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Jim Thompson with IMI Association Executives
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Jim Thompson, CAE, IOM is Vice President, Client Relations, with IMI Association Executives, an association management company headquartered in Raleigh, NC.
In his role, Thompson serves as the Executive Director for the Property Records Industry Association and the Electronic Signature Records Association. He is also serves on IMI’s leadership team and is responsible for client success.
Prior to working at IMI, Thompson served as Vice President of Association Management with CHMS where he managed the National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals and the Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering and was responsible for business development.
Connect with Jim on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Jim Thompson with IMI Association Executives. Welcome.
Jim Thompson: Hey, Lee, how are you doing today?
Lee Kantor: I am doing well. I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about IMI. How you serving folks?
Jim Thompson: Sure. So IMI is an association management company that’s based here in the Raleigh area, Raleigh, North Carolina, and we’ve been in business for, gosh, about 35 years, represent about 23 different clients from anywhere from small regional associations all the way up to big international associations.
Lee Kantor: So what’s your back story? How did you get involved in this line of work?
Jim Thompson: Oh gosh, Lee. So, you know, it’s an interesting story. So for gosh, for about six years I actually worked in the newspaper industry, was a reporter with the News and Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was getting kind of, uh, I would say disenchanted with the newspaper business and. Well, and frankly, considering where the newspaper industry is today, I’m kind of thankful for that. It was definitely a blessing in disguise. But I actually went back and talked to my career counselor at my university, where I attended and made some comment to her that, uh, you know, I just I was sort of disenchanted with the newspaper industry. I didn’t know what I was going to do with the rest of my life. You know, here I am just like, you know, mid-twenties and, you know, just didn’t know where in the world I was going to go. And it just so happened at the time, I was very involved in a civic organization in town called the Greensboro Jaycees and was just very engaged in that, you know, community service. And, you know, she made some comment to me that, um, you know, she said, you know, every time you mention the Jaycees, you get this sort of spark in your eye and a little sparkle. And, you know, she’s like, have you ever thought about going into the nonprofits and actually working for nonprofits? And I’m like, well, you know, may already work for a newspaper industry. I don’t know that I could make any less money. She’s like, no, no, no, you know, I don’t mean like nonprofit, as in, you don’t make any money. But. So I actually worked for a junior achievement of north eastern North Carolina for about a year or so. And then, um, actually had a great opportunity to work for the North Carolina Association of Realtors and actually using my marketing, um, kind of communication skills and a job there. And the rest is history. So, I mean, I’ve been this is this year actually marks my 25th year working in the association industry. So, um, yeah, absolutely love it.
Lee Kantor: Now for folks who are working in an association, but maybe not with a firm like yours that help helps them. What’s your kind of sales pitch to them when you’re when they’re, um, deciding whether to keep going at it alone or to partner with somebody that has the expertise across a variety of associations, like your firm.
Jim Thompson: Yeah, sure. Great question. So, you know, as there’s several, several things, I mean, you know, with with associations, you know, we know that, you know, not all organizations can afford to have their own captive staff. Um, and, and frankly, you know, there’s a lot of costs that go into having your own professional staff, whether it’s, you know, just the overhead that goes along with it. Um, you know, it’s hard necessarily, like you kind of alluded to, you know, sometimes it’s hard to find, you know, somebody that’s good at everything. I mean, you know, it’s hard to find somebody who can do member services, who can also do marketing communications, who can also do finance. So for some organizations, it’s more cost effective to outsource either some or in a lot of cases with our organizations, all of the management services, um, to run their organization just from a cost standpoint. You know, when you look at, you know, we’ve looked at several studies over the years through Amci, which is the, um, AMC Institute. And, you know, you look at what a lot of standalone associations are paying for their, you know, professional services compared to their overall budget. Um, typically association, an association management company can save an organization, you know, anywhere from 5 to 20% a year on their management services, um, utilizing an AMC. Um, also, I think, you know, there are some organizations who I’ll use, um, some of the medical groups, for example, we used to work with a medical group that, um, we had a previous association management company where, you know, lobbying and advocacy was one of their their big things that they, they focused on. And so they spent a tremendous amount of money on that. But what was so. Great about working with the management companies. It enabled them to reduce their expenses to manage the association, but yet be able to put, you know, a considerable amount of resources towards lobbying and advocacy, something that was very important to them. So it allowed them to, you know, save some money, which enabled them to do something that was very important to them.
Lee Kantor: Now, do you find that, um, some of the associations before they, uh, take the leap to working with a firm like yours that they underestimate? Maybe, um, the amount of time and skill and, um, commitment it takes in order to grow an association. And maybe they were on a roll for a while, but as soon as there’s some turbulence and maybe member engagement goes low, or maybe their members are not, you know, rejoining their, you know, they get into a challenge of it’s hard to kind of spin that up from scratch. Whereas an association management company like yours, you have so many best practices and seeing what’s working, what’s not and trends and you’re so on top of it because you are working with a variety of associations that you can come in and make a big difference pretty rapidly.
Jim Thompson: Oh, 100%. That’s I mean, you’re right, only I mean, that’s the you know, I say that’s the beauty of being in an AMC environment is that, you know, for example, with our organization, you know, I my role as vice president of client relations here at IMI. So not only do I serve as the executive director for two national associations, but I oversee our account managers. And, you know, between all of our account managers, you know, they have, you know, 150, 200 years of experience of, you know, combined association experience between the lot of them, um, you know, so if you’ve got an association that’s come into us that’s maybe struggling with growing their membership or, you know, maybe they are looking at, uh, you know, revamping their conference and making it a true, you know, hybrid experience or, um, you know, looking at developing a certification program, whatever the case is, you know, chances are, you know, one of our account managers has been down that road before and has the experience that they can, you know, bring to the table. Um, and if our account managers don’t have it, certainly one of our, one of our VP’s, you know, in our client relations or client services or our, our current president of IMI, you know, certainly several of us have had have been down that path before. There’s really not much that we haven’t experienced in some way, shape or form.
Lee Kantor: Now, what is the typical pain that an association before they begin a conversation with your firm? Like what are they going through where it’s like, hey, maybe I should be calling IMI. Um, you know what is happening in their world that kind of precipitates that, that call to you.
Jim Thompson: You know, I think one of the big things that I, I see from, uh, association, you know, and I mean, this is, you know, not counting the associations who maybe were at another management company or whatever the case is, but maybe and I’m just using the example of, you know, an association who decides that they want to go to a management company for the first time. They’ve never they’ve all been run internally. Maybe, um, you know, for a lot of associations, it’s they’re they’re tired of being stuck in the weeds of, of running the association while also trying to lead the association. Um, and that’s a hard thing to do. I mean, when you get to the point where, you know, you’re trying to grow the association, but you’re so busy running the organization and you’re in the organization that’s it’s hard to be thinking outside and thinking about, you know, where you want to go strategically because you’re so busy caught up in just the running the day to day. So, you know, for an association who’s looking to take that next leap and grow their organization, maybe they have been all volunteer run for a long time. You know, this is an AMC is a great opportunity for them to kind of put some of those administrative duties to the side and let somebody else do the run, the run, the association while they spend time working on the association.
Lee Kantor: Right. So it’s a delegation, not an abdication.
Jim Thompson: Correct? Exactly, exactly. Because again, I think that’s the problem. I mean, most associations that are, you know, especially ones that are all volunteer run, or maybe they have some, you know, some, you know, small minuscule administrative services. You know, it’s still they get caught up in trying to be a volunteer, but also managing the business, you know, managing the business of the association. So.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. It gets. I’ve been involved in a variety of levels in a variety of, of groups like that. And it just when you’re relying on all volunteers, then you’re at kind of the mercy of volunteers and the volunteers, you know, have jobs and lives and a livelihood that’s really their most important priority. And then if you need them to, you know, make the association the most important thing. It’s it’s just a really difficult needle to thread.
Jim Thompson: Absolutely. I know I always you know, and it’s something I always tell my staff and I’ve taught, I’ve taught association one on one programs for a number of years. And one of the things I always try to remind staff that worked with the associations is like, you know, don’t be offended when your volunteers don’t do what they say they do. I mean, say they, you know, or say they, you know, they’re supposed to do because, you know, as much as, you know, yes, it’s our our job is to run the association. And that’s our main priority for them. You know, the association may be their third or fourth priority in their life. I mean, between, you know, they have day jobs, they have families. Chances are they’re type A people. They’re very involved in other. So they’re probably involved in other organizations. They have other time commitments that they’re dealing with. So yeah, you’re right. I mean, you can’t expect a volunteer to make the association their job.
Lee Kantor: So when an organization decides to work with you and your firm, where do you know where’s the first thing they notice, like, oh, this is a good idea. This is really freeing up time. I’m seeing that. I am getting to think big picture. Is there something that happens, maybe like a quick win for an association when they start working for you guys?
Jim Thompson: Yeah, I think, you know, I think probably the biggest quick wins are when, you know, especially if they’ve they’ve afforded us the opportunity. One of the things that we offer to all of our clients is a if they don’t already have one, is a sort of a mini strategic plan that kind of gives them some, you know, just some, you know, a few goals and objectives and tactics, tactics that they can accomplish over the next year or two. Um, and I think usually within the like, first, you know, 60, 90 days, you know, after a few board meetings when we’re sitting with them and, you know, we’re we’re we as staff are reviewing the status of the strategic plan and kind of keeping them, you know, monitored and up to date on where things are kind of being that sort of, um, you know, I look at referred to as sort of the air traffic controller, you know, just making sure all of the planes are flying where they need to be flying and going where they need to be going. Um, you’re just taking care of all those things for them, and they and it’s so nice for them to be sitting at board meetings and hearing updates about where they’re at and where they’re still lagging behind, where they need to go, which then enables them to be thinking futuristically and not sort of in the minutia of, you know, that kind of level of detail.
Lee Kantor: So now, any advice for the association’s out there when it comes to member engagement? In today’s world, where everybody is kind of pulled in 50 million directions and now you’re in a work world, especially where it’s hybrid, where some people are working remotely, some people are in the office like it’s a whole different kind of association, I would imagine, in today’s world as compared to, you know, ten years ago.
Jim Thompson: Absolutely. Um, you know, I think at the end of the day, the organizations that I’ve seen that are most successful at today’s, you know, modern, you know, 21st century membership engagement is those organizations that don’t forget those 18th century practices, meaning like people still want to talk to people, whether it’s by phone, um, or, you know, in person. Um, and when those opportunities aren’t available, you know, making those interactions available virtually as much as possible. Um, you know, I think organizations that are truly embracing the hybrid model, um, you know, I use one of my associations as a great example that I work with. Um, they have truly embraced the hybrid model for their conferences and are starting to see record numbers of people attending these meetings. Um, but it’s because they’re being very intentional about the experience. You know, a lot of associations say they run a hybrid meeting, but in fact, really all they do is put a camera in the back of the room and stream the meeting. And the true definition of hybrid is those meetings that completely replicate the in-person experience, but to a virtual audience. So making sure there’s engagement, making sure there’s activities, making sure there’s networking opportunities, making sure that, you know, there’s a chance for the in-person audience to interact with the virtual audience and vice versa. You know, so I think association is a truly get that, you know, that it is a two way street between, you know, interacting in person, interacting virtually. Um, but then not forgetting those personal connections, you know, the handwritten note, you know, it’s like a thing of the past, but, you know, it’s something it means a lot when you’re, you know, getting things like that. Um, you know, a 21 person, 20 year old year old who just joined an association, a handwritten thank you card means just as much to them as a, you know, 60 year old, uh, member who’s been around for 30, you know, 40 years, you know, so it’s like, not missing those little human touches that, um, are really important to anybody. Not forgetting them.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. It’s something in our organization we call relationship building moments is how to create more and more of those in the interactions, because you have to constantly be pushing the value, or else people are, you know, if they’re not getting the value, they’re not going to just keep rejoining. You know, you have to continually think of ways to just create more and more value for your members, or else they’re not going to be members.
Jim Thompson: Absolutely, absolutely. And and the funny thing about it is, you know, as much as we say that, you know, it’s like, you know, I’ve again, I’ve been in the association industry for 25 years. Like, I can’t think of a time when I’ve been involved in the association world where we haven’t been talking about the importance of creating member value. I mean, it’s just something that always it’s it’s it should always be in our DNA. I mean, we should always be thinking about that. I mean, one of the things that, you know, I really strive for with all of our account managers is, you know, it’s one thing to provide member service. It’s another thing to provide a member experience. You know, it’s something that they’ll remember because everybody, everybody at the bare minimum should be providing member service. That’s just the bare minimum that you should be doing. But, you know, organizations that create experiences, like you said, are developing those. Those relationships relate relational experiences and moments. Um, I really like that term that you used there. Um, because I think those are the associations that are more successful.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. Is there a story maybe you can share when you, um. You don’t have to name the association, but maybe share with the challenge that they were having. And then after working with you, how you were able to take them to a new level.
Jim Thompson: Yeah, sure. So I’ll use the example I was talking about with the conference, for example. So, um, you know, when the, when we were our in-person meetings had always been doing really well, um, and then we went, you know, pandemic hit, we went all virtual. Those meetings were fairly well attended, and we were doing a virtual, um, component to our conference. And, you know, the very first meeting back from the pandemic, you know, we had a pretty good number of folks attending the virtual meeting. And then, you know, the the subsequent two meetings, the attendance just dropped, just plummeted. Um, and so we knew, you know, we have got to do something about this if we’re going to continue to offer a virtual component to this meeting, we’ve got to do something to make it more valuable for those. So we actually, um, put together a task force, um, and that was made up of, you know, people who have attended virtual meetings in the past. Um, we actually did a virtual town hall that we invited every, every person who had ever attended a virtual meeting with us in the past, whether they were had been in person before or only virtual, and just really gathered a lot of feedback from them. And from that developed a new sort of hybrid experience. But one of the big components that we incorporated was, and we call it a, um, it was basically a virtual meeting liaison or a, you know, so basically, you know, we had somebody on the ground who was sort of our go to person so that, you know, the in-person, the virtual audience always had, you know, a connection with the in-person audience via this person.
