know what to do about it. Right? What are my choices? We’ve been taught for so many years that you just continue to do the marketing, and this should help grow your business. And there hasn’t been a lot of exposure to new ways to look at that. So I think once we explain it to our clients, they do get it. And it does resonate. And it doesn’t take very long to show them the value. Right. If we can just create a webinar or have them guest on a couple of podcasts, or create a survey or a blog or a study together with somebody else, they sort of see the power of amplifying that promotion through the partner. And so it’s it’s a tactic we can prove pretty quickly. Um, but sure, it takes a little bit of of openness to new ideas and thinking outside the way we’ve sort of always done things. And we’re we’re lucky activism because we are first and foremost trusted advisors to our clients. And, you know, our our goals are aligned. We need to help them grow or else they don’t have to continue to work with us. And so I think there’s a lot of trust in our relationships that way, that most clients will will give us a shot and hear us out at least.

Lee Kantor: Right. So they’re open to the conversation. But I don’t know. I just feel like we’re there so much misinformation about how there’s all these leads that are just kind of waiting for you, and all you have to do is do whatever this magic thing is, and then they’re going to be kind of flooding to your door. And in this new world, that sounds like and I’m a proponent of this. Well, and this is a personal challenge for us as to, to explain this in a way that they believe that this is a better way to do things, is that it’s kind of a longer play in that you got to nurture relationships and you have to build relationships, and there’s no kind of magic unlocking of hundreds of people just can’t wait to hear and learn from you. Like you got to kind of grind and earn them one at a time.

Katie Wagner: Yeah, no, you’re exactly right. There is no magic bullet, and lead generation in general is not a fast process. It is a long term strategy. But I think it helps to think about sort of what I’m going to call active prospects versus passive prospects. So active leads or active prospects are people that are out there searching for the thing that you do, right. They know they have a need. They want to find somebody to help them. They’re searching for your product or service, and those are the leads you can capture with things like SEO and blog posts and a great website and maybe even ads placed in the right place. But there is a lot of competition for those leads, those people that are showing intent to purchase already. And so it becomes a game of can you get in front of them first? Can you stand out against the competition sometimes? Do you have the budget to compete in a crowded landscape and that, as it gets more crowded, is getting more and more and more difficult? So what tactics like Near Bound capitalize on are the more passive prospects, the people that may not know they have a need, but if they hear your content and resonate with with it, it plants a seed. It gets them familiar. They start to build a relationship with you, and it may mean that they need to read 3 or 4 blogs, or watch a couple of webinars, or hear 5 or 6 episodes of your podcast. But it’s that connection and that emotional tie that you’re trying to build that builds trust, and that can lead them to explore your services, even if they weren’t actively looking.

Katie Wagner: I would tell you, those are much warmer leads for you because they’ve chosen, after consuming your content to start the conversation, rather than the the people that are out there searching that are probably going to talk to 5 or 6 companies and you’re you’re literally trying to sell against those companies in Near Bound, you’re building a relationship that leads to a business conversation. So yes, it takes a lot longer, but also it’s a lot stickier and a lot warmer when you’re having those conversations. And it’s easier to close business. And and I sort of liken it to when we all go out and go to networking events. Very rarely do you meet somebody at a networking, you know, happy hour and they hire you the next day. But maybe you stay in touch and decide to go to coffee with them. Or maybe you exchange some emails or talk about your business a couple times, and then a few weeks or months down the road. They say, you know, I want to talk about what you do. Maybe you could help me that know like and trust factor that you’re building then leads to business that is no different than what has to happen online these days. Because that quick find me and sell to me immediately. That’s getting too hard and too crowded in this environment. It’s not a reliable lead generation strategy anymore.

Lee Kantor: So who is the ideal customer for your services?

Katie Wagner: We usually work with, um, usually low lower middle market businesses, maybe 1 million to 50 million, something like that. And we’re industry agnostic. We work both B2B and B2C, but there’s four different buckets we’ve worked in quite a lot over our 15 years. One is professional services. So law firms, CPAs, wealth managers, those sorts of things. One is manufacturers and distributors, companies that make something. We work a lot with nonprofits and local governments, city and county governments to help communicate with their constituents. And then the last one is direct to consumer, which sometimes is consumer products, but not often. Often it is things like banks and gyms and businesses that serve consumers but don’t have a tangible product. They’re more service related. So we, um, we’ve been in business 15 years. We have about 200 clients a year. So it would be hard to find an industry we haven’t worked in at least once. But those are four buckets we find ourselves returning to quite frequently.

Lee Kantor: And is there an example you can share? Maybe a story? Don’t name the name of the company, but share maybe the problem they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level?

Katie Wagner: Sure, absolutely. So, Um. Let’s see. I’ll tell you a story about a CPA firm that came to us. They’ve been working with us for about five years. So to your point, long term, um, and the CPA firm came to us and it was just a single person, a CPA that was doing great work. And they had a niche in helping older adults with their finances. So often they were hired by the kids of those older adults to help put the finances in order. And so we started really marketing to those children of older adults that needed this help. And we were writing blogs and we were interviewing clients that we that our CPA had helped. We were interviewing our CPA about the work they do. We did a lot of SEO optimization to get our content in front of the right people, and over the years, we were able to build it up so that we generated about 150 reliable leads every year. So, you know, 12 to 15 a month, something like that. And each of those, uh, Leeds was worth. Um, uh, let me think. Maybe several thousand dollars, like 3 to $5000 at the outset. And then the lifetime gets a little more. So it was a reliable revenue stream. But the reason I like this story, because we can just say we helped them grow and things went great.

Katie Wagner: But the CPA firm actually got acquired recently by a much larger regional firm. And typically when a client gets acquired, that brand would be folded into the new brand. And, you know, our marketing might go away because now they’re going to market as the larger company. But in this particular case, Lee, the the buyer company, said to us, what you’re doing is a valuable revenue stream for us, and we don’t want to change anything. So we want to keep the CPAs website and lead gen system exactly as it is. We’re not going to wrap them in, and we want you to continue to run it. It’ll just be part of the larger company now. And I thought that was a really big win because it showed the value of what we were doing, and that we had created this equity for our client that could live on even as part of a post-acquisition scenario. And it turns out that later on today, I have a call with the larger company to talk about taking over lead gen for the entire company, because the portion we’re running now is going better than their overall strategy. So, um, that’s a story that’s near and dear to my heart because it’s a big win for us.

Lee Kantor: Now, you started in California, but now you have offices here in Atlanta. Can you explain why having a presence in Atlanta was important for your growth?

Katie Wagner: Yeah, yeah. So first of all, I’m from Atlanta. I grew up in Atlanta. I went to Westminster for high school. So Atlanta is home to me. But I moved to Atlanta 15 or sorry, I moved to San Diego 15 years ago when I started the business because I also married my husband and he lived out here. So we did start the company in California. But about.

Katie Wagner: Two.

Katie Wagner: Years in, we opened our Atlanta office, and we’ve had it ever since because we have clients all over the country. And I realized that we needed a presence in both time zones to be able to serve them to the best of our ability. And so, um, so we opened the Atlanta office, and we have a staff and a physical office there, just like we do in California. And then we’ve expanded over the years. So we also have we have two California offices and one in Las Vegas. Um, and I actually split my time between California and Atlanta every other month. So I have, um, home base in both places, and I’m back and forth dealing with our clients. And, you know, it’s unusual for a digital agency to have physical spaces like that, but we’re really invested in building relationships with our clients. And I think it’s really important for us to be able to sit down and meet with them face to face and have them meet the team that’s working on their accounts. And in this post-Covid world, that’s a little bit rare, right? Most of our business is done over zoom these days, and we really felt like it was important to hold on to that personal touch and that that human relationship building that was been has been so important to us over the years.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Katie Wagner: Yeah, our website would be great. It’s k w s m digital.com. Or you can always find me. Katie Wagner on LinkedIn I’m really responsive there and I would love to chat and just love to brainstorm, even if it doesn’t lead to a working together conversation. I’m passionate about this stuff and I’d love to help you think through marketing things you’re stuck on.

Lee Kantor: Well, Katie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Katie Wagner: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Jason Schneider With Schneider Williamson Personal Injury Law

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Jason Schneider With Schneider Williamson Personal Injury Law
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Jason Schneider brings a wealth of legal experience to his role as the managing partner of Schneider Williamson.

He focuses exclusively on advocating on behalf of personal injury victims and making a positive impact on their lives.

With a robust portfolio of over 100 trial cases and a multitude of substantial settlements, he has secured millions of dollars in compensation for his clients.

This impressive track record has garnered the respect of his clients and peers alike.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, he earned his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York in Binghamton before completing his studies at Emory Law School in 1984.

His legal journey began at prominent Atlanta law firms. He represented insurance companies, grocery stores, and pharmaceutical manufacturers in various claims.

Jason leverages his expertise and early career on the opposite side of the courtroom to passionately champion the rights of individuals harmed by the negligence of others.

Connect with Jason on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How the claims process works
  • How Schneider Williamson works with other lawyers to settle cases
  • Who their firm works closely with during referral cases (chiropractors, medical doctors)

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Jason Schneider, and he is the co-founder and managing partner with Schneider Williamson Personal Injury Law. Welcome.

Jason Schneider: Hi, Lee.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your firm. How are you serving folks?

Jason Schneider: Okay, well, thanks for having me on. It’s a pleasure to share information with you and your audience. We’re a personal injury law firm here in Atlanta. We have three attorneys and eight staff total. And we represent victims of injuries primarily that occur in auto accidents. But really, any kind of injury you’re in and we help folks navigate through the complex insurance requirements and if necessary, take their cases to court.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you choose this direction to go in?

Jason Schneider: Oh, sure. Yeah. So I graduated from Emory Law School and actually went to work for a law firm in downtown Atlanta that specialized in defending the insurance companies in these kind of claims, and did that for two different firms for about five years, and then decided I’d rather be representing the folks that were injured in, in accidents. So I switched sides and came to the light or whatever phrase people use. And since that time, I’ve been practicing personal injury law on behalf of injured folks.

Lee Kantor: So how do personal injury law firms like yours compete against these huge billboard attorneys that have huge call centers, and they seem to be just bombarding every, like, carpet bombing you with their brand?

Jason Schneider: Yeah, and that’s so true, Lee. And that is something, you know, we are a small business and that is something I think that’s probably universal to any small business is is competing with the big guys. So the answer is I really don’t try. I have to go in a completely different direction. I do it through networking. Here. Here’s an example right here talking to people through your show. So really networking through other attorneys and just, you know, we do some stuff on social media, but we do not try to compete in that landscape of the billboards and the TV because the big guys just suck that up and you know, they spend a lot of money and they’re very successful at that. But there’s there’s a large market, and there are also folks that don’t want to be represented by those behemoths. So there is a there is room in this market for smaller firms that specialize in customer care and customer satisfaction and doing a good job for people.

Lee Kantor: Now, I don’t think the regular person understands that just because their pictures on the billboard doesn’t mean that that’s the person that’s representing you. A lot of times those are just call centers and they’re just funneling them through a system, and who knows who could be representing you.

Jason Schneider: That is so true. And that is why a lot of times clients do come to us because they do recognize that. Or frankly, sometimes they hire one of those firms and quickly realize that they’re not talking with forget about talking with the lawyer on the billboard. They may not even be talking with a lawyer at all, just like you say, dealing with a call center. So when you get to talk with our firm, a smaller firm, you get that kind of personal attention. You know, people reach me directly or reach other attorneys in my office. And that is something that is very valuable to have someone with my level of experience actually representing you and talking to you, giving you advice. And that is something that, of course, the bigger firms just can’t because of the scale.

Lee Kantor: So let’s try to educate our listeners a little bit about what should they do if they get in a car accident? I mean, they’re happening probably every hour of every day here in Atlanta. So I’m in the car. Somebody hits me.

Jason Schneider: I did want to talk about some tips, things you can do to protect yourself and and increase the chances of getting a good recovery in the event you have the unfortunate situation of being in a car wreck. And the number one thing you can do actually is before you’re in a car wreck, something you can do today is look, pull out your declarations page or deck sheet, the page that says what coverage you have. There’s a there’s a myth that, excuse me, there’s a myth that people have what’s called full coverage and that really what full coverage does is protects the car, because oftentimes you have a note, and the note is issued by a bank or the car dealer. And what the note means is that your car is covered. So you have collision, you have comprehensive, you have coverage in the event your car is damaged. What you don’t necessarily have is what’s known as uninsured motorist coverage. Now that is an optional coverage that you can keep or reject. And what uninsured motorist coverage does is to protect you in two situations. One, most people understand, two, they may not. So the traditional uninsured motorist coverage is if you’re hit by somebody that has no coverage. And then of course, that will not only fix your car but pay you for your personal injuries. Uh, um, as it’s known in the industry, also covers underinsured situations, which is very common because the minimum coverage in Georgia is 25,000 per person. 50,000 per occurrence. 25,000 for property damage. And many people have cars worth more than that. Many people have injuries worth more than that. So if you have, um, coverage, underinsured motorist coverage and larger limits than the 25, 50, 25, then your own company will step in and provide additional coverage to you in the event you’re hit by someone that either has no insurance or does not have adequate insurance to protect you. So that’s something somebody everybody in your audience can do today is just check their coverage. It’s not a super expensive coverage. It’s really the most valuable coverage you can have.

Lee Kantor: Now you’re talking about the insurance company. And I would imagine that a lot of, um, people maybe are just trusting their insurance person to set them up with everything they need, but it sounds like that it might be a good idea to have somebody like you or on your team, kind of at least share the other side because you’re the one dealing with them. If something goes wrong.

Jason Schneider: Yeah, it’s. You know, and this again, is a universal message. It pays to be an informed consumer. Uh, unfortunately, I’ve had situations where clients have been with the same insurance agent for many, many years and thought they had really good coverage and then were in an accident. And it turns out they don’t. So yeah, take out your deck page, review it. I think if you called your insurance agent or adjuster, they would go through it with you and you’d, you’d, you’d see what exactly you had and didn’t have, because certainly, I mean, if you want to buy more coverage, the insurance company will sell it to you. It’s kind of surprising to me that they don’t always sell it because it would be a premium to them. But but I can’t really speak to why they do or do not. But yeah. Then of course you can reach out to a law firm such as mine or any other insurance professional, and get independent advice as to what kind of coverage you have, because surprisingly enough, many people are Underinsured either, because they don’t have the, um, coverage I just mentioned, or there’s other things that they may or may not have that they really need, such as sufficient liability coverage. I mentioned earlier that you only have to carry 25,000 per person, 50,000 per occurrence. That is not enough money. If unfortunately you cause or somebody driving your car with your permission causes an accident.

Lee Kantor: So, um, so the types of insurance we should have may not be what we have. And it’s a good idea to check either with your insurance provider and or an independent person to give you kind of a, you know, maybe a less biased version of the choices that are out there and the ramifications of what happens if you try to use it. I mean.

Jason Schneider: Because, I mean, in medicine, you would call that a second opinion, right? Right. Have a second opinion on your insurance coverage.

Lee Kantor: So then every time somebody gets hit, is that something they should call a lawyer as kind of the default position. Like how do you decide what’s lawyer worthy?

Jason Schneider: Right. Another great question. And you know, I hate to kind of say something that sounds like I’m just advertising or promoting myself, but I’ve just seen so many situations where people thought that either one, the insurance company, would take care of them, or that they didn’t really think they were injured, or that the other person had accepted fault. So they went about their way, and then later on, things fell apart for them. So unfortunately, the best advice is yes, seek. Seek well, seek medical attention right away and seek legal, legal representation or legal consultation right away because you just never know. I’ve had so many clients drive away from an accident, think they were fine, and it turns out they weren’t. They had some hidden injury or injury that developed over time, and that happens a lot. And then of course, you have a situation where somebody causes a wreck and says, I’m going to cover it. Here’s my information. Please don’t call the police. You go about your way and then it turns out the claim gets denied. So I you know, I hate to even say these things because you’d like to be able to trust people to and insurance companies to treat you fairly. But but the fact of the matter is, oftentimes that’s not what happens.

Lee Kantor: So walk me through if this is a friend of yours or your kid, they get rear ended. What what are the you know, the first maybe 3 to 5 things they should do immediately after that happens. And, um, including, you know, contact an attorney.

Jason Schneider: Yeah.

Jason Schneider: Well, it’s funny you should mention that, because when my son was in high school, he was he was in a wreck, and he did call me and he said, what should I do, dad? So, uh, yeah, I said, call the police. You don’t even know. It’s minor, you know, call the police. You want to have a record of what happened? And, uh, that is the number one thing to do, uh, and make sure that if there are any witnesses. Sometimes people stop and say, are you okay? But people are busy, right? They want to go along their way. I mean, if somebody does stop and ask you if you’re okay, say, hey, can I get your phone number? You know, put it in my phone. Do you have a card? Because as I said later on, oftentimes even obvious claims are being denied. So see if there’s any witnesses. Of course, now we all have cell phones so you can snap a few photos. You know, snap a few photos of the damage to your car, the damage to the other car. So those are the immediate things you do at the scene. And then, of course, just wait for the police and share your information. Uh, only answer the questions I asked. You know, there’s two sides to it we’re talking about if somebody rear ends you. But the other side of it is, God forbid, you’ve caused an accident, right? Or maybe you’re in a situation where it’s not all that clear. Who had the red light? You know, who had the green light? Um, you know, so if you’re in a situation where somebody is blaming you for the accident, well, you want to be very careful about what you say and how you word things. So the number one thing is to just, uh, stay at the scene, provide information and get all the necessary information you can.

