angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

BRX Pro Tip: If You Don’t Toot Your Own Horn, Who Will?

March 11, 2026 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: If You Don't Toot Your Own Horn, Who Will?

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BRX Pro Tip: If You Don’t Toot Your Own Horn, Who Will?

Stone Payton: Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton, Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I’ve heard it, I’ve said it. I don’t know, maybe it’s a little cocky, but I mean, I think it’s true, man. If you don’t toot your own horn, who will?

Lee Kantor: Yeah. We run into so many people and so many clients and clients of clients that they just don’t feel comfortable promoting themselves. They’re uncomfortable self-promoting. And it’s one of those things that they think that if they do good work, that somehow people are going to just notice. And that is just very unrealistic in a world in which we’re just bombarded with messaging.

Lee Kantor: And for people to think that somehow the message that they’re good at what they do is going to just go out to the people who need to hear it is just unrealistic. Any person in business of any kind, even the ones that feel like they don’t need to, they have enough clients, they have to get their brand out there. They have to tell people what they do and what they’re good at, because if they wait for someone else to recognize that and just spread it on their own, they’re going to be waiting for a really long time, and most people just can’t afford that. So if you don’t tell people what you’re doing, most of them are never going to know.

Lee Kantor: The people who get the opportunities aren’t always the best people. They’re not always the most skilled people and the most capable people. They’re just the ones who happen to be there at the right time in front of the right person when they had a need.

Lee Kantor: So, if you want to make sure that others know what you’re capable of, it’s important for you to go out there and tell people. So you have to be sharing client wins. You have to be sharing case studies that explain what you do, why you do it, what makes you special. You have to talk about results that when you help other people achieve whatever they’re trying to achieve, that’s how you stay top of mind. That’s how people think about you when it’s time for them to buy.

Lee Kantor: Because remember, people don’t buy things on your schedule, they buy it on their schedule. And their schedule could happen today, tomorrow, in a year. You don’t know when they’re going to have a need for you. So it’s important for you to have your brand out there in such a way that they think of you when they do have a need.

Lee Kantor: So, another thing to think about doing is document your process publicly. Show how you do what you do. Show what you’re learning. Show what you’re working on. Show the problems that you’re solving. Let people see your expertise in action.

Lee Kantor: Something we’re doing right now is scaling in public, where we’re sharing live coaching, people coaching us, and we’re explaining our mission and our purpose. And we’re sharing with the world how we’re growing. And that’s important. You know, the more people that understand what you’re trying to do, the more people that are going to think about you when it’s time to buy something.

Lee Kantor: Another thing to think about doing is create a regular update cadence, monthly emails, weekly posts, quarterly newsletters, something that gets you in a rhythm of sharing your wins. You want this to be a habit, something that’s happening in the background all the time, not just something that happens when you think about it.

Lee Kantor: And lastly, don’t forget to invest in your ecosystem. Spotlight your clients. Spotlight your vendors. Spotlight your partners on a regular basis. You don’t want to be a best-kept secret, and that’s something that so many of our clients struggle with.

Test Driving Success: How Our New Approach is Changing the Game

March 11, 2026 by angishields

Scaling in Public

Test Driving Success: How Our New Approach is Changing the Game

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In this episode of Scaling in Public, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton reflect on their recent experiences working with top coaches. They discuss how coaching has sharpened their focus, improved accountability, and inspired new strategies like targeted email marketing, scorecards, and a “test drive” process for potential partners. Emphasizing the importance of living the systems they teach, Lee and Stone share insights on building scalable, replicable business models, avoiding unnecessary complexity, and maintaining disciplined growth—offering listeners practical takeaways and a free playbook to boost their own visibility and results.

Lee Kantor has been involved in internet radio, podcasting and blogging for quite some time now.

Since he began, Lee has interviewed well over 1000 entrepreneurs, business owners, authors, celebrities, sales and marketing gurus and just all around great men and women.

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn.

For over 30 years, Stone Payton has been helping organizations and the people who lead them drive their business strategies more effectively.

Stone literally wrote the book on SPEED®: Never Fry Bacon In The Nude: And Other Lessons From The Quick & The Dead, and has dedicated his entire career to helping others produce Better Results In Less Time.

Connect with Stone on LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Reflection on the initial concept of engaging with top coaches for personal and professional growth.
Discussion of the impact of coaching on business strategies and personal development.
Importance of accountability partners in driving consistent execution and progress measurement.
Implementation of targeted email marketing strategies to enhance engagement with specific audiences.
Use of scorecards to track activities and outcomes for better clarity and alignment with goals.
Introduction of a “test drive” process for potential partners to experience the business model with low commitment.
Emphasis on living the systems and processes intended for teaching others to ensure replicability.
Balancing the pursuit of new initiatives with the need to avoid unnecessary complexity in business operations.
Commitment to ongoing learning and improvement through continued coaching and refinement of methodologies.
Encouragement for listeners to engage with the business model and take actionable steps for growth.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from our flagship studio in Atlanta, Georgia. This is scaling in public. The next 100 Business RadioX markets, featuring founders Lee Kantor and Stone Payton, along with some of America’s top coaches, helping them grow the network with real strategy, real lessons, and real accountability, all shared in public. To learn more about the proven system that turns podcast interviews into a perpetual prospecting pipeline through generosity, not gimmicks, go to Berk’s HQ and download the free Business RadioX playbook. Now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Scaling in Public. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, we’ve we’ve been at this for several weeks now. We really have been working with some of the nation’s top coaches. This was your initial idea. And I just think it was a marvelous idea. And I think it’s proven to to really yield some real fruit for both of us personally and professionally. But let’s go back to the, the, the beginning when we were getting this off of the ground and when you were kind of refining the idea to present to me. And then later, Trisha, what, uh, what were we really trying to prove? What we were trying to accomplish? And, um, you know, has that changed? Maybe some.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Um, it’s been an exciting, uh, what, 9 or 10 weeks now since we started or since we’ve been publishing these shows. And for me, uh, in my mind, I thought it would be great for us to, uh, get coaching because we were talking to so many coaches and they were really passionate and, and smart and insightful. And I thought, you know, it would be great if we could, um, you know, get some coaching ourselves, but in a way that we can use the platform to share how smart and insightful they, they were and us be kind of the guinea pigs in and actually let them coach us. So I thought that that would be a win for them, that that would be a great piece of content. And then I thought it would be also a good win for us because it would get us to think in, um, maybe in slightly different ways because we’re so immersed in the business that having putting fresh eyes on it, I thought would be useful. So I was excited about that opportunity. And this, I mean, it’s proven to be everything I had hoped for and more because it’s really upped my game in terms of really focusing on the things that matter and then making actionable Steps to take things out of my head and put them into practice. And I mean, I think it’s been pretty dramatic. Some of the, the things that we’ve put into place, uh, so far in this and it’s only been a few months.

Stone Payton: Well, I got to tell you, I thought it was a cool idea. I thought it would be sexy. I thought it would have some marketing legs and all of that, um, has has come true, but I don’t think I anticipated the actual real value for me to grow personally and for us to take action on several strategies, tactics, activities, disciplines that would actually, would really move the needle in what we were doing. So I knew it would. Well, I really felt like it would be fun. Um, I felt like it would it would look good to the marketplace, but I, I was really surprised. I continue to be surprised that it’s really helping. We’ve done, we’ve changed a lot of things internally. And I don’t mean radical. We haven’t changed our values. We haven’t changed the core methodology. We haven’t changed. Well, maybe a little bit. We haven’t changed much in the workflow of executing what we do or helping other people execute when they come join us. But we’ve certainly, uh, made some, some pretty radical shifts in the way that we try to go out there with this opportunity to be part of the part of the team. Would you agree with that? And if so, are there 1 or 2 of those shifts that you feel like, wow, man, I, I don’t know, can’t believe we didn’t see that to begin with, but I’m so glad we we’re doing it now.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. A lot of things that have occurred. And I want to get into a little bit of the specifics of it because I don’t want this to be one of those kind of generality, uh, podcasts where people talk in, in hypotheticals. I mean, we have real things that have happened in real, real activities that have been done and, and we’re getting real results from them. So I want to share some of that because we are scaling in public and public is an important component to this. But I think for me, what it did was it, it again, reinforced the importance of an accountability partner. And I think that that’s something that a lot of people neglect. And it’s shame on me for not emphasizing it more because that was at the heart. This business started because of my work with Doctor Fitness and The Fat Guy, that first podcast I did, and one of the things we did was write a book. And in that book, one of the key tenets was you have to have a support and accountability partner. And that’s something that we were neglecting in our business. We weren’t being held accountable for any of our work. And I think by putting this coaching in place, and it’s funny because not one of those coaches were actually the ones that were holding us accountable. But to me, just the concept of being coached, I felt a the responsibility of them, holding our feet to the fire and us having to execute.

Lee Kantor: And so that, to me was the biggest kind of breakthrough in the business for me is that we have an accountability partner, whether it’s Trisha and her team or but, but the, the totality of all of their work and their emphasis and their, uh, questions, um, are really doing a great job of holding us accountable. And the first thing that came to mind when you asked about what specific actions are we taking more of? It’s been for me is around email marketing. We are now sending out emails every week to for constituents. Those four constituents are business coaches, their associations, their franchisers, and then our general list. But we are sending tailored messaging every single week, uh, to those and those and we’re getting responses. We’re getting people saying, hey, how about this? Here’s an opportunity. I mean, somebody just recently, um, you know, asked us if we would be available to do a trade show in Vegas, and we hadn’t done a trade show in Vegas in forever. And that came about because we’re relentlessly doing email marketing now, so we can point a direct path to that action and that result. So I’m excited about continuing. But email marketing, to me, that was one of the biggest, uh, super real, um, efforts that we’ve done that has pointed to a real result.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s interesting that you mentioned accountability because I think this is in that same vein, but, uh, scorecarding just keeping track of, you know, what conversations are you having? Are you asking them if they’re interested in exploring, teaming up with you? Are you are you getting yes’s and no’s and not just yes in general? Yes. I had three pre calls. I had four post calls. I asked every one of them. Two of them said, well, nobody in our world really says, you know. No, no, but you know, not now, whatever. But and then two said, yes, I want to take the next step. But and it’s created more awe. It felt like it was going to create. I guess it has. It’s created a little more work up front, but everything I’m doing for me is also something that I can turn around. And it really does lend itself to scaling. As I’m getting the next studio partner or certified partner or, um, or, or market sponsor in place, I can give them scorecards and give them that structure right out of the box so that they have that, that map. So I mean, to me, all that fits very cleanly up under that accountability partner umbrella, but it’s nice to be able to see, okay, what did you do this week? What did you do last week? What’s the trend? Where is it going? So the, the accountability thing and at the very tactical level, just having a scorecard for all these different, uh, sets of activities. That’s, um to me that’s been a big shift for me.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And, and it aligns beautifully with what we’re trying to do is create systems and processes that can be replicated because, uh, the way we do anything is the way we do everything, which we’ve been saying for years. And this is further demonstration of that. Everything we’re building for ourselves is something that we want to pass on to the next person that’s building out a Business RadioX studio in a local market. So it’s only adding value to our offering. It’s only adding value to our expertise. And by living it first, which is so important and something we’ve been emphasizing forever, is that it’s important for us to live it. So then we can share it with other people so they can benefit from what we’re learning. And there’s been so many learnings, uh, the score, uh, the scorecard, that’s super important. I think the email marketing is super important. I think by developing that, uh, recently, this test drive that you created was brilliant. And that’s a great way to implement. Um, to give people a taste of what they could get in a very safe, elegant manner. And it’ll lead them to a buying decision in a very short time. So why don’t you talk a little bit about that and why that’s important to now our process and and what a coach can benefit from kind of going through that test drive.

Stone Payton: Well, I got to tell you, it, uh, it is hugely beneficial and I see it two huge benefits from it. One is I’m leaning more and more into the why of what we do, our values and how and why that plugs into the way we choose to, to live into this mission of ours, of amplifying the voice of business and, and serving the community and supporting and, and celebrating the people in those communities doing good, good work. And to me, I can stay very, uh, well within that set of values and have an opportunity to demonstrate that set of values. When we get to the point where someone is genuinely interested in exploring, working with us. I, you know, I really, I don’t feel like I need to validate our methodology. I know it works and I don’t really feel like in most cases, by the time we get someone to that point in the conversation that we need to validate their work, but you definitely want to validate the fit, right? And so I think in the past, you got you, you had a great experience with us when you built relationship with us. Uh, you, you came through, uh, and were a guest on the show. We showed you how to leverage it. We told you we were doing this cool stuff and we’d love to do it in your community. And then I would just kind of let it taper off. But I think part of it is just it was such a big leap from having a great experience to, oh, well, now I want to run Business RadioX in San Diego. Well, this test drive idea is, is so core.

Stone Payton: And what we’ve been able to do and a lot of people are saying yes to this. And again, the whole frame of it is really not to prove our thing or prove their thing, but just to validate the fit and give them a chance to, to try it on a little bit and give us a chance to, you know, see what it’s like to work and play with so and so in a different market. And so yeah, man, setting them up, letting them invite a dozen people to be on a show that they are a sponsor of like a national show, like High Velocity Radio or like one of those shows. And then giving them a little bit of a job aid to, you know, with the right language to do the inviting, to have the conversation with them before they come on the air. I mean, those are two just marvelous relationship building moments. And they say pretty quickly that, oh, this thing really does work. It’s not this big, huge time suck. It’s not going to disrupt my workflow. If anything, it’s going to streamline it. And that has moved the, I guess the sales side Of of these conversations elegantly and quickly. And it’s just, it’s comfortable and easy. It doesn’t feel I it doesn’t feel salesy. And it just feels so wholly aligned with what we’ve been telling people and what we feel like we are all the way along. So, you know, most coaches that I’m talking to are jumping all over that and they’re and they’re seeing that, oh, yeah, that really does work. Let’s talk some more.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, that that to me, for them to experience it because a lot of times I think people self-select out because they think the work. This is just adding another job to what they’re doing. But in fact, it’s just replacing some of the work that they were doing or were just calling something a different thing. Like they were calling it a discovery call and we’re calling it an interview. And, um, they’re in essence kind of similar things. If you do them a certain way, which we teach them how to do it a certain way. So it’s one of those things where we’re just getting more at bats, you know? And sometimes that’s what you need are just more at bats. And to figure out a way to get more at bats. And that was something that came out of our coaching. I mean, that was one of the coaches that asked us that directly. You know, do you need more at bats? And that’s what we do need.

Stone Payton: Well, and we’re getting the at bats. And I’m excited about the at bats. I don’t feel particularly pressured with it. I feel like I’ve so much of our stuff was already so well baked, but now I feel like I can I can meet them where they are. That was huge for me too. We got some very specific counsel for me in particular to, to be, um, a little more invested in meeting them where they are. Whereas my attitude in the past has been, you know, I need to save you from yourself because you’re not doing it right. You ought to be doing it the way we do it. But, but this with all that in place, like that test drive, you can meet them where they are, ease them along. You can also leave them where they get because everybody in that equation really, uh. Continues to win, even if they sort of stay at that one level of, of partnership with us. Where they’re essentially sponsoring a national or a local show. There’s a couple of different options there on that. And they’re getting value. We’re getting value. Um, so that’s, uh, I don’t know, it’s, it’s a, it’s a level of comfort and, um, excitement toward new conversations that candidly, I haven’t had in a while, man.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. Uh, I’m, I’m really enjoying going through this. I look forward to the coaching every week. Um, I look forward to at the end of this first season, kind of, uh, talking to Trisha and reevaluating, is this something we want to do again? Is there value, um, for us to kind of go through more coaching like this, or do we have enough to get that kind of escape velocity? Um, or even is it going to be good for the next round of coaches? You know, are there coaches out there that say, hey, I want a shot at coaching these guys? It looks like I can benefit. It looks like they can benefit from my insights. So, you know, I don’t know if there’s coaches out there that want to do what the coaches we’ve had thus far do and invest the time in this. So I’m excited to see how that plays out. You know we don’t know if if coaches are you know, I don’t know if Trish has a waiting list of coaches that are kind of hankering to, uh, to coach us, but I’d be excited to find out.