Jim Thompson: So they were basically like their advocate. I mean, they were essentially advocating for them in the in, in the in-person meeting. And so, you know, we even had, you know, we would we did things like, you know, the after the keynote speaker presented, um, we have had like a little green room set up with the camera and the zoom meeting set up where the speaker came over and actually had a conversation with the in person with the virtual audience, like during the networking break. Um, and so they got a chance to have a one on one conversation with the keynote speaker that even, you know, the people in the in-person audience didn’t even have a chance to experience. Um, we even had a situation where we had staff members that were attending virtually, and they they messaged the our virtual advocate and said, hey, I see our one of our team leads at the meeting and her birthday is today. Is there any way we could sing her happy birthday? And we actually had them shown up on the screen at the conference and had them sing Happy Birthday to her at the in-person audience, you know? So it was like that we sort of just broke down those, you know, work with them to sort of break down the barriers between that in-person and virtual experience. So it was almost like they were one, if you will. Um, and we’ve been and we have been slowly, steadily, you know, they started out, I think their last virtual meeting they had they had about 45 people on it, and we were almost 100 people attending that meeting this year.
Lee Kantor: Wow. And that just when you focus on that kind of human being to human being, it just makes a world of difference. It, it, you know, it it literally humanizes the virtual right. You are getting that hybrid experience. They’re not just, like you said, throwing a camera in the back of a room and with a wide shot and saying, okay, here, we did it. Check the box, you know. Right. Exactly, exactly. Um, so if somebody wants to learn more or maybe they’re frustrated with their membership, maybe they’re frustrated with their, uh, events. Um, what is the best way to connect with you or somebody on your team?
Jim Thompson: Sure. Um, you can just email me. My email address is really simple. It’s just Jim. Jim at I’m, I a e.com.
Lee Kantor: And if they go to I am I a e.com that website. Uh they’ll be able to find more information about the firm and the different associations you work with and things like that.
Jim Thompson: Yeah, absolutely. Matter of fact, there’s and there’s a link on there. If you’re interested in a submitting a proposal or RFP, we can you can go on there and click a link. If you’re, if there’s something that’s, that’s, you know, you’re specifically interested in a service or whatever the case is. So absolutely.
Lee Kantor: And then you serve associations around the country or globally.
Jim Thompson: Globally. Yeah. We have like I said, uh, in our intro, we have anywhere from, you know, small regional associations all the way up to we have a 1 or 2 national international associations.
Lee Kantor: Now, is there a sweet spot or a niche or it’s kind of industry agnostic?
Jim Thompson: Um, we’re fairly industry agnostic. I mean, we, um, we have sort of identified what we would refer to as our ideal client. Um, we have a set of core values here at IMI. Um, but one of the big, big ones that we subscribe to is around the areas of collaboration. So, you know, one of the things we our sweet spot I would definitely is full service clients. Um, but we really like to work with those groups to have, you know, very diverse boards. Um, you know, so and I don’t mean just diversity from a race standpoint, but just, you know, from a gender, you know, urban versus rural, you know, just seeing boards who have a who have a diverse diversity of thought, I would say, um, and then just, um, you know, working with groups that are that view us as partners and collaborators and not just, uh, you know, we’re we’re not if you’re looking for somebody to just manage your association, that’s not us. We’re there to lead with you.
Lee Kantor: Right. It sounds like you’re not looking for, um, a transactional relationship. You’re looking for a relationship. Relationship where your partners and you’re all kind of rowing the same way.
Jim Thompson: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Lee Kantor: Um, and once again, that website is, I, am I a e.com? Uh, Jim Thompson, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate it.
Jim Thompson: Absolutely. Lee, thanks for the opportunity.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Association Leadership Radio.
Amy Castro with Starlight Pet Talk Podcast
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Amy Castro is a passionate advocate for animal welfare and the host of the popular Starlight Pet Talk podcast. With a mission deeply rooted in her commitment to pet education, Amy aims to empower pet parents with the knowledge and resources needed to ensure a loving, lifelong home for their pets. Her podcast serves as a crucial part of the educational efforts of Starlight Outreach and Rescue, the nonprofit animal rescue she founded and leads.
Amy’s journey into animal rescue began over a decade ago when she first volunteered at a local animal shelter. Witnessing the challenges faced by abandoned and surrendered pets, she recognized the urgent need for preventative education and community support in pet ownership. This experience spurred her to establish Starlight Pet Talk, a platform dedicated to discussing pet care, behavior, and health issues with pet experts, veterinarians, and seasoned pet parents.
Through her podcast, Amy covers a wide range of topics—from basic pet care tips to deep dives into behavioral training and health management, all aimed at reducing the number of pets relinquished to shelters. Her approachable style and insightful interviews have made Starlight Pet Talk a trusted resource for thousands of pet parents seeking guidance and support. 
In addition to her podcasting work, Amy is an active speaker and consultant in the pet industry. She frequently participates in community outreach programs and workshops, furthering her commitment to creating a more informed and compassionate pet-owning community.
Amy’s dedication to animal welfare and her work with Starlight Pet Talk and Starlight Outreach and Rescue underscore her belief in the power of education to transform lives—both human and animal alike.
Follow Starlight Pet Talk Podcast on Facebook and Instagram.
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. And Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. I’m really excited about my guest today. I have Amy Castro, who’s the host of Starlight Pet Talk Podcast. In addition to the work that she does on our podcast, Amy’s an active speaker and consultant in the pet industry, her dedication to animal welfare and her work with Starlight Pet Talk and Starlight Outreach and Rescue underscore her belief in the power of education to transform lives, both human and animals alike. Amy, welcome to the show.
Amy Castro: Thanks for having me here, Trisha. I’m excited to chat with you.
Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited. Uh, we were just talking before we started the show that we haven’t seen each other in quite some time. Uh, we engage with each other at the Clear Lake chamber a few years ago and have had a little bit of interaction in the middle. And you have something amazing going on. Really like to focus on your podcast today. So what inspired you to start the Starlight Pet Talk podcast?
Amy Castro: Education has always been part of our mission at Starlight Outreach and Rescue, and as a speaker, it, you know, kind of comes naturally to me to to take those opportunities to get the word out about whatever it might be. And I found myself on a regular basis, fielding calls from people, many of whom were looking to surrender pets to the rescue. And instead of just taking that opportunity to say, well, no, we can’t, yes we can, and leaving the conversation at that, I always want to know why, why, why do you want to rehome that pet? What is going on with that puppy? What’s going on with your cat? And I found myself in, you know, 25, 30, 40 minute conversations with people walking them through their problems and trying to give them some solutions. And I thought to myself, well, if I can do that one on one with a dozen people a day, what could I do if I turn this into a public platform to educate pet parents? So that’s kind of how it got started.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. I think it’s fantastic and it’s so needed that education out there. And you know, what should parents be doing and what shouldn’t they be doing is part of that education? Um, I would think and it’s so important people just don’t understand sometimes. And then sometimes they’re making bad decisions. And being out there and being an advocate for these animals is so special. So thank you for doing that, Amy. Sure. Most appreciate it. So how does a podcast specifically contribute to Starlight Outreach and Rescue’s mission?
Amy Castro: Well, I think it’s just it’s another outlet to get the word out about things that we can do to help keep pets in good homes. You know, most people are the people that contact us. Most of them don’t want to give up their pet. They feel like they’ve come to the end of a line. They’ve tried what they know to try. They’ve tried. You know, people will post stuff on Facebook. What should I do about this? And the advice is not always good. And so, you know, I look at the podcast as being a resource to actually cut down on the number of people that want to surrender their animals to us, because, I mean, there are hundreds of rescues in the Houston area, and we’re just one of them, and we’re actually quite a small one in comparison to others. And all of us are just completely overwhelmed. And many have closed their doors to intake on a regular basis because there’s just no place to put these animals that people are trying to surrender. So if we can get a message out there that keeps one pet in a home, that’s something that’s, you know, that’s pivotal to our mission. We’d like to put ourselves out of business, actually, as Starlight Outreach and Rescue.
Trisha Stetzel: Wouldn’t that be nice? That’s probably. I’d like.
Amy Castro: To retire.
Trisha Stetzel: I’d like to retire. Uh, so people I’m sure are already interested about your podcast. Would you tell them where they might find and be able to listen to the episodes you’ve got out there already?
Amy Castro: Sure. We actually, I just realized today that we are at our 70th episode. Um, we started the podcast in February of last year, so it’s a relatively new podcast, but you can find it pretty much anywhere that you listen to your favorite podcasts. So Apple, Spotify, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and you know dozens of other platforms. And if all else fails, you’re welcome to check it out on our website, which is basically Starlight Pet Talk.com. And all of the episodes are there as well. We also have, um, a YouTube channel for the rescue, and under that is a podcast tab where you can watch videos. They’re not the greatest videos, but I started a podcast not to have to be videoed, but we do have videos, so if you’d rather watch instead of listen, you can check us out on YouTube as well.
Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Maybe they just want to see faces. I know people’s faces, right? Even if they’re just having a conversation, right? Congratulations, by the way, on 70 episodes. That is fantastic. So many people, I’m sure you know. And we’ll talk about this in a few minutes. I’ve got a question for you around. You know, the whole idea of podcasting. Uh, but so many people start and don’t follow through. And congratulations for continuing to fill that pipeline with so much education that pet owners and pet lovers, uh, can get to and easily get to. So thank you for that. It’s awesome. So can you share a success story or a particularly impactful episode from your podcast?
Amy Castro: There are. There are many. But when I think about direct impact, where somebody has come back to me and said, that episode made me completely rethink some, you know, rethink things about my pets. It was an early on episode that we did about, um, you know, basically selecting a right fit pet. That’s a theme that runs through the podcast because too many times people are influenced by personal needs and desires that may not be a match for the pet. Or my neighbor got a blah de blah de doodle, and so therefore I want to have a doodle or whatever it might be, you know, miss misunderstandings about pets and this is kind of tied to this specific episode, is people think that, well, I should get a puppy, because that way I can raise it a certain way and turn it into a certain type of dog. But maybe if it hasn’t been. But you know, if it’s been 15 years since they’ve had a puppy, they forget how much work they are. So anyway, this particular episode of, uh, was about making those right choices. And one of the decision factors was also about how old am I and where am I in my life? And is a puppy a good choice? And I actually had a listener reach out to me after the fact and say that, you know, not only and they’d already gotten the puppy, so they were they were committed.
Amy Castro: But it really got her to thinking about, you know, what am I going to do if something happens to me? It was an older lady and her husband’s older as well. What am I going to do with this puppy if I if something happens to one of us and they hadn’t thought about that, and that was something we mentioned in the episode, is what is your plan if you are older and it really got her to, you know, basically knocking down family doors to say, okay, if something happens to my husband and I, you know, who would be willing to take in this puppy? Because the puppies, you know, they’re pushing 80 years old and the puppy could live 15 years. And it’s, uh, you really do need to have a plan.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, those who think small dogs are going to take less energy and less interaction can sometimes be wrong. Exactly right. Exactly. And really paying attention and being able to utilize the education that you’re putting out there, I think is wonderful that people have a resource that they can come to and say, okay, let me find an episode on and, well, there’s 70 to choose from and lots of education out there, and then they should subscribe and And just this is all the episodes, right? Uh, yeah.
Amy Castro: One every week the you know, that’s our that’s our goal. We are we are very consistent in putting out a new episode every Tuesday.
Trisha Stetzel: So how do you decide on the topics and even the guests that you’re bringing on to your podcast for these episodes?
Amy Castro: That’s a great question. So the initial the initial process began with a brainstorm, but also going back in my mind to those conversations and looking through emails that I had received where people had specifically asked questions or had a particular problem. So that started the initial list, and then it kind of expanded from there to say, okay, if if our goal is to have people keep their pets and live their very best lives for them, what factors play into that? So it’s, you know, problem solving. Yes. But it’s nutrition. It is, you know, lifestyle elements. It is health care and and a variety of topics. So that allowed us to take that initial brainstorm and break it into categories that we try to hit on a regular basis. And the lifestyle thing was sort of a surprise to me because we’ve, you know, we’ve done episodes on dog dancing, we’ve done episodes on photography with pets, traveling with your pets, and those have been very popular with people because it really is for people who are dedicated to their pets. It is a 360 degree lifestyle. It’s not just one thing that they’re that they’re focused on. And then as far as the the, the guest, I mean, it has ranged from my best friend because I feel like she might have a particular insight into a topic to nationally renowned veterinarians like Doctor Gary Richter and pretty much everybody in between. So it’s really a matter of selecting a topic and then trying to find out who I feel like is going to be the best person to represent that topic and provide the most up to date, current useful knowledge for the people that are listening.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. If you don’t mind, I want to visit just a little more about Amy because of your background. I know you’re an animal lover. You’ve opened a rescue. You’re also, uh, a speaker. Do you think all of that really led you to this podcasting, this educating through a podcast?
Amy Castro: Yes, I think it’s, uh, it was kind of a natural progression on how I could use, you know, it’s it’s really a it’s been a combination of a passion, which is the animal side of things and a skill, um, which is not necessarily always a passion, but being able to take that passion and put it with a skill that I have, it just makes it. It’s probably the most enjoyable thing that I spend my time on during a week because it’s, you know, I know it has impact. I know I can deliver the message, but then it’s about something that I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe is critically important to people who are listening.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. That’s wonderful. And it’s awesome how everything that you’ve done in your life and your career has really led to this moment where you’re out educating people on how they can care for these animals that they may already have in their care, uh, or which ones they should choose as they go out to get a pet, um, or decide to adopt. And I just I think that’s just wonderful. Thank you for doing that hard work of getting all of our humans educated for what’s to come. Right? Yeah. And what’s around the corner. So do you have some upcoming topics or guests that you’re going to be featuring anytime soon that you’d like to give a sneak peek to?