Lee Kantor: And you want to document whatever you can document. And, and people like you said. I mean, I’ve had personally situations that I had a thing that happened to me where at the scene the person apologized, took responsibility. But later on they concocted a whole other story that was just, you know, made up to take the blame off of them.

Jason Schneider: Right. And had you called the police?

Jason Schneider: Yes. Okay.

Jason Schneider: Did it work out okay?

Jason Schneider: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: It all worked out at the end, but it it was just just because at the moment, you know, they’re apologetic. Doesn’t mean after, you know, their spouse starts talking to them and their friends that all of a sudden they’re like, what do you might be able to get away with this, you know?

Jason Schneider: Sure. Very unfortunate, but true human nature being what it is. Uh, so yeah, that’s why witnesses are great. And now, uh, you know, that often happens. There’s somebody seeing it. And of course, now also, we have a lot of cameras, you know, which helps a lot. There’s either cameras from the from the municipalities or the cities. And then of course, many businesses have cameras. So we’ve had a lot of success when there has been a contested claim. The most common one is not a rear ender, obviously. It’s like in the traffic light who has the right of way, because if a police officer comes to a scene and there’s been an accident in the middle of the intersection, somebody turned in front of in front of you, and that person says, I had the green light, and you say you were the green light, or he had a red light. Oftentimes the officer doesn’t know who’s at fault. So this is a little different from your situation. This is a situation where you know you’re in the right. But but the person that caused the accident is not admitting it. So what do you do in that situation? Uh, you know, a lot of times you can go around to the businesses right there and there’s surveillance footage. We’ve had several cases where that kind of nailed it down. And the old picture’s worth a thousand words. You know, there’s clear video of what happened. That is so common now. Uh, law enforcement’s going to do that on a crime. They’re not necessarily going to do that on a car accident. So now we’re back to if you contact an attorney early on, you know, that’s an investigation they can do. Usually businesses will keep that. But after, say seven days or ten days, it just automatically erases and they rerecord. But if you get, uh, legal help early on, you know, perhaps that information is available to you. And it can make the difference between whether your claim is successful or not.

Lee Kantor: And can you give people an idea of how many accidents are happening in the metro area?

Jason Schneider: I believe the.

Jason Schneider: Figures are 1000 a day.

Lee Kantor: A thousand a day.

Jason Schneider: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: That’s just mind blowing.

Jason Schneider: I know.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that as part of the way that you go to market is you network and partner with other folks. Can you talk about some of the are partners that you work with in the different types of industries that they’re in, that I guess you all kind of work together and help each other, help the client get the best outcome.

Jason Schneider: Sure. Well, the number one thing, and this also relates to the second thing to do if you’re in an accident and that is to seek medical attention, right? Even if you feel like you’re not hurt or you just saw, you certainly don’t have to go to an emergency room. I’m not recommending people go to an emergency room. Emergency rooms are already very busy with very sick people, and if you’re just sore and just not sure how you’re feeling, you know, perhaps you go home, you take some Advil, see how you feel the next day. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you wake up the next day and you’re still sore, then go, you know, maybe go to an urgent care, make an appointment to see your doctor. Uh, that’s important for a couple of reasons. First of all, uh, it provides an accurate history for the insurance company because I’ve had so many clients that just wait to see how they’re doing. They continue to take the Advil. They kind of try to tough it out. And then after about a week or ten days, they say to themselves, you know, I’m just not well, I just don’t feel right. And then they call their doctor and they go see their doctor. Perhaps they have to wait another week for an appointment. So now they’re maybe two weeks out from the accident when they have their first medical appointment. And guess what the insurance company says to that? Well, gee, you couldn’t have been that hurt because you would have sought immediate medical attention so that that actually diminishes your claim. Of course, the insurance company really has an answer for anything, because if you go to the emergency room the day of, they say, well, why don’t you wait a minute to see how you were doing? So they’re always going to have an answer for you.

Jason Schneider: But the best thing to do is to seek immediate medical attention. And the reason I mention that is because you’re asking me about sources of business. If we’re not advertisers or billboard lawyers and frankly, getting to know doctors and is something that’s been successful for us, uh, because medical offices, chiropractic offices, physical therapy offices often see their patients that have been injured and want to make sure that they’re properly represented for two reasons one, just to make sure they have the right representation. And two, oftentimes people are uninsured. You know, we were talking about auto insurance, but we really haven’t talked about health insurance yet. And unfortunately, I think it’s what close to 50% of Georgians do not have health insurance. So oftentimes it’s necessary for a person to get treated on what’s known as a lien, which means that they have a lien on your settlement and that the doctor gets paid when the case settles. Just like if the roof if a roofer fixed your roof, he’d have a lien on your house. And if you didn’t pay him, then of course, when the house sold, he’d get paid. So that’s what a health insurance lien is. Hospitals file that all the time. So any medical provider files a lien to get paid at the end of a case. So they’re very interested in making sure their patient has the right representation.

Lee Kantor: So is there anything happening in from a legislative standpoint that we should be aware of? Are there any new laws or bills coming up that, um, maybe affects this industry or your firm and your clients?

Jason Schneider: There is a huge thing going on right now in the legislature. If anybody is following the news or reading the AJC, it’s been a page one article. Governor Kemp has been pushing what’s known as tort reform. There’s a bill that’s now passed. The state Senate is in the state House that’s going to very much affect, uh, injury trials in the state of Georgia. And, you know, there are some things in there that probably are worth talking about, but there are some things in there that are just not really good for average Georgians. And unfortunately, it’s being touted as a way to make Georgia a better state for business and to reduce insurance rates. But really, the truth is that it’s not doing either of those things. It’s just taking away victims rights without really any guarantee or requirement that the insurance companies raise their, lower their rates, or even keep the rates the same. So, uh, it’s unfortunate, uh, you know, we can dive into some more of the details if you like. But in general, there is definitely a law in the legislature now that’s going to affect people’s rights when it comes to injury claims and injury trials.

Jason Schneider: And is there.

Lee Kantor: Anything the listeners can do to at least learn more about this and maybe take some action?

Jason Schneider: Uh, yes. If you are interested, obviously reach out to me. I’ll be glad to talk to anybody about it. There’s been a lot in the news about it. You can Google, uh, the law that’s in the legislature. If you if you know who your legislator is, if you’re interested, you know, they’re always interested in hearing from voters. Uh, so if it is something you’re interested, I would recommend, uh, that people do educate themselves on this law and reach out to their legislator to say that we want you to protect us, the people, not necessarily the insurance companies. You know, the insurance companies manage to always make huge profits no matter how many claims they pay. They can raise their rates and adjust their claims so as to always come out fine. But oftentimes people are the ones that are hurt by by laws that take away their rights to sue, or what jury trials look like, or the amounts of money they can recover in those cases. And of course, there are always those huge one off cases that everybody wants to talk about. Remember years ago there was the McDonald’s coffee cup case, uh, and everybody said, well, why should you sue for that? Of course, that case ultimately settled for much less than what the verdict was. And when there is sometimes a very crazy verdict that makes people shake their heads and say, how could that be? Oftentimes, if you follow the story, you’ll see that, uh, the verdict was overturned or significantly reduced and taking away people’s rights to a jury trial, taking away the decision. You know, people that serve on the jury are just regular people and taking away their right to assuming that they’re not going to do the right thing and really listen to the evidence is really an insult to them, to regular Georgians and to the jury system as a whole, which of course, is guaranteed by our Constitution.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? And how could we help? Are you looking for more relationships with those referrers, the chiropractors, the doctors? The physical therapists? Are you looking for more clients? Are you looking for people just to kind of reach out to you in case they are one of the 1000 people who had an accident today?

Jason Schneider: Yeah. Thank you for asking that, Lee. Sure. We’re we’re we’re very happy to represent people that have been hurt. And, you know, if you want kind of the more special attention, personal attention that you may not get from the billboard lawyers. And I didn’t mean to cast any aspersions on them. They’re great lawyers and they do great work, but it’s a very different experience. I guess it might be the difference between going to your to a Home Depot or your local hardware store, you know, and some people like the Home Depots and some would rather have, you know, the local hardware store. So if your interest is more in the personal attention and, you know, having a local lawyer represent you, then by all means you can reach out to us. And the same thing for, you know, physical therapists, chiropractors, doctors that may have a situation where they’re treating their patients and their patients may not have the adequate insurance, and they don’t want to turn that, uh, you know, what’s the first question you’re asked when you go to a doctor’s office? I think even before they ask, what’s wrong? They may be second to that is, you know, what’s your health insurance? Or do you have insurance? So so for people that don’t have insurance but need care, you know, that’s something that, uh, if a health care provider is working with a reputable law firm, they can rest assured they’ll be compensated. There will be paid at the end of the case. So, yeah, those are those are the kind of people we’re looking to talk to, either people that have the unfortunate situation of being hurt or providers that that want to make sure that their patients can get seen and get treated, and that of course, their bills get paid at the end of the case.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Jason Schneider: Sure. Thanks for asking. Our again, my name is Jason Schneider. The name of my firm is Schneider Williamson. Our website is Schneider Williamson. Com and our phone number and email is on the website. The general office number is (770) 394-0047. And my email is Jason at Schneider williamson.com.

Lee Kantor: And Schneider spelled c h e I’d e r Williamson. Com.

Jason Schneider: Correct.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Jason, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Jason Schneider: Well thank you, Lee, and we love what you do. And thanks for taking the time to talk with me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Uguanda Simpson With Picture That Atlanta (an affiliate of Picture That Houston)

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Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Uguanda Simpson With Picture That Atlanta (an affiliate of Picture That Houston)
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Born in Albany, GA, Uguanda W. Simpson embarked on her military journey by enlisting in the Active Army in June 1991. After completing Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC, and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Lee, VA, she was designated as a Petroleum Supply Specialist (MOS 77F). Following her training, Uguanda returned to her hometown to pursue higher education at Albany State University, where she also participated in the ROTC program.

Rejoining Active Duty in January 1996, her career progressed significantly. In 2009, she transitioned to the Warrant Officer ranks, specializing as an Information Systems Technician. Over her distinguished career, CW3 Simpson held pivotal roles in various command positions, including Chief of Network Operations at the Military Intelligence Readiness Command and Chief of Cyber Security Operations at the 1st Information Operations Command, both at Fort Belvoir, VA. She retired from military service in September 2019 at Fort Myer, VA.

Post-retirement, she embraced her entrepreneurial spirit as the co-owner of Picture That Houston, an events and entertainment business located in Fresno, TX. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Information Technology department at Albany Technical College, where she shares her expertise and passion for technology with her students.

She holds undergraduate dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Management Information Systems and Criminal Justice Administration, as well as a Master’s degree in Information Assurance from the University of Maryland University College. She has completed numerous military courses focused on leadership and technology.

Her commendable service has been recognized with several awards, including three Meritorious Service Medals and the National Defense Service Medal. She is actively involved in her community and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Top Ladies of Distinction.

Residing in Fresno, TX, with her husband, CW4 Ajamu Simpson, she is a devoted parent to three adult children and a proud grandmother of four. With a strong belief in the power of passion-driven work, she continues to innovate in her field while contributing to her community through exceptional event planning and services.

Follow Picture that Houston on LinkedIn and Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • How she started her business
  • Her experience and background
  • Why did she decide to expand to the Atlanta, GA area
  • How and Why an event/meeting planner can benefit a host and guests
  • What services they offer, how people can find them, and where they see themselves going in the future

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Uganda Simpson with Picture that Atlanta welcome.

Uguanda Simpson: Thank you. I’m happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about picture That Atlanta. How are you serving folks?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. So picture that Atlanta is an affiliate of picture that Houston. We are a Houston based company. But we expanded our services to the Atlanta area. I’m a an original Georgian. And um, by way of retirement, I am a Houstonian now. I’m a transplant to Houston, Texas. So we’ve expanded our services to the to the Atlanta area where we service the public sector to include the local government.

Lee Kantor: And what is it exactly you do?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. So we are a premier event planning and entertainment company. We provide entertainment and event planning solutions. Our services range from everything from full service, a la carte day of coordination for the event planning side and for the entertainment side, we provide an array of services that includes photography, and it’s a special photography because it’s a facial recognition photography. Our clients love that. We also provide photobooth, DJ services, decor and party rentals and videography services. I’m sorry.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? Have you always been involved in the event planning business?

Uguanda Simpson: So my backstory is this back in 2013, we were planning a surprise. Well, not a surprise, but a sweet 16 masquerade party for our daughter. And my daughter actually wanted a photo booth for her party, and we could not find one within 270 miles of where we were located at the time. We’re a military family, and when I told my husband, he said he was going to see what he could do and when he went out searching, he comes back the next day and he says, I found one. And I’m like, where did you find it? He said, I bought it and I’m like, oh no, what are we going to do with that? Like, we have no clue what we’re doing with the photo booth. So that’s kind of how our business got started planning our daughter’s sweet 16 party. But I’ve been in the planning business for many, many years. When I was in the military, I was on the, uh, dining out committee, dining in committee, where we did protocol and event planning to put together events for the soldiers.

Lee Kantor: So you’ve kind of dabbled in it, and then it became your profession.

Uguanda Simpson: It did. So when I was in the military, I was in the cybersecurity world. And I although I enjoyed doing that, I knew when I started this with my daughter that, uh, it was something that I truly, truly wanted to do. And to be honest, my husband kind of planted the seed in my head. He was like, you know, when you retire, this will be something that you can do and you don’t have to worry about anything else because this is something you love. And I said, well, I love cybersecurity as well, but I truly, truly love bringing someone’s vision to life. So that’s what we did. After I retired, I started, I went full head on full speed to my event planning business.

Lee Kantor: So do you mind sharing some advice about how when you make a transition like that. Like what? So you kind of had a feel for how to, you know, build an event out based on a person’s desires. Um, but did you know how to kind of get clients and do kind of the business side of this, or was that something you were just figuring out as you went?

Uguanda Simpson: No. So prior to me retiring from the military, what I did was, um, I did a lot of self-learning. I, um, downloaded a lot of ebooks and went through those. And then I actually, uh, when I was going through my transition, I ran into a gentleman at the, uh, the post exchange, and he asked me about, you know, what I did in the military? And I said, you know, I mentioned to him what I did, and I said, well, I’m actually getting ready to retire. I’m preparing for retirement now. And he asked me what were my plans afterwards, and I told him about them. And then he said, well, you know, I went to, uh, Syracuse University and they have a program for veterans that, you know, are transitioning from the military. And when he explained it to me, it was very similar to the program that the military has for you when you’re preparing for transition. And, um, I learned more about it. Uh, reached out to Syracuse University and I enrolled in the Ivmf program, which is, uh, individual. I think it’s individual veterans, military families or something like that. And, um, I got enrolled and when I retired, I was out maybe about six months, and then Covid hit and I had to postpone my travel to attend the courses that they had. But once we got back on track, I went to the training, learned more about how to start and run a business, and after that I decided to go ahead and get certified in the business that I’m in because I felt that people would it would give me more credibility to the clients that I know what I’m doing and that they would trust me. And once I did the first event and saw it and, you know, others saw what I could do, it actually gained me more clients. And from there, you know, it was a.

Lee Kantor: It was kind of word of mouth from that point, like people were referring. Oh, that was a great party. You know, every I guess every guest at one of your events is kind of a prospect, right? Like you’re showing them what their next event could be like.

Uguanda Simpson: Absolutely. Um, so it’s primarily word of mouth, but we also like to get reviews from our clients. So we we do reviews and testimonials, and we post those out there on our website so that people can see what our work and what we’re doing. We also, you know, when people request information from us, we like to send along with our proposal photographs of events that we’ve done in the past to give them an idea and inspiration for their event and what we can do for them. And, you know, a lot of times when people are searching for, um, well, when they’re planning an event, I should say they don’t know where to start and they’ll start searching for all of these services. And what we did was decided to bring all of these services into one place. So not only do we do the event planning, but we actually have all of our own, um, supplies and decor and everything. So we don’t have to outsource those things. But we are very capable of managing vendors and coordinating with vendors, and we do that for the things that we do not provide, the services we don’t provide. We do, um, coordinate with other vendors to source those for events that we’re doing now.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about maybe there’s people out there listening that think, oh, I can do this. Like, you know, I planned my kids party, like, you know, this is just a few more people. I can do this. Can you explain why? Maybe they can’t or maybe some of the things that they’re not considering. And, you know, which is the benefit of hiring a professional who’s been there and done that.

Uguanda Simpson: Oh great question. Absolutely. And I can’t tell you how many times I work with someone and they will call me and give me their vision of what they want. I’ve actually even had clients that will put together presentations to send to me for what they want. And when I schedule my consultations with them, and I start going through the process of asking questions, and I find that a lot of people really don’t know what they want, even if they put together a presentation and they don’t think about the whole aspect of what goes into planning an event, they don’t think about the setup time. They don’t think about the breakdown time. They don’t think about what other services that they need to offer to their their guests at an event. Um, and I kind of, during our consultation process, you know, helped them to understand the, the planning process that goes with it is not just about, oh, I just need to find a venue. Um, and it allows them the opportunity to enjoy their event rather than, you know, having to go around and make sure every aspect and detail is in place and going smooth, running smoothly. So we make it an easy process for them. And, um, will we do the setup? We do the breakdown. I have an awesome team that I work with. Um, we go out, we can do the, uh, find the vendors, the venues we like. I said, we provide the entertainment, we provide the decorations, everything from, uh, envisioning it to conceptualization. And when we are done with this event, you know, once we complete the setup and my client sees this, they’re like, oh, my gosh, there’s no way I could have done all of this. And they’re very, very happy with the overall presentation afterwards when they, uh, see what it is that their vision is in culmination to what it is that we offer to them and bringing it to life for them.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share? Don’t name the the name of the people or the organization, but maybe share that how they came to you with an idea and you were able to kind of, uh, make it bigger and better than they even imagined at first.