Stone Payton: Well, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit that Trisha would. I mean, she is just so on top of everything that she does. But I will share with you this even back to my pre calls, you know, in our, in our, in our, our, um, our, our standard operating process where we are interviewing coaches and giving them an opportunity to share their story and promote their work in those prequels. Now, I often, I guess I do every time I mention the scaling in public series. And I think to a person so far, they all are interested in how they might participate in that. So I think there probably are a lot because I think a lot of coaches recognize, well, first of all, they have the value system of they want to help us. We’ve helped them. Okay. There’s that, which is just part of it. But I think they also recognize that, you know, it’s probably it may be one of the few ways, if not the only way for them to, um, really demonstrate the depth and breadth of their expertise in whatever that domain is. Then to have, you know, a few clips or the full segment of them actually engaged in coaching because you’re not going to, you know, you’re not going to ask your client, can we record this session and send it out in most cases? So I think, I think if we want to keep doing this, I think we’re going to get to and I think we’re going to want to keep doing this. And I think more and more coaches are going to want to, um, help us along the way, I know. I know one of the things we uncovered in my emotional intelligence, uh, survey thing assessment was sometimes I have a tendency to be a little overly optimistic. So take it with a grain of salt. But I think both of those things are probably going to unfold exactly like that.

Lee Kantor: So what do you think, uh, we should do next as we’re, you know, on the, on the kind of the last lap of, uh, of this series.

Stone Payton: So I, I think we have to continue to be vulnerable and share our concerns. And I’ll tell you right now, for me, I am doing more actual work, like designing job aids and things that will help make this test drive more successful as a result, I’m thinking, oh, you know what? There’s a few job aids and I may not even be using the right term, but some, some stuff that we do, we teach, but maybe it needs to be cleaned up a little bit and, and simplified. So I’m investing a lot of time and energy and actually sitting at the computer talking with you and like, okay, what’s the next thing that will really help this person or that person? Um, execute our methodology? So there’s a little bit of me that’s like, man, this is getting, it certainly could get a little overwhelming. You know, we already got this thing that works well, you know, it’s, it’s, um, so I’m a little bit leery of just creating a whole bunch of work for myself, but I’m not if a whole bunch of work for the next whatever, you know, six months to a year results in a lot of good systems in place where this thing is not even remotely dependent on stone or li to, you know, to help people and generate revenue. So I guess that’s a long answer to your question. I think keep doing the work that we’re doing. But I also don’t want to just pile up a whole bunch of work just because it’s a new idea. That might be a nice to have.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, we want to avoid the shiny object. Um, problem that a lot of businesses suffer from. But we also want to kind of double down on what is working. And there is a lot of things that are working that are kind of bubbled up from this coaching experience. And we definitely want to kind of lean into that. But I’m excited for the rest of the season. I’m excited for potential next season, and I’m just really looking forward to, uh, being coached.

Outro: Thanks for listening to Scaling in Public. The next Business RadioX 100 markets, are you ready to enjoy a steady stream of discovery calls and finally stop being a best kept secret? It’s time to step out of the shadows and watch your coaching business grow. Let’s fill your calendar ten discovery calls in a month, guaranteed. Go to Birr HQ to download the free Business RadioX playbook.

Creating a Culture of Care: Strategies for Leaders to Combat Burnout in Ministry and Hospitality Industries

March 10, 2026 by angishields

High Velocity Radio

Creating a Culture of Care: Strategies for Leaders to Combat Burnout in Ministry and Hospitality Industries

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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, Lee Kantor talks with Arthur J. James, a bi-vocational pastor, speaker, and author. Arthur shares his journey from hospitality management to ministry, emphasizing the importance of a service mindset, leadership accountability, and preventing burnout. He discusses strategies for work-life balance, building resilience, and fostering open communication within organizations. Drawing from his experience in both hospitality and church leadership, Arthur offers practical advice for leaders and frontline workers to create supportive cultures that value well-being and empower individuals to thrive professionally and personally.

Arthur J. James is a native of Dallas, Texas, and a product of the Dallas Independent School District. He is both a graduate of Skyline High School and a former teacher there as well. Arthur completed his undergraduate studies at The University of North Texas where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management.

He also holds a Master’s degree from Texas Tech University in Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management. Before and after completing his formal education, he gained experience in the hotel industry working with several hotel companies such as Richfield Hotel Management Co., Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, Fairmont Hotels, Hilton Hotels, & Harvey Hotels.

Arthur left the hotel industry to teach hospitality management at his former high school and then continued his career in education at North Lake College as a professor of hospitality from 1999 to 2010. In the fall of 2010, Arthur moved into administration at North Lake College and was part of the senior leadership team as the Executive Dean of both the North & South community campuses simultaneously until 2021.

Arthur served as the Dean of Business & Technology at the South Campus of Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas from 2021 – 2024. During the entire time Arthur worked and led in education and the hotel industry he served in ministry as a bi-vocational pastor. Arthur also has community service experience as a past board member of the Hospitality Educators Association of Texas, the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce, The Coppell Chamber of Commerce, The National Association of Branch Campus Administrators, and the Grand Prairie Boys and Girls Club.

As a bi-vocational pastor, Arthur has experience in both being called to an established church as the pastor of The Dallas Christian Hope Baptist Church from 1996 – 2004 and understands the dynamics of a church planter as the founder of The Transparent Church in Grand Prairie, TX from 2004 to present.

Arthur completed his first book with Trilogy Publishing entitled Preaching Through Pain, What Every Preacher & Person Needs to know about Performing under Pressure (May 2018). Arthur is married to his wife Patrice and they have two adult children and just experienced the joys of being grandparents in 2024.
In his free time, Arthur enjoys golfing, reading, writing, and running.

Connect with Arthur on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Episode Highlights

Background of Arthur J. James as a bi-vocational pastor and his journey from hospitality to ministry.
The significance of a service mindset in both hospitality and ministry.
Leadership accountability and the importance of transparency in organizations.
Strategies for preventing burnout in service-oriented professions.
The role of attention to detail and ownership of responsibilities in effective leadership.
Building capacity and resilience among leaders and frontline workers.
The importance of work-life balance and self-care in high-demand roles.
Encouraging open communication about personal needs within organizations.
The impact of organizational culture on employee well-being and retention.
Practical advice for emerging leaders on advocating for their needs and professional development.

This 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. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Baumeyer Coaching. Multiply profits, magnify impact. Executive coaching to elevate individual and team performance. To learn more, go to baumeyercoaching dot com. B a u m e y e r coaching.com. Today on the show, we have a speaker, pastor, author with King Arthur speaks and the Transparent Church, Arthur J. James. Welcome.

Arthur J. James: Thank you for having me. Lee. It’s a pleasure to be on your show.

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

Arthur J. James: Well, I am a bi vocational pastor. That’s just a fancy word from the church world of saying that. For going on 30 years this year, I’ve had my foot in ministry as a pastor, but also had had another foot in marketplace or the business side of things. So I’ve been everything from a hotel manager and a pastor to being a high school teacher at my old high school and pastor to being a college professor, a pastor to being more recently a dean of a college and a pastor. But now I’m the public speaker and a pastor as well as an author. So I serve a church, a local church here in the Dallas Fort Worth area, right in the middle of Dallas and Fort Worth, the city called Grand Prairie, Texas. And, uh, actually serve pastors and other Bible church leaders through my speaking business and assisting them avoid with avoiding burnout so that they can remain fulfilled in ministry in life.

Lee Kantor: So can you take us through kind of a little bit about your backstory of how you chose this path?

Arthur J. James: Yes. I, um, actually, I think it kind of chose me. I come from a small family number nine out of ten children. And if you have that many children, then you’re on the lower end. You generally have to serve. So service has been a part of my life for all of my life. I didn’t know at the time that I was going to find myself in more a more a more whether I should say professional service endeavor in the hospitality industry until I’ll just go back to the early 1900s or late 1900s, I should say. When I began to look for a career path, I actually went to a school in the Dallas area. One of the first, actually the first in the in the country. That was a magnet school back in the 1980s. And in order to go to the school, I had to choose a career. And so like most eighth graders going into high school, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life and career at that time, I had to choose one of these 30 career clusters. I know I didn’t want to do aviation and fly planes or cosmetology or horticulture, but I was watching the television show Hotel by Arthur Hailey based on that novel, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I could do three things that I saw.

Arthur J. James: James Brolin, the actor, do in that show, long before we had reality television shows that we have today. He did three things as a hotel general manager that was portrayed on the show. He wore a suit every day, carried a briefcase, and hung out with cute chicks like Connie Sellecca. So that made my decision to go into hospitality. And so since that time, I’ve been wearing a suit every day since middle school, going into high school carrying a briefcase. And I have a cute wife who’s not Connie Sellecca, but she does well with me in ministry. I say that to say, uh, little did I know it was a perfect match for me to go in the hotel industry. And so I’ve served and worked from all positions such as Bellman up all the way up to a food and beverage director, and then began to teach hospitality management at my former high school. So much so that when you would go into the program, you would not be able to tell the difference between a paid employee and one of my students, which I was one back when I was a student, before I shifted into teaching. And fast forward through that and managed hotels. Taught hotel management.

Arthur J. James: Got a couple degrees in it and began to do that until I was called to my first church in 2006 to lead a church as a pastor. But still being a and not an education, but a hotel manager. And so the shift for me came realizing that there’s a lot of time that and I love the industry, but you have to be in the hotel to, in most cases, do the work. And so I was able to go into a hotel as an educator. That was my classroom, but still be in that environment, but also free me up to do more ministry. So since that time, again, fast forward 30 years later, I’ve been doing that teaching and preaching each week and or leading on the business side or the educational side as a higher ed professional with more than 20 years experience as a professor, as well as more than 12 years experience as a Dean with programs from A to Z, everything from automotive programs all the way down to welding. Nothing with a Z, of course, but welding programs and hospitality in between that as well. And so, uh, that’s been part of my journey. That’s the, that’s the CliffsNotes version of it. I’d be happy to answer any follow up questions you may have.

Lee Kantor: Well, what have you. What did you learn about hospitality that has stuck with you so long that you stayed pretty much in that space? Uh, for a long time. And it sounds like some of the ethos kind of weaves into your other work. So can you talk about what it is about the hospitality industry that is so sticky for you and what you, you know, obviously like and respect it so much?

Arthur J. James: Sure. I love the fact that it’s a service mindset and perspective. Uh, even when you look at, uh, take for instance, what the Ritz-Carlton used to say, I think they still use it as their mantra where ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen, uh, that’s been my, my mindset from an early time, uh, being in high school all the way through my adult life. I take that same mindset of, of serving people into ministry because that’s exactly what it means to be a pastor or a minister to shepherd, but also to apply aid or to minister to people. And that that’s been my niche. Uh, whether it’s in the business world or in the ministry side of things, and even as a speaker who helps organizations and shares at conferences, meeting the needs of the people that that are there so that through service, they can understand that service as well as, uh, sharing strategies and tools to help them remain sustained and fulfilled in their calling means a world of difference. And so I got bit by the service bug. I think that, uh, in certain respects, we’ve lost the art of service, and I do my part to try to bring that back in whatever capacity I may find myself in, either on the ministry side and or the business side. I love for people, but also a connection of trying to do things right. And here’s what else I learned through the years, uh, in that particular industry as early as high school that have stuck. Uh, hard work. Uh, the principles that you find in attention to detail is one of the major lessons, life lessons that I learned at an early age that I still apply every day, whether that’s being a banquet setup person to being a banquet manager, looking at the details, when you walk into a ballroom, taking it from nothing to the breathtaking experience that a person receives once they walk into an event. And so, uh, I would say that attention to detail is critical alongside of that just to service mindset.

Lee Kantor: So you mentioned that you find that, uh, maybe some of the tenets of hospitality and service are lacking. What are some actionable things a business leader or a leader of any kind can take to kind of, um, help his team kind of get that back and maybe get back on track when it comes to serving and hospitality.

Arthur J. James: Uh, one off the bat, one thought that is off the bat is just simply taking ownership of responsibilities and or transactions. I’m a loyalist, Ali. And if I find a good restaurant that serves good food and great service, I’ll go there and eat the same menu until I can’t anymore. Whether that’s getting my car service anywhere, I find good service that’s repeatable and consistent, I’m going to share it. Now, that being said, I also know that problems are part of the process. So no person or no company is perfect, but it’s also in how you handle the mistakes. Whether you’re talking about as a dean, having a challenge with a student that a student has with the faculty member, trying to find a common ground, figuring out what’s happened so that it won’t be repeated, but also making a fix, correcting the problem, apologizing and not just apologizing, but finding a solution so that whether that’s through a system or a process to where you alleviate the problem. I think we sometimes can make it harder than it has to be in our relationships and in our lives and and businesses, but that’s a huge part from my perspective. Taking ownership of not just the successes, but also when there’s a challenge or failure. Figuring out what’s happened and how can you make it better or improve on the process. And. And at the end of the day, make it right.

Lee Kantor: And then do you feel that that level of accountability and personal accountability and responsibility, should that trickle to every member of the team?

Arthur J. James: Definitely should. So, so everything starts. One of my mentors from afar, Doctor John Maxwell, he says everything rises and falls on leadership. And when you have a leader who’s able to take responsibility and own when there’s a mistake, because none of us are perfect but also writes the mistake, you’re on the road to creating a team that sees that transparency and that vulnerability, but also that level of accountability to make things right in any environment that goes a long way. Creating a culture of not I got you, but a a culture of how can we improve? And realizing that you’ve got a safe place to fail. Now, failure is not our aim. But you want to do everything that you can to empower your team to make decisions, whether you’re there or not, that are in the best interest of your guests or your customers, depending on your environment, but also the employees that are there creating that environment. You can use that same those same principles within the church confines. I’ve done my job to the best of my ability to create a culture, even at our church, where people feel seen and heard, but also feel like they’re not just a number, but they matter and they have gifts and that we’re here to serve them, and that our people know that I’m not always perfect. I’ll share some of my mistakes, but also we’ll share with you what I’ve learned from those and how we can all improve and make ourselves better for the greater good of mankind.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned burnout earlier is having a culture that is not great. One of the causes of burnout.

Arthur J. James: I would absolutely, 100% agree with that. So burnout begins to show up when we begin to overextend ourselves. And it’s real easy to do in both of the industries that I’ve worked a majority of my life in hospitality industry. One of the things that gave me an advantage being in that particular business is when I grew up in the business, by the time I went to the University of North Texas into Texas Tech University to further and get a master’s after a bachelor’s degree, I already knew that in the industry, as a manager and or a staffer, you and I were going to have to work if you were in that industry. Holidays and weekends. Most times when everybody else is off, because it’s because it is a 24 hour, seven day a week business. The expectation is that’s when you’ve got to work. Same thing with the ministry. Inasmuch as we’re not open, our church doors are not open 24 seven. But I have a phone that’s on call. I’m on call 24 over seven. Uh, for a Major accidents and challenges and deaths and hospital visits. All that’s tied into the process. But I say that to say this, that knowing that there is an always being on mindset, that happens in a lot of our industries, particularly in the service sector and those that are you could take the same thing.

Arthur J. James: You see a high burnout rate in the medical field with with doctors and nurses, nurses and nurse practitioners and those who are in that field who are open 24 over seven and always meeting and serving the needs of others. I say that to say that when you understand the dynamics of your organization and or your business or your service environment, it’s very much more a responsible mindset for you and I as leaders to build a culture that’s not that does not just have accountability, but it has rhythms of rest built into it as well, to where you don’t burn your people out because you know that doing service and being providing service rather, and being on stage all the time will wear you out. Uh, if you if you’re not careful. And so I think it’s responsible leadership. To be able to understand that people have families outside of work and responsibilities, but not just that we’re living in a day and time where if we don’t place a priority on self-care, we’re not going to be able to take care of the others that we’ve been entrusted with, the vehicle of service or business or partnership in the world. And so I think it’s very, uh, top of mind for us to consider things such as health and balance. I say quite often, particularly as a pastor at our church, to our leadership team, we don’t just do something because the church down the street is doing it or it’s popular.

Arthur J. James: Number one, if it’s not tied to the mission and the vision, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to do it, but also know that we have to have not just the ability to, uh, to utilize our gifts, but also know something that’s very important that goes along with character and competence, and that is capacity. That’s one of the life lessons I wished I would have learned much earlier in my life, because I used to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none, and have worked really hard to find a few lanes that I’m really gifted and competent in and passionate about, but also proficient, but also have that practice of praying for more capacity and giving my team members capacity so that we can carry the load that we’ve been designed to not individually alone, but collectively as a unit. And so I would say to any business leaders and business owners watching or team leaders to realize that capacity is critical to the success of your organization, because without it, it is hard to scale. Without it, it is hard to create a culture where everybody wins, not just the leader or the manager at the top.

Lee Kantor: So how would you advise the the kind of the person on the front lines that maybe isn’t in a leadership position, but wants to live as a leader? How do you help them kind of build the resilience and build the capacity to, you know, ask for space when they need space and to be vulnerable and to say, look, I know this business is a 24 seven business, but you know, I have a life that’s a 24 over seven life. And it’s hard. You know, I’m, I’m, uh, maybe out of out of balance when it comes to the attention I’m giving to the business as opposed to my life. And I need to kind of scale back a little and focus more on my life. Now, is that something that a person, you know, how do you help them be brave enough to have that conversation with their team or their, the, their management?