Amy Castro: Sure, sure. Um, and I’m not exactly sure when you’re going to air, but one one that’s that’s coming up is on vaccinations. It’s a it’s a very interesting topic with a doctor, Jeff Grognet from, uh, from Canada. He’s a holistic veterinarian. So he takes a very different view from the traditional view about get your pet all of these vaccines every single year. And it was a really interesting conversation that I think will help pet parents navigate navigate those decisions, because people are look, kind of scrutinizing the traditional beliefs about vaccines and really looking at what is actually needed and what is best for my pet. So that’s that’s a big one. That’s that’s coming up that I’m super excited about. And then another one, especially being here in the Houston area, um, is with I’m going to be interviewing a couple of folks from the National, uh, from the Red cross and talking about disaster preparedness for pets. And with hurricane season coming up, it’s a not only a timely topic, but I find I learn something new on every single episode. Like one of the things in just the pre-conversation with the Red cross folks, I did not realize that the number one disaster that they respond to is not tornadoes and hurricanes and things like that. It’s house fires. And so we’re actually as a spin off of that episode where we talk generally about disaster prep. We’re going to do an entire episode on house fires and, you know, prevention and responding because it is such a huge issue, 60,000 house fires a year. They respond to.
Trisha Stetzel: Oh my gosh, I had no idea.
Amy Castro: Me neither.
Trisha Stetzel: Here in the Houston area. You think it’s, you know, rain, tornadoes, flooding. Something to do with water? Not necessarily fire. Wow. Yeah. That is a really big, uh, a big topic people think about, you know, what do I do on a daily basis? But what if you had to gather everything up and get the heck out.
Amy Castro: In two.
Trisha Stetzel: Minutes? Exactly.
Amy Castro: And two minutes is what they said.
Trisha Stetzel: Wow. That’s crazy. So having all of that. All right, everybody who’s listening, make sure that you tune in to those two episodes. I think the vaccination space is a really fascinating area. And there are. So I think even more these days than ten years ago, really talking about is it necessary, do we need to. And then there are laws that many of us have to abide by because we take our animals into facilities or, you know, fill in the blank. We’re taking our animals out in public. And the state law says you have to have these vaccinations and you have to have them every single year. So good. All right. So tune in to that one. And then we’ve got to tune in to the one about, uh, disaster plans and the special one beyond that just about house fires and being aware of what you need to do when those types of things come up for you. Um, how can listeners get involved or support your show or even the outreach and rescue for Starlight?
Amy Castro: Well, we have a pretty strong social media presence, especially for the rescue, you know, and Facebook is one of our primary sources. So we do a lot of information updates about pets, fundraising, things like that. So we’re always looking for people to, you know, share our posts about adoptable pets or donate if they feel called to do so for a particular animal or a particular particular need that we have. We do have a separate Facebook page for the podcast as well. And as far as we’re always looking for input and show ideas, I get, I, I get, I get the greatest show ideas. We did one recently on raising guide dog puppies for the blind, and it was directly from a person who was blind who messaged me through Facebook and said, hey, it’s going to be National Guide Dog Day in on this date. And, and, uh, you know, have you thought about doing an episode on that? So reach out to us either through Facebook and there’s multiple methods to reach out to me directly on the Starlight Pet Talk.com website. You can leave a voicemail message, you can send a contact and I will respond personally to all of those contacts.
Trisha Stetzel: Hey, fantastic. Again that Starlight Pet Talk.com. You can also find them on LinkedIn and Facebook. All of that information will be in the show notes, so I hope you’ll take advantage. And just click on those links and see how you can get involved. So what I’d like to just talk about what you talk about on your podcast. If there was one thing that you could bring up on the show today that you want listeners to hear in the way of education? What would that message be?
Amy Castro: Don’t give up until you’ve exhausted all resources, whatever it might be. Um, if your pet is lost. We did a great episode with a basically a lost cat finder, a pet detective, and it was amazing. The things that are not common knowledge that you can do, and how long a pet can be lost before it gets returned. And we found that same thing with microchips. You know, the importance of having our pets microchipped and how pets can come back years later and dealing with problems, litter box issues with cats, whatever it might be. I think the big message is there is information out there. You’ve got to keep looking and don’t give up until you have exhausted all of the information and all of the resources that are available to you, and keep asking for help until you do.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, and you’ve got so much education out there that’s so easily available right now. So go check out the podcast, get the information that you need, and if you still have questions, reach out to Amy and her team on either the website. You can find them on Facebook and or LinkedIn. So just switching gears for a second, because you just started this podcast, you’ve had 70 shows. Amazing. What advice would you give to someone who might be looking to start their own cause based podcast?
Amy Castro: Oh, there’s there’s so there’s so many things. I think the, the biggest thing would be don’t get in your own way. I think too many times we worry about the what ifs, and I was the same way. And I think the only thing that allowed me to push through was the passion for the, you know, for helping animals, because otherwise I would constantly be second guessing myself. So don’t second guess yourself. Just just do it if you’re going to do it. Um, but but at the same time, I think doing some a little bit of homework up front to, to narrow in and decide on what it is, what is my goal or objective, because that’ll allow you to filter through all the noise, whether it’s the noise in your own head, whether it’s the noise of people coming at you with ideas for your show or guests that want to be on there. If you have a a goal or a mission that you’re trying to accomplish with that podcast, then you use that, like I said, as a filter to determine what directions you go in, who you have on the show, what topics you discuss, and it allows you to really establish a niche, um, that people will get get behind your listeners.
Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s about that passion that you have that’s going to keep you moving forward in the right direction. And yeah, I know about the, um, the analytical overload where you just can’t move forward because everything needs to be perfect before you can go there. And sometimes it really is just about having a conversation like we did today, uh, you know, letting people know that this is out there because they may not know. Maybe they’ve never heard of this such a thing before. Uh, and they’re ready to go out and adopt an animal, or they need help with an animal that they’ve already adopted, and they’re at wit’s end, and they don’t know what to do next. The education is out there. And, Amy, you’re doing such a phenomenal job of putting that all together. And based on your background, I’m not surprised that you’re creating such an amazing space for people to go to and find what they need in the way of education. I can’t wait to hear more episodes of your show. So as we wrap up today, is there any final piece of advice or just something that you would like to get out to the audience before we close?
Amy Castro: I think just, you know, love your pets and, you know, support them in any way that you can, whether it’s consulting with your veterinarian, listening to a podcast, reading a book, whatever it might be. But the more knowledge that you can gain as a pet owner or a pet parent or however you refer to yourself it as, the more you can make better informed decisions that are good for not only your pet, but yourself.
Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Amy, thank you so much for being on the show today. It’s been amazing.
Amy Castro: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you, um, giving me a platform to share information about the podcast that I’m so passionate about.
Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. And I have a feeling that you’ll probably be back to talk about some other things that you’ve got going on, too. Uh, so thank you for being here. And that’s all the time that we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.
Brian Cook with StretchMed®
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Brian Cook is an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience opening almost 200 locations across 4 different boutique fitness brands. He has a B.S. degree in exercise physiology from Northeastern University and an M.B.A. from Babson College.
His most recent company, StretchMed®, headquartered in Puerto Rico, is a 1-on-1 stretching studio franchise model. Its purpose is to eliminate chronic pain, increase mobility, rejuvenate, and help you move well.
StretchMed® was founded in November 2019. Currently, it has over 30 locations open in 15 states, with 30 more to be opened in the next 12 months.
Brian is from Boston but currently resides in Puerto Rico. He is a former hockey player and loves boating.
Connect with Brian on LinkedIn and follow StretchMed on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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.
Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with StretchMed, Mr. Brian Cook. How are you, man?
Brian Cook: Hey, Stone, great to be here. I’m awesome. How are you doing?
Stone Payton: I am doing well. It is an absolute delight to have you on the broadcast. I got a thousand questions, Brian. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think a great place maybe to begin the conversation is if you could paint a little bit of a picture for me and our listeners. Mission, purpose, what are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?
Brian Cook: Man yeah, yeah. Great question. So Stretch Man’s purpose is to eliminate chronic pain, increase mobility, rejuvenate, help you move well and, you know, laid out just like that but primarily eliminate chronic pain. And before we started stretch med just doing the research, there’s 116 million Americans in chronic pain right now. So that was a pretty, pretty huge problem. And, um, and that’s why we built Stretch Med.
Stone Payton: So how in the world did you find yourself in this line of work? Did you personally experience this pain you knew people that were experiencing? Did you just see a really good business opportunity to to serve? I’m always interested in how people got to where they are.
Brian Cook: Yeah. Good question. So Ben, Ben and Boutique Fitness for a while. Um, you know, for about 30 years now. So, so one on one training studios, um, small group fitness studios and then now stretching studios and saw, you know, heard of the concept back in 2015 out in California kind of happening. And I was in Boston at the time and just kind of waited for it to, to catch, catch fire, I guess, or to really kind of get there then just noticed, um, some competitors opening up locations and then just, you know, looked at my team and said, hey, this is this is in the fitness space. And just remembered back in my days of personal training, I used to, um, I used to personal train and stretch one of the partners of the Boston Red Sox way back in the day and just, um, was like, yeah, it’s in our wheelhouse. So let’s let’s take a run at this stretching concept. And for me, even before Stretch Med, when, um, when I left one of the, one of the brands I was with earlier, this, this 2006, the massage concept was just taken off. And I didn’t think that was going to become a big thing, actually. And I was like, wow. So as I looked at the industry, I said to myself, well, if you think about it, physical therapy has been around forever.
Brian Cook: Then chiropractic hit the scene, right? So physical therapy treats and injury, chiropractic treats a musculoskeletal dysfunction or injury. And then massage therapy hit the scene which is soft tissue work. And now stretch therapy hit the scene which is really moving every joint in your body the way it’s supposed to, the way the joints supposed to move. So there was nothing. Currently doing what stretching does. And the cool thing about stretching? Everyone knows what it is. They know it’s good for you and and they either don’t do it or don’t do enough of it. So it’s a it’s a we have an educated, uh, consumer base when it comes to stretching. If you, if you said cryotherapy, you know, nine, 9% of people are going to say what’s what’s cryotherapy, right? You have to educate the market what it is. You know, why it’s good for you. So stretching was cool. And since we we trained personal trainers essentially, you know, anyone that has a degree or certification in a related field, they you know, that’s kind of the prerequisite. Then we we teach you go through an anatomy course and we teach you our 36 stretches. Then we teach you all the different sequences we have. And then you become a certified stretch therapist. So, you know, plenty of certified fit pros out there looking for another, you know, tool in their tool belt.
Stone Payton: So you have multiple locations. Was that an easy decision? A quick decision, one you already knew you were headed there? Or did you get into this and say, okay, we can replicate this. We’re going to build a whole a whole system around it. What prompted that decision to to multiply?
Brian Cook: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So, uh, one of our other brands, we had gotten to a hundred locations, and I think it was like 26 states at one point. So, yeah, starting fresh, made by by all means was, you know, thousands of locations worldwide. So this this was not started to be just kind of a local concept and what’s, what’s really, really cool we do and this is I think sets us apart from competitors is we like to open and flip. So we we go into markets, we we build stores, we we staff them, we ramp them and then we sell them, and and what ends up happening is it just creates a spark. And that’s how the growth kind of takes off. Where you started in Boston, I think now we have 20 locations there. We just opened a corporate location in, uh, the LA Market in California. We already have it up for sale. We’ve got a couple causes looking to develop the whole Bay Area of California, 15 locations, and, um. Yeah. So. And then once we, you know, we won’t wait until the US is completely saturated, maybe around 2 or 300 locations. We’ll start opening and flipping in Europe and, and Asia and just start start getting, you know, putting stretch metal all over the world.
Stone Payton: So the health and wellness practitioner that believes in this, uh, approach to serving people, what what is it that kind of has them decide, you know what? I’m not going to be stoned. Stretch house. I’m going to I’m going to I’m going to tap into this stretch med outfit. Is there like a moment when the light bulb comes on or a deciding set of factors that say, okay, Stone, you’d be crazy to do that? Or yeah, the best way for you is stretch, man. But yeah.
Brian Cook: Yeah. Good question. That’s always a good question. Because even if you can do it yourself, is it worth it right. Is it worth is it worth it right. And what we the way we approach franchising is franchising. It’s a model. It’s a widget. And the the you want to be able to leverage the widget, you want to scale. And that even if you have one store you don’t want, you don’t want the store to own you. You want to be able to build a stretch MD, develop a team, and then just experience, you know, passive income where, you know, money that that comes in, or at least semi passive income where you’re not grinding out 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week to to make a living. So we really tell our owners, like, we want you to be analysts. We want you to study data. We want to learn the math and the numbers of what’s happening in your studio, and then just develop a manager that the manager develop the studio. So one of my favorite sayings is wealth creation is the direct correlation of your ability to develop people hard stop. And it’s hard to develop people. And that’s why most people either give up on it or they, they, they, you know, because it’s hard. But at the end of the day, that’s the name of the game. So so we want the owners to to develop the manager. The manager develops the system manager, system manager develops the part timers. And that’s the chain of command. Any point in time that the owner starts to have to manage a part timer, it’s a problem. And it’s it’s not fun to manage, you know, minimum wage or $20 an hour part timers when you when you just invested a 150,000 into a into a studio.
Stone Payton: So now that you’ve been at this a while and you clearly have, what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you at this point in your career?
Brian Cook: Yeah, I think, um, I love selling franchises. I love helping people get clear on, you know, they’re in corporate America. They’re, you know, they’re grinding out, you know, a great living, great job, but they just haven’t created what what I would call, um, you know, income producing assets. Right. So we really the whole name of the game is let’s, let’s build a business. Let’s let’s scale it. And what’s really fun is just helping people get, get out of the 9 to 5, like, like drop corporate America. Maybe maybe a job that just really not fulfilling. It’s not doesn’t have a strong purpose behind it. But but it makes money. And here you know, when you the first time a client comes up to you like I remember one time vividly, the very first city we opened, you know, someone I used to go in every week and get a stretcher in and back to one of your earlier questions like, I’m, I’m a customer, so I’m a former hockey player. Crossfitter. 53 years old. So I’m customer number one. I was in the first studio and I really built this for like what? What I want, what I like, and I’m like, well, if I like, I’m sure other people would like it.