Uguanda Simpson: Yeah. So, um, I’ll bring I’ll give you two stories. So one was back in 2023. There was a company. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them. Uh, niece, which is the National Council of Engineers and Surveyors. Um, they came to us. They were from South Carolina or either North Carolina, I don’t remember. They came through us, uh, by way of the Houston Hospitality Group. Um, they were referred to us. And when they were referred to us, they were referred only to get entertainment from us. However, once I consulted with the client on the, uh, from the niece organization and found out that they actually needed other services and they were not from this area, and they asked, I actually told them what services we offer and how we could help them. You know, especially if you’re coming from out of state. And once we did that, we got on a we scheduled a consultation. I put together a nice presentation for them, and I got their vision of what they wanted, and I showed them what we could do. Just, you know, through the presentation and some of our past events. And they they agreed to it. And from there it was it was a, it was a huge thing because they had, um, people coming from all around the country to Houston, Texas, and which is where the event was based. Um, they they had people come from all around the country and they wanted a they didn’t really know what they want. They wanted, um, a Texas theme. And, you know, I said, wow, okay, a Texas theme. That could be anything. But I was like, you know, Texas is we’re cowboy country, you know, and we take a lot of pride here in Houston.

Uguanda Simpson: So I said, well, you know what? What about a rodeo theme? You know, something that, you know, it culminates the colors of the spirit of Texas and the our state flag. And then we bring like, a country feel to it. And when they saw the room turn out, they were amazed at the transformation. They really loved it. Everyone. Even the guests. And another one was our last, um, our last big event that we put together, which was for the Houston Regional Veterans Chamber of Commerce. We did their business awards. This was the first inaugural business awards, and I’ve been on the planning committee with the Houston Veterans Chamber, um, for almost three years now. And I have planned a different event for them, which was our expo back in 2023. But last year when we did the the Veterans Business Awards in November. They we it was about five months of planning and I gave them just like I did with anyone else during the consultation. You know, my vision of what I thought it could be, you know, once they gave me what they wanted to see and I incorporated what they wanted and some other things, and once they saw the transformation, it was amazing. And there were people there that really, really loved a lot of business professionals that really loved the room transformation. And they wanted to work with me. So I gained clients from that. And that’s a lot of what it is outside of just people coming to my website. They’ll come to an event, they’ll ask, who did this? Like, we want to work with this person and it’s been wonderful.

Lee Kantor: So, um, who again is that ideal customer for you. You mentioned some government associations. Government and associations. Is there kind of a profile or is it like an event too small for you? It sounds like there’s no event too big for you, but is there a sweet spot for your business?

Uguanda Simpson: So absolutely, there’s no business, no event that’s too big or too small. We service social events. We service the corporate events, uh, government events. We also did federal events. So we our ideal client is to work with corporate America. However, we also work with social events as well. We’ve done weddings. We’ve done parties. So we don’t turn away clients. Um, we try to get what it is that they need, and not every client that comes to us are looking for event planning. A lot of clients will come to us just looking for entertainment services, and we provide those services that they they offer. And, you know, a lot of times when they come with what it is that they want, we will offer other things that we help. We think that will help enhance the event even more and keep their guests entertained throughout the event.

Lee Kantor: So you mentioned a couple of things that I’d like you to just give a little more detail on. One is when you’re saying entertainment services. Like what? What does that mean? Like a band or a musician or something along those lines?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. We’ve had clients that have come to us that have wanted live bands. As a matter of fact, last March we did a corporate event. It was a 75th anniversary for a oil company, I believe, and, um, they wanted a live band and we were able to source that. Now we ourselves do not have a live band, but through our coordination piece, that’s where the coordination piece comes in. We have bands that we actually work with and that we can reach out to based on the type of music they may want to hear. We have different bands that we work with, and we’ve had clients that may only want event photography services. So an example of that. Last year we had an event for a sorority that had a week long event and they only wanted, well, they wanted photography services for the to cover the entire event and they wanted also photobooth services. So we were a photobooth and decorations. I forgot to mention that we also were able to provide three provide three different types of services to them, and they were highly pleased on that. We covered a week long event that started with a golf tournament, um, a proclamation from the mayor. And then we we went to various places around Houston as well as Galveston, and we did. We covered their entire event. So we also offer a DJ services. I’ve had people who or clients that will come to me and want. D.j. and um, and photobooth services. We’ve offered video videography services. That last event that I was mentioning, that was a week long. We offered photography and videography services for coverage for that event.

Lee Kantor: Now, you also mentioned early on some unique way of doing photography that people really like.

Uguanda Simpson: Oh yes, I love that question. So we offer what we call Spotme th, which is Spotme. Uh, picture that Houston. But it is a special face facial recognition software. It’s very innovative. Um, what it does is it maps the features in your face. So when we go out and take a picture or we’re doing photography services for an event, um, we’ll have some clients that, uh, will want their photos immediately. You know, if a lot of times when a person hires a photographer, they have to wait for a while for them to get the photos, because as a photographer, I’ve explained to clients, it’s not about just point and click. We want to make sure that we deliver the best, absolute, best product that we can to them and that they’re very satisfied with what we do. So with the facial recognition after it does the mapping, we actually can send those photos directly to that person by having them enter their phone number. We have a our software that connects with our phone. And we actually just have them enter their phone number in, and it’s almost like working with the roaming photo booth. They actually get those photos right then and there.

Lee Kantor: Wow. That’s a great service.

Uguanda Simpson: Yeah. And we can turn that feature on and off because we’ve also had clients who just specifically wanted event photography, but they didn’t want the they didn’t want the guests to have immediate access to the photos, so we turned that feature off for those those type of clients.

Lee Kantor: Right. And then they if they want to share the photos, they then can hand them out to their guests.

Uguanda Simpson: Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Right.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes, our website is w WW dot picture that houston.com. And they can connect with us on all social media platforms. Under picture that Houston we are on Facebook Instagram TikTok I x and we’re on LinkedIn and YouTube as well. They can also reach out to us at our telephone number (281) 819-0274. And we’re also getting ready to implement A18 hundred number for our Atlanta clients. And um.

Uguanda Simpson: Yeah.

Lee Kantor: So picture that Dot com. That’s where you started in Houston. But you’re you have is it active right now where you have boots on the ground here in Atlanta?

Uguanda Simpson: Yes. It is active right now. We actually have done any uh, we’ve done two events in the Atlanta area, and we are still actively, uh, soliciting clients. We’re working with the local government on on event services for them. So we are very much active. All of our sites are social media. They can go there. They can see reviews, testimonials, they can see work we’ve done in the past and they can see some of our upcoming events.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Uguanda Simpson: Thank you so much for having me.

Uguanda Simpson: All right.

Lee Kantor: This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Scott Kelly With Bank of America

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Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Scott Kelly With Bank of America
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Based in Atlanta, Scott Kelly serves as Bank of America‘s Georgia Market Executive leading the Bank’s Business Banking Team in this market.  His team is focused on delivering customized, comprehensive financial solutions for companies with annual revenues up to $50 million.

Scott has led this team for the past 14 years and has driven top performance in numerous production and leadership roles throughout the Commercial Bank during his 27-year career with Bank of America. Originally from North Carolina, Scott has managed teams on both the east and west coasts for the Bank.

Scott is an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and is a former Scoutmaster of Troop 69 in Alpharetta, Georgia. He completed BSA National Woodbadge Leadership Training in 2017 and is a member of the Golden Eagle Society of Scouting. Scott is also a graduate of the Forsyth County Sherriff’s Department “Citizens Law Enforcement Academy” (CLEA), served as a 4-year board member for Habitat for Humanity of Southern Nevada, was a multi-year Club President for Civitan International, and served for 3 years as Board Treasurer for Denmark High School Football. He is a member of First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Georgia where he and his family reside and are active throughout the local community. Scott enjoys tennis, travel, and water sports in his free time.

Scott earned a double major in Banking & Finance from Appalachian State University in 1998 and was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the College of Business Honors Program. He was a 2005 Appalachian Young Alumnus Award Winner and continues to serve in various capacities with the Alumni Council and Appalachian Athletics.

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Why is it important for Atlanta small business owners to evaluate the state of their business each year
  • What should business leaders consider when conducting an analysis for their company
  • How might inflation affect a business, and what steps can be taken to adjust to economic changes in the year ahead
  • How does technology play a role in optimizing operations for small businesses
  • What are the various capital sourcing options available to entrepreneurs, and how can they determine the best fit for their business

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsors CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories today on Atlanta Business Radio. We have Scott Kelly, who’s the Senior Vice President, Market Executive with Georgia Business Banking section of Bank of America. Welcome, Scott.

Kelly Scott: Thanks so much. Good to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to get caught up with what’s happening at Bank of America. I think we’re going to talk about why it’s important for entrepreneurs and business owners to kind of do a state of the business every year. And since we’re in the first quarter, now’s as good a time as any to have this kind of conversation.

Kelly Scott: Well, we couldn’t agree more. And again, thanks so much for having me today. I’ve been with Bank of America for 27 years, entirely on the business and commercial side of the bank. So your topic today is a very important one, and one that I know. Well, you know, there’s 33 million small and midsize businesses in the United States, and that makes up 99% of all the firms in the U.S.. So if you take out large corporate and fortune 500 companies, the small and midsize businesses are really the backbone of the economy. And so they account for roughly half of the GDP, half the private sector employment. They drive 70% of new job creation. And so, to your point, I think every year it’s so important to kind of take that step back and really evaluate and review the state of their business.

Lee Kantor: So put yourself in the shoes of that entrepreneur or that business leader. What are kind of what’s what should be on that checklist to get done at the beginning of the year?

Kelly Scott: It’s such a great question. And it’s so important because strategies have to be adjusted. If you look at the election cycle we just came through and all of the volatility and the headwinds our business owners have had to face, they have to be flexible and adaptive and recognize that, you know, this landscape is constantly evolving. So in the start of the new year, you know, we always recommend businesses and owners do a Swot analysis to really analyze their strengths, their weaknesses, opportunities and threats. And it really it helps you look for improvement, but also maybe where there’s challenges. And while the bank expects this to be a really good overall economic year, we do recognize there will still be some volatility. So doing this review and you know looking at productivity. And you know, what’s anticipated in the year ahead is so important because some of the things we’re looking at are inflation and the jobs market. And we’ll continue to see I think equities and rates have some volatility as that longer term yield curve does start to normalize. And while we think we’re kind of still in that mid cycle bull market, really taking that deep look each year at your business and evaluating, you know, what you want to change or accomplish in the year ahead is super critical.

Lee Kantor: Now should these business leaders be doing this exercise by themselves or in concert with their trusted advisors, like their banker or their CPA or their attorney, like the other people that are kind of working with them, their insurance guy, like, where does the banker come into play in this?

Kelly Scott: Well, we always want to be a part of that equation. And so I think the best advice is for them to consult their advisor. And hopefully that’s their banker, at least one of the seats at the table in terms of, you know, seeking that advice and being a part of, you know, those proactive solutions to make sure they are truly positioned and, you know, understanding the headwinds as well as the opportunities in that new year.

Lee Kantor: Now, a lot of people, obviously all business owners have a bank of some sort. And their relationship with the banker, though may not all be the same. Is should an entrepreneur or a business leader really invest time in getting to know the banker, having the banker know them personally, where they, you know, look each other in the eye, periodically shake each other’s hands or on zoom or however they do this and really kind of have the banker involved at this level and have a conversation and talk about, hey, this is my challenge that does the banker want to hear from them?

Kelly Scott: Absolutely. Not only do we want to hear from them, but we want to be proactively contacting them. And it looks a little bit different and unique with each business. It’s not a one shoe fits all. And what one business might need that, say, has a traditional storefront versus another that may be more internationally focused and or online. That contact with that relationship manager or advisor may look completely different, but that’s one of the great things about Bank of America is we really, you know, we listen to the needs of each customer and create customized solution based on what those are. And if you think about it, I mean, there’s a lot of things out there these business owners are dealing with. I mentioned the election cycle earlier, but think about inflation and supply chain. You know that those weren’t just Covid problems and done. We’re still seeing lingering effects of that. We’ve got the new administration, as I mentioned, driving regulatory and policy changes. We have, you know, uncertainty around tariffs and trade. There’s still pressure on energy and commodity prices and look at everything going on geopolitically. And so I would just say relationships are more important than ever. Having that trusted or key advisor and really doing that Swot analysis and that deep review of the business strategy at the beginning of the year is probably more important than it’s ever been.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that 99% of businesses are small businesses, and they’re not the fortune 500 or these kind of unicorn companies. Is there services for that? Mom and pop, the person who has kind of the the store on the square. Is is there a place in Bank of America to have kind of a human interaction with a banker to get help, or is that something only for that, the 1% that are the, you know, the big mega companies, the enterprise level organizations?

Kelly Scott: No, that’s that’s such an important distinction. Bank of America has a a platform for any size business. And recognizing that stat that I shared earlier that, you know, 99% of the businesses fall into those small to midsize. We’ve invested so much in, you know, technology, um, people, resources, skills, you know, digital and mobile, all of these things to support a business essentially from a start up phase to, you know, establish and sophisticated businesses to where they might need M&A services or taking a company public or, you know, these more complex needs that you see in up market companies. But not only do we serve all of those companies across the spectrum, we have dedicated professionals within each segment. We have eight lines of business that we serve at Bank of America. And each of those niches is an area that we may start in our retail center and then move up into small and, you know, business banking and then eventually evolve into, you know, some of our corporate and some of those larger companies you mentioned. But we have services to support all of those businesses.

Lee Kantor: Now, how are you seeing AI kind of impact your business as well as kind of your clients businesses? It’s what everybody’s talking about nowadays.

Kelly Scott: Well, technology is almost the part of every conversation and it’s truly impossible to avoid. And, you know, today’s business era. So we just say businesses have to continue to evolve. They need the tools and resources that come with technology and AI, and that’s why Bank of America is so heavily invested in mobile and digital. And we want to help our clients do business wherever they operate on the move worldwide. But we also recognized with technology comes other risks. And our our largest responsibility is information protection. So we have to help our clients with technology and AI. We have to give them mobile and digital access. But we’ve got to do it safely and securely. And there’s a lot of really, you know, good bad guys out there that are very complex and good at what they do. So we have to, you know, constantly evolve and build out increased protection for our clients. But 71% of small business owners say they have digitally optimized their business over the last year. I mean, that’s a huge number. And while technology can help with a variety of challenges, you know, it does, as I mentioned, present some risks. So you have to kind of manage both both sides of the platform, but AI and automation can assist with things like screening, you know. Interviews, you know, new candidates that businesses are looking to hire. It can help with project management, team collaboration, workflow and managing customers. So we give a lot of, uh, help with that through digital and mobile devices. And, you know, many of our clients now do business, as I mentioned, internationally, we we do business in over 200 countries now and support over 150 currencies. And we couldn’t do that without the part of technology.

Lee Kantor: Now, when, uh, a business leader is having a conversation with somebody on your team, is this conversation primarily about capital sourcing? Is it about finance, or can it kind of expand into just kind of general business advice?

Kelly Scott: Yeah, it may start with, you know, typically there’s one topic or one catalyst that that kind of leads into initial conversations. And at Bank of America, we deliver as a team. So you might have that banker at the forefront, but they’re surrounded by experts across the bank, from Treasury solutions to, you know, cash management to lending needs. So capital and Treasury are two areas we focus heavily on. But to your point, it might evolve into broader advice or broader discussions around, you know, how do I find and recruit the best talent. How do I, you know, grow in an increasingly international business marketplace? So we do have a variety of services, but we don’t do that with, you know, with only one person or one team mate. They may be the initial quarterback, but having that team of experts around that quarterback to deliver for the client holistically and create those customized solutions I mentioned earlier, I think is one area that really differentiates us.

Lee Kantor: So you’re looking to kind of be that, um, partner in there helping the leader with whatever the challenge might be and it might obviously you’re going to a banker Anchor for either you’re giving them money to hang on to, or they’re helping you get more money into your account in some transactional manner, but you’re available for anything. Like you mentioned. It could be talent. So talent isn’t part of Bank of America’s services, right? If you’re not helping them recruit or anything, but you have enough experts there that can give them some recommendations.

Kelly Scott: Absolutely. And, you know, talent is an area that we focus on tremendously because people are your greatest assets. You can have the best brand, the best technology, and some of the things that we’ve talked about. But without your people, it’s very difficult to drive a relationship focused business. So it starts with attracting the best talent, but then you’ve got to retain that talent that you’re so heavily invested in. And a lot of businesses think that it’s mostly or all about compensation. It matters. You’ve got to start by being competitive, but once you retain that talent or recruit it to retain it, you have to be more, um, differentiated. And so business owners now are doing things like bringing educational resources for employees directly on site for things like career growth or even personal and professional seminars. We see things like family planning, uh, financial wellness, first time home buying. You know, many of our young employees have never bought a home for the first time. Or maybe our employees that have been in the workforce longer are looking for that bridge to retirement and need some advice. So we come in and help companies with things like talent, recruiting and retaining the best, um, you know, employees without, uh, only focusing on banking services. So it’s a really good question.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about when it comes to, um, sourcing capital? A lot of firms struggle in this area. They don’t maybe have enough collateral or they, um, maybe don’t have enough revenue right now. Is there kind of more creative ways to source capital nowadays? Um, or is this something that you and your team can help them with in terms of getting access to capital and maybe areas that were more difficult in the past?