Arthur J. James: A great question. I think it’s important for leaders first to know that we have a responsibility to develop our people. And for individuals who may not be in the leadership role or the manager position, it’s important that you get a choice in which organization you work for. Ideally, you would find an organization or a company that has or mirrors your values, that mirrors your, uh, mindset of understanding that there’s more to you than just what you can bring to the work table. So that balance or that focus between taking care of yourself, but I also think it’s very important for leadership to, to have some type of professional development plan for each person that’s on their team. Now that being shared, I have shared with any of the students that I that have taught through the years as a professor and a teacher, but also as a pastor and a leader, that it is your responsibility to take care of your professional development. That means you’re always looking for resources to better yourself, finding that that margin that you can, uh, begin to craft a development plan for yourself that speaks to your health, that speaks to understanding those boundaries, that speaks to how do we have those, those lines of communication with our direct reports, uh, the ones that we directly report to our superiors without coming across as looking at looking like someone who is, who is not a team player or who does not have grit or the capacity to do more. So I would say to them, begin to prioritize your own personal health.

Arthur J. James: Do what you can where you are, but begin to, uh, learn your leader and begin to know the timing, when to talk about those situations, but also present, uh, something that may be looked upon as being an avenue where you can begin to have margin. Many companies have employee resource groups that assist with that. But also there are programs that you can have where I participated in some where you have, um, a portion of, uh, margin built in your day to where you could take an extended 30 minutes to take care of your health and wellness. Health and wellness programs with the theme, I was trying to say the concept. And so I would, uh, once those are presented, I would make it a point if I was the person who was not in the leadership position to keep my eyes and ears open and maybe even present something. That would also tie it to the bottom line. Because when you have healthier employees who are in better physical shape and mental shape, then they’re able, they’re going to be able to, to produce better. And that’s going to eventually assist with building the bottom line. So I would say, look for opportunities. I would say take your own professional development and your own self-care as number one of your priority, but also begin to look at what’s already being offered at your organization. And if it’s not offered, bring it as a suggestion to leadership. From the standpoint of understanding it’s not just you, but helping the team overall.

Lee Kantor: And then ultimately take leadership of your own life and choose wisely. Choose organizations that mirror your values and your priorities.

Arthur J. James: Correct.

Lee Kantor: You’re not a hostage. You’re, you’re, you’re, you’re walking in the door voluntarily every day. Yeah. Um, so when you’re working with, uh, companies, what does it look like? What is the pain they’re having right before they start working with you. What what are the what’s happening where they’re like. I better call Arthur and his team.

Arthur J. James: One of the things that happens is when you begin to look at many of the statistics that are out there. Schafer did an institute, Schafer Institute, did a study back in the early 2000 related to the number of pastors in particular, who are burning out and quitting the ministry. Uh, LifeWay did a research more recent. 120. I want to say 2018, uh, that spoke to the number of pastors and church leaders in particular that are leaving the industry, but you can also find some research out there that deals with the same thing, as I mentioned, with the health professionals and others who are in this high demand, uh, high velocity businesses. And so when you have people leaving as an educator, we’re seeing it now with educators who are leaving. I know, uh, just close to home a couple, I won’t name their names that, that are new teachers that are leaving education simply because it’s such a challenging and grueling environment to do that these days to where if there’s not any major changes done, we’re still going to have that, that challenge being faced.

Arthur J. James: And so once there’s a again, as I alluded to, when the bottom line begins to be affected, that’s typically when leaders will reach out and say, hey, we’re having this issue with folks burning out or our turnover rate is extremely high. And that’s one of the things that for years we would see in the hospitality industry. It’s not uncommon to see anywhere upwards of 75% or more turnover in the hospitality industry. I believe it’s gotten a little bit better through the years, just simply because of the dynamics of the change of the environment, but it’s still relatively high, high turnover, particularly in the entry level positions and jobs. So when you see a lot of that, the wise, I think, and the successful organizations and leaders look for resources and tools to help their teams become develop more so that they can sustain for the long haul and have people who are committed to the organization and not just committed to the organization, but committed to, again, to themselves as a part of the organization to have a win win relationship take place now.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story you can share that can show the impact of working with you? Don’t name the name of the organization, but maybe share the challenge they came to you with and how you were able to help them get to a new level.

Arthur J. James: Yes, there was a conference I spoke at just a few months ago, and there were several folks who let me know after the event that they were really on the verge of walking out and leaving their positions. And through some follow up and through some additional strategies, I shared with them the importance of taking care of themselves health wise, first through prayer and also realizing that part of what you said as well. Uh, we’re not, no one’s forcing us to, to stay at a position or at a company. Uh, when things are not working. And so even though people need jobs, we understand that. And many times they’re hard to come by, particularly good ones. People still have a choice. And so just being mindful of that. And then of course, following up with them and sharing some additional resources and tools that help them because one of the you asked a question that I’ve been asked by several attendees, uh, related to a talk that I shared about avoiding burnout in the same question that people were asking is what you were saying sharing. And that is, how do I share with my boss, whether in ministry or in business, that I’m on the verge of burnout without looking like I’m weak? And so walking through those conversations and reminding them of the power that they have by empowering them through the decisions that they have and the choice that comes along with that, related to realizing that not all, not every company operates this way. Not every ministry has the same type of dynamics that may be unrealistic as it relates to being on all the time and not having balance and taking care of your responsibilities outside of work. And so I would say those have been some of the highlights of the work I’ve done more recently through speaking and sharing and even some somewhat, some consulting as well, just reminding folks of the choices that they have.

Arthur J. James: And here’s one that that has been very impactful and it has been on. One of the strategies I share with folks about avoiding burnout is taking care of your temple. I know what it’s like to have a lifestyle change. I’ve lost over 40 pounds. I’ve done it before through a yo yo diet and going up and down. But the last 2 to 3 years I have maintained my lifestyle change and I share simple things like the UCA app where you can scan your food and find out what additives and sugars are in there that are added. That can help because all our diet and our lifestyle sleep, the amount of sleep that you get, just opening up those conversations on what I call Pastor James metrics that matter. Measuring every day my water intake, my exercise, my sleep, the number of sleep that I. The amount of sleep that I receive. And just again, watching out for healthier choices in the daily diet. Because no matter, even if you work out, you can never outwork a bad diet. And so from a health perspective, those have been some of the critical ones. Seeing people who get it and now seeing them make their own choices as a result of conversations and presentations that we’ve shared related to avoiding burnout, particularly with one of the key strategies. And that’s on taking care of your temple because you only get one body to take care of. And that’s something that your boss or no one else can do for you.

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

Arthur J. James: Well, I have a passion to help people. And so if you’re looking for a speaker who can share strategies and tips around avoiding burnout, whether you’re in ministry or marketplace, please reach out. Arthur Jjames comms my site. You can find out more information about that. Or if you’re a presenter or a preacher. I have a book that I entitled Preaching Through Pain with every preaching Person should know about Performing Under Pressure. If you have to present and show up on a consistent basis and remain full of fire and passion while your life is going on fire, that’s a good resource for you. I’d be happy to talk with you more about that and see if there’s any way that we can help you with your business and or your ministry.

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

Arthur J. James: Thank you. It’s my pleasure. And again, it was an honor for me to be on with you and your audience.

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

BRX Pro Tip: Selling in the Interest of the Customer

March 10, 2026 by angishields

Author and Journalist Rick Martin

March 9, 2026 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

Author and Journalist Rick Martin

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Rick Martin is a trusted voice in journalism, public relations, and crisis communications, bringing decades of expertise and an unwavering passion for storytelling.

A three-time Peabody Award-winning journalist, Rick’s career spans pivotal roles at CNN & top-tier local newsrooms in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

From covering history-making events like the September 11 terror attacks and the Beltway sniper case along with Hurricane Katrina to navigating the uncharted waters of a global pandemic, Rick’s experience is as vast as it is impactful.

But Rick’s story doesn’t stop with headlines—he’s lived through one himself. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rick not only guided a local government’s communications strategy but also fought his own battle with the virus, spending 17 days hospitalized, including five on a ventilator.

That life-altering experience deepened his resolve to inspire others to rise above life’s challenges.

Connect with Rick on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: Well, it has been quite a few minutes since I’ve done an episode of Fearless Formula, but I’m so excited to be back in the studio for actually kind of a very special interview. This is a gentleman that is a three time Peabody Award winning journalist here in the Fearless Formula Studio. Thank you so much for coming. This is Rick Martin.

Rick Martin: Ah, you’re too kind. No, you’re too kind.

Sharon Cline: It’s true. I’m very impressed to be able to say that. I was, um, very lucky to be, um, in touch with you through a mutual friend of ours who just believes in your story so strongly that he’s like, you got to get back in the studio to meet this gentleman, and his story needs to be told. So I’m so grateful that you came to the studio this afternoon.

Rick Martin: Thank you Sharon, thank you again. Honestly, thank you for having me.

Sharon Cline: You’re welcome. Rick wrote a book called Unmasked Overcoming Death. It’s a story of family, faith and forgiveness. And everybody’s got their journey. Everybody’s got their story. But this one has to do with Covid and how much it changed things for your life. But before we get into the Covid story, why don’t you let me know? How long have you been here in Georgia? What kind of led up to this moment of being an author?

Rick Martin: Sure, sure. So I had been working in television news for almost 30 years. I worked 14 years in local news and 12 years at CNN. I worked in local news departments in the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC and relocated from DC to Atlanta to join CNN in 2003, where I worked on a political desk. I worked at CNN from 2003 to 2015, then became the assignment manager for the local CBS station. And then from there in 2017, joined Douglas County government, worked for the Douglas County, Georgia Board of Commissioners, became their director of communications and community relations department.

Sharon Cline: When you were growing up, did you always want to be a journalist?

Rick Martin: You know, I will tell you, I had some influence, heavy influence. I actually my father, my father was a radio broadcaster.

Sharon Cline: You have a radio broadcast voice.

Rick Martin: And my dad still is broadcasting. He’s broadcasting from home? Yeah, from Washington, D.C..

Sharon Cline: Oh, my goodness. That’s amazing.

Rick Martin: So he’s in his 80s and.

Sharon Cline: And still out there kicking.

Rick Martin: Still doing his show.

Sharon Cline: That’s wonderful.

Rick Martin: I’m proud of him. Yeah. I grew up and he gave me a little small segment of his show, you know, which was just as a young kid. Calendar of events, telling people what events are happening in the community.

Sharon Cline: And like a little kid, you were like your little voice on the radio.

Rick Martin: Exactly. Oh, yeah. So it was a lot of fun. And, you know, but I still remember the day I decided, no more radio TV, is it? It’s when. Hey, dad. How much do you get paid? Yeah. And dad is like, ah, I don’t. It’s, uh, listener sponsored radio. I’m like, oh, you don’t get paid. I was like, yeah, TV’s.

Sharon Cline: Tv’s it. And that’s what made you you go to school for journalism and all of that?

Rick Martin: Yep. Yep. Went to the University of Maryland, got a journalism degree from the College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. And I loved my experience there. And, you know, actually, I had difficulty getting into the College of Journalism because I wasn’t testing well. And, you know, you had to pass the test of standard written English. If I remember that correctly, um, you have to get a required score. And I just, you know, test anxiety, I just didn’t test very well and I didn’t get the score needed. And I took this exam multiple times, you know, trying to pass it. And it wasn’t until I, um, decided to, you know, I need to appeal or something look into whether, you know, I want to get in. I don’t, I don’t want to just go out and give up like that. So I did, I appealed and got recommendation letters. I was doing internships that I had completed working for the campus newspaper and on the basis of appeal, and the chair of one of the departments there at the College of Journalism had written a recommendation letter for me, doctor McAdams, Catherine McAdams, uh, God rest her soul. She recently passed. But, um. Yeah, that’s how I got in. And in getting in, that really was, um, a change in life. Um, because I loved it. I loved, you know, writing, I loved news, I loved getting the information first. You know, I got, I did an internship at CNN in the Washington, D.C. bureau there I met, you know, Bernie Shaw. Um, Frank Sesno. Um, you know, I loved it.

Sharon Cline: You’re part of something so much bigger, but but I, I want to go back just a second. You fought for yourself. You fought for your. And I also think how interesting it is that you’re clearly very intelligent, but not everybody. It’s not a measure of intelligence test taking. And I just love that you didn’t let that keep you down. You were like, I’ve got to work around this. You know, it’ll even get in your head. I’ve got to take this test. And if you take it more than once, it’s like a thing. And you shouldn’t let it take you down.

Rick Martin: Right? Right. And I think that, you know, now I could see that it was a work ethic. I think what separates me from anybody else is, um, work ethic, you know, not giving up, um, resiliency. And, you know, it’s that came out, I wrote about it in my book actually, um, because I was born with a birth defect that a lot of people don’t know, I’m actually really coming out more or less. Yeah. I was born with a birth defect. It was called a pectus excavatum and a pectus excavatum is when your sternum, your breastbone grows inward instead of outward. And when it grows inward, you know, organs are pushed aside or what have you. I had my first surgery at 18 months old. 18 months.

Sharon Cline: Old baby.

Rick Martin: And, uh, yeah, and, um, you know, so it was a fight, you know, from the get go from the beginning. And I had multiple surgeries, a total of five with the last one, I was in my 20s, you know, to try to correct the problem because they couldn’t fix it. And, um, so I was always a fighter medically and always felt that, you know, things were stacked against me. You know, why me? You know, you had to deal with that. I dealt with that. And, um, so I think, you know, as a, as a kid, you know, that was on my mind. So when I got into to college, you know, I had it in me to fight. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: It makes me wonder how many times people give up if they had just asked, you know, just tried to work around it or proven in whatever way they could that just because this test doesn’t show. I still do know this. And the fact that when you got there, you thrived.

Rick Martin: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: You know, that says everything.

Rick Martin: Oh, yeah. And I yeah, in college, you know, it was. I made it fun. You know the experience. I mean, it was a lot of work. You know, it was hard, but, um, I took a great, um, honor in, you know, arriving, you know, a lot of people, you know, didn’t get the chance that I did, you know, to at least have a chance to get a degree. And, um, I was really excited and hopeful, you know, that my career was going to go someplace.

Sharon Cline: I love that you got just a little taste of national news rather than local news. And then you’re just like, this is where I want to go. This is what I want to do.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And, and, you know, College Park was really strategically positioned in a great place right outside of Washington, D.C.. So things that happened locally for local news when they happened in the district usually became national news as well, right?

Sharon Cline: So yeah, that yeah, yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think about that. Oh yeah.

Rick Martin: It was it was a big deal. It was a big deal.

Sharon Cline: So then you came down to Atlanta. Oh, you started working at CNN. Um, and then now it’s official.

Rick Martin: So. So, you know, the irony is, um, I worked in Philadelphia and after Philadelphia, I came back, worked in Washington DC and in Washington DC, I was working for the local ABC station and working for the local ABC station. That was, I was the chief assignment editor and I could never forget working there, because that’s where we covered September 11th terror attacks in 2001 and also covered the. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Beltway sniper case.

Sharon Cline: Oh, yes. So all around D.C..

Rick Martin: Yeah, we covered that as well. So there, I covered that two story. So between those two stories and life was challenging. Um, experienced a divorce. So through all of, all of that in one one year, it seemed, or within that period, I said, oh, I think it’s time to go. If I could, I need a break. Basically, I need a break. And, uh, I went to a convention, the National Association of Black Journalists Convention, uh, was in Dallas, Texas that summer. And Turner was there broadcasting and we were putting together, uh, their political desk, and they asked me if they were, you know, if I had anybody to recruit. So I said, yeah, I think I have somebody in mind.

Sharon Cline: You are looking at him.

Rick Martin: Yeah, basically I got somebody.

Sharon Cline: Well, you fought for yourself again.

Rick Martin: I did, I did, I said, I think I’m the best candidate you’d want.

Sharon Cline: And they said yes.

Rick Martin: They said.

Sharon Cline: Yes. Come on down.

Rick Martin: Oh yeah.

Sharon Cline: So move to Atlanta.

Rick Martin: Mhm.

Sharon Cline: Um, how different was it for you? How much of a change was it for you? Did you know anybody down here or was it like.

Rick Martin: Yeah, I had one friend who was in, uh, in broadcasting. Um, and, uh, I did know, you know, a couple people.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. So you start to build your little tribe or life.

Rick Martin: Yeah. Like your.

Sharon Cline: People. Yeah. Even though obviously it was a surprise and a change.

Rick Martin: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: But it’s nice when you know, you’ve got at least one person there that can kind of show you around, especially in the industry. Yeah. In the news industry.

Rick Martin: Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, it’s, you know, and actually it, I ended up meeting my, my wife.