Brian Cook: And sure enough, that’s what happened. But I remember a lady waited around for me, heard I was coming in the studio and then just, just, just had to thank me up and down because of what impact the stretching out in our life. Another guy that was interested in buying this particular studio, the first studio we had, we just said, said to me that, you know, Brian, I’ve been I’ve had back pain for ten years. I thought it was just you. It was just normal to sit sideways in a in a meeting at work. And then it’s the first time he hadn’t been in pain. So really cool when you when you go to work every day and you’re making a huge impact. Um, and more recently we’ve made the concept way more affordable. So we’ve got the price down to $80 a month for four, 25 minute stretches, as opposed it was 3 to $400 a month before. And what’s happened getting to a price point now we have, you know, Amazon drivers coming in, people that would never afford this, this kind of service can now afford it. And that’s what’s really cool. Now, it’s not just for the wealthy, it’s for everyone.
Stone Payton: Well, I got to believe I know there is in our business of business oriented media and podcasting or digital radio, there are these some a set of pretty common mistakes, misconceptions, myths. I got to believe there are also things that you run across all the time, uh, in, in the franchising world, in the expansion world, myths, mistakes, misconceptions. And I wonder if we might attack 1 or 2 of those or debunk them.
Brian Cook: Yeah. I think, um, I think a lot of people think they know what franchising is, but I don’t think they really do, because every time I every time I talk to someone and like, oh, you can’t do this, you can’t do that, I’m like, well, actually you can. Um, so it’s kind of cool, like franchising. It’s it’s really cool. I mean, there’s some regulation. There’s, there’s, there’s, you know, unfortunately there’s some charlatans out there like that. Some, some. Lawyer charlatans that we gotta deal with from time to time. But for the most part. It’s great because you’re able to, you know, create this, this brand, this product, this system, and all you need to franchise is really you need you need an operations manual, or you need a brand, you need an operations manual. And then you need to support. You need support. Because when you’re going to take someone’s life savings, you better be able to support them. And um, that’s it. Three things. And so so it’s really, really not hard. And then the other thing is that some people think, if, you know, if you buy a franchise, you’re not, you know, entrepreneurial. And I would say, well, that’s not the case because we’ve got people like I was mentioning a couple cousins looking to develop 15 units in one market. And then they want to develop they want to do the same thing for the other three brands that were launching. That’s pretty hospital to me. But they want to they want to one. They want to do the modeling. They want to really get clear on the numbers, and then they want to scale. So you don’t have to create the concept from scratch for it to be, you know, to be considered an entrepreneur. You just to me, I think you just want to have this insatiable desire to grow.
Stone Payton: You may have already answered this question when you described your your open and flip approach to launching a new market, but I am curious about how the whole sales and marketing thing works for a stretch, and I’m interested at the consumer level, but I’m also interested at how do you find that next couple, or that that man or woman who really ought to have one in their community?
Brian Cook: Yeah. Good. Good question. So, so really we opened the first location. Um, and then. Funny one of actually, before the first location opened, one of my one of our fitness franchise owners heard they were developing a stretching concept, so we sent her one of the stretching routines to just test out on her her fitness customers. And then she she started stretching. It’s a women’s only fitness, started stretching the ladies. And then the husband started coming in. And then she’s like, wants to meet you for coffee. I meet her at a Cafe Nero. She says, Brian, I want to buy a franchise. And I was like, oh, we we don’t have a franchise yet. She’s like, well, I want to buy a franchise. So I’m like, all right, give me, give me a minute. So when we opened the first location in Wellesley, she was only like, let’s see, open November. She opened in January, so she’s only two months behind us. So her and I would often meet on Sundays and Starbucks or in the cafe, rather to just run the play. Like, here’s what we did this week because she was so early, we inhabit. We didn’t even have our first proof of concept model off the really off the ground yet. But it worked out. It worked out great. And one of the customers that came in, one of the very first customers that came in to our very first location, bought three franchises.
Stone Payton: Oh, wow.
Brian Cook: So that’s kind of the key. It’s that that open and flip is the fastest way to and I’ve done it three, you know three different brands now or four different brands. And I’ve done this exact method, open and flip. And every one of them grew that way. And for some reason the, the three, the number three, once you get the three locations, it just starts to resonate with people. And. Yeah. And then couple couple portals. We haven’t. We’ve had zero luck with brokers, so we’ve we will not work with a broker network ever again. Just had some bad experiences and again some you know, I’m sure there’s some great ones out there. But we had a couple charlatans that just, you know, and it’s just the most un like. And I personally am taking these despicable calls. Let me tell you, I’m personally, you know, running the calls with these potential buyers and they’re not interested. They’re checked out. We’ll set up a call with an owner. They they ghost the owner. It’s just I’m like, no. And what I like about the portals is when someone finds us, they’re looking for. They’re looking for that brand.
Brian Cook: They’re not looking for, like, 20 different things. They don’t really care which one they do. And again, many are probably great, but I just don’t like the idea of a broker flipping a lead. Zero work, zero understanding anything about business development whatsoever. And then we do all the work to close it, then hand them 20 grand. I’m like, nah, I’d rather not even get the lead in the first place. So. And to me, I think it’s really important. You know, hearing brands struggle and everyone get upside down with money. Like we grow on Mars and we don’t grow, so we’re either growing profitably or we just don’t grow. And that’s kind of one of the reasons if the if the get a unit from a broker is just so much work, we just it’s just not worth it to us because because so much of the work in franchising, as you know, is the front end. It’s it’s helping that franchisee go from like, you know, getting on board to opening. And then the royalty stream is not significant for, you know, a length of time. So that initial fee is is huge.
Stone Payton: Yeah. Well, I mean, you’ve clearly earned a great deal of your wisdom through your own scar tissue. But but did you have the benefit of, of one or more mentors somewhere along the path that kind of helped you navigate the, the terrain?
Brian Cook: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So so for me, I’ll tell you quickly my little roadmap. So I opened a one on one studio when I was 23 years old with $3,500 in cash from my dad and maybe about 10,000 in credit. So just shoestring, shoestring, you know, postdated checks people, people younger than, uh, 40. Probably people younger than 50, I don’t know. I’ve heard of the term postdated check. That was before credit. That was before credit cards. So that was crazy. And then I did that for five years. You know, I did the did the, you know, 80 to 100 hours a week, you know, for five years, not one year like five straight years. And then I, um, you know, I went from one location, went to two, went to three, blew up, had to sell one, closed one the back to my original store. Two years later, I found a one on one franchise brand. Um, I joined that brand as I bought the rights to Massachusetts. Uh, and at the time, my unit was generating more revenue than than I think all of the franchise units, they had 15 or 20 stores. And my unit in Boston was we were just charging a lot more money than they were charging. And then when but this this particular franchisor had ten years more experience than me. He had fiscal discipline. He knew the franchise model. He was kind of like me in a way, like had to know and do everything in order to do it. So working for him for five years. So then Massachusetts, I was able to sell 60 franchises. I got 40 open, and then I sold my my license for my I sold my license and two studios for 1.2 million. So I got on board with ten grand and I exited with one, 1.2 million. And then I use that money to start my own brand small group fitness model. So that that first experience for five years with that brand, if I had left with $0, it would have been worth it because I learned how to be a mini franchise all within within another brand. That was awesome.
Stone Payton: Yeah, it certainly sounds like it. I’m glad I asked. So, uh, sitting on the other side of the table, let’s speak to the potential franchisee for a moment, because I, I can tell you from my personal experience, I don’t even know what questions to ask if I were entertaining buying any franchise. But let’s say I got really excited about this whole stretch med concept. Like I don’t what? Red flags, yellow flags, things to look for, things to do not do. Let’s give them some tips.
Brian Cook: Yeah, it’s a good it’s a good thing. So to me it’s all knowing the numbers right. You really got to know the numbers up front. So our latest PhD we surveyed our owners and the average cash. So the big metrics we focus on is is return on cash return on time. So the average cash out of pocket to open a stretch net was 45,000. And virtually everyone gets an SBA loan for roughly 150 200,000. But their cash out of pocket was 45. Then we asked profit. Profit was 81,000. Average profit. Then we asked time and they said the average time spent per week was six hours. So 45,000 in cash, 81,000 in profit, six hours a week in time. So that would be the drill down on the franchise model you’re looking at. And the other thing that I recently learned, and I think we’re we’re kind of rare. We don’t get any kickbacks on anything. And I and as I look at it, I used to not look for that. Now as I look at other brand FDS, I’m like, oh, this brand pulled in 20 million from, you know, from the build out, from the the tables, the build out like whatever goes on. So we make zero. So we just we make the initial franchise fee 6% royalty. And then the cost of the build out, everything else that goes into opening the studio. We just we just drive the cost of that down and pass that savings off to the franchisee. So I think it’s knowing the true cost of opening and then really knowing the number. Like what the what the break even point is going to be. And and before we aired, I was sharing with you like what I’m really excited about is we we we we just, you know, as I said earlier, we flipped the model five months ago to lower price, seeing incredible growth.
Brian Cook: But more importantly, we’re now clear on our our customer acquisition cost and lifetime value. And we know those two things. You then can understand what you should spend a mark in. And you look at return on ad spend. So and then it’s just because if you’re if you know your lifetime, you know your numbers and you’re going to put $2,000 in a marketing, and if if 8000 is going to come back right, then you just kind of keep feeding that marketing machine because you’re you’re getting the ROI. And what we’re going to experiment with is how much money, you know, can we can we triple our marketing budget and then shorten, you know, obviously ramp up much faster than than we currently do? Um, but first it’s knowing, knowing, knowing your numbers like, like nuts. And we have about 15 different data points that we measure and everything from attrition. Intro book show closed. Um, we’ve got virtual assistants. The Philippines I was mentioning. So we plug, uh, full time virtual assistants into each of the franchise locations. Do we follow up so no one likes the follow up. But when you when you hire a virtual assistant and they’re getting paid, it might be $5 an hour all in, but we bonus them actually on how many intros get booked. So their incentive is aligned with like making sure that our franchise owners are getting, uh, you know, free entries are showing up.
Stone Payton: I don’t know when or how you would find the time, but I’m going to ask anyway about passions, interests, pursuits, hobbies outside the scope of this work and what we’ve been talking about. My listeners know that I like to hunt, fish, and travel. Anything that you nerd out about other than franchising and stretch met.
Brian Cook: Yeah. Well, you know, um, boating is a big passion of mine. I absolutely love boating. And, you know, I’ve. I have a sport fishing boat. And, like, waking up in a in a Marina and a boat meet is amazing, you know, love that. Yeah, love, uh, you know, golfing, boating, not a big. You know, it’s funny. Not a big fisherman like I, you know, I take people up fishing after we catch a few. I’m like, all right, like like I’m. I’m like, I’m done. But so I just. Yeah, it’s kind of funny. Don’t didn’t, don’t really love fishing. Um, but love being on the water. I love paddleboarding, I grew up water skiing, all that kind of stuff. Really cool. And. Yeah. It just, um, you know, love playing, you know, love hockey. Not much of a, like, not much watching sports, but very much love to play sports.
Stone Payton: I think I read that in your bio. That might have been where you first learned to endure a little pain and then fix it. Was playing hockey, huh?
Brian Cook: Yeah. Yeah, definitely the best game. The best game there is, man. You just. Yeah, it’s it’s awesome.
Stone Payton: All right, man, what’s the best way for our listeners to learn more, tap into your work, maybe explore the opportunity with Stretch Med or one of these other brands that you have developed. Whatever you feel like is appropriate. Website LinkedIn. Let’s let’s leave them some. Probably.
Brian Cook: Yeah, probably LinkedIn I think. Yeah. My LinkedIn is Brian Arc1 and um, that’s probably good. It’s probably the only social media I was the last person, I think, in the US to get a Facebook account in Philly, and it’s only used for like you have to have one from marketing. So, you know, I don’t really go on it. Um, I have to see it occasionally to get through my marketing account, but but yeah, that and then stretch med studios. Com you’ll see that that’s the latest brand. But yeah, LinkedIn and there’s a bunch of things we’re going to do. And as I was sharing with you, like I’m my my next, my next venture is going to be to help entrepreneurs franchise their concepts and to create, you know, just create this ecosystem of franchise wars and provide the back office support because it’s really fun. Like, I really like the initial, like branding, financial modeling, proof of concept and then getting it to, you know, one 1050, 100 and then it’s like, bring the CEO in, bring up, bring a different team in. And I want to go back and create another one. Keep going over and over again.
Stone Payton: I love that idea, and I hope you’ll consider joining us again when you get that thing off the ground and diving into that. We want to we want to keep up with your story and learn about that as well.
Brian Cook: You got it, man. Definitely.
Stone Payton: Well, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the broadcast, Brian. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. It’s an invigorating conversation, inspiring for me personally. I’m sure for our listeners, you’re doing really important work, man, and we we sure appreciate you.
Brian Cook: Thanks, Don. Uh, thanks for having me.
Stone Payton: My pleasure. Alright, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Brian Cook with Stretch Med and everyone here at the Business Radio X family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.
Hawaii WBE Feature – The Aloha Spirit: An Impactful Journey in Sustainable Fashion
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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Cora Spearman, founder of Coradorables Sustainable Corporation, Hawaii’s first-ever B Corporation product-based company. Coradorables creates luxury resort wear, supporting over 30 local, mostly female-run businesses. Cora shares her personal journey of starting the company during her battle with cancer and how she continued to support women-owned businesses. She emphasizes the importance of passion and purpose in entrepreneurship and discusses the significance of being a B Corp.
Cora Spearman-Chang is the CEO and Founder of Coradorables & Cora Spearman Hawaii, a certified B corporation Made-in-Hawaii retail brand that evokes a mid-century modern, Hawaiian-kissed getaway lifestyle for men, women and children.
Cora launched Coradorables in 2010, inspired by the birth of her first daughter and in the wake of her battle with head/neck and brain cancer. Named Emerging Designer of the Year at the 2013 Hawaii Governor’s Fashion Award, her designs are now carried by 5-star resorts and hotels (including the Four Seasons), online, and at upscale specialty shops worldwide.
In addition, she’s a 2024 Hawaii Power Leader, 2024 Starboard and Celebrity Cruise lines Curator of Style, 2023 Ohio State Fisher School of business Leadership Honoree, 2020 Pacific Business News “Women Who Mean Business” Honoree and Mentoring Monday Mentor.