Kelly Scott: Absolutely. And, you know, so capital is one of the things I think businesses most commonly think of banks for. I need a loan or I’m growing my business. How can the bank support me? So sourcing capital is clearly one of the areas of expertise that we have. And that refers mostly to traditional capital. You know what we typically think of as a core bank lending. And that’s working capital lines of credit. Maybe they’re buying a commercial property for their business and they need a real estate term loan. They’re buying some new equipment and they need to to, uh, you know, stock the warehouse or the medical facility with that new equipment. And we finance acquisitions and we offer SBA loans. So there’s a lot of traditional sources. But I think to your question, in today’s business marketplace, um, entrepreneurs have to think more broadly because many times there’s a specific need that is is maybe it’s an emerging company that’s just too new for traditional debt, or maybe it’s too large of a loan and they need, you know, multiple layers of capital. And so there’s other sources, you know, that that are available to clients such as, um, you know, government and foundation grants, equity partners, uh, venture capital, angel loans and other alternative lenders and even asset specific lenders. So the state of Georgia has roughly 200 bank charters. It’s one of the highest in the country. So it’s a very competitive marketplace for loans and access to capital. And that’s really good for clients because each bank kind of defines their client selectivity model differently. So that competition and accessibility is good for our clients. And we want to, you know, compete in that marketplace. But then it’s great to know that through these additional resources, clients have access to other sources of capital, as you’ve asked.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Kelly Scott: Well, I think it starts with an introduction. We, you know, we want to work with every business and consumer client that we have, and we do that through the power of every connection. We do it one client at a time. As I mentioned, it’s a relationship business. We want to bring the best resources, expertise, data to our clients and then help them as they’re growing, whatever their goals are. And again, recognizing that there’s a lot of changing, uh, you know, environment in today’s business world, but that we through customized solutions, can support our clients. So it starts with that first conversation or that first, um, you know, contact and your audience can go to Bank of america.com. They can drill down to we’ve got links for small business and business banking. They can explore a variety of resources to just help them move their bank, their business forward and see what the bank can help them with. We also have a website. It’s access to capital. Directory.com that’s access to capital directory.com. And there they can explore some additional sources of funding that I mentioned earlier. So those are just a couple of areas. But really an introduction and an initial conversation will get us started.

Lee Kantor: Should they just walk into a bank.

Kelly Scott: Well there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. But we have great access through our consumer financial center channel, and they are equipped to handle any ask that comes in and get them in touch with the right resources across the bank. But as we talk about that great technology earlier, right from a smartphone device or their laptop going to Bank of America. Com or reaching out to Merrill Lynch or any of our other lines of business, we work together to to get our customers connected with the right areas of our bank.

Lee Kantor: So it’s better to connect that way rather than a bank, because that local banker may not be the right resource for you.

Kelly Scott: Well, I think every way, you know, regardless of how that connection starts, our teammates are trained to help, you know, do that initial screening to make sure we ask the right questions, to get them in touch with the area of the bank that can best help them. Again, a mortgage need is going to be something very different than, hey, I’m looking to, you know, sell my business. So we’re going to really triage that and help get them regardless of how they come into the bank. We want to work with them to find the best partner and the capabilities to align with their need.

Lee Kantor: Well, Scott, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Kelly Scott: Well, we truly appreciate the opportunity to speak to your audience. You have a great show, by the way, and it’s just truly been a pleasure. Hope to talk to you again soon.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Will Christensen With Entrepreneur’s Apprentice

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Will Christensen With Entrepreneur's Apprentice
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Will Christensen, founder of Entrepreneurs Apprentice and co-founder of DataAutomation, is known for his “Automate, Delegate, Eliminate” framework and unique 15-1-1-5 rule, which identifies key tasks to automate or delegate.

He’s a Zapier Certified Expert with deep expertise in workflow optimization.

Connect with Will on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Unlocking Growth for Visionary Entrepreneurs Outcome: Take business to the next level by optimizing processes
  • Scaling as a Solopreneur Outcome: Gain time and leverage without losing control
  • Future-Proofing Your Business with Automation

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Will Christensen, and he is the co-founder of Data Automation and founder of Entrepreneur’s Apprentice. Welcome.

Will Christensen: Hey, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Uh, tell us about your work. How are you serving folks?

Will Christensen: So there’s two places, but the main thing is I teach people my framework called automate, delegate, eliminate. And I am helping them scale and, uh, run their businesses more efficiently. Connect different dots on one of the original gangsters. From the standpoint of automation, I’ve been doing automation since before it was a buzzword I actually applied to be like the seventh member of Zapier. If you’ve heard of that mainstream company, and they ended up turning me down, and I ended up becoming a key partner of theirs in the early days of their growth around helping companies get on their platform. So got a lot of experience automating, delegating, and eliminating.

Lee Kantor: So what is your backstory? How did do you have that? Just from scar tissue of trying a bunch of stuff, or did you learn from somebody else?

Will Christensen: Great question. So I’ve always been inherently my wife would probably say lazy. I call it efficient. And as I kind of dug into this idea of being efficient and considering all of those different pieces, I just got off on this idea of of making things easier. And so I’ve always looking for the the next way to, you know, let’s make this a little easier next time. Let’s make this a little easier next time. And I graduated from college. It’s about let’s see 2025 Almost 20 years ago. Graduated. I graduated 20 years ago from high school, but college in 2010. And when I when I graduated from college, I went and took my first job and I was the low man on the totem pole. And I did 18 hours of copying and pasting every single week. So like half of my job was copying and pasting to make these big old reports that we would send off to our clients. And, and I was like, this is really dumb, why are we doing this? And they were like, this is the lifeblood of our business. Our clients keep us hired based on how well we do our reports. And so I was like totally bogged down with that.

Will Christensen: And I thought, you know what? I don’t really like this. I don’t know if I like this job. And it was all in Excel, and I was in my boss’s office and I was showing him some of the manual process that I had done, and he showed me a Vlookup and a light bulb went on for me. I was like, Holy crap, if Excel can do that, what else can it do? So I taught myself to code. I became an Excel wizard of sorts and automated all sorts of stuff in that job. Took my 18 hour process down to two hours and fell in love with this idea of making things more efficient. So fast forward several years. I started an automation company before it was cool to have a digital operations company, and we have helped in the e-commerce space and the law space and all over the place, um, connecting different dots. So it’s been quite the journey, and now I’m focused a lot on the delegation side. And, you know, like I mentioned before, the 15 115 rule, all of those different things. I’m digging in and teaching people automate, delegate, eliminate.

Lee Kantor: So the lesson is to if you want something done, hire the laziest person on the team.

Will Christensen: Uh, yeah, you nailed it. So if you hire the laziest person on the team.

Lee Kantor: They’ll figure out the best way to get something done.

Will Christensen: You know, it’s interesting that you say it that way because they have to be to be lazy but driven, which I think is a unique combination. Like I am driven to get things done more efficiently, which might be considered lazy, but like in a healthy way I guess. Yeah, that’s an interesting observation.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, so you, you get the bug to say, okay, I’m going to figure out how to leverage technology to get things done more quickly, easier for however you want to describe it. How did that kind of turn into okay, now I’m going to teach other people this number one and number two, who are the kind of low hanging fruit for this, because not everybody really wants that. Some people take pride in taking a long time to do work and and grinding.

Will Christensen: I think the interesting thing that I’ve discovered is those who insist on doing it manually have not yet tasted the fruit of having some of those things automated, or they’ve automated in such a way that it actually damaged the product. Very common for people to to get overwhelmed or overlook at different pieces of what’s there. Um, I’ve seen some amazing things, um, happen when people open their minds to kind of considering that. So the person who I think is most adaptable and ready to consume that information is the ones that are the ones that are trying it out for themselves. Um, and, and testing things and signing up for new products and considering how things can, can work. The tinkerer, so to speak. Um, and I think the, the way that you help the individual who is more conservative and less interested in trying that new stuff is by showing them the time output opportunities, um, for what’s there, because there are lots of wasted human hours out there today in the world that shouldn’t be Shouldn’t be done by a human.

Lee Kantor: Now, who is your ideal client? Is it that kind of solopreneur that kind of has a taste of this, but kind of is overwhelmed by all the possibilities? And would you know, sometimes you need help, but sometimes you need a helper, you know?

Will Christensen: Yep. So so my experience is the individuals who I can help the most are the overwhelmed entrepreneurs who are having a tough time keeping up with sales and fulfillment. So they, you know, they’ve gone out and sold a whole bunch of stuff, and now they’ve got to go fulfill that, and then they’ve got to run back and get the sales pipeline going. And they’re kind of going back and forth between those two. Those are the individuals that I can have the greatest impact on. Um, because I’m able to, um, help them see where they’re challenged and create a pathway for growth. Using automate, delegate, eliminate. Um, and we do that with an entrepreneurial cloning chamber, actually.

Lee Kantor: And what does that mean?

Will Christensen: So the entrepreneurial cloning chamber is, uh, a program that I’ve created. It’s community meets staffing meets coaching meets apprentice. So I call it Entrepreneurs Apprentice. And basically, we clone an entrepreneur, um, first physically. So we, we help them find a young entrepreneur who has the aptitude to lean into risk, to pay attention to detail, to care about this company as much as they do. And it’s the perfect, um, first step towards letting go of the business, because I found that if you just let go and hand it to someone like a VA, oftentimes that VA is not as invested as you. They’re just there to do the 9 to 5 thing and be done. And so it can be quite difficult to get some of those different things to play out the way you want them to. Whereas in apprentice, with our With our guidance, we we guarantee the relationship success.

Lee Kantor: So how was that person, um, compensated? Is it they are going to be the successor or they are just paid an hourly wage?

Will Christensen: Great question. So, um, they actually get a stipend from Entrepreneur’s Apprentice. They’re at 1099. And that’s on purpose because we’re helping them take on their first client as an entrepreneur, essentially. So they invoice us and then we invoice the, um, entrepreneurs on a monthly basis and support them both in the relationship. Um, and so that’s kind of how the, the model comes together. Um, I tell people it is a great idea to show that entrepreneur that you’re willing to put a piece of the business out there for them to, um, consume and or become an owner of, um, if they’re willing to, to push in that way. I knew we were on to something when, um, one apprentice, about six months into her apprenticeship, turned to her mentor and they had been doing payroll together, and the mentor had had been taking pay cuts for the past couple of months because the business was struggling. And she turned to him and said, I think it’s my turn to take a pay cut. And I about lost my crap when I heard this story because I was like, wait a second. She cared enough about his business that she was willing to let go of her ego and even some of her money. She was like, you told me that I should treat this like it’s my own business. And if it’s if you’ve been taking a pay cut for the past six times, I think it’s my turn to take a pay cut. And so it’s just fascinating to see her level of commitment and drive to, to grow and help that entrepreneur.

Lee Kantor: So what is your kind of day to day look like? Um, it sounds like you have a bunch of different tools at your at your disposal and a bunch of different initiatives that you have. Kind of leveraging some of those tools. So what is kind of a day in the life of will look like?

Will Christensen: Well, right now it’s a lot of discussions like this one. I’m I’m guest podcasting. I think I’m I think you’re my third podcast today. Um, so today’s an abnormal day. I don’t usually have three podcasts in a day, but I do record, um, for my own podcast. I record 3 or 4 episodes. It’s called automation Hunter. Um, and I also record two episodes for another podcast that we started a year and a half ago called, um, Monetizing Your Mental Capital. And that’s more around e-commerce and helping, um, e-commerce sellers, uh, with that side of scaling the business. And so I spend a fair amount of time on calls like this, podcasting. Um, and then I also meet with individuals who are my ICP ideal customer profile, as well as systematic referrers of those individuals. So anyone who’s, um, getting in contact with overwhelmed entrepreneurs on the regular. I meet with them as well. Um, and tell them about the business and, um, you know, get lots of referrals that way and connect those different dots. And then outside of that, I’m supporting the mentors and the apprentices as they work together.

Lee Kantor: Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the EOS model where there’s visionaries, and I think it’s called integrators. Um, it sounds like you have a you’re kind of a flavor or a, a taste of that is inside of your methodology. Uh, can you explain, for those who aren’t familiar, kind of the different roles of the entrepreneur and the kind of the person that would be delegated to.

Will Christensen: Yeah, absolutely. So so there’s two different books I’ll pull from here. So one is rocket fuel, and that’s the EOS system. And you have visionaries and integrators. Visionaries are those individuals who have big ideas. They’re about selling things. They’re they’re kind of that future thinker. Often the visionary is the visionary is the one who starts the business. Not always, but often. That’s the individual who starts the business and they’re trying to figure out how to scale it. But in order to achieve any sort of scale or make any money, they actually have to do it well. The doing it part doesn’t light them up. It actually really frustrates them. And so they need to find somebody who’s an integrator who can kind of fill that other side. So Michael Gerber, in his book, he talks about three different individuals the technician, the entrepreneur and the manager. And the technician handles the now, the manager handles the past and the entrepreneur handles the future. And so it’s similar to the visionary in the integrator. And the integrator handles the now and the past and the visionary handles the future. So so whether you’re whichever side you’re you’re more familiar with these apprentices that we find in any individual for that matter, even if you don’t hire an apprentice, they need to be a get or done kind of person. And so I love asking people that question like, are you more of a get or done person or an idea person? Which is a really tricky question because everybody wants to be both, right? Everybody wants to be both. But I found that the ones that are most honest and will open up and say, you know what, I ideas are not my strongest suit. I like them, they’re fun, but I just I don’t have this like unending flow of ideas coming from me. I’m more of like a let’s get this crap done kind of person. And I found that the person who answers in that way is going to make a decent integrator. Um, and there’s several other things you should test for, but that’s a decent beginning indicator that you found the right sort of integrator.

Lee Kantor: And then you are kind of a matchmaker in finding the right visionary for the right integrator, and vice versa.

Will Christensen: Correct. So individuals who come to me and they’re looking to try to figure out, you know, where to go about that process and what to look at look at that they are. Um, often they’ve hired a VA and it didn’t work out. Or they haven’t hired a VA yet, but they’re pretty confident they’d mess it up. Those individuals, um, or even they’re just looking to to to see whether or not a VA is the right pathway. Those individuals come to me and I give them a Colby test. Colby. Um, and, uh, that Colby test tells me a lot about the things that light them up, the things that give them energy. Um, so it’s it’s different from a true personality test. It’s more of a modus operandi test. So the way that they function in the world. Um, after we give them that, we then matchmake them with somebody who is their opposite.

Lee Kantor: Now, earlier you mentioned a 15 115 rule. Do you mind sharing a little bit about that?

Will Christensen: Yeah, absolutely. So uh, 15 115 is a methodology that I came up with. And I just added something to it today. So I’m excited to this will be the first place that I’m, I’m debuting another piece to the 15 115 role that I think is going to be pretty powerful. So, um, what you’re what you would do is you get out a sticky note and you put that sticky note on your desk, and you and you write 15 115 at the top. And the 15 115 is to remind you to write down anything that is taking you more than 15 minutes a day, more than an hour a week, or more than an hour a month. So you’re writing down 15 one one, right? So 15 minutes, one hour, one hour. Then the last five is do it five times manually. So 15 115. Um, after you’ve written it down, you’re then going to start doing tally marks. So let’s say it was like invoicing and you’re like, well, I do invoicing once a week and it takes me about an hour. So each week you would write down those tally marks when you got to the fifth tally mark. So if you’re if you’re doing tally marks, you get one, two, three, four, the diagonal tally mark.

Will Christensen: You need to do it without a keyboard. So you go find, uh, there’s there’s several different voice, uh, apps that you can use where you can talk to your computer instead of typing. Um, and it’s kind of an annoying thing to do, but take and this is the part that’s new. This keyboard keyboard trick is new. Take the keyboard out. Um, like like set it to the side and only use your mouse and only use, um, beyond the mouse. Uh, this voice typing technology and anything that can be done without touching the, um, keyboard means that it went straight from your brain into the computer. That’s going to be a harder thing to automate. That’s probably a more delegate task. If you’re touching the keyboard, there’s probably an opportunity, because then you’re taking it from an app inside the computer to another app inside another computer. You know, you’re copying and pasting. You’re you’re digging into some of those different pieces. So. So I guess if you’re not using the keyboard, no copying and pasting either, because if you’re copying and pasting, that’s that’s an indication that there’s probably a good opportunity to automate there. So that’s 15 115 with the no keyboard rule on the fifth try or fifth manual attempt.

Lee Kantor: And then that helps you kind of build these standard operating procedures, uh, for the most important activities you’re doing.

Will Christensen: You nailed it. So so the that part is actually key to the entire process, because once you’ve done it five times manually, then you actually have enough information that you can write that standard operating procedure. If you haven’t done it five times manually, you don’t know enough about the IFS, the thens, or the buts that are going to come up in that process, and you’ll automate something that doesn’t need to be automated because you don’t know how often things are going to come up in the process. And if you try to automate it, it’s not automatable well, write down the SOP and hand it to somebody else to do, and you’ve delegated it.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, say there’s somebody listening here that’s like, you know what? Uh, that idea person. I need someone that’s a getter. Done person. I’m going to contact Will and his team. What does that kind of first conversation look like between you and that ideal prospect? What? What are the questions or homework you’re going to give this person so they can ensure that this is going to be a good fit for both of you?