Sharon Cline: Oh, and I love the love story.

Rick Martin: So yeah, yeah.

Sharon Cline: Sorry, I’m a very romantic person, but I also, I love seeing like, you know, happy people, but knowing that, um, if you had never moved down here, that wouldn’t have happened. There’s just something so amazing when you know, the right person comes along and the right circumstances almost, almost feels like meant to be.

Rick Martin: And yeah, especially when you don’t see it coming, you know, you don’t see things coming like that because, you know, once that came, you know, once I met her and then, you know, we had two children and, you know, I mean, fast forward, they’re both in college now thriving, you know. Um, I think we did pretty good.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. I’m very happy for you. What a switch to go from news as well to working for a county. Yes. That must have been like a mean, it’s probably it’s it’s got similar themes.

Rick Martin: I imagine it does because not only did I, you know, leave, you know, CNN to work for a county, but I was working in a capacity of communications, right? Communications for government. And the way I pitched it and I pitched how I could make an impact. And yeah, they loved it. Um, I could be a storyteller, help government agencies, departments tell their story, right? Tax paying dollars at work, you know, and that’s what I was good at. Um, I could break the complicated muckety muck of words into singsongy type and.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, get people to understand music. Beginning, middle, end. This is the point. Yeah, yeah, I can see that.

Rick Martin: And stick and get right to it, you know, not not this long word. Awkward sentence.

Sharon Cline: And budgets. I don’t know, just reasons why this is important.

Rick Martin: Exactly.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. You honed your skills that in journalism that way, it’s very smart.

Rick Martin: Yeah. Yeah. So and that just, you know, it was it it won people. I mean, really, you know, it garnered a lot of attention.

Sharon Cline: Oh, good for you.

Rick Martin: Success of that. Thank you, thank you.

Sharon Cline: You’re welcome.

Rick Martin: You know, but really, I mean, often I didn’t know what I was doing. I mean, government, you know, I mean, I was the watchdog for society as a journalist. Right? And then now I’m working for the government. Whoa. You know, so I was.

Sharon Cline: So scary and intimidating and. Yeah, and maybe not not the way that you ever thought you would present yourself to the world as, like, associated with the government.

Rick Martin: Yeah. I mean, yeah, you know, it was funny because when I was working at CNN, I served on a couple boards. Um, actually one board in particular, um, children’s voices, uh, incorporated, uh, Casa stands for court appointed special advocates. And, you know, I served on the board to help raise funds for Casa and, and they would, um, Casa individuals would, you know, represent children during, you know, juvenile court proceeding cases and stuff. And, you know, there’s some real hardcore stuff that kids, you know, deal with. And, you know, sometimes it’s, it’s, it’s difficult to for them to go through the process.

Sharon Cline: I mean, even to know about these things, you know, it takes a special person to have the right temperament and disposition to hear those things too.

Rick Martin: Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: You were an advocate for them.

Rick Martin: Yeah. Yeah. Huge advocate. And, and, you know, it still places a part of my heart, especially now that I have kids, you know?

Sharon Cline: Oh. Of course.

Rick Martin: So yeah.

Sharon Cline: So you get to March 2020 where, you know, ground zero moment people. It obviously had to start working from home. Um. Everything stopped.

Rick Martin: Yep.

Sharon Cline: And you got terribly sick.

Rick Martin: Yeah. So March 2020. Um, I remember that because I was the director of communications and community relations for Douglas County, and I was just pretty much coming back. You know, I was, I was weary of Covid because I had gotten sick in 2019, November 2019. I had gotten sick with the flu and pneumonia. They were looking at me. Oh, I was in ICU unit. Um, and I’m just like, man, did I have Covid? They said I had the flu in pneumonia, but was this really Covid early?

Sharon Cline: Early Covid before they knew.

Rick Martin: Right before they knew what it was. So, uh, keep in mind, um, I had all these surgeries. And what happens when you have surgeries throughout my life, it weakens your immune system. So that’s why I would get sick. I’d have to keep, you know, get eating vitamin C, getting a lot of vitamin C and what have you. Um, but yeah, March 2020, we’re like, you know, starting to shut down separate. I get to, um, you know, my team is, is at home, you know, and we’re still broadcasting and recording meetings and stuff and stuff running, you know, the government, you know, you’re able.

Sharon Cline: To figure it out to be able to isolate enough, but keep things running.

Rick Martin: Yeah, exactly.

Sharon Cline: Got you.

Rick Martin: Um, but at the same time, a lot of stress, a lot of stress. And so that being said, ah, man, it wasn’t until December. Um, my wife developed symptoms from work. She was an educator. So, um, she, we all went and got tested and my wife and one of our kids, they tested positive and I, my test had not tested positive yet, hadn’t come back yet. And it wasn’t until, uh, went to sleep. Woke up December 23rd, sore throat, took my temperature fever. And I told my wife, wife said, let’s go. And so we’re on our way to the hospital. And as we’re on the way to the hospital, I didn’t have a good feeling, especially after what I went through in 2019.

Sharon Cline: You had like a dread feeling.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I, I, yeah, I wasn’t, I, I literally, you know, my mindset was not positive and I almost felt defeated, like, because you have all this information. You have, you know, the corner in your office phone rings. She’s going to pick up a body. You’ve got fire and rescue dealing with transporting.

Sharon Cline: You saw it in a different way than even the public saw it, right? So you saw every day.

Rick Martin: Every day.

Sharon Cline: Oh, Lord.

Rick Martin: I mean, literally, my job was part I was a spokesman for the fire and EMS department. I was dealing with the news media. You know, I was a spokesman for the board of commissioners, the chairwoman and the board of Commissioners. So, you know, as the chief spokesperson, I knew all the information I was coming in. And so, yeah, now that I’m feeling weak, lethargic, um, chills and and the memories of what 2019 was like, I mentally was not prepared, but, um, I took it, you know, on the chin, I was strong and just, I called HR director and said, look, uh, we’re on the way to the hospital. Uh, I may have Covid. Here’s my wife. I’m introducing you to her. Um, take her number. She’s going to be the point of contact. And when my wife dropped me to the hospital, you know, I thought I was entering a Mash unit at the hospital. It was just like, wow.

Sharon Cline: I’m sure I know they tried to isolate people, you know, who had it. Um, but they’re just the numbers that were on TV every day. Just thousands and hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. And then seeing it firsthand, there must have been like a, a toll on your spirit to, you know, to, to actually feel and see the effects of what this is having on the people that are right in front of you, in your community.

Rick Martin: Eloquently said, yeah, you’re right. You’re absolutely right. Um, Um, it was, it was really, really. It was tough. Um, you you knew people were dying. There was no secret. Um, there was also conflicting information. And when I say conflicting information, people were, you know, saying one thing, believing another. So you had conflicting information. Um, it was chaos. Like we’ve never.

Sharon Cline: Never would.

Rick Martin: Have experienced.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. Never could, never could have known. It’s like a movie.

Rick Martin: Yeah. Yeah. As a matter of fact, I talked about that, you know, in my book on masks. I thought I talked about how it reminded me of outbreak with Dustin Hoffman. Right. And, and, uh, Morgan Freeman and I’m like, man, I was getting chills and I’m like, what is this? You know? And, um.

Sharon Cline: They admitted you obviously they admitted you to.

Rick Martin: Yeah. And, and that was chaotic because when they checked me, you know, took my vitals. Um, I still had a fever and they took my vitals and, um, my health was depleting and they were talking about, um, I remember at one point you were talking about, you know, intubating me and I was like, I don’t want to die. And I kept saying, no, no, no, like, no, no, no, I don’t want to die. That type of no. And they were saying, no, no, they were interpreting me as saying, no, no, no, I don’t want to be intubated. So there was confusion. So they called my wife, and then my wife gets on FaceTime and, you know, she’s trying to, you know, mitigate, deal with the situation. And it was like, so it was just really, really chaotic. And my wife finally called, she thought to call a dear friend of ours, Charles, my friend Charles, he’s in the emergency room physician. And she talked to Charles and she said, you know, look, you know, they’re talking about wanting to intubate, but Rick is saying, no, there’s confusion and chaos. Can you anything you can do? He said, well, tell Rick, go on the ventilator.

Rick Martin: Just tell Rick, go on the ventilator. And then my wife says to me, Charles has gone to ventilator. I said, okay, just like that. Okay. That was it. And yeah. And then, you know, the doctors went, oh my God. He said yes. Okay. Then they went into their mode and then put me on two things to that. Me saying, okay, what I took from later, as I analyzed that situation is when you’re at your worst, scariest moment. All you’re looking for is comfort. I didn’t trust anybody at that point. If I’m going to die, I’m dying fighting. And that’s where my mindset was like, I didn’t trust anybody, I didn’t, it was like, okay, God, come on, let’s, let’s take on the world. Let’s what’s going on? And, and my wife wasn’t with me. And that’s, you know, my riding partner. So she, you know, so it was just chaos and, I wouldn’t wish anything on anybody. So when she guy’s as smart as she is, when she got Charles on the phone and she said, Charles, that was just a comforting moment for me. You know, Charles is I mean, he was just. Okay, great.

Sharon Cline: Well, imagine if all of these people all over are going to the hospital everywhere. You are just one of many. Yeah. And they’re just trying to, you know, how do you know that they really are in touch with you. And you’re not just patient in this room that they’re trying to keep alive for this moment when they’re already strapped and already stressed. And you just want that reassurance that you’re not just one of many, that you really are being seen and understood. I mean, it’s a very vulnerable position to be in.

Rick Martin: And that’s, that’s you’re, you’re absolutely right. And that’s one of the things my wife read. She said, you know, whenever she talked to the staff, she was trying to encourage her staff, Look, he’s a husband. He’s a father of two. This man has a family waiting for him, you know. Personalize him. And that’s what it took, because the staff was, like, under so much stress, so much pressure, so much because they had their own families. And keep in mind, I mean, staff was, was, was quitting. I mean, there were nurses not showing up or so from what I heard and gathered. Right. And so it was, it was chaos, you know, and you, you watched and saw so much on the news, but you didn’t know which hospitals affected or impacted and what have you.

Sharon Cline: How sick, how sick did you get? How sick were you?

Rick Martin: I got so sick that I was in a hospital for 17 days. Of those 17 days, I spent five days on a ventilator. I was intubated. I was placed in a medically induced coma, only to wake up on January 1st, 2021 to a respiratory therapist pulling the tube out of me. And that’s when I jarred open, awake and I said, please call my wife. Please call my wife. And the respiratory therapist said to me, Mr. Martin, thank you for talking back to me. Many of these I’ve taken out. They don’t talk back, which indicated that she had a lot of deceased and you know it. I mean that that was what it was like. That was real. That was life. And, uh, we were dealing with it.

Sharon Cline: You slowly got better after that.

Rick Martin: After that, slowly got better. Um, you know, my, um. I was just weak. You know what happens when you’re on a ventilator? Um, you lose all muscle mass, and. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know what happens to you. Right. I’ve never been intubated before. So in losing all muscle mass, I couldn’t move my arms or anything. So I had to go through rehab, but didn’t see rehab for a day or two. Someone didn’t come. So I’m sitting still, lying still. And I did, you know, figure that out. Like, why am I not moving? Why can’t I move? Am I paralyzed? I’m trying to figure that out. Um, so I ended up seeing rehab going through that. And then after a period of time, um, I had to be sent to a rehabilitation center for continued rehabilitation.

Sharon Cline: Could you even believe this? Do you know what I mean? Like you hear about it and it affects some people. They would test positive because they wanted to go somewhere and they wouldn’t have one symptom. And then other people, you know, suffered.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah, I, you know, I, I, I couldn’t believe as a matter of fact, you know, when I woke up, I was telling my wife about my dreams. I was telling my wife about, hey, honey, I think I’m going to get the job. She’s like, what are you talking about? I said, yeah, I think I’m going to get the job. Yeah, president Biden was trying to, uh, he’s interviewing me for a us US government today job. He wants to start a new network for the government. And, you know, so I’m auditioning and. Oh, yeah, I mean, the dream was good.

Sharon Cline: You’re famous in your church.

Rick Martin: So I was I was like, man, wow. So she’s and my wife. My wife was like, no, no, you’re really sick. You’re sick.

Sharon Cline: Don’t you wonder why all of those kinds of lucid dreams would come to you like that? It’s crazy. Right?

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, it’s all the medication they put you on.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. What’s real and what isn’t, though. It’s so crazy.

Rick Martin: Absolutely. You know, I mean, I was on fentanyl, uh, and yeah, I mean, they. Yeah, they gave me some serious stuff.

Sharon Cline: Did you feel like there was a period of your life where it was before Covid? After Covid, because I see this book and how much this has. I mean, it’s it’s stirred your soul so hard enough to, to actually write, which is a daunting task as it is to write a book. But knowing that this was a before and after period for you must have been just the impact of it must have been upending, basically upending the way you were before. So to a new normal.

Rick Martin: So to to tell you the truth, um, I the book wasn’t my idea. I, I was not looking to write a book. Um, you know, I felt, I felt like a victim when I, you know, from the situation, I felt victimized. I wanted to go bury myself in a hole. Um, I wanted to hide. Um, and that’s what traumatic situations tend to do to you. Um, I, I keep in mind when I got sick, I was the spokesman for the county government. So I was one of the most visible people that works for the county. I was a man busy enough that I needed two phones so I could be immediately held. At a moment’s notice I went from being seen to. Not by the snap of a finger, and it was at no fault of my own. Mentally I wasn’t in a good place, and that’s. I’ll tell you now. As a result, that’s why I’m an advocate for mental health, and I’ll elaborate more. But I was not in a good place, and. When I had to figure what happened to me. Yeah, man, I mean, while I was in rehabilitation, my wife and daughters would come visit and they weren’t allowed to come in and I kind of lost it, I lost it, I was trying to throw the chairs. I was threatening the staff. I was, I was angry, I was hostile, I was I need my wife. My wife is my life. I need her. And they wouldn’t let her in, I was angry.

Sharon Cline: You reached your limit. You reached your limit.

Rick Martin: I did, I did. You know, there was a time where my wife, the first time my wife and my daughters came to the outside the building on a glass. And my daughters were 13 and 15 at the time. And as they were there, um, you know, I came to them at my walker and touched the glass and we, we were trying to figure out because I couldn’t hear her, they couldn’t hear me. And I’m like, oh, cell phones. You figured the cell phone. So that’s how we were commuting. Audio. So we met and asked, you know, exchanged pleasantries and the girl’s dad, how are you doing? I said, hey, daddy’s good. Daddy’s good. You know, I’m kind of, you know, not telling the truth. You know, tell your daughters the truth at a time like that, right? So as we’re there, a vehicle drives behind me, behind them in the parking lot. Now they’re in the back of the the building at a rehabilitation center. So it’s not a public parking per se. And this van drove up behind and my wife looks at me, I look at her, she looks at the vehicle and she goes, I think we better go. And I was like, man, really? She said, yeah. And I said, okay, because she has two intuition. She’s pretty good at figuring things out. So she takes the girls. She leaves as she leaves, two men get out the vehicle. I said two men get out the vehicle. They put on PPE, protective personal equipment. They go to the back of the van and pull out a stretcher. They ended up coming into the side building of the hall and they rolled out a body. And as they rolled out the body, I’m looking at this and my instincts began rolling. I had my cell phone, so I began rolling, videotaped it, and I kept thinking, I don’t want that to be me. I don’t want that to be me.

Sharon Cline: It’s so real to see it like that.

Rick Martin: Never be me.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Rick Martin: You know, I said nobody’s going to roll me out like that. And then something hit me. I’m like, I’m fighting. I’m like, no, I’m not going to be rolled out like that. And, uh, yeah, and I remember I’m like, you know, it’s just something flipped in me a flipped me. I’m like, nobody’s going to forget I’m here. I’m alive. Um, Um, and I’m thinking now, how am I going to fight? You know, the public has to know what’s going on. You know, they’re not going to sneak in and take bodies out. No that’s not. So I called a friend of mine who’s a at the time, um, senior vice president of CNN, who’s a mentor of mine, uh, Rick Davis. And I explained to Rick, I said, Rick, you know, man, I know what’s going on, but hey, man, I’m, I’m, I’m hemmed up, man. I almost died from Covid. I’m in a rehab center. I’m getting help. And, and, you know, they just rolled the body up from the floor. And this is not a good situation. And I think the story needs to be out, but I don’t want to, um, you know, my, my wife and my kids, they’re, they, they, I need, you know, they need privacy. So I’m trying to think how to do. Help me, help me through this, please. So we went through some scenarios and discussions and talked and, you know, ended up, you know, Georgia Public Broadcasting was the choice. And, um, Wayne Drash wrote a wrote a heck of an article and then we reconnected, um, you know, because we worked at CNN together so nice and wrote the story and it was just a beautiful, accurate story, you know, of what’s going on and what have you. And, um.