Cora’s WBENC-certified brand was Hawaii’s first featured retailer at Saks 5th Ave Waikiki, is a former Academy Awards Gifting Suite attendee, and a featured Made-in-Hawaii brand at Hankyu Department Stores Japan. Her creations, all designed, sourced and manufactured in Hawaii, have been worn by the stars of various television shows and featured in the pages of Vogue UK, Tatler, ELLE, Essence and beyond.
Her sustainable designs are reflected not just in her colorful fashion, but in her company’s entire ethos: she’s a 2022 United Nations Climate Ambition Accelerator Participant, frequently invited to
speak on the national stage about sustainable fashion practices (including on the 2022 NRF Retails Show’s “Future of Sustainability” panel alongside LVMH and Macy’s), and has appeared in Inc.
Magazine on the topic.
Today, Cora lives in Honolulu with her husband, Kalanialii, and their two children, Izzabelle Ka’iulani and Zoe Heimakaokalani. Together, they bring made-in-the-islands aloha spirit with them wherever they go.
Connect with Cora on LinkedIn and follow Coradorables on Facebook and X.
Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show, we have Cora Spearman with Coradorables, a sustainable corporation, and Cora Spearman, Hawaii. Welcome.
Cora Spearman: Aloha. How are you?
Lee Kantor: Lee, I am doing well. Before we get too far into things, can you tell us a little bit about Coradorables? How are you serving folks?
Cora Spearman: Coradorables, we are Hawaii’s first ever B-corporation product based b-corporation. We are 100% made and sourced here in Honolulu, Hawaii. Manufactured here in Honolulu, Hawaii. And when people buy corridor bulls, they’re helping to support over 30 locally owned, mostly female run and founded organizations. Whether it be our cutters, our sewers, our pattern makers, our graphic designers, etc., etc. they’re all mostly women owned companies. And so we make everything right here in Honolulu, Hawaii. We are what is considered mid-century modern contemporary luxury resort wear, and we are excited about all the different clients that we partner with. We started off as a direct to consumer company online, and we moved now more into wholesaling. And so we have partners like the Four Seasons, the Fairmont Resorts, Bloomingdale’s and now Celebrity Cruise Lines.
Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?
Cora Spearman: Oh backstory. Oh. Origin story. Okay, where do we start? I think, um, like most entrepreneurs, we always say that our our businesses are baby. And like any baby, um, my business was oddly born in a hospital, you know, and it was born, um, actually, during the time when I was battling head, neck and brain cancer. And I wanted a healthy distraction from the cancer, I had to close my 2500 square foot retail stores here that we had here in Hawaii, and they no longer could handle my cancer here in Hawaii. So I had to go to Baltimore, Maryland, um, at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. And so while I was in the hospital there, um, the doctors and nurses became my first test market. And they are still my clients to this day. Um, so that was kind of how corridor was was born.
Lee Kantor: So you were you had a retail store selling clothing.
Cora Spearman: Oh, we we had a gift store. So yes, we sold clothing and gift items.
Lee Kantor: And then were you designing at that point or you were reselling other people’s things?
Cora Spearman: No, I wasn’t designing at that point. I was actually selling other woman owned, uh, products. So Mirabel chocolates for 79 popcorn. I was sourcing other, um, what would be, uh, back then? Um, we didn’t know about webbank, but, um, what would be considered a webbank? Um, companies that were women owned, certified women owned companies.
Lee Kantor: So that has always been part of your history even prior to this adventure.
Cora Spearman: Oh, prior to Coradorables? Yes. I’ve always very much supported not just local, but also supported woman owned. Um, for sure.
Lee Kantor: So then when you, uh, came back to Hawaii, um, then this idea kind of was germinating and then you were like, okay, let’s start kind of making this happen.
Cora Spearman: Well, yeah. Um, so, like the doctors and nurses I was designing, but then I was also taking samples and products to local children’s stores there. Um, in, um, Towson, I believe Maryland. And I must have looked absolutely crazy walking in with bandages on, um, all over my face because I was undergoing, um, extreme radiation at the time and multiple facial reconstructive surgeries. Um, but like I said, I was focused and determined to start something new and something exciting. I hadn’t had kids yet. Um, I wanted to have children. And, um, I knew that there was a void in the marketplace for, um, high end, um, children’s resortwear.
Lee Kantor: And then so you started creating those, and then you started then selling them on your own. Correct. And that was first online. And then you did a brick and mortar.
Cora Spearman: It was first online and then no, we did not do brick and mortar. We’re actually located in the foreign trade zone here in Hawaii. Um, we started actually exporting to Japan. Um, and so we started with our partners, um, with, uh, Hankyu department stores and, um, it kind of caught craze there. We also got to, uh, beta test because at the time I had, um, pitched with Webank Disney and when I pitched Disney, uh, an executive from Disney had said to me, Cora, do you want to just sell us your product or do you want to help tell your story? Because we’re very much a, you know, story centric. And that was how my cartoon characters, Bill and Zoe and the Hawaii Transplants were born. Um, I ended up meeting at the Webank conference in San Diego. Um, uh, the animator, one of the animators from Disney, named Benson, Shum and Benson, um, they kind of whisked him away and I said, oh, well, maybe that’s a sign for me to go and go upstairs and practice for my pitch. And when I got in the elevator there he was. So like any little kid that I learned from little kids, I started pushing every button in the elevator so that I could have enough time to give him my elevator pitch, and to pitch him to see whether or not he’d be interested in drawing my cartoon characters that I thought would, um, eloquently tell, you know, the story of our brand, the story of our, um, diverse background, um, being, uh, us as a family, Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, African American, Native American, which was, as we told Disney, every Disney princess under the sun. A little bit of Moana, a little bit of Pocahontas, a little bit of Mulan, a little bit of Tiana, you know, and all of that mixed together. And, um, what became, you know, is definitely our daughters, Bella and Zoe. So, yeah.
Lee Kantor: Now, is there any advice you can give other entrepreneurs out there? Because it seems like you have such, um, amazing drive and you’re you don’t take no and you go for what you want to achieve. Any lessons there for other people on how to have the, the gumption to, um, you know, be brave enough to do the things that you’ve done.
Cora Spearman: Oh, um, my advice is, um, I think cancer and life showed me, um, that life is not promised. It’s short, so you have to actually do what you love, you know, not waste your time, not waste other people’s time, uh, doing something that you don’t love and don’t enjoy. So you have to figure out what your true calling is. Um, I’m not an advocate or a proponent of just doing things for money. I do things with purpose. Um, so finding your purpose, finding your passion in that purpose, and then letting that drive you because then it doesn’t feel like work. You’re just honestly doing what you were called on this planet to do and living out your full and complete happy life.
Lee Kantor: Now, when you have that mindset shift and that belief, does that kind of take away the fear? Or are you kind of a little nervous, like when you pressed all the buttons in the elevator, was there any hesitation or any nerves? Or were you like, this is what I have to do because I’m trying to achieve something and this person could help me.
Cora Spearman: Um, I never move with desperation. Um, but I definitely move with excitement and vigor. So, um, I think, like I said, I guess it’s more of that, like I said, that that little kids abandon of having just, um, excitement and, uh, just pure, pure intentions and, um, and just wanting, you know, being excited to play, you know, to have fun, to create. You know, it wasn’t, um, coming from a place. Oh, I need to do this. It’s, uh. That’s never my energy. I think the energy is more of. Oh, my gosh. What? Um, the stars have aligned. Like, what a serendipitous, you know, uh, occasion. This is definitely kismet. You know, it was meant to be. So I think when you’re living in your purpose that the stars align. Um, in Hawaiian, we have a phrase that’s called imua. Imua is when more than one are gathered with a common purpose, and it literally means to push forward. And it’s when you’re pushing forward with perseverance, purpose, and, um, dignity.
Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned earlier that you were a B Corp. For the folks who aren’t familiar, can you explain what a B Corp is and why it was important for you to go that route?
Cora Spearman: Oh, sure. Um, B Corp are businesses that use, um, business as a force for good, so to speak. Um, it’s, um, companies that definitely adhere to the, um, SDGs as outlined by the United Nations Global Compact on, um, you know, fairness and paying a fair wage and, um, no type of discrimination and having, um, equality in the workforce, like eradicating racism. Um, there’s just different pillars making sure, um, that we’re ecologically sound and being, as we call them, a Hawaiian, um, pono, which is a fair, righteous and just and being in balance with the environment. Um, and, um, for us, it’s the ocean, the air and the sea. Um, making sure that when we’re producing or consuming things, that is in a, a a, you know, a fair, righteous, just a very ecological way, you know, a very conscious and aware of every decision and the impact that you’re having, um, on the community around you and the people who are, um, consuming your products as well as, uh, the people who are creating your products and, um, you know, making sure that everything is is righteous, fair and just. And so I would suggest people check out, uh, b-corp net where they can find out more about exactly what B Corp are and some of your favorite brands may be B Corp’s. Um, like for me it was Doctor Bronner’s Patagonia, um, and um, a few others that were, um, Ben and Jerry’s that were, uh, very inspirational in the way that, um, they approached business but then also gave back to the communities that, um, they, uh, manufacture in.
Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of WebEx West?
Cora Spearman: Oh, wow. Um. Oddly, um, when I picked Disney, um, actually I had picked Disney because I had I was about to pitch Shark Tank and I was all set to go on to Shark Tank, and the producers cut me. My segment was cut, and I was bummed and devastated, and I asked myself, well, why were you, um, wanting to go on to Shark Tank in the first place? And my why was well, I wanted to get in front of some of these big box retailers. I wanted to get in front of the targets, and I wanted to get in front of the Macy’s, and I wanted to get in front of, um, the Disney’s. And so I blindly wrote a letter to Disney.com, just random, and I kind of forgot about it. And then I got this weird phone call from Anaheim, and it was from a woman named Ani Lamb and Ani Lamb, um, God rest her soul. She’s, um, no longer with us, but, um, she’s an angel we know by name. Um, most of the movies would know our niece. She was a huge advocate of woman owned business and an executive with Disney and I, when she called me, I was, like, not expecting the phone call. And I joked that she became my first shark. Um, she was a huge advocate and saying, Korra, you need to become a woman owned, certified. And I said, woman owned, certified. I knew nothing about it. I had just at that time, it was 2016. I had just won the Score Small Business Championship. And serendipitously, I was flown to Arizona, which is where we Bank West is, um, headquartered. And um, so when they flew me to Arizona for the Score championship, I then got to meet Doctor Pamela Williamson, um, as introduced by our niece lamb, and the rest became, um, herstory, as I like to call it.
Lee Kantor: And then have they have your relationship with Rebecca West? Um, helped you get access to those big boxes that you were seeking?
Cora Spearman: I think. Absolutely. And if, um, and even if it didn’t in some way, directly, indirectly, they always are, are looking forward to me having the certification. Um, whether it be, um, me dealing with Amazon, they ask you, you know, if you have it and uploading it into their systems. Um, it’s very, uh, useful and, and um, and looked upon. Well, when I’m dealing with, uh, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, um, as I’m dealing with them now, um, it’s taken some years, but I’ve finally got into those, um, big box retailers proudly. Um, but the certification definitely is a badge of honor. And it is also looked upon, I think, uh, very, very respectfully by those entities.
Lee Kantor: Now. Um, where can you find corridor balls now?
Cora Spearman: Oh well. We’re excited about launching on the Celebrity Ascent, so if you’re so blessed to take a vacation on a cruise on Celebrity Ascent, you can definitely find our collections there. Um, you can find us, of course, on wtkr.com. Um, you’re able to shop our collections also directly from any of your social media outlets, whether it be Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest. Um, you’re also able to find us. Um, bloomingdales.com. They have a new collection, um, that we’re getting to them soon. Um, I’m actually pitching. I’m one out of 25 businesses. Um, 1300 applied, but they only chose 25. And I think more than half of us are Webbank certified, actually. Um, uh, for us to pitch for $100,000 for Macy’s, the workshop at Macy’s. So hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll be available at Macy’s very soon as well. Um, and then if you’re visiting the islands of Hawaii, you can find us at the Fairmont, the Four Seasons. Uh, the Grand Wailea. Maui Westin. Um, or the island of Lanai. The four seasons there, etc..
Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How could we help you? Are you looking to partner with more Hawaiian women owned companies? Are you looking to get into more and more accounts? Um, how can we help?
Cora Spearman: Oh, we can help by, uh, following us on our social media platforms and engaging with us there. Um, we are very much excited right now with our strategic partners in launching, um, our sustainable, um, circular fashion, um, installations that we’re planning to put into these stores. So we’re excited about, um, helping big box retailers become a lot more green. Um, so we’re very excited about that component, how people can also support by shopping our collections, um, buying our collections. Um, and I’d love to do, uh, collaborations with any of the other, um, entities out there, like, uh, Levi’s. I’d love to do a collaboration with them. Um, and any of the other, uh, collabs with, uh, bigger companies that are, um, uh, fortune 100 companies, like the, uh, Ben and Jerry’s and things of that nature. So, um, Patagonia, any of them. I would love to do a collab.
Lee Kantor: Well, Cora, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.
Cora Spearman: Oh, no, thank you for having us and we appreciate you. So mahalo nui loa.
Lee Kantor: And that’s corridor bulls.com c o r a d o r a b l e s.com. Perfect. Well, Cora, thank you again for sharing your story. It was great chatting with you.
Cora Spearman: Mahalo. Aloha.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.
BRX Pro Tip: 4 Tips to Stop Procrastinating
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BRX Pro Tip: 4 Tips to Stop Procrastinating
Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I don’t know if you want to talk about this right now or put it off till later, but what are some ideas for putting a stop to procrastination?
Lee Kantor: Yeah. Procrastination is one of those things that everybody has to deal with to some degree, and it’s one of those things that can really sabotage yourself and your growth.
Lee Kantor: So some ways that you can stop procrastinating are, number one, break a large task into a smaller, more manageable series of steps. A lot of times task seems too big, so you just keep delaying getting started with it. But if you can take that task, break it up into smaller pieces and then say, okay, today is the day I’m doing number one. And then just know that you’re going to slowly kind of make progress over time. That makes things easier and that makes you more likely to take action.
Lee Kantor: Number two is take action. Commit to just starting tasks that you want done. A lot of times the starting is the hardest part. So you don’t have to say, I’m going to solve this problem today, but you’re going to just start solving the problem today. And a lot of times you’ll find that just the action of starting will help you get more things done. Because once you’ve started something, it’s easier to continue doing that thing.