Will Christensen: Yeah. So the first questions I’m going to start asking them are things like tell me a little bit more about the biggest pain in the business. And if they just start to describe a pain where they’re trying to chase their tail between sales and fulfillment, um, that’s an immediate okay. Yeah, there’s something here. The other thing I’m gauging on that call is, is this person humble enough or coachable enough, um, that they’ll listen. And so that first call is often a coaching call. So we get really clear on what it is. That’s their long term vision and what they’re trying to do. Um, if the individual that I’m working with is not currently bringing in enough money to make ends meet or look at those different pieces, sometimes I can help have a sales boot camp that we put people through. Um, but a lot of times that means they need to struggle or find a niche that that works a little better before they come to me. Most of the time when they’ve come to me, they have, um, a system that’s working. They’re making a decent amount of money, but they’re like, I can’t even keep up with all the business like I got, I got I’m completely overwhelmed, um, with some of what’s there. Or, um, I know I could keep up with the business if I could figure out how to get my sales pipeline to go. Well, and I already have 3 or 4 clients. I just need to figure out how to scale that up. So those two different scenarios we dive into. What’s the bottleneck? We look at, you know, what is it that you’re really facing. And most of them come away saying, you know what? I’m the bottleneck. And if that’s true, we can help you.

Lee Kantor: And then once you all agree that, hey, this could be a fit. How long does it take to see kind of noticeable results? Is this something that you got to be in for a year before you start seeing anything? Or is there clues early on that this is working and that you should kind of be doubling down?

Will Christensen: So, uh, there are clues early on. We actually have a six week guarantee. So you put down a deposit, and if at any time during those six weeks, you’re like, yeah, this isn’t for me, we refund you. No questions asked. So, like, we’re that confident in the first six weeks that you’re going to find and see results, um, that we that we guarantee it. So and the reason for that is we don’t allow people into the program who aren’t going to succeed. Um, so we we vet out entrepreneurs who are willing to change and grow, um, and connect some of those different dots so that we, you know, get to a place where everybody’s happy. The the key indicators for success that often people find are just raw time saved. If you think about a new employee, they often don’t make real impacts till like month three. Not so with an apprentice, because an apprentice is meant to take on tasks that are ambiguous that you didn’t even know how to do yourself. So go change my domain name on G-suite or Google Workspace from Equity Comm or excuse me, from Web Services net to equity. Com that was the first task I gave to my apprentice when I brought her on three years ago. And she said, do you know how to do that? I said, no. She said, I guess I’ll go figure it out. And she did. So. So did she take down the email server? Yeah, for 15 minutes. But she knew to call my cell phone. And she saved me five hours of time that I would have had to go in and figure that out myself. Did it take her five hours? No. It probably took her, like ten. But it but it didn’t matter because she saved me five hours in her first week.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the best way to connect? Website.

Will Christensen: There’s two places to connect with me. One is on LinkedIn. So just William Christiansen. And if you if you type in William Christiansen Data Automation or William Christiansen Equity Hammer, you’ll you’ll come right up. Um and then equity Hammer. Com is my website where I describe several of the different ventures that I’m working on. And there’s a spot where you can, um, connect with me there to talk about an apprentice.

Lee Kantor: Now, before we wrap up, I have a question about the apprentice side of things, and it sounds like an important component, but what is for the young people out there that are listening? What are some things they can be doing to get on your radar when it comes to something like this?

Will Christensen: Absolutely. So if you go to Equity Hammer Apprentice, there is a really extensive, um, questionnaire. It’s like 13 questions that you have to fill out. And that’s how you start the process of going to the pool and kind of connecting those different dots. So if you are that young entrepreneur and you’re like, man, I want to mentor, um, I encourage you to, to come and apply for the program and know that it’s, I mean, it’s only 3% that actually make it all the way through to the end, but don’t let that discourage you. Dive in. Um, I’ve been very, very impressed with the level of candidates that are coming through the pipe. Um, and we’re working on other offerings for the other 97% to, to help them better their skills and better their aptitude to connect with mentors.

Lee Kantor: Are these people in college right now or in school right now? Are they graduated? Like, where are they at in their kind of career when they are kind of intrigued by the apprenticeship.

Will Christensen: Early career, slash college? So I’ve got a guy who just graduated this last year, and he’s been doing like a grocery store thing in between to kind of supplement while he’s doing his apprenticeship. Um, I’ve got others who, um, they’re not going to school at all. This is just what they’re doing. And I’ve got others still that are doing 18 to 20 credit hours and still managing to keep a mentor very happy with the level of support they’re able to provide while they’re going to college.

Lee Kantor: And any advice for the entrepreneur out there who maybe is not ready for your services but would like to get better at this kind of, uh, automation delegation elimination strategy? What are some low hanging fruit for them?

Will Christensen: So the first thing I would tell that individual is it’s probably a good idea for you to consider going and getting the $20 a month plan on, um, ChatGPT. Um, the advanced mode is, is pretty amazing in there. And, um, it’s good enough that it, it does all sorts of cool stuff. So like if I were to, you know, bring advanced voice mode to this podcast and say, hey, advanced voice mode, like, tell me, you know why? Why should an entrepreneur use you to get better at automating, delegating, or eliminating?

Will Christensen: Three steps freeing up more time to focus on strategic growth. It’s like having a personal assistant to enhance your productivity.

Will Christensen: And I could, like, have conversations with you while I’m driving in the car.

Will Christensen: Exactly. That.

Will Christensen: Being said to stay productive on the go.

Will Christensen: Well, thanks for being on the podcast. Do you mind saying hi to Lee for me and and hi to the. Hi to the listeners.

Will Christensen: Sure thing.

Will Christensen: And hello to all the listeners. Thanks for having me on the podcast.

Will Christensen: Great.

Will Christensen: So that was completely unplanned. Um, but but I’m trying to point out to you that if you’re not already using AI, that’s 20 bucks a month. If you can afford 20 bucks a month as a business owner, you got you got bigger problems than that from that side of it, right? There’s a product issue at that point. Um, but but that’s that’s the sort of automation that’s at our fingertips right now. And if you want to coach, that can help you get better at automating delegate and eliminating 20 bucks a month. There’s one of your back pocket.

Lee Kantor: Well, well, thank you so much again for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Will Christensen: Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Andre Melchionda With Arrivato Imports

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Andre Melchionda With Arrivato Imports
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Andre Melchionda is the Owner and Founder of Arrivato Imports, a leader in the specialty and luxury food space. he works with suppliers from across the world and locally to curate a one-of-a-kind portfolio that services top restaurants and chefs with Truffles, Australian/Japanese Wagyu, Caviar, lamb, and more luxury products.

After leaving the corporate world in 2021 to pursue his passion for specialty Italian cuisine products, he soon realized the lack of high quality and luxury products on the market and set out to source the highest quality ingredients on the planet.

As a leader in the specialty and luxury food space, he works with James Beard Foundation Award Winners, Michelin Starred and Recognized Restaurants, Forbes Travel Guide Five Star winners and AAA Five Diamond Award winners.

As a fluent Italian speaker having lived outside of Rome during his childhood, he is able to communicate with his Italian suppliers on a deeper level than most, establishing lasting connections and relationships. He is passionate about supporting his community, donating time, money and products to charitable causes, oftentimes collaborating with chefs and restaurants through events and special dinners.

He is a graduate of Florida State University where he studied economics and double minored in business analytics and business. Prior to establishing Arrivato Imports, he worked for a Private Equity Firm based in San Francisco.

He currently lives in Atlanta, the nation’s up and coming fine-dining destination, where Arrivato’s headquarters are located.

Connect with Andre on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • What does Arrivato Imports supply

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Andre Melchionda and he is with Arrivato Imports. Welcome.

Andre Melchionda: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your firm. How you serving folks?

Andre Melchionda: Yeah. So Arvato Imports is based here in Atlanta, and we are the leader in luxury foods. We source from all over the world, also here domestically and locally, to just provide a portfolio of products that no one else really has here.

Lee Kantor: And then what do you do with these foods? Are you selling a direct to consumer or you sell them to restaurants?

Andre Melchionda: Yeah. So right now our business model is just restaurants, resorts, hotels, things of that nature. But we have some things in the works, some exciting things here coming up. And we’re going to be making them a little bit more widely available to everyone else.

Lee Kantor: So so what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Andre Melchionda: Yeah, that’s a that’s a good question. You know, one that I get probably most often because it is pretty uncommon. Um, you know, I have a finance background and was working in private equity for a while and, you know, was thinking about next steps. You know, what I wanted to do with my career, interested in what I’m passionate about. And so I’m Italian, I speak Italian, have a pretty good network over there. And, you know, it was a matter of, you know, what sort of advantage might I have over someone else or, you know, competition. And I knew I could find basically anything I wanted to in Italy with, you know, a couple phone calls, texts here and there. So it really started there. And just kind of, you know, being passionate and understanding the quality of food in Italy and Europe relative to here and why there was such a big lack of it and just wanted to help kind of bridge that gap and educate and make a lot of those products a little bit more available here.

Lee Kantor: So did you start with one type of food and then kind of expand just organically, or did you just have a good purveyor in Italy that you were able to get pretty much whatever you needed?

Andre Melchionda: So yeah, it started really small. You know, it started with truffles really. And then, you know, olive oil and then balsamic and caviar. And then just the more that I became immersed in the industry and what I was doing and just always learning and listening and asking questions to chefs and, you know, getting requests and stuff like that. It just became a matter of finding it and finding the best products, the best farms and producers. And now at this point, you know, we offer so many different products, it can be overwhelming at times.

Lee Kantor: So how do you kind of maintain that quality control? Are you just trusting your purveyors in Europe, or is this something that you’re personally overseeing?

Andre Melchionda: A little bit of both for sure. You know, there’s a lot of brands out there that are really well known for their quality and their reputation. So those are kind of the easy ones. But, you know, after that it’s, you know, talking to people recommendations, um, you know, a lot of just research and seeing what’s out there and also trying the products too ahead of time before, you know, kind of going full scale as far as, you know, making them widely available to our clients.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you first had the idea, okay, I’m going to go, uh, I know Italy, I have connections there. And in America There’s less, you know, lesser quality. Um, did you have a customer here in America that you were like, you know, hey, buddy, if if I get this, is this something your restaurant’s going to buy? Like, how did the kind of the the marketplace start, uh, start up for you? Did you have personal connections with chefs or restaurants that kind of put in requests from you to. Look, if you get this, I’ll buy all you got.

Andre Melchionda: Uh, a little bit. I mean, honestly, it wasn’t a deep network at all, by any means. Uh, it was kind of. So I’m from Saint Simons Island, Georgia, you know, small town, southeast Georgia. And, you know, I knew there was basically none of these products there. So I knew I could start there with the relationships that I had. And, you know, there were a handful of places that would buy these types of products. Um, but for the most part, no, I mean, it was a pretty cold network overall, and it was just a lot of, Walking into kitchens and talking to the right people and just having the the quality to support, you know, the service and it it spoke for itself in a sense. And, you know, people started to to understand a little bit more of what we were trying to do and what what was going for. And slowly but surely, we, you know, grew the client list. And, you know, we’re rocking and rolling here full time in Atlanta.

Lee Kantor: So, um, did you have a chef or a couple chefs that kind of fell in love with what you had and became kind of evangelists?

Andre Melchionda: Uh, in a sense. You know, I think it was more so. So, yes, with the olive oil for sure. You know, especially olive oil is a big one because there is a lot of olive oil in today’s markets that is really just not quality. Um, you know, there’s a lot of them out there that are mixed, that are blends of oils from all over Europe. So to have a real, you know, pure Italian olive oil coming out of southern Italy was definitely like, you know, I got a lot of, wow, you know, it was when you taste real olive oil, you can you immediately recognize the difference and can immediately see the quality in it. Tasted quality. I mean, it’s totally different than the majority of honestly, all the olive oils that you find, especially here in the southeast too. Right? Because I feel like we’re slightly behind when it comes to fine dining and really high quality products relative to a New York or, you know, a Chicago or an LA. So bringing these products here definitely, you know, opened some eyes for sure.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, I’m not a connoisseur like you, but I’ve noticed even, uh, locally here, the first time I had a, um, kind of a farm raised chicken egg compared to, like, a store bought egg. It was like a different food. Like when you’re. It’s even difficult to explain that the color was different. The richness of the flavor was different. Um, when you’re coming across something like that and you bring it to a chef, I’m sure you know they’re open to having the conversation because most chefs want, you know, to be the best they can be and differentiate themselves with the quality. Is it do they have a difficult time translating that to, okay, now my customers got to pay more? Uh, now, you know, I got to educate my customer to appreciate this as much as I’m appreciating it.

Andre Melchionda: Yeah. For sure. That’s that’s definitely a challenge and a hurdle with some people. Um, you know, there are the people that are willing to spend on quality and are really good at storytelling and making it come through. Um, you know, at the end of the day, it’s it’s simplicity. Um, if you use really high quality ingredients, you don’t have to do a whole lot to it to make it shine. Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, so many people and chefs and restaurants are price conscious that it, you know, with that increased price cost, it can definitely be hard to get them to understand and get the consumer to understand. Right. Because it’s one thing to to sell them, but then they have to educate their clients and have them understand, okay, you know, I’m paying a little bit more for this, but wow, I can absolutely see the quality difference and taste it. And okay, I understand why I’m paying a dollar or two more for this dish. Um, but yeah, it’s definitely, you know, it’s it’s an ongoing education. Um, every day we’re getting one step closer and it’s just, you know, time with time, it’ll come, and we’ve just got to stay at it.

Lee Kantor: Now, is this one of the things where your clients are those kind of, uh, top of the line restaurants, It’s the, you know, Michelin star restaurants, the ones that really, um, kind of lean into quality and experience and that, that, that those are the people that are going to buy your stuff. Or does it kind of trickle down to a more, uh, mainstream restaurants?

Andre Melchionda: Yeah, absolutely. You know, the the high end Michelin starred restaurants, five star resorts, you know, James Beard Award winners, those are definitely our main clients for the most part, just because they they understand and appreciate and can really make those products shine. Um, and we’re the more mainstream ones, right? You know, obviously none of the fast food or even kind of the chain restaurants really none of those. I mean, it’s really kind of boils down to the chef and the owners and how much they want to put their attention on the food. Right. Because it can, depending on the restaurant, the vibe, what they’re what they’re going for, right? They could be going for a really good cocktail program, solid food, but really great vibes or, you know, any kind of mixture of that. Or maybe they focus a lot on hospitality and, you know, maybe the food is, you know, an eight out of ten. Um, so it kind of depends on the restaurant, the ownership itself, as far as what they’re willing to, to kind of invest in and spend on. Um, so it’s kind of each case is a little different. But yeah, definitely the higher end Michelin starred restaurants, you know, we work with the majority of them here in Atlanta. And uh, that’s definitely our main clientele.

Lee Kantor: Now, one, uh, you do build a relationship with the chef, and I would imagine the chef is the the person, you know, you want to get more relationships with. That’s the the driver of the relationship is the chef to explain, hey, this is what we have today. And I would imagine this changes frequently. Right. Like there’s some things, like, all of a sudden you got some caviar or, you know, next month it might be truffles. Like there’s, I would imagine, seasonality. And there’s an optimal time to get each of the things that you offer.

Andre Melchionda: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It’s a very seasonal business. Right. Because the products are so fresh and, you know, hard to find. Honestly, a lot of them, it’s they come and they go, right. You know, there’s seasons for everything from truffles to, you know, even certain bluefin tuna to, you know, uni there’s low seasons, high seasons, you know, ramps, chanterelles, morels, all of these fresh products. They definitely come and they go. And sometimes the seasons are shorter than it has been in the past. Sometimes it’s longer, sometimes there’s ample supply and sometimes there’s not. And it’s, uh, you know, causes pretty big price swings now.

Lee Kantor: Um, so, so how does that work? So, like, you get something in or you hear you’re going to get something in, and then you just put the word out and it’s kind of first one in, you know. Game on.

Andre Melchionda: Uh, yeah, in a sense. So I mean, most chefs who are really in tune with it and have been doing this for a while, they understand what’s coming up, what’s, you know, about to be in season and what’s going out of season and what to expect, when to expect it. So it’s more of, okay, I know this is coming. Let me menu plan a little bit and reach out ahead of time and say, hey, you know, we’re going to be using X, Y and Z. Um, can you make sure you know, have it or keep us posted on pricing and availability. Um, so it is a somewhat fluid situation, but, you know, a lot of these guys are really dialed in with what they’re doing that they know what’s coming. And it’s just really a matter of supply and demand at that point.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How could we help you?

Andre Melchionda: What do we need more of? Um. Let’s see. I mean, I think exposure, just general exposure. You know, we’ve been in business for. It’ll be four years later this year, and we haven’t really done a whole lot of, uh, marketing really at all. It’s been purely organic and just word of mouth to this point. Um, so, you know, I think just just getting the story out there and having people understand that, you know, we’re local, we’re headquartered here, you know, from Georgia. Um, and we’re just trying to do good work and bring products in that, uh, typically aren’t here and help educate.

Lee Kantor: Now, is the initial target just Georgia or like, if, you know, if there’s a Chicago restaurant, is that somebody you’d want to know?