Sharon Cline: How did that feel to tell your side?

Rick Martin: You know, it was the beginning of the medicine.

Sharon Cline: Oh, the truth. Yeah. Was like a medicine.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah, it was, it was the beginning of, for me, my medicine. It was cathartic. It was someone cared. And that’s what I mean by medicine, right? Sometimes, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s how you’re treated. Right. And, and so, yeah, I’d heard my story.

Sharon Cline: What did you feel like the public wasn’t really getting the truth about what were you able to share with them that only you would have been able to. To tell?

Rick Martin: That. This people were dying.

Sharon Cline: They’re coming to the backs of buildings to take bodies out. So.

Rick Martin: Exactly.

Sharon Cline: So people don’t see.

Rick Martin: Yeah. And, and this is a situation where, you know, you see what the public didn’t know was you don’t know everyone’s health history. People could look at me and I would appear healthy and look healthy. Right? But you don’t know I have five, six surgeries.

Sharon Cline: Or have asthma.

Rick Martin: You don’t know if I have asthma? Yeah. You know. Exactly. And that’s what the problem is. So we know that Covid was attacking people with preexisting conditions and people. So you don’t know people with preexisting conditions. So, you know, and everyone’s trying to protect their privacy. So it just, you know, I don’t know, it was it, it’s.

Sharon Cline: So glad you had that opportunity. First of all, the context to do it, which is just how amazing to be able to get people to rally for you when you were already feeling so physically compromised, you know?

Rick Martin: Exactly, exactly. I think.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, being able to tell people, tell people what you knew. I love that the truth was medicine to you.

Rick Martin: Yeah. And, and you know, what spoke volumes to was the relationships formed. Like, you know, these, these people didn’t have to Hear my story. These people, like I showed up in their lives in a way that they cared about me. And I think that speaks to the story of really, Rick Martin. And. If I showed up enough where they stood up for me. Man, that gives me chills. Um. I’ve lived life. I’ve lived my life, you know, I. So all this was, you know, the article and stuff and people responding on Facebook and stuff like that. You know, when I eventually got home. Um, a buddy of mine was checking in on me. He was a novelist, right? We worked together at NBC way back. Jeffrey Blunt is his name. Uh, Geoffrey. You know, checked on me and what have you. And we talked and I talked more about what it was like, you know, and he’s like, man, have you thought of wanting to write a book? I’m like, I don’t know, man, I don’t know. I don’t know about reliving that trauma. Right? You know, and going through that again, I don’t know. But what I learned. Was that in writing a book and I asked him, I’m like, well, what kind of book would it be? And he said, he said it would be a memoir.

Rick Martin: You’d tell your life story. And I said, my life really? And I didn’t even see myself like that, I really didn’t. I’m like, man, Colin Powell writes memoirs. You know, John Lewis writes memoirs, man. Tiger Woods writes memoirs, man. Rick Martin. Come on now. I didn’t see that. But I’ll tell you, a friend of mine. I don’t know, man. This was all a spiritual journey. A friend of mine named James Taylor. God just placed his name on my heart. James Taylor. James Taylor, James Taylor. James Taylor. James was a buddy who had produced a book before, and he said he only did one book. James is a graphic design artist. And you know, I didn’t have any money, but I’m like, James, you know, do you think you could help me? So I just need to know how much it costs. James. Any, any. And he said, well, yeah, I think I could do this. And I’m like, James built that graphic you see in holding and it it did. And he said, well, you know, tell me your vision. And I said, you know, man, basically it’s just from despair to triumph. And I gave him the pictures and he put it together. And when I saw it, it literally brought tears to my eyes.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I can only imagine.

Rick Martin: It brought tears to my eyes because I know he saw something that I didn’t and couldn’t. Whatever blinders I just. I didn’t see it.

Sharon Cline: That’s why I love that because so many people, God makes them all different, you know, but to.

Rick Martin: Be.

Sharon Cline: You know, someone could could see something you can’t. But he they’re needed. You’re needed. He’s needed in order to, to help each other.

Rick Martin: And it’s, it’s so funny. Like he, he’s, he, because I know it’s for him. It’s just, you know, his work. Yeah, yeah.

Sharon Cline: For me more than that. Yeah, yeah.

Rick Martin: For me, man, you changed my life, bro. Bro, you made me live, man. I know he’s tired of me, right?

Sharon Cline: He’s seriously talking about me again.

Rick Martin: He helped me, lost my mind. He helped me lose my mind. Like I’m just like, you don’t understand. You don’t.

Sharon Cline: But you know what? The themes I think are so important that you touched on it really is, uh, facing death makes you think about life differently, right? How many of us have rebirths of our lives and stories and chapters of our lives that have the exact same theme of rebuilding or a change? So even if your story can’t be exactly replicated, the themes of them can be understood by anybody.

Rick Martin: It it can. And, you know, people have heard this before, like resilience. We had our word a lot. But resilience can come in different forms and that’s what makes it different. And what made my journey incredibly, incredibly powerful and uplifting. Are the people that got me to where I am today. The people who got me. Now I’m not just talking my wife and my daughters, right? I’m talking people who helped support me, encourage me. You know, um, Wayne Drash wrote the article of Georgia Public Broadcasting. I ended up tracking him down because I needed another editor to go through, and he chipped in.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Rick Martin: You know, gave me the family discount, but he chipped in and, you know, to, to edit and you know, I’m like, wow.

Sharon Cline: You were loved on. You were, you were loved.

Rick Martin: Yeah. You know. Yeah. Yeah, that’s exactly it. I was loved on where I was loved on at a time where I felt the earth left me. And I was left to be buried.

Sharon Cline: At your lowest, lowest.

Rick Martin: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: Most vulnerable. Right.

Rick Martin: It. It. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there’s a quote now for me. I was ten years old when I personally accepted Christ as my savior. And what I learned from this ordeal. That I was committed to my ego. You know, through the job titles I had, through the organizations I worked for. And I was so committed to the brand and the titles that after this ordeal, I’m now committed to my faith and family. So if I had to do it all over again, I would if I could be the person I am today. And I know that’s hard to believe. But I thank God he allowed me to be the person I am today because I interact with so many people. To encourage them to love on them and just get them out of the rut that they’re in.

Sharon Cline: The business of being a human, that can just derail anybody’s thought processes and can take over. And even just an attitude change can make everything good or bad.

Rick Martin: Absolutely. Your attitude is altitude. You know, I just and I just love helping and raising people’s, you know, attitude, especially when they’re down. Oh, totally. Totally.

Sharon Cline: When you look at how you interacted with people and your job and the county before, how do you, how do you approach it now? Like, I know that you said you love on people, but. Do you do you feel a different sense of peace, I guess?

Rick Martin: Yeah. Yeah. Um. What I could tell you now. So I’m no longer working for the county. Um. I need peace in my life. Whatever I do now. I could tell you that whatever I do for a living now, you know, I’m consulting. But if I’m to become employed, there’s got to be a peace. Like I won’t tolerate gaslighting, rudeness, disrespectfulness.

Sharon Cline: No, the, um. The way people can backstab to get ahead like that price is just too high.

Rick Martin: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I’m I’m all about a healthy environment. Yeah. Healthy is it?

Sharon Cline: Who would have ever thought that going through something like this would have landed you here, even in the studio today. It’s it’s kind of, um, amazing, you know? So like, I wonder at things like this. It’s just like, it’s a wondrous thing.

Rick Martin: It is, it is, it really is. Um, you know, I’ll tell you now, you know, I live truly a purpose driven life. Um, I used to be very intense at home with the family and stuff, and now everything’s cool.

Sharon Cline: You don’t like, you don’t sweat the small stuff, so to speak.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah. I’m like, we’ll get through this. We’ll get through this, we’ll get through this.

Sharon Cline: Okay?

Rick Martin: It’ll be okay. We’ll get through this. Yeah, definitely. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: What do you think? Um. What do you wish that you had known before this happened? That you wish you could tell people now, like the lesson that you learned so that someone doesn’t have to face this kind of moment of death for them to be able to glean, glean, and learn something from your experience and your wisdom. What would you want them to know?

Rick Martin: I’m glad you asked, honestly, and I don’t. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. And I’m going to say this to men, you know. So I want men to hear me loud and clearly. Get mental health care. Um, we live hard lives, tough lives at the same time. We wear a mask.

Sharon Cline: Everything’s fine.

Rick Martin: Everything’s a mask. We walk around like we got it handled. We walk around like everything’s fine. Not a big deal. We got this. You know, we got it handled. It’s okay when you know, stuff hits the fan. Um. And there’s chaos, and we don’t have all the answers. We end up carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders, and it’s too much. And I’m here to tell you it’s too much. Um, I needed mental health care coming out from the trauma. Our brains are not able to handle this kind of trauma and normalcy, And I had to seek the treatment necessary. And it’s important, you know, there’s a difference between counseling and therapy and psychiatry. You know, um, psychiatry is when medicine is provided, you know. Um, and what have you. And then some people need that medicine because the trauma is so severe that the brain chemicals have been altered. And when brain chemicals are altered, you need to get the chemicals back in order for you to sustain a reasonable life.

Sharon Cline: Not a failure either, because there’s such a stigma with things like that.

Rick Martin: Exactly. And, and what I want to encourage people to do is look, be the advocate for yourself. Be that. Stop listening to people. Believe in yourself and people you trust. See your physician. Your your primary care physician. Your your health care. You know, and from that point, you know, you see a counselor, see a psychiatrist. Do your homework, read. It’s so important. And, um, really, all of this is what got me, like, here to the studio. I mean, I was on a television show, talk show this week, earlier this week. I did another radio interview. I’ve been doing interviews for a year since the launch of the book. I never imagined like an end. I’ll be honest. I’ll be so honest. There was a part of me that didn’t even want to talk about mental health because I was a journalist and I’m like, no, no, no, no. I don’t need. But you know what? After this experience, I’m telling you, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m all in, you know, and I. I challenge somebody that would have an issue with discussing mental health, you know? And I remember I used to be one of those like, oh, no, no, I don’t want to. I don’t want to. No, no, no.

Sharon Cline: It’s funny when you resist something so hard, it’s almost like the only way to stop resisting and and actually is, is to embrace it. And then the, the good things come by embracing it. But I have the same thing. I have the big hard no and no, no, no, I got it. I’m gonna do it this way. And yeah. And no, I don’t want to talk about it like that. And but it’s almost like the harder the no is, the more I’m supposed to do it.

Rick Martin: Exactly. And, and it goes and spiritually speaking, let go, let God. And that’s really what I had to do And I am.

Sharon Cline: I bet you’ve heard story after story after story of people who needed someone to normalize that topic.

Rick Martin: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: For men, I think it’s hard for men in so many different ways. Hard for women, but hard for men in so many different ways, too.

Rick Martin: Because we’ve grew up and were trained differently. You know that that’s the bottom line, you know? So it’s from generation to generation to generation. But I’m here to tell, you know, you got to do it differently. Really, you know, um, definitely.

Sharon Cline: I love that you’re a spokesperson, an unintended spokesperson for a topic that, um, feels like it’s time has come.

Rick Martin: Yeah, it really has. Um, and you know Yeah, I, you know, I mean, this is the first podcast that I’m like so comfortable and open, you know, and I think probably because, you know, I, I don’t know, it’s, you know, you’re really good at what you do.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Rick Martin: So I applaud you.

Sharon Cline: Well, thanks, but wait, we got that recorded, I’m sure, but. Wait. My ego.

Rick Martin: Well, well, you know.

Sharon Cline: I’m just kidding. Hey.

Rick Martin: Listen, you know, I’m a happily married man of two daughters. So women is boss, right?

Sharon Cline: Thank you. This is the best interview I’ve done. Woman is yours.

Rick Martin: Woman’s boss. Man.

Sharon Cline: Hey.

Rick Martin: It took me to be on my deathbed to get that straight. Okay? Woman is boss.

Sharon Cline: Well, I think what’s interesting about it, too, is, like, even though a lot of people look at ego as being, you know, it can be taken too far and can be, you know, your foibles can all come from you. But there is a healthy sense of ego and a healthy sense of self-esteem that that can be used for good. Yes. You know, and, and you seem to be the kind of person that would be very conscious of whether you’re in alignment with yourself or not.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. You know, I think, I think, you know, feeling sort of proud of, um, the accomplishments of overcoming such great adversity is something you care that ego with and you’re helping any and everyone who’s going through a difficult time get through it, you know? I mean, that’s what I wanted to tell you. So there’s a quote, uh, in my book, you know. Oh, yeah. So, you know, I talk about how far ago I accepted Christ as a kid, but I was suffering so badly in that hospital like I wanted the Lord to either heal me or kill me, like the suffering that I was feeling. Being alone, I couldn’t see. I wear glasses, as you can see. I didn’t have my glasses so I can’t see anything. So talk about being vulnerable. I can’t see and there are no windows. There’s no light. There’s no. And the quote I have. There’s nothing like knocking on death’s door. Only to have your Lord and Savior turn you away. And what I mean by that is I wanted to sit with people. And the way you make it sit is. I wanted to enter the gates of heaven to get away from the suffering. That’s how big my ego was. Let me in, let me in! No. God has more work for me to do. He brought me. He wanted me to go back. So I did. I didn’t want to come back.

Sharon Cline: You had to fight.

Rick Martin: But you know, he didn’t give me a choice, right? So. Okay.

Sharon Cline: You’re doing, do you? Because it sounds like to me that you’re doing what God wants you to do with it. I mean, this is like a vocation now.

Rick Martin: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Exactly. You, you. That’s it, that’s it. That’s the context of my life. I mean, I never imagined writing a book. I wrote my memoir. That’s crazy to me.

Sharon Cline: Oh.

Rick Martin: Oh, and let me tell you, when I wrote let me tell you how God is working in my life. I wrote and launched that memoir March 26th, 2025. Two months later, a New York City publishing company, Morgan Jane’s Publishing, signed me to a book deal in June.

Sharon Cline: Wow.

Rick Martin: So we have the latest edition of unmasked, and the titles changed a little bit. Unmasked. How one man overcame death with the power of family, faith and forgiveness. It’s coming out later this year.

Sharon Cline: Oh my goodness. Yeah. You never would have thought that would ever happen. Isn’t that amazing? I don’t know. You’re right. I’m amazed.

Rick Martin: I am, I am too, because I don’t. That’s that’s real. It’s real.

Sharon Cline: It’s funny, I, I talk about this a lot in over the years that I’ve done this podcast that I think we’re here to help each other. Yeah. Um, because I think it’s very hard to be a human on the planet and that when you find something that you believe in and really want and only you know this, really want what’s good for other people. I mean, you know, if it’s a sacred something to you, right? And God is part of it. It’ll go where he wants it to go.

Rick Martin: That’s true.

Sharon Cline: And it’s so neat to actually see it, you know, in real time with your life.

Rick Martin: That’s true. Thank you, thank you.

Sharon Cline: Oh, that was a that was an amen from from God.

Rick Martin: I think so.

Speaker 4: I don’t actually.

Sharon Cline: Know what.

Speaker 4: That was. Wow.

Sharon Cline: Something fell in the studio, which is kind of unusual. Um, well, no, I mean, it sounds it sounds to me like the transformation that you’ve gone through has almost like what I consider a f the phoenix, you know, where everything that wasn’t necessary for you in your life got burned away and you became even a purer version of you.

Rick Martin: Yeah. Yeah, I really think so. And oh, yeah, I’m taking good care of my health. You know, I’m trying to work on doing my walks. I used to walk a lot. Um. And you’re picking up walking. Um, I do, uh, biofeedback treatments, you know, homeopathic care. And, you know, I do a lot to, you know.

Speaker 4: Take care of myself.

Rick Martin: Yeah.

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Sharon Cline: I’m sure. One scary flu, you know, probably be terrifying, you know, given what you’ve been through.

Rick Martin: Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: So every day, every day that you’re healthy is like a good day.

Rick Martin: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Sharon Cline: I need to hear that because I can be all grumpy about things. But the truth is, if you don’t have your health, there’s a lot more to be upset about.

Rick Martin: Your health is your wealth really? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Well, before we wrap up, which I hate to have it end because I’m enjoying this conversation so much. Um, is there something you would like to tell the listeners? Um, about like where they can find your book and, and, um, and find more information about you.

Rick Martin: Sure, sure. Um, my book’s website is Rick Martin media.com. Um, you can find me there. Uh, also, I have a book crowd funding platform on publishing or publicizing.

Speaker 4: I saw it, I thought that was amazing.