Lee Kantor: Another tip to stop procrastinating is – we’re talking about this earlier – eat the frog. Do the hardest thing first thing in the morning when you have the most energy and the least amount of distractions. So just tackle that thing you’ve been kind of procrastinating on and try to get that done first. And once you’ve done that, the rest of the day seems easy.
Lee Kantor: Number four, you know, give yourself some grace. You know, practice some self-compassion. Focus on progress, not perfection. You can control the process. You can’t control the outcome so do more things, get more things done, and adjust based on what you’re learning. But give yourself some grace in this.
Lee Kantor: So, those are my tips to stop procrastinating.
BRX Pro Tip: 3 Signs to Quit What You Are Doing
Terri Haswell with Seniors Helping Seniors and Robin Reid with Alzheimer’s Association Georgia Chapter
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Brought to you by Diesel David and Main Street Warriors
Atlanta natives, Kip and Terri Haswell opened the doors of Seniors Helping Seniors Northwest Atlanta on June 1, 2023.
They hire an often-overlooked workforce of active adults, who are looking for meaningful work while also supplementing their income, to come alongside and care for their less active senior counterparts.
They serve Cobb, Cherokee and Pickens counties and have lived in Cobb and Cherokee counties for over 30 years as do many members of their own family.
They both have worked with seniors at various times over the course of their careers. In 2020, Terri became a primary caregiver for her dad while also juggling the last two years of their only son’s high school years. After losing her dad and then they became empty nesters, eventually looking to start their next chapter.
While Kip still works full time, he supports the business in various ways. Their mission is to provide meaningful connections while also fulfilling the needs of their Caregivers, Clients and Families.
They understand the challenges of being a family caregiver as well as how difficult it is for their aging loved ones to accept care. Upon learning of the unique concept of Seniors Helping Seniors, they knew this was what they were meant to be doing.
Founder, Kiran Yocom, worked with Mother Teresa for 14 years, learning from one of the greatest humanitarians how to treat others with dignity and respect. By hiring more mature adults to assist seniors in need, the clients feel like they are getting a little help from a friend, rather than from someone who does not understand the aging process.
It is a connection and relationship built on empathy rather than sympathy. “We get to meet the needs of two sectors of seniors as well as give their adult children peace of mind that their loved ones are receiving quality care,” said Terri. “It is a win-win-win.” “We are grateful to be able to take our passion and our personal experience and be able to turn around and help others in our community in such an impactful way.”
Connect with Terri on LinkedIn.
Robin Reid, Program Manager with Alzheimer’s Association Georgia Chapter, is a mission-driven community relations professional who thrives on being a “connector”.
She enjoys cultivating “win-win” relationships between corporate and community stakeholders to create positive change.
Connect with Robin on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.
Stone Payton: Welcome to this very special episode of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning. And today’s program is brought to you in part by our Community Partner program, the Business RadioX Main Street Warriors Defending Capitalism, promoting small business, and supporting our local community. For more information, go to Main Street warriors.org and a special note of thanks to our title sponsor for the Cherokee chapter of Main Street Warriors Diesel David Inc. Please go check them out at dieseldavid.com. And now it is my distinct pleasure to ask you to join us in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone with Seniors Helping Seniors. Ms. Terri Haswell. How have you been?
Terri Haswell: I’ve been great, Stone. Thank you so much for having me.
Stone Payton: It is a delight to have you back in the studio every time I’m out and about, whether it’s in the BRX buggy or just walking around town, you are so active. You are in the community. What in the world have you got going on? What’s happened since I’ve seen you last?
Terri Haswell: Goodness gracious. What has happened since I’ve seen you last? Well, we are just continuing to grow. And yes, I have been very busy. I love Woodstock, so of course there’s so many activities going on here. That’s why we probably run into each other so much, because we love this community and we’ve been a part of it for since 2008. So a long time. So we yeah, we enjoy it.
Stone Payton: So I have a personal update for you. I probably mentioned they were coming, uh, when you were in the studio, but since that time my folks have moved here. I grew up in Pensacola, Florida. Mom and dad are up there. They’re 81 and 83. I’ve got them close. They’re two minute drive from my house in downtown Woodstock, over off of Dupree in The Villages at Tanner Lake. And it is such a rich and rewarding time of life. Like, I’ll probably swing by there today and have a cup of coffee. Or if it gets to be midday, I’ll text daddy and say, am I going to have to buy my own lunch today? You know, and we’ll meet at Jekyll. Or, you know, maybe we’ll try out Roberto’s tomorrow, but, uh, it’s a real it’s a real pleasure having them here. So that’s my new personal update for you.
Terri Haswell: That is wonderful. It’s always exciting to just be able to share that time with your parents. You know, and the fact that they moved here is fantastic. It is not everybody’s willing to move so quickly. No. It’s great.
Stone Payton: We feel very blessed. And I know you team up and try to serve so many different constituencies here and organizations, and you partner with them to to serve. Who’d you bring with you?
Terri Haswell: This morning I brought Robin Reid. She is the program manager with the Alzheimer’s Association, the Georgia chapter, and she and I are partnering together to bring some education to this community, um, on dementia caregiving resources and communication strategies. So because I work with so many seniors and their families, I’m finding I went to Robin and I said, you know, I’m looking at these clients and I absolutely love them, but I were walking into a time of struggle for them, because sometimes when you get this dementia diagnosis, it’s overwhelming and people don’t know what to do, you know? So sometimes. So we’re walking into that and being able to come alongside these families and the clients, but I just wanted to give them more support, like let them know that they’re not alone in this journey. Let them know that there are resources out there. And honestly, I don’t want to say this wrong, but just to not be afraid to address what’s happening here, because I know it’s so overwhelming and so emotional that, um, sometimes it’s hard to do that people kind of shut down, you know, until they have to face it and and no judgment at all because we had that diagnosis with my dad. But then we also had the brain tumor diagnosis. So there was a lot going on there. And I understand the emotion. So so me partnering or our our company partnering with, with Robin comes from a place of experience of knowing what those emotions are like. And so I just want to let people know that we’re here. We’ve got resources. You’re not alone. And how can we help? So that’s what this educational, uh, seminar, I guess you would call it, is, is all about next Saturday. So I brought her with me to tell us all about it.
Stone Payton: Well, welcome to the broadcast, Ms. Robin. We are happy to have you. I got a ton of questions, and we probably won’t get to them all, but maybe a good place to start is if you could just, uh, share with us, me and our listeners. Uh, mission. Purpose. What is it that you and your team are really out there trying to do for folks?
Robin Reid: Well, again, thanks for this and for this opportunity. And I thank Terry so much. Um, you know, we have a vision at the Alzheimer’s Association to see a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. So our mission is to really provide care and awareness, um, advocate for people who are dealing with Alzheimer’s, um, and just provide that care and support. So to her point, we want families to know when there’s. A diagnosis that you are not alone. We know that there is a stigma attached to dementia and Alzheimer’s. The unknown is scary. It’s a scary place to be. There are a lot of unknowns, and so we want them to know that there is an organization locally here that has resources. And probably one of the greatest resources we have is our 24 over seven hotline. Our helpline, which is um, 24 over seven 365. You could call it 3:00 in the morning. You could call on a holiday. It is manned by master’s level clinicians. And so they can answer any question you may have in regards to okay, I’ve gotten a diagnosis. My mom has been diagnosed. What do I do now? Where do I go? What’s my next step? And that’s where a lot of families and individuals find themselves. Because number one, we’re not looking to have this diagnosis. Right. Or maybe we’ve been in denial for some time. So we want them to know that there is someone there. There is support, and we want to help you sort of navigate this journey.
Stone Payton: So how did you find yourself in this line of work? What’s the what’s the Robin read back story?
Robin Reid: Well, it was totally unrelated to this field. My background is in television. Believe it or not, I was a producer for about 17 years with the local NBC affiliate here in Atlanta. Um, and so that’s how I got connected to several nonprofit organizations, you know, um, you know, the Red cross, Salvation Army, etc., etc.. So I really found a love for community engagement. And so after I left, um, television, I connected with a couple of other nonprofits. But eventually, I guess God led my steps here because I really wanted to do mission driven work. And because I’m getting older, I’m moving towards this population. Um, you know, I wanted to do work that would help. Um, and I have an affinity for seniors in the community. So, um, it’s been very fulfilling. So I’ve been here about two years.
Stone Payton: Um hum. So now that you’ve been at it a while, what, uh, what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you?
Robin Reid: The most rewarding is really when you sort of see that light bulb go off, when you tell people about the disease and you see that they’ve learned something, and then they feel like, oh, okay, I have something that I can take away and I can use as a caregiver, or I have this information that may help me later down the road as I age. You know, there are ways I can maybe be more cognizant of how I can live and be healthier. And then we just want people to know, you know, again, when they see that, oh, wow, I didn’t know that there was a support group in my community, or I didn’t know that there was this education out there. So it’s kind of when people sort of see like, oh, okay, this is very helpful. And you feel like you’ve given them something they can walk away with that will help them later.
Terri Haswell: Empowering. Exactly, I love that.
Stone Payton: So this event and you’re thrust in general seems to have a very strong, uh, educational foundation, right? Educating the the caregiver, educating the person going through this, helping them communicate. So what are some of the the topics or things that that you might be, uh, talking about on this upcoming event? Yes.
Robin Reid: Well, we have a whole menu of topics within our education program. We start with the basics with a lot of, uh, you know, groups. Well, what is Alzheimer’s and dementia? Understanding what it is. First, we have a great, uh, program that talks about the ten warning signs. You know, what’s normal? Forgetfulness with aging and what may be a red flag, and in particular, this, uh, program that we’ll be presenting on June 8th is a new program called the Empowered Caregiver Series. And it really focuses in on grassroots caregiving. So, um, we’re excited to provide this, this really sort of targeted to the average caregiver. Um, this is for someone who may be caring for their mom or their grandparent or whomever. And it really talks about the basics of what is caregiving, how can you make it better for your loved one, and how can you have self-care to help you both get through the process and navigate daily?
Stone Payton: So to my knowledge, which is a dangerous phrase right there because my knowledge is extremely limited, I we’re not there yet. We, my brother and I are not there yet. Russ just came up and we spent some time with with Mom and dad and we, um, but there’s probably some things ought to be looking. I don’t even know what questions to ask or any like, where do you where do you start? Russ and I, you know, we’re obviously grown ourselves. And are there things we should be looking for or things we should be prepared to absolutely do and absolutely not do that come to mind?
Robin Reid: Well, in terms of, you know, all of us are aging and the aging population is growing, which is a good thing because we’re living longer. Yeah. Uh, but, you know, it kind of start thinking now whether there’s a diagnosis or not, if there was one, what are some steps I could take now to prepare myself and my loved one, you know, do you have your, um, you know. Business in order, so to speak, as we all should anyway, as we’re getting older. But if you think about, you know, if one of us were to get a diagnosis, you know, what type of care, because we know this is a progressive disease. So eventually you’re going to need more care than just you probably taking care of your loved one. Um, so kind of think about money matters. Think about, um, you know, if I’m, you know, if I have a loved one who’s diagnosed and I still have a career, if I travel when I work, what are going to be those resources I can call on to make sure that my loved one is taken care of, whether it’s in my home someone comes in, or if I have to place them in a new community. What are those options? So, you know, a lot of families are devastated because they wait to have that conversation.
Stone Payton: Well, everything you’ve just described, I can hear Russ and I saying, you know what? When you come back to town, we ought to sit down and talk about that. And I bet we’ve said that a half a dozen times, but we haven’t we haven’t really dived into. It’s one of those things that you’re like, yeah, we need to we need to have that conversation. You put it off, but you really do need.
Robin Reid: In general, we put it off. I mean, how many people have a will, you know? Right, right. Um, so it’s just those types of things to kind of start being proactive and, and even in terms of just, you know, healthy living, what are some things I could do for myself? Can I eat better, could I exercise? I know I certainly could, certainly in that group, but just those types of things, because we even have one of our education topics is healthy living for your brain and body, you know, so what could I do better? Just little things that may improve, you know? Am I a smoker? Do I drink excessively? Am I eating a little too much sugar? You know, it’s just that general overall health, you know, benefit. What could we do better just to help our overall health?
Stone Payton: So tell us, what is a day in the life of Robin? Like I know, I know you’re going to come, you’re going to do this spot, and we got to get you out of here in time to go do other stuff.
Robin Reid: Um, honestly, I the one thing I enjoy about my job as a program manager. And just so you kind of understand, understand the structure of the organization, we are a voluntary led, you know, national organization. Um, we’re headquartered in Chicago. But here in Georgia, our brick and mortar headquarters is in Atlanta, but we have satellite offices around the state. So in my position as a program manager, we’re all about education and awareness. Um, we recruit volunteers to go out and help educate the community. Um, but we each have a territory. So there are four of us. So we average about 40 counties each. We know Georgia has 159 counties. So, um, I go all the way up to the Tennessee line, and Cobb and Cherokee is more of my populated counties. But we we each have a territory, and we all kind of work together to make sure that we’re covering as much ground as we can. Um, in a day in the life of, you know, me in this position, there is a lot of time on the road, but we’re getting out and we’re creating relationships, which, you know, working with Terry is a perfect example of, you know, what we do? We reach out to the community because, you know, this job is too big. And all of us who are in the service industry and trying to help other people, we have to work together. It’s all about community. So we look for those opportunities to create partnerships and help us get the word out. So.
Stone Payton: So, Terry, say more about the collaboration, your motivation for being so involved in the community in general in this particular situation? Uh, why and how? I mean, because it’s a lot, right? You got this business to run to, right? It is.
Terri Haswell: But I mean, that’s part of what we established as business for in the first place, because like I said before, we’re so ingrained in our community and I feel like we wanted to do this to serve our community anyway. So not only do we go in to partner with clients and their families and give them some of that respite care, give them some of that routine, help them help the families who are working full time, but yet have a loved one that they need to know are taken care of. You know, we we go in and we help with that also. But I feel like we want to do more than just that. We want, like I said, partner with um resources, community resources to be able to help educate, to be able to empower, to be able to love on because caregivers, you know, I was a caregiver, you know, and when you’re going in between your family and your parents and this and that, like you’re and then you have your job and it can get tiring. So I have a real heart for even the, you know, the family caregivers. And so I just want to try to find ways to be able to partner and help each and every group of people that we work with, whether our clients who are seniors themselves, many of them, um, so they’re they’re doing this because they have a heart for it. They want to do this. They need to make a little extra money, something like that.