Andre Melchionda: No, I mean, there’s no limit. Absolutely not. Uh, you know, we have clients in eight different states at this point. Definitely concentrated here in Atlanta. Just because, you know, this is where we have, you know, a presence on the ground and we can go see someone and talk with them a lot easier than, you know, someone in Chicago. But yeah, I mean, we work with people all over the country. Uh, so we’re Were absolutely open to anything and everything. If it makes sense and we can provide value. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: Now how many like, what would be the universe in Atlanta of restaurants that would be appropriate for your services? I mean, I wouldn’t think that there’s that many that check the boxes that you need in order to, you know, to buy your stuff.

Andre Melchionda: You know, I think you’d be surprised at the amount of restaurants that are using quality. Um, you know, it’s definitely not in New York. It’s not Chicago, it’s not LA. But, you know, we are moving in the right direction. Absolutely. And there’s places that are opening, you know, every day it seems like. Um, and with Michelin coming here, you know, I think that’s going to bring a lot more of these higher end restaurants. And, you know, people are going to be gunning for a star, two stars eventually. Um, so I think it’s a good time to be here in its infancy and be able to watch it grow and help it grow as well.

Lee Kantor: Is it 20? Is it 50?

Andre Melchionda: Um, you know, I would say.

Lee Kantor: It can’t be a hundred.

Andre Melchionda: Yeah. So we have a pretty broad.

Andre Melchionda: Product list, right. So we can essentially find a placement for a product. Right. We have we work with, for example, a bunch of Australian Wagyu. And just because someone can’t afford, you know, the high end stripling cut, you know, maybe they can afford the, you know, eye of round or one of these other off cuts that are a lot more cost effective and can make sense for someone who doesn’t necessarily have the budget of one of these, you know, Michelin starred restaurants or larger groups. So, you know, as far as caviar, truffles, A5 yeah, it’s definitely limited to, you know, probably 20 or 30 restaurants and clubs. But, you know, from a broader conversation, I mean, I think and, you know, once you get into Alpharetta and, you know, Decatur and, you know, if you get up into Milton, I think, yeah, you’re looking at probably, you know, 75, 100 that could find something that we offer, right.

Lee Kantor: Is there a place for the private chef who works with celebrity clients?

Andre Melchionda: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we work with, uh, private.

Andre Melchionda: Chefs all the time.

Lee Kantor: So they would obviously, they’re not buying the quantity, but they’d still buy the. What you got?

Andre Melchionda: Absolutely.

Andre Melchionda: Yep, yep.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the best way to connect?

Andre Melchionda: Yeah.

Andre Melchionda: So we’re on Instagram at Arrivato imports and also on our website w-w-w Arrivato sports.com. And I would definitely give us a follow on Instagram because as I mentioned, we have some really exciting things in the works. For the general public and not just, you know, B2B restaurants. So at Arvato Sports on Instagram, I had to keep up with us and all the cool things we’re doing. You know, we do events and dinners and stuff all the time. So, um, yeah, it’s, uh, it’s a it’s a fun time right now.

Lee Kantor: And arvato is spelled r r I v a t o import.com for the website and find them on their socials. Well, Andre, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Andre Melchionda: Yeah, we appreciate it. Thank you for, uh, the conversation.

Andre Melchionda: It’s been a good one. And, um, look forward to keeping in touch.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Sara Daw With The CFO Centre

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Sara-Daw
Atlanta Business Radio
Sara Daw With The CFO Centre
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Sara Daw, Entrepreneur, Researcher, Writer & Speaker, Future of Work Expert.

Listed in the 2024 E2E Female 100, she is passionate about designing the future of work for C-level talent and organizations. She has helped thousands worldwide build successful team-based portfolio careers in the disruptive access economy for fractional C-suite professionals.

As well as publishing the first research on the Access Economy for C-suite talent Sara’s latest book, published by Routledge, made the Amazon Kindle Best Seller list in HR and Personnel Management. Strategy and Leadership as Service isn’t just a nice idea; it is a practical alternative vision of the future of work for senior executives that is gaining significant interest and is being adopted by businesses globally. Her research focuses on what holds relationships together in the C-suite access economy for the long-term in the absence of traditional employment contracts.

She is Co-Founder and Group CEO of The CFO Centre and The Liberti Group. Operating in 17 countries it is the global number one provider of part-time and fractional C-suite professionals to entrepreneurial owner-managed, mid-tier businesses, and larger organisations.

She is a graduate in Chemistry from Oxford University, a Chartered Accountant, holds an MBA from The London Business School, and a Mastère Spécialisé® in Consulting and Coaching for Change, run jointly by Oxford University (Saïd Business School) and HEC Business School in Paris.

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • Fractional C-Suite leadership and the role it plays in the new access economy
  • About Sara’s book, Strategy and Leadership as Service

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor are here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Sarah Daw. She is the co-founder and CEO of the CFO center, and she’s author of the book Strategy and leadership as a service how the Access Economy meets the C-suite. Welcome, Sarah.

Sara Daw: Hello. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. First off, tell us about the CFO center. How are you serving folks?

Sara Daw: So the CFO center provides fractional CFOs to growing entrepreneurial organizations. So it’s for those businesses that don’t need, don’t want and can’t afford a full time CFO, but they still need the skill set to scale, and they can work with one of our team on a fractional basis one day a week, two days a month, whatever the business needs, flexibly and affordably scaling it up and down as they go so they get all the skills they need to get to big, which is normally what a lot of those organizations want to do.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s your background? How long have you been involved in this line of work?

Sara Daw: Okay, so a long time. I mean, I I’m a CFO and I actually came to came to the fractional CFO world in the early 2000. I was a CA with an MBA, and I was just starting a family, and I realized that I needed to have a fulfilling career that would enable me to be mum, because I was going to grow a family, yet also to work and have something rewarding on the career side. So I saw this niche in the marketplace around these businesses. Entrepreneurial businesses not having access to this full time skill set at the CFO level, and set myself up and then and then found my my co-founder, the founder of the business, Colin Mills of the PhD center, joined him. He he started it a few years earlier, and there were just a few of us at that stage, and off we went. And now we’re in 18 countries globally. So it’s really taken off as a concept.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you exclusively focus on CFOs or do you have other services in and around the C suite.

Sara Daw: So we do have other services not all operating yet in the US, but globally. We operate fractional c suite services across people, so HR, marketing, sales and finance.

Lee Kantor: Now is the thesis of your book that this is kind of the future of business is maybe a mindset shift to having permanent members of the C-suite, but just to have fractional and just kind of partner with different types of experts along the path.

Sara Daw: Yes. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. It is a mindset shift. So the way I see the world of work unfolding as we go forward in response to all the challenges that organizations are facing and to make sure they’ve got an agile talent strategy. What I am seeing happening is roles unbundling into work, and that work is going to be done by humans and by automation and machines, but it’s going to be parceled up into work and we don’t necessarily anymore have to have full. Time, complete roles. And that’s where the fractional concept really meets this head on. And the other mindset shift is that we don’t need to be employed anymore with an employment contract to deliver valuable and important work. So the fractional CFO in in my team are highly committed, intensely engaged with the organizations that they’re helping to grow. They want the variety, flexibility and control of doing it on a self-employed basis, and they want to live and work in a new way. So it’s it’s to it’s these two phenomena that’s coming together. Entrepreneurs who need the skill set flexibly and affordably. And CFOs who want to live and work differently through an access model rather than an employment model.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, Obviously we’re in a world that exists today. Um, if you could just start from scratch, how would you implement this strategy on a business? Maybe you invented, you know, on your head last night. Like, how would you go about kind of building an infrastructure, leveraging, you know, all the experts that you have at hand right now?

Sara Daw: Yeah. So what I would do, I mean, if I was an entrepreneur, I would I would have a core of employees, a core base. But I would supplement that with, um, skill sets that I need on a long term and ongoing basis, but that I just don’t need and can’t afford full time. So I bring in I would bring in a fractional C-suite across the business functions that I feel either in sequence or in tandem, that are the most critical, um, to my growth. So I’d organize that. Uh, finance tends to be one of the early ones. You need to know your numbers. You can’t really fly blind as a business owner. And then, depending on other C-suite roles, perhaps tech depending on on my my structure or how I’m going to market marketing people, etc., I’d phase those in. It’s very affordable to have this whole C-suite surrounding the entrepreneur. And then I would also be looking for to engage with a wider workforce, perhaps in the tech space or the freelance space that I need to bring in to deliver specific skills to enhance my business and get it tech enabled. And I may even have a wider workforce from the gig economy that bring in more flexibility and efficiency on a volume scale. What I’m saying here is the way I think organizations need to think going forward is that their workforce is not just their employee base anymore. It’s all of those that I just mentioned. And we as leaders need to get really good at building one culture and culture and one team because they’re all important and valuable members.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned the word culture. Um, how do you go about building a culture where if everybody is fractional or freelance, each of them could be working individually in five other places that could have a slightly different culture, like how do you build a culture in an organization that is, you know, filled with fractionals?

Sara Daw: Yes. So obviously, I mean, the culture is set from the top down, from the leader, from the business owner, and they will have their particular culture and it’s on us. It’s on the fractional leaders to align with that culture. And what’s what’s interesting about fractional work is that the the fractional leaders choose the businesses that they want to work with. So they will only work with the organizations where they match, and the culture aligns and the values match. So they will be in a place that will be sort of the line of least resistance if you like, and they will back up the culture of the organization that the entrepreneur is building. And it’s on the fractional leaders to be good at context shifting. So we get good at working between different businesses. In an ideal world, a fractional leader may have three, four, five businesses they work with, and they will be very good at making sure each business feels like they are the only business they work with, because they know how to do that. They know how to communicate. They’ll be available outside hours. They realize business problems don’t just pop up between 9 and 5 Monday to Friday, and they want to create those long term relationships, and they’ll sit alongside the entrepreneur through thick and thin to help them get where they want to go, because they’re aligned and they believe in the business.

Lee Kantor: Now, this is where I would think that an organization like yours is super valuable, because I’m really having a relationship with your firm and you’re kind of plugging and playing in the fractional expert I need at any given time where I might need a fractional expert to launch a business, might be a different expert to manage and grow a business.

Sara Daw: Yes. That’s such a good point. So a collective like ours, an organization, and I would say we’re a new breed of organization. And I think you’re going to see more of these going forward into the future. We are an organizer, not an employer. And we are the community that supports the collective of the C-suite individuals. So we will be supporting them so that they are fully up to speed with everything they need to know around their function. They share learning and development, they share best practice. And we’re there for the business owner to make sure that we can fill skill and capacity gaps, and that they get the right match of C-suite professional at each stage of their journey. And sometimes what that involves is that an organization will engage with a small team of perhaps CFOs. 1st May be doing a fundraise, one might be doing a systems implementation, but what it means is that they will always get the right skills on board at the right time. They’ll probably have a lead CFO that will be holding the long term relationship, and that may change over time, but they will have others that can come in and perform specific projects that are required on a time critical basis. So effectively, the business always gets the answer they need. And in a very agile, flexible and affordable way.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, what was kind of the thinking behind writing the book? Was it just to kind of get this type of thinking in, you know, in a different format so you can share with more people? Or was that or has this been kind of an itch you’ve been trying to scratch for a while?

Sara Daw: Yes, I guess it was a bit of all of that, actually. Um, the main reason I did it was because I wanted to draw awareness to this area, this niche in the industry and the value it can bring both to the C-suite professionals and the businesses they serve. But importantly, what I wanted to do was bring credibility to this niche because we we at the CFO center, we knew what we did. We knew how we do it, but we didn’t know what the academic concepts were that were underlying it and why it worked. And I really wanted to bring that thought leadership to the world to show that actually, this is actually quite a common concept. So all the listeners here today will be really familiar with the access economy. We are using it all the time. We use it in Spotify. We access our music instead of owning it. We access Zipcar, perhaps a car club. If we don’t own our car, we use Airbnb, we use Netflix. These are all access services and this is no different really. We are part of the access economy. We’re just accessing services of individuals rather than employing them. And it leads to a very, as I said, a very, um, tailored bespoke delivery for the business owner. So I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that this was a disruptive business model, but one that is, um, very accepted in the other areas of goods and services and therefore, um, to give it the credibility and the backing to show that it can work in the service industry.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you kind of address the issue, like you mentioned, kind of Netflix and that type of and unbundling and then unbundling? Uh, historically it’s been kind of a push pull like we went through here in America with cable television, that it was like, oh, all of a sudden now you have access to ESPN, MTV, the Food Network, access to all these channels, and it’s all one price. And then we get angry that it’s like, well, I don’t want the Food Channel because I don’t care. I don’t care about sports. I want it to be unbundled. And now we’re back to unbundling, where now everything’s individual, and now there’s, uh, you know, a desire for rebundling because it’s getting too expensive, because I’m paying for everything individually now, and it’s more than I was paying when it was bundled, like, where do you see this in that continuum?

Sara Daw: Yes. I think that’s an interesting point because I agree with you of, you know, industries, um, uh, go through life cycles of bundling and unbundling and, and, uh, obviously we’re in an unbundling stage here where unbundling rolls into smaller parts to make it affordable to a segment of the market around the SM. I also, though, see that this is and I will come back to your point, but I also see the unbundling as relevant for larger organizations as well, by the way. So the other part of the market that, um, this unbundling is being very, um, we found very receptive is larger organizations where you have a group CFO or a group CMO who have a shopping list of far too much to do, and they need a fractional team around them that they can access dynamically to bring in the skills to fill all the things that they shouldn’t be doing, or that they haven’t got the skills to do or the capacity to do so. That’s another angle. And yes, we may see in the future, um, perhaps a move to bundling up again. But what I would say is that we are so early on in the unbundling phase at the moment because, you know, I know in the US market, you know, fractional CFOs, um, is a concept that’s, that’s reasonably well understood. Yet on my travels, I am still meeting swathes and swathes of business owners and C-suite professionals who have never heard of it. So I still feel we are at are very much at the forefront of the movement, and we’ve got a long way to go on this unbundling at this stage.

Lee Kantor: So who is kind of the ideal fit for a service like this.

Sara Daw: In terms of the.

Lee Kantor: Like, your ideal client that would be open to this type of thinking. Like they’re not so big that they’ve hired a CFO or they’re they already have a CFO. And maybe that that didn’t work out. And now they want to try this. Like where are they at in their life cycle where this is the exact right fit for you?

Sara Daw: Yeah. So for us it would be entrepreneurial organizations who are open minded. The business owner is willing to welcome outside advice to see how that can deliver a return for them. So it’s the open mindedness that is actually the key differentiator. Entrepreneurial business. They want to grow. They may not be growing. That’s okay. They may not have their business model sorted out. That’s okay. That’s what we can help with. Um, Generally revenue. I’m saying somewhere between 5 million and 100 million in in revenue. But we can work with smaller organizations and and as I said, for the large organizations, that’s where we help an incumbent C-suite to fill the skill and capacity gaps that they need. But it is I have to say, it’s about the open mindedness of wanting to welcome in a different way of doing things, a way where we can bring some rigor, some professionalism, some insights, sector knowledge. We can bring our network and we can bring our skills to really sort of turbocharge and get them in a space where these ambitious business owners get rewarded for everything that they put into their businesses because, you know, they’re remarkable people and we really want to see them succeed.

Lee Kantor: Well, I mean, if they’re already at $5 million in revenue, then they must be doing something right, because that doesn’t happen accidentally. Usually they have to be doing something right, and so they and they must also have enough revenue to afford your fractional CFO. I mean, so it’s a combination of things there. But is there a place for the aspiring entrepreneur, the person that’s earlier on below the 5 million where a service like yours may be not may not be the right fit in terms of, you know, I have a person for you to solve your problem, but you have information to help them. Or is that where the book comes in?

Sara Daw: Yes. I think for those organizations, potentially there’s really a mentoring role to be done. So it’s about sitting alongside the entrepreneur from a mentoring perspective and helping them make the right decisions and finding a and then us helping them find a cost effective way to organize themselves. As I said, some smaller organizations would still be able to use our services. It’s mainly the sweet spot I think is, um, 5 million revenue upwards.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, is there a story you can share of a client you have, um, that maybe came to you with a problem and you were able to, uh, partner with the right, uh, fractional that enabled them to get to a new level. You don’t have to name the name of the organization, but maybe share the problem that they had and how you were able to help them.

Sara Daw: Yes, absolutely. I mean, even fairly recently, actually, we had a business come in that was, um, a luxury car business. And, uh, they were actually going through a sale process, and they got to the point where they just couldn’t keep up with the demands of, um, the due diligence and the sale process with everything that they needed to provide and carry on running the business day to day. So we came in and we actually negotiated, It, um, a much better sale price. Um, along the way, we got their data room in order, and we got them, and we got them through the sale. And then we stayed on with them afterwards because there was an earn out, and the entrepreneurs were keen for us to stay, to encourage and enable them to make sure that they, um, that they carry on, um, meeting the conditions of their owner afterwards. So a real safety net for these organizations and leverage, um, of bringing some professionalism and some expertise to a transaction.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, uh, do you kind of have to open their mind to how, like your vision of this rather than what they think they’re buying? So I would think some of them are thinking, this is like a temp service, that I’m buying something until I’m ready to get the real one that I want. And this is just triaging a situation. And it sounds like philosophically, you’re Your. Your belief is that this is the new way of doing things. So this is not kind of a temporary solution. This is the solution.