Rick Martin: Yeah, I would just Google, you know, Rick Martin en masse and publicize her. You know, I encourage you to preorder the, uh, next edition of unmasked later this year. Um, and I am traveling and speaking and sharing my story. Um, so you can make requests to, on Rick Martin Media.com and I’d be happy to consider coming out. You know what’s cool about this? You know, with me speaking is that, um, at the end after I speak, I turn the tables as a spokesman for county government. I allow people to answer to, um, ask questions. Um, and it’s kind of cool because nothing’s off the table so they can act like a reporter. Great engagement for all those who attend.

Sharon Cline: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. Something that could have taken you down and turned you to a very bitter and victim kind of mentality person that would have done nothing good for your spirit or the world. You chose the higher ground and you. You believed in your love of your family and love of the people around you so much. And it bolstered you to fight and and now you get to fight for people who don’t have that opportunity and maybe don’t have the voice that you do to affect people, the quality of people’s lives by loving them too, in their own way.

Rick Martin: Well, this has been awesome. Now, thank you so much for having me. Um, it was truly a pleasure. Thank you and honor to be here and, uh. Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: Well, come, come back. I would love to hear more about like when your, your next book launches. I would love to hear about, um, sort of your journey and the things that you’re learning along the way because it’s not over. That’s true. There’s more coming.

Rick Martin: The story is continuing. Oh, yeah.

Sharon Cline: Well, thank you all too for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day. Usually I have music playing at that party. I don’t know why it’s not playing, but anyway, it’s over. That was so fun. That was. I wanted to ask you more questions, I wanted. I always forget to ask this, but like the show’s fearless formula, like what is your fearless formula? I like to ask that question.

Rick Martin: Yeah, no.

Sharon Cline: It’s still running. I could splice it in.

Rick Martin: Okay.

Sharon Cline: What is your fearless formula? Rick Martin.

Rick Martin: Help me. I don’t even understand what’s.

Sharon Cline: If there was something that you do that’s a good. That’s actually a good question. Is there something that you do that allows you to face. What is a normal fear for people like public speaking or like fear of death things, things that normally take people down? What is your formula that you put together that fights that?

Rick Martin: It’s called the laser strategy. The laser strategy actually is a specific guiding tool of principles that helps individuals get over stress before stress takes over them. Um, it’s an acronym stands for listen, assess, support, execute and respond. And I work with a team that helps people deal with their stress and difficult situations. My wife and I were able to develop it in 2009 when it was at CNN. No. Yeah. No way.

Sharon Cline: You actually really have a formula. Yeah. It’s not just like an idea. That’s actually like a real. I think you might be the first person I’ve ever asked that question to where you’re like, oh, no, I know.

Rick Martin: You just can’t be focused on managing your stress. You got to be laser focused. And the reason laser works for your brain because when you feel stress, you receive some bad news or anger. You got to listen first. You want to close your mouth shut, listen. So you know, you can begin to process, to engage in the calming effect of your body and the stress that’s compounding on it.

Sharon Cline: You’re taking that the information out of your limbic system fight or flight, and you’re using the higher functioning of your brain.

Rick Martin: Yes. Listen. And then a, you assess, take a diagnostic examination of exactly what’s causing the stress. Right? What is it? Is it, you know, really the words that were said to you, really the feeling, what’s causing that stress, maybe the lack of sleep. You didn’t have s support. Ask for help. Don’t suffer in silence. Ask for help. E execute. Winning coaches will tell you. You don’t just have a plan or a play. You got to execute it. The players have to execute the play. And then our respond and what you’re responding to you’re responding to. The whole guidance of the principals.

Sharon Cline: Not just that response.

Rick Martin: Right? Yes.

Sharon Cline: And really.

Rick Martin: Yeah. Review how things are going. You know, what’s working for you, what’s not working. What can you do to avoid similar situations? Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Well, I’m so glad. I’m so glad that I asked you. Thank you. I’m going to tag this on the end, but thank you so much, Rick, I love that. I hope people listen to that and can take that in, not just in um, I mean, for mental health reasons. Yeah. You know, I mean, just the not just everyday fears, but like there are times where like you said, a bad news, anything even feeling bad about myself, about something, I can still use that absolutely. Uh, tool. I like tools.

Rick Martin: Yeah, yeah. And that’s exactly what it is.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, I like tools.

Rick Martin: So I’m, I’m, I share that. And that’s part of my mantra for, you know, what happens everyone. Everyone doesn’t always like to say the word mental health, right? Mental because of the stigma. So what I do is I talk about stress. I’ll bring up stress.

Sharon Cline: Everybody knows stress.

Rick Martin: Everybody knows stress. Everyone can relate to stress. People will react differently to the word stress rather than mental health. So I just talk about stress, right? Talking about the same thing. But stress makes you feel better. Stressed then. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Here’s what you do when you’re stressed.

Rick Martin: Exactly.

Sharon Cline: Not having a mental breakdown. Just stress.

Rick Martin: Exactly.

Sharon Cline: Thank you. Rick.

Rick Martin: Ah. My pleasure.

Sharon Cline: Okay, we’re done now.

Rick Martin: Okay.

BRX Pro Tip: The Membership Model

March 9, 2026 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: The Membership Model

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BRX Pro Tip: The Membership Model

Stone Payton : And we’re back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I’ve had some success here locally with the Community Partner Program. We’ve had some success more globally with the network, but let’s talk about it a little bit, the idea of the membership business model.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. So, something to think about. And a lot of people who are just in business selling a thing or a service, they’re not looking at their business kind of holistically. And is it possible to create a membership model around your business instead of having your business built on one-off transactions, one at a time?

Lee Kantor: Most people, they sell a project, they deliver the project, and then they have to go on and find another client to sell a project, deliver a project. And that’s tough. It’s hard. It’s unpredictable. But is it possible to take what you’re doing or some of what you’re doing and turn it into some sort of recurring revenue with a membership model?

Lee Kantor: Some things to think about if you’re considering that is what problem do my clients have that doesn’t go away after one transaction? Is there something that you can be doing to help them month after month, just kind of on autopilot, that’s already built into the type of activities you’re already doing?

Lee Kantor: Is it possible to package what you’re doing as ongoing value rather than just solving a specific problem one time? Can you incorporate monthly strategy calls, regular content, accountability, coaching, community access, priority support, any type of ongoing implementation? Is it possible to just kind of layer all of those value propositions into a package that can help somebody on a regular basis, so they know they can just call you and it’s taken care of? It’s kind of like you’re being on retainer for these kinds of activities.

Lee Kantor: And it’s clear to know if you’re considering a membership model, who are my best clients? Who would pay for more consistent access to me? Start with a handful of clients, you know, maybe five of them. Test the model before you kind of dive in full bore. Just see if there’s an interest in a handful of people just willing to pay you just to have access to you.

Lee Kantor: And the key to any type of membership model is thinking about what type of ongoing value you can provide for people that would keep them paying month after month. And that’s something that you always have to kind of keep adjusting and keep adding to. You want to be so valuable and so sticky that they’re not even considering turning off the spigot there.

Lee Kantor: So, if you’re solving a recurring problem or delivering continuous results, then you’ll have the opportunity to kind of leverage a membership model if you play your cards right.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Connecting Community, Culture, and History at the Fort Bend Museum

March 9, 2026 by angishields

Houston Business Radio

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Connecting Community, Culture, and History at the Fort Bend Museum

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Growing up in Houston, Madeleine Calcote-Garcia had access to some of the finest museums in the world. Visiting those venerable institutions as a child had a lasting impact that influenced her professional choices.

Today, Madeleine stands out for her ability to build and maintain community relationships. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art History with a focus in Museum Studies from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Previously, she has worked for the Salado Museum and College Park, the Martin Museum of Art at Baylor University, the Dr. Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute in Waco, the Mississippi Arts Commission, and the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.

She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Fort Bend History Association in Richmond, Texas.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleine-calcote-garcia-b38a33346/
Website: http://www.fortbendmuseum.org

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest, Madeleine Calcote-Garcia, executive director for the Fort Bend History Association and the Fort Bend Museum in Richmond, Texas. Growing up in Houston, Madeleine was shaped early by world class museums experiences that sparked a lifelong commitment to preserving and sharing history. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history with a focus on museum studies from Millsaps College and a master’s degree in museum studies from Baylor University. Her career spans respected institutions across Texas and Mississippi, including the Mississippi Museum of Art, the doctor Pepper Museum and the Martin Museum of Art at Baylor. Today, she leads the Fort Bend History Association, strengthening community connections, preserving local stories, and ensuring that Fort Bend’s history remains accessible, relevant, and alive. Madeleine, welcome to the show.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Trisha, for having me. I am excited to share a little more about the Fort Bend History Association with your listeners.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited to have you on the show. When we talked a few weeks back, I was like, yes, you have to come on and talk about the museum. So Madeleine, I know I talked a whole lot about your history and where you come from, but we’d love to get to know you just a little bit more. So what else can you tell us about Madeleine?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yeah. So I grew up, uh, in the Houston area. So I was lucky enough to grow up going to some of the Houston museums. And that really inspired my love of history and art. And once I realized that you could pursue a career in museums, I very, uh, you know, quickly realized that that was what I wanted to do. I didn’t know what it would look like. Uh, but I was lucky enough to be able to pursue that as my career. And, um, most of my career has been in history museums. Uh, it’s been a lot of fun so far. And I currently live in Sugarland with my husband and three rescue dogs. And for fun, we go to museums, um, and of course, hang out with the dogs. And we love going to any and all like cultural arts, theater, music stuff. Um, we definitely love the, uh, museum and art scene in the Houston area.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh my gosh. And it’s such an amazing place for those kinds of activities as well.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you for being a rescue mom. That’s fun.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: We could talk for babies.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yes, absolutely. That’s a whole other topic.

Speaker 4: The whole other topic.

Trisha Stetzel: I would tell us a little bit more why history was so interesting to you. So what is it about history that really pulled you in and made you want to do this work?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yeah, that’s a great question. Um, so a lot of people think that history is dates, um, which it is some dates, but really that’s not what interested me. Um, history is just a collection of stories. And I find that the stories centering around the people are what make history interesting. So, uh, I was lucky enough to be homeschooled, so I had a kind of nontraditional education and, uh, my mom was my teacher. And so she allowed me to, uh, pursue some sort of independent studies. So, uh, instead of having a research paper with a prescribed topic that I had to write about, I was able to pick which topic I wanted to write about. And so I had the freedom early on to, uh, get really interested in research and also research what I was interested in. And so that is what really got me into art history. Um, I, one of my favorite artists is Edgar Degas and, uh, I wrote lots of research papers about him and Impressionism. And so, uh, I was lucky that I was able to focus on my interests and that really set me up to, uh, pursue this museum career. Um, you know, I could go to the museums to look at the art, but then I also got really interested in what was going on in, uh, the, so like socially when the artists were creating, like, how did that impact their artwork? What did their lives look like? All these just different things that made them into the artist that they were. And so again, it just goes back to the people and the stories. That’s what is so interesting.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh my gosh, Madeleine, I wish that one of my history teachers would have told me that it’s about the stories. I was not a very good history student when I was growing up. I was not very interested. But as I’ve gotten older, certainly I’m way more interested. And I love that you framed it as stories and not so much about the dates. It’s amazing. Um, you’ve had the opportunity to work in museums across even multiple states and even be a part of other museums as a patron. So what makes local and even regional history so uniquely powerful?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Oh, man, that’s such a good question and such a hard question. Um. So history is important because I think that everyone should know about where they personally come from, but also where they live. So, uh, you know, Houston has a, a huge immigrant population. It’s a really cool place to live because we have people from so many different places who all live in the same area. And so while, uh, you know, we have people from all over the world coming to live in this area, we want to be able to tell them about, about Fort Bend County, about the Houston area, about Texas. And I think that that is where local museums really play. An important part is about providing a community space for people to come in and learn about the area they’re living in. And there’s so many big stories that happened in Fort Bend County, specifically that I think a lot of people don’t know about, and they actually impacted us history as a whole. So there were some really important civil rights activists who started out in Fort Bend County. And they’re a big reason why. Uh, we had the civil rights movement and why African Americans gained the right to vote. Um, during the 1960s. So, um, there are lots of interesting things that you can learn and it makes you look at where you live a little bit differently and maybe makes you appreciate some of the, the things that you see around, around town.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Um, and two, I think comparing local like museums to some bigger museums, the bigger museums are amazing and they do such important work, but it’s a lot of the local museums that save, uh, the smaller stories and the smaller history. So, uh, not all of us can be at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Um, so we want to work to save the small stories and we want to provide a space for the school kids to come. So not everybody can travel into Houston. So we get a lot of local school kids that come for fourth and seventh grade to learn about Texas history. And, uh, it’s important for them to have that space to come and feel comfortable in a museum so that hopefully they’ll come back again later. Um, but a lot of times we get, uh, grown ups who came to our field trips and they’re coming back with their kids and they talk about how they churned butter when they were there in fourth grade, and now they’re churning butter with their fourth grader. So, um, having that continuity is really important. Um, and sorry, I kind of went off on a tangent. Um, I think it’s great.

Trisha Stetzel: You’re covering all of the things I wanted to ask you, so we’ll just roll with it. It’s just great. Uh, because I really wanted to dive into, you know, what is it about the Fort Bend Museum that makes it special? Why do people want to come back and bring their kids back. So continue what you were saying. It’s great.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: So one of the big things that we do is we have a really robust field trip program. Um, Texas, uh, has a lot of really rich history. And, uh, we, uh, the school kids focus on that in fourth and seventh grade. So most of our field trips are from those two, um, grade levels, but we get, uh, we get all different schools in so public, private homeschool groups, all that stuff. And it’s so important for kids to be able to learn in a more informal setting outside of the classroom. That’s something I’m really passionate about because of my nontraditional education of being homeschooled. Um, I think it’s so important for kids to see that and be able to get excited about learning and also realize that you can learn outside of the classroom and you can learn by doing hands on activities, even if they may not think of it that way when they’re doing it. Um, so for example, a couple of the things the kids get to do when they come visit us. They get to churn butter. Um, they get to grind up corn and they get to do old fashioned laundry. Um, that’s our, uh, one of our chores programs, but they, they get to do lots of other things too. So they get to play Victorian games.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Um, so they’re running all over the yard having fun. And so they don’t even realize that they’re learning when they’re, um, playing all these Victorian games, but it makes them, uh, think a little differently about the toys we have now. Like all of the Victorian games are made out of wood. What are your toys made out of? Probably not. Would you know? And so, um, it’s really fun to get to see some of that click with the kids. And I hope that we are building some future museum goers. Um, because, uh, it is, it is something that we see that sometimes grown ups don’t feel comfortable in museums. They feel like they have to be quiet. They feel like they can’t necessarily appreciate, uh, the exhibits because they may not know about stuff. And that’s totally fine. We don’t think that people are going to come in knowing everything, but that feeling of comfort starts when they’re a kid. Um, it’s a space of learning. We’re not expecting you to be a professor and come in and be able to engage a super, super high level on a discussion of academic rigor. And so, uh, I just, I hope that’s what we’re providing for these kids is that entrance into museums and into learning.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that, okay, adults, we’re not judging. There’s no judgment here. Yeah.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Not at all.

Trisha Stetzel: Visit how? Talk to me a little bit about how we’re able to get people to slow down and come to a museum. Everything is so fast and digital and we’ve got our phones, like, how do we get people to set their phones down and actually come and be a part of something so much bigger.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yeah. So that is a constant battle for us. Um, we hear a lot that people didn’t know we were there. And so one of our goals is to increase our visibility, um, through marketing. Um, whether that is digital or in print, um, I hope that this podcast reaches a new audience who maybe has not heard of us before and comes to visit the Fort Bend Museum. Um, in addition to the gallery space that we have, we have two historic homes which are absolutely beautiful. And so, uh, there’s a lot of different things that you can do on our campus. We also have a beautiful outdoor space. And so I hope that even if a person may not think of themselves as a museum person, that they will come and visit and give us a try and hopefully learn something new. Um, we also have a very cute gift shop if you just need to come and, you know, peruse and do a little retail therapy. Um, but yeah, I think museums are such important spaces. And, um, there has been some, some research in the last couple of years that actually show that museums are, uh, highly respected institution and a highly respected source of information. Um, when we’re in this age where we see so many things on social media and we don’t always know if it’s true, even if it’s coming from a news source. And so, um, it’s really important that museums continue to do their work and continue to do it, um, ethically so that we are sharing, uh, well researched information with the public. We want to be able to keep that trust that we’ve earned. And so, um, that’s something that I think about a lot as we put out any new content is, you know, did we, did we research this? Well, have we double checked it? Um, are we putting out what, we know to be a fact or what we know to be. You know, as truthful as possible.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. I know people there are some listeners who are already interested and they don’t know where in the world the Fort Fort Bend Museum is. So can you give us a location and then where can listeners find more information?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yeah, absolutely. So we’re located at 410 South fifth Street in Richmond, Texas. It is right behind the Old County courthouse. And you can find all of that information at Fort Bend, Museum.org. We’ve got our address on their phone hours. You can also buy tickets online. Um, so you can find all of that information on our website and, um, and more. We have lots of other cool content on there too.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. And by the way, if you’re listening and you’re interested, share this with someone that you think would be interested in just slowing down for a minute and going and going to see something really cool and enjoying community and family in a space that’s safe and fun. Okay, Madeline, I know in 2025 you’ve got a couple of big events coming up, so can you tell us? The one we’ve got a couple that are coming up in the spring. Uh, yeah, I said 25, 26. Um, I don’t know where I in the world I am today. So in 2026, you’ve got two big events that are coming up in the spring. Tell us about them.