Terri Haswell: So whatever their purpose is, then the client obviously gets served as well. And then we serve the families too. So that’s that’s where I wanted to partner with her. And because like I said, I’ve seen so many families where we’ve walked in and it’s. Rewarding because we’ve made a difference in the sense that, like, you can just feel the family member exhale, you know, and to be able to do that, you know, just to be able to exhale and to say, ah, I haven’t seen my mom happier or I haven’t seen my, you know, we had this little couple. Um, I’m getting chill bumps now, this little couple where, uh, the husband has, has dementia and the wife, you know, he doesn’t talk to her anymore, so it’s really hard, you know? So she’s lonely, and there’s a loneliness epidemic out there right now. I mean, the US surgeon general says there’s a loneliness epidemic. So when this diagnosis comes, there becomes more isolation because you’re overwhelmed. You can’t necessarily leave your loved one. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know. You think you might be the not the only one in it, but you just don’t know where to go because you’re just trying to keep your head above water. So when we we went into this home, we were able to not only get a caregiver who is able to help the husband, but the wife gets a companion, she gets somebody that she can talk to.
Stone Payton: Had not even thought about. That makes a lot of sense.
Terri Haswell: It’s it’s a wonderful experience. But at the same time, I want to be able to now empower the daughter and, you know, the other the other family members. Okay. So how do we, you know, what can I be doing to do this? And I know that there’s I try to tread gently because everybody handles this diagnosis differently. Some people face it head on. Others like I’ve got a client where like they they don’t even talk about it or let her know that she because it would terrify her if she knew she had it. So that’s how they choose to do that. And again, no judgment at all. But I just feel like I need to tread lightly and then say, that’s your choice. But here’s some resources to help you navigate through that in case this does. You know that that’s what I want to be able to do, is I’m not the expert, but I partner with people who are. Does that make sense?
Stone Payton: It makes all the sense in the world. So, Robin, I’m operating under the impression that, uh, that like many industries, including radio, there’s often a handful of common myths or mistakes or misconceptions or things that people ought to do, don’t do. Is that the case in this? In this?
Robin Reid: Well, there are some misconceptions that, you know, this is a normal part of aging. It’s not it’s not expected that, oh, well, you’re over 65 now. You, you know, you’ll likely get dementia or you know, you’ll develop this disease. Um, it’s more prevalent in, you know, people 65 and over. But it’s not to be expected that just because I’m nearing this age, then I’ll likely get it. Um, you know, we we try to educate people on, um, you know, what may be more prevalent in a particular population. And that’s where a lot of our research, we are really big into research. That’s where our fundraising dollars go. Um, and, you know, it’s really important because, you know, if you think ten years ago even you wouldn’t see these commercials on TV about these drugs that are coming out now, right? And I won’t go there and try to pronounce the names because that can be difficult. But, um, you know, we’ve all seen in the news, it seems like every week there’s a story related to dementia. Um, and the good thing is that people are talking about it, and that’s why education and awareness is so important. Um, and I heard someone say a while back that, you know, dementia and Alzheimer’s is where cancer was 30, 40 years ago.
Robin Reid: And, you know, people now are living with bouts of cancer. They may have 2 or 3 bouts in their living active lives, and they’re getting their treatments and they’re being successful. So we feel like we’re moving in the right direction. Um, research is doing some amazing things. And so we’re getting closer. So, so we believe there is hope. Um, so it doesn’t have to be, you know, just that death sentence that people may feel when they hear the word dementia or Alzheimer’s. Again, we want them to know that there are options. And even on our website, there’s a wealth of information about what’s the latest research, you know, where can I go to, you know, in my neighborhood to talk to a neurologist or who should I go to? So we try to provide all those resources at your fingertips. If you know the first question, what do I do now? So that’s a good resource to go to ALS. Org or our um 800 helpline. So we want people to know that, you know there are options. And you know, you can kind of, you know, the sooner you start educating yourself the better you’ll see. Okay, there are there are some options.
Stone Payton: And it sounds like we are making strides. We’ve we have accomplished some things. We know some things to to do. And so like I’m I’ll be 61 in August, I suspect there are things I could be doing now that would help me not.
Robin Reid: Well, we encourage you just like you exercise your body, exercise your brain because it’s all connected. So, you know, it’s simple as I keep these little games on my phone, I love word finds. I even do the old fashioned ones where you literally circle the word. But but you know, you’re sitting in the doctor’s office or you’re. The airport or whatever. You know, just exercise your brain, you know. We encourage, you know, some, you know, learn a new language, take up a new hobby. Anything that’s going to challenge your brain, it gets those brain cells moving. Um, is is helpful. So. Well, that’s good news.
Stone Payton: That’s very encouraging for me because my wife is she is a slave to the she’s got 3 or 4 word games, and that’s the first thing that she does in the morning. And every now and again just to, just to include me, she’ll ask me to help. And I’m like, baby, I’m not any good at this, but I’ll try to help her on some of those. But that’s good. It really can be good for you. I mean, just.
Robin Reid: You know, exercise, just keep you know, you’re using that muscle is making you think. And so, you know, um, just exercise it.
Stone Payton: So what’s the best way to, to, uh, get involved as a, as a lay person, someone that, uh, because I would think there’s probably some education for volunteers too, but the. Yeah, but you don’t have to know a lot about this to begin trying to help, right?
Robin Reid: No, not at all. Um, we have a variety of volunteer positions on our website. Um, anything from being a community educator, which is where you go out and you help educate the community. We will, um, you know, give you your toolkit, so to speak. Most of our presentations have a PowerPoint that accompanies it. Um, we could do a 30 minute presentation or an hour presentation, you know, again, like those topics of what are the ten warning signs? You know, what’s healthy living for your brain and body communication skills. But all of our volunteers are trained. So we don’t just say, okay, go forth and conquer. We, you know, we we ease you into it. Um, you know, if you want to be a support group facilitator, we train you on all of that because we want our volunteers. Again, like you said, you don’t have to be an expert. Um, you just have to have a heart to help people. And the information is given in layman terms, as you said, so that pretty much anybody can understand it. You just need to get a good grasp of an understanding. Um, and then we work with you. And, you know, when we recruit volunteers, we serve as the staff partner. So we’re right there working with you and we we’re partners in it. So I got.
Stone Payton: To believe that would be incredibly rewarding. Now the slot I’m looking for is ice guy. I’m ice guy at church, you know, like they don’t. They just say, hey, we need more ice stone. You know, I go, I get hop in the truck and I go get ice, but there’s probably something, right?
Robin Reid: Absolutely. I mean, even if you want to just be an ambassador, you’re just helping people, you know, know that we’re there. We know that people are busy. They have busy careers. But if you’re just one of those folks in the community who says, you know what, this may be something I should share with Robin to bring more information to this church or this civic group or whatever. Just be our eyes and ears and help us know where those opportunities are and where there’s a need. And, you know, help us connect the dots.
Stone Payton: Absolutely.
Terri Haswell: And I’ve just started that program, too. So I’m in the orientation phase of it to become an educator, too. Yes.
Robin Reid: With everything else she’s doing, she’s going to be a community educator. Well, I want.
Terri Haswell: To gain the knowledge, like to be able to do now, right now. Could I go out and do that right now? No, but I could do it with clients. Like I could do it with families and stuff like that too, and have that background and have more education myself so that as I’m working with our clients and families and then eventually be able to get out and do that as well because and do the walk for Alzheimer’s, which is coming up in October. So we have a team for that. So there’s a way to help also. Oh tell me more.
Stone Payton: About the walk.
Robin Reid: So we have 20 walks across Georgia. Um so the large one for Atlanta is at the battery. Um, the, the Braves Park. Um, but there are 20 across the state. Um, and if you go to ALS. Org slash walk, you will see all of them listed. There are 600 nationwide. And so most of these, as Terry said, happen in the fall, um late September through November. And, you know, the walk itself is probably a two hour commitment of your time, even if you say, well, I don’t know if I can walk the three miles or what have you, just come out and be a part because it is sort of like a party, a celebration. We have our beautiful promise garden where we have our colored flowers. Each color represents, you know, if you’re an advocate, if you have a loved one, that you’re walking for, that sort of thing. So, um, it’s a very inspirational and it’s, um, a celebration of, you know, those folks who are dealing with it, and then all of us just coming together for the cause, raising money for more research. So ALS org, if you’re interested, we’d love to have everyone come out and participate in the walk that’s nearest you.
Terri Haswell: And the one in Cherokee County is October 19th up at Etowah River Park. Oh, yeah, it’s.
Stone Payton: Beautiful.
Terri Haswell: Up there. Yep. So we will be doing that one for sure. Super excited. And we’re doing it in honor of again, my husband and I have been involved in our community and we like, know the lives of all of our neighbors. Our next door neighbor. Last August, um, the wife, she passed away from dementia. And so and now her daughter is going to be one of our caregivers. Because she’s going to take an experience that she went through and be able to help others with that too. But we are doing our walk in honor of her, Miss Chris Dickerson. So, so we want to honor that. And of course, you know, we still go. And I mean, the next door neighbor, the guy, my husband and him, they watched golf all the time, that kind of thing too. So we’re doing that in honor of her. So it is personal for us in that way as well.
Stone Payton: And all these counties, all these places, all this activity are in this very next thing we talked about at the top of the show that’s coming up June 8th, June 8th.
Terri Haswell: Yep. Next Saturday or this coming Saturday, actually, at good Shepherd Lutheran Church, that’s on Rose Creek Drive in Woodstock. It’s from 10 to 1130. And one of the things that we are doing here, well, a couple things I am our company is donating time for our caregivers to have caregivers on site. So if anybody wants to bring their loved one, because, again, sometimes you feel like you’re isolated, you don’t feel like you can get out of the house or leave them alone for a certain amount of time or whatever. We want to have them be able to come and feel comfortable that they’re in good hands while they’re going, and getting the education and the support and the resources that they need. And then we’ll have our caregivers, you know, with the loved ones, whether it’s playing bingo or doing a little trivia or some music or something, just interacting and having that social because that socialization can be very good. Um, too. So, um, that way we’ll do that. And then we’re also having educate, uh, resource partners too. So, um, I’ve got the sheriff’s department. I’ve had clients say, hey, I’ve heard about this thing. That’s it’s a bracelet, and it’s actually called Project Lifesaver that you can put on, you know, that it’s like a bracelet, but if you have a wandering loved one and you can’t find them or whatever, you can call the sheriff’s department, they can locate with the GPS, like there’s all kinds of resources out there.
Terri Haswell: So and then I’ve had a client ask about what do I do about fraud? And like if I do leave her alone for a little while and she answers the phone and she’s given away, like, how can we protect ourselves from fraud and, you know, different things like that. So I and then I’m having, um, healing House, mind and body come as well because they have some natural things or some things that you can do or some, uh, fall risk tests and, you know, just different things like that so that people can again, find out what other resources are out there for them and be able to be empowered when they leave, you know, not only get the education and the communication strategies and the support and say, hey, I’m not alone. Look at all these other people, but they’re also going to be able to walk away with some resources and know their loved one was taken care of while they’re there.
Stone Payton: Wow, you really are good at this. You have a talent and a heart, Terry. Obviously for bringing people together for a for a common cause that is.
Terri Haswell: Connection is my number one strength in that sense, because, I mean, you know, out of the strength tests and stuff, but that is the heart of our mission, to our mission is to provide meaningful connection while also fulfilling the needs of our caregivers, our clients and our families. So connecting is yeah, I mean, that’s that’s what it’s about. Again, I’m not the expert, but I’ll partner with somebody who is an expert. Right, right.
Stone Payton: Well, before we wrap, I want to make sure that our listeners know how to connect with you directly and learn more about about your work, whatever coordinates you think are appropriate. Website, email. What? Uh, LinkedIn, I don’t know, but. Yeah.
Terri Haswell: Okay. Um, so we are seniors helping seniors. Northwest Atlanta. It’s Chz northwest Atlanta. Com you can check us out there. Um, and then do you want, do we want to give the information about registering for this. Absolutely. Okay. Um, so you can register for this upcoming, um, I guess we’ll call it a seminar or interactive workshop class, um, by calling 1-800-272-3900 or emailing Robin at r o r e I’d at als.org.
Stone Payton: Nicely done. Well, Robin, it has been an absolute delight having you come on the show. I hope you’ll consider coming back periodically giving us an update.
Robin Reid: Would love.
Stone Payton: To. And uh, you know, let us know when you have upcoming events and things happen. I think that would I think that would be a marvelous addition and wholly consistent with our whole community partner focus here at Business RadioX. All right, Miss Robin, let’s let them know again, I know Terry did it for us, but let’s give him your contact info on one more time.
Robin Reid: Yes. Um, they can call our helpline to register for this particular seminar, as well as find other information at (800) 272-3900. That is 24 over seven. And for this particular, if they’d like to email me to register my email is r o r e I’d at als. Org we’d love for you to register, but if you are unsure and you know Friday night comes, you’re like, oh man, I really still want to go. Still come. There is definitely enough room. We just like to sort of get an idea of how many may be in attendance, but we want everyone who can and who needs this great information to come out. So if you if you are a caregiver or know someone who is caregiving and feel they would benefit, please share this information. We’d love to have them come out.
Terri Haswell: Yes, definitely.
Stone Payton: You both are doing such important work and we. We sure appreciate you. Thank you both so much for for sharing your insight, your perspective on this. Keep up the good work. And I’m quite serious. Don’t be a stranger. Come back and see me.
Robin Reid: Thank you.
Terri Haswell: We’re grateful that you had us. Thank you so much, Stone. It’s a pleasure always seeing you again.
Stone Payton: Absolutely. My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Terry Haswell, with seniors helping seniors and Robin Reid with Alzheimer’s Association, Georgia Chapter and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.