Sara Daw: Yes. And that is a mind. That’s the mindset shift. So I do think some organizations look at it as I’ve got a problem. Come and fix my problem. Thank you very much. That was great. I’ll call you again when I, when I need you. And that isn’t the way to get best value. Of course we can do that. And a consultant can do that. And we would we would do that for organizations, of course. But the way to get full value from having, um, a fractional CFO sitting alongside you the whole time is that you can dial down the commitment to them in the quieter times. So it is cost effective, but you’ve always got someone looking across the horizon for you to spot. All those issues and risks that you probably don’t know are coming your way. And what we see is that organizations that do step out too early, then come back to us, and then they’re in rather a pickle, because they have got to the point where they’ve left things too late, got into a bit of a knot about something, and then we have to come in and, you know, unravel everything, which is probably more costly in the long term than keeping us on in the first place. So we’re seeing more and more of that. So I think the message is that this is so flexible.

Sara Daw: And, you know, in larger organizations, you don’t have CFOs that come along every day to fix a problem and then say, okay, I’m leaving now because I’ve done everything. Cfo role is ongoing. It’s value adding. And CFOs, um, if they’re not giving a return. And by, you know, we should absolutely be able to measure our return with CFOs after all. So if we’re not delivering a return, we shouldn’t be there. And if we are delivering a return, we absolutely should be there. And it’s affordable. So I’m saying that the business case for a full time CFO can actually be quite a high revenue number for a lot of organizations. And the way to use fractional to the best advantage is to have a fractional C-suite professional, say, CFO, at the top, and let them organize and use the budget you’re saving by them being fractional at the top to make sure you’ve then designed your finance function properly, and you’ve got absolutely the right skills at the right level in the rest of your finance function. And then you’ve got a very, very comprehensive solution to finance that can take you a long way. And for the long term, we’ve definitely got some relationships that are, you know, 15 years old. And it shows that you can go with clients on their journey for in a very productive way on this model.

Lee Kantor: Which is very impressive because the average tenure of a C-suite, I’m sure is, well, less than that, probably less than five years, I would guess.

Sara Daw: Yes, it would be. And the other advantage is that, um, you know, it’s for larger organizations as well. Um, you know, it’s if when you do hire a full time C-suite professional, it’s, you know, it’s tricky to get it right. And the stats are it’s over 213% of salary cost if you get it wrong, and two years of elapsed time where you’ve stood still or potentially gone backwards. And with the fractional model, it’s very easy to bring someone in, try them out to check that they are the right individual for the role. If they aren’t, you can go back to a firm like ours and say, actually, they’re not quite the right match, but I, you know, I want to flex it this way or that and we can and we can find a better match for them. So it’s a really good way to, um, make sure you find the right person and quite, you know, a lot less risky than putting your eggs in one. All your eggs in one basket.

Lee Kantor: Right. Well, in my mind, I’m, I’m kind of buying you and you’re and you’re going to find the right fit for me. If I believe that we have a good partnership.

Sara Daw: Yes.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you talk about you mentioned your global firm. Can you talk about your work here in Atlanta? I know you had an event recently. Can you talk about what your kind of how you’re attacking this market.

Sara Daw: Yes. So we have a team in Atlanta of CFOs, and we are very much looking to support the local market there. We see it as an exciting place to be. And we’ve got a team that are really focused on growth, scalability, profitability. Um, and, you know, producing cash flow for the organizations there. The bit that really gets us out of bed in the morning is seeing the impact we can have on the lives of entrepreneurs and their businesses. Most entrepreneurs have set their business up because, you know, they want to change the world. They’ve got a particular purpose or passion, and often we find them getting dragged into areas of business that, you know, perhaps isn’t their skill set. And finance is one of those. And what we want to do is release their time and give them peace of mind that we can look after it for them so that they can do the things in their business that really matter to them. Um, so yeah, that’s where we are with the Atlanta market. We’re gradually building out our network of partners that we work with. So we’ll have a good network to help, um, plug organizations into that, engage with us in the Atlanta market.

Lee Kantor: And then what other markets are you in in the US?

Sara Daw: Okay. So we’re across the northeast, um, up in Boston and New York and across, um, states across the northeast. We’re in Atlanta. We’re in Texas, we’re in Seattle, and we’re down in Miami.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there, um, kind of an industry that you work in primarily? Is it manufacturing services, you know, legal, like, or is it kind of industry agnostic?

Sara Daw: Yeah. Industry agnostic. But we have team in our team. We will have groups of individuals that are specialist in certain sectors. So we will be able to collaborate and make sure that we get the best, um, people on the role or get advice from a particular sector specialist or functional specialist for a business issue. So we collaborate behind the scenes for all our clients. So when they engage with one CFO, they are tapping into the brainpower, the power of many of a team of CFOs, both locally, nationally and actually internationally. So we’re pretty well connected. And one thing we do really well is even if it’s someone in a different continent who’s got the right skills for a particular problem, we will be able to connect them in. And we also can help organizations who want to expand cross-border, um, either customer wise, supply wise, or even take their own business overseas. We’re also pretty good at soft landing them into the other countries that we’re in and plugging them into our network there. That’s all part of the service of making sure that we help these organizations grow.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re kind of doing the match initially, is it more important that the persons from the right industry, or is it more important that they’re in the right kind of stage of growth, like, how do you go about the match making process to ensure the best fit possible?

Sara Daw: I think priority is culture fit, personality fit and culture fit because at the end of the day, business owners are really sharing confidential information about their business. They’re sharing their dreams and desires around how they want to take it forward. We are an insider in that business, and we need to be able to build a relationship with the business owner that’s trusted and long term, and where they feel comfortable psychologically sharing this information with us, knowing that we’re, you know, our intent is to support them with, um, with, with whatever they want to do. So it’s culture fit more than anything I would say. And, you know, if we can have a sector fit and a functional fit on top of that life cycle stage, we will do that. That’s, you know, it’s often possible if we can’t. Um, but there is a particular culture match that we think is important. Then I think we we do that by buddying up. So we make sure that the CFO involved with the, with the client relationship has the functional and sector skills around them from other CFOs to fill any gaps. That’s the beauty of the team.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s the pain that that prospect is having right now, where the best solution is to call somebody from the CFO center?

Sara Daw: The pain will be where sometimes entrepreneurs think that just something’s missing. You know, they’re not seeing something. They haven’t got visibility. So have they got visibility of their numbers? Do they trust their numbers? Are they making profit? Do they know where they’re making profit? Can they tell us which lines, which business segment, which products, which supplier, which customer are delivering the right margin to them? Because actually, a change in margin can make all the difference. On the bottom line. I see a lot of business owners who nail down their overheads, but the gross margin is a black box. So do they really know their numbers? Um, are they getting the outputs that they want? Perhaps they have, um, perhaps they have a particular issue, a strategic issue that they want to solve. Do they want to buy or sell? Are they thinking of exit? Are they thinking of succession? Um, do they want to raise money for expansion? Do they want a funding partner on board? These are all the sorts of pains and questions that we absolutely, as a CFO, a strategic commercial CFO, can help help get the answer for these organizations.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the best way to connect the website to learn more about the CFO center and also maybe get a hold of your book?

Sara Daw: Yes. So WW, the CFO, WW, CFO center.com is the website. And if you want to get a copy of my book, it’s on Amazon strategy and leadership and service. And anyone can connect with me on LinkedIn. Sara.

Lee Kantor: Well, Sara, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Sara Daw: I really appreciate, uh, this this opportunity. And thanks so much for such great questions.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

Dr. Madeleine F. Wallace With Windrose Vision

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High Velocity Radio
High Velocity Radio
Dr. Madeleine F. Wallace With Windrose Vision
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee Kanter interviews Dr. Madeleine Wallace, founder of Windrose Vision. Dr. Wallace discusses her consulting framework for organizational transformation, emphasizing the importance of upskilling and reskilling in the face of technological advancements, particularly AI. She shares her personal journey from Peru, where her parents’ business struggles influenced her career path. Dr. Wallace highlights the need for adaptability and continuous learning, advocating for “exploratory sprints” to discover career interests. She also discusses the evolving landscape of education, where skills are becoming more valuable than traditional degrees. Her book offers practical tools for career development in the digital age.
Dr. Madeleine F. Wallace is a dynamic and versatile professional, author, serial entrepreneur, scientist, investor, and the founder of Windrose Vision, a strategy and research consulting firm in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Originally from Peru, she immigrated to the US, excelled academically, and is less than 1% of foreign-born Latinas in the US who hold a doctorate.

She is a recognized expert and seasoned trainer in data-driven decision-making, change management, and adaptive culture.Dr. Wallace has assessed the effectiveness of diverse training and career development efforts for professionals, scientists, and the underemployed across federal, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Her contributions to national studies include evaluating the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) award, the Early Independence Award, and the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program, as well as the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) ADVANCE program.

Connect with Madeleine on LinkedIn and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • What prompted Madeleine to write her new book
  • How digital and AI technologies have affected the workplace and what this means for career seekers and entrepreneurs
  • Insights on people who have used the SEAM framework in his or her journey—searching for a career or as an entrepreneur

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Dr Madeleine Wallace with Windrose Vision. Welcome.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Hi. How are you this afternoon?

Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your firm Windrose vision. How are you serving folks?

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Yes. So Windrose Vision is a consulting company and we assist organizations in their transformation. We focus on four areas the finances, the employees, their partners. And also like, what do they do? And then based on that, we come up with a strategy so it can increase the increase the performance. And we identify different areas where maybe a new market. So we use my framework that is called the sync framework. That is a snapshot ambition act and measure. And the snapshot is when we assess the needs. And then the envision is where we identify where we want to go. And then on the third step that is the act is where we have a plan and we execute the plan. And then number four, which is the most important, is where we actually assess progress and assess whether or not we have achieved the goals that we established in the envision step.

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

Dr Madeleine Wallace: So my father and mother, I’m from Peru and my parents had a vocational school in Peru. And they used to teach back then like shorthand, typing, accounting, Bookkeeping. And guess what happened in the 1980s? Well, in the 1980s, my parents couldn’t transform. They couldn’t re-engineer themselves and buy the computers and start teaching computers. So my parents had to close the business and we had to move to another city. And that was a cultural shock for me in everything, but also in that I saw my parents from being owners of a business to become employees, and that really shaped the person who I am today, because I want to provide the the tools for businesses to succeed and to transform because it’s technology that is changing everything. I so that was my first book, and then my parents also were excellent mentors. They were ahead of their time in terms of the role of women and also the different roles for men. So I decided to write my second book and my second book is about thrive in the AI and digital age. And again, I use my framework to help individuals and also organizations to upskill and reskill. And so all of this was motivated for what happened to my parents.

Lee Kantor: And then what got you to America?

Dr Madeleine Wallace: That’s right. So then I, I wanted to come to the United States to study. So I came to the United States by my own. So my my father’s passed away, but I came by myself. So I went to the I did my undergraduate and then graduate school. And I say my motivation has always been get as many skills as as many as you can. And that is going to be something that nobody can take away. So when I was in graduate school, I was teaching at the university, but I was able I had a teaching and research assistantship. So as long as I taught my classes and as long as I took the coursework required for my PhD, I was fine. But since I was an international student, I couldn’t work outside the university. So during university I went to University of Tennessee. I taught sociology, social problems, and statistics. So since I couldn’t get out of the university, so then what I did was I took a lot of classes in engineering, in political science, in statistics. And that has given me, um, these different perspectives. So you have a problem. I can look at it from different angles. So what it was challenging or became an obstacle in the past has become my biggest asset for my company because I can do projects from diverse fields. Um, and I used to be the director of performance and evaluation for the National Institutes of Health. And I know I don’t have a background in biomedical. I’m actually a sociologist and statistician. So but because of my, I would say, interdisciplinary background, then I’m able to assess the effectiveness of programs and be able to come up with a good framework for organizations and individuals to achieve their goals.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you left academia, did you immediately start your own practice or did you work for an enterprise level organization?

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Okay, so when I left academia, I had a unique opportunity that my husband moved to a small town because he’s an engineer. So that’s when I started doing working with nonprofits. So I started working with nonprofits and then from nonprofits. We moved to Washington, DC. And then in Washington, D.C. what we did was, um, I work for large companies, for corporate America, large federal contractors. Like, um, um, back then was like ICF. Um, well, still today, Northrop Grumman. So huge companies. And they have large contracts. So then I left consulting, and then I went to the government and I worked for the National Institute of Health. Then I left the National Institute of Health, and I created my new company, vision. So I have experience in different areas and in different sectors. The nonprofit, the for profit academia, um, you know, the government and of course the small businesses. My company is a small business.

Lee Kantor: Now, what’s the pain uh, your prospective clients are having right now where Windrose can help them.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: So I think there are two going on. Um, one is about how to incorporate technology into their business processes, specifically AI, but in a way that they can actually see return on investment. And many times we spend too much time on social media because we think that’s going to be the one that is going to give us the most. But many times you need to put it into your processes. So even though we have made a lot of progress on that, I still I still think that is a challenge because you really have to see your return on investment and it may take a couple of years. And the other one that is the my second book is the one about. Individuals specifically how they are going to upskill and reskill. Since the job marketing is changing constantly and many people think they are going to be replaced by AI, right? So my book, I have a different exercises. I have also an assessment for the skills, and provide a perspective where individuals can basically engage in what I call a sprints. And on those little sprints they gain new knowledge, new skills, and then they are ready to go ahead and and decide what career they need to or what path they need to go through. So my point is that everybody is overwhelmed, right? So what I provide in my book for individuals is to say, hey, this is your career profile based on what you want right now at this point in time.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: That gives them like a push for them to try different things. And once they try different things on those little sprints, then they can go ahead and decide what path they go. It’s very different than the traditional approach. They tell you, oh, start with your goals or start with your career vision, when actually you don’t really know. We don’t really know. There is so much going on. So my book is very action oriented to give individuals basically the tools so that they can change their career, pivot their career, um, decide what they want to do. So that’s for individuals. And then for HR departments. For companies, my framework can be used for HR because it tells them what to do if they want to upskill their current employees because, you know, AI is everywhere. But how do you implement something that is going to work and and take into consideration, like the people you know, your staff, uh, consideration, your finances, your partners, you know, your customers? So I provide the, again, the framework for them to say, hey, you can do this, and this will help you to, uh, your employees to gain your skills. And these are different strategies you can do to be effective and actually see the return on investment, which is the biggest challenge.

Lee Kantor: Now? Um, what’s your vision of how AI is going to impact the business world? Is it a tool that everyone is going to be able to leverage? If you can kind of figure out how to best leverage it, or is it going to be a tool that’s just going to obliterate, you know, a lot of the working class and they’re going to be kind of left behind.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: You know, that’s a that’s an excellent point. Um, okay. So basically. We do need to understand how AI functions. We have to have a clear understanding of that. It doesn’t mean that all of us have to become programmers, or have to become the ones who develop the technology or use the technology. So I favor an approach where technology and AI and humans, they interact and they collaborate. And because the individuals will still have agency and we have creativity and ingenuity. And that is something that right now, of course, technology is evolving. I at this point. Well, I know just recently what happened yesterday about the new tool that everybody is talking from China. So but my point is that the, the context, we still have to work on the context in terms of AI. And I still believe that it’s a collaborative effort. However, it’s true on certain industries. Yes. Something that is very manual, something that is repetitive. Of course. Um, that’s going to change. That’s what happened in the past with other technologies. But again, I think it’s the individual responsibility and then the companies responsibility to upskill and reskill. So it’s not like it was in the past that somebody’s going to tell us, oh, you all you need to do this. You need to do that. That’s what my book is so important because we are the architects of our own destiny, and we are the ones who actually have to learn about and say, okay, these are my skills.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: This is how I can contribute. And in my book, I mentioned about three areas that we need to keep. So you need to see your skills in terms of the technology trends, the emerging technology, and what is going on in your field or in the field that you would like to be. So all I’m trying to say is that yes, there are jobs that are going to disappear, especially those that are very repetitive, but then it is up to the individual to go ahead and say, hey, this is what is going on with technology, but I can do this other because I have these critical skills. So we still have to analyze. We still have to interpret. Now let’s see that the technology interpret everything. Well I still believe it’s going to be new jobs and new opportunities. We have to have this optimistic view about the future Otherwise, we’re going to become what we were. It’s inertia. And if you if you don’t do anything, then it’s when things happen. But if you constantly move, then you’re going to make progress. You’re going to find out where where your skills can be applied. That’s what in my book I mentioned about sprints. Like we have to constantly try to learn something new. Even myself like right now.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: And I’m teaching myself French with this little app and I’m doing like 15 days, 15 minutes a day. And it’s hard, but actually it is good for my brain. So my point is like we have to learn every day something new and then we will be okay. Then when changes happen. And my last point is that it is up to the business. It is up to the business owner or the company, the role that they want the technology to play. I think the optimal way is that technology does not replace humans. Actually, they work collaboratively, But it could be that some companies or some business owners, they decide that they don’t want that approach, and they go to the other extremes where they say, I’m only going to use, you know, technology. But then I think it depends on the field and depends, um, how they want to take their business to the next level, because it could be that maybe in the future, in about ten years or maybe five years, then people will say, oh, I want the personal touch. I don’t want these robots. I want to go back to, you know, an actual waitress at a restaurant instead of a robot. So you see what I mean? So I guess it’s also a personal decision of the company and all the business owners for how they want to incorporate AI.

Lee Kantor: Now, who is the target for this book? Is it a young person that might be in high school or college or at the beginning of their career, or is it someone at all stages of their career?