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: All right. So, uh, on March 19th for Women’s History Month, we have a gallery gathering that is, uh, going to be about women’s history with voting. So we’re going to have a speaker from the Women’s League of Voters coming out to talk to us a little bit about that, uh, suffrage history. And we’re really excited about that in April. On April 11th, we have our annual Gala fundraiser. It is called A night in the garden and it is at the Fort Bend Museum. So we are a nonprofit, and that means we have to fundraise to be able to exist and to provide these services to the community. And this fundraiser is really important for us. It allows us to continue fulfilling our mission in the Fort Bend County area. And so if you would like to purchase a ticket or a table or maybe donate, uh, an item for our auction, uh, I would definitely appreciate it. And all my contact info is on our website. So you can go to forbidden museum.org. If you want to find more information about either one of those events.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Fort Bend, Museum.org that’s where you guys need to go if you want to help raise funds, whether it’s in person and showing up for the events or donating even time, I’m sure you would take that as well, donating time or money back to the museum. This is so much fun. Oh my. I feel like I, I need to come to the museum now. You know, not that far away.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Please do.

Speaker 4: I’m not that far away.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, how do we how do we keep young people engaged in something that for them may feel like it’s old or it doesn’t pertain to them? So how do we continue to keep young people engaged?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: So that is a great question. And unfortunately, my answer is that it depends for each person. You have to find the hook, like what interests them. Um, it’s different for everybody. Um, for me, it was an artist who painted, uh, ballet dancers that just was. So that was what got me hooked and into it. Um, and it’s going to be different for everybody. Some people may be interested in the history of computers and how, you know, Apple got started and that is history, even if it didn’t happen that long ago. Um, you know, so there’s so much that is included in history. It’s not all old and dusty. Um, it can be stuff that happened, you know, 25 years ago, 50 years ago. Um, and it can be any subject, so it doesn’t have to be a book. It can be any technology. It can be literally anything we want it to be fashion, food, um, you know, interior design. Um, if you’ve ever been to a Frank Lloyd Wright house, you know how interesting architecture and interior design can be. Um, so it just, you have to find what you’re interested in and don’t worry if you’re not interested in something like military history. Not really my thing. Really glad that other people do it, but that’s not going to be something that has me hooked. Um, so, you know, it just, it just depends. And you don’t have to love every single piece of history.

Trisha Stetzel: I love, I love how you break things down. So simply because that really resonated with me. If you like fashion, there’s history. If you like interior design, there’s history. If you like technology, there’s history. Like there’s so many ways to get excited about history. Um, let’s talk about the association. So the Fort Bend History Association and what it offers to its. Can I call them members, people who become.

Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yeah. So the Fort Bend History Association has been around for a while. We were established in 1967 to preserve the history of Fort Bend County. Um, we didn’t even when we started, we didn’t even have a building. And now we have a whole city block, um, with a museum gallery space and two historic homes. Um, there’s a few different aspects to the work we do. Um, we collect items. So we have a collection of historic items that relate to the history of Fort Bend County. So some of those are on display in the museum and in our historic homes. But then we also have quite a few of them in storage as well. So that is one way you can support us is if you have a piece of Fort Bend County history and you’re interested in sharing that with us, we would love to take a look at that and chat. Um, you can also become a member. So if you become a member, you get free admission to the museum. You also get invited to member only events and member only exhibit openings. Uh, you can also support us by attending our events by following us on social media. Um, sharing our posts, we, uh, share some fun collection spotlight posts. So if you are interested in learning more about the stuff that we have, uh, we highlight items every month on social media. And yeah, we also work with a lot of partnering a partner community. Oh, sorry. We also work with a lot of partner organizations up in the Fort Bend County area. So we’re always looking for projects, looking for ways that we can work with other groups in the community to either, uh, get history out there or to put on events. Uh, we also rent out our space as a site rental. So if you’ve ever wanted to get married in a museum or, um, in front of a historic home, we have a great place. You can do it.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s amazing. I’m thinking about all of my business owners and leaders that are out there. You guys, I am guessing that the Fort Bend Museum is looking for some sponsors for some of these things happening. So what a great opportunity for you to put your business forward in support of the Fort Bend Museum. You’ve we’ve talked a lot about, um, community and parents and kids and the parents came to the museum and churn butter, and they bring their kids and also the schools and the fourth grade and the seventh grade, having outings and coming to the museum. Talk to me more about the importance of the community that a facility like this, or specifically the Fort Bend Museum, really builds inside of its local area.

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: So, uh, community is so important. Um, we would not exist without the Fort Bend County community. Um, a group of community members came together to start our organization. And so as we continue to work in this area, everything that we do, we’re thinking about how is it going to benefit the Fort Bend County community? Um, as I mentioned earlier, we are a nonprofit. And so, um, you know, we need donations to continue our work, but we also need volunteers to continue our work and to help us accomplish some of these things. And so we rely on our community to support us, but we also want to support them as much as we can in return. So if you’re looking for a venue space and you are a nonprofit or community organization group, reach out to us and chat. We can, you know, figure out an arrangement so that you can have so that you can use our space at a lower cost. We want to share what we have with the community. And so we have done that before, where we’ve allowed nonprofits to use our space for a discounted rate because we’re like, you’re, you’re doing amazing work. This is a small way that we can support you. Um, we also work with some of our foundations and funders to get, um, to get donations to allow some of the schools to come on field trips for free. Um, you know, sometimes title one schools or schools that don’t have field trip funding, uh, They just can’t come because of the money. And that’s not a that’s that’s not what we want to hear. So we try to work to alleviate that as well, because we think it is so important for us kids to have a museum experience that we spend time brainstorming how to get them there, even if it just means, you know, talking to a foundation to figure that out. Um, so yeah, we’re always thinking about community and everything we do ties back to that.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. All my nonprofit friends who are listening, you heard that they have a space for you. You should reach out and see what kind of, uh, arrangements you guys can make when, uh, when you need a space. We all need a space, uh, whether we’re profit or not, not for profit. Oftentimes we need a space to have or hold events. Okay. As we come to a close, You gave us a little look see into an interesting story that came from Fort Bend. But I would like to know. Madeleine, what is your favorite story that is told or depicted or presented or represented at the Fort Bend Museum?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: That is a tough one. Um, so I think I will describe my favorite object that we have on display in the museum. Um, and it tells a sad story, but it’s really important. Um, we have a recording, um, of some convict labor singing a work song, um, that they would have sung when they were working, um, you know, uh, at the one of the Texas prisons in this area and it’s just very touching. Um, it’s a sad part of Fort Bend County’s history that, you know, we had a convict laborers in this area. But I think it’s so important that we’re we’re talking about that. We’re trying to learn a little bit more about that part of our history so that we can make sure that it doesn’t happen again. You know, we don’t want to we don’t want to repeat history. Um, and so to me, that’s just one of the most touching pieces that we have in our gallery. So it is, it is a sad story, but, um, it’s one of the ones that I always go back to and I’m like, this is why we’re doing this work. It’s important. And, um, you know, it just, it always, it always just, uh, kind of pulls on the heartstrings a little bit.

Speaker 4: Mhm. Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you for sharing that. How many times have you churned butter, Madeleine?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Um, you know, more times than I can count. Um, and it is hard work. Um, it it takes a while to get it to butter. Um, and we actually do that with grown ups too sometimes. So, uh, some of our local chambers do leadership classes, and they usually come to the museum and we have the grown ups churn butter too. So, um, it takes it takes a bit of work.

Trisha Stetzel: The grown ups probably complain more than the kids, right?

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Oh, my kids are ready to go. They’re like, let’s keep going.

Trisha Stetzel: Let’s see what happens here. The grown ups are like, this is hard work. Why do I have to keep going? Thank you so much for coming and talking about the museum. It’s, um, a very important one. History is a very important topic. I love how you reframed things so simply today around, you know, being able to, um, hear stories or even tell stories. And that’s what history is really about. And even some of the amazing things that the Fort Bend History Association is doing for the community. So thank you for all of the work that you’re doing. Tell us one more time how folks who are interested that are listening today can get involved. Donate, volunteer or even just buy tickets to come see the museum.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Yes. So all of that information can be found on our website, uh, Fort Fort Bend, Museum.org. And you can also find all that information on our social media channels as well on Facebook and Instagram under the Fort Bend Museum. And that also, of course, has links to our website. So between, uh, all of that, you will find whatever information you need. And I hope, uh, that you come visit us, that you volunteer, that you donate, you attend an event. Um, and, you know, we would love to have you there. We hope to see you soon.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you, Madeleine, and I’m thrilled to be a part of you getting it out there as part of the Fort Bend Museum and marketing and talking more about it. There are so many people, I guarantee you, that are listening today that didn’t know it existed. And now they do.

Madeleine Calcote-Garcia: Well, thank you, Trisha. I’m so glad that I could be on the show today.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, it was fun. Thank you for the conversation. Okay, guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in the conversation that Madeleine and I had today, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, museum goer, or someone who hasn’t yet been to a museum and they’re curious. Of course, you can share it with veterans and even Houston leaders ready to grow. And be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

Dan Ward: How Detroit Labs Solves Complex Problems with Human-Centered Tech

March 9, 2026 by angishields

Houston Business Radio

Dan Ward: How Detroit Labs Solves Complex Problems with Human-Centered Tech

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Dan Ward is Co-Founder and President of Detroit Labs, a digital innovation studio in downtown Detroit.

Through the years, Detroit Labs has partnered with clients like GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Jimmy John’s, Domino’s Pizza, Driveway.com, and many others to drive growth through design and technology.

Dan has mentored students at Central Michigan University in the New Venture Competition since 2018, was the recipient of the CMU College of Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2019 and was a Crain’s 40 under 40 honoree in 2019.

Dan currently resides in Grosse Pointe Farms with his wife and 2 young children.

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dward313/
Website: https://www.detroitlabs.com/

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest today, Dan Ward, co-founder and president of Detroit Labs, a digital innovation studio based in downtown, you guessed it, Detroit. Dan has spent his career building and leading teams that help organizations grow through software development, product design, and user centered technology. Under his leadership, Detroit Labs has partnered with brands like GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Domino’s, Jimmy John’s, and Driveway Comm to solve complex problems at the intersection of design, engineering and business strategy beyond client work. Dan is deeply invested in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and education, mentoring student founders at Central Michigan University and earning recognition as Cmu’s entrepreneur of the Year and Crain’s 40 under 40 honoree. Dan, welcome to the show.

Dan Ward: Thank you for having me. It’s wonderful. Intro. I appreciate it.

Trisha Stetzel: Yes. You know, I pride myself on doing that because it’s a gift. We don’t always say these things about ourselves. Right. So my gift to you, Dan, um, let’s start with who you are. Tell us more about Dan.

Dan Ward: Yeah. Uh, well, very good point. Uh, everyone struggles talking about themselves. So now I get to talk about myself. But, um, you know, as you mentioned, I’m a proud graduate of Central Michigan University, uh, learned a ton there. I actually have a history degree of all things. So I think I’m qualified to curate a museum. And that’s literally it. A non-teaching one. Uh, great choice on my part. There’s a there’s a lot of great things that come with it. Uh, to be clear, um, and then, uh, I, I’ve spent since then my entire life, uh, in technology. So I had an opportunity to go work at quicken Loans, which is now, uh, rocket. Uh, I had an opportunity there to work directly for Dan Gilbert, uh, who is, uh, our local, um, success story here in Detroit owns the Cleveland Cavaliers as well. And I learned a ton from him. I got to go on all kinds of trips with him, sit in the corner of every meeting you can think of, uh, work on technology for him, presentations. It was just, it was a very interesting about three and a half, almost four years. And from there, we started Detroit Labs and, and we’ve been going ever since 2011. We’re going to be, I think in May, we’ll be celebrating 15 years, uh, a lot of, uh, tremendous growth. And then, um, uh, some ups and downs and then, uh, we’re back on the other side of that, I believe right now. So it’s an exciting time. Um, and, uh, I think, I think starting a business anyways is a bit of a roller coaster. So, uh, it’s, it’s been fun. And then, uh, I can’t ignore the fact that I got an amazing family, two kids, a wife, and I coach pretty much every sport at this point. Um, so I get an opportunity to hang out with my, my oldest, all of his friends. And then now starting with my youngest, uh, in basketball. So it’s fun.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, that’s fun basketball, indoor sport, baseball. We were teasing about that. So, you know, part of the year it’s a little cold outside and that’s okay. Um, cool. Let’s I’d love to to talk more about Detroit labs, but you mentioned something that really stuck with me, which is the life cycle of your business. And we all go through that. It’s very cyclical, right in the way our businesses come together. So give us just a little bit of the, um, startup pains and kind of where you’re at now with, um, Detroit Labs.

Dan Ward: Sure. Start up pains is an interesting way of putting it. I feel like it doesn’t fully change. Uh, slightly modified. Uh, but we, we started, I mentioned in 2011 with, uh, four co-founders, uh, about a year in one of the other co-founders wanted to go start something else. Uh, he did that, but, uh, the other three co-founders were still in the business. We still run the business together. Amazing partners. We have, uh, really great overlap. Uh, we have different skill sets that complement each other. Uh, we’ve been pretty fortunate enough to have that. And, and I always tell people you’re fortunate if you can find a good co-founder, find a, find a co-founder, doing it yourself is challenging. Um, and then we had a, we had a good string of a lot of great successful years, uh, probably anywhere between 15 to upper 20% growth year over year. It was really great. And then on the other side of Covid, so we made it through that. And then on the other side of that, several of the industries that we were working in, um, they dried up a little bit or they had to change priorities.

Dan Ward: And so several of the clients that we had great relationships with, uh, they just, they, they slowed down and, and specifically they slowed their, their spend in what we have to offer. And so we had a couple lean years that were challenging. So we went through this tremendous, you know, almost ten years of, of growth and then had to go through the unfortunate, uh, a couple rounds of layoffs, which is still painful scars. You, you feel terrible. But, uh, I do feel confident that we’re on the, the other other side of that. And, and, you know, what’s been interesting is making sure, you know, you talk about, um, startup pains, it’s important to learn from those pains. And so really kind of analyzing what took place over the last couple years and not just saying it was the market’s fault. And so we’ve had a lot of that time to process and adjust and change. And so the organization today looks quite a bit different than the organization looked back in probably 2021. So it’s been an interesting path.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, somewhere on that sigmoid curve when we’re talking about the lifecycle of a business is something called reinvention. And it’s so important so that we don’t go into the decline phase and let things just fall apart, right? We do. We’ve got to pay attention to those kinds of things. Congratulations on the 15 years, particularly because you do have co-founders. It, it, it’s, um, sometimes can make it a little more complicated.

Dan Ward: Yeah. You know, I always tell people, um, with, with, especially with a startup. Misery loves company startups can be fun, but a lot of times it can be a pain. And, and to be able to go through that with somebody is, is comforting. Honestly, it sounds cheesy, but it’s just nice because when things get really bad, we can look at each other and be like, we’re both miserable right now, or all three of us are miserable right now, and that’s okay. How do we get how do we get out of that? How do we help each other? You know, pull each other out of that. So that part’s actually been really helpful and great.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. As long as you can remember to get back above the line. Right. Okay, let’s. Misery loves company. Let’s get it out of the way.

Dan Ward: Let’s move.

Trisha Stetzel: Forward.

Dan Ward: We’re also really great at having big drag out arguments and then going and grabbing lunch. So. And no one feels like they’re slighted or anything like that. So we’ve been we’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to that.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. That’s fantastic. Um, before we get into more questions, tell me a little more. Give me some lay terms, layman’s terms on what is it that you’re providing to your customers through Detroit Labs?