Neuroscience and Archetypal Leadership Communication – WBE Feature
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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Dr. Robin Miller, founder of Articulate Real & Clear, a firm specializing in teaching and coaching leadership and teams with a focus on artistic communication. Dr. Miller discusses the importance of effective communication in building corporate culture, the signs of communication issues, and the coaching process her firm uses, including the concept of “feedforward.” She emphasizes the measurability of their work’s impact on employee engagement and retention. The episode also touches on the firm’s involvement with WBEC West to support women and supplier diversity.
Dr. Robin Miller is an Executive Coach grounded in neuroscience and archetypal leadership communication. She focuses on leadership and teams – how they communicate – how they work and how they resolve conflict to move forward.
Robin is a cofounder and COO of ARTiculate Real & Clear. She holds a PhD in Musicology from The University of North Texas, an MDiv from Iliff School of Theology, and is credentialed through the International Coach Federation (PCC).
Connect with Robin on Linkedin.
Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor. WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on the show, we have Dr. Robin Miller with Articulate Real & Clear. Welcome.
Dr. Robin Miller: Hi. Good morning everyone.
Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn about your firm. Tell us a little bit about it. How do you serve folks?
Dr. Robin Miller: We are actually product service company, meaning that we teach and coach leadership and teams. We’re service because we serve leadership and teams, and we have specific areas that we focus on which is product. So we have a combination of two. We’ve been in business over 13 years and we’re artists. So we bring the artistic energy to any kind of organization, mostly corporate and some associations to help leaders move forward faster and help teams get along better.
Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How did you get into this line of work?
Dr. Robin Miller: Oh wow, Lee, that’s that’s what I call the Renaissance woman story. I got into this line of work by getting my education, moving into it as a customer relationship manager, moving into a service line of work with going to Iliff School of Theology here in Denver, and then meeting up with my business partner, and decided that we wanted to bring our artistic skill set to the corporate environment. So we started articulate, real and clear so that we could, as artists, go in and use all the tools and the skills that we’ve learned to go in and help others move forward in their business and move forward in their teens.
Lee Kantor: So you use the word art several times, and it’s obviously part of the word articulate. How do you kind of view art in the business world?
Dr. Robin Miller: It’s an art to communicate well and we focus only on communication. So whether it’s facilitation, whether it’s executive presence, whether it is team building, we are constantly focused on communication. And if you’re building a culture in an organization, you can’t do it without communication. And to do it well, you have to do it artistically, which means finding out what works, how to make it work better, and moving it forward. So as artists, we bring that to the world.
Lee Kantor: Now, how do people realize they have communication issues? Is there some symptoms or some clues that maybe they aren’t communicating as effectively as they think they are?
Dr. Robin Miller: Sometimes I spend a lot of my time with the team doing executive leadership coaching, and sometimes people are sent to me for coaching because in their three 60s, they’re getting information that says they could do some things better. So we go on a coaching journey together and we explore what those things are, and we work on things of so that they can communicate better. It sometimes people want to do a keynote at a conference for an organization, and they don’t feel comfortable getting up. In the past, a lot of people have used the word fear of public speaking to motivate people. And we say, you know what? If you don’t have nerves getting up on the stage, you should get off the stage because we also have nerves as artists. So a clue could be, I want to give keynotes. I want to give some public speaking. I don’t feel comfortable doing it. They would come to us. And then if you have teams that are having difficulty communicating with each other, maybe you were just promoted out of that team to be a leader, and you don’t understand the type of communication that’s needed now, and the role and the strategy that’s needed to be that leader. We also work with those individuals as well as well as the teams.
Lee Kantor: So when you work individually, can you share a little bit about what maybe those first conversations or sessions are like, what do you give them homework to begin? Or like how does it how does it start?
Dr. Robin Miller: We’ll do an intake with individuals and find out from them what they say their goal is, because we’re always driving toward their goal, not our goal as coaches. And as I’m listening to the intake, because I will do the intakes with individuals, I’m finding what else is showing up. And so we call it feedforward. We ask people if they would like the feedforward. They usually say yes, and I’ll say here’s what I’m also noticing as well. Then we will create a journey map for them, for their coaching experience, for the goal that they have and the additional things that showed up. And then they move toward accomplishing those things by the end of their coaching retainer.
Lee Kantor: Now you use the word feed forward instead of feed back. Can you explain?
Dr. Robin Miller: I do use feedforward. I believe that you can’t go back. You can only take information and move it forward. So we’re always feeding forward, feeding the individual forward rather than taking them back. And if I know what wasn’t working well in the past, then I have information that I can change the way that I’m doing something, the way that I’m saying something, and I feed it forward so that I can make a difference.
Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that a lot of your work is around, um, helping people speak is do you believe that anyone could be a good speaker or is this something you’re born with?
Dr. Robin Miller: I believe. Yes, we can all learn to communicate better. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a conference stage or if you’re one on one talking with your manager, or if you’re a CEO that has never had any kind of presentation executive presence. We can all learn to do things some better. And I will also say, are we all meant to be on the main stage? Probably not. Okay. There are individuals that are driven toward that, and if I have a passion to do that, we can actually help that individual with tools and techniques and coaching to get them on that stage. And then it’s up to them.
Lee Kantor: Is there any kind of low hanging fruit for individuals that maybe the listener right now that, um, has some anxiety around speaking or even leading? Is there some easy things that they can be doing, any actions they can be taking right now that can help them?
Dr. Robin Miller: Yes, I’m going to say, as a coach, we come into this world with breath and we go out of this world with breath. And the thing that that actually supports us to stay connected to our thoughts and the thing that actually gets our voice up and out of our body, and the thing that actually keeps us from. From allowing the cortisol spike to take us over is breath. So we have to pay attention to our breath. Are we holding our breath high and tight? And if we are, then we need to exhale. So many people tell you to inhale, and all that does is, is provide tension up in your shoulder area and gives you a shallow breath. We say it articulate. Exhale first. And then bring the air in and sit with that. It’s a good meditation technique and it’s also a good speaking technique. It all depends on the breath. So first notice what’s happening for you. Is your breath working for you or is your breath working against you?
Lee Kantor: Let’s switch gears a little and talk about maybe the beginning of your journey. Um. Uh, what was it like going after that first client? Um, when you’re an entrepreneur, you say, okay, I’m going to be an entrepreneur. I’m going to go down this path. Was it difficult to communicate that how you were doing things is different than maybe how they have done things in the past, like was that can you share a little bit about what that was like early on as you were kind of, um, crafting your messaging?
Dr. Robin Miller: Yeah, for us, because we had worked in the arts world prior to starting the company. And I say us, my co-owner and I, people knew about us. And so it was the first clients were people who already knew and wanted and knew that we were credible and that we, our team, we and our team were gifted and that we could give them what they were looking for. So they came easily. And I have to say that prior to the pandemic, we call it the dandelion effect. People love the work that we do, and people love the change that they actually experienced. And as they move from company to company, they would bring us into those companies. Now the dandelion effect is starting to show up again, and there were a few years, pandemic wise, where the dandelion effect didn’t work anymore. And you really do have to rely on marketing. So what I’m going to say to people is regardless of your your dandelion effect or your first initial clients getting a really strong marketing program underneath you and getting a really clear message is going to go a long way.
Lee Kantor: Now when it came to your message and your marketing of your message. So how do you go about, um, doing that? Do you lean on education? Do you lean on your own speaking?
Dr. Robin Miller: I’m not sure I so I’m going to practice what I would have my client do. I’m not sure what you’re asking with that question.
Lee Kantor: Well, when you’re transitioning from, uh, getting clients from reputation and referrals and other clients, and now you’re saying I’m going to lean on marketing, how do you, as a firm say, okay, now how do we begin this process to market? Are we going to do it by educating? Are we going to be doing this by going out and speaking more in general to kind of drum up business? So how do you how do you begin your marketing kind of journey?
Dr. Robin Miller: Yes, speaking. It’s what we do and it’s what we coach our clients to do. One on one we have Hillary, the co-owner, is a fantastic, fantastic keynote speaker and she loves to do breakouts and take the main stage. She was just on the ATD stage yesterday down in New Orleans. So we get the word out by actually practicing and doing what what it is that we do, which is speaking and networking, going out and continuing to meet new individuals and finding out what their needs are and building a relationship. Article is about relationship. So as a company, we always let our clients know we are not one and done. We are connected and we’re here to support them during the training, prior to the training and after the training. So for us, we really do walk the talk and believe what we say when we tell our clients. It’s all about relationship and it’s about connection. So keynote speaking, doing podcasts, going out and networking are things that we consider part of our marketing effort.
Lee Kantor: Was there a moment, uh, maybe early in your career that you had that. Aha. Like, this is what I’m meant to do. This is why I do what I do.
Dr. Robin Miller: Yes there was. I was just speaking with one of my teammates this morning, Courtney Cawthorne, and thinking about this podcast. My journey has been one between the balancing act of how do I care and serve others, and how do I learn more about business. And as I made that journey to being part of this company, I’ve realized that I can get bored easily. And the fact that I get to learn and continually learn about business to improve our business, and I get to coach and support other people. The Aha is I’m in the best of both worlds. Constant learning and continuing to take care of others and help them become the best that they, they can and want to be. So that feeds me. And that’s where I thrive.
Lee Kantor: Now is the kind of work that you do when you’re speaking somewhere, or you’re coaching someone to speak. Is this something that is measurable? Is there a way to go, okay, that we have an ROI that I can point to because of that?
Speaker4: You started. You’re starting to sound like my corporate clients.
Dr. Robin Miller: Lee. Yeah. There is. Everything can be measured. And if you have a starting point, if we take a video of you doing one on one coaching and you say, these are my goals, and at the end of the coaching, we take another video of you, then we can see the difference in what you got coached on and how you’re showing up. That can be measured. We just coached with a company here in town in Denver, and they wanted their leadership to understand more about how to deliver feedback in a way that it could be received better and it would improve employee engagement. So a measurement would be we went in and we trained, and we’re supporting them on finding the best way that they can deliver feedback to the individuals on their teams. And at the end of that, we can measure, hey, how have your employee engagements improved and how has the the ease for your managers improved in delivering feedback with the different tools that we offer to them?
Lee Kantor: Is part of the measurement like things. Such as, um, less turnover or, um, you know, more engagement with the employees. Like, what are some of the things that are you are able to measure.
Dr. Robin Miller: I think if someone does an employee engagement and they ask their employees. Do you feel that your leadership is being more transparent with what’s happening in the company, and do you feel that you’re getting the feedback that you need from your leader in a way that speaks to you? That is going to lead to more retention. And it is going to lead to a more engaged workforce. Because if I feel you’re being transparent. Then, and I feel like you’re delivering feedback, which we call feed forward to me, so that you care about me and I can improve more. Then I’m going to stay with that company. If your people are more. Especially in the last year, we’re finding that there are fewer people being driven by money and more are being driven by belonging. And so what are the ways that we can shift things in our communication as leadership and teams to help people feel like they do belong and that they matter and that you are listening.
Lee Kantor: And is an offering a service like yours to the team. A demonstration of the character and culture of the organization.
Dr. Robin Miller: Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m surprised by how many organizations. Find it difficult. To actually open up clearer lines of communication. And the ones that actually do step into it are the companies that I find that are thriving. Because they do care about their employees, and they’re not afraid about what their employees are going to say, because that’s all feed forward for me as an organization. And if I have truth for my employees, then I know what I can shift to make it matter.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, I was always a believer that the culture is going to happen whether you’re proactive about it or not, so you might as well be proactive about it and build the culture you you know, you’re proud of and you want.
Dr. Robin Miller: Absolutely. Yeah. And finding out from people what’s going to matter to them that their working relationships have improved, because it’s not always about the leader. We hear a lot about the leaders in writing and in the media. It’s not always about the leader. Sometimes it’s about the people that you work with. And if those relationships improve for them, then that makes it more desirable for them to stay there as well, because they feel like they have a family or a community or a workforce that they click with. So we’re about that as well. How do you make your teams thrive so that people want to stay?
Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for your firm, uh, to be involved with we back west?
Dr. Robin Miller: It’s important because early on, I realized that one of the ways to help businesses thrive is through diversification. That’s one of the first businesses principle business principles that I learned. And so by joining this organization, the first thing was I get to diversify my business. The second thing was it’s a women’s organization and it matters to be a part of it and to be credentialed through it. And I, I have a lot of friends and colleagues that are credentialed through this organization. So if I can support women moving forward, uh, supplier diversity moving forward, then I’m going to support that.
Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?
Speaker4: I need more people to know about.
Dr. Robin Miller: Us and to get the word out that articulate is a woman owned business. We’ve been in business for 13 plus years, that we are a diverse supplier, and we are here to help support them, communicate them, get them up on a main stage if they want to be on the main stage and help make them better or help work with their teams. So getting the word out about us and that we are a vendor that you can trust, and your we are a vendor that we stand behind our word. So. Reach out and we’ll reach back because we want to build relationships and connections that matter. We also want to build partnerships. So if you have a way that we can partner with you, we’re artists, we partner, we collaborate, we want to partner with you.
Lee Kantor: Is there a niche? You mentioned associations, but do you work in certain industries or is it across all sectors?
Dr. Robin Miller: We do work across all sectors. And I just got back from a program. The Tuck Executive Education Program, and I’m bringing all the learning I have from that. I was able to go to that because we’re a diverse supplier and we have that through WebEx. And so, um. Using that to move the business forward and and asking the team if we’re going to niche, what is that niche going to be? And we understand that we work with people really well that want to shift, want to make changes. They’re really bright. They’re usually engineers, they’re it folk. They’re uh. But entrepreneurs that have grown their business and want to take the next step with a new team. We’re part of small business organizations through Vistage, and so these are the individuals that haven’t grown so large that they’ve lost sight of the human being, uh, and need that extra support.
Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team. What’s a website?
Dr. Robin Miller: Where w w w. Articulate. A r t I c u l a t e r c like rc cola. But it stands for real and clear. Articulate. Wrc.com. Go out to our website, find out what we do and how we can support you. And we would love to reach back and create a greater, stronger relationship.
Lee Kantor: Well, Doctor Robin Miller, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Speaker4: Thank you. Lee.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.