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Thank you for asking that. It is at all stages of their career. Because, um, since everybody is facing the same thing, that is the AI revolution, but all of us are at different stages, so the different tools are applicable to different stages. So my those who started early in their career. So my um, my book launch was last week, it was last Wednesday. So I had um, two testimonials, one from a scientist who is basically the end of their career, and a young person who’s one of my mentees. Um, they both found the exercises very helpful. Like for Doctor Phillips, she found out that by doing the career profiles, she was a chameleon because I had different career profiles and people choose. And then based on that, they go to different, um, activities. So she found out that, hey, she’s not at the end of her career, actually. She has these skills that she can transfer and she can mentor others. So she was able to find meaning and and that is very important. And then so it’s not the end of her career, it’s just that she’s going to go ahead and pursue these other things and she’s going to try. And then we have Michael, who Michael just starting his career. And he has tried several springs, meaning that he has taken a lot of certifications.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: And that’s what I call a skill right now is what is called a skill based hiring. So you develop your portfolio skills, AI skills and also soft skills. And then based on that, you are deciding where you want to go. So he felt he did this exercise that I call a scenario planning where you have the best, worst unbalanced scenario based on responses to some questions. So then it helps you to strategize and to be resilient. So when something unexpected happens, you say, oh, I can do that because it’s practice. You already envision this scenario where there’s going to be issues. So you try to say, how am I going to address that? And also you envision this scenario where everything works the way you want it. So then you know also how you’re going to address it. But more importantly you need to identify if you really like it. You know, because nowadays we’re also in this shift where people want to do what they want to do. But the problem is like they don’t know what they want to do and they want satisfaction at their job. So it’s a lot of things that were demanding for the job. So that’s what I advocate. You have to try. There is a period where you do your exploratory sprints, and then we move to the next phase.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: And it’s more realistic because you already look at the pros and cons. So anyway, so then you are more realistic in terms of terms of your balanced scenario, because you have looked at your skills, you have looked at all these challenges. You try to envision, do I really like the program? Like in my case, I know how to program, but I don’t like it. I mean, no, I don’t I don’t see myself starting programing and you know, that’s not me. But I did it when I was in graduate school and also my business. I do it sometimes, but it’s something that I don’t enjoy it. So but how do I know that? Because I did it. So that’s the same thing for all of us nowadays. We really have to try and say, okay, is this for me or not? And okay, if it’s not, then how can I leverage what I know to be able to get, um, a career path or to be able to move forward? And so I think it’s a beautiful time. I know people are afraid. I don’t think so. I think it’s for the first time we have choice. You upskill, you reskill, and you don’t do any of that, then it’s your responsibility.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you say to the young person especially, and maybe even a little older that have been told, look, you have to follow your passion and everything else takes care of itself. You know, find the thing that you’re passionate about. Is that really the path forward in this, or is it something that you got to kind of maybe lean into your superpowers, but there’s certain skills that you have to have if you want to future proof your career.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Yes. So I think people shouldn’t follow their passion because passion is something that doesn’t last. I think people should explore their interests. When you explore their interests and you actually do what you think you are interested in, then is when you really find out if you’re going to enjoy it or not. So that’s what I do, what is called exploratory sprints. So I advise everybody that they do need to go and try different things. So in my book you have a career profile based on your career profile that push you? Basically, you decide what you want and then based on that, you do different. What I would call it tries. I call it sprints because I base it on the agile methodology that is used in programing. So then you try different things and then you realize, oh, oh, I thought I was interested or no, in in being a marketing person and using AI. But then I realized that I don’t like to do that. Okay, so but the only way is that you try. So you have to pursue different things and try. And then after you hire, you know, you have enough data where you can make informed decisions. I think we jump into, oh, I really want to work at home, but what are you going to be doing at home? What skills can you do from home? So you see, I don’t think we think through it.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: It’s just, oh, I have a passion for this. Well, let’s see you do it every day. If actually you’re going to have a passion for it. So I would advise everybody it’s true. It’s a skill base. And eventually I believe it’s going to be the thing that skills are going to become. A certifications are going to become more important than degrees than going to college. But colleges right now are also changing. So we have to wait for the college and universities to keep up with the change, because the curriculum has to change to accommodate the new change, the new technologies. And for some, you still need to go and do the education. Um, but for others, no, you just have the skills and you can get a job with that. So there are several efforts of the big companies Google, Apple, IBM, Cisco, these other huge companies that are providing training for AI and training on different areas. That is for free. So I’ll advise everybody to go and check because Everybody has to be into this upskill and reskill. And it’s something that I think when somebody tries it, then they’re going to feel empowered and they’re going to find their path.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: But if they’re going to wait for somebody else to take the initiative for them, I don’t think it’s going to work and then increases the anxiety. So to me, if you are somebody has anxiety for the future, the first thing that we advise is go ahead and try a new skill, take a course or something and apply it. And that’s how we find out. That’s what happened in the trainings in companies nowadays. They train the people, but if there are no opportunities to actually apply it, then it gets lost. So I think I can help us with training and it can be tailored to the individual. So you see, that’s a way where humans and AI can work together, because we want to train the new generation quickly. So then we can use AI. But again, it’s not going to come out with everything. Thing we have to collaborate with I at this point to teach them what to do. So you see, I see the collaboration there to training new programmers or new people in cybersecurity or even on areas where we thought that is not going to be any technology involved.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to learn more about Windows Vision your firm or get a hold of your book, thrive in the AI and Digital Age. The seem four step career guide and workbook. Is there a website that they can go to connect with you or somebody of your team?

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Yes. So I have a website that it is Madeleine wallace.com. And I have there my two books and also my book is available in Amazon. So I have both books in Amazon. But if you go to my website you can find them there too. And they can direct you to the Amazon website.

Lee Kantor: And that’s m a d e l e I n e w a l l a c e com.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Yes. Thank you. It is the French spelling. My grandfather gave me that name. He traveled a lot. And, uh, back then, I believe there was a miss universe from France. And. Yeah. So it’s also like the same name as the restaurant. Um, so. Yeah. So the spelling is the key. So thank you for for telling me the spelling.

Lee Kantor: Sure. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Dr Madeleine Wallace: Thank you. Lee, I really appreciate this opportunity to share some insights and and thank you to your listeners.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.

Dr. Jarrett Grunstein With Dr. J’s Pillows

by

Atlanta Business Radio
Atlanta Business Radio
Dr. Jarrett Grunstein With Dr. J's Pillows
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Dr. Jarrett Grunstein, is widely known as Dr. J, is a seasoned chiropractor with 20 years of experience, dedicated to helping thousands of patients overcome neck and back issues.

Before pursuing his chiropractic career, he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Contemplative Psychology with a Minor in Yoga Philosophy, studying at Emory University and a Tibetan Buddhist college called Naropa University.  Dr. J deepened his Yoga practice while  spending three months studying at a Yoga Ashram in India.

His innovative treatment approaches have distinguished his career, including serving as an official chiropractor for the Toronto Blue Jays for four years. Dr. J is an expert in sleep health, anxiety, and the critical connection between spinal alignment and restorative rest. Specializing in sleep and musculoskeletal health, Dr. J has dedicated his career to helping people achieve better sleep and optimal health through innovative sleep solutions.

Connect with Dr. J on LinkedIn. and follow Grunstein Family Chiropractic Center on Facebook.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode

  • The role of anxiety in sleep disorders and practical ways to overcome it
  • Stress Management: Relaxation Techniques and Better Sleep 3
  • How Dr. J’s Pillows were designed to revolutionize the sleep experience

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Dr Jarrett Grunstein with Doctor J’s Pillows. Welcome.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Oh, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Doctor J’s Pillows. How you serving folks?

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Well, this has been a long journey. It started about 14 years ago. I’ve been a chiropractor for 20 years in practice. And early on in my career, I started recognizing the very close link between neck pain and how people were sleeping at night. In other words, I would fix someone’s neck in my office, a patient, and I’d get a call back in a week or two that they slept wrong and their neck hurt again. So I started looking around the pillow market and realizing there just wasn’t a pillow that actually was scientifically designed for both back and side sleeping, which is how most of us sleep at night. So that started this 14 year journey.

Lee Kantor: Now, what is kind of do most people? Are they okay with their pillows or are they okay with the way they sleep? Or is this something that affects more people than maybe you realize?

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Yeah, I’ve had a lot of pillow talk in this life more than most. On the average, probably. And what I’ve discovered is that most people, believe it or not, don’t love their pillow. They generally don’t even like their pillow. And particularly one if you have any neck pain or just have trouble sleeping at night, you’re probably on the hunt for the perfect pillow and have wasted a lot of money along the way, and likely have a closet filled with pillows that just didn’t quite work.

Lee Kantor: And then some people have pillows, like for years and years and years. Like, is there kind of a like, should you be getting rid of and updating your pillow on a regular rhythm? Like, is that I mean, I don’t think there’s a lot of education when it comes to this.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Yeah, this is really a black box for a lot of people, I agree. And the truth of the matter is that, well, so let’s just start with sleep position. So if you’re someone who shifts between your sides and your back, which is about two thirds of us, after a lot of research on my part, you actually need a pillow with two levels of support. In other words, when you lie on your back, you only want a pillow that’s about maybe an inch high or so underneath your head. But then when you go to your sides, you need a pillow that has more like four inches of support. So right out of the gate, any pillow that just provides one level of support really doesn’t work for both sleep positions. That describes about 98% of the pillows in the marketplace currently. So you can see there’s a huge gap in what people need and what’s being provided by the pillow market.

Lee Kantor: Now, what about the material that the pillows are made of? You know, there’s at hotels, they are made of a certain material at your house. It’s made of different material, like then now there’s memory foam material, like there’s all kinds of materials. How do you land on the the appropriate material?

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Okay. So that’s a great question. So the pillow I designed, there’s two components to it. One is the shape. And second as you’re bringing up is the material. So let’s just go with the material because that’s where we’re talking pillow material. Most of the time in the marketplace currently is either polyfill or memory foam. Those are the big ones, and unfortunately they’re both polyurethane, which means a couple of things. One, they off gas VOCs, volatile organic compounds which are not really good for us. And secondly, since they’re petroleum based, they actually are highly flammable and therefore by law need to be sprayed down with flame retardant chemicals. Again, these chemicals aren’t good for us. So I decided to go with a material called latex, which actually it comes from a rubber tree. It’s natural. And not only is it latex, but it’s grown from organically grown rubber trees. So this is organic latex that is free of any chemicals. And it’s hypoallergenic, which is a big issue since we’re placing our head on this thing a third of the night.

Lee Kantor: So then, um, you’re addressing the material, and you’re you created the shape. That’s the appropriate shape, so that if you if you buy this one pillow, then you’re kind of you don’t have to worry about pillows for a while.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Yeah. So the shape of this took me only about 5 or 6000 hours to design. Uh, and I say that tongue in cheek, uh, this was the design is actually based on over 30 scientific studies. Uh, I’m also a spinal scientist and have written studies on, uh, scoliosis and, uh, spinal related issues. So I was very adamant that this pillow actually have a lot of science to back up why the dimensions are the way they are. And, uh, this is an audio program, so I can’t show it to you, but the pillow actually has a bowl in the center that your head sits in perfectly. It’s cradled perfectly. And then a neck support when you’re lying on your back. That is designed with a lot of specificity so that your neck is perfectly supported. And then when you roll to the sides of the pillow, it’s much higher, which you need to make room for your shoulder, because what a lot of people do on their sides is they’ll place their arm underneath the pillow, which ends up causing all sorts of shoulder issues. And a lot of your listeners probably do wake up with shoulder pain, and that’s because they’re propping their pillow up because it’s just not high enough. So all those issues needed to be addressed in this design.

Lee Kantor: Now, is the pillow kind of the heart of the problem when it comes to people who have some sort of sleep disorders is like, would the pillow alleviate some of this stuff? Like, a lot of people have trouble sleeping. A lot of people, you know, maybe snore. They have issues in their sleep that maybe it’s a lot of it is just the wrong pillow.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Well, insomnia is a huge issue in this country. Insomnia simply means either you have trouble falling asleep or you have trouble staying asleep at night. And this is affecting over half of us in America at this point. Estimates suggest, and part of the issue is mental. We can’t get our minds to be quiet. So I actually wrote a book on this in terms of meditation and breathwork that helps slow the mind down. And then the other component is physical. In other words, if your neck isn’t comfortable and you’re constantly trying to rearrange yourself and rearrange your pillow naturally, it’s very difficult to lull yourself into a relaxed state enough to fall asleep. So yes, it’s very important that the pillow is the proper shape. And then also, I do have a lot of recommendations, particularly in the book I wrote about sleep hygiene. And there’s a lot of issues related to this. But yes, these are physical and psychological factors. Participate in insomnia. The other issue you mentioned was snoring. When we’re on our backs, the throat is supposed to remain open enough for us to breathe. But people who have what’s called obstructive sleep apnea. This is a difficult issue for them because these snoring episodes, uh, allow for uh, or I should say disallow for enough oxygenation to occur. So we wake ourselves up with this snoring, which leads to fragmented sleep at night, which is not a quality sleep. So the pillow I designed it does. When you’re on your back, keep your neck as neutral aligned as possible, which does translate into the throat passageway being open more. However, I want to make very clear we haven’t done studies on this, so I don’t want to make any medical claims at this point.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there any like what are some clues that you might have sleep problems? Is it like is it obvious or your partner is telling you or like, you know, your your, uh, your fitness watch is telling you, like, what are some clues that you might have issues?

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Well, there’s a lot of good clues. Uh, one of them, I think, is fatigue. If you’ve been in bed for seven, eight hours and you wake up and you don’t feel refreshed. That is suggestive that you’re not getting good quality deep sleep, and that is probably the biggest clue of all. But as it turns out, if we’re not sleeping between 7 to 9 hours a night, there are all sorts of health issues that can arise everything from heart disease to digestive troubles to overeating to depression, anxiety and the list goes on. So there’s actually a lot of health issues that are directly linked to when we’re not getting at least that good seven hours of sleep per night.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you tell the. I mean, there’s a hustle culture that, you know, people are bragging about how little sleep they get and need.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Yeah, this is a real problem right now. I mean, America, on average is sleeping. They say somewhere between 6 and 7 hours a night, which is below that seven hour threshold. So that means as a culture, we’re actually praising ourselves for getting more done. But the reality is, is that when we do sleep that full 7 to 9 hours a night, we are much more effective during the day. In other words, issues like concentration improve when we get enough sleep. So you might be at work at your desk for an hour, but not getting nearly as much done as if you actually had a strong level of concentration. So it’s not only issue of timing, but it’s also efficiency. So that’s where good good night sleep really comes into play.

Lee Kantor: Now do you have any advice for the listener out there when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep? Is there any relaxation techniques or anything you can share that might help someone sleep better tonight?

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Absolutely. So let’s go back to the sleep hygiene issue I had mentioned earlier. There’s a couple just basic things that we can do that will promote a much better night’s sleep. One of them is a sleep schedule. Making sure that we try to go to bed at around the same time and wake up around the same time, because our bodies are like a clock. And when this clock gets continually run at the same pace every 24 hour cycle, it works much better. We will naturally feel like we need to go to sleep at the same time when we do this ritual type of thing night after night. Another issue is light. Our body is cued by light. So in other words, if we are exposed to light late right before bed, that cues to our brains, it’s not time for sleep. And this is a real problem. So we want to dim lights out as much as possible that last hour before bed. Another thing is temperature. Our bodies will naturally drop in temperature as we’re falling asleep. So we ideally want the temperature in our room to be somewhere between around 65 to 68°F, which some people might be shaking their heads and saying, that sounds pretty cold. But in fact, that is what science shows the optimal sleeping temperature. Um, so those are big ones. Another thing I highly recommend doing some type of relaxation technique. Um, I like breathing, uh, the breathwork, uh, that I recommend because I used to practice yoga in an ashram in India. So I learned this in India, uh, many years ago. And that is breathing in and out through your nose, never your mouth. And the in-breath is three paces in three beats, if you will. And then the outbreath is six beats, and that long outbreath through the nose slowed down will really relax our entire nervous system. And that’s a great way to slow our minds down and to get into that more relaxed state, which will definitely benefit us as we’re trying to fall asleep.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that you’re a doctor Is the pillow only available through doctors, or is it something that anybody can get their hands on if they need it?

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: All right, so we are just launching. I have to be very clear about this. We’re launching our presale on February 1st. And what that will allow for is people who go on to our website. Uh, is it okay if I share the website, please? Oh, okay. So it’s w-w-w dot d r j s pillows.com. So it’s Doctor J’s pillows.com. And when you order, there’s gonna be a place for you actually to put in your height and weight. Because we have five sizes of pillows. Because just like if you were to buy a pair of jeans, you wouldn’t go to a jean company that just offers one size. And so we have this specially sized for you. And then when you order, we’re going to be sending you the pillows this summer. So they’re going to be available in June. And we’ll call you right before we send them out, uh, so that we have your proper shipping address and we make sure the size is correct. But this is an exciting journey because what we’re going to be doing is manufacturing these pillows ultimately in the United States. We are really excited to be a US manufacturer in the future, and not only manufacturing here, but paying a living wage to our employees. A very high priority for me is really making sure people are paid properly and treated with dignity, because I believe when you have a company where the employees are treated properly, they’re going to do their best for the company. It’s a reciprocal relationship. So that’s our that is our mission.

Lee Kantor: Well, doctor J, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: Thank you. I appreciate you having me.

Dr Jarrett Grunstein: On, Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.

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