Dan Ward: Great question. So we work with large brands. Uh, we, uh, we’re 100% onshore, uh, development design company. And so the best fit we have is with larger brands, and we work with them to unpack some of their either challenges or opportunities. And when I look at challenges, I both speaking internally amongst their different organizations and groups, how maybe they run their business, but then externally with their with their customers, with their clients, what type of friction are they having with them or what type of opportunity can they provide them with? At that point, we start to work through the strategy of that, making sure that whatever we propose has business value, that users are going to actually use the experience. Nothing frustrates me more than seeing companies invest millions of dollars into something that their users don’t actually want, or invest millions of dollars into. Maybe it’s an internal tool that doesn’t feel good and provide value. And you know, people are people. They use apps at home, like, you know, build them something that they want to use. Um, and so anyways, we, we work with them on the strategy side of it. And from there we design the solution for them. Uh, and then we can also build the solution. That’s what’s really great about Detroit labs. So we can own that entire product lifecycle from the earliest conversations to the design of it, to the testing of it, to the development of it and the deployment of it and ongoing support with, uh, staffing as well. So, uh, it’s, it’s fun to be able to go to a client, you know, share an idea, share something really, you hope, hope it’s profound, but then being able to back that up with the ability to actually design and build something with, I mean, the talented folks that we have, it’s really kind of, I’m not one of those. So I get to sit back and say, hey, client, we can build you this really great thing and then look across from me and say, right, we can, right? So that part’s really exciting.

Trisha Stetzel: I, I love that. So can we talk a little bit about technology? You talked about, you know, investing in these things and spending a lot of money and trying to sell something to their clients that they don’t actually need. And I think, you know, when we talk about technology and I’m, I’m not talking about AI will go there in a minute, but what really separates organizations that use technology? Well, right. We’re offering it to them. They’re using technology well from those that are just investing in it.

Dan Ward: Yeah, I think I’ve always kind of told this story to clients. And then also internally at Detroit Labs, I think, you know, you can approach technology through through two lenses or two directions. You can say, I have this piece of technology. How can I make this work? Oftentimes you find that in big group purchases with some of the big technology companies. Oh, as part of that purchase, I got this really great QA software. How do I make that work? Uh, or you can go talk to the end user. That might be internal, that might be external, and try to figure out what it is that they actually need. And then you build the solution. Now, I happen to be a proponent of the talking to the users and figuring out what they need. Now you’re not asking them, uh, you know, a laundry list of all the features they want. You’re saying, what problems are you trying to solve? How are you solving it? What technology do you use today? What technology do you use at home that you really like? You do like the Delta Airlines app, right? Do you like the gmail app? You know, and insert any other app, insert any other website because now you’re starting to kind of get an idea of what they value in their, in their experience outside of work. And then design a solution for that. So, so you start with the, the use case, your understanding how they’re going to use software. You understand that if you built this thing, their life would be better. It would take some version of pain of frustration away from their life. And then you build that solution rather than, I have a piece of technology. How do I find, uh, you know, a place for it. So the best organizations will prioritize the user first, whether that be customer or internal user.

Trisha Stetzel: So this applies to not just technology. I’m thinking about the business owners and leaders that are out there right now saying, I have this product or service and I gotta find somebody to buy it, right?

Dan Ward: It is the exact same thing when I’m working with the students at at CMU. They’ll come up with a really great idea. And I’m like, that’s wonderful. And that is very interesting. Who wants to buy it? And they’re like, well, it’s just a really great product fair. Who wants to buy it? And oftentimes what happens is you’re like, well, you know, my mom wants it or my friend wants it, okay? And that might be valid. You need to go out and start talking to people. And that is one of the things that I’m always pushing the entrepreneurial students to say, to go out and like, speak with people and ask if they, you know, what problems do they have? Not even hey, I have this. Will this solve a thing? Ask them what problem they have and then figure out if your thing will solve it. It’s just a kind of a slightly different way of thinking about it.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. It’s like writing your jokes and never telling them to an audience, right? And, and then you go out on stage and you bomb because you had no idea that your jokes were not funny.

Dan Ward: Yeah, yeah. In your head, they’re the greatest things ever, right?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, exactly. Made me laugh. Uh, okay. So let’s since we’re here in this space, why don’t we. I know there’s some people who already want to connect with you. Dan, why don’t we give them some contact information? What’s the best way for folks to reach out to you?

Dan Ward: Absolutely. So I think if you want to connect with us through Detroit Labs, we’ll use that Detroit Labs proper. It’s hello at Detroit labs.com. Very simple way to get to us. It’s an inbox that multiple people monitor and we do pay attention to that. Uh, as far as me Finding me on LinkedIn is a is a good location. I will admit I am not the fastest, uh, social media responder in history. Um, it is, uh, I think it’s because I don’t use many social medias, uh, for a lot of reasons, but I do check it and I will, uh, respond. But yeah, hello at Detroit Labs is, is a great place. I’m also down at Detroit Labs. It’s actually pretty easy to figure out emails, uh, with us. So, um, and I do pay attention to that.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Thanks, Stan. Um, I did mention AI a minute ago and I know you have some thoughts around that. So just thinking about that, um, from your perspective, where is AI genuinely adding value and where is it really just noise?

Dan Ward: Yeah, that’s, uh, that’s a great question because I honestly, I struggle with it. One day I’m like, this is the greatest piece of technology in the history of the world. The other day, I’m like, this is hallucinating and giving me the wrong answers. Can I trust this? And I think I’m constantly existing in a space of, uh, that blend of curiosity and like wondering if I should actually trust and take the time to use this. So we use it in a couple different areas. One, if we’re trying to qualify a client or validate, maybe, you know, a pain in the, in the, you know, industry or vertical jumping into Gemini, ChatGPT, you know, pick whichever one you want to use and asking it to do some of the research on your behalf, I think is very helpful. I think that is really where AI works. I think you still have to double check almost everything, which is the bummer part. Um, but I do think that that can speed up that process of really prospecting and understanding verticals and challenges that companies might face on the, on the code side, we. We try to find areas where we can use it to handle some of the repetitive tasks. For us, it’s a little different because we, um, we produce code for a client. So the client actually owns that code. So there has to be a conversation at the very early stages of can we use AI with your code? Are you okay with that? Um, that leads to an interesting conversation. Sometimes, sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s not. Um, on the, on the design side, what’s really interesting is kind of rapid validation of, of, uh, personas.

Dan Ward: Um, you know, okay, I’m looking for a person that’s in the Midwest that, um, is freezing right now, but, uh, a person in the Midwest that likes to, um, buy sandwiches and they have a family. You can use AI to try to kind of build some of those personas. That’s really helpful use case. Um, but we have found, we’re often asked like, hey, are you building AI solutions for clients? And I always feel like we’re just close. We’re, it always feels like we’re in this like stage of rapid prototyping rather than full scale development and deployment. And I think largely it’s because AI can do so much but can be so unpredictable at the same time. I was told by an individual at happens to be at one of the bigger technology companies that, um, AI is the solution in search of a problem. And when they’re looking at deploying AI technologies and they’re going and talking to their big clients, the demo is great. Look what it can do. Oh my goodness, isn’t this amazing? It can talk to me. It can find me answers. Well, how do I use this in my business? And there are some really logical areas customer service, HR, things like that, where you have people just asking a lot of questions and having a self-service AI bot could be really great. But those are also the areas where bad information can be really bad. So it’s kind of this interesting area that we’re in right now. And I would always say, I will say it’s constantly proof of concept land.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So I’m seeing this very interesting thread through our conversation, which is, uh, you just said a solution looking for a client. So we’ve been talking about that right? All the way through, uh, threaded through our conversation today. And as we think about all of these things, how you in 15 years have built such a successful business, how your, um, helping startups or entrepreneurs that are coming up and helping them think more about what it is that they’re doing or thinking into the future, really having a strategy for where you’re going. I’d love to talk a little bit more about strategic thinking. So first give us your definition of strategic thinking and let’s roll this into the conversation.

Dan Ward: I use a very old term when it comes to strategic thinking, is seeing the forest through the trees and just allowing yourself to kind of back up a little bit and see the bigger picture. And honestly, this is something I joke around about my history degree, but this is something that history taught me because it is the, I don’t know, there’s, there’s very few subjects where you can look at an entire multi generation decade, uh, situation, you know, a war, an event, right? And, and really analyze cause and effect in like a 30 minute time frame. Like what other, what other subject can you do that? And so I really think that, you know, studying history Really kind of promotes the strategic thinking of, okay, I’m going to do this thing in front of me. What are the three, four, five possible consequences for that? And, and, and that is it’s well, it’s something that I always talk to history students about because that, again, a thing I’m really passionate about when it comes to that, but I really think that strategic thinking is being able to step back, understand that whatever it is you’re about to do is going to have consequences. Are they good? Are they bad? How does that kind of cascade and create a web? Um, and so it’s not always easy and it’s not always possible to see that next step out. Uh, but it is a fun challenge.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. The forest through the trees. And I think oftentimes the forest gets in the way of seeing or excuse me, the trees get in the way of actually seeing the bigger picture. So thinking back on your experiences and even working with your students and entrepreneurs that are in startups. How do you get them to shift their mindset and their thinking from the things that I have to do today to get to the end of the month so that I can pay the bills to what is the big picture? What is 90 days, 180 days, three years down the road? What does that look like? So how do you help shift the way these younger, uh, not younger in age, but those who are maybe just starting a business or are still in, uh, you know, neck deep trying to get it going.

Dan Ward: Um, I’m probably always considered the more negative or mean one when it comes to assessing, uh, startups over at Central Michigan. But, um, one of the things I like to try to challenge the students to do is take a step back. You’re in too deep and then get out of your dorm, get out of your apartment and try to really understand if there’s a market for what you’re trying to do. Is there pain or frustration? You know, humans buy in pain and frustration. Pain is such a tough word, but it’s true. And and so really trying to understand and empathize with potential customers. So you know what it is that you’re trying to sell to them or if your product has, has value. I think, um, I think all too often folks like to dream big, but dream big that stays in their head. And to your point of creating jokes and never saying them out loud and you have no idea if it’s if it’s funny or not. A lot of entrepreneurs do that and, and, and really challenging folks to, to get out, expand, get out of your, like I said, get out of your dorm, get out of your classroom, get away from your computer screen. Go out and talk to somebody at a bar, at a restaurant, at an event, uh, do some networking. That’s, that’s always been my feedback. Uh, and I think in all fairness, it’s something that I didn’t learn until later. So I didn’t learn until probably 3 or 4 years into Detroit Labs. The value of going to a networking event, the value of talking to somebody face to face, right? I didn’t learn that until a little bit later. And so it’s one of the things I’m, I’m pretty passionate with telling the students, you know, go to events, meet people and get outside of your, what you see in front of you.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. We gotta go talk to humans. Dan.

Dan Ward: What you know, what’s interesting is we’ve gone through. So I started working with the university before Covid and then worked with them through that. And then now obviously on the other side of that, and I, and I hate to always talk about that time, but it really impacted college kids, uh, college students, I should say. And so you went from a, a hungry get in front of everybody to everyone’s behind their computer and you’re like, wait, you’re telling me I got to go to an event to now there’s just this past year or so, uh, we’ve seen more students that are excited to go to these happy hours we put on that are excited to go talk to a mentor, excited to go talk to a client. It’s, it’s, it’s refreshing and it’s great. And not that the other ones were bad by any means. They just had to live through a different time.

Trisha Stetzel: They did great that cycle. Everything is cyclical. And here we are back again. And as we’re getting to the back end of our conversation, I want to circle back around to something we started with, and I’ve heard you say it a few times through our conversation, which is mentorship. It was a very important to you as you were coming into your business and learning from a mentor, and you now are mentoring others. Can you talk about the importance of both ways?

Dan Ward: Sure. Um, you know, for me, my, my mentor was Dan Gilbert, right? I was incredibly fortunate to be able to, uh, for, you know, almost four years to work directly with him. And that started off as, you know, just tech support. Build a presentation. Right. Um, and then eventually I had an opportunity to, to travel with him, uh, which was, which was interesting, right? Like, you know, you go from, you know, a normal Delta flight to now I’m flying in a, in a small private plane to go to these events. Right. And then I found myself in the room during some MBA meetings. So growing up a big sports fan, that was really neat. Uh, but to Dan’s credit, what he saw was that I started asking more questions. I had a good friend that said, hey, I know this is challenging. Flying everywhere with all these things. It’s tough. It’s hard work, right? And you’re dedicating a lot of your life. He goes, but be a sponge. Really start. You have no idea. Like, look at who you’re traveling with. Look at the meetings you’re in. Be a sponge. And and so I started to ask Dan a lot of questions. And to Dan’s credit, I remember we were in Cleveland and we’d just gotten off the elevator going up to the fifth floor at the Q where the Cavs play.

Dan Ward: And he goes, you seemed really interested in that meeting. And I said, actually I was I was curious, how did it go. You know, because I was I was running a presentation and he goes, do you want to start coming into all my meetings or most of my meetings? And I was like, yeah, sure. That sounds really interesting. And, and he goes, and if you have questions after, I’m happy to answer them. And so Dan gave me the time of day, right? Like he, he saw that I was, I was interested, inquisitive. There’s nothing special or unique about what I was bringing to the table, but he just saw that I was interested and he said, you know what? Why don’t you come in and start sitting in these rooms? And Dan and I, we just happened to get along really great. And and still to this day, keep in touch, which is which is awesome. He was one of the early investors in Detroit labs, but I took that and the value that that gave me, which I will be honest, I don’t think you fully appreciate it until you get a little bit older and you start doing these things that you’re like, oh, I learned that from Dan Or right, good or bad.

Dan Ward: To be fair, but I. Oh, I learned that from Dan and, uh. Um, so then, you know, I’ve always, after experiencing that and after fully understanding that a couple of years into Detroit labs, I’ve wanted to be able to be that for others and in whatever capacity that they feel is necessary. Right. And I, I find that when I go to central, I’m seeing you when I go to CMU, sitting down and talking to students, giving them feedback, helping them along the way. It’s really excited. I’m really excited, I should say. When I see the same students over and over and I see their ideas continue to progress, or I’m even more excited when I see them pivot. Um, it is really, really nice when you see an entrepreneur say, hmm, that wasn’t it. I’m going to pivot and, and so that’s really great. And then honestly, I’m kind of an open book at this point. Whoever wants to talk about things, I have opinions. They may not always be right, but I’m happy to share them.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that and it is so important to pay it forward. That might sound corny, but I believe that that sums it up right?

Dan Ward: I agree.

Trisha Stetzel: And then we give and I think that’s so important in this space that we’re all working and living in right now. Dan, this has been fantastic. I really appreciate you joining me today. Would you one more time, just give us your contact information for those who want to reach out. Of course, I’ll have that in the show notes as well. For those of you who are sitting in front of your computer. So, Dan, how can folks connect with you?

Dan Ward: Let’s see if I remember what I said earlier, but hello at Detroit Labs is a great way to get Ahold of Detroit Labs. Uh, Dan at Detroit Labs is my email address. I do the very best to keep up on that. Bear with me. If you end up sending me a note and I don’t get back to you right away. I have a lot of people that like to send me things I’m maybe not as interested in. And then, um, uh, LinkedIn, I’m on LinkedIn. I do pay attention to it. Not as fast of a responder, but I promise I do pay attention to it. Um, but yeah, hello at Detroit Labs is probably the safest one because then you kind of cast a wider net, if you will. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Dan, thank you again for your time today. This has been awesome.

Dan Ward: Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Trisha Stetzel: All right, you guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Dan and I had, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or Houston business leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.

BRX Pro Tip: The Role of Framing in Sales

March 6, 2026 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: The Role of Framing in Sales

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BRX Pro Tip: The Role of Framing in Sales

Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, talk a little bit about your perspective on the role of framing in the sales process.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think framing is critical when it comes to any type of mental model or thinking. And in sales, it’s really important to frame the problem your client or prospective client is having properly.

Lee Kantor: If you don’t frame the problem correctly, your solution isn’t going to land, no matter how good it is. So, when you frame the problem well, the sale becomes obvious. When you frame it poorly, you end up competing on price because they don’t understand what you’re solving this for.

Lee Kantor: So, here are some ways to frame the problem. Number one, show your prospect what the problem is really costing them. And it’s not just money. It’s also time. It’s also opportunities. It’s also stress. There’s other things that have a cost that is not just money. And it’s important for the prospect to understand that, because a lot of times they’re just trying to make this a money issue, and it’s usually not just a money issue.

Lee Kantor: Number two, you want to connect the problem that you’re solving to a bigger goal. How is this problem keeping them from where they want to be in six months or a year? How is neglecting this issue going to cost them down the road? They may not be thinking of it in that manner. It’s important to kind of bring that up.

Lee Kantor: And number three, you want to reframe surface problems into root problems. They tell you what they think they need, but you have to show them what’s actually driving that need. Get the problem frame right and the sale becomes easier. If you skip this step, you’re going to be fighting uphill the whole way. So make sure that you frame your solution to the problem, not just the surface problem, the superficial problem, but the root problem that your prospect is struggling with